Congratulations to the Baylor Bears, who completely dominated the previously undefeated Gonzaga Bulldogs.  They played amazing defense and their guards scored at will.  They jumped out to a 9-0 lead to start the game, and it never really got closer than that, as the Bears won the 2021 National Championship with a 86-70 victory. 

Congratulations also to our 2021 Stomp the Lunatic Champion – John Greene.  His correct prediction of Baylor beating Gonzaga gave him a 60 point victory over John Greene. 

In the Upset Pool. Gregg Farber managed to jump out to a lead thanks to predicting UCLA to the Final 4, and held off Joe Chapman by 3 points as Joe needed Gonzaga to win to pass Gregg. 

In the Second Chance Pool, Sarah Ahles and Chris Kelly tied for first place in the second chance pool by predicting that Baylor would beat Gonzaga. Based on the tie-breaker (Sarah missed the total score by only 3, while Chris missed by 26), Sarah is the second chance pool champion.

Here is a list of all our prize winners. 

STANDARD POOL
1)	John Greene	1210
2)	Kelly Woods	1150
3)	Karl Knox	1110
4)	Andrea Zimmerman	1100
5th Tie)	Lowell Isaacs	1090
5th Tie)	Kelly Woods	1090
7th Tie)	Cooper Bradley	1070
7th Tie)	Christie Olenic	1070
7th Tie)	Josh Glass	1070
10)	Martin Poteralski	1060
LAST)	Kyle Kelly	170
UPSET POOL
1)	Gregg Farber	269
2)	Joe Chapman	266
3)	Ryan Callahan	252
4)	Adam Davis	240
5)	Hailey Peterson	237
6)	Amy Hattaway	236
SECOND CHANCE POOL
1 TIE)	Sarah Ahles	880
1 TIE)	Chris Kelly	880
3 TIE)	Kevin Busby	840
3 TIE)	Evan Goldstein	840
3 TIE)	Mark Horgan	840

As for the Lunatic, he was thoroughly stomped this year.  He was sadly sitting in a tie for 166th place – his picks did about as well as the Big 10 did this year.   But despite the stomping, I am sure that the Lunatic will be back again to try to prove his ability (or inability) to predict college basketball games.   

Thank you to all of you for continuing to make this such a fun basketball pool and giving me a chance to rant about the sport that I love to watch. 

Congratulations once again to all our prize winners, and congratulations to the Baylor Bears – the 2021 NCAA Champions. 

That was an incredible game by the Baylor Bears! The game never got close. Baylor jumped out to a 9-0 lead and never looked back. I think at one point Gonzaga got the lead down to 9 in the second half, but it never got closer. Baylor’s defense held the top offense in the country to just 70 points. Gonzaga’s defense isn’t bad – and yet, Baylor scored 86.

Baylor’s star back-court just dominated the game. Jared Butler led the way with 22 points, Macio Teague added 19, and Davion Mitchell scored 15 points to lead the way. But it was really the defense that was on display by the Bears – Baylor had 8 steals and 5 blocks against the Bulldogs.

Unfortunately, Gonzaga’s undefeated season was not to be. I really was hoping to see a perfect season. But to be fair, we still saw perfection. The Baylor Bears played a perfect game and there was no doubt who was the best team tonight.

Congratulations to the Baylor Bears – the 2021 NCAA National Champions!!!!!

Gonzaga definitely doesn’t look like they are going to go away. With a little over 7 minutes to play, Baylor was winning 33-14. But Gonzaga finished the half on an 11-4 run over the last 3 minutes, including a nice drive down the court and pass to Anton Watson for a layup to end the half.

So, the Bears lead 47-37. I don’t know that anyone can come back 10 points against the Baylor Bears – but if anyone could, it would be Gonzaga. We are 20 minutes away from a national champion. Lets see if the Baylor Bears can hang on.

