🏆 Introducing College Hoops’ Greatest Fans

It came down to the absolute wire, but the FOX Sports Ultimate Fan Bracket: College Basketball Edition has a winner. [View in browser]( In today’s FOX Sports Insider: It came down to the wire, but the North Carolina Tar Heels are your ultimate college basketball fans ... the NCAA takes another step closer toward allowing student-athletes to receive compensation ... and Kliff Kingsbury joins FOX Football NOW to talk about the NFL Draft war room that took the internet by storm. So much has come out of the current COVID-19 crisis that you can’t even begin to unpack it all, yet one reality is increasingly clear and present. Communal things, the kind of which we typically take for granted, are painfully missed when they are taken from us. In sports, few events are more societal than the NCAA Tournament, a three-week jaunt of color and charm and Cinderella dreams that brings us together with the unique mystique of bracketology, where expertise counts for little and hope is for all. [STORY IMAGE 1] No activity has been untouched by the widespread shuttering of American life, but amid all sports, the most savage blow was perhaps to college hoops. With several conference championships already underway, the season was abruptly and necessarily shuttered, with first a revelation that the tournament would be held behind closed doors, then a swift move to cancel it altogether. “It was Friday the 13th, and it felt like the sky was falling,” Tate Frazier, of the Titus and Tate FOX Sports hoops podcast, told me via telephone. “Obviously, it is a lot bigger than college basketball, but for people who love it, this is the most special and magical time of the year. You go from preparing for it, looking forward to it, discussing the matchups, to it suddenly not existing anymore.” But college fans are a resilient bunch, their love of school and team undimmed by time or circumstance. Evidence of that has come in recent weeks, with FOX Sports’ Ultimate Fan Bracket: College Basketball Edition enjoying a swell of popularity culminating in more than 2.5 million votes. [STORY IMAGE 2]( Held on Twitter, 68 teams were organized into a bracket, with each matchup winner being the school that generated the most social media votes within a designated time period. The ultimate winner, announced on Monday, was North Carolina. The prize – a billboard proclaiming UNC as the greatest fan base in the sport, and placed near the campus of their rivals, either Duke or North Carolina State (and more to come on that). You need some luck and a few things to fall in your favor to win a championship, and perhaps that was the case with the Tar Heels here, too. Factors such as “The Last Dance,” featuring Michael Jordan and the Chicago Bulls team of 1998, also served to spark some nostalgia for Jordan’s UNC exploits, with footage in the first two episodes of his title-winning basket in 1982. “To see a national poll with UNC on top was a bit surprising,” admitted North Carolina graduate Frazier, who still remembers Florida State’s Sam Cassell deriding UNC supporters as “cheese and wins” fans. “It was fortuitous timing. ‘The Last Dance’ ignited some nostalgic vibes. It fell into place.” The vote was impossibly close, with UNC holding off Brigham Young University in the final thanks to supporting Tweets from alumni like Harrison Barnes and Rick Fox, while Jimmer Fredette and even former presidential candidate Mitt Romney went to bat for the Cougars. [STORY IMAGE 3]( That razor-thin margin was fairly common throughout the bracket, with multiple matchups coming down to the closing minutes throughout the rounds. Tate's podcast partner, Mark Titus, teased him that North Carolina received 50.1% of the vote in each of their matchups — yet the Tar Heels survived, advanced, and claimed the crown. It was a reminder, if we needed one, of what college loyalty and sporting pride mean to people. The greatest way in which society can pay tribute to those who have lost their lives and the first responders who have risked theirs is to live to the fullest when we come out of all this. Tate described March Madness as a “weird and beautiful concoction,” and it is. It is sad that we were without it, and while heartache must be kept in context in the light of the pandemic’s tragic realities, it is real. For teams like Dayton with Obi Toppin and a swell of positive vibes leading to the sense of impending destiny, it was crushing. For the Cinderellas we never knew, a lost chance at greatness. For all the seniors, no final chance to shine on a national stage. [STORY IMAGE 4] And ultimately, the reality that at the end of it all, there would have been a true national champion who would have battled through, survived and advanced five times and then finished it off with everything on the line. That was one team’s destiny, until it wasn’t. We don’t know who the winners would have been. When it comes to who lost, the answer is simple. We all did. But for a few weeks this April, fans still had a chance to rally around their schools, to cheer alongside their most famous alumni, and to watch as contest after contest came down to the buzzer. Congratulations on your title, North Carolina. You absolutely earned it. [STORY IMAGE 5] Here’s what others have said ... Joel Berry, 2017 national champion with UNC: “I just want to thank the fans for all the support they give