The selection committee has made their decisions, and the 2022 NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament is set. And so that means it is Time to STOMP THE LUNATIC!!!!

The entry form is now available – despite my technical issues. Please remember that you must re-register to enter the 2022 contest – my site does not remember your login from previous years. It is simple to register, and it leads you straight to the page where you can enter your picks.

I have also put out their the rest of the 2022 schedule through all the games including today. And for those of you who don’t want to do that level of work, I have created a cheat sheet link in research. This document goes through each game and puts interesting statistics about how they have played and their schedule side by side so you can compare them.

Whether you do research or simply pick your teams, make sure you join us for the fun. It is time to STOMP THE LUNATIC!!!!

Well – it wasn’t meant to be. Iowa ruined my hopes for some type of Big 10 title, as they just played better basketball today. Purdue turned the ball over too many times and ended up playing catch-up most of the game. Congratulations to the Hawkeyes.

So at that point, I have my final bracketology. Because I was watching the game, I didn’t put teams into regions – I might go back and do that based on the bracketing rules. But with it being so close to before the bracket gets released, I didn’t want to get caught up with that task.

I believe that the top seeds will be Gonzaga, Arizona, Kansas and Baylor. As for the bubble, I think the bubble breakdown in

Final 4 At-Large before Play-ins: Texas A&M, Marquette, Seton Hall, Davidson

Final 4 At-Large Teams: Indiana, Notre Dame, Oklahoma, Miami FL

First 4 Out: SMU, Rutgers, Wake Forest and Dayton

Next 4 Out: Xavier, Florida, Wyoming, BYU

Here is the bracket broken up by the Lunatic’s S-curve – I am sure the committee probably will disagree with me. But so exciting – the Selection Show is in 6 minutes!!!!!!!!

1) Gonzaga (WCC)	2) Arizona (Pac 12)	3) Kansas (Big 12)	4) Baylor (AL 1)
5) Auburn (AL 2)	6) Kentucky (AL 3)	7) Villanova (Big East)	8) Tennessee (SEC)
9) Duke (AL 4)	10) Purdue (AL 14)	11) UCLA (AL 5)	12) Texas Tech (AL 6)
13) Wisconsin (AL 7)	14) Arkansas (AL 8)	15) Illinois (AL 9)	16) Houston (American)
17) St. Mary’s (AL 10)	18) Providence (AL 11)	19) Connecticut (AL 12)	20 Iowa (Big 10)
21) Texas (AL 13)	22) Murray St (OVC)	23) USC (AL 15)	24) North Carolina (AL 16)
25) Boise St (Mt West)	26) Alabama (AL 17)	27) Colorado St (AL 18)	28) Ohio St (AL 19)
29) LSU (AL 20)	30) TCU (AL 21)	31) Memphis (AL 22)	32) Creighton (AL 23)
33) Iowa St (AL 24)	34) Michigan St (AL 25)	35) Virginia Tech (ACC)	36) Loyola IL (MVC)
37) Michigan (AL 26)	38) San Diego St (AL 27)	39) San Francisco (AL 28)	40) Texas A&M (AL 29)
41) Marquette (AL 30)	42) Seton Hall (AL 31)	43) Davidson (AL 32)	44) Indiana (AL 33) / Notre Dame (AL 34)
45) Oklahoma (AL 35) / Miami FL (AL 36)	46) UAB (Conf USA)	47) Chattanooga (Southern)	48) New Mexico St (WAC)
49) Vermont (Am East)	50) South Dakota St (Summit)	51) Richmond (Atl 10)	52) Akron (MAC)
53) Colgate (Patriot)	54) St Peter’s (MAAC)	55) Montana St (Big Sky)	56) Jacksonville St (Atl Sun)
57) Longwood (Big South)	58) Delaware (Colonial)	59) Yale (Ivy)	60) CSU Fullerton (Big West)
61) Norfolk St (MEAC)	62) Georgia St (Sun Belt)	63) Wright St (Horizon) / Texas Southern (SWAC)	64) Bryant (NEC) / Texas A&M – CC (Southland)

Can’t blog long because I have the bracketology to finish. But Richmond as the 6 seed of the Atlantic 10 has just upset regular season champion Davidson 64-62. It was a great game where the Spiders found themselves down 60-54 with just 1 1/2 minutes to play. But they kept fighting back, and somehow took the lead on a layup and foul from Matt Grace. The Spiders played great defense to get the ball with 2 seconds left. And after hitting a free throw, they survived one last three pointer from the corner by Davidson.

Congratulations to the Richmond Spiders for making the NCAA Tournament. But now Davidson falls onto the bubble – which likely knocks someone else out of the tournament.

Don’t know how I am going to finish my bracketology and watch the Purdue / Iowa game. Oh well – that is the typical problem for the Lunatic on Selection Sunday afternoon.

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!!!!

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.

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.

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

CONFERENCE	CHAMP DATE	REG SEASON CHAMP	RESULT	CONF CHAMP
Ohio Valley	3/6	Belmont	Lost in champ to Morehead St 86-71	Morehead St
Atlantic Sun	3/7	Liberty	Beat North Alabama 79-75	Liberty
Big South	3/7	Winthrop	Beat Campbell 80-53	Winthrop
Missouri Valley	3/7	Loyola Chicago	Beat Drake 75-65	Loyola Chicago
Southern	3/8	UNC Greensboro	Championship vs Mercer
Sun Belt	3/8	Texas State	Lost to Appalachian State 76-73 (Quarterfinals)	Georgia State vs Appalachian State
Colonial	3/9	James Madison	Lost to Elon 72-71 (Quarterfinals)
Horizon	3/9	Cleveland State	Semifinals vs Milwaukee
Northeast	3/9	Wagner	Lost to Mt St Marys 66-60 (Semifinals)	Bryant vs Mt St Marys
Summit	3/9	South Dakota St	Semifinals vs Oral Roberts
West Coast	3/9	Gonzaga	Semifinals vs St Mary’s
ACC	3/13	Virginia	Quarterfinals on 3/11
America East	3/13	UMBC	Lost to UMass Lowell 79-77 (Semifinals)	Hartford vs UMass Lowell
Big 12	3/13	Baylor	Quarterfinals on 3/11
Big East	3/13	Villanova	Quarterfinals on 3/11
Big Sky	3/13	Southern Utah	Quarterfinals on 3/11
Big West	3/13	UC Santa Barbara	Quarterfinals on 3/11
Conf USA	3/13	Western Kentucky	Quarterfinals on 3/11
MAAC	3/13	Siena	Quarterfinals on 3/10
MAC	3/13	Toledo	Quarterfinals on 3/11
MEAC	3/13	North Carolina A&T	Semifinals on 3/12
Mt West	3/13	San Diego St	Quarterfinals on 3/11
Pac 12	3/13	Oregon	Quarterfinals on 3/11
Southland	3/13	Nicholls	Semifinals on 3/12
SWAC	3/13	Prairie View A&M	Quarterfinals on 3/10
WAC	3/13	Grand Canyon	Semifinals on 3/12
American	3/14	Wichita State	Quarterfinals on 3/12
Atlantic 10	3/14	St Bonaventure	Championship vs VCU
Big 10	3/14	Michigan	Quarterfinals on 3/12
Patriot	3/14	Navy	Lost to Loyola MD 76-68 (Quarterfinals)	Semis on Wed
SEC	3/14	Alabama	Quarterfinals on 3/12