Huskies’ stay at Mohegan resulted in just one game

UConn was supposed to play three games in the hermetically-sealed environs of Mohegan Sun Arena, a.k.a. “Bubbleville,” over the past five days.

The Huskies wound up playing just once.

UConn’s first slated opponent, Vanderbilt, checked out of their slated Ronan Legends Classic opener on Tuesday with the Huskies due to COVID-19 issues. The Commodores never even made it to Bubbleville.

UConn managed to sandwich in a 61-58 win over USC on Thursday night. But late Friday night, it was announced that Saturday’s game against NC State would also be canceled due to a positive COVID-19 test with the Wolfpack. That one was a bit more baffling, since the Wolfpack had already been tested inside Bubbleville.

Prior to Saturday, 26 different games had been played inside Bubbleville with none canceled or paused due to positive tests. Players and coaches raved about the protocols being taken inside Mohegan’s “bubble” that kept teams as safe as possible.

“It’s pretty locked down,” Shelton’s Rich Kelly, a se

nior guard on Boston College, told Hearst Connecticut Media last week, in the midst of playing four games inside Bubbleville. “Your days are pretty regimented. You pretty much go from the meal room or the film room back to your room, back to the gym. You kind of just rotate those three things.”

Every team stayed on its own floor of the hotel, with security guards all around. If a member of the program wanted to use the elevator to go somewhere else, he or she needed to have an escort. Meals at Mohegan Sun’s restaurants and, certainly, any entry into the casino were strictly forbidden.

“It’s worth it,” BC coach Jim Christian said during his team’s stay. “One thing about here, if you get here and can be safe, with the amount of testing we’ve been doing, you know you’re hopefully going to be able to play the games … And that’s really important for these kids.”

UConn arrived in Bubbleville late Wednesday afternoon.

“It was a well-oiled machine, in terms of entry, getting us in, getting us tested,” said coach Dan Hurley, who opted for a PCR test upon his arrival.

NC State arrived around the same time as the Huskies. The Wolfpack hadn’t played since nearly a week earlier, on Nov. 27. Per the Connecticut Travel Advisory, all members of the program provided a negative test prior to travel to the state. They also received a PCR test immediately upon arrival at Mohegan, again producing all negative results.

In accordance with NCAA protocols, both UConn and NC State tested again on Friday, this time yielding the Wolfpack’s positive result.

End of Bubbleville. After 26 games among 25 teams, 2,800 tests administered to 1,075 people including event staff, players, coaches, support staff and courtside media, there were just three positive tests discovered. Two programs left the event before participating in game action, and only one game — the final one on the docket — got canceled.

While in all, that would appear to be a success, it proves that “bubbles” aren’t completely impenetrable — something to remember when conferences start talking about playing games in bubble-type environments in January, or for conference tournaments or even the NCAA tournament, which will be completely housed at one site (likely Indianapolis).

UConn left Mohegan Sun around 8 a.m. on Saturday and held a light practice on campus at 12:30 p.m. Hurley and his staff are furiously trying to schedule a game for Monday or Tuesday. It’s a very tricky process that involves more than just seeing if a team will make a trip to Storrs.

Teams from out of state have to have negative tests before their arrival, and both teams would have to be tested on Sunday (for a Monday game). That’s a big hurdle, since the testing materials and medical people must be ready, and a laboratory is ready to process the tests in enough time. Not to mention the logistics of getting TV involved.

It all adds another 24 hours to the process, which means a Tuesday game might work better. UConn’s staff would likely prefer to have three days off between the game and the Big East opener, however, as the team also needs to take a day off some time this week.

It’s possible the Huskies could play on the road, as well, though not very likely.