By ADAM ZAGORIA
UConn announced Thursday that it had become the third Big East men’s basketball team to pause activities due to a positive COVID-19 test.
The NCAA recommends that all Tier-1 individuals, including players, quarantine for 14 days after a positive test. Already during the preseason, Villanova and Marquette paused for 14 days. A UConn spokesman said the length of the shutdown would be determined by the school’s medical people.
“I expect that we’re going to have disruption,” Big East Commissioner Val Ackerman said last week during Big East media day. “What happens with the virus is out of our hands…I’d be lying if I said we couldn’t have disruption.”
.@UConnMBB becomes the 3rd @BIGEASTMBB program to pause due to a positive test after @NovaMBB and @MarquetteMBB did previously pic.twitter.com/dNHKkd2wHW
— Adam Zagoria (@AdamZagoria) November 5, 2020
The season is slated to begin Nov. 25 with UConn against Central Connecticut. Teams will be tested three times a week during the season.
“There are going to be more challenges this season than any other season in the history of college basketball,” Villanova coach Jay Wright said.
ESPN canceled all of its events in Orlando during the pandemic, but UConn is one of more than 30 teams set to play in “Bubbleville” at the Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville, Conn. The Huskies are slated to play in the Legends Classic Dec. 2-3 along with USC, Vanderbilt and BYU.
“It’s probably going to be almost impossible [to complete a season with a 14-day quarantine period],” Seton Hall coach Kevin Willard said. “It just doesn’t make sense to me, if we’re going to test so much, why we’re not using the tests to keep moving forward.”
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