New York Post - 13.03.2020

New York Post, Friday, March 13, 2020

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NOTHING TO SEE:The St. John’s mascot has most of the Garden to

himself after the Big EastTo urnamentwas called at halftime of St. John’s

quarterfinal with Creighton. N.Y. Post: CharlesWenzelberg

Y

OUR heart breaksfor all the

student-athletes, all these kids

with the biggest dreamsat Seton

Hall, and the kids with theCinderella

dreamsat Hofstra, aswell as the kids

from the other 66 schoolswho could

not wait to stand and cheer as onefor

whichever bracket SelectionSunday

had waitingfor them.

Your heart breaks especiallyfor the

seniorswho ne ver got to experience

the magicof March Madness, more so

than the one-and-doneswho will be in

the NBA next season.

One ShiningMoment isn’treserved

exclusively for the

eventual NCAATour-

nament champions,

it can be traveling

with your basket-

ball brothersto a cit y

you ha ve never been

to and stepping ona

court inside an arena

packed withfans ral-

lying to David’s side

and rootingfor you to nail Goliath right

between theeyes with a slingshot.

Alas, the lightswent out on One

ShiningMoment, be itat the startof

March Madness orat the endof it.

MarchSadness instead.

See, thegames willgo on whenever

this insidiousCOVID-19 globalpan-

demic decidesto stop holding America

and American sports hostage, but only

for the NBAplayers and the MLBplay-

ers and the NHLplayers and the NFL

players in August and beyond, andfor

future millionaires likeJames Wiseman

of Memphis and AnthonyEdwards of

Georgia and LaMelo Ballof the Illawar-

ra Hawks andCole Anthonyof North

Carolina and ObiToppinof Dayton,

who willrealize their ultimate dreams

at the NBA draft — presumably on

June 25 at Barclays Center. God will-

ing, of course, thatNew York’s state

of emergency that began onThursday

banninggroups inexcessof 500 people

will be a distant memoryby then, and

this living nightmare will beover.

The NCAA, asevery other league

andsanctioning body, had no other

choice butto call timeout.

Whenyou are dealing with theterri-

fying prospectof quarantines andcom-

munity spread and social distancing,

with a deadly virusfor which there is

no vaccine, survive and advance is no

longer an option.

Only survive.

No one could guarantee that there

wasn’t aRudy Gobert giving it the

old college try, or a Donovan Mitchell

infecting ateammate or opponent or

ref or announcer, etc.

We should all have listened sooner

to Dr. AnthonyFauci, directorof the

National Institute of Allergy and Infec-

tious Diseases,who warned us that the

worst was yet to come.

So thiswas no timefor halfway,

hope-for-the-best measures. Banning

fans and limitingattendeesto “student-

athletes,coaches,event staff, essential

team andconference staff, television

personnel, credentialed media and

immediate family membersof the par-

ticipating teams”was no longer enough

once the Gobert-Mitchell dominofell.

The Big EastTournamentwas irr e-

sponsible at best andrecklessat worst

allowingawakeningSt. John’s, 20 years

after its last championship, and Creigh-

ton to start their surreal noon quarterfi-

nal game onThursday with maybe 100

Creightonfans and 50St. John’s fans

in the stands before

sendingeveryoneat

Madison Bare Gar-

den homeat half-

time, better la te than

never.

Common sense

finally prevailed,

thankfully, over dol-

lars andcents.

Shed atear for

littleHofstra, which would have gone

dancingfor thefirst time since2001.

What a shame.

“I worked so hardto get her e,” senior

guard Desure Buietweeted late in the

afternoon. “That’sWild smh I’m hurt

hurt.”

At 5:53, therewas thistweet from

Seton Hall Big East Player of the Year

Myles Powell:

“At least I ended a champion.”

Alas hewanted so much more than

sharing the Big Eastregular-season

title with Creighton andVillanova.

I hadsat down withPowell af ter the

Hall’sTuesday practice, and asked him:

Would anything shortof a Final Four

be a failure?

“I wouldn’teven say Final Four,”

Powell said. “I mean,we’ve beentalk-

ing about championship sincewe took

our trip inItaly. So I don’teven want to

cut us that short. I justwant to win the

championship. Sowhatever we gotta

do to make itto the championship

game, that’swhat I want to do. I don’t

want to put no limits on us — Elite

Eight,Sweet 16, Final Four, noneof that.

We’re taking championshiptalk, andI

just want to talk it intoexistence. I just

see usfinding away to get to the cham-

pionship.”

Of course he had harbored aFinal

Four dream.

