It is a tradition on Wednesday night before the Sweet 16 – this always feels like the right way to remind everyone about their second chance. Everyone deserves a second chance – don’t miss out.
Here are the top 10 reasons to enter the 2022 Second Chance Pool!!!!
You no longer have a Final Four team left in your real bracket after you went with all SEC teams by picking Kentucky, Auburn, Tennessee and Alabama, and cried as they all lost to double digit seeds.
You want another chance to say that you had a perfect bracket after your billion dollar picks were ruined in the first game when Michigan upset Colorado State.
Because with less games, you can pick your winners, fill in boxes with school colors of the winners, and post it on Facebook so that people think it is a new variation on Wordle.
Your son who picked only favorites and your daughter who picked teams randomly and quickly just so that you would stop bothering her are both beating you in the pool and you want another chance to redeem yourself
Because there is not a pool that allows you to pick who gets eliminated each week from Masked Singer.
You have regretted not picking Coach K to win one last championship before retiring, and with the chance that you could have it happen after one last match-up in the Final Four with North Carolina, you need this opportunity to fix that mistake.
You have always wanted to pick a 15 seed to make it to the Elite 8 – and since you know it will break the Lunatic’s heart if it happens, this might be your best chance to be right. Not to mention it is lots of fun to scream “Go Peacocks!!!” at your TV!
You want to pick Miami to win the championship, so you can tell everyone that you correctly picked a 10 seed to win it all, and walk away singing “In the eye of a hurricane, there is quiet – for just a moment, yellow sky. When I was 17 a hurricane destroyed my town, I didn’t drown. I couldn’t seem to die.”
It is another – and more importantly, last chance in 2022 to STOMP THE LUNATIC!
It’s absolutely FREE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
That’s right – it is 100% free. You have already paid to play in the second chance pool through your original entry fee. It takes just a minute to click the login link at the top of the site to login, click the second chance entry form, pick the 15 games and submit your entry for another chance to win money. And with this reminder, there is no reason to not take your second chance. Do not throw away your shot – at STOMPING THE LUNATIC!!!! You have less than 20 hours to enter your second chance picks.
So, I have a couple problems with these picks. Unlike normal situations, my picks are doing great – but they are also completely dependent on Purdue winning. It makes me uncomfortable for lots of reasons. But that is part of the ride. I always try to pick my Boilers, because I know that sometimes the most effective way of winning the pool is simply being a fan of the school that wins. The Lunatic would never forgive himself if the Boilers won the National Championship, and didn’t pick them.
But the second chance picks are designed to give you a second chance – picking Purdue would basically continue to ride my current picks. And then I will have nothing to root for if my Boilers get beat. And amazing as the 16 remaining teams are, 15 of them are going to get beat But if you don’t pick them all the way, how far do you take them. So many hard decisions.
So, I am going to go with history. There is a post that tends to always happen every year. In the first two rounds, the tournament is always about Cinderella. It is fun to watch teams like St. Peter’s, New Mexico State, Richmond and Iowa State upset a team or two. But at this point in the tournament, it is about teams that won championships that continue. It is hard to win 6 games in a row – typically, the teams that pull that off are ones that won their regular season championship or made a run and won in the pressure of the conference tournament. It also always seems to be a power conference that comes out on top. There are a couple places where I don’t have that luxury – and so I will use it to support teams from my family.
In the West, Gonzaga is the #1 team in the country, so they will continue moving on against Arkansas. Duke is the ACC Regular Season Champion, and something odd happened. They are no longer the favorite. Vegas odds actually list Texas Tech as the favorite. Does giving the Blue Devils a chip on their shoulder change the dynamic. I don’t know – but they are the team who won a championship, and so they beat Texas Tech. Then, I will go with the regular season again. Duke beat Gonzaga – they do it again to reach the Final Four.
