What Options Should The NCAA Consider If They Feel The Need To Make Any Changes To This Year's Tourneys?

[Steelerone]

You guys might want to check, I think your youth an immaturity are showing.

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Nah, JavaMan, sometimes when people are nervous about something they handle it in different ways. I eat glazed doughnuts. To me the most disturbing thing about this situation is the lack of knowledge concerning this virus. All they seem to do is compare it to the flu but then they come out with statistics that are much more virulent. I would rather here someone say "RIght now we don't know anything about it and we really don't have a long term plan" than "The stock market is down another twenty five points".

 

[Plebe]

This will be most schools by this weekend, so I doubt it. Either everyone does this, or there won't be a tournament at all. (Which may happen anyway.)

My spidey sense, combined with your 'real talk', tells me this has gone from a 50/50 to more like 90/10 for cancellation.

I'm sure they'll consider postponement as well, but I gotta think that's a logistical nightmare. Would venues even be available on such short notice for the new dates? Then again, if they're playing without fans, maybe they'd just play in some nondescript practice gym somewhere.

Just imagine the liability issues if only one person ends up dying from covid-19 after attending or participating in a tournament that the NCAA chose not to cancel. Even if they don't give a whip about public health, they surely do care about getting sued.

 

[JavaMan]

I agree with you, unfortunately, one hundred per cent JavaMan. Not sure we have even seen the tip of the iceberg. Our Grandson is graduating from the Pre-Buds programs at the Great Lakes and we just found out today that no spectators will be admitted to the graduation ceremonies and that there will be no liberty allowed off base until further notice. Things change.

Ugh! That's a bummer. You guys have probably been looking forward to that for some time. I suppose some good news is that they probably toughend him up quite a bit by now so he'll be able to handle it. And life has done the same for us.

 

[Plebe]

The amount spent on travel is a drop in the bucket compared to what the NCAA earns in the tournaments (men & women). An event that generates billions shouldn't have to worry about the cost-savings in having a dozen more teams ride buses instead of flying. The only real reason for keeping teams close to home is attendance, not plane costs.

You lumped the men's and women's tournaments together. Certainly true for the men. Revenues from the women's tournament are the drop in the bucket.

 

[j66kicker]

You lumped the men's and women's tournaments together. Certainly true for the men. Revenues from the women's tournament are the drop in the bucket.

Revenues for the women's tournament are less than expenses for the women's tournament. It loses money and is subsidized by the men's tourney.

 

[hoopsfan22]

Play the tournament as normal. This is all a tempest in a teacup.

 

[j66kicker]

I'm sure they'll consider postponement as well, but I gotta think that's a logistical nightmare. Would venues even be available on such short notice for the new dates? Then again, if they're playing without fans, maybe they'd just play in some nondescript practice gym somewhere.

Just imagine the liability issues if only one person ends up dying from covid-19 after attending or participating in a tournament that the NCAA chose not to cancel. Even if they don't give a whip about public health, they surely do care about getting sued.

Actually, I bet the spectator-less games would be better on TV if they were played on one of those high school tournament factory buildings. The ones with very little spectator capacity - college coaches along one sideline and room for ~100 fans upstairs on the same side. Then they wouldn't be showing a bunch of empty seats, plus the small walled-in nature of the court makes them loud - you hear the squeaking of the players' shoes on the court, the players talking and coaches yelling, and it all echoes off the walls like a racquetball court.

 

[Kaizen]

UCLA not allowing home sporting events. Wonder if that makes them give up hosting rounds one and two?

 

[Old Jim]

What ever The NCAA decides I hope they do it soon. Delaying the tournament or playing the games in empty arenas is a real problem for the fans. A lot of fans have plane tickets to change, hotel reservations to cancel and tickets to get refunded if any of this is possible. I doubt they will cancel since there is too much TV money to lose. They really can't cancel the women's tournament and not cancel the men's.

 

[Biff]

Play the tournament as normal. This is all a tempest in a teacup.

Meh. That's your opinion I guess but others disagree.

 

[Alydar]

You lumped the men's and women's tournaments together. Certainly true for the men. Revenues from the women's tournament are the drop in the bucket.

What difference does it make how the money is made? The NCAA earns all the money from all sources. The expense of moving teams around the country is very small compared to the total revenue and a minor factor in the tournament cost.

 

[Martin]

Here is my terrible idea. Make the regular season mean something. Annoint a regular season champion; the team finishing number 1 in the end of season polls. Celebrate it; make it mean something.

