Jon Rothstein
@JonRothstein
·
20m
The NCAA has approved plans for men's and women's basketball to begin summer activities on July 20th, per release.
Printable View
Jon Rothstein
@JonRothstein
·
20m
The NCAA has approved plans for men's and women's basketball to begin summer activities on July 20th, per release.
I wish I had more optimism. I just can’t see it. This isn’t really about how worrisome (or not) one thinks COVID-19 is as a public health threat. It’s just the implausible scenario in which 347 D1 teams across 50 states can play any semblance of a normal season starting in just a few months. With NCAA leadership and ADs and Governors and School Presidents involved, and with student athletes who are only semi-autonomous in their decision making at best...the level of complexity is just too much in my mind.
The logistics of the NBA season ending are staggering with 22 teams in one location, with professional athletes who have millions of dollars and no other obligations:
https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/...ns-key-details
Even then, per this report, the key detail has been omitted: what is the critical mass of diagnoses or illness that would stop the season again. Given the lost chance at a #1 seed in Spokane, the insane recruiting class coming in, and my deep love of all things Zag basketball, I desperately hope I’m wrong. I am not trying to fear-monger or rain on any parades. I just think there are really key questions that need to be answered before any of the details mean anything at all.
With proper testing and protocols in place it shouldn't be that hard to mitigate a lot of the risk. If you are hoping to get a zero case rate, that would never happen, but it also doesn't have to happen.
I know, the second wave and all that stuff. The thing is, plenty of cases still happening now and the infection rates will need to be 60%+ before it really starts to decline anyway. Think how far they've come already on understanding the virus and having treatments that can help those having real issues (almost all high risk people). Not to mention any other things they develop over the next several months before real practice starts in October.