Stomp The Lunatic

Two different teams – two similar situations – one similar result.

In the West Regional, ACC regular season champion and #1 seed North Carolina was playing Michigan State. And the Spartans jumped out early to a 12 point lead. So, what would you expect happens when one of the best offensive teams in the country falls behind early. That is right – the Tar Heels went on a 20-1 run to take control of the game and never look back on their way to a 85-69 victory.

In the East Regional, Big 12 conference tournament champion and #2 seed Iowa State found themselves down 8 points early to Washington State. So, what would you expect happens when one of the best defensive teams in the country falls behind early. That is right – the Cyclones held the Cougars to 56 points, and scored 21 points off 13 forced turnovers to win the game 70-56.

And so the ACC regular season champion and Big 12 conference tournament champion have earned their way to the Sweet 16.

Just as a heads up, I believe that I have caught the website up with all the received payments. If you check your login page and it doesn’t look correct, please email me at thomas@tehodgson.com, and I will work with you to resolve it (I probably just missed a record – or the classic “the check is in the mail”).

I also have to thank Gonzaga for going on a ridiculous run to go from being down 1 to up 25, allowing me the ability to easily focus on getting the payments updated.

Finally got back from rugby – it was cold and drizzly and Katie’s team lost both their games, so was kind of a rough trip. But from a basketball perspective, it didn’t look like I missed much.

The Arizona Wildcats became the first team to advance to the Sweet 16 as they beat Dayton by 10. For the couple of minutes I have seen, Kansas and Gonzaga have been trading baskets, with the Jayhawks going into halftime with a 44-43 lead. So, it looks like it should be an easy exciting game!!!

I have to tell you I was surprised. I was able to make it through Utah State’s upset of TCU (yes – I know Utah State was the 8 seed, but Vegas has the Horned Frogs as a 4.5 point favorite). Regardless, with it being a 8 vs 9 game that normally is a coin flip, seeing Utah State win 88-72 should be considered an upset.

I flipped over to the last game and was pleasantly surprised to see Grand Canyon leading Saint Mary’s 52-37. Then, my eyes shut. The next time they opened there was 1 minute left in the game and Grand Canyon was simply trying to run out the clock. After your typical three pointer by the team behind and a few free throws from the team in the lead, Grand Canyon was able to celebrate their first ever victory in the NCAA Tournament, beating the Gaels by 9. I smiled for the fact that the night ended with two 12 seeds winning, put the final winner of the first round into the database and went to sleep. I knew I had only 6 hours until Elizabeth, Katie and I had to head up to Alexandria for two rugby games (in what appears to be a significant amount of rain).

So you had to imagine my surprise as I wrote down the leaders. Thanks to the tie that I am in, there are only 5 entries who are beating the Lunatic. I must be still dreaming….

Congratulations to Debbe Evans, Sonny Mao, Ashley Peterson, Tom Forrest, and Earl McKnight – as the 5 of them managed to get 26 of 32 games right to take the lead at 260 points. This is really impressive if you think of the number of upsets. 11 teams according to seed won their games – Oakland (14), Yale (13), JMU (12), GCU (12), Oregon (11), NC State (11), Duquesne (11), Colorado (10), Texas A&M (9), Michigan State (9) and Northwestern (9).

Congratulations also to those tied with the Lunatic at 6th – Kennedy Urban, Joanna Crabbe, Tyler Crabbe, Sean Ellett, Scott Viera, Rob Nesbitt (both entries), Matt Richter, Carlie Reynolds, and my son Charlie – who are just 10 points behind for getting 25 of the games right. And we also have 28 more entries tied for 17th at 240 points.

In the upset pool, congratulations to Ashley Peterson who is in the lead with 141 points. Ashley is closely followed by Gus Woodburn (140), Tom Forrest (139), Sonny Mao (138) and Earl McKnight (137). We also have a 4 way tie for 6th with Debbe Evans, Sean Ellett, Tyler Crabbe and Jimmy Lee at 132 points.

For those of you who are behind, don’t despair – because while it is important to do well in the first round, it is more important to do well in the later rounds – 5 of the 16 leaders watched as all of those upsets took one of our Final Four teams (including the Lunatic), and as the upsets mount, the chances to move up grow.

And for those of you who picked Kentucky and Auburn to win it all, while this bracket might be a mess, you always get a second chance – those brackets will be out there after the weekend of games reduces the field from 32 to 16.

Good luck to everyone!!! Enjoy the games this weekend!!!!

Tom

12 seeded James Madison from the Sun Belt conference jumped out to a 15-4 lead, and they never really looked back. Wisconsin got the lead down to as many as 6, but then James Madison would score some big baskets and expand the lead back out to double digits. Wisconsin stayed cold most of the night, JMU slowed the game down towards the end – using the entire shot clock each possession, and won 72-61 to advance to the second round for the first time in 41 years.

