Stomp The Lunatic

The Red Raiders missed 10 of their last 11 shots from the field. But Texas Tech kept managing to get defensive stops against Notre Dame and then would get to the free throw line on offense. With 5 minutes left, they were losing by 1 point.

And yet, despite not scoring from the field, they scored 10 points from the line. With the Irish trying desperately to score down 5, they missed multiple shots, Texas Tech blocks the last shot, taps out the rebound, and passes it up to Kevin McCullar for a celebratory and game-ending dunk. The Red Raiders would win 59-53 and advance.

It was certainly not pretty. The game was extremely physical. I do think it was poorly officiated, but at a certain point, both teams were banging each other around because it wasn’t getting called.

Wisconsin’s point guard Chucky Hepburn injured his ankle in the first half and never returned, eventually showing up on the bench with a walking boot and crutches. And Wisconsin clearly looked lost the rest of the game.

Tonight, Iowa State’s hero was Gabe Kalscheur. He scored 22 of the Cyclones’ 54 points. As Iowa State stretched their lead in the second half, he made a couple nice drives into the lane and drained the jumper. But his biggest plays might have gone lost in the stats sheet, as he batted a couple of offensive rebounds back to his teammates allowing Iowa State to take another 20 seconds off the clock.

I would have to say that Iowa State’s TJ Otzelberger has to be considered the Coach of the Year. This is his first season at Iowa State, and he has taken a program that won 2 games before he showed up to the Sweet 16. I don’t know if this has ever happened or not, but it is just incredible the job he has done.

I have to say that I am horribly nervous. Watching the Big 10 go 0-4 today is not giving me great feelings with my Boilers getting ready to play Texas. The two regular season Big 10 champs, Illinois and Wisconsin, just scored 53 and 48 points in their Sweet 16 games. I sure hope that Purdue can win this game – I really want to see them playing next week.

There is definitely other exciting games going on. Texas Tech is down 1 to the 11 seed Irish. Auburn is down 1 to the 10 seed Hurricanes. But the Lunatic’s attention will be in Milwaukee, hoping above hope that the Boilers can head to the Sweet 16.

But I digress! This post should be all about the amazing Iowa State Cyclones!!!! I know that some of my family is from Ames, Iowa and has always been huge supporters of Iowa State – so I am thrilled that the Cyclones will be heading to my old home of Chicago to the Midwest Region Sweet 16. Go Cyclones!!!!!!

With about 6 minutes left, Michigan State tied the game at 65. And I thought to myself, is this going to be where it all ends – are they going to get tight like they did in the ACC.

And it sure looked like it might be that ending. Michigan State continued to push. The Spartans scored the next 5 points to lead 70-65.

But Duke turned it up a notch on both sides of the court. The Blue Devils would go on to outscore Michigan State 20-6 to finish the game. Trevor Keels and Jeremy Roach hit three pointers. Paolo Banchero and Mark Williams blocked tough drives to the basket by the Spartans. Wendell Moore stole the ball at half court leading to two free throws. And Duke made their free throws to finish off Michigan State.

And that win was Coach K’s 1,200th career win and 99th career NCAA Tournament win (both of those totals are the most all-time in college hoops). And for one last time, Coach K will be taking his Blue Devils to the Sweet 16.

Just an administrative note – I think I finally have caught up the website to mark off all the payments that I have received up to date. If you login next week and notice the site say in error that you have paid $0, please let me know.

Houston jumped out to an early lead on Illinois and never looked back on their way to the Sweet 16.

Villanova is joining Providence in trying to make a statement. The Lunatic said that he felt the Big East might be a step slower than some of the other conferences. I am not sure that I have been totally wrong. UConn was upset by 12 seed New Mexico State, and Marquette and Seton Hall both loss in their 8/9 matchups by double digits.

But the Big East is showing some life. Providence completely destroyed Richmond yesterday to make the Sweet 16, Creighton gave Kansas a fight before yielding to the Jayhawks, and right now Villanova has come out to lead Ohio State by 11 at halftime.

