When are we going to see protocols for ACC and college basketball?

I hate to be a party-pooper, but my excitement about the Maui-Asheville Invitation was tempered by some medical experts having said “If you think football has been a challenge, wait to we get to basketball.” The reasoning for thinking COVID could be more of a problem with hoops is for three reasons:

One, the players are basically naked with nothing covering their nose, mouth and faces; two, basketball players actually spend more time in close proximity to their teammates and, more importantly, to opponents they are guarding on the court; and, three, the games are played indoors, where we know the virus can spread more easily.

So while it is really cool that the 2020-21 loaded Tar Heels are set to open the season against UNLV and the Harrah’s Cherokee Center in Asheville, do we want our excitement for Carolina Basketball to be whack-a-moled by what happened to start the fall season?

If many smaller schools called off football, along with some major conferences that eventually decided to play in October, are we worried that basketball season won’t get off the ground once the teams that are practicing in private under close scrutiny venture out?

Will the ACC’s Medical Advisory Group (MAG) send out protocols that have nothing to do with the NBA, which has gotten through the resumption of its season and is now in the Finals by setting up a very tight bubble in Orlando? That isn’t happening in college ball.

Think about the eight teams from seven states from California to Nevada to Texas to Indiana to Alabama to Rhode Island to North Carolina converging on Asheville at a resort that will be open for business, if it’s not already, by the end of November. Where are all the teams staying and how safe is it during what may be a second wave?

Will Roy Williams and Davidson’s Bob McKillop, both who have just turned 70, be coaching in masks? Basketball is important, but health is more so. Sports, especially in these parts, can be bigger than the kids who play and men who coach. Please, give us some protocols!

 

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