ATHENS – Never one to shy away from a platform, Georgia basketball Tom Crean sounded like a preacher from his pulpit Saturday as he addressed the difficulties of trying to get its season started amid a raging pandemic.
The Bulldogs’ opener against Columbus State was canceled just hours before it was scheduled to tip off Wednesday because of the presence of COVID-19 in the visitor’s program. That was after Georgia’s second scheduled game against Gardner-Webb already was called off. Instead, the Bulldogs will open their 2020-21 season against Florida A&M at 2 p.m. Sunday.
And, yes, Crean preached, it’s worth all the trouble.
“I try to live my life on God made every one of us the same,” Crean said Saturday during a video conference call with reporters. “In this situation, where we sit in the world, every one of us is equal in the sense of any one of us can get this (infection) at any time. I know the science may say this age group or that one might be more susceptible, but that’s not how we’re living. We’re living in a way that we’ve got to understand that we’re very, very privileged and fortunate to get these opportunities.
“So, I don’t want to see a bunch of long faces when practice is tough or something gets canceled. I want to see guys that are very thankful for the opportunities that they have in front of them.”
Georgia was able to hastily schedule Florida A&M to come in Gardner-Webb’s stead. The Rattlers (0-1) have played a game, losing a 65-56 decision to Florida Gulf Coast on Wednesday.
Meanwhile, learning of Columbus State’s situation just after their walk-through Wednesday, the Bulldogs went ahead and practiced that night, lifted weights as a team on Thanksgiving eve, practiced Friday and briefly Saturday to try to stay sharp for Sunday’s first game.
“Their advantage is that they’ve played and our advantage is they haven’t seen us play,” Crean said. “But the bottom line is we’ve to understand that we can control only what we can control, and they’re going to come in with a level of confidence because all those first-game jitters are gone for them, and I don’t think you can underestimate the value of that. So we’ve just got to play.”
Crean said he is as uncertain about a team as he has been in all his years as a head coach. Not only are the Bulldogs opening the season with eight newcomers on the roster, but they’ve been unable to play any exhibition games or even officiated scrimmages because of the circumstances of the preseason.
“It’s the first time I ever started the season without a scrimmage or an exhibition since I was an assistant at Mt. Pleasant High School and Alma College,” said Crean, who has been a college coach for 33 years. “… You always had an idea because you always had the dress rehearsals. We haven’t had that.”
Until the Bulldogs get to SEC play, which begins against Mississippi State on Dec. 30 -- and maybe even then -- it appears the schedule is very much going to remain in flux. Crean said Georgia was working on another change, but couldn’t announce it because the contracts and other details haven’t been finalized.
But with the coronavirus in the midst of another surge, all teams are having to scramble for opponents at this point. Three SEC teams had to cancel dates this past week. On Friday, Notre Dame coach Mike Bray took to Twitter seeking an opponent for the Fighting Irish.
“I never thought I’d see a tweet from a major program asking for a game on Dec. 4th or 5th,” Crean said with a laugh. “He said they will travel safely and ‘give us a call, let’s hoop!’ So, it’s just a whole new world. All you have to do is wake up each day and see how it changes.”
