No Winner: ACC Tournament Cancelled Before Duke Plays

The ACC Tournament will not have a winner. Due to the outbreak of the COVID-19 Coronavirus, the remaining three days of the event were cancelled abruptly.

Minutes before the first game of the Quarterfinals was scheduled to start, commissioner John Swofford made the announcement that the even was ending as the league was “trying to make the right decisions for our teams, our students, you the fans, to do what’s right as we move forward.”

“After the recent discussion as of about 15 min ago, the league has made the decision to end this year’s ACC Men’s basketball tournament as of today,” Swofford said. “It’s tough to say those words. We believe it’s the right decision to make at this particular point in time. You can ask why was it not made sooner. That’s a fair question.”

Not only did Duke not play in the 2020 tournament, the Blue Devils never showed up at the arena. Duke was scheduled to play its Quarterfinal game against NC State at 2:30 on Thursday.

ACC regular season champion Florida State was declared the recipient of the league’s automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament, an event that’s more shrouded in uncertainty than before.

On Wednesday, the NCAA announced that games would be held without fans in the stands. Most conference tournaments, including the ACC, followed suit as the day went on.

As of 10:45 Thursday morning, commissioner Swofford reported that a 10:00 conference call with the other conference commissioners resulted in business as usual. The games would go on as scheduled, in front of family members and essential personnel.

Florida State took the floor at about noon for its scheduled 12:30 game against Clemson. Teams usually come out and return to the locker room multiple times as they prepare for a game, but FSU left the floor and never returned. Clemson never left its locker room.

Meanwhile, both schools’ pep bands and cheer squads performed for the small group of fans in the stands—mostly family members of the two teams.

With things continuing to change drastically in a matter of hours—and, at times, minutes—the fate of next week’s tournament is anything but certain. Opening round games are scheduled for Greensboro, and that was Duke’s likely landing spot, according to most bracket projections. Now there are several possible scenarios:

The current plan: Play the games, as scheduled, in front of essential personnel.

Full cancellation: Tournament games are not played at all.

Postponement: The NCAA waits two or more weeks to see how the outbreak is handled before attempting to hold the event.

Scaled-back tournament: A handful of conference winners (which would likely not include Duke) play in a smaller field to determine a champion.