Two high-profile college basketball programs withdrew from the March Madness tournament due to mounting concerns about the coronavirus.
Kansas University, the top team in college basketball according to the weekly Associated Press Top 25 and Coaches Poll, and Duke University announced their exit on Thursday.
“Based on the recommendation of our medical professionals, we have canceled all athletic travel indefinitely. In addition, all home and away athletics events have been suspended indefinitely,” said Kansas’s director of athletics Jeff Long.
Duke’s athletics department issued a similar statement saying they suspended activities “indefinitely.”
The number of people infected with the coronavirus in the United States rose sharply nationwide in recent days, prompting the National Basketball Association, the National Hockey League, and Major League Soccer to suspend their seasons.
NCAA President Mark Emmert announced Wednesday that only essential personnel would be allowed into the arenas for the annual March Madness tournament, which is scheduled to begin on Tuesday.
Nearly every conference in college basketball has decided not to play their end-of-season conference tournament, which comes before the larger tournament.
No college basketball player has tested positive for the coronavirus.
COVID-19 cases have appeared on every continent except Antarctica since the virus first appeared in Wuhan, China, last year. Nearly 128,000 people have tested positive for the virus globally, and it has killed at least 4,717 people. In the U.S., more than 1,300 people have been diagnosed with the virus across 45 states and Washington, D.C., and at least 39 patients have died.
