Stomp The Lunatic

Michigan’s bench came up big in the first half – and the Wolverines hit their three pointers in the first half to take an 11 point half time league.  But just like in the first game, Syracuse never gave up and slowly pecked away at the lead.

With the game on the line, the Wolverines were able to hang onto a 6 point lead in the last 70 seconds – despite missing 5 FTs.  James Southerland from Syracuse made it one point lead with 42 seconds with a huge three-pointer.  Then, there is the play that might have saved the game and will never go on the scoresheet.

As Trey Burke tried to break a double team at half court, he tried to pass the ball to Tim Hardaway Jr. but instead sent it towards the crowd.  Hardaway quickly came back to the ball, saving it just before it went out of bounds, and was able to get it under control to get the ball back to Burke.  Burke only hit one of the FTs – but a turnover at that stage could have totally changed the game.

Then, the potential controversy – Brandon Triche comes barreling down the lane trying to get to the basket and tie the game.  Jordan Morgan – the Michigan forward who started for most of the season, but had played only 12 minutes in the NCAA Tournament as Mitch McGary turned into a tournament super-star – stepped in and drew the charge.  In real time, it totally looked like a charge.  Triche was rushing to the basket and it looked like Morgan had position.  But replays showed that you could see Morgan quickly slide into place after Triche took to the air for his shot.  Tough call to go against the Orange – but also not sure you can blame the refs, even in slow motion, it wasn’t obvious if it should have been a blocking foul – so can’t imagine having to make it at full-speed.

Needless to say, Michigan still only hits 1 FT – now Syracuse has one last chance with it being just a 3 point lead.  But Southerland misses his drive to the basket, Tim Hardaway Jr gets the rebound and flips it into play, where Wolverine reserve guard Caris LeVert smartly passed the ball forward to Morgan – who could run off to an uncontested dunk (and more importantly run off the final seconds on the clock).

So, the Wolverines hang on – thanks in large to their bench players.  Amazing the unlikely heroes that happen during the tournament.  But Caris LeVert – a player who averages 2 points a game – came out in the first half and drilled two threes that fueled the big run to give Michigan their double digit lead.   And then of course, there was Morgan’s big defensive play to force the charge on Triche.

This creates a battle between the Big East and the Big 10 for the NCAA Championship – kind of fitting considering how good these two conferences have been this year.  And John Beilein – the coach who led our own Richmond Spiders to a huge NCAA Tourney upset as a 14 seed in 1997 – gets to go to his first ever championship game, leading the youngest team entering the tournament, who are starting to draw comparisons to Michigan’s Fab Five – the last Wolverine team to make the Final Four.

For many reasons, these Wolverines don’t want to be compared with the Fab Five and so they quietly try to say that they haven’t done what the team filled with scandal did in 1992 and 1993.  But this team has a chance to be greater – they will get the chance on Monday to do what the Fab Five could not – win the National Championship.

Congratulations to the Michigan Wolverines on making it to the National Championship game.  Good luck to both the Cardinals and Wolverines on Monday!!!!

Everything was clicking – the Wichita State Shockers had managed to create a double digit lead against the Louisville Cardinals.  All night they were taking good care of the ball and dominating the offensive boards.   And then, like true champions, the Louisville Cardinals defense went to another level – one that forced several turnovers.  And all of a sudden, Louisville had come all the way back.

Then, Luke Hancock hits a three-pointer and a tough drive to the basket – and the Cardinals had taken control.  The Shockers fought valiantly, and the Cardinals kept them in it missing a couple of FTs.  And then, with eight seconds left in the game, Hancock missed the second FT – looking like the Shockers were going to get one last desperation three pointer to tie the game.  But WSU couldn’t control the ball, Hancock reached in, and sadly, the referees called a jump ball (not even sure Hancock’s hand was on the ball for more than a split second – so how that was the call, I will never know).

And so, we were all robbed of getting to see if Cinderella could make the last second prayer.  Louisville got the ball back since they had the possession arrow, Russ Smith hits a FT – and with only 4 seconds left, the Cardinals just need to let the clock run-off.

And so, the clock struck midnight on our final Cinderella candidate.  We are left with schools from the Big East and the Big 10 to decide the championship.  But what a wonderful tournament for Wichita State – they deserve so much credit.  No one believed that the Shockers could even get here – and then they were supposed to lose by double digits to the Big East champion.  They were a fantastic story.

