Both 2020 championships canceled

Mar 13, 2020
Nobody got to cut the nets down in Atlanta or Columbus, but many teams cut the nets down on Thursday, March 12, after the 2019-20 season was unceremoniously truncated by the spread of the COVID-19 virus. That includes Justin Summers, who participated in a net-cutting ceremony at Brockport.
Brockport athletics photo
 

Some teams were in place. Some, like the Tufts men's basketball team, had gotten on a bus only hours before. Some were in the middle of walk-throughs and practices on the floor where they were scheduled to compete this weekend. However, word came down from the NCAA on Thursday, March 12, that said that all championships, winter and spring, including the Division III basketball championships, have been cancelled.

This is an unprecedented occurrence in Division III basketball, but just one of many unprecedented occurrences in American sports this week.

"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," the NCAA's statement read. "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."

"I'm going to be proud of these kids no matter what," said Cheri Harrer, the women's basketball coach at Baldwin Wallace. "I told the kids before the tournament started that at this point, only one team is happy out of 64. If they cancel it, 16 teams can at least go out on a win. There are still going to be tears, but I think it's a different kind of tear.

"We've got a whole bus ride home we can celebrate with each other."

"We're just sad," said Yeshiva coach Elliot Steinmetz. "We wanted to see what this group could accomplish. We were feeling very good about our chances to keep playing and felt like we were hitting our peak. 
 
"But we don’t control this world and there are bigger things than basketball."

"It's sad," said Erick Hart, director of athletics at Brockport. "I just walked to the basketball gym to break the news, but when I got there, the players had already heard and were cutting down the net to at least celebrate what they did accomplish this season.

"I think we have a pretty good team, but you'll just never know what would have happened, and that's sad. But I do understand the NCAA stance on this."

"Sixteen teams ended the season winning their last game," said Oglethorpe women's coach Alex Richey. "The way these young people throughout the D3 landscape have handled this entire week like national champions makes them just that in my book."

 

More reactions:

 

 

Keep an eye out for the final D3hoops.com men's and women's basketball Top 25, as well as our All-Region and All-America teams, which will be released over the next week and a half.

Contributing: Pat Coleman, Dave McHugh, Frank Rossi