In the East, there are no regular season champs or conference tournament champions – well except for St. Peter’s, which would be insane. Purdue takes care of Cinderella – as with the Texas game, I suspect that Zach Edey and Trevion Williams will be too tough to handle inside, and if they put all their attention there, Jaden Ivey destroys them. Between UCLA and UNC, UCLA is probably the better team. But UCLA without Jaime Jaquez Jr – who injured his ankle in the win against St. Mary’s – is not. I have to assume that even if he plays, he is not going to be at his best. I will pick the team I want to see win – which is obviously North Carolina. Who wouldn’t want to see this final anyways – you have two teams in the Boilers and Tar Heels who can go on 20 point runs and then watch as their opponent completely comes back. I will go with my Boilers in this fun game of runs (it also goes along with the strategy of when in doubt, pick the team that is more likely to make it to the game).
In the South, the Pac 12 champs of Arizona play the American champs of Houston. Both teams have multiple weapons, but I still have the image of Bennedict Mathurin scoring almost at will against a really good defensive team in TCU just to watch the one time he missed end up with Christian Koloko coming in an slamming home the rebound. Not to mention, the champions selection tends to always go to the power conference school. Then, you have Villanova – who just came off beating Ohio State – beating Michigan. Villanova totally controlled the game against the Buckeyes. Based on conference standings, the Buckeyes were better than the Wolverines. Transitive theory and champions theory says take the Big East tourney champs. In the final, we will take Arizona since I think that they have more talent (and they won both their regular season and tournament championship). While I technically feel that Villanova did as well in the Big East, due to some games getting cancelled for Providence, the Fryars at 14-3 were the regular season champions compared to Villanova at 16-4.
In the Midwest, Kansas is the Big 12 regular season co-champ and the tournament champ. As mentioned above, technically Providence is the regular season Big East champ. But lets remember that Kansas just beat the Creighton team that crushed Providence by 28 points in the Big East tourney. While it is clear that game was a little bit of a fluke, you still have to figure the Jayhawks will win this game. In the other game, you have two double digit teams in Miami and Iowa State. Miami is the better offensive team, and Iowa State is the better defensive team. For this one, I have to go root for the team many of my family will. I think I might still have relatives on my dad’s side living in Ames – so I will go with Iowa State. In the final, Kansas beat the Cyclones twice in the regular season, so I have to expect that they will win the third game as well.
In the Final Four, Duke has the conference championship – so they sadly beat my Boilermakers. I feel the Big 12 might be playing the best basketball in the tournament, and I think Kansas’ road against Providence and Iowa State is easier than Arizona’s road against Houston and Villanova, so I will take the Jayhawks over the Wildcats. And then, under the same theory of easiest path to be in the game, Kansas will beat Duke to win the championship.
For those who don’t want to have to read through my ramblings, the full picks are below:
Gonzaga
Duke
Duke
UNC
Purdue
Purdue
Duke
Kansas
Arizona
Kansas
Villanova
Arizona
Kansas
Kansas
Iowa State
I will be happy for all of these picks but 2 obvious ones to be wrong. I will give up all my picks if it would mean Purdue wins the championship. And then, Taylor’s voice starts to ring in my head again – This hope is treacherous. This daydream is dangerous. This hope is treacherous. I-I-I LIKE IT!!!!
I could rant about how the Selection Committee did (to be fair, they did a good job as always). I could make my picks for the Sweet 16. I could rant more about how the referees stole the game from TCU by sitting on their whistles. So many analyses to do, and yet, after going to work, going to Charlie’s JV soccer game, getting and eating dinner, and debating over my blog topic, it is already 10:30 pm on a day the Lunatic could actually get some rest.
Even the Lunatic can do sleep deprivation for a short amount of time before he falls to the basic human need. I will try to catch up tomorrow – get myself into a second wind before the Sweet 16. Not that tomorrow is less busy – Katie has rugby practice so the schedule is about the same. But there is only so much time before the Sweet 16.
Here’s hoping one good night of sleep will reinvigorate the Lunatic!!!! Because there is so much to discuss and so little time
Unlike my picks, some things don’t change – that of course is my bracketology and handicapping.
