Though the NCAA’s decision to call the NC State baseball team’s College World Series game a no-contest is disappointing, it isn’t at all surprising considering the conference’s ongoing and long-standing disservice to fans, coaches and players alike.

For years, the NCAA has proven time and time again that it doesn’t care about the well-being of its athletes. Though the NCAA publicly states that its given reason for canceling the games was for the safety of the players, those same COVID-19 positive players could’ve easily bought front-seat tickets to the next game with no issue.

To start, the NCAA famously doesn’t pay its athletes despite making countless dollars while said athletes put their bodies on the line for entertainment. Furthermore, the conference’s eligibility rules make little to no sense and oftentimes, explanations aren’t provided for said decisions. 

Look no further than former men’s basketball guard Braxton Beverly’s decision to hire a lawyer to take action against the NCAA after he was originally ruled out for a year following his transfer from Ohio State.

That truth became painstakingly evident when the conference randomly decided it wanted to care about COVID-19, despite allowing 25,000 fans to pour into TD Ameritrade Park to watch the CWS.

In case you weren’t aware, the NC State baseball team had eight total players test positive for COVID-19, according to D1Baseball’s Kendall Rogers. At first, four unvaccinated players tested positive for the virus, and went into contact tracing and isolation immediately. The NCAA then informed NC State that none of its unvaccinated players, all but 13 players on the roster, were able to play in the game despite none of said players testing positive for COVID-19.

According to Rogers, NC State was given the option to forfeit its game on Friday and try to play Saturday, or tough it out with a limited roster. The Pack chose the latter, playing in its infamous and gutsy performance in its second game against Vanderbilt. 

And yet, the NCAA moved quickly and unjustly to disqualify NC State from competing. The Pack was one win away from making the College World Series Final and previously defeated Vanderbilt 1-0 with a fully healthy roster. Hell, even with its depleted roster, the Pack was in the game until the final frame.

Yes, having a fully vaccinated roster would’ve prevented this from happening, but there’s no doubt that the NCAA handled the situation in the worst way possible.

After coming off the high of its inspired Friday performance, the NCAA tweeted its decision nonchalantly at 2:10 a.m. ET, when most Wolfpack fans were sleeping.

17 minutes later? The NCAA had already moved on to sending out celebratory tweets to Vanderbilt’s Twitter account, not caring that it had stripped several players from performing on what likely could’ve been the biggest stage of their careers.

The lack of taste is disturbing. That doesn’t even touch on the countless fans that traveled cross-country to watch the team or the coaches that poured in several months of their lives just to see the team they represent forced out of the CWS.

NCAA Baseball’s account never tweeted an apology to the thousands of fans, players and coaches it disgraced. Not to mention that the NCAA announced its decision late at night, seemingly trying to mitigate the pushback from NC State fans. Even if the conference made the right decision, the lack of transparency is the biggest issue.

If it weren’t for Rogers’ report that came out over 24 hours after the initial decision, so much would be left to speculation even though the NCAA easily could’ve eased that uncertainty with transparency.

In all, the NCAA’s decision on NC State baseball is a disgusting blemish on the association’s ever-growing record of mistreatment and lack of transparency when it comes to athletes. Unfortunately, it isn’t the first time the NCAA failed to put forth any responsibility, and it won’t be the last.