Stomp The Lunatic

The Missouri Valley tournament is watching the conference leaders crash and burn.  Top seed Northern Iowa – who was 25-5 and had a victory at Colorado this season – shockingly was beat by the 8th seed Drake.   BY 21 POINTS!!!!!  It is very possible Northern Iowa still can get in (lets see how this impacts their NET ranking that was 36th going into today).  But getting blown out of the water by the 167th ranked team doesn’t scream that they deserve an at-large bid.

With the top seed gone, second seed Loyola – Chicago blew an 18 point 2nd half lead to Valparaiso and lost in overtime on a last second drive to the basket.   So, the automatic bid is now wide open, and the bubble has potentially shrunk.  And the week that everyone knows as Championship Week hasn’t even begun yet.

IT MUST BE MARCH!!!!!

It is Sunday, March 1st – we are just two weeks away from my favorite sports tournament of the year!!!!

And while I am a little behind schedule for my normal insanity, the important piece of the insanity is ready.  All the links that help you register, login, and enter your brackets are ready to go!!!!  Obviously, there is not much to do on the site other than listen to me rant for the next two weeks – you are welcome to register early, but typically, it is just easier to register once the brackets are ready so you can simply move to entering your picks!!!

The Lunatic is back – I am sure that everyone will stomp him back into his space!!!!  The 2020 Men’s NCAA Basketball Tournament is almost here – and thus, so is the 2020 Stomp the Lunatic contest!!!!!  Good luck to everyone in Stomping the Lunatic!!!!!

Unlike the championship game, which was crazy close between Virginia and Texas Tech, our standard pool was not close.  Jim Carini correctly predicted that Virginia would beat Texas Tech to run away with the Standard Pool at 1390 points.  Jim is un-officially a 3 time winner of the Stomp the Lunatic contest.  We know he is the 2004 Champion, but we both remember back in 1999 before the website existed – when Jim also took the title.  This time, Jim was able to beat 360 other entries to take the title.

Congratulations also go out to Ian Berglund – who finished 2nd in the Standard Pool at 1230, and Brody Atkinson and Brian Lawton who tied for 3rd at 1210.

In the Upset Pool, Brody Atkinson was able to get the final 6 points he needed with Virginia winning the championship to beat John Woodburn 273-268.  And in our Second Chance Pool, Sam Luy was able to jump everyone thanks to the Virginia victory to score 800 points and win by 40 points over Sarah Ahles.

Lets congratulate all of our 2019 Stomp the Lunatic Prize winners!!!!

STANDARD POOL

1) Jim Carini – 1390 pts

2) Ian Berglund – 1230 pts

3 TIE) Brody Atkinson and Brian Lawton – 1210 pts

5 TIE) William Craft and Scott Bartlett – 1180 pts

7) Mike Rosser – 1170 pts

8) Lowell Isaacs – 1160 pts

9) Ashley Peterson – 1150 pts

10 TIE) John Franklin, Kennedy Urban and Cinde Johnson – 1140 pts

LAST) Wendy Joseph – 290 pts (you should not have challenged Jim)

 

UPSET POOL

1) Brody Atkinson – 273 pts

2) John Woodburn – 268 pts

3) Michael Cheung – 266 pts

4) Lauren Martin – 265 pts

5) Jocelyn Knox – 262 pts

 

SECOND CHANCE POOL

1) Sam Luy – 800 pts

2) Sarah Ahles – 760 pts

3 TIE) Kennedy Urban, Joseph Laucius, and Taylor Early – 680 pts

 

The Lunatic was thoroughly stomped – once Duke was beat, his picks sadly fell all the way to 187th place.  One of the most complete stompings in memory!!!!  Well done by everyone!!!!!!!!!!!!

What a fantastic tournament – so many close games!  So many surprises!  And such a deserving champion – the Virginia Cavaliers!!!!!!  As always, a huge thank you to all of you for making this such a fun tournament and giving me the chance to rant and rave about this great game of college basketball.

