Stomp The Lunatic

Congratulations to Cooper Bradley – with 380 points, he ended up leading the pool after Saturday’s games.  Cooper is followed closely by Michael Wark and Ann Schumaker at 370 points.  Michael is doing well in his other picks – they are in a tie for 4th at 360 points with Mark Walsh, Matt Di Dio, Will Richter and HH (who I guess is going for anonymity based on his/her name in the registry).  Although I will use this as an important point – the registry is my way of being able to praise all of you (as well as to be able to contact you).  It makes things tougher for me if I don’t know who is actually winning…..

Meanwhile, Vivienne has taken the lead in the Upset Pool with 173 points.  Will Richter is in 2nd with 157, followed closely by Cooper Ams and Cooper Bradley with 153.

Good luck to everyone!

What at one point looked like it could be a catastrophic day for the favorites has calmed down.

I am so impressed with what Houston did. They were down 11 points. Sasser has been hurt, and still scored 22 points before foul trouble caused him to miss a good chunk of the second half. Jamal Shead also had to sit for a while with 4 fouls.

So, the Houston bench played some key extra minutes down the stretch, Tramon Mark scored 26 pointe, and the Cougars outscores the Tigers 50-23 to come back and win comfortably.

The final three games saw Big 10 schools trying to pull off an upset. Penn State came back to take a 3 minute lead with about 5 minutes left. But they had no answer for Dylan Disu, who led Texas with 28 points on 14-20 shooting. Texas won by 5, survived and advanced.

UCLA found their double digit lead disappear with about 10 minutes. But Jaime Jaquez Jr scored 24, Tyger Campbell went 12-12 from the line, and the Bruins escaped with a 5 point victory.

So that leaves us with one last game. Alabama was up on Maryland by 5 at halftime – only time will tell if the Big 10 upset bids all fall short.

Next year, if one of the 4 15 seeds is from New Jersey,  I am going to have to seriously consider breaking my rules and taking them.

15 seed Princeton just beat 7 seed Missouri 78-63, in the largest ever victory by a 15 seed (according to TNT).  Ryan Langborg dropped 22 points and Blake Peters came off the bench to score 17 (going 5-8 from three point range).

And for the second year in a row, we have a small New Jersey school that was a 15 seed surprise everyone to become the current lead for Cinderella at the dance.  As the Princeton star said in the post-game interview, “It might be cliche, but anything is possible!!!!”  The Princeton Tigers are still dancing.

Kansas was up 12 points with about 15 minutes to play and looked like they had everything under control.  Over the next 6 minutes, Arkansas chipped the lead completely away and actually took a 52-51 lead off a three-pointer by Jordan Walsh.

The game stayed close until the end.  Kansas’ Jalen Wilson tied the game from the free throw line with 39 seconds left.  Arkansas’ Ricky Council IV got fouled heading to the basket and gave the Razorbacks the lead by hitting his first free throw.  He missed the second one but got his own rebound, and with only 21 seconds left, Kansas had to foul.  This time, Council would hit both free throws to give Arkansas a 3 point lead.

This might be where the Jayhawks missed coach Bill Self.  The play that was called looked like it broke down and finally Wilson managed to draw a foul with 8 seconds.  He hit both free throws to cut the lead to 1, but they lost 13 seconds.  And even with following Arkansas immediately, Council hit both free throws to extend the lead to 3.

Jalen Wilson came fast across half court trying to get a buzzer beater 3, but Anthony Black fouled him trying to draw a charge.  It isn’t clear that this was strategic as much as someone trying to stop Wilson’s progress.  Wilson hit the first free throw to cut the lead to 2.  And then he tried to intentionally miss the free throw for a desperation rebound and put back.  But the ball went perfectly off the backboard and into the basket.  Arkansas quickly inbounded the ball, and Kansas couldn’t get to them in time to stop the clock.  The Razorbacks had a 72-71 victory.

And so a second #1 seed is gone before the first weekend is gone.  And don’t look now, but Auburn is beating Houston by 10 at halftime.   Is this going to be the year that no one picks the champion because of all the upsets?  Everyone’s bracket is busted!!!!

If you can’t beat it, you might as well embrace it.

Don’t look now, but 15 seed Princeton has a 7 point lead at half time over Missouri.  There were points where the New Jersey school from the Ivy League were up by 14, but Missouri scored the last 7 points to cut the lead by half at halftime.

Kansas is also battling Arkansas with the Jayhawks ahead 51-47 with 11 minutes to play.

