On Wednesday afternoon the NCAA announced that both the men’s and women’s basketball tournaments would be held without fans in the arenas due to concerns about the coronavirus outbreak

In a statement, the NCAA said that attendance will be limited to only “essential staff and limited family” members. It is unclear who exactly meets that criteria. It is unclear what sort of media access will be available, although NCAA president Mark Emmert has said that at least some media will be allowed in addition to the full TV broadcast staffs.

This decision will directly impact the state of South Carolina and the Gamecocks. The Gamecocks expect to host the first two rounds of the NCAA women’s tournament in Columbia. That is still the expectation, but now the games will be played in an empty Colonial Life Arena. Greenville, SC, is hosting the Sweet Sixteen and Elite Eight rounds and South Carolina will almost certainly be placed in that region. The Gamecocks will still have the advantage of not having to leave the state until the Final Four, but the home crowd advantage is gone.

Dawn Staley expressed her disappointment on twitter, but supported the decision.

In a sign of just how quickly the situation is evolving, a little after 4:00 pm the Gamecocks announced that they were cancelling their “Famdemonium” watch party for the women’s basketball selection show, but that there were no plans to restrict access to the tournament games. Less than half an hour later, the NCAA made its announcement, which also includes the NIT. (a little over two hours later, Columbia, SC, postponed its St. Pat's in 5 Points event, perhaps the largest non-Gamecock event in the city.)

In some respects, the NCAA’s hand was forced. With tournament sites in Ohio, Washington, New York, and California, where the outbreak is much more serious, the NCAA had to do something. Officials in Ohio and California had already barred fans from tournament sites, and Washington and New York likely would have followed. The NCAA will now look to move some games, particularly the men’s Final Four, to smaller venues. The Final Four is slated to be played in Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta, a football stadium. The NCAA could also look to move games at other sites.

For fans that have already bought tickets to the women's tournament, the NCAA has announced a refund policy. Fans will be notified by email and then refunded within 30 days.

Read more HERE.

For seniors, it will be a surreal ending to their college careers.

Many of South Carolina's players are out of town for spring break. Laeticia Amihere returned to Canada there are no travel restrictions between the United States and Canada, but late Wednesday both Donald Trump announced a ban on travel between the United States and Europe.

The men's basketball tournament tips off Wednesday in Nashville. As of Wednesday afternoon the SEC had no plans to restrict attendance. Nashville's Vanderbilt University has cancelled classes this week and will switch to online classes after a student tested positive for coronavirus.

Wednesday night, between the two first round games, SEC commissioner Greg Sankey announced that beginning Thursday all SEC games would be played with only essential staff, limited family, and credentialed media. The restriction applies to the SEC tournament and all other sports and will last from March 12 until March 30, when it will be re-evaluated.

"We regret the inconvenience and disappointment this decision has caused our fans, especially those who have already traveled to Nashville for the tournament,” Sankey said in a statement.

“It’s fluid,” Frank Martin said before the announcement. “There are people in leadership roles not making decisions based on social media popularity and not making decisions on gossip or making decisions on the 24-hour news cycle. They’re making decisions because they’re getting information from people right in the middle of what’s going on. At the end of the day, the safety, the welfare of our players and coaches and administrators and fans, that’s number one. Sometimes we get inconvenienced on what we went to do because decisions are made for what’s right. I’m not a decision maker in this process. I listen to the leadership of my campus, the leadership of the university and the leadership of the community I live in for my family and my players. Whatever decisions those folks make, I’m going to roll with it.”

Following the SEC announcement, Ray Tanner released the following statement:

“The safety and well-being of our student-athletes, fans, coaches and staff is the most important responsibility we have in our athletics department. By limiting attendance at home athletics events, the SEC believes we are reducing the chances that the COVID-19 virus will spread in our community. I know this is disappointing for our great fans, but it is done with an abundance of caution during this difficult time.”

Tanner’s statement also included a not that information on ticket refunds will be released in the near future.

This is a developing story and Gamecock Central will continue to provide updates as they become available.