Congratulations again to Jim Carini – our 2019 Stomp the Lunatic Champion, Brody Atkinson – our Upset Pool Champion and Sam Luy – our Second Chance Pool Champion!!!!!!!   And congratulations again to the Virginia Cavaliers – our 2019 NCAA Men’s Basketball Champion!!!!!!

 

Matt Mooney started the overtime off hot – after Virginia’s Hunter hit a couple free throws, Mooney drilled a three-pointer and a tough jumper in the lane to give the Red Raiders a 73-70 lead. And then the Virginia Cavaliers went on a 11-0 run to run away with the title.

Kyle Guy started the scoring off after getting fouled on a drive to cut the lead to 1. Then, DeAndre Hunter hit yet another three pointer from the sideline to get the lead to 2 points.

Mooney missed a three pointer to try to take the lead with 1 minute 40 seconds, and Jerome missed his shot after draining another 30 seconds off the clock. As the rebound gets tipped out, it gets chased out all the way to the Texas Tech side of the court. Davide Moretti got to the ball first but Hunter knocks the ball out of bounds off Moretti’s hand to get the ball back.

This time after draining the clock, Jerome got fouled driving to the basket and hit two free throws to extend the lead to 4. And that was it – each missed shot by the Red Raiders led to two more free throws for the Cavaliers. Even when Texas Tech finally scored with 16 seconds, Virginia finds Braxton Key all alone for a breakaway dunk.

So the Cavaliers continue to add dramatics to the tournament. With 17 seconds left in the Elite 8, they were down 3 to Purdue before the heroics from Mamadi Diakite. With 17 seconds left in the Final Four, they were down 4 to Auburn before the heroics from Kyle Guy. And with 17 seconds left tonight, they were down 3 to Texas Tech before the heroics from DeAndre Hunter.

Can you remember a team that was able to overcome so much as this Virginia Cavaliers team? Remember, my obsession on the Purdue game suggested that teams up 3 that late in the game win at least 92 percent of the time. So, at 8 percent per game, the probability of coming back from down 3 in the last seconds three straight games is 0.05%.

But would you expect anything less from a team that had the most historic loss in the history of the tournament when they lost last year to #16 seed UMBC. Well, the Cavaliers might not be able to erase history but they can write their own – and this history will remember the Virginia Cavaliers as the 2019 NCAA National Champions.

Congratulations to the Virginia Cavaliers!!!!!! They have won their first ever National Championship – they refused to lose despite the odds.

Would you expect anything less out of this tournament!!!!!! DeAndre Hunter was hot early to give the Cavaliers a 10 point lead – but as the first half, Texas Tech came back.

First, Davide Moretti hit a three pointer with 1 1/2 minutes to cut Virginia’s lead to one. Then, Norense Odiase blocked Hunter driving in the lane to give the Red Raiders the ball. Then, with 35 seconds, the Big 12 player of the year Jarrett Culver made an incredible drive to the basket to give the Red Raiders the lead. After a Ty Jerome missed runner in the lane, Norense Odiase extended the Red Raiders lead to 3.

But Virginia lives for being down 3 late, this time it was Ty Jerome driving down the lane and kicking it out to DeAndre Hunter in the corner for the game-tying three-pointer with 12 seconds.

Texas Tech got two tries to win the game. Culver missed a three pointer and Hunter rebounded it. But when Hunter tried to kick the ball out to Kyle Guy, Guy was trying to call timeout. So, Texas Tech got one more shot with a second left, but Culver’s three pointer is blocked by Virginia’s Braxton Key – we are heading to overtime

Both team’s defenses were on display to start as both teams struggled to get started. But then Virginia jumped out to a 10 point lead on a few nice three pointers by Ty Jerome and Kyle Guy and some nice drives that led to free throws for DeAndre Hunter.

But you had to know Texas Tech would punch back – but as March does, you would never expect who. For the Red Raiders, it was their bench as Brandone Francis and Kyler Edwards came and hit three three-pointers to bring them back.

