For decades, rain or shine, bear or bull, peace or strife, the Monday after Selection Sunday offered a snapshot of a men’s college basketball season. November non-conference flukes no longer mattered. March Madness hadn’t yet skewed our perceptions. For several years, this column attempted to capture that moment in time, when clear eyes and educated minds could assess the top teams in the sport.
Last year, however, this column never got published.
Because we never got to the third Monday in March. COVID-19 canceled the 2020 NCAA tournament. Without that snapshot, without Selection Sunday, an entire season feels erased.