John Calipari (Vicky Graff Photo)
Kentucky’s basketball schedule likely will be released soon but it might not mean a lot because in this COVID season changes are probably going to the norm. Look at changes that have been made in college football schedules and more likely will be. In basketball, even more changes are likely due to COVID.
“We’re in the same boat as any other school. We had at one point traced (COVID) to a bunch of our guys, none of them ended up having it,” Calipari said Monday. “I think we’ve gone five or six weeks for where we’ve been good, but we’re in a bubble. We should be good. On the 25th (of November when the season starts), it changes.”
That is why Kentucky already has backup plans for its schedule, something I never remember a coach ever talking about before, in case COVID-19 shuts down a scheduled opponent.
“We’ve got our schedule, which we were ahead of this because we just said, ‘OK, play war games. If they give us this date, that date, that date, what’s our schedule look like? Let’s get it ahead of time. Then what if this team gets sick? How do we do this?'” Calipari said.
“So, we have some backups in case something like that happens.”
Obviously, that’s for the non-conference portion of the season. What happens if a SEC team is shut down by COVID-19?
“Obviously in conference, if someone gets sick it will be a make-up game, I guess. I don’t know,” Calipari said. “I mean, if we play in pods and you’re playing six or seven games at a time and one team’s not there, how do you make those games up.
“I don’t know. I mean, we’re counting on the league office to have plan A, B, C, D and E. And maybe F.”
Calipari said if a team has a positive test, there’s no choice but to shut down for 14 days
“We don’t run this; the virus runs us,” Calipari said.
