ESPN issued a critical clarification about NCAA tournament suspension fallout from South Carolina-LSU incident

The SEC title game was almost a major disaster for both No. 1 South Carolina and No. 8 LSU. Late in the game, an intentional foul on LSU’s Flau’jae Johnson created a wild scuffle that ended with multiple ejections of players because they left their respective bench areas.

For a moment, broadcaster ESPN almost started a panic for the upcoming NCAA tournament by insinuating that every player ejected wouldn’t be able to play in the first round. That, of course, felt like an extreme reaction to what would’ve quickly become one of the biggest and most impactful moments of the entire college basketball season.

ESPN announcers shocked everyone with a report that all ejected LSU-South Carolina players are ineligible for the first round of the NCAA Tournament.

However… pic.twitter.com/C5lx4wjwwe

— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) March 10, 2024

Recognizing their error, the broadcast quickly apologized and clarified that only those directly involved in the incident would be suspended, including South Carolina’s Kamilla Cardoso. Phew.

That’s still not ideal, but considering the number of players stepping in, the alternative would’ve undoubtedly been a catastrophe.