Purdue had built an 8 point lead with 4 minutes to play, but no lead is comfortable or safe in the NCAA Tournament.  Sure enough, the Butler Bulldogs slowly started chipping away at the lead, cutting it all the way down to 2 points.  But despite a few Boilermaker turnovers, Butler couldn’t get any closer thanks to some awesome defense – including a fantastic block by Vince Edwards on a drive by Kamar Baldwin.

So, the Boilers have the ball with 27 seconds left nursing their 2 point lead.  And after running some time off the clock, Ryan Cline passes the ball to Dakota Mathias at the top of the key, and the senior drains a huge three pointer to ice the game.

Purdue might have been without their big man Isaac Haas.  But Matt Haarms and Jacquil Taylor played great to fill the void in the center.  And all three of Purdue’s other starting seniors, Mathias, Vince Edwards, and PJ Thompson all scored in double digits to pull out a victory and head to the Sweet 16.

BOILER UP!!!!!

At the end of the night, we have a three way tie for the lead, as Andrew Braslow, Bob Degenhardt, and Michelle Miller are all at 400 points.  Dave Evans and Jack are just 10 points behind, and 11 entries are tied just 20 points behind.

As for the Upset Pool, Christy Lindvall is still ahead with 183 points.  Christy is followed by Triona Weeks, Andrew Braslow, and Lauren Martin at 170 points, and Bob Degenhardt at 168.

Right now, 106 entries are stomping the Lunatic – including being beat by his son, Charlie (which will make him happy) and being tied by his daughter, Katie (which probably won’t make her nearly as happy as knowing that on Monday she can start watching her shows again).  But to show how competitive this pool is, the Lunatic is only 60 points back – so there are lots of opportunities for changes in the standings (probably more for all those others – we know the Lunatic will eventually be stomped).  And we have 8 more exciting games to help decide that.

 

This game felt like a slugfest with foul after foul.  Mortiz Wagner made a layup with a little under 2 minutes left to give the Wolverines the lead.   And they made a defensive stop.  But on their next possession, they were called for a foul on the defensive rebound.  This gave Houston’s Devin Davis a chance to give the Cougars the lead from the free throw line with no time coming off the clock.

Muhammad-Ali Abdur-Rahkman missed a jumper down the lane and Charles Matthews almost tipped it in.   But when Devin Davis grabbed the missed tip-in, he was fouled by Matthews.  This time, Davis only hit one of the two free throws – extending the Cougars lead to 2 with 25 seconds.

Abdur-Rahkman drove down the lane again, makes a pretty good move to get a chance at a layup, but can’t make it – and once again, Devin Davis gets the rebound.  With 4 seconds left in the game, it looks like the Cougars are going to win the game.

But Davis misses both free throws and Michigan calls time out.  Abdur-Rahkman gets the in-bounce pass around mid-court, dribbles once and rifles a pass over to Jordan Poole.   And the freshman drains a last second three point shot with a defender in his face to win the game 64-63.

It might not have been a pretty game for Michigan.   But Poole’s three-pointer was an incredible ending to the game.  And at the end of the day, Michigan survives and advances.

Texas Tech and Florida played a pretty tight game all the way through.  Florida had just tied the game up at 64 with about three minutes to play.  But Keenan Evans would not let the Gators finish the comeback.

Evans drilled a three pointer to give the Red Raiders back the lead, and then built that lead to 5 with a nice drive to the lane where he drew in the defense and passed it to Zhaire Smith for a dunk.

Florida’s Chris Chiozza quickly drove down the lane and cut the lead back to three with a layup.  And then, Jalen Hudson stole the inbounce pass to give the Gators a chance to tie the game.  But Egor Kouechov and KeVaughn Allen missed three pointers from the corner, and the Red Raiders survive and advance.

One more game tonight, and so far, only Loyola – Chicago has been able to crash the party.  But #3 Michigan and #6 Houston are tied with about 15 1/2 minutes to play.  Will the Wolverines be able to join the other top seeds into the Sweet 16?

It looked like a sure thing with just about 3 1/2 minutes in the game as Loyola’s Marques Townes hit a free throw to extend their lead to 60-51.   But Tennessee would not go away.

