Rider pauses due to COVID

LAWRENCEVILLE » The Rider women's basketball team announced on Wednesday that it is pausing all team activities after multiple positive COVID-19 tests among its Tier 1 personnel.

The Broncs last played on Monday night — a 59-43 victory over Siena — and are scheduled to host Niagara on Dec. 30 and Marist on Jan. 1, although those games are now in jeopardy.

If Rider can't field of team of at least eight scholarship players and one coach it will have to forfeit, according the MAAC rules put in place before the season.

The league said on Wednesday that it is retaining that policy even as other leagues like the ACC begin to adjust their respective policies in regard to forfeits. A forfeit does not count against a team's overall record or NCAA metrics, but does appear as a league loss to determine seeding for the conference tournament.

“For the 2021-22 (academic year) all cancelled games related to a team not being able to field a team because of COVID issues including quarantines will be considered a forfeit and will not be rescheduled,” MAAC policy states. “Forfeited games are recorded as a loss for the team unable to compete, and as a win for the opponent.”

The NCAA rule on forfeits states: “If a league declares a forfeit it does not impact statistics, including coaching records, nor does it affect the overall won-lost records of the teams involved. A conference can, for the purposes of establishing seeding for a conference tournament or league standings in general, alter the conference won-lost records of teams involved with a game that the league labels a forfeit (even if the national office officially calls it a no contest).”

The MAAC Committee on Athletic Administration will reconvene on Jan. 5 to review the policy, the league said.