By Harry Minium
All eyes were on Malik Curry. The decision, in essence, was his.
He was in a meeting Old Dominion University basketball coach Jeff Jones called in December with upper classmen to decide what the Monarchs would do over the Christmas break.
The men's team has weathered the pandemic better than many. They created a "bubble," in which they have limited their contact with the outside world. So far, no players and coaches have tested positive since they reported to campus in July.
Question was, would the ODU men go home over Christmas or maintain that bubble by remaining in Norfolk?
A decision to remain at ODU would affect everyone. No home-cooked meals with parents. No opening presents with siblings. No chance to reconnect with friends.
But it would hit Curry the hardest.
The senior guard from Wilmington, Delaware, who leads the team in scoring and assists, has an 8-month-old son living in Florence, South Carolina. He hasn't seen his son, Malakai Curry, or his son's mother, Ashlyn Flowers, in a couple of months.
If he agreed to spend Christmas with the team, it meant he wouldn't see his son again until the season ended.
"I was struggling," Jones said. "I wasn't sure that staying here was the best thing for our players.
"I was very transparent about both sides of the argument and we had a lot of discussion.
"We gave Malik the first say in what he wanted to do. I told him, 'I'm sure not being with your son is very difficult. Where is your head on this?' "
Malik Curry with his son, Malakai
Curry's response surprised Jones.
"My son is very important to me and my family is very important to me," he said.
"But we're here to play basketball."
Jones was moved. And so was I when I heard the story.
If you're a parent, imagine volunteering to make that kind of sacrifice? It took courage and commitment.
Truth be told, all players, coaches and staff members on both the men's and women's teams have made difficult sacrifices in what has been the weirdest, most frustrating and most challenging season college athletics has faced in my lifetime.
More than 100 football games were cancelled this fall because of positive COVID-19 tests and by the end of the basketball season, several hundred more will be lost.
In order to avoid getting infected, ODU's players have given up going to parties, going to see friends and going out to restaurants. There is no hanging out with athletes from other teams.
"What we've asked them to do isn't normal," Jones said.
Nor does their sacrifice necessarily mean that either ODU team will finish the season without a positive test. Some people who wear masks, avoid crowds and frequently wash their hands still get sick.
Big East powerhouse Villanova had to shut down its basketball program for a third time recently. Coach Jay Wright, who tested positive last month, said the latest shutdown was "devastating" to his players.
I'm sure it was, and there are few in the coaching profession who are as respected as Wright.
"None of our players did anything wrong," he said.
They didn't have to. Players are exposed to the public when they are in airports, hotels or go to the grocery store.
As Athletic Director Camden Wood Selig said earlier this year, "you can do everything right and end up getting COVID from something as simple as putting gas in your car."
But if you're careful and follow the rules, you stand a good chance of avoiding infection, Dr. Selig added.
While the basketball teams are sacrificing now, so will every other ODU athlete and coach in the spring semester. The football program, which practiced in a bubble this fall, will have spring practice in a bubble, too.
ODU shut down all fall sports, and every sport except football will play during the spring semester. The women's swim team had its first meet this past weekend and the volleyball team hosts is first game ever on Friday.
They will play largely in front of empty seats. Current state COVID-19 rules limit ODU to 250 fans per basketball home game. Attendance at all games this spring will most likely be limited because of state regulations.
Watching a game at Chartway Arena has been an unusual experience, to put it mildly. I can't imagine how difficult it is to play without significant fan support, or even the band, cheerleaders or dance team.
DeLisha Milton-Jones
Hearing 'Ice Cream and Cake' isn't the same without students and thousands of Monarch fans swaying to the music.
This is yet another sacrifice the pandemic has forced on players – they are missing the joy of playing in front of 7,500, full-throated Monarch fans.
"We miss the fans," Curry said. "It's been a big adjustment to play without most of them.
"We've learned that we just have to bring out own energy."
ODU's Mitchum Basketball Performance Center has helped both teams limit their exposure to the outside world. Situated behind Chartway Arena, it's a self-contained facility where the players practice, lift weights, watch film, go to study hall and hang out in the players' lounge, all without stepping outside. Facilities are thoroughly cleaned after every practice and workout.
Coaches and staff are masked during practice, and so are the players.
The limits placed on players outside of the Mitchum Center have at times been difficult to digest.
"Not going to the Webb Center to get something to eat, not going to see friends, it threw me off for the first month or so," said A.J. Oliver II, a guard on the men's team.
"It's something we've got to live through, that we have to push through.
"But it doesn't feel normal at all. I feel so bad for our freshmen. It's their first year of college."
Victoria Morris, a senior women's guard from Cincinnati, is an outgoing person with a ton of friends. She said not being with her friends in person has been an adjustment. Players are finding other ways to fill their emotional needs, she added.
Victoria Morris
She often walks across campus at dusk to the Whitehurst residence hall, where she watches sunsets on the beach. The waterfront offers a magnificent view of the Elizabeth River, and, in the distance, the Norfolk Naval Station.
"There's something very calming and peaceful about sunsets," he said. "I love the view there and the colors you see. Every sunset is a little different.
"That's one of my go-to things to do."
Women's basketball coach DeLisha Milton-Jones has not laid out hard and fast rules for her team.
"I know I'm dealing with teenagers and young adults, so I put myself in the mindset of their parents," Milton-Jones said. "If you say no to a lot of things over and over, teenagers are likely to rebel.
"The way I've approached it is when you know better, you do better. It's been a matter of having timely conversations, checking in with them to make sure they know what's going on around them. Communicating with them all the time has been a necessity.
