A-10 cancels tournament; Duquesne coach Keith Dambrot wonders if NCAA will do the same

Duquesne’s men’s basketball team was in Brooklyn, N.Y., less than 24 hours before the Atlantic 10 canceled the remainder of its tournament Thursday morning in the midst of the coronavirus outbreak in the United States.

Duquesne was scheduled to play its first game in the tournament at 8:30 p.m. Thursday against Fordham at Barclays Center. The tournament had started Wednesday with two games.

Duquesne coach Keith Dambrot said he believes there also may be “no NCAA (tournament), no NIT, nothing.”

“My thought as an outsider looking in is I don’t think it’s going to get any better for a while.”

He said he is disappointed for his players.

“They were ready to play,” he said. “We had some good practices, had a good walk-through. They were pretty excited, but it was the prudent thing to do.

“When pro athletes are being protected and regular students are being protected, you can’t put a college basketball player in harm’s way.”

Duquesne finishes with a 21-9 record, two victories short of recording the most in a season since the 1953-54 Dukes won a school-record 26.

Dambrot said he hopes the team will be able to return to Pittsburgh on Thursday night.

The A-10 is one of 13 conferences to cancel their tournaments, including the ACC, SEC, Pac-12, Big 12 and Big Ten.

“Given the rapid spread of the virus, this decision was supported by the Athletic Directors and Presidents’ Council,” Commissioner Bernadette V. McGlade said in a statement. “These are uncertain times for sure, and we feel tremendous empathy for the student-athletes who will not have the opportunity to finish competing. However, the welfare of the student-athletes and the public is of utmost importance.”