Before the college basketball season began, I reached out to several coaches to get a feel for their biggest concerns entering a pandemic-impacted campaign.
Aside from the safety of their players and the 14-day quarantine rule, there was one concern that came up multiple times that I hadn't really thought about: the referees.
"Officials are what scare me to death," one head coach said.
In all of the discussion about COVID-19 testing protocols for student-athletes and bubbles and quarantines, one thing was constantly left out: What about the officials?
"I have a major concern with referees," said Tennessee coach Rick Barnes. "They're the ones that are going to be traveling along, doing what they have to do. It's going to be tough on officials. I know this: If they just have a blanket statement, 'An official is part of the contact tracing and has to sit out,' as the year goes on, that can become a major problem. That's a real concern."
Big Ten coaches were particularly worried. The league's COVID-19 protocol states that if a student-athlete tests positive, he has to sit out for 21 days. But the Big Ten also tests more frequently than any other league besides the Pac-12, which tests every day. So there was a concern that an official could be coming from refereeing a game between schools in the Big East and Mid-American Conference, arrive the day of the game in Big Ten country, and that referee simply wouldn't be subject to the same standard as Big Ten players and coaches.
"With our policies in the Big Ten, a 21-day out, any potential to expose ourselves to nonleague opponents and potentially officials that aren't a part of everyday testing, that's impactful," said Illinois coach Brad Underwood. "That could be multiple games out for a guy who could potentially get it from an official."
The NCAA released "Guidance and Considerations for Men's and Women's Basketball Officiating" before the season began, confirming that officials were part of the Tier 1 individuals who needed to be tested a minimum of three times per week on nonconsecutive days. A "National Dashboard" has also been set up where officials are required to submit health screening information on a daily basis and upload their COVID-19 test results.
J.D. Collins, the NCAA national coordinator of men's basketball officiating, told ESPN earlier this week that the five refereeing consortiums (each of the 32 conferences belongs to one of the five) have also taken further steps to hopefully limit any potential exposure. Officials are flying less frequently than they have in the past, with attempts being made to limit travel to driving. And if there is a flight involved, there are attempts to keep that official in the same area for a few days to officiate multiple games.
"We're a very tight fraternity. We like breaking down plays, breaking down film, talking about plays, getting dinner together," Collins said. "This year the normal protocols are being set aside. Now it's go to the gym, drive separately, go back to your room, isolate yourself as much as possible."
Some leagues have hired a fourth official for games to be on standby or on-site to ensure a game can be played if there is a COVID-19 issue or a last-minute injury among one of the three in the scheduled crew.
"One of the biggest concerns coaches have is they want to play games. They want to play games that count," Collins said. "There's a 13-game minimum to qualify for the NCAA tournament. We're going to great lengths to make sure they have enough quality officials to referee the games, get games completed and count toward that 13-game total."
The Big Ten is hoping to take it a step further. Referees aren't employees of the NCAA or any of the five consortiums, they're independent contractors and can officiate in multiple conferences and multiple consortiums. But as first reported by Stadium, the Big Ten is hoping to lock down roughly 18 officials for the conference season, sources confirmed to ESPN. Those officials would be tested daily and exclusively work Big Ten games. There would also be an alternate fourth official in case one of the three scheduled officials has to miss a game at the last minute due to COVID-19.
It would certainly ease some of the concerns of Big Ten coaches.
"It would do a lot," Underwood said of the proposal. "Just to simply know that they're in our same testing plan. They're being tested every day, just as we are. You potentially eliminate the city-to-city travel, a positive from someone the night before and they come in and do your game. You know they're in the same testing protocol. My biggest fear was simply our standard is what it is. At least we have the comfort of knowing people are in the same testing we have. It gives us the best chance to have a season."
Game to watch
If you're hoping to see Kentucky in person on a neutral court this season, this Sunday against Georgia Tech at State Farm Arena in Atlanta will be your one chance. The event will have 1,000 fans in the arena, with protocols mirroring ones the Jacksonville Jaguars have used to allow fans at their games.
Kentucky vs. Georgia Tech (5 p.m. ET, ESPN/ESPN App) will headline Holiday Hoopsgiving, which also features a quadrupleheader on Dec. 12: Mississippi State vs. Dayton (noon, SEC Network/ESPN App), LSU vs. South Florida (2:30 p.m.), Clemson vs. Alabama (7 p.m., ACC Network/ESPN App) and Memphis vs. Auburn (9 p.m.).
