Jon Elmore scored 20 points in an empty arena in Italy on March 7th. He was playing for Orlandina Basket, a team based in Capo d’Orlando, Sicily. After the deeply strange victory, Elmore and his teammates went to the locker room to find that the championship had sent a reminder: the season would be suspended. Marshall University’s all-time top scorer spoke to his pregnant fiancée, who had accompanied him overseas, 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 word that the season had been canceled. Jordan Adams’ last game was on March 14 in Mazatlan, Mexico, where choice no. 22 in the 2014 NBA Draft lasted for two weeks and played only two games before the end of the season.
Elmore, Hill and Adams are now locked up in a hotel in Columbus, Ohio, which will host the 2020 basketball tournament for the next 10 days. Weeks before the NBA returns to Disney World, TBT has created a bubble with no fan of its own. The all-eliminating single elimination tournament includes 24 teams, $ 1.2 million in cash prizes and health and safety protocols described by Elmore as extreme but necessary.
There have been over 2.8 million coronavirus cases in the United States. The country reported more than 55,000 new infections on Thursday, the highest total in a single day since the start of the pandemic, and the death toll reached nearly 130,000. It is in this context that TBT is seeking to create a safe environment for the over 300 participating players. Each of them had to test the negative for COVID-19 before going to Columbus.
Adams was among the first to arrive. Before entering the hotel last Sunday, he did a temperature check and took a hygiene kit. After putting on a mask and gloves, he passed safety, took a COVID-19 test, and went to his room, where he had to quarantine until the results came the next day.
Each player goes through the same process. For Elmore, the saliva test was a relief. His team, Herd That, performed nasal swab tests in West Virginia as part of his 11-day pre-TBT training camp.
“Fortunately, you don’t have to scratch your brain out of the pad here,” Elmore said.
In quarantine, Hill spent time on YouTube, reading and watching old basketball games. Adams played video games, FaceTimed his wife and sent messages to teammates who were prevented from greeting them in person. It was a “total blockade,” said Elmore, and many rules remained after the initial quarantine period.
“Mask, wherever we go,” said Hill. “We disinfect our hands everywhere. We have tissues every time we press the elevator button. We cannot leave the hotel.”
There are strict rules for taking the elevator: no more than four people at a time, ride only with your teammates, don’t talk.
Players cannot mix with other teams. “Socialization is as limited as you can imagine,” said Elmore, and each team must be isolated for at least five days before their first game. When the competition starts on Saturday, there will be only 55 people at the Nationwide Arena, including players, coaches, TBT staff and the production team responsible for airing the tournament in 197 countries. The arena is one block away from the hotel.
Already, however, there have been complications. Herd That’s Sunday’s original opponent, Best Virginia (a team of WVU alliances), was removed from the tournament when one of his players tested positive for COVID-19. On Wednesday, two other teams suffered the same fate. TBT had four replacement teams ready and, after the team that replaced Best Virginia was due to retire on Friday, there are none left.
One way to see this is that there is a significant risk despite all the precautions. Another is that the system is working, since TBT is detecting positive tests and preventing an outbreak inside the bubble.
“When I see people who are positive, I say to myself, OK, make sure that you remain responsible, that you are consistent with what you are doing and what they are saying to you,” said Hill. “Because you’re not untouchable, of course.”
Hill isn’t afraid, though. He believes it will be okay if he follows the rules. All three players are thrilled with the way TBT handles player safety. Nobody wants to be the reason why his team is sent home.
“Everyone is at the head of all the tests you do because a bad result and all eliminated,” said Elmore. “And everything we’ve worked for and all the money we’ve been put in goes out the window.”
“This is the scary part,” said Adams.
Every day, each team has a two-hour time slot at the driving range set up at 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 expired. They did not have the luxury of an extended training camp and they lost playing 5 out of 5 with professionals.
“I can’t lie, it’s fantastic,” 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,” said Elmore. Each team has a suite where players can come together. He played a lot in “Call of Duty: Warzone”.
“You’re locked up in the hotel; if a team wants to hold a short pop-up meeting, no one really has anything to do or something that gets out of their time,” said Elmore.
Mostly though, the team suite is there for players to “relax, sit, watch movies, play video games, play cards – anyway, where I dominated, anyway,” said Elmore. As much as he is enjoying his return to the field, Hill said he “had a lot more fun out of basketball” with his teammates from the House of ‘Paign, remembering college, catching up and “talking about life, how can we to be better as human beings “.
Adams had to get out of the suite when I called “because all the kids are there playing cards, playing 2K, telling stories abroad, relaxing,” he said. They had just discussed the relative merits of the 2006 and 2007 NBA draft classes. Life in the bubble is “stimulating,” he said, “but we are all athletes, so we have to adapt to the challenges.”
For Elmore, this is a family affair. He grew up playing basketball with his brother Ot and their father Gay trained them in AAU. The brothers played together at South Charleston High School for two years, and again for two years in Marshall. They reunited with Herd That and Gay is coaching the team. Elmore thinks that in this environment, neighboring teams will have an advantage.
Hill said he wasn’t bored. “It sounds crazy to some people,” he said, but snatching his ACL 20 months ago was “the biggest blessing that ever happened to me” because it forced him to seek happiness away from the field. He loves self-help books and recommends David Deida The way of the superior man and Gregg Braden The science of personal autonomy.
After returning from Kazakhstan in March, Hill became vegan for a month because he “wanted to make me as uncomfortable as possible.” He has lost 30 pounds since his last professional game. He called the TBT-supplied meals left out of his room “delicious”, but “not as good as my mom’s kitchen”. Like the rest of us, he loses track of time in solitary confinement – he said he thinks he has been in Columbus for four days, but has been “so lost in the moment” that he isn’t exactly sure.
“I had a good time here, honestly,” said Hill. “I wish I could go outside? Yes, but I don’t focus on the negative. Because it’s useless. 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 get the most out of this situation and have fun. “.
Fun fact: players know there will be more eyes on them than in the previous six iterations of the tournament. Sports-hungry fans can watch almost any game on ESPN (and others on ESPN2).
“Everyone is stuck and excited about it because there is nothing, as far as sport is concerned, really on,” said Elmore. “Also, I suppose, Korean baseball. But other than that, as far as basketball is concerned, that’s all.”
TBT newcomers will recognize Elam Ending, where teams play at a target score, from this year’s NBA All-Star game. When the target score is close, “that ball is raised,” said Adams, based on his previous experience in TBT.
Beginner viewers may also be surprised at the level of talent. Joe Johnson, the seven-time NBA All-Star and reigning BIG3 MVP, is approaching veteran flagship guard Jarrett Jack with Overseas Elite.
“On every team,” said Elmore, “you’re talking about guys who have been college basketball legends, you’re talking about guys who are legends abroad who have had great professional careers, and you’re talking about guys who have had good Careers of NBA. “
Elmore said that Herd That considers this a business trip. He hopes he will never have to skip all these circles again just to play, but “as soon as we get on the pitch, a different animal is brought out”. The only normal part of this is basketball, and the rest made the team more focused.
“The important thing we talked to our team about was the goal,” said Elmore. “What are we doing it for? One, you have the chance to play basketball live on national television again. Two, there is [$1.2 million] on the line. So, we’ll be sitting in our room for as long as you want if you give us the chance to play for that money on national TV as the first live basketball comeback. “
