Stomp The Lunatic

It is super late at night – so I will probably update this post tomorrow when I have a chance to see who is ahead according to the scenarios (as well as verify that the scenarios look like they are populating the scores correct).

But for those of you who can not wait to see what you need to do to have a chance at winning in the pool, the page is here for you to review.

Simply click on the Scenarios link in the navigation bar at the top – and it will lead you to a link with all 8 of the possible outcomes (you can select which outcome from the drop down menu on that page).

Please also remember – these pages are unofficial. While I felt that this was a nice feature so you would know who to root for in the games, I do not do a lot of verifications on this page – the only standings page that matters is the official Standings link, which will continue to update as the games finish.

Good luck to everyone!!!

This is a critical time to be at top of the leaderboard. There are only 3 games left, and so while those 3 games are worth a lot of points, you still have to have had the insight to pick UConn, Alabama, NC State or Purdue to even have a chance to get those extra points.

We have co-leaders in the Standard Pool at the moment – Wil Austin and Ann Schumaker are leading the group with 900 points. Of course, Wil has NC State winning it all while Ann has UConn winning it all – so I am sure they will have different rooting interests next weekend.

Wil and Ann are followed by Carrie Viera and Ryan at 840 points. In 5th place is Will Caldwell and Rose Brunner at 830 points. And we have a 5 way tie for 7th at 820 points between Bill Yost, Red Shepley, Tanmay Gautam, David Ogle and Taylor Early.

Our leader in the Upset Pool is Gus Woodburn – his pick of NC State has put his total to 309 points – which is the 3rd most points that have been scored in the Upset Pool, so amazing picks. But surprisingly, his lead is not safe. Ann Schumaker is just 10 points behind in 2nd place – and could break the record number of upset points (323) if UConn and NC State win on Saturday. Taylor Early is in 3rd at 293 points and also has NC State in the final. Wil Austin is in 4th at 284 points, and could make all those number a distant memory if NC State wins the championship (since that would give him an additional 121 points). And Elizabeth Betz is in 5th at 270 points (and has a chance for more points if UConn wins).

In the Second Chance Pool, our leader is Tanmay Gautam at 520 points. Drew Bradley is in 2nd place just 40 points behind. And we have a 4 way tie for 3rd place at 440 points between Gus Woodburn, Wil Austin, Eric Zeidler and Katie Hodgson.

The Lunatic’s sane picks are not that far out as he is in a tie for 41st place at 760 points. The Lunatic always hopes that he does well – but at this point, regardless of the event his sane picks chose (UConn beating Purdue), his only hope is on the Boilermakers winning two more games even if it means more people in the pool will stomp him. It will be a stomping that the Lunatic will enjoy for a very long time. BOILER UP!!!!!

Good luck to all of you in Stomping the Lunatic!!!! Please, let Purdue win and have all of you Stomp the Lunatic!!!!

What an amazing Easter Sunday for Wolfpack fans!!!!! First, the women’s basketball team upset 1 seed Texas 76-66 to head to the Women’s Final Four. Then, the men’s basketball team upset 4 seed Duke 76-64 to head to the Men’s Final Four. It was impressive enough to have a team make both the men’s and women’s Elite 8 – to get both teams to the Final 4 is simply incredible.

The men’s team needed to comeback to do it. At halftime, they found themselves down 27-21. But over the first 7 minutes of the second half, the Wolfpack chipped away at the lead, led by a three-pointer, a layup, and two free throws by D.J. Horne.

Over the next 3 minutes, the Wolfpack continued on the pressure. Big man D.J. Burns got a couple baskets, and the Wolfpack drew two fouls on Duke’s Kyle Filipowski. So, this meant Duke’s star player had to sit with 4 fouls.

With Filipowski on the bench, the Wolfpack continued to extend the lead. Ben Middlebrooks made the two free throws, Burns and Horne hit a couple baskets, and then, off a steal from Middlebrooks, the Wolfpack threw the ball up the court to Michael O’Connell who nailed a three-pointer from the wing to make it a 9 point lead.

