COLOMBIA – Enthusiasm is the same as trepidation.
South Carolina is due to return to court at 1 pm on Saturday. It will be the first Gamecocks game since December 5 and the first home game since March. Due to two COVID layoffs two days apart, the USC (1-2) was forced to cancel or postpone five consecutive games in the previous month.
Coach Frank Martin’s team has returned to full contact training and hopes to have almost a full squad available for Saturday’s game with Florida A&M. Still, there will be no relaxed mind until the whistle blows and two men are in the jumping circle.
“They are excited because they got on the court, but there is a sense of doubt, like, ‘Can we finally play? Can we practice more than one day without closing again? ”Said Martin. “Because that’s what has happened to us since December 7th.”
The timeline had USC returning from a defeat in Houston on December 5 and disembarking from the plane, as the Houston program was disrupting activities. Gamecocks realized that it would be better to take the test, and the positives were revealed.
This ended the program for two weeks and canceled games against Wofford, George Washington and Clemson. The team recovered, returned to form for the home game on December 23 against SC State, then made another positive test.
“That guy is put aside,” said Martin. “Four days later, we tested again, a second guy tested positive. So, we started quarantining again. Never ends.”
The SC State game and the scheduled opening for the SEC in Kentucky were canceled (the Kentucky game could be recovered in early March) and now the FAMU game, the final game outside the scheduled conference (at this time), has arrived. USC resumed training, moving from 30-minute sessions in the weight room and on the court to a 90-minute practice.
Martin illustrated the difficulties of trying to keep everyone in shape during breaks, as it is not as simple as: “You cannot work out at the USC facilities, but go look elsewhere”. It seems reasonable for players to be able to find a set of free weights somewhere, an arch on an asphalt court elsewhere, and maybe run a few miles.
They can not. Once the quarantine arrives, players are basically relegated to their rooms. Martin said that as an institution, the USC passed rules that say that if students are quarantined or in COVID isolation and are caught outside their isolated area, they are at risk of a six-month suspension.
That’s why Martin reversed his thinking and sent the team home for Christmas, instead of keeping them around in a safe bubble, since the bubble was already compromised. The 15 Gamecocks come from nine states and another country (AJ Lawson is from Canada) and, despite the risk of infection at home, they have returned to campus and are almost all ready to play.
Now it is just to enter the court and play.
“One day at a time, that’s my new motto,” said Martin. “Whenever we get on the court, practice and compete, try to have the best time we can and enjoy this moment, because we were deprived of it last month.”
Follow David Cloninger on Twitter @DCPandC.