But what a story it would be if Princeton won.  Just think about this.  St. Peter’s, Princeton and Fairleigh Dickinson would have all been 15 or 16 seeds in the last 2 years, and they would right now be 7-1 if Princeton upsets Missouri……

 

I have to give so much credit to the Tennessee Volunteers.

How many times to see this happen. Top 16 team is playing amazing and looks like they could have a deep run in the NCAA Tournament. Then, one of their star players gets hurt and the season falls apart.

Zakai Zeigler was the Volunteers second leading scorer when he tore is ACL against Arkansas. They then lost at Auburn, they beat Mississippi in the SEC Tournament only to lose to Missouri in the quarterfinals. They then struggle but hang on for a three point victory against Louisiana. Despite being the 4 seed playing a 5 seed, Vegas had them as a 3.5 point underdog figuring the injury would finally finish off Tennessee.

Well, Olivier Nkamhoua went 10-13 from the field to lead the Vols with 27 points, the entire team played stifling defense, and Tennessee is advancing to the Sweet 16 with a 65-52 victory over ACC Tournament Champion Duke. And lets not forget their Sweet 16 opponent will be the winner of Florida Atlantic and FDU.

I was going to say two last thoughts, but honestly, I don’t know that I can promise that.  Just got back from Katie’s rugby game to see San Diego State ran over Furman’s Cinderella run to the Sweet 16.  So, I guess I should be happy that I didn’t miss anything super exciting.

But this fact didn’t occur to me until this morning.  If it wasn’t for the NCAA rules, this might not have ever happened.  This is because Merrimack was the regular season champion of the Northeast conference.  And Merrimack won the NEC conference tournament.  If this had been any other non-power conference, Fairleigh Dickinson would not even be in the tournament.  But Merrimack is in their 4 year transition period to Division I.  And so, the tournament runner up, Fairleigh Dickinson received the NEC auto-bid, and everything after that is history that will live forever for multiple years.  The realization that if Merrimack had been a part of the NCAA for a few more years, Fairleigh Dickinson wouldn’t even exist to have knocked us off kind of makes what happen that much more painful (and should be mentioned a lot more by the media because it adds to the magic of the moment).

Now for the second moment, I remember someone asking me about being worried about some of Virginia’s misery of getting knocked off by a 13 seed this year and of course the historic moment when they were upset by 16 seed UMBC.  And I said, I can understand how painful that moment would be, but I have to say this honestly.  If you told me right now that Purdue was going to repeat in Virginia’s footsteps by losing to a 16 seed this year and then return the following year and win the national championship, I would take that misery in a heartbeat.  I can wait for it – I just want to see it happen once.  And so if getting etched in history as one of the biggest upsets ever needed to happen, I would happily do that so Purdue could eventually raise the trophy.

Well, it appears that the basketball gods have taken me up on that deal.  And I have realized two things.  First, I did not understand how painful that moment would be – it was much worse than I expected.  I was super angry when FDU’s Sean Moore hit that 3 pointer from the top of the key with a minute left to give FDU a 5 point lead.  I could not sleep last night – didn’t fall asleep until 3 in the morning (which has made today with traveling to DC for Katie’s rugby game at 7:30 in the morning extremely rough).  As I watched the games last night, I could get past a reference to remind me of the pain.  I am sure that next year, if my Boilers are lucky enough to get back to the tournament again, I will get to relive that moment over and over again.  Second, I really hope that the basketball gods follow through with the second part of that deal.  I am not sure that it really works that way, but I wasn’t lying.  I would be happy to go through this pain for Purdue to be cutting down the nets while they play One Shining Moment at least once in my lifetime – so hopefully, fate will be kind to me at some point.

Well – some of the biggest benefactors of last night are playing now – since powerhouses Duke and Tennessee are playing for the right to play the winner of Florida Atlantic and Fairleigh Dickinson.  And the teams are tied at 13 through the first 10 minutes so it looks like it will be a great game.  Enjoy the 2nd round of games!!!

And our defending champion, Edward Zhang, has taken the first round lead. Edward managed to get 27 of the 32 games correct to be tied for the lead with Will Campbell.

There is a 7 way tie for 3rd as all these great prognosticators got 26 games right – Gabbi Ams, William Craft, Matt Di Dio, Patty Carini, Rusty Ahles, Matthew Reilly and Cooper Bradley. And the tight leaderboard has 21 more entries just 20 points behind at 250 pts.

