Mythical March Madness: 5 dark horses that would have gone far in 2020 NCAA Tournament

These cinderella candidates for the 2020 NCAA Tournament are hurting as they had the goods to make a dark-horse run in March Madness.

On what would’ve been Selection Sunday, it’s hard not to already be missing March Madness, unquestionably the best part of the year. As we know by now, the 2020 NCAA Tournament was outright canceled due to concerns over the outbreak of the coronavirus. The safety of the players and fans made the NCAA’s decision an easy one, quickly acting to cancel the tournament and leave it at that.

Having said that, fans are still left wanting — wanting to see all of the great things that March Madness brings every year that make it so, well, mad. Whether that’s upsets, buzzer-beaters or Cinderella’s, no NCAA Tournament means that we aren’t treated to the mix of elation and heartbreak that all of those moments breed.

But as the sports world is put on hold due to the coronavirus, it can’t hurt to assess what the 2020 NCAA Tournament and March Madness could have been. And what better place to do that in what we’re calling Mythical March Madness than by looking at the dark horse candidates who could’ve put on the glass slipper and played the role of cinderella this year.

Interestingly enough, the 2019 tournament really didn’t have a true cinderella candidate. We saw teams such as the Auburn Tigers and Texas Tech Red Raiders make it to the Final Four but they were also the No. 5 and 3 seeds in their respective regions. And though there were upsets all over the place in the First Round, they didn’t have a run in them beyond that.

Would that have changed in the 2020 NCAA Tournament? Obviously we’ll never have the definitive answer to that. However, if there were any teams that were going to go on a truly magical and deep Cinderella run in March Madness, these five dark horses — all seeded No. 9 or lower in the Mythical March Madness bracket — had the best chance to make a ton of noise.