Updated: Big 12 Cancels Remainder of Conference Tournament
STILLWATER – The Big 12 announced Thursday morning that the remainder of the Big 12 tournament, as well as the women’s tournament, has been cancelled in light of concerns of the spread of COVID-19. The news comes less than 24 hours after the Big 12 announced that there would be limited attendance to just essential personnel and 125 tickets allotted for each team.
“We have obviously cancelled the [Big 12] tournament," commissioner Bob Bowlsby said. "We did so for a variety of reasons and we did it in consultation with a wide array of folks whose opinions we respect and who we wanted to coordinate with. This morning I’ve been in touch with Mark Emmert, with my A5 colleagues, as well as other commissioners around the country. We’ve also been in almost constant contact with the KU Med folks, the public health folks in this area. Once the [Kansas City] Mayor declared a state of emergency, it hastened our discussions and we spent time with our Board of Directors this morning who ultimately made the decision to cancel the tournament.”
The Big 12 joins the ACC, Big East, Big Ten, PAC-12 and SEC who also made the decision to cancel their conference tournaments.
“As you’ve noted, many of the other [conferences] around the country have decided likewise,” Bowlsby said. “I think in many ways we relied on one another and were able to extend the discussions we each had with our presidents and chancellors and athletic directors.”
Along with the basketball conference tournaments, the Big 12 also announced with cancellation of the upcoming gymnastics and equestrian championships and that the remainder of the sports' championships will be determined by April 15th.
Oklahoma State started the tournament 1-0 after a thrilling 72-71 win over Iowa State in the opening round Wednesday evening.
Depending on how the next few weeks go, this could be the end of careers for Oklahoma State seniors Cameron McGriff, Lindy Waters, Thomas Dziagwa, Jonathan Laurent and Trey Reeves.
“I feel terrible for the seniors that are involved in this tournament,” Bowlsby said. “This was an opportunity for them to be in the last time through the Big 12 tournament. It unfortunately could be the last basketball that they’re going to have a chance to play as college kids. So, I feel particularly bad for the players.”
Oklahoma State had won seven of its last nine games and while an NCAA tournament berth likely would've needed a Big 12 tournament championship win, the Pokes were poised to host an opening round NIT game.
Many of these decisions began with the NCAA announcing that they won’t be allowing fans in the venues for the upcoming NCAA championships including basketball and wrestling. Late Wednesday evening, the NBA also announced that they’re postponing the remainder of the 2020 season until further notice.
“It’s hard to tell at this point whether there’s going to be an NCAA tournament to play in, or if it will look different than the March Madness that we’ve come to know. I think there are probably lots of different options on the table right now that I haven’t been a party to the discussions on, but we believe this was the right thing.”
Oklahoma State announced on Thursday morning they had made the decision to move all classes to online classes following the students’ return to campus after spring break.
"While today there remains no known cases directly linking COVID-19 to our Stillwater and Tulsa campuses, it has become evident in the past couple of days that we must do our part at Oklahoma State University to help prevent the spread of this virus by taking prudent steps to protect our campuses," a statement from OSU said. "Your safety and well-being must be priority number one."
Oklahoma State joins Baylor, Texas, Texas Tech, TCU and OU as the Big 12 schools to move to online classes.
