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Rock Chalk Talk: Basketball
Anything pertaining to basketball: college, pro, HS, recruiting, TV coverage
Anything pertaining to basketball: college, pro, HS, recruiting, TV coverage
Coronavirus and March Madness
5 years 5 months ago - 5 years 5 months ago #25172
by konza63
“With kindest regards to Dr. Forrest C. Allen, the father of basketball coaching, from the father of the game.”
1936 inscription on the portrait of Dr. Naismith, displayed above Phog Allen's office desk at KU.
I really, really hate to bring this up. But as a realist, and as someone with background in scenario planning and futures analysis, one thing that's been on my mind as a concern the past couple weeks is that the spread of the virus could ultimately have a major impact on The Dance.
My biggest worry, in the worst-case scenario of cross-country rapid spread, is that they might cancel the event in its entirety. I can't even imagine that happening, but this is a growing public health crisis (see: China, South Korea, Italy, et al.) so it has to be one scenario on the table we'd all have to most reluctantly consider.
Obviously, postponement would be preferred to cancellation - all the more so for KU fans like us, given the quality of team and shot we have this year.
Other options they might consider:
* Proceeding with the event but playing to empty arenas and just televising it (massive, massive loss of revenue for the cities - and potentially the NCAA itself if they have to refund tickets). Also a massive goat rope for individuals who have bought tickets through the after-market process (unofficial).
* Going ahead with the tourney and fan participation, but shifting some sites (e.g., the Spokane site) - but this is super tricky, given the projected spread to other places. It's like sticking fingers in the dike, only to have the water come through somewhere else. A logistical nightmare because this requires cities to have sufficient lead times, plan for the deluge of people, etc.
* Proceed with the tourney but execute extreme caution at the arena sites - up to and including testing people's temperatures as they enter (see the WP article I'm posting). But even there, it's not a great solution, since many carriers of this virus can be asymptomatic - no signs, yet vectors of contagion.
Ugh. Ugh. Ugh.
Again, I didn't want to be the guy dropping a you-know-what in the punch bowl, but this has to be on our radar, folks. It is what it is.
PS: The same dynamic and set of issues apples to the league tourneys that are fast approaching. Not anywhere near the same scale as The Dance, but the timing is certainly not ideal.
Here are a couple articles on the fast-evolving situation:
www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2020/03/06...rus-its-complicated/
www.insidehighered.com/news/2020/03/05/f...eled-due-coronavirus
nypost.com/2020/03/06/college-basketball...d-coronavirus-fears/
My biggest worry, in the worst-case scenario of cross-country rapid spread, is that they might cancel the event in its entirety. I can't even imagine that happening, but this is a growing public health crisis (see: China, South Korea, Italy, et al.) so it has to be one scenario on the table we'd all have to most reluctantly consider.
Obviously, postponement would be preferred to cancellation - all the more so for KU fans like us, given the quality of team and shot we have this year.
Other options they might consider:
* Proceeding with the event but playing to empty arenas and just televising it (massive, massive loss of revenue for the cities - and potentially the NCAA itself if they have to refund tickets). Also a massive goat rope for individuals who have bought tickets through the after-market process (unofficial).
* Going ahead with the tourney and fan participation, but shifting some sites (e.g., the Spokane site) - but this is super tricky, given the projected spread to other places. It's like sticking fingers in the dike, only to have the water come through somewhere else. A logistical nightmare because this requires cities to have sufficient lead times, plan for the deluge of people, etc.
* Proceed with the tourney but execute extreme caution at the arena sites - up to and including testing people's temperatures as they enter (see the WP article I'm posting). But even there, it's not a great solution, since many carriers of this virus can be asymptomatic - no signs, yet vectors of contagion.
Ugh. Ugh. Ugh.
Again, I didn't want to be the guy dropping a you-know-what in the punch bowl, but this has to be on our radar, folks. It is what it is.
PS: The same dynamic and set of issues apples to the league tourneys that are fast approaching. Not anywhere near the same scale as The Dance, but the timing is certainly not ideal.
Here are a couple articles on the fast-evolving situation:
www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2020/03/06...rus-its-complicated/
www.insidehighered.com/news/2020/03/05/f...eled-due-coronavirus
nypost.com/2020/03/06/college-basketball...d-coronavirus-fears/
“With kindest regards to Dr. Forrest C. Allen, the father of basketball coaching, from the father of the game.”
1936 inscription on the portrait of Dr. Naismith, displayed above Phog Allen's office desk at KU.
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