The Houston defense is relentless. The referees have put their whistles in their pockets, and so we have a rock fight!!!! The game has been physical and the teams are both playing some incredible defense.

Only 4 fouls have been called in a game that has had plenty of contact. I wouldn’t necessarily say all the contact should result to a foul – but you definitely can say that the referees are letting them play.

Houston jumped out to the early lead with about 10 minutes to play as Mylik Wilson stole the ball from Denzel Aberdeen and made the layup to give the Cougars a 16-10 lead.

But then Will Richard got hot. With 6 minutes left, he drilled a three-pointer to tie the game at 21.

Houston immediately had an answer. LJ Cryer hit a three-pointer. Ja’Vier Francis blocked a layup from Micah Handlogten. Mylik Wilson had a nice dunk off a pass from Emanuel Sharp. And then after Clayton missed a three-pointer for the Gators, Wilson hit a three-pointer to extend the lead back to 8 with 5 minutes in the half.

But Florida would keep fighting. And they got lucky that the referees had their whistles in their pockets. J’Wan Richards put up a shot in the lane and the ball hung on the rim until getting knocked to the corner by a Florida defender. After replays, it certainly looked like it should have been goaltending.

Instead, the Gators pushed the ball up the court, got the ball into Will Richard, and he drilled the three-pointer to cut the lead to 3. And that would eventually be the score that would end the half – the Cougars are up 31-28 at half-time.

Houston has 13 points off their bench as Wilson leads the Cougars with 7 points and Ja’Vier Francis has 6 points. But it is Houston’s defense that is the biggest story.

Walter Clayton Jr averages 18.5 points per game. The Cougars have him shut out – as he has gone 0-4 from the field and every one of those 4 shots has been heavily contested. Alijah Martin averages 14.6 points per game and the Cougars have held him 1-5 from the field for 2 points.

The Gators average 10.6 turnovers a game. Houston forced 9 from them in the first half. If it wasn’t for Will Richard getting hot and scoring half of the Gators points (14), this game would not be close.

The game is Houston’s pace. The game is Houston’s style. Everything favors the Cougars – but as is common in a defensive battle, it is a one-possession game.

The Cougars lead 31-28, with 20 minutes to hang on to win a national championship – should be an exciting finish to the season.

I am now wearing all 4 of my Purdue shirts in a desperate attempt to get any type of luck

Well – we just got home from dinner, and saw that Alabama was on a 22-6 run to finish the half. Alabama would obviously prefer the score of the game to be in the 80s / 90s / 100s – but at the end of the day, they still take a 35-32 lead into halftime.

Since I don’t have much knowledge of what happened. I basically saw Rylan Griffen hit a three pointer from the corner to give Alabama a 29-28 lead, and then it looks a minute later Mark Sears hit a three-pointer to extend the lead to 5.

So – since it is at half, lets talk about the rest of the day. I was stressed out about the games – and realizing that I was sitting a lot, so figured for some exercise, I would get a tee-time to go golfing.

Even in trying to get some mental and physical health, I can’t seem to do it in a sane way. Knowing that we were going to visit with Mary Kate and Kate this evening, I wanted to get an early time. So, with the reality that I am falling asleep at the end of two exciting games last night, I woke up at 6:45 am so that I could go golf. Because it makes sense when you are not getting any sleep and you finally have a day you could sleep in to get up before 7 am.

And of course, I chose to golf at Royal New Kent. I never remember breaking 100 at this course before and I was a better handicap than I am now. I realized how crazy I am as the starter really encourages us to play the white tees – instead of the black, gold or blue tees. He then mentions that the course was ranked as the 15th toughest course in the United States.

This might be the first time I have played the white tees here – it definitely made the course more playable. The Blue tees are 7440 yards, followed by Gold (7159), Black (6733) and White (6194). So, yeah – cutting almost 1000 yards off the course definitely helped make it playable.

