While Duke dropped out of the ACC tournament Thursday due to a walk-on player testing positive for COVID-19, the Blue Devils are technically not out of consideration for an NCAA Tournament at-large bid.
In the pandemic’s ever-changing environment, with Virginia and Kansas on Friday joining Duke and NC A&T leaving their league tournaments, a possibility exists for Duke’s season to continue even though its players and coaches remain in quarantine.
First, the Blue Devils must receive an at-large bid, something their 13-11 record makes difficult. That’s different from Kansas (20-8) or Virginia (18-6), who have won enough games to ensure a place in the tournament.
All teams must inform the tournament selection committee by 11 p.m. Saturday if they expect to be unable to meet NCAA medical protocols. Those teams then won’t remain under consideration for a tournament bid. Protocols include having a minimum of five players available with seven consecutive days of negative COVID-19 tests before traveling to Indiana, where the entire tournament will be played.
When asked by The News & Observer Friday if Duke planned to tell the committee it was unavailable for the NCAA Tournament, Duke men’s basketball administrator Jon Jackson declined to comment.
The Blue Devils have not missed an NCAA tournament since 1995.
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When announcing their positive coronavirus tests and withdrawal from their conference tournaments Friday, Kansas and Virginia officials both said they hope to be available for the NCAA tournament.
But would the NCAA allow quarantining players who have continued to test negative travel to Indiana if their quarantine doesn’t end until the day before or day of a tournament game?
The News & Observer reached out to NCAA spokesman David Worlock Friday night about the fluid situation.
“We don’t have any comment,” Worlock said via email, “other than to direct you to our protocols.”
In an appearance on CBS Sports Network Friday night, committee chair and Kentucky athletic director Mitch Barnhart said no schools have been eliminated due to COVID-19 issues.
“No team has been impacted in terms of conversation of being an at-large team or under consideration,” Barnhart said. “The committee continues to have conversation and working through all conversations with the impacted schools as it would relate to their programs and the health protocols locally and here in Indianapolis.”
Duke could potentially make the NCAA Tournament if teams above it, who are selected for the tournament, become unavailable due to COVID-19 protocols, leaving room for the Blue Devils to move up and into the 68-team field.
Or Duke could be among the four teams who fall short of inclusion but had strong enough seasons to be in the standby pool. Those teams would replace holes in the bracket if teams have to drop out prior to Tuesday at 6 p.m.
Should that happen, Duke’s players and coaches could be out of quarantine in time to play in the First Four games, scheduled for Thursday, and in the first round either Friday or Saturday.
That’s a change from Thursday morning when Duke athletics director Kevin White and coach Mike Krzyzewski released statements declaring their season over due to the team’s COVID-19 issues.
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When White and Krzyzewski released their statements, the CDC-mandated 7-10 day quarantine Duke players and coaches entered Thursday would have stretched to March 20 at its maximum. That quarantine end date would have been after the time when the Blue Devils could have traveled to Indianapolis to play in a first-round NCAA Tournament game.
But, because Duke’s players and coaches have been tested daily since last fall, health guidelines dictate they are eligible to exit quarantine after as few as seven days. That means they could leave quarantine on March 17, provided they continue to test negative and fail to show symptoms of the virus.
The only player this wouldn’t apply to is the walk-on who tested positive on Wednesday, following Duke’s 70-56 win over Louisville in the ACC tournament in Greensboro, and in the follow-up test Thursday morning. That player is in a mandatory 10-day isolation period.
The NCAA Tournament’s First Four games are set to begin at 4 p.m. on March 18.
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A shorter quarantine for someone exposed to COVID-19, but who continues to test negative and show no symptoms, matches the protocol Krzyzewski followed after he was exposed to the coronavirus this winter.
Krzyzewski and his wife, Mickie, were in close contact with their daughter, Debbie Savarino, who became infected along with her daughter. On Jan. 1, Krzyzewski learned of Savarino’s positive test. He and Mickie Krzyzewski began quarantining in separate parts of their home.
Krzyzewski tested negative daily but did not coach Duke in a Jan. 6 win over Boston College. After his pre-dawn negative test on Jan. 9, he was cleared from quarantine and coached Duke that same day to a 79-68 win over Wake Forest in a game that started at noon at Cameron Indoor Stadium.
As for now, Duke’s players are quarantined at Durham’s Washington Duke Inn and unable to practice together. Krzyzewski is not subject to quarantine because he has been fully vaccinated.
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The Blue Devils are No. 49 in the NET, one spot behind a 15-6 Virginia Tech team that’s considered solidly in the field after their third-place finish in the ACC regular season.
Duke lost its final three regular-season games, including a 91-73 bashing at North Carolina.
After entering the ACC tournament with an 11-11 record, the Blue Devils blew out Boston College, 86-51, and beat Louisville, 70-56. Duke was scheduled to play Florida State in the tournament quarterfinals on Thursday but its positive COVID-19 case and subsequent quarantining made that impossible.
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Luke DeCock contributed.
