AIR FORCE ACADEMY — Look out for the Air Force Fightin’ Falcons.

Starting in 2023-24.

Bookmark this prediction. “Like” it, if Twitter’s not censored by then. When young cadets Ethan Taylor and Lucas Moerman are old cadets, Air Force basketball can return to the glory days of A.J. Kuhl, Tim Keller and the NIT or NCAA Tournament. Both were coached by Joe Scott.

It’s coming. Watch.

“I know we’ve got players in that locker room,” Scott told me Saturday after a 75-68 loss to the Nevada Wolf Pack inside Clune Arena.

They sure do. They’ve got a few of them, mostly freshmen, and one of them racked up the first triple-double in program history Saturday. Not the first for a freshman. The first for anybody.

Salute, Ethan Taylor. Young man had 14 points, 10 rebounds, 10 assists. There’s more to come.

“Dang!” Air Force senior A.J. Walker said, seeing a stat sheet for the first time. “That’s what’s up!”

Now for some serious business: the czars in charge of college basketball need to stop this COVID-19 nonsense. Stop the postponements and cancelations for an illness that simply does not affect healthy young men and women in a serious manner. If they’re not sick, let ‘em play!

Thanks to outdated COVID protocols, Air Force had played one game in 17 days before Saturday. And in that one game Air Force played at Colorado State without three starters due to COVID protocols. The players were healthy, ready to play and learned the day before tipoff they wouldn’t be allowed to play. One of those was Walker, a senior, whose days as a college basketball player are limited. You don’t go from Air Force ball to pro ball. You go into five years of service time. It’s a big deal to be forced to sit out of a game in which you’re perfectly healthy.

“Every game is special,” Walker said.

College basketball must adopt the NBA protocols that went into effect on Saturday: if they’re vaccinated against COVID-19, only symptomatic (sick) players get tested for COVID-19. (They should have the same rule if you’re not vaccinated against COVID-19, but we both know that’s not happening any time soon.) Otherwise they don’t have to get tested. There’s zero reason to test healthy 20-year-olds. Zero.

Quick, name a college basketball player who died from COVID-19. I can’t find one, thankfully. Now name a college basketball player who became seriously ill from COVID-19. Still can’t find one, thankfully. Sorry to be the bearer of good news, but these guys are not at risk of serious illness. Just over 5,000 people between the ages of 18-29 have died of something “involving COVID-19,” according to the CDC. College basketball players are still between the ages of 18-29, as far as I know, and the chance of a 20-year-old human dying from COVID is .003 percent, according to the CDC. Let ’em play.

“It’s a finite time” that college basketball players get to play college basketball, as Scott said.

Stop taking away a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for no good reason.

“It’s hard on these players,” Scott said.

If you were among the 1,000 folks who took in Saturday’s Mountain West contest, the idea this Air Force bunch one day will play postseason ball will sound like crazy talk. Air Force didn’t play well. The Falcons fouled too much, 21 times. They launched too many 3-pointers, 39. Couldn’t find a rhythm. Nevada built a 13-point lead and deserved the win. Good on Nevada.

But the potential is there — when these underclassmen become upperclassmen — if the likes of Taylor, Moerman, Jake Heidbreder, Jeff Mills and Joseph Octave continue through the process Scott’s laid out. Hey, the 2004 Falcons who later reached the NCAA Tournament only won eight and nine games as underclassmen.

These Falcons (8-6) bring the third-youngest roster in Division I ball, and winning takes time.

But you can see it. You can see it in Taylor, a 6-foot-5 freshman from Texas. His triple-double came in his 14th career game. He had a couple more in high school, and this won’t be his last one here. Taylor should be in line for his second Mountain West freshman of the week honor.

“Oh! OH!” Taylor said when he first realized his historic stat line.

You can see it in Moerman, a Doherty grad, who’s second in the Mountain West in blocked shots. You can see it in Heidbreder, an Indiana guy straight out of Hoosiers. He’s been Mountain West freshman of the week, too. Ask the coaches, and Mills might be the best passer on the team. They’re all freshmen, they’re all going to get better, and they’re already pretty good.

“In a couple years we’ll be pretty dangerous if we all stick together,” Taylor said.

This COVID-protocols nonsense isn’t limited to Air Force. CSU’s had one game canceled, two games postponed. I’ve ranked the Rams on my AP Top 25 ballot since season’s start, and I’m telling you they haven’t been the same team since these absurd protocols limited the Rams to one game over three weeks. The CU Buffs had a game against Kansas canceled. Do you know how special it is to play Kansas? And then to have it canceled for no good reason? Nonsense.

“I want to play as many games as I can before this season’s over,” said Walker, the lone senior.

Stick it out, and these baby Falcons are going places. They’re going to the NIT or NCAA Tournament — starting in 2023-24. Watch.