Balas: Basketball may not return until 2/18
This may get lost in the Signing Day shenanigans, but according to Balas, looks like men's basketball may not return until FEBRUARY 18th...hopefully this doesn't mean the team is having COVID issues, and rather they are going to try to snag some practice and conditioning time once they are allowed to.
SOURCES: Michigan basketball won't play its Feb. 11 home game with Illinois, and the Wisconsin game Feb. 14 is up in the air. The first game back might be Feb. 18 at Rutgers. More ... #GoBlue https://t.co/Pm0ccrSijD
— Chris Balas (@Balas_Wolverine) February 3, 2021
February 3rd, 2021 at 9:19 AM ^
Dumb they should be playing. Nothing like an overreaction. Playing basketball does not spread the virus anymore than not. This is a complete overreaction.
February 3rd, 2021 at 9:23 AM ^
It's spread through aerosol droplets from your nose or mouth. Please explain why playing basketball at close range without a mask doesn't spread it more than social distancing with masks.
February 3rd, 2021 at 10:01 AM ^
Because there’s zero link between a local or community outbreak related to a Big Ten basketball team. They had proper protocols in place and followed them. This is the equivalent of Duke cheating in basketball so Northern Kentucky University and the entire MAC conference is punished.
A student athlete not associated with the MBB team did not follow proper protocols so now we must have this severe overreaction.
February 3rd, 2021 at 10:12 AM ^
While this does indeed seem to be a gross overreaction, your "Playing basketball does not spread the virus anymore than not" take is horrible.
February 3rd, 2021 at 10:17 AM ^
Data suggests otherwise. How many teams are playing? How many community outbreaks are related to them? Why? Because the players are able to be in a controlled environment, that's highly tested and protocols are followed.
Perhaps I should have elaborated playing basketball or any sport without proper measures may elevate the rate at which it’s spread.
February 3rd, 2021 at 10:42 AM ^
I think you're completely missing the point that there may be an outbreak on the team. In which case, they can't play for 2 more weeks.
February 3rd, 2021 at 10:53 AM ^
There is not an outbreak on the team. This restriction is from the state not from the team. The team at this time is not infected with Covid-19.
February 3rd, 2021 at 3:12 PM ^
Do you have a source or inside information on that, or just assuming that is the case? You know what they say when you ASS-U-ME.
February 3rd, 2021 at 3:39 PM ^
Your lack of understanding of fundamental data analysis "take" is horrible.
How many cases are directly attributable to playing basketball? As in, ACTUALLY playing basketball?
I'll wait.
February 4th, 2021 at 8:17 AM ^
please, by all means, enlighten us on how many cases are directly attributable to literally anything else, and i'll let you name the activity. going to the bar, eating a restaurant, sharing needles at the local heroin flophouse?
i'm dead serious here. name one single activity, and give me a number. as you say, "i'll wait."
the point is to minimize the avoidable vectors. obviously. but hey, i'm real real real sorry you're not able to watch unpaid athletes put themselves at risk for your entertainment.
February 3rd, 2021 at 10:59 AM ^
How narrow minded of you.
This highly infectious strain is in the community these kids live in. It can lie dormant for many days. The person who brought it here tested negative for a week after returning from the UK (https://www.freep.com/story/news/health/2021/01/19/7-covid-19-cases-tied-washtenaw-county-woman-who-has-uk-variant/4211879001/)
These are kids who live in muli-person settings. Share kitchens and bathrooms, etc. Every day they engage in some of the worst activities you can engage in when there's a pandemic. Sweating, breathing, coughing on/near each other. They come into contact with hundreds of support staff on a weekly basis. Support staff who have to, maybe, touch the player's to deliver care; or perhaps launder their clothes; clean the dishes they eat on; etc.
There's a lot more at play here than your ability to watch a few basketball games. Everybody has the potential to be a ticking timebomb, and you have to treat them as such. The only communities who have successfully dealt with COVID did exactly that.
February 3rd, 2021 at 12:08 PM ^
So wait living in close quarters, using bathrooms, and the support staff still exist. Stopping them from playing basketball has little to no impact on the spread, the vast majority of the things you list are daily common things that any human or student does. I’ll reiterate playing sports with highly controlled measures is no more dangerous than not. This is an overreaction 100%.
February 3rd, 2021 at 11:52 AM ^
"zero link between a local outbreak related to a big ten basketball team" is a) so specific as to be meaningless in the context of a global pandemic and b) a gross oversimplification in any case. "well, it hasn't happened before, so full speed ahead" is super-silly.
also, not sure if this was intentional, but obligatory: jerry tarkanian famously said that the "ncaa got so mad at kentucky that they put cleveland state on probation." it's not a crazy notion.
