No fans at NCAA men's or women's tournament [merged thread]

[eebmg]

M

As John Wayne said to Margaret O’Hara in The Quiet Man, a 5 mile walk is just, “A good stretch of the legs.”

As John Wayne said to Margaret O’Hara in The Quiet Man, a 5 mile walk is just, “A good stretch of the legs.”

My cane does not agree

 

[oldude]

Just as long as she doesn't have to do the double high fives down the line after every 3!

Assuming she has a cast on, that could be dangerous for everyone else on the bench.

 

[domerduck]

Curious to see how big of a pain it is going to be to get a refund for my regional tickets.

They better give us our money back. I am bummed.

 

[OldAlum]

I just dont see this happening this way. If the virus keeps progressing, I doubt that you can justify moving all those teams to different areas. I still think a shortened tournament at one site is more possible.

 

[domerduck]

Hopefully, this puts UConn in Ft. Wayne as it should be. No one can dispute that UConn is the "best" 2-seed. Much easier path for UConn now. Odds of winning number 12 went up by about 50% according to my model.

Yes and sen Louisville to play Oregon like Walz wants.

 

[hoopsfan22]

One of two things will happen, either:

A. This country gets it act together and we can maybe eke out prevention and containment sufficient to run the tournament at all; or
B. In a week or so, portions of this country begin to look like Northern Italy, and in retrospect this will have been the first domino to fall on the way to cancelling the tournament altogether.

Unfortunately, based on the mitigation steps I'm seeing nationwide, I'd put more money on (B) than (A). The final four isn't until early April, and I have a hard time seeing things maintain or recover in time for it to go that far. If you get through the first weekend, maybe you can postpone the Sweet Sixteen to later in the spring, but even holding out for another 11 days may be a stretch at this point.

You can't postpone because of eligibility issues.

 

[Plebe]

Yes and sen Louisville to play Oregon like Walz wants.

For the record I am not of the "Fort Wayne or Bust" crowd, but I would sure love to see Walz shipped to Oregon as he practically begged the committee to do

 

[TheFarmFan]

You can't postpone because of eligibility issues.

In the grand scheme of things, the NCAA waiving eligibility issues is far and away the thing that's most in their control. If that's the only impediment to postponing, I would be shocked if they wouldn't do that.

 

[Lucelab113]

For the record I am not of the "Fort Wayne or Bust" crowd, but I would sure love to see Walz shipped to Oregon as he practically begged the committee to do

And then the next day he went and lost to Florida State lol. Maybe Brenda really was the brains behind the 2006 championship. Or maybe it was Gail G?

 

[Lucelab113]

I feel bad for the players and fans. Won't be the same for them. Probably has to be done though.

 

[bluedevil]

Just take the top 4 teams..play 2 consecutive days in Indiannoplis...and crown a champin.

 

[hoopsfan22]

In the grand scheme of things, the NCAA waiving eligibility issues is far and away the thing that's most in their control. If that's the only impediment to postponing, I would be shocked if they wouldn't do that.

They are not going to let "kids" who are no longer in school or have since turned pro play in the tournament.

 

[BostonBay]

Thats got be nerve-wracking as heck. Only playing in front of family members! With a big crowd, players have been taught to zone things out (or feed off the crowd energy).

 

[Plebe]

Just take the top 4 teams..play 2 consecutive days in Indiannoplis...and crown a champin.

Oh yeah, this forum will be loads of fun when they don't pick UConn

 

[hoopsfan22]

Just take the top 4 teams..play 2 consecutive days in Indiannoplis...and crown a champin.

What a way for us to lose our final four streak, but here's how it would play out: Oregon beats Baylor in the first semi-final, then South Carolina beats Maryland in the second game. For the national title, Oregon beats South Carolina.

 

[BostonBay]

They cant delay, because they dont know when things will be safe to play. They're probably postponing the Summer olympics to 2022 for that reason.

 

[Kaizen]

Just take the top 4 teams..play 2 consecutive days in Indiannoplis...and crown a champin.

Or top 8 teams, 1->8, 2->7, 3-.6 and 4->5, then play the winning 4 teams to decide the NC.

 

[Bama fan]

As John Wayne said to Margaret O’Hara in The Quiet Man, a 5 mile walk is just, “A good stretch of the legs.”

"Here's a stick to beat the lovely lady." That line always fascinated my daughter.

 

[UcMiami]

The family member at this time frame is not likely to be an issue since the players likely have had limited exposure to family recently, although it certainly is possible.

For team/support members, I would suspect that the probable reaction would be for that team to self quarantine and the team to forfeit.

But it also might involve the other teams from the conference championships needing to quarantine themselves as well, at which point it really snowballs. Colarado player test positive this week and suddenly the six Pac12 teams in the NCAAs are quarantined for 14 days!!! There goes five home round 1/2 site games the first weekend.

