WCC mascot Alpha poses with a March Madness bracket during last year’s bracket challenge. This year amid the Covid-19 outbreak, the WCC sports office substituted its usual bracket challenge with a virtual sports movie-themed one. VOICE FILE PHOTO
By Kristy King
Staff Writer
After March Madness tournaments were canceled due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the WCC sports office had to get creative for its annual bracket competition.
Instead of the planned March Madness watch party and bracket challenge, the sports office staff decided to host a virtual bracket competition that substitutes sports movies instead of basketball. A committee came up with movies, rankings and match-ups for the challenge.
It was the right call to cancel the March Madness tournaments in the interest of public health, said Matt Lucas, sports supervisor at WCC. He said the virtual brackets are a way for WCC sports fans to stay connected and keep their spirits up.
“Sports is always something that brings people together through tough times and not having them right now is a weird moment, but completely understandable,” Lucas said. “It is always better to err on the side of caution and keep people safe.
“This is an extremely rare situation that everyone has had to adapt to… to put people in the safest position possible,” he said.
Last year, March Madness averaged 10.5 million viewers per game and ESPN reported there were 17.2 million brackets entered in its tournament challenge. WCC usually sees participation and excitement from students during its own March Madness activities, said Jacob Kopka, a 23-year-old in the physical therapy program at WCC.
“Last year we had 50 brackets filled out and were hopeful for 70 brackets this year,” Kopka said.
Kopka led the planning for the March Madness festivities at WCC this year and the sports office had a watch party planned for tournaments.
“It’s unfortunate because we were just getting everything finalized and we’re all excited for it,” Kopka said.
The sports office has hosted March Madness events annually since 2015, but this would’ve been the first year that included a watch party.
“We were excited about the event as it was the first time trying to do the watch party,” Lucas said. “But we will try again next time when it is safe to do so.”
In the past, competitors had to beat WCC’s mascot Alpha in order to win the bracket challenge and be eligible for the first-place prize.
“One year, 15 individuals beat Alpha, while another year there was only one out of the wolfpack,” Lucas said.
Other sports organizations got innovative with their coverage after the tournaments were canceled, too. This past Sunday would’ve been Selection Sunday, but media outlets instead filled the slot with iconic games from college basketball history. Similarly, the Detroit radio station 97.1 “The Ticket” held virtual reality tournament games and match-ups for fans to participate in.
The next round of selections for the WCC bracket contest is due March 27. For more information and to keep up to date, visit WCC sports’ social media pages:
Instagram – @WCCSDA
Twitter – @Sports_WCC
Facebook – @washtenawccsports
