Stomp The Lunatic

With the flurry of close basketball games on Sunday – and the fact that they went all the way until midnight, I did miss out of a couple things that were worth blogging about – so while I could be wasting my time creating the handicapping for the Sweet 16 games, I felt catching up on a few things would be more fun.

With 8:34 left in the first half of the Florida vs Iowa game, the Lunatic was likely watching the exciting ending of the Tennessee vs. Virginia game. And I missed a moment that might have redefined the entire tournament. Since then, I have seen it multiple times and changed my opinion multiple times.

The Hawkeyes had jumped out to a 19-13 lead when Florida’s Alex Condon missed a shot from just outside the lane. Iowa’s Alvaro Folgueiras jumped in and grabbed the defensive rebound. And then, Condon came in from behind him and grabbed at the ball. As the two players fought for control, the referees blew the whistle and were getting ready to call a jump ball.

After the whistle blew, Condon made a powerful swing that lifted and slammed Folgueiras and the ball to the ground, and then Folgueiras created a fist and appeared to punch Condon while they were both on the ground. The coaches had to come onto field to separate the potential brawl that was brewing and then started having words themselves. Tensions were super high as the referees reviewed what happened to figure out any discipline.

The replay did show that Folgueiras’ punch never landed – in fact, the announcers started to debate if he was trying to punch the ball out of Condon’s hands as if he was a safety trying to cause a fumble in a football game.

I think by the letter of the law, Folgueiras should have been ejected and there is an argument that Condon should have been as well. But I am actually glad the referees ended up simply giving them both dead ball technicals.

I think the argument that Folgueiras was trying to punch the ball out is ridiculous. Lets say that he didn’t hear the whistle (which would be crazy since the whistles were non-stop at this point). But how would punching the ball secure the rebound – that would just cause the ball to roll away – which seems like a crazy choice when you currently have your arms wrapped around the ball. After watching it multiple times, it looked like he wanted to retaliate and thought better of it at the last second. He wasn’t trying to punch the ball – he was trying to pull his punch.

And Alex Condon isn’t innocent in this. Lets say that he didn’t hear the whistle (which is less crazy but it sure didn’t seem like a coincidence that he tackled Folgueiras at the moment the whistles blew). The argument I have heard is he was trying to pull the ball away and was so strong that he flipped him to the ground. That is ridiculous as well – if he did that movement and successfully got only the ball, he would have still fallen to the ground and got called for travelling. His intent was clear – it was to throw the Hawkeye to the ground.

I could probably make an argument that Condon’s actions deserved a Flagrant 2, but honestly, a Flagrant 1 seems like the right answer. I could make a better argument that Folgueiras deserved a Flagrant 2 for fighting – just because he didn’t initiate it doesn’t change the punishment. But at the end, he didn’t follow through so if anything, Condon physically hurt him more than vice versa.

So, I eventually came to the conclusion that both players deserved the same punishment – and so if that feels like a Flagrant 1 for Condon, it is also a Flagrant 1 for Folgueiras. I think that is actually where the refs landed as well. They didn’t want to eject Condon and since Folgueiras didn’t land the punch, they didn’t want to eject him either. I don’t like rough play so I would have been good with multiple ejections, but I think the refs got it right.

Regardless, it still might have been the biggest call of the tournament. If Folgueiras had been ejected for fighting, he would not have been there at the end of the game to hit the three-pointer from the corner that won the game for the Hawkeyes. And of course, Condon also made big plays for the Gators – so it would have been a different game if he also was gone. Regardless, if Florida had survived because Folgueiras had not been there to hit the game winner, the Gators certainly have the talent to win four more games and repeat as champions. So while no one might have known at the time – they probably were simply trying to not have the referee’s decision shape the result. But it might have reshaped the entire tournament.

We will never know – maybe if they had been ejected, someone else would have been the hero for the Hawkeyes. At the end of the day, I think the right call was made but I am sure that if I was a Gators’ fan, I might feel differently about the controversy.

First, I feel like a bad fan, because in my excitement that Purdue beat Miami to make it to the Sweet 16, I missed a relatively major milestone.

Congratulations to Purdue’s coach Matt Painter, who on Sunday won his 500th game as the head coach of the Boilermakers. When asked about becoming only the 4th Big 10 coach behind Tom Izzo, Bob Knight and his mentor Gene Keady to win 500 wins at a Big 10 school, he responded with the same humility and honesty that he has throughout his time at Purdue – it was all about his players.