I was playing really well – my putting was atrocious, but still shot 50 on the first 9. Then I went on a run. I got a par on 11, a par on 13 and a tap-in birdie on 14 to make a run. Even with a horrendous triple bogey / triple bogey finish, I still managed to sneak out a 96. Still a bunch of things to work on with my golf game – but it made me feel good to hit some good shots, be out on the golf course (which was beautiful except for the greens which had some patchy spots). And of course the adrenaline shots of knocking a blind approach right next to the hole definitely helped.

Well – looks like the Alabama / Clemson game has started back up. Maybe I will get a chance to enjoy some basketball tonight.

It took 10 extra minutes of basketball, but the Creighton Blue Jays finally knocked off the Oregon Ducks in a fantastic game.

In regulation, it looked like the Ducks were going to pull off the upset and join NC State as 11 seeds coming out of Pittsburgh. With about 1 1/2 minutes left, N’Faly Dante had a huge dunk to give the Ducks a 4 point lead. The score would stay that way until about 30 seconds left when Baylor Scheierman was fouled and hit both free throws to cut the lead to two.

Forced to foul, Creighton got a break that the only person that could get open was Dante, the Ducks’ worst free throw shooter. And he missed the front end of the one-and-one, giving Creighton the ball and a chance. Baylor Scheierman drove to the lane, and hit a fadeaway jumper to tie the game. Oregon would get one more chance, but Jermaine Couisnard’s shot from the corner hit the front of the rim.

In overtime, the tables were turned. This time, it would be Creighton’s big man Ryan Kalkbrenner who had the dunk to take the lead, and after a turnover, Trey Alexander hit a jumper to make it a 3 point lead. But this time, with 18 seconds left, Couisnard hit a three pointer with a defender right in his face to tie the game at 71. Alexander drove down the lane, got the ball poked away from him, but ended up with a clean look along the baseline, but he missed and the game went to double overtime.

And that was when Creighton really took over. Steven Ashworth drilled a three pointer to kick off the scoring. Kalkbrenner hit a 3 pointer. Jasen Green made a thunderous dunk off a rebound of Alexander’s miss. Ashworth and Alexander hit two free throws after getting fouled. And Alexander hit a three-pointer with 45 seconds left to end the 15-0 run and any doubt of who would be advancing. Congratulations to Creighton on their huge victory to return to the Sweet 16.

While we are at it, we should congratulate our leaders. After Saturday night’s games, the leaders at 390 points are Kennedy Urban and my son, Charlie Hodgson. Chris Franklin, both of Debbe Evans picks,, Carrie Viera, Adam Levine, Stacie Gilmore, Earl McKnight, Michael Swinson, Taylor Early, Ann Schumaker are just 10 points back in a tie for 3rd at 380 points.

Chris Franklin is leading the Upset Pool with 183 points – followed closely by Tyler Crabbe (178), Tom Forrest (177), Gus Woodburn (174) and Michael Swinson (174).

At one point after the Iowa State win, the Lunatic found himself in a tie for the lead. But to his chagrin, that was short-lived.

Well, it has been a very long day – I will have to hold off my handicapping of the Sunday games until tomorrow morning. I can hardly stay awake to type this post. I guess if I fall behind, I will pick Marquette over Colorado – but hopefully, I will get that done in the morning. Good luck to all your picks.

Well, so much for my simulator.  The only double digit seed it predicted would win was Nevada (52% chance) against Nevada, and Boise State (56% chance) against Northwestern.  With all the talented double digit seeds available (especially in the 5/12 games), the only teams it thinks can pull the upsets are from the Mountain West (including the team losing by 21 points at the moment to Arizona State – if you are wondering, if Arizona State plays TCU, TCU goes from a 48% chance to a 60% chance).  I guess one day is not enough time to build a simulator.

So, I am going to stick with what I had.  In my dream picks, I will change my final from what I said in the podcast.  It is ridiculous to think that Texas will lose a tournament game in Houston – but my dream pick would be to have to keep playing teams we already played.  So, Purdue will beat Gonzaga in the final.

