Stomp The Lunatic

The Gamecocks were up 32-31 at half as the Wolfpack were battling the top team in the country. Then, the South Carolina defense took over the game.

South Carolina just outscored NC State 29-6 in the third quarter. The Wolfpack are averaging 74 points per game in the tournament, and right now, they are not even on pace to get to 60.

If that defense continues for the last 7 minutes, South Carolina will be playing for the national championship.

Hi everyone – as you know I have been doing updates on the Final Four with Kevin Flippen on his podcast – Virginia is for Sports.

Today we gave a preview of both the women’s and men’s Final Fours – check it out on YouTube.

https://youtu.be/DvIcytBP9eY?si=jDInLIPQaO4mn6W3

Don’t miss the women’s games starting tonight as NC State (30-6) takes on South Carolina (36-0) at 7 pm on ESPN followed by Iowa (33-4) against Connecticut (33-5).

Should be a great evening of basketball. And it definitely was a fun discussion with Kevin about the exciting weekend of games! Check it out!!!!! (And check out some of his other interviews – they have a great podcast!!!)

So I have to admit that I was not getting to pay attention. The family had tickets to see the Tina Turner musical on Saturday. Obviously, with the Final Four on Saturday and Purdue playing, we moved our tickets to Thursday night. By the way, it was a good show – even Charlie said that he enjoyed it – the sign that a musical did a good job.

At intermission, I turned on my phone and looked and Indiana State was ahead 67-60 with 3 minutes to play. It looked like the Sycamores were going to claim the NIT championship in front of their home fans in Indianapolis. But then their hollywood ending turned into a nightmare.

Kadary Richmond cut the lead to 5 with a layup. Al-Amir Dawes cut the lead to three from the free throw line, and then tied the game with a minute with a three-point shot. Meanwhile, every three pointer the Sycamores shot would miss.

With a tie game, Julian Larry missed a three pointer from the corner, Jayson Kent got the offensive rebound but could not get the contested layup to fall. And then the Seton Hall Pirates took the lead as Dre Davis got to the basket and hit a layup.

With Indiana State struggling to find an open shot, they called timeout to call one last play. But unfortunately, Jimmy Chitwood was not in the huddle saying I’ll Make It. And Charlie and I grinned as the intermission lights started to fall as the second act got ready to begin.

The Sycamores got the ball into Isiah Swoope who tried to take a three from the top of the key, but Jaden Bediako stripped the ball. Swoope caught the ball, took a step back and fired, only for Bediako to block the shot again. Ryan Conwell for the Sycamores got the rebound and took it back outside but his desperation three would go off the rim, and Indiana State tried to tip in the rebound but that also could not find the basket.

Seton Hall had come back from 7 down to win the NIT – scoring the last 9 points to win 79-77. Congratulations to Seton Hall and Indiana State, who put on an amazing show in Indianapolis – when other teams decided to pack up shop and end their seasons, the Pirates and Sycamores decided that they wanted to keep playing this great game. And they both had memorable runs to the NIT championship that finished in a very memorable game. They both had fantastic seasons and probably proved they deserved more than they got this March.

Congratulations to Seton Hall, the NIT champions.

In a way, it almost works out better for them. Indiana State got to play home games in March to show that if major conference teams like Minnesota and Cincinnati had to come to Terre Haute, they could beat them. And they will be selling out Hinkle Fieldhouse as they get to play tonight for the NIT championship.

Maybe Seton Hall feels differently, but publicity counts. No one talks about the 10 seed that loses in the first round after it happens. The Pirates are one of the last 6 teams in college basketball playing, and because of it we are still talking about them and how they got snubbed.

I have ranted a little about Seton Hall already – I think it is ridiculous that the 4th place team from the Big East was left out, when the two teams just 1 game ahead in the standings were a 2 seed and a 3 seed. I am certainly not saying that there are tiers in conferences, but it seems like a large drop off that the difference between 13-7 and 14-6 is being in the top 12 of the country, and not being in the top 42 teams in the country.

