On Friday morning, the college basketball world was hit with a bombshell: a player within the Virginia program had tested positive for COVID-19, ending the Cavaliers’ ACC Tournament run and placing their NCAA Tournament status in serious jeopardy.
This news came just a day after a similar occurrence within the Duke program, a staff member testing positive and effectively ending their season. But there is one big difference between the two situations. For Duke, the ACC Tournament was a last gasp, a desperate ploy to steal an automatic bid and make the big dance. For Virginia, the ACC Tournament was an important part of the season, but the Hoos had already locked up an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament.
Now that is in serious danger. So let’s take a look at what’s going on, and the protocols that could decide whether the Hoos get to go Indy.
What happened?
Reports began to circulate around 9:45 AM EST that a Virginia player had tested positive. It was later discovered by CBS Sports that the positive test came from a player who had played against Syracuse.
That’s all the information that has been revealed to this point, as contact tracing has not yet been performed. The only good news is that it appears only one player tested positive.
What are the NCAA’s protocols?
As usual, the NCAA has been extraordinarily unorganized. They’re still ironing out the fine details, which is unacceptable given that Selection Sunday is this weekend and the Tournament will begin just four days later.
Here’s what we do know:
- Seven consecutive days of negative tests are required for a player to participate in the NCAAT. The first round will take place next Friday and Saturday, so Virginia players who are currently negative will technically be able to play, barring any more positive tests.
- The aforementioned seven tests must come back negative prior to arrival. As long as it is just the one player who is positive, however, this will probably not affect Virginia. Everybody else on the team already has a cache of negative tests stored up that dates back to Virginia’s last COVID break, almost two months ago. But this does not take into account contact tracing. If the rest of the team is deemed “close contacts,” they will be forced to quarantine for 14 days. This would end the season for any player who is considered a close contact. Some have speculated that the pileup after Beekman’s shot will mean the team is doomed, and that could unfortunately be the case.
- The NCAA will do whatever they can to keep from replacing teams, leading them to designate five players as the minimum for a team to be eligible to play. This policy does not address scholarship vs non-scholarship players. Theoretically, the Hoos could take the court even if 12 of the 17 players on the roster have COVID or are in quarantine.
How likely is it that Virginia plays?
There’s no way to make a definitive judgement at this point. UVA Athletics’ official press release stated that “Virginia’s status for the NCAA tournament is to be determined,” and Tony Bennett said that “we are exhausting all options to participate in the NCAA Tournament.”
But Friday evening a good sign came to light, as Jon Rothstein reported that “the NCAA Tournament Selection Committee went through the bracket today and included both Kansas and Virginia without hesitation. Plans are moving forward for both to be playing next week.” This is a massive development, and it bodes well for the Hoos even if there are still more hurdles to overcome.
The situation continues to evolve, and as more details emerge Virginia’s NCAA Tournament status will become clearer.
Image – Virginia Athletics