When I heard that for the first time since 2010, the North Carolina men’s basketball team failed to qualify for the NCAA tournament, I made up my mind that I would not watch a second of it. If my team wasn’t playing, I did not care.
In a matter of four days, I was sitting on my couch watching every minute of the first round.
I realized that I could either wallow in the reality that the Tar Heels missed March Madness or I could watch the teams that made the tournament. Much to my surprise, watching the games without my team was almost just as fun.
Bracket selection
I have picked UNC to win the championship every year that it makes the tournament. While I recognize this strategy likely won’t lead me to victory in bracket pools, I can’t help but root for my team unconditionally — regardless of their seed.
This year, that option was no longer there and I had to look critically at qualifying teams. While I typically struggle to pick the right upsets (and I did this year, too), I attempted to strategize, comparing teams’ rosters, strengths of schedule and overall rankings.
Although I couldn’t be an optimist for the Tar Heels this time around, it was still fair game to root against adversaries like Creighton (we still remember what happened in 2012) and Duke. For these teams, I threw logic aside, choosing these teams to lose in the first round.
While my bracket was busted within 48 hours, it was still exciting to ditch my usual tactics and make a (mostly) honest bracket. Picking teams meant having temporary favorites, and it was surprisingly fulfilling to watch them win big games and even make history.
