Friday’s Missouri Valley Conference quarter-final men’s basketball game between Drake and Northern Iowa was canceled, the league announced.
Drake, currently on the NCAA Tournament bubble, has automatically advanced to the semifinals in St. Louis.
The league tweeted its announcement, saying the official statement was forthcoming, but did not give a reason for the cancellation. The stadium reported that it was due to the Covid-19 issue in the Northern Iowa program.
This is a particularly significant decision due to Drake’s position on the bubbles. The Bulldogs, 2-Seeds in the conference tournament, entered Lunardi’s recent brackets as a “last four byes” on Friday, an ESPN analyst said Drake needed to win Friday’s quarterfinals and potentially stay in Saturday’s semifinals. Big talk.
The Bulldogs face the Missouri State-Valparaiso winner in Saturday’s semifinal.
It will mark the second conference tournament of the week; Holly Cross was forced out of the Patriot League tournament due to COVID issues, which allowed Loyola Maryland to advance. Jacksonville and Charleston Southern were also forced to lose their conference tournaments due to COVID issues.
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