ACC, Big East & SEC Among Canceled Conference Tournaments

Getty Tre Jones #3 of the Duke Blue Devils.

The ACC was initially not among the conferences that canceled their postseason tournaments. Minutes prior to the second day of games, the ACC announced they would also be canceling their conference tournament. The ACC Tournament was still scheduled to go on as planned, but as we have seen in other sports it continues to be a fluid situation. The Big East canceled their tournament after St. John’s and Creighton played the first half of their game.

As we have seen with other conferences, everything is still subject to change as the tournament games go on. The AAC, SEC, Big Ten, Big East, Big 12, Pac-12, WAC, Conference USA and MAC are among the leagues that have all canceled their conference tournaments. The NCAA announced that March Madness is still scheduled to go on, but will be played without fans in the stands. There is still time for this to change in the days ahead.

The ACC Was Initially Among the Few Tournaments Still Planning to Play as Scheduled

ACC commissioner John Swofford detailed the initial decision to continue to play the conference tournament. Here was Swofford’s initial comments about playing the tournament.

“We want to provide an opportunity to continue to compete in this tournament for our players. Our understanding and belief is that that is what they would want,” Swofford explained, per WRIC.com.

Swofford also described things as “a very fluid situation” prior to canceling the tournament. Hours later he would speak in front of a mostly empty arena detailing the decision to shut down the tournament.

“We believe that it’s the right decision to make at this particular point in time,” Swofford explained, per ESPN. “You can ask, ‘why was it not made sooner?’ It’s a fair question. The answer is that it’s an extraordinary fluid situation with information coming to us that changes. I used to say by the week, then I say by the day, and now I say by the hour. So hopefully we’re doing the right thing in the context of this great country of ours and in the context of intercollegiate sports.”

It appears all the tournaments have been mentioned above will not be rescheduled. The MAAC tournament is the lone conference that has not canceled their event as of yet. CBS Sports’ Gary Parrish believes we are headed to a March without basketball for the foreseeable future.

“The conference tournaments — it appears, all of them — are either canceled or in the process of being canceled. We are seemingly about to be done with basketball in this country for an undetermined amount of time,” Parrish explained on Twitter.

It remains to be seen if the NCAA will alter its plans to have March Madness games without fans.

Here is a look at the college basketball conference tournaments that have been canceled so far.

College Basketball Conference Tournaments: List of Canceled Postseason Events