As fans were getting anxious for what should have been the start of the 2020-2021 basketball season next week, a dark cloud of disappointment was realized Wednesday with the announcement that basketball will now only be a “2021” season.

With cases of the COVID-19 disease spiking across the nation, Kentucky, and Clinton County, the decision to severely alter the start of the high school basketball season in the Bluegrass state has been met with sadness, but not a lot of surprise.

Last Wednesday afternoon, Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear announced a new set of restrictions for businesses and the public to follow in order to curb the violent spread of COVID-19.

The Kentucky High School Athletic Association, the governing body that oversees high school sports in Kentucky, also met last Wednesday, and after a morning-long work session, voted to stop high school teams from practicing after Friday, November 20.

The KHSAA then took its action one step further by canceling all games that were to be played in December, and pushing back an already delayed start to the basketball season to January 4, 2021.

Teams will be allowed to return to the gym on December 14 to begin practicing again to prepare for the early January 2021 season start.

In a press release issued on Thursday morning, KHSAA Commissioner Julian Tackett explained the board’s reasoning behind the season delaying decision.

“Our board has remained steadfast in their support for the spring sports and sport-activities in 2021 and continues to attempt during these challenging times to ensure these athletes, coaches, and schools have a full and complete season with an appropriate culminating event,” Tackett said. “We should never forget the sacrifices made by all involved during the spring of 2020 and that has remained at the forefront of board discussions. The currently approved action would shorten the winter seasons, but the board and staff continue to recognize that during these pandemic times, there will be nearly constant changes in the operations around education and school-based sport.”

Locally, both the Lady Bulldogs and Bulldogs basketball teams at Clinton County High School, were slated to get the 2020-21 season underway next Tuesday night in a double-header night in Tompkinsville, Kentucky, against Monroe County.

As it stands now, with last week’s KHSAA mandate, the season will begin on Tuesday, January 5, with both CCHS varsity teams traveling to neighboring Burkesville, Kentucky, to take on the Lady Panthers and Panthers in the season’s first matchup.

Both Lady Bulldogs Head Coach Ansley Nelson and Bulldog Head Coach Todd Messer, told the Clinton County News, after last week’s developments, that while they were saddened by the decision of the KHSAA, neither were really surprised.

“Due to the nature of 2020, it did not surprise me that they did delay the season,” Coach Nelson told the Clinton County News when asked if she was really surprised by last week’s development.

Nelson was looking forward to next week’s start of her second year in the head coach’s chair, and had been working with her team and coaching staff for several weeks in practice sessions in anticipation of the season start.

Messer also noted that he wasn’t surprised by the delay to the season due to the current COVID-19 situation.

“I wasn’t surprised because I had heard rumblings for a week plus this option was on the table. Additionally, I was involved in a KABC (Kentucky Association of Basketball Coaches)) Board meeting the Sunday prior to the KHSAA Board meeting as the 4th region’s representative, in which, “pausing” the season was being discussed,” Messer told the Clinton County News last week. “What did surprise me though, was the lack of discussion of anything other than pushing the start back and shortening of the season. While, I understand the need for some additional safety guidelines/modifications due to increasing cases, I don’t believe this move was the best option for meeting the needs of our student athletes.”

Both local head coaches had been working with their players in daily practice sessions, but on Friday, they had to have a team meeting to explain to their players the pause in both the practice schedule, as well as in the start of the season.

“I did talk with my girls on Thursday at our last practice before December 14th,” Nelson said. “We talked about the delay of season to January 4. I could tell by the look on the faces of my seniors, this news hurt. The news that we couldn’t practice until December 14th was icing on the cake.”

Nelson said she and her coaching staff tried their best to comfort and console the Lady Bulldogs after delivering the news, then made attempts to put a positive spin on it before leaving the gymnasium.

“My girls were frustrated, confused and hurt… but nevertheless myself and coaching staff preached positivity to them and hopefulness that we still have a mission this season and we will get through this together,” Nelson said.

Messer noted that the response from his Bulldog team members was very similar to what Nelson had been forced to deal with as well.

“We had our last practice Thursday evening and as you would expect, the boys were disappointed, discouraged, and disheartened to hear the official news and what changes it would create for their season,” Messer said. “The short time we have been allowed to practice, the kids were hungry to be back in the gym and together as a team. It’s important to remember, this isn’t just a new occurrence, we have been unable to really be a team since leaving Diddle Arena on March 9th. Heck, with the guidelines since March, we haven’t even been able to have the banquet for last year’s team and seniors.”

