Arizona Wildcats fans saddened, stunned by decision to cancel Pac-12, NCAA tournaments

LAS VEGAS — Early Thursday morning, Arizona graduate Abigail Ramirez boarded a flight from Virginia to Las Vegas, where she planned to meet her family and watch the Arizona Wildcats play USC in basketball.

By the time she touched down in Las Vegas, all NCAA basketball conference tournaments and next week’s NCAA Tournament were canceled.

Ramirez had already connected through Chicago when conferences around the country announced they were stopping play immediately. At 9:17 a.m., the Pac-12 said it was shutting down the tournament and all other sporting events.

“She still thinks that when she lands, there’s still going to be basketball being played,” her mother, Christie Ramirez, said in the lobby of the New York New York hotel.

“The first thing she’s going to find out when she lands is that she flew all the way across the country so we could watch the games together, and now we can’t.”

Arizona fans reacted with sadness, disappointment and some anger as the sports world shut down. On Wednesday, conferences throughout the country announced that they would still play basketball games but only with essential personnel in the stands. By Wednesday, Major League Baseball and the NHL had suspended their seasons and the PGA Tour announced plans to limit spectators.

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Despite the whirlwind of news, the Ramirezes said they plan to stay through the weekend. They have a hotel reservation, after all, and they want to spend some family time together with their daughter.

“People have been saying go to concerts and shows and I’m like, ‘I don’t really want to do that’; I’m just sad right now,” Christie Ramirez said. “But we’ll still get to see our daughter, so that’s good.”

Other UA fans tried to find some fun in light of the breaking news. Tucson native Alejandro Macias and three of his friends spent part of their morning watching basketball in the Excalibur’s sportsbook. They didn’t know it at the time, but the game between St. John’s and Creighton was the last of the college basketball season. The game was called at halftime.

“Is the winner of this game the national champion?” Macias joked.

The Ramirezes have been coming to the Pac-12 Tournament each year since it moved to Las Vegas in 2013. It’s become a tradition, a common thread for Arizona fans who make the annual trip.

“I offer my kids every year to come out and watch with us and this year (Abigail) took us up on the offer. She booked the flight for Thursday a while ago thinking Arizona’s first game would be (Thursday) and they ended up playing Wednesday,” Christie Ramirez said. “I just feel bad that she won’t get to see them play at all.”