New Haven’s Whyte masking up at BU
Walter Whyte won’t mask Boston University’s early-season struggles behind any excuses — most specifically, the masks the Terriers have to wear each game.
“You really can’t say it’s a reason why we haven’t been winning games,” said Whyte, a New Haven product. “I wouldn’t blame it on that. But yeah, it’s been an adjustment, for sure.”
BU, which is 2-5 after snapping a five-game losing streak on Saturday at Lafayette,
is believed to be the only men’s basketball program in the country requiring its players to wear masks during games. The school also requires opponents to wear masks when playing at BU’s home gym.
The Terriers have been wearing masks in practice since September.
“We’ve gotten used to it, I would say,” Whyte noted. “It’s difficult, but we’ve got used to it. We’ve been practicing with them for a while, since we got back to school. So, there’s really been no time where we didn’t wear them. It’s just something that we’ve got to get through, another barrier that we’ve got to knock down.”
There is no NCAA mandate on wearing masks; it’s left to the discretion of individual programs. BU’s women’s team is among a few others who have decided to wear masks, including DePaul and Creighton (though not all of the Bluejays women’s players have worn them).
The toughest part, obviously, is controlling your breathing while running up and down the floor with a mask on.
“We’re all used to it now,” Whyte noted. “We’ve got to play with them, that’s the rule from our school, so we’ve got to go with it.”
All activities on the BU campus require medical approval, so the athletic department elected to compel athletes in all sports to sport masks during games, practices, etc. Whyte is fine with that.
“It’s the best way to keep us safe,” he added. “That’s what our school’s research
is telling us. We’ve got to rock with it. I think it’s fine, honestly.”
BU plays in the Patriot League, which has also instituted some fairly strict guidelines. The league didn’t play any non-conference games and didn’t start its season until after New Year’s. Teams are grouped in three separate regional divisions and will play only teams in their division. BU, in the North Division, is scheduled to play 16 league games — six of them against Holy Cross.
At least they’re playing, as BU coach Joe Jones can attest. His brother, James, is the longtime head coach at Yale. The Ivy League has canceled its entire winter sports season.
UNFINISHED BUSINESS
Of course, BU has plenty of unfinished business to take care of. The Terriers won the Patriot League championship tournament last season, beating Colgate in the title game on March 11. The following day, the entire sports world shut down due to COVID-19, canceling BU’s trip to the NCAA tournament.
“It was tough,” Whyte recalled. “I felt like we got a good opportunity. We got to hang the banner, we kind of finished what we wanted to get done. I know we wanted to play in the (NCAA) tournament, but a lot of teams didn’t even get that far. They got cut off in the first two rounds (of
their conference tournaments).”
In fact, BU was the last team to win a conference title in any sport in the 2019-20 academic year.
The Terriers lost five in a row and were 3-7 to start last season, so Whyte has confidence they can stop breaking bad and turn their season around.
Whyte, a preseason all-Patriot League selection who missed the first two games of the season with a sprained ankle, is BU’s leading rebounder (7.8 per game) and second leading scorer (13.8). A redshirt junior who sat out his sophomore season after ankle surgery, Whyte has graduated with a major in sociology and minor in business, and begins work towards his Master’s degree on Monday in BU’s School of Public Health.
Most of Whyte’s family still lives in New Haven, though he had a somewhat nomadic educational existence before heading to BU. He attended the Wintergreen Magnet School in Hamden, but just prior to enrolling at Hillhouse, got an opportunity to enroll at Simsbury High as part of the A Better Chance program, which puts inner-city kids into suburban schools.
Whyte spent two years at Simsbury, where he met fellow hoops standout E.J. Crawford, who went on to star at Iona and remains a close friend. As a junior, Whyte transferred to St. Luke’s in New Canaan, where he started taking basketball more seriously under coach Drew Gladstone, who had coached Whyte in AAU ball and
is now on the staff at Indiana.
Whyte blossomed on the court in his three years at St. Luke’s, where he was a two-time NEPSAC Player of the Year, lost just two games his final two years and played in the 16th annual Jordan Brand Classic in Brooklyn, N.Y. He was recruited by numerous schools, including Seton Hall, Richmond, Davidson and all the Ivies — including Yale.
He opted for BU, picking Joe Jones over James Jones, among others.
“He knew I was in good hands,” Whyte quipped about the Yale coach, “so he wasn’t too mad about that.”
Now, Whyte has truly found a home.
“It’s challenged me academically and athletically,” he said. “The training staff, coaching staff, everybody here takes care of all the players. It’s been the spot for me to develop my game every year. They challenged me and pushed me to be better. I love these guys here — the coaches, everybody. I made the right decision.”
No masking those feelings.
THIS WEEK’S AP TOP 25 BALLOT
Well, UConn, it was fun while it lasted. Would the Huskies still have snuck on our ballot had they won at Creighton on Saturday? We’ll never know.
1. Gonzaga: Zags have a nation-best 47-game home winning streak.
2. Baylor: It’s looking like a two-team race to the top.
3. Villanova: Two impressive wins following a 27-day COVID pause.
4. Michigan: Wolverines’ entire athletic department now on
14-day shutdown.
5. Texas: Showdown with Oklahoma on Tuesday.
6. Alabama: Hope to see Yale grad transfer Jordan Bruner back healthy soon.
7. Houston: Best team in the AAC? Not even a question.
8. Florida State: Best team in the ACC? We think so.
9. Iowa: Hawkeyes’ prolific offense shut down in home loss to Indiana.
10. Missouri: Tigers Show-Me
something with win at Tennessee on Saturday.
11. Texas Tech: Good one at West Virginia on Monday night.
12. Wisconsin: Home loss to Ohio State on Saturday has us reconsidering.
13. West Virginia: Ex-UConn commit Emmitt Matthews Jr. averaging 7.7 points for Mountaineers.
14. Virginia: 6-0 in the ACC.
15. Ohio State: Buckeyes balance home loss to Purdue with road win at Wisconsin.
16. Tennessee: Trounced at Florida by 26, lose at home to Mizzou.
17. Kansas: Jayhawks have lost three straight.
18. Virginia Tech: Ugly loss at Syracuse, but still a lot of good wins.
19. Oklahoma: Remember Austin Reaves at Wichita State? He’s Sooners’ leading scorer (15.2 ppg)
20. Louisville: Will home win over Duke help NET ranking?
21. Creighton: UConn lost to Bluejays, but can still lay claim to current best Blue Jay (George Springer).
22. Illinois: We still say there’s Final Four talent here.
23. Arizona: Let’s give some love to the mid-major Pac-12.
24. Drake: Slated to return from shutdown on Tuesday.
25. Boise State: Two big Mountain West showdowns at Colorado State this week.