Stomp The Lunatic

Joseph Laucius, Nap, Mark Walsh, and Joey Ams managed to do the best today – getting 13 of 16 games right. They have the early lead over everyone – including 15 people just 10 points behind.

Meanwhile, Michael Perry stands alone in the Upset Pool – thanks to bravely picking both Oral Roberts and North Texas to win.

If you are not one of our leaders, don’t despair – there is a lot of basketball to be played!!!!!!!

Sure, you took away my beloved Boilermakers from me. But how can you stay mad at March Madness when it just continues to deliver.

Congratulations to #10 Rutgers, who just won their first NCAA Tournament game in 38 years as they hit a late layup to take a surmountable 4 point lead (Clemson probably should have fouled instead of playing it out). But hind-sight is 20/20. Not to mention that I think I had Clemson upsetting Houston – so it is probably my fault they lost anyways.

#11 Syracuse is crushing #6 San Diego State by 20 points with only 4 minutes left. Of course, that makes sense for the ACC – since Clemson, North Carolina, Georgia Tech and Virginia Tech all lost, so of course, their 7th team into the tournament will be the one that wins in dominating fashion.

#12 Winthrop is only down 3 against Villanova with about 14 minutes to play. If Winthrop wins, they will guarantee a double digit seed makes the second weekend since they would play #13 North Texas.

#14 Morehead State is only down 7 at halftime to West Virginia – since Syracuse is awaiting the winner, a comeback from them would also guarantee a double-digit seed making it to the Sweet 16.

Close games. Lots of drama. Overtimes. The Lunatic can’t stay mad at March Madness!!!! Despite my team’s loss, it is still so much fun to watch the NCAA tournament.

After waiting an extra year for the tournament. After getting the tournament to happen in Purdue’s backyard. After getting a decent draw considering that Villanova was having injury issues. After finally not having to play a top Big 10 game where your star centers were supposed to shine.

Someone forgot to tell Cinderella not to crash the party. #13 North Texas took my Boilers down in overtime to win their first ever NCAA tournament game. The Boilers managed to fight their way to tie the game, but one of their biggest problems hit them hard during that comeback. Williams missed a FT that could have made it a one point game, Ivey made a great play to tie the game and get to the line, but couldn’t hit the FT to take the lead. And the next time down the court, Thompson missed his FT to take the lead. You can’t keep giving teams extra chances.

I still have to handicap all Saturday’s games – but it is going to be tough to keep watching after that heartbreak. Hope all the underdogs keep winning. If Cinderella is going to knock out my Boilers, she might as well get some more friends to join her at the dance.

But after #15 Oral Roberts beat Ohio State, and #12 Oregon State beat Tennessee, #13 Liberty has jumped out to a 6 point lead against Oklahoma State.

I am suddenly feeling extremely nervous about my Boilermakers playing #13 seed North Texas.

Oral Roberts tied the game in regulation to send it to overtime. And then Oral Roberts just became the 9th ever 15 seed to knock off a 2 seed.

Purdue’s home court, Mackey Court, is apparently a graveyard for the Big 10 schools. First, Michigan State last night and now Ohio State.

I just wish this game had happened later today so I could have truly blogged on it. That being said, it was still fun to watch the last 2-3 minutes and see Oral Roberts pull off the upset – even if it destroys my Big 10 heavy picks.

Congratulations to Cinderella – Oral Roberts somehow managed to wind the clock back. It is not midnight yet.

A lot was made out of the fact that Michigan State had beaten 3 teams that were in the top 5 at the time of the victory (Illinois, Michigan and Ohio State). There were also many that questioned whether UCLA should have been one of the teams in the field.

And that is what likely makes the UCLA Bruins dangerous!!!!! Michigan State had another one of their inconsistency streaks – where they jumped out to a double digit lead, and then let the Bruins come back to tie the game in regulation, before losing in overtime.

So we had a close game between Texas Southern and Mt. St. Mary’s, a come from behind win by Drake by 1 point when Wichita State missed their buzzer-beating 3 pointer, Norfolk State winning by 1 point when Appalachian State’s last two shots in the final 5 seconds missed, and UCLA coming back to win in overtime.

