Charles Barkley isn’t a fan of the NCAA Tournament being held at all in the wake of growing concerns over COVID-19 after the coronavirus caused the NBA season to be suspended Wednesday night.
The NBA Hall of Famer and current TNT NBA analyst appeared on ESPN’s “Get Up” Thursday morning and strongly advocated for the cancellation of the NCAA Tournament.
Interestingly, he called out his own employer in the process.
ESPN’s Jay Williams, watching Barkley call for the cancellation of March Madness, thanked him for “taking a major stand saying we should cancel March Madness.”
The NCAA announced on Wednesday that it will continue with March Madness, but that only essential personnel and limited family will be allowed into games.
At the time of the announcement, it was considered a stunning decision. However, in the light of what happened around the NBA Wednesday night — with multiple NBA teams (along with the families of players, coaches and team personnel) being placed under quarantine due to Rudy Gobert testing positive for COVID-19 — that no longer seems like it’s enough.