Games 9 & 10: Titans vs. ???

[Rogobob77]

The pair of games scheduled against UIC for this New Year’s weekend have been canceled:

https://detroittitans.com/news/2020/12/ ... celed.aspx

[JDetroitTitan]

2020 is like living in the Twilight zone

[sacredheartgreg]

PAUSING FOR MENTAL HEALTH-WHAT IS GOING DOWN AT 6 MILE AND FAIRFIELD?
We have officially reached the nadir of our basketball program. Since when is playing a couple of basketball games (something that you would think are a joy or passion for 18-22 year old young men) a terrible drain on their mental health. We are becoming the laughing stock of our crummy league. The question is are we scared to play UIC now (with their winning record) after Kampe drubbed us twice this past weekend? Or is this another gem dreamed up by our athletic director. He, who handled "SMD" so well, never talks to press, shows emotion, cracks a smile,
canceled us fans at Calihan before any AD in the nation did and wiped out the Kentucky series with sketchy liberal milk toast BS. Like all of of us on this board, I am a fan of the school and the team and want only the best but it's obvious we are not taking the aggressive steps to upgrade (excluding bringing in MD) the program.

[JDetroitTitan]

PAUSING FOR MENTAL HEALTH-WHAT IS GOING DOWN AT 6 MILE AND FAIRFIELD?
We have officially reached the nadir of our basketball program. Since when is playing a couple of basketball games (something that you would think are a joy or passion for 18-22 year old young men) a terrible drain on their mental health. We are becoming the laughing stock of our crummy league. The question is are we scared to play UIC now (with their winning record) after Kampe drubbed us twice this past weekend? Or is this another gem dreamed up by our athletic director. He, who handled "SMD" so well, never talks to press, shows emotion, cracks a smile,
canceled us fans at Calihan before any AD in the nation did and wiped out the Kentucky series with sketchy liberal milk toast BS. Like all of of us on this board, I am a fan of the school and the team and want only the best but it's obvious we are not taking the aggressive steps to upgrade (excluding bringing in MD) the program.

It appears that the women are playing their games this week. Like I said I am living in the Twilight Zone. How weak are young adult male today. Will they be able to handle getting laid off, fired or just not getting a raise when they need it. Will they break down because they haven't been prepared for the real world. 9 million people die on average of starvation every year in the world. They are estimating it to double throughout this year because of the lockdown that creating food shortages. I remember in school learning about saints who had passion, determination and wouldn't let anything stand in their way. Apparently a Catholic University would rather teach people to be sheep instead of being a Shepard.

[ptctitan]

Hey Greg,

UIC is on a COVID pause because some players and a coach received positive test results after playing their series versus Oakland on Dec.19-20. One of ref's in that series also tested positive. This is the second time this season that UIC has paused for COVID. Under these circumstances, we did not want to play the last minute Oakland series because we were concerned that the ref may have spread COVID to Oakland's players who had not tested positive back in November. We asked out of the series for these reasons. The HL forced us to play under threat of forfeit after Oakland conducted contract tracing that consisted of reviewing the videotape and counting how many minutes each player was close to the infected ref. Our coaches were angry at this decision because the games were not scheduled originally, and there are 3 members of the coaching staff over 55 years of age plus a number of players were concerned.

Next on our schedule was the other team in the infected ref series, UIC, that had paused its program because after it played the series vs Oakland with the infected ref, it had players and a coach test positive. That placed them in the HL's return to play from COVID protocol. There was no way UIC would have been in compliance with that protocol in time for Friday's game. The earliest UIC could comply would have been Saturday night. So, we agreed to play them one game at 7 pm on Saturday night. But UIC could not assure us that they would even be ready to play in that game. And they would not even know if they would be ready until late on Saturday afternoon. We asked to cancel the series. And this time, the HL let us do so.

The wording about mental health and well-being was inserted in the press release to make clear that none of our players or coaches have tested positive for COVID. We did not want to go to Chicago, practice at the UIC facilities and then learn that UIC itself still had positive cases. In that event, we could have been required to quarantine in Chicago for 14 days. The second consecutive week of scheduling uncertainty combined with a 5-6 hour bus trip, and playing the second team involved in the COVID ref game when that team had already paused due to its new COVID spread created issues that we thought best be avoided.