This even happened despite a bizarre sequence where Duke tried to shoot the ball and had it go out of bounds, the NC State coach came out arguing the call and got hit with a technical foul – now guaranteeing the ball to Duke (along with the two free throws that Jared McCain made). What I felt was worse was the replays showed the NC State coach was right that the refs missed the call. But you can’t leave the coaches box to complain – and apparently, he had already been warned about it. Then, on O’Connell’s three, they called a foul on a Duke player for elbowing a NC State player on the rebound – giving them both the three-pointer and the ball. While it clearly was a foul, a lot of contact happens on the rebounds – so it is a little weird to get the ball back on a loose ball foul over a rebounding attempt that never happened since the ball went in.

Filipowski came back in, but nothing at this point could stop the Wolfpack’s momentum. DJ Horne would make another layup. DJ Burns would back down his defender in the post and score in the lane. Duke would double team Burns and so he would simply pass the ball to an open Middlebrooks for a layup. Duke tried to press to get back in the game, but after a couple of scary moments of not looking like they would get across half court in 10 seconds, NC State would find a wide open person in the lane for an easy layup – with 2:30 it was Middlebrooks, with 1:55 it was Burns, which gave the Wolfpack a 13 point insurmountable lead. A few minutes later, the Wolfpack were celebrating and cutting down the nets in Dallas!

This has to be one of the most amazing runs in NCAA Tournament history. NC State’s run of 5 games in 5 days to claim the ACC automatic bid has now been turned into a trip to Final Four. To go from needing to win 5 games simply to make the NCAA Tournament to just 2 wins away from a National Championship is a storyline that will be remembered for a long time – especially by NC State fans. Congratulations to the Wolfpack!!!!

So, the Final Four is set.

• We have the Big East regular season and tournament champions Connecticut Huskies – who are looking to become the first repeat national champions since 2007.
• We have the SEC’s Alabama Crimson Tide – who were tied for second in the regular season and who are playing in their school’s first ever Final 4.
• We have the ACC tournament champions NC State Wolfpack – whose amazing story brings back memories of the 1983 team that won the championship (which is also the last time they were in the Final Four).
• We have the Big 10 regular season champions Purdue Boilermakers – who are trying to repeat Virginia’s story of losing to a 16 seed simply to come back the next year and win the national championship.

It should be a great Final Four in Glendale, Arizona on Saturday. The Lunatic could not be more excited for it. Not sure how I am going to make it through the week and deal with the anticipation – although I am sure that part of that plan will be to watch Iowa and LSU square off in the Women’s Elite 8 on Monday! And if I can make it that late (since I am exhausted), USC and Connecticut should also be an incredible game.

Only one more week of basketball left to play. But so many great stories to watch throughout the week!!!!

So often in major games, part of the story is can a star player lead their team to victory. And of course, part of the beauty of March is when a player who is not the star makes a major play. The Purdue vs Tennessee game had both.

Throughout most of the season as the media talked about who should be considered the player of the year, the conversation normally ended with two players – Purdue’s Zach Edey and Tennessee’s Dalton Knecht. And neither star player disappointed. There are lots of really amazing players – but the way these two played today, it really felt like we were watching the two best players in college basketball battle it out.

Dalton Knecht led the Tennessee attack with scoring 37 points. Meanwhile Zach Edey finished with 40 points and 16 rebounds. There is no doubt that each of the star players did everything in their power to try to will their team to win.

In a game that saw many runs, Purdue managed to be the team to make the last run. With 3:41 left in the game, Knecht drove to the lane and got fouled. After hitting the free throws, Purdue was hanging on to a 1 point lead.

Braden Smith drove to the hoop and as the Tennessee big man came out to contest, Smith just flipped the ball over his head to Purdue’s big man, and Edey finished off the play with a dunk.

Knecht tried to hit a three-pointer, but missed with Mason Gillis pulling down the rebound. Purdue would have a chance to make it a two-possession game.

Last year, Lance Jones was a guard for Southern Illinois – he transferred over to the Boilermakers for his senior year. Jones has added a dimension to the Boilermakers that they missed last year. He is a point guard that plays with an extreme intensity. He gave the Boilers a guard who could play good defense, could break the press (which was a struggle at times for us last year), and could shoot from outside. From time to time, that intensity would lead to a bad shot or a bad foul on defense – but he was the kind of player that you were happy to have that couple of turnovers or bad shots to have that intensity on the court.

