Baylor head coach says NCAA should stop testing for COVID because positive tests would ruin the Final Four
- Baylor women's head coach Kim Mulkey said the NCAA should stop COVID-19 testing for the Final Four.
- Mulkey said it would be a "shame" if players missed the Final Four because of a positive test.
- Players and coaches have been tested daily, with one men's game canceled because of positive tests.
Baylor's women's college basketball head coach Kim Mulkey said the NCAA should halt COVID-19 testing.
Mulkey, whose team lost in dramatic fashion to Connecticut in the Elite Eight on Monday, said it would be "a shame" if a positive test kept a student from playing in the Final Four.
"After the games today and tomorrow, there's four teams left, I think, on the men's side and the women's side," Mulkey said during her postgame news conference. "They need to dump the COVID testing. Wouldn't it be a shame to keep COVID testing, and then you got kids that test positive or something, and they don't get to play in the Final Four? So you just need to forget the COVID tests and get the four teams playing in each Final Four and go battle it out."
Players and coaches have been getting tested daily for COVID-19 and wearing devices to help with contact-tracing. In the men's tournament, a game between Oregon and Virginia Commonwealth was called a no-contest because of multiple positive tests on VCU. Oregon advanced to the next round.
According to ESPN, there have been two positive tests in the women's tournament, but no games have been affected.
Mulkey tested positive for COVID-19 in January after having a holiday gathering. Baylor had one game canceled and two others postponed.
When Mulkey returned to the team, she told reporters that the NCAA would continue the season because of the "almighty dollar," not caring about players and coaches' safety.
"The season will continue on. It's called the almighty dollar," Mulkey said in January. "The NCAA has to have the almighty dollar from the men's tournament. The almighty dollar is more important than the health and welfare of me, the players, or anybody else."