by David Thornton, Photographer
The afternoon of August 14 brought disappointment to the athletic community at Northwestern.
Northwestern announced the cancelation of fall sports until January 2021. Coming off his first season here at Northwestern, head coach of men’s basketball, Vinay Patel, was disappointed to hear this news.
“Initially, they were disappointed,” he said when asked about how his team took the news.
Patel did make it clear to his team that this was the best option to ensure their eligibility for the season. Patel reassured the team that they will play the same amount of games they had scheduled prior to the changes. That information made the team feel a lot better about it.
“We have a chance to have a really fun season,” Patel said.
Patel said he knows he has a good group of players this year, and the players themselves know that too. The team is plentiful with new faces, but is also under the leadership of returning seniors of Parrish Hewitt and Jack Peck.
Due to the COVID-19 virus, the NCAA has paused everything. Normal things a college coach would do during the offseason became impossible to do. Official tours and home visits for recruitment became obsolete.
Patel rarely saw his team. Yet his excitement and anticipation for the season is higher than ever.
“I’m just excited to get to work with them finally.” Patel said.
A lot of the past few weeks consisted of finally meeting his new players face to face. Patel said it has been awesome to finally meet these guys. Patel added that the last time he saw his returning players was spring break. He said that was the longest he has ever gone without seeing his players.
Patel said this year’s preseason will be different. The team will do things as safely as possible. This includes wearing masks, social distancing and no contact play for a few weeks.
Regardless of the current situation happening in the world and NCAA, Patel said he still has high expectations for himself and his program. Patel used one word to describe this past month for him and his program: Proactive.
“I’ve challenged our staff to be proactive instead of reactive,” he said, “to be ahead of problems and know that we are doing what’s best for our kids.”