Baylor is dominating Gonzaga. The Bears defense is playing amazing. Suggs got two quick fouls. The Bears are getting more offensive rebounds. Gonzaga is turning the ball over and missing layups. At one point, Baylor was up 19 points!!!!! That certainly is not something that has happened to the undefeated Gonzaga Bulldogs this year.

Of course, as I decided what to type, the Bulldogs have cut the lead to 12. They score so quickly. Well – and then Baylor rattles off 5 to expand the lead back to 17. Crazy…..

Not ruling the Bulldogs out – but I did not expect Baylor to come out and dominate like this. I thought they could be winning – but not like this.

I am torn on how to write this. Normally, I do this article in between the Elite 8 and the Final 4. I can rate how the tournament has gone up to that point, and not worry about how the rest of the team goes. But with it being so close to the championship, I feel a little uncomfortable with it. And part of the reason is how the Big 12 has done as a whole. At the end of the day, it is a very true statement that teams win championships – not conferences.

But we can’t break with tradition. So, here we go!!!! I will do any conference that got multiple teams in the tournament — and then, we will have a catch-all for the rest.

Pac 12 – A+++. The Pac 12 was the story of this tournament. According to the seeds, Colorado, USC and Oregon were supposed to win their first round games, and then the conference would disappear from the tournament. So, what happens. The top seeded Pac 12 team, Colorado actually did lose in the second round as expected. Oregon and USC both made the Sweet 16 – forcing USC to eliminate one of their conference foes. 12 seeded Oregon State that only got in by winning the Pac 12 tournament beat Tennessee, Oklahoma State and Loyola-Chicago to get to the Elite 8. And of course, we all know what 11 seeded UCLA almost did in the Final Four. They might not have won the championship – but as a conference, they were the stars of the tournament.

American – A+. Sure – Wichita State lost in the First Four in a close game to Drake. And Houston was a 2 seed, so they were supposed to do well. But any time, the American Conference has a team make it to the Final 4 like the Cougars did, that is an A+ in my book.

SINGLE BID CONFERENCES – A+. 15 seed Oral Roberts made it to the Sweet 16. And 14 seed Abilene Christian, 13 seed North Texas and 13 seed Ohio all won their first games. Having a 15 seed in the Sweet 16 is easily an A+ for a group that isn’t supposed to win a game in the tournament. Cinderella lasted a lot longer than usual this year.

West Coast – A. I almost gave them an A+ as well for the same reason. The only thing that stopped this is that Gonzaga was undefeated and the number 1 team in the country. Expectations are slightly higher than they were for Houston. Also, BYU was supposed to win their first round game, and while they were not the only favorite that lost to UCLA, it doesn’t change that they were expected to win that game.

Missouri Valley – A-. Drake won their First 4 game against Wichita State. And Loyola-Chicago’s upset of top seeded Illinois earns them a top grade. Normally, I would give the Missouri Valley an A or A+ for making the Sweet 16 – but the fact that the Ramblers were suddenly the favorites to make it to Elite 8 when Oregon State also advanced drops them slightly to an A-.

SEC – B+. The SEC deserves the next best grade of the Power 5 conferences, so I almost gave them an A-. But at the end, I dropped them to a B+. They basically did what they were expected to. Based on seed, they were supposed to have one Elite 8 team and one Sweet 16 team, Alabama got upset in the Sweet 16 but Arkansas made up for it by getting to the Elite 8. Tennessee got upset as a 5 seed, but LSU and Florida both won their first round games like they were supposed to. Missouri was a 9 seed and lost a close game to Oklahoma. Not a bad tournament – but at the end, it didn’t feel like they exceeded expectations to deserve an A. But compared to the other Power 5 conferences, meeting expectations is still pretty good.

Big East – B. Villanova, Creighton and UConn were supposed to win their first round games and then bow out of the tournament. UConn was upset, but Villanova and Creighton both advanced to the Sweet 16. Georgetown wasn’t supposed to win their game – but they weren’t supposed to be blown out either. I would say because they got two Sweet 16 teams, they exceeded expectations, but a major conference like the Big East needs at least an Elite 8 team to get an A.

