Wausau Pilot and Review Staff
The Big Ten, Big 12, AAC and SEC on Thursday announced they will cancel their men’s basketball tournaments, amid growing concern over the coronavirus.
In some cases, such as with the Big Ten, players had already begun warming up for their games before the decisions were made.
“The Big Ten Conference will use this time to work with the appropriate medical experts and institutional leadership to determine next steps for moving forward in regard to the COVID-19 pandemic,” said a league statement released roughly 20 minutes before Michigan and Rutgers were set to play a second-round game at Bankers Life Fieldhouse in Indianapolis, Indiana.
The NCAA, as of noon Eastern on Thursday, had not issued an update about the NCAA Tournament, which is scheduled to begin Tuesday in Dayton, Ohio without fans in attendance.
But individual conferences were quickly taking action before their first wave of tournament games began Thursday. All the major conferences had already closed their events to the general public, following the lead of the NCAA, which announced Wednesday that the NCAA Tournament will be played without fans amid concern over the coronavirus.
This is a developing story and will be updated.
