INDIANAPOLIS (AP) – Parts of the NCAA’s finely honed plan for playing March Madness amid the pandemic came into question Tuesday just as teams began gearing up for practices to tune up for the games later this week.
One referee tested positive for COVID-19, forcing him and five others who went out to dinner with him, out of the tournament.
Their excursion ran counter to a protocol that called on all players and staff to eat at their NCAA hotels, but because the refs’ rooms weren’t ready and there was no food available, they were given a pass.
It resulted in a big shake-up of the officiating corps for the games, 52 of which take place Thursday through next Monday at different arenas in Indianapolis, Bloomington and Purdue. Though the NCAA brought plenty of backup referees, the mass departure served up yet another illustration of how things can go wrong.
“It’s not ever going to be perfect in a pandemic,” NCAA vice president Dan Gavitt said. “It’s an unfortunate and disappointing circumstance for all involved. But I don’t think there’s something that can be pinpointed as a kind of failure here. Just an unfortunate set of circumstances.”