ACC – C+. With Florida State and Virginia being 4 seeds, the ACC weren’t supposed to make the Elite 8. But despite seeds, that is never the expectation for the ACC – they are supposed to be playing late in March. Florida State got to the Sweet 16 as expected. And Syracuse as an 11 seed getting to the Sweet 16 was great. But Virginia got upset by 13 seed Ohio, and Clemson, UNC, Georgia Tech and Virginia Tech all lost. They might not have had high expectations this year, but 4 wins by 7 ACC teams can’t get anything other than a C.

Big 12 – C. The only thing that makes this a passing grade is Baylor. They might have been supposed to make the Final 4 – but I can’t fail a conference when they have a representative in the Championship game. But Texas got upset by 14 seed Abilene Christian, and Kansas, West Virginia and Oklahoma State all got upset a round early – with West Virginia and Oklahoma State losing to double digit seeds. And while Texas Tech and Oklahoma got to the second round as they were supposed to, they also couldn’t pull an upset to make up for the top half of the lead. When you are supposed to have 5 teams in the Sweet 16 and you only get one, you don’t typically get a passing grade. That is how much that Baylor is carrying the Big 12. (And as I watch Baylor beat Gonzaga by 19 points, I am questioning if I have to give them a B simply based on the Bears).

Atlantic 10 – C-. To be fair, St. Bonaventure and VCU weren’t supposed to win. But St. Bonaventure losing by double digits isn’t really meeting expectations. And I don’t really know what to say about VCU. On one side, they didn’t get to play which is terribly sad. On the other side, they were the only team that couldn’t pass the protocols. Can’t really give worse than a C- since they weren’t supposed to win a game, but this wasn’t what the Atlantic 10 wanted.

Mountain West – D. Both Utah State and San Diego State lost their games by double digits. But as the 6 seed, San Diego State was supposed to win their game. I don’t feel right giving an F to a conference that was only supposed to win one game to begin with – but this was a really bad performance for them.

Big 10 – F. The Big 10 had 4 of the top 8 seeds and 5 of the top 16. Then Ohio State loses in the first round to 15 seed Oral Roberts. Then Purdue loses in the first round to 13 seed North Texas. Illinois and Iowa both lose in the second round unexpectedly. Michigan at least got to the Elite 8 – but they were supposed to get to the Final 4. You have to give a little credit to Wisconsin, Maryland and Rutgers for their upsets. But the entire tournament was played in Indianapolis in the heart of Big 10 country. When you are supposed to have 2 of the Final 4 teams and 5 of the Sweet 16 – and you only get 1 team to the Elite 8, that is a big failure.

Charlie remembered that we tried to do a HORSE tournament to declare the 2020 champion. So, since we only had one game, and it was getting dark, we decided to quickly go. Charlie represented Baylor, and Katie and I represented Gonzaga. The way we do this is that Katie only gets to be on the offense. She likes to play – and while she is pretty decent at hitting layups, she can’t shoot from too far away from the basket. So, if Charlie makes it, I have to make it. Otherwise, Katie and I switch turns. We also have the special rule that you have to miss twice to get E.

Neither one of us started well, Charlie made a shot from the outside that got me a letter. I hit a shot from near the free throw line to get Charlie a letter. Then, Charlie got hot and hit a couple shots. Baylor was up R to H.

But Katie was going to try to carry us. She hit a layup that gave Charlie his second letter. And then after both of us missed a shot, Katie took a couple steps back from her last shot and drilled it again. Charlie missed, got upset that Katie was the one causing him to get letters, and we were tied at R.

I would strike next from outside, and soon, Gonzaga was up S to R. Katie almost got Charlie on one of her layups. He missed the first one. Then, he hit the ball hard off the backboard, it hit the edge of the rim, and rolled in. He was still alive. The turn got back to me, and I decided it is the only way the game should end. I went out to the middle of the court, took a few steps and shot the long shot. And it went off the backboard and in!!!! I was so proud of myself. It wasn’t as far as Suggs shot it from, but it was definitely at least an NBA three-pointer.

