Just this week, both the Marquette and Toledo basketball programs have paused activities after players tested positive for COVID-19.
BYU coach Mark Pope and his staff realize that this season, which tips off at the end of November, will be anything but normal. They’re “taking a ton of precautions” while preparing for the general uncertainty, particularly with the schedule.
“It does seem like everybody is really, really committed to push forward with whatever we can make of this season. That’s a really positive thing. We’re trying to do it as safely as we possibly can. It’s healthy for our guys. … I’ll be surprised if we get through this season without some hiccups right now.” — BYU coach Mark Pope
The Cougars already know how it feels to have a season abruptly cut short, when the NCAA Tournament was canceled last March due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Pope said the program is “really, really hopeful” about being able to play a full season in 2020-21.
But reality says that not everything will go smoothly.
“Based on the history of the last four or five months in every sport, minus the NBA, we have every expectation there’s going to be hiccups and sideways things along the way,” Pope said. “It does seem like everybody is really, really committed to push forward with whatever we can make of this season. That’s a really positive thing. We’re trying to do it as safely as we possibly can. It’s healthy for our guys. … I’ll be surprised if we get through this season without some hiccups right now.”
Like every other team around the country, BYU is scrambling to piece together a schedule after the start of the season was pushed back to Nov. 25. The Cougars started official practices last week.
College football has seen numerous games postponed or canceled due to coronavirus outbreaks this fall. A similar scenario seems likely for college basketball.
If games need to be rescheduled or canceled, or if new opponents need to be added to the schedule as replacement games, the Cougars are preparing for all of those situations.
“We’re just one domino away from having a complete schedule. That domino keeps changing on us,” Pope said. “Hopefully in the next week or two we’ll announce a full schedule. We’re also in talks with several (nonconference) teams about contingencies even during league play, talking about their bye weeks and our bye weeks. … The way we see this is, whoever has taken the time to prepare the highest amount of contingencies is probably going to come out successfully. Hopefully we come out with a full schedule and then I expect throughout the course of the season it’s going to be a dynamic schedule, as complicated as that sounds.”
Every program is trying to figure out how to navigate the COVID-19 world, Pope said.
“I don’t know that there’s a universally codified protocol. I think everyone’s managing it based on their own circumstances and situations. You’ve seen people go all different directions. We’re meeting literally on a daily basis to have COVID conversations with my trainer and he’s on tri-weekly meetings with the entire health staff at BYU.”
As for protocols, the Cougars are working to keep everyone healthy and safe.
“We’re getting tested multiple times per week. We started early on with randomized testing. Now, the whole crew is getting tested. That continues to increase as we move forward,” Pope said. “Along with testing, we’re still wearing masks in the office. We’re trying to do our staff meetings (outside) and we’re still doing Zoom meetings as a staff. Our guys are wearing masks through warmups (before practice). We’re washing our hands multiple times during practice and trying to take every precaution we possibly can.”
The way things are going, plan on a bumpy ride this college basketball season.