Could COVID-19 Effect The Basketball Tournament?
For the second straight year, West Virginia University will be represented in The Basketball Tournament by "Best Virginia".
A year ago, the team consisted of a mixture of guys from the 2010 Final Four squad and some from the "Press Virginia" era. Best Virginia defeated Seven City Royalty in the opening round game in 2019 by a 79-63 score before falling to Overseas Elite, 80-68.
John Flowers, one of the team's main organizers was able to not only get the team back into the tournament, but received a bid for the team to host a regional in this year's tournament in Charleston. No, it's not Morgantown, but it's in the state and gives fans a much easier trip to support Best Virginia.
Not only is this great for the fans, but this would bring a fair amount of money into the city of Charleston and the state of West Virginia. With the NBA suspending their season, the NCAA canceling all spring sports and the MLB being put on hold due to the coronavirus, it wouldn't surprise me to see The Basketball Tournament be pushed back or canceled as well. The first game of the regional is scheduled for July 26th, so even though it is still a few months away, there's no telling when the spread of COVID-19 will start to decline. There has even been speculation about the college football season taking place as ESPN's Kirk Herbstreit said he would be "shocked" if there is football this fall.
Could COVID-19 cause Best Virginia to miss out on hosting a regional?
Flowers tells Mountaineer Maven that "everything is going as planned as of right now."
What do you think will happen to The Basketball Tournament? Let us know your thoughts in the comment section below!
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