NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — Are you missing March Madness or just sports in general? The NewsChannel 5 Sports Team has got you covered.
Just because the outbreak of COVID-19 canceled the NCAA Tournament, it doesn’t mean we can’t still have a bracket, debate the matchups, enjoy some highlights, cheer for the upsets and even crown a champion.
Welcome to the NewsChannel 5 2020 NCAA Mock Tournament!
It’s pretty simple, really. We created a 68-team NCAA Tournament using the same criteria the Selection Committee would have. We honored the 13 automatic bids already earned by conference tournament champions like Belmont, East Tennessee State, Bradley and others. Then we awarded the other 19 automatic bids to the regular season conference champions of the remaining conferences. Then came the selection of 36 at-large teams, and seeding using the NET rankings, strength of schedule and the other tools that the NCAA basketball committee has at their disposal in Indianapolis.
Once the field is set, we played each game out using a formula derived from Ken Pomeroy’s offensive and defensive efficiency numbers for each team to determine a final score. In most cases, that determined a clear winner. But if the score was within a point, we called those overtime games and then flipped a coin to determine who advanced.
One other caveat. Upsets were picked at random - it is March Madness after all? Then, because we are a tv station, we picked actual game highlights and storylines from this season to show how the key games throughout the tournament played out.
Is it as good as the real thing? No. But is it still filled with drama and excitement? Absolutely. And it gives schools like Rutgers and Hofstra the tourney berth they’ve been waiting to celebrate for so long, while giving schools like East Tennessee State and Belmont a chance for their one shining moment.
Oh yeah, the show ends with the tourney’s trademark song just like the college basketball season closes out every year. So sit back, relax, take your mind off the current stress of the world and enjoy our full mock tournament in the video player above.
