After the cancellation of the NCAA Basketball Tournaments and all winter and spring championships, athletes, particularly seniors, were left with their seasons and careers cut short. Due to this unprecedented nature of the coronavirus, many clamored for athletes to retain their year of eligibility due to the lost post-seasons and full spring seasons.
After the cancellation of the NCAA Basketball Tournaments and all winter and spring championships, athletes, particularly seniors, were left with their seasons and careers cut short. Due to this unprecedented nature of the coronavirus, many clamored for athletes to retain their year of eligibility due to the lost post-seasons and full spring seasons.
According to basketball analyst Jeff Goodman, the NCAA is on their way to that possibility. In a time of unbelievable events, the NCAA is looking for a way to accommodate the spring sports.
Winter sports, which were cut short, may also be on the docket.
“The NCAA’s Council Coordination Committee has agreed to grant relief for the use of a season of competition for student-athletes who have participated in spring sports,” Goodman tweeted. “Committee will also discuss issues for winter sport student-athletes.”
“Players in spring sports get another year of eligibility,” he wrote. “NCAA looking into what to do with those who played winter sports.”
The NCAA released a statement regarding the decision: “The NCAA Board of
“The NCAA Board of Governors encourages conferences and schools to make decisions and take action in the best student-athletes and their communities. In addition, the NCAA Board of Governors directs Divisions I, II and III to consider necessary adjustments to or waivers of rules where appropriate.”
The Board of Governors for each division must pass the changes for them to be implemented.
While scholarships were the biggest obstacle (in terms of limits and incoming athletes), the NCAA allowed a path for athletes to regain a year of lost eligibility due to the coronavirus.
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. 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.
Coronavirus spreads between people in close contact with one another, typically within six feet, or through respiratory droplets produced when an infected person coughs or sneezes. Spread is still possible before people show symptoms, although that does not stand as the typical cause, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
Symptoms such as fever, cough and shortness of breath can surface 2-14 days after exposure. Without an existing vaccination to prevent the disease, the best way for prevention is avoiding exposure.
As of Thursday afternoon’s update, the CDC reported 1,215 total coronavirus cases across 43 jurisdictions — 42 states and Washington, D.C.