COVID-19 be damned, college hoops aims to refire

 

With COVID-19 changing almost everything in college basketball, some coaches, like Rutgers’ Steve Pikiell, may be at an advantage due to depth and experience. (Photo by Bob Dea/Daly Dose Of Hoops)

The last eight months in college basketball have truly been unlike nothing ever seen before.

As much of an understatement as that may be as the sport officially lifts itself from the grounded morass in which the COVID-19 pandemic buried it back on March 12, players and coaches across the country have used the time spent away from the hardwood to take stock of resources on and off the court, soldiering on and seemingly learning on the fly amid ever-changing conditions.

“We’ve had to just adapt,” Rutgers head coach Steve Pikiell, whose Scarlet Knights saw a potential first NCAA Tournament appearance in nearly three decades snatched away in a tidal wave of destruction, said of the learning curve to navigating a worldwide health crisis. “Everything’s different, the world is different right now. We used to have a lot more team film sessions, now we do those individually in a lot bigger spaces. We’re lucky we have a practice facility that has space outside, we lift weights with the windows open and the doors open. You’ve just got to be a little more creative, you’ve got to have a little more time, just a lot more planning goes into everything. There’s no more, ‘Hey, we’re having a team meeting.’ It’s all got to be thought out.”

For the University of Connecticut, returning to the Big East Conference this season after a seven-year exile in the American Athletic Conference, the virtual setting helped the Huskies get a leg up on their renewed rivals.

“When we were sheltered in place during COVID, obviously we were able to study the end of our season, but really begin to break down the new Big East opponents,” Dan Hurley revealed, shedding light on UConn’s preparation. “We felt like we were positioning ourselves to be potentially at the top of the league. During the shelter in place when the guys weren’t on campus, during our Zoom meetings, we did scouting reports for every Big East team.”

“One of the things we’ve been doing is we’re taking a different Big East opponent and we send our guys complete Big East games that the team played in,” UConn assistant coach Tom Moore expounded. “We do a Big East scouting report with the guys, and we go over their personnel just to get them to start thinking about the names and seeing the uniforms. We even show them clips of the incoming freshmen, just so we want them thinking about those names. We’ve never done that before this summer.”

Although the physical damage of the pandemic may pale in comparison to any mental aftereffects, the ability to turn an overall negative situation into a positive was discussed at length this offseason by Siena head coach Carmen Maciariello, who extolled the opportunity to forge a defining legacy to his players.

“We had a great conversation with Avery Johnson, and he was talking to us about how we’re not talking about a new normal, we’re talking about being special,” Maciariello imparted. “I think that’s the biggest thing, the mindset that you have to continually help your team achieve every day. Every single day, there’s a different road map to success, and these guys understand that they’re leaders on campus and everything they do is going to be looked upon, whether it’s making sure they wear their masks, just having that self-awareness.” 

“So I think we’ve realized that we have a good opportunity to be leaders, even in a greater capacity, and show people how to handle this with the social distancing, with the masks, and how to navigate these spaces with remote learning and remote meetings. I just think it continually reinforces what we need to do to be successful.”

With that said, the preparation may be unorthodox and unconventional, but the show must go on. Through the past few weeks, coaches have taken on a common refrain of controlling what their programs can control, but a great deal of work still remains.

“There are no more sure things in terms of planning,” said Quinnipiac head coach Baker Dunleavy. “The main thing we’ve talked about is just being all in, willing to adapt, and if somebody says we’ve got to go play basketball on an ice rink, that’s what we’ve got to do. If we’ve got to test seven times a week, whatever we’ve got to do, we’ve got to sacrifice, be uncomfortable and do it in order to have our season, and that’s what we’ve talked about most. The things we value don’t change, but we’re going to have to be flexible. I think the teams that are willing and able to sacrifice the most this year and stay healthy are going to have a huge advantage.”