Charlie shot the first one and missed. And then, on his second one, he turned the script. That’s because Charlie hit the shot as well. Baylor was still alive.

This also renewed Charlie’s energy. At this point, it was also got pretty dark. Katie said we should use the glow-in-the-dark ball (one of Charlie’s birthday gifts). He hit a deep shot from the left side of the basket to tie the game at R. Both of us hit some shots that the other matched. And then finally, the moment came.

Charlie hit a three-pointer from the right side of the basket. My first try hit the front and missed. And then, I folded to the pressure – my shot went up, looked like it was going in, but it rattled around on the rim, hit the back-board, hit the front of the rim again and bounced away. Katie said, I should have used the original ball that I was doing better with. Of course, she was right – the third time was the charm and it hit nothing but net.

But you don’t get three chances. Charlie rose to the pressure and won the NCAA HORSE prediction championship. Our HORSE games says Baylor will win in a tight game that goes down to the final shot.

With the championship game hours away, you can go to almost any sports website and hear tons of people give you a perspective on how tonight’s game will go. But you can not get expert opinions like the amazing set of experts that the Lunatic has arranged. I also need to mention that Charlie’s response to needing to participate was a question of “Can we get ice cream tonight?” Couldn’t do it tonight, but the Lunatic has real expenses to provide this level of expert content for you.

CRAZED LUNATIC – Gonzaga – the Bulldogs have beat everyone that they meet – and most of the time it isn’t close. 29 of their 31 victories have been by double digits, and most concerns about them were how they would react if they ever got behind or in a close game. Apparently, the way they handle that is by hitting a miracle three-point shot from half court. Every time I watch the Bulldogs, I am so amazed with their ball movement and how easily they get to the basket to score on layups. Baylor is a fantastic team – they play well on both ends of the court as we saw in the way they demolished Houston in the semi-finals. But it seems that Gonzaga is perfectly comfortable to let a team score against them, because they are going to simply come back down the court and score more points. It has been 45 years since we have seen an undefeated champion – I would love to see Gonzaga end that streak tonight.

MRS LUNATIC – Gonzaga – I have always liked Gonzaga, and despite their record, I consider them as the underdog. I always love it when the small schools do well, and having a non Power-5 champion would be awesome! I have picked them in all of my pools. Gonzaga saved me from finishing in last place, and they have been the cornerstone of my awesome Second Chance picks. Go Zags!!!!!!

CRAZY CHARLIE – Baylor – I am going to be the contrarian. I like rooting for the underdog. I don’t like Gonzaga cause they ruined UCLA’s hope and dreams – it would have been great to see an 11 seed win. And we know everything is bigger in Texas – so Baylor is going to beat them. Its going to be a blowout – big win for a big state.

KRAZY KATIE – Go Bears! The Crazed Lunatic and Mrs. Lunatic looked at Katie and said, “You know, its not the Chicago Bears!” And Katie said, “Wait, the Chicago Bears already got eliminated! Then said, oh wait – they are a football team! I know nothing about basketball – who are you picking?” Both of us parents said, “Gonzaga”. And Katie said, “Then, I change my pick – I will go with Gonzaga because you are. And on principle, I can’t agree with my brother – I must pick Gonzaga just to spite him.”

After that, Charlie started getting frisky and wanted to bet real money on the game. We needed to remind him that he really doesn’t have any money to bet with – he just wants us to give him money if Baylor wins. He needs to put his money where is mouth is. Not one of my finest parenting moments.

I know that most of the blog’s focus is on the men’s basketball tournament, but if you have not been watching the women play, you have missed out on some great basketball games. The final on Sunday featured two Pac 12 schools as Stanford and Arizona played for the championship.

