Month: September 2020

NCAA Outlines Division One Basketball Return

Patriot League Needs To Act

In an announcement yesterday, the NCAA has announced the return of Division One basketball. Games will start on November 25, presumably when most students are completing their academic semester of classroom work. There will be maximum of 27 games, a minimum of 13, no scrimmages, and a recommendation for 4 out of conference games. Full team practices can begin Oct 14, although most schools in the Patriot League are already having conditioning and individual instruction.

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There are about 150 student athletes on campus, I do not know how many per individual sports, except for field hockey of which there are four. Football, I hear have about 35 on campus. Bucknell, Boston, and Colgate are having all classes returned, and I have seen social media pictures of athletes at practice on campus. In field hockey, I have seen pictures of BU, Bucknell, American and Lehigh on their practice fields.

In other news, the BIG TEN is returning to play football, and there is limited activity in the other sports.There are limited connections to play field hockey with other Big Ten schools in much the same way a spring season would be constructed. Many players have gone to Europe to play for the semester while doing their academic work online. I know of one Ivy school that got their whole freshman field hockey class to play in Europe. The ACC is playing inter-league.

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Ana Steps takes control against Temple

I have not yet heard of any Patriot League meetings to announce a return of basketball but I did get a head fake, as the move to ESPN plus was announced dramatically yesterday. I would hope the Patriot League would now more expeditiously move in light of the NCAA’s announcement.

Covid testing at Lafayette, Bucknell, Colgate,Lehigh, and Boston University has shown about a 2/10’s of one percent Covid infection rate among the returning and all students in residence.

It seems the time is now for the Patriot League to act.

NCAA To Set Spring Championships For Fall Sports

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Within a week the NCAA will set the dates and format for fall sports moved to the spring season. Although there are other rules to be decided on as there are some schools like the ACC that are still trying to play this fall with no championships. Will they be be allowed to participate in a spring NCAA Championship. ( the answer is probably).

In any case, these are the proposed championship dates:

SPORT   OLD BRACKET. NEW BRCKET  AQ./at Large  DATES

Cross C        N/A.                255 per gender.   N/A          3/15/2021

Field Hockey  16                12                           10/2.        5/7-5/9/2021

Men’s Soccer.  48                36                           24/12.      5/13-5/17/21

Women’s Soc.  64                 48                          31/17.      5/13-5/17/21

W. Volleyball.  64                 48                           32/16.     4/23-4/25/21

It behooves the Patriot League to begin discussions on returning to the practice field. No doubt it depends on the course of the virus but recent results from many schools show good control of the virus on campus. Colgate, Bucknell, Boston University, Army, and Navy have universal testing and the results are encouraging with positive results at only 2/10 of one percent. Even at Lafayette, with a less aggressive testing protocol, have results well under one percent through the end of August.

What is happening is a disproportionate residency on campus’ between the schools. For example, Lehigh reports that 87 out of 89 football players are on campus participating in conditioning and limited drills. There are also a significant number of field hockey  players who were able to practice on the field according instagram photos this past weekend.

Lafayette players are certainly playing where they can, at clubs, who are operating and overseas it has been reported that our players are playing for their local club teams. I hope those players in country are busy honing their skills and fitness in preparation for a spring return.

So here is my plea to Lafayette, it looks to me like there will be a majority of Patriot League schools that will want to return this spring. NOW is not too early to begin formulating those plans. Their mission is to serve the student athlete and they deserve the chance to play. It’s time to get ready!!!

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Meanwhile, FIH is restarting its schedule and the US Team will soon start practice. Their first game will not occur until April at venues to be announced

Now Is The Time To Prepare Fall Sports For the Spring Season

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The D1 Football Championship Committee has met and recommended the FCS championships be played April 18- May 15. (Lafayette is an FCS school in football). The brackets have been reduced to 16 teams from 24. The championship field will be 10 auto bids and and 6 at large bids, similar to field hockey. The NCAA football oversight committee will meet this week to consider the new format and date.

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Once football is established, the other fall olympic sports will most certainly follow. The NCAA has established a mandatory “socialization” period of six weeks which consists of strength and conditioning, individual instruction and, position instruction. The period is designed to observe and isolate those with Covid before actual practices begin. Coaches say they need 3-4 weeks after that to be ready. Will there be scrimmages or do we go right to games? How many games are needed to qualify for championship eligibility? At the moment Field Hockey has been adjusted to 9 games.

So if we were to start on January 1, the first game could then be played after March 12.  It would be necessary to play at least two games a week to fill requirements plus have a PL championship. There needs to be good planning since there would be sharing of facilities with the spring sports.

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Leopards get ready in Maroon Club weight training center!!

Basketball start dates are to be decided by mid September after that is not too early to start making plans for the spring. I wait for a clear indication that the process has begun.