By RICHIE HALL
It was one of the last sports standing after the wave of cancellations due to the coronavirus breakout.
But on Friday, the IHSAA announced that the boys basketball tournament would be postponed. The tournament was supposed to play its regional games today, but those have now been pushed back indefinitely.
Shortly after noon, the IHSAA released the following statement: “Due to the number of schools closing after today for an extended period of time, it has become apparent the IHSAA boys basketball tournament series cannot be completed as scheduled. Subsequently, the boys basketball tournament is postponed immediately.”
Carmel was to play in the Logansport regional today, taking on New Haven in the second semi-final game. That contest would have followed the first semi-final between Marion and Fort Wayne Snider.
“This time in our society is unprecedented,” said Carmel athletic director Jim Inskeep. “I appreciate the efforts of the IHSAA to make accommodations but at the end of the day sometimes things just don’t work. I think everyone is taking the proper precautions for the greater good of our state and nation.”
The IHSAA had already tried to accommodate the quickly-changing situation. On Thursday, the organization announced that regional games would be played but with limited spectators. That was still the plan as of Friday morning before the IHSAA made the decision to postpone the tournament.
Commissioner Bobby Cox said Friday night on the Indiana Sports Talk radio show that it was “impossible to tell people that the boys basketball tournament will continue on a specific date.” The boys basketball tournament has been played to completion every year since the inaugural event in 1911, and has never once been canceled or ended before the state finals.
There will be one IHSAA event taking place today. The gymnastics state finals are set to begin at 1 p.m. at Ball State University’s Worthen Arena. No spectators will be allowed at the event.
INDYCAR CANCELS RACES
In addition to the boys basketball tournament, another sport with Indiana ties announced it was postponing part of its season on Friday.
INDYCAR said it was canceling all of its events through April. The season was to begin Sunday at the Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg (Fla.), then continue with three races next month: The Grand Prix of Alabama in Birmingham, the Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach (Calif.) and the AutoNation INDYCAR Challenge at the Circuit of The Americas in Austin, Texas.
INDYCAR released the following statement on Friday: “After careful consideration, including regular communication with our event promoters, health officials, and the city administrations in our respective race markets regarding COVID-19, we have made the decision to cancel all NTT INDYCAR Series events through April. This begins with the Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg which was to begin today and run through Sunday, March 15 and continues through the AutoNation INDYCAR Challenge at Circuit of the Americas in Austin, Texas which was to take place April 24-26. Although we are disappointed to delay the start to this INDYCAR season and will miss our incredible fans who support us each year in St. Petersburg, Birmingham, Long Beach, and Austin,the safety of our fans, participants, staff, partners, and media will always remain our top priority. We will continue to coordinate with public health experts and government officials as we determine the appropriate plans for resuming our schedule.”
NASCAR also postponed its next two races, this weekend’s Folds of Honor QuikTrip 500 at the Atlanta Motor Speedway and the Dixie Vodka 400 next weekend at the Homestead-Miami Speedway. The next scheduled race is March 29, the O’Reilly Auto Parts 500 at the Texas Motor Speedway, but NASCAR said in a statement that it “will continue to monitor this dynamic situation as we assess future race events.”
The Carmel boys basketball team, shown here after winning the Sectional 8 championship last Saturday, is among the 64 teams that was to participate in an IHSAA regional today. However, the IHSAA postponed the boys basketball tournament on Friday. (Kent Graham/File photo)