College Basketball: NCAA Announces Cancellation of March Madness

The announcement makes it clear this is a cancellation, not a postponement

Photo by Robert Deutsch, USA Today

The worst fears of college basketball fans were realized early this afternoon when the NCAA announced cancellation of its men's and women's championship tournaments.

(Cal cancels all sports events.)

NCAA President Mark Emmert said the NCAA's Board of Governors made the decision in response to "the evolving COVID-10 public health threat."

Here is the NCAA's full statement.

The 68-team men's field was to be announced on Selection Sunday this weekend, with the women's tournament bracket revealed the following day.

Virtually every Division I college conference that had not already completed its league tournament announced earlier on Thursday that it has suspended play.

In the video below, Cal tight end Jake Tonges talks about how COVID-19 has impacted academics on camps.

The situation involving the cancellation or postponement of sporting events is fluid and changing by the minute.

The NBA was the first major pro league to cancel its season, doing so on Wednesday. It served as a wake-up call, as Robin Lundberg notes in this video:

Here is an ongoing list of impacted college events, which we will attempt to update as needed:

— The NCAA on Thursday canceled all remaining winter and spring championship events, including the men’s and women’s NCAA basketball tournaments

— Cal announced Thursday afternoon that “all Cal Athletics events are canceled until further notice”

— Major League baseball postpones the start of its regular season by at least two weeks

— The NBA on Wednesday suspended its season until further notice

— The NHL, whose teams in some cases share locker room facilities with their NBA counterparts, opted on Thursday to "pause" its season. The league stopped short of canceling the season

— MLS suspended its season for at least 30 days and the U.S. Soccer Federation canceled all scheduled "friendlies"

— The Pac-12 ACC, Big Ten, Big 12, SEC and every other league canceled their conference basketball tournaments

— The Pac-12 has shut down all official or unofficial campus visits for recruits indefinitely

— The California Interscholastic Federation canceled the remainder of its state high school playoffs. It marks the first time that a California high school state championship has been axed due to outside influences since the 1945 state track meet was canceled due to World War II

— Manchester City’s Champions League match against Real Madrid was postponed after the Real Madrid basketball and soccer teams were put into quarantine when a basketball player for the club tested positive for COVID-19

— The Atlantic Coast Conference has suspended all sports-related activities, including competition, formal and organized practices, recruiting and participation in NCAA championships, until further notice

— One day after it opened, spring football practice at USC was postponed indefinitely

— Oregon has canceled its state high school basketball championships

— The NAIA women's national basketballl tournament has been canceled

— BYU’s football coaches clinic, scheduled for Friday and featuring Kansas City Chiefs coach Andy Reid, has been canceled

— UEFA is considering a plan to postpone soccer’s European Championships by a year to 2021

— The Jordan Brand Classic high school all-star game, Nike’s flagship prep basketball event, has been canceled

— Chinese officials will not allow spring climbs of Mount Everest from their side of the mountain due to fears over the virus

— The Stanford Invitational track and field meet, scheduled for April 3-4, has been canceled

— The Colonial Athletic Association announced Thursday that a game official who worked their basketball tournament has tested positive. He did not show symptoms for 72 hours after he worked a CAA game

— The NFL meetings in Palm Beach, Florida, scheduled to begin March 29, have been canceled

— The men's and women's professional tennis tours have suspended play for the next six weeks

— NASCAR announced it will hold its next two weekend events, starting Sunday with a Cup series race in Atlanta, but with no spectators

— This weekend's Australian Grand Prix Formula One race in Melbourne was canceled after a McLaren team member tested positive for the COVID-19 virus

— The Players Championship was canceled Thursday after one round. All PGA events through next month's Valero Texas Open also have been canceled