Just a reminder that I will be joining Kevin and Paul on their podcast, Bumper Night, at 8 pm. We will break down the bracket, talk about favorites and Cinderellas in each region, and talk about who we think will make the Final 4!!!!
You should be able to find the podcast on YouTube/Bumper Night Channel. Should be a fun time to get some insights for your picks.
The selection committee has made their decisions, and the 2022 NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament is set. And so that means it is Time to STOMP THE LUNATIC!!!!
The entry form is now available – despite my technical issues. Please remember that you must re-register to enter the 2022 contest – my site does not remember your login from previous years. It is simple to register, and it leads you straight to the page where you can enter your picks.
I have also put out their the rest of the 2022 schedule through all the games including today. And for those of you who don’t want to do that level of work, I have created a cheat sheet link in research. This document goes through each game and puts interesting statistics about how they have played and their schedule side by side so you can compare them.
Whether you do research or simply pick your teams, make sure you join us for the fun. It is time to STOMP THE LUNATIC!!!!
Well – it wasn’t meant to be. Iowa ruined my hopes for some type of Big 10 title, as they just played better basketball today. Purdue turned the ball over too many times and ended up playing catch-up most of the game. Congratulations to the Hawkeyes.
So at that point, I have my final bracketology. Because I was watching the game, I didn’t put teams into regions – I might go back and do that based on the bracketing rules. But with it being so close to before the bracket gets released, I didn’t want to get caught up with that task.
I believe that the top seeds will be Gonzaga, Arizona, Kansas and Baylor. As for the bubble, I think the bubble breakdown in
Final 4 At-Large before Play-ins: Texas A&M, Marquette, Seton Hall, Davidson
Final 4 At-Large Teams: Indiana, Notre Dame, Oklahoma, Miami FL
First 4 Out: SMU, Rutgers, Wake Forest and Dayton
Next 4 Out: Xavier, Florida, Wyoming, BYU
Here is the bracket broken up by the Lunatic’s S-curve – I am sure the committee probably will disagree with me. But so exciting – the Selection Show is in 6 minutes!!!!!!!!
| 1) Gonzaga (WCC) | 2) Arizona (Pac 12) | 3) Kansas (Big 12) | 4) Baylor (AL 1) |
| 5) Auburn (AL 2) | 6) Kentucky (AL 3) | 7) Villanova (Big East) | 8) Tennessee (SEC) |
| 9) Duke (AL 4) | 10) Purdue (AL 14) | 11) UCLA (AL 5) | 12) Texas Tech (AL 6) |
| 13) Wisconsin (AL 7) | 14) Arkansas (AL 8) | 15) Illinois (AL 9) | 16) Houston (American) |
| 17) St. Mary’s (AL 10) | 18) Providence (AL 11) | 19) Connecticut (AL 12) | 20 Iowa (Big 10) |
| 21) Texas (AL 13) | 22) Murray St (OVC) | 23) USC (AL 15) | 24) North Carolina (AL 16) |
| 25) Boise St (Mt West) | 26) Alabama (AL 17) | 27) Colorado St (AL 18) | 28) Ohio St (AL 19) |
| 29) LSU (AL 20) | 30) TCU (AL 21) | 31) Memphis (AL 22) | 32) Creighton (AL 23) |
| 33) Iowa St (AL 24) | 34) Michigan St (AL 25) | 35) Virginia Tech (ACC) | 36) Loyola IL (MVC) |
| 37) Michigan (AL 26) | 38) San Diego St (AL 27) | 39) San Francisco (AL 28) | 40) Texas A&M (AL 29) |
| 41) Marquette (AL 30) | 42) Seton Hall (AL 31) | 43) Davidson (AL 32) | 44) Indiana (AL 33) / Notre Dame (AL 34) |
| 45) Oklahoma (AL 35) / Miami FL (AL 36) | 46) UAB (Conf USA) | 47) Chattanooga (Southern) | 48) New Mexico St (WAC) |
| 49) Vermont (Am East) | 50) South Dakota St (Summit) | 51) Richmond (Atl 10) | 52) Akron (MAC) |
| 53) Colgate (Patriot) | 54) St Peter’s (MAAC) | 55) Montana St (Big Sky) | 56) Jacksonville St (Atl Sun) |
| 57) Longwood (Big South) | 58) Delaware (Colonial) | 59) Yale (Ivy) | 60) CSU Fullerton (Big West) |
| 61) Norfolk St (MEAC) | 62) Georgia St (Sun Belt) | 63) Wright St (Horizon) / Texas Southern (SWAC) | 64) Bryant (NEC) / Texas A&M – CC (Southland) |
Can’t blog long because I have the bracketology to finish. But Richmond as the 6 seed of the Atlantic 10 has just upset regular season champion Davidson 64-62. It was a great game where the Spiders found themselves down 60-54 with just 1 1/2 minutes to play. But they kept fighting back, and somehow took the lead on a layup and foul from Matt Grace. The Spiders played great defense to get the ball with 2 seconds left. And after hitting a free throw, they survived one last three pointer from the corner by Davidson.
