The Lunatic hates giving incorrect information. Blogging leaves time to check my sources and make quick edits to the blog when I make a mistake.

Last night, the podcast was a ton of fun, and while I had some specific notes, I also talked about a lot of the research I did watching the conference tournaments and creating the cheat sheets (which are in the Research links for those who use them).

And so it pains me to have mentioning something incorrect about Illinois. They did beat two teams on the top 2 seed lines. But it was not UCLA and Houston. It was UCLA and Texas – still very impressive, but nonetheless, incorrect. I said they didn’t beat anyone else – that was also off they went 2-8 off the rest of the field, beating Michigan State and Northwestern at home. So, not quite right either.

I hopefully didn’t misspeak about anything else but that was the one that stuck in my head after the podcast – so figured I would correct it

I do still think that it is best to pick you favorite teams.  I might always feel a little sad when Purdue gets knocked out of the tournament, but I will never regret picking them to win.  That is part of the fun of March – having a team to root for.

But for those of you who want to win the whole thing.  Here are two of my best tips to pick a champion.

Statistically speaking, there is an amazing statistician name Ken Pomeroy who lists out rankings based on offensive and defensive efficiency.  Those who track his site have made the realization that his predictions are so good, they can be used to predict the games very well and make money betting on the lines.   Well, until the Sportsbooks caught on and started using his predictions to set the lines.  An analysis was done of the 20 some years that he has been doing this, and came to the realization that no NCAA champion finished worse than 40th in offensive efficiency and 25th in defensive efficiency.  There is also some research that only one champion did not finish with a total of under 50 when adding those two ranks together.  This year, those teams are:

Houston, UCLA, Alabama, Connecticut, Texas, Kansas and Creighton.  (Purdue falls just outside this list as 26th in defensive efficiency, but they would qualify under the teams totaling under 50 since they are 7th in offensive efficiency depending on which arbitrary cut you want to use).

While that cuts the list down shorter, if you want another way to look at it, you can take the championship theory.  I don’t have articles written about it, but every year, I marvel at how the champions keep showing up at the end.  It makes sense, you have to win 6 games in a very high pressure win-or-go-home setting.  So, if you didn’t show that throughout the season you were the best in your conference, or you didn’t show that you could follow through and win 4 straight to claim your conference tournament, it is highly unlikely you will get through the 6 games in March.  And no offense to the one bid conferences, but this typically is reserved only for the power conferences.  I will be kind and add in the American, West Coast and Mountain West since they have multiple teams, but it really this is for the power conferences.  That list is:

Kansas (Big 12 RS), Texas (Big 12 Tour), Alabama (SEC), Purdue (Big 10), Marquette (Big East), Virginia (ACC RSc), Miami FL (ACC RSc), Duke (ACC Tour), UCLA (Pac 12 RS), Arizona (Pac 12 Tour), Gonzaga (WCC RSc/T), St. Mary’s (WCC RSc), Houston (Amer RS), Memphis (Amer Tour), San Diego St (Mt West).

And of course, for those of you who are looking at – why not combine them, you are left with Houston, UCLA, Alabama, Texas, and Kansas.

I guess there is one last way.  The Lunatic Curse always seems to haunt me – so you could just wait until Wednesday night when I release my final bracket and pick those I avoid sending to the Final 4.  But based on if I keep what I picked on the podcast, I have Alabama, Purdue, Texas and Gonzaga in the Final 4, Kansas and Houston losing in the Elite 8, with only UCLA going out early.

And so by simple mathematical deduction, it is clear who this year’s NCAA champion will be – the UCLA Bruins.

Good luck to everyone with your picks.  (And good luck to my Boilermakers – please Lunatic Curse, go away for one year to make me happy.  I would be happy to miss all my upset picks if you will simply not curse my favorite champion pick).

 

Once again, I want to thank Kevin, Paul and Kenny for the invitation to talk about the bracket on their podcast. It was truly a lot of fun for me.

Here is the link to the podcast for those of you who want to hear about all the best upset picks and who would win in a mascot fight!

