Colorado basketball on hold, Pac- 12 opener postponed
Colorado ordered its men’s basketball program to pause activities for COVID- 19 reasons and the Pac- 12 postponed the Buffaloes’ conference opener at Arizona that was set for Wednesday.
The Pac- 12 said it would work with both schools to f ind a mutually agreeable makeup date.
Colorado athletic director Rick George said the status of other upcoming games is dependent on contact tracing and subsequent testing of players and basketball staff this week.
The last time the Buffaloes’ regular season was interrupted was in December 2006, when consecutive home games were canceled because of a snowstorm.
Stanford’s football team is heading for a long trip to the Pacific Northwest because of new COVID- 19 protocols in Santa Clara County.
The new rules prohibit practices and games for contact sports for three weeks. The Cardinal are traveling to Seattle on Wednesday to begin preparing for a game Saturday at Washington.
They will spend the following week in Corvallis, Ore., before playing Oregon State on Dec 12. That game originally was scheduled to be played at Stanford but was moved because of the new rules.
Buckeyes resume football practice
The Ohio State football team resumed full practices in preparation for Saturday’s game at Michigan State.
The Buckeyes do so while managing COVID- 19 issues, and will be without coach
Ryan Day, who tested positive last week. Defensive line coach Larry Johnson is assuming head coaching duties for the week and for Saturday’s game in East Lansing.
Ohio State chose to cancel its game at Illinois last week because of an unacceptable number of COVID cases among players and staff in the program.
No. 4 Ohio State ( 4- 0) needs to play this week and next week against Michigan to have enough games to be eligible for the Big Ten title.
Michigan’s football team did not meet in person for a second straight day after coach Jim Harbaugh said there had been an increased number of presumptive positive COVID- 19 tests.
Michigan ( 2- 4) is scheduled to host Maryland ( 2- 2) on Saturday. The Terrapins are coming off their f irst game since a coronavirus outbreak within the program led to two games being canceled.
Kentucky’s Joseph opts out of season
Kentucky starting safety and Southeastern Conference interceptions leader Kelvin Joseph became the first Wildcat to opt out to focus on preparing for the NFL draft.
The redshirt sophomore, whose four pickoffs rank fourth nationally, announced his decision Monday night on social media. Joseph thanked Kentucky coaches, teammates and the community for the opportunity as well as Louisiana State, where he had 12 tackles and a pass breakup in 2018 before transferring and sitting out last season per NCAA transfer rules.
The North Baton Rouge, La., native added, “I know it was a short stay, but it’s BIG BLUE NATION ALL DAY!”
Joseph also had 25 tackles, a tackle for loss and a pass breakup in nine games. His announcement came hours after Kentucky coach Mark Stoops noted his team being one of the few to not have players opt out.
Richmond pauses basketball activities
No. 19 Richmond’s men’s basketball paused all activities and its game at College of Charleston on Wednesday night was called off because of COVID- 19 concerns within the Spiders program.
Charleston said it will look to reschedule with Richmond or f ind another opponent to make up the lost game.
Charleston said in a release that coronavirus testing and contact tracing issues for Richmond led to the decision.
Richmond was coming off an upset of then- 10thranked Kentucky on Sunday and entered the national rankings Monday.
Etc.
Elon said its men’s basketball team paused activities because of a positive COVID- 19 test within its program. ... Oklahoma planned to open its men’s basketball season on Thursday against Texas San Antonio after a weeklong delay. Oklahoma was scheduled to play the Roadrunners last Wednesday, but the Sooners paused team activities after a spike in COVID- 19 cases. . ... Prairie View A& M canceled men’s basketball games against North Carolina Greensboro and Western Kentucky at the Wade Houston Tipoff Classic in Louisville because of COVID- 19- related issues.