Stephen A. Smith slams NCAA for timing of March Madness cancellation

Stephen A. Smith went off on the NCAA.

For the first time since an NCAA basketball tournament was introduced in 1939, a national tournament to decide a champion will not be held. The NCAA announced Thursday that all remaining winter and spring sports championships have been canceled in response to the coronavirus outbreak, including the men’s and women’s basketball tournaments. The NCAA will reportedly give student-athletes participating in spring sports an extra year of eligibility, and some basketball coaches have endorsed allowing graduating seniors in winter sports the chance to return next year.

The decision to cancel all college sports was a difficult but necessary step by the NCAA – but according to Stephen A. Smith, the organization didn’t act quickly enough.  On ESPN’s First Take, Smith eviscerated the NCAA for being “late to the party,” after the decision to cancel the tournament was announced after many sports leagues, including the NBA, NHL and MLS, had already paused their seasons.

“The NCAA is always late to the party. I don’t think they give a damn about the players, the student-athlete. I think that’s their No. 1 asset, and I think religiously and continuously, they have shown to lack of respect and decency when it comes to the athletes. It was nice to see them join the party, but to me, it should have been done earlier. Especially – I keep bringing this up – especially in light of the fact that the NBA had suspended its season….. If you spend one extra minute thinking about dollars and cents over human life, you have revealed yourself to be pretty close to despicable.”

If you spent any time on social media and you follow people in the sports industry or sports fans, you likely saw reactions like this throughout the day, directed at various organizations. People mocked and criticized the NHL for not suspending its season…. until it did. People slammed college conferences for not canceling their tournaments… until they did. In this case, Stephen A. is criticizing the NCAA for being “late to the party,” despite the fact that it announced the tournament would be held without spectators while the NBA was still packing arenas.

The reality is that the public consensus over what is an acceptable response to the coronavirus outbreak is changing hour-by-hour, but an endeavor such as suspending and entire season or canceling one of the biggest sports events of the year isn’t something that can happen as quickly as a critic can fire off a tweet.

On Tuesday, a great deal of people thought the Ivy League was wrong to cancel their tournament outright instead of holding it behind closed doors. Less than 48 hours later, after Utah Jazz star Rudy Gobert had tested positive for coronavirus, it was deemed just as outrageous that every sports league on the globe hadn’t already paused their seasons.

The important thing is that the NCAA made the right decision to prioritize public health and cancel the tournament. Whether that announcement came three hours or thirteen hours after the NBA’s suspension is ultimately irrelevant.

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