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/stomp-the-lunatic-tom-hodgson-joins-the-show-to/id1609309331?i=1000604040637

Tonight, on the podcast, I gave my opinions on the bracket.  And while I might do some more analysis and change a couple of those picks, that is likely what I am going to stick with.  Alabama, Purdue, Texas and Gonzaga feel to me as a good set of Final 4 teams based on the bracket and current injuries to some of the top teams like UCLA (who I really liked until second leading scorer Jaylen Clark tore his achilles and center Adam Bona injured his shoulder).  I always over-analyze things and make last minute changes that likely are bad decisions.  Speaking of over-analyzing, lets start handicapping the games.  Those who love the blog know that I actually go and handicap all 67 of the games – normally poorly.  At this point, I even have its own blog for the handicapping – just look at the links on the side of the site for 2023 Handicapping!

Enjoy the blog – probably should maybe stay away from the picks although I did end up slightly ahead last year (a rare event that I am hoping to duplicate this year).

Hi everyone! I am thrilled to announce that I will be joining Kevin Flippen and Paul Gilman for their podcast tonight. We will tape it tonight at 9:30 pm EST and it should be loaded to their Apple Podcast channel (That Flip’n Sports Podcast) sometime afterwards (looks like their last podcast loaded on Tuesday).

It was a lot of fun last year, so it should give you all lots of fun information, as Kevin, Paul and I break down the bracket, talk about favorites and Cinderellas, and who we think will make the Final 4. Although since we know I am a Purdue fan, I guess I will have to think about who can win the East if the Boilers break my heart.

To be fair, I think I am there for my energy and excitement about the tournament while you can get real expert opinions from Kevin and Paul. Those who saw last year might remember Paul picking UNC, which turned out to be magical.

Thanks so much to Kevin and Paul for letting me join them again to rant about my favorite sport for an evening!!!! It will be lots of fun!!!!

The entry form with the bracket is now available on the site.  Welcome to the 2023 Stomp the Lunatic Contest!!!!

By the end of the night, I should have the cheat sheet available to help with those of you not looking to do tons of analysis.

Reminder, you can not use your login from previous years.  You must re-register to enter the 2023 contest.  Also, I have been told that sometimes, if you don’t refresh the page, you can have an old set of links (I can’t seem to recreate that issue to try to fix it but I believe that it happens – I am certainly not a website designer….)

If you have any questions about the pool, rules, where to send entry fees, etc., please contact me at thomas@tehodgson.com.

Good luck to everyone in STOMPING THE LUNATIC!!!!!!!

When you are a Purdue fan, you know how this stuff works.  Your team does well through the season, and then at some point, we forget how to score a basket and watch the season fall away.

Up 17 points against Penn State with 6 minutes to go, Coach Matt Painter took the foot off the gas.  I don’t know if he was trying to make sure that Zach Edey doesn’t get hurt in a blowout.  I don’t know if he was trying to guard the three point line with a smaller lineup.  But Penn State decided if Edey wasn’t in the center, they were going to drive to the basket.  The Nittany Lions rallied and outscored the Boilers 22-7, Purdue starts struggling against the press (although to be fair, part of that is because you have to maim someone in the Big 10 in order to get a foul), and freshman guard Fletcher Loyer (an 81.3% FT shooter) missed 3 of 4 from the line leaving one chance left with 3 seconds to play.

And the Lunatic is now left nervously screaming helplessly at the TV hoping that we can hang on.  Fortunately, Painter put his star back into the game.  Edey looked like he actually tipped the in-bounce making it hard for Penn State, and Camren Wynter travelled trying to control the ball and get a shot off before the buzzer.  Purdue hangs on for a 2 point victory and Big 10 Tournament Championship, and the Lunatic sighs, breathing heavily, with his blood pressure probably rising to a dangerous level realizing that this is how March is going to be.

When Purdue is playing their normal game, they might be the best team in college basketball.  Their ball movement and offensive sets are really well done and team oriented in an era when you see so much isolation 1-on-1 type basketball.  They certainly have the talent to cut down the nets in Houston.  They also have the ability to blow a 17 point lead (fortunately, Saint Peter’s didn’t make the tournament so it will have to be some other unexpected Cinderella story) and break the Lunatic’s heart.

It Must Be March!  The Selection Show is now on!!!!  Let the games begin!

