Syracuse basketball among numerous teams to put hoops on pause

Syracuse basketball is one of multiple New York state squads that have paused their hoops activities.

Syracuse basketball and its peers around the country are slated to begin the 2020-21 campaign in about 10 days, and the Orange finds itself among a growing number of teams that have paused their hoops activities due to positive Covid-19 tests within their programs.

The ‘Cuse athletics department announced on Sunday evening that head coach Jim Boeheim and one other member of the Orange program have tested positive, and that the team has paused all of its basketball-related activities.

CBS Sports’ Jon Rothstein sent out this recent tweet in which he detailed various groups with their basketball activities on pause because of Covid-19, and this list includes several programs besides the ‘Cuse that are located in the state of New York.

Among them are Iona, Niagara, Albany, Canisius, Siena and Marist, along with former Big East Conference foes Connecticut and Seton Hall and other teams like Oakland, Winthrop and Belmont.

The Ivy League, meanwhile, recently decided that its members will not compete in winter sports, including basketball, during the 2020-21 stanza.

Syracuse basketball is one of many teams around the country to have paused its hoops activities.

The Orange, by the way, is supposed to commence its upcoming campaign by hosting Bryant in the afternoon on Friday, Nov. 27, the day after Thanksgiving. It’s unclear at this juncture whether this contest will move forward, and, if it does, whether Boeheim would be able to coach.

"According to an updated report on health and safety protocols from the Atlantic Coast Conference’s medical advisory group, which we detailed in this article, “Pursuant to CDC guidance, a team member who tests positive for COVID-19 shall be isolated for at least 10 days from the onset of symptoms/positive test and at least 1 day (i.e., 24 hours) has passed since recovery defined as resolution of fever without the use of fever-reducing medications and improvement of respiratory symptoms.”"

Rick Pitino, a two-time national champion, former ‘Cuse assistant coach and current head coach at Iona, had an interesting tweet that he published this past weekend.

He suggests moving the start of the upcoming campaign back, suiting up for a league-only schedule and having the 2021 NCAA Tournament in May – May Madness, as he calls it.

“Spiking and protocols make it impossible to play right now,” Pitino wrote in his tweet.

The situation isn’t all that great in the United States and around the world amid the novel coronavirus pandemic, that’s for sure. I hope that a season can occur, however, a bit of pessimism has set in for me.

But like I said in a column on Sunday night, the health of Boeheim, his team and every other squad nationwide is the utmost priority. Playing actual games is much further down the line in level of importance.