I was already planning half this joke, but I will love what the CBS announcer said. Lots of interesting simularities. First, James Madison managed to beat a team from Madison, Wisconsin. And now, the Dukes will face off against Duke. You can’t make these coincidences up.

Congratulations to James Madison on their big upset. Also, in my fading in and out of sleep, Alabama and Houston managed to easily finish off their opponents to advance to the second round. Only two more games left – and they look like great games. But I am still not sure that I am going to make it. I already nodded off once during the JMU game. I think I might finish off my Saturday handicapping page, and go back to sleep……. Or I might just go back to sleep….

Zach Edey became just the second player since 1976 to score 30+ points and get 20+ rebounds, and Purdue comfortably beat Grambling 78-50. I have to admit I was nervous at halftime when it was still single digits, but they came out playing excellent defense to start the second half.

The small school double digit upset that has plagued the Boilers is gone for now. Thus, the Lunatic can enjoy the late games through the back of his eyelids as he dreams that James Madison has jumped out to a 15-4 lead over Wisconsin. I must already be sleeping.

In a ridiculously short amount of time, two SEC teams fought in closely tight games they were supposed to win. And in a short amount of time, both of them lost.

And while it certainly isn’t the only cause, sportsmanship mattered. In the game that ended first, the 7 seed Florida Gators were playing play-in winner 10 seed Colorado Buffaloes. With about 8 minutes left in the game, Eddie Lampkin Jr scored a layup and got fouled to go up 79-72. Then, the Florida Coach Todd Golden started arguing with the referees about the call until he got a technical foul. Colorado made the two technical foul shots as well as the free throw for the original foul – and were then up 10. The Buffalos grew the lead to 13 after a dunk by Tristan da Silva.

But the Gators came storming back. While I was watching the other game, apparently Walter Clayton Jr scored 14 points, including two three pointers in the final 40 seconds to tie the game at 100 with 11 seconds.

But Colorado got the ball into the corner to KJ Simpson, he took a dribble down the baseline and shot the ball – and after hitting what seemed to be every part of the rim, the ball rolled in. Florida quickly threw it in to Clayton Jr, who threw a desperation three-quarter court shot that hit the backboard and almost went in. But instead the Buffaloes celebrated their trip to the second round.

Maybe it was just fate – a First Four team seems to always do damage in the tournament – so maybe it was always going to be Colorado’s game. And there was plenty of time after the technical. But Gators’ fans are going to have to ask, would the game have gone to overtime and end up a victory if the coach had not gotten a technical foul.

Meanwhile, #4 Auburn, the SEC tournament champion found themselves in a battle with Yale. Every time they would build a lead, the Bulldogs would come back. And then, with about 2 minutes left in the game, Yale’s John Poulakidas hit a three pointer to take a 73-72 lead. Yale played great defense to keep Auburn from scoring multiple times despite the Tigers getting offensive rebounds – nothing would go down, and after the teams traded a few free throws, the stage was set with 13 seconds and the Bulldogs up 4 points. Auburn passed the ball quickly up field to KD Johnson who fake a three pointer and drove to the basket for a made layup while getting fouled.

But Johnson missed the free-throw, there was a scrum for the rebound ending in a jump ball – giving the ball back to Auburn down 2 points. Off the inbounds, Auburn found Tre Donaldson under the basket, who was immediately fouled instead of being allowed to get the easy layup.

And Donaldson, a 83% FT shooter, missed the first free throw. And then he missed the second free throw (although I guess there is a question on if that was intentional). Auburn got the offensive rebound and got the ball to Jaylin Williams in the lane – but his layup to tie the game was blocked by Samson Aletan. The ball gets hit out to the three-point line, where KD Johnson picked up the ball and shot a desperate three-pointer – but it goes off the backboard and rim to end in a 2 point update for Yale’s 2nd tournament win in school history.

But you have to wonder if sportsmanship mattered here as well. That is because in the first half – just 3 minutes into the game – John Broome hit a layup to put the Tigers up 7 points. And as the players came up the court, Chad Baker-Mazara, the junior guard who is the Tiger’s 3rd best scorer at 10.3 points per game, decided it was necessary to throw an elbow at the Yale player next to him. Auburn Coach Bruce Pearl said he was wrong to do it but was retaliating for getting his in the throat earlier. But it didn’t matter – not only was it a dumb thing to do, he did it right in front of the official coming up the court. The referees reviewed it, and called a Flagrant 2 foul, which ejected Baker-Mazara from the game.

Obviously, with 37 minutes left, there was plenty of time to deal with the loss of a starter. But you have to wonder when losing a game by 2 points at the buzzer, would the result have been different if the starter had kept his cool and got to play 30+ minutes instead of 3.

