The NCAA intends to extend scholarships after coronavirus pretty much ended sports for the rest of the school year.
According to Jeff Goodman and Nicole Auerbach, the NCAA will grant “relief” for scholarship athletes in spring sports. (RELATED: David Hookstead Is The True King In The North When It Comes To College Football)
It’s not known at this time if that will apply to college basketball players who had March Madness stolen from them because of the virus.
Per source, NCAA sent a note to membership today saying it believes “it will be appropriate to grant relief for the use of a season for competition for student-athletes who have participated in spring sports.”
NCAA will start working on issues tied to this & winter athletes.
— Nicole Auerbach (@NicoleAuerbach) March 13, 2020
The NCAA’s Council Coordination Committee has agreed to grant relief for the use of a season of competition for student-athletes who have participated in spring sports.
Committee will also discuss issues for winter sport student-athletes.
— Jeff Goodman (@GoodmanHoops) March 13, 2020
While it makes sense for baseball players to get another year of eligibility given the time of year coronavirus hit, I’m really not sure how this can apply to basketball.
The basketball season was cut short, but the majority of it was played out. We were only a few days out from the start of the tournament when coronavirus shut the whole thing down.
Would the NCAA just give every single senior another year of eligibility? That makes no sense considering the majority of teams weren’t going to make the tournament.
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It’s even made more difficult to figure out when you consider the fact the conference tournaments were never played out.
That means schools that weren’t going to make the tournament can now claim they would have if given the chance to play.
It’s going to be an utter mess if the NCAA applies this to men’s basketball, and I say that as a huge fan of the sport.
At this point in time, the seniors are just going to have to go forward with their lives. Does it suck? Yes. Do I wish there was a better solution and we got March Madness? Yes, but these are the cards we’ve been dealt.
It’s awful, we all hate it but we just have to live with it.
