College basketball is ready for takeoff, but prepare for some rough air
OK, so the 2020-21 college basketball season starts Wednesday.
Sort of.
Tennessee Coach Rick Barnes, Tennessee Tech Coach John Pelphrey and Baylor Coach Scott Drew all have COVID-19, to name just a few. Ole Miss has shut down operations until Dec. 7. Duke canceled its opener because Gardner-Webb has COVID-19. Wichita State flew all the way to South Dakota to play in the Crossover Classic only to find out four of its players have COVID-19.
“Any time we get to play a game,” said South Carolina Coach Frank Martin, “it’s a win for the kids.”
On the local front, Brad Calipari and Detroit Mercy were supposed to play in something called the Bluegrass Showcase, starting Wednesday at Rupp Arena. Oops, scratch that. Word broke Monday that a staffer on the Detroit team had tested positive for COVID-19, canceling the Titans’ trip to Lexington and postponing the son vs. father matchup until a later date.
“We don’t control it. It controls us, this virus,” said John Calipari on Monday.
By latest count, over 40 programs around the country are on some sort of pause because of the virus. Tennessee canceled its MTE (multi-team event) after the Barnes news. Baylor pulled out of the Empire Classic at the Mohegan Sun Casino in Connecticut. Arizona State reportedly pulled out of the same event, only to opt back in once Baylor said it couldn’t make it. Way over on the other coast, Washington canceled its multi-team event, as well.
“This is no joke,” Michigan State Coach Tom Izzo, having just recovered from the virus, told The Athletic. “This isn’t going to go away until we all take it seriously.”
So should we be playing college basketball right now? And should we be playing in front of fans, as will be the case Wednesday night in Rupp Arena? Unlike football, basketball is an indoor sport, after all. The health experts have long been telling us the virus is much more likely to spread indoors than out, especially in a place where people are talking or yelling or singing. How about cheering?
If I’m a college basketball coach right now, instead of the opposing team, I’m more worried about the fans in the stands. Where have they been? How close are they to the floor? Will they keep their masks on? Are they asymptomatic?
“My hope is we figure out a way that fans that want to come to the game can be tested so that we feel comfortable being in our building,” Calipari said Monday. “Not just with the thermometer and saying, OK, they don’t have a fever. Because there are asymptomatic people. . . . But I think we’re a ways away.”
In the meantime, you have to question why college basketball didn’t follow the college football model and eliminate non-conference games. That way, leagues could better control environments, protocols, attendance, travel, schedules, etc. The college football system isn’t perfect — another SEC game, Arkansas-Missouri, has been canceled this week — but we wouldn’t have teams flying across the country to play in an event with different schools from different parts of the country.
“It’s not worth risking everyone’s health,” Rick Pitino told Yahoo Sports.
Ah, but the show must go on. TV programming depends on it. University athletic budgets depend on it. The money to pay coaches’ salaries and buyouts doesn’t just appear, you know. And the kids want to play, right? To be sure, we want to watch.
So excuse the mess, the stops, the starts, the last-minute cancellations and inevitable postponements. And cross your fingers that we make it to the NCAA Tournament, because without another March Madness the sport may not survive.
By the way, the season’s official start was to be 11 a.m. Wednesday with Stephen F. Austin playing San Francisco at Mohegan Sun. One problem. Stephen F. Austin exited Connecticut on Tuesday after one of its traveling party tested positive.
Welcome back, college basketball. And good luck.