March is back!!!!! AND IT IS MADNESS!!!!!! Hope the entire tournament is like this!!! It should be fun!

I have been really struggling with this. Might partially be because it is late. Might partially because I don’t like certain matchups. But at some point, you just have to make the picks – even if you don’t think you have picked enough upsets.

I really like Gonzaga, Illinois and Alabama to make the Final 4. In my sane picks, I have Baylor joining them – with Illinois beating Gonzaga in the championship.

In my insane picks, I have to support my Boilermakers. I actually think this is one of the best draws that they have received. While North Texas is certainly no push-over, they are still a 13 seed. The classic smaller conference champion who can beat anyone on any given night, but theoretically, you evaluate the 4 seed’s draw based on the later rounds. Villanova is dealing with injuries. The 1 seed Baylor is going to be tough (as would any of them), but if Baylor has a weakness, it would be in the paint – which is Purdue’s strength. And the #2 seed is Ohio State – a team they have beaten this season (although the games are always close). It probably doesn’t happen – but how could I live with myself without picking them.

Since it is late, I figured this year, I would simply post the link to the printout of my picks.

Click on this line to see my sane picks

Click on this line to see my insane picks

Considering I don’t have a lot of confidence (could simply be that I am tired, could be that I am watching UCLA come back against Michigan State), it should be relatively easy this year to Stomp the Lunatic! Good luck to everyone!!!!!

EDITOR’S NOTE – In light of the ankle injury to UCLA’s Johnny Juzang at the end of the Michigan State / UCLA game last night, I decided to switch my pick from what would have been UCLA to BYU. It might be a mistake – Lunatic curse for second guessing himself and going away from the tendency of one first four team winning their next game, especially if Juzang is able to play. But I thought this was a coin-flip game against a really good BYU team to begin with – I don’t feel good that the Bruins can pull off the upset without their leading scorer. And we all don’t get the luxury of waiting and finding out if he is going to be able to play…. So, I will pick BYU instead – I can already hear Chris Peterson screaming “NOOOOOOOOOOOOO!” loudly at this news that the Lunatic is now backing his Cougars.

What a finish. Drake up 4 with time running down steals the ball, just to lose it again as they try to fast break down the court. And the Wichita State player who came down with the ball drills a three-pointer to set up the finish with 8 seconds.

Wichita State fouls with 5.3 seconds left, Drake’s guard misses the FT, and Wichita State charges down the field, puts up a three pointer, and watches it fall short off the front of the rim.

Wichita State was up double digits midway through the second-half. But Drake went on a run just in time to take the game.

I LOVE MARCH!!!!!!

I went down for a second to get some Diet Coke and saw Elizabeth and Katie sitting on the couch. So I said, “I am going to be nice to you tonight – since the games are starting.”

And before I could finish, Katie said, “Oh no! We are going to have to watch football!”

I am truly heartbroken at this failure. Of course, then I convinced Katie to come upstairs with me to fill out her bracket – so I will keep hope that I can fix this failure.

Editor’s note: Katie wanted me to mention that she was doing better – because we had multiple conversations this week about sports. She was very sweet that she intentionally asked me questions about sports since I was watching a game.

Also, Charlie was then picking on Katie for making the blog, and so I reminded him that he will likely make the blog when Katie’s picks that she did quickly and probably doesn’t even remember will do better than the ones he agonized about.

Multiple failures I guess for myself – but I can always feel success that I have a wonderful wife and two great kids.

Texas Southern and Mt. St. Mary’s have begun!!!! The Madness is HERE!!!!! Can’t believe how excited that I am about a game between Texas Southern and Mt. St. Mary’s!!!!

You still have about 18-19 hours to make your picks!!!!! Don’t miss your chance to Stomp the Lunatic!!!! Watch the first four games tonight – make your picks – and get ready for tomorrow as the excitement ramps up to the Round of 64!!!!