Chris Williams, who runs the VII Group along with his wife, said it's the first nonconference college showcase in Atlanta in 20 years -- which was when Kentucky played Georgia Tech at the Georgia Dome in 2000. He's hoping the event becomes the basketball version of the Chick-fil-A Kickoff Game played on the opening weekend of the college football season.
"I started off running high school events seven years ago; Holiday Hoopsgiving is currently one of the top Thanksgiving events in the country," Williams said. "The hard work my team and I put in the last seven years, it's been a blessing. We decided to take a stab at running a college event, relying on my relationships with college coaches. We want it to be an annual college event, run by a Black-owned sports firm. We've got teams and the arena locked in for the next three years."
Vault Health, which handled the COVID-19 testing and protocols for The Basketball Tournament last summer, will run the testing for both weekends of the event.
Three players to keep tabs on
Parker Stewart
There are a number of high-major programs hoping to get a scoring boost during the second half of the season in the form of Tennessee-Martin guard Parker Stewart. Stewart is the son of former Tennessee-Martin head coach Anthony Stewart, who died in November. Stewart entered the transfer portal earlier this week, and he should have two years of eligibility remaining.
Here's the twist: Because Stewart graduated recently, he could be eligible to play right away next semester -- if he wants to.
"I haven't decided yet," Stewart told ESPN on whether he will sit out this entire season.
Stewart said he has heard from Kansas State, Indiana, Arkansas, Cincinnati, Nebraska, Memphis, Ole Miss, Washington State, Houston, Oklahoma State and NC State. He plans to cut his list to three or four soon.
Stewart, who started his career at Pittsburgh, earned second-team All-Ohio Valley honors after averaging 19.2 points and 3.8 assists last season.
Julius Marble II
Julius Marble's breakout performance on Tuesday against Duke came out of nowhere. His 12 points in 12 minutes helped change the momentum in favor of Michigan State as the Spartans won 75-69, and it might be a sign of things to come for Marble.
Entering the game, Marble had been a staple on the scout team and had played just six minutes total in Michigan State's first two games. He credited his performance against the Blue Devils to the time he spent on the scout team.
"I knew a little bit more than I probably would have if I was on the first team because I studied the players -- I know all their tendencies and stuff like that," Marble said.
Marble said he recently went to Tom Izzo to talk about his role and how he could get more opportunities.
"The last couple weeks, he's been telling me I've been doing great at practice and I've been making strides and this and that. The Eastern Michigan game, I got three minutes. Notre Dame, I got two. I felt like, if I'm making strides, I should get a little bit more minutes," Marble said. "So I talked to him about it, trying to see what I'm doing wrong, what's keeping me off the court. ... He was just telling me to stay ready, and so that's what I did."
Keon Johnson
One player whom COVID-19 has prevented the nation from seeing this season is Tennessee freshman Keon Johnson. The Volunteers shut down right before the season started, and they aren't expected to open their season until next week against Tennessee-Martin.
Johnson was a five-star prospect in the ESPN 100 for the 2020 class, ranked No. 28 overall. But there were few freshmen in the country generating as much preseason buzz as Johnson. The word coming out of Knoxville and the SEC was that Johnson was looking like a one-and-done top-10 pick for the NBA draft. When I initially made my newcomer impact rankings, I had Johnson just inside the top 20; when I discussed them with a scout, one of the first things he said was that Johnson was too low.
"He's gonna be a lottery pick," the scout said.
So Johnson ended up at No. 14 ... and that still might be too low. I asked Vols coach Rick Barnes last month if the hype was real.
"I know one thing: I'm glad he's on our team," Barnes said. "From the first time we saw Keon, we knew he had that 'it' factor. There was something about him that made him special. There's no doubt he loves the game, likes to compete. He's fearless. ... I think he's special in a lot of ways."
The wait to watch Johnson in college might be worth it.
The Grassroots Basketball Association
Pretty cool development on the grassroots scene. Nike, Adidas and Under Armour have had their own circuits for years, leaving the independent grassroots teams to bounce from event to event with varying levels of competition. That could be changing. HoopSeen, NY2LA Sports and Hoop Group -- the three biggest independent travel organizations -- are joining forces to create their own grassroots circuit: the Grassroots Basketball Association.
Each of the three organizations will host its own events and circuits -- but instead of crowning a champion each weekend with nothing cumulative at play, those events will now be considered divisional games. The end game is the Grassroots Basketball Summer Championships, a national tournament in Orlando where the best independent team will be crowned.
Independent teams were perhaps hit harder than the shoe company teams during the 2020 spring and summer live periods, so this alliance could be a boost for some players who have gone under-recruited.