My apologies to all of you who have probably been searching through the standings page to see where you are in the Upset Standings. It didn’t even occur to me when I was doing my updates that I was searching through the main standings for the Upset leaders.
Well – no longer. It might be extremely late – but the Upset Standings are now a link on the menu.
And all our leaders in the pool……
Not much to write about the games. Kentucky jumped on Baylor early and never looked back. Kansas and UNC was a much closer battle – tied at half, Kansas would get up a few baskets, and UNC would fight their way back – and then, in the final four minutes, it was all Jayhawks. In that crunch time, it was painful obvious how badly the Tar Heels missed their star point guard Kendall Marshall – after some turnovers and a bad foul by the freshman replacement (if you are going to foul a breakaway, make sure he doesn’t also score the layup). And in the end, the Jayhawks took advantage and earned their trip to New Orleans.
That leaves us with two re-matches for the Final Four. The Bluegrass State will be going crazy as the Big East conference tournament Louisville will get a second chance at SEC regular season champion Kentucky – this time on a neutral court instead of the Wildcats’ Rupp Arena. And in the other game, Big 10 regular season co-champion Ohio State will get a second chance against the Big 12 regular season champion Kansas – although this time it will not only be at a neutral court instead of the Jayhawks’ Phog Allen Fieldhouse, the Buckeyes will have a healthy Jared Sullinger.
At this critical time in the tournament, our leader is Jennifer Carter – out of 362 entries, Jennifer was the only person who correctly predicted that Kentucky, Louisville, Ohio State, and Kansas would be the four teams playing in New Orleans. She is closely followed by 6 people who are just 20 points behind – Robert Shipp, Steve O’Neill, David Caldwell, Kayla Lindvall, Philip Ventrella, and Ross Vetter.
In the Upset pool, Keith Schleicher has overtaken the lead from Christina Lee. However, Keith Lancette is closing fast riding the success of Louisville. And in the Second Chance Pool, Shirli Zelcer and Taylor Early continued their amazing run – going 12 for 12 through the Sweet 16 and Elite 8. They are followed by Stephen Glass – just 40 points behind.
As for the Lunatic – he has received a thorough beating, and it will only get worse. The Lunatic picked North Carolina and Michigan State in the championship game and so can finish no better than 163rd – and there will likely be others who will pass him in the final weekend. However, he is proud that his 2 year daughter has already beaten him using Vegas models to try to win, his mother-in-law Kate who was a mainstay on the leaderboard until her Tar Heels went down today, and even prouder of his dad, who is currently in a tie for 11th place.
Good luck to all the leaders in the pool!!!! And congratulations to everyone who has already STOMPED THE LUNATIC!
Congratulations to the Ohio State Buckeyes. They had an early run in the second half and then managed to keep Syracuse always in catch up mode. Eventually, there was no more time to catch up – and the Buckeyes will be heading to the Final Four!
The Buckeyes’ victory managed to stop the Big East’s bid at having two teams in the Final Four. Now, the only conference with two teams left is the Big 12 – who will have Baylor and Kansas see if they could do what the Big East and SEC couldn’t do. I am sure that Kentucky and UNC will have something to say about it. 🙂
At this point, our leaders are Melissa Hartsell and Rick Flynn – who both were able to correctly pick Louisville and Ohio State to the Final Four. Brady Meigham, TJ Acuto, Jennifer Carter and Stephen Glass are still only 40 points behind. Christina Lee is still holding her 6 point lead in the Upset Pool on Keith Schleicher. And Shirli Zelcer and Taylor Early remain perfect in the Second Chance Pool – followed by Stephen Glass and Nick Kindig by just 40 points. If you are wondering who are amazing Second Chance experts are picking in the other two games, they both have Kentucky and Kansas….
Our first Final Four participate has punched their ticket. There is something about teams that have won championships – they just find ways to win games.
In this case, Florida had a 65-54 lead with just over 8 minutes to play. Then, the Cardinals start to come back – and with 4 minutes left and the game getting really close, Louisville’s PG Siva fouls out of the game. But that kind of set back didn’t stop them. And after hitting their FTs at the end of the game and defending 2 last second 3 point shots by the Gators, Louisville had finished off their 18-3 run to become the first team to earn their way to the Final Four.