But credit belongs also to the Louisville Cardinals.  When the Shockers built that double digit lead, they could have crumbled.  But they fought back, they forced turnovers, played tremendous defense, and made an incredible comeback to earn a spot in the NCAA Championship game on Monday.  Survive and advance!!!!  Up to this point, Louisville had never had to show that quality – they have now.  Congratulations to the Big East champions, Louisville Cardinals!!!!

Now they wait and see if they will have to go against Syracuse and their suffocating zone for a fourth time (strangely, Louisville won at Syracuse and Madison Square Garden in the Big East final – while Syracuse won the game at Louisville), or if they will go against college basketball’s player of the year, Trey Burke and the Michigan Wolverines (also interestingly, Louisville has not had to play a single Big 10 school all season).

Here’s hoping Syracuse and Michigan put on as much of a show as the Shockers and Cardinals did.

Bet if you said the score was going to be 8-0 to start the game, most of us wouldn’t have got the team that hadn’t scored correct.

Louisville came back, of course – but the Shockers have done a fantastic job of sticking to their game plan and executing.  They are winning both the turnover and rebounding battle – and that is why the #1 seeded team in the tournament finds them down at halftime for the first time in the tournament.

Been an entertaining first half – hope both teams keep this up for another 20 minutes – should be a fun second half.

With about 16 minutes, the Cardinals and the Blue Devils were tied at 42.  And then Louisville went into ultimate defensive shutdown.  The Cardinals kept driving into the lane and getting layups – and no matter where Duke shot the ball from, they missed.  For the next 10 minutes, Duke only scored 1 FG.  And Louisville cruised to a 22 point victory.

At this point in the game, Rick Flynn is dominating the field – as he has the lead in both pools.  He has a 110 point lead in the standard pool over Kyle Kelly, with Adam Davis in 3rd, Pete Schmitke in 4th, and Matt Agin in 5th.   While Rick’s lead is pretty significant, the fact that he has Michigan winning (and many people have Louisville winning) means that people still have a chance.

However, Rick might have wrapped up the Upset pool.  Right now, he has a 25 point lead over Adam Davis, 48 points over David Gatewood, 56 over Mark Horgan, and 57 over Rohit Kapoor.  While it is un-official (since I am just judging by what I see on the top of the standings page), I don’t think anyone can catch Rick in the Upset pool – no matter who wins.

Rich Feyerabend is the king of the Second Chance Pool – as he picked all but the Wichita State / Ohio State game correctly to lead by 40 points over Kyle Kelly.  Nick Kindig rounds out the top 3 – just 80 points behind.

As for the Lunatic, his tournament is over with.  The Lunatic was hanging onto hope that the Blue Devils would win – since he was the highest person on the standings who picked Duke to win the tourney.  But after the Cardinals’ awesome 2nd half, the Lunatic curse strikes again to knock off the Blue Devils as well as any hope of respectability for the Lunatic’s picks.   This loss shoved the Lunatic all the way down to a tie for 105th.  And with no correct Final Four teams, there will be more time for people to Stomp the Lunatic!!!!

Congratulations to all the leaders – as well as Louisville, Wichita State, Michigan and Syracuse – the teams that will be playing in Atlanta for the National Championship!!!!

 

No matter who you are rooting for, you hate to see something like this.  In what looked like a routine play, Tyler Thornton went up to shoot a three point shot.   Kevin Ware tried to block the shot and when he landed, his leg looked like it just shattered.

Hate to see someone have to get taken off the court on a stretcher – hope that Ware is doing alright and that he recovers quickly from the injury.

Sympathies go out to him – this is what all these kids dream of.  To have something like this happen is just horrible.

Michigan jumped out and score the first 13 points and never looked back.  Nik Stauskas hits 6-6 from three point range to score 22 and leads the Wolverines to a very easy 79-59 victory over the Florida Gators.

And so for the third straight year, the Gators dominated their way to the Elite 8 just to find the region final to be the end of their season.  In those 9 games, the Gators average victory was 19 points – with no game being closer than 8.  Unfortunately, that dominance has not meant success in the region final.  Unlike the last two years where the Gators watched leads slip away at the worst time, this year, the Gators never were really in the game.  Every time the Gators mounted any kind of charge – the Wolverines just would hit another three pointer or get a fast break for a dunk.

The Michigan Wolverines made sure that the Big 10 will be represented in Atlanta.  While many gave Indiana, Ohio State or Michigan State better odds, it is the Wolverines who are the last ones standing.  And if they shoot the way they did today (which by the way was against a very talented defensive team), it is going to be tough to stop them.

