College football is coming to an end, and the beginning of college basketball is approaching. Despite having to play through the many obstacles that Covid-19 presented, college football ended up being quite a success. Most teams had to deal with at least one positive Covid-19 test on their team, but they were all handled appropriately, and no major outbreak resulted.
As in other years, a national champion was crowned: Alabama. Led by one of the greatest coaches, Nick Saban, Alabama has been the national champion five times in the last 10 years.
With college basketball starting up again, there are a lot of questions about what the season will look like. There is less of a risk of spreading Covid-19 through football than basketball due mainly to the fact that football takes place outside while basketball takes place inside. The Covid protocols for basketball are similar to the ones taken for college football: every player is tested everyday and they all must wear masks on the bench.
Some colleges have taken the risk of Covid spreading through games more seriously and have even mandated their team to wear masks during the games. One notable college that has done this is Boston University. In addition, colleges also encourage both teams to wear masks if the game occurs at their home stadium. They don’t want any Covid-19 outbreaks at their school from external sources. It will be interesting to see if any other big name schools follow this approach as the season goes on.
A very odd thing about this year’s college basketball season is how poorly some of the basketball powerhouse schools are doing. Duke and Kentucky specifically, have been having one of the worst seasons in their respective history. These teams are usually ranked in the top ten and are now at risk of not making it into the NCAA tournament. Duke’s record is just 6-5, and Kentucky has a disappointing record of 5-10. It would sure be weird to not see either of these teams in the NCAA tournament this year.
Lastly, the question about college basketball that’s coming to the forefront whether March Madness will occur at the end of the 2021 season. March Madness pertains to the NCAA basketball’s 64 team tournament. This tournament takes place in March, therefore getting its nickname, March Madness. The tournament has a total of 67 games, leaving college basketball fans glued to their TV for all of March.
What makes March Madness so interesting are the brackets that the fans fill out. Since the sequence of games are pre-set the whole way through, you can fill out a bracket as to who you think will win every game. You don’t even need to be a college basketball fan to enjoy making these brackets and watching to see if your teams win. Since it was cancelled last year due to Covid-19, college basketball fans are twice as excited for it this year. For some of us, March Madness is the only thing that will bring us through the hard school work and stress that comes in the month of March.
As of now, the NCAA said that the tournament is still scheduled to take place. Since there are 64 teams from locations all across the country, it will be interesting to see how the NCAA plans to keep everyone safe during the tournament. I would assume that every player will need to quarantine for two weeks before the tournament, but since the tournament is still two months away, we don’t exactly know how it will operate. It is also very likely that the tournament may be canceled or postponed, but as of now, every single college basketball fan is clinging onto the hope that he or she will get to see his or her favorite tournament once again.