The 2019-20 NCAA men’s basketball season is over.
Thursday afternoon, NCAA President Mark Emmert announced that all winter and spring championships, including the men’s basketball tournament were being canceled due to the fallout from the COVID-19 virus.
“Today, NCAA President Mark Emmert and the Board of Governors canceled the Division I men’s and women’s 2020 basketball tournaments, as well as all remaining winter and spring NCAA championships,” read a statement from the organization.
“This decision is based on the evolving COVID-19 public health threat, our ability to ensure the events do not contribute to spread of the pandemic, and the impracticality of hosting such events at any time during this academic year given ongoing decisions by other entities.”
It is the first time since the tournament was founded in 1939 that a champion will not be crowned.
The decision would have seemed unthinkable as recently as a week ago, but suddenly seemed inevitable within the past day.
Earlier Thursday afternoon, the Big Ten canceled its conference basketball tournament. Every other major conference quickly joined them.
Ohio State has already canceled its 2020 Spring Game.
Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine announced Thursday that all schools in the state would be ordered closed for three weeks, starting with Monday, March 16 until at least April 3. That order applies to public, private, and charter schools.
