No March Madness for TCU women. No College World Series possibility for TCU baseball.
.jpg "TCU’s Raegan Pebley is hopeful her team is able to compete in March Madness.")
TCU women’s basketball coach Raegan Pebley received the dreaded phone call during a practice session on Thursday morning at Municipal Auditorium.
The Big 12 was canceling its men’s and women’s tournaments in Kansas City amid the coronavirus pandemic. Later in the day, the NCAA canceled March Madness and its spring championships (which includes the College World Series and the gymnastics championships scheduled to be held at Fort Worth’s Dickies Arena on April 17-18).
“We were in the middle of practice when I got the call and stopped a drill,” Pebley told the Star-Telegram. “I had to tell a group of women something I was praying I wouldn’t have to.”
The sadness was obvious in her voice. The Horned Frogs were the No. 2-seed with visions of possibly cutting down the nets as tournament champions.
As Pebley spoke, the NCAA had yet to make its decision. She remained hopeful that the NCAA Tournament would be played, even if it had to be delayed weeks and become “May Madness.”
“I think playing the tournament is the right thing to do,” Pebley said. “We’re doing the right thing in the moment right now. Once we move past this stage, let them finish out what they started.”
Unfortunately for Pebley and her players, the NCAA went forward with canceling the tournament.
The Horned Frogs (22-7, 13-5 Big 12) would have been a lock for an at-large bid in the NCAAs. It would have been the first March Madness berth for Pebley since she came to TCU in the 2014-15 season, and the program’s first in a decade (2010).
For a team with six seniors, the news of March Madness being canceled is devastating.
“Our journey wasn’t just this season,” Pebley said. “Two seasons ago we were among the first four out. Last year we were the first one out. This year we’ve done everything we’ve needed to do to position ourselves to get in the NCAA Tournament and advance.
“The Big 12 tournament was part of the process. Our players were going in it to win a championship and get the best seed possible. My heart breaks for them.”
Baseball suspended
TCU baseball coach Jim Schlossnagle remained hopeful on Thursday morning that a three-game series with Maryland would be played this weekend at Lupton Stadium.
Maryland was scheduled to fly to Fort Worth. But that series will not be played as the Big 12 has suspended all sports until at least March 29. The NCAA, meanwhile, already canceled its entire spring championships including the College World Series.
Among the suspended events by the Big 12 include all regular-season competitions, on- and off-campus recruiting and out-of-season practices.
The suspension does not include campus-based practices for in-season sports, strength and conditioning activities for all sports and does not apply to teams and individuals participating in NCAA Championship competition.
Schlossnagle would prefer playing games, but said: “At the same time, you can’t put the players and umpires and coaches at risk.”
This story was originally published March 12, 2020 at 3:17 PM.
