Archdeacon: ‘Groundhog Day’ without the laughs

In what should be the heart of the season, the days are maddeningly familiar for UD women’s basketball coach.

Shauna Green has turned into Bill Murray.

Not Caddyshack Bill Murray, but instead his character in the movie Groundhog Day.

That’s where he’s trapped in a time loop in Punxsutawney, Pa., and he keeps living the same day over and over and over.

This should be the heart of the college basketball season, but Wednesday afternoon – for the third time this season – the Dayton Flyers women’s basketball coach was holed up in her Washington Township home adhering to COVID-19 protocols.

In late November, she contracted the coronavirus – as did her husband – and she quarantined 14 days in the basement, missing her team’s season opener at Morehead State.

She finally returned to the team for a Dec. 6 game against Akron, only to have the whole operation shut down again the next day because of a positive test from one of the players or someone else close to the team who has the restrictive Tier 1 clearance.

That layoff cost the Flyers five non-conference games, all of which were cancelled.

The team returned Jan. 1 and won five straight conference games to raise its record to 6-1 on the season. The team was atop the Atlantic 10 standings and for three weeks in a row had been getting some votes in the USA Today Top 25 poll.

Then Monday another positive test among the Tier 1 personnel caused UD to announce the program was hitting the pause button again.

Five more games – including tonight’s scheduled match up with Massachusetts at UD Arena – were postponed with no make-up dates announced.

Credit: David Jablonski

Credit: David Jablonski

“As soon as my phone rings in 10 minutes, who knows what’s going to happen,” Green speculated. “That’s just the way life is right now.

“Literally, hour to hour, day to day so may things can come up and change with COVID. You can be shut down at any time.

“So we really have to practice what we preach and stay in the moment and just be the best you can be that day.”

COVID-19 is devouring much of the college basketball season,

The UD men’s game with George Washington was postponed Wednesday night at the Arena because of a positive test among the Colonials, who UD had just played Saturday in Virginia.

Xavier’s men’s program has been on hold as has the Cincinnati Bearcats and at least 17 other programs nationwide. Another nine teams canceled the season as soon as it started and two teams, Chicago State and Maryland Eastern Shore opted out before that.

On the women’s side, Duke, Virginia, SMU and San Jose State have decided to end their seasons early because of the threat of COVID, which has infected over 24 million Americans and claimed over 400,000 lives, including Tony Ingle, the former BYU, Kennesaw State and Dalton State coach, who won two national titles and was voted the national coach of the year in 2015.

He died Monday of COVID complications in Utah.

Two days before that Baylor women’s coach Kim Mulkey – who is in the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame and had just returned to the sideline from her own bout with COVID-19 -- blasted the NCAA and its decision to play basketball right now.

Earlier this year men’s coaches like Pitt’s Jeff Capel and Duke’s Mike Krzysewski had also been critical of playing.

Mulkey has never one to hold her tongue and this broadside came after her team had been upset by Iowa State, so the emotion of the moment likely played into her response:

“The season will continue because of the NCAA has to have the almighty dollar from the men’s tournament. The almighty dollar is more important than the health of me, the players or anybody else.”

Connecticut coach Geno Auriemma – also a Naismith Hall of Famer and an eight-time national coach of the year whose Huskies have won 11 national titles – took a different stance.

While he didn’t dispute money played a factor in this and said the men’s tournament pays the freight for a lot of other college programs, including women’s hoops at many places, he said he thinks nearly “100 percent” of college players want to play this season.

He also claimed that almost no one gets infected by COVID while playing against someone else on the court. He thought it happens “off the court.”

Green – who has been named the Atlantic 10 coach of the year two of the past three seasons – wasn’t ready to embrace that concept:

“I have no idea. That’s above my pay grade. I’m not a doctor, so I don’t know.

“For everyone who has had it, you try to trace back were you got it and it’s almost impossible. I don’t stress about that. We just try to stay as safe as possible.”

She did seem to side with Auriemma when it came to her players desires:

“I can just speak for myself and what our players want. They want to compete. And as a staff, a university and from our medical team, everything we do is to put them in position to compete while also keeping them safe.”

To make that happen though, the players must shoulder much of the burden themselves.

“I don’t think a lot of people outside of the athletic world understand what these student athletes are going through,” she said. “They must adhere to strict protocol on just what they are allowed to do.”

During this pause, the team can’t hold practices, though players can go to the Arena individually and put up shots.

The buffet style training table they have during the season is no more. Their food is now bagged up and they must take it to home to eat. The basketball offices, usually a gathering spot for players, is now dark and empty.

Players must wear masks in the dressing room before and after practices and games. The film room is no longer used. Instead tape sessions happen on the basketball court where players can social distance.

“I’m not able to be there with them, which is tough because as coaches we like to have control,” she admitted. “But we’re lucky because we have some very, very experienced fifth-year seniors and they know what this program is about and what’s required. And that has really helped because they can guide the others. We have eight kids who had never played college ball before this season.”

Her newest players have never played in front of a crowd at UD Arena or experienced life on campus meeting other students from different backgrounds and interests not connected to sports.

“I’m just so disappointed for them,” Green said. “They just want some normalcy in their lives…. But this isn’t close to what the college basketball experience should be.”

She said, as of now, the team is scheduled to return to play Jan. 31 at St. Bonaventure. After that they have seven games left on the schedule.

As for the postponed games: “I have no idea. I haven’t heard anything from the A-10, I don’t know if all of the games are going to be made up or not.”

She added: “None of this is fun or ideal or what we want. But we know the situation we’re in and we’re trying to find ways to deal with the adversity and come out the other end stronger. We try to be as positive as we can and just appreciate things more.”

And so soon after she finished our conversation, she would be going into a film session with her team.

But it wouldn’t be at the Cronin Center film room or even out on the court.

It would be on a Zoom session from her computer.

She’s at home again. It might be the heart of the basketball season, but for Shauna Green and her Flyers – like with so many other teams – it’s Groundhog Day.

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