Stomp The Lunatic

‘Let’s win this game for all the small schools that never had a chance to get here.’ – Merle Webb from Hoosiers.

And for the second year in a row, the Butler Bulldogs delivered – and have now made consecutive Final Fours. All the small schools that never had a chance to get there will show their players that it is possible if you just believe and play solid basketball.

So, let the Hoosiers mysteria begin again.  Butler is here to stay – and they have shown that they were not just Gordon Haywood last year. They had a lot more talent on that team – and that talent is drilling clutch three-pointers when the game is on the line, getting to the free throw line when necessary, and grabbing offensive or defensive rebounds, or playing stifling defense when it is most critical.

Congratulations also go out to the Connecticut Huskies who have continued their unbelievably hot March. The Huskies have now won 9 games in the last 19 days on their march toHouston. I keep hearing things like – they have to be getting tired with all the basketball they have been playing – they can’t keep this going. Well, the Huskies have kept going and now are just two victories away from one of the most unbelievable runs that I can remember. And the Big East breathes a sigh of relief that after getting a record 11 teams in the tournament, the Huskies helped ensure that they at least got one team into the Final Four.

So, congratulations to both ButlerandConnecticut. They have punched their tickets to Houston. One can only hope that Sunday’s games will be anywhere close to as good as tonight’s overtime battle between the Bulldogs and Gators, and the two point contest between the Huskies and Wildcats.

As mentioned, 7 of the 8 teams are champions. We have 2 teams that won both a share of the regular season as well as their conference tournament (Kansas and Butler), 3 regular season champs (UNC, Florida and Arizona) and 2 conf tourney champs (Kentucky and Connecticut). Only VCU is the outlier – but they are a champion in our hearts by being Cinderella!

The city of Richmond has as many teams in the Elite 8 and the mighty Big East conference – 1.

Before we get too harsh on the Big East, at least they did better than the Big 10 – who got shut out.

The only conference with 2 teams was the SEC. Many statistical rating systems had the SEC as the 6th best conference behind all the other 5 BCS conferences – so of course, it makes sense that they would have the most at this point.

6 of the top 8 seeds made it to the Sweet 16 (only Notre Dame and Pitt) – now we only have one #1 (Kansas) and two #2 (UNC and Florida) seeds left.

To my count, there were 12 mid-major seeds that were a 12 seed or higher. Of those, only one was supposed to get to the Elite 8 (San Diego St) and only one other (BYU) would make the Sweet 16. Instead, they had two make the Elite 8 (Butler and VCU), and three others (San Diego St, BYU and Richmond) make the Sweet 16. Not a bad showing for the little guys!

I have loaded the paid list onto the website. If you have paid already, please check to make sure you are on the paid list. If not, please do your best to get your entry fees to me soon – we want to ensure that the winners can get their prizes at an appropriate time!!!!

And Brent Peterson still is hanging on to the lead in the pool! At 670 points, he has a 30 point lead over Harold Ingram and a 40 point lead over Rusty Ahles and Sudeep Behari.

In the Upset Pool, Logan Horgan has the lead with 257 points – leading Brent by 15 points, and Austin McElroy by 24 points.

And then there is the Second Chance Pool – Drew Bradley got 7 of 8 games correct, taking a 40 point lead over 26 people who correctly got 6 games right.

We also have our first guaranteed prize, David Gatewood has not only managed to score just 260 points through the Sweet 16 – yes, that is less points than Brent had after the first round. But withLouisvilleandTexasbeing 4 seeds, David’s picks qualify, and with no teams surviving to make it to the Elite 8, he also can’t score any more points. My guess is that David – who runs the excellent and fun Loser’s Pool, where you pick the teams you think will lose the tournament, accidentally put in the teams he thought would lose. In that case, he was very successful since his teams have all lost. So, David will get his entry fee back and it is time for me to say those seven words that I get to say every year – he should not have challenged the Lunatic! OK – I just have to say that, the reality is everyone should challenge the Lunatic – we all must stomp the Lunatic. But David should have known better than to have challenged Brent Peterson…..

Speaking of the Lunatic, he is lurking around in the main pool in a tie for 33rd place. However, the Lunatic curse has knocked off his crazy picks (Duke) and second chance picks (Ohio St). So, it is just another reason why the Kansas Jayhawks better be careful on Sunday – the Lunatic curse has no one else but his sane picks champion to focus on – and we all know the power of the Lunatic curse.

