The coronavirus has done the impossible. It has completely shut down the entire sports world for an indefinite amount of time. Not having sports is definitely weird, especially since we're supposed to be in basketball overload right now. But alas, there will be no March Madness this year, which is going to make next week even weirder.
Before the NCAA announced that the tournament was cancelled completely, they toyed with the idea of a scaled-down, 16-team event. I'm glad they decided not to do that, though. Because part of what makes March Madness so special is that every conference is involved. And if you're not going to include every conference, you might as well not even have the tournament.
And even though there won't be a tournament, that doesn't mean we couldn't have the fun of making a mock bracket. In fact, not having a real bracket made it a little easier to create one. No conference tournaments meant no bid thieves and no major conference teams moving up or down seed lines. Just pick 68 teams and put them in the bracket.
Although, the lack of conference tournaments did make it a little harder when it came to one-bid leagues. So, for those conferences, what I did was give the auto bid to either the highest remaining seed when the conference tournament ended or, if it hadn't started yet, the No. 1 seed. That includes the Ivy League, which was the first to cancel its conference tournament and declared that regular-season champion Yale would be the Ivy representative the NCAA.
In the 13 conferences that had completed their tournaments, I gave it to the team that had already clinched its place in the field by winning the tournament. Those teams were: Liberty (Atlantic Sun), Winthrop (Big South), Hofstra (CAA), Northern Kentucky (Horizon), Bradley (MVC), Utah State (Mountain West), Robert Morris (NEC), Belmont (OVC), Boston University (Patriot), East Tennessee State (Southern), Stephen F. Austin (Southland), North Dakota State (Summit) and Gonzaga (WCC).
Gonzaga was pretty secure as the No. 1 seed in the West. In fact, I think three of the 1-seeds were locked in. Because after all the back-and-forth at the top this season, Kansas and Baylor had established themselves as the top two teams in the nation. Whichever one ended up winning the Big 12 Tournament likely would've been No. 1 overall. But since there wasn't a Big 12 Tournament, I gave the nod to Kansas (which had said it wouldn't participate in the NCAA Tournament if it was held).
San Diego State had already played itself out of the fourth No. 1 seed by losing to Utah State in the Mountain West final. That probably would've helped them, though. Because as the fourth No. 1, they would've had to fly to New York for the Regional. As a No. 2, however, the NCAA would've been able to keep them in the West and play the Regional two hours up the 405 at Staples Center.
That left the decision for the final No. 1 seed between Dayton and Florida State. I went with Florida State not just because I think they're the better team, but because they were the best team in a much better conference. I had five tourney teams from the ACC, which included a 3-seed (Duke), a 4-seed (Louisville) and the defending National Champions (Virgina). The only other team from the A-10 I had in the field, meanwhile, was my last team in--Richmond.
OK, time for the conference breakdown. The Big Ten looked likely to get at least 10 teams, which is exactly where I had them. I've got 10 conferences with multiple bids, with the Big Ten leading the way. Here's the whole list: Big Ten (10), Big East (6), Big 12 (6), Pac-12 (6), ACC (5), SEC (4), West Coast (3), Atlantic 10 (2), American (2), Mountain West (2).
As for the Final Four matchups, I would've had the Midwest playing the East in Atlanta, with South vs. West in the other game. And with that, it's on to the bracket...
MIDWEST (Indianapolis)
Omaha: 1-Kansas (1) vs. 16-Robert Morris/North Carolina Central, 8-USC vs. 9-Utah State
Albany: 4-Seton Hall vs. 13-Yale, 5-Penn State vs. 12-New Mexico State
Greensboro: 3-Duke vs. 14-Belmont, 6-Arizona vs. 11-Indiana
Greensboro: 2-Maryland vs. 15-Little Rock, 7-Houston vs. 10-Marquette
EAST (New York)
Tampa: 1-Florida State (4) vs. 16-Siena/Boston University, 8-LSU vs. 9-Rutgers
Albany: 4-Villanova vs. 13-Hofstra, 5-West Virginia vs. 12-Liberty
Omaha: 3-Michigan State vs. 14-Northern Kentucky, 6-Auburn vs. 11-Cincinnati
Cleveland: 2-Dayton vs. 15-North Dakota State, 7-Providence vs. 10-Texas Tech
SOUTH (Houston)
St. Louis: 1-Baylor (2) vs. 16-Winthrop, 8-Illinois vs. 9-Saint Mary's
Tampa: 4-Louisville vs. 13-Akron, 5-Ohio State vs. 12-East Tennessee State
Sacramento: 3-Creighton vs. 14-Bradley, 6-Michigan vs. 11-Arizona State/Richmond
Cleveland: 2-Kentucky vs. 15-UC Irvine, 7-Virginia vs. 10-Colorado
WEST (Los Angeles)
Spokane: 1-Gonzaga (3) vs. 16-Prairie View A&M, 8-Florida vs. 9-Oklahoma
Spokane: 4-Oregon vs. 13-North Texas, 5-Butler vs. 12-Stephen F. Austin
St. Louis: 3-Wisconsin vs. 14-Vermont, 6-BYU vs. 11-NC State/Texas
Sacramento: 2-San Diego State vs. 15-Eastern Washington, 7-Iowa vs. 10-UCLA
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