Geno Auriemma says UConn will trust in NCAA’s medical protocols to keep NCAA Tournament teams safe in Texas
After the announcement that the mask mandate would be lifted in Texas on March 10 and the state would fully reopen, UConn women’s basketball coach Geno Auriemma said that he is placing his trust in the NCAA and its medical protocols to keep teams safe for the NCAA Women’s Basketball Tournament, scheduled to start in Texas on March 21.
“I don’t know what that [the rule change] does as far as the NCAA Tournament is concerned,” Auriemma said Thursday on a video call. “I don’t know that we’ll be interacting with anybody that’s not part of the NCAA basketball community, so I’d probably be much more concerned if we had to interact with the general public, but we don’t. I’m sure every precaution will be taken to make sure our athletes and coaches and staff and administrators are safe.”
Texas governor Greg Abbott announced Tuesday that the state-wide mask mandate would be discontinued and the state reopened fully as of March 10, a little less than two weeks before the NCAA Tournament starts. The tournament is slated to take place in three different sites around the state. The early rounds of the women’s tournament will be played in San Antonio, Austin and San Marcos, Texas with the regional semifinals, finals and Final Four to be played at the Alamodome in San Antonio. The championship game will take place April 4.
Abbott said that if hospitalization rates exceed 15 percent capacity for seven days, county judges may step in with mitigation strategies. But on Thursday, the San Antonio Express News reported that the San Antonio city government mandated that all city facilities, including the Alamodome, (where the later rounds of the tournament will be held), require masks for entry, and NCAA protocols will be adhered to.
The NCAA issued a statement that read: “Protecting the health and safety of participants and fans during NCAA championships remains the NCAA’s priority. In preparation for the 2021 Division I Women’s Basketball Championship, the National Invitation Tournament (NIT), as well as all other championships, the NCAA has monitored ongoing COVID-19 developments in all states since the onset of the pandemic. We will continue to work closely with local medical authorities, the NCAA COVID-19 Medical Advisory Group, and CDC guidelines to determine the appropriate health and safety protocols for our events.”
Auriemma said he had to trust that the NCAA would respond accordingly to what’s happening in Texas.
“I’m sure they’ll have everything in place we need and they’ll have all the protocols, so whatever those are, those are the protocols we’ll be following,” he said. “I don’t think our medical staff will have anything more [rules-wise] than that or less than that.
“So when we get to our hotel, we will do exactly what they tell us to do, and we’ll do it how they tell us to do it and when we’re supposed to do it, and we’ll follow every single protocol that’s in place.”
He added: “We live up here in the Northeast where we’ve done things a certain way. The fact that this whole pandemic thing has been one giant political fiasco, I guess I’m not surprised.”
The men’s NIT is also scheduled to be played in the Dallas-Fort Worth area, starting March 17.
Lori Riley can be reached at lriley@courant.com.
