After Few & Drew Act, the Koach Deigns to Speak

[jazzdelmar]

A day after Few and Drew acted, the Koach deigned to speak...

ESPN. Coach Mike Krzyzewski said Tuesday that he doesn't think the NCAA can afford to lose another postseason tournament, which generates more than 90% of the NCAA's annual revenue.Krzyzewski's comments follow reports that the cancellation of the 2020 NCAA tournament cost the organization more than $375 million.

"We're the thing that the NCAA is most concerned about because men's college basketball and the tournament pays for something like ... it produces 98% or more of the money for the NCAA," Krzyzewski said on Tuesday's edition of Keyshawn, JWIll & Zubin on ESPN Radio. "We need to have the tournament. We can't have it where two years in a row you don't have the NCAA tournament."

Appearing on the same show, Kentucky coach John Calipari promoted the idea of college basketball proceeding with a bubble format, saying both the WNBA and NBA showed "the path" for both regular-season games and the NCAA tournament. He said the season could begin with a round-robin, bubble version of the Champions Classic, the annual mega-event that features Michigan State, Duke, Kentucky and Kansas.

"Do we go and play the Champions Classic in a bubble without fans and we play each other?" Calipari asked on the show. "We all play each other, round-robin. You walk away with three games. Do we put in a bubble or a pod Kentucky-Louisville or Michigan State with three 'buy games'? Detroit, where my son plays, Murray State and East Tennessee State with us and we play a round-robin so that we can get the buy games where those teams really need that money? We can do that. Do we do it that way? Is the NCAA tournament in a bubble?"

Dan Gavitt, the NCAA's senior vice president of basketball, said Monday that he has prepared "contingency plans" to potentially shift the start of the season if necessary due to the pandemic. Per NCAA rules, teams can commence full practices 42 days before their first games.

[tinfoilzag]

Coach Mike Krzyzewski said Tuesday that he doesn't think the NCAA can afford to lose another postseason tournament, which generates more than 90% of the NCAA's annual revenue.Krzyzewski's comments follow reports that the cancellation of the 2020 NCAA tournament cost the organization more than $375 million.

"We're the thing that the NCAA is most concerned about because men's college basketball and the tournament pays for something like ... it produces 98% or more of the money for the NCAA," Krzyzewski said on Tuesday's edition of Keyshawn, JWIll & Zubin on ESPN Radio. "We need to have the tournament. We can't have it where two years in a row you don't have the NCAA tournament."

Financial loss has not been an effective argument against shutdowns up to this point. The most that can probably be done right now is laying out a schedule and a safety plan for holding a game and then the individual states will decide if there can be a game.

Expecting a tournament for 2021 seems really optimistic as every team included increases the chance of failure. The standard for playing will not be if someone is sick, only if a test shows a positive. With relatively high false positive/negative rates with the current testing, one positive would probably eliminate a team as they wait to see if other positives show up.

[JPtheBeasta]

Financial loss has not been an effective argument against shutdowns up to this point. The most that can probably be done right now is laying out a schedule and a safety plan for holding a game and then the individual states will decide if there can be a game.

Expecting a tournament for 2021 seems really optimistic as every team included increases the chance of failure. The standard for playing will not be if someone is sick, only if a test shows a positive. With relatively high false positive/negative rates with the current testing, one positive would probably eliminate a team as they wait to see if other positives show up.

They do have point-of-care 15-30 minute PCR Covid tests (to test for active infection). I also suspect they will test players daily or almost daily.

[tummydoc]

They do have point-of-care 15-30 minute PCR Covid tests (to test for active infection). I also suspect they will test players daily or almost daily.

The rapid tests are antigen tests, not PCR RNA tests. But yes, they are 97% sensitive for contagious levels of virus infection. They become less accurate at low viral levels that PCR would detect, but those low levels are below contagious thresholds. The antigen tests are also much less expensive than PCR. Manufacturing cost is about $5/test. Retail is higher of course.

[MDABE80]

$200 for testing 20 guys is cheaper than $1 million loss. Plus if mortality stays low, and noting that the huge severity of mortality and morbidity is in those 65 and up, I think they’ll figure a way to have a tournament and a season. Albeit the season will be different.

[JPtheBeasta]

The rapid tests are antigen tests, not PCR RNA tests. But yes, they are 97% sensitive for contagious levels of virus infection. They become less accurate at low viral levels that PCR would detect, but those low levels are below contagious thresholds. The antigen tests are also much less expensive than PCR. Manufacturing cost is about $5/test. Retail is higher of course.

Thanks for the correction. I don't want to spread misinformation. "PCR-like" should have been the place holder term I used, based on the utility of them. I just came back here to make a clarification. Thus far, I have compartmentalized PCR testing in mind for active infection and antibody testing for evidence of immune response to past infection or evolving infection. The rapid antigen test is bit new to me. There are urgent cares around here in AZ that do the antigen test but my employer does their contact tracing with the PCR test, which has a 24-72 hrs turnaround most of the time for us.

[GonzagasaurusFlex]

$200 for testing 20 guys is cheaper than $1 million loss. Plus if mortality stays low, and noting that the huge severity of mortality and morbidity is in those 65 and up, I think they’ll figure a way to have a tournament and a season. Albeit the season will be different.

No matter how casually stated, citing 65+ people as being at greatest risk as some kind of justification to put people unnecessarily at risk for the god of $ is shocking and offensive. Young people are carriers of the virus, it spreads beyond them. Good grief

[rennis]

Young people are carriers of the virus, it spreads beyond them. Good grief

Just ask the 197 students at Notre Dame who tested positive and are being sent home. What a debacle.

[JPtheBeasta]

I worked throughout the pandemic because I needed money... to buy food and pay the bills. There are a lot of persons that benefit from the tournament and it isn’t all just business men getting rich. The student athletes also have been dreaming of playing in the tournament. Fans use sports as an outlet for improvement of personal well-being. I don’t think it is fair to characterize this as doing it for the god of money.

[bdmiller7]

I worked throughout the pandemic because I needed money... to buy food and pay the bills. There are a lot of persons that benefit from the tournament and it isn’t all just business men getting rich. The student athletes also have been dreaming of playing in the tournament. Fans use sports as an outlet for improvement of personal well-being. I don’t think it is fair to characterize this as doing it for the god of money.

Yep, if we dont have the NCAA tourney this year there will be thousands of athletes in non money sports who will lose their scholarships. All of NCAA athletics needs this to happen in some form.