Monarchs’ schedule still upended by pandemic
By the time Old Dominion gets six games deep into what was expected to be its schedule, the Monarchs will have had at least a third of those games canceled.
It’s why, with the COVID-19 pandemic playing havoc on college basketball nationwide, the program continues to add games.
ODU (2-1) will face Northeastern at 2 p.m. Dec. 20 at Chartway Arena, Monarchs coach Jeff Jones said Thursday, and another game could be added.
Monday’s game at James Madison was canceled, as was a contest with George Mason scheduled for this Sunday, after both teams had positive COVID tests within their programs.
Jones said the stop-and-go nature of the season so far has hardly been a surprise.
“I don’t know that I expected it, but I certainly anticipated that that was a possibility,” he said. “Since Mason and Madison have canceled, we’ve been in scramble mode trying to get one or two games.”
Jones said the Monarchs, who have lost to Maryland and beaten William & Mary and Norfolk State, have had what would be a seventh non-conference game nearly scheduled a couple of times, only to have it fall through.
Before the season, the NCAA mandated that teams must play at least 13 regular-season games to qualify for the postseason.
Because of the Christmas holiday, final exams and the pending start of the Conference USA schedule on Jan. 1, squeezing in an extra non-conference game has been difficult, Jones said .
ODU opens the league schedule with a two-game, two-day series at Florida International, followed by similar series at home against Florida Atlantic and at Rice.
It’s not lost on Jones, whose health is compromised as a cancer survivor, that the Monarchs are heading into COVID hotspots for early C-USA games. Due to budget cuts, all the team’s flights this season will be commercial.
“I don’t know that six (non-conference games) is necessarily worse than seven in terms of preparation,” Jones said. “I think the biggest thing for us is playing seven games because that gets you one closer to the 13. I mean, who the hell knows what’s going to happen in conference play? Our first two trips in conference play are to Florida and Texas. That’s not exactly good news.”
Northeastern (0-0), which plays in the Colonial Athletic Association, had its opener against UMass Lowell canceled Wednesday.
Dozens of programs around the nation, including No. 1 Gonzaga, No. 18 Virginia and N.C. State, have had recent games nixed because of positive tests within their programs.