“The one thing that gets lost at Purdue, because we don’t sign McDonald’s All Americans, is that our players are really good,” he said according to a USA Today article. “These guys have put in — I know coaches talk about it — but they’ve put in so much in all areas to be the best that they can be. And that’s how you end up getting a lot of victories, because you have really good players that are committed.”

I remember that after Purdue lost to FDU as a 1 seed there was a lot of grumbling that he needed to be fired like UNC just did to Hubert Davis – I am so thankful that the Purdue administration was smarter than that. The Boilers certainly probably don’t keep Braden Smith, Trey Kaufman-Renn and Fletcher Loyer together for four years without the environment that Matt Painter has created.

The thing that amazes me the most is that you can see that the future remains bright. I remember being sad when Robbie Hummel hurt his knee because I thought they were so talented that might be the Boilers only chance at making the Final Four and with the injury, it was gone. Then, Carson Edwards almost shot us into the Final Four before Virginia’s amazing comeback. Then, there was Jaden Ivey. Of course, we can’t forget watching these seniors with Zach Edey making the championship game. Now Smith, Kaufman-Renn and Loyer are looking to make their own history as they seem to break any Purdue school record that exists. It would be easy to think this is the last chance. But then you look at some of the glimpses of success that CJ Cox, Gicarri Harris, Omer Mayer, Jack Benter and Daniel Jacobsen have had through the season, and you realize that the future is in good hands – and that is even before looking at the 2026 recruiting class.

And while Painter will rightfully give the players all the accolades for that success, the unspoken truth is that Purdue’s continued success is due to Matt Painter being an incredible coach. There will always be that group that will say he can’t be truly elite unless he wins a National Championship, but regardless of what happens this year or in the future, there is nothing Matt Painter needs to prove. Purdue is lucky that Matt Painter is their coach and hopefully he will get to continue to do that as long as he wants to coach.

So the Lunatic is sorry for missing this milestone. But he certainly wants to thank Matt Painter for all he does for Purdue.

On a different note, the Lunatic sadly has to mention another moment – because he is afraid of karma. After the Miami game, CBS interviewed Fletcher Loyer and he gave a very polished answer but then as he left the cameras showed him pointing to the crowd and giving the “U Down” signal likely to troll some Miami fans.

I totally missed it but my son noticed it right away. Then a friend and fellow Purdue alum sent me an email about it. I hoped it would go away but sure enough my Purdue feeds kept showing it.

So, I would feel like a hypocrite if I don’t point it out. I talk about all the things I like about the Purdue program that it would be wrong to ignore when they do something I don’t agree with. I care about sportsmanship and so it breaks my soul that a player I love to watch would troll a fan base after a win.

On one point, I agree with something – if Loyer hadn’t been interviewed, that moment probably never gets seen. These players are wrestling each other to the ground over loose balls and trash talking each other for 40 minutes while fans are screaming horrible things at them. It has to be hard to turn that competitiveness off once the game is over.

Charlie said that shows how tough a competitor Loyer is – he loves it. But I think this is my problem. You see a player like Steph Curry give the night-night sign after making a big three-pointer, and young kids think – that is so awesome, I am going to do it too. Loyer isn’t the first person to show the U Down sign to Miami fans and he certainly won’t be the last.

But while I know that I am probably in the minority, sportsmanship matters to me. And I can’t point out what others do if I don’t call my Boilers out when they do it. So, while I realize that all of this is now just part of the game, the Lunatic does wish it wasn’t. We can compete like champions on the court, and not have to kick the team when they are already down.

I will end with a non-Purdue story that ties in. At the end of the St. John’s vs Kansas game, as Dylan Darling hit the layup to send St. John’s to the Sweet 16 and break the hearts of Kansas fans, they showed a video of the St. John’s bench of everyone but one person jumping in celebration. That one person was Hall of Fame coach Rick Pitino, who looked stoic as the shot went in as he calmly started walking over to shake Bill Self’s hand.

There were certainly things that Pitino has done over his career, especially the recruiting violations that got him kicked out of Louisville, that the Lunatic didn’t agree with. But what Pitino did is how I was taught – you play hard, you win the game, and then win or lose, you shake your opponents hand out of sportsmanship and respect.

In the era of social media and how much trash talking has embraced sports, that might be leaving the sport as the old guard coaches will eventually retire. The Lunatic hopes that is not the case.

