Following the announcement that the Big Ten had cancelled this year’s Men’s Basketball Tournament, new Big Ten Commissioner Kevin Warren met with reporters to answer questions about the hows and whys of his decision. His reasoning behind his decision and the rest of the highlights of the media session are below.
+ “Today has been an interesting day.” When you make decisions that are not easy, you have to ask yourself what is the right thing to do. The right thing in this instance was canceling the tournament. The more complicated the situation, you have to simplify and ask what the right thing to do is. He has a responsibility to the student athletes and fans to do what is right. They have the responsibility to always take care of the student-athletes’ health and wellness.
+ What changed from last night to this morning? Nothing changed, but this was something he had been evaluating over the last six weeks. A week or so ago, a Big Ten Infectious Disease Committee was formed and he has been seeking their guidance since then. He spent a lot of time thinking through this and meditating and praying about it. It became crystal clear after thinking about it yesterday, tonight, and this morning that this was the best decision to make.
+ Why did he take so long to make this decision, even as teams were warming up on the court prior to tip off? It was important to him that he has enough time to talk to the chancellors and presidents and other people in charge. It takes time to talk to that many people in an attempt to be transparent in his decision making.
+ Did last night’s situation with Nebraska head coach Fred Hoiberg have an effect on this decision? When something like that happens, of course it’s a part of the decision, but he would have come to this decision without that episode. When you take a step back before making a decision, very rarely do you regret it because you took your time to make it and you examine the possibilities and gather information — in this case, qualitative medical information.
+ This is not a postponement, the tournament is canceled. First and foremost, they must protect the health and safety of the people involved. “I can’t recall the last time we had a pandemic, but we do here. If it comes down that I overreacted, I’m comfortable with that.”
+ What should happen with the NCAA Tournament? He has communicated with NCAA president Mark Emmert. He is solid in his decision to not play the B1G Tournament because he placed the student-athletes at the top of his priority list and he wants the NCAA to use the same focus of thought. He wants the Big Ten to show their leadership in this decision to cancel their tournament.
+ Nobody at the Big Ten Tournament has tested positive for COVID-19 or been quarantined.
+ Warren did not get a sense from Mark Emmert about what the NCAA will be doing. Their conversation lasted about a minute. He just wanted Emmert to be aware of what the Big Ten was doing.
+ “The biggest thing is the uncertainty. I’m a big believer in asking a lot of questions, gathering information, and making decisions based on the best information that I have. And this was one of those situations that there were a lot of people telling me ‘I don’t know.’ And I get concerned when I hear ‘I don’t know’ a few too many times. I don’t want to have any regrets and I just want to make sure as a conference we do the right things because if something had gone awry here, I don’t want to be in a position looking back and saying, ‘If only we would have canceled this tournament.’ And I know we all love college athletics, we love basketball. This is a great time of the year. It’s part of the fabric of our country. But again, these are not easy decisions, but I feel very good with the decision we have made as the Big Ten Conference to cancel our men’s basketball tournament.”
+ The afternoon will be occupied by discussing the future of the Big Ten Men’s Hockey tournament. There is also gymnastics and wrestling coming up as well.
+ How did Michigan and Rutgers find out? Once the decision was made, they called the athletic directors from the Big Ten, and the UM and RU ADs went and told their teams.
+ Will the Big Ten crown a men’s tournament champion like the ACC did? “As I sit here today, it’s difficult to crown a champion if you don’t compete.”
