We're trying something new. Ace is going to stream the 2011 game against MSU at Breslin. He's calling it "MGoTheater 3000" and it may be a disaster or it may be awesome, but either way it's better than watching Kung Fu Panda for the millionth time. Stop by this evening. [Ed-Ace: There will be a post on the front page at 7 pm ET and the stream will start at 8.]

Until then: marble racing. Sports!

Close enough!

I HOPE YOU LIKE YOUR CHILDREN AND/OR ROOMMATES. Coronavirus sequestration update: Selection Sunday came and went without brackets. State after state has closed bars and restaurants after The Youngs continued to gather in large sweaty masses. The Olds are little better:

The Villages is one of the largest retirement developments in the United States, with 125,000 residents living on more than 15,000 acres. When asked on the “Villages Friendly Folks” Facebook page how they were managing the coronavirus, a majority of people sided with Przybylowicz, saying the crisis is being overblown.

Against mounting advice from federal and private health experts, many expressed a determination to move forward with travel excursions, such as cruises. But that is getting harder to do.

Things aren't looking too good on the social distancing front.

[After THE JUMP: listen to that moist goatee]

Listen to… Jim Rome? Strange days:

There were viral truth-tellers you didn’t see coming. On Friday, radio host Jim Rome welcomed an epidemiologist into The Jungle. Toward the end of his interview, Rome gently subtweeted the moron portion of his fan base: “If somebody listening right now is saying, ‘Look, I’m healthy. If I get the coronavirus, I will be fine. I’m not worried. Everybody is freaking out over nothing’—what would your response be to that person?” Rack ’em!

Ethan Happ was there. Happ started his 55-year European basketball career in Italy. He's returned and is self-quarantining at his family's home. His experience in the coronavirus epicenter:

Q. I have a feeling that you come home, from Italy, and watch how us Americans are acting, going out – and I’m guessing that you think we’re foolish. Or just ignorant.

A. Oh yes, on the money. I just got off FaceTime with one of my friends. And foolish is an understatement. It’s perspective, though.

Americans that haven’t witnessed what I saw in Italy, and what you see going around on the internet, people think it’s just the flu. Coronavirus travels so much faster than the flu. It’s kind of an ignorance.

People my age, I watch Snap stories, and Instagram stories, and they’re in packed bars. It honestly makes me sick to my stomach, a bit, because I know that the precautions that I’m taking, the precautions that my family are taking – and then that gets thrown out the window, to a certain extent, when everyone is going out. And acting like everything is normal.

And I know, after seeing the stories on social media, we’re heading to where Italy is – if that does continue, huge, large gatherings. Concerts. And not taking the advice that the government and the sporting leagues have given us, then we are going right to where Italy is.

We’re not where Italy is, yet. Hopefully we get more testing kits. That’s why I am in the house for so long, because I’m not able to get a test – without showing symptoms. We have a chance to curb the growth. If we’re able to give the health care system some time, then this won’t be a tragedy like it is in Italy.

Exit seniors. Not the way anyone wanted these two guys to go out:

Forever, Go Blue. pic.twitter.com/1TPqkORX2a

— Michigan Men's Basketball (@umichbball) March 16, 2020

How the tourney got canceled. Via Matt Norlander:

Wednesday, March 12

Morning

By early morning, the NCAA is of course in contact with its medical advisory panel. The panel was monitoring trends and actions to quarantine from around the world, including China, South Korea and Italy. Also important to know: it's on this day that the World Health Organization elevates coronavirus from an epidemic to a pandemic.

"By Wednesday morning the advisement we were getting, almost overnight, was that the large-scale gatherings were a problem in this country and having the tournament with fans was not advisable," Gavitt said. "Literally at 7:30 in the morning on Wednesday was the first time I heard that. That came as a game-changer and that led to later that day the announcement that we would continue to hold the tournament but only with select family members in attendance."

Resumption speculation. Major sports leagues aren't going to resume soon.

On Thursday, Adam Silver said that the NBA’s “hiatus will be, most likely, at least 30 days.” But he admitted: “The notion of at least 30 days was just to try to give people some guidance.” When asked whether resumption in 30 days was realistic, Stephen Morrison, director of the Center for Strategic and International Studies’ Global Health Policy Center, told Yahoo Sports: “No, I doubt it. I think there’s probably no chance.”

Hours later on Sunday, the Centers for Disease Control suggested, in fact, the shutdown would last much longer. The CDC recommended “that for the next 8 weeks, organizers cancel or postpone in-person events that consist of 50 people or more throughout the United States.”

We have close to no idea how things are because we have worse testing than virtually anywhere in the developed world, so lockdown and distancing measures have no data to suggest when they should stop. The NBA is considering June as a best case scenario restart window.

Brendan Quinn's Howard story is temporarily free. Run, don't walk, as The Athletic is allowing their writers to unlock their favorite story for 48 hours:

To the people at Lowden Homes, that court was a sign of trust. After Howard dropped the cornerstone in place, Tyrone Noel, once described by the Tribune as a “neighborhood basketball organizer,” made this promise to Howard: “I just want to say that during the past couple of weeks a lot of people have degraded us as a community and said that this court and playground will never last. Juwan, you take a good look because when you come back next summer it will look the same.”

Ms. Banks remembers the day. All of it. She has lived in the same home, Unit 210, for the last 51 years, arriving as a young married woman in 1969, envisioning a future of family and community. Her husband died in 2005, and now she’s here, in her living room, surrounded by pictures of her now-adult children, reflecting on that day in 1997.

“There was just a whole lotta people,” she says, shaking her head. “All the kids that lived around here and the kids from across the street over there. Too many for me. I didn’t have to worry about going out there, though, because I knew he’d come right to my door.”

In praise of equilibrium brines. When I go to the store… uh. In the before times when I went to the store they would periodically beat me about the face with packaged boneless skinless chicken breasts, screaming "IT'S THREE DOLLARS A POUND" until I bought some.

The problem with this is that chicken breast is almost entirely lean, and it's prone to turning into shoe leather if you glance away from it at any point during cooking. Brining chicken breast turns it into another substance entirely, something that Kenji Lopez Alt demonstrated when he created a home version of Chick Fil A:

An equilibrium brine is a stupid easy way to get the right-most result without worrying about oversalting. Put a bowl on a kitchen scale and tare. Put your target in the bowl and cover it with water. Take 0.5-2% of the weight showing on the scale; add that much salt. Some people add a similar quantity of sugar, though I haven't really been able to tell a difference with chicken. 24 hours later you've got something seasoned exactly the way you want it.

Equilibrium brines aren't a universal solution—I wouldn't use them on anything you want a crust on or has skin that needs crisping. I would use one on seafood, shrimp, chicken, and for soaking beans.

Etc: The Ann Arbor District Library's summer game is now the bummer game.