First, Jordan Bowden hit a three pointer to cut the lead to 6.  Loyola’s Ben Richardson hit one of two free throws to make the lead 7.  Then, Jordan Bowe drove hard to the basket to cut the lead to 5.  And with just under 2 minutes, Lamonte Turner hit a three pointer to cut the lead to 2.  Both teams played great defense for the next minute and a half to set the stage.  Tennessee has the ball with 28 seconds and down 2 points.

So, Tennessee did what any team would do in that situation – get the ball to their best player.  The Volunteers got the ball into SEC Player of the Year Grant Williams who drove to the basket, made the layup despite being fouled, and then hit the free throw to give the Volunteers a surprising one point lead.   Then, Williams made a great steal attempt with 10 seconds as the ball went out of bounds, but the replay would show that the ball goes off Williams hand – giving the Ramblers one last chance.

So, the Ramblers did what any team would do in that situation – get the ball to their best player.  Loyola inbounded the ball into Missouri Valley Conference Player of the Year Clayton Custer.  Custer got the ball in the backcourt, brought the ball up and drove down the lane.  He shoots up a runner from the side of the lane and the ball floats up to hit the front of the rim, bounce off the backboard, and softly falls through the basket.

Tennessee would get one last desparation three pointer off before the buzzer, but Jordan Bowe’s shot missed wide.   And Loyola – Chicago wins the game 63-62.  The Ramblers are heading to Sweet 16.

Buffalo has cut Kentucky’s 9 point half time lead (that was in the double digits multiple times) down to 4.  And Loyola – Chicago has come back from Tennessee’s initial run to take the lead.   Go mid-majors!!!!   Lets continue to blow up the South Region!!!!

For all of us who had Virginia, you know you want to see UMBC, Buffalo, Loyola and Nevada in the Sweet 16.  If you can’t score any points, why not root for the whole region to break down.  GO CINDERELLA!!!

I think the UMBC games has put a scare into all the top teams – because they are coming out strong.   Villanova ran away from Alabama in the second half, Duke never let Rhode Island get close, Kentucky has been strong in the first half against Buffalo, and Tennessee has jumped out to an early lead against Loyola – Chicago.

Doesn’t lead to exciting watching of basketball games (well, unless you are fans of Villanova, Duke, Kentucky or Tennessee – then it is the most awesome basketball game ever).  But it does lead to a more comfortable day of watching the games and not thinking about how badly your bracket will get destroyed today.  🙂

Vegas did predict the evening games would be a little closer – so maybe we will still have some excitement – even if it is simply a game that is close.

Upsets are going on all the place.   Remember how so many experts said that Syracuse didn’t belong in the tournament.  Each year, a First Four team that everyone says doesn’t belong responds to the criticism with a victory in Dayton followed by at least a victory in the First Round.   This year, that team is the Syracuse Orange!!!!

They have a tough next opponent in Michigan State – but at this point, who knows what Cinderella will do.

And UMBC didn’t just pull the amazing upset – they destroyed the #1 team in the country.   The Retrievers just won 74-54 against Virginia – destroying so many of our brackets.

Senior Jarius Lyles went 9-11 from the field to score 28 points against the #1 defense in the country.  And UVa looked lost on offense – by the time they started scoring some points at the end of the game, it was too late.

Then, as the Cavaliers moved away from the defense that they are good at in order to press, the Retrievers simply kept going to the basket and scoring.

Just unbelievable.  To put this in perspective, the America East champion had only one top 100 RPI win – a road win against #60 Vermont in the America East Conference Tournament Final to win them their invitation to the dance.  Their other Quadrant 1 and 2 games were a 25 point loss to Arizona, a 15 point loss to Vermont, a 21 point loss to Maryland, a 18 point loss to Vermont, and a 11 point loss to SMU.

So, of course, it makes sense that they come and shoot lights out against the Cavaliers typically smothering defense.

I just don’t know what else to say – UMBC has just made history and shocked the entire college basketball world.  Congratulations to the Retrievers for winning the biggest game in their school’s history, and changing the entire landscape of the 2018 NCAA Championship.