By Harry Minium
There is growing optimism nationally that both men's and women's college basketball will be played this season, and when that happens, nearly every university and every conference should be on board.
The NCAA controls college basketball, and the lucrative NCAA tournament, and thus will set parameters for when the season begins and how it will be played.
Just in case you've noticed, that's not the way it is in football, at least at the elite level. The Football Bowl Subdivision has no central authority, which is why you're seeing some teams play and some sit out.
NCAA Senior Vice President of Basketball Dan Gavitt is in some ways the basketball czar. He said the Division I Basketball Oversight Committee will announce later this month when the season will start. That means, for now at least, that the ODU men's and women's teams are still slated to play this winter, and that's good news.
The original start date in early November almost certainly won't happen. The most likely start date appears to be Nov. 25, the day most students will head home from most universities for the winter break.
Let's throw a few caveats in here. This is going to depend on better, less expensive and more accurate testing, something that appears on the way. The Pac-12 announced earlier this month that it cut a deal with a drug manufacturer for a test that provides nearly instant results.
And it also depends on whether college athletes show the discipline necessary to avoid getting infected.
That's a major reason why Athletic Director Wood Selig has taken the time to meet with all 18 ODU athletic teams one-on-one, either via a Zoom online meeting or in person.
His message was a hard one for young college students to hear: for the time being, we need you to give up your social life.
I attended last week when Selig met with the ODU men's basketball team just outside Mitchum Basketball Performance Center. Given the pandemic, outside was the safest place to meet, even in the sweltering heat.
Everyone social distanced and wore masks. There were a few fist bumps but no shaking hands and no hugs, even though some players hadn't seen each other in months.
Selig started off by praising the team, and academic adviser Amy Lynch, for the 3.6 grade-point-average the team pulled off last spring.
Then came the hard part, a heart-to-heart discussion in which he asked them to sacrifice a big part of the college experience – hanging out at parties or restaurants with crowds of people.
You can't go out at night and socialize with your friends, he said. You have to wear a mask in class and even when you're walking around campus because you don't know who's going to come up and start speaking to you.
"I know the last thing a bunch of guys 18 to 22 years old want to hear is that you have to stay at home, you can't go to parties," Selig said. "It's a big sacrifice, I know. We're asking a lot of you.
"But it's a necessity if we're going to be able to play basketball. And everyone here wants to play basketball, don't you?"
Heads nodded all around.
Selig usually meets with all 450 or so ODU athletes at the same time to begin the fall semester. Given the pandemic, he decided that 18 one-on-one meetings was better. He knew the athletes would pay more attention to him in a smaller meeting and it gave him a chance to hear what athletes wanted to say.
ODU's fall sports teams aren't playing this fall, but his message is as important to them as it is to the basketball team. They're hoping to play in the spring. And many other schools also not playing have had to stop practice when athletes began testing positive for COVID-19.
While I won't name the university, Selig told a story from an athletic director about how easy the virus can spread.
One of this university's teams had a get-together before everyone had seen their test results. One athlete was infected, and it spread to dozens of others, and from there, to other teams.
Selig didn't talk about ODU assistant coach Bryant Stith, but he didn't need to. The basketball team is well aware of his cautionary tale.
The 49-year-old former Virginia and NBA star came down with a serious case of COVID-19 when he and his family attended two family gatherings. Only one person among the dozens they came in contact with was infected and she didn't learn she was infected until a few days after the party.
Stith's wife, Barbara, two daughters and son, B.J., the 2019 Conference USA Player of the Year, all came down with COVID. Remarkably, his other son, former ODU forward Brandan Stith, did not.
Bryant was sick for many weeks, so sick that he had to go the Sentara Norfolk General Hospital emergency room.
"It was not an experience that I would wish on anyone," he said.
The Stith family had been cautious. They stayed in their Norfolk home, ordered take-out food and generally avoided crowds. They wore masks everywhere.
"We let down our guard only once and that's all it took," he said.
Head coach Jeff Jones was even more emphatic than Selig. Because he's had cancer treatment and because he's in his 50s, he's more likely to suffer serious symptoms if he catches the virus. When he begins interacting with players at practice and in games, he will, in essence, be putting his health in his players' hands.
"We heard coach Jones," forward Jason Wade said. "That gave us even more incentive to be careful."
Selig says he's "optimistic" that men's and women's basketball will be played but said he's not sure how it will look.
We don't know how many games will be played at Chartway Arena or how many fans will be allowed to watch.
It appears likely that schools will be limited to eight non-conference games. In June, ODU announced an attractive, 11-game non-conference men's basketball schedule that included VCU, East Carolina, William and Mary, James Madison, Richmond and Penn and a game against Arkansas in Little Rock.
ODU also would have played Division III neighbor Virginia Wesleyan for the first time.
The women's schedule inclues games with Auburn, VCU and Willliam and Mary and a road game at Cincinnati, which would give guard Victoria Morris a chance to play in her hometown.
For now, we don't know if any of those games will be played. There is talk of putting together month-long tournaments in one spot where something approximating an NBA-like bubble could be emulated.
These tournaments would give every team a chance to play eight non-conference games under bubble-like conditions. VCU is considering hosting such a "bubble" event.
It appears that conference play will begin in early January as usual. The hope is that by then, there will be a reliable vaccine that can control the virus.
For now, the players aren't in a bubble and their future is in their own hands.
If they are smart and disciplined, it's more likely that basketball will be played, in whatever way, shape or form the NCAA deems most practical.
Contact Minium: hminium@odu.edu
Minium: There is Growing Optimism That Men's And Women's Basketball Will be Played This Season
