Michigan State’s Tom Izzo tests positive for COVID-19

College basketball will tip-off in 16 days. It’s an exciting time after many were discouraged when the sport’s main attraction, March Madness, was canceled early this year. It’s so close, yet it may be so far away as the coronavirus will undoubtedly cause issues.

It’s already starting to leave its mark on the season as Michigan State head coach Tom Izzo has tested positive, the Detroit Free Press reported.

The 65-year-old coach is one of the most famed in college basketball, and he’s set to lead the Michigan State Spartans, a team that ranked 13th in the most recent AP poll. Kentucky was slotted in at No. 10.

As for Izzo, the hope is that, despite being older, he battles through and defeats the virus. Izzo, thankfully for now, is the only one in Michigan State’s program to test positive, having shown up negative until his most recent test.

That said, he’s not the first coach to test positive, as Oakland’s Greg Kampe and Jeff Tungate, who coach the men’s and women’s team respectively, have already been announced positive. They’ll go through an isolation period and have to test negative which Izzo should be able to do before the start of the season.

It’s more about his recovery and making sure it wasn’t a false negative now, but as for the future, the association will have to decide how they view games and if they can be played with key players and head coaches.

The good news is it looks like an effective vaccine for the virus is on the way, though it could be several more months before it can be widely distributed.

Let’s just say, assuming a vaccine isn’t released widespread for a few more months at least, it’ll be an interesting season, one that could easily be canceled if the spreading gets too out of hand.