One of my favorite times of the year is NCAA basketball “March Madness”. The tournament this year has of course been cancelled (and rightfully so). March Madness is not only a tournament as it engulfs the news and popular culture for a month while millions of people compete to see who can fill out the best March Madness bracket. I take pride in my bracket-making skills and last year, with my bracket finishing in the 98th percentile on ESPN, was one of my best runs. Even more fun than making a bracket is watching the actual games. Many fans, including myself, love the surprising aspect of the tournament as you never know which teams will fall. Although the tournament is set up for the best teams to play the worst teams in the first few rounds, anyone can lose. This was proven is 2018 when Virginia (the number 1 overall seed in the tournament) lost to UMBC, the 16th seed. This upset sent the basketball world into a frenzy as it was the first time a 16th seed upset a 1 seed. Not to mention, it also busted millions of people’s brackets.

With no March Madness this year, basketball deprived fans like myself have found ways to cope. Bleacher Report did a simulated March Madness tournament using team’s efficiency as well as random number generator to add upsets to the tournament. I was shocked to see that Ohio State was the winner of the simulated tournament. I can’t complain though, since OSU is my favorite college team. In addition to following simulated tournaments, I have also resorted to YouTube and ESPN to watch games from past tournaments.

Although I greatly miss March Madness, it has made me realize how much we as humans take things for granted. I will make sure not to make this mistake in the future. For now though, I will social distance and continue to watch my March Madness highlights.