Three days before what would have been her program’s first-ever postseason appearance, the coach of the Columbia women’s basketball team knocked on her athletic director’s office door.
Megan Griffith’s players were eager to start practice. Griffith just needed to know if the Lions still had a game to prepare for anymore.
It was the morning of March 10, 2020, and COVID-19 had begun to incite widespread panic across America. The looming threat of the virus crashed financial markets, scuttled travel plans and caused shoppers to strip store shelves bare.
While the rest of American professional and college sports were still plowing ahead like nothing was wrong, Ivy League administrators had consulted with public health officials for weeks and favored a more cautious approach.