Coach K on COVID-19

[tower912]

So amateur athletes are obligated to put their health at risk to entertain us.

[The Sultan]

So amateur athletes are obligated to put their health at risk to entertain us.

They can opt out.

[Pakuni]

So amateur athletes are obligated to put their health at risk to entertain us.

Why should 2020 be different than any other year?
COVID isn't  exactly high on the list of serious health risks on a football field.

[Shooter McGavin]

If the NCAA would have shut down football the Power five would have revolted and left.  Hell the coaches and players revolted when the Big Ten and PAC Twelve shut down temporarily. 

It is disingenuous of coach K to say the NCAA is only looking at the "end game".  The member institutions, including his own, want the kids to play.  He should be talking directly to his own university president and the ACC, not the NCAA administrators.  People use the administrative people at the NCAA as a scapegoat constantly and it's garbage in this instance.  Duke and the ACC should lead the way and shut down if they want to.  Coach K definitely would not be saying this if his team was number one in the country.

The fact of the matter is the kids want to play as well.  They and their parents know the risks.  Hell, highschool kids want to play and are doing it with far less to gain than these college athletes from high level conferences.

[MU82]

If the NCAA would have shut down football the Power five would have revolted and left.  Hell the coaches and players revolted when the Big Ten and PAC Twelve shut down temporarily. 

It is disingenuous of coach K to say the NCAA is only looking at the "end game".  The member institutions, including his own, want the kids to play.  He should be talking directly to his own university president and the ACC, the NCAA administrators.  People use the administrative people at the NCAA as a scapegoat constantly and it's garbage in this instance.  Duke and the ACC should lead the way and shut down if they want to.  Coach K definitely would not be saying this if his team was number one in the country.

The fact of the matter is the kids want to play as well.  They and their parents know the risks.  Hell, highschool kids want to play and are doing it with far less to gain than these college athletes from high level conferences.

Interesting comment, SM. Accurate too IMHO.

[MU82]

The unfortunately named Luke DeCock of the Raleigh-Durham paper, with a very good column ...

https://www.charlotteobserver.com/sports/spt-columns-blogs/luke-decock/article247725555.html?ac_cid=DM341031&ac_bid=-1189826009

Just because Mike Krzyzewski says it, the entire college basketball world is required by statute to come to a screeching halt so Very Serious People can parse What It All Means. This is true even when Krzyzewski openly pondering the moral dilemma of playing college basketball during an uncontrolled pandemic Tuesday night wasn't actually anything that hasn't already been said.

It was the same thing hundreds of his peers and thousands of his colleagues in college athletics have been saying, or feeling, since July. But such is the stature of the Duke coach's bully pulpit that his former assistant Jeff Capel can say essentially the same thing and more in Pittsburgh on Monday — "I don't know why you cancel it in March, but you say it's OK to do it right now" — only to have his comments disappear like a stone dropped in a pond, while Krzyzewski admitting "I don't think it feels right to anybody" becomes a matter of intense national debate.

College basketball in particular is at an inflection point, trying desperately to scrape its way through to March and the financial imperative of the NCAA tournament while Rick Pitino and others have called for the season to be pushed back.

Krzyzewski will face the same slings ("Is he just doing it to distract from his disappointing team?") and arrows ("coach k your a coronabro lol") from social-media "experts" and coronavirus-denier media grifters as anyone else who has dared question the rumbling steamroller of college athletics as it proceeds forward, but he was merely giving voice to a sentiment shared by a great silent many.

There has been a shared general queasiness about this whole operation, a sense of uncomfortability around the blatant exploitation of college students to grease the wheels of the giant economic engine that is college sports. That feeling of being a part of something vaguely unseemly, the one Krzyzewski expressed Tuesday night, has never quite gone away.

And this from Capel later in the column ...

"I don't think anyone can say anymore that these young men are amateurs. That's out the window. They're not. They absolutely aren't."

[Uncle Rico]

The unfortunately named Luke DeCock of the Raleigh-Durham paper, with a very good column ...

https://www.charlotteobserver.com/sports/spt-columns-blogs/luke-decock/article247725555.html?ac_cid=DM341031&ac_bid=-1189826009

Just because Mike Krzyzewski says it, the entire college basketball world is required by statute to come to a screeching halt so Very Serious People can parse What It All Means. This is true even when Krzyzewski openly pondering the moral dilemma of playing college basketball during an uncontrolled pandemic Tuesday night wasn't actually anything that hasn't already been said.

It was the same thing hundreds of his peers and thousands of his colleagues in college athletics have been saying, or feeling, since July. But such is the stature of the Duke coach's bully pulpit that his former assistant Jeff Capel can say essentially the same thing and more in Pittsburgh on Monday — "I don't know why you cancel it in March, but you say it's OK to do it right now" — only to have his comments disappear like a stone dropped in a pond, while Krzyzewski admitting "I don't think it feels right to anybody" becomes a matter of intense national debate.

College basketball in particular is at an inflection point, trying desperately to scrape its way through to March and the financial imperative of the NCAA tournament while Rick Pitino and others have called for the season to be pushed back.

Krzyzewski will face the same slings ("Is he just doing it to distract from his disappointing team?") and arrows ("coach k your a coronabro lol") from social-media "experts" and coronavirus-denier media grifters as anyone else who has dared question the rumbling steamroller of college athletics as it proceeds forward, but he was merely giving voice to a sentiment shared by a great silent many.

There has been a shared general queasiness about this whole operation, a sense of uncomfortability around the blatant exploitation of college students to grease the wheels of the giant economic engine that is college sports. That feeling of being a part of something vaguely unseemly, the one Krzyzewski expressed Tuesday night, has never quite gone away.

