NCAA senior vice president of basketball operations Dan Gavitt told Matt Norlander of CBS Sports that they have not ruled out the idea of releasing a 68-team tournament bracket.
The thought behind the idea is to offer those teams and players some sort of recognition for their efforts over the course of the season. The proposal has not been agreed upon though it is still on the table and is gaining traction from coaches and athletic directors across the country.
The NCAA announced on Thursday afternoon that the Division I men’s and women’s 2020 basketball tournaments were canceled due to the coronavirus pandemic. The NCAA also canceled all remaining winter and spring championships.
NEWS: NCAA senior VP of basketball Dan Gavitt tells @CBSSports that despite the fact there will be no March Madness this year, the NCAA has not yet completely killed the idea of building and releasing a 68-team 2020 NCAA Tournament bracket. https://t.co/BgwdEzm7YM
— Matt Norlander (@MattNorlander) March 13, 2020
Insiders around the sport also believe the move to release a bracket has a financial component to it to reward those coaches with incentives in their contracts for qualifying for the NCAA Tournament, despite the cancellation of the games.
A movement has started to petition the NCAA to grant senior student-athletes of winter sports an extra year of eligibility in order to have the opportunity to play in the tournament.
The NCAA has reportedly already granted those student-athletes in spring sports an extra year of eligibility and will make a decision on the winter sports athletes in the coming days.
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