On Wednesday, the attorneys general of Tennessee and Virginia officially filed a lawsuit against the NCAA. This decision was made less than 24 hours after it was reported that Tennessee was being investigated for potential rules violations.
This official announcement from the Tennessee’s office of attorney general featured a bracket.
Tennessee is arguing that the NCAA is “enforcing rules that unfairly restrict how athletes can commercially use their name, image and likeness at a critical juncture in the recruiting calendar.” In the school’s defense, there isn’t a lot of regulation when it comes to NIL.
Instead of focusing on the serious nature of this lawsuit, college sports fans cracked jokes about the bracket featuring Tennessee and Virginia.
State of Tennessee and Commonwealth of Virginia – #1 seed.
NCAA – 16th seed. https://t.co/YT8QPns04c
— Jayson Swain (@SwainEvent) January 31, 2024
“This is the only playoff bracket Tennessee’s football team will ever be in,” a fan said.
This is the only playoff bracket Tennessee’s football team will ever be in. https://t.co/AFMoYshEn7
— 🅱️🅰️Ⓜ️ (@_bigbam_) January 31, 2024
Another fan commented, “Tennessee usually has trouble in NCAA brackets.”
Tennessse usually has trouble in NCAA brackets. https://t.co/ljEBjkac2x
— justin kane (@ByJustinKane) January 31, 2024
“And in the South Region playing in Memphis, we have 6 seed Commonwealth of Virginia and the State of Tennessee playing 11 seeded NCAA,” a third fan wrote.
“…And in the South Region playing in Memphis, we have 6 seed Commonwealth of Virginia and the State of Tennessee playing 11 seeded NCAA.” https://t.co/hFYU0rphRc pic.twitter.com/ejaPfuIrOp
— Dan (Nationally Invited) (@X_Fan_Dan25) January 31, 2024
Tennessee has proven this week that it won’t back down from the NCAA.
It’ll be interesting to see how the NCAA responds to this lawsuit.