A year ago, I passed the time during the early days of the pandemic by conducting the Notre Dame 15 Years Tournament. The premise was simple: Simulate a tournament with what was then Notre Dame’s 15 most recent basketball teams. It ended with the 2007-08 Irish taking the title. Now, it’s time for a simulation based more in reality: The unfinished 2020 ACC Tournament.
After the second round of the aforementioned tournament, the bracket looked like this:
It never got further than that because that’s when COVID-19 shut down sports, claiming the tournament and the 2020 iteration of March Madness. Eight ACC teams, including Notre Dame, never got the chance to see if they would have won the conference’s automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament. But while those teams will forever be left to wonder what might have happened in reality, I can settle the score virtually. That’s why I’m going to simulate the rest of this tournament so a champion can be crowned.
Just like last year, I will determine the outcomes of the games using the sports simulation tool WhatIfSports.com. One game a day will be simulated, so you’ll have plenty of time to digest everything. When it’s over, we’ll know if the Irish could have stolen an NCAA berth from a bubble team. Hope you enjoy my way of keeping you in a college basketball mood for a little longer.