Jon Elmore scored 20 points in an empty arena in Italy on March 7. He was playing for Orlandina Basket, a team based in Capo d’Orlando, Sicily. After the deeply bizarre victory, Elmore and his teammates went to the locker room to discover that the league had sent a memo: the season would be suspended. Marshall University’s all-time leading scorer spoke to his pregnant fiancé, who had accompanied him abroad, and then to team management. He booked the first flight he could.
Malcolm Hill played his last game of the season for the Astana Tigers on March 8, and the former Illinois star spent the next two weeks in the Kazakh capital waiting for the official news that the season was canceled. Jordan Adams’ last game was on March 14 in Mazatlán, Mexico, where the 22nd pick in the 2014 NBA Draft lived for two weeks and played just two games before his season ended.
Elmore, Hill and Adams are now locked up in a hotel in Columbus, Ohio, which will host the 2020 edition of the Basketball Tournament for the next 10 days. Weeks before the NBA returns to Disney World, TBT has created its own fanless bubble. The one-time, winning elimination tournament takes all, boasts 24 teams, $ 1.2 million in prizes, and health and safety protocols that Elmore described as extreme but necessary.
There have been more than 2.8 million cases of coronavirus in the United States. On Thursday, the country reported more than 55,000 new infections, the highest in a single day since the pandemic began, and the number of deaths reached nearly 130,000. It is in this context that TBT is trying to create a safe environment for the more than 300 players that participate. Each was required to have a negative COVID-19 result before going to Columbus.
Adams was one of the first to arrive. Before entering the hotel last Sunday, they checked her temperature and picked up a hygiene kit. After putting on a mask and gloves, he went through security, had a COVID-19 test and went to his room, where he had to be quarantined until the results came the next day.
Each player goes through the same process. For Elmore, the saliva-based test was a relief. His team, Herd That, underwent nasal swab testing in West Virginia as part of their 11-day pre-TBT training camp.
“Here, luckily, you don’t have to scratch your brain with the swab,” Elmore said.
Quarantined, Hill spent time on YouTube, reading and watching old basketball games. Adams played video games, his wife FaceTimed, and texted teammates who forbade her from greeting in person. It was “total lockdown,” Elmore said, and after the initial quarantine period, most of the rules remained.
“Mask, wherever we go,” Hill said. “We disinfect our hands everywhere. We have disposable tissues every time we press the elevator button. We can’t leave the hotel.”
There are strict rules for taking the elevator: no more than four people at a time, just travel with your teammates, don’t talk.
Players cannot mix with other teams. “Socializing is as limited as you can imagine,” Elmore said, and each team must be isolated for at least five days before their first game. When the competition starts on Saturday, there will only be 55 people at Nationwide Arena, including players, coaches, TBT staff and the production team responsible for broadcasting the tournament in 197 countries. The arena is one block from the hotel.
However, there have already been complications. Herd Sunday’s original opponent, Best Virginia (a team of WVU alumni), was withdrawn from the tournament when one of his players tested positive for COVID-19. On Wednesday, two more teams suffered the same fate. TBT had four replacement teams ready, and after the team that replaced Best Virginia had to retire on Friday, there are none left.
One way to see this is that there is a significant risk, despite all precautions. Another is that the system is working, as TBT is detecting positive tests and preventing an outbreak within the bubble.
“When I see people who test positive, I say to myself, OK, I make sure that you remain responsible, that you are consistent with what you are doing and what you are being told,” Hill said. “Because you are not untouchable, clearly.”
However, Hill is not afraid. He believes it will be fine if he follows the rules. All three players were excited about the way TBT handles player safety. No one wants to be the reason why their equipment is sent home.
“Everyone is at the limit in every test you do because of a bad result and everyone is eliminated,” said Elmore. “And everything we have worked for and all the money that has been invested goes out the window.”
“That’s the scary part,” said Adams.
