The Coronavirus and College Basketball's Postseason

[Uncle Dave]

There's a health official on the radio almost every morning during my commute, and if you listen to these people you come away with a theme: they're very, very concerned about the healthcare system as a whole in America, and so many of these protocols are about trying to make sure there isn't a collapse of that system.

My SIL in Seattle is a pediatrician. My daughter told me yesterday he's exhausted and has been for two weeks. He's working today which is his normal day off. Members of his staff are out so he's doing double duty trying to stay afloat.,,,setting appoints, keep charts current, emails, etc. My daughter, who is not panicking, fully expects her family to get the virus.

[Joneslab]

In the mirror world we could have been living in, there are about 10 minutes to go in our game against Tennessee. We're up by 8 but should be up by 20. Fulky's energy is hurting us. The Kentucky crowd is trying to will us to the win. Crazzed's sawzalling apart his entertainment center.

I can almost see it.

We lost, by the way.

We were up six but Fulky came down and hit a halfcourt shot with 1 second left. Got fouled, intentionally missed the free throw, got his own rebound, shot a fade-away three at the buzzer, Juzang smacked him in his stupid face, he hit the free throw. Seven-point play.

I'm sorry but all is pain and suffering.

[KCKUKFan]

We lost, by the way.

We were up six but Fulky came down and hit a halfcourt shot with 1 second left. Got fouled, intentionally missed the free throw, got his own rebound, shot a fade-away three at the buzzer, Juzang smacked him in his stupid face, he hit the free throw. Seven-point play.

I'm sorry but all is pain and suffering.

Seven seed and first round loss incoming.

[TrueblueCATfan]

The Swine Flu in 2009 was much worse and I don't remember schools closing and this stuff getting cancelled

[Joneslab]

The Swine Flu in 2009 was much worse and I don't remember schools closing and this stuff getting cancelled

H1N1 seems worse only because it has now passed and we have full numbers. We don't know where this thing is going to go yet.

In actuality H1N1 seems like a different thing if you read the articles about it. One major thing is that the fatality rate was extremely low with H1N1.

But it really seems like all these protocols that have been put in place now are in part because of H1N1. As noted above, one very concerning thing with coronavirus is that it's "novel," which means that they don't really know how it's going to mutate. I'm not a paranoid person by nature and feel like this will be okay in three weeks or so, but the unknown about this disease is a tad concerning and IMO should be taken seriously.

[Joneslab]

^ Going on with that, one of the more dire projections about coronavirus from the CDC says that more than 160 million Americans could get the virus.

60 million Americans were diagnosed with swine flu.

[Uncle Dave]

Yesterday i went full pandemic mode, bought as many food supplies i could get my hands on. Have never as many empty shelves as i did yesterday so like a scavenger had to get what i could get. My local Kroger was out of most all meats, no canned vegetables, no bread, no milk, and many other items. Not so much worried about myself i can live on toast and coffee if needed but the problem is there was no bread so i ate one store i bought buns instead.

Anyways, let hope this thing passes sooner than later. In some ways a feel some of us have already had this virus and it passed but we will never know...

Wow. I wondered what it was like. Fortunately I went Wednesday and was fine. I did stock up on my heart meds. I have to have them.

[Matt Dillon]

With the possible exception of washing my hands a little more than usual, I haven't done anything differently so far. No panic buying or hibernating. Corbin is a small town and people have made a run on Wal-Mart and Kroger. As far as I know, there's not a roll of toilet paper, paper towels or a box of facial tissue to be found.

[DA#23]

^ Flipping crazy, huh? I went this morning to buy some ingredients for a bolognese I will be making this evening...the shelves definitely had been ravaged and there was hardly any parmigiano reggiano to be found. I bought one of only two wedges remaining.

[Matt Dillon]

Most of the bottled water was gone as well. I don't if people think this stuff is going to be unavailable or if they plan on hibernating for weeks or months or what.

[Dwight Schrute]

CBS is currently airing the 2015 Big 10 Championship game between Michigan State and the Wisconsin team that beat us in the final four.

Talk about a 1-2 punch to the gut.

[Joneslab]

CBS is currently airing the 2015 Big 10 Championship game between Michigan State and the Wisconsin team that beat us in the final four.

Talk about a 1-2 punch to the gut.

There are a lot of wild what-ifs in Kentucky history, but here's maybe the ultimate what-if:

In 1992 in the Sweet Sixteen, Kentucky played UMASS. Kentucky led pretty much the entire way but in the second half UMASS went on a run and looked prime to take the game. Then UMASS's coach got called for a out-of-the-coach's-box technical foul. Kentucky hit the free throws, scored, and ultimately iced the game.

It's been said that if that technical foul doesn't get called, Kentucky likely loses that game. (I can't vouch for this because I was pretty young and don't have a crystal clear memory of the game itself.) If Kentucky loses that game, the Christian Laettner shot obviously never happens.

The UMASS coach of course was John Calipari.

[ralph helm]

Is anybody else bored stiff with no roundball to watch????????????????????????????????

[ralph helm]

I still want to tickle Laettner,s kneecaps---with a Louisville Slugger!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[lilproUK98]

There are a lot of wild what-ifs in Kentucky history, but here's maybe the ultimate what-if:

In 1992 in the Sweet Sixteen, Kentucky played UMASS. Kentucky led pretty much the entire way but in the second half UMASS went on a run and looked prime to take the game. Then UMASS's coach got called for a out-of-the-coach's-box technical foul. Kentucky hit the free throws, scored, and ultimately iced the game.

It's been said that if that technical foul doesn't get called, Kentucky likely loses that game. (I can't vouch for this because I was pretty young and don't have a crystal clear memory of the game itself.) If Kentucky loses that game, the Christian Laettner shot obviously never happens.

The UMASS coach of course was John Calipari.

I wouldn't say it was likely they would have lost, but it would have gone down to the wire. UMass had pulled to within 2 with 5:47 left. Calipari gets called for being out of the box and Farmer hits two free throws and Feldhaus gets a layup for a four point trip to make it 74-68. Definitely halted UMass's momentum. You can watch the entire game here. It happens at the 1:22 mark of the video....

https://youtu.be/amnUVKEY6Bw