The American, Big Ten, Atlantic 10, WAC, C-USA, MAC, CAA, ACC and Pac-12 all followed suit within a half hour. The SEC was the first major conference to cancel its conference basketball tournaments. McGlade had permission from her university presidents to do the same.Īcross the country, university presidents, conference commissioners, athletic directors and health experts were holding conference calls from hotel rooms, stadium tunnels and, yes, even a restroom, scrambling to answer one question just hours after the World Health Organization characterized the COVID-19 outbreak a pandemic and the NBA suspended its season: How can we keep playing?Ĭonference by conference, reality started to set in. They ran through a few scenarios before McGlade asked again, "How much time is left on the clock?"īy this time, the SEC and Big Ten had decided to cancel their tournaments, setting off a chain reaction that eventually reached every league. McGlade asked one official, "How much time is left on the clock?" "You're watching a thriller, someone's trying to deactivate the bomb and time is ticking down - how much time is on the clock? Make the decision right now, otherwise they're tipping and then you've got another set of issues." Just 6 miles away at the Marriott Marquis in New York City, A-10 commissioner Bernadette McGlade stepped out of the men's basketball selection committee meeting to call league officials at her conference tournament to assess the situation. IT WAS CLOSING in on the noon tipoff Thursday at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, and UMass and Virginia Commonwealth were about to kick off the Atlantic 10 men's basketball tournament. Reporting below from ESPN's Andrea Adelson, Jeff Borzello, Heather Dinich, Graham Hays, Paula Lavigne, Ryan McGee, Mark Schlabach and Mechelle Voepel. ESPN contacted commissioners, coaches, players and officials to get their takes on an unprecedented few days in college sports. Since then, there have been questions and speculation around what led to the decision. The NCAA announced on March 12 that it was canceling all championships, including the 2020 men's and women's basketball tournaments, because of the coronavirus outbreak. Men's College Basketball, Women's College Basketball, Oregon Ducks, Florida State Seminoles 'It was like a movie': What led the NCAA to shut down competition You have reached a degraded version of because you're using an unsupported version of Internet Explorer.įor a complete experience, please upgrade or use a supported browser
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