LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- The casinos are closed but the oddsmakers never sleep.
Although several college football coaches have shared their concerns that the 2020 season will be delayed or possibly canceled because of health and public safety issues associated with the novel coronavirus, the oddsmakers released their first batch of point spreads for late summer and fall.
One line jumped off my e-mail:
Kentucky opened as a 1 1/2-point favorite for the Wildcats' trip to Cardinal Stadium Nov. 28.
The Wildcats have won back-to-back games in the Governor's Cup series.
A spread was listed for one other local game:
Louisville opened as a 21 1/2-point underdog for its trip to Clemson Sept. 12, the Cardinals' second game this season.
*Eli Hershkovich shared his early lines for the 2021 NCAA men's basketball champion.
Kentucky is listed with Duke, Gonzaga and Kansas as one of four co-favorites at 10-to-1.
Your early price on Louisville is 40-1. Indiana did not make the board.
CBB futures (@WilliamHillUS): UK 10-1Duke 10-1Zags 10-1KU 10-1UVA 12-1Baylor 14-1MSU 18-1Villanova 20-1Creighton 20-1FSU 25-1Oregon 25-1SDSU 30-1Iowa 30-1Ohio State 30-1Wiscy 30-1UVA 40-1UNC 40-1UF 40-1Michigan 40-1Louisville 40-1Maryland 50-1Tennessee 50-1
— Eli Hershkovich (@EliHershkovich) March 24, 2020
*Indiana football coach Tom Allen introduced the program's new strength and conditioning coach, Aaron Wellman, Tuesday.
Wellman arrived from the New York Giants, but he has also arrived without players to condition because the Bloomington campus closed and players returned home.
How do you condition players when there are no players in the facility?
"It's a lot of virtual meetings," Wellman said. "For me, it's trying to individualize workouts from a distance, which involves a lot of communication with the athletes...
"…we've provided the workouts through an app on their iPhones so that they can download their workouts, we can track their progress and they can certainly Face Time me, call me, text me."
*Allen said that he had the entire football team join a virtual team meeting Sunday at 7 p.m.
He addressed the loss of strength and conditioning coaches David Ballou and Dr. Matt Rhea to Alabama as well as the cancellation of spring football after four practices.
Allen: "It's definitely different, and not what we expected. And we went on to say, I had this whole series of things I challenged them, and I said, Hey, the bottom line is this: They just canceled spring ball; we don't blink. They just canceled classes in person for the rest of the year; we don't blink. We just recently shut down weight rooms; we can't be on our facility here; we aren't going to blink.
"Then we get a state order that says you can't even go to a gym; we don't blink. We're going to be doing things in our garages and basements and wherever they have access to.
"So that to me is just the mindset we're going to take as a program: We don't blink.
"I gave out a motivational thing with our team today that we sent out to all of our players, coaches, managers, trainers, everybody that's part of this program. You just have to adapt and you have to adjust, and we're all in the same boat, every team in the country is dealing with this, talking to some other head coaches here recently."
*Another Day, Another Honor
When the final word is written on the 2020 men's college basketball season, Louisville forward Jordan Nwora will be remembered as a third-team all-American.
That has been his consensus spot during the post-season. Nwora earned another third-team honor Tuesday, this time from the National Association of Basketball Coaches
Here is the complete list of NABC honorees:
2020 NABC COACHES' DIVISION I ALL-AMERICA FIRST TEAMÂ
Udoka Azubuike, Kansas, 7-0, Senior, Center, Delta, Nigeria
Luka Garza, Iowa, 6-11, Junior, Center, Washington, D.C.
Markus Howard, Marquette, 5-11, Senior, Chandler, Ariz.
Payton Pritchard, Oregon, 6-2, Senior, Guard, West Linn, Ore.
Obi Toppin, Dayton, 6-9, R.-Sophomore, Forward, Brooklyn, N.Y.
2020 NABC COACHES’ DIVISION I ALL-AMERICA SECOND TEAMÂ
Devon Dotson, Kansas, 6-2, Sophomore, Guard, Charlotte, N.C.
Malachi Flynn, San Diego State, 6-1, Junior, Guard, Tacoma, Wash.
Filip Petrusev, Gonzaga, 6-11, Sophomore, Forward, Belgrade, Serbia
Myles Powell, Seton Hall, 6-2, Senior, Guard, Trenton, N.J.
Cassius Winston, Michigan State, 6-1, Senior, Guard, Detroit, Mich.
2020 NABC COACHES' DIVISION I ALL-AMERICA THIRD TEAMÂ
Jared Butler, Baylor, 6-3, Sophomore, Guard, Reserve, La.
Vernon Carey Jr., Duke, 6-10, Freshman, Center, Miami, Fla.
Tre Jones, Duke, 6-3, Sophomore, Guard, Apple Valley, Minn.
Jordan Nwora, Louisville, 6-7, Junior, Forward, Buffalo, N.Y.
Jalen Smith, Maryland, 6-10, Sophomore, Forward, Baltimore, Md.
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