NCAA's May Madness Tournament?

COVID-19 is on the rise throughout the country, over 163,000 new cases being reported today (November 14th, 2020). Prior to this recent dramatic rise in cases, the country peaked on July 17th at just over 76,000. Things were looking good; the country was reopening, sports were coming back from hiatus, (most) people were wearing masks. But, this recent development and extreme rise in cases is bringing a lot of question marks and worry along with it.

Leaving out the politics of what should and shouldn't have happened to properly control this pandemic, there are many unknowns ahead. One of those unknowns is the ability to continue sports and competition. As each week passes, we are seeing an increase in COVID cases in every league, both professionally and amateur. College football has seen the largest impact, with an increasing number of games being cancelled every week.

College sports in general is a trickier situation to figure out than the professional world; the NBA utilized the Disney World bubble, the NFL has strict regulations and rules for it's athletes to follow, but college sports do not have those same luxuries. Professional athletes are paid and under contract, so it makes sense that they can be held on a shorter leash of rules. Not only are college athletes unpaid, they are students. They go to class every day with other students. They share public spaces with hundreds of people every day. They have other obligations opposed to the "job" of a professional athlete simply being to play the sport.

One notable college basketball coach is calling for the season to be delayed. With opening day of the college basketball season being barely two weeks away on November 25th, Rick Pitino wants a re-evaluated start date and "May Madness," The former Louisville Cardinal legend and current Iona head coach tweeted that action needs to be taken in order to "Save the season."

Opposite of Coach Pitino's decision-making ability at Louisville, he's right with this one. COVID cases are rising at a ferocious rate, and a really hot-zone is certainly college campuses. Throw students who play sports into the mix, that's a bad combo.

Obviously, the NCAA is all about the money-grab, and some schools certainly need sports to be able to financially get by; there is a factor of money involved, just as money and the economy has factored into the decision-making of the virus so far (the money taking priority over actual lives). But in my eyes, I think the options are dwindling down to a few weeks of college basketball before the virus becomes too much of a problem, or to wait it out and push back the start of the season until some good news shows up in the country, allowing for more of a complete season to be played. People will still tune into May Madness as much as they would in March.

The Ivy League announced this week that they are cancelling their winter sports. The NCAA requires a team to have a mandatory two-week quarantine if any player, coach, or team-worker tests positive. There are an abundance of negative stories for programs across the NCAA. The season is slowly falling apart before it has even begun.

If a season is to happen, it's best shot is to delay the November 25th tip-off, as painful as that is for me to say. I think it is extremely unlikely for a season to have in it's fullest capacity any other way.