Congratulations toFlorida,UConn,Arizona,Butler, UNC,Kansas,Kentucky, and VCU on making it to the Elite 8!!!!!! And good luck to all of your favorite teams to making the Final 4.

For a second, it looked like the clock struck midnight on Cinderella. Right around that time on the east coast, VCU was up 62-53. Then,Florida Stwent on a 12-3 run topped by Chris Singleton’s three pointer with 46 seconds. In overtime, VCU kept hanging onto a lead until Singleton again put in a dagger by driving to the basket for a dunk. And so here we were after a blocked shot. Joey Rodriguez standing out of bounce struggling to get the inbounce pass in with 7 seconds, and at the last second finding Bradford Burgess in the lane for a quick lay-up to give the Rams the lead. And this time, Singleton’s shot at the buzzer was blocked by Rob Brandenberg and the madness will continue for two more days for the VCU Rams.

There is always the comment about who will potentially be this year’s George Mason. Well, why not the VCU Rams. The similarities are scary. Both teams from the Colonial were given 11 seeds and the Selection Committee was extremely criticized for letting them in. Then, very few people gave them a shot against the 6 seeds or 3 seeds. And after those upsets, they both saw another unexpected team in the Sweet 16 (George Mason saw #7 Wichita St) and managed to pull another upset to get to the Elite 8. Then, finally waiting for George Mason was the favorite to win the tournament, the #1 seed Connecticut Huskies – as GM pulled the biggest upset yet. Now, VCU will be facing the current favorite to win the tournament, the #1 seed Kansas Jayhawks. It is eerily similar to the path that the 2006 George Mason team. And if you aren’t ready to believe in destiny just yet – here is one more point.

The NCAA started seeding teams in 1979 – only twice did all four #1 seeds miss the Final 4. The first time was 1980, when the field was still 48 teams. The other time it happened – you guessed it. 2006 – whenFlorida, UCLA, LSU and of course, #11 George Mason made the Final 4. Kansas is the last #1 seed left in this year’s tournament – and if they don’t want history to repeat itself, they better not underestimate the VCU Rams – congratulations to them for making their first ever Elite 8!

And then there was one. The only #1 seed left is the Kansas Jayhawks – as after senior Jon Diebler drains a deep NBA range three pointer to tie the game with about 17 seconds, the stage was set for freshman Brandon Knight, who cooly drove to his right and hit the running jump shot to the side of the key to move the SEC Conference Tournament champions from Kentucky into the Elite 8 – and in process, taking out the top seeded team in the tournament. What an amazing finish to a great game!!!!

Don’t really have anything to say about the games. Quite honestly – once they started out of control, I didn’t even watch the endings. But the champions continued along. First, the ACC Regular Season Champion advanced forward by stomping all overMarquette. Then, the Big 12 Regular Season and Conference Tournament Champion crushed our local favorites – the Richmond Spiders.

Considering the Big 10 Regular Season Champion Ohio State is currently playing SEC Tournament Champion Kentucky, that means that we will have 7 of the 8 teams will be conference champs in one way or the other. Only Cinderella VCU and resilientFloridaStateplaying right now will get to be the outlier. Go Conference Champions!!!!!!!!!!!

As I wait for the final 3.2 seconds to finish off, all I can hear in the back of my head is the music from Hoosiers – and Gene Hackman telling the crowd – “This is your team!!!!” TheHickoryHuskers – I mean Butler Bulldogs continue to re-write the script of the NCAA tournament – as thehy knock off the Wisconsin Badgers.Butleris a lot more talented than people give them credit for. And they seem to win the battle for every single loose ball. And so, for the second year in a row, the Horizon regular season and conference tournament champion has made their way to the Elite 8.

As can be expected by the fact that onlyWisconsinhad not won some type of championship, we are seeing the regular season champs rise to the top. The Pac 10, SEC and Horizon regular season champs made it through – and the only regular season champs that went down for the co-champs for the Mountain West. Tomorrow, the Big 10, ACC, and Big 12 regular season champs will try to see if they can join the party. But I am sure thatKentucky,Marquette, andRichmondmight have something to say about that. Add in the guarantee of a double digit seed to the Elite 8 when VCU andFloridaStateplay, and it should prove to be another great day of basketball tomorrow!!!!