Much like Swifty’s ex-boyfriends, we’ve decided the highs of filling out brackets aren’t worth the pain they put us through. This year we’re just watching games with a Blank Bracket.
Or at least that’s what we’re claiming. If we get the Final 4 right, you best believe we’ll be letting people know.
Regardless, follow @SportsChannel8 on twitter for great coverage through the Tournament, or just check #MarchSadness to find out who lost.
Without getting into actual politics, it’s completely valid to say that President Obama has been the greatest president in American history when it comes to his appreciation of college basketball. From spending time on the court with North Carolina early in his term, to being on the butt-end of bracket jokes from Coach K during the Blue Devils’ White House visit, Obama has been a major part of hoops culture here in North Carolina.
Full disclosure, yes, SportsChannel8 staff members have spoken with Obama on the phone and have also attended afterparties for State Dinners in Washington, DC. Still, we’re confident that his merits as a basketball fan stand on their own without our endorsement. Obama released his bracket today with North Carolina, Texas A&M, and Michigan State joining his predicted national champion Kansas in the Final Four.
This will be his final bracket as president, which begs the question … what is the future of the presidential NCAA bracket based on the candidates who are in the running to replace him at the end of his final term?
Hillary Clinton
If Clinton is elected as our next president, she’ll absolutely continue the tradition of filling out a bracket, but we’ll never see it until after the games are over. Clinton will be the fan who takes to Twitter after the big 14-seed-over-a-3-seed upset to let everyone know she picked it, but good luck FOIAing her bracket because she registered it with a Gmail account.
Bernie Sanders
Sanders will be incredibly transparent about his bracket, but will also be incredibly wrong by advancing four double-digit seeds to the Final Four. “Kansas is loaded and North Carolina has the most experience, but they’re both in the top 1% of the 1%, and their days of running this tournament are over. I like Iona.”
Donald Trump
Trump’s competitive nature would definitely yield a bracket, but it would be nearly impossible to decipher his picks to advance. “Arizona and Wichita State? You know, I keep hearing about how Arizona is going to have to go small to counter VanVleet and Baker, but you’re going to have to ask my good friend Little Marco about going small. I don’t know about small things. Trust me, it’s yuuuuuuge. I’m talking about my penis.”
Ted Cruz
Cruz would be a big-time basketball fan, but would definitely be anti-bracket. “Indiana and Kentucky in the 2nd round? If that’s not a sign that we should eliminate the selection committee and shift the seeding powers to the individual regions, I don’t know what is.”
John Kasich
We took a giftastic look at how Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday panned out at the ACC Tournament. Click here and here to check those out. Read on for how the ACC Championship shook out.
Virginia vs North Carolina:
The Verizon Center before tipoff:
UNC fans looking for their first ACC title in 8 years:
Virginia fans, who won a title two years ago:
The first half starts out with what appears to be shaping up as a pretty epic battle with both teams trading punches:
North Carolina has found its defense and its relentless:
Virginia’s Malcolm Brogdon couldn’t find his shot, though:
Marcus Paige from beyond the arc:
We go into halftime tied at 28. Let’s do that again:
The fight continues with UVA taking a 44-40 lead with about 10 minutes to go:
However…UNC holds Virginia without a field goal for 8+, only giving up two free throws:
Virginia makes a few meaningless threes after some terrible clock management:
North Carolina wins 61-57 and UNC fans are all like:
And Virginia fans are all:
And Washington Capitals fans looking for their Stanley Cup banner:
Goodnight, DC, we love ya:
Friday – Semifinals
Notre Dame vs North Carolina:
I think everyone was hopeful that we’d get to see a high-scoring affair in the early evening tilt between these two. While we didn’t necessarily get that, we did see a decent game right up until about 5 minutes to go in the first half and then woo boy, Notre Dame just kinda died. And North Carolina exploded, going on a 24-0 run that spanned halftime. Lights out. UNC moves on to the championship.
