Revisiting the 2020 NCAA Banner

[ScarletDave]

A hot topic at the time of the NCAA tournament cancellation in 2020 was of course that RU would have in almost certainty been invited and would have gotten to hang a banner and break the streak. Many here said we should have still hung something, different ideas as to what, and many felt that was ridiculous.
Ultimately they did not hang anything, and that was probably the correct call, and it’s moot since we got one in 2021.
However, I never thought about it, and apparently some other schools hung some 2020 banners (only seeing these now on Twitter), and the commentary is mostly that these are “participation” trophy banners which is what many here said it would be the reaction if we did one. Interesting here to see:

 

[Rhuarc]

I get what the schools are doing and just shrug my shoulders at it all. Yes, we would have been in, but we weren't. It's like UCF declaring themselves national champions after being undefeated but not playing in a championship game. Heck, I don't even like when we jokingly call ourselves national champs from seasons 100 years ago! Not a fan.

 

[Scarlet Shack]

I say ….DO IT….

 

[ecojew]

I felt that it would have been a good gesture on the part of the NCAA to have the selection committee choose a field of 68 (for both men and women) so that the players would at least have been able to carry that memory with them. And in a situation like RU's, breaking the long streak would have been a great thing. COVID was no fault of the players and I think that RU should hang the banner!

 

[Mr. Magoo1]

Might as well hang an NCAA participation banner for every season too. We don’t need imaginary banners.

 

[GoodOl'Rutgers]

Magoo's wrong on this one.. we were in. Other teams are doing it. Just do it. Add the "cancelled" thing like FSU did. That others are calling them participation trophies.. so what? F---forget them.

Have some fun with it.. Make the banner read

NCAA
2020

cancelled..

..too scared
to play us​

 

[Mr. Magoo1]

Actually participation trophies have more relevance…because we did actually participate..whereas we didn’t make the NCAA tournament…because, um, there wasn’t one. It’s desperate, regardless of which schools are doing it.

 

[Russ Wood]

It's like UCF declaring themselves national champions after being undefeated but not playing in a championship game.

UCF fans will tell you that they are the 2017 Colley Matrix National Champion.

That is actually a real thing & I think its recognized by the NCAA.

 

[rubigtimenow]

Absolutely we should put up a banner for 2020! Heck, even say “Presumed NCAA Tourney Participant”. I almost don’t care what it says, but that team deserves to be in the rafters!
They will always be The Team that broke the string to me! #Legends

 

[Colonel HR]

I believe that the players and coaches that were part of that team deserve the banner.

 

[zebnatto]

There was so tournament so I’m not in favor or an imitation tournament banner. I would like to see a plaque with team pic, player names, Ws and Ls and a story of what went down. Wouldn’t mind a half-time presentation.

 

[knight82]

Put up a banner with the record from that year and underneath write " no NCAA Tournament due to covid

 

[Rhuarc]

This is why I feel the NCAA missed a huge opportunity in declaring a field with regular season champs taking the place of any tourney champ that wasn't yet crowned. it would have been fun and would have cut through the b.s. that we have now.

 

[Nycrusupporter]

No team should be putting up a banner just for getting in to the NCAA tournament.

 

[Plum Street]

No… just no .
Selection committee should have released a bracket . But since they didn’t …no

 

[Plum Street]

No team should be putting up a banner just for getting in to the NCAA tournament.

Yes they should . It’s an accomplishment and the barometer of whether it’s a good year fit the school or not

 

[Nycrusupporter]

Yes they should . It’s an accomplishment and the barometer of whether it’s a good year fit the school or not

Getting ranked is a much bigger accomplishment, and we shouldn‘t put up banners for that either. Conference Championships, Sweet Sixteens, Final Fours and National Championships are the only banners that should go up.

 

[Arizona Knight]

UCF fans will tell you that they are the 2017 Colley Matrix National Champion.

That is actually a real thing & I think its recognized by the NCAA.

it’s absurd.

 

[Plum Street]

Getting ranked is a much bigger accomplishment, and we shouldn‘t put up banners for that either. Conference Championships, Sweet Sixteens, Final Fours and National Championships are the only banners that should go up.

lol
So we would have hung how many banners since 1976 ??

College basketball is all about making the ncaa tournament. It’s a very direct and objective measure . Pretty simple
But for 2020 no hang . No tournament

 

[Nycrusupporter]

lol
So we would have hung how many banners since 1976 ??

College basketball is all about making the ncaa tournament. It’s a very direct and objective measure . Pretty simple
But for 2020 no hang . No tournament

That’s because we have been terrible, but with the trajectory of the program, we should finally have a reason to hang some banners.

Do you think Rick Pitino would want to hang a banner this year just because St. John’s gets to the NCAA Tournament? If the school tried to do that he would probably go there and tear it down himself.

 

[Russ Wood]

it’s absurd.

I agree. Evidently Alabama was also named the Colley Matrix National Champion once without winning either the BCS Championship or the CFP.

I think it was the year before UCF.

 

[RU848789]

I say ….DO IT….

Me too - we were in...

 

[rubigtimenow]

Getting ranked is a much bigger accomplishment, and we shouldn‘t put up banners for that either. Conference Championships, Sweet Sixteens, Final Fours and National Championships are the only banners that should go up.

If you had kids, thankfully you didn’t celebrate their first steps. Only when those kids are running marathons will I make a big deal about it!

 

[Russ Wood]

I felt that it would have been a good gesture on the part of the NCAA to have the selection committee choose a field of 68 (for both men and women) so that the players would at least have been able to carry that memory with them.

I agree with the NCAA's decision not to do that for two big reasons:

1. There were between 18-20 conference tournaments (men) that were either not finished or never started.

Nobody knows what the results would have been and how those results would have affected tournament seeding. So, a whole lot of assumptions would have needed to be made to come up with a field of 68.

2. The women’s tournament selection committee had not even met yet (this shocked me) when the tournament cancelation decision was made.

Having said that, teams who were ranked in the Top-25, or won their conference tournament and HM teams that finished in the top-3 in their conference were gonna be in. They could justifiably raise a banner or add 2020 to a "tournament appearance" banner to commemorate a successful season.

I like what Florida State did. Their banner acknowledges that the tournament was canceled but that they had a hell of a year being No. 4 in the final ranking for the season.

 

[Rutgers25]

No banner but years from now that team should be honored as the one that broke the streak. There was a great one shining moment video made for that team, so many great memories.