Both teams at this point went back and forth to keep the game close – but on the last possession of the half, Virginia found Ty Jerome open at the top of the key for a three-pointer to give the Cavaliers a 32-29 halftime lead.

Considering these teams play possession basketball, it might not turn into a high scoring game – but it is likely to be close. Should be an exciting second half!!!!!

Once again – I will start by saying that I am biased – while I love a good underdog story, I can’t root for the underdog when one of their ex-coaches is possibly going to jail for bribery charges – that include the recruitment of players currently on the roster.

But lets address the calls.

I have heard the foul on Kyle Guy shooting the three-pointer is controversial.  It certainly is not controversial.  The Auburn player clearly jumps towards Guy as he is shooting instead of jumping straight up vertically, and he clearly hits Guy in the leg impacting the shot and impacting Guy’s ability to come straight down after the shot – it was not just a little contact, he clearly jumped into him.  It is a foul.

I have heard the comment that the referees have been letting them play all game – so they can’t call it at that point.  While I can understand that argument, it is wrong.  Lets  take a totally fictional example – say that you walk into a store each day and steal a piece of candy – and a couple times, you notice that the store owner even sees you do it and says nothing – making you feel more comfortable to keep doing it (this would not likely happen – but lets say it did).  Are we really trying to say that it is not OK for the store owner to catch you doing it again and finally one of these days call the police because you are shoplifting.

Sure, the Auburn player didn’t commit a misdemeanor crime.  Samir Doughty made the common mistake of jumping into a shooter.  The shooter did not initiate contact like someone driving to the basket.  The defender might have only barely hit his legs, but the defender initiated contact and impact the shot because of it.  That is a foul.

Could the game have been different if the referees had called the game tighter – absolutely.  There was a point in the game where I watched Virginia drive to the basket and get knocked to the ground – and then watched Auburn come down the court, drive to the basket and get knocked to the ground.  To the point that I said out loud, “I don’t think there is going to be a foul called in this game at this point.”   Who knows who hits the free throws if the game is called tighter.  The ending becomes totally different – the multiple fouls to stop the clock definitely would not have happened.

BUT IT IS STILL A FOUL!!!!!!  Maybe Auburn was unlucky that the referee decided that the foul impacted too much of the shot and had to call it.  But Auburn can not claim the referee stole the game from them because of this – they clearly fouled Guy.

Now – lets get to what I think is a better argument.  I still don’t agree, but it is a better argument.  The infamous double dribble.  I will be honest – I could never be a referee – because in real-time, I didn’t notice it.  I saw Ty Jerome lose the ball, get to it first, and continue to dribble down the court.  As both players went towards the loose ball, I totally missed Jerome putting both hands on the ball.  It is totally clear in the replay video that he put both hands on the ball.  It is a double dribble.  Without a doubt.  The referee totally missed the call.

I am not going to use the excuse that double dribbles are never called – lets face it, players take multiple steps when they drive to the basket and they get away with it.  To the same as above, that doesn’t mean it isn’t a violation and a turnover.  If the referee had the benefit of the game being slowed down and could see multiple angles, the referee clearly would need to call Jerome for a double dribble.

But there is one problem that hurts Auburn fans argument here.  We are going back to the fact that if the referee saw in real-time what we saw in slow-motion, and the referee called it perfectly, Auburn wins the game.  I watched the video multiple times – the video from behind clearly shows that the ball is lost because it goes off the back of Jerome’s leg, not because the Auburn player knocked it away.  it also clearly shows that the Auburn player does not touch the ball before Jerome picks it up.  This means that Jerome can not pick up the ball with two hands and start dribbling again – it is a clear violation.

But if you are going to make an argument on perfect vision, you have to see the replay from the other side.  This shows that as the ball goes off Jerome’s leg and Jerome turns slightly to go after it, the Auburn defender grabs Jerome’s jersey and then reaches for his arm.  All before Jerome picks the ball back up in two hands.  The referee not only missed the double dribble, but they also missed the reaching in foul on Bryce Brown.  Auburn fans might not like this – but under their argument of perfect vision, the ball would have been Virginia’s ball out of bounds due to the foul.  It would be further from the basket, but they also would have had more time.  Who knows what happens – but you can’t say that Auburn would have won.  Virginia very easily could have made the same pass into the corner and Guy still gets fouled shooting a three.