February 3rd, 2021 at 10:20 AM ^
How many UM players and staff have tested positive? And I don’t understand why UM football couldn’t play at the end of the season but OSU, with multiple players positive, rode Covid all the way to the NC game. Now we have basketball not playing but everyone else is.
February 3rd, 2021 at 11:20 AM ^
Because the virus doesn't spontaneously generate and since all the players on the team have repeatedly tested negative there is no way they can spread a virus they don't have.
February 3rd, 2021 at 9:25 AM ^
I swear Sam said this morning they were gonna play Feb 14 @ Wisconsin
February 3rd, 2021 at 9:26 AM ^
We don't know the situation, so there is no way to judge whether this is "dumb". But, why let that bother someone from putting forth there preconceived notions.
February 3rd, 2021 at 10:38 AM ^
We do know that they could have quarantined a single person and avoided all this. Choosing not to do that seems pretty dumb to me.
February 3rd, 2021 at 10:45 AM ^
Ricky Gervais was on Smartless the other day saying, "in the past it was, 'my opinion is as important as your opinion.' Nowadays it's 'my opinion is as important as your fact', and that's where the problem is."
Seems applicable.
February 3rd, 2021 at 9:26 AM ^
This particular angle is dumb.
But the inconsistency of the state as to what activities are allowed and not is...not great. Indoor dining is basically the most dangerous possible activity but we allowed that to restart on Monday.
February 3rd, 2021 at 9:47 AM ^
Was going to reply with pretty much this.
February 3rd, 2021 at 11:14 AM ^
Indoor dining is only the most dangerous thing because people won't follow precautions. You can theoretically make it safer if you were to keep your mask on aside from when you're eating, only sit at a table with your household, tables well spaced and restaurants operating well below capacity. All things required by the state. Everyone does that and indoor dining is safer than contact sports unless you happen to have a very large household.
Simply put, there's no way to make contact sports even theoretically safe, as evidenced by all the breakouts in college and professional teams despite very stringent precautions.
Even if you quibble with this argument a bit, there is obviously a far greater financial incentive to allow restaurants to operate than to allow contact sports.
February 3rd, 2021 at 11:17 AM ^
Yeah it is. IMO that decision may have been a compromise due to the political hammering on the issue; 25% capacity, compared to 50%last summer may be a clue.
Really, though, the whole "inconsistency" point is one of the anti-Whitmer pro-Covid factions favorite talking points. If you really want to stop COVID don't amplify that garbage.
Don't forget, the Covid deniers are the same people who attacked the Capitol of the U.S.
February 3rd, 2021 at 11:47 AM ^
"Don't forget, the Covid deniers are the same people who attacked the Capitol of the U.S"
This seems somewhat speculative. I know plenty of people on both sides of politics that believe that there has been a lot of over reaction to the virus. I have a lot of small business owner friends (several that voted for Biden) that can't understand why they've been shut down, some forced into bankruptcy, but see little to no restrictions on things like big box stores.
February 3rd, 2021 at 12:08 PM ^
The Trump campaign lady who organized gun waving anti-Whitmer pro-Covid rallies at MI capitol in April also organized buses of people to the US capitol attack on Jan 6.
February 3rd, 2021 at 2:19 PM ^
I have a lot of small business owner friends (several that voted for Biden) that can't understand why they've been shut down, some forced into bankruptcy, but see little to no restrictions on things like big box stores.
I don't disagree with the sentiment of your post, but I never quite understand the big box store line. (And I admit, when I want to argue for something opening, I refer to grocery stores, so I am just as susceptible to using claims when they fit my arguement).
But, isn't the most obvious and simple reason: you can mask in a grocery store/best buy/meijer. You can't while eating food. I don't understand why people can't understand that simple fact.
February 3rd, 2021 at 4:24 PM ^
I was referring more to a friends that run shops and service businesses. I know some restaurant owners that are struggling as well, but it depending on the state this has affected a lot more than the food service industry.
February 3rd, 2021 at 11:58 AM ^
Sorry, but you cannot stop COVID. As Dan Patrick would say, "you can only hope to contain it". Covid is going to spread regardless of what is done. By flattening the curve you prolong the spread. Doing nothing makes the spread more rapid. We need to learn to live with it in our midst. That means protecting those at risk from exposure while allowing those not at risk to leave productive lives that benefits everyone.
Also, lumping people in with a group of people that rioted is just political name-calling to shut down a differing view. Plus, you don't really know who the instigators of the riot was. If a crowd that size was really into rioting then they would still be dealing with the fallout. As it was only a small portion were violent.
February 3rd, 2021 at 12:08 PM ^
Don't forget, the Covid deniers are the same people who attacked the Capitol of the U.S.
That's simply untrue. The people who attacked the Capitol were a very small group of complete idiots. They are so fringe, even the fringe group members appear to be outing them. It sounds like they are getting justly prosecuted by the law, just as all rioters of all sorts should be.
