Testing of thousands returns just 8 positives
Huggins goes after 900th win again
NCAA vice president of basketball Dan Gavitt said there have been eight positive COVID-19 tests among the more than 9,100 performed since teams started arriving Saturday in Indianapolis.
Those include tests performed on all individuals affiliated with the schools — not just players, coaches and staff who are part of the schools’ Tier 1 group and get tested daily.
Gavitt said any player who tests positive must isolate for 10 days. They have the choice to stay in the NCAA’s “controlled environment” or be transported back to campus.
On the women’s side in San Antonio, only one test came back positive from nearly 2,700 administered.
West Virginia
Coach Bob Huggins will try for a third time to get his 900th career win. West Virginia lost to Oklahoma State in Huggins’ two previous chances at the milestone in the regular-season finale and in the Big 12 tournament quarterfinals. The third-seeded Mountaineers (18-9) play No. 13-seeded Morehead State (23-7) Friday night. Huggins has a career record of 899-381 in 39 seasons. He amassed 399 wins in 16 seasons at Cincinnati. He’s also had stops at Kansas State, Akron and NAIA Walsh College.
Florida
No team in the country endured what the Gators did this season. The seventhseeded Gators watched their best player collapse on the court during a game in midDecember and then spent days wondering whether Keyontae Johnson would survive, let alone return to the floor. Johnson slowly began his recovery — the team has not detailed the reasons for his collapse — and eventually rejoined his teammates as an assistant coach.
His playing future remains in question as the Gators tip off in the tournament’s South Region against 10th-seeded Virginia Tech. “Here’s a guy who deserves to be out here as much as anyone and would be one of the better players in the tournament, of course,” coach Mike White said. “And he can’t do it.”
San Diego State
When San Diego State practiced for its first-round game against Syracuse, the Aztecs posed for a team picture while displaying jerseys from the players who left the program after last season, when the tournament was canceled due to the pandemic.
Among the jerseys were those of three players who helped form the core of last season’s 30-2 team — senior transfers Yanni Wetzell and KJ Feagin, and Malachi Flynn. Flynn left after his junior season and was drafted by the Toronto Raptors. The Aztecs also displayed the jerseys of Nolan Narain, who graduated in the spring, and Joel Mensah and Caleb Giordano, who transferred.
Iowa State
T.J. Otzelberger is returning to Iowa State as head coach after two years at UNLV, athletic director Jamie Pollard announced Thursday. This will be the 43- year- old Otzelberger’s third stint in Ames, his first as head coach. He was an assistant under Greg McDermott, Fred Hoiberg and Steve Prohm, who was fired Tuesday after a 2-22 season in which the Cyclones went winless in the Big 12. Otzelberger went 29-30 at UNLV.