The Ivy League this morning announced it is taking the "extraordinary step of cancelling its men’s and women’s basketball championship tournaments ... due to coronavirus concerns," according to Mike Jensen of the PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER. All tickets for the event, which had been scheduled for Harvard's Lavietes Pavillion, "will be refunded." This marks the "first college basketball tournament cancelled outright" due to the virus (PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER, 3/10). In Boston, Katie McInerney notes the move came hours after Harvard "announced that all classes on campus will be moving to an online-only format to attempt to stem the outbreak of coronavirus" (BOSTON GLOBE, 3/10). Meanwhile, the Ivy League also announced that it will "limit spectators at all other sporting events for the rest of the spring season" (AP, 3/10).
IMPACT ON NCAA TOURNEY: CBS Sports HQ's Chris Hassel notes the bigger picture coming from the Ivy League cancellation is "what this could mean for the other conference tournaments and the NCAA Tournament." The biggest issue is that the NCAA Tournament "isn’t necessarily in the NCAA’s control." CBS' Jerry Palm cited Santa Clara County's ban of public gatherings of more than 1,000 people and suggested a similar ban from local authorities could impact current host cites. He said there could be a scenario where the NCAA has "one of (its) facilities gone, and you’re scrambling” (CBS Sports HQ, 3/10).
