If there was any hope for fans of college teams like the Miami Hurricanes that spring sports would continue, those were dashed as both the Atlantic Coast Conference and Southeastern Conference put an end to competitions for several months.
In a statement released Tuesday, the ACC – home to the ‘Canes and the rival Florida State Seminoles – announced that it was officially cancelling all competitions for the rest of the spring school semester – a move that completes the initial postponements made last week.
“Our top priority remains the health and safety of our student-athletes as well as our fans, communities and the overall well-being of others during these uncharted times,” Commissioner John Swofford said in a statement. “We are particularly disappointed for our student-athletes and will continue to work with our membership to assess what is appropriate in the future.”
For the ‘Canes, it means that the baseball season comes to an end with a 12-4 record as Miami currently was on a four-game winning streak – but head coach Gino DiMare’s team misses out on a chance to make it back to the College World Series for the first time since the 2016 season.
As for the Miami football team, spring football and the annual game on April 11th are no longer taking place – meaning we won’t likely see head coach Manny Diaz’s team back on the field until their September 5th opener against Temple.
The Seminoles will now have to wait until the fall for their chance to see new head football coach Mike Norvell’s team in action – while the men’s basketball team finished the season as ACC champs, but doesn’t have a chance to take part in the NCAA tournament and finishes with their first top five finish since finishing as national runners-up in the 1971-72 season.
Fans of the Florida Gators saw the SEC’s decision as the end of their baseball season that had the Gators ranked number one entering the final games played before last week’s decision. The men’s basketball team was likely going to make it to March Madness, but finishes with less than 20 wins for the first time since the 2014-15 season.
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Conference USA – the home to both the FIU Panthers and the Florida Atlantic Owls – suspended games last week in response to the growing crisis surrounding the virus, but has not officially cancelled games at this point.