And this from Capel later in the column ...

"I don't think anyone can say anymore that these young men are amateurs. That's out the window. They're not. They absolutely aren't."

As for the bolded part, the argument will be "but the kids want to play!"

It's interesting to me because a lot of those same people complain when those same kids make a decision to transfer, go pro or choose another school during recruitment.  Then they're just kids that don't know any better.

[Shooter McGavin]

As for the bolded part, the argument will be "but the kids want to play!"

It's interesting to me because a lot of those same people complain when those same kids make a decision to transfer, go pro or choose another school during recruitment.  Then they're just kids that don't know any better.

Well, they do want to play.  Hell my grade school and high school kids want to play.  It's a game and it's fun!  Fortunately, in college, it also pays the rent, electric, gas, food, training, tutor, gym rental, marketing, and tuition bills. So that is another positive.

[Dish]

Nate Oats off the top rope with the flying elbow to Coach K!

"Nate Oats on Coach K wanting to delay play due to COVID-19: "Let me ask you a question. Do you think Coach K would be saying that if he hadn't lost those two non-conference games at home?"

[Pakuni]

Nate Oats off the top rope with the flying elbow to Coach K!

"Nate Oats on Coach K wanting to delay play due to COVID-19: "Let me ask you a question. Do you think Coach K would be saying that if he hadn't lost those two non-conference games at home?"

Jeff Goodman @GoodmanHoops

Text from one coach to me after seeing this comment about Coach K from Nate Oats:
"NCAA will be on his campus in 45 minutes flat. Dead man walking."

[Uncle Rico]

Jeff Goodman @GoodmanHoops

Text from one coach to me after seeing this comment about Coach K from Nate Oats:
"NCAA will be on his campus in 45 minutes flat. Dead man walking."

If it's coming from Goodman, he might have gotten that from Chris Mack or Buzz

[MU82]

Nate Oats off the top rope with the flying elbow to Coach K!

"Nate Oats on Coach K wanting to delay play due to COVID-19: "Let me ask you a question. Do you think Coach K would be saying that if he hadn't lost those two non-conference games at home?"

nm

[Pakuni]

If it's coming from Goodman, he might have gotten that from Chris Mack or Buzz

Or another media-savvy D-1 basketball coach in the state of Alabama, who may be nervous about Oats' recent recruiting success.

[Uncle Rico]

Or another media-savvy D-1 basketball coach in the state of Alabama, who may be nervous about Oats' recent recruiting success.

Him, too, but I'd want to keep the NCAA as far away from the state of Alabama as possible if I were him

[tower912]

K just cancelled the rest of the Duke non-conference slate.    Just one game.    And two more that were already cancelled and won't be made up.   

https://www.espn.com/mens-college-basketball/story/_/id/30492347/duke-men-basketball-cancels-rest-nonconference-slate


https://theundefeated.com/features/the-college-basketball-season-is-barreling-toward-disaster/

[MU24]

Why not just cancel the rest of the season if they are doing it out of an abundance of caution for Covid-19?
Is the risk suddenly way lower just for the conference slate? 

[Jockey]

Why not just cancel the rest of the season if they are doing it out of an abundance of caution for Covid-19?
Is the risk suddenly way lower just for the conference slate? 

Why, indeed?

This seems to have been done purely out of embarrassment.

[tower912]

I come down on the side of principle instead of embarrassment.  It is a cupcake.  The two games to be rescheduled were cupcakes.    He is choosing to not put his team at unnecessary risk against cupcakes.   Kind of like a likely first round pick sitting out the Weedeater Bowl.

[MUeng]

Nate Oats off the top rope with the flying elbow to Coach K!

"Nate Oats on Coach K wanting to delay play due to COVID-19: "Let me ask you a question. Do you think Coach K would be saying that if he hadn't lost those two non-conference games at home?"

I did enjoy reading that. Interesting that the espn article noted the only power the NCAA has right now is changing the format and timing of the tournament. Seems like K is just griping following a couple losses and doesn't quite know who should be the target. "Someone please listen to me, I'm coach k!"

[Jockey]

I come down on the side of principle instead of embarrassment.  It is a cupcake.  The two games to be rescheduled were cupcakes.    He is choosing to not put his team at unnecessary risk against cupcakes.   Kind of like a likely first round pick sitting out the Weedeater Bowl.

I disagree, Tower. I think he wants more practice time to avoid further similar outcomes.  This is far from his most talented teams. Maybe even one of his worst of the last 25 years.

[Shooter McGavin]

Why, indeed?

This seems to have been done purely out of embarrassment.

Yep.  Dumb.

[tower912]

I disagree, Tower. I think he wants more practice time to avoid further similar outcomes.  This is far from his most talented teams. Maybe even one of his worst of the last 25 years.

Ok, we disagree.   Still friends?

[Dr. Blackheart]

K just cancelled the rest of the Duke non-conference slate.    Just one game.    And two more that were already cancelled and won't be made up.   

https://www.espn.com/mens-college-basketball/story/_/id/30492347/duke-men-basketball-cancels-rest-nonconference-slate


https://theundefeated.com/features/the-college-basketball-season-is-barreling-toward-disaster/

Cancelled without cause is a forfeit.

[Jockey]

Ok, we disagree.   Still friends?

Always.

Not sayin' I am right. Just an opinion.

[Heisenberg]

Cancelled without cause is a forfeit.

I agree, he is abusing the opportunity to cancel games without a loss.

Why doesn't he announce ...

"out of an abundance of bad play we are canceling games to focus on practicing. And we reserve the right to use this loop-hole to back out of tough games (see Michigan) to preserve our record and NCAA seeding.

Oh, yeah, my back is beginning to act up. Just saying."