The NCAA canceled March Madness altogether after Utah Jazz big man Rudy Gobert tested positive for the coronavirus last week.
NCAA vice president for of men's basketball Dan Gavitt says Gobert's positive coronavirus test was a “seminal moment” for the NCAA to cancel March Madness:
“When Rudy Gobert was infected on Wednesday night, I think the realization in the basketball community hit home and was very much felt on Thursday morning,” Gavitt told Mark Schlabach of ESPN.
“The student-athletes, from what we were hearing and sensing, felt very vulnerable. Here was someone they would all like to be one day, playing in the NBA, who got infected and was quarantined with his teammates. … That was really, in my opinion, a seminal moment in everybody's mindset about how impractical and possibly not responsible it would be at that point to go forward with trying to hold these national championships.”
The NCAA was going to have the tournament without fans in attendance initially. However, after the NBA suspended play, the NCAA pretty much had no choice but to follow suit.
Jazz All-Star shooting guard Donovan Mitchell and Detroit Pistons forward Christian Wood are the other NBA players that we know have the coronavirus.
Mitchell says he has no symptoms despite testing positive for COVID-19. The former Slam Dunk champion told Good Morning America on Monday it took awhile for him to kind of cool off at Gobert, who jokingly touched a bunch of reporters' mics as a joke.
You have to feel bad for the seniors in the NCAA who won't be able to play in one final March Madness.
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