The Duke women’s basketball team ended its season on Friday amid the coronavirus pandemic.
“The student-athletes on the Duke women’s basketball team have made the difficult decision to end their current season for safety reasons,” said Michael Schoenfeld, vice president of public affairs and government relations and head of communications at Duke University.
“We support their decision, as we supported the choices made by all student-athletes at Duke at this unprecedented time. Duke will maintain its current competition program in other sports and will continue to adhere to our rigorous health and safety protocols, which include daily tests for all student-athletes and are based on the guidance of renowned medical experts. ”
The men’s basketball team planned to continue playing.
The women’s basketball team has been on hiatus since December 16 due to two positive COVID-19 tests and tracking contacts as part of the program’s travel schedule. The Blue Devils (3-1) postponed games against Miami, NC State and UNC Wilmington. The team’s next scheduled contest was against Louisville on Thursday.
Blue Devils are the first Power Five team to give up after starting this season. The Ivy League gave up winter sports in November before the start of the basketball season. Several other schools have also decided not to play.
New coach Kara Lawson, who was hired in July, said this month: “I don’t think we should play right now. This is my opinion on this. “It came a day after Duke men’s coach Mike Krzyzewski asked why he was playing basketball in college in the middle of the pandemic.
“I just want the safety, mental and physical health of the players and staff to assess where we are,” the Duke’s Hall of Fame coach said after a loss in Illinois on December 8th.
Krzyzewski cited the increase in COVID-19 cases as the basis of his argument.
“People say the next six weeks will be the worst,” Krzyzewski said at the time. “It simply came to our notice then. On the other hand, there are these vaccines that are coming to light. By the end of the month, 20 million vaccines will be administered. By the end of January or February, another 100 million. Shouldn’t we reevaluate this? See exactly what would be best? “
The virus has already caused many games to be canceled or postponed in the first month of the season. Countless teams were on hiatus due to positive tests in their programs. The NCAA said earlier this month that it intends to play its tournament in a single geographic area San Antonio being the best choice.
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