Coach K Gives Opinion on Tournament Cancellation
Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski released a video on the program’s Twitter account, addressing the cancellation of March Madness.
“This is unprecedented,” he said “You can’t look back and say, ‘What did we do when it happened before?’ It did not happen before, and what happens in these situations, there are unknowns, uncertainties, and people have to make decisions based on that and then keep open minded about what transpires. This could be more long-term than we can even imagine. In that regard, there’s tremendous empathy for student-athletes, especially the seniors—first of all, on the basketball team, because it’s at the end of our season. March Madness—one of the really gifts that our country has that makes everyone feel better. These are moments that these kids work hard for and live for. I have great empathy for that and feel bad for them. I feel extremely bad for spring sports. They’re never even able to have a season, but again, these are very difficult times. I would hope there would at least be some relief for the spring sports, that people would be granted an extra year of eligibility. Seniors would be able to come back. Scholarship limits would be flexible in that regard. If they want to, and I think it would be appropriate—although only about 20 percent of NCAA men’s basketball teams have made it. Most seasons were over already—to just take a look at what you would do with seniors. I think seniors being eligible for spring sports should be done, and when they do that, put on the table for discussion what about the kids that were not able to finish their senior year playing basketball.”