Well – I rushed it since I was running out of time, and I want to relax a little and enjoy the end of the Purdue / Penn State game.  But right now, I have Alabama as the top 1 seed, with Houston, Purdue and Kansas as the other 1 seeds.  Then again, I never get the seeding right anyways….

But if you want to check it out, it is final.  I might afterwards go in and place teams into regions, but it at least has the seeding order (which is what we compare against the press’ bracketologists).

And after a major night of games that saw Texas blow out #3 Kansas by 20, and #2 UCLA being plagued by injuries and foul trouble and a late three pointer by Arizona’s Courtney Ramey to lose 61-58 in the Pac 12 Tournament.

It is hard to say what that does to the 1 seeds. I think it means Alabama and Purdue have clear paths to win a 1 seed in their championship. Then again, I am always surprised – last year, the Sunday championships didn’t seem to impact the bracket.

Five games – five invites to the dance, and tons of intrigue goes into Sunday.

We start things off at Noon in the Ivy as the co-regular season champs Yale and Princeton play to claim the Ivy’s auto-bid.

We have two games tipping off at 1 pm, and both see the conference’s top two teams square off. In the SEC, #4 Alabama will take on #18 Texas A&M as the Crimson Tide will try to lock up a 1 seed and get revenge for the loss they suffered to the Aggies last weekend.

In the Atlantic 10, regular season champion VCU takes on Dayton in a rubber match where the winner takes all. In January, VCU travelled to Dayton and won 63-62. In February, Dayton travelled to Richmond and won 62-58. So, each team won on the other’s home court in what were basically 1 possession games. Should be a thrilling game.

3:15 pm sees the American conference and #1 Houston potentially play without leading scorer Marcus Sasser, who was hurt in Saturday’s seni-final. Memphis, who is in my list of last 10 in / first 8 out on the bubble, gets a third chance at the Cougars (who lost by 2 at home and 8 on the road in the regular season). A win for the Tigers makes the bubble conversation mute – and it is tough to beat a good team 3 times in a season (especially when you are playing without your leading scorer).

And then we finish at 3:30 pm in the Big 10, as my Boilers try to take advantage of the upsets from yesterday and take one of the final 1 seeds. There opponent is Penn State, who like Memphis is in my final bubble conversation. The Nittany Lions lost both their games to Purdue by double digits. But they have put themselves in the bubble conversation by winning their last 5 games against teams likely in the NCAA Tournament in thrilling fashion. They finished their regular season with a buzzer beater against both Northwestern and Maryland, beat Illinois by 3 in the Big 10 2nd round, Northwestern by 2 in overtime, and finally Indiana by 4 in the semis. And as I said with Houston, it is tough to beat a team 3 times. Will PSU find an answer for Zach Edey, or will Purdue’s big man lead the Boilers to the Big 10 Tournament championship.

Two non-power conferences with their best two teams fighting for one spot in the dance. 3 of the top 5 teams in the country playing for their conference title after the other 2 top teams got upset on Saturday. Two bubble teams trying to pull one last upset so they don’t have to worry about what the selection committee thinks. And of course, at 6 pm, we get to see which teams will be playing for the national championship. You really can’t ask for anything better on the final day of the regular season! Selection Sunday is here, and it should be an amazing day of basketball!

Really starting to worry if I will even get a bracket created. Have spent more time this week watching games that picking teams.

And then I just realized that thanks to Daylight Savings time, I will lose another hour.

Still, if I get a bracket, I should be able to get the 68th team correct. That is because Texas Southern (at 14-20 and a NET ranking of 302nd as of today) just upset Grambling 61-58 to claim the SWAC automatic bid.

If you like upsets, the Big 10 continues to be awesome, as bubble team Penn State beat Indiana to advance to the final against Purdue. I would have guessed the Nittany Lions were out before the Big 10 tournament started – now, they might have played their way in. While less of an upset, congrats to #7 Texas for beating #3 Kansas by 20! It is not often that a team gets beat by 20 and then gets a #1 seed the next day, but that is likely the case for the Jayhawks.

What might be the other big news is Marcus Sasser, the leader scorer for #1 Houston, left the semifinal against Cincinnati with a groin injury and did not return. He might also miss the final against Memphis tomorrow. So that is some big news for the top team in the polls.