And the Lunatic regrets that the two rules he remembered to follow when filling out his bracket (which after the fact is a lot more chalk than he likes to do – old age and sleep deprivation are poor partners) was that the defending champion always loses pretty early and that the national champion tends to be a top team in the KenPom ratings. The team that fit the most checkmarks from UConn’s bracket was Auburn. And UConn’s game reminded me of the Florida team from 2007 that just destroyed everyone. I forgot to put a double digit seed to the Sweet 16. I forgot that double digit ACC teams almost tend to be great upset picks. But sure – I remember to pick against the #1 overall seed by picking a team that loses to the Ivy League champion.

Don’t get me wrong – I am not bitter – complaining a little, maybe – but the Lunatic is OK. When Katie asked who we were rooting for, I told her that I sadly have to root for Auburn because they were in my final four, and yet, normally I would be rooting for Cinderella. And without missing a beat, Katie said, “Go Yale!!!!”

But for the Lunatic’s really small amount of sanity that is left, it would be really helpful for him if the next game he is going to watch is a very boring blowout. BOILER UP!!!!

USA Today should fire Dan Wolken

He is a poor journalist that has no idea about how to assess a college basketball coach. His articles are poorly done. As he said in his article today about John Calipari.

“It’s over.”

“It needs to be over.”

While I am sure he won’t, I wonder how he would feel if he read that first few paragraphs. Look – I really don’t want anyone fired. But I hate it when journalists in a sad attempt to build chatter say horrible things and then put it as an “opinion” piece. The worst part is that Wolken isn’t alone. I read similar pieces on ESPN and CBS Sports. I am just picking on Wolken since his was the one I read first (and quite honestly, some of his statements were more ridiculous than the other stories).

I understand that a school as storied as Kentucky losing to a 14 seed like Oakland gets people talking about all the things that the coach did wrong. And Calipari makes a ton of money – one site lists him as the second highest paid coach in college basketball only behind Bill Self. But calling for a Hall of Fame coach to be fired because they finished the season 12th in the polls and in 2nd in the SEC one game behind a team coached by someone who has won 800+ games is such a ridiculously high standard. 67 of the 68 teams are going to lose over the next 3 weeks – sure, you would prefer it not to happen to a 14 seed but it happens.

Here is one of the quotes that really pushed my buttons.

“It was a good run for Calipari at Kentucky. Not a great run, but a good one: 15 years, four Final Fours, one national title. Not bad. Also, not what was expected or what it should have been given the turnstile of five-star prospects he brought in and sent on to NBA stardom.”

4 Final Fours is not bad but not great. Here is the list of coaches who led a team to 4 Final Fours since 2009 – Jay Wright (Villanova). We can add Bill Self to the list if I can go back to 2008.

If we look at entire careers (and exclude Calipari), there are only 21 coaches who have gone to 4 Final Fours. Hell, there are only 27 schools that have made it to 4 Final Fours – so Calipari in 15 years has been to more Final Fours than 335 Division 1 schools over their entire history – but that is just good. We should expect more.

Well, it should have been better because of all the talent he had. There is one fatal flaw in this statement. This is making the assumption that talent is there because they wanted to play for Kentucky. That is horribly misconceived. That talent is there because Calipari recruited that talent. If Kentucky had a different coach over these 15 years, I guarantee you they would not have had the turnstile of 5-star recruits.

The following 6 schools have won the most national championships – UCLA (11), Kentucky (8), North Carolina (6), Connecticut (5), Duke (5), Indiana (5). So these 6 programs can be considered “storied’” programs that under this assumption should be a turn-style of talent.

Here are the recruiting class rankings according to 247 sports for Indiana and UCLA.

2023 – UCLA – 13, Indiana – 18 (Kentucky – 1)

2022 – Indiana – 10, UCLA – 13 (Kentucky – 5)

2021 – UCLA – 37, Indiana – 39 (Kentucky – 2)

2020 – Indiana – 15, UCLA – 52 (Kentucky – 1)

2019 – Indiana – 56, UCLA – 76 (Kentucky – 2)

2018 – UCLA – 6, Indiana – 10 (Kentucky – 2)

Indiana fired Tom Cream in 2017 and went to Archie Miller, who was fired in 2021 and Mike Woodson took over as the Hoosiers searched for the person who would bring them back to greatness.

UCLA fired Steve Alford in 2018 and moved on to Mick Cronin because Alford didn’t win enough for their storied program. There is probably some irony in the fact that Alford has led Nevada to the NCAA Tournament the last 2 years while UCLA is sitting at home with a 16-17 record.

Both Indiana and UCLA are great basketball schools – and they are still getting some talented players who want to be the next star on the list to lead the school to greatness. But neither of those schools are getting the recruits that Calipari is bringing in – there is a skill set needed to be a great recruiter, and that is one of Calipari’s greatest strengths.