Well, in this case, Tennessee played their fantastic defense and really forced Purdue to get the ball back out to the perimeter. And with the shot clock down to 3 seconds, Braden Smith passed the ball to Jones on the wing. And despite the fact that he only had 4 points on 7 shots, when the game was on the line, Jones didn’t hesitate to take the shot and drilled the three-pointer to give the Boilers a 6 point lead (and the Lunatic jumped off the couch screaming in joy).

Knecht would miss another three-pointer giving Purdue a chance to extend the lead. Fletcher Loyer missed a three-pointer after Purdue used up a bunch of the shot clock, but the long rebound came out to Braden Smith, who reset the offense. This time, they got the ball into Edey who was fouled, and the big man hit both free throws to go up 8.

Zakai Ziegler made a layup to cut the lead to 6 – and on the inbounds, the Vols trapped Smith in the corner, who threw the ball up to Edey and he got fouled. This time, the big man only hit 1 of the free throws – so the lead was now only 7.

It would quickly become 5 as Knecht drove to the basket and made the layup – looking like no one could stop him from getting to the basket.

This time, Purdue managed to get the ball across half court and took the clock down to about 40 seconds. They got the ball into Edey, but he missed the first free throw long and completely shot an air ball on the second free throw. It was still only a 5 point lead. And admittedly, the Lunatic started to panic – we could not possibly get this close just to lose a late lead again.

But while so much is made about Edey’s offense, this gave him a chance to remind everyone about his defense. Knecht drove again to the basket looking to cut the lead to 3. And as he effortlessly got past the Purdue guards, this time he found Purdue’s big man waiting for him. And Edey blocked the ball into the corner where the ball ended up into Mason Gillis’ hands.

Purdue passed the ball avoiding being fouled for a few seconds and then got the ball to a better free throw shooter – Fletcher Loyer. Loyer hit the two free throws to give Purdue a 7 point lead with 21 seconds left. And after Knecht hit a layup and Edey hit a free throw and Zakai Zeigler missed a three-pointer, Purdue threw the ball high into the air of the arena and began to celebrate. The Boilers are heading to the Final Four.

And the Lunatic celebrated!!!! As they were interviewing Matt Painter, the Purdue band started to play the Purdue fight song, and the Lunatic started to sing:

Hail, hail to Old Purdue! All hail to our old Gold and Black!

Hail, hail to Old Purdue! Our friendship may she never lack!

Ever grateful, ever true! Thus we raise our song anew!

Of the days we spent with you! All Hail our own Purdue!!!!!!

The Lunatic is ever grateful!!! And so excited that he will get to see this Purdue Boilermakers team play in the Final Four – the first time that has happened for a Purdue team since 1980.

BOILER UP!!!!!!

I am sure I will rant – but I need to compose myself. I can not tell you how incredibly happy that I am at this moment!!!

Purdue has beaten Tennessee to make it to the Final Four!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

BOILER UP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I have to laugh but I think my craziness is rubbing off on my son.

I have enjoyed the GEICO commercial about the different types of fans. Outside of trash talking, I can relate to both the passionate fan and the superstitious fan. Having played the clarinet in high school, I could see myself being that band member struggling to control my emotions during the game.

And while I certainly wouldn’t hit popcorn out of someone’s hands, I am certainly superstitious. Right before the tournament, Elizabeth tried to buy all of us T-shirts. She got me a Big 10 championship shirt, and got Charlie a Purdue shirt. But he didn’t like the feel of it, so I said since my T-shirt had not arrived, “I’ll take it” – and wore it for our first round game.

I have now worn the shirt for all the games. After beating Gonzaga, I said I had to wash the shirts so that I can wear them for Sunday. And Charlie said aren’t you wearing the Big 10 championship shirt. And I said, no that is the shirt I wear the next day – they keep winning with that pattern. He laughed.

