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Official SLU News: Men’s Basketball Pauses Team Activities


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2 hours ago, kshoe said:

If players are quarantining since Dec 30 it means they have had no contact with other players. There is no reason, whatsoever, that a second player testing positive on January 7 would reset the clock on the other members of the team until January 21 since they haven't had contact with said player since Dec 30.

This is the part that makes no sense to me and why I fall into BrianSTL's camp of thinking something else is going on here. To be sure, Billikenfan05's theory that Ford just wants a bunch of practice time is the most logical explanation. That being said, I don't like it as it's unfair to other teams in our conference for us to drag our feet on returning to play. Our opponents want to play games and want to play top 25 teams!

Pure speculation - I think it is likely that key player(s) likely tested positive after the initial positive that put the program on pause.  That means that while some some of the team could resume practicing after 14 days those key players could not until they are healthy / cleared.  I believe Ford has said that the team will not resume until everyone is ready to resume.

I agree this isn't fair to our opponents.  Heck NC State came to Chaifetz & played us short handed.  However, I'd rather not return without key players and potentially drop a game or 2 we shouldn't to mediocre A10 teams.  I have a feeling that the selection committee doesn't care enough to examine the circumstances and would have no problem giving SLU the screw job if we drop some games in that scenario.  Therefore, I fully support waiting until we are full strength to resume.

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8 minutes ago, HoosierPal said:

So then we don't know? 

I have no idea what circumstances are with the women's team and with the men's team.  I assume there was an issue that differed between the two teams.  I have no inside information, only what Frank and Coach have said on the radio.

I don’t understand what you are saying. It seems like you are drawing a distinction between knowing and assuming, but we are assuming based on publicly available information provided by primary sources. Perhaps you are pondering the deeper philosophical question of whether humans can actually truly know anything?

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The official statement for the men was: "Program activities will resume only after all personnel are cleared via the extensive Saint Louis University campus COVID-19 testing procedures and protocols." I'm too lazy to see if there was a statement for the women when they shut down.

If Stone is starting practice without a full team you would think it's because not everyone has been cleared yet but they expect them to be soon. I guess there's a possibility that she is starting with a small group before bringing everyone on but that doesn't make any sense especially considering the long layoff they had. 

I'm not sure there are different policies in place for the men/women mainly due to the lack of transparency but on the surface it seems like the men are being held to a stricter policy. Unless there is more to the story of course. 
 

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1 hour ago, 3star_recruit said:

Other than the newspaper, social media and radio, how else should the administration be communicating to the casual fan?  Those are the same outlets every program uses.

A lot of words, but very little information.  Going back to the basic question 72 asked, how difficult would it be for May or TF?  Why not address why the Women can practice w/o a full team, but the Men are waiting until everyone can participate to mention if the players are allowed in the gym by themselves.  If you and Littlebill are satisfied with the info you are getting, that's fine.  Many others are not.  I guess neither side is wrong, ust different.

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6 minutes ago, RUBillsFan said:

Pure speculation - I think it is likely that key player(s) likely tested positive after the initial positive that put the program on pause.  That means that while some some of the team could resume practicing after 14 days those key players could not until they are healthy / cleared.  I believe Ford has said that the team will not resume until everyone is ready to resume.

I agree this isn't fair to our opponents.  Heck NC State came to Chaifetz & played us short handed.  However, I'd rather not return without key players and potentially drop a game or 2 we shouldn't to mediocre A10 teams.  I have a feeling that the selection committee doesn't care enough to examine the circumstances and would have no problem giving SLU the screw job if we drop some games in that scenario.  Therefore, I fully support waiting until we are full strength to resume.

No doubt about it.  When high-majors lose games they're not supposed to, we've seen the committee excuse it based on missing personnel.  Mid-majors, not as much.

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6 minutes ago, bauman said:

A lot of words, but very little information.  Going back to the basic question 72 asked, how difficult would it be for May or TF?  Why not address why the Women can practice w/o a full team, but the Men are waiting until everyone can participate to mention if the players are allowed in the gym by themselves.  If you and Littlebill are satisfied with the info you are getting, that's fine.  Many others are not.  I guess neither side is wrong, ust different.

I don't know of any athletic department that freely divulges the rationale for their administrative decisions.  They tell you what they're doing it and that's it.  That's whether you're the AD at UNC or the AD at Belmont.

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25 minutes ago, billiken_roy said:

i believe i had read maybe on twitter by Stu that the team voted that they come back together.   no partial return. 

