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Baylor men’s basketball coach Scott Drew announced via his Twitter account Sunday that he tested positive for COVID-19 on Friday. The positive test means Drew will be quarantining for nearly two weeks and will not be around the program to start its season. Baylor is ranked No. 2 the AP preseason Top 25, its highest ranking heading into a season in school history.
While Drew’s positive test was originally not going to halt Baylor’s season as of Sunday night, on Monday the Bears decided not to play at the Mohegan Sun this week, canceling its Wednesday game vs. No. 18 Arizona State in the semifinals of the Empire Classic and a possible game vs. No. 3 Villanova in the championship game Thursday, sources told CBS Sports.
Rhode Island will replace Baylor in the 2K Empire Classic on Wednesday and Thursday at Mohegan Sun.
URI was already scheduled to play games in “Bubbleville” at the Mohegan Sun.
Baylor men’s basketball spokesman David Kaye told CBS Sports everyone in the program with the exception of Drew tested negative Friday and Sunday. After Drew released his statement, he spoke to CBS Sports by phone and said the belief is that he contracted the coronavirus through his children. The Drew family is currently feeling well, and all members of the household are asymptomatic.
“It’s a high-probability I got it [from my family],” Drew said. “Plus, knowing what we do every day in practice — to stay distanced — we went 12 weeks without one positive test.”
Drew added that were it not for Baylor testing as frequently as it does, he would have never suspected he had COVID-19. Drew found out his test from Friday was positive on Saturday morning. The team then went through its contact-tracing guidelines. All other people in the program tested negative Friday and again on Sunday, when results were returned by the late afternoon. These factors determined BU to be cleared for competition by local health administrators.
Drew is the latest men’s Division I coach to test positive for the coronavirus and publicly disclose the diagnosis. Previous positives include Syracuse’s Jim Boeheim, Michigan State’s Tom Izzo, Washington State’s Kyle Smith, Mississippi’s Kermit Davis, Toledo’s Tod Kowalczyk and Oakland’s Greg Kampe.