It was a heart-breaking way to lose a game.  I know – I watched my own team have their 6 seconds of infamy at the hands of the Cavaliers.  And Purdue struggled with Virginia’s physical play and it cost them offensive rebound after offensive rebound – including the tip-out off the missed FT.  But the referees did not steal the game from my Boilers for not calling an over-the-back penalty – Virginia came back and won the game.  They earned it.   And while it is painful, the referees did not steal the game from Auburn.  They fouled Kyle Guy at the buzzer – and he hit three free throws to win the game.

The Auburn coach in the after-minutes of the game was upset that the foul called at the end wasn’t called throughout the game.  But after having more time to think about it – he said the truth.  Virginia won the game.  Talking about the missed calls takes away the amazing game that Ty Jerome had to give Virginia the lead.  It takes away the amazing three pointers that Bryce Brown hit to bring Auburn back from double digits and give them the lead.  It was a great game – and Virginia survived and advanced.

It is hard as a fan – trust me, since I can’t believe that I am still stinging a little from Purdue’s loss to Virginia.  But saying this is a controversial ending and Auburn should have won does a true injustice to the amazing plays that both teams made.

OK – I have ranted long enough.  We are about 10-15 minutes from tip-off.  Two deserving teams in  Big 12 champion Texas Tech and ACC champion Virginia are about to play for the 2019 National Championship.  And by the end of the night, there will be another hero in the storied history of March Madness – who will have led his school to their first ever national championship.  It doesn’t get much better than this!!!!!

Enjoy the championship game!!!!!

This is one of my standard blog posts that I have been struggling with writing.  But part of the reason is typically, we grade the conferences based on expectations.  The seeds help us determine which teams have over-performed and which teams have under-performed.  So, what do you do when the expectations are out-of-whack.  Is it fair to create grades where the conference that won the most games in the tournament performed the worst.  But at the end of the day, life is not fair – we will do the best that we can.

Big 10 (13 wins – 10 expected) – A.  The Big 10 gets my best grade, and yet I can only give an A.  The Big 10 had 5 teams out-perform expectations.  Iowa, Minnesota and Ohio State were all supposed to lose in the first round and they pulled the Upset.  Purdue was supposed to get knocked out in the Sweet 16, and they came 6 seconds away from the Final 4.  And Michigan State were able to beat the unbeatable Duke Blue Devils.  So – why is this not an A+.  Because once again, the Big 10 failed to get over the hump and win the championship.  The conference has the stigma of a conference with tons of good teams and no great teams – they wanted to win the tournament to remove that stigma and the path was clear once Michigan State took down Duke.  And then it was closed by Texas Tech’s amazing defense.  So, the tournament showed how deep this conference is – but they are still looking for greatness.

Big 12 (8 wins – 7 expected) – A-.  The Big 12 jumps to an A thanks to their conference champion Texas Tech.  They were supposed to go away in the Sweet 16 and here they are playing for the championship.  And at this point, after the way they completely stopped Michigan State, could anyone be surprised if the Red Raiders win the whole thing.  Baylor and Oklahoma also surprised with slight upsets as 9 seeds.  And considering how well Auburn did, I am not sure I can punish Kansas too much for falling a round short to the Tigers.  But Iowa State did lose unexpectedly to Ohio State, and #4 Kansas State’s trip to the Sweet 16 never got off the ground when they had the biggest upset seed-wise of the tournament to UC-Irvine.  Still, from an expectation stand-point, no one expected the Big 12 to be in the Final – the top of this conference carries their grade.

Pac 12 (4 wins – 0.5 expected) – A-. The Pac 12 was supposed to be eliminated from the tournament after the first round.  The 0.5 expected win was from the First 4 play-in that Arizona State won.  But then Washