Notre Dame began its ACC tournament run against Boston College on Wednesday with fans in attendance at Greensboro Coliseum. The crowd was sparse, which is expected during the early rounds of these conference tourneys, especially when marquee programs aren’t involved. That’s not a knock on the Irish, but let’s just say the basketball program has a long way to go to catch up with the football program in prestige.
At the same time, it’s fair to say the coronavirus pandemic might also have affected the crowd size. And it’s that very pandemic that likely will prevent any fans from attending the rest of the tournament. As of this writing, no official word had come down yet, but speculation on Twitter suggests the ACC will follow the Big Ten, Big 12 and others in banning fans from the rest of their tournament games.
Coupled with no fans being allowed at the NCAA tournament at all, this surely was the last night of normal college basketball of the season at the Division I level. Even if the Irish receive an NIT invite and a home game, the prospect of fans inside Purcell Pavilion for it is looking less likely. They should be likely they had the opportunity to play Wednesday’s game in front of anyone from the general public.
We’re undoubtedly living in the most uncertain time to be a sports fan in our lifetimes. Thursday and beyond will confirm that. It’s unfortunate it had to happen during the time of year everyone is focused on college basketball. Alas, as the song goes, que sera sera.
