Three weeks ago, Estonian point guard Kerr Kriisa was playing national team basketball games in his home country, a place so comfortable with its coronavirus situation that 1,500 fans were allowed in the building.
But just as the 蜜柚直播 freshman arrived on campus last week, the Pac-12 was pushing the college basketball season back from November to at least January because of uncertainty about the pandemic, and any sort of basketball workout was out of the question.
Kriisa and the eight other Wildcats who reported to 蜜柚直播 last week were scheduled to undergo coronavirus tests upon arrival, then expected to spend seven days in isolation before they could do anything on campus.
If they tested negative, the Wildcats were to begin limited conditioning and strength workouts this week, though on Monday, 蜜柚直播鈥檚 practice facilities at the Richard Jefferson Gym remained closed.
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Meanwhile, the upper concourse of the Wildcats鈥 home arena, McKale Center, was being occupied for 鈥 what else? 鈥 coronavirus testing.
So games with fans? Not even on the radar at this point.
But at least all that extra time has given Kriisa a chance to get acclimated to his new home.
鈥淪heeesh!鈥 Kriisa tweeted last Friday. 鈥淚ts like hot hot.鈥
At the same time, Kriisa also tried dealing with that heat by soaking up a little more 蜜柚直播 culture: On another tweet, Kriisa posted a picture of a large Eegee鈥檚 drink.
鈥淎ppreciate for the advice!鈥 Kriisa posted, with responses from followers suggesting he eat the icy drink with a spoon and maybe try a Sonoran hot dog next.
Maybe it鈥檚 not all bad for Kriisa and the Wildcats in basketball terms, either. Only three of 蜜柚直播鈥檚 13 scholarship players for 2020-21 have previously played games for the Wildcats (not counting Brandon Williams, who is not expected to play for UA next season) so the extra long offseason may give them extra time to grow together.
Once they can all get together, that is.
While nine of UA鈥檚 players have reported to 蜜柚直播, Turkish guard Tibet Gorener, French power forward Daniel Batcho and Lithuanian twins Azuolas and Tautvilas Tubelis are still in their home countries, sorting out visas and other issues.
Daniel Batcho, right, is still sorting out issues in his home country of France before he can join his teammates.
All of them are still expected to be in 蜜柚直播 by the start of fall semester classes on Monday, according to Ryan Reynolds, UA鈥檚 director of basketball operations.
Brent White, UA鈥檚 vice provost for global affairs, said last week that he hadn鈥檛 heard of any major problems with international students getting cleared to return, though many of them have opted to stay in their home countries and take classes online or at a UA global campus site because it wasn鈥檛 practical to return to 蜜柚直播.
Basketball players, of course, had to return. But for what, exactly, remains to be seen.
Normally, the Wildcats would begin full-team drills shortly after school begins but this year they are expected to start with only strength and conditioning drills, with actual basketball probably not beginning until next month.
鈥淎t the beginning, it will look like football (workouts so far) in the sense that you isolate for a week and then get into strength and conditioning stuff,鈥 Reynolds said. 鈥淭hat鈥檚 in small groups where guys aren鈥檛 interacting with each other. They kind of have their own station. 鈥 and then eventually it鈥檒l move into small group workouts.鈥
Along the way, Reynolds said, UA doctors and athletic trainer Justin Kokoskie will determine when the Wildcats can move to the next phase.
Reynolds said Monday that it is possible the Wildcats could move into some sort of basketball work by next week, but even then it will be different.
鈥淚t won鈥檛 look like normal (workouts) because only one guy will be at the basket,鈥 Reynolds said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 really hard to predict how it鈥檚 all going to play out. Kind of depends on what鈥檚 happening nationally and what鈥檚 happening here in 蜜柚直播, and how鈥檚 the testing going on your own team. It鈥檚 really day-by-day and week-by-week.鈥
