event. But they weren't. They've been the same pretty much since the start of things. They've modified them as vaccines have become more widely available. Really you're making more of an argument that fans shouldn't have been allowed at full capacity than any kind of athlete testing or procedure flaws. And really what control does the NCAA have over fans. They either let them in or they don't. They can say things like "If you haven't been vaccinated, wear a mask" or "If you don't feel well please stay home" but those are completely up to the fans to follow with little to no way to enforce them. Contrast with the coaches and players who they most definitely can test and regulate better. It's not that fans are "less risk" it's that the NCAA doesn't have the capability or capacity to force fans to be tested prior to entry. And again these are the same rules everyone played by and did so in almost every sport for the entire season. The timing does suck just like it sucked for VCU.

As far as why the first game was played that's another no win situation. If the NCAA had made them forfeit the first game people would have been screaming "They had enough healthy players to play and the NCAA made the choice for them". So they left it up to the team to decide if they wanted to play short handed which of course they did... and then more tests came in which further depleted the roster and the NCAA decided to pull the plug.