GT-UVA ACC Semifinal canceled (COVID)
The ACC announced that the Georgia Tech vs. Virginia game has been canceled following a positive test, subsequent quarantining, and contact tracing within the Virginia program. Georgia Tech will advance to the men's ACC Tournament championship game.
Both teams are considered locks for the tournament, so unlike Duke, this could have ramifications for next week.
March 12th, 2021 at 10:07 AM ^
COVID is the true wildcard of the NCAA tourney, for sure. Positive tests, and boom -- your team is done. It WILL happen to at least one team. I'm just hoping it ain't ours.
March 12th, 2021 at 10:10 AM ^
I'm hoping it ain't ours and it ain't a team we had just played and beaten.
March 12th, 2021 at 10:19 AM ^
They should just cancel the rest of the ACC tournament.
March 12th, 2021 at 10:41 AM ^
Cancelling the rest of the B1G wouldn't really make me feel bad. If not for Covid then for the potential for more injuries.
March 12th, 2021 at 11:07 AM ^
The consequences are fairly minor with these cancellations, but what happens when an Elite 8 team gets COVID? A Final Four team? That'll be when rubber meets the road. I find it somewhat hard to believe a Final Four team would be forced to forfeit, but who knows
March 12th, 2021 at 12:35 PM ^
Fairly minor depends on how long Virginia needs to quarantine and isolate. If it's a week then they could play the first round on saturday. If they need to isolate and quarantine for more then a week they are out of the ncaa tourney.
March 12th, 2021 at 10:16 AM ^
This could get very interesting. We are less than a week away from the start of the big one. How are the quarantine rules going to be applied???
March 12th, 2021 at 10:46 AM ^
What I read is you have to have at least 5 players to play and all of those have to be 7 days symptom free. So Virginia technically can get the Friday game and be fine.
March 12th, 2021 at 11:05 AM ^
I think the NCAA said you just need 5 healthy players to play. It will be interesting to see that actually happen. Said team would almost certainly end the game with only 3 or 4 players due to fouling out
March 12th, 2021 at 11:16 AM ^
Matt Norlander had a pretty extensive article on all of the protocols for this. It sounds like with the electronic contact tracing they are hopeful that a single (or even two or three) test would not automatically disqualify a team.
The NCAA website has it laid out very nicely. One thing I found interesting is all the players will be wearing contact tracing devices.
March 12th, 2021 at 10:39 AM ^
It's a good thing the NCAA is herding all of the teams into Indianapolis for the tournament - and also allowing fans to attend the games.
The chances of a Covid outbreak and/or contact tracing is much lower that way...
/s
March 12th, 2021 at 10:43 AM ^
Is the NCAA going to bubble all of the teams in Indy? i.e. keep them in their rooms and apart from everybody else, parents, other teams, etc.
March 12th, 2021 at 10:44 AM ^
Yeah, UVa possibly missing the tournament because of this will have legitimate issues for lots of teams.
March 12th, 2021 at 11:04 AM ^
I wonder what the odds are someone wins an autobid due to COVID
March 12th, 2021 at 11:12 AM ^
Good thing Duke pulled out yesterday. This puts them right at the cusp of the full 7 day quarentine heading into next Friday.
I knew Coach Kahdhdjskalabdbdksski was up to something.
Duke is on standby to get that autobid should other teams lose to Covid in the upcoming days.
March 12th, 2021 at 11:22 AM ^
UVA will play in the NCAA tourney provided they can limit the Covid spread. Contract tracing documentation will be the savior here - if they can use it to prove nobody else has it before Day 1, they're in. Otherwise, a last minute disqualification of a relatively high seed will cascade throughout the entire tournament. And they won't be the only team causing last minute changes...
That Selection Podcast? Methinks it'll be a placeholder pending C19 outcome testing before 1130 Thursday morning...