Basketball, other high school sports cleared to restart, but Sweet 16s pushed back
The Kentucky High School Athletic Association on Thursday pushed back the dates for its boys’ and girls’ state basketball tournaments but reaffirmed the Jan. 4 start for those seasons despite concerns about the COVID-19 pandemic.
In a 12-5 vote, the KHSAA’s Board of Control said winter sports practices, including basketball, could begin Monday.
In a separate vote, also 12-5, the board moved the boys’ and girls’ Sweet 16 tournaments about three weeks later than previously planned. The new window — March 29 to April 8 — went against the recommendation of KHSAA Commissioner Julian Tackett, who supported an even later start.
“These are extremely complex issues. Our board has spent an extraordinary amount of time examining every aspect surrounding the resumption of sports, particularly those that are indoors and have extreme concerns from public health officials,” Tackett said in a press release following the decisions. “At the same time, there is significant data being shared about the need for students to be engaged with one another in traditional settings, be they the classroom or the athletic court or field.
“Trying to balance competing public health concerns has been a tremendous challenge all year. Just last week, the American Academy of Pediatrics published an article on the need to get kids back involved, while at the same time, the number of positive cases of coronavirus continues to be very high both in Kentucky and in other states. Finalizing the plan for going forward allows the member schools to use some local decision making in areas that are concerning and adopts a blueprint for the rest of the school year.”
COVID-19 cases across the state and nation have increased considerably in recent weeks, making it problematic for indoor sporting events to be held at all, much less with anyone in attendance.
While Thursday’s decision clears a way for teams to restart practices, it is unclear how many school districts will open up their athletic programs during what appears to be the height of the pandemic.
The state remains partially locked down with schools ordered closed by Gov. Andy Beshear and nearly all of Kentucky’s 121 counties considered to have a “critical” or “red” level of COVID-19 cases on the state’s color-coded incidence rate map.
While none of the 12 board members voting yes offered their reasoning, the board did receive urging from the General Assembly’s Republican Senate majority to start as planned in a letter Thursday morning.
Board members Jerry Wyman, Jefferson County Public Schools’ athletic director, and Mark Evans, AD at Mercy Academy, voiced objections to the Dec. 14 restart.
“I can’t support the motion that we start official practice on the 14th with the (COVID-19) status of what the state is in right now, all due respect to legislative leadership,” Wyman said. “I think it’s a bad decision.”
Fayette County Public Schools suspended winter sports athletic practices last month and has not addressed whether they will resume in the interim. Fayette County officials have not yet responded to questions about the status of their hiatus.
Lexington Christian Academy will begin basketball practices on Monday with COVID-19 protocols in place and other measures, including the use of their practice videos to help with contract tracing should a player or coach contract the virus, said Athletic Director Terry Johnson said.
Lexington Catholic boys’ coach Brandon Salsman confirmed their teams will start practice Monday, as well. And Scott County district athletic director Daniel T. Wells also confirmed that Scott County and Great Crossing will begin practice Monday.
The Courier-Journal reported Jefferson County Public Schools will address whether it will resume practices in a meeting Friday morning.
Actually starting play on Jan. 4 is not a given. With so many counties in a COVID-19 “red” status, many school districts could continue to follow protocols and guidance from the state that led them to cancel many fall sports games.
Many districts, including Scott County, refused to play games in any sport during the regular season if their opponents were in a designated “red” county. And while most school districts allowed their teams to play in their respective postseasons under a red status, a few did not.
Wells could not say whether Scott County and Great Crossing would play games come Jan. 4 if the COVID-19 conditions do not improve, instead deferring those decisions until it becomes necessary to make them.
“We’re just glad to be able to do anything,” Wells said. “We’re glad to be able to practice. We’ll be glad when we’re able to play.”
Scott Chalk, head coach at Paul Laurence Dunbar and the director of the Kentucky Association of Basketball Coaches, supported the KHSAA’s decision.
“We’re going to work within those parameters they came up with and make the best of it. That’s really all we can do,” Chalk said.
There were many cancellations due to COVID-19 concerns in each fall sport, but all save football have finished their seasons and postseasons with championships.
COVID-19 cases and concerns forced dozens of football teams to withdraw from the playoffs over the last few weeks, including three in the regional finals round last week. One boys’ regional soccer champion, Henderson County, also had to back out of its state tournament berth.
But the football playoffs continue Friday and all of the sport’s expected top contenders remain in the brackets.
Basketball Sweet 16s
Much of the decision to move back the boys’ and girls’ state tournaments involved the need to make sure the events had the best chance to be held with as many fans as pandemic conditions will allow. Later start dates than the original March 3 and March 10 starts theoretically mean conditions might improve by then to allow more spectators and thus generate more revenue.
“We need to have it as late as we possibly can for the best opportunity for success, given the facts we know now,” Tackett said.
At present, Rupp Arena is limited to 15 percent capacity for University of Kentucky basketball games.
High school basketball became the first sport in Kentucky disrupted by the pandemic last March when the Mingua Beef Jerky/KHSAA Girls’ Sweet 16 shut down on the second day of play as government and health officials recommended sweeping changes to daily life in an attempt to get control of the virus that had already devastated many other countries.
The cancellation of last spring’s Whitaker Bank/KHSAA Boys’ Sweet 16 meant a loss of more than $866,000 and, combined with the girls’ tournament, the nonprofit took a hit of $1.1 million.
“This is an organization that going into last year had a cash reserve, including restricted money of a little over a million,” Tackett said in his summary of the KHSAA’s financial health and the pandemic’s impact on it. “It’s not hard to see why revenue drives a lot of our thinking around here.”
Tackett noted that the KHSAA’s postseason tournaments, especially the boys’ basketball tournament, are the primary source of the funding that allows it to organize and continue to support high school sports. The KHSAA receives no government funding from the state.
Official dates for the boys’ and girls’ Sweet 16s will need to be negotiated with the Central Bank Center as there are conflicts with other events around the new March 29-April 8 window.
Other activities
The provisional outline of the KHSAA’s revised calendar moved the start dates for baseball and softball to March 29 to help minimize their overlap with the winter sports season. Both seasons would end the week of June 14.
The board briefly touched on swimming, wrestling, bowling, esports, cheer and dance, with their practice and competition starts matching the basketball seasons. State championship dates for cheer and dance have not been set, but Tackett affirmed those competitions will be held.
The pandemic caused the cancellation of all of the KHSAA’s spring sports last season — baseball, softball, track and field and the spring esports campaign.
This story was originally published December 10, 2020 at 5:21 PM.