Even though he will have a legitimate

shotto play in the NBA, he will have

to carry that belief with himfor the

rest of his life, and wonderwhat might

have been.No more buzzer-beaters , no

morebands playing, no more climb-

ing ladders and cutting down nets,for

Myles Powell, for an yone in the spring

when One ShiningMomentwent dark,

replacedby One ScaryMoment.

One ShiningMoment.

This is One ScaryMoment.

[email protected]

By ZACH BRAZILLER

The final imageof this

collegebasketball season

was of an empty Madison

Square Garden,St. John’s

and Creightonplaying one

halfof basketball in front

of only immediate family

members, cheerleaders and

a few hundredfans, while

virtually allof the othercon-

fere nces had already can-

celed theirtournaments as

the coronaviruspandemic

swept thecountry.

A fewhours later, the

NCAA canceled itstourna-

ment, effectivelyending the

collegebasketball season

just as its most popular peri-

od would betypicallyget-

ting into fullswing. It was an

odd andawkward few hours

at the quiet Garden. While

the BigTen, SEC, AAC,

ACC andAtlantic10 didn’t

let anyof their noongames

begin, the Big East allowed

St. John’s and Creightonto

play on.

“You all can second-guess

our decisionto play that

first half.That’s your pre-

rogative.” commissioner

Val Ackermansaid ina

pressconferencefollowing

the tournament’s cancella-

tion. “But I can assureyou

we were doing the bestwe

could with the information

we had.”

Big Eastofficials,athletic

directors and presidents

were in a pre-scheduled

meeting afew blocks from

the Gardenat 10 a.m.,

accordingto Ackerman,

a timewhen mostconfer-

encewere still planningto

go ahead with theirtourna-

ments. Shortly before noon,

as wordspreadof the can-

cellations,Ackerman began

reaching outto thosesame

people she had met with and

conferred withNew York

City healthofficials. By then,

St. John’s and Creighton had

already begunplaying. The

Big East, shesaid, was not

given a heads-up that other

leagueswere planning can-

cellations.

“It was our view thatwe

didn’tfeel likewe neededa

dramatic, pull-the-players-

off-the-court-in-the-middle-

of-the-game gesture,” Acker-

mansaid. “Folkswere here.

We just literally didn’t think

that another15 or 20 min-

utes of game timewas going

to make that muchof a dif-

fere nce. That said, we didn’t

think itwas appropriate to

send theathletesback out

on to the floor during the

halftime. So, itwas a judg-

ment call thatwe made.”

St. John’s athletic director

Mike Craggtold The Post

he wasn’t surprisedto see

his team’s game start.He

was more surprised other

conferences cancelled their

tournamentswhen they did

becauseThursday morn-

ing the Big East had spoken

to the NCAA and therewas

no indication anything had

changed.He felt Ackerman

handled the situationwell,

adjustingbased on howfast

thingswere moving.

“She showed real-time

leadership throughout the

week,” hesaid.

With theRed Storm ahead

38-35 at the break, the call

was finally madeto call off

the final three days of the

tournament, ending a strong

run thatsaw St. John’s win

threeof its lastfour games.

The st ats from thegame

were voided and no winner

was declared.

“This is a situation thatI

have never experienced before

and I know ourteam has never

experienced it,”St. John’s coach

Mike Andersonsaid in a state-

ment. “Ourguys are very dis-

appointed.We feel likewe’ve

beenplaying someof our better

basketball, butat the same time

this is bigger thanbasketball

with thiscoronavirus.This has

a worl dwide effect and that’sa

game of life. I’m gladto see our

leadership made the decisionto

cancel thetournament. Again,

we were disappointed butat the

same time it’s the right thingto

do. I’m just proudof our guys,

the fans that came out and sup-

ported us.”

On Wednesday, the NCAA

Tournament announced it

would bebanningfans from

attendinggames. In theeve-

ning, the NBA suspended its

season. Shortly thereafter, the

Big East announced itwould be

restrictingfan attendance. And

Thursday, several other leagues

followed the NBA’s example,

shortly beforetheir quarterfi-

nal andfirst roundswere set to

begin.

Lookingback, Ackermansaid

she didn’tregret not cancel-

ing thetournamentWednesday

night, becauseNew York State

officials hadyet to ba n lar ge gath-

eringsof 500 people or more, as

they didby the middleof Thurs-

day afternoon.The NBA’s deci-

sionto suspend its seasonwas

differe nt, because it had aplayer,

Jazz centerRudy Gobert,who

contracted the virus.

“All I cantell you is based on

the information thatwe had at

the time [Wednesday] night

we thought itwas prudentto

move forward with limited

attendance, which we did,”Ack-

ermansaid. “Butwe were pre-

pared to adjust as needed, and

that’swhat we’ve done now.”