Then use the end of season conference tournaments to fill a post season tournament called Tournament of Champions where conference tournament champions and the regular season conference champion participates. This way the regular season conference champ is rewarded and there is room for dark horse cindarella to win their conference tournament and get in. A lot of really good teams won’t participate unless they win regular season or conference tournament. Ya it is a terrible idea I am trying to make the regular season mean something I am tired of NCAA experts being inconsistent when a good team loses but its ok and then some other team loses and they killed in the rankings. Look at football Alabama will never finish first with a 9-3 record if Georgia is 11-1. In football losses hurt you but in basketball those experts sometimes ignore them. Ya terrible idea.

 

[Kaizen]

The 2020 Tokyo Olympics won't be canceled because of the outbreak of the coronavirus, but the games reportedly could be delayed by as much as 24 months.

A member of the competition's executive board, Haruyuki Takahashi, told the Wall Street Journal's Alastair Gale (h/t Tom Schad of USA Today): "I don't think the Games could be canceled. It'd be a delay. The International Olympic Committee would be in trouble if there's a cancellation. American TV rights alone provide them with a huge amount."

2020 Tokyo Olympics More Likely to Be Delayed Than Canceled, Says Board Member

The 2020 Tokyo Olympics won't be canceled because of the outbreak of the coronavirus, but the games reportedly could be delayed by as much as 24 months...

bleacherreport.com

 

[CL82]

You guys might want to check, I think your youth an immaturity are showing.

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Immaturity on The Boneyard? I’m shocked! Shocked I say!

 

[Zinethar]

The relatively small number of deaths are insignificant until one of them happen to be someone you love.

Whenever anyone dies it is of course significant to their love ones. But most of the time it is not significant to the world at large. This mass hysteria is totally out of control compared to reality. The same type of people who die from the flu will possibly die from this. Take reasonable precautions, if you are worried about attending games don't go. Again the few deciding what is best for the rest of us.

 

[CL82]

One other factor to consider if the NCAA decides to play in empty arenas is that the issue of geographical factors in regional placements becomes moot. If fans can't attend then why worry where teams play? Just assign teams based on the S-curve. Sure, keep conference foes apart until the regional finals but there's no need for Louisville to go to Fort Wayne if they aren't the top 2 seed.

The question is if you’re not gonna have fans do the hosting venue still want to host? I like the idea of just playing in the higher seeds gym without fans and televising the game

 

[Alydar]

The question is if you’re not gonna have fans do the hosting venue still want to host? I like the idea of just playing in the higher seeds gym without fans and televising the game

I agree about the empty stands. It was ridiculous for the NCAA to discourage handshakes at the same time they were promoting having thousands of people sit/stand shoulder to shoulder for 2 hours.

 

[donalddoowop]

Empty stands mean a loss of revenue that will be hard to recoup. This virus is why I posted in another thread that there may not be a next season. As bad as things are, I believe they are going to get worse.

 

[ochoopsfan]

Does some of the NCAA schools decisions have an effect on the WNIT tournament? I always thought that tournament was done by bidding for home games between the 2 teams to meet each other. If you cant have fans attend a home game, who will bid on a game that you cant have a gate revenue?

 

[UcMiami]

Obviously true, so why not cancel public gatherings during flu season, where in the US alone upwards of 30,000 people die annually? Or do the deaths by corona virus carry more sorrow than those by strains of influenza?1 Why not ban cars because of all the highway deaths? One could go on and on and it is pointless and cruel but unfortunately, also true that we all die. I am a free, thinking person and choose not to live in a bubble but rather use the intelligence and common sense I possess to protect myself as much as I see fit. I don’t need or want “leaders” to do that for me.

The difference is, depending on severity of the yearly strains, flu season results in:
9-45 million infections in the US each year
140,000-810,000 hospitalizations
12,000-61,000 deaths
That is a 0.13% death rate from infection for the worst year.
And we as humans around the world have deemed that to be 'acceptable' though the huge fear is that at some point in the future a flu strain will be as virulent as the 'Spanish' flu of 1917-20 which had a 3% or higher mortality rate. If such a flu strain were to reappear, all sorts of public measures would be rolled out. (There have been a few scares in the last 20 years - bird flu and swine flu)

This virus is a relative of the SARS virus which killed about 10% of those infected. The coronavirus is currently estimated at about a 3% fatality rate which may put it in the sweet spot for a 'deadly' pandemic - easily transmitted and not too fatal so most of the people carrying it are able to continue passing it on.

Counter-intuitively - the more deadly a virus after a certain point, the less like it is to spread. If everyone dies who gets it, they don't have the chance to spreading it. SARS while much more deadly, infected and killed many fewer people than covid19 already has.

 

[Plebe]

Does some of the NCAA schools decisions have an effect on the WNIT tournament? I always thought that tournament was done by bidding for home games between the 2 teams to meet each other. If you cant have fans attend a home game, who will bid on a game that you cant have a gate revenue?

