Stomp The Lunatic

Category: Uncategorized

  • The Bubble is On Fire

    Normally, this is the day where the bubble starts to end. A couple teams will make a run, but for the most part, 7th and 8th seeds in the conference start losing to 1st and 2nd seed – and we start to watch the field set itself.

    Not so far today. The Bubble knows their seasons are on the line, and they are playing like it. Lets look at what has happened so far.

    Oklahoma really could not afford another loss – so all they did was beat #3 Baylor 72-67

    TCU at 8-10 in the Big 12 also could use one more big win – they got it with a 65-60 win over #22 Texas.

    Texas A&M and Florida played an awesome overtime game, where the Aggies won with a late three-pointer, 83-80.

    I already ranted about Indiana’s amazing comeback victory over Michigan – but we can’t forget them.

    St. Louis started off their Atlantic 10 tournament with a 20 point victory over LaSalle.

    Miami FL had to hold off Boston College in overtime, but did manage to get a 2 point victory.

    Creighton beat Marquette by 11 points in the Big East – the NET would have said Marquette was the favorite in this game, but Creighton was actually the better seed.

    Boise State held on to a 71-69 victory against Nevada to make sure they moved on in the Mountain West.

    Colorado was the middle team to break away in the Pac 12 – with an 11 point victory over Oregon.

    Wyoming kept their hopes alive in the Mountain West with a 2 point victory over UNLV.

    North Texas started off their Conference USA tourney with a 18 point victory.

    Michigan State jumped out big against Maryland, and then held on for a 4 point win.

    Virginia Tech rode the momentum from their buzzer-beater victory last night to beat Notre Dame by 7.

    Notice that almost any time that a bubble team lost, it was because they were playing another bubble team. Teams that had an opportunity to get a huge win jumped at that opportunity. Teams that needed a win to keep their seasons alive did so.

    It has been a pretty good day for the bubble teams – they are playing like their seasons depend on it. Because they do depend on it!!!!

  • Guess the Northeast Championship wasn’t completely a snoozer

    Obviously, I didn’t watch the game. I noticed the score was 25-4 and figured Bryant was going to run away with the game. And that was accurate.

    But the game was marred by a fight that broke out in the stands with a little over 4 minutes in the game. I haven’t been able to find a lot of details, but I read that there was a lot of talk back and forth between the fans of the two schools that eventually led to tempers flaring into a fight. One person has been arrested and the game had to wait over 30 minutes to finish.

    I can’t even imagine being down 38 points, just wanting the last 4 minutes to be done, and then having to wait over 30 minutes to wrap up the game because people in the stands started fighting each other.

    There should be no space in the game for this. This is not school spirit. This is not showing that you support your team no matter what the circumstances. This is ASSAULT AND BATTERY and is a crime.

    Today, in the ACC tournament, Syracuse had a violent act happen when Buddy Boeheim punched Wyatt Wilkes in the lane after fighting for position for a rebound. I get that the game is a physical game. But here was the reaction at the press conference from Syracuse’s head coach and of course, Buddy’s father, Jim Boeheim – “I saw the play, the kid pushed him twice, I think it was inadvertent. It wasn’t much of a punch.”

    Are you kidding me? It was inadvertent that he took a swing at Wilkes midsection that hit him so hard that he doubled over in pain and had to leave the game. It was not inadvertent – it should be assault because it is a crime. There is no excuse – so what if basketball is a physical sport. There is no explanation whatsoever that can make it alright to sucker punch a player because you didn’t like how the last play went. And the fact that even the coaches are saying that it is no big deal is why it will continue to happen.

    At least the ACC suspended Buddy Boeheim for a game for the flagrant foul. It is ridiculous that the maximum penalty is one game for throwing a punch. But at least the ACC acted in some way.

    And this funnels all the way down to our schools and kids. People say it is trash talking and part of the game. There is no part of the game for violence. Sportsmanship matters, and we need to demand better.

  • Couldn’t resist posting this

    I have a ton of rambling that needs to be done. There is three whole nights where there is no basketball. The shortened NIT crowned their champion on Sunday as Memphis beat Mississippi State 77-64. It didn’t even occur to me that the CBI would end a week ago as Pepperdine beat Coastal Carolina 84-61. The CIT tournament was cancelled. So all the games that I would normally watch during the middle of this week as I wait for the Final Four are already done.

    I guess I can catch up on all the off the court controversy. I am still a little appalled at the weight room discrepancy at the women’s tournament. But I am not sure I want to get into the politics. I had been avoiding it because there had been so much basketball to blog about or sleep to catch up on – the Lunatic is very tired…..

    But I have to have something to blog. The tournament is almost over with – have to rant for a few more days.

    I knew this would be one thing that I could not resist. Indiana hired Mike Woodson as their next head coach. This could be an interesting hire. He did not have a lot of success as a NBA head coach – but to be a NBA head coach, you have to know the game of basketball. The question is whether or not he can recruit at the college level. Indiana does look like they are going all-in. Reports have said that they have also hired Thad Matta as associate athletic director in charge of men’s basketball, and that they might also reach out to find a role on the staff for Larry Brown.

