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UC Davis has suffered through the most onerous shutdown of any Division I school, despite the fact that neither the men's or the women's program has had a single case of Covid, or a single positive test.
Jim Les' UC Davis Aggies have been completely shut down since December 4 because of a unique county order shutting down all athletic activity in their county. In addition to the strict California regulations, which still allowed for other colleges to play games as long as a number of precautions were taken, Yolo County, which UC Davis is in, enacted the strictest regulations of any state or county in the country. The Yolo County regulations did not allow the athletes to play in or use any of the college's facilities, nor were they allowed to travel to play games elsewhere. They even had to search for available courts in the community just to shoot baskets. They were allowed to restart practices on Dec. 15, but only if everyone wore masks, and had daily Covid tests.
The ban on playing games was finally lifted in mid January, and they played on January 22, their first game after a full 7 week pause since they had last played on Dec. 4. The state restrictions still prohibited them from flying to play road opponents (they would have had to quarantine if they had flown), and UC Davis is the farthest north school in the Big West Conference. Thus for those January 22 & 23 games at UC San Diego, it required a 500+ mile, round trip bus trip from Davis California to San Diego, and back. They went 1-1 in their first 2 conference games, and they now have a pair of home games this Friday & Saturday. They had 8 Big West games cancelled, and there probably won't be time to make them all up. But at least they have their seson going again.
Jim Les' UC Davis Aggies have been completely shut down since December 4 because of a unique county order shutting down all athletic activity in their county. In addition to the strict California regulations, which still allowed for other colleges to play games as long as a number of precautions were taken, Yolo County, which UC Davis is in, enacted the strictest regulations of any state or county in the country. The Yolo County regulations did not allow the athletes to play in or use any of the college's facilities, nor were they allowed to travel to play games elsewhere. They even had to search for available courts in the community just to shoot baskets. They were allowed to restart practices on Dec. 15, but only if everyone wore masks, and had daily Covid tests.
The ban on playing games was finally lifted in mid January, and they played on January 22, their first game after a full 7 week pause since they had last played on Dec. 4. The state restrictions still prohibited them from flying to play road opponents (they would have had to quarantine if they had flown), and UC Davis is the farthest north school in the Big West Conference. Thus for those January 22 & 23 games at UC San Diego, it required a 500+ mile, round trip bus trip from Davis California to San Diego, and back. They went 1-1 in their first 2 conference games, and they now have a pair of home games this Friday & Saturday. They had 8 Big West games cancelled, and there probably won't be time to make them all up. But at least they have their seson going again.