photo by: Contributed photo from Visit KC

The Sprint Center in downtown Kansas City, Mo.

The first signs of the new coronavirus’ impact on Big 12 basketball arrived Tuesday afternoon, when the conference announced that locker rooms would be closed to reporters at this week’s Big 12 tournament at Sprint Center in Kansas City, Mo.

Citing a desire to “ensure the safety of everyone in attendance,” the Big 12 on Tuesday announced the following changes for this year’s event, which opens Wednesday night and features top-seeded and No. 1-ranked Kansas playing its first game at 1:30 p.m. Thursday:

• Locker rooms will be closed to media, and all interviews will occur in an interview room with coaches and student-athletes seated on a dais.

• Media will be allowed to attend practices but won’t be allowed any closer than behind the second row of the media seating section.

• Media may not be on the court at any time, and photographers must stay in the photo boxes or on the sideline in front of the media section at the conclusion of games.

The conference’s move is one of many sports-related impacts of the rapidly spreading virus, which has also affected other public events, travel, the stock market, politics and more.

The Big 12’s announcement came just hours after the Ivy League announced the cancellation of its postseason tournaments and after Major League Baseball, the National Basketball Association, the National Hockey League and Major League Soccer announced plans to close their locker rooms, as well.

There is growing concern and speculation throughout the sports world that the NCAA Tournament, the multimillion-dollar college hoops event that’s slated to begin March 17, could be affected as well.Last week, a Division III NCAA Tournament game in Baltimore was played without fans in the stands. Signs on the doors to the arena simply read “no spectators.”

Asked Monday if that move, and talk of others like it, had him concerned about playing the postseason in unusual environments, Kansas coach Bill Self said he hadn’t given it much thought.

“I’ve had enough stuff to think about and worry about in recent weeks or months,” Self said. “We all hope and pray for the best and all that. But whatever happens, we’ll deal with and adjust.

“That’s something we have no control over,” he added. “But it would obviously be sad for our sport.”

Self said he thought the Jayhawks would still compete just as hard even if drastic measures were taken to control the spread of the virus.

Those competitions might just look and sound a lot different than what people are used to.

“Think about this,” Self said. “Think about a coach yelling at an official with nobody in the gym, compared to when an official can’t hear you. The sportsmanship code will be certainly stressed in that situation because everything you say will become public.

“I do think (it would) be different. And, certainly, (it would) take away (from the events). But I think if you’ve got teams competing for a championship, the drive and the adrenaline will still be there.”

Azubuike honored again

Make it two for two for Kansas senior Udoka Azubuike, who was named the Associated Press Big 12 Player of the Year on Tuesday.

After earning the Big 12’s top prize from the conference coaches on Sunday, Azubuike was named the Big 12’s top player by a panel of media members on Tuesday, joining teammate Devon Dotson as the only unanimous picks for the all-Big 12 first team.

The two Jayhawks split all of the votes for player of the year, with Azubuike receiving 10 votes and Dotson getting the other seven.

On Monday, Azubuike said learning about the first honor was emotional. The big man, who recorded a Big 12-leading 15 double-doubles and averaged a double-double for the season (13.7 points, 10.5 rebounds), said his success wouldn’t have been possible without his teammates and coaches.

“It all comes down to my teammates and my coaches,” the 7-foot center said. “They did an unbelievable job, and me winning (this award) wasn’t just about me. It was also about them, too.”

Added Dotson, who led the Big 12 in scoring at 18.1 points per game and also was a unanimous first-team selection by the coaches: “It means a lot. Just getting recognized (for) all the hard work you put in during the season. It’s cool.”

Azubuike and Dotson were joined on the AP first team by Baylor’s Jared Butler, TCU’s Desmond Bane and Oklahoma’s Kristian Doolittle.

BU coach Scott Drew was named coach of the year and Texas Tech’s Jahmi’us Ramsey was named the newcomer of the year.

KU junior Marcus Garrett earned a second-team nod, one tier higher than the honor the Big 12 coaches awarded him.

“I thought Marcus deserved to be better than third team,” Self said Monday.

What to play for?

Many analysts have Kansas projected not only as a No. 1 seed in the upcoming NCAA Tournament, but most likely as the overall No. 1 seed.

With that in mind, a couple of Jayhawks on Monday were asked what they had to play for at this week’s Big 12 tournament.

“I think momentum,” Self said. “You know, if you lace them up, you might as well win. Kids are competitive. I get a kick out of (people who say), ‘Well, guys may not play as hard if you don’t need it as much.’ Well, if that’s the case, then you probably don’t have the guys you wish you had. So, in our case, I know we’ll go over there and try.”

Added Dotson: “We’re going to take every game seriously and try to come out on top. Anytime we’re playing a game or a tournament, we’re going to try to win.”

Houston or Indy?

If Kansas is named the overall No. 1 seed, it could get to choose which sites it plays at in the NCAA Tournament. But Self isn’t saying what his preferred path would be.

While Omaha, Neb., is the strong favorite to be where the Jayhawks’ postseason run begins for the first and second rounds — March 20 and 22 — the path from there is a little less clear. Houston (South) and Indianapolis (Midwest) are both regional sites this year, and both offer Kansas different advantages.

Houston is roughly 230 miles farther away from Lawrence than Indianapolis, but it also rests in Big 12 country and could be less likely to attract large crowds from other programs because of the Midwest regional’s proximity to schools like Kentucky, Louisville, Creighton, Michigan State and Dayton.

Self said this week that Kansas and several other teams in the running for the No. 1 overall seed had to turn in their choices to the NCAA by last Friday.

“I was told that every team that’s in consideration for the tournament, or something to that extent, puts in their request,” Self said Monday. “So all we did was do what everybody else in America has done. But we are obviously in a position where it could potentially happen. But we’ll wait and talk about that if it does.”

As for how much time he spent making up his mind between the two destinations?

“Quite a bit,” Self said. “We all did; the administration and everybody talked about it. It’s a hypothetical, obviously, but if we get a chance to talk about it, then that means we’ll probably have done fairly well this weekend.”