UPDATED: March 10, at 9:15 p.m.

Syracuse University’s sports teams are proceeding as usual — but prepared for rapid changes — as the university announced plans to suspend on-campus classes through the end of March in response to the spread of coronavirus.

In a statement to The Daily Orange on Tuesday evening, SU Athletics said it is continuing to monitor the situation alongside university officials and is monitoring and assessing information from the Centers for Disease Control and the Onondaga County Department of Health.

The statement read, in part, that the athletics department wants to “inform decisions that are in the best interest of the health and wellness of our student-athletes and staff.”

SU has suspended its abroad programs in Italy and Madrid, as well as domestic spring break programs. As of Tuesday morning, there were 174 reported cases of coronavirus in New York, second-most in the country behind only Washington state. There are no reported coronavirus cases in Onondaga County.

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MORE COVERAGE: 

• ACC cancels men’s basketball tournament amid spread of coronavirus
• Inside the confusion at the ACC tournament amid coronavirus restrictions
• ACC tournament to follow NCAA, Big 10,Big 12 in restricting fan access
• Syracuse men’s lacrosse game at Rutgers to be played without fans
• How coronavirus may affect Syracuse athletics

Guidance related to athletic events “will come following consultation with the ACC,” Mike Haynie, the vice chancellor for strategic initiatives and innovation at SU, said. On Sunday, Syracuse Athletics said “we monitor the situation daily and consult with the appropriate University officials and leadership in the ACC and the schools we are competing against.”

The Syracuse’s men’s basketball team begins its postseason in Greensboro, North Carolina on Wednesday in the Atlantic Coast Conference tournament. The ACC, after consulting with local and state authorities, will hold the event as scheduled but with added precautionary measures, following guidelines from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Those include increased hand-sanitizer stations and frequent cleaning of commonly used areas in the venue.

“NCAA member schools and conferences make their own decisions regarding regular season and conference tournament play,” NCAA president Mark Emmert said in a statement. “As we have stated, we will make decisions on our events based on the best, most current public health guidance available.”

The ACC tournament will still be open to fans, but locker room media availability will be restricted, according to a press release from the conference.

Below is the official release from the Atlantic Coast Conference regarding the ACC men’s basketball tournament.

 

Below is the official release from the Atlantic Coast Conference regarding the ACC men’s basketball tournament.

Essentially, the tournament is still on as usual they’ll just be more hand sanitizer. pic.twitter.com/HJWJAwlI2H

— Josh Schafer (@Schafer_44) March 10, 2020

The ACC’s decision to hold its tournament with added precautions is similar to the Southeastern Conference. The Ivy League announced Tuesday that its conference tournament hosted in Massachusetts is canceled. Middlebury College, a Division-III school in Vermont, announced it’s suspending all spring sports activities, including practice and games, until further notice.

Other SU sports that may be impacted by coronavirus include women’s basketball, both lacrosse teams and football. SU Athletics canceled all scheduled media availabilities until March 13.

The women’s basketball team will likely play in the WNIT tournament during the time of Syracuse’s in-person class suspension. In a press release, the WNIT said it’s “planning on conducting” the tournament as scheduled but is “actively monitoring the situation on an hourly basis.”

The No. 1 men’s and No. 4 women’s lacrosse teams are scheduled to play three away games each between now and March 30.

“In the past, we’ve dealt with the mumps and missing fall ball,” women’s lacrosse head coach Gary Gait told reporters on Tuesday. “So we take very seriously washing your hands and making sure that we clean our locker room, we keep disinfectant (around)…Hopefully that will help us stay healthy and stay on the field.”

As for football, the second spring practice on Tuesday morning happened as usual. Spring ball began on Sunday and is slated to end April 16 — three practices are scheduled between March 13 and 30, the university’s current planned period of suspended residential instruction.

Spring practice is slated to continue as scheduled as of Tuesday evening, with players getting the opportunity to travel home or elsewhere over break like the general student body before returning to practice and take classes remotely.

Tennis, rowing, softball and track and field also compete between now and the end of the month. The NCAA indoor track and field championships are scheduled for March 13 and 14 in Albuquerque, New Mexico.

This post has been updated with additional reporting. 

Published on March 10, 2020 at 5:48 pm

Contact Danny: dremerma@syr.edu | @DannyEmerman