    While Woodson might not have been the Brad Stevens, Rick Pitino or Nate Oats hire that many were hoping for, combining him with Thad Matta – who had huge success at Ohio State before his health started giving him trouble should help Woodson successfully make the transition from the NBA to college. But none of this is why I had to post on this – I had to post this tweet from Tyler Calvaruso.

    He mentioned that Wikipedia never disappoints – and then it had the opening to the page.

    Michael Dean Woodson (born March 24, 1958) is an American professional basketball coach and former player who will be the next coach to be fired from Indiana after being unable to live up to unrealistic expectations.

    I hope that Woodson is successful (well – as long as he still loses to my Boilers). But I hate to say that if I was a betting person, I think that Wikipedia joke actually sadly shows how much the odds are stacked against him.

  • A comment on some of the Big 10 drama

    This has been a crazy year. There have been postponements of games. Teams didn’t finish their schedules – some had their seasons end short. It has been rough.

    Conferences knew this going in – and they all had rules on what would determine their regular season champion. For the Big 10, the Athletic Directors and Council of Presidents and Chancellors voted at the start of the season and decided that it would be winning percentage.

    Now that Illinois finished their full schedule at 16-4 (.800) and Michigan dropped two of their last three to finish at 14-3 (.824), they feel they should be named co-champions because they beat Michigan in their only meeting and won more games than the Wolverines.

    Illinois AD Josh Whitman penned a letter to the conference stating that there should be co-champions, including the following statement…..

    “We should not have had to advocate for ourselves—this is the right outcome for the Big Ten and one that it should have proactively sought,” Whitman wrote. “But nonetheless, we were left to fight our own battle, and despite our advocacy, I learned late yesterday that our efforts were unsuccessful. Michigan will remain outright champions.”

    The Illinois AD is right with the first sentence – “We should not have had to advocate for ourselves.” That is because they never should have been advocating for themselves.

    Don’t get me wrong – I grew up in the state of Illinois, and so if I had a preference between the Illini and the Wolverines, I am always going to root for Illinois. Well, except if they meet on Sunday in the Big 10 championship. Because I can’t stand whiners.

    Illinois had a fantastic season that is likely going to lead to a #1 seed in an NCAA Tournament that is going to have all the games happening about a 2 hour drive from their campus. But the rules were established before the season started – and .824 is better than .800. The Michigan Wolverines were the Big 10 regular season champions.

    Sure, they played 3 less games. For the record, they were at Northwestern (9-15, a team they beat by 19 in their other matchup), vs Indiana (12-15, a team they beat by 16 in their other matchup) and at Penn State (11-13). So, while it could have certainly happened since the Big 10 is just a brutal conference especially on the road, for Illinois to legitimately get the championship, the #4 team in the country would have lost at least one of those three games against teams with losing records. It is not a likely scenario.

    But the scenario is irrelevant. Because the rules were the rules. Michigan doesn’t have to prove they would have won those three games – they did not get played in order to protect the players safety due to spikes in Covid, and thus, they finished the season with a better record than Illinois. If the tables were turned, I am sure they would not appreciate someone else claiming part of their championship.

    Illinois can not like it. But at the end of the day, they did not win the regular season championship – Michigan did. And moaning about it this publicly makes them look pathetic. Go win the Big Ten Conference Tournament, and simply raise that banner instead. You have no right to the banner that you did not win.

  • Congratulations to the Regular Season Conference Champions

    At this point, barring a couple of potential late games tonight, I believe everyone has completed their regular season. Championship Week is ready to truly begin!

    In most years, winning the regular season conference championship meant a lot more than simply a banner. For many of the smaller conferences, it also meant a guarantee that you would be playing somewhere in March. If you won the conference tournament, you were dancing. But even if you were upset, you got a chance to play in the NIT. For a small conference, getting exposure from a deep NIT run can help their program. And at a minimum, it was a chance to play one more game that mattered.

    Unfortunately, with the NIT being shrunk to 16 teams, that guarantee is gone this year. And there are already 5 regular season champs who have been eliminated from their conference tournament. You never know who the NCAA will pick for the 16 teams, but I suspect that the regular season champ of a small conference isn’t likely tops on their list. They know they will make more money if the bigger schools are there.

    So, I feel it is important at this time to congratulate all those regular season champions – especially those who might already have fallen in their conference tournaments.

