NCAA tried to salvage basketball tournaments

As it became apparent the NCAA basketball tournaments could not be held in their usual three-week window because of concerns about the coronavirus, organizers scrambled to devise a plan for a 16-team event to salvage the postseason in one long weekend.

NCAA vice president of men’s basketball Dan Gavitt said Friday that he started to consider ways of condensing the tournament Wednesday night after the NBA announced one of its players tested positive for the virus and the league suspended its season.

But the reality set in that even a shortened tournament could not be pulled off without putting people at risk, and the NCAA’s biggest event of the year was canceled Thursday afternoon.

The cancellation of the men’s and women’s basketball tournaments came a day after the NCAA had announced it planned to play the games while restricting fan access.

“We did spend a significant amount of time very late Wednesday night trying to figure out alternative models,” Gavitt said.

The next morning, Gavitt presented the idea to the men’s basketball selection committee. The women’s selection committee was scheduled to meet later in the day.

Gavitt said the hope was to play games starting March 26 at State Farm Arena in Atlanta. The city had been scheduled to play host to the Final Four April 4 and 6 at Mercedes-Benz Stadium.

The idea was to have the selection committee choose the top 16 teams in the country, regardless of conference, to participate. The first three rounds would have been played from March 26-28, with a championship March 30.