Sophia Michaels
The NCAA Tournament, as of now, is planning to still take place, but it was announced on Wednesday that it will be played without fans in attendance due to the COVID-19 outbreak.
The NBA reportedly planned to make the same announcement on Thursday, but was forced to suspend the season indefinitely after it was learned that Jazz center Rudy Gobert had tested positive for Coronavirus just prior to tipoff in Oklahoma City. The lingering question across all sports has been what will happen if a player tests positive, which hadn’t been able to be answered due to the lack of testing available across the country.
Now, we know that it has reached the NBA, and when the NBA suspended the season, many immediately looked to other leagues wondering if they must do the same, including whether the NCAA must consider the possibility of canceling the NCAA Tournament. Those whispers only grew louder after Nebraska head coach Fred Hoiberg was seen looking very ill on the bench and had to leave the game late in the second half with an illness and was taken to the hospital.
The Nebraska team was not made available to the media after the game, as they usually would, and were kept in the locker room under quarantine, per Chris Heady of the Omaha World-Herald.
The Nebraska basketball team is quarantined in the locker room, per source.
— Christopher Heady (@heady_chris) March 12, 2020
We can now confirm Fred Hoiberg was transported to a local hospital emergency room, where he remains.
— Christopher Heady (@heady_chris) March 12, 2020
We do not know, but Nebraska remains in the locker room, where they’ve been since the end of the basketball game. https://t.co/CZNSmH3Xax
— Christopher Heady (@heady_chris) March 12, 2020
Given the nature of testing it was unknown how long the Huskers would remain under quarantine and whether Hoiberg’s illness is simply him being sick or him having COVID-19. At this point, it’s a tense and scary situation and the hope is, obviously, that Hoiberg does not have it, while also being able to make a full recovery from whatever ailment this appears to be.
Heady reported a little later that the team had been given clearance to board the bus and return to the hotel, which is hopefully good news.
The Nebraska basketball team just got the OK to leave the locker room and load onto the bus.
— Christopher Heady (@heady_chris) March 12, 2020
The team is being slowly released, not all at once. So they haven’t all left the locker room yet. This according to security outside the locker room.
— Christopher Heady (@heady_chris) March 12, 2020
In what was hopefully a precautionary measure, the postgame cleaning crew at the venue was abruptly cleared out a little later on Wednesday evening.
Bankers Life Fieldhouse just cleared out all of the post-game cleanup crew. “Out. Now. Everybody out,” someone yelled to all the clean up crew in the stands.
— Jeff Rabjohns (@JeffRabjohns) March 12, 2020
We will continue to provide updates as they are available, but one would think this, coupled with the NBA situation, is only increasing the likelihood that the NCAA Tournament may be called off.
Hoiberg was reportedly released from the hospital late Wednesday night, and it was announced via team release that he was diagnosed with influenza A and not COVID-19.
Written by: Uproxx
