The Big Ten announced Thursday morning the cancelation of the remaining rounds of the Big Ten Tournament, and IU Athletics, minutes before, announced the cancelation of its spring game on April 17.
In the matter of minutes, The Big Ten announced the cancelation of the remaining rounds of the Big Ten Tournament and IU Athletics announced the cancelation of its April 17 football spring game in separate releases.
The news comes amid a flurry of adjusted schedules due concerns of further spreading COVID-19.
"The Big Ten Conference will use this time to work with the appropriate medical experts and institutional leadership to determine next steps for moving forward in regard to the COVID-19 pandemic," the conference said in a release Thursday morning.
IU Athletics broke the news of its spring game cancelation in a release that detailed its intentions, in accordance with the Big Ten's efforts denoted in a statement Wednesday evening, to limit attendance at remaining winter and spring athletic events to essential personnel only – including student-athletes, coaches, event staff, essential team and conference staff, TV network partners, credentialed media, and immediate family members of the participating teams.
"IU Athletics will continue to work with the Big Ten Conference, the NCAA, the Indiana University Athletics Medical Advisory Group and campus partners in monitoring and responding to the coronavirus situation," IU Athletics said in the release.
The first round of the Big Ten Tournament was highlighted by the sickness of Nebraska head coach Fred Hoiberg, as he was rushed to the hospital after getting sick in his team's locker room. The Nebraska players were quarantined in the locker room for a couple hours after the game, and only Indiana head coach Archie Miller spoke at the postgame press conference in an effort to rush the Indiana players to their hotel.
Hoiberg was later diagnosed with Influenza A, not COVID-19.
The cancelation does not come as a surprise after the NBA suspended its entire season moving forward following the Utah Jazz's Rudy Gobert's positive test for coronavirus and the Jazz's Donovan Mitchell's positive test result Thursday morning. The Big Ten had also limited attendance for the remaining rounds of the tournament to essential personnel only.
The NCAA Tournament was also limited to essential personnel only, with media attendance still undecided.
Indiana University canceled a two-week period of in-person classes following the student body's spring break, an initiative that will last through April 5. Other universities, such as Ball State and Michigan, have canceled the remainder of their semesters, and Yale has canceled athletics altogether.
Ohio State and Michigan both canceled their spring football games Wednesday, and Ohio State head coach Ryan Day said all unofficial and official visits scheduled through April 20 were canceled or postponed and his staff will not begin the evaluation period, which begins April 15, on the recruiting trail until otherwise told.
With the spread of COVID-19 eclipsing the 1,200-case mark late Wednesday night, there is no telling when the snowball of cancelations and postponements in sports will come to a halt, but the IHSAA announced Thursday afternoon the the gymnastics state meet Saturday will continue with no fans and that the boys' basketball regional round Saturday will also continue with essential personnel only.
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