College Basketball: How NCAA Tournament Might Have Played Out -- Day 1

Two preliminary-round games are played on Tuesday to open fictional March Madness

The men's NCAA basketball tournament was scheduled to start today, Tuesday, March 17, with two preliminary-round games in Dayton, Ohio. Those two games and the remaining 65 games of March Madness won't take place this year because of concerns about the novel coronavirus.

It means basketball fans cannot fill out brackets in office pools or watch one of  the most exciting events in sports. So we decided to provide a substitute, a scenario of how the tournament might have played out. You can even have an office pool based on the results we propose.

It's not quite as exciting, but at least it's something. Tuesday's games probably would have been televised by TruTV, so you might not have been able to see them anyway.

We used the braketology and pairings projected by Jerry Palm at CBSSports.com, partly because he predicted that seven Pac-12 teams would be in the tournament.

He also has two Pac-12 teams, UCLA and Stanford, facing each other on the first day in one of the two preliminary games. It seems unlikely the tournament committee would have matched two teams from the same conference on the first day, but we'll run with it. 

(Substitute "UCLA" for "Cal" in the above video of Stanford coach Jerod Haase and it might apply to a postgame news conference following our fictional NCAA tournament game.)

Here is the bracket provided by CBS Sports, followed by our prediction of how the two first-day games -- Robert Morris vs. North Carolina Central and Stanford vs. UCLA -- would play out: 

Day 1, Game 1

No. 16 seed North Carolina Central (18-13) vs. No. 16 seed Robert Morris (20-14)

***North Carolina Central coach LeVelle Moton talks to guard C.J. Keyser

Photo by Jamie Rhodes - USA TODAY Sports

Preview: The North Carolina Centeral Eagles entered the tournament having won 11 of their last 12 games. They won the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference regular-season title, but the conference tournament was canceled. NC Central's Jibri averaged 19.1 points and 9.3 rebounds and was the MEAC player of the year.

The Robert Morris Colonials finished tied for second in the Northeast Conference but won the conference tournament, avoiding regular season champion Merrimack in the process. AJ Bramah, a Bay Area product from San Leandro, was a second-team all-NEC selection after averaging 13.0 points and 7.9 rebounds.

The Game: NC Central had never won an NCAA tournament game in its only two appearances, but the Eagles play pretty good defense and take an early 12-8 lead thanks to C.J. Keyser's six early points.

But the Colonials, who led the NEC in three-point shooting percentage and assists, surge ahead behind some fine team play and a pair of three-point baskets by Josh Williams, who shot 41.7 percent from beyond the arc this season.

NC Central hangs tough through the first half, but Robert Morris begins to pull away in the second half. Bramah, who led the NEC in field-goal percentage, is unstoppable inside and scores 14 second-half points.

The Eagles make a push behind their pressing defense after leading the MEAC in steals, averaging 8.6 steals per game. NC Central gets within two points at 59-57 with two minutes left as Robert Morris, which finished last in the NEC in free-throw percentage, lets the Eagles back in the game with a flurry of missed free throws.

Bramah finally makes a free throws to push the Robert Morris advantage to three points with 19 seonds left, and North Carolina Central, which shot just 29.9 percent from beyond the arc for the season, misses two three-point attempts in the closing seconds.

Robert Morris, a Pittsburgh, Pa., school with an enrollment of about 5,300, advances, leaving it to dream that perhaps this will be a repeat of the 1983 season when the Colonials won their preliminary-round game, then nearly upset fifth-seeded Purdue in the second round. That game was tied at 53-53 and Purdue held the ball for the final three minutes (no shot clock in 1983) before Steve Reid made a jumper with four seconds remaining to give the Boilermakers a 55-53 win. (See video below of that game.)

Final score: Robert Morris 65, North Carolina Central 62

Day 1, Game 2

No. 11 seed UCLA (19-12) vs. No. 11 seed Stanford (20-12)

***Stanford's Bryce Wills dunks on UCLA

Photo by Kirby Lee - USA TODAY Sports

Preview: Stanford won the only regular-season game between the two teams, beating the Bruins 74-59 at Pauley Pavilion behind Tyrell Terry's 24 points back on January 15. That improved Stanford's record to 15-2 overall and 4-0 in the Pac-12, while UCLA slipped to 8-9, 1-3. A lot has changed since then, as UCLA finished second in the conference, and the Cardinal placed seventh. 

Stanford has to feel fortunate to be in the NCAA Tournament at all, as a lot of Bracketologists did not have the Cardinal in after it lost rather decisively to Cal 63-51 in the first round of the Pac-12 tournament. Despite its second-place finish the Bruins barely got an invitation, too, and had to sweat it out after losing to USC in their final regular-season game.

Both teams rely on defense as Stanford led the Pac-12 in scoring defense while UCLA made its late run on the strength of its physical, disruptive defense.

The Game: As he did in the first game against UCLA, Terry starts hitting shots from long range, scoring nine points in the first seven minutes to help the Cardinal to a 15-10 lead.

But UCLA's physical defense starts wearing on the Cardinal, which misses six shots in a row to help the Bruins take a 26-23 lead at halftime.

The team's two all-conference performers -- UCLA's Chris Smith and Stanford's Oscar da Silva -- lead their respective teams in the second half. Smith's three-pointer at the 10-minute mark pushes the Bruins' lead to six points, but da Silva scores on a pair of  driving layups during an 8-0 Stanford run that gives Stanford a 49-47 lead with four minute remaining.

The teams continue to play patient halfcourt offense as neither team gets much room for open shots. With less than a minute left, Jake Kyman hits a three-pointer to put the Bruins ahead by a point, but Stanford's Bryce Wills gets loose for a dunk that gives Stanford a one-point lead with 14 seconds to go.

UCLA freshman point guard Tyger Campbell has eight assists to this point, but after shooting just 7-for-38 over UCLA's final three regular-season games, he is again struggling with his shooting, making just two of 10 shots. But in the timeout with 14 seconds left, UCLA coach Mick Cronin tells his players he wants the ball in Campbell's hands.

As the clock runs down to six seconds, Cambell drives down the left side of the lane, and launches a fallaway 10-foot shot over the outstretched hand of Terry. The ball drops through with 2.8 seconds remaining, giving UCLA the win as Campbell is mobbed by his teammates.

"I had no doubts," Campbell said in a postgame TV interview.

In the video atop this story, Stanford coach Jerod Haase provided postgame comments after the regular-season loss to Cal that might be similar to what he would say after this fictional loss.

Final Score: UCLA 56, Stanford 55

***Tyger Campbell celebrates his game-winning shot

Photo by Kirby Lee - USA TODAY Sports