The NCAA scrambled to devise a plan for a 16-team event to salvage the tournament in one long weekend, per ESPN.
The NCAA was forced to cancel March Madness because of the coronavirus.
NCAA vice president of men's basketball Dan Gavitt told the Assocaited Press and ESPN that the NCAA brainstormed ways to play an abbreviated NCAA tournament:
“We did spend a significant amount of time very late Wednesday night trying to figure out alternative models,” Gavitt said. “Far from ideal. Far from perfect. Imperfect as it may be, that was one of the only reasonable options we thought we could at least maintain some level of our tournaments.
“There was a real concern about not being inclusive enough, with only 16 teams. But the other thing that was in play at that point in committee members' minds, and we saw this play out at conference tournaments, once an NBA player was infected, I think it started to really hit home for the players, from what I've heard from coaches by text message and anecdotally.”
NCAA president Mark Emmert said the idea of postponing the tournament indefinitely, with the hope of playing it later, unfortunately wasn't feasible.
Because of the coronavirus, the NCAA, NBA, NHL and MLB have closed down shop. No one knows when sports will be back on again.
Utah Jazz NBA All-Stars Rudy Gobert and Donovan Mitchell have the coronavirus. Gobert tested positive on Wednesday and the NBA season was immediately suspended.
Mitchell tested positive on Thursday.
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