    Editors note: A few conferences have not posted their full bracket yet – so I used the standings page to determine their regular season champion – so a couple of these might be unofficial. If I notice a change, we will edit this – especially since I might use this to track the tournament champions

    CONFERENCECHAMP DATEREG SEASON CHAMPRESULTCONF CHAMP
    Ohio Valley3/6BelmontLost in champ to Morehead St 86-71Morehead St
    Atlantic Sun3/7LibertyBeat North Alabama 79-75Liberty
    Big South3/7WinthropBeat Campbell 80-53Winthrop
    Missouri Valley3/7Loyola ChicagoBeat Drake 75-65Loyola Chicago
    Southern3/8UNC GreensboroChampionship vs Mercer
    Sun Belt3/8Texas StateLost to Appalachian State 76-73 (Quarterfinals)Georgia State vs Appalachian State
    Colonial3/9James MadisonLost to Elon 72-71 (Quarterfinals)
    Horizon3/9Cleveland StateSemifinals vs Milwaukee
    Northeast3/9WagnerLost to Mt St Marys 66-60 (Semifinals)Bryant vs Mt St Marys
    Summit3/9South Dakota StSemifinals vs Oral Roberts
    West Coast3/9GonzagaSemifinals vs St Mary’s
    ACC3/13VirginiaQuarterfinals on 3/11
    America East3/13UMBCLost to UMass Lowell 79-77 (Semifinals)Hartford vs UMass Lowell
    Big 123/13BaylorQuarterfinals on 3/11
    Big East3/13VillanovaQuarterfinals on 3/11
    Big Sky3/13Southern UtahQuarterfinals on 3/11
    Big West3/13UC Santa BarbaraQuarterfinals on 3/11
    Conf USA3/13Western KentuckyQuarterfinals on 3/11
    MAAC3/13SienaQuarterfinals on 3/10
    MAC3/13ToledoQuarterfinals on 3/11
    MEAC3/13North Carolina A&TSemifinals on 3/12
    Mt West3/13San Diego StQuarterfinals on 3/11
    Pac 123/13OregonQuarterfinals on 3/11
    Southland3/13NichollsSemifinals on 3/12
    SWAC3/13Prairie View A&MQuarterfinals on 3/10
    WAC3/13Grand CanyonSemifinals on 3/12
    American3/14Wichita StateQuarterfinals on 3/12
    Atlantic 103/14St BonaventureChampionship vs VCU
    Big 103/14MichiganQuarterfinals on 3/12
    Patriot3/14NavyLost to Loyola MD 76-68 (Quarterfinals)Semis on Wed
    SEC3/14AlabamaQuarterfinals on 3/12

  • So upset

    Well – I was happy with CBS. I turned the channel to watch the 1982 Georgetown vs North Carolina final.

    And on CBS is the live special report of the White House talking about the Coronavirus Task Force.

    So the coronavirus has even managed to stop the showing of replays of historical basketball games. Oh well – guess I will be watching the last Harry Potter movie and playing Madden Mobile on my phone. Such a sad March for the Lunatic

  • Good for CBS

    They are going to be playing some of the best games of tournament history this weekend in place of the lost weekend of games. Some of the games that I remembered was the 1983 NC State vs Houston game as well as the 2016 UNC vs Villanova game.

    Still not the same as the real drama of games – but they are doing their best to bring some basketball to March.

  • Feels so weird

    No First 4 games tonight. No Vegas Lines to pour through and predict. No complaining about what teams should have been selected (well except maybe that no teams were selected).

    I ended up watching some movie about Hating Middle School and a cartoon of How to Train Your Dragon with Katie.

    I can’t even remember the name of the main character of the movie so can’t even blog about that. The Dragon Riders were trying to save Astrid from the Scourge of Oden – a disease that turns you green and kills you after three moons. Seems a fitting way of ending the night with everything going on. Don’t think Katie even realized a connection – sometimes it would be nice to be 10 again.

    Oh I did stock up Gelati Celesti ice cream (need to support our local small businesses) and alcohol (seemed like a good idea at the time). Why bother with toilet paper, need to get the real essentials….

    Hope everyone is staying safe.

  • Someone forgot to tell the Big East

    Their first quarterfinal game between St John’s and Creighton kicked off at Noon.

    The other 5 major conferences (ACC, Big 10, Big 12, SEC, and ACC) along with the American, Atlantic 10, Conference USA, MAC and WAC all cancelled their tournaments.

    If you go to ESPN scores page, almost every game has next to it – Cancelled Due To Coronavirus Concerns.

    I don’t see at this point how we can have a NCAA Championship Tournament. If the commissioners from the ACC, Big 10, Big 12, SEC and Pac 12 (which are probably good for having at least 30-40 percent of the teams in the tourney) say that they are listening to public health officials and it is not safe for their athletes and the public to play, I don’t see how the NCAA can say – you are wrong, we are going to have a tournament.

    I might be wrong – but this might be the saddest March ever. Not the type of March Madness the Lunatic was hoping for…..

    To be fair, everyone’s health is the most important concern – if cancelling is the right answer, then it is the right answer.

    At this point, the only thing I don’t get is why not keep playing the tournaments. All the athletes are already there – they have already been exposed to each other and the arena and their hotel – they have already closed the doors to fans – they have to travel back to their schools whether that be today or Sunday. It doesn’t feel like there is any more risk to them at this point for playing the games where they already are.

    This feels more like a decision to force the NCAA to protect them from future travel and cancel the big tournament. I can support that – the fan in me wants to see basketball, but if everyone is cancelling for the sake of public health, it makes sense to force the NCAA to do the same.

    But that makes the Lunatic really sad……

  • More cancellations

    The Big 10, SEC and American conferences all just cancelled the remainder of their tournaments.

    Have a feeling this is the tip of the iceberg based on the last 24 hours.