It is one of the things that I hate about sports. If you have any success, you suddenly expect it every year. And if you don’t get it, everyone wants you to fire the coach.

Immediately after losing to VCU, the stories calling for Davis to be fired started. Tonight, the fans and media got their wish. So lets look at how bad of a coach Davis is.

In five seasons, he went 125-54, won an ACC regular season championship, led them to the NCAA tournament in 4 of the 5 seasons including a NCAA Sweet 16 in 2024 and the NCAA championship game in 2022. He never had a losing record in the ACC, and the year they didn’t go to the tournament was their worst record at 20-13.

This year, they were ranked 11th in the country at 17-4 when they lost leading scoring Caleb Wilson to a bone fracture in his left hand and center Henri Veesaar to a lower back injury. Veesaar would eventually make it back on the court, but Wilson’s season was over, and the Tar Heels stumbled down the stretch.

And then of course, they lose a 19 point lead to VCU and his career at North Carolina is over.

While there are certainly some exceptions, most teams can’t lose a player who averages 19.8 points per game and continue to contend for a national championship. But apparently, that is the expectation at North Carolina.

We complain that Cinderella is dead because of NIL and the transfer portal. But when Cinderella does pull off an upset, that is the point that you fire your coach.

I don’t know the exact number because this was from 2025, but the number of teams that have won more games from 2020-2025 than UNC was 12 (with 3 others tied with them). I will have to do some more research when it isn’t so late – but most schools don’t have the success that Davis had with UNC.

You can say – but North Carolina is different. That might be true. But as I have written in past years, Indiana fired their coach because they weren’t making enough Final Fours. Since that decision, this is now the 8th year out of 10 that Indiana has missed the NCAA Tournament.

The Tar Heels have lots of resources, so maybe they will get a star coach who will take them to the promised land. But they also certainly could fall apart……

It was probably good that the late games were not as interesting – both UConn and Alabama ran away to finish off the 16 teams that will advance to next Thursday and Friday.

I will probably have more to blog about it over the upcoming week, but since it is late, we will simply congratulate the leaders!

Matt Reilly is our leader in both pools – he got 14 of the Sweet 16 teams correct to take the lead.

In the Standard Pool, he is followed by a 6 way tie for 2nd between Joe Chapman, Mary-Rian Bradley, Joseph Laucius, Al Lester, Bo Luy and his other bracket at 530. Just 40 points behind in a tie for 8th are Heath Lindvall, both of Alan Miller’s brackets, Eric Morton, David Caldwell, Sam Franklin, Rob Bradley, Jennifer Ogle, Mark Schumaker, Dan Fischer, Kennedy Urban, and Earl McKnight.

In the Upset Pool, our top 5 places are the following – Matt leads at 234 points, Lochlan Middlebrook is in 2nd at 213 points, Tony Wilson is in 3rd at 211 points, Al Lester is in 4th at 204 points, and Mark Walsh is in 5th at 203 points.

If you were one of the people who picked Florida and had to tear your bracket up thanks to the Iowa Hawkeyes hitting a three pointer from the corner with 4 seconds left, don’t despair. That is because the Second Chance Pool is ready and available – simply go to the Login link and it will take you to the entry form.

Everyone deserves a second chance!!!! And in the Stomp the Lunatic contest, this second chance is free – it is already included in your entry fees. So, there is no reason to miss out on taking advantage of your second chance.

Good luck to everyone in continuing to Stomp the Lunatic!!!!

Some will try to argue that Texas or Iowa are Cinderellas, being an 11 seed and 9 seed. But the Lunatic feels that you can’t be from a power conference and be a Cinderella. They certainly deserve tons of credit for pulling off upsets to get to the Sweet 16. But the Lunatic holds the term Cinderella in reserve for the mid-major teams that don’t have the same financial resources that schools from the SEC and Big 10 have.

After St. Louis, VCU and High Point went down (and Gonzaga – although it is hard to call a 3 seed Cinderella), the last mid-major standing was #9 seed Utah State. And when the Arizona Wildcats took an 18 point lead with 15 minutes to play, it certainly looked like Cinderella’s magic was done.

But Utah State would make a run – they would cut the lead all the way down to 4 points with 6 1/2 to play when Drake Allen hit a three-pointer.

With a little over 2 minutes left and Arizona draining the shot clock, they got the ball into Brayden Burries in the corner. But Utah State’s defender closed out great and forced Burries to take the ball back out to the three point line. He kept dribbling further and further away from the basket trying to get just a little bit of space, and finally launched the ball high in the air from an NBA three-point range, and the ball goes in to give the Wildcats a 9 point lead.