My bracketology only got 66 of 68 teams right – and while it is some comfort that the two teams I missed on both lost in the playin game – Wyoming and Rutgers, which means that my teams (Texas A&M and Oklahoma) couldn’t have done worse, my main purpose of guessing what the committee will do failed miserably.
I would have scored 321 points on the method used by the Bracket Matrix site, which would have put me in almost dead last. Once again, I do decent in the front of the bracket and the end of the bracket, and do horribly at seeding the middle. Oh well – at least the CBS bracketologist did almost as bad as I did at 326 points. Guess it still proves my point that I can do close to as good as someone paying attention all year. But one of these years, I want to get the seeding right. I will have to remember that they don’t tend to weigh the conference tournament as much as I think they should.
While there is still 30 more bets to make on my handicapping page, I am down $31 imaginary dollars. I am sure that the Lunatic Casino might be willing to make me even by comping me an imaginary dinner at the buffet. Once again, I am doing awesome on the totals, 50/50 on the spreads, and losing most of my locks.
As some of my colleagues know, I love to sing. We could debate about my taste in music. We could debate about my talent – I like to think I am not bad, but I probably sound better after everyone has had a few drinks at a karaoke bar.
I have to tell you how nervous I have been this year. I am sure most of us look at the standings, especially if we are doing well. But I have a unique reason – when I enter the winners into the database, I go to the standings to make sure it is updating correctly. There are normally a few names of past winners that catch my eye, but it is somewhat rare for me to see my own name up there. I guess even the Lunatic gets lucky from time to time.
So you can imagine how giddy I was when at one point that I saw myself in 2nd – as Jack Richter was the only one ahead of me. I tried not to think about it – don’t open up my heart to get broken. But I could feel the hope starting to come.
Then, we all know I would like my Boilers to make the Final Four. So, as Kentucky and Baylor lost and the East Region starts to break down, I get even more hope growing in me. You can imagine how insane I was as Purdue would stretch their lead to double digits against Texas, and then let them come all the way back. I know the heartbreak is likely coming – at the end of the day only 1 of the 16 teams will be truly happy.
But with all this hope growing, this one song has gotten stuck in my head. The artist I probably listen to the most is Taylor Swift – and so just imagine a 48 year old middle aged man singing a Taylor Swift song at the top of his lungs. I am sure Taylor had other things in mind – but the lyrics can be strangely stretched into how I feel.
I can’t decide if it’s a choice
Getting swept away
I hear the sound of my own voice
Asking you to stay
And all we are is skin and bone
Trained to get along
Forever going with the flow
But you’re friction
This slope is treacherous
This path is reckless
This slope is treacherous
I, I, I like it
Two headlights shine through the sleepless night
And I will get you and get you alone
Your name has echoed through my mind
And I just think you should, think you should know
After a late and crazy night of college basketball, a crazier thing happened.
There are only 5 people who are beating the Lunatic!!! I must be in a permanent daydream, one that I hope continues to go for two more weeks!!!
But. the Lunatic isn’t the only one who has done great with picking the winners!!!
A huge congratulations goes to Ann Hawkins – because of her great picks, she is currently winning both the Standard Pool at 490 points, and the Upset Pool at 242 points!!!! She also impressively has her final 4 of Duke, Purdue, Villanova and Kansas still playing in the Sweet 16.
She is followed closely in the Standard Pool by Mike Mullins and Rob Nesbitt at 480 points. TJ Acuto and Jimmy Lee are tied for 4th at 470 points. And Harrison Morton, Edward Zhang, Gregg Farber, Scott Grimes, Tanmay Gautam, and Rob Nesbitt join the Lunatic in the tie for 6th just 30 points back.
In the Upset Pool, Ann is followed by Christy Lindvall (just 5 points back), the Crazed Lunatic (19 points back), Gregg Farber (29 points back). Jack Richter and John Howarth finish off the top 5, as they are tied at 209 (33 points back).
