Chris Mack questions COVID policies, hopes Louisville basketball avoids another pause
Chris Mack would rather be playing Kentucky.
The Louisville basketball coach would prefer to have his full team in practice, would like to be making adjustments coming off last Saturday’s loss to Western Kentucky.
But with multiple positive tests for COVID-19 among players and staff, Mack is limited by policies and protocols that have put U of L basketball activities on pause and postponed Wednesday’s rivalry game with the Wildcats.
More: Louisville basketball postpones Kentucky game due to positive COVID-19 tests
Mack made it clear Monday night that he doesn’t agree with all of them.
“We’re not the only ones,” Mack said Monday on his radio show. “There are certain teams around the country that have players that don’t have any symptoms and still have to be in isolation for 10 days. That to me is hard to understand. Last year when there was no vaccine, I get it. But that’s a tough one, to tell a player on your team, ‘Hey, I know you feel OK, but it shows a positive. You have to sit in your room for 10 days.’ Really tough.”
The primary issue Mack raised Monday is the testing of asymptomatic players and their isolation in the case of a positive test, a policy he said he understood last season before the availability of a COVID-19 vaccine.
“I only follow what they tell me,” Mack said. “I don’t like it, I don’t agree with it, but again we have to follow what is mandated, what is told to us. Hopefully people that are making these decisions can adjust, but they’re gonna make it out of caution; they’re gonna make it out of precaution, for sure.”
Louisville tested everyone in the program – regardless of vaccination status – after a player felt ill following Saturday’s game at WKU. Center Malik Williams had missed the trip because he was in COVID protocols. As Louisville conducted tests, Mack said, it “got to the point where we just (had) too many positives in order to play the game on Wednesday.”
Mack called postponing the Kentucky game “incredibly frustrating and disappointing.” The Wildcats will host WKU on Wednesday instead, and finding a date to reschedule could be a challenge for U of L and UK.
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But it could have been a worse break for Louisville. The Cardinals don’t get a loss for missing the UK game, but an ACC policy requires a forfeit in conference play when a team has too few players due to COVID-19.
“To me, you have two rules that sort of work counter-opposite to one another,” Mack said. “You forfeit if you don’t have enough players to play, but yet if we’re testing asymptomatic guys that don’t really experience anything or have any symptoms and they’re out for 10 (days) plus the return-to-play time, those two things don’t really add up. One of them, in my opinion – my opinion; my opinion; not (a) medical opinion; I’m not a doctor, I get all that – you have to change one of them.”
So Louisville is focused on getting closer to full health in time for its Dec. 29 game against Wake Forest. The program was scheduled for another round of tests Tuesday, Mack said. Louisville will not provide daily updates on test results, spokesman Kenny Klein said.
“Knock on wood everybody comes back with negative tests over the next day or so, and if that’s the case then we’ll be ready to go” against Wake Forest, Mack said.
He conceded that Louisville might not have a full roster against the Demon Deacons, but the goal is to have enough to play.
Coaches this week are allowed to work with players who tested negative and have been vaccinated and have received a booster, Mack said. In August, Mack said the Louisville program was 100% vaccinated. During the radio show Monday, he said “several” U of L players have had a booster shot. But full team practices are on hold.
“We haven’t had an opportunity to really address what we need to address coming out of that (WKU) game,” Mack said. “We have some maturity issues we need to address. We need to grow up and handle our business and accept responsibility and become better, and it’s hard when you’re sort of fractured, when certain players aren’t there, certain guys are in isolation. It’s very frustrating.”
The NCAA requires a three-day moratorium on basketball activity for the Christmas holiday, so Louisville players are off Thursday through Saturday, Mack said. They’ll return to practice Sunday.
And Mack hopes that’ll be the last of it. Last season, Louisville had two COVID-related pauses. Mack is optimistic the Cards won’t have another this season.
“Because of the amount of guys that have boosters and the fact that now a few guys have had COVID, we shouldn’t have an issue the rest of the way, which last year was an issue,” Mack said. “With booster shots, guys being fully vaccinated, protected and not having to test, I think we’ll be OK.”
Mack: Wheeler separating among centers
Though Louisville started Jae’Lyn Withers at center Saturday, Mack said during his radio show Monday that freshman Roosevelt Wheeler has “solidified, if Malik is out, he’s our starting center” and the top backup when Williams returns.
The 6-foot-10 Wheeler had eight points on 3-for-3 shooting and three rebounds in 20 minutes off the bench against the Hilltoppers. He looked less timid than his teammates when 7-5 shot-blocker Jamarion Sharp was on the floor for WKU.
Wheeler still is finding his way in Louisville’s system, but Mack said the Cardinals have to “play through his mistakes.”
“There’s so many other kids that we play throughout the years that you’re like, ‘Eh, he’s an adequate backup,’ but Roosevelt’s a legit ACC big,” Mack said. “He just needs more time on the floor and he’s gonna become exactly what we expect.”
This article originally appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: Louisville basketball's Chris Mack doesn't like some COVID policies