I am not sure yet what to think. It does remind me that conferences don’t win championships, teams do. It is sometimes easier to evaluate by looking at the whole conference, but the top 2 teams in the Big East are showing they are a step above the rest of their conference.

We’ll see what the 2nd half brings – not sure the Buckeyes can catch up in this one, but you never know what can happen in March.

At one point early in the second half, Memphis was up 12 points against the Selection Committee’s #1 team. But Gonzaga can score in bunches in a hurry.

Drew Timme led the comeback as he scored 25 points to lead all scorers. But the game was still tied with about 6 minutes to play. Then, Chet Holmgren dunked the ball off a nice pass from Timme. Then, Timme found Andrew Nembhard open for a three-pointer, and Gonzaga never looked back. Rasir Bolton made a layup and Nembhard added another three-pointer to extend the lead to 7 with a little more than 2 minutes to play. Memphis fought hard to stay in the game, multiple times cutting the lead to 2 or 3 points, but Gonzaga kept hitting their free throws to eventually win 82-78.

So, Gonzaga survived and advanced – heading to another Sweet 16.

At the end of Saturday night, Jack Richter has taken the lead with 390 points. Mike Mullins and Rob Nesbitt are in a tie for second just 10 points back and Ann Hawkins is all alone in 4th at 370 points. The Lunatic is still hanging around the top of the leaderboard – as he is in the tie for 5th at 360 with Tanmay Gautam, Jpeabody, and Rob Nesbitt.

In the Upset pool, Ann Hawkins has taken the lead at 200 pts. Jpeabody is just 3 points behind, followed by Jack Richter (187), the Crazed Lunatic (179), Mike Mullins (178) and Rob Nesbitt (178).

We should have some great games on Sunday as 8 more teams will earn their place in the Sweet 16 – good luck with your picks and enjoy the games.

It was clear Arkansas had one key gameplan. Make someone other than Teddy Allen beat them. Teddy Allen scored 37 points in New Mexico State’s win against Connecticut. Today, Allen only got 12 points as he was hounded all night by the Arkansas’ defense.

Arkansas struggled to score themselves – JD Notae led the way for the Razorbacks with 18 points, and they managed to hit their free throws at the end of the game to win 53-48 and end the Aggies attempt to join St Peter’s and Michigan as double digit seeds advancing to the Sweet 16.

On Thursday, 15th seeded St. Peter’s had won their first ever NCAA men’s tournament game in school history when they shocked the world and beat 2nd seeded Kentucky.

Tonight, St. Peter’s never trailed against 7th seeded Murray State to make it to their first ever Sweet 16. KC Ndefo led the way for the Peacocks with 17 points and 9 rebounds to keep them ahead most of the night. Murray State tried to fight back in the second half. They managed to close the lead to 2 points with just 4 minutes to play off a three pointer by Justice Hill.

But tonight belonged to the Peacocks. Doug Edert would hit a three pointer and a layup to extend the lead back to 7. And Murray State had no answer. The Peacocks hit their free throws and ended the Racers 21 game winning streak.

The Peacocks will be strutting their way from Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis all the way to the East Regional Sweet 16 in Philadelphia. Cinderella said hell with this losing a glass slipper at midnight. They just kicked both slippers off, threw on a new pair of dance shoes and have decided to stick around at the dance.

Tennessee looked like they had finally got the game under control with a 60-54 lead with a little over 8 minutes to play.

But the Wolverines finished the game with outstanding defense, outscoring the Vols 22-8 to end the game. Eli Brooks made a couple great drives to the basket to help lead the Wolverines to a 4 point lead with a couple minutes to play, and then Michigan would stop the Vols on one side of the court and hit their free throws on the other side.

Michigan at 17-14 had the worst record of any team in the Field of 68. Many said the Big 10 shouldn’t have been rewarded with so many bids. The Wolverines have silenced all the critics – they just knocked off a Tennessee team many thought could win the national championship.

Congratulations to the Wolverines, who are the first double digit seed to make it to the Sweet 16 this year!