ACC Coaches React to Duke News
The news that Duke suffered a positive COVID test and was forced to drop out of the ACC Tournament had ripple effects for all the teams still competing in Greensboro.
“I can't. I can't,” Syracuse coach Jim Boeheim answered when asked about what the Duke coaches and players were feeling after their season ended off the court in Greensboro for the second straight year. “To just not be able to play? I can't. I can't imagine it. I don't even know.”
Virginia coach Tony Bennett pointed out that the news broke on the one year anniversary of the last night of the 2020 ACC Tournament. News of NBA star Rudy Gobert’s positive test broke during the last game of the evening. By the next day, the ACC Tournament was cancelled.
“I mean, it was here, almost probably 365 days -- it might have been where it got called,” he said. “You're getting ready to play or the day of your game and the tournament got canceled and then shortly after the NCAA Tournament. So just to get out here and to play in a game, and then to have it end like this. And then to hear the news right before I had to do an interview with Alyson, and she told me that about Duke. And I was so discouraged for those young men and Coach K because obviously they were playing two really good games, and I know they wanted to play. That's so unfortunate.”
Boeheim pointed out how tough it is to keep the team safe.
“The players have done an unbelievable job of isolating themselves,” he said. “I mean, it's 75 degrees out here and we've been in the hotel since we got here. I mean, it's really difficult. Really difficult to do that. I think the players just have been great. I really do.”
