This is your opportunity to put your own thoughts on the tournament
onto the site. Whether it be comments on the games, telling the world
who you think will win, or simply wanting to have fun – this is your
chance to be heard!!!!
My only rule is that you keep things clean – we have families who
come to the site. I reserve the right to remove any inappropriate
comments.
All you have to do is reply using the form at the bottom of the page!!!!
Since it is Valentine’s Day, I figured I should start something that I love. Over the next couple of weeks, I will be working on getting the site up and running for this year’s tournament. If you see weird things, such as the ability to make your picks even though the committee won’t announce the tournament field for another 4 weeks, please do not register. I will be testing the site with fake information to make sure all the pages are pointing to the right databases and files.
In the meantime, enjoy going to the past standings.
With the Kansas Jayhawk winning, Edward Zhang also came from behind – as both his entries edged out Ann Hawkins amazing picks to become the first person in Stomp the Lunatic history to win first and second place in the contest.
Ann Hawkins gets some consolation – without UNC helping Adrian Young to get an additional 48 points for an upset victory, Ann was able to hold on to win the Upset Pool.
Congratulations also goes to Kevin Busby – he did the best with his second chance, as he also correctly predicted Kansas to beat UNC in the championship.
Here is the list of all our prize winners – congratulations to all of them!!!!
STANDARD POOL
UPSET POOL
SECOND CHANCE POOL
As for the Lunatic, he gave it an impressive try this year. His second chance picks tied for 9th place. His Insane picks hung around to finish in 13th place in the Upset pool – just 20 pts behind the leaders (which symbolically would have been the points that Purdue would have gotten him if they made the Final Four). But in the end, 54 people if you count the tie-breakers ended up Stomping the Lunatic. A decent try, but at the end a pretty good stomping.
As always, thank you to all of you for making this such a fun tournament to run!!! I love getting to cheer on my Boilers and rant about the tournament, even if it means another stomping is inevitably coming. I hope that everyone enjoyed the great games and my sleep-deprived blog. I am sure the Lunatic will get over his wounds and be ready to do this all again next March – and I hope that you all come back to put the Lunatic in his place with a good stomping.
Congratulations again to the Kansas Jayhawks – for a tournament that had so many unique events, having it finish with a team come back from being down 16 seems to be a very fitting ending to produce a very deserving national champion.
And congratulations once again to Edward Zhang, Ann Hawkins and Kevin Busby – our three Stomp the Lunatic pool winners!!!!
What an incredible finish to the 2022 NCAA Tournament. And you have to admire the resilience. The Jayhawks at one point were down 16 points in the first half – the largest comeback in a NCAA championship game was 15 by Loyola Chicago against Cincinnati in 1963. The 15 points they were down at halftime was also tied for the 4th largest halftime lead in a championship game. And of course, you have the Lunatic Curse – since the Jayhawks were the last team standing of all of the Lunatic’s picks.
Charlie was saying that we need to get the lyrics out again.
I’m a Tar Heel Born, I’m a Tar Heel Bred
And when I die, I’ll be a Tar Heel Dead
For it’s Rah! Rah! Carolina! Rah Rah Carolina!
Rah! Rah! Carolina! Rah! Rah! Rah!
But there would be no joy in Chapel Hill tonight. Because the thing that makes the Tar Heels so exciting also can be the thing that makes the so frustrating. There are not many teams that can go up 25 with 10 minutes to play against Baylor, and then allow their opponent to come charging back to tie the game. For every 10-0 run the Tar Heels have, you have to be worried about the 10-0 run coming from their opponent.
The Jayhawks did just that to fight back into the game. With 2:39 left in the game, Remy Martin hit a huge three pointer to give the Jayhawks a 3 point lead. But that lead wouldn’t last long, Caleb Love came sprinting down the court and before you knew it, he drove to the hoop and made it a 1 point game.
Jalen Wilson missed a three-pointer as the shot clock was running down, and Love came charging down the court again. This time, he missed his wild shot in the lane, but the ball went off the backboard and right into the hands of Brady Manek, who slammed home the dunk and gave the Tar Heels a 69-68 lead. Then, David McCormack put the Jayhawks on his back. He got the ball in the lane and missed, but he aggressively got the offensive rebound over everyone, made a quick dribble in the lane with Bacot and Manek both on him, and would not be denied the basket.
Caleb Love tried driving again to the basket, but this time Martin came from behind to block the ball out of bounds with 6 seconds on the shot clock. The Tar Heels got the ball into Armando Bacot, he tried to drive to the basket, but he turned his right ankle and lost the ball. With Bacot hurt on the other side of the court, Kansas seemed content to just let the shot clock run down. So, the referees stopped play so UNC could tend to their injured star center.
And unfortunately for the Tar Heels, something the Lunatic said eventually came true. Without Bacot there to protect the middle, Kansas drew the shot clock down, got the ball down low to McCormack, and UNC’s Brady Manek had no chance. McCormack pushed his way around in the lane, and scored the lay-up to give Kansas a 3 point lead.
