Playing During a Pandemic

We're a little over a month into the strangest college basketball season ever, and it's been just about as surreal as we anticipated.  Some teams haven't played a game yet.  Some have repeatedly stopped and started.  Some have arrived at tournaments, only to have their opponents change at the last minute.  Nationally-televised games have been scrapped, with replacements hastily arranged on short notice.  And so many teams are adjusting their schedules on the fly.

None of this is a surprise.  After all the challenges that arose during the college football season, it was inevitable that basketball (which is played indoors, during the winter) would prove just as challenging.  Yet, despite all of this, and the fact that things are worse now than they were when last season abruptly ended in March, the season has pressed on.

The NCAA is committed to this season.  They've been clear about that.  There will be an NCAA Tournament in March.  Although, it'll all be at one site--most likely Indianapolis--which is a smart and necessary precaution to be taking.  How many teams will be left standing by then, and how they're gonna get to that point, are questions that remain unanswered, though.

Some coaches have outright questioned why they're even trying to play through this.  Mike Krzyzewski has been one of the most vocal critics.  He flat out said, "I don't think it feels right to anybody," when announcing that he was cancelling Duke's remaining non-conference games.  And it's not just because Duke struggled to start the season, either.  This season and all the restrictions have taken such a toll on the players that he wanted to give them a two-week Christmas break.

That's a very valid point.  A number of football teams opted out of playing bowl games for the same reason.  It's a lot to deal with...and that doesn't even count the scheduling uncertainty!

While Coach K and several others have voiced their concerns about how wise/safe it is to be playing right now, other coaches disagree.  Their argument is also valid.  Health experts have said that the safest place for college students to be may actually be on campus.  And their players want to play, so the best thing for their mental health is to be doing what they love (even if it means not seeing their families).

There's no right or wrong answer here.  You can definitely see it from both sides.  Basketball games provide a sense of normalcy for everyone, even if there's nothing normal about them.  So it's understandable that if they can be played safely, schools are willing to give it a try.  But if a school/coach/team has reservations, that's completely understandable, too.

Back in the spring, the Ivy League set the trend, cancelling its basketball tournament before everyone else did.  It was also the first conference to postpone fall sports (which were eventually cancelled), with virtually all others deciding to follow suit.  The Ivy League is alone among Division I conferences in sitting out the basketball season entirely, though.  Every other league is leaving it up to the individual schools.

It really felt like it was just a matter of time before a program decided to pull the plug on its 2020-21 season.  That program turned out to be the Duke women.  The decision was made by the players, but Head Coach Kara Lawson obviously agreed.  Just one day after Coach K again called into question the wisdom/safety of playing this season, she echoed his sentiments.  Lawson said, "I don't think we should be playing right now."  Her players obviously agreed.

Once one school opted out, it seemed inevitable that there would be another.  It didn't take long for that to happen.  The SMU women's team became the second, also citing health and safety concerns.  They almost certainly won't be the last. 

So far, there hasn't been a men's team to opt out, but that also seems like it's just a matter of time.  I also don't think it's a coincidence that Arizona and Auburn have both self-imposed one-year postseason bans for this season.  Both of those programs are likely trying to avoid harsher penalties from the NCAA once the sanctions for the recruiting scandal that seems like it happened so long ago are finally announced.  But, by self-imposing a ban this year, they're also conveniently putting themselves in a position where they can end their seasons earlier.  Which makes you wonder if they would've done the same thing if this was a normal year.

I'm not questioning the NCAA's decision about playing this season.  Financially, they had no other choice.  They can't afford to not have March Madness and the windfall that comes with it two years in a row.  And they've done everything they can to make it a safe environment for everybody (which it is).  It's obviously not the same.  But life's not the same right now.  And playing under this setting is better than not playing at all.

Which isn't to say that the decisions these teams have to make are easy.  This is an unprecedented situation.  None of us have ever experienced anything like this before, so there's no right or wrong way to approach it.  It's really just a matter of how comfortable you feel, which is an individual decision.  And that's why we're seeing some teams choose to continue while others choose to stop.

Everyone deserves credit, too.  The teams that are opting out should be commended for having the courage to do what they felt was right.  The teams that are playing, meanwhile, are enduring countless restrictions just to play games in empty arenas.  Neither situation is ideal.  But it sure beats the alternative.