I took this quote from another post:

The official statement for the men was: "Program activities will resume only after all personnel are cleared via the extensive Saint Louis University campus COVID-19 testing procedures and protocols."

I'd be shocked if the team voted that they all come back together. Nobody is going to want to stay in quarantine longer or stay away from the weight room or gym any longer than they have to. It would have to be Ford or May or someone in charge saying that they don't want to re-start team practices until every player is out of quarantine.

On a roster of 13 guys plus walk-ons, they practice all the times when players aren't available because of injuries. Doesn't make any sense to not practice because one or two players have to stay in quarantine. Whoever made that decision made a mistake in my opinion.

 

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5 minutes ago, 3star_recruit said:

I don't know of any athletic department that freely divulges the rationale for their administrative decisions.  They tell you what they're doing it and that's it.  That's whether you're the AD at UNC or the AD at Belmont.

The difference is the AD at UNC may actually get challenged by the media as to why that decision was made. That certainly isn't happening in St. Louis.

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19 minutes ago, slufan13 said:

The official statement for the men was: "Program activities will resume only after all personnel are cleared via the extensive Saint Louis University campus COVID-19 testing procedures and protocols." I'm too lazy to see if there was a statement for the women when they shut down.

If Stone is starting practice without a full team you would think it's because not everyone has been cleared yet but they expect them to be soon. I guess there's a possibility that she is starting with a small group before bringing everyone on but that doesn't make any sense especially considering the long layoff they had. 

I'm not sure there are different policies in place for the men/women mainly due to the lack of transparency but on the surface it seems like the men are being held to a stricter policy. Unless there is more to the story of course. 
 

IMO men's and women's teams are in totally different situations:

Men's team has built a quality at-large resume.  They've played 8 games and are well on their way to the NCAA tournament.  I suspect they don't want to rush back without key players, potentially lose games they otherwise wouldn't and get punished for by an unforgiving (to non Power conference teams) selection committee.

Women's team has played 2 games.  They aren't likely to make the NCAA tournament without winning the A10 tournament.  There is no incentive for them not to get back on the court as soon as they can.  They just need to get games in to be eligible for postseason and hope they are full strength for the A10 tournament when the games matter for them.

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1 hour ago, White Pelican said:

I'm sorry but I had chuckled at this. I'd rather he run up and down the floor and keep in shape.

I chuckled a lot with your post thank you.  The truth is always funny.

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Rather than take a proactive approach, SLU's approach seems to be more reactionary, to stay tight-lipped, and to only divulge (limited) info when asked. It has seemed to lead to a lot of speculation which is why I don't necessarily agree with it. Obviously the AD can handle this in whatever way he sees fit. Clearly they think this approach is in the best interest of the program. Ultimately it doesn't really matter what anyone thinks and the boys will be back on the court dominating the A10 soon enough.  I just find it odd.

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38 minutes ago, 3star_recruit said:

I don't know of any athletic department that freely divulges the rationale for their administrative decisions.  They tell you what they're doing it and that's it.  

That could and should be said about most entities, company, couple, team, church.

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58 minutes ago, NH said:

I don’t understand what you are saying. It seems like you are drawing a distinction between knowing and assuming, but we are assuming based on publicly available information provided by primary sources. Perhaps you are pondering the deeper philosophical question of whether humans can actually truly know anything?

This board, like all others, is for opinions and assumptions. When I saw your post that said "We know" I thought I had missed something official.  That's all.  No harm, no foul.

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42 minutes ago, Slu let the dogs out? said:

Rather than take a proactive approach, SLU's approach seems to be more reactionary, to stay tight-lipped, and to only divulge (limited) info when asked. It has seemed to lead to a lot of speculation which is why I don't necessarily agree with it. Obviously the AD can handle this in whatever way he sees fit. Clearly they think this approach is in the best interest of the program. Ultimately it doesn't really matter what anyone thinks and the boys will be back on the court dominating the A10 soon enough.  I just find it odd.

I hate to break it to you but you've accurately described SLU's philosophy since I've been following them.  It would be odd if they routinely put out information........

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1 hour ago, Slu let the dogs out? said:

Rather than take a proactive approach, SLU's approach seems to be more reactionary, to stay tight-lipped, and to only divulge (limited) info when asked. It has seemed to lead to a lot of speculation which is why I don't necessarily agree with it. Obviously the AD can handle this in whatever way he sees fit. Clearly they think this approach is in the best interest of the program. Ultimately it doesn't really matter what anyone thinks and the boys will be back on the court dominating the A10 soon enough.  I just find it odd.