Going forward and looking at a January 5 start, both coaches noted that they had immediately jumped into the task of trying to rebuild their game schedules for the upcoming season, working around a time-frame that has been shortened on the front end by some five weeks, and extended on the back end by just a week or so.

With the coaches also having to work around an additional existing KHSAA directive that allows teams to play a maximum of three games per week, getting in a full slate of games between the January 4 start and a March post-season run, is a challenging task, to say the least.

“The schedule will be jam packed with games and very little time for practice. We are allowed three games a week for eight weeks equaling a 24-game max,” Messer explained last week. “We will try to schedule three games a week for all weeks other than the All A region.”

“Normally you have contingency games built into the schedule to cover for the unknown number of games played during this tournament. However, this season it will be impossible, to ask other teams to be your ‘just in case’ games. Therefore, we will have 22 games on the schedule and hope we play three the week of the region to max out the schedule and advance to the state once again.”

Nelson also pointed out that scheduling games and trying to also get practice days in was going to be a challenge, but she was also confident she and her staff would be able to put together the best list of opponents in view of this terrible situation they have been dealt.

“Our practice schedule is going to look like a bunch of weeks of preparation crammed into two to three weeks,” Nelson said. “Our game schedule will look like several games (about three a week) spread out in the short period of eight weeks. That is, with the hopes none of these games get canceled due to covid.”

Neither coach wanted to even think about having to deal with game cancellations that could arise due to inclement weather.

Messer noted that both coaches were working toward putting together schedules that would feature district opponents twice.

He further explained that the basic premise used in re-working the shortened schedule was to keep the games already in place in January and February and trying to rebuild as many of the December games that had been canceled due to the altered COVID-19 start into the remaining available January and February open dates.

Messer also talked about his disappointment in not being able to host a local holiday tournament, his Twin Lakes Holiday Classic, as well as the Lady Bulldogs annual Best of the Lakes Holiday Classic.

“The biggest disappointment is the loss of our Christmas tournaments. It is six games lost, which are important for a couple reasons,” Messer said. “One, it gives us the opportunity to show off our beautiful county to out of area participants during our tournaments, to hopefully help promote tourism in the summer months. Secondly, we are able to find teams and tourneys that have opponents and athletes that mirror the Bowling Green schools, so our team gets comfortable with a more athletic style of play.”

As for having to stop practice last week after already having his players in pretty good shape, then being faced with the prospect of no practice sessions for three weeks, then getting started again, Messer said this was the aspect of the entire situation that gave him the most pause and concern.

“This will be the toughest part. You will have to balance conditioning while trying to get as much of the base components of offense and defense installed to be ready to play over a very short three-week window,” Messer said. “Compounding this problem, it must be done while trying to give kids and coaches time off to be with family during Christmas and New Year’s holidays.”

He added that the issue of not putting the student athlete’s best interest front and center, in his opinion, was the one factor that concerned him the most.

“Personally, I have a bigger problem with the lack of forethought by the Governor and KHSAA, as it relates to the physical safety of getting an athlete’s body conditioned to play with the installation of “dead period” until December 14,” Messer concluded. “But, I wasn’t asked to weigh-in on the matter, so it is what it is.”

Nelson noted that she was going to continue to project a positive attitude toward the road that was in front of her, her assistants and her players, and she continued to look forward to rising to the challenges ahead.

“We will have to cover a lot in a short period of time; but luckily I am not starting from scratch this season” Nelson said. “I have all my girls back and they all know what we expect of them and we don’t have to do a lot of reteaching. This in itself will save us a lot of time.”

She concluded by noting that while she wouldn’t have picked this season scheduling change that has been brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic, she realized that as far as having to deal with the altered season, everyone was on a level playing field.

“The only good part about this situation is that all schools are in the same boat,” Nelson said. “I am hopeful and positive for an awesome season, despite our circumstances. My goal at the moment is to keep my girls this positive, too.”

Neither coach offered up any thoughts about what many directly involved with high school sports are calling the real “elephant in the room” regarding the start of winter sports in Kentucky.

The KHSAA Board of Control is scheduled to meet again in mid-December, at which time the current situation regarding the COVID-19 numbers in Kentucky and elsewhere will be closely looked at.

Should the numbers continue to rise, or begin spiking again in relation to the upcoming Thanksgiving gatherings that will be held, the January 4 start-up date could be altered to an even later date, in combination with an even later post-season ending date beyond the traditional “March Madness” time frame.

Or, in the worst case scenario, there could be a decision forthcoming that would be even more heartbreaking for the players, coaches, parents and fans.