Congratulations to the Richmond Spiders for making the NCAA Tournament. But now Davidson falls onto the bubble – which likely knocks someone else out of the tournament.
Don’t know how I am going to finish my bracketology and watch the Purdue / Iowa game. Oh well – that is the typical problem for the Lunatic on Selection Sunday afternoon.
And so much drama to go with just 5 games left.
We have a true bid-stealer alert in the Atlantic 10. Whether you believe regular season champ Davidson is in no matter what, Richmond certainly is not in the bubble conversation. But one more Spiders’ upset will shrink the bubble by one to make room for Richmond.
If you believe ESPN’s Joe Lunardi, we have another bid stealing situation in the SEC – where he says that right now Texas A&M is the last team in but they would drop out with a loss. I don’t think I agree but it will be interesting to see his final bracket and if he sticks with that statement. This game is interesting also because I think Tennessee can make a case for a 2 seed with a win.
The American has bubble team Memphis playing against Houston – I think the Tigers are one of the safer bubble teams but why take the chance.
Can’t leave out the Ivy with Princeton and Yale playing for a bid. And of course, my Boilers might also still be in the 2 seed conversation if they can win the Big 10 tournament against Iowa.
There are lots of interesting bubble profiles. What do you do with non-power conferences that played great like the Mt West and West Coast Conference? What do you do with teams like Notre Dame who finished tied for 2nd in the ACC but somehow didn’t beat hardly any of the best ACC teams? What about a team like Xavier who has 5 Quad 1 wins and went 16-5 to start the season and then lose 8 of their last 10? Where do you seed teams peaking in the conference tournament like VT, Texas A&M, Indiana and Oklahoma? And how so you have a team with 6 Quad 1 wins like Rutgers end up with a NET ranking of 78?
So many interesting questions for the committee to answer – and we will get those answers in just under 7 hours!!!! Enjoy Selection Sunday!!!!!
Well – Purdue may have just had the weirdest situation of playing great, winning their game, and getting passed in the seed list anyways.
Eric Hunter Jr hit some big three pointer for Purdue, helping them advance to the Big 10 final with a 75-70 victory over Michigan State.
However, as I was celebrating that Purdue was going to play in the championship tomorrow, the Tennessee Volunteers beat Kentucky in the SEC semi-finals 69-62. Both Tennessee and Purdue were tied for 9th in the AP poll, but beating Kentucky is clearly a more impressive victory than Michigan State. Both great wins, but Kentucky still had a chance to be a 1 seed. Not any more.
Meanwhile, completely overshadowed by the Big 10 and SEC, Richmond continued its attempt to destroy any bubble teams in the Atlantic 10. The Spiders came back from being down 13 to beat Dayton 68-64. If Richmond can beat Davidson tomorrow, the Spiders will shrink the bubble by stealing the Atlantic 10 bid.
It is fun seeing Richmond do well – and obviously I am happy the Boilers won. If I can get the bracketology close to finished tonight, that will make it a truly awesome day for the Lunatic
Texas A&M had to fight Florida on Thursday in OT to keep going. Then, they shocked the country by beating Auburn Friday in the quarterfinals. And now, the Aggies will be playing in the SEC championship with an incredible 82-64 victory over Arkansas. This should have moved Texas A&M into the field.
Also credit goes out to the Indiana Hoosiers – but their run to taking the decision out of the committee’s hands ended in heartbreaking fashion.
The Hoosiers jumped out to a quick lead to start the game, but Iowa had fought back and took a late lead thanks to three-pointers by Jordan Bohannon. So, the Hoosiers find themselves down 2 with 40 seconds left. Then, Trey Galloway steals the ball and passes it ahead to Xavier Johnson who lays it in to tie the game. They play amazing defense for 25 seconds to the point that Iowa’s Bohannon ends up with the ball at the half court circle. Witb no time left, Bohannon takes a step up and forces up a prayer that gets answered as it banks off the backboard into the basket.
This just in – laughing because on the ESPN postgame show – Lunardi from ESPN says that Virginia Tech and Texas A&M are still in the First Four out – that is ridiculous. Watch it will change tomorrow and he will somehow be magically right. It is so silly – don’t worry Aggies’ fans, the Lunatic thinks you are dancing! Anyone who has watched you play this week knows you are a legit tourney team.
Also have to give
The schedules link is updated through all of Friday’s games.
A note of potential mismatch – I noticed that in my QC check that all the records are correct – but 5 teams have neutral court records that are different (which is weird since they matched yesterday).
The discrepancies are because of the Mountain West and Big East tournaments. The Mountain West tournament is played at the Thomas and Mack Center (UNLV’s home court) and the Big East tournament is played at Madison Square Garden (considered one of St. John’s home courts).
Well, in the recent update of the NET, it looks like it has changed UNLV’s game against Wyoming, and St. John’s games against DePaul and Villanova to Neutral court games.
I could spend some time to try to fix something that I think is not right – sure it is a conference tournament but it was still a home game for UNLV and St. John’s, I would just leave the data alone and let you change it if you want.
