Naomi Campbell was left distraught after feeling she was singled out for a security search in Bulgaria because she is black Now it's Berkxit! William and Kate to move their family to Berkshire as Duke of Cambridge turns 40 But VCU resumed practice two days later and made it through the rest of the regular season without problems. This wasn't the first coronavirus issue of the season for the Rams: A positive test in January forced them to halt basketball activities and postpone a game against Davidson. The NCAA said it made the decision to drop VCU from the competition in consultation with the local health department. Then Day 2 was well underway when a terse news release arrived: 'The NCAA and the committee regret that VCU´s student-athletes and coaching staff will not be able to play in a tournament in which they earned the right to participate.'
The first full day of action went off without a hitch Friday. Virginia didn't arrive in Indianapolis until Friday, making it the last team to get there, because it needed to clear quarantine protocols back home, and the unusual preparation couldn't have helped the fourth-seeded Cavaliers, who were upset by Ohio on Saturday. Last week, Virginia and Kansas - proud programs with past national championships - both pulled out of their conference tournaments. In the days leading up to the tournament, a half-dozen referees who went to dinner together before checking into their hotel were all sent home because one tested positive. 'This isn't the way we wanted to advance, but we are excited to be moving on,' Oregon coach Dana Altman said.ĭuring one 26-day stretch this season, his team had just five practices and a single game because of the sorts of coronavirus issues that interrupted so many aspects of life.Īnd, yes, this edition of the NCAAs already had seen signs of trouble before Saturday. Waiting on Monday will be Iowa, the West's No. That means Oregon's path got a bit easier the Ducks now only would need to win five games, instead of the usual six, to cut down the nets and celebrate a title. In VCU's case, NCAA spokesman David Worlock wrote in an email to The Associated Press: 'With potential risks to all involved in the game, we could not guarantee or be comfortable that five or more players would be available without risk.'
The NCAA had said it would allow a team that showed up with as few as five players to take the floor. Throughout NCAA facilities for the tournament are signs to remind people to adhere to COVID safety measures Once that passed, however, there were no substitutes allowed. It created what it called a 'controlled environment,' essentially limiting teams to the hotel, the nearby convention center for practices and the minor league baseball stadium across the street for a chance to get some fresh air.Īll teams were declared healthy at Tuesday night's deadline for allowing schools to be replaced in the bracket. The governing body of college sports made all players return seven negative COVID tests before arriving, then placed all of the teams in downtown hotels and restricted their movements. It wasn't disclosed who got the positive tests. The Oregon Ducks, left, who played earlier this month in a conference tournament, advance automatically after their opponents VCU were kicked out of the March Madness tournament when some players tested positive for the coronavirusĪ year after the tournament was scrapped altogether in the early days of the pandemic, the NCAA was hoping to get cleanly through the 19-day basketball festival known as March Madness, reducing arena capacities to 22% or lower and basing the whole thing in Indiana instead of sprinkling games around the country.
VCU players interact on the court earlier this month, left the team was kicked out of the tournament after some members tested positive for COVID-19. Virginia Commonwealth University, based in Richmond, is a member of Atlantic 10 Conference and best known in men´s basketball for a surprising run to the 2011 Final Four as an 11th seed.
We don´t know how this happened, but it certainly wasn't because of bad behavior.' 'I want to make clear that this is not something where our team broke protocol and did the wrong thing. 'I just shake my head to think we did all the right things all the way through,' McLaughlin said. Georgia Tech lost to Loyola Chicago on Friday after ACC player of the year Moses Wright tested positive. Oklahoma, for example, was in action on Saturday despite guard De´Vion Harmon's positive test and beat Missouri.
There were multiple positive tests over two days, which is why the Rams had to forfeit, while other schools were able to play first-round games after a single COVID-19 case. VCU athletic director Ed McLaughlin declined to say which players tested positive, citing privacy concerns. The scoreboard goes dark at the Indiana Farmers Coliseum after VCU is kicked out of the tournament when some of its players test positive for COVID-19.