If you were like some of us, who had Baylor, Kentucky, Tennessee and Auburn, don’t worry. The second chance pool is here. Just use the login link and it will take you to the second chance entry form. Everyone should get a second chance!!!!
Good luck to everyone next week!!!! And enjoy the Sweet 16!!!!
Ben Mathurin continued leading the Wildcats – including a huge rebound and basket around the one minute mark to take a 3 point lead. TCU had a open three pointer to tie with about 40 seconds, but it was short.
And then I know it is the conventional strategy but I don’t like it. TCU decided to play defense instead of fouling. Arizona took the shot clock down, and Mathurin missed the 3, but Christian Koloko came flying down the lane to grab the rebound and slam it home.
Arizona now had a 5 point lead with 10 seconds left. TCU missed two three-pointers, but it didn’t matter. Time ran out and Arizona wins by 5.
Time for the Lunatic to go to bed!!! We’ll figure out the standings tomorrow! But if this weekend didn’t go well for your picks, the second chance pool is ready to go. Log back in and get another chance to pick the Final Four teams!!!!
I will make sure to get the second chance entry form ready once this game ends but I might have to save my emails and congratulations to the leaders for sometime tomorrow – I simply can’t blog past 1 am into the night.
However, Arizona and TCU are playing a thriller. Bennedict Mathurin made a dunk with about one minute left to cut TCU’s lead to one. TCU’s Damion Baugh missed a jumper off a drive but Eddie Lampkin got the offensive rebound and laid it in to send the lead back to 3. Then, TCU played great defense, but Arizona got the ball to Mathurin with time running out on the shot clock and hit a three pointer to tie the game.
TCU had a chance for the last shot when a fascinating sequence happened. Mike Miles got trapped near half court, and as he tried to get out of trouble and make a drive to the basket, he looks like he gets fouled, falls to the ground, and loses the ball at half court.
Dalen Terry picks up the ball and drives uncontested to the lane. And as he goes up to dunk the ball, the clock hits 0 with the ball still in his hands. Looks like the clock decided – you don’t get to win by fouling and taking the ball. You have to earn it over 5 more minutes. Here we go late into the night.
Trevion Williams scored 22 points leading the Boilers through the night. But Texas just wouldn’t go away, making the Lunatic horrendously nervous. Texas had cut the lead to three points.
And then with about a minute to play, Purdue’s star guard took the ball off the inbounds, dribbled to the center of the court, made a great cross-over dribble to create a little space and drained a three-pointer to give Purdue a 6 point lead. Purdue would hit their free throws from there to win 81-71 and advance to the Sweet 16.
The Lunatic is so happy. The Boilers are in the Sweet 16. Boiler Up!!!!!
The Hurricanes are heading to the Sweet 16. I believe they led from start to finish. But they finished with a 79-61 victory over 2nd seeded Auburn. No one believed in the ACC, but they certainly have played well in the tournament.
With the Miami victory, we are guaranteed to have a double digit seed invading the Elite 8, as the 10th seeded Miami Fl Hurricanes will play the 11th seeded Iowa State Cyclones. One way or another, there’s a storm heading to Chicago and the Midwest Region Finals
The Crazed Lunatic is a crazy college basketball fan, especially for his Purdue Boilermakers!!!! Boiler Up!!!!
Every March, his passion comes out to rant and rave about one of the best sporting events in the world, the NCAA Basketball Tournament. While many of you will Stomp the Lunatic with your picks in our fun bracket picking game, this will not diminish the Lunatic’s crazed attempt at blogging about the tournament that he loves. Whether it will be trying to predict who will be in the tournament during Championship Week or his insane attempt to handicap all 67 games against the Vegas spreads, you can count on the Lunatic’s sleep-deprived rantings throughout the month of March.
If you notice any problems with the website or have any questions about the Stomp the Lunatic contest, please reach out by email at thomas@tehodgson.com
