PROVO – Last year, school basketball systems across the country suffered the abrupt cancellation of the NCAA Tournament due to the coronavirus pandemic, adding the emotional end of the magical season triggered by Yoeli Childs, Jake Toolson and BYU’s men’s basketball team.
A year later, and a little more prepared, the NCAA plans to make the tournament amid the ongoing pandemic that claimed the lives of more than 430,000 Americans. The monetary effect and loss of millions of dollars would be catastrophic for college athletics. departments nationwide.
But with that in mind, a new spectrum of COVID-19 cancellations has begun a month before Variety Sunday: what about convention tournaments?
Hundreds of groups look forward to the league tournament’s annual end-of-season culture of the year, but if the cancellation of those occasions can keep the March craziness, would the end justify the media?
That’s the question that West Coast Conference coaches, players, and school commissioners in Pac-12 and beyond will juggle over the next month. The argument is that the groups are safe in the NCAA tournament, which were considered “locks” before the convention. tournament: they have nothing to gain by going to the league postseason meeting. These same groups would do more to quarantine on campus for 1 to 2 weeks and ensure any viral disorders before arriving in Indianapolis for the NCAA Tournament.
“I think this is a valid question, not only for the WCC, but across the country,” spokesman Jim Meehan, the magazine’s reporter, told BYUtv recently. “Each convention tries whether it can organize a tournament safely.
“At CMC, you have Gonzaga, and I think BYU NET is now in the 1920s, so they’re in the most sensible way, they could generate risks and rewards. Do they play in the tournament and maybe have a COVID scenario that derails the NCAA?? These are difficult decisions that many schools and meetings must make. “
The Zags (15-0) rank No. 2 in – a virtual “lockdown” to make the tournament – and BYU (12-4) lost 10 spots in 38th place after Wednesday’s defeat at Pepperdine. Gonzaga is recently being examined as ESPN’s No. 1 seed through Joe Lunardi.
Meehan and the magazine’s spokesman were at the forefront of the playoff stage because of Gonzaga coach Mark Few’s open will to talk about the difficult decision.
Few people, the Zags’ head coach since 1999, who has spent his entire training career at Spokane, are concerned that betting on a convention tournament could undermine the ultimate purpose of an NCAA tournament and, in the case of the Zags, a race for a national championship.
“In each and every league, I think you want to know precisely where your groups are in terms of ratings for the at-larges and what can be won with the league tournament,” Few told CBS Sports. “The leagues are making cash from their participation, and in fact there will be no full participation this year – most of them will have no one.
“Then it becomes, if there is no cash to win, then we have to look: Can we qualify?Such a person wants a victory. In our league, ‘Saint Mary’s wants two more quad 1 victories to secure its overall offer??'”
The Bulldogs have dominated the CMC game, winning about 86% of their games over the past 20 years. If the Zags, who have valid national name potential, end the normal season undefeated, what motivation do they have to move on to the convention tournament?
Wouldn’t the Bulldogs do more to stay home and quarantine for two weeks, in a position to enter the NCAA tournament bubble in Indiana to the fullest?
Meehan admitted that “he’s not sure” that Gonzaga is going this way. Few told Spokesperson’s Review that the program had not made a formal resolution related to participation in the convention tournament.
In reality, the convention tournament is also not guaranteed. Team and league officials plan as if the tournament continues as usual, but there are still fears about whether it will be played.
West Coast Conference officials refused to comment on the league tournament when approached through KSL. com, but the convention reserves the Orleans Arena in Las Vegas for the men’s and women’s basketball championships March 4-9, as every year.
However, there are logistical problems.
Each league team suspended their show for at least two weeks (although some groups such as Gonzaga faced their greatest disorders before the start of the convention games), BYU and Portland, which prevented games from being played. the normal season and groups looking to reschedule makeup like BYU’s home assembly with Pacific on Saturday as soon as possible, the option remains that all those games won’t stall.
So how can you sow a convention tournament if the team enters Las Vegas after betting on another number of games?
If Gonzaga were to withdraw from the CMC tournament after an undefeated normal season while the other nine groups in the league were reporting to Orleans Arena in Las Vegas, it would seem like an example of bidding collusion, in other words, the NCAA does not even recognize the tournament and grant an automatic offer to its winner.
Of course, it’s only if schools retire. Players, whom the NCAA has long maintained as regular academics and as school employees, can simply refuse to play, which will likely leave the systems without penalty. your school career would have to leave the games on the table to get more “what if” of a long-term payment?
“I am in favor of gambling; I need BYU to have some other chance in Gonzaga,” former BYU guard Tyler Haws said. “I don’t need anyone to withdraw from anything.
“Uncertainty can be deadly. If you’re stuck in hypothetical scenarios, this can be a complicated intellectual challenge. But I think BYU has done a wonderful job of handling all those things. “
Here are the seat tables received through CBS Sports for the mandatory seats for the NCAA Tournament. The goal is to stay at least six feet away at all times to minimize the threat of transmission. Pic. twitter. com/TYrJIDPxmK
Growing considerations are protocols reported through CBS Sports that come with strict and distance restrictions for all 68 groups in the tournament, adding the use of personal buses, planes and airports and the requirement that all automatic donations remain on the site of your convention tournament before departing for Indianapolis on Saturday, Sunday or Monday before the first round. Fix as detailed in a thread by titular journalist Matt Norlander.
But if the Zags withdraw from the tournament, can BYU register for them?
The Cougars are the other team in the league with strong respect for the offshore, as Lunardi. BYU stood firm in the 68th table per nation after Wednesday’s surprising defeat at Pepperdine, staying above the “last 4 byes” of Indiana, Arkansas. State of San Diego and Rutgers.
The Cougars and Zags can earn around $1. 7 million for the convention by accepting an invitation to the NCAA tournament. Would this summer’s prize justify leaving the CMC tournament or canceling it altogether?
“We are only about 15 games, however, what they have done so far and who they have defeated (4 groups in the 16 most sensitive) is obviously a team that has done special things and is watching them after the next two months. “Meehan said. ” But I think all the school basketball sits down and wonders where we’re going, not just convention tournaments, but what happens if you get to the NCAA tournament and you’re in trouble?
“I’m sure you can replace the calendar once the NCAA is introduced in Indianapolis. . . One thing school basketball principals and enthusiasts can agree on is the importance of having the NCAA Tournament. It has to happen. “