Congratulations to the Michigan Wolverines on advancing to Atlanta.

Oh – and a simple piece of advice for the final teams playing – Louisville and Duke.  Might be a good idea not leading the other get out to an early double digit lead – that has not worked out well for Marquette, Ohio State and Florida.  Maybe a little simple – but more often than not, it is hard to come back at that point…  🙂

 

Cinderella has a name – and while everyone might have thought that name was Florida Gulf Coast (which was a wonderful story), her real name is WICHITA STATE!!!!!!

With 11 minutes left in the game, the Shockers had a 20 point lead and looked like it would just be watching the seconds count down until the coronation party would begin.  And then a strange thing happened in Los Angeles.  The Buckeyes started to cut into the lead.  By the 8 minute mark, the lead was down to 13.  By the 4 minute timeout, it was down to 8.  The Shockers hit 2 FTs to extend the lead to 10, just to watch the Buckeyes to score 7 points in the next minute.  And suddenly, with 2:49 left in the game, it was suddenly 62-59.  All the momentum was looking like another classic collapse where a large run happens and the clock strikes midnight for Cinderella.

But Tekele Cotton had other plans.  With the shot clock running down and Fred Vanvleet driving to get an open shot, he kicked it out to a wide-open Cotton – who calmly nailed the three-point jumper.  Ohio State quickly cut the lead back to 4 and the Shockers took things all the way down again.  Vanvleet missed the three-pointer before the shock clock expired – but there was Cotton – who fought to get the offensive rebound.   After taking the shot clock down to the end again, this time Vanvleet’s wild drive to the basket ended up in an amazing lay-up to give the Shockers a 6 point lead with 1 minute left.

Aaron Craft tried to hit a 3 pointer to cut the lead – but this time, Craft was unable to create some heroics.  The Shockers hit their FTs at the end of the game, and Wichita State has advanced to the Final Four in Atlanta.

The Shockers win was the first time since the tournament expanded to 64 teams that a 9 seed has made the Final Four.  And it was the first time since 1979 that a team from the Missouri Valley has made it to the Final Four – that was the year Larry Bird led Indiana State to the championship game.  Ironically, 1979 – the first year the committee seeded the teams – also was the only other time a 9 seed (Penn) made the Final Four.

Congratulations to the Wichita State Shockers – Atlanta will be happy to welcome Cinderella to the dance.  We’ll see if Prince Charming matches the other glass slipper to the Shockers’ feet…..

The Syracuse zone defense does it again – holding Marquette to 39 points – a record low for an Elite 8 tournament game.  The Orange stopped basically any penetration that Marquette tried to create and the Golden Eagles couldn’t hit a three-point shot today – even when they were wide open.

So, the Orange win the battle of the Big East teams – and become the first team to make their way to Atlanta and the Final Four.

Congratulations to the Syracuse Orange!

No last run for Cinderella – and that is it for the Sweet 16.  Louisville and Duke in the Midwest, Ohio State and Wichita State out West, Florida and Michigan in the South, and Marquette and Syracuse in the East.  Should be some solid games over the weekend!

At this very critical stage of the pool, we have a new set of leaders.  Congratulations to Tonya Cole and Rick Flynn – our leaders at 690 points.  Mike Wassmer is just 10 points behind in 3rd, and Heath Lindvall, Michael Yuen, and Kyle Kelly are just 30 points behind in a tie for 4th.  The Lunatic is still trying to hang on – as his insane picks have snuck into a tie for 14th.

In the Upset pool, Rick Flynn has a 9 point lead over Adam Davis, a 21 point lead over Rohit Kapoor and a 28 point lead over David Gatewood.

In the Second Chance pool, Rich Feyerabend was an incredible 8 for 8 – leading the way.   Dana Miller, Ken Zhang, Kyle Kelly and Joe Vellozzi are close behind after missing just 1 of the Sweet 16 games.

Also, it is time for the dubious honor – we have our first locked prize of the contest.  “Congratulations” to Clay Holloway – at 250 points and no Final Four teams left, Clay has clinched his spot on the bottom of the standings sheet.  While I am sure that it is not the prize that Clay was looking for, it is still something.  And as is customary tradition, it is time to say those disappointing words – “Sorry Clay – but you should not have challenged the Lunatic!”

This is a good time to be at the top of the board – but there is still time to move up the standings.  At this point, each win creates a large amount of points – and so having picks still alive to make the Final Four can make all the difference.

Good luck to everyone over the weekend!!!!