Well, maybe USC will bid since they already knew no one was coming anyway

 

[Bama fan]

Whenever anyone dies it is of course significant to their love ones. But most of the time it is not significant to the world at large. This mass hysteria is totally out of control compared to reality. The same type of people who die from the flu will possibly die from this. Take reasonable precautions, if you are worried about attending games don't go. Again the few deciding what is best for the rest of us.

This attitude has been seen before. I think I have a clip.

 

[Figurehead]

That 70 year old backup point guard with asthma is vulnerable.

I think they should postpone the general election for one year until 2021 and make the next term after that just three year one. Not everyone would be able to vote in November.

 

[Dokey]

The state of Washington has just banned gatherings of 200 and more.

 

[Dokey]

That 70 year old backup point guard with asthma is vulnerable.

I think they should postpone the general election for one year until 2021 and make the next term after that just three year one. Not everyone would be able to vote in November.

Adopt Colorado’s vote by mail system. Every eligible voter gets a ballot which can be mailed or dropped off.

 

[UcMiami]

An interesting number for folks to remember when talking about confirmed cases numbers:
6,563
That is the total number of US virus test run to date. And the number of positive results are above 1000.

That is a tiny number of tests, and there are plenty of stories about individuals returning from countries like Italy who are unable to get a doctor to test them because they do not have access to the tests.

 

[Longtime fan]

Things are changing by the day, if not the hour. I'm certainly not an alarmist, but I do like to think of myself as a realist. Aside from the tradition and financial issues, which are major to be sure, there are also potentially life or death issues. Even if the NCAA doesn't outright cancel the tournaments, do you think some schools will elect to skip this year's tournaments. Grammar schools to Graduate schools around the country are already cancelling academic and sporting events...and on-campus classes. The first two rounds of the NCAA Division III tournament in Maryland were already played without spectators. There have been a plethora of major cancellations around the world. Not all are sports related. Entertainment, business, marketing, and on and on have not been spared. And it's going to get worse before it gets better.

At this time and date my option would be that all games will be played, but without spectators. Further, any school that backs out will not be penalized in any way. A default win to the opponent of the absent team. But then what about a scheduled game where both teams have elected to skip? Sadly, I think this is going to be a mess. Hope I'm wrong. I don't even want to think of the potential of an infection break-out having originated at one of the tournament venues.

Also, if a complete tournament cancellation comes to pass this year...then what?

Ideas...sans smart a** commnets?

UCLA today announced that spectators will not be permitted at UCLA sporting events until ( at least ) April 10. In addition, they are canceling all in-person classes, and doing everything online. I think the NCAA should do the draw on Monday and then postpone the event until we are out of the crisis. There is no point in playing the games before empty houses. In fact, I think the entire country should go into self-quarantine mode until at the medical community finds a means of treating this virus. As Italy has recently done.

 

[hoopsfan22]

Every two years like clockwork there's some new health crisis or disease that's going to finally be the one to wipe out the human race whether it's SARS, MERS, Ebola (twice), Bird Flu, Zika Virus, Swine Flu, Mad Cow's Disease, H1N1, then H1N3, and now Coronavirus, and the initial reaction is always the same: WE'RE ALL GONNA DIE!!!!!! Then a a month or two goes by and everyone tires of hearing about it, and we just sort of forget about it and move on to the next thing. According to current numbers, ~0.0015% of the global population has this virus, and a little over 4k have died from it. To put that in perspective we lose about ten times that many people to guns every single year and no one cares. By May 1st this will be a back page story, and the NCAA will be kicking themselves for forfeiting a chunk of their $8.8 billion March Madness TV contract.

 

[donalddoowop]

Every two years like clockwork there's some new health crisis or disease that's going to finally be the one to wipe out the human race whether it's SARS, MERS, Ebola (twice), Bird Flu, Zika Virus, Swine Flu, Mad Cow's Disease, H1N1, then H1N3, and now Coronavirus, and the initial reaction is always the same: WE'RE ALL GONNA DIE!!!!!! Then a a month or two goes by and everyone tires of hearing about it, and we just sort of forget about it and move on to the next thing. According to current numbers, ~0.0015% of the global population has this virus, and a little over 4k have died from it. To put that in perspective we lose about ten times that many people to guns every single year and no one cares. By May 1st this will be a back page story, and the NCAA will be kicking themselves for forfeiting a chunk of their $8.8 billion March Madness TV contract.

I hope what you say is true.

 

[Cuango]

On a serious note, cancel the tournament. This is about Collegiate Athletics and the students, alumni and their fans are more important to the game and tournament than ESPN, CBS and Turner Broadcasting.
Crown SC as NC, obviously with an *.
I don't think that anyone disagrees at this point that they are the best team.

I certainly do! I would say Oregon is the best team!