The Daily Orange is a nonprofit newsroom that receives no funding from Syracuse University. Consider donating today to support our mission.

Jim Boeheim is entering his 45th year as Syracuse’s head coach, but he’s never faced a season like this. 

He’d normally chat with players up close, but he now maintains at least 10 feet of distance and wears a mask. His staff, team and managers use wearable technology that monitors close interaction to minimize risk and streamline contact tracing. Opponents such as Cornell and Colgate have canceled their seasons, complicating SU’s non-conference schedule. Syracuse will test each player for COVID-19 three times a week, up from once weekly. 

“This obviously, it concerns everybody, and it’s the most difficult thing we’ve had to deal with in our country, in my lifetime, by quite a lot,” Boeheim said Friday, in his first press conference ahead of the 2020-21 season, . 

With 15 days before Syracuse’s season-opener against Bryant in the Carrier Dome, Boeheim expressed cautious optimism that SU will complete its 23-game schedule. “It’s not going to be easy, but I think it can be done,” he said. Boeheim also described how his team has adjusted to the pandemic as the infections hit record levels in Onondaga County. 

“It’s completely different,” Boeheim said. “I’ve noticed a couple of times in practice, recently more so, that it’s more difficult, really. I just don’t think we have quite as much ‘oompf’ in practice because you’re spaced out so much. You have to imagine, if you look at our practice, you don’t see a player next to each other.” 

The players spread out in pre-practice warmups and enter the locker room in groups of four or five. There’s no in-person meetings or film sessions. The team has done less scrimmaging — eight to 10 minutes, and only zone defense — to reduce physical contact, which is measured by the new contact-tracing technology. They might not even have a team Thanksgiving dinner, Boeheim said.

The measures are intended to reduce the possibility of one positive test affecting the entire team. Boeheim said he wants to prove to local health officials how much intra-squad contact there actually is because, as of now, the NCAA would recommend a 14-day quarantine for all players if one contracted the virus. 

Iona has already canceled its first four scheduled games because of positive cases, and several Northeast programs, including Seton Hall, UConn and Albany, paused practices on Thursday. 

CBS Sports’ Jon Rothstein also reported Thursday that all 22 Division I schools in New York have submitted a formal request to the state’s health department to have travel guidelines and quarantine periods waived for those participating in winter sports. 

With travel, SU will try to “bubble” the team as much as it can, limiting potential exposure to only transportation, hotels and sites of games, Boeheim said. Although Boeheim said an NBA-style bubble would be impossible for college basketball, he pointed at the relative success of the MLB and NFL to play seasons safely. Both leagues have had clusters that caused game cancellations, but they’ve continued nonetheless. 

“The one thing I’ve learned in my life is you don’t sit still and you don’t give up,” Boeheim said. “You don’t quit. I’m against that 100%. And I see that out there today. I don’t think you give up. I think you try to work through it, you establish protocols, you try to keep yourself healthy, your players healthy. But you don’t sit home.”

Other notes 

• Bourama Sidibe — who’s now been fully healthy for about a year and a half — Marek Dolezaj, Joseph Girard III and Buddy Boeheim have all put on muscle, Boeheim said. He also said sophomore forward Quincy Guerrier isn’t fully healthy after undergoing groin surgery this summer. 
• Boeheim went on a 576-word diatribe in response to a question about Dior Johnson, the No. 1 point guard of the 2022 class who announced his decommitment from Syracuse earlier this week. He said the media overreacts to verbal commitments and Syracuse is only interested in high schoolers who have serious plans to play college basketball. Here’s his full answer:

Published on November 12, 2020 at 6:48 pm

Contact Danny: dremerma@syr.edu | @DannyEmerman