Wisconsin Basketball Thread 2019 - 20: BIG TEN CHAMPS & BPI NCAA Champs!

[Samurai Bucky]

I would rather have us, as a society, overreact to be as safe as possible. The problem is those people who say, "What about my freedom?" "Nobody can tell me what to do!"

 

It might be a big paradigm shift to get people to think about others. At times, institutions such as the NCAA, B1G Conference, NBA, etc. needs to take steps to protect people from themselves.

[adambr2]

https://www.nj.com/rutgersbasketball/2020/03/big-ten-tournament-canceled-due-to-coronavirus-pandemic.html

 

The Big 10 tournament has been cancelled.

 

Speculating but I'm assuming that would make us the Big 10's presumed auto bid for the NCAA tourney as the #1 seed.

[owbc]

There it is, conference tourney canceled. Guessing the NCAA tournament is likely going to be canceled as well. Or at least delayed until April.

[SeaBass]

There it is, conference tourney canceled. Guessing the NCAA tournament is likely going to be canceled as well. Or at least delayed until April.

I think delaying the tournament is a non starter, the scheduling would be a nightmare, all those venues don't just sit there empty all year round except in March, not to mention all the hotel space that would be needed. I think it will simply be cancelled.

 

Possibly a reduced field could be gathered since it would require fewer locations, say they essentially begin the tournament with the Sweet 16 and seed all schools accordingly, but that would be extremely controversial I'd think.

[tmwiese55]

Now all NCAA tournament games will be played with no fans. I don't think I am going to watch as many games. It just doesn't have that feeling of a game.

 

 

https://www.cbssports.com/college-basketball/news/2020-ncaa-tournament-games-to-be-played-without-fans-in-attendance-due-to-threat-of-coronavirus/

 

Did I miss something? Is this the Black Plague or a virus? Overreactions like this just raise the level of panic. March Madness indeed.

 

I'm a 67 year old but with no serious underlying health issues. Almost all of the deaths from this virus have been to elderly (average age 81) people with severe medical conditions. How does this make them safer?

 

More people will die if they don't have access to medical resources, which will happen if the system gets overwhelmed like it is in Italy. Anything that can be done to slow the spread now will make a huge difference.

 

Yes. And the second thing to make those 81 year old safer is that all those young people not mixing together passing it to each other, who will then unknowingly pass it to the 81 year.

[adambr2]

I think the NCAA will stick with their plan of continuing the tourney just with empty arenas. Maybe I am hoping moreso than thinking, though.

[MrTPlush]

There is absolutely no logical reasoning that the tourney can and should go on. They just canceled all the conference tourneys that were set to be played without fans (well, at least the Big 12...not sure about the others)...so next week we are suddenly going to play empty stadiums for the tourney...when conditions are going to be much worse than they are today? If you cancel the games for safety this week the same will happen next week.

 

Tournament is essentially toast at this point.

[Cool Hand Lucroy]

Yes.

 

Would be surprised if the tourney proceeds as scheduled. Question is: Do you wait a month and reconvene? Logistical nightmare, but possible the situation is safer in 4-5 weeks. Probably not in any less time than that.

[yourout]

Like it or not the USA will be in full Italy mode within 2 weeks.

The longer they wait the worse it's going to get.

[nate82]

I think the NCAA will stick with their plan of continuing the tourney just with empty arenas. Maybe I am hoping moreso than thinking, though.

 

Decision for NCAA tournament should becoming out tomorrow and I believe they will be cancelling the tournament.

[MrTPlush]

Decision on the NCAA tourney will happen tomorrow. The ACC and SEC have canceled spring sports till further notice, including any championships (basketball, horses, and gymnastics). That conveniently left out basketball at the national level, but I don't see how the tourney will go on at this point. With the cancellations going on they will have no choice, but to follow suit.

[Cool Hand Lucroy]

Well, Duke has officially suspended all athletics per Gary Parrish.

 

That should pretty much do it barring some sort of massive shift in the next 24 hours or so.

 

Now the big question is whether the tournament will be suspended or outright cancelled. Probably depends somewhat on the exit clauses in the Turner and NCAA contract.

[tmwiese55]

Even as one taking this seriously and generally fine with all this cancellation of large public gatherings, I think I'm on the side of just delaying now and waiting and seeing what happens. Like, what's the harm in saying we're stopping now and will re-evaluate in a couple weeks. If you decide to fully cancel then, so be it. I'd have the same general vibe on MLB since it's a couple weeks out, start all your contingency planning, give it another 10ish days and decide what to do.

[nodakfan17]

The tournament is cancelled.

[Cool Hand Lucroy]

Yeah. I think we figured that was coming, but sometimes the NCAA does things weirdly.