Stanford jumped out to the early lead, but Arizona would keep fighting back. A great example is simply looking at the first two quarters where Stanford jumped out to a 16-8 lead at the end of the 1st, watched Arizona come back to take the lead in the second at 21-20, and then Stanford scored the next 11 points, before Arizona finished the scoring to cut the halftime lead to 31-24. Arizona continued to cut that lead down to 3 by the end of the 3rd quarter.

Every time it seemed that Stanford would get the game under control, Arizona would come charging back. Every time Arizona got close, Stanford would come up with an answer to hold off the Wildcats. With 3 1/2 minutes to play, Arizona’s Aari McDonald made a three-pointer from the top of the key to cut the lead to 51-50. But after a good defensive stand by both teams, Stanford’s Kiana Williams passed the ball into Haley Jones, who made the basket and was fouled. After Jones hit the free throw, Stanford had a 54-50 lead.

The last 2 minutes was a display of the great defenses of both teams. Arizona stole the ball twice, but couldn’t convert on the offensive end. Aari McDonald kept trying to will the Wildcats to a victory by getting to the free throw line on her drives – after making two free throws with 37 seconds left, the lead had shrunk to 1 point.

Arizona decided to play for the defensive stop. Stanford let the shot clock dwindle down, but when they started to initiate their offense, Arizona stepped in and stopped them cold, forcing a shot clock violation. Arizona was going to get the ball at half-court with 6.1 seconds to play and a chance to win the national championship.

The Wildcats got the ball into their star player – everyone knew it would likely be McDonald who would get the last shot. But this time, it was the Stanford defense that swarmed in and stopped her. In desperation with one second left, McDonald put up a heavily-contested fade-away jumper from near the three-point line, but it would not go in. Stanford had held on for the 54-53 victory.

It was a really fun game to watch for the casual basketball fan who had no rooting interest. The game was close, it had star players like Haley Jones and Aari McDonald, and the national championship came down to the final shot. You can’t ask for more out of a game. Both teams played their hearts out in a really, great basketball game.

Congratulations to the Stanford women’s basketball team – the 2021 women’s national champions!!!!

Jalen Suggs’ three-pointer will go into history as the shot of the tournament (assuming nothing crazier happens in the championship game). But for the Lunatic, Suggs’ half-court bank shot to beat UCLA was only the second best shot of the weekend.

Before the tournament, my good friend, David Zimmerman, reached out and asked if I wanted to go golfing over the next few weeks. We hadn’t seen each other since August (with our last golf adventure) and so we wanted to get together to do something fun. We agreed to play on Sunday.

So, Dave drove up from North Carolina, and I met him in Petersburg at a course called Dogwood Trace. It was a nice little municipal course in Petersburg, and it cut a decent 45 minutes off of the travel for Dave.

Neither of us was playing great – neither of us had played since that round in August and that might have been our only round of golf in 2020 as we both tried to stay in our bubbles with the pandemic happening. But it was all ok. It was a beautiful Sunday afternoon, and we were getting the chance to catch up on everything in our lives and just have fun on the golf course. Perfect Sunday afternoon.

Anyways, we had our first bit of success on the 8th hole as Dave hit a nice drive up the left side of the fairway on a par 5, and hit a beautiful fairway wood to the fringe. His eagle putt from the fringe was just a little bit off – but ended up with a short putt to get his birdie. Considering both of us were posting double bogeys or worse on most holes, we were pretty happy the have a good hole.

So, we drive up to the 9th hole, a 166 yard par 3 over a small pond to a green sitting in front of the clubhouse. Dave hit his shot well but pushed it a little bit right of the green. And so I stepped up to tee. I thought to myself as I grabbed a club that I have not hit really anything solid all day and was pathetically already pretty sore. You might not really think of golf as a strenuous sport, but when you do very little exercise and simply keep yourself walled up in your house due to the pandemic, it is amazing what muscle aches you can find from swinging a golf club. And as I said, I was not playing well – I was swinging the club a lot….

