Shockers basketball games at Intrust Bank Arena? WSU is exploring all possibilities
There’s a good chance the college basketball season will look different this winter and Wichita State athletic director Darron Boatright is preparing for all of the what-if scenarios.
What if the season is pushed back to January? What if there are a limited number of fans allowed in the stands? What if there are no fans allowed?
These are all questions that Boatright and his brain trust at WSU have been exploring this summer. Since WSU has no football in the fall, the Shockers have more time than most Division I programs to come up with a plan.
For example, in the case that fans are allowed in arenas but social distancing must be followed, Boatright said in an interview on The Drive with Bob Lutz on KFH Radio that WSU has briefly explored the possibility of hosting games at Intrust Bank Arena. The downtown Wichita arena has about 5,000 more seats than Koch Arena, WSU’s on-campus arena, which would allow more fans to attend games while social distancing.
“That’s just part of being thorough and evaluating all of your options and seeing what makes sense for us during these unprecedented times,” Boatright told The Eagle in a follow-up interview. “(Hosting games at Intrust) is not something we’re leaning toward, it’s just something we could have available.”
Boatright said WSU is also working on models where Koch Arena (10,506 capacity) would be at anywhere from 20% to 50% of full capacity. The goal is to be ready for whatever might be needed this fall.
It has been suggested that college basketball could follow the NBA’s model of returning with no fans in the stands, but Boatright said he is uncomfortable with that idea.
“I think it’s very difficult to say that it’s safe enough for student-athletes to participate when it’s not safe enough for fans to attend,” Boatright said on The Drive. “If no fans are allowed, I don’t see how you play anything. I can’t, with good conscience, put someone else’s children in that position and have a justifiable response when mom or dad asks, ‘Why is it safe enough for my child, but not safe enough for anyone else?’
“When you don’t have a good enough answer to that question, I think it’s going to be difficult.”
With coronavirus cases surging in Sedgwick County, Boatright said he is less optimistic that fall sports will return this year than he was last month.
“I’m not quite pessimistic,” he told the Drive, “but I’m not as strong on fall sports as I was several weeks ago.
“You just try to take it as things come and realize that no one is coming up with the solution today. So you just try not to get your hopes up and not get down too much when things go south too much. You try not to be emotional about everything you see and read.”
WSU basketball players on the men’s and women’s teams flocked to Wichita this past weekend, as the NCAA calendar allows practices to start Monday. Coaches are allowed to spend up to eight hours per week with the players in weight training, conditioning and skill instruction, with the skill instruction capped at four hours per week.
Boatright said that WSU administered a COVID-19 test to every student-athlete who arrived on campus over the weekend and drove the tests to Kansas City to expedite the process. Boatright said WSU hopes to have the test results back Monday.
After the initial test results come back, Boatright said the student-athletes will be monitored closely for the next two months for COVID-19 symptoms.
So far, WSU has reported no positive tests for the limited number of student-athletes who remained on campus this summer. WSU does not plan on regular testing for the student-athletes during the remainder of the summer and will only test a player again if he or she reports that symptoms are developing.
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