The NCAA announced on Thursday that they will cancel the men’s and women’s basketball tournaments this month, in response to the coronavirus.
On Wednesday, the NCAA had opted to proceed with the tournament without fans. However, after the NBA suspended the remainder of their season after a player on the Utah Jazz tested positive for coronavirus, with several other major sports leagues following suit, the NCAA opted to cancel the league altogether.
The annual men’s basketball tournament known as March Madness, had been played every year since 1939. The women’s tournament had been played every year since 1982.
As the Associated Press reports:
[March Madness] is now one of the biggest events in American sports, a basketball marathon of buzzer-beaters, upset and thrills involving 68 teams. The field for the men’s tournament was scheduled to be announced Sunday. The 64-team women’s field was to be revealed Monday.
Games would have started on the men’s side on Tuesday in Dayton, Ohio, then spreading out to eight sites from coast-to-coast from next Thursday through Sunday.
Duke, a traditional college basketball powerhouse, had announced that they would not participate in the tournament shortly before the NCAA’s announcement.
Follow Dylan Gwinn on Twitter @themightygwinn
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