The sudden departure of VCU number 10 from the 2021 NCAA tournament resulted from three players testing positive for COVID-19 over a 48-hour period, sources told CBS Sports. It is the first time since last summer that VCU has had a player tested positive for COVID-19, a source said, and this resulted in a no-contest being called in their scheduled game against No. 7 seed Oregon before the complaint Saturday night.
Internally, VCU is wondering if the Atlantic 10 Tournament title game website is responsible for the program leaving the NCAA tournament. Sources told CBS Sports that VCU, St. Bonaventure and the entire official event team stayed at the Dayton Marriott – across the street from the UD Arena, site of the title game in Dayton, Ohio.
“I am shocked that São Bonaventure has no positive case,” said a source.
St. Bonaventure’s number 9 played on Saturday, dropping 76-61 to LSU’s number 8 in the first round.
College basketball officer Roger Ayers worked on the Atlantic 10 Tournament title game between St. Bonaventure and VCU. He subsequently tested positive for COVID-19 after arriving in Indianapolis for the NCAA Tournament. Ayers is battling the coronavirus and told CBS Sports that he has battled all week.
“The hotel was packed,” a source told CBS Sports. “They had some kind of other tournament there. People who didn’t adhere to the protocols, walking around the hotel and the lobby without masks. There were people there who weren’t from the A-10. The NCAA can control who’s there, who’s in the buildings, hotels, at the convention center. You have to have a credential with your photo that you wear around your neck wherever you go. Everyone has to wear masks, four people in the elevators, no congregation in the lobby. What’s happening. “
This was not entirely the case at the Dayton Marriott.
“There was some [other] event there, “added the source.” There were children, parents and people with differences of opinion [about COVID-19] and the hotel staff – I witnessed the women at check-in shouting at people walking through the lobby about putting on their masks. “
When contacted for a statement on the subject in the A-10 Tournament title game, league spokesman Drew Dickerson shared the following statement with CBS Sports: “The A-10 teams were all in the same hotel. All teams they had dedicated floors separate from each other and separate from the public. The officers, too. There was no mixing with the teams; the teams had separate meeting rooms from each other and separate from each other. “
The VCU technical team met with players on Saturday afternoon on their dedicated hotel floor ahead of the scheduled game against Oregon. The three players with a positive result were unable to attend. It is not yet known when the team – and the players with a positive result – will be able to leave and return to Virginia.