St. Louis University basketball coach Travis Ford was in attendance watching the game between Westminster and St. Mary's at the Class 4 boys basketball sectional at Northwest High School in Cedar Hill, Missouri on Tuesday, March 10, 2020. (Paul Baillargeon, Special to STLhighschoolsports.com)
After all of the unsuccessful scheduling efforts, Travis Ford felt like he was close to securing a game last week against Michigan — a matchup that would have gone a long way toward replacing some of the solid opponents previously lost.
Unlike most recent discussions with teams, this one had some potential. Like the others, the Wolverines got away.
“I thought we had them. It looked like it was going to work,” the St. Louis University men’s basketball coach said. “They ended up going a different direction. I can’t remember exactly what happened but it wasn’t anything bad.
“There are so many questions that go into scheduling. Everyone has an opinion. But until you’re in the middle of it, trying to figure it out, it’s not as easy as people think.”
In other words, Ford felt no one was to blame. It’s just how scheduling works this season. Sometimes you make phone calls to other schools and sometimes you use Twitter as an online basketball dating site for teams with nothing to do.
SLU had to cancel Saturday’s game against Evansville, which had COVID-19 issues, after preparing for the Purple Aces over two practices. The Billikens hope to return to action Tuesday night, at home against Indiana State.
Meanwhile, the effort continues to fill two slots on the nonconference schedule, and Ford said that a Twitter plea sent Saturday afternoon might have turned up an opponent. That discussion was ongoing Monday, possibly for a Thursday game.
Most of the calls his staff has made recently to inquire about games have resulted in a quick answer.
“They’re not usually long conversations when we find teams that need games,” Ford said. “It’s usually, ‘We’ve found somebody’ or “We have an offer out to someone already.’ Some are straight up, ‘We don’t feel like playing you.’ Some have thought about it. We’ve said, ‘We’ll meet you at a neutral site or come there, whatever it may be.’”
Ford said he understands the obsession some fans have with SLU and Mizzou finding a way to play, especially in a season when openings happen regularly. But he said that the schedules that are in place — no matter how tentative — do not provide for opportunities.
For instance, SLU sought an opponent on Twitter for Monday or Thursday of this week. He has heard people clamoring for the Billikens and Tigers to play Thursday, but noted that Mizzou has a game the next day.
“I totally understand people wanting us to play,” he said. “It’s just not that easy. We have schedules in place. We’re actually in the middle of it, living it on a daily basis and scheduling is hard. There are a lot of parameters. When we call someone who may have a date open and they don’t say ‘yes,’ I don’t take it as they don’t want to play us. There are a lot of variables.”
Ford added that there is no current discussion about the SLU and Mizzou programs getting together, but that he thinks it eventually will happen.
Although cancellations have been expected, the late decision on the Evansville game was a bit jarring. Not only had the Billikens practiced specifically for the opponent the previous two days, they were going through a final walk-through when word came.
Evansville didn’t have anyone test positive but had someone show symptoms the morning of the game. A decision was made not to make the trip. The Purple Aces are scheduled to return to action Tuesday night, at home against Southeast Missouri State.
“We’ve been holding our breath a little about when it could happen because we’re seeing it so much right now,” Ford said. “How quickly it went down was a little bit of a surprise. Our guys have handled it well to this point. We had to change directions and dive into Indiana State.”
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December 15, 2020 at 12:00PM
https://www.stltoday.com/sports/college/slu/ford-says-scheduling-in-pandemic-not-as-easy-as-some-think/article_67cc58e1-6263-5b0e-9996-cee13eb25367.html
Ford says scheduling in pandemic not as easy as some think - STLtoday.com
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