NCAA basketball season on the brink.

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College basketball is scheduled to start its season on Wednesday. If, that is, there are any remaining teams, healthy coaches or programs still up and running.

That’s a slight exaggeration, of course. Duke, Arizona and Tennessee all lost games on Monday. The A-list of coaches sidelined with COVID-19 includes Syracuse’s Jim Boeheim, Baylor’s Scott Drew and Tennessee’s Rick Barnes. Michigan State’s Tom Izzo just returned. There will be more, especially with an indoor contact sport happening during flu season.

“It’s going to be a nightmare,” Iona coach Rick Pitino told Yahoo Sports. “They’re just trying to rush it to get to March, and it’s not worth risking everyone’s health.”

A bleak spree of breaking news the past 72 hours leaves the sport at a crossroads. College basketball is crumbling in front of us because of greed, competing agendas and a lack of leadership. By foolishly deciding to play non-conference games, the sport is now risking what it really needs in the long term – a way to play conference games and, most importantly, play the NCAA tournament.

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The virus has spiked so precipitously around the country that it’s beginning to look negligent to send teams criss-crossing the country – many flying commercial – against the recent recommendations of the Centers For Disease Control. “At this point, I’m not sure why we’re trying,” said a major conference official. “I wonder if in like 10 to 14 days it will be shut down.”

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