us throughout the season, even though I’m not there. But even when we’re not at Carolina, you still see fans come out and watching us play as we pursue our professional careers. It’s a blessing to have those fans on our side, and it’s always good to have the fanbase with us, whether we’re doing good or whether we’re doing bad, they’re always there sticking with us. So we just want to say thanks to all of them.” Tate Frazier, FOX Sports: “The million-dollar question now is where the billboard goes. The local radio people in Raleigh, North Carolina (home of NC State), are reaching out to me, saying that Raleigh demands the billboard. The State fans are the kind of people who want pain. That’s what State fans want: a billboard that says North Carolina has the best fans in college basketball. I personally want it to be near Coach K’s house. But I don’t know. I’m trying to reach out to people to see where we want it.” Harrison Barnes, Kings forward and former UNC basketball star: “I just wanted to show some love and congratulate my people, the North Carolina Tar Heels, on winning the FOX Sports fan vote. You guys are the best fans in the world, and now everyone knows it. I’m looking forward to seeing the billboard that goes up, and as always, it’s a great day to be a Tar Heel.” Roy Williams, UNC men’s basketball head coach, on The Herd: “Well, I voted 7,000 times myself. [laughs] No, I did not know that we’d won. I might have to use that in recruiting.” [IN OTHER WORDS] - Speaking of voting, FOX Sports has been nominated for 3 Webby Awards for our coverage of the 2019 FIFA Women’s World Cup. You can vote for us for [our overall coverage of the event]( our incredible [Women’s World Cup NOW live Twitter show]( and our exclusive mini-documentary [on the greatest moment in U.S. Soccer history]( as told by Brandi Chastain herself. So vote now! - The NCAA has taken one step closer toward allowing student-athletes to be compensated for endorsements and other promotional work. [Sports Illustrated’s Pat Forde explains]( why supporting this proposal is the right move for college sports. - Stories inside the virtual 2020 NFL Draft: 10 general managers break down what they learned from this year’s unique selection process, [as told to Jeremy Fowler at ESPN.]( - “The Last Dance” has brought Dennis Rodman’s on-court success back into the spotlight. On that note, [FiveThirtyEight’s Neil Paine looks back]( at the career of another defense-first Detroit big man, Ben Wallace. [THE INTERNET IS UNDEFEATED] [THE INTERNET IS UNDEFEATED]( Creativity has been the name of the game during our coronavirus quarantine, so shoutout to our friend Mick here for giving his little one the ultimate backyard soccer experience. Sure, the little deck and chairs in the corner might force an odd field configuration, but we’ve seen our fair share of weird field designs before, right? “Tal’s Hill” in Houston, we’re looking at you ... [VIEWER'S GUIDE] Wednesday Night iRacing (FS1, 7 p.m. ET) Jeff Gordon, Clint Bowyer, and Adam Alexander are on the call as Kevin Harvick, Juan Pablo Montoya, Dale Earnhardt Jr., and many more jump into super late models and UMP dirt modifieds for some virtual racing action. FOX Football NOW (FS1, 8 p.m. ET) Vikings GM Rick Spielman and Cardinals head coach Kliff Kingsbury join Jay Glazer to debrief on the 2020 NFL Draft and talk about the war room that took the internet by storm. WWE NXT (USA, 8 p.m. ET) It’s a night of champions for the black and yellow brand, as Keith Lee puts his North American Championship on the line against Damian Priest, Charlotte Flair goes one-on-one with Mia Yim, and the Interim Cruiserweight title tournament rolls on. [BET OF THE DAY] [BET OF THE DAY] Odds provided by [FOX Bet]( 2021 Pro Football Championship Winner Kansas City Chiefs: +600 Baltimore Ravens: +725 San Francisco 49ers: +900 New Orleans Saints: +1200 Tampa Bay Buccaneers: +1300 The Draft is complete. Free agency has all but shaken out. And now, it’s time to take a look at who you expect to win the championship this upcoming football season. Perhaps unsurprisingly, the Chiefs and Bucs are the two most popular wagers since Tom Brady took his talents to Tampa Bay. But for longer shots, the Steelers at 25-to-1 are seeing a fair amount of action, with people expecting a healthy Ben Roethlisberger to lift Pittsburgh back into contention. A new FOX Sports app and website is coming. [Click here]( to be notified when the reimagined app is available. [WHAT THEY SAID] “I should be a postage stamp. That’s the only way I’ll ever get licked.” — Muhammad Ali [FOLLOW FOX SPORTS] [Twitter]( [Facebook]( [YouTube]( [Instagram]( Download the FOX Sports app for live scores and streaming [App Store]( [Google Play]( Available on: [tvOS] [Roku] [fireTV] [androidtv] [XBOX] [Google chromecast] [tvOS] [fireTV] [androidtv] [XBOX] [Google chromecast] Forwarded this message? [Sign up](. Amazon, Fire, and all related marks are trademarks of Amazon.com, Inc. or its affiliates. Trademark & Copyright Notice: ™ and © 2020 FOX Media LLC and FOX Sports Interactive Media, LLC. All rights reserved. Please do not reply to this message. If you do not wish to receive emails like this in the future, please [unsubscribe](. FOX Sports respects your privacy. Click [here]( to view our Privacy Policy. FOX.com Business & Legal Affairs - Manager Digital Media P.O. Box 900 Beverly Hills, CA 90213-0900