A majority of people question, to a greater or lesser extent, what we are told by our government and it's enablers in the media. And we should, given they've admitted on several occasions that they have lied to us for our own good. You'd have to be daft to take them at their word right now.
Indoor dining has been open down here since April or so at 50% capacity. We haven't had the Covid any worse than Michigan. I think it's fair to question whether a ban on indoor dining does any good or not.
Social distancing still is the simple best rule to follow in any environment. Honestly, if I can't social distance, I don't go there.
February 3rd, 2021 at 2:11 PM ^
30% of one of the major political parties approves of what happened at the Capitol. That's roughly 40 million people, hardly a fringe.
February 3rd, 2021 at 4:04 PM ^
A cursory search for such a poll result netted me one poll taken the same day as the riots by YouGov with 45% approval by Republicans. I think given the time it took for everything to come out about what those whackos were doing, it would be safe to say that may have been premature.
I figured it was another overhyped media event. Crying wolf as it were. I don't think I even read a story on it until the next day. I don't watch TV news.
I don't know a single person who thinks those people are anything but loons. And I'm the rational, more centrist person amongst the people I talk with about politics.
February 3rd, 2021 at 11:13 AM ^
Umm, a colleague of mine thought so too, until his kid got it playing basketball.
February 3rd, 2021 at 11:45 AM ^
I am a teacher at a small school. Our school cancelled its winter sports season entirely, which I think was the correct decision. As a school, we have been doing in-person instruction with lots of mitigation measures, and have seen zero community spread, with the isolated cases that have occurred all coming from outside the school community. Apparently, in schools still playing basketball, there has not (as of a week or two ago) been a single case of a student contracting Covid where they haven’t spread it to at least one other athlete. So, yeah, I think basketball spreads the virus a bit more than not playing.
I think it makes sense for Michigan to exert additional caution, especially given that the variant that infected athletes is so much more transmissible. I also think that schools like Illinois and Wisconsin would not want to play us without a barrage of tests proving that no members of the team or staff are infected. Sort of like what we did before the Purdue game.
February 3rd, 2021 at 12:32 PM ^
Our school cancelled its winter sports season entirely, which I think was the correct decision.
How do the athletes feel about this decision? I don't think 12th-graders are going to get another year of eligibility.
February 3rd, 2021 at 9:20 AM ^
One good sports team in the area and they can't play. We can't have nice things.
February 3rd, 2021 at 10:32 AM ^
It sucks, but if we just don't play all of the way until March we will be a #1 seed.
February 3rd, 2021 at 10:55 AM ^
I believe that rescheduled games should be done in order of their postponement - thus the PSU game should be the first to be replayed, then MSU and IU. If the Illinois and Wisc games are ppd, they should be made up last - or just skipped if necessary.
Yes, it works out best for us, but is also a more "fair" approach to all parties.
February 3rd, 2021 at 9:21 AM ^
Goddamn man. Couldn't wait until the shine from crooting flips wore off later today.
February 3rd, 2021 at 9:22 AM ^
If that happens there not making up the games which is fine play schedule just like Osu did the fall big ten allowed it.
February 3rd, 2021 at 9:25 AM ^
Postponing. The players haven't done anything for two weeks but work out in their rooms. Would be a tall order to come back and play a game after being together only a couple days.
— Chris Balas (@Balas_Wolverine) February 3, 2021
Sounds like they want to get some practice in before returning to competition.
February 3rd, 2021 at 9:30 AM ^
I can support this decision. Also, it's a damn cry better than a forced postponement due to Covid!
February 3rd, 2021 at 9:33 AM ^
That makes it sound like it's a team preparation issue, not a medical issue, which while still disappointing is certainly less soul crushing.
February 3rd, 2021 at 9:38 AM ^
Its putting health and safety first, what a fascinating concept
February 3rd, 2021 at 10:13 AM ^
Or the fact they haven’t touched a basketball for weeks before they play a game against a team that is seasoned. They would be smoked.
February 3rd, 2021 at 2:15 PM ^
That sounds logical. Not getting into the weeds from comments above. I will wait for more news on if these early games will be played or not and will not speculate except for the logic aspect.
February 3rd, 2021 at 9:30 AM ^
Michigan's biggest enemy is Michigan, yet again.
February 3rd, 2021 at 9:34 AM ^
Football having a good day and basketball having a bad day. The early 2000s have returned!
February 3rd, 2021 at 9:36 AM ^
Assuming this is a matter of giving the team a week to reacclimate and condition, I am a proponent of this decision. The upcoming stretch is going to be challenging, as the schedule is backloaded. Furthermore, there are reports that the Big Ten is considering back-to-backs if necessary. One additional week off to prepare for the most important stretch of the season should prove to be beneficial.