 

[Lucelab113]

Or top 8 teams, 1->8, 2->7, 3-.6 and 4->5, then play the winning 4 teams to decide the NC.

This goes against everything the NCAA tournament should be about. Remember Dayton making the Elite 8? Or Minnesota making the Final 4 as a 7 seed?

 

[Plebe]

This goes against everything the NCAA tournament should be about. Remember Dayton making the Elite 8? Or Minnesota making the Final 4 as a 7 seed?

IMO cutting the size of the field is one of the least likely outcomes. They'll either play a 64-team bracket or none at all.

 

[Biff]

But it also might involve the other teams from the conference championships needing to quarantine themselves as well, at which point it really snowballs. Colarado player test positive this week and suddenly the six Pac12 teams in the NCAAs are quarantined for 14 days!!! There goes five home round 1/2 site games the first weekend.

yeah it wouldn't take much for the house of cards to tumble.

 

[Dillon77]

Three things:

#1 What will the NCAA do if one or more schools prohibit their team(s) from participating or the team itself votes to stay away?

#2 If the games do in fact end up being played with no spectators, will the loudest and most exuberant bench become the game's X factor?

#3 The word from Florida is that UCF doesn't give a d*mn what happens.

Per #1, that option was just given to the participating Ivy League schools (Yale in Men's, Princeton in Women's) by the Ivies, per the announcement that they just cancelled all spring sports:
"Individual institutions will decide whether or not winter teams and student-athletes who have qualified for postseason play will participate."

BTW, here's that entire announcement:

Ivy League to Cancel All Athletic Events Through the Remainder of the Spring

PRINCETON, N.J. -- With further developments in the outbreak of COVID-19, the Ivy League Presidents are announcing their unanimous decision to cancel all spring athletics practice and competition through the remainder of the academic year.

ivyleague.com

Not to get off course to much, but the spring sports I follow (men's and women's lacrosse) are going to be blown to shreds: Ivy League teams comprise four of the top six teams in the latest men's poll; and, Ivy League teams make up about 20% of the top 15 in D1 Women's poll.

As numerous folks have written, I think some more dominoes could be falling. Stay tuned.

 

[Carnac]

This neutralized home court advantages. Could be a good thing for UConn since the ncaa committee would place UConn likely in Portland and. No. 2 seed.

Since the NCAA has decided to take the bold step of not allowing fans to attend the games, I wonder if they will now assign teams to venues close to their campuses, regardless of protocols used before this situation arose to reduce travel. Most teams still fly commercial, and spend lots of time in airports and mixing in with other travelers, some of which are of the international variety. It might be healthier to take a “sanitized” chartered bus to a venue as opposed to an aircraft that’s probably crawling with germs.

 

[Wbbfan1]

WBCA cancels their convention that's usually held at the same time of the F4. Coronavirus Updates

 

[Lucelab113]

If they go through the lengths of playing in empty arenas, why not get rid of the rule conference teams can't meet in the Elite 8? I mean why should UConn or Louisville be going to Portland and Stanford be going to Greeneville?

Seems they need to throw everything out the window right now to make this work.

 

[NEforceUConn]

Especially for the seniors.... and teams who are going to the tournament for the first time.

So what are you hearing from the Raleigh area re the virus? I was at Saturday's semifinal games with a crew of 5 and we had GA tickets and stayed a row or two away from NCSU fans. Games were great. My crew really wanted to see Duke but were left with BCU, but we had a ball anyway.

I'm in Greensboro and am flip flopping on how series this is. My neighbor, who runs one of the big hotels (Duke women were staying there) mentioned that for the mens tourny he has a lot of rooms still available (SU is there and maybe one other team). tia

 

[Plebe]

If they go through the lengths of playing in empty arenas, why not get rid of the rule conference teams can't meet in the Elite 8? I mean why should UConn or Louisville be going to Portland and Stanford be going to Greeneville?

Seems they need to throw everything out the window right now to make this work.

Not sure that one has much to do with the other. Stanford is still a plane flight away from Portland. Flying to a different locale doesn't make them safer.

 

[j66kicker]

But it also might involve the other teams from the conference championships needing to quarantine themselves as well, at which point it really snowballs. Colarado player test positive this week and suddenly the six Pac12 teams in the NCAAs are quarantined for 14 days!!! There goes five home round 1/2 site games the first weekend.

You mean like this?

Juventus defender Daniele Rugani tests positive for coronavirus

Juventus defender Daniele Rugani has tested positive for the coronavirus, the club announced Wednesday.

www.espn.com

 

[shiverz45]

You can cancel the tournament and let the AP, coaches, and selection committee crown a champion. That is how they use to do it in college football in the old days.