97.1 The Ticket -- There will be no buzzer beaters. No Cinderellas. No March Madness.
That also means the likes of Michigan State's Cassius Winston and Michigan's Zavier Simpson have presumably played their final college basketball games.
The NCAA
outright canceled the upcoming men's and women's basketball tournaments amid the coronavirus pandemic, meaning it will not be staged in April or May, or any time down the road. While some are calling for the NCAA to grant an extra year of eligibility to seniors -- not only in college basketball, but other spring sports that are presumably not going to continue their seasons at all -- for the time being, it appears the careers of Winston, Simpson, Kyle Ahrens, Jon Teske and countless others across the nation are over.
After learning the news their seasons had been cut short, many Spartans and Wolverines took to social media Thursday afternoon.
Winston's post simply said, "Forever a SpartanDawg."
Winston was on the cusp of reaching the 2,000 career points mark.
Ahrens, wrapping up a five-year career that saw many ups and downs with injuries, penned a lengthy note thanking fans, coaches and teammates for his time in East Lansing.
A post shared by
Kyle Ahrens (@kyleahrens33) on Mar 12, 2020 at 2:53pm PDT
Michigan State's Connor George took things in a bit of a different direction, claiming the Spartans should be crowned national champions based on their preseason No. 1 ranking.
Sooooo.... The national champion goes to the pre season #1 ranked Michigan State Spartans correct?? @NCAA
— Conner George (@ConnerGeorge3)
March 12, 2020 Simpson's message was short and to the point.
There's no telling what would have unfolded over the next three and a half weeks -- that's the beauty of the NCAA Tournament -- but one thing is for certain. It's a bummer to see so many careers and seasons cut short.
