PEORIA, Ill. — The NCAA has cancelled both the men’s and women’s Division I basketball tournaments, bringing an abrupt end to the 2019-2020 season because of coronavirus concerns.
The Bradley men were supposed to play in their respective tournament.
Braves Coach Brian Wardle said the team is sad.
“We understand the situation,” he said.
“We’re empathatic, but it’s out of our control. All of this is out of our control.
“I’m very proud of our group. We’ve controlled what we could control, and that was winning the [Missouri Valley] Conference Tournament.
Wardle said he warned the team this could happen.
“When the NBA suspended their season, I thought this could definitely happen, for sure.
“I told them in the next 24 to 48 hours, a lot could happen.
“I think it was all unpredictable for everyone. It’s come on like a storm with how quickly things have happened.”
Despite the disappointment, Wardle expressed pride in what his team accomplished in the 2019-20 campaign.
“Not many teams get to end their year cutting the nets down and holding up trophies, and we were able to do that. I don’t know how many did, maybe eight or nine, but we were one of them.”
On the women’s side, Coach Andrea Gorski and her squad were gearing up for their own MVC Tournament and a date tomorrow with Valparaiso, expecting to leave at 11:30 A.M. Thursday, when they found out after a Thursday morning practice session the Atlantic Coast Conference, Big Ten, and Big 12 canceled their tournaments.
“I talked to [Senior Woman Administrator] Jen Jones and said maybe we shouldn’t load up the bus at 11:30 and let’s wait for the MVC conference call at 12:30.
“That’s when we were told our tournament wouldn’t be moving forward.”
Gorski called telling her team about the cancellation “devastating. One of the hardest things I’ve had to do as a coach.”
That said, she expressed many of the same sentiments about her squad Wardle expressed about his.
“We had a WNIT berth, which women’s basketball has never done at Bradley,” she said.
“Things happen for a reason. I truly believe that.”
The Lady Braves finished the season 20-6. The men ended theirs 23-11, bringing home the first-ever consecutive MVC championship in school history.
