HARTFORD, Conn. _ All 11 of his players are on campus and have begun to return to the court. But that may be the only thing relatively normal about this summer and the lead up to the 2020-21 season in the eyes of UConn women's basketball head coach Geno Auriemma.
Things are different. The players, who arrived in Storrs on July 26, have been split into three groups and are only allowed to work out, live and otherwise interact with the other members of their "pod."
"It's not anything remotely resembling normal," Auriemma said Monday.
Auriemma, who turned 66 in March, says he's not apprehensive about coaching during the pandemic, though he did joke, "Maybe I should be." He said doesn't know how anything, including the college basketball season, will look a few months from now and he isn't optimistic that basketball will start on time.
"I told our staff this morning, 'Look, once the rest of the country cancels football, then we'll know there's no fall sports at all, then we'll know there's no basketball games in the fall, so there won't be any games in November. And then we can start thinking about January maybe, or February, who knows,'" Auriemma said.
"(If that were the case) we've got four months. Four months of what? What are you supposed to do for four months? We're just taking it one day at a time, one drill at a time."
The UConn staff is going about summer activities as they would had the players arrived in June as initially planned. The challenges now, though, are unique as no one knows exactly when official practices, let alone exhibitions or regular-season games, will begin. While some are floating the idea of playing college basketball in a "bubble" or at a clean site as some professional sports leagues are doing, Auriemma doesn't find that feasible.
"Don't get me wrong. I've heard people talking about it," he said. "And you could actually do it financially. But I don't know that there's going to be this giant groundswell of, 'Yeah, let's do that.' I don't see that."
And there's the possibility, too, that a potential delay of the college basketball season turns into a complete cancellation _ something that has crossed players' minds after the NCAA Tournament was canceled in March and from seeing what football is experiencing.
"I'm a little nervous just because of football. UConn is not even having a season anymore," junior Christyn Williams said. "I just want to have a season. I don't really care if we have fans or what. I just literally want to have a season. We didn't get to play in the tournament last year. I haven't played ball since (March). ... But there haven't been any cases on UConn's campus, so, so far, so good."
In the absence of any changes, the team is focusing on preparing as if they will have a season while following extensive health and safety protocols. In addition to only being able to see the other people in their "pods," players are screened daily, have to keep track of their own symptoms and observe social distancing and mask wearing as needed. Auriemma said the staff hopes to be able to work with all 11 players at the same time beginning next week. Until then, most team activities are being conducted virtually.
"(The experience) is definitely different than what I thought it was going to be," freshman Paige Bueckers said. "There's obviously a lot of protocols and rules that we have to follow and time slots when you get in the gym and the weight room and the training room. So it's definitely been an adjustment."
Players had been able to work out with the strength and conditioning coach before coaching staff-supervised activities began last Tuesday. In addition to getting players back into shape, even more crucial this year since most haven't played since March, the coaching staff has been honing fundamentals and skill work, which Auriemma likened to coaching at the high school level again.
"It's a pretty tough situation," said sophomore Anna Makurat. "We definitely want to play basketball and have our season, but we can't focus on things that we don't have control of. We don't have control of the whole pandemic situation so we just can focus on practicing, getting better each practice and getting ready for the season. When it's going to come, we're going to be ready."
