Place a pause on college basketball? The momentum is growing to do just that.
With the growing number of college basketball cancellations because of COVID-19, there is a growing concern about continuing.
A tweet from ESPN’s Fran Fraschilla: “I love this game, I know these young people are making an incredible sacrifice, but they do want to play. But given the extent of the virus right now, I’d (send) everyone home for Xmas break, quarantine them for 10 days & pick it back up in mid-January.”
“We haven’t had a national conversation about what we should do, what’s appropriate,” ESPN’s Jay Bilas said during Tuesday night’s Illinois-Duke game. “These players have essentially been essential workers. They get tested every day. They’re not allowed to go home for the Christmas holiday because they wouldn’t be able to play when they got back. They’d essentially have to quarantine their team. We’ve been advised by our government not to travel over the holidays and yet these players are traveling.”
Duke Coach Mike Krzyzewski: “I don’t think it feels right to anybody. I mean everyone is concerned.”
True, Coach K made his comments after the Blue Devils dropped to 2-2 with an 83-68 home loss to No. 6 Illinois. “Somebody will take what I’m saying tonight and make like I’m making excuses. I don’t make excuses. We got our butts beat.”
But if you think Krzyzewski’s timing is all too convenient, consider the games that have been canceled or postponed in the past week: No. 1 Gonzaga vs. No. 2 Baylor; No. 4 Michigan State at No. 18 Virginia; No. 12 Tennessee vs. UT Martin; No. 11 West Virginia vs. Robert Morris; No. 12 Villanova vs. DePaul; LSU vs. South Florida; Arkansas at Tulsa; Vanderbilt at SMU.
Louisville was supposed to play Wisconsin on Wednesday night in the ACC-Big Ten Challenge. The Cardinals are on pause, however, because of a COVID-19 positive. Rhode Island took U of L’s place instead against the Badgers.
Kentucky was supposed to play Detroit Mercy on Nov. 27 in Rupp Arena. That was postponed because of a positive test in the Detroit program. Now the rescheduled game for Dec. 15 has been postponed “due strictly to testing and safety logistics,” UK announced Tuesday. “Both UK and Detroit will continue with their current practice schedule.”
Tennessee played its first game Tuesday night. Ole Miss hasn’t started yet. North Carolina State announced Wednesday it’s hitting the pause button and canceled its fourth game already this season.
Butler opened the season Nov. 25 with a 66-52 win over Western Michigan and hasn’t played since. Four games have been canceled or postponed since. The Bulldogs were supposed to play St. John’s in their Big East opener on Monday night. That’s now off, too.
Rick Pitino’s Iona Gaels were supposed to play Monmouth back-to-back this weekend. Monmouth went on pause, so Iona scheduled Quinnipiac. Now Quinnipiac has paused, so Iona scheduled Fairfield.
“Who’s on First!” Pitino tweeted.
Said Bilas on Tuesday, “The question I have is, if we were deciding to start now, would we start now? The answer, I think, would be no.”
Even Dick Vitale — yes, Dick Vitale — is in favor of the sport hitting the pause button.
“I really believe that everyone connected with the game we love, college basketball, would be better off if the NCAA pushed the season back,” Vitale tweeted Wednesday. “The mental frustration for coaches, players, TV people, media, is out of control.”
Said Krzyzewski, “We’re just plowing through this.”
Meanwhile, the Tennessean reports that Vanderbilt women’s basketball player Demi Washington is out for the season after being diagnosed with myocarditis following a positive COVID-19 test.
Will the NCAA step in and call a halt to the proceedings, at least for the time being? Probably not. There are games to be played, television programming commitments to be filled, bills to be paid.
There were 64 games scheduled to be played on Wednesday. Twelve were canceled. That means 52 were still scheduled to be played. So despite the worries and the complaints, the guess here is the powers that be will continue to say, “Plow on.”