So, not wanting to be short and end up in the pond, I grabbed a 5 iron to have a little extra club. I took a nice swing and watched as the ball nicely went into the air, flew over the pond, and landed on the front end of the green. Dave said, “Nice shot!” and we walked back to the cart not thinking anything else about it. We were simply chatting and laughing the way we always do as we play golf.

As we drove up closer to the hole, I was looking around to see where Dave’s ball ended up – mine was on the green so I figured I had a 10-15 foot birdie putt that I would miss horribly. And then Dave said, “Tommy, where’s your ball!” I turned towards the green, and he was right, we couldn’t see it anywhere. We kept looking at the front of the green where there was a little ridge on the green. For a second, both of us saw a white glimpse but it disappeared as we got closer to the hole.

So, we get out of the cart, walk up to the green, and we find the ball resting in the hole! I had hit my first ever hole in one!!!!!!! As any avid golfer, I had always dreamed of hitting a hole in one, but truth be told, I figured that now that I play only once in a while, that the chances of that dream coming true had past. I was so excited that I had Dave take some pictures of me taking the ball out of the hole and posted one of them to Facebook.

I then went back to hitting the ball wildly all over the course. Dave crushed me in our match for the mythical dollar – think he won 4 & 2. For me, on the scorecard in the final score was a 100 with multiple asterisks next to holes where Dave was nice enough to give me a mulligan – I probably shot 105 or 106 if we were really keeping an accurate total. But the only thing that mattered was under the 9th hole, where it had a 1 and two large circles.

The world is going to remember Jalen Suggs shot this weekend for a very long time – it will be etched in history as we see classic buzzer beaters of the tournament. But for me, the moment from this weekend that I will remember for the rest of my life is the 9th hole at Dogwood Trace golf course where my dream of hitting a hole in one came true. And even better, I was able to share it with one of my closest friends, David Zimmerman. I could not think of a more perfect way to spend a Sunday afternoon.

UCLA did what no one all season was able to do. They were able to go possession by possession with the mighty Gonzaga Bulldogs. There were multiple times where it looked like Gonzaga had regained control. There were multiple times where it looked like UCLA was going to pull the amazing upset and end Gonzaga’s undefeated season. And then 3.3 seconds defined history.

I wanted to have the perfect way to summarize everything – and so I am going to give credit to ESPN. Because right now on the front page of ESPN is a video of the moment of the tournament – I copied a screen shot of it – but to give them full credit, I will also provide the link in the caption to their full story and the video of the incredible last 10 seconds.

This game had so many shifts in momentum. UCLA showed how they were really good all tournament at playing the game at their pace and coming up with efficient shots. Gonzaga showed their incredible ability to quickly get to the basket and score.

Gonzaga built a 7 point lead with around 11 minutes left – and it looked like the Bulldogs were starting to do what they do to everyone. But like Gonzaga in the first half, the Bruins came back as Tyger Campbell made a layup to give UCLA a 71-70 lead with 6 minutes to go. The game stayed within one possession the rest of the half.

Momentum can change so quickly with Gonzaga. With two minute in a tie game, UCLA got the ball into Cody Riley that looked like it would lead to a huge dunk to give the Bruins the lead. Instead, Jalen Suggs came from behind and blocked the shot. Then, he chased the ball down in the corner, and started to push the ball up court. Then as if he did it directly off his dribble, Suggs threw a beautiful one handed bounce pass to Drew Timme that led to a Gonzaga dunk. It looked like UCLA was going to take the lead, and in just 6 seconds, they found themselves back down by 2.

Of course, UCLA had the ultimate answer to everything – Johnny Juzang. On the next possession, Juzang tied the game back up at 79 off a jumper as he did so many times in this tournament.

The teams traded points (Gonzaga with a basket, UCLA with free throws) – giving Gonzaga a chance to try to take the lead one more time in regulation with 40 seconds left. But this time, Cody Riley would repay the favor and block one of Suggs’ drives to the basket. And then Corey Kispert missed a deep three-pointer to give UCLA the chance to win the game.