"We tell them, 'You could be the person who shuts down our team for two weeks and you don't want to be that person. We all know how dangerous this disease is. Protect yourself and you're protecting the bubble.'
"They're handling it well."
Jeff Jones had reason to be a little more dogmatic. He had surgery, and then radiation treatment, several years ago for prostate cancer. Fortunately, doctors said there is no longer any sign of cancer.
However, given his age, and the fact that he's had radiation, he would be in a high-risk category if he caught COVID-19.
He was hesitant at first to fully embrace being around his players until they held an extended team meeting outside the Mitchum Center, in which they promised to do everything in their power stay safe.
"We're all concerned about coach Jones' health," said team captain Jason Wade, who had a season-ending injury during preseason practice. "We're all careful because we don't want to see him get sick.
"But the guys love basketball. We're also being careful because we love basketball and don't want to see that taken away."
I understand where Jones is coming from. I had radiation for prostate cancer three years ago and will be 68 in February. When I cover games, I'm tucked away in an end zone suite, sometimes by myself. I always wear a mask.
Interviews with players and coaches are done via Zoom. Everyone on the court, from the refs to people working the game on press row, are part of the bubble. They are repeatedly tested, and there is no direct contact with someone who hasn't been tested.
I haven't talked to a player or coach in person all season and likely won't until the pandemic is under control. The same applies to TV and newspaper reporters.
Like I said, it's been a very strange season.
Scott Johnson, ODU's associate athletic director for athletic training and sports performance, said the University is adhering to Conference USA's strict COVID-19 protocol, which calls for three tests per week for every basketball player, coach and staff member.
Dr. Selig said it is the best protocol of any mid-major conference and equal to what Power 5 programs have adopted.
There are two primary types of COVID tests: the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test and antigen, or rapid test. Johnson said the PCR test "is the gold standard." ODU could substitute the cheaper antigen test for one of the three weekly tests.
Jeff Jones
"But we're only doing PCR tests," he said.
Unlike some other schools, ODU processes the tests in a lab on campus. That's a luxury even some medical schools don't have.
"We're so fortunate we can do that on campus," Johnson said. "Doing the tests is easy but getting results can be a problem.
"For us, it's a matter of hours to get tests back as opposed to a couple of days."
The vast majority of ODU athletes have acted responsibly, he said, and he singled out Jeff Jones and Milton-Jones for special praise.
"Neither team has had a positive test and I think that's a tribute to the leadership in both programs," he said.
Conference USA helped limit travel, and thus exposure for players and coaches, with a smart decision to schedule most league games on back-to-back Fridays and Saturdays.
And while it may be difficult to play the same team twice in two days, it has not only limited exposure, it's also saved money and time away from home.
Jeff Jones blanches when he hears people say college athletes are being used this season. All ODU athletes were given the choice to opt out this season because of COVID and were told their scholarships were secure.
"For those who opted out, I think that's a good thing," he said. "It was the right thing for them.
"Our kids were all given that choice. But for all of them, being basketball players is a big part of who they are, it's a big part of their identity. I think they are to be admired. However, the notion that they're being forced into it, that they're being used, that's nonsense."
Morris said she and her teammates are making sacrifices voluntarily.
"It's been a difficult adjustment," she said. "But when you put things in perspective, the two things I'm here for are to play basketball and to get my education.
"You have to make basketball and school your priorities."
A.J. Oliver
That's not to say that players haven't endured hardships. Oliver said his grandfather, Robert Joiner, who lives in Birmingham, Alabama, was diagnosed with COVID-19. He was briefly hospitalized at UAB's hospital when the symptoms became severe.
"He's doing better now, but he struggled for a while," Oliver said. "You think it will never reach you or anyone you love, but man, when it does, that's the worst feeling in the world. I felt helpless. It broke me a little bit when he got sick."
Assistant men's coach Bryant Stith and his wife, and three of their four sons and daughters, were infected last spring, and Bryant's case was severe. He was briefly hospitalized, and it took months for him to recover.
Bryant's experience chastened the Monarchs to be careful, Wade said.
At times, the pandemic has worn on ODU athletes emotionally, as it has all Americans.
"There have been instances when a combination of factors affected some of our guys particularly hard," Jeff Jones said. "We try to help them get through it as best we can. Communication is more important this year than it's ever been.
"The guys are relying on each other and we've got a lot of support personnel to help. But there are moments when things seem overwhelming. So far, they've been able to push on through it and get to the other side and stay positive and focused."
Jeff Jones and his wife, Danielle, delivered sumptuous dinners on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day to the players. The camaraderie of spending the holidays together helped team moral, Wade said.
Yet the season remains unpredictable. The men's and women's teams have had five games canceled and that's in addition to many more games postponed before the season began when virtually every program in America was trying to reduce travel.
Jeff Jones said he has told his players to expect the unexpected this season.
"We know we're likely going to lose some conference games, so we've talked to a number of schools outside our league about scheduling games to replace them," he said.
Milton-Jones said she's also employing the same strategy. "We've been reaching out to everybody," she said.
Jeff Jones said that December meeting affirmed for him the commitment his players have made to play this season.
"The fact that some of our guys said we all need to stay in Norfolk for Christmas, that wasn't a surprise," he said. "The fact that it was unanimous, that surprised me.
"I'm so proud of their maturity and commitment."
Contact Minium: hminium@odu.edu
Minium: ODU Basketball Players are Making Huge Sacrifices in Their Social Lives to Play This Season