In the Upset pool, Will Caldwell is all alone is first place with 135 points. Just 4 points behind is Edward, Matthew Reilly, Cooper Ams and David Caldwell at 131 points. Closely behind is William Craft (128), Gabbi Ams (127) and Brian Betz (126).

On the other side. 71 of us (including the Crazed Lunatic’s Dream picks) have already ripped up our brackets and are patiently waiting for Sunday night for the Second Chance brackets to become available thanks to Purdue, Arizona, Virginia and a few upset picks lost in the first round.

I also apologize in advance to all of you rooting for Alabama. Considering the Lunatic curse brutally ended my fun in the first couple days, those should realize that my sane picks have Alabama, and so you all are probably only on borrowed time. Since I have Texas and Gonzaga as my other Final 4 teams, those supporters probably should have some concern as well.

There are 189 people who are currently stomping the Lunatic. There are the 176 of you who got 22 games or more correct. And there are the more important 13 amazing athletes from Fairleigh Dickinson who have stomped so deeply on the Lunatic’s heart that this was close to being worse then when COVID wiped out the entire tournament.

That being said, you all should be thrilled. It is kind of crazy that there are 63 entries within 40 points of the leaders. Getting 24 of 32 games right is a really strong start and 40 points can be made up in a hurry in the later rounds. It is a wide open contest where many of you still have tons of hope.

But the Lunatic can tell you – hope can be a blessing and a curse. Here are my prayers for all of you that your hope will last much longer than mine did because I know the pain from when that hope is no longer there. I am sure that a weekend of watching Katie play rugby, some excellent 2nd round games and Taylor Swift break-up songs will cheer me up.

March Madness tried to cheer me up. Florida Atlantic’s Nicholas Boyd drove to the lane and made a tough shot at the basket with a couple seconds left to beat Memphis. Although Memphis fans will be angry that the referee didn’t give them a time out before the tie up that gave FAU one more chance.

I guess I can be happy that all those experts picking Memphis to beat my Boilers in the second round were wrong – since Florida Atlantic is going instead. Oh wait, FDU already beat us.

Then, TCU came back from down 11 to take a late lead. Arizona State’s DJ Horne drilled a three pointer from the top of the key with 18 seconds to tie the game at 70. But JaKobe Coles hit a jumper in the lane with a couple seconds to give TCU a 72-70 last second victory.

Last second winners in two of the last four games. I guess that is my consolation prize after not being able to enjoy the largest upset in the tournament for a second straight year.

It is not enough – the Lunatic is still mad at you, March Madness. But I appreciate the effort in trying to bring me back. A couple of buzzer beaters are always a nice way to end the night for a fan who has nothing left to cheer for.

I will congratulate the leaders tomorrow. As much as I am sure that everyone is Stomping the Lunatic, that stomping could not have been worse than what tournament darling Fairleigh Dickinson did.

Looks like I accidentally posted this in the handicapping blog instead of here.  Since I am at a lost for words, I figured I should at least put this in the right blog.

I read this story yesterday and had to laugh. Because one thing is totally relatable and the other thing is so unbelievable that it adds to the humor.

Grand Canyon is coached by Bryce Drew, who has done a great job leading them to a NCAA Tournament. Well, the team boarded their flight to Denver to play Gonzaga tonight excited about a chance to play for the National Championship.

When they got off the plane, all their athletic gear did not make the trip – it was somehow not put on the plane. All the band’s equipment made it to Denver. All the cheerleader’s equipment made it to Denver. But uniforms and shoes for the athletes who would be taking the court – gone.

And they had practice scheduled in two hours. Traveling nightmare – all of us can relate but this is happening to these kids on what should be one of their greatest moments in their life. Getting to be able to play in the NCAA Tournament is every player’s dream, regardless how it ends. Now they might not even be able to practice before their big game.

That’s when the story gets crazier. Hearing about this disaster, Baylor’s head coach decided to help Grand Canyon out – they loaned the team practice jerseys so they could practice while GC staffers rushed to a Nike store to get shoes. But here is the crazy part. Baylor’s head coach is Scott Drew, Bryce’s older brother

So with all this bad luck going on for Bryce Drew, he had the amazing luck that his big brother managed to also coach one of the 68 teams in the tournament and be lucky enough that he was also sent to Denver to play his first round game.

Maybe Grand Canyon shouldn’t find their jerseys – imagine the faces of the Gonzaga players if they took the court and saw their opponents dressed in Baylor’s road jerseys – the team that ended their undefeated season a few years ago. I am sure that Scott would be happy to help his little brother out.