The more things change, the more they stay the same.
Late in the evening on Wednesday, March 11th, 2020, I called Southwest to cancel my flight from Milwaukee to New York City.
I was planning to fly there to see Marquette take on Seton Hall in the Big East Tournament. Just hours later, every major college basketball conference tournament, as well as the NCAA Tournament, was cancelled due to the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.
That was 257 days ago.
Yet, here were are on November 25th, 2020, as the sun rises on a new season of college hoops. And the pandemic is worse than ever.
35 Division 1 men’s basketball programs, including UW-Milwaukee, open this season in two-week quarantines because of positive COVID-19 tests.
Marquette has already been through a quarantine.
7th ranked Wisconsin – knock on wood – is healthy for now.
This season will be imperfect.
There will be interruptions, cancellations, pauses, stoppages, twists, and turns.
Schools will push through. There will be a season. There will be an NCAA Tournament.
There’s too much money to be lost by not trying.
But let the dawn of this college basketball season serve as a reminder of how the last one ended, and how little has changed since then.
Click here for more EXTRA POINTS.
