Baylor’s trainer Scott Drew was able to sympathize with Bill Self of Kansas when the Jayhawks got a positive COVID-19 test during the Big 12 tournament, forcing them to back off and put their hopes of an NCAA tournament into the Levitation.
They were also struggling to get out and barely squeaked across the state of Iowa before Kansas inflicted their only regular season loss on them. They still didn’t look like the national title contender they were before the break.
« They ran out of heart, » Drew said of the Jayhawks, « because I know how the players think about it and how hard it is they fall and I know what concerns the coaching staff must have about future safety. » . ”
All of these breaks that 27 of the 68 teams in the NCAA tournament took during the season could benefit them once they arrive in Indianapolis. Players, coaches, and staff who test positive still have antibodies, making them less susceptible to COVID-19 – and potentially forcing their team to withdraw from the biggest tournament of their lives.
« While you’re with COVID can be re-infected and it looks like new variants may bypass part of the immune response, reinfections are not as common, « said Dr. Tara Kirk Sell, a former Olympic swimmer and assistant professor in the environmental health and technology division at Johns Hopkins. « I would imagine that players who have had COVID-19 are less likely to get it now. »
Nobody knows exactly how effective antibodies are and how long they will last. However, recent research suggests that someone who has recovered from COVID-19 has levels of immunity for eight months, possibly longer.
That could be good news for nearly half the field, and especially good for Baylor, the State of Florida, Drexel, the Grand Canyon, Iona, and the State of Norfolk. These six schools had two breaks; Coach Rick Pitino’s Gaels walked 16 days during one and 51 days during the other, the longest time any team has been inactive this season.
Those who got the virus felt lousy for days or weeks. When they came back, it often took teams several games to get their legs – and lungs – back in shape.
Evan Miyakawa, a PhD student in statistics at Baylor, collapsed about how the teams fared this season when they emerged from breaks. He found an average decrease in the adjusted efficiency margin for teams after breakouts of 0.016, which is a decrease in the point margin of 1.12 in a typical game.
In other words, a team that Analytics predicted before the Break wins by 4.2 points, should win by 3.1 points after that. The bears were one of the hardest hit teams.
Other teams like Iona actually fared better getting out of breaks. Regardless of how they performed – better or worse – they all share the antibodies that these teams brought to the dance.
« We’d hope the chances of an outbreak or infection of multiple members are less if a group was previously exposed and infected, « said Dr. Dana Hawkinson, Medical Director, Infection Prevention and Control, University of Kansas Health Systems. “People who have been infected still have the opportunity to get infected again. We just hope they have a lower risk of disease, serious illness, death, and passing the virus on to others. “
That’s why teams with COVID-19 in Indianapolis still don’t have the freedom to run amok.
Having the disease might reduce stress for some players and coaches, but every member of a team’s travel group must still testing daily. They are largely confined to their hotel rooms unless they are directed to practice or some other approved event. Masks remain ubiquitous, hand washing is ubiquitous.
« This is the world now, » said Oklahoma state striker Cade Cunningham, shrugging. “We’re just trying to take care of ourselves, test negative as often as possible, and stay positive I think.” Even then, the virus can slip through the best of plans. That was the case when a referee tested positive earlier this week. He and five others who went to dinner were sent home before the tournament started.
« It’s never perfect in a pandemic, » said Dan Gavitt, vice president of the NCAA. « I don’t think there’s anything here that can be identified as some kind of bug. Just an unfortunate set of circumstances. »
Perhaps it turned out that the COVID-19 hiatus throughout the season was a certain amount Provide a level of protection for March Madness.
“The whole season has given us a break, right? But there is only so much you can do, ”said Mike Boynton, Oklahoma state coach. “It’s not that the virus will just go away. You respect it, you try to be hardworking, but you really can’t hide from it. “
(Disclaimer: This story was not edited by www.republicworld.com and is automatically generated from a syndicated feed.)
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