Early this century, the NCAA enlisted the accounting firm Deloitte to conduct a risk assessment, one that looked at the seemingly preposterous notion that the NCAA men’s basketball tournament—one of the most lucrative events in sports—would be canceled.
Indiana University on Tuesday announced the appointment of longtime IU athletics administrator Scott Dolson as the school’s new athletic director.
So March rolled on in Indianapolis, even as workers with bleach wipes disinfected the benches every halftime and between every game at the Big Ten tournament. Basketball in the age of the coronavirus.
The decision comes one day after the Indianapolis-based NCAA said it would not allow fans to attend games in hopes of stopping the potential spread of the virus.
Combined, the events were expected to draw in upwards of $35 million in revenue for local businesses, including hotels and restaurants.
The decision came less than two hours after the NCAA said it would play its March Madness games in empty stadiums and shortly after the first Big Ten game tipped off at Bankers Life Fieldhouse.
The Indianapolis-based NCAA faced mounting pressure over how it will conduct its marquee event Tuesday, the same day the Ivy League canceled its conference basketball tournaments and two other Division I conferences announced that their tournaments would be played without spectators.
If adopted, new criteria would go into effect for the 2020-21 academic year and be a boon for Division I athletes in high-profile sports such as football and basketball.
The small school has gotten big results by hiring one of the giant names in Indiana sports.
The Indianapolis-based NCAA will now permit elite athletes to be paid for training expenses by the U.S. Olympic Committee and other national governing bodies.
Todd Lickliter, a former National Basketball Coach of the Year at Butler University, is replacing Walter McCarty, who was fired by the University of Evansville amid allegations of sexual misconduct.
The entire men’s basketball team and coaching staff died on Dec. 13, 1977, after the plane carrying them crashed on takeoff. It was a seminal moment for the city and the University of Evansville.
The perennial Big Ten doormat, known more for its basketball prowess than its football progress, has a chance to match its most wins in program history on Thursday night.
U.S. Sen. Chris Murphy, who co-chairs a bipartisan congressional working group on athlete compensation with Utah Republican Mitt Romney, also announced they would meet Tuesday with NCAA President Mark Emmert to discuss national policies for paying athletes.
Fred Glass, who has led the IU athletic department since 2009, said “it’s time” for him to step down and spend more time with his family. His successor will be chosen by IU President Michael McRobbie.
The games had been scheduled for Cincinnati, but the NCAA said the city needs time to complete renovations of its arena.
NCAA President Mark Emmert said he is spending most of his time trying to figure out how the NCAA and its hundreds of member schools will allow college athletes to get compensation under the auspices of amateur athletics.
The contest was only the second deemed to be a sellout by the Big Ten in the title game’s history. The other came in 2015 when Michigan State played Iowa in a battle that featured two teams ranked in the top five.
Tom Allen led Indiana University to its first winning regular season in 12 years and its first winning conference season in 26 years.
When schools run afoul the Indianapolis-based NCAA, they no longer blindly accept whatever punishment is meted out. Even those that suggest or levy self-punishments often close ranks, hire outside counsel and vow to fight.
