Portland Magazine
Athletics
January 21, 2021
For weeks, University of Portland’s men’s and women’s basketball teams navigated online classes and roamed a lifeless campus, as they fought off fears their season would never happen. On Oct. 14, the NCAA permitted its Division I basketball programs to begin preseason practices with regular coronavirus testing and other safeguards, and gyms across the United States opened doors for full-contact, five-on-five workouts and scrimmages. But of the 350 Division I programs, two—UP and crosstown rival Portland State—were forced to keep their doors closed, thanks to a perplexing decision by Oregon Gov. Kate Brown to deny exemption requests by the schools to play through the Oregon Health Authority’s sports guidance.
At a critical point of the season, during which teams bond, players develop on-court chemistry, and coaches evaluate new personnel and experiment with new lineup combinations, the Pilots were left in the dark, unsure when—or even if—they would return to the court. “I could not believe what we were going through,” senior Ahmed Ali says. “I was so jealous of all the other teams.” This jealousy intensified each time Ali scrolled through his Instagram feed and discovered posts from players across the country, including in-state programs Oregon and Oregon State, boasting about returning to practice. As the players’ emotions seesawed, University administrators worked behind the scenes with health officials to cut through the red tape.
The 30 players on the men’s and women’s teams kept the faith, pressing forward with tedious individual basketball workouts and solo weight training sessions, which allowed them, at the very least, to stay in shape. But as each week passed without a resolution, opposing teams gained even more of an edge, and the status of the season became even more precarious. Finally, after more than five weeks, Brown relented and approved the Pilots’ exemption. Three days before their first game, on Nov. 22, the men’s and women’s players were able to hold full practices, and Ali’s jealousy morphed into bliss.
“Oh, man, when they told us we were finally getting to practice, I can’t even describe what that was like,” Ali says. “We were so happy, so grateful. There was a lot of rust those first few days, but you could just see how much the guys were enjoying the game and being back on the court together. I can tell you this: We don’t take the game for granted anymore.”
It’s safe to say the student athletes who outlast this unique basketball season on The Bluff won’t take college life for granted again, either. In every conceivable way, as with everything in life the last nine months, the concept of normal has dramatically been redefined at UP. As courses have transitioned from classrooms to computers, the campus has been eerily empty and quiet, with only a trickle of athletes and ROTC students roaming around. The basketball players, who live at Tyson Hall, are required to undergo daily COVID-19 testing to practice and, even with that reassurance, continue to wear masks and practice social distancing. Last season, the women’s team often would meet at coach Michael Meek’s house for meals and bonding sessions. But off-campus excursions and large gatherings are off limits now, so instead, they gather outdoors on nice days for socially-distanced lunches after practice and occasionally meet in small groups at each other’s apartments.
It helps that all but one of the women from last season’s team have returned this season, so they already are close. For the men, who feature nine new players hailing from Canada to Florida and everywhere in between, the safety measures and practice limitations made it tough to build early camaraderie. They improvised as best they could, including playing the video game Call of Duty together—separately—from their rooms spread around Tyson. One way they haven’t bonded is by taking team trips to weekend parties. “I tell some of the freshmen, ‘You guys are not enjoying the real college experience,’” Ali says, giggling. “It’s tough and I kind of feel bad for them. I’ve lived the college experience. I don’t like partying anymore. But everyone should experience it at some point.”
The Bluff’s lack of students and buzz have forced the players to embrace a monotonous lifestyle that feels a lot like Groundhog Day. Days are filled with a familiar routine featuring online Zoom classes, a weight training session, practice, an individual shooting session, and homework. Rinse. Repeat. Rinse. Repeat. Before Brown finally allowed them to practice, the quiet repetitiveness and isolation threatened to become unbearable for some. “It brings you anxiety and stuff,” Ali says. “You have lots and lots of time to think, and I hate when my mind is free. I try to keep my mind busy to protect my thoughts when I’m alone.” It’s no wonder men’s coach Terry Porter, women’s coach Meek, and their assistants have made it a point to check in on players more than normal to measure mental health.
But the players consider themselves lucky. There have been COVID-19 outbreaks on college campuses in every region of the country, and college basketball games and practices have been postponed left and right because of positive tests and contact-tracing protocols, including at WCC rival Gonzaga. As of this writing, the Pilots have not endured one positive test.
“It’s going to be really crazy looking back at all of this 10 years from now, watching TV and seeing everyone wearing masks and stuff like that,” senior Maddie Muhlheim says. “For us, we know that a lot of people are going through hard times. We just feel fortunate and grateful for the time we do get to spend together, and we’re just trying to enjoy each other’s presence as much as we can. This has, for sure, brought us closer.”
This once-in-a-lifetime season could conceivably end at any point, but they plan to enjoy the ride as long as it lasts.
“It’s like that cliché saying, ‘Play every game like it’s your last,’” Muhlheim says. “With this situation, it’s literally true that any game could be our last. So I’ve just tried to be mindful of that throughout everything and just take every game and every practice seriously and just enjoy the moment.”
—Joe Freeman ’99 covers the Portland Trail Blazers and NBA for The Oregonian/OregonLive.University of Portland
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