NOTRE DAME BE LIKE:
UNC IS ALL:
Miami vs Virginia:
About 20 times (give or take), this game looked like it probably should’ve been a blowout in Virginia’s favor. Multiple double digit leads for the Cavs only to see Miami pull it back closer. Probably a harbinger of what was to come Saturday night, but we just didn’t realize it initially. UVA fans were probably breathing a sigh of relief to get out of this one and into the championship game.
Miami fans:
Virginia fans:
Okay, Hoos. Let’s do this. We’re ACC. You’re ACC. Let’s put our differences aside and go into March Madness hand-in-hand. We’re not going to agree that you play an entertaining brand of basketball, and we’re not going to point out that those two or three trips against North Carolina that could have been a transition basket ended up being missed shots in the half-court offense likely cost you an ACC Championship. In fact, we ENJOY watching you get mad arguing that a slow pace is just as enjoyable and just as successful as an up-tempo pace.
UVA fan #Cavsplaining basketball at a bar before the #acctourney https://t.co/s55ZzhnCWb
— Ben Swain (@TheBenSwain) March 12, 2016
We respect your passion. Your fans were great in DC. You guys were loud, your band is pretty cool, and although you only brought four of them, your dance team did an outstanding job of filling the Ladybirds-sized void during media timeouts. Major props are in order for your commitment to cheering the end of the shot clock as well.
Virginia fans crossing the street started clapping when the clock hit 10 seconds https://t.co/QVw3YtkzIC
— Ben Swain (@TheBenSwain) March 11, 2016
Our heart will always be based in North Carolina, but if we had to pick one neighboring state to put our arms around and hug like you’re our family, we’d pick Virginia 100 times out of 100. Except for when Clemson football is playing. But we’re proud of you for earning a 1 seed, and we want you to do well in March. Go Hoos. You have our endorsement.
With mixed, but mostly positive reviews from Washington, DC, the ACC now turns its eyes to the next stop on the ACC Tournament tour … Brooklyn.
If you didn’t catch David Teel’s piece on why Washington, DC makes perfect sense for the ACC Tournament, you need to fix that immediately. In summary, the tournament is going to move around, because if it doesn’t, it’s going to die. Understanding that, the ACC might as well pick the best spots during that rotation, and DC is pretty freaking cool.
As a city, Washington, DC isn’t just a good fit for the league geographically, it’s a perfect fit because it matches the diversity of the league’s membership. You can close your eyes and picture an “SEC fan” or a “Big Ten fan”, but you can’t do the same with the ACC because of the mix of north and south, state school and private, urban and suburban. The league used to be culturally defined, but the gentrification of the southern, mostly-suburban, basketball-crazed league due to the introduction of “different” schools like Miami, Pitt, and Boston College is analogous to the evolution of neighborhoods in DC, with the Verizon Center’s Chinatown as a perfect example of those changes.
Greensboro fits the old ACC like a glove, but sadly (to some), the old ACC is gone. DC has been a very comfortable spot for the new ACC, but the “field trip” has not gone off without strong criticism from the people who rely on events at the Verizon Center for their livelihood.
A group of scalpers out in front of the Verizon Center on Thursday night grew frustrated with fans who either weren’t interested in tickets, or wouldn’t buy tickets at prices that would be financially advantageous for the sellers. “This is the worst tournament,” he told us. “The problem is, this isn’t an ACC city. And nobody travels. Kentucky. Indiana. Kansas. Those [fans] travel anywhere.”
Our Uber driver on Friday night backed up the scalper’s sentiments. “I don’t know why the tournament came up here,” said the driver, a long-time fan of ACC basketball dating back to Ralph Sampson. “You should have just stayed in North Carolina.”
From pure perception alone, the crowds have felt great at the Verizon Center, but it has certainly not been the type of event with a sellout crowd inside with more on the outside just enjoying the surrounding environment. Walking around the building before tipoff of UNC/Notre Dame, there was a great atmosphere on the sidewalk outside of the tournament, but one block over at a packed sports bar, there was an equal number of people inside with absolutely zero interest in the tournament.
To us, the visitors, the city has been outstanding. But to the city, the tournament hasn’t seemed to move the needle much. Then again, there may not be a spot outside of Greensboro where the tournament feels larger than its surroundings.