MBB: University Athletic Association

[deiscanton]

they had no scheduled events until December 30 anyway, even if they end up calling off an OOC game or two it's pretty low impact at this time.

The president of NYU made an updated statement this week (on Tuesday, December 21, 2021) that the plans for January are to have all J-term classes at NYU conducted remotely, and that the athletics suspension (all athletics, recreational and fitness facilities on the NYU campus will remain closed and travel for athletics competitions and J-term academic programs is not permitted during the suspension or the J-term academics period )  will remain in effect at least until the start of the spring semester on January 24, 2022, when they expect in-person instruction to resume at NYU and their Study Away sites.  The athletics suspension may remain in effect beyond January 24, depending on local COVID-19 conditions in the New York Tri-State area, data from the NYU testing program, guidance from public authorities and educational institutions, and other sources.

This will have a major impact on the NYU teams, as at least the first 5 UAA contests involving NYU will be affected by the suspension.  It is unknown how the UAA will treat this major development as to NYU scheduling.  As far as I know, the UAA Basketball Code of Conduct was not written to allow for conference forfeits, as it was designed primarily to deal with cancellations or postponements caused by weather conditions by keeping the mid-week open for rescheduling make-up games.  One scenario that I could foresee with this development is for the UAA to rule that NYU will not be eligible for the UAA Basketball title and AQ this season so that NYU could play a single round robin of 7 conference games in February rather than the full double round robin 14 games (similar to what Johns Hopkins did when they were in the UAA-- JHU was not eligible for the UAA AQ in basketball, and that results vs NYU this season would, as a result, not be used to settle tiebreakers), and that the remaining 7 UAA teams will compete for the AQ.  However, this is now unchartered territory.

Note:  It would also not make sense at this time to hand out conference forfeits since the situation with the Omicron variant is way different than a situation where a college basketball team's players have not been fully vaccinated for the older COVID-19 strains.  DI conferences with COVID-19 forfeit policies have already started to rescind those policies in response to the Omicron variant, and it would be prudent for the DIII conferences with COVID-19 forfeit policies to rescind them as well in light of the Omicron situation, since Omicron is causing a lot of breakthrough infections in the fully vaccinated and even those vaccinated people who have had their booster shots have been infected as well.

One thing that I do know now upon reviewing this week's statement from the NYU president is that the UAA basketball season for my alma-mater, Brandeis, will not be starting on Saturday, January 8, 2022, as planned, but will now be scheduled to start on January 14, 2022, when Carnegie Mellon and CWRU will be travelling to Brandeis for Friday and Sunday games.  Neither the Tartans nor the Spartans will now be playing NYU the weekend of January 14 and 16 as originally scheduled.  It also looks like Chicago and Wash U will only be hosting Brandeis on the weekend of January 21 and 23 now. 

That is of this time, and there may be other schedule adjustments involving other UAA teams as the weeks go by.

NYU is taking pains not to call this a shutdown or a lockdown of the NYU campus, and they expect all NYU employees to resume their on-campus, in-person schedules on January 18, 2022, in preparation for the spring semester-- however until then all employees are to work remotely to the greatest extent possible (with some limited exceptions, such as essential lab personnel who need to be on campus, those NYU employees with essential duties, or those employees who need to be on campus to support NYU's academic mission or administrative operations.)

To be honest, I am not sure how many people are going to believe NYU when they say that they did not shut down or lock down the campus in response to the Omicron variant.

Source of statement:  www.nyu.edu/about/leadership-university-administration/office-of-the-president/communications.html  On that site, click the link that says Important COVID-19 Related Developments: Rising Case Counts, and Looking Ahead to January.

[WUPHF]

That postponement extends much further than I would have expected.

Chicago posted an update today that they are starting their Spring quarter a week late and online and not allowing students to move in until January 20 without an exception. 

I hope they allow exceptions for athletes so we can play on January 8, but I would not be surprised if things got worse in Chicago before they get better.

I would not be surprised if teams that do play begin to limit attendance to faculty, staff and students.

[deiscanton]

That postponement extends much further than I would have expected.

Chicago posted an update today that they are starting their Spring quarter a week late and online and not allowing students to move in until January 20 without an exception. 

I hope they allow exceptions for athletes so we can play on January 8, but I would not be surprised if things got worse in Chicago before they get better.

I would not be surprised if teams that do play begin to limit attendance to faculty, staff and students.

Outside of DIII locally, in the Boston area, DI Northeastern is playing all indoor home contests with no in-person spectators allowed as of December 19, 2021, in response to the Omicron variant.

