NCAA reveals virus contingency plans

Turns out the top four teams left out of March Madness won’t have their bubbles burst quite yet.

Under a contingency plan released by the Division I basketball committees, those four at-large teams that don’t make the original field in the men’s and women’s NCAA tournaments will be placed in order and serve as the replacement teams should any conference with multiple bids have a school that is unable to participate due to COVID-19 issues.

If the tournament begins without any withdrawals, the four would still be eligible to compete in the NIT.

The contingency plan only applies to the short period between the announcement of the brackets — March 14 for men and March 15 for women — and the start of games later that week. Once a tournament begins, any team whose opponent is forced to withdraw would automatically advance to the next round.

Single-bid conferences likewise can choose their replacement provided the team has gone seven days without a positive test.

• South Carolina’s men’s basketball program was placed on probation for two years by the NCAA for former assistant coach Lamont Evans accepting between $3,300 and $5,800 in bribes from a sports agent.

• Hunter Dickinson gave Luka Garza fits around the basket, and Franz Wagner scored 21 points to lead No. 3 Michigan to a 79-57 victory over No. 9 Iowa in Ann Arbor, Mich.

The Wolverines (17-1, 121) passed yet another test against a highly ranked opponent, and they look increasingly alone atop the Big Ten, where every other team has at least four conference losses. Dickinson more than held his own against Garza in a muchanticipated matchup of two standout big men who have known each other for years.

Garza led the Hawkeyes (17-7, 11-6) with 16 points, but he shot 6 of 19 from the field. Michigan become the first team to hold the Hawkeyes under 65 points all season.

• Remy Martin scored 31 points and Kimani Lawrence 21 with 20 rebounds