In my sane picks, I keep the same final 4, but have Alabama beat Texas.  Here are links to the full set of picks.

CRAZED LUNATIC SANE

CRAZED LUNATIC DREAM

With the Kansas Jayhawk winning, Edward Zhang also came from behind – as both his entries edged out Ann Hawkins amazing picks to become the first person in Stomp the Lunatic history to win first and second place in the contest.

Ann Hawkins gets some consolation – without UNC helping Adrian Young to get an additional 48 points for an upset victory, Ann was able to hold on to win the Upset Pool.

Congratulations also goes to Kevin Busby – he did the best with his second chance, as he also correctly predicted Kansas to beat UNC in the championship.

Here is the list of all our prize winners – congratulations to all of them!!!!

STANDARD POOL

• 1) Edward Zhang – 1140 pts
• 2) Edward Zhang – 1040 pts
• 3) Ann Hawkins – 1010 pts
• 4 tie) Kevin Bostic and Tanmay Gautam – 980 pts
• 6) Kelly Woods – 960 pts
• 7 tie) Sam Brunner and Jim Sell – 930 pts
• 9 tie) Steve Manley and Laura Ahles – 910 pts
• LAST) Kristian Schmidt – 290 pts (you should not have challenged Edward and Ann)

UPSET POOL

• 1) Ann Hawkins – 306 pts
• 2) Tanmay Gautam – 293 pts
• 3) John Howarth – 282 pts
• 4) Adrian Young – 275 pts
• 5 tie) Christy Lindvall and Gregg Farber – 255 pts

SECOND CHANCE POOL

• 1) Kevin Busby – 760 pts
• 2 tie) William Panak, Karl Knox and Doug Brunner – 720 pts

As for the Lunatic, he gave it an impressive try this year. His second chance picks tied for 9th place. His Insane picks hung around to finish in 13th place in the Upset pool – just 20 pts behind the leaders (which symbolically would have been the points that Purdue would have gotten him if they made the Final Four). But in the end, 54 people if you count the tie-breakers ended up Stomping the Lunatic. A decent try, but at the end a pretty good stomping.

As always, thank you to all of you for making this such a fun tournament to run!!! I love getting to cheer on my Boilers and rant about the tournament, even if it means another stomping is inevitably coming. I hope that everyone enjoyed the great games and my sleep-deprived blog. I am sure the Lunatic will get over his wounds and be ready to do this all again next March – and I hope that you all come back to put the Lunatic in his place with a good stomping.

Congratulations again to the Kansas Jayhawks – for a tournament that had so many unique events, having it finish with a team come back from being down 16 seems to be a very fitting ending to produce a very deserving national champion.

And congratulations once again to Edward Zhang, Ann Hawkins and Kevin Busby – our three Stomp the Lunatic pool winners!!!!

What an incredible finish to the 2022 NCAA Tournament. And you have to admire the resilience. The Jayhawks at one point were down 16 points in the first half – the largest comeback in a NCAA championship game was 15 by Loyola Chicago against Cincinnati in 1963. The 15 points they were down at halftime was also tied for the 4th largest halftime lead in a championship game. And of course, you have the Lunatic Curse – since the Jayhawks were the last team standing of all of the Lunatic’s picks.

Charlie was saying that we need to get the lyrics out again.

I’m a Tar Heel Born, I’m a Tar Heel Bred

And when I die, I’ll be a Tar Heel Dead

For it’s Rah! Rah! Carolina! Rah Rah Carolina!

Rah! Rah! Carolina! Rah! Rah! Rah!

But there would be no joy in Chapel Hill tonight. Because the thing that makes the Tar Heels so exciting also can be the thing that makes the so frustrating. There are not many teams that can go up 25 with 10 minutes to play against Baylor, and then allow their opponent to come charging back to tie the game. For every 10-0 run the Tar Heels have, you have to be worried about the 10-0 run coming from their opponent.

