MSU men's basketball shut down by COVID
Jan. 6—MANKATO — Friday morning, Minnesota State men's basketball coach Matt Margenthaler was hoping to be on a bus, traveling to Duluth to start an important Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference road trip against Minnesota Duluth and St. Cloud State.
Instead, the Mavericks have been shut down because of positive COVID tests involving players and staff.
"It's very disappointing, especially when we've done everything we were supposed to do to stay safe," Margenthaler said.
Minnesota State has cancelled both games this weekend, and the future schedule is in limbo. Minnesota State is scheduled to host Bemidji State and Minnesoota Crookston on Jan. 13-14.
The Mavericks had one player miss the Jan. 2 game against Concordia-St. Paul because of a positive virus test, but five players and two staff members have since tested positive.
Margenthaler said that the entire team and staff has been vaccinated, but the NCAA announced Thursday that there were different "expiration dates" for each vaccine, meaning players who hadn't received a booster, based on previous guidelines, were now considered unvaccinated. Minnesota State athletic director Kevin Buisman said that 11 of the 14 players on the men's basketball team had not received the booster.
If a player test positive and has received the vaccine and booster, the NCAA recommends a five-day mandatory quarantine, and if there's a negative test and no symptoms are present at that time, the athlete can return to competition immediately. Unvaccinated players who test positve must isolate for 10 days, with an additional three-day-return-to-competition period.
Buisman said that he is waiting on guidance from the Minnesota Department of Health, which takes priority over the CDC or NCAA, to see if the new standards are adopted.
"When those three aren't in alignment, there's a lack of clarity," Buisman said.
For now, the men's basketball team cannot practice, and Buisman said he's hoping for news from MDH early next week on how to move forward.
"Until there's new guidance, the old guidance prevails," he said.
Buisman also said that he thinks this is going to get worse in the next couple of weeks before things get better and is investigating ways the university might provided booster shots to as many athletes who want it.
The Minnesota State women's basketball team is still playing at Minnesota Duluth on Friday and at St. Cloud State on Saturday.
The Northern Sun has already cancelled several men's and women's games this season because of the virus, including seven this weekend, that won't be rescheduled.
Follow Chad Courrier on Twitter @ChadCourrier.
