Stomp The Lunatic

Normally I use this week to blog about all types of things – both college basketball and non-basketball related. This can be a tough week for those of us who are completely crazy for the madness of March.

After non-stop basketball for most of the month, it can be a tough 5 days to wait for the weekend’s Final 4 games.

I have wanted to write something about how the Selection Committee did (pretty well). I have wanted to talk about how my bad bracketology had an interesting result. I have wanted to talk about how the game is too physical.

But I am apparently getting old. My ability to deal with sleep deprivation appears to get worse each year. I told myself I would blog Thursday night, noticed the NIT championship was close and started watching the game (which if you didn’t see the last post, the game was really fantastic), and then it was 9:30 pm and I was such a mess that I couldn’t type a coherent thought.

I will do my best to catch up. At a minimum, it should be a fantastic weekend. Obviously, we are all excited about an incredible Final 4 that comprises 4 of the most successful programs in history. Kansas vs Villanova would normally be considered a showcase game in any Final 4, and this year, we all know the buzz is about Duke and North Carolina in the other semi-final.

But I also need to mention, if you simply love basketball, don’t forget to tune into ESPN tonight. The women’s Final 4 is tonight – and based on the final AP rankings, they have 4 of the 5 top ranked teams battling it out (NC State was ranked 3rd but lost in the regional final in a thrilling double overtime game to UConn). At 7 pm, AP #1 South Carolina plays #4 Louisville. And at 9:30 pm, #2 Stanford plays #5 Connecticut.

The best women and men in college basketball will be showcasing their amazing talent in what should be an amazing Final 4!!!! Can’t wait for the games to start!

I admit that I don’t pay a ton of attention to the NIT – typically teams either show up excited to either prove they should have been in the dance or excited to just get a chance to keep playing. Or they crash and burn after the heartache of being left out of the dance.

But the two teams in the NIT were interesting finalists who put on a great show. In one corner, you had Texas A&M who had that amazing run in the SEC Tournament to only lose in the championship game to Tennessee – going into the championship, they had won 12 of their last 14 games. They went from completely out of the picture to one game away from making the tournament and definitely in the bubble conversation.

In the other corner, you had Xavier who looked like a lock for the tournament, and then lost 8 of their last 10 regular season games to fall onto the wrong side of the bubble conversation. And then, impressively won their 4 NIT matches to get to the final.

Texas A&M jumped out to an 8 point lead at halftime, but Xavier came back. The game at the end was an awesome back and forth of Texas A&M getting the lead and Xavier taking it back. With 27 seconds left, Quenton Jackson drove to the lane for the Aggies and was fouled. Jackson calmly hit both free throws to take the lead by 1.

Xavier’s Adam Kunkel missed a contested layup but Zack Freemantle got the rebound. Freemantle tried to go back up with the ball, but his shot was met with a thunderous block by A&M’s Ethan Henderson. But that still gave Xavier one more shot.

The ball comes in to Jack Nunge, who made an aggressive move from the post into the lane and hooked the ball with his right hand over the A&M defender off the backboard and into the basket for a 1 point lead with 3 seconds left.

Tyrese Radford charged down the court hoping to have one last chance to win the game. He dribbled as close as he could before time ran out, put up a runner as the buzzer goes off, the ball hits the rim, rattles around as if it is going to win the game, and then at the last moment, kicks off and drops harmlessly to the ground.

It was a great game – congratulations to Xavier on winning the NIT!!!! Hopefully, the Final Four will bring just as exciting of a finish to the 2022 season!

If you need a little more basketball in your life, head to ESPN to watch the NIT championship. Texas A&M and Xavier are going back and forth in a tight game with about 10 minutes left!!!!

I had a feeling that this would happen. I wish it would have happened on Friday, but it eventually happens with Cinderella.

As I stated in my handicapping, this game was a little different because of how North Carolina plays. I thought things might get out of hand if they keep playing a pressure style of defense.

One of the announcers said it perfectly. Kentucky and Purdue tried to take advantage of their size by passing into the post and let their talented big men try to score. UNC took advantage of their size but in a slightly different way. They used dribble penetration to get into the lane and draw St. Peter’s big men to the ball. Then, they could dump the ball off to their big men to finish off the drive. And it worked perfectly.

North Carolina jumped out to a 9-0 lead and never looked back – coasting to a 69-49 victory.

On the broadcast, they mentioned that this is the first time UNC and Duke are meeting in the tournament. How crazy fitting that in Coach K’s last season, he gets one more chance to end with a victory against such a rival. While the St. Peter’s story was nice, we all know this is the game most college basketball fans wanted to see next Saturday.

Congratulations to the North Carolina Tar Heels for making the Final Four.

And what a great Final Four we have. In one semi-final, we have the Big 12 champions Kansas playing against the Big East champions Villanova. And in the other semi-final, we have the two best teams from the ACC, regular season champ Duke against runner-up North Carolina playing for the opportunity to represent the ACC in the championship.

At halftime, the 10th seeded Miami Hurricanes were up 35-29.

And then the skies cleared and the Jayhawks came out to play. The Big 12 champions showed why they were the last remaining 1 seed in the tournament. And they showed they had no intentions of leaving just yet.

