The whole international pandemic thing that’s going down forced the 2020 March Madness to be cancelled. Or so you thought.
The NCAA is skipping this year’s tournament at all levels, but /r/CollegeBasketball has sponsored its own alternative Men’s Division I tournament: Reddit March Madness. Streamed exclusively on YouTube and executed with a college basketball video game from almost 15 years ago, this year’s March Madness is sure to be unpredictable and full of really dumb turnovers.
Nothing But Nylon is providing the exclusive* coverage of the event from the bedroom of our headquarters. Don’t miss any of the real* quotes and bone-breaking analysis that you’ll only find here because of how exclusive* this content is.
* = this means you can’t sue me
Reddit March Madness First Round – 4 Oregon 78, 13 New Mexico State 68
A 68-team tournament requires lots of games. This was one of them.
Oregon cruised to an easy 78-68 victory over New Mexico State, asserting its will early and maintaining control throughout the contest. It left Ducks head coach Dana Altman feeling good about his team.
“Even though I always look like I’m in the middle of an existential crisis, that’s not always the case,” he explained. “Sometimes I’m able to balance my mortality and imperfections as a human with my responsibilities in the home and office. It makes it easier when you have guys like the ones I’ve got.”
One of those guys is Payton Pritchard, and he certainly makes Altman’s job easier. The senior guard put up 26 points 7-of-15 shooting from the field, plus a perfect 9-of-9 from the charity stripe. He refused to take all the credit, though.
“It was a team effort,” he said. “Our team gave effort, and their team did not.”
New Mexico State found itself on the wrong side of yet another tournament game. The Aggies have represented the WAC in the Big Dance all but two times since 2010 yet haven’t won a game in the event since 1993.
“It’s a process,” said New Mexico State head coach Chris Jans. “The first step is getting here, and the second step is losing.”
Oregon will challenge the winner of No. 5 seed Ohio State and No. 12 seed Akron (Thursday at 6:30 p.m. EST). Be sure to follow along with Nothing But Nylon’s comprehensively exclusive* coverage of the 2020 Reddit March Madness.