Alright, but here is a thought, what if it is Corey Tate who has Covid. How about that? Think maybe the school has a little bit of concern there? Maybe they think that this isn’t a game, and the concern transcends the casual fan’s desire to know more?

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Everything that Stu just put on Twitter is what I think we've been asking for. For the most part it's a bunch of nothing-statements from Chris May but it's at least it's publicly acknowledging the situation. I never understand why that's so hard but good to get some information. 

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In summary:

-Will not return to practice this week as the program continues to work through positive cases for players and staff.
-Guidelines: 10 days for positive test, additional 7-day slow return after symptoms end before practicing, 14 day quarantine for someone exposed.
-We have multiple positives coming out of quarantine at different times. Issue is timing based on when symptoms started and when they ended.
-Today is the 14th day since positives were first announced. Positives were within Tier 1 - players, coaches, staff, and managers who travel with team.
-1/20 game against UMass may be cancelled (this is Stu's conjecture based on the math). Home game vs. Bonaventure on 1/23 is the next scheduled game after that.
-SLU followed the same guidelines most teams did.
-Players and staff have appointments with team doctors, who with medical staff are responsible for determining when activity resumes. Individual activities are possible first, and we know players are already working out on their own to the extent possible.

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16 minutes ago, AnkielBreakers said:

Alright, but here is a thought, what if it is Corey Tate who has Covid. How about that? Think maybe the school has a little bit of concern there? Maybe they think that this isn’t a game, and the concern transcends the casual fan’s desire to know more?

Okay? What if Corey Tate does have it? What are you implying? Having gone through previous pages on this thread it appears that no one on the team or staff has had any severe symptoms or health issues. I would hope if someone was in a dire health situation they’d let us know.  I’m sure the SLU community would like to include them in their thoughts and prayers. 

 

36 minutes ago, Billiken Rich said:

I hate to break it to you but you've accurately described SLU's philosophy since I've been following them.  It would be odd if they routinely put out information........

Out of reactions but good point. 

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24 minutes ago, slufan13 said:

Everything that Stu just put on Twitter is what I think we've been asking for. For the most part it's a bunch of nothing-statements from Chris May but it's at least it's publicly acknowledging the situation. I never understand why that's so hard but good to get some information. 

Again, no AD just volunteers administrative rationales.  We're probably one of the fortunate fanbases in that our MBM commentary often provokes a response. 

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28 minutes ago, Pistol said:

In summary:

-Will not return to practice this week as the program continues to work through positive cases for players and staff.
-Guidelines: 10 days for positive test, additional 7-day slow return after symptoms end before practicing, 14 day quarantine for someone exposed.
-We have multiple positives coming out of quarantine at different times. Issue is timing based on when symptoms started and when they ended.
-Today is the 14th day since positives were first announced. Positives were within Tier 1 - players, coaches, staff, and managers who travel with team.
-1/20 game against UMass may be cancelled (this is Stu's conjecture based on the math). Home game vs. Bonaventure on 1/23 is the next scheduled game after that.
-SLU followed the same guidelines most teams did.
-Players and staff have appointments with team doctors, who with medical staff are responsible for determining when activity resumes. Individual activities are possible first, and we know players are already working out on their own to the extent possible.

Your first and third points correspond with what Coach told Frank last week.  On your first point, I would add will not return to full team practice this week... 

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Whatever protocol the women’s team has had in place the men need to do something completely different.

The women’s team handling of their cases has not worked and it has destroyed their season.

I’m guessing what has happened with the women’s team is why the mens team is being more cautious.

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49 minutes ago, Pistol said:

In summary:

-Will not return to practice this week as the program continues to work through positive cases for players and staff.
-Guidelines: 10 days for positive test, additional 7-day slow return after symptoms end before practicing, 14 day quarantine for someone exposed.
-We have multiple positives coming out of quarantine at different times. Issue is timing based on when symptoms started and when they ended.
-Today is the 14th day since positives were first announced. Positives were within Tier 1 - players, coaches, staff, and managers who travel with team.
-1/20 game against UMass may be cancelled (this is Stu's conjecture based on the math). Home game vs. Bonaventure on 1/23 is the next scheduled game after that.
-SLU followed the same guidelines most teams did.
-Players and staff have appointments with team doctors, who with medical staff are responsible for determining when activity resumes. Individual activities are possible first, and we know players are already working out on their own to the extent possible.

The bolded part above is the key part as it explains why there are delays extending well beyond two weeks.

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