Robert Morris University won the Northeast Conference tournament on Tuesday night, with thousands of fans spilling onto the floor to celebrate a 77-67 victory over St. Francis. It was the exact type of scene that plays out all over the country each March – giddy students, a bandbox gymnasium rocking like a two-hour last call and a small school relishing its shining moment.
But as coaches and officials at Robert Morris woke up to the reality of participating in the 2020 NCAA tournament on Wednesday, they had to embrace the notion that it could be a drastically different experience.