It is not a competition, and this is no time to be comparing the various levels of misfortune. But of all the sports fans who have seen their entertainment stripped from them these past weeks, college basketball followers were dealt perhaps the cruelest blow of all.
Precisely four weeks ago, this column wrote about the majesty of March in the hoops world, a Tuesday tribute to the passion, intensity and improbable Madness that never ceases to amaze and illuminate during this portion of the year.
Across the country, there were fans who had already bought their war paint and saved money for travel, organized parties and get-togethers, looked forward to whether this might be their team’s year — or, at the very least, their year to pull off a stunning upset for the ages.
A day later, we heard that the NCAA tournament would be held behind closed doors. Following that, rapidly, came the bombshell announcement that it was being scrapped altogether.
COVID-19 and the alterations it has necessitated have become a complete part of our lives, but it came upon us with stunning speed. The business end of the college basketball season was caught in the very epicenter of it.
Players lost cherished opportunities, something we have already documented here. No last chance to don the uniform alongside teammates who had become like brothers and sisters. No shot at ultimate glory, no last hurrah, no tilt at the unlikeliest of upsets.
Plus, of course, the reality that one team, one group of players on both the men’s and women’s side, would have ended it all as a national champion and seen that legacy be a part of them forever.
Now, they won’t.
“It was so painful,” said Tate Frazier, of the Titus & Tate FOX Sports college basketball podcast. “It was painful enough to change the identity of time. This time of March is a space where you find some comfort and some sort of familiarity. It didn’t exist anymore, so it made the entire month and (my) entire world change at this time of year.”
“Only one team can win the title,” Frazier’s co-host Mark Titus added. “So, what we really love about March Madness is advancing further in the tournament than our rivals — and having that taken away from people, the opportunity to say ‘I am better than my rival’, is very deflating.”
There is, however, an alternative — a way to engage that sense of camaraderie through rivalry. Titus and Tate are supporters of the FOX Sports Ultimate Fan Bracket: College Basketball Edition, which hopes to serve as a rallying force to those for whom March means only one thing.
Seeking to find college basketball’s greatest fan base, the bracket takes 68 teams (of course), composed of the programs with the most Twitter followers from each conference, plus 32 more at-large bids, then another four that were the highest rated teams not already in the field.
Voting will take place on the CBB on FOX Twitter account over the next three weeks, with the winner crowned on April 27.
It is not just a mythical prize, either. FOX Sports colleagues more mischievous than I came up with the following reward — the top voted school gets the satisfaction of a billboard in their honor, courtesy of FOX Sports. The location of the billboard — right outside the campus of their rival school.
If that is not a reason to vote, I don’t know what is.
“I am still in denial,” Titus said. “I don’t accept that we are not having basketball. I refuse to accept the reality. I think the Ultimate Fan bracket filling in for that is great, I think people are going to love this.”
Titus thinks that the winner of the Dayton-Iowa matchup, which already leads the field with the most ballots cast, will be hard to stop in the fan vote, while Frazier believes that Michigan State’s rabid support could be enough to sway things in their favor.
Whatever happens, this will be remembered as the March of sadness, not Madness. You can’t take away all those games and plotlines that formulate a national treasure and not have people feel gloom about it.
But what can’t be removed is the true spirit of what makes college basketball special: the school pride. While the courts sit empty, the brackets lay unfilled, the nets rest uncut, the passion is there. It’s just lying in wait, ready to be unleashed.
So, unleash it. With quite the prize on the line, this bracket truly is for, and by, the fans.
