The Monday Tipoff: Mock Brackets Replace The Real One, For What Might Have Been

There was no official Selection Sunday, but there were efforts to salvage the day.

The Monday Tipoff would rather be talking about an NCAA tournament bracket today.

There will be no 68-team field this season because of the concerns over the COVID-19 coronavirus, and that's understandable.

It was a bleak weekend without sports and with all of the news coming from around the nation and around the world. There was no selection show, no bracket.

The NCAA didn't even want to release one to make everyone wonder what might have been — last week's selection process was curtailed by the decision to cancel the tournament, and since there were so few conference tournaments completed, a lot of automatic bids weren't decided.

But on Sunday, others tried to duplicate the process.

One of the most creative efforts was from the Raleigh News & Observer, which not only did a bracket but its own selection show.

The newspaper used Washington Post bracketologist Patrick Stevens, and unveiled its 68-team field on YouTube.

The N&O had Iowa as a 7 seed in the West regional, playing Oklahoma in the first round in Albany, N.Y.

ESPN bracketologist Joe Lunardi did something similar on Twitter. He had Iowa as a 6 seed in the Midwest, playing 11 seed East Tennessee State (coached by Lone Tree, Iowa native Steve Forbes) in the first round in Greensboro, N.C.

CBS Sports' Jerry Palm had Iowa as a 7 seed in the West, playing Xavier in the first round in Sacramento.

CBS then did a simulation of the bracket. Iowa won its first-round game before losing to No. 2 seed San Diego State in the second round.

Another simulation was done by Eli Boettger, who had Iowa as the 7 seed in the South, playing 10 seed Oklahoma. The Hawkeyes won the first-round game, 81-76. Iowa then lost in the second round to 2 seed Florida State, 72-64.

Bracket Matrix's final ranking had Iowa as a 6 seed.

Delphi Bracketology had Iowa as a 6 seed in the South, playing 11 seed Cincinnati in the first round in Albany, with 3 seed Seton Hall or 14 seed North Dakota State awaiting in the second round.

Shelby's Bracket WAG had Iowa as a 6 seed in the East, playing 11 seed Wichita State in the first round, with 3 seed Duke and 14 seed Boston on the other side of the bracket.

It is all a what-might-have-been, something to think about on a day that college basketball fans missed.