You may not here me say this very often but the NCAA has done the right thing. After cancelling the NCAA basketball tournaments, and then all spring championships, on Thursday the institution announced on Friday that they will pave the way for student-athletes to get that year back.
What this means for Oklahoma baseball and softball players, as well as all other spring athletes, is that they will in fact have the opportunity to take the field one more time. This is 100% the right thing to do and it almost even provides an advantage academically that could allow some to finish up a masters degree while on their athletic scholarship.
This does however mean that any talks of potential “mini seasons” later on in April or May are now probably dead.
While spring sports were the easy call, because the seasons just began, the water is a little murky for winter athletes. Basketball players had their conference tournaments cancelled, and those that were going to qualify for the NCAA Tournament were left with nothing. However, they did get to play a full regular season. It isn’t possible to award extra eligibility just to NCAA Tournament teams while leaving those who wouldn’t have qualified out in the cold. It has to be all or none and that’s why a decision for winter athletes is going to take more time.
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