Rick Pitino Calls For College Basketball To Begin In January, Dan Hurley Says It’s ‘Hard To Comprehend’ Starting In November

Rick Pitino says college basketball should start in January due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Dan Hurley says it’s “hard to comprehend” starting the college season in November.

With the start of college basketball still several months off, two of the bigger names in the men’s game are increasingly dubious that the season will begin on time.

“Suggestion to the NCAA, push the start of the season back to January and only play league games,” Pitino, who was named the head coach at Iona in May, Tweeted Wednesday. “Buy some more time for a vaccine and to get things under control. Although I can’t wait to be back on the sidelines, the health of my players and staff is what’s really important.”

Dr. Anthony Fauci said Tuesday there’s “no guarantee” the U.S. will develop a “safe and effective” Covid-19 vaccine — but experts are “aspirationally hopeful” there could be doses available to the public by next year, via CNN. When is unclear.

Meantime, Hurley said its “hard to comprehend” starting the season in November.

“It’s concerning to me when the NCAA extends the no recruiting on- or off campus all the way through August, so we’re not allowed to recruit or have prospects spend even a couple hours with us on campus but then we expect to play games in November,” Hurley said Wednesday on a Zoom call announcing that UConn will officially re-join the Big East Conference for the 2020-21 season.

“That obviously seems like something that’s hard to comprehend that again in August we can’t leave campus, no one can come visit us but three months later we’re going to be traveling around the country playing games. I certainly understand that.”

Asked about Pitino’s statement that college basketball should begin in January with league games, Hurley said:

“I’m not ready to make an assessment of where things are going to me. Maybe in a couple weeks I’ll have enough information. I do know that the safety of our players, the safety of our coaching staff, the data on this is scary. We’re going to know a lot more with what happens with college football. We’re going to benefit greatly with what goes on with the NBA bubble, with college football, with Major League Baseball, I just don’t know that today we need to be making a decision on college basketball.”

Villanova coach Jay Wright, who has won two of the last four NCAA titles and will compete against Hurley and UConn beginning next season, also said college basketball might not begin until January — at least.

He also said he “can’t see” having fans at college games this season.

Because studies have shown that African-Americans are more likely to be vulnerable to the coronavirus, Hurley said he’s particularly concerned about his coaches and players.

“I had a problem on the Wednesday of the conference tournament,” he said. “I had a major problem with having us play in the conference tournament with no fans and that’s still something that to me, for college athletes if the situation is not safe enough for spectators to be there, I’m not sure how it then is safe enough environment for college students. I was melting down the night before our games were canceled the night before.

“And then when the data suggests that this disease and this virus affects men of color more than other members of our society and you’re coaching with members of your staff that are predominantly black men, I’m not sure that I would ever be comfortable unless this thing changes pretty significantly.”

All that said, Hurley is over-joyed that UConn is back in the Big East and compared the feeling to being hired again at his “dream job.”

“There’s nothing like the Big East Tournament, and I don’t think there’s anything that’s even remotely close to the electricity that gets generated in New York City when the Big East Tournament is going on,” he said. “It’s been a while for me, but I can’t wait. Just being from Jersey and my whole background, playing at Seton Hall, it really like is a dream come true. It’s almost like getting hired again, that euphoria with the first press conference when you get announced as the head coach. Today is almost like getting introduced again. It’s like you guys fired me and then I got re-hired when I woke up.”

He said he’s looking forward to the rivalries, including being “trolled” by Providence fans.

“I was once somebody that they liked to get after,” he said, referring to his time at Rhode Island. “It’ll be nice to play them. It’ll be nice to play them as a Big East program, not as an in-state program from a mid-major league trying to compete against a Big East team. So we look forward to it, it’s going to be fun.”

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