In the DI Ivy League, only Cornell has suspended its athletics program indefinitely at this time in response to the Omicron variant.  Harvard and Princeton are still allowing their teams to play at this time, even though their campuses will be remote academically for most of January

Update-- as of December 26, 2021, the athletics suspension at Cornell University has been lifted, with their women's basketball team next scheduled to play on December 29, 2021.  (I am not surprised if this is response to the actions taken at Harvard and Princeton.)

We also know that DIII NESCAC, as of December 22, has already implemented a conference wide spectator policy affecting games up to January 31, 2022, that restricts attendance at all indoor home athletic contests to spectators who are part of the host institution's testing protocol.  In other words, no spectators allowed outside of the immediate host team's community of faculty, staff, and students.  This new NESCAC policy is similar to what NYU already put in place before the complete athletics suspension.  Of the NESCAC institutions, only Middlebury has completely suspended its athletics program indefinitely at this time in response to the Omicron variant, and that suspension got lifted on December 17, 2021, when Middlebury's COVID 19 campus alert status changed from a red alert to an orange alert, which allowed their athletic facilities to reopen.

[Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan)]

On the plus side, South Africa is showing decreases in new cases, which may signify the surge only lasted 3-4 weeks. If we can be back to a safer scenario by February, that will be great!

[deiscanton]

Here is the UAA Policy on COVID-19 related postponements and cancellations of UAA contests, as adopted on August 18, 2021.  The policy is based on postponements and cancellations due to weather conditions, and states that every effort should be made to make up a postponed UAA contest in any sport, if possible.  No conference forfeits are allowed.

www.uaasports.info/information/forms/UAA_COVID_Cancellation_and_Forfeit_Policy.pdf

It will be difficult to have NYU play all 14 UAA conference games in basketball in the month of February due to the travel involved-- no matter if it is NYU travelling to play a UAA opponent or the UAA opponent rescheduling its travel to New York for a UAA contest.  Even 12 UAA games in February will be tough on NYU, assuming the NYU athletics suspension gets lifted for the January 28-30 weekend of UAA games.

[Caz Bombers]

Welp I didn't see that coming, I guess NYU shut me up eh?

[deiscanton]

Updated news regarding this week's D3Hoops.com Classic from South Point Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada-- presented by D3Hoops.com with all games streamed on Team1Sports.com this year, and tournament operated by SportTours International.

Due to COVID-19 and the Omicron variant, this year's D3Hoops.com Classic will only be run as a DIII men's basketball classic only, with all women's games cancelled for this year.  Updated information courtesy of Team1Sports.com video schedule.

Per information provided by Team1Sports.com, here is the updated schedule-- UAA men's teams in bold.

Tuesday, December 28, 2021

1.)  1 PM Pacific/4 PM Eastern-- U. Chicago vs. Marietta

2.)  3 PM Pacific/6 PM Eastern-- Concordia-Moorhead vs Whittier

3.)  5 PM Pacific/8 PM Eastern-- UW-Superior vs St. Mary's (MN)

4.)  7 PM Pacific/10 PM Eastern-- Pacific Lutheran vs Maryville (TN).

Wednesday, December 29, 2021

1.)  3 PM Pacific/6 PM Eastern-- Whittier vs UW-Superior

2.)  5 PM Pacific/8 PM Eastern-- Transylvania vs Marietta

3.)  7 PM Pacific/10 PM Eastern-- Maryville (TN) vs UC Santa Cruz

4.)  9 PM Pacific/Midnight Eastern-- Mary Hardin-Baylor vs Pacific Lutheran

Thursday, December 30, 2021

1.)  4 PM Pacific/7 PM Eastern-- Transylvania vs Concordia-Moorhead

2.)  6 PM Pacific/9 PM Eastern-- UC Santa Cruz vs. U. Chicago

3.)  8 PM Pacific/11 PM Eastern-- St. Mary's (MN) vs. Mary Hardin-Baylor

[deiscanton]

Tweet just sent out from Brandeis Athletics at 11:47 AM Eastern Monday December 27, 2021.

Due to a number of positive COVID-19 tests,  this Thursday's Brandeis men's basketball home game vs Union will not take place as scheduled on December 30.  As of now, the game has been postponed to a future date to be determined.

Schedule has been updated by Brandeis to reflect postponement of Union game:  brandeisjudges.com/sports/mbkb/2021-22/schedule

3:04 PM Eastern update-- Due to positive COVID-19 tests affecting Brandeis student athletes, all formal team practices and other formal team activities involving Brandeis men's and women's basketball have been suspended until Thursday, December 30.  As a result, the scheduled Brandeis women's basketball game at Gordon will also not be played this week.

