FanPost

Schmolik 64 2020 Season Goodbye

Hello, college basketball fans!

This is a FanPost I never thought I would be writing.

Every year since 1994!!! I've listed somewhere on the internet way back from my days at the University of Illinois to last season given you my bracket to who should be making the NCAA Tournament and then telling you why my bracket is better than the Selection Committee's and/or why the Bracket Matrix's bracket(s) is better than the Selection Committee.

But that's obviously not going to happen in 2020 due to the Corona Virus. You can't really blame anyone. It's certainly disappointing. Anyone reading this has an interest in college basketball and the NCAA Tournament (most likely way more than the typical NCAA fan or sports fan in general). Perhaps you are a fan of Duke or Kentucky or Kansas or North Carolina (well they're not too upset this NCAA Tournament is canceled I guess:) But obviously health is the first concern and it's certainly a reasonable decision to have been made.

I'm particularly upset for my undergraduate alma mater University of Illinois. The last time we made the NCAA Tournament was 2013. Who knows if we'll make it again next year or for several years. I also went to Penn State for graduate school. They last made the NCAA Tournament in 2011. It may be years before they make the tournament again. I don't have any ties to Rutgers nor do I actually like them but the last time they made the NCAA Tournament (1991) I was still in high school and hadn't even started doing the Schmolik 64. In fact, there wasn't any internet at the time.

There are plenty of losers in all of this, not just schools that would have made the tournament for the first time in years (or schools like Dayton that were having a season to remember to have it all just gone). How about the city of Tampa? Amalie Arena was supposed to host the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2011. Albany last hosted the NCAA Tournament in 2003! In fact, the last time they hosted it was during the Iraqi War Crisis. They sure picked the wrong years to host the NCAA Tournament! How about Greensboro? They lost out on hosting the tournament this year. They also were supposed to host the NCAA Tournament in 2017 but it was removed because of North Carolina passing HB2. So they've lost the NCAA Tournament now twice in a row! They last hosted the NCAA Tournament in 2012.

I'm sure many of you reading this have other things in mind other than college basketball but I just wanted to say thanks for reading this season. For Illinois and Penn State, it would have been a great season and I hope for the two schools their next NCAA appearance isn't years from now. I'll see you in 2021.

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