Unfortunately it appears the impact of the Corona Virus and the new measures to prevent spread have now impacted all regions of the NCBBA-M, and thus we will have to cancel all 6 regional playoffs due to not having any qualifying teams who are capable of competing during regional weekend (March 27-29).
That said we have decided to crown the following teams as Regional Champions based upon the merit earned over the course of the regular season.
New England – UMass-Lowell – Finished #1 in the North conference during regular season play and is ranked #1 nationally compared to Yale, Boston College and Cortland who all finished #1 in their respective conferences and finished nationally ranked #10, #11, and #15 respectively.
North Atlantic – Penn State – Finished #1 in the West conference during regular season play and is ranked #8 nationally compared to Montclair State, Niagara and Rowan-Gold who all finished #1 in their respective conferences and finished nationally ranked outside the Top 20.
Great Lakes – Ohio State – Finished #1 in the East conference during regular season play and is ranked #2 nationally compared to Notre Dame, Missouri and Indiana who all finished #1 in their respective conferences and finished nationally ranked #3, #4, and #6 respectively.
South Atlantic– South Carolina – Finished #1 in North conference during regular season play and is ranked #5 nationally compared to Florida State and Auburn who all finished #1 in their respective conferences and finished nationally ranked #7 and #16 respectively.
Mid-Atlantic – U.S. Naval Academy – Finished #1 in North conference during regular season play and is ranked #9 nationally compared to Maryland who finished #1 in the South conference and finished nationally ranked outside the Top 20.
Southern Pacific – Arizona State University-Downtown – Finished #1 in East conference during regular season play and is ranked #12 nationally compared to Stanford who finished #1 in the West conference and finished nationally ranked outside the Top 20.
The NCBBA-M is still optimistic that the National Championship will still be able to take place April 17-19. Some people have asked why we haven’t bagged the entire season like the NCAA, but we are approaching this crisis with a sense of hope and optimism. While we are preparing for the worst case scenario, it is easy (yet painful) to send an email and end the 2020 season. What we are also doing is preparing for the BEST case scenario which is much harder. IF this crisis were to improve quickly we would like to be in a position to still host a National Championship for those deserving, able, and willing to compete. This will eventually end, life will eventually return to normal, and when it does we want to be able to help heal the psyche of our student athletes through sport as quickly as possible. That said we are going to monitor status of the situation and on April 1st reevaluate the situation and the possible feasibility of hosting the National Championship and make the call at that time. If we are able to proceed with the National Championship, the regional champions mentioned above would receive automatic bids, as well as two necessary At-Large Bid invitees to get to a field of 8.
We wish we were coming to you in a much different state of the world, and we hope you share the same sense of hope and optimism we do. Please be safe in these coming weeks and we will be in touch in early April with an update on our plans.
Sincerely,
Sandy Sanderson
President
National Club Basketball Association