College basketball begins strange season in empty arenas

The strangest anticipated season in college basketball history kicked off Wednesday with dozens of games at arenas across the country.

Like everything else in this pandemic world, it was odd and disjointed.

Cancellations, protests, quarantined players, piped-in crowd noise, masked cheerleaders, socially distanced bench seating — the start of the season matched the chaotic build up to it.

One day down, who knows how many more left.

“I’d like normalcy, I’d like a routine, but that’s not what we have right now,” North Carolina coach Roy Williams said. “You can do everything you can possibly do and still have a slipup. But the process, you need to do everything you can possibly do and be prepared to handle everything as well.”

College basketball, like the rest of the sports world, was thrown into

disarray last March when the surging coronavirus pandemic shut down everything.

Cancelation of the NCAA Tournament cost the NCAA $375 million in revenue, so the organization that runs college sports was determined to get through the 2020-21 season.

The prelude to Wednesday’s start followed the lead of a college football season filled with cancelations, shutdowns and last-minute replacement games.

Dozens of college basketball programs shut down for positive COVID-19 tests, big-name coaches like Tom Izzo, Scott Drew, Jim Boeheim among them. Games canceled almost hourly. Programs moved in and out of multi-team events like a game of whack-a-mole.

The first big event in Connecticut dubbed Bubbleville became more like Juggleville as teams dropped out, replacements moved in and crafting a schedule became like sorting through AAU brackets.

While gamblers socially distanced inside the Mohegan Sun casino, no fans were allowed in the 10,000-seat arena for the opening game between Virginia and Towson, a late replacement for coronavirus-affected Maine.

Cardboard cutouts filled the areas behind the baskets and recorded crowd noise was piped in to replace the full-throated roars of real fans. Yelling coaches and squeaking sneakers echoed off the empty seats, and seats on the benches were spread out for social distancing — as they were in arenas across the country.

Kentucky’s Rupp Arena, typically one of the toughest road venues in college basketball, was limited to 15% capacity and felt like the doors had just opened instead of the usual buzz at tipoff.

“We have to create our own energy,” said Iowa preseason All-American Luka Garza, who had 26 points and 10 rebounds in a win over North Carolina Central. “As a basketball player, I have no problem doing that. I play the same whether I’m at LA Fitness or in front of 15,000 fans.”