Amid effort to remove Confederate flag, NCAA's ban remains intact - Charleston Post Courier

Just like everyone else, the NCAA is watching and waiting to see if the Confederate flag comes down. Until that happens, the organization’s policy banning predetermined championship events in the Palmetto State remains intact, a spokesperson said Tuesday. The flag’s presence has long been problematic for South Carolina college teams, and the compromise that moved it from the capitol dome to the Confederate soldiers monument on the Statehouse grounds didn’t help. The NCAA’s policy banning predetermined events like the men’s basketball tournament has been in place since April of 2001 — one year after the flag was relocated. In 2007, the NCAA’s Minority Opportunities and Interests Committee recommended the ban remain in place until the flag was removed from the statehouse grounds. Although the NCAA ban didn’t impact postseason events decided on merit — such as baseball, where USC and Clemson have regularly played on their home fields — the men’s basketball tournament has been absent from the state since the first and second... Source: www.postandcourier.com