Duke Women's Season Over

[YmoBeThere]

https://www.espn.com/womens-college-...id-coronavirus

Report: Duke Blue Devils end women's basketball season amid coronavirus concerns

[dukelifer]

https://www.espn.com/womens-college-...id-coronavirus

Report: Duke Blue Devils end women's basketball season amid coronavirus concerns

Wow. Hard to believe that the men will not follow this. We shall see

[golfinesquire]

A lot more money lost if the men cancel.

[chrishoke]

I'm betting others will follow. Sad but understandable.

[budwom]

Wow. Hard to believe that the men will not follow this. We shall see

what's good for the goose is generally good for the gander. (I've thought all along that playing this Winter was not going to be a good decision, I guess we'll see).

[OZZIE4DUKE]

And it’s now official from Duke. Duke Women’s Basketball Cancels Remainder of 2020-21 Season
https://goduke.com//news/2020/12/25/...21-season.aspx

[uh_no]

And it’s now official from Duke. Duke Women’s Basketball Cancels Remainder of 2020-21 Season
https://goduke.com//news/2020/12/25/...21-season.aspx

For my own selfish reasons, I'm sad we won't get to see them play, but I respect their decision and look forward to seeing them back next year!

The question is how long before MBB follows suit. (and subsequently K gets more hate)

[Music man55]

I hate to see the women having to cancel their season, but I completely understand. If everyone would really admit it, it’s probably the best decision every college team needs to make. I love college bb as much or more than anyone, but I don’t understand why the ncaa keeps fooling themselves into believing we can continue playing for the next three months, the probable worst three months of this whole pandemic. I know some will say it’ s important not to cancel because of the money. I just wonder how much importance can be put on financial gain when the infection rates and deaths keep climbing.

[SupaDave]

Salute to the Coach and the players. This year is a freebie, really no need to endanger your players and risk injuries.

I'm sure most will be back. Not a bad thing for a first year coach to find other ways to improve her team in the interim.

[Tappan Zee Devil]

Salute to the Coach and the players. This year is a freebie, really no need to endanger your players and risk injuries.

I'm sure most will be back. Not a bad thing for a first year coach to find other ways to improve her team in the interim.

agree completely!

It is just not worth the risks involved.

[Mtn.Devil.91.92.01.10.15]

Proud of the team and the program for being leaders. Sad for the individuals on the team. That's a tough decision.

I have a much harder time seeing the men do it because of $$$, but time will tell.

[CameronBornAndBred]

Congrats to Coach Kara for ending her first season with a dominant winning record!

In all seriousness, seeing as how there is a high likelihood that only one game contributed to their having to postpone games, not risking that again is completely the right move. I enjoyed watching the few that we got this season, and am looking forward to seeing the women play next year in front of live fans.

LGD!

[chrishoke]

I will dearly miss watching them compete but I support the players and their decision 100%.

[Tripping William]

I haven’t followed Duke WBB closely for many years. But I absolutely love me some Kara Lawson. The “did you compete” speech is transformational stuff. So, I hate this for her. And them. But it’s the right decision right now, IMO.

[DavidBenAkiva]

It's really a shame that this is happening. There is a horrendous void of leadership at the NCAA that is contributing to this situation. Each team is making its own decisions without any sort of broader discussion for what is best for the sport and the players. If there were only someone willing to think about the health of the sport and the players, we could have conversations about delaying the season or making the programs safer. Absent that, this is how it's going to have to happen. I have complete faith the program and players made the best decision for themselves. It's a damn shame they were put in that position.

[du_bb1]

I will dearly miss watching them compete but I support the players and their decision 100%.

This-wise decision, no need to risk the players long term health

[Eternal Outlaw]

It's really a shame that this is happening. There is a horrendous void of leadership at the NCAA that is contributing to this situation. Each team is making its own decisions without any sort of broader discussion for what is best for the sport and the players. If there were only someone willing to think about the health of the sport and the players, we could have conversations about delaying the season or making the programs safer. Absent that, this is how it's going to have to happen. I have complete faith the program and players made the best decision for themselves. It's a damn shame they were put in that position.

What exactly is the NCAA supposed to do? Football had conferences make decisions and for a bit it seemed like two would sit out until spring until they reconsidered. And they still had teams (at least the B1G) and players rebelling. There was no decision then that would have come close to making everyone happy. If they couldn't come close to a consensus on 130 teams in Division 1 football how the heck could they for 350+ for basketball? Conferences making the decision on their much smaller membership compared to the whole NCAA makes more sense to me and if a team wants to disagree like Duke women did then I feel the ACC is more to blame than the NCAA. Can the NCAA even cancel anything but the tournament? It seems any conference that wanted to schedule a season could do so. The conferences all had their own health experts to decide on football and not all agreed. All that happens with the NCAA having experts to tell everyone what to do is have the half disagree with them ignore them and use their experts. If they couldn't punish UNC for 20 years of cheating then I highly doubt they can start punishing teams/conferences for playing their seasons against their will. They have no teeth, the conferences at least have some. The B1G told Nebraska they would essentially kick them out when Nebraska sought to do a season when the B1G was shut down.

[uh_no]

What exactly is the NCAA supposed to do? Football had conferences make decisions and for a bit it seemed like two would sit out until spring until they reconsidered. And they still had teams (at least the B1G) and players rebelling. There was no decision then that would have come close to making everyone happy. If they couldn't come close to a consensus on 130 teams in Division 1 football how the heck could they for 350+ for basketball? Conferences making the decision on their much smaller membership compared to the whole NCAA makes more sense to me and if a team wants to disagree like Duke women did then I feel the ACC is more to blame than the NCAA. Can the NCAA even cancel anything but the tournament? It seems any conference that wanted to schedule a season could do so. The conferences all had their own health experts to decide on football and not all agreed. All that happens with the NCAA having experts to tell everyone what to do is have the half disagree with them ignore them and use their experts. If they couldn't punish UNC for 20 years of cheating then I highly doubt they can start punishing teams/conferences for playing their seasons against their will. They have no teeth, the conferences at least have some. The B1G told Nebraska they would essentially kick them out when Nebraska sought to do a season when the B1G was shut down.

There are rules against playing in other competitive contests...Nolan Smith got a 2 game suspension for playing in one at one point. (wihch was absurd...it was like a random 3-3 scrimmage that someone kept score at over the summer)

Now whether that would apply in this situation, I don't know. I'm sure there's a ton of minutiae. But the NCAA's stick, if they wanted to wield it, would be to suspend players/programs from future NCAA sanctioned competitoin.

[jimsumner]

Presumably everyone has access to the same data. Is this a one-off or the first domino to fall? Or maybe the Ivies canceling was the first domino. But this feels like mid-March to me more than it feels like late summer.

[Kdogg]

Presumably everyone has access to the same data. Is this a one-off or the first domino to fall? Or maybe the Ivies canceling was the first domino. But this feels like mid-March to me more than it feels like late summer.

This is an important point. The data has changed drastically. When the decisions were made to play, they used the more optimistic trends we were seeing in August/September. They did not factor in the dire warnings from Dr. Fauci. It all started to go to pot starting in October. Plus as an indoor sport, basketball has additional challenges. The priority is to kept students safe. Also factoring in liability issues, I think this is the best decision for the team and university.