If you fire Calipari, who are you going to get. Bill Self certainly isn’t leaving Kansas. Dan Hurley certainly isn’t leaving Connecticut. Ask Indiana how things went when you get the amazing up and coming guy like they did taking Archie Miller from Dayton. I don’t think Jay Wright is interested in coming out of retirement – but maybe.

You are not going to get a coach who is better than one of the coaches who sets the bar for how greatness is measured. Hall of Fame coaches are already happy and established at the program they have built – why would they leave what they have created where they are viewed as amazing so they can go to a school that just fired a similar caliber coach for getting upset in one game.

So you say – well it isn’t one, it is two – they lost to St Peter’s as well. Indiana has missed 4 tournaments and won 2 tournament games under their 2 last coaches. But you know what – if you want, go ahead and roll the dice – I am sure you will do better. After all, you are Kentucky (to be fair to Kentucky, I would be shocked if the Kentucky AD follows the advice of the media).

I don’t even like John Calipari – there is something that bothers me about him. Maybe it is the fact that both his Final Fours at other schools (Memphis and Massachusetts) had to be vacated due to NCAA sanctions. But there should be no journalist out there who knows anything about the game of basketball that should be making the ridiculous statement that Kentucky should fire him. That shows a lack of knowledge about the sport they are covering. And if the only way you can get people to click on your article is to request people lose their job, it seems fair to say the same about the journalists.

Wolken did provide a relevant quote from Calipari after the game that shows he can be a journalist. He also wrote an article today that I haven’t read yet about the SEC commissioner staying away from expanding the tournament – which was something I was eventually going to comment on. So maybe he is a better journalist than this one article suggests. But that is exactly the point – imagine getting fired for one mistake in a career filled of great moments – because that is exactly what Wolken said should happen.

Calipari said, “Our team shouldn’t be defined by that game, but it will be.” Even he understands that everyone, including obviously everyone in his locker room, are going to forget about all the great things they did and call this season and those players and coaches failures for losing to a 14 seed. It doesn’t matter that over 72 percent of the teams don’t even make the tournament. And that 50 percent of the remaining teams will lose in the first round.

Kentucky should not be defined by losing to a 14 and a 15 seed. It becomes such an amazing moment for those schools because they played against greatness and they won. It is one thing to criticize greatness for losing when it was unexpected, but to define them based on that diminishes what they accomplished and what the 14 and 15 seed accomplished.

It is great when Cinderella wins at the dance – allow that moment to simply be great.

#12 UAB gave the Aztecs a fight as the game was pretty close the whole way. With a 1 point lead and a minute left, San Diego State’s big man Jaedon LeDee grabbed a big offensive rebound and was fouled. And while the replay looked like it was a clean strip, LeDee went to the line and hit both free throws.

The Blazers cut the lead back to 1 as Yaxel Londeborg hit two free throws after being fouled trying to get a rebound.

But in the end, it was LeDee who made a nice post move and caught a pretty lob pass in the lane. He was fouled to stop the upcoming dunk – and made both free throws. The Blazers would get one last chance but Efrem Johnson missed a leaning three pointer (which looked like he was trying to draw a foul), and San Diego State got the rebound to end the game.

In the other games, Marquette got a scare in the first half when they found themselves down 7 at halftime to Western Kentucky. But they woke up and dominated the second half to win comfortably by 18 points. And of course, Connecticut is making sure there is no doubt about their intentions at the dance. They were up 50-15 on Stetson as the first half was close to mercifully ending. That leaves Clemson and New Mexico as the best game on the- although the Tiger had a 14 point lead,

Might be a good time to take a break. Or at least hope the 4:30 games are more interesting…

Northwestern had jumped out to a 9 point lead with about 7 minutes to play, and then the wheels came off the bus. Florida Atlantic went on a 13-2 run and ending with Johnell David hitting a jumper with a minute to play.

Northwestern turned the ball over and had to play defense – forcing a tough shot with around 25 seconds leading to a scramble for the ball with the Northwestern player grabbing it in the corner as the ball was whistled out off FAU.

But replay showed the ball never went out and the whistle happened just before Northwestern controlled it – so it turned into a jump ball due to an inadvertent whistle. And the possession arrow was FAU’s.

What seemed to be an awful break for the Wildcats (after all, they had recovered the ball) turned out just fine. The Wildcats fouled Vladislav Goldin, And Goldin missed the free throw. Northwestern got the ball to Brooks Barnhizer who drove down the lane and tied up the game at 58 with 9 seconds left.

Then, in a crazy sequence, Johnell Davis basically walked the ball past half court and then realizing the clock was running out forced up a well guarded three pointer that was nowhere close sending the game to overtime.

The star of overtime was Ryan Langborg who hit two jumpers and two three pointers that led the Wildcats to a 11 point lead in overtime where they never looked back. Congratulations to Northwestern!!!