The Friday night semifinal matchup between Virginia and Georgia Tech at the ACC Tournament has been cancelled due to COVID-19, according to a release from the ACC: “The cancellation follows a positive test, subsequent quarantining, and contact tracing within the Virginia men’s basketball program.”
Georgia Tech now advances to the ACC Tournament finals. The Yellow Jackets will play the winner of Friday’s lone semifinal game: Florida State/North Carolina.
Tonight's ACC Tournament game between Georgia Tech and Virginia has been cancelled due to issues related to COVID-19, per release. Georgia Tech moves on to the title game. Virginia is OUT.
— Jon Rothstein (@JonRothstein) March 12, 2021
This news comes less than 24 hours after Virginia defeated Syracuse in the quarterfinal, thanks to a buzzer-beating 3-pointer from Reece Beekman.
Virginia is now the second ACC team to pull out from the conference tournament due to a positive test. On Thursday, Duke exited the tournament and ended the season with a positive test, too. Following a second round win over Louisville, Duke was set to play Florida State in the quarterfinals — before everything unraveled.
As of right now, the Florida State-UNC game is still scheduled to be played; however, this stuff could change rapidly. If the ACC Tournament were to be cancelled — or what’s left of it — what would happen to the remaining three teams? What’s the policy to determine the league’s Automatic Qualifier for the NCAA Tournament.
March Sadness?
It goes without saying, but this could also complicate the rest of Virginia’s season. The Cavaliers were safely in the field for the NCAA Tournament as an At Large team. However, the timing of this positive result creates a bit of a conundrum. Will Virginia be able to clear protocols in time to play in the NCAA Tournament?
The NCAA requires seven straight negatives from all members of a team’s travel party to play in the NCAA Tournament. Beyond the First Four, the 2021 NCAA Tournament gets going in full force next Friday, March 19. That’s seven days from now.
Source to @CBSSports: Virginia player who has tested positive for COVID-19 played in Thursday's game vs. Syracuse.
— Matt Norlander (@MattNorlander) March 12, 2021
Virginia played a total of eight players in this game.
All of this raise the concerns, again, as to why more time wasn’t added in between the end of the conference tournaments and Selection Sunday.