This just wasn't a case of us not wanting to play a couple of games. There are very specific COVID issues at play here and they have been well-documented by Tony Paul in the Detroit News over the past few days. We agreed to reduce the series to one game, but UIC could not even guarantee us that game. So, your post suggests that we just should have gone anyway and sat around Chicago and used UIC's facilities not even knowing if UIC would be in compliance with the HL's return to play policies? Or was the right decision to give the players some R&R over the New Year's holiday and stay away from a team with known COVID issues? Do you think that the parents of players and potential recruits will respect our decision to protect their kids over the need to play some games?

Hey JDTitan - the women are playing Milwaukee at Calihan and Milwaukee's women's team did not go on a COVID pause last week due to positive test results among its players or Tier 1 staff.

[The-Dude]

...It appears that the women are playing their games this week. Like I said I am living in the Twilight Zone. How weak are young adult male today. Will they be able to handle getting laid off, fired or just not getting a raise when they need it. Will they break down because they haven't been prepared for the real world. 9 million people die on average of starvation every year in the world. They are estimating it to double throughout this year because of the lockdown that creating food shortages. I remember in school learning about saints who had passion, determination and wouldn't let anything stand in their way. Apparently a Catholic University would rather teach people to be sheep instead of being a Shepard.

Attacking “weak” players again?! Did you even read the release? It does not indicate the players not wanting to play. This was the coaching staff making this decision.

[sacredheartgreg]

Hey Greg,

UIC is on a COVID pause because some players and a coach received positive test results after playing their series versus Oakland on Dec.19-20. One of ref's in that series also tested positive. This is the second time this season that UIC has paused for COVID. Under these circumstances, we did not want to play the last minute Oakland series because we were concerned that the ref may have spread COVID to Oakland's players who had not tested positive back in November. We asked out of the series for these reasons. The HL forced us to play under threat of forfeit after Oakland conducted contract tracing that consisted of reviewing the videotape and counting how many minutes each player was close to the infected ref. Our coaches were angry at this decision because the games were not scheduled originally, and there are 3 members of the coaching staff over 55 years of age plus a number of players were concerned.

Next on our schedule was the other team in the infected ref series, UIC, that had paused its program because after it played the series vs Oakland with the infected ref, it had players and a coach test positive. That placed them in the HL's return to play from COVID protocol. There was no way UIC would have been in compliance with that protocol in time for Friday's game. The earliest UIC could comply would have been Saturday night. So, we agreed to play them one game at 7 pm on Saturday night. But UIC could not assure us that they would even be ready to play in that game. And they would not even know if they would be ready until late on Saturday afternoon. We asked to cancel the series. And this time, the HL let us do so.

The wording about mental health and well-being was inserted in the press release to make clear that none of our players or coaches have tested positive for COVID. We did not want to go to Chicago, practice at the UIC facilities and then learn that UIC itself still had positive cases. In that event, we could have been required to quarantine in Chicago for 14 days. The second consecutive week of scheduling uncertainty combined with a 5-6 hour bus trip, and playing the second team involved in the COVID ref game when that team had already paused due to its new COVID spread created issues that we thought best be avoided.

This just wasn't a case of us not wanting to play a couple of games. There are very specific COVID issues at play here and they have been well-documented by Tony Paul in the Detroit News over the past few days. We agreed to reduce the series to one game, but UIC could not even guarantee us that game. So, your post suggests that we just should have gone anyway and sat around Chicago and used UIC's facilities not even knowing if UIC would be in compliance with the HL's return to play policies? Or was the right decision to give the players some R&R over the New Year's holiday and stay away from a team with known COVID issues? Do you think that the parents of players and potential recruits will respect our decision to protect their kids over the need to play some games?

Hey JDTitan - the women are playing Milwaukee at Calihan and Milwaukee's women's team did not go on a COVID pause last week due to positive test results among its players or Tier 1 staff.

Thanks, PTC Titan- What you say is we can't always believe what we read in the liberal controlled press. I already know that and stand by my remarks reacting to what I read as gospel in the Free Press!

