In my opinion they should give Basketball players an extra as well. But they probably won’t, given that the entire regular season was played. But I hope they do.
True, we definitely had a really good shot at a championship, but I fully expect the men's team to be ready to go for another run next year. We definitely lose some valuable pieces (Michael Jensen, Zheng Wen Quah, and Pawel Sendyk come to mind), but I believe in the program's ability to develop swimmers. I haven't gone back and taken a close look at new best times by the freshmen class (and how that compares at top-5 programs, how that compares to prior freshmen classes at Cal, etc.). Jason Louser had a phenomenal meet with best times by good margins in his 3 individual events, Colby Mefford dropped serious time in the 200y backstroke. I'm sure if I dug deep enough I'd fine more so I fully believe that some of the current freshmen will become impact swimmers next year. It's also worth noting that the men's team bring in a couple of pretty good recruits, but I don't know if that gives Cal an edge or anything (that's a conversation for another time).
Certainly, somewhat fortunately that the bulk of the impact swimmers are just sophomores/juniors (we had a pretty special class there). Of course, they could have won 3 natty in their Cal career but might only get the chance to win 2.
As for women's swimming, this was a special down year for Stanford, so it was a big missed opportunity for Cal to win this year. Even if they changed and allowed the winter athlete another year and Cal keeps Olympian Abbey Weitzeil for another year, Stanford will get two studs next year (one back from Olympic sabbatical and another is a freshman) to tip the scale that way again.
Cal Women's Gymnastics was also on their way to a special year, but almost all of the lineup will be back except for one gymnast. Of course, they still lost a potentially major experience of possibly making it to the NCAA Championships this year.
It’s all going to be a lot easier said than done. The larger revenue institutions and those with monster endowments may not feel it, but there are a lot of smaller schools that will also need to deal with these issues, while also likely suffering significant loss of revenue due to school closures and other costs and challenges created by the virus. I don’t know that the NCAA can just tell them they need to extend/grant a bunch of additional scholarships, and you know the NCAA isn’t picking up a bill for anything that will help students without also filling their pockets.
I don’t think it’s going to be a school-by-school decision at all. The NCAA will make a decision, but it’s not as simple as just allowing more scholarships since—for a vast majority of institutions—the athletic departments don’t make money, they especially don’t make money on spring sports, and it isn’t as simple as just deciding to increase the cost of athletic expenditures, particularly in a year where they are likely to have less revenue anyway. It’s also a competition issue — the NCAA is not likely to give the schools who can afford to do this an advantage by giving them the option to increase their scholarship allotment by 25%-ish to account for seniors staying another year.
So this really means the end for baseball this year then :( Didn't even get to see a game..
Non-Cal: Man, I really feel for Obi Toppin (Dayton) and Sabrina Ionescu (Oregon) - who were putting together special special seasons.
In my opinion they should give Basketball players an extra as well. But they probably won’t, given that the entire regular season was played. But I hope they do.
Basketball, swimming and diving, and gymnastics are all classified as winter sports by the NCAA.
Dang. Seems we had a good shot at a Natty, especially in Men's Swimming/Diving......
True, we definitely had a really good shot at a championship, but I fully expect the men's team to be ready to go for another run next year. We definitely lose some valuable pieces (Michael Jensen, Zheng Wen Quah, and Pawel Sendyk come to mind), but I believe in the program's ability to develop swimmers. I haven't gone back and taken a close look at new best times by the freshmen class (and how that compares at top-5 programs, how that compares to prior freshmen classes at Cal, etc.). Jason Louser had a phenomenal meet with best times by good margins in his 3 individual events, Colby Mefford dropped serious time in the 200y backstroke. I'm sure if I dug deep enough I'd fine more so I fully believe that some of the current freshmen will become impact swimmers next year. It's also worth noting that the men's team bring in a couple of pretty good recruits, but I don't know if that gives Cal an edge or anything (that's a conversation for another time).
Certainly, somewhat fortunately that the bulk of the impact swimmers are just sophomores/juniors (we had a pretty special class there). Of course, they could have won 3 natty in their Cal career but might only get the chance to win 2.
As for women's swimming, this was a special down year for Stanford, so it was a big missed opportunity for Cal to win this year. Even if they changed and allowed the winter athlete another year and Cal keeps Olympian Abbey Weitzeil for another year, Stanford will get two studs next year (one back from Olympic sabbatical and another is a freshman) to tip the scale that way again.
Cal Women's Gymnastics was also on their way to a special year, but almost all of the lineup will be back except for one gymnast. Of course, they still lost a potentially major experience of possibly making it to the NCAA Championships this year.
It’s all going to be a lot easier said than done. The larger revenue institutions and those with monster endowments may not feel it, but there are a lot of smaller schools that will also need to deal with these issues, while also likely suffering significant loss of revenue due to school closures and other costs and challenges created by the virus. I don’t know that the NCAA can just tell them they need to extend/grant a bunch of additional scholarships, and you know the NCAA isn’t picking up a bill for anything that will help students without also filling their pockets.
I don’t think it’s going to be a school-by-school decision at all. The NCAA will make a decision, but it’s not as simple as just allowing more scholarships since—for a vast majority of institutions—the athletic departments don’t make money, they especially don’t make money on spring sports, and it isn’t as simple as just deciding to increase the cost of athletic expenditures, particularly in a year where they are likely to have less revenue anyway. It’s also a competition issue — the NCAA is not likely to give the schools who can afford to do this an advantage by giving them the option to increase their scholarship allotment by 25%-ish to account for seniors staying another year.