The Jayhawks did just that to fight back into the game. With 2:39 left in the game, Remy Martin hit a huge three pointer to give the Jayhawks a 3 point lead. But that lead wouldn’t last long, Caleb Love came sprinting down the court and before you knew it, he drove to the hoop and made it a 1 point game.

Jalen Wilson missed a three-pointer as the shot clock was running down, and Love came charging down the court again. This time, he missed his wild shot in the lane, but the ball went off the backboard and right into the hands of Brady Manek, who slammed home the dunk and gave the Tar Heels a 69-68 lead. Then, David McCormack put the Jayhawks on his back. He got the ball in the lane and missed, but he aggressively got the offensive rebound over everyone, made a quick dribble in the lane with Bacot and Manek both on him, and would not be denied the basket.

Caleb Love tried driving again to the basket, but this time Martin came from behind to block the ball out of bounds with 6 seconds on the shot clock. The Tar Heels got the ball into Armando Bacot, he tried to drive to the basket, but he turned his right ankle and lost the ball. With Bacot hurt on the other side of the court, Kansas seemed content to just let the shot clock run down. So, the referees stopped play so UNC could tend to their injured star center.

And unfortunately for the Tar Heels, something the Lunatic said eventually came true. Without Bacot there to protect the middle, Kansas drew the shot clock down, got the ball down low to McCormack, and UNC’s Brady Manek had no chance. McCormack pushed his way around in the lane, and scored the lay-up to give Kansas a 3 point lead.

UNC had a wild set of chances at the end. Caleb Love shot a three-pointer up to tie the game but missed. RJ Davis kept the ball alive by getting the offensive rebound and kicked it out to Puff Johnson. Johnson’s shot up a desparate three-pointer that I am not sure even hit the rim. But Manek somehow got his hands on the ball – but as he tried to kick the ball back outside for another three-point chance to tie the game, he threw it out-of-bounds.

But the game wasn’t over yet. That is because as Kansas inbounded the ball, Dajuan Harris Jr stepped on the line and gave the ball right back to the Tar Heels with 4 seconds to play. Unfortunately, UNC had a hard time getting the ball into the court, Caleb Love forced up a highly-contested three-pointer, and watched as the ball harmlessly came to the ground. Kansas had pulled the largest upset in NCAA championship history.

Congratulations to the Kansas Jayhawks – they are the 2022 NCAA National Champions!!!!

With only 8 more possibilities existing, it is time to create the scenario files. If you notice on the left, you can click on the links and see based on the championship result, where you will fall in all 3 pool standings.

As always, these are completely un-official. While I would like to let you know as much data as possible to help you root for your best outcome, it is important to realize that the only standings that matter are the main ones.

Based on these un-official files, here are the people who have the most to gain for each potential championship game.

OUTCOME	STANDARD	UPSET	SECOND
Duke beats Kansas	Ann Hawkins	Ann Hawkins	Chris Franklin
Duke beats Villanova	Ann Hawkins	Ann Hawkins	Noah Franklin
UNC beats Kansas	Adrian Young Ann Hawkins	Adrian Young	Andrew Picciano
UNC beats Villanova	Adrian Young	Adrian Young	Audra Chamowitz
Kansas beats Duke	Edward Zhang	Ann Hawkins	William Panak Karl Knox
Kansas beats UNC	Edward Zhang	Ann Hawkins	Kevin Busby
Villanova beats Duke	Ann Hawkins	Ann Hawkins	Bruce Grosvenor Daniel Kauffman Jen Miller
Villanova beats UNC	Keith Dudley	Ann Hawkins	Audra Chamowitz

Hopefully, I haven’t made any mistakes in trying to mark down all the potential winners. But once again, that is why these are un-official. Trusting the quality of the sleep-deprived lunatic is not always your best call. I really do my best and put a lot of effort into making sure the site has no errors, but I am certainly not perfect.

Good luck to everyone who has a stake in the games!!!! And for the rest of us, I hope that we at least see three more exciting games to end a great 2022 college basketball season.