Report: Big Ten Basketball Coaches Vote to Go Forward With Team Workouts

With the NCAA giving the go-ahead to proceed with coach-led workouts on Monday, ESPN is reporting that Big Ten coaches have voted to jump right in.

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. — ESPN's Jeff Borzello tweeted Thursday night that sources have told him and colleague Adam Wittenberg that Big Ten basketball coaches voted to go ahead with the NCAA’s July 20 date for a return to coach-led summer workouts, 

Individual schools can choose to not go forward because of COVID-19 concerns, but it's unlikely that will happen unless a virus breakout occurs. Thus far, Indiana has tested 295 players, coaches and staff members, and there have been only four positive tests.

The school does not release who tested positive, so it's unknown if any of them were basketball players.

The NCAA made its third announcement on procedures on Thursday, doing its best to keep everyone safe while still trying to return to some sort of athletic normalcy.

Here was part of their statement:

"Beginning July 20, required summer athletics activities may begin and can last up to eight weeks or until the school’s first day of classes or Sept. 15, whichever is earlier. Required virtual nonphysical activities can continue to be conducted during this period. Virtual and in-person activities cannot exceed a combined eight hours per week.

“The Council worked to balance the desire to get student-athletes training again with the need to repopulate our campuses and athletics facilities gradually and safely, within all campus, local and state mandates,” said Council chair M. Grace Calhoun, athletics director at Penn. “Student-athlete health and safety should remain a top priority.”

The summer athletics activities model assumes COVID-19 local and state health policies are considered at the school level. Access to school facilities should be provided in compliance with applicable state and local regulations regarding the use of such facilities, group size restrictions and any other limitations.''

Classes are scheduled to resume at Indiana on Aug. 24, so that will give the Hoosiers about five weeks of team activities with coaches and staff before classes begin.

They have been taking part in voluntary workouts for about four weeks. They were first allowed back on campus on June 18, but had to pass COVID-19 tests first. All four freshmen — Trey Galloway, Anthony Leal, Jordan Geronimo and Khristian Lander — are now on campus, so the team workouts will help them get settled in quickly.