National Junior College Basketball Tournaments Canceled

Citing concerns over the coronavirus situation, the National Junior College Athletic Association has canceled their men's and women's basketball championships. The Casper College women's team earned a spot at the national tournament in Lubbock, Texas by virtue of winning the Region IX Tournament. The T-Birds did receive the 11th seed in the tournament but with recent developments, their season will come to an end with a record of 29-3. The Western Wyoming men were the Region IX champions and were seeded 13th at the national tournament in Hutchison, Kansas. The Mustangs finish the year at 30-4.

Here's the full statement from the NJCAA:

Following the recent recommendations from the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the NJCAA has made the difficult decision to cancel all upcoming basketball championships as well as spring competition, effective immediately.

"In light of the progressive evolvement of the COVID-19 situation, the NJCAA has decided to end all competition for the remainder of the academic year," stated Dr. Christopher Parker, NJCAA President & CEO. "As an association, the NJCAA exhausted all possible avenues to potentially postpone competition for both upcoming basketball championships and spring sport competition. We believe following the recommendations of the CDC is in the best interest of our member colleges and our student-athletes."

Spring competition includes all practices, regular season, postseason, and national championship play.

Regarding eligibility for spring sports, no spring sport student-athlete who was enrolled at a member college in 2020 will be charged a year of participation.

Along with the cancellation of competition, all on and off-campus recruiting for all sports will be halted until April 15 with further evaluation to be assessed at that point in time.

The NJCAA will explore the opportunity to expand allowable Letters of Intent for spring sports for both the 2020-21 and 2021-22 academic years under the recommendation of the NJCAA Eligibility Committee.

The NJCAA will continue to monitor the situation and provide updates as more information becomes available.