The deadline to replace a team in the NCAA Tournament has passed without incident.
Going into the tournament, the plan was to yank a team with coronavirus issues within 48 hours of Selection Sunday and replace them with a standby team. (RELATED: David Hookstead Is The True King In The North When It Comes To College Football)
The 2021 NCAA March Madness bracket! ????
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— NCAA Final Four (@FinalFour) March 14, 2021
The deadline for replacement teams being pushed into the field was 6:00 EST Tuesday, and the deadline has come and gone without incident. The field is now officially locked.
If a team has to withdraw at this point because of coronavirus issues, their opponent will advance without having to play the game.
The NCAA announces contingency plans for tournament teams forced to withdraw due to issues related to COVID-19.
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— NCAA March Madness (@marchmadness) February 25, 2021
That’s one major hurdle that the NCAA and all 68 teams in the field have now cleared. There were four teams ready and waiting in the wings to be swapped in if there was a serious situation.
Luckily, there haven’t been any problems to this point.
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Now, we just need to keep everyone healthy and free of the virus as we move forward. The last thing we need is a team getting a bye because their opponent had issues with COVID.
We want to see everyone playing!
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The games start Friday, and I can promise you that I’ll be locked in from the opening tip. Let’s get after it!