However, Dan Gavitt, the NCAA Senior Vice President of Basketball, announced Sunday on NCAA.com that won't happen. There will be no tournament, no bracket, no March Madness. He said it was his decision but he had the support of the tournament selection committees. He also wrote, "In light of this global health crisis, I believe we need to keep college basketball in perspective."
There were 19 men’s and 18 women’s conference tournaments that had not finished when the NCAA tournaments were cancelled Thursday to combat the spread of the Coronavirus, Gavitt wrote, and there were a total of 132 men’s games and 81 women’s games that had not been played. Those were among the reasons the brackets were not completed.
Here’s an excerpt from Gavitt’s statement: “I have heard from many coaches and athletics directors who are trusted colleagues and friends that would like to see brackets released to recognize the successful seasons of their teams and student-athletes and to see who and where they would have played. Players and coaches want to see their school name on the bracket. Members of the media want to dissect matchups. Bracketologists want to compare the work of the committees versus what they’ve predicted. Fans are curious for those same reasons. All of us want something to fill the void we’re feeling.
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“However, anything less than a credible process is inconsistent with the tradition of the NCAA basketball championships. Brackets based on hypotheticals can’t substitute for a complete selection, seeding and bracketing process. There will always be an asterisk next to the 2020 NCAA men’s and women’s basketball championships regardless if brackets are released. There is not an authentic way to produce tournament fields and brackets at this point without speculating and that isn’t fair to the teams that would be positively or negatively impacted by manufacturing March Madness.”
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