It’s been the case for almost two years now, but COVID-19 is still a part of our lives. Some consider it to be a threat, while others do not. But, given the prevalence of new variants such as omicron and delta this past school year, there’s no denying that the virus is still running its course, even if we’re emotionally done with it.
A strong example of this is how, for a third straight season, the pandemic is hijacking college sports. Just when it seemed like we were close to returning to pre-pandemic normalcy, the omicron variant appeared and threw a wrench in those plans. Multiple Sooner Athletic Conference (SAC) teams, upon returning from Christmas Break, dealt with COVID-19 outbreaks as a result. John Brown University was not exempt from this, as the women’s basketball team was unable to compete in three scheduled games spanning from Jan. 3 to Jan. 8 due to an outbreak. The conference’s policy on COVID-19 requires teams that are unable to play due to COVID-19 to forfeit and have losses added to their record, similar to the forfeit policy in the National Football League (NFL). Because of that, a JBU team that had held steady at .500 with a 7-7 record pre-outbreak was forced to take three losses via forfeit and drop to 7-10, falling further behind in the SAC standings as a result.
The SAC’s forfeit policy has been the subject of controversy and criticism. Multiple figures around the league, including JBU head men’s basketball coach Jason Beschta, openly criticized the decision by the conference’s athletic directors to maintain the policy in 2022. There are obvious pros and cons to the policy. The largest benefit to having such a policy is that it would incentivize teams to take the proper health and safety measures to reduce the spread. The biggest measure, of course, being getting vaccinated, something that less than half of JBU’s student body has done. With that said, many who oppose the policy have raised a valid question, asking, “Is it fair to be punishing student-athletes for catching COVID-19?”
Pre-omicron, I’d be inclined to be supportive of such a policy, since COVID-19 is still a lingering threat to many people, and breakthrough cases weren’t as common. Therefore, teams were fairly secure as long as they had high vaccination rates. Omicron has totally changed the game by being more transmissible than any COVID-19 variant we’ve dealt with before, so it’s not uncommon for people who have been fully vaccinated and boosted to get a breakthrough infection, meaning that simply getting vaccinated won’t entirely prevent anyone from catching COVID-19 anymore—though it is efficient at keeping people out of hospitals. Because of that, it is hard to evaluate the current policy on forfeits and not consider it to be, at least a little bit, outdated.
Ultimately, the situation surrounding omicron created the need for the conference to respond. This anticipated response came in the form of last week’s decision by the league’s athletic directors that they will allow all 12 teams to make both the men’s and women’s conference basketball tournaments, due to the high volume of COVID-19 related forfeits (almost a quarter of the games were forfeited, as of last week). Previously, only the league’s top eight teams in the standings advanced to participate in the single-elimination tournament.
Overall, this is a smart move by the conference, in my opinion, and the best possible way to respond to the issues the league is facing surrounding COVID-19. It also serves as a reasonable compromise to those that are frustrated by the forfeit policy. Everyone in the conference benefits from this, particularly those who have fallen behind in the standings due to COVID-19 outbreaks from weeks ago. This means the John Brown women’s team, that has had COVID-19 disrupt what has otherwise been a solid season, will have just as much of a shot as anybody else to receive the league’s automatic bid to the NAIA Tournament by winning the conference tournament.
In this 12-team format, another benefit comes in the form of more teams getting an opportunity to host a conference tournament game. This season, the top four teams in the conference will receive a first-round bye and host the second-round games. Meanwhile, the next four (fifth through eighth in the standings) will receive hosting duties in the first round. Mid-America Christian will host the semifinals and finals at the Gaulke Activity Center in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. Ultimately, at least two-thirds of the conference will get to host conference tournament games, which I feel like almost everyone around the league would consider to be a good thing. I also don’t believe that allowing everyone into the conference tournament will eliminate the sense of urgency these teams feel in the last weeks of the regular season, as many of the teams in the conference still need to win more games if they want to have a chance at receiving an NAIA tournament berth off their records alone, in case they fall in the conference tournament.
All things considered, there’s a lot to like with this decision. The biggest thing that I think many have called for over the last month or so has just simply been the opportunity to have a shot at a conference title and an NAIA tournament spot. Allowing everyone into the conference tournament for this year gives everyone just that. Now, everyone has a shot, including teams like the Wayland Baptist women’s squad, who could probably make it to the NAIAs anyway off their record alone, all the way to teams like the Langston men’s squad, who haven’t won a SAC game in almost two years. The stage has been set and the right decisions have been made, in my opinion, to set up what should be a very exciting SAC basketball tournament this season.