[Big Chuck]

...It appears that the women are playing their games this week. Like I said I am living in the Twilight Zone. How weak are young adult male today. Will they be able to handle getting laid off, fired or just not getting a raise when they need it. Will they break down because they haven't been prepared for the real world. 9 million people die on average of starvation every year in the world. They are estimating it to double throughout this year because of the lockdown that creating food shortages. I remember in school learning about saints who had passion, determination and wouldn't let anything stand in their way. Apparently a Catholic University would rather teach people to be sheep instead of being a Shepard.

Attacking “weak” players again?! Did you even read the release? It does not indicate the players not wanting to play. This was the coaching staff making this decision.

I fail to see where JD says a thing about players not wanting to play. I took his comments as a criticism of the University, maybe young males in general, but not the basketball team. This is summarized in the last sentence> "Apparently a Catholic University would rather teach people to be sheep instead of being a Shepard"

[1975SHjoe]

I will accept message by the AD for his statement on this subject. Where I take exception is the use of the term "Mental Health". When I first heard this on WWJ sports this morning I assumed the worst. Goodness knows what the listeners of WWJ made of Vowels statement. Poor use of the term "Mental Health" IMO.

[The-Dude]

...I fail to see where JD says a thing about players not wanting to play. I took his comments as a criticism of the University, maybe young males in general, but not the basketball team. This is summarized in the last sentence> "Apparently a Catholic University would rather teach people to be sheep instead of being a Shepard"

Big Chuck, JDetroitTitan has a history of attaching players directly (see his recent posts and his insensitive and unwelcoming comments regarding one of our new players) and in this case, passively. When he states early in his post “How weak are young adult male today(sic)”, I take this as a direct hit toward the players.

To get back on topic, I appreciate PTC’s insight on this matter.

[Dick Vitale]

Calling this a mental health issue after reading the explanation from the Sports Info dept just doesn't seem right.

[udballer]

Calling this a mental health issue after reading the explanation from the Sports Info dept just doesn't seem right.

Don't say that. We (UDM) did everything right in this scenario. PTC will explain, but just understand that mental health was the perfect description.

[Dick Vitale]

Don't you think this implies our players are experiencing mental health issues when that is not true and this was just to reduce the risk of a wasted trip to UIC?

Couldn't they have just explained it as COVID related on the UIC side and been honest about the matter - or is there more to this?

Was this to spite the Horizon League for putting the Titans up against OU without time for coach prep?

[StJoeUofD]

I think I am watching the movie as Dick Vitale. We have seen the title, but the real plot hasn't been released yet. There are a lot of egos involved, so it might have been a number of reasons.

[StJoeUofD]

On another point, Greg, you can take your snarky political comments to a different board. This is about Titan basketball. A number of us have been politely quiet about your periodic comments over the past 4 years. From now on, let's just talk about basketball. There is a time and place for everything.

[ptctitan]

Don't you think this implies our players are experiencing mental health issues when that is not true and this was just to reduce the risk of a wasted trip to UIC?

Not necessarily. I viewed it as a preventive measure and that a wasted trip to UIC would have increased the risk of something more serious.

Couldn't they have just explained it as COVID related on the UIC side and been honest about the matter - or is there more to this?

The press release did cite "the uncertainty of the games being played this weekend" in the final sentence of Vowels' direct quote. When games are canceled, the league controls the PR process.

Was this to spite the Horizon League for putting the Titans up against OU without time for coach prep?

IMO, if anything else was bugging Davis about the entire situation, it was that HL protocols wouldn't let Waterman play against Wright State after a 14-day quarantine even though he has never tested positive, but the HL forced us to play Oakland last weekend just 7 days after their two games at UIC that were officiated by the COVID-positive ref followed by positive tests at UIC in a coach and some players. My opinion here is based upon his comments after Sunday's game.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jh2mc_DlcLA&feature=youtu.be

[Dick Vitale]

Thank you for the explanation.

So, this was a "preventative" mental health issue and not a "diagnosed" mental health issue.

Your media colleagues are clearly reporting this differently despite the wording in the press release. If the intent was to show the school as "caring", mission accomplished.

[titandave]

In the upcoming series vs. Milwaukee, I'm hoping Chris Brandon can pick up were he left off at the end of last season especially in the areas of rebounding and defense.