March Madness in a COVID World
By Fay Michell
The NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament is upon us, and it’s not the same. The tournament, known as March Madness, is normally spring break for some Atlantic coast Conference teams. Its fans expect to have at least eight of the 15 teams in tournament play. UNC and Duke often are jockeying for a number one seed in a preferred region. Not this year. In the final AP Poll of top 25 teams, for the first time since 1982, UNC and Duke weren’t even in it. When it comes to the madness known as the “big dance,” for the first time since 1995 Duke won’t get to go. UNC made it in on a wing and a prayer as an eight seed in a 68-team field. In a region where college basketball is a form of religion, there are lamentations and gnashing of teeth. For the rivals that have played each other since 1920, it was an unrecognizable world.
We could blame it on COVID-19, going back to the ACC tournament 2020, played March 10–11. The quarter final round was about to start with a limited audience of personnel, administrators, players, coaches and their guests, and the media. But just before tipoff of the Florida State vs. Clemson contest, ACC officials called the whole thing off. The bands stopped playing, the fans dispersed, and the teams packed up and went home. Florida State as regular season champion received the conference NCAA tournament bid. That didn’t happen either as the 2020 NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament also was canceled.
Fans wondered if there would be a 2020–21 basketball season, but with a lot of eyes available to watch, scholarships awarded, and TV money at stake, on it went. Sort of. COVID led to player quarantines, canceled games and reshuffled schedules. In a socially distanced world, there was little time for pre-season practice, team building, bonding, and creating team chemistry. It showed. UNC was never sure if the good team or the bad team would show up. Even one of the players said that. Duke just rarely could put together an entire game.
Both teams were struck by a longer-term phenomenon — early departures and one and done. Players come in, make a big splash and head to the NBA. That led to a lot of freshmen starters, and with little time for practice and learning complex systems, who were outmaneuvered and made freshman mistakes. When Duke and UNC met for the much-vaunted “Battle of the Blues” it was really the “Battle of the We’ve Got the Blues.” The big-time game between neighbors just eight miles apart was a shadow of its usual self. At their final March 6 meeting, both teams were in the lower half of the conference and Duke suffered its second loss to UNC.
Oh, how the mighty have fallen. Not only are the bluebloods in a slump, the conference is. Duke and UNC have combined for a total six national titles over the past 20 years. The conference boasts 11 national titles, with the University of Virginia winning the last title won in 2019, and national titles to the University of Louisville in 2013 and Syracuse University in 2003.
But the saying goes, “What have you done for me lately,” and at season’s end only three ACC teams were in the top 25: Florida State at number 14, University of Virginia at number 15 and Virginia Tech at number 25. Still, seven teams will be in the NCAA tournament: Florida State, Virginia, Virginia Tech, UNC, Georgia Tech, Syracuse and Clemson. Also in the Triangle, N.C. State University is a number three seed in the less revered National Invitational Tournament.
And the blues are thinking the unthinkable: Bring on football!
