Louisville basketball: Three options for the ACC to have a season
Three ways Louisville basketball could get a season this year.
The closer we get to the fall, the more uncertain the future looks for Louisville basketball and Louisville athletics as a whole.
This is, seemingly, the way that most things have gone over the last six months. Events are planned with extra precautions in place, but when the time rolls around, plans get pushed back or cancelled altogether.
In the world of college athletics, although teams are practicing using social distancing and mask-wearing measures, and testing frequently, schools are dropping their seasons left and right.
The latest news from Ross Dellenger and Pat Forde of SI.com paints perhaps the grimmest picture yet regarding the future of college sports this season:
"“Almost everything would have to be perfectly aligned to continue moving forward,” NCAA chief medical officer Brian Hainline said Friday night on the association’s weekly Social Series. Not much has aligned in recent weeks. From a national health perspective: COVID-19 infections soared through July, and deaths have correspondingly risen during August. From a local campus perspective: Colleges have been faced with the reality of trying to curtail athlete outbreaks in a non-bubble setting, while bracing for the return of the full student body en masse. Then there have been individual athlete testimonials about lingering effects of the disease, including heart issues; the large-scale player movements within conferences that articulate their health concerns; and the dozens of players opting out of the season. As one Power 5 source put it: ”I think the commissioners, presidents, and ADs have just started looking around and asking, ‘What are we doing?’ ” The answer, now, is pausing. And in some cases backtracking. And perhaps ultimately a full stop.”"
Just hours later, Stadium’s Brett McMurphy addressed the fact that colleges are now seeing the potential risk of long-term impact on student-athletes.
Power 5 source to @Stadium: “College football season is done. I don’t think everyone immediately follows MAC, but it gives other league presidents 1 more reason to make an easier decision. Biggest thing is unknown long-term impact of COVID & liability issues involved"
— Brett McMurphy (@Brett_McMurphy) August 8, 2020
Things aren’t looking great. Not for a start to the college football season in early September, and not for Louisville basketball and college basketball as a whole only two months later.
So, what are the options for Louisville basketball, the ACC, and college athletics? We have a few ideas up our sleeve.
Here are three options athletic directors will hopefully look into before the 2020 season is supposed to get underway.