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In a move that has felt inevitable for the last 24 hours, the NCAA has officially canceled both the 2020 men’s and women’s NCAA basketball tournaments due to the coronavirus outbreak. This did not feel like a choice being made, but rather a global health necessity in a time of crisis. It had to be done, but that does not make it any easier for so many of us to handle.
A 24-hour chain reaction has seen the canceling of nearly all collegiate spring sports, including those in the Big Ten Conference. After Utah Jazz center Rudy Gobert tested positive for the virus on Wednesday night before the Jazz played the Oklahoma City Thunder, the NBA quickly suspended their season. With the amount of unknowns surrounding this virus and its scope in the United States nearly all major leagues and events have followed suit. The news about the NCAA tournament also comes just a day after NCAA President Mark Emmert announced that the tournament would go on, but without fans. The situation is clearly changing rapidly.
There are much bigger issues to face in the days to come than whether or not we get to enjoy basketball in March, however, that doesn’t take away from how meaningful this event is to so many of us. My first thoughts are with the seniors who get the ending that nobody deserves. Brevin Pritzl and Michael Ballard suited up as Badgers for the last time at Assembly Hall this past Saturday, and they would have never known it. Here are Pritzl’s own words:
Definitely didn’t think this would be how my time at UW ends. It’s been an amazing ride the past 5 years. Thanks to everyone who has helped make me the player I am today. #OnWisconsin pic.twitter.com/YJ6b7hGpv5
— Brevin Pritzl (@LilB_Pritz1) March 12, 2020
At least he and Ballard went out on top. Wisconsin basketball gave us memories that we will never forget in the month of February and March. At least the eight-game winning streak stays in tact. This team will forever be Big Ten Champions.
There are seniors in nearly every locker room in America that will never again have the pride of representing their university on the basketball court. Every year, the crushing defeats that hundreds of seniors face in March once their season ends is heartbreaking enough. This time they had the hope of the big dance taken away before they had the chance at their one shining moment. There was nothing they could do to change that.. Then, you think of how many jobs are affected by not only the NCAA canceling their tournament, but when the entertainment and sports industries shut down. In truth, the spiral of how many lives are affected by the canceling of the tournament never ends. These games, this time of the year, this culmination of college basketball is what we wait for all season. We make brackets, we watch old one shining moment videos (at least I do), we find our cinderella, we hunker down and just enjoy basketball in its purest, wildest form. It’s beautiful. It brings me, and so many of us, more happiness than any sporting event all year long. My only hope is that once this is all over, whenever it is over, we find an entirely new beauty and meaning in sports and the hope it gives us. We will be here, waiting to dance again when we get the chance.