 

Like, their cancellation tweet cites the "impracticability" of moving events, but it's not like you couldn't try for a few weeks. I mean, maybe they just didn't want to give folks hope. One would just think that any venue/TV station would be ALL FOR making up even a fraction of lost revenue at a later date, so I'm a little confused about the straight cancellation.

 

On the other hand, at the end of the day, it's a basketball tournament. Can't really get too upset about that without losing all perspective.

 

EDIT: Bilas makes a good point about contract clauses and insurance payouts. Perhaps the automatic cancellation has to do with collecting insurance, and COVID-19 fits whatever "act of God" clause is in those contracts. Certainly, that's logical.

[Samurai Bucky]

I wonder if the decision would have been different if the players were getting paid (officially by the schools)...

[wildcat83]

I wonder if the decision would have been different if the players were getting paid (officially by the schools)...

 

Since every pro sport has canceled events as well, I would say no, it would be the same.

[Samurai Bucky]

I wonder if the decision would have been different if the players were getting paid (officially by the schools)...

 

Since every pro sport has canceled events as well, I would say no, it would be the same.

 

Not every pro sport has cancelled events. There are many that have postponed them. Last I saw, the NBA, NHL, and others haven't cancelled the season.

[MrTPlush]

I wonder if the decision would have been different if the players were getting paid (officially by the schools)...

 

Since every pro sport has canceled events as well, I would say no, it would be the same.

 

Not every pro sport has cancelled events. There are many that have postponed them. Last I saw, the NBA, NHL, and others haven't cancelled the season.

 

The NCAA canceled their biggest money maker and one of the biggest ones in all of sports.

 

I don't get what you are trying to infer. Why would they have not canceled events if they were paying players?

[adambr2]

I wonder if the decision would have been different if the players were getting paid (officially by the schools)...

 

Since every pro sport has canceled events as well, I would say no, it would be the same.

 

Not every pro sport has cancelled events. There are many that have postponed them. Last I saw, the NBA, NHL, and others haven't cancelled the season.

 

College sports is a little different. They are bound by the limits of the school year. You can't just delay things for a couple months and by the time you're ready for the tourney it's May. These are kids most of whom are bound for careers not in professional sports.

 

Professional sports don't have these limitations. The NBA can push things out and play basketball all summer and it's obviously still a logistical challenge but plenty practical.

[Eye Black]

Bilas makes a good point about contract clauses and insurance payouts. Perhaps the automatic cancellation has to do with collecting insurance, and COVID-19 fits whatever "act of God" clause is in those contracts. Certainly, that's logical.

At the time of the NCAA Tournament cancellation COVID-19 wasn’t yet deemed a force majeure event. Thus all of the events canceled earlier this week were done so without any guarantees of future insurance payouts.

 

Now that we are in a national state of emergency I believe that will change and force majeure contract clauses should apply, but don’t know for certain. I think it now falls under the “act of Government” part of the definition more so than being an “act of God”.

[Cool Hand Lucroy]

Good to know.

 

If finances were not any kind of factor, then I do wonder why a postponement wasn't the first option. The D3 tourney is run every year without knowing sites in advance, and I imagine you could have pulled off a tourney in May if things looked better. As a lot of coached said, you could have always cancelled later if, as many believe, this does indeed get lots worse.

 

Of course, there is something to be said for finality, I suppose.

 

Hard to say without knowing the details. I guess I am cynical in the sense that I don't think the NCAA would have chosen cancellation over postponement without some financial incentive, but that's a personal predisposition more than an actual argument.

[adambr2]

I have read that the committee is still considering releasing a 68 team bracket. Obviously it would be nothing more than symbolic, but I would like to see one anyway.

[Cool Hand Lucroy]

I have read that the committee is still considering releasing a 68 team bracket. Obviously it would be nothing more than symbolic, but I would like to see one anyway.

 

Would love to see a symbolic bracket.

 

Also, just me, or does anyone else hope Turner reruns an old tourney (maybe that awesome 2016 opening weekend?) just for fun's sake?

 

I mean, they really should turn this into an E-sports competition and let the actual players play televised e-hoops against each other. Or run computer simulations live. Narrated by Barkley. Come on, guys! Give us something!

[MrTPlush]

I approve a symbolic bracket because then it makes it all the more easy for me to say Kansas was symbolically the champion.

 

In all seriousness it is really unfortunate to see some of the players have to go out like this. Seems common sense spring athletes would keep a year of eligibility. Winter athletes, no, I don’t get that at all. Yah, sucks they didn’t get their postseason games. I don’t see them deserving of an entire year of eligibility back though. You are basically allowing someone five years of full play. All but 68 teams were completely done and half of those team had one game left.