Hopefully, the Syracuse – Ohio State game can have as much drama as this one did (well unless you are rooting for one of those teams – then hopefully, it will be a boring blow-out victory for your team. 🙂
At this critical juncture, the only two teams that did not claim either their regular season or conference championship is Baylor and Florida. Interestingly enough, it is the regular season champs being more represented this year.
Big East – Regular season champ Syracuse and Tournament champ Louisville
SEC – Regular season champ Kentucky
ACC – Regular season champ North Carolina
Big 12 – Regular season champ Kansas
Big 10 – Regular season co-champ Ohio State
Should be interesting to see if Baylor and Florida can continue their run to the Final Four, or if the Final Four will be only conference champions.
After the Sweet 16 games were done, Ella Flora has taken the lead in the tournament with 720 points. Ella is closely followed though as Brady Meigham, TJ Acuto, and Stephen Glass are just 30 points behind, and Dave Evans, Kate Yost, Joseph Allen, David Caldwell, and Trent Hodges are just 40 points behind. Interesting fact – none of these excellent picks are in the top 5 of the Upset pool.
In the Upset Pool, Christina Lee maintains her lead at 265. Christina is closely followed by Keith Schleicher (6 pts behind), Vernon McGeorge III (26 pts behind), Keith Lancette (27 pts behind), and Rick Flynn (28 pts behind).
In the Second Chance Pool, congratulations to Shirli Zelcer and Taylor Early who correctly picked all 8 games of the Sweet 16. They are followed closely by 28 people who all got 7 of 8 correct – so the Second Chance Pool looks like anyone’s battle.
Good luck to everyone in the Elite 8!!!!
The clock struck midnight on Cinderella, and she said “But I still want to dance.” And unlike the fairy tale, the dance continued for 5 minutes. But in the end, the result was the same. Cinderella’s dance was over – and in this fairy tale, number 1 seed UNC survives to play another day.
Don’t know if the extra 2 days of healing will be enough for Kendall Marshall – but the Tar Heels should hope for it – because they did not look anywhere close to the same team without Marshall steering the ship. Then again, part of that has to be also because of an incredibly well played game by the Ohio Bobcats.
And then there was one – with the losses by Xavier and Ohio, the only double digit left in the tournament is North Carolina State. Will the Wolfpack be able to fit into the glass slipper, or will Kansas send our last Cinderella home.
That half court shot almost went in!!!!! 5 more minutes of David and Goliath. Can the MAC Champion actually take down the ACC Champion. Unbelievable. Should be a fun 5 minutes!
Based on last evening’s success, I have brought in some experts to handicap tonight’s games. First, lets get the opinion from our Second Chance Pool leader – Charlie Hodgson
Charlie says:
And now, from Katie – the top in the main standings from my household:
No Vegas Lines Less Than 2. Pick all Favorites. Go Heels!!!!!! Ice Cream Pleaze!!! Tank you!
After Ohio State and Florida finished off the nightcaps for Thursday, a few of you took advantage to rise to the top of the standings.
Christina Lee managed to hang on to her lead in both the standard and upset pools, but she is now tied at the top with Melissa Hartfield and Rick Flynn. They are followed closely by just 10 points by Kate Yost, Joseph Allen, David Caldwell, Ella Flora and Debbe Evans.
In the second chance pool, only 4 of us could figure out all 4 winners from last night. Those winners were Alan Miller, Shirli Zelcer, Taylor Early, and Charlie Hodgson. That’s right. While the Lunatic was using logic like MSU under Izzo has won multiple championships this season, and they have a size advantage over Louisville. My 5 year old son uses logic like Louisville has a pretty red bird for its mascot and red is my favorite color. Its obvious whose logic will be correct!!!
The Crazed Lunatic is a crazy college basketball fan, especially for his Purdue Boilermakers!!!! Boiler Up!!!!
Every March, his passion comes out to rant and rave about one of the best sporting events in the world, the NCAA Basketball Tournament. While many of you will Stomp the Lunatic with your picks in our fun bracket picking game, this will not diminish the Lunatic’s crazed attempt at blogging about the tournament that he loves. Whether it will be trying to predict who will be in the tournament during Championship Week or his insane attempt to handicap all 67 games against the Vegas spreads, you can count on the Lunatic’s sleep-deprived rantings throughout the month of March.
If you notice any problems with the website or have any questions about the Stomp the Lunatic contest, please reach out by email at thomas@tehodgson.com
