6 refs out of tourney after 1 tests positive
Parts of the NCAA’S finely honed plan for playing March Madness amid the pandemic came into question Tuesday just as teams began gearing up for practices to tune up for the games later this week.
One referee tested positive for COVID -19, forcing him and five others who went out to dinner with him out of the tournament.
Their excursion ran counter to a protocol that called on all players and staff to eat at their NCAA hotels, but because the refs’ rooms weren’t ready and there was no food available, they were given a pass.
It resulted in a big shake-up of the officiating corps for the games, 52 of which take place Thursday through Monday at different arenas in Indianapolis. Though the NCAA brought plenty of backup refs, the mass departure served up another sign of how things can go wrong.
“It’s not ever going to be perfect in a pandemic,” NCAA vice president Dan Gavitt said. “It’s an unfortunate and disappointing circumstance for all involved. But I don’t think there’s something that can be pinpointed as a kind of failure here. Just an unfortunate set of circumstances.”
Earlier, questions arose after coach Rick Pitino ran a latenight practice with his Iona team as part of the NCAA’S late and unannounced change in testing protocol, first reported by The New York Times.
Gavitt portrayed that as a “practical adjustment,” and not a major change.
He said players were initially going to be required to pass two COVID-19 tests no less than 12 hours apart on different calendar days to be eligible to practice after they arrived. Iona took its two tests in the same day, and Gavitt said the change had been OK’D by the NCAA medical advisory group and the local health department.
Pitino said he was given the green light for the Sunday night workout, and so, he went. Iona missed 60 days in the middle of the season because of the virus.
“I gave four guys the night off,” Pitino said. “We practiced a lot of the other guys who didn’t get a lot of minutes” in Iona’s MAAC title game win Saturday.
On another front, Georgia Tech coach Josh Pastner announced a member of his school’s traveling party tested positive. He did not disclose whether it was a player, but noted the person will not be back unless the Yellow Jackets advance to the Sweet 16.
George Mason: George Mason fired coach Dave Paulsen after six seasons.
Iowa State: The Cyclones fired coach Steve Prohm.
New Mexico: Richard Pitino was hired as New Mexico’s coach, hours after Minnesota finalized his firing.
Utah: The Utes have let go of coach Larry Krystkowiak after 10 seasons and a 183-139 record.
All-america: Gonzaga and Baylor spent almost the entire season holding down the top two spots in the Top 25. Makes sense they’d hold down a bunch of spots on The Associated Press All-america teams. The Bulldogs’ Corey Kispert and the Bears’ Jared Butler led the way with first-team nods from the national panel of 63 media members that vote each week in the AP Top 25 poll. They were joined by unanimous pick Luka Garza of Iowa, a twotime selection, along with Ayo Dosunmu
of Illinois and Cade Cunningham of Oklahoma State. The Bulldogs also landed big man Drew Timme and freshman sensation Jalen Suggs on the second team while Joel Ayayi was an honorable mention pick. The Bears had Davion Mitchell on the third team and Macio Teague as an honorable mention.
Note: A diversity report released Tuesday found that a significant graduation gap continues to exist between white and Black basketball players for the teams competing in this year’s NCAA Tournament, particularly on the men’s side. The Institute for Diversity and Ethics in Sport (TIDES) at Central Florida examined the Graduation Success Rate (GSR) for the teams competing in the upcoming NCAA Tournament and found that white male student-athletes graduated at a rate 13.5 percentage points higher than Black male student-athletes. White players on average had a GSR of 93.8%, compared to 80.3% for Black players. The gap was slightly lower on the women’s side with white players recording a graduation rate of 97.9% compared to 91.8% for Black players.