Alabama men’s basketball enters its season opener Wednesday evening without any positive COVID-19 tests among its program for about 90 days.
Coach Nate Oats anticipates having his full roster available minus injured players when the season tips off 7 p.m. against Jacksonville State at Coleman Coliseum.
“We haven’t had a COVID positive since I think, August,” Oats said Tuesday. “It’s been 90 days since we’ve had a positive COVID within the program.”
Three SEC men’s basketball programs have paused activities and had games canceled this week because of COVID-19. Ole Miss canceled upcoming games after positive tests, including for coach Kermit Davis. Tennessee coach Rick Barnes also tested positive, and Florida stopped practicing because of a positive test.
”It’s a little concerning, even if it’s not your program,” Oats said. “Different parts of the country are different. Alabama was a little bit more of a hotbed for this stuff back in the summer. Our guys that did get kind of got it back when the whole state of Alabama was a little bit more of a hotbed. Maybe now it’s going around different parts of the country.
“So I’m not so worried on our end. I think we’ve got a pretty good handle on this now. We had to deal with back in June and July. Little bit more worried with who we’re supposed to play. Our game got moved to 7 p.m. [CT Wednesday, from 6:30 p.m.] so the SEC Network could pick it up, because Tennessee is not playing. That’s great for us, great for exposure, great for all that -- but Tennessee is in our league. It would be great to see our league go out and get a bunch of quality wins right out of the gate.”
Similar to Nick Saban earlier this month, Oats then questioned the SEC’s 14-day quarantine period that is part of the league’s winter sports COVID-19 task force recommendations.
“It’s going to be really hard to have a season if everybody in the country decides they’re going to shut down for two weeks with one positive,” Oats said Tuesday. “I don’t know how you’re going to play a season. I’m not a doctor. I don’t have the answers to everything. But shutting everything down for one positive for two weeks -- one guy gets it; two weeks later, another guy gets it; two weeks later, another guy gets it -- all of the sudden, you can’t play a game.
“So they’re going to have to figure this out a little bit better, in my opinion. ... I just hope that these people have a plan figured out. Football didn’t shut down with one positive. I don’t know why it sounds like some of these places in basketball are shutting everything down with one positive. I’m not quite sure that’s going to be the answer to this.”
Oats tested positive for COVID-19 in July but experienced only mild symptoms. Some players were also held out of summer practices for positive tests or contact tracing. Official preseason practices did not begin until Oct. 15.
“I told the guys after we finished [Tuesday], we got the full 30 [preseason practices] in,” Oats said. “A lot of programs around the country haven’t been able to get their full 30 practices in. We have. We’ve been fortunate in that regard.”
Jacksonville State is also in a “good spot” with the virus, Oats said, and is ready to make the cross-state trip to Coleman Coliseum, which will be limited to about 15 percent capacity.
“They’re ready to play,” Oats said. “I texted with Ray Harper yesterday when they changed the game time. He’s a guy that just wants to play games. I want to play games. At this point, I don’t care who it is we play, where it is we play -- we just need to play. We’re planning on playing tomorrow.”
Oats said his players have “been really good” with avoiding situations where the virus could spread.
“Once we got within two weeks [of the season opener], we’ve been on them to stay pretty tight,” Oats said last week. “It’s time to really buckle down, not go out, don’t go out to restaurants. Just stay within our small group. If none of us have it, and we just associate within the group, the chances of anybody within the group getting it are a lot smaller.
“We told the players, we’ve got four games in the first eight days of the season. We can’t afford for somebody to go down now. It’s not the time to be out partying. It’s time to get locked in and be ready to play.”
Oats said the only players who will not be available Wednesday night are freshman center Alex Tchikou (season-ending Achilles surgery) and redshirt freshman forward Juwan Gary, who continues to work back to 100 percent after ACL surgery last year.
“Maybe they’ll clear [Gary] to play a minute or a few minutes, maybe,” Oats said. “If he doesn’t play, he’s very, very close.”
Mike Rodak is an Alabama beat reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter @mikerodak.
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