[UPDATED - NCAA cancels all spring, winter sports] Pac-12 Men’s Basketball Tournament canceled due to coronavirus

[UPDATE]

On Thursday afternoon, the NCAA announced the cancellation of all remaining winter and spring championships in response to the public health threat of COVID-19. In an official statement released on Thursday, the NCAA stated that included the 2020 basketball tournaments.

That officially means no March Madness and no College World Series as well as any other championship for the foreseeable future.

This is still a developing story and we at PacificTakes will continue to monitor.

The Pac-12 men’s basketball tournament had a successful first round but it went largely unnoticed as the country watched notable sporting events cancel or suspend their seasons indefinitely on Wednesday night and Thursday morning. The Pac-12 and commissioner Larry Scott originally made the decision to continue with the tournament with limited attendance including just ‘essential staff, TV network partners, credentialed media, and limited family and friends’ at the event.

However, after the ACC, Big Ten, SEC, AAC and other basketball tournaments had been canceled on Thursday morning, the Pac-12 followed suit and decided to cancel the remaining games of the tournament.

The Pac-12 statement was as follows:

The Pac-12 Conference has made the decision to cancel the remainder of the Pac-12 Men’s Basketball Tournament and all Pac-12 sport competitions and Pac-12 Championship events, effective immediately, until further notice. This decision has been made in consultation with our member universities in an effort to limit the spread of the virus and in the interest of the health and safety of our student-athletes, campus personnel, working and even personnel, and all those who attend Pac-12 events.

This also puts an the entire men’s and women’s 2020 NCAA Basketball Tournament at risk for cancellation at this time as it seems almost inevitable at this point that they will suspend, cancel or at least postpone the tournament in light of everything else happening across the sports world. The NBA made the quick decision to suspend their season after Utah Jazz C Rudy Gobert tested positive for COVID-19 on Wednesday night.

The MLS followed suit on Thursday morning, suspending their season for at least 30 days. The ACC and Big Ten subsequently cancelled their basketball tournaments followed by the SEC and AAC.

Originally, Pac-12 commissioner Larry Scott jumped on Pac-12 Network in between games on Wednesday night, expressing his reluctant decision to limit fan attendance for the rest of the tournament.

“Reluctantly, we came to the conclusion we needed to follow suit (with the NCAA),” Scott said on air. “I say reluctantly because we really feel for our fans, that are here in Las Vegas, for our student-athletes who want to play in front of fans, and they’re not going to be able to. The operative words from our leadership who made this decision in concert with our presidents and chancellors, we need to show an abundance of caution and contribute to the efforts to limit the spread of this disease.”

Now, however, that reluctant decision has now been taken even further to cancel the remaining games and all other sporting events until further notice.

This is still a developing story and we’ll continue to monitor the news surrounding the coronavirus outbreak and its impact on Pac-12 and other college athletics.