OPINION

The opinions published by The Match are solely those of the author, and not of the entire publication, its staff, or Collegiate School. The Match welcomes thoughtful commentary and response to our content. You can respond in the comments below, but please do so respectfully. Letters to the Editors will be published, but they are subject to revision based on content or length. Letters can be sent to match@collegiate-va.org.

By Will Hanson

Image credit: NCAA.

What is March Madness? Well, it is the NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Tournament. The phrase “March Madness” is used to describe the excitement surrounding this tournament and how absurd particular upsets are throughout the tournament. March also may be the Collegiate faculty’s least favorite month, because most students are more focused on their bracket and watching games in class rather than listening to a lecture. 

Whether you are a fan of basketball or not, almost everyone makes predictions on how the tournament will end. The predictions are made by filling out a bracket before any games have been played. Similar to gambling, the feeling of predicting the outcome of a game correctly is addictive. I have even lost a substantial amount of cash by betting on a few predictions.  

According to an NBC12 article, this year’s March Madness should have been called “March Sadness” due to the fact that all five Virginia-based teams were eliminated. One local team, the  Rams of Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) were disqualified due to positive COVID-19 tests. 

COVID-19 impacted this year’s tournament in various ways. For the first time ever, the NCAA hosted the entire tournament in one geographic location, Indiana. The majority of the tournament’s games took place in Indianapolis at six different venues. Each team was given a specific hotel floor, according to the official NCAA website, as well as “secure transportation” to and from games. 

VCU point guard Bones Hyland. Photo credit: USATSI via CBS News.

VCU hoped to follow up past success in the NCAA tournament. Following their loss against St. Bonaventure in the A10 Championship on March 14, at the UD Arena in Dayton, Ohio, VCU was picked to play the seven-seed Oregon Ducks Ducks as a 10th seed. The only other time these teams had faced off was back in 2014, which ended in a 77-63 VCU victory. VCU was even predicted to win this year’s game by 5.5 points, but since VCU was forced to forfeit, the Ducks advanced into the next round.  

The NCAA should have handled this situation differently. VCU was kicked out of the tournament. The word “forfeit” makes it seem like it was VCU’s decision to withdraw, when clearly coaches and players alike were torn by the news. I do not see the problem with removing the COVID-19 positive players and coaches, if there were any, from the bench and letting the rest of the team continue to play. 

As a VCU fan since birth, I was heartbroken at the news of their withdrawal from the tournament. The Rams had “experienced an entirely new way to lose on Saturday night,” according to Laine Higgins at the Wall Street Journal. According to former Collegiate counselor and coach Alex Peavey, who has been working with the VCU men’s basketball team as a team Consultant and mindfulness coach since April 2018, the positive COVID-19 cases were traced back to the A10 Tournament. A referee had tested positive for COVID-19, exposing some of the players, resulting in positive tests within the Rams’ roster. Peavey explained that they had experienced a similar situation in 2020 when COVID-19 first reared its ugly head. During warmups before a competition last year, VCU was sent home, consequently ending their 2019-20 season. However, Peavey was very proud of the team’s accomplishments this year: “They responded this year by almost winning the league… I wonder what they’ll do next year.”

Arnold Henderson, a sophomore guard on the basketball team, posted on his TikTok with the caption, “Was fun while it lasted.” This VCU team is the first in history to be removed from the NCAA tournament once qualified. I understand that the pandemic has caused chaos in everybody’s lives, but this tournament running smoothly brought people comfort and shows that the pandemic had not completely changed everything.

MORE MARCH MADNESS: Read Hunter Milligan’s recap of the tournament.