Per Twitter, there are (again) COVID issues within the Loyola program. Loyola joins a whole lot of other teams (DePaul, Ohio State, UCLA, etc.) going on COVID pause. Time for serious questions to be asked about risk tolerance. This is not going to go away, maybe ever.

Davidson game canceled. Missing out on probably our last Q1 chance. Reported to be a "cluster of positives."

Damnit.

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Not surprising, given the games were scheduled only a few days apart. Disappointing, but not surprising.

Hope everybody is ok. Man I was looking forward to the game Sunday, will have to continue the major case of Blers withdrawal

Well that sucks big time.

I hope everybody has minor symptoms and recovers quickly. I also hope Loyola takes extra precautions to safeguard Sister Jean.

wonder if rules for attendance will change ?

I really hope not. The University is now requiring a booster shot for all students, and at some point as long as this variant is proving to be less serious, we need to start to get back to normal. With a booster requirement and regular testing for those who have exemptions, I hope we’d be able to keep attendance as is.

The NFL will likely be the first mover in relaxing protocols. Not sure what that will look like, but I think other leagues (including the NCAA) will follow. Vaccines and boosters are widely available. Therapeutics are on their way. The new variant is showing to be very mild. The current protocols are the same as before we had a vaccine...doesn't make much sense.

This is a bummer for us, but it’s an even bigger disappointment because the likelihood of us having other Valley teams cancel on us in-conference seems inevitable. Hell, the NFL already moved 3 games back because of Covid testing. I have a bad feeling when everyone hits conference play and are playing two games a week, it’s gonna have a ripple effect through leagues. Teams will be canceling games left and right.

I’m hoping Watson is ready to start frantically making phone calls NOW to try and get us a Q1 or Q2 road or home games on short notice when we get cancelled on. First call should be to all of our new conference members in the A-10 if one of their members goes down the same week we lose out on a game to a Valley member. Watson should be calling the A-10 ADs NOW at Davidson, St. Louis, Saint Bonaventure, Dayton, VCU, Rhode Island and Richmond, and try to work out provisional agreements if things go south. It would help any of them AND help us if crap hits the fan, so I I hope we have agreements in place to schedule each other first before looking to other schools to play short-notice games. We should do the same with Northwestern too since they might be a bubble team and playing us might be the difference if they are in or out at the end of the year.

Bottom line is - we look like we may be on the cusp of an at-large bid with the trajectory we were on prior to this bad news. We can either sit and be sorry for ourselves, or be proactive in the next two weeks and start making phone calls so - if things hit the fan in conference play and we miss out on a Drake or Missouri State game - we can get an opportunity to boost our resume. This team is too talented not to invest in them and make calls to quality programs and tell them we will be ready and willing to play and should be first on their list to call if we both lose out on a game to Covid testing.

I suggest proactively calling the A-10 members and anyone within reasonable driving distance - Butler, northwestern, Indiana, Michigan, Purdue, Marquette, Illinois, Oakland, Toledo. Etc. Any Q1 or Q2 team.

Once we tipped our hand to the MVC last month, I became very worried about the conference officiating at Arch Madness. It does not help the Valley, long term, for us to take the 1 bid this year. We NEED an at-large if at all possible, and I hope our AD does anything and everything to try and make it possible, given the circumstances with these variant outbreaks.

I hope our players are well and will be ready to get back to work in January.