Big Ten Tournament Canceled

It seems like the entire world has paused due to the spread of COVID-19, better known as coronavirus. This virus has caused the cancelation and postponing of several major sporting events including Men’s and Women’s NCAA Tournaments, the NBA Season, the NHL Season and the MLS Season. But arguably, the most exciting thing that this virus took from us was the Big Ten Basketball Tournament.

The Big Ten Tournament was something that any fan of basketball would’ve been looking forward to. Going into this post season, the Big Ten was easily the most successful conference in Division I basketball. Lots of broadcasters had stated that the Big Ten was expected to get 10 or 11 at-large bids into the tournament. Now that sounds like madness, if you ask me.

But sadly, we will never know how that would’ve played out for both the individual teams and the Big Ten as a conference. The Big Ten had snuck in two of the first round games on Wednesday, March 11th before they made the call to cancel the tournament. Minnesota defeated Northwestern with a score of 74-57. This was followed by Indiana beating Nebraska, 89-64. That was the only taste of the excitement that we were able to get before the tournament was called off.

We can probably imagine that this decision was a tough one for the Big Ten to make. This had several exciting seniors having already played their last games without knowing that would be the case. Some that come to mind are Lamar Stevens from Penn State or Cassius Winston from Michigan St.

While both of these guys are likely to be picked up by an NBA team following the abrupt end to their collegiate career, there are a lot of players who will not get that same luxury. I think facts like that truly put into perspective how much of an impact this coronavirus is having on the lives of our college athletes and the sport realm as a whole.