The Lunatic is still stunned.   And I am heart-broken for Northern Iowa.

While the Aggies and Panthers were getting ready to head to double overtime, Wisconsin was staging their own comeback.  Down 8 with about 6 minutes to play, the Badgers slowly started to chip away at the lead.  With 13 seconds left in the game, Bronson Koenig hits a three-pointer to tie the game at 63.  With the chance to win the game, Edmond Summer for Xavier drives to the basket.   But the Badgers Zak Showalter played incredible defense and drew the offensive foul setting the stage with 4 seconds left.  Off a time-out, the Badgers get the ball to Koenig who dribbles quickly to the corner and shoots a three-pointer just before the buzzer to end the Musketeers season and send Wisconsin to the Sweet 16.

Which brings us back to the heartbreak in Oklahoma City.  In the first overtime, it looked like Wyatt Lohaus might have saved the Panthers season with a three pointer at 29 seconds to give UNI a 3 point lead.   But that comeback was easier than the one that ended regulation.  Alex Caruso drived to the basket to make it a one point lead, and after Jeremy Morgan only hits one of his FTs, Caruso drove again to tie the game and send it to a second overtime.

The second overtime belonged to the Aggies, as Danuel House managed to hit a big shot to give Texas A&M a 4 point lead with about a minute to play, and this time, it was Northern Iowa who needed the comeback.   And unfortunately for Cinderella, they just didn’t have anything left.   House – the Aggies leading scorer who was basically contained for 35 minutes, went crazy with 22 points to lead his team along with Caruso, who added 25 points, to an improbable incredible victory.

What makes it hard is that part of this was due to an injury to UNI’s senior Matt Bohannon.  Bohannon, the team’s inbounds passer, had injured his knee on a rebound late in the game, and had to watch from the bench as trainers desperately tried to treat his knee and the Aggies kept forcing turnovers off the inbounds passes from the Panthers.  He eventually returned to the game in overtime, but by that point, the damage was already done.

And so the team that had made it to the tournament by hitting a last minute basket to win the Missouri Valley Championship, and then won their first round game by hitting a shot from half court to steal the game from Texas, found themselves on the wrong side of the miracle tonight, and in this case, both of Cinderella’s slippers slipped off as the clock struck midnight.

And the Panthers and Musketeers serve as painful reminders for all the remaining teams in this crazy tournament – that has already seen a few amazing comebacks.   No lead is ever safe!!!!

OK, time to watch the last 7 minutes of the Oregon / St. Joseph’s game as the Hawks have erased a halftime lead from the Ducks and hold onto a 1 point lead.  If this game is anything like the last two, it should provide a lot of drama!