SURVEY SAYS: 2019 NCAA Tournament Winner

Last week, I asked NewsDash readers, “Which of the final four would you like to see win the 2019 NCAA Men’s Basketball tournament?”

University of Virginia was the favored winner, with 32% of responding readers choosing it. This was followed by Michigan State University, selected by 24% of respondents. Texas Tech was chosen by 13.3% and Auburn University by 9.3%. “Any team but Michigan State” was selected by 2.7% of respondents, and 18.7% said they don’t care who wins.

Among the few respondents who chose to leave verbatim comments, some gave reasons for their selections, including rooting for underdogs. A couple expressed pleasure that teams that have never won were in the final four. Several expressed their views that sports should not be a focus of educational institutions and can lead to, as respondent put it, “questionable ethical decisions.” There is no Editor’s Choice this week, but a big thank you to all who responded.

Verbatim

I have a dream that colleges and universities actually focus on education rather than serving as a minor league for professional sports.

I don’t care at all for basketball — bring on the Stanley Cup playoffs!!

Michigan State to win my bracket!

It would be great to see Virginia rebound from the biggest upset in tourney history as #1 losing to a #16 last year to being the champion the following year.

It’s my favorite time of the year!

Since we (Villanova) could not be back, glad to see some ‘newbies.’

I’m disgusted by the corrupting effects of the massive dollar flows in and out of these programs. These are supposed to be universities, i.e., educational institutions. With athletics, they stray far from their mission, which leads them to make questionable ethical decisions.

I’m so happy that there are three teams in that have never won a National Championship!

Tom Izzo deserves a win, what a fantastic coach. I don’t even live in Michigan and I think that!

I have been paying tuition for the last 5 years, it seems fitting my youngest graduates with his Masters and the Auburn Tigers win it all! WAR EAGLE!!!!!!

Don’t watch basketball, but would want Texas Tech to win.

Corruption at its highest level.

I enjoy doing a bracket each year, less about being in the top of my pool, and more about just being able to say I beat my husband! 🙂

As long as Duke, North Carolina and Kentucky are out it really doesn’t much matter! I’ve already won!

Why not?

While my response is “don’t care” it is not because I don’t care about the sport. I love the sport and I enjoy seeing these four institutions make it to the Final Four as they are not the typical powerhouse institutions that usually make it. As such, I will be watching but don’t care when team wins it all.

As NCAA tournaments go, this one was a tad disappointing. No big upsets in the early rounds, and while there were some great overtime games in cutting the sweet 16 down to the elite 8, I find myself looking at the Final 4, and thinking – so what? Thank goodness, it’s time for baseball!

I choose Texas Tech because that is where the best NFL quarterback (Patrick Mahomes in case you didn’t know) is from!

UVA has never won the tournament and my niece went there so I have to route for them.

I’m not sure I will have the opportunity to watch, but if I do, I just hope they are good games!

How great would it be for UVA to go from losing in the first round to winning it all the next? You win some, you learn from some.

I’d be happy with any of them winning. I enjoy rooting for the underdog and glad to see some of them made it to the final four.

I have been a fan of MSU since Magic Johnson and Jay Vincent committed to attend there. Our youngest daughter almost had all four teams correctly picked. She has MSU, Virginia, Texas Tech and Kentucky. Go Green!

It’s been one of the best tournaments in recent history.