With the pandemic of COVID-19 or as it is more commonly known as the Coronavirus, colleges were forced to postpone or cancel a number of athletics, which has upset many fans across the country. For the seniors of these sports teams, the heartbreak and the frustration means a little bit more.
On March 12, the NCAA voted to cancel their men’s and women’s March Madness basketball tournaments. The conference tournaments that preceded the March Madness tournament were subsequently canceled soon after.
The men’s tournament, aka March Madness is the biggest revenue maker for the NCAA, as it usually tends to draw in around $900 million, per Investopedia.com.
Baseball, golf, tennis, outdoor track and field, softball, men’s and women’s lacrosse and men’s volleyball are among the sports that saw their season cut short due to .
Schools and conferences followed their lead and cancelled the other remaining spring sports due to the pandemic. This move was a difficult decision, but it was especially difficult for the seniors playing spring and winter sports as their careers were put to a halt.
Many fans feel that the NCAA committee should grant another year of eligibility to athletes who had their careers cut short due to the outbreak of COVID-19.
The decision to cancel the NCAA Basketball tournament came after the NBA suspended their season after two Utah Jazz players tested positive for COVID-19.
The Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) ordered that gatherings could not be over 100 people at the time, and that immediately cancelled every event. Prior to the canceling of games, one possible solution that was frequently suggested was to have games without fans.
Even outside of the playing field seniors nationwide are feeling the effects of the pandemic with many graduations being postponed.
Senior athletes took to social media to share their thoughts on not finishing their careers properly.
“This year has been the toughest year of my life, and I wasn’t expecting to have to end my senior year like this,” said Oregon basketball guard Sabrina Ionescu in an Instagram message.
Other athletes like Penn State senior forward Lamar Stevens simply tweeted “Heartbroken”.
Some players tried to make light of the news of March Madness being cancelled.
“At least I ended up a champion,” said Seton Hall basketball player Myles Powell on Twitter, who was referring to his school winning the Big East regular season title.
Giving seniors another year of eligibility could be great news to hear, but could also be costly. Providing an extra season of eligibility for seniors playing spring sports could cost public Power 5 schools in between $500,000-$900,000, per USA Today.
On March 30, a panel of operations administrators will vote on whether to give spring sport seniors another year of eligibility. Unfortunately, with basketball being a winter sport the vote may not affect basketball and that is because many seniors on teams that were not slated to make any postseason tournaments had already played their last game.
This vote will possibly give a sigh of relief to those who didn’t fulfill all of their sports dreams and ones who didn’t have a chance to prove themselves.
