Indiana's Basketball Schedule Intact Because of Players' Sacrifices

If Indiana's players are in the gym, they are at home and there's no venturing out in big crowds. That's the pact they've made with each other to make sure they can play this season without interruption from the pandemic.

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. – The Crossroads Classic is one of my favorite events of the year, because I've always loved seeing fans from all four schools— Indiana, Purdue, Butler and Notre Dame – all together and thoroughly enjoying a full afternoon of great college basketball .

And then COVID comes around and ruins it all.

We get two basketball games again on Saturday, but they'll be played with no fans in Bankers Life Fieldhouse in Indianapolis, just a few friends and family members. That sucks the fun right out of the event, but at least there's this:

At least it's happening.

Indiana has made it to the finish line unscathed in its condensed nonconference schedule. This will be the final tilt before the 20-game Big Ten schedule. Purdue's done the same, which is great, too. Every game scheduled has been played for the two Big Ten schools.

But then there's the other side. Notre Dame has had two games canceled already, and Butler has only been able to play twice all month. They went 22 days between games before finally getting in a game at Villanova on Wednesday night.

COVID-19 knows no bounds, so this isn't an indictment on Butler and Notre Dame at all, not one bit. But Indiana and Purdue players both really deserve a huge amount of credit for not missing a beat, even with COVID canceling football games on their respective campuses two weeks in a row.

They are making a massive sacrifice to get these games in, and they deserve to be praised for it. This has not been easy.

"It's really hard. You go from online class to online tutoring to practice and then back home every day,'' Indiana forward Race Thompson said Friday. ''It's hard to just stay in your apartment and stay inside with your teammates all the time. You can't do what you want to do all the time

''Just buying into that and keeping everybody safe isn't not an easy thing, but I think everybody's bought in, and it's showing because we've been able to play all these games.''

The Big Ten has been doing daily testing for more nearly three months now, but it only works if all the players buy in. Indiana and Purdue both had issues this summer that forced them to pause workouts, but neither team has missed a practice or a game the past month.

That says a lot, Purdue's Matt Painter said Friday.

"We've learned lessons, we've educated ourselves,'' Painter said. "We had our hiccups in the summer and in the fall, but we haven't had them now like other people have

"You have to give our staff and our players the credit because there its a little bit of discipline involved and a little bit of intellect involved with sticking to the guidelines they give you. In the locker room, in their apartments, you have to do things right. Our guys have been diligent, and we've tried to learn from other people's experiences, too. Our guys deserve a lot of credit.''

Indiana coach Archie Miller said the daily concerns of a hovering dark cloud can wear on you.  It's like walking on eggshells every day. 

''We have our fingers crossed every time we hit game week as we start to go through our own protocols here,'' Miller said. ''The fact that we have played a lot of our games away from home has been one of the big things that has been nerve-wracking. You cross fingers that you do not have any problems. Our two home games with Tennessee Tech and North Alabama, it is right up until game day. You just wait and cross your fingers that there is not anything that's going to happen. We are very fortunate in that regard.'' 

Miller said they learned a lot about how to do it right inside the Maui bubble in Asheville, N.C. and in traveling to Florida State for the ACC/Big Ten Challenge. Nothing bad happened, and that was great.

''As you get ready to go to the Maui Invitational, you're just not sure how that's going to work with eight teams in one venue,'' Miller said.' I think I said this afterward, but the Maui Invitational was an unbelievable blueprint for how you can be successful in those types of situations.

Hopefully the NCAA Tournament can communicate with those guys because you had all eight teams, in one spot, one hotel, testing every day, and everyone away from one another. Very rarely did you have interactions with other groups of people. I thought being able to pull that off was monumental and just an unbelievable task.''

Indiana has been fortunate, but he's seen Butler, Saturday's opponent at 11:30 a.m., be forced to cancel four games this far. Miller admits he'll sweat out Saturday's game right up until tipoff.

''Butler has been through the gambit here in the last three or four weeks which has been unfortunate for them,'' Miller said. 'They got back on the floor Wednesday, not at full strength, but they did get back out on the floor and it looks like Saturday will be a go unless something happens between now and then.''

Miller is proud of the sacrifices everyone has made around the program to be able to show up every day. 

''Our guys have tried to stay diligent in what we are doing, and I give our medical team and the Big Ten a lot of credit with what they are requiring us to do,'' Miller said. 'It's kept us on our toes, and it's the luck of the draw. There are teams that have missed four and five games that have had to be rescheduled or canceled, so we have been lucky in that regard that we have been to pull ours off. 

''I think that will go a long way as we head into conference play. As I look at our league, I do not think a Big Ten team, since basketball has started, has paused game action or have missed games. To me, it is a great sign as we finish up this week and head into conference play. Knock on wood, but we probably will deal with some hiccups, but in general it looks like our league is set up to have a full slate and get a great conference season in with the best league in the country.''

Surviving the COVID scare isn't just about protecting a couple hours of practice every day either. It's almost a 24/7 thing.

"It is very taxing, especially for young people. We are up every morning, since the beginning or middle of September, getting everybody in our group tested between 7:30 and 8 o’clock,'' Miller said. ''For young guys to have a schedule like that every single day where you are getting up in the morning to come and get tested, it wears on you. It is the early mornings, you have a lot going on with school, you have practices, but our guys have hung in there every day. 

''Tim Garl, Larry Rink, and our administration have continued to emphasize how important it is to not miss and to not have slip ups. It keeps you on your toes. You have to try and be diligent with what you are doing off the floor because you know what a positive can lead to moving forward, especially in the Big Ten with the stringent protocols that go into our league and what that requires our guys to do. It is taxing mentally more than anything. It is a lot of early mornings, seven days a week. To me it has to be done and it also goes a long way in terms of your team wanting to be successful.''

it's every day, too. There is no day off from fighting the virus. 

''Those early mornings, every single day, seven days a week for several months, you get used to it, but at the same time, it is not the normal deal where you get a day off every week for the guys,'' Miller said. ''It's the crack of dawn every day. Like today, we are already finished with our first round of testing (at 10 a.m.), we are going to practice here in a little bit and we will have another round of testing at 8 o’clock tonight, then tomorrow morning because it is obviously an early game.

"It is something that needs to be done and we all know it is very important. I just cannot say this enough, that the Big Ten, their care and extra thought process has set up our players and our league up to have a great chance at consistency, good seasons, and good safety. It is unprecedented, but it is also something that needs to be done.''