UK sold out its tickets to the SEC basketball tournament, but will fans be there?
Kentucky sold out its allotment of about 2,200 tickets for this week’s Southeastern Conference Tournament, Director of Communications Guy Ramsey said Tuesday.
But, that shouldn’t be interpreted as the Big Blue Nation ignoring the perceived threat of the coronavirus. Fans began buying the tickets two months ago, Ramsey said. The deadline for fans to order priority tickets was Oct. 9.
Whether 2,200 UK fans — plus those who got tickets from elsewhere — descend on Nashville again this year remains a question. As the ongoing threat grows, Vanderbilt University, located in Nashville, decided to cancel classes this week and move to online instruction. The school also called off non-athletic events for the rest of the semester.
Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine tweeted Tuesday that his state wanted to curtail attendance at indoor sporting events. Cleveland is a first-weekend site for this year’s NCAA Tournament, and Dayton is scheduled to host the event’s “First Four” games next week.
“For indoor events, we are asking for no events with spectators other than the athletes, parents and others essential to the game,” DeWine tweeted. “Right now, outdoor events can continue.”
In the wake of that announcement, the Mid-American Conference announced no fans would be in attendance for its men’s and women’s tournaments in Cleveland this week.
NCAA President Mark Emmert released a statement on Tuesday. He said that no changes were planned for the NCAA Tournament. And each conference will determine its policy about its own tournament, Emmert tweeted.
The SEC has issued a series of moves to deal with the virus that stop short of limiting fan attendance. The latest came Tuesday when the SEC said that media members will not be allowed in locker rooms for interviews.
Earlier, the SEC announced that the men’s tournament will follow the example of its women’s tournament last week in Greenville, S.C. Additional hand sanitizers will be present at the entrances to Nashville’s Bridgestone Arena, at the scorer’s table and in referees’ locker rooms. Hospital grade disinfectant will be used in team locker rooms before and after players are there.
University of Kentucky spokesman Jay Blanton said Tuesday night that school president Eli Capilouto planned to be among those in attendance in Nashville.
Meanwhile, reaction to the coronavirus threat has been widespread.
Berea College President Lyle Roelofs announced that the school will not hold classes after Friday, ending the semester now. He also informed the USA South Conference that Berea’s athletic teams will not compete after Thursday.
The Ivy League announced Tuesday that it was canceling its postseason tournaments and awarding its NCAA Tournament bids to regular-season men’s champion Yale and women’s winner Princeton. The Big West Conference announced its tournaments would be played without spectators.
Chicago State University and the University of Missouri Kansas City — two Division I basketball programs — canceled road trips to Seattle University late last week. And Johns Hopkins University hosted NCAA Division III men’s basketball tournament games without fans over the weekend.
Stanford announced it would limit attendance at sporting events in order to allow fans to keep a social distance from each other.
And at the Big Ten women’s tournament last week, the conference had crews use antiseptic wipes to clean chairs on both teams’ benches at halftimes and between games. The Big Ten will do the same at the upcoming men’s tournament.
The Tennessee Department of Health had confirmed seven cases of coronavirus in the state as of Tuesday afternoon but had stopped releasing county-by-county data, the Tennessean in Nashville reported.
Kentucky players said they are on alert for the coronavirus.
“It affects us in some ways … ,” Nick Richards said Tuesday. “Our coaches talk to us every day about using hand sanitizer every day (and) and washing our hands properly. Just little stuff like that to make sure we don’t catch it.”
Richards acknowledged that the players are concerned.
“We don’t want to get sick,” he said. “But, at the same time, it’s our responsibility to do what we’ve got to do to make sure we don’t catch that virus.”
Last week UK players applauded the NBA advising players not to slap palms or exchange high fives with fans.
“We think it’s smart,” EJ Montgomery said of the NBA’s advice. “I’ve been doing that for awhile now. Just a smart idea for what’s going on right now.”
When asked during Monday’s SEC teleconference about the coronavirus, Florida Coach Mike White and LSU Coach Will Wade shied from their usual position of authority.
“Honestly, I haven’t monitored that much,” Wade said. “I saw one case in Davidson County. I leave that to the experts (and) doctors and people a lot smarter than I that can figure that out.”
Meanwhile, Dr. Brian Hainline, the NCAA’s Chief Medical Officer, told CNN that the organization will work with host schools, conference offices and community partners in monitoring the virus and making decisions about the NCAA Tournament. He suggested that the situation remains fluid.
“It’s sort of like preparing for a hurricane and not knowing if it’s going to fizzle out or be a Category 5,” Hainline said in a story CNN posted Tuesday. “But, we have to be ready for every scenario.”
This story was originally published March 10, 2020 at 6:34 PM.