Brandeis press release:  brandeisjudges.com/sports/mbkb/2021-22/releases/Union-Gordon

[WUPHF]

UAA men's teams in bold.

LOL

[deiscanton]

Update to the D3Hoops.com Classic schedule--

UC Santa Cruz men's basketball cancelled their trip to Las Vegas.  Concordia-Moorhead has also cancelled its appearance in the D3Hoops.com Classic.

Today's games are scheduled to be played at this time, with Chicago men opening up vs Marietta today at 1 PM Pacific/4 PM Eastern, followed by Transylvania vs Whittier at 3 PM Pacific/6 PM Eastern.  The remainder of today's games, to my knowledge, are still on at this time.

The schedule for Wednesday in the D3Hoops.com Classic will have Chicago playing Maryville (TN) in the 7 PM Pacific/10 PM Eastern timeslot on December 29, 2021.

All other men's games on Wednesday in the D3Hoops.com Classic still scheduled to be played at this time.

Schedule for Thursday, December 30, 2021 in the men's D3Hoops.com Classic from Las Vegas, Nevada-- just one men's basketball game.

8 PM Pacific/11 PM Eastern-- St. Mary's (MN) vs Mary Hardin-Baylor.

All D3Hoops.com Classic games will be streamed on Team1Sports.com.

[WUPHF]

Emory has moved classes online for January though no word on athletics as far as I can tell. 

[deiscanton]

Watching the Chicago vs #8 Marietta game on live stream from Las Vegas right now.

Pat Coleman on play by play with Gordon Mann on commentary and Dave McHugh in the production booth.

Audio was on for about the first 12 minutes of the contest, and then it cut out.  Dave is aware of the problem and is trying to get the audio fixed.

Marietta leading throughout the game-- Chicago started slow, which is not great when facing a team ranked in the D3Hoops.com poll in the top 10.

4:35 PM Eastern update-- Chicago has rallied late in the first half to cut the Marietta lead to 6 points.  Marietta up 41-35 with 1:30 left in the first half.

Marietta scored the final 2 points of the half to take a 43-35 lead at halftime into the locker room.

[deiscanton]

Brandon Beckman and Bryce Hopkins seem to be having the best games for Chicago in the first half, keeping the Maroons in the game, but Chicago only had 3 offensive rebounds in the half and committed 10 turnovers, while Marietta only turned over the ball twice. 

Audio is back for the second half.

[deiscanton]

Final from Las Vegas--

#8 Marietta 78, Chicago 65

Chicago turned the ball over 20 times, which Marietta converted to 22 points.  Marietta only turned the ball over 5 times, which Chicago converted to 6 points.

While Chicago outrebounded Marietta, 43-34, for the game, Marietta won the battle of the offensive glass, 9-8.

Chicago never had a lead in this one, the last tie was 2-2 in the second minute of the contest before Marietta took the lead for good.

Marietta's largest lead was a 20 point lead in the second half at 70-50 with 8:14 left in regulation before Chicago went on a 11-0 run to cut the deficit to 9.

Chicago was led by Brandon Beckman with 17 points, 5 rebounds, and 3 assists.  Bryce Hopkins scored 16 points for the Maroons, of which 12 of those points came from the charity stripe.

Ryan Martin had 7 rebounds for Chicago.

For Marietta, Mason Lydic scored 21 points, Jason Ellis scored 13 points and made 7 assists, and Tim Kreeger scored 12 points. 

Chicago shot 18 of 49 from the field (36.7%), 10 of 36 from 3 pt range (27.8%), and 19 of 24 from the charity stripe.

Marietta shot 30 of 67 from the field (44.8%), 10 of 26 from 3 pt range (38.5%), and 8 of 17 from the charity stripe.

[deiscanton]

Schedule update--

Thursday's December 30, 2021 basketball game between Carnegie Mellon and Bethany men's basketball which was scheduled to be played at Bethany has been cancelled.  My belief is that the game was cancelled due to COVID-19 protocols, as no exact details were given by either program.

Source:  athletics.cmu.edu/sports/mbkb/2021-22/schedule

Today, Emory is still scheduled to play at 4 PM Eastern at home vs UW-Whitewater in the Emory Holiday Classic, while Chicago is stlll scheduled to play Maryville (TN) at 7 PM Pacific/10 PM Eastern at the D3Hoops.com Classic in Las Vegas.