I might look at it again later – but I would rather do my bracket analysis while I watch the Big Ten tourney games (by the way, Indiana and Texas A&M are both up at halftime trying to make another upset). So the data is there and on to bracketology!!!!
For today’s viewing guide, it is this simple. If you can not find a good college basketball game on the television today, it is because you haven’t turned the TV on.
There are 25 games today. 15 of those games, starting off as we speak in Vermont, the winner will have earned their place in the NCAA Tournament. Today’s winner will be rewarded well for their efforts of a long championship week.
At 1 pm, we get to see if Texas A&M and Indiana can continue their desperate runs to the party. The Aggies will have to get through 15th ranked Arkansas, while the Hoosiers have to upset 24th ranked Iowa. Or you could tune in to the Atlantic 10 semi-final as St. Louis (now up to 60th in the NET rankings) can knock off regular season champion Davidson (43rd in the NET rankings)
At 3 pm, we get to see a battle at the top of the rankings. The second SEC semi-final gets to have 5th ranked Kentucky try to show they deserve a top seed in a huge battle against 9th ranked Tennessee
30 minutes later, my Boilermakers play against Michigan State. The Spartans are probably in the tournament, but getting to the Big 10 final will make their Sunday a lot more comfortable. At the same time, the Atlantic 10 has bid-stealer Richmond (who knocked off VCU yesterday) playing against Dayton (who at 54th in the NET rankings is trying to stay in the bubble conversation). Wouldn’t it be fun to watch Dayton just make it into the field and have to play on their home court in a First Four game!!!
5 pm has the final semi-final of the day – and it is a big one for the Bubble – as SMU (42nd in NET) plays against Memphis (31st in NET) in the other American conference semi-final.
And then the finals begin!
6 pm sees the Big 12 championship with #6 Kansas playing against #14 Texas Tech. I would not be surprised if the Jayhawks are a #1 seed if they win this game. If you would rather see two bubble teams play, check out the Mountain West final as Boise State battles San Diego State. Both teams have NET rankings that would traditionally get a power conference team into the tournament – but the Mountain West has been burned in the past.
6:30 pm is the Big East championship – where #8 Villanova tries to end Creighton’s run to try to take the decision out of the committee’s hands. Creighton’s Big East tourney run has moved them up from 66th to 55th in the NET rankings, but they will be a lot more comfortable if they can win tonight.
At 8:30 pm, the ACC and Conference USA tip-off. In the ACC, we have a similar story to Creighton – where Virginia Tech has made their case for a bubble at-large bid, but one more victory against 7th ranked Duke. Could the Hokies ruin Coach K’s final ACC tournament with an upset. Meanwhile, UAB (49th in the NET rankings) plays against Louisiana Tech in Conference USA. Their game is more dire, as non-power conference teams near 50 don’t always land on the right side of the bubble.
And at 9 pm, the Pac 12 has two locks playing for pride and seeding – as 2nd ranked Arizona goes against 13th ranked UCLA. And if that doesn’t do it for your basketball viewing, the Southland (Texas A&M – Corpus Christi vs SE Louisiana) and the WAC (Abilene Christian vs New Mexico State) will be in the second half of their finals. Or you could stay up super late and watch the Big West championship tip-off at 11:30 pm between CSU Fullerton and Long Beach State.
So there you have it – a little bit of bubble drama to wrap up, mid-major regular season champs fighting to protect their ticket to the dance, and even game with two top 10 teams playing each other. Championship Saturday has it all – all you need to do is turn on the television.
Enjoy the games!!!
Indiana started the day off by beating Big 10 regular season co-champs Illinois. Shortly after that, fellow bubble team Texas A&M took out #4th ranked Auburn in the SEC. In the Big East, #11th Providence got blown out of the water by Creighton 85-58.
Smaller conferences felt the upsets harder. Conf USA regular season champ North Texas lost in an ugly game to Louisiana Tech 42-36. MAC regular season champ Toledo lost by 8 to Akron. Unlike Illinois and Auburn, those losses likely mean North Texas and Toledo are heading to the NIT. North Texas possibly might make it on the bubble, but I don’t see the committee letting them in after only scoring 36 on Louisiana Tech.
And just now Michigan State upset the other Big 10 regular season co-champ Wisconsin 69-63. Hearing the announcer say that this was the 4th straight upset based on seed (technically Iowa was the 5 seed as they beat 4 seed Rutgers) made me very nervous as my Boilers prepare next to play against 11 seed Penn State.
Looks like Duke is going to survive a scare against Miami FL, and Kentucky appears to be in a battle in the first half against Vanderbilt. And not all the best teams are losing – Kansas just beat a really tough TCU team by 13. But still, Friday has been both a good and bad day for the bubble.
It has been great because bubble teams are winning their games and making their conference semi-finals and finals. But it is bad because with so many bubble teams winning and potentially even stealing an auto-bid (Creighton might already be in – but one more win ensures it), the teams that did not take advantage in the last few days might see themselves on the wrong side of the bubble Sunday evening.
Well – my Boilers about to play – hope they do well tonight.
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
