OXFORD | Ole Miss baseball’s 16-game win streak will last at least three more weeks.
No guarantees it won't last until next season.
The SEC, in response to the sports world’s growing shutdown because of COVID-19, has postponed all spring athletic events until March 30. That’s three weekends of baseball, and even that may be more of an expiration date for postponement before cancellation is considered instead of a true expectation for when it resumes.
"We have to work to do,” SEC commissioner Greg Sankey said from Nashville Thursday. “I don't have all those answers. ... It may not be March 30. It may be beyond. That remains to be seen.”
Ole Miss has home series against LSU and Arkansas and a road trip at Texas A&M during the timeframe, as well as a couple midweek games.
The No. 8 Rebels (16-1) had a scheduled media opportunity that was canceled just before the SEC’s announcement. LSU was loading its team bus to travel to Oxford when called back inside for a team meeting. Last night the SEC announced games would continue without fans before strengthening its decision just more than 12 hours later.
Sankey said some players indicated they were concerned after the NBA suspended its season because of Rudy Gobert’s positive coronavirus test on Wednesday. Jazz teammate Donovan Mitchell also tested positive.
Ole Miss practiced Thursday afternoon, and the current plan is to continue somewhat of a normal practice schedule until the season resumes or a different decision is made.
Ole Miss is closing the campus academically, extending spring break one more week and then moving to online or “alternative instructional methods” starting March 23. The university sent students an email on Thursday, stating residence halls will be accessible for retrieving essential belongings from Sunday to Wednesday and students “are expected to stay away from campus.”
Ole Miss said in a release it is moving spring football from March 17 to the week of March 30 but then updated it to no timetable for spring football an hour later. Athletics director Keith Carter told RebelGrove.com he expects those athletes in dorms to still have campus housing but is currently working through that situation.
Sankey said each school could dictate its own practice situations for now, though he’s asked NCAA head Mark Emmert for a universal ruling. The SEC has also banned all on-campus and off-campus recruiting for all sports through March 30.
Ole Miss, at minimum, will go more than three weeks between games, giving up the momentum gained from 16 wins without a loss over the span of a month. But all sports are in a wait-and-see situation currently.
If that schedule holds, Ole Miss’ first SEC series would be South Carolina at home on April 3 — assuring the league just carries on with the schedule as currently set up.
But with everything in flux and uncertainty the only thing assured right now, the Rebels will practice and see if their season at some point continues.