UCLA couldn’t have asked for a better situation. 15 seconds left in a tie game. And the ball in Johnny Juzang’s hands. All tournament, Juzang had been coming up big at the end of the game. But this time, Juzang drove to the basket, and Drew Timme took his position in the middle of the lane to draw the charge. This game was heading to overtime.

Timme continued to come up big in the start of the overtime – he made three layups to lead Gonzaga to a 4 point lead with 3 minutes to play. Cody Riley would cut the lead to 2 with a little over 2 minutes to play. Then Gonzaga looked like they put the dagger in UCLA’s heart. With 1:17 left on the clock, Gonzaga’s amazing ball movement found the ball in Andrew Nembhard’s hands – where he drained a three-pointer to put the Bulldogs up 5.

Strangely, UCLA brought the ball up slowly and eventually called time-out – draining a good 20 seconds off the clock. I was telling Elizabeth that I really didn’t like this because Gonzaga can score so quickly. You have to make up 5 points on a team that can score points at will – don’t let time slip off the clock. But UCLA set up their offense, and Tyger Campbell found Jaime Jaquez Jr in the corner for a three-pointer to bring the game back to 2.

Now, UCLA had the most amazing task. With 50 seconds left and a 2 point lead, you know Gonzaga is going to take some time off the clock before they run their offense. All UCLA has to do is stop the best offensive team in college basketball, so they can get the ball back with a chance to tie or win the game. But if they fail, they will only have 20 seconds to come back from at least 4 points down.

And like UCLA has done all tournament, the Bruins defied the odds. They played tough defense, stopped Gonzaga’s attempts to get the ball in the lane where they score at will, and forced the Bulldogs to settle for a three-pointer, which Corey Kispert missed. And so everyone knew where the ball was going with 20 seconds.

Johnny Juzang got the ball, drove into the lane and pulled up for a jumper – there would be no charge drawn this time. Juzang’s jumper missed short – but Juzang would not be stopped. He flew to the ball to get his own offensive rebound, slid to the basket and hit the layup to tie the game at 90 with just 3.3 seconds left. And then, someone defied the odds against UCLA.

Gonzaga quickly in-bounded the ball to Jalen Suggs, and he charged up the court. Suggs got a couple feet past the half-court line, and heaved the ball up from the Final Four logo. And sure enough, the ball banked off the backboard as the buzzer went off, and into the basket. Elizabeth and I both screamed in shock of what we just saw. Suggs runs off to the sideline and jumps on one of the announcer’s tables celebrating, closely followed by all of his teammates. UCLA’s amazing run from the First Four to the Final Four was sadly over. They have no reason to hang their heads – they did what no one thought could be done this season, and it took a half-court shot to finally end their season.

Gonzaga off a miracle shot advances to the championship game to play the Baylor Bears – a game that has seemed to be destined to be played all season. Gonzaga and Baylor were the top 2 teams in the preseason polls – Gonzaga in the AP preseason poll, and Baylor in the Coaches preseason poll. The teams were scheduled to meet to hopefully end the debate, but Covid concerns cancelled the game. And then all the Bulldogs and Bears did was win game after game until Kansas finally beat Baylor in late February.

We will likely be watching Jalen Suggs’ shot for many years to come as one of the greatest moments in tournament history. Just imagine how it will rank if Gonzaga can win one more game on Monday night and finish an undefeated season for the first time in 45 years. I am sure that the Baylor Bears might have something to say about that – but for right now, it is incredible that a team that has beaten almost everyone by double digits found their way to the championship game off a shot from basically half-court.

Congratulations to the Gonzaga Bulldogs and the Baylor Bears – call it a miracle, call it destiny, or just call it the two best teams in the country advancing their way to the championship game. Monday night will be the game that college basketball fans have wanted to see all year. But little did the college basketball world know that the game to set up that championship would be an instant classic that will be remembered for a long time.