All five of college basketball’s so-called Power 5 Leagues have canceled their tournaments due to the coronavirus. The five conferences are the ACC, Big Ten, Big 12, SEC and Pac-12. The Big East, which is comparable in the quality of its basketball to some of the Power 5 Leagues is proceeding for now with its tournament, which began yesterday. [NOTE: The Big East has now canceled its tournament.)
Other conferences have also canceled their tournaments. The Ivy League did so earlier in the week. It is now joined by the American, Atlantic 10, Conference USA, Mid-American (MAC), and Western Athletic (WAC) conferences.
The NCAA basketball tournament is still on, to be played with no fans in attendance. That was going to be the NBA’s approach going forward, as well. However, when Utah’s Rudy Gobert tested positive for the virus, the NBA did a sudden about face and suspended its season.
I wonder whether the NCAA will decided to cancel its tournament if, as seems probable, players start testing positive for the virus. [NOTE: The tournament has now been cancelled]
For me, the concept of self-isolation was more appealing when I thought there would be plenty of sports to watch on television, than it is now with the NBA not playing and with conference tourneys canceled. However, I’m glad that sports leagues are doing their part to prevent the spread of the coronavirus by eliminating large gatherings. And if necessary to protect players and coaches, leagues should be willing to cancel the games altogether.
Notice: All comments are subject to moderation. Our comments are intended to be a forum for civil discourse bearing on the subject under discussion. Commenters who stray beyond the bounds of civility or employ what we deem gratuitous vulgarity in a comment — including, but not limited to, “s***,” “f***,” “a*******,” or one of their many variants — will be banned without further notice in the sole discretion of the site moderator.