Indiana State is a little tougher of a story, but they have a greater gripe. At 28 in the NET, they are the highest ranked team in the NET to ever be left out of the tournament. They went 27-6 – there were only 10 other teams in college basketball that won that many games (and all of them are in the tournament). The argument is that they didn’t beat anyone in the tournament – their two shots at it were at Alabama (without their leading scorer Avila) and at Michigan State, which they lost. Of course, most teams heading to Alabama or Michigan State lost.

It goes back to the unfair belief that if Indiana State had played in a conference like the SEC or the Big 10, they would have lost a lot more games. But I don’t think that is the case – sure they wouldn’t go 27-6. But they might have still gotten to above 50 percent in the conference (a bar that a few teams in the tournament didn’t meet).

There is also the fair criticism of who are you going to take out of the tournament in order to put Seton Hall and Indiana State in. It is a little unfair for me to say that a team like Mississippi State should not have made it because they were 8-10 in conference and then lost to Michigan State in the tournament. The first part is true and fair – but I now have the information of which of those 50% mid-majors loss. I could have just as easily taken out 9-9 Texas A&M who won their game.

Anyways, I still think it is a shame that these two teams got left out – but it has given us the great story of can Indiana State head to Hinkle Fieldhouse and win the NIT championship against one of the better power conference teams in Seton Hall. We will find out tonight.

As you all have known, the unofficial scenarios are loaded on the site – all you have to do is click on the Scenarios link at the top of the page to see what result ends up the best for you.

But obviously, there are a few people who will be rooting for these teams more than others since according to the unofficial scenarios, they will win one of the pools.

Lunatic typical disclosure – these are all unofficial in case I did something wrong. The only standings that count are the main standings links.

Scenario	Standard	Upset	Second
UConn beats NC State	Ann Schumaker	Ann Schumaker	Wil Austin Karl Knox Jen Miller David Ogle Will Richter
UConn beats Purdue	Will Caldwell	Ann Schumaker	Will Richter Karl Knox Jen Miller David Ogle
Alabama beats NC State	Ann Schumaker Wil Austin	Ann Schumaker	Tanmay Gautam
Alabama beats Purdue	Mark Horgan	Gus Woodburn	Tanmay Gautam
NC State beats UConn	Wil Austin	Wil Austin	Wil Austin
NC State beats Alabama	Wil Austin	Wil Austin	Wil Austin Gus Woodburn
Purdue beats UConn	Red Shepley Tanmay Gautam Bill Yost	Gus Woodburn	Drew Bradley
Purdue beats Alabama	Red Shepley Tanmay Gautam Bill Yost	Gus Woodburn	Tanmay Gautam Drew Bradley

Good luck to all our leaders this weekend – and good luck to all of your teams playing in the Final Four!!!!!

And of course, BOILER UP!!!!

This is going to be a tough year for the Lunatic’s expert opinions. Lets face it – the whole family wants to see Purdue win. Charlie is 17, and so he would rather play video games with his friends than play HORSE with his dad to help him with his crazy blog. And if we did do that like last year, he would want to be Purdue – could the Lunatic honestly try his best to beat his Boilermakers. What is a Lunatic to do?

Well, this afternoon, I got my cracked tooth fixed at the dentist (by the way, it was fantastic that he was able to get me in so quickly – I was very grateful). So, I got home at 5 pm and thought to myself what should I do – the NIT games aren’t for a few hours. I am home early – lets exercise. That is the only sensible thing to do after having a dentist put on a crown and your jaw is starting to hurt after the anesthesia wears off. And that exercise needs to have a purpose. So, the Lunatic will shoot against himself.

So, I quickly came up with a game plan – one that I thought I could complete without having a heart attack, and yet would be fun to see if I could still shoot. That would also make me want to compete for both teams – I want to see if I can still be a decent shooter, so I want my percentage to be good. So, I decided I would shoot 10 free throws for each team worth 2 points, and 10 three pointers for each team worth 3 points. I thought it would be an advantage to shoot last and know what I had to do, and so I decided the better seed would shoot last.

In honor of the NCAA, I didn’t bother finding a tape measurer, I simply stepped out 15 feet and 22 feet and put some soccer cones down. Who cares if the lines are at the real places – it is fair for everyone. And of course, playing on our basketball rim which is a little bent is interesting – and I apologize in advance for the later games as it was clear that shooting from 22 feet after shooting a basketball for over an hour was maybe not the best choice.

