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Coronavirus: Recruiting visits, NCAA winter and spring tournaments cancelled

By Caleb Calhoun

SALT LAKE CITY, UT - MARCH 16: The NCAA logo is seen in the second half of the game between the Northwestern Wildcats and the Vanderbilt Commodores during the first round of the 2017 NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament at Vivint Smart Home Arena on March 16, 2017 in Salt Lake City, Utah. (Photo by Christian Petersen/Getty Images)
SALT LAKE CITY, UT - MARCH 16: The NCAA logo is seen in the second half of the game between the Northwestern Wildcats and the Vanderbilt Commodores during the first round of the 2017 NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament at Vivint Smart Home Arena on March 16, 2017 in Salt Lake City, Utah. (Photo by Christian Petersen/Getty Images) /
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COVID-19 has wrecked college sports. Due to the coronavirus outbreak, the SEC suspended recruiting visits, and the NCAA suspended postseason tournaments.

College athletics has come to a halt due to the coronavirus, and all the news affects the Tennessee Vols in different ways. Even the football program is taking a hit, and that sport isn’t even in season at the moment.

Anyway, the NCAA announced that it has cancelled the men’s and women’s basketball NCAA Tournaments and all other postseason championships for 2020 due to concerns from the outbreak. This came hours after the SEC, Big Ten, AAC and ACC joined other conferences to cancel their basketball tournaments.

All of this comes a day after the NBA suspended its season due to news that Rudy Gobert had been stricken with the coronavirus. Before that, leagues were mostly resuming play even if they restricted fan attendance. Only the Ivy League basketball tournament was cancelled.

Now, however, everything is coming to a halt. And for the Tennessee Vols, there is more news. The SEC announced that it has suspended recruiting visits on and off campus at least until March 30, according to reports. Commissioner Greg Sankey made that announcement after he announced the decision to shut down the tournament.

Now, given the fact that spring practice was underway, there wouldn’t be much recruiting anyway. However, the team was set to be off next week due to spring break anyway. As a result, Jeremy Pruitt could have done a lot of recruiting during that time. Remember, he is still in the running to potentially land five-star running back Zachary Evans as a late commitment to his 2020 class.

All of it is now out the window. It obviously affects everybody in the league. The coronavirus hasn’t shut down major sports on this level on Rocky Top since World War II. Previous outside circumstances postponed games, but this is cancelling postseasons. What happens next remains to be seen, but this is an insane development.

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