If everybody’s healthy, L’ville is really hurtin’
LOUISVILLE — Louisville coach Chris Mack isn’t holding his breath waiting for the call for his team to replace another unable to play in the NCAA Tournament because of COVID issues.
Mindful that a school simply needs five healthy players to remain eligible for the 68-team field, the third-year coach didn’t see one having a worst-case scenario and pulling out suddenly by tonight’s deadline. Although the Cardinals (13-7) are the first alternate to fill an open spot and undergoing testing protocols, Mack and his program are resigned to being on the outside looking in on March Madness and the
NIT — which Louisville declined to participate in.
“I mean, we’ll be ready,” Mack said Monday during a virtual news conference call. “The prerequisite is that you have all those negative tests in a row, so we’ll be ready. I don’t see that happening by (tonight). There has to be a team that doesn’t have five players able to play, so I just I don’t see that happening.”
Meanwhile, fellow potential replacement squads Colorado State, Saint Louis and Mississippi are preparing to play in the 16-team NIT that begins Wednesday in the Dallas-Fort Worth area. Like Louisville, CSU has no real thoughts toward claiming a last-minute NCAA berth and just wants to move forward from the sting of being among among the so-called “First Four Out.”
“I don’t know that there’s a manual to doing that,” said coach Niko Medved, whose Rams (18-6) will remain in Las Vegas following the Mountain West Tournament until Wednesday before leaving for Texas. “You just try to be real with them about where you’re at and what’s in front of you.
“Again, as the time keeps going by and you keep starting to look at not what didn’t happen, but start to really focus on the opportunity you have in front of you and how lucky you really are to do that, I think you’ll go and attack it.”
Mack said he and Louisville athletic director Vince Tyra had discussed appearing in the NIT, in which the Cardinals last participated just before Mack’s hiring in March 2018. When talking about the decision of passing on the NIT, among the factors Mack mentioned included potential health risks for a program that endured two lengthy COVID-related pauses this season, including a 19-day stretch last month during which he tested positive with mild symptoms.
Though if the Cardinals had received an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament, or receive a last-minute invite to the Big Dance, they’ll be heading to Indiana.
Louisville’s second interruption wiped out four late Atlantic Coast Conference contests and left little room for error upon returning. The Cardinals dropped three of their final five games, including a second-round ACC Tournament game to Duke, which ended its season the following day with a positive test.
The disappointing defeat effectively quashed Louisville’s hopes for the NCAA appearance it desperately sought just up I-65 in Indianapolis, as opposed to traveling to north Texas, a state where many COVID restrictions have been lifted.
“The health of our team this year just wasn’t very good, even down the stretch,” added Mack, whose players are working out individually in the interim. “We had days where we were practicing with seven and eight players.”