These conferences canceled their basketball tournaments due to the coronavirus
Less than 24 hours after the NCAA announced its men’s and women’s basketball tournaments would press on — sans fans — in spite of the coronavirus pandemic, three different conferences announced the cancellation of their respective tournaments.
The Big Ten, SEC and American Athletic Conference decided Thursday to nix their men’s basketball conference tournaments.
“The Big Ten Conference will use this time to work with the appropriate medical experts and institutional leadership to determine next steps for moving forward in regard to the COVID-19 pandemic,” the Big Ten said in a statement. “The main priority of the Big Ten Conference continues to be the health, safety and wellness of our student-athletes, coaches, administrators, fans and media as we continue to monitor all developing and relevant information on the COVID-19 virus.”
The SEC also pulled the plug on its tournament, which was scheduled for play in Nashville.
The AAC tournament in Fort Worth was shut down, too.
Following those three conferences announcing their tournaments were canceled, the Big 12 and ACC followed suit for their tournaments in Kansas City, Missouri, and Greensboro, North Carolina, respectively, according to multiple reports.
Florida State was presented with the regular-season ACC championship trophy prior to their scheduled first-round tournament game against Clemson.
The Pac-12 canceled its tournament, according to reports, bringing the total to six conference tournaments getting canceled on Thursday.
Conferences canceling their tournaments came on the heels of the NBA suspending its season Wednesday night following Rudy Gobert, of the Utah Jazz, testing positive for COVID-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus.
This is a developing story.
This story was originally published March 12, 2020 at 12:37 PM.
