The First Domino Has Fallen

[crixus]

The NIT has been cut down to just 16 teams this year, and will be held regionally in the Dallas/Ft. Worth area due to the pandemic.

https://www.espn.com/mens-college-ba...rth-worth-area

[Wildcat Khan]

University of Portland basketball is on a Covid pause and had last week's final games of the season wiped out. It is still questionable if they will play in the WCC tournament, but it wouldn't surprise me if they go the way of San Jose State as Portland has 0 wins in league play and a sub 300 net ranking.

[crixus]

College Baseball - notable postponements or cancellations due to Covid-19.

• Feb. 23-28: Sacred Heart at Fordham
• Feb. 25-28: Pacific at Sacramento State
• Feb. 26-28: Texas State at Lamar
• Feb. 26-28: Bucknell at Radford
• Feb. 26-28: Ball State at Charleston Southern
• Feb. 26-28: Central Michigan at Bellarmine
• Feb. 26-28: Utah Valley at Cal State Bakersfield
• Feb. 27-28: San Jose State at Fresno State
• Feb. 27-28: Massachusetts at Stony Brook
• March 6-7: Nevada at San Jose State
• March 13-14: Air Force at San Jose State
• March 20-21: San Jose State at Nevada-Las Vegas

[Wildcat Khan]

https://www.espn.com/mens-college-ba...naments-arrive

Let's hope this doesn't backfire. Bars in Indy for the B1G and NCAA tournament going up to 50% and restaurants to 75% capacity. This decision was made on local trends, not either tournament heading there.

[Wildcat Khan]

My ol' alma mater - San Jose State University cancelled their final three games of the season yesterday due to Covid-19 complications. They only got to play two games at home this season because of Santa Clara County Health Dept.'s strict protocol. They lived out of a hotel in Phoenix for all but the final two games. They were scheduled to play two games today (Thursday) and on Saturday at Wyoming and then one game at home on March 3rd vs Nevada, but those games have been cancelled. The Spartans had eight games cancelled this season. :(

https://twitter.com/SanJoseStateMBB/...91316655984643

This feels a lot like the WSU decision in football. Not going anywhere, why risk anything. I know a lot of the talk about the conference tournaments is about the top teams skipping out to protect their seeds/bids, but this kind of a decision for opting out makes more sense as they'd only won 3 games and are 9th in the MWC right now with a sub 300 NET ranking. It actually helps minimize risks for those top teams in the MWC where 4 are looking to make the tourney for their conference tournament.

[Wildcat Khan]

Clemson DE Justin Foster retires due to Covid-19 and asthma issues. Sad to see this young man's career end this way.

https://www.espn.com/college-footbal...sthma-covid-19

Asthma alone I'd feel could be enough to retire. My brother had it and would start out strong in sports other than baseball (unless just the 2 of us playing where he was always running), but fade fast due to his asthma. If he'd played football I don't think he'd have been an every down player or close to it due to the asthma even with an inhaler between series.

If Covid or any flu that hits the lungs bad it can really down a person with asthma, although of course it depends on how strong the asthma is too.

[SW_Mustang]

Clemson DE Justin Foster retires due to Covid-19 and asthma issues. Sad to see this young man's career end this way.

https://www.espn.com/college-footbal...sthma-covid-19

It's such a weird illness. I also have asthma, am older, and I'm in much worse shape than him - yet it was about as annoying as a cold and I came out fine. I feel for him. I hope he can recover and make a comeback someday. What a heartbreaking way to end a career.

[crixus]

My ol' alma mater - San Jose State University cancelled their final three games of the season yesterday due to Covid-19 complications. They only got to play two games at home this season because of Santa Clara County Health Dept.'s strict protocol. They lived out of a hotel in Phoenix for all but the final two games. They were scheduled to play two games today (Thursday) and on Saturday at Wyoming and then one game at home on March 3rd vs Nevada, but those games have been cancelled. The Spartans had eight games cancelled this season. :(

https://twitter.com/SanJoseStateMBB/...91316655984643

[crixus]

Clemson DE Justin Foster retires due to Covid-19 and asthma issues. Sad to see this young man's career end this way.

https://www.espn.com/college-footbal...sthma-covid-19

[SW_Mustang]

Dr. Fauci cautiously optimistic about the return of fans to MLB games this season.

https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/...021-mlb-season

I don't remember the team and I can't find the article, but one club announced that they intend to be at 100% capacity before season's end. That might be a little too optimistic, but we'll see how it goes.

IMO, my gut feeling is that we're on the back end of this thing, and by April/May will start to begin returning to some sense of normalcy. I've been waiting to check out Allianz Field in St. Paul for a couple seasons now, and that dang Gopher spring game that I just can't seem to get too... but I'm also not getting my hopes up.

[crixus]

French national rugby team rocked by positive tests.

https://www.espn.com/rugby/story/_/i...positive-tests

[crixus]

Steelers HC Mike Tomlin tests positive.

https://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/...itive-covid-19

[crixus]

Dr. Fauci cautiously optimistic about the return of fans to MLB games this season.

https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/...021-mlb-season

[crixus]

The spring FCS football season began tonight for the Missouri Valley Football Conference. Three games were scheduled, *but two ended up being postponed due to positive Covid-19 tests. South Dakota State upset Northern Iowa in Cedar Rapids in the other game. The Jackrabbits played their third string QB the entire game due to injuries to the other two QB's. Final: SDSU 24 UNI 20.

*Western Illinois vs South Dakota has been rescheduled and so has Illinois State vs Missouri State.

[crixus]

Nine MLB players and four staffers test positive at intake screening.

https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/...take-screening