[M T]

What gets missed by the press in Stanford's loss to Harvard that year was that Stanford was without three starters (O. Scott, V. Nygaard and K. Folkl).  Results would have been different if two of the three had been able to play, and most likely Stanford would have one of the three been healthy)

As I recall, two of those three went down in the last 3 or 4 days before the game.  I think had the game been a few days later, Stanford would have won.  As it was, they had little chance to adjust to different players & different positions.

But, the reason I brought up that year was that the same thing could happen this year to any team if COVID prevents some players from playing.  (But, it seems the NCAA has made that less likely for the women by choosing the testing they did.  It appears they'd rather have them play with COVID.  If all 5 starters got asymptomatic COVID, the test appears it would only detect 2 of them.  The other 3 would still play.)

[M T]

What gets missed by the press in Stanford's loss to Harvard that year was that Stanford was without three starters (O. Scott, V. Nygaard and K. Folkl).  Results would have been different if two of the three had been able to play, and most likely Stanford would have one of the three been healthy)

As I recall, two of those three went down in the last 3 or 4 days before the game.  I think had the game been a few days later, Stanford would have won.  As it was, they had little chance to adjust to different players & different positions.

But, the reason I brought up that year was that the same thing could happen this year to any team if COVID prevents some players from playing.  (But, it seems the NCAA has made that less likely for the women by choosing the testing they did.  It appears they'd rather have them play with COVID.  If all 5 starters got asymptomatic COVID, the test appears it would only detect 2 of them.  The other 3 would still play.)