Retirees Association

Archdeacon: College basketball teams one phone call away from disaster

Men's bsketball coaching staff

Excerpt from the Dayton Daily News

By Tom Archdeacon

Saturday morning – with his men’s team about to play Green Bay that afternoon and again on Sunday – Wright State athletics director Bob Grant held his breath every time his phone rang.

“We’re just a phone call away from everything changing dramatically,” Grant said. “It’s the kind of situation where you worry: ‘Is that one of our teams that just had a positive test? Is it an opponent who had a positive test?’”

The WSU men’s and women’s basketball teams – like most other Division I programs -- are trying to navigate through a cobbled-together college season that is being buffeted daily by the medical and mental challenges of the COVID 19 pandemic that has upended daily life all over the world.

“Everything is so topsy-turvy and unprecedented, right now,” Grant said. “I think we all realize this is really a fragile and volatile situation.” While the Raiders have fared better than many programs – both in the area and around the nation – they still have had to deal with the uncompromising nature of the virus.

Already a month ago, WSU officials said eight women’s players and seven men’s players had tested positive for COVID in the summer and preseason. And both teams had games canceled earlier this season because of positive tests with an opponent or them.

The men’s team is now looking especially healthy on the court. With Saturday’s 67-53 win over Green Bay at the Nutter Center, the Raiders are now 5-1.