As the coronavirus continues to rage across the country, conferences are making decisions on football season and it won't be long until the same will be required for basketball season. Seton Hall head coach Kevin Willard talked to the New York Post's Zach Braziller about his thoughts on the situation. Considering that Willard is a member of the conference's COVID-19 Task Force, it's worth highlighting what he said.
The biggest takeaway was that Willard is resolutely opposed to one idea that has been floated around the basketball world and has been repeatedly suggested by Rick Pitino: delaying the start of the season until January 1. Willard believes that would be a mistake. With many schools adopting an altered fall schedule, that will see an earlier start, no fall break, and an end to the on-campus semester coming ahead of Thanksgiving, Willard sees that long period of virtually no students being on campus as an ideal time to play, with the empty campuses serving as a sort of bubble. Not taking advantage of that and waiting to play until shortly before students return for the spring semester would be "idiotic" in Willard's opinion.
Willard's point makes a lot of sense. It would seem prudent to take advantage of the 5-7 week period when campuses will be virtually empty.
It would be fair to take Willard's position on when to start the season and assume that would translate into playing a full schedule, but that is not the case. Willard is currently suggesting an expanded conference-only schedule. His thought process is that it would give the conference some flexibility if it became necessary to postpone games and also that it will be easier for the Big East to implement conference-wide protocols that would ensure every program is taking the same precautions and are on the same page. The conference is in the process of establishing testing, safety and travel protocols. Willard isn't opposed to non-conference games but would want other conferences to have similar protocols in place, and with the NCAA basically leaving it to the conferences and the differing circumstances across the country that feels like a tall order.
We've mentioned the benefit of time that basketball has here, and the Big East is taking advantage of that. Willard has shared his thoughts with other Big East coaches and administrators and the league is considering several plans while using the time they have to assess the continually changing situation.
It does sound, at least for now, that the Big East has every intention of playing and is trying to figure out the best way to make that happen.
From a fan perspective, it would be nice to see a full schedule played as Villanova has several intriguing non-conference matchups scheduled, including a matchup with Virginia that would be one of the highlights of the entire college basketball calendar. On the other hand, at this point sports fans will take what they can get.
For now, we have a little insight into what the conference is thinking and will wait for more tidbits like this to come out while we continue to monitor the situation.
The biggest takeaway was that Willard is resolutely opposed to one idea that has been floated around the basketball world and has been repeatedly suggested by Rick Pitino: delaying the start of the season until January 1. Willard believes that would be a mistake. With many schools adopting an altered fall schedule, that will see an earlier start, no fall break, and an end to the on-campus semester coming ahead of Thanksgiving, Willard sees that long period of virtually no students being on campus as an ideal time to play, with the empty campuses serving as a sort of bubble. Not taking advantage of that and waiting to play until shortly before students return for the spring semester would be "idiotic" in Willard's opinion.
Willard's point makes a lot of sense. It would seem prudent to take advantage of the 5-7 week period when campuses will be virtually empty.
It would be fair to take Willard's position on when to start the season and assume that would translate into playing a full schedule, but that is not the case. Willard is currently suggesting an expanded conference-only schedule. His thought process is that it would give the conference some flexibility if it became necessary to postpone games and also that it will be easier for the Big East to implement conference-wide protocols that would ensure every program is taking the same precautions and are on the same page. The conference is in the process of establishing testing, safety and travel protocols. Willard isn't opposed to non-conference games but would want other conferences to have similar protocols in place, and with the NCAA basically leaving it to the conferences and the differing circumstances across the country that feels like a tall order.
We've mentioned the benefit of time that basketball has here, and the Big East is taking advantage of that. Willard has shared his thoughts with other Big East coaches and administrators and the league is considering several plans while using the time they have to assess the continually changing situation.
It does sound, at least for now, that the Big East has every intention of playing and is trying to figure out the best way to make that happen.
From a fan perspective, it would be nice to see a full schedule played as Villanova has several intriguing non-conference matchups scheduled, including a matchup with Virginia that would be one of the highlights of the entire college basketball calendar. On the other hand, at this point sports fans will take what they can get.
For now, we have a little insight into what the conference is thinking and will wait for more tidbits like this to come out while we continue to monitor the situation.