In the latter stages of 2020, we have a new trend in college athletics: the self-serving self-imposed ban.
On Tuesday, Arizona became the third school in the last five weeks to issue itself a postseason ban for rules violations, sidelining its men’s basketball team for the 2021 NCAA tournament. Earlier this month, it was LSU that gave itself a football bowl ban. And in November, Auburn banned its men’s basketball team from the ’21 Big Dance.
Schools are falling on swords all over the place. Except the swords are made of styrofoam, not steel.