The first weekend of The Basketball Tournament in their Columbus, Ohio bubble was, by all accounts, a success as they offer something of a test case for a bubble basketball league.
The first round of play (the Round of 24) saw some exciting finishes as the bottom 16 seeds played their way into the “Super 16” for this week’s play. One of those teams was 12th seeded Brotherly Love, which took down the Stillwater Stars in a fairly dominant 87-71 performance to set up a matchup with fifth-seeded Eberlein Drive. However, that matchup will not take place as Eberlein Drive had a player test positive for COVID-19 during their quarantine period after arriving in Columbus.
As is TBT’s policy, a positive player test means the team is removed from the tournament and their opponent moves on to the next round. In the release, TBT offered the testing stats, noting that as the quarantine period has gone on their positive percentage has dropped precipitously.
After a team member tested positive for COVID-19, Eberlein Drive has been removed from TBT 2020. Team Brotherly Love will now advance to the quarterfinals. They will face the winner of Team CP3 and Golden Eagles, which will be played tomorrow night at 7 p.m. on ESPN. pic.twitter.com/UVFKdvgHpB
— TBT (@thetournament) July 6, 2020
We are devastated by the news that we can no longer compete, but we understand. We can report that the player who tested positive is asymptomatic and feeling well. We appreciate all @thetournament has done to keep everyone safe. We will be back in 2021 #LetsDrive https://t.co/adnkXpl1Bn
— Eberlein Drive (@EberleinDrive) July 6, 2020
It’s unfortunate for Eberlein Drive, but also shows how seriously TBT is taking the situation and trying to keep the rest of the teams safe. While the NBA won’t be taking as aggressive steps towards positive tests, the Tournament’s decline in cases since reaching their bubble offers some hope that the league will see a similar trend once players are at Disney.
