Their first quarterfinal game between St John’s and Creighton kicked off at Noon.

The other 5 major conferences (ACC, Big 10, Big 12, SEC, and ACC) along with the American, Atlantic 10, Conference USA, MAC and WAC all cancelled their tournaments.

If you go to ESPN scores page, almost every game has next to it – Cancelled Due To Coronavirus Concerns.

I don’t see at this point how we can have a NCAA Championship Tournament. If the commissioners from the ACC, Big 10, Big 12, SEC and Pac 12 (which are probably good for having at least 30-40 percent of the teams in the tourney) say that they are listening to public health officials and it is not safe for their athletes and the public to play, I don’t see how the NCAA can say – you are wrong, we are going to have a tournament.

I might be wrong – but this might be the saddest March ever. Not the type of March Madness the Lunatic was hoping for…..

To be fair, everyone’s health is the most important concern – if cancelling is the right answer, then it is the right answer.

At this point, the only thing I don’t get is why not keep playing the tournaments. All the athletes are already there – they have already been exposed to each other and the arena and their hotel – they have already closed the doors to fans – they have to travel back to their schools whether that be today or Sunday. It doesn’t feel like there is any more risk to them at this point for playing the games where they already are.

This feels more like a decision to force the NCAA to protect them from future travel and cancel the big tournament. I can support that – the fan in me wants to see basketball, but if everyone is cancelling for the sake of public health, it makes sense to force the NCAA to do the same.

But that makes the Lunatic really sad……