Miami only scored 15 points in the second half, while the top ranked Jayhawks put up 47 points. Kansas looked like they couldn’t miss – they would have these beautiful passes that led to dunk after dunk. Then, Miami as they fell further behind would force up three pointers that would not fall.

It might have been one of the most complete performances that I have seen in the tournament. If the Jayhawks can figure out how to play like that for 4 more halves, they might very well be cutting down the nets in New Orleans as well as Chicago. Of course, I am sure that Villanova, Duke and the winner of the UNC/St. Peter’s will also have something to say about that.

For now, Kansas can be happy with their 76-50 victory over the Hurricanes. Congratulations to the Jayhawks!

This was supposed to be when the pressure would mount so high for the Duke Blue Devils. Well, this time, Duke answered any questions with a crazy balanced attack.

Duke really only played 6 players (Theo John got onto the court for 5 minutes as their 7th player). But all 6 of those players scored at least 9 points in a really balanced attack.

AJ Griffin led scoring with 18 points , going 7-9 from the field. Paolo Banchero added 16 and Wendell Moore added 14. Mark Williams went a perfect 6-6 for 12 points. Jeremy Roach had 9 points and Trevor Keels came off the bench to add 9 points. All-in-all, they went 29-53 (54.7%) from the field.

This is made more impressive by the fact that this is the same Arkansas team that shut down Gonzaga with their defense 2 nights ago. We talk about how defenses are dominating this tournament, but I don’t know what you do when you have a team where all 5 players can step up and score. You can’t just decide to stop Banchero – then someone else will beat you.

Arkansas did try to close the gap in the second half, even cutting the lead to 5. But nothing was going to stop the Blue Devils today. They quickly built the lead back to double digits and never looked back.

I am starting to wonder if this story has already been written by the college basketball fates, and we are simply watching the script unfold. This final run broke a tie with legendary coach John Wooden. Coach K now has led the most teams (13) to a Final 4. Let that number just sink in for a moment. Over 30 percent of the seasons that Coach K has coached at Duke have ended in the Final Four.

So amazing. And while I know that Cinderella St. Peter’s will have something to say about it, we are one win away from seeing Coach K get one more chance against North Carolina – with this time, the prize would be playing in the national championship. No offense to the Peacocks, since lets face it, who wouldn’t want to see a 15 seed make it to the Final Four – but think about how much it would mean to college basketball fans if Duke and UNC played in Coach K’s last Final Four.

Congratulations to the ACC champion Duke Blue Devils!!!

Villanova took survive and advance to an extreme today. They were stuck in a defensive struggle that was the classic first team to 50. They almost didn’t get there. They hit 50 when Collin Gillepsie hit 2 free throws with 25 seconds left.

Villanova as a team shot 15 of 52 (28.8%) from the field. Villanova also managed to hit a perfect 15 of 15 from the free throw line. I don’t know how a team who is actually so good at shooting that they can be perfect from the free throw line only hit 15 of 52 of their shots from the field – no wait, I do. That happens when the referees disappear and everyone just fouls the shooter on almost every shot.

As Houston’s coach mentioned after the Arizona win, he said “Victories don’t come with asterisks. This is not a beauty contest.”

Well, this was certainly not a beauty contest. I was at my daughter’s rugby game this afternoon, and after watching the end of the first Elite 8 game, I feel like I was treated to a rugby double-header.

There was one point late in the game with about 1 minute left where Jermaine Samuels drove to the basket, gets hit by the Houston defender and somehow still lays it in as he falls to the ground to give the Wildcats a 48-42 lead. I kept waiting for the official to blow a whistle because Samuels threw the ball forward at the basket instead of placing it down for a ruck. Then, maybe they could have let Gillepsie start the scrum. Only way I could be brought back to that it was basketball was that each team only had 5 players instead of 15.

But the perfect example of this physical insanity was at the end with about 12 seconds left. Villanova had just gotten the ball out of bounds after Houston missed two three pointers. The pass came to Villanova’s Caleb Daniels, and a Houston defender sprinted right through Daniels, hit the ball out of his hands, and the referee said it was Houston’s ball since it went off Daniel’s leg.

Last time I checked the rules, if a defensive player comes over the offensive player’s shoulder, and reaches in and hits the players arm, it is a foul. Then to add insult to the rules, they then went and reviewed it – and you hear the announcers say, “Yes – that ball definitely goes off Daniel’s leg.” No one mentioned the fact that he was almost tackled before the ball went out – a foul isn’t something that can be reviewed.

Fortunately, the college basketball gods intervened, let Houston throw up two wild three pointers before the ball went into Villanova’s Gillepsie’s hands and he dribbled out the clock to mercifully end the game.

It wasn’t pretty, but there are no asterisks. Villanova wasn’t innocent either – they understood the referees weren’t calling anything and somehow beat Houston at their game. But it doesn’t matter if the score is 50-44 or 76-70, it still is a 6 point victory for the Wildcats – one that will send them to New Orleans and the Final Four.

There was a little sad news for the Wildcats (and didn’t happen because of a foul). Justin Moore slipped driving to the basket late in the game and injured his leg in a scary fall. For a team that only plays 6 players, losing a starter might be rough. But they still survived – and this late in March, it simply matters that you are still playing.

Congratulations to the Villanova Wildcats.