Utah State would get a few chances from three-point range to try to cut the lead, but none of them would go in. Arizona advances to the Sweet 16, and the last mid-major team has fallen.

The early evening of basketball is keeping the Lunatic busy. I finish the blog of one game that is exciting, and the next one then tries to top it. It once again proves that the Lunatic can not handicap games.

I mentioned in my handicapping blog that I had seen this before. I mentioned how while Duke blows out teams, TCU had not been beating by double digits very often and then the Blue Devils go on a 30-10. Florida blows teams out, and so even though Iowa has experience against tough teams, expect Florida to run away like Duke did.

Except Iowa came to play – the Hawkeyes ruled the first half and took a 2 point lead into halftime. And then the Hawkeyes came out of the locker room on fire. 6 minutes into the half, Cooper Koch hit a three pointer to force the Gators to call timeout as Iowa suddenly had a 12 point lead.

The Gators used the timeout well – as they started their spark. And around the 7 minute mark, Isaiah Brown and Alex Condon hit back-to-back dunks to give the Gators a 60-58 lead. One had to figure that this was when the defending champions would run away.

Except they didn’t. With about 4 minutes, Iowa’s Cooper Koch hit a three-pointer to give the Hawkeyes a lead. But the Gators would play good defense, get some free throws and have Alex Condon make a layup to give Florida a 3 point lead. With about 2 minutes left, Tavion Banks would cut the lead down to 1 with a nice dunk, only to have the Gators come right back down the court and get a layup from Xaivian Lee.

After running the shot clock down, Florida’s Boogie Fland drove the lane and looked like the Iowa defender hit the ball out of his hands. But Iowa challenged the call, and it was ruled that the ball was last off of Fland. Iowa took advantage of it, by getting the ball to their star, Bennett Stirtz – who drove to the lane and hit a jumper to cut the lead back to 1.

Florida tried to take some time off the clock, but they ended up having to take a long three-pointer, which Thomas Haugh missed, and suddenly, Iowa had a chance to take the lead. Bennett Stirtz drove the lane, was defended well, and Stirtz threw up a wild shot in the lane that missed with 11 seconds. Isaiah Brown would get the defensive rebound and was immediately fouled.

But Brown missed the first free throw. After hitting the second one, Florida called time out to try to set up their defense with a 2 point lead.

Iowa made a nice pass in to Stirtz who caught the ball already at full speed heading down the court, and it looked like he would drive all the way down the court. But once he got near the three-point line, he passed the ball into the corner to Alvaro Folgueiras, who took a step back to make sure both feet were behind the three-point line, and drilled the shot to give the Hawkeyes a one-point lead with 4.5 seconds left.

Xaivian Lee would get the ball on a full sprint and drove all the way down the court with Kael Combs trying to stay in front of him. As Lee got to the basket, Alvaro Folgueiras doubled and both him and Combs jumped to block Lee’s layup. Realizing he had no chance to make it, Lee tried to pass it to Thomas Haugh since that was the man that Folgueiras left to try to block the shot. But the ball hit Haugh’s feet as the buzzer went off. Even if Haugh was able to catch the wild pass, there would have been no time to get a shot off.

And in a tournament where the favorites seem to be advancing, the first #1 team falls in the Round of 32 as the #9 seed Iowa Hawkeyes knock off the defending champions to advance to the Sweet 16 in Houston.

With about 8 1/2 minutes left, Tennessee had a lead and on a loose ball heading out of bounds, JP Estrella boxed out Virginia’s Sam Lewis from trying to save it. Lewis didn’t like the contact and shoved Estrella, which earned him a dead-ball technical foul. Tennessee would hit one of the free throws to extend the lead to 8.

And then the Cavaliers rallied. Over the next 4 minutes, Virginia would go on an 11-3 run, ending with Thijs De Ridder hitting a couple free throws after being fouled trying to get a rebound. The teams would start to go back and forth scoring layups, until the 2 minute mark when De Ridder hit a three-pointer from the wing to give Virginia a 71-70 lead.

On the next play, Nate Ament would get fouled and hit both free throws to reclaim the lead for the Volunteers. Virginia tried to get the ball inside with Dailin Hall, but his turnaround jumper in the lane was too strong.