Every day, each team has a two-hour schedule on the practice court established in the adjacent conference center. According to Adams, a member of Team Heartfire, he and his teammates don’t want to stop when their two hours have ended. They did not have the luxury of an extended training camp, and have been lost playing 5v5 with professionals.
“I can’t lie, it feels amazing,” said Adams. “‘It looks like you’re back in the basketball season now.”
Outside of those two hours a day, “you’re practically in your room or in the team room just killing time,” Elmore said. Each team has a suite where players can congregate. He’s been playing a lot of “Call of Duty: Warzone”.
“You’re locked up in the hotel; if a team wants to have a little quick meeting, nobody really has anything to do or something that takes their time,” said Elmore.
However, for the most part, the team suite is there for players to “hang out, sit down, watch movies, play video games, play cards, where I’ve been dominating, by the way, but whatever”, Elmore said. As much as he’s enjoying getting back on the court, Hill said he had “had a lot more fun outside of basketball” with his House of ‘Paign teammates, remembering college, catching up, and “talking about life, how we can be better as human beings. ”
Adams had to leave the team suite when I called “because all the boys are playing cards, playing 2K, telling their stories abroad, relaxing,” he said. They had just debated the relative merits of the 2006 and 2007 NBA Draft classes. Life in the bubble is “challenging,” he said, “but we are all athletes, so we have to adapt to challenges.”
For Elmore, this is a family matter. He grew up playing basketball with his brother, Ot, and his father, Gay, trained them at AAU. The brothers played together at South Charleston High School for two years, and again for two years at Marshall. They have met Herd That and Gay is training the team. Elmore believes that in this environment, nearby teams will have an advantage.
Hill said he was not bored. “It seems crazy to some people,” he said, but breaking his ACL 20 months ago was “the greatest blessing that has happened to me” because it forced him to seek happiness outside of court. He loves self-help books and recommends David Deida’s. The way of the superior man and Gregg Braden The science of self-empowerment.
After returning from Kazakhstan in March, Hill went vegan for a month because “he wanted to make me feel as uncomfortable as possible.” He has lost 30 pounds since his last professional game. He called the meals provided by TBT left outside his room “delicious,” but “not as good as my mother’s cooking.” Like the rest of us, he loses track of time in isolation: He said he believes he has been in Columbus for four days, but has been “so lost in the moment” that he is not exactly sure.
“I had fun here honestly,” said Hill. “I wish I could get out? Yes, but I don’t focus on the negative. Because it doesn’t make sense. I don’t focus on things I don’t have or can’t do. I focus on what I can do and how I can make the most of this situation and have fun with it. “
Fun fact: Players know there will be more eyes on them than in the previous six iterations of the tournament. Sports fans can watch almost every game on ESPN (and the rest on ESPN2).
“Everybody is locked up and excited about it because there’s nothing, sportingly, really,” Elmore said. “Also, I guess, Korean baseball. But other than that, when it comes to basketball, this is it.”
New to the TBT will recognize the Elam Ending, in which teams play with a target score, from this year’s NBA All-Star Game. When the target score is close, “that basketball is going up,” Adams said, based on his previous experience with TBT.
First-time viewers may also be amazed at the level of talent. Joe Johnson, the seven-time NBA All-Star and current MVP BIG3, is preparing alongside veteran point guard Jarrett Jack with Overseas Elite.
“In every team,” Elmore said, “you’re talking about guys who have been college basketball legends, you’re talking about guys who are overseas legends who have had great professional careers, and you’re talking about guys who have had good careers in the NBA. “
Elmore said Herd That considers it a business trip. He hopes that he’ll never have to jump through all these hoops just to play again, but “as soon as we hit the court, a different animal is brought out.” The only normal part of this is basketball, and the rest has made the team more focused.
“The important thing we discussed with our team was just the goal,” said Elmore. “Why are we doing it? One, you have the opportunity to play live basketball on national television again. Two, there is [$1.2 million] On the line. So we will sit in our room as long as we want if it gives us the opportunity to play for as much money on national television as basketball’s first live comeback. “
