What started as a single positive COVID-19 test in Old Dominion’s men’s basketball program ended up as a mini-outbreak.
“Several members of the team as well as several members of the extended coaching staff” were quarantined after recent positive tests, Monarchs coach Jeff Jones said Wednesday. ODU missed a pair of two-game, weekend series and a number of practices as a result.
The Monarchs (8-4, 4-2 Conference USA) will resume their schedule with home games Friday and Saturday against Marshall, though they’ll likely be shorthanded.
ODU paused all basketball activities on Jan. 21 after one positive test was reported. After more positives surfaced, and after extended time physically apart under university-mandated contingency plans, the team resumed practice Tuesday.
“The school’s protocols for this kind of thing worked exactly how they should’ve,” Jones said. “We firsthand found out how effective the planning was on the part of the university. But that doesn’t make it any easier to sit in a little square room and not have any direct personal connection for 10 days, and for some, for longer than that. So it has been a challenge, but I think our guys have done well.”
Jones said his players, who were unable to even take shots alone in a gym, varied in their quarantine activities. Those who tested positive were unable to do anything physical, while the negative players had limited workouts that were both voluntary and solitary.
Many players passed the time playing video games, Jones said. The team held daily Zoom meetings to keep in touch.
To reduce costs, the Monarchs have taken commercial flights on C-USA trips to Miami to face Florida International and to Houston to play Rice.
The games at Rice were on Jan. 15 and 16, five days before the program’s first positive test was announced.
ODU’s players and staff have, as much as possible, otherwise existed in a “bubble,” severely limiting their contact with those outside the program.
Trying to pinpoint how the virus made its way into the program, Jones said, was futile.
“For the individuals that did test positive, there were no breaches of protocol,” Jones said. “There were no violations of team rules. We didn’t have anybody doing something that they weren’t supposed to be doing. It just happened. We can guess about when and where and how, but I think that’s the thing with COVID: It’s a contagious disease, and you can do everything or try to do everything right, but there’s not a 100% guarantee that you’re going to avoid it.”
Jones, a cancer survivor, said he was not among those who tested positive. Privacy laws prohibit him from identifying those who did.
Jones did say that some of the positive testers were asymptomatic, while others had mild symptoms. None required hospitalization.
One player who tested positive could be in uniform this weekend, Jones said. Others are not expected to dress.
Jones said the ordeal, which postponed two-game C-USA series with North Texas and Western Kentucky, did not change his perspective on attempting to play a season.
The players wanted to play, he said, but he added that it was “naive” to think that the financial pot of gold that is the NCAA tournament was not a factor in the collective national decision to proceed despite ubiquitous start-and-stop issues like ODU faced.
“I’m fine with it. I’m good with it,” Jones said. “I don’t know (that) it’s the smartest thing, quite honestly, to do it. But if we’re going to do it, I want to do it how we have and put our best foot forward and be the safest that we can possibly be and be smart. I do think there is an inherent danger when you’re traveling. When you’re flying all over the place to play these games, you are put in situations where you just can’t protect yourself the way you do when you’re in your bubble or pod or whatever term you want to use.”
Last year’s NCAA tournament was canceled as a result of the virus. The event generates an estimated $700 million, 60% of which is divided among member schools.
ODU’s women also suspended basketball activities on Jan. 21 after a positive COVID test. They are expected to travel to Marshall for two games beginning Friday.