By HOWIE KUSSOY

There will be no mad-

ness, no buzzer-beaters , no

champion.

For thefirst time since

1938, there will be no NCAA

Tournament.

Capping oneof the most

disappointing andrespon-

sible24-hour spans in the

historyof American sports, the

NCAA made the unprecedented

and once-unthinkable announce-

mentThursday that itwould can-

cel its signatureevent dueto con-

cerns regard ing thecoronavirus

pandemic.

With SelectionSunday a little

more than72 hoursawayand

men’s first- roundgames sched-

uledto beginTuesday, the NCAA

executed the most stunning

March momentof all time inter-

minating oneof the nation’s most

beloved tr aditions.

The cancellation impacts all

winter and spring NCAA cham-

pionships, including thewomen’s

basketballtournament andCol-

legeWorld Series,which was

scheduledfor June.

“This decision isbased on the

evolvingCOVID-19 public health

threat, our abilityto ensure the

events do notcontribute tothe

spreadof the pandemic, and the

impracticalityof hosting such

eventsat any time during this

academicyear given ongoing

decisionsby other entities,” the

NCAA announced.

The needfor the historic and

preventative measurewas illus-

trated when itwas la ter revealed

that agame official who worked

in theColonialAthletic Asso-

ciationTournamenttested posi-

tive for coronavirus, but didn’t

exhibitsymptomsof the virus

until72 hours after thegame. On

Wednesday, the NCAAattempted

to salvage its marqueetourna-

ment, deciding thatgames would

be played withoutfans inatten-

dance. But after Rudy Gobertof

the Utah Jazz tested positive for

the virus and the NBA suspended

all play, every major sports league

followed suit, with the NHL,

MLB, MLS and protennis tours —

among others — all halting action.

The NCAA,which first held its

nationalbasketballtournament in

1939 and continued throughWorld

War II — long before the must-see

event rake d in billionsof dollars

and was hosted

by 14cities each

year —faced

more pressure

when perennial

contenders Duke and Kansas both

essentially declared theywould

suspend allathleticcompetition

for thefore seeable future.

However, countlesscoaches and

players were blindsidedby the

announcement,expecting a post-

ponement as an initial measure.

“I never thought itwould get

canceled,”said Hofstra coach Joe

Mihalich,who had led thePride

to the school’sfirst tournament

berth since2001. “Everybodyfelt

that way. Postpone it. Oneof three

things happens: If itgets worse,

thenyou cancel it. If itgets better,

all right, let’s have the tournament.

If it stays thesame, thenyou’re

dealt with thesame tough deci-

sion and it cango eitherway.

“Therange of emotions,we’re

just devastated. This is thefirst

time in19 years our university is

going to the tournament and the

euphoria quickly becomes heart-

break.”

As of Thursday morning,con-

fere nce tournamentswere sched-

uledto continue in near-empty

arenas —Rut-

gers and Michi-

gan warmed up

on thecourt for

their BigTen

Tournament matchup — buta

flurryof cancellations came from

virtuallyevery league, hinting

at the devastating gut-punchto

come.

St. John’s and Creighton

strangely began their Big East

quarterfinal game, but the league

canceled thetournamentat half-

time. OnWednesday night, Madi-

son Square Gardenwas nearly full

for a doubleheader. One day later,

Mayor Bill de Blasio declareda

state of emergency in the city and

stated thefamed arena — sched-

uledto host the EastRegional

— would likely be shuttered for

months.

Now, collegebasketballwon’t

return until thefall —at the ear-

liest — crushing the dreamsof

seniorswhose final seasons have

been unexpectedly cut short

and long-suffering programs like

Rutgers, which was projectedto

advance to its first NCAATourna-

ment in 29years.

“I type this with a heavy heart,

but on behalfof me andmy team-

mates I justwant to say thank

you,” leading scorerRon Harper

Jr. posted on social media. “The

year didn’t end theway we wanted

it to and itwas a big disappoint-

mentto all of us that the NCAA

Tournamentwas cancelled. But

we also understand thatwe need

to prioritizesafety first.”

Somecoaches held out hope the

bracketswould still bereleased on

Sunday, even if the dream match-

ups would never take place.

“I respect the NCAA’s decision

to put everyone’s safety first,” Ari-

zona State coach Bobby Hurley

tweeted. “Thatsaid, every team

deservesrecognitionfor their

season’s success. Brackets should

still be announced on Selection

Sunday.”

Everyone deserves so much

more.

[email protected]

For the college kids,

this ending is final

Steve Serby

After letting Johnnies and Creighton start, Big East ends its tournament at half

CORONAVIRUS

IN BASKETBALL

NCAA cancels

March Madness

for the first time

in its history

BRACKETS

BUSTED