With spring break approaching and Eastern’s extended break because of the widespread fear of COVID-19, I think it comes at the worst possible time. If you’re a college basketball fan, I think you can agree with me that it’s so depressing that the NCAA tournament is being canceled. This season has been surprising, but here are some things I went into detail about the season’s conclusion.

Nobody is safe from elimination this year. During this season, teams such as Duke, Michigan State, Kansas and Kentucky all held the title of No. 1 ranked team in the nation, but lost to an unranked opponent or upset. North Carolina has not been the Tar Heels we’ve seen dominate in recent years.

As a Duke fan, I cannot tell you how much I enjoyed and was also surprised by this North Carolina team. They had the No. 1 high school prospect, Cole Anthony, who was looking to dominate the college level. Anthony, along with other Tar Heels, have all been hit by an injury at one point or another.

North Carolina has never been this bad. The Tar Heels are 6-14 in conference play with an overall record of 14-18. This team has set records for the most conference losses, worst conference finish and handed Head coach Roy Williams his first career losing season.

This year has been unlike any other for Michigan State and Duke. For the Spartans, their overall record is 22-9 with a 14-6 conference record. The Big 10 has shaped up to be one of the most competitive conferences this year. If you can find me a person that predicted Maryland and Illinois to be this close in the standings, I’d call you a liar.

Duke has not looked like Duke from last year, which never should have been expected. The college game will never see another Zion Williamson caliber player who was paired with RJ Barrett and Cam Reddish. The Duke team this year has lost to unranked Stephen F. Austin, Wake Forest, Clemson.

Sophomore point guard Tre Jones is up for the Wooden Award after already being named the ACC Player of the Year and ACC Defensive Player of the Year. Vernon Carey Jr. has been a scoring threat for the Blue Devils along with other scoring pieces with Wendell Moore and Cassius Stanley.

It’s sad that this team will not have a chance to compete in the tournament.

Blake Faith is a senior journalism major. He can be reached at 581-2812 or at bmfaith@eiu.edu