Well, ladies and gentlemen, it is official. We are entering March Sadness. It was announced earlier in the week that the 2020 NCAA Tournament was canceled, much to the chagrin of players, coaches, and fans worldwide. An entire season down the drain as a precaution to a once in a lifetime (I hope) pandemic that is hitting the U.S. in the beginning stages at the moment. It has been a rough 3 days for sports. I am by no means making light of the more serious situation. We live in a world where sports normally unite and help us through the roughest and worst of times. Now that isn’t an option unless you have your gaming consoles fired up.
Friday, reports came out that the NCAA actually tried to somewhat salvage the tournament by proposing a 16-team single elimination tourney to emanate from Atlanta. I really wish they had. It may not have been fair to the other 52 teams, but I feel like, for the most part, something was better than nothing. Coach Mack of our University of Louisville Cardinals spoke out on the straight up canceling of the tournament instead of postponing. I agree. We should wait and see what lies in front of us instead of instituting an impulsive cancelation. All of the other major sports are postponed instead of canceled. The NCAA also canceled all spring sports, putting our top ten baseball team in the dugout for the rest of the season.
This morning I decided to stop sulking and put together my own 16 team tournament. I used Lunardi’s bracket, The AP Poll, composite computer rankings, and a phone call to my close friend Steve Rummage (That’s why uk was a 3) to narrow down and create my field. Later in the week we will have the women’s bracket up too. But first….
(Click more for Bracket reveal)
I will let you all play your scenario but here is what I saw playing out in the elite 8:
Kansas vs Michigan State
Louisville vs uk
Gonzaga vs Duke
Dayton vs SDSU
Final 4:
Kansas vs Louisville
Gonzaga vs Dayton
Championship
Kansas vs Dayton
Your Champions: Kansas
Do you agree? Let me know on Twitter at @CardSportZone or @Jeremy_CSZ