Women’s Final Four

NC State vs South Carolina – the Wolfpack hit 7 free throws, but the Gamecocks nailed 8. From the three point line, it was a 4 to 4 tie (although SC had things already won before missing their last 3 shots). South Carolina advances.

Connecticut vs Iowa – the Huskies took a lead from the FT line 7 to 6. The Huskies kept my consistent 4 for 10 – but the Hawkeyes went crazy, hitting 7 of 10. This was the first moment that I realized how streaky of a shooter I was. Iowa advances.

Men’s Final Four

NC State vs Purdue – the Wolfpack hit 8 making me nervous. But I was able to really focus for my Boilers hitting 9. Then, from the three point line, NC State hit 5, but I had a good streak at the start to hit 5 for Purdue (before the pressure would have started effecting me). Purdue advances.

Alabama vs Connecticut – this was my proudest moment of the day. Alabama led things off hitting all 10 free throws. With the pressure on, UConn could only make 6. This was also when I started to realize that I was getting tired. Alabama only hit 3 three-pointers with multiple shots falling short, but UConn couldn’t take advantage of the second chance and also only hit 3. Alabama advances.

Women’s Championship

Both Iowa and South Carolina hit 8 free throws – so it would come down to the three pointers. Iowa hit 4. South Carolina started cold, made a few in a row, but couldn’t hit the last two shots, and fell a shot short – only making 3. The Iowa Hawkeyes are the women’s champion.

Men’s Championship

Alabama continued their hot free throw shooting making 9. Purdue could only hit 8 as the last shot to tie went in and out. However, the poor three-point shooting continued. Alabama could only hit 2 three pointers, as multiple shots went in and out. Purdue took advantage of this, and when they hit the last shot of the night, their 4 three pointers won the game. The Purdue Boilermakers are the men’s champion.

So, lets figure out the numbers the Lunatic cared about (other than the fact that he is thrilled Purdue won). I made 94 of 120 free throws (78.3%). I only made 48 of 120 three pointers (40%). To be honest, I think that is pretty good for an old guy who hasn’t really serious shot baskets since the last time I did the Ball Don’t Lie HORSE game against Charlie. Of course, I have no clue if they are really where the free throw line and three point line was.

The Lunatic always gets a little bit sad at this point. With the Final Four set for both the men and the women, the realization of the fact that we only have one more weekend of basketball left is a little sad. Fortunately, for those of us desperate to soak up any college basketball that they can, the NIT will offer a diversion from the main media focus on the Final Four.

The other two smaller tournaments are already over – which caught the Lunatic by surprise – since I thought in past years, they also played this week. But congratulations to the CBI champion Seattle who beat High Point last week, and the CIT champion Norfolk State who beat Purdue Fort Wayne.

As for tonight, the NIT will be played at Hinkle Fieldhouse in Indianapolis – a departure from playing their finals at Madison Square Garden (another huge change that I don’t know how I feel about). As much as I care about tradition and the history of what the NIT has meant to college basketball and why I get upset when teams decline the invite to play in it, the NIT is making its own changes by leaving the historic Madison Square Garden. So many things are changing….

At 7 pm (on ESPN), Utah (22-14) will take on Indiana State (31-6) – this game is interesting as both teams are led by their centers, Branden Carlson for Utah and Robbie Avila for Indiana State. Can Indiana State win the NIT in their own Hoosiers-like story? Can Utah win the last games that a Pac 12 team will ever play? So many questions – so many stories.

At 9:30 pm (on ESPN2), Georgia (20-16) will take on Seton Hall (23-12) – this game will focus on the back-courts as Georgia’s set of guards, led by Noah Thomasson and Jabri Abdur-Rahim will try to stop Seton Hall’s trio of guards, Kadary Richmond, Dre Davis and Al-Amir Dawes. Can Georgia continue their winning streak for the SEC? Can Seton Hall continue to show the selection committee made a mistake by only taking 3 Big East teams? So many questions – so many stories.