UNC had a wild set of chances at the end. Caleb Love shot a three-pointer up to tie the game but missed. RJ Davis kept the ball alive by getting the offensive rebound and kicked it out to Puff Johnson. Johnson’s shot up a desparate three-pointer that I am not sure even hit the rim. But Manek somehow got his hands on the ball – but as he tried to kick the ball back outside for another three-point chance to tie the game, he threw it out-of-bounds.
But the game wasn’t over yet. That is because as Kansas inbounded the ball, Dajuan Harris Jr stepped on the line and gave the ball right back to the Tar Heels with 4 seconds to play. Unfortunately, UNC had a hard time getting the ball into the court, Caleb Love forced up a highly-contested three-pointer, and watched as the ball harmlessly came to the ground. Kansas had pulled the largest upset in NCAA championship history.
Congratulations to the Kansas Jayhawks – they are the 2022 NCAA National Champions!!!!
Kansas is coming out in the second half with a ton of intensity. Christian Braun is on fire, and McCormack and Wilson are also starting to get going.
All this has led to a 20-6 run to get the lead down to 1. So much fun!
Just like in the Villanova game, Kansas’ Ochai Agbaji came down and hit a three pointer. Kansas jumped out to an early 7-0.
But Carolina kept plugging away, until Caleb Love hit a jumper to tie the game at 18. They traded baskets to make the game tied at 22 with 6 minutes in the half.
And then everything went Carolina Blue. Brady Manek is a fighter. Early in the game, he got hit in the face with an inadvertent elbow from David McCormack. Later in the half, he got hit in the face again going for a rebound. Most people would be knocked out with a concussion. Maybe Manek has a concussion. But his response to that was hitting back-to-back three pointers to start a 16-0 run.
Armando Bacot is a beast! All the talk about his ankle! Even Coach Hubert Davis mentioned his ankle his hurting, but if they can get 52 percent of Bacot, that will be good for Carolina basketball. Bacot has 12 points and 10 rebounds for a double double in the first half!!!! He also drew tons of fouls – as the 4 Kansas forwards go into the 2nd half with 7 fouls.
RJ Davis also added 11 points by driving to the hoop and getting to the line.
Kansas’ Ochai Agbaji had a decent first half with 8 points. But Christian Braun shot 1-7 from the field and Jalen Wilson shot 1-6 from the field. David McCormack also struggled inside as he tried to force shots up in the lane against Bacot.
The Tar Heels are winning this game with interior defense as they are the team owning the paint. They will take a 15 point lead to start the second half.
It has been an incredible March. We have an 8 seed in UNC playing for the championship. We had a 15 seed in St. Peter’s make the Elite 8. We had a conference get 9 teams in the Big 10 get none of their teams to the Elite 8. Meanwhile, we had a power conference only get 5 teams in the ACC and then watch three of them make the Elite 8. Only 1 of the top seeds made the Elite 8. There is a reason they call this madness.
So it is only fitting that we are looking at some rare events in our pool as well – all unofficial of course….
There is a possibility in my sleep deprivation that I missed something, but just look at these possibilities.
If Kansas beats UNC, Edward Zhang will become the first person in history to not only win the Stomp the Lunatic contest, but he will also finish second in the Stomp the Lunatic contest. Rick Flynn came close in 2013 when he finished 2nd and 3rd. John Macris in 2003 won and finished tied for 4th. But no one has ever swept the top two places of the standard pool.
If UNC beats Kansas, Adrian Young and Ann Hawkins will tie for the Stomp the Lunatic top prize for only the second time in history (Patrick Booth and Rebecca Shipp tied in 2011). Adrian will also win the Upset Pool, creating two more rare events. He will join Michael Swinson from 2016 and John Homan from 2009 to be the only three people to have the same entry win a share of the Standard Pool and Upset Pool. Adrian will also break the record of most points scored in the Upset Pool – his 323 points will eclipse Rick Flynn’s 2013 upset total by 1 point. Adrian also appears to be the only person to have picked UNC, which I suspect is something that hasn’t happened where only the winner picked the national champion.
Ann will also have an amazing piece of history where I believe she will join Chris Franklin from 2014 as the only person to win a share of the Stomp the Lunatic Standard Pool without picking the national champion. Her picks were so good this year that she will be tied at the top while picking Duke.
I might have missed a few things – but it is a pretty rare leaderboard at this point. It has made me realize that I should create a hall of fame page that could list out some of the neatest events that has ever happened. That can be a fun project to have ready for next year. Tonight, I plan to enjoy the championship game!!!! It is less than a couple hours away!!!!
9:20 pm EST – #1 Kansas (-4) vs #8 North Carolina (O/U: 152)
LUNATIC’S PICKS: Kansas, Over
KANSAS STARTING LINE-UP
NORTH CAROLINA STARTING LINE-UP
Kansas guard Ochai Agbaji is the Jayhawks leading scorer, and as was shown in the game against Villanova, he can light it up from outside. Christian Braun also can drive to the basket to score, and the two Jayhawks big-men (David McCormack and Jalen Wilson) work well with each other in the paint. In the Villanova game, McCormack went 10-12 from the field to score 25 points – he was unstoppable.
North Carolina’s leading scorer and rebounder is Armando Bacot. He plays with a tremendous amount of intensity, and is really good at drawing fouls – as both of Duke’s centers played with 4 fouls throughout the game. R.J. Davis is lightning fast when he drives to the lane, and Caleb Love is the type of guard who can totally take over a game. The best outside shooter is forward Brady Manek – which can help free up space drawing one of the other team’s forward away from the lane.
Much is made about the fast pace that North Carolina plays, but Kansas actually averages more points per game than UNC (Kansas averages 78.6 pts vs. UNC’s 77.5 pts). As we saw in the UNC / Duke game, fast-paced games can be highly entertaining, so I have high hopes for this game as both teams like to play fast.
Kansas is a little bit deeper and more willing to use their bench – with Remy Martin and Mitch Lightfoot. North Carolina’s bench played 13 minutes in the game against Duke (for perspective, Martin and Lightfoot played 30 against Villanova). The Tar Heels first substitution in the Duke game in the second half was with 5 minutes left because Bacot had to come off the court with an ankle injury. Don’t be surprised if North Carolina basically goes with their starters the whole game – if Bacot’s injury becomes a problem, or someone gets into foul trouble, UNC depth could create a problem for them.
North Carolina is a great feel-good story. At 12-6 and struggling in the start of the ACC season, it was believed that the Tar Heels would not even make it to the tournament. They are now 17-3 and look like a completely different team. That slow start is why they were an 8 seed – but they are clearly much more dangerous than an 8 seed. Caleb Love and RJ Davis are explosive guards who can get to the basket, and Armando Bacot has been a force inside. But as with Villanova, Kansas might have caught a huge break. Bacot injured his ankle late in the victory against Duke. I am sure he is going to play – but I am not sure he is going to be 100%. And he will need to be 100% against Kansas’s David McCormack. And the Jayhawks have two guards, Ochai Agbaji and Christian Braun, who also can score.
If Bacot isn’t at 100%, I don’t see how they stop McCormack. Sometimes, teams struggle because of pace. UNC plays a high-tempo game that leads to large fast runs where a couple of misses leads to a 6-8 point swing in just a minute. But Kansas seems to be a team that can play at any pace – so I don’t think UNC’s style of play will phase them. I expect this to be a high scoring game, no matter who wins.
At the end of the day, there are four things that lean me towards Kansas.
With all these things in Kansas’ favor, and the Jayhawks only need to win by 4 points to cover, the obvious thing is to pick them to win. Whether you believe in historical facts like 30 of 36 championships are won by a conference champion, teams at the top of the polls tend to win, if it is a 50/50 coin flip when both teams are healthy, the odds change if one of the team has their leading scorer injured, or you simply believe in the fact that the Lunatic can’t cheer for a team that is going to win, the bet still ends up the same. If nothing can stop them, it only makes sense to pick them. You can’t even believe that Karma is eventually going to come and knock off the Jayhawks. To be fair, it is only fitting that since the NCAA hasn’t been able to wrap up their investigation in over 2 1/2 years, the NCAA chairman will have to stand on that stage and shake hands with Bill Self and hand him the trophy. So, it is a 50/50 chance on whether Karma is using this opportunity to sting Kansas or sting the NCAA.
It should be a fun game. Both teams are playing amazing at the moment and have had stretches where it looks like no one can beat them. It should be a fast-paced game with lots of offense. And while in the Lunatic’s preview, he has to give a pick, the truth is that games are not played on paper, they are won on the court. It should be a lot of fun to watch the Jayhawks and Tar Heels compete for the national championship.
South Carolina won this game with defense, and one unstoppable scorer. South Carolina beat Connecticut 64-49 to win the 2022 women’s national championship.
Connecticut scored 70 or more points in 24 of their 35 games. Only 4 times, did they score under 60. The suffocating South Carolina defense held the Huskies to under 50 points!!!!
Then, there was Destanni Henderson who scored 26 points to lead South Carolina. They jumped out to an early 22-8 first quarter lead, watched as Connecticut fought back to as many as 6 points late in the 3rd quarter. Then, Henderson would score 7 of the next 9 points in the game to extend the lead back to 11. Any time that UConn would try to make a run, Henderson would have the answer.
But while Henderson was dominating on the offensive side of the court, the real story is on the defensive side. Connecticut could not get going from outside, only hitting 4-16 from three-point range. The Huskies shot 48.9% on the season from the field – but tonight, they could only make 40.7% against the Gamecocks. Add into it that South Carolina forced 15 turnovers, and it led to the Huskies only scoring 49 points when they normally average 74.8.
Congratulations to the South Carolina women’s basketball team – they have been a dominating force all season, and their defense has now led them to a national championship.
Turn your TV to ESPN as the women’s championship is about to tip off. South Carolina has been the #1 team in the country this year. 5th ranked Connecticut seems to always be in the Final 4.
It should be a great battle – tune in and support these amazing athletes compete for a national championship!!!
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
