The NCAA is canceling March Madness. Unfortunately, the developing threat of coronavirus forced the NCAA’s hand.
This is unfortunate. With the spread of the global pandemic COVID-19—also known as coronavirus—the NCAA is making the bold decision to cancel the men’s and women’s basketball tournaments.
The NCAA released a statement on that decision:
“Today, NCAA President Mark Emmert and the Board of Governors canceled the Division I men’s and women’s 2020 basketball tournaments, as well as all remaining winter and spring NCAA championships. This decision is based on the evolving COVID-19 public health threat, our ability to ensure the events do not contribute to spread of the pandemic, and the impracticality of hosting such events at any time during this academic year given ongoing decisions by other entities.”
In addition to March Madness, the NCAA is canceling all spring championships as well.
Obviously, there are bigger things at play than sports, but this is sad for a bunch of scholar-athletes who will never have the chance to compete ever again.
Think about the teams like Rutgers who haven’t been to the NCAA Tournament since 1991. Myles Powell and the Seton Hall Pirates had a legitimate chance to make school history by making a deep run into the tourney. Hell, even St. John’s led top-seeded Creighton at halftime of their quarterfinal matchup in the Big East Tournament.
The beauty of March is that anything can happen. Any team can win on any given day and now the fans and athletes have been robbed of the opportunity to witness the madness.
Again, ensuring the slow of coronavirus is far more important than tossing a ball into a hoop, but this still stinks.