And here I was complaining that there wasn’t enough upsets.   What we are lacking in quantity, we are getting in quality.  North Carolina State became the third double digit seed to win in the early games.  But the real quality came in Omaha, Nebraska.

That is where #15 seed Norfolk State became only the 5 team of that seed to win against their first game of the tournament – in this case, the victim was #2 Missouri.  (Bill – since you are looking for test cases, my guess is that the Spartans winning this game was more unexpected than the first 8 favorites from yesterday winning. 🙂

Regardless of the odds, Norfolk State hung in their the entire game, and then with a rebound of an errant three point shot with just 34 seconds left, Kyle O’Quinn put the ball in while getting fouled, and sank the FT to give the Spartans the lead for good.  And this small school from the MEAC entered its name into the amazing history of the NCAA Tournament – as one of the most improbable upsets of the tournament

Congratulations to Norfolk State!!!!!!!!!!

Thank you to Richmond’s own VCU Rams for providing the first upset of the tournament!!!!  Someone had to break the ice, why not let it be last year’s Cinderella story!!!!  Congratulations to the Rams!!!!!!!!!!!!

Wow – eight for eight for the favorites.  That in itself has to be unexpected.  There were a few close runs, including a very exciting attempt at history by #16 seed UNC-Asheville – but in the end, the chalk has moved on.  And that means that we have 116 perfect brackets so far.  Just amazing!!!!  Standings look to be tight at the end of the night.  Maybe VCU, South Dakota State, New Mexico State, or Colorado can help provide some excitement for those of us who crave upsets.  (sorry – I can’t consider Connecticut an upset – even Vegas is listing the 9 seed as the favorite in this game).

The games have started – kicking off potentially the most exciting 4 days of college basketball. In 63 games, we will crown the 2012 NCAA Champion.

And that will mean we will also crown the 2012 Stomp the Lunatic contest. This year, we unofficially have a record 360 entries. I will check the database and my home emails for any last second entries or issues. It is probably also a good idea for you to go in the standings and check your picks.

So enjoy the games, enjoy the blog, and good luck to everyone in Stomping the Lunatic.

It is late as always when the Lunatic gets his picks done.  In his “sane” picks, the Lunatic is picking Michigan State to win it all.  The Spartans are the only major conference team that won a share of their regular season championship and followed it up by winning their conference tournament.  They have the look and feel of a team ready to win.  Not to mention that I have learned not to bet against Tom Izzo in March.

In my “insane” picks, I will take North Carolina to win it all.  My other potential choices would be to go with Kentucky (not a fan of the one-and-done system), Syracuse (never liked Boeheim after the season when they didn’t make the tournament being criticized for their strength of schedule – and he claimed that he shouldn’t need to look for tough road non-conference games because the Big East was hard enough) and Kansas (who has burned me in the past when I have chosen them).  When the season started, I thought the Tar Heels were the most talented, and so I am going to stick with that.  Plus, picking UNC gives me the excuse to be totally insane and predict Wichita State will upset Kentucky and make their way to the Final Four.

We already have 249 entries – and we always get a ton of late comers on Thursday morning – so we should have a really great pool (and likely to be competitive as always).  Good luck in Stomping the Lunatic!!!!

That the rest of the tournament is as good as tonight’s play-in games were.   Congratulations to Western Kentucky for coming back from down 16 with a little over 4 1/2 minutes left.  Then, if you thought that was amazing, BYU managed to fall behind by 25 points to Iona before storming back in the second half to win.

Great games so far.  Only can hope it continues.

Maybe it is the high of only missing one team in my bracket.  Maybe it is because I need to redeem myself from last year’s debacle.  Maybe because it is my only chance to win at something – even if it is imaginary.

Regardless the reason, I have started the 2012 Handicapping Page with Tuesday night’s games.  Sorry, Chris!!!  I have probably doomed BYU by picking them to beat Iona.  I should know by watching the tournament for years to expect that the team which all the experts doesn’t belong in the tournament is about to go on a run proving the Committee was right.  But on paper, BYU is the better team…..

To see all of the Lunatic’s Handicapping, just click on the 2012 Handicapping link.

Since everything went smoothly this year, I am ahead of schedule on site maintenance – keep fingers crossed for that to continue.

So, I have updated the schedule file to have the championship games from Sunday, as well as all the conference standings.  Also, for those who don’t want to look at tons of data and build a model, but would still like some summary statistics, I have added the 2012 cheat sheets.  These have on them, summary stats on the two teams side by side for comparison purposes.

Hope both are useful to you – good luck to everyone!!!!

I will probably have some commentary on the field at some point – but I was relatively pleased with the teams that made it into the tournament.

Since the brackets are released, I have set up the entry forms, and so everything is set for you.  Like last year, click on the register page to sign up for the 2012 Stomp the Lunatic contest – and that page will lead you to the entry form.  You can also click on the login page once you have registered to make any necessary edits to your picks.

If you have any questions, just send me an email at thomas@tehodgson.com.  Also, please let me know if you notice any errors in the bracket, or are just having trouble with the site in general.

Good luck to everyone.  It should be a really fun tournament this year – there are lots of really talented teams that could win it all.  And I am sure that everyone will STOMP THE LUNATIC!!!!

That’s right – I have done horribly the last couple of years at predicting the bracket.  And with the amount of time I spent on it, I find it hard to believe I have done any better this year.  Still, it has become a tradition to see how badly the Lunatic does at this (although I like to believe it is because I would pick better teams).

I am hoping I am wrong this year.  When I did the math, the first team I ended up leaving out was Drexel.  St. Bonaventure’s surprise victory of the Atlantic 10 looks like it has shrunk the bubble just enough.

So, I have made my jabs at the main bracketologists – who I am sure could care less what I think.  And have at least gotten my picks out their before the tournament is selected.  Lets see if someone who spends 4 hours on a Sunday can predict better than the people who follow college basketball all year long.

Just check out the 2012 Bracketology link.