Happy Saturday, Big Blue Nation.
Hopefully those of you reading this are happy, healthy, and not quarantined somewhere. We are living in strange times and the coronavirus has impacted almost every aspect of our lives including sports.
The cancelation of the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament seems to be the one event that hit people the hardest. The NCAA released a statement that they are still mulling over whether or not to release a bracket.
It was also stated that there was a plan to have a 16 team tournament played out over a long weekend in Atlanta. Ultimately that idea was shot down as the worry over a coronavirus outbreak outweighed the benefits of having a condensed tournament.
The Kentucky Wildcats would have been a part of that field as more and more bracket projections had them as a two seed in the tournament.
I think it’s time to acknowledge there will not be an NCAA champion in 2020. What a weird, strange unfolding of events.
Tweets of the Day
BREAKING: #Pelicans rookie Zion Williamson says he is pledging to cover the salaries for all of the Pelicans arena staff workers for the next 30 days, per @ShamsCharania.
— Stadium (@Stadium) March 13, 2020
pic.twitter.com/Q1ubeA2rN6
Fair or not, most of us on here have given Zion Williamson a hard time. This is an amazing gesture.
Hmmm another year at Hall ♂️
— Myles Powell (@Myles_MBP_23) March 13, 2020
One has to wonder how many players are willing to forgo the NBA in order to see to unfinished business in college (AHEM Immanuel Quickley)
Quickies
Spring football postponed until April 15th | Cats Pause- There is still a chance for Mark Stoops to get his guys back out on the field and do some more coaching.
Thoughts on social distancing | WDRB- Eric Crawford is one of the best sports writers we have locally and this is a thoughtful article on our current situation.
A look at where UK sports programs were when sports shut down | Lexington Herald Leader- Many of the programs at UK were possibly robbed of some postseason hardware. The good news is that the NCAA is going to allow spring sports seniors to come back for one more season. Logistically it may be tough to figure out but it is the right thing to do.
March isn’t the same without madness | CBS- Matt Norlander pointed out that the first NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament game is 370 days away. Gut punch.
Raptors test negative for COVID-19 | ESPN- The Toronto Raptors were the last team to play the Utah Jazz and they were are cleared. Good news.
You can’t name a champion without the NCAA | Sporting News- The Florida state senate just named the Florida State Seminoles NCAA champs. I think there is more important things going on for the senate in Florida to worry about but here we are.
Stay safe out there, folks.