NCAA Basketball Tournament to go ahead with limited spectators

Prior to the surreal events that resulted in the postponement of the National Basketball Association regular season, the National Collegiate Athletic Association announced on Wednesday that they would go ahead with the NCAA Basketball Tournament with “essential staff” and “family members” in attendance according to ESPN. The decision applies for both the men’s and women’s tournaments.

It will now be interesting to see how the NCAA defines “essential staff” and “family members”. Will the family members be limited to fathers and mothers, or be extended to brothers, sisters, cousins, aunts, uncles and grandparents? Also, what does “essential staff” mean? How far do they go beyond the members of the team? Do they include school presidents, school board of directors, or members of the school’s physical education department?

Clearly, a lot of this still has to be worked out, and there is no guarantee at this time that there will even be a March Madness Tournament based on what happened with the NBA Wednesday night. In a remarkable but definitely an understandable decision, the NBA put its season on hiatus after Rudy Gobert of the Utah Jazz tested positive for Coronavirus. On Thursday, it was reported that Jazz star Donovan Mitchell has Coronavirus as well.

The 2020 NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament will be played in Dayton, Ohio; Albany, New York; Spokane, Washington; St. Louis, Missouri; Tampa, Florida; Greensboro, North Carolina; Omaha, Nebraska; Sacramento, California; Cleveland, Ohio; Indianapolis, Indiana; Los Angeles, California; Houston, Texas; New York, New York and Atlanta, Georgia. Meanwhile, the Southeastern Conference announced on Thursday that they cancelled their conference championship which was to be held in Nashville this weekend.

The NCAA Tournament, which takes place mid-to-late March and early April is used as a major event every year for NBA scouts to evaluate talent. There is no mention yet if scouts are permitted entrance, or if they are in the same category as spectators, who will be denied access.