All the stories are starting to write their final chapters. There are only 12 teams left who are playing, as they all look to end their season with a championship. And while we are all focused on the Final Four, these 4 teams still have interesting stories worth following. Good luck to all the teams playing tonight in Indianapolis.

Well – we already know how dominant the men’s team has been – but this quick post is about the women’s team. If you think about the history of women’s basketball, one team that is always mentioned is the Connecticut Huskies.

This season, the Huskies had their typical talented team as well, but then the injury bug happened. With 6 players getting hurt, the Huskies were left with just 7 players to play. They still went undefeated in the Big East but in their typically brutal non-conference schedule, they struggled against their top opponents like South Carolina, Texas, UCLA and NC State. To be fair, everyone struggles with these teams and no one would be crazy enough to schedule all of them, but this is Connecticut – they always are one of the best.

Part of their success in conference was because they had Paige Bueckers, who is one of the best players in the country. But they tried to temper their expectations realizing it is hard to win 6 straight games in the tournament with just 7 players even when you have one amazing player.

But then magic started and UConn found their way in the Elite 8 final against 1 seed USC. The game was tied at halftime at 33, but UConn took control in the 3rd quarter. After a three-pointer by Ashlynn Shade and a layup by Bueckers, the Huskies jumped out to a 12 point lead. But USC cut the lead by the end of the quarter to 4 off a three-pointer at the buzzer by Kayla Padilla.

USC would continue to cut into that lead – including tying the game with 7:36 to go as McKenzie Forbes hit a three-pointer. But UConn quickly gained back control off baskets from Ice Brady and Aaliyah Edwards.

Then, with about 5 minutes to go, Paige Bueckers took over the game. Bueckers would score 9 of her 28 points over the next 3 minutes to lead the Huskies to an insurmountable 11 point lead. By the time the last two minutes came off the clock, the Huskies had beat the Trojans 80-73.

It is crazy hard to make the Final Four – to win 4 games in a row against the top teams in college basketball is a great achievement. That makes what UConn and NC State have achieved even more impressive, as both their men and women have survived this gauntlet to make the Final Four. To realize the UConn Huskies managed to do this with just 7 players able to play is an even more impressive feat.

Congratulations to the UConn Huskies on making the Final Four.

Iowa’s Caitlin Clark scored 41 points and had 12 assists, as the Hawkeyes went on a huge run in the third quarter to take control of the game. Iowa held the Tigers to just 13 points in the 3rd quarter while LSU dealt with foul trouble as multiple players including Angel Reese and Flau’jae Johnson had 3 fouls.

But the Hawkeyes kept scoring as Clark hit 4 three pointers in that quarter. Kate Martin added 21. points for Iowa, and overall the Hawkeyes shot 41% from three-point range, and withstood LSU scoring a lot in the last quarter to win 94-87.

So, South Carolina will play NC State, and Iowa will play the winner of the USC / Connecticut game that just started in Portland (with a corrected three-point line after being wrong for the first 5 games in Portland). Can UConn join NC State as sending both their men and women to the Final Four? Only time will tell.

I am super excited about the upcoming game between Iowa and LSU. It puts the player who is arguably the best player in women’s basketball (Caitlyn Clark) against a significantly talented team who are the defending national champions.

What I think is a shame is that I almost see more articles talking about the LSU coach Kim Mulket slamming the media to be sexist and racist (to which to a certain extent, she is right) than I see about how incredible the young women are at playing basketball.

I probably will rant about Mulkey more at some point. It is a shame because she is an incredible coach, but a lot of the things she says bother me. The student journalist in me finds me wanting to be objective despite what she says – and I see the truth in some of the things she says. But there is something about the way that she delivers it that makes me not like her.

It will make me root for Iowa – I probably would anyways being from the Big 10. I kind of want to see what Clark does against South Carolina (which in my mind would be the best player vs the best team – no matter what, greatness will win).

But regardless of the coach, I am excited to watch the players. They are the ones who deserve the stage tonight. Caitlin Clark vs. Flau’jae Johnson should be a fantastic battle of two of the best guards in the game. Angel Reese is one of the best forwards in the game. There is so much talent out there that it is a shame that the break of seeding ended up putting these two teams against each other before the Final Four.

The game is starting on ESPN – you should watch!!!!