Well, after Tennessee made the lead 32-21, he came downstairs and said I came down because they do better when I am downstairs. And they went on a 15-2 run.

Here is hoping Charlie stays down and watches the second half with me – Purdue needs all the luck they can get. BOILER UP!!!

Dalton Knecht has been so hot from three-point range, and the Lunatic was horrified as he shot an open shot off a scramble for the rebound. The three-pointer from the wing was pure and the Volunteers went up 32-21 as Matt Painter called timeout.

I don’t know what Painter said to them, but Purdue went on a huge 15-2 run to end the half. Fletcher Loyer had two drives to the basket, Zach Edey got a dunk, and the fouls on Tennessee started to send the Boilers to the line.

I really hope Purdue’s three point shooting comes back in the second half. The Boilers are doing a fantastic job in the paint, but a team that is one of the best from three-point range went 1-8 from beyond the arc.

Still, if you told me that we would be 1-8 from three and that Tennessee’s Knecht would have 18 points, I would be elated to hear that we were still winning by 2. Edey has 19, Braden Smith has 9, and Loyer’s 6 points triggered the run to end the half.

So excited, so nervous!!!! BOILER UP!!!

Hope that everyone is having a happy Easter weekend!!! And what a better way to celebrate than with men’s and women’s Elite 8 games all afternoon!!!!

At 1 pm, we head to Albany as 1 seed South Carolina (35-0) plays 3 seed Oregon State (27-7) to see who will be the first woman’s team into the final four (game on ABC)

At 2:20 pm, the Lunatic turns into a nervous crazy mess as 1 seed Purdue (32-4) plays 2 seed Tennessee (27-8) in Detroit in a re-match of their Maui Tournament semi-final. BOILER UP!!! (game on CBS)

At 3 pm, we head to Portland as 1 seed Texas (33-4) plays 3 seed NC State (30-6) – it is crazy impressive that both NC State’s men and women are both in the Elite 8 (game on ABC)

At 5:05 pm, Tobacco Road takes its show to Dallas as 4 seed Duke (27-8) vs 11 seed NC State (25-14) in a re-match of their ACC quarterfinal to determine which team will represent the ACC in the Final Four (game on CBS)

Four great games to determine the regional championships! Enjoy the games!!!!

Mark Sears had a rough first half – shooting 2 for 11 from the field. But he came out in the second half hot and never stopped. He went 6 for 7 from three in the second half, and helped lead the Tide to a 89-82 victory over Clemson.

Alabama partially got ahead with about 4 minutes to play with the inside power of Nick Pringle – he would get the ball in the lane and power his way to the basket. He would either get the layup or get the offensive rebound or get the foul. And in one case, he managed to score and get the foul on PJ Hall – which fouled him out of the game with 3:30 to play. His dominance in the lane extended the Alabama lead to 9.

Clemson tried to get back into as Ian Schieffelin got a layup and foul, and Joseph Girard III hit a deep three-pointer to cut the lead to 3 with 2 minutes left.

Alabama got the ball into Pringle again who extended the lead to 6 with another layup and foul. But Clemson quickly came back down the court as Jack Clark made a layup.

The play that might have been the dagger was with 1:17 as Sears faked a drive to the basket, took a step back behind the three-point line, and then drained a three pointer to go up 7 points.

Clemson cut the lead to 5 when it looked like Alabama would win it off a missed three pointer. But RJ Godfrey ripped the ball out of the Alabama defender’s hands and hit the layup. Then, a strange thing happened.

Clemson didn’t foul right away – which would turn out to be a great decision. They would pressure Alabama and force a turnover instead. Sears quickly fouled as the ball was stolen. Now, instead of watching Alabama shooting free throws to extend the lead, it would be Clemson getting a chance to cut the lead without the clock moving.

And then Jack Clark missed both free throws. This time, Clemson fouled and Grant Nelson drained both free throws. Then, it was just a matter of running the clock down to zero. And the celebration was on as Alabama made it to their first ever trip to the Final Four.

So, the Crimson Tide join the Huskies in the Final Four – half the excitement is set. The other two will be decided Sunday afternoon!!!!

Congratulations to the Huskies and Crimson Tide!!!!