Virginia played tight defense, and forced a loose ball when Avent got trapped along the wing. The ball got blocked into the air, and Bishop Boswell beat Chance Mallory to the ball, with Mallory knocking them both down to the ground for a foul. But Mallory would only hit one of the free throws so Virginia could still tie or take the lead on the next possession with 46 seconds.

Jacan White made a nice drive to the basket, but missed the reverse layup. The ball got tipped up by Virginia but that also missed and then a Tennessee player tried to slap the ball outside. The ball hits another Volunteer in the head, and then it looked like it barely touched the fingers of a Virginia player before rolling out of bounds.

Virginia challenged it, and to be honest, it looked like the ball never was touched by the Virginia player – he completely whiffed trying to catch it. But the referees ruled the video was not inconclusive evidence and that you could not tell if it touched his finger or not. So Tennessee would get the ball.

VIrginia would be forced to foul Ja’Kobi Gillespie, and he calmly drilled both free throws to make it a two-possession game. Chance Mallory made a nice drive to get to the hoop but once again the layup would miss and get hit out of bounds. This time, Virginia would keep it.

The pass with 15 seconds left went to Jacari White for a wide open three pointer in the corner, but White threw up an air-ball that was rebounded by Gillespie. Once again, Gillespie hit both free throws and iced the game for the Volunteers – they will head to the Sweet 16!!!

St. John’s looked like they were going to comfortably head to the Sweet 16 as they had a 14 point lead with 8 minutes to play. But nothing in March is easy.

Over the next three minutes, Kohl Rosario and Melvin Counsil Jr hit three pointers and Darryl Peterson hit some free throws to cut the lead to 5 points.

The Jayhawks keep chipping away, and with 2 minutes to play, Darryn Peterson missed a three-pointer, but Flory Bidunga was there to get the offensive rebound and hit the layup to cut the lead to 1.

Desperately needing to stop the run, St. John’s got the ball into Bryce Hopkins on the wing, and he drills a three-pointer to extend the lead back to 4 points, but the Jayhawks were not done.

Tre White would cut the lead to two with a layup, and after the Red Storm drained the shot clock, Zuby Ejofor missed a three pointer to give the Jayhawks a chance to tie or take the lead.

Kansas’ Peterson drove to the basket with 13 seconds and got fouled as he tried to shoot it from the baseline. And he made both free throws to tie the game.

This led to a weird part of the game. The Jayhawks only had two fouls. So, they started to intentionally foul to not allow St. John’s to get the ball across half court. The strategy almost worked as they got the clock all the way down to 3 seconds when they ran out of fouls to give.

St. John’s got the pass into Dylan Darling at the half court circle and he starts driving hard to the basket. He gets all the way down the lane, and throws up a layup right before the buzzer goes off, and the ball hits the backboard perfectly and rolls into the basket for a 67-65 victory for St. John’s.

The Red Storm survive and advance – awaiting for them in Washington, D.C. will be #1 Duke in the Sweet 16.

In the first 7 minutes of the game, Kentucky jumped out to an 18-6 lead. In the remaining 33 minutes of the game, the Cyclones outscored Kentucky by 31 points on their way to a comfortable 82-63 victory.

The Cyclones defense is just scary – Kentucky turned the ball over 20 times. Tamin Lipsey scored 26 points and Milan Momcilovic added 20 points. And they did all this with Joshua Jefferson, their best player, on the bench with an injury.

Iowa State is heading to Chicago – be scared of the Cyclones.

The Lunatic had a lot of nervousness. The Boilers were down 2 at halftime. So, the superstitious fan that I am, I found my Purdue hoodie and put it on over my lucky T-shirt in a sad attempt to send more Purdue vibes to my Boilers.

So, I got even more nervous when CJ Cox drove to the basket and came down with a knee injury. I am really hoping that he is OK. In the first half, it was Cox’s getting hot with 8 points to stop Miami’s run and close the gap from 7 to a 2 point Hurricanes lead at half.

But Fletcher Loyer stayed hot – scoring 24 points in the game, and Trey Kaufman-Renn displayed his toughness with 19 points all in the paint and 9 rebounds. And eventually, the Boilers extended the lead to a comfortable range. Everyone hit their free throws down the stretch, and the Boilers left St. Louis with a 79-69 victory.

So Purdue becomes the 5th Big 10 team to make it to the Sweet 16 – they will be heading out West to San Jose, CA to face Texas. Boiler Up!!!!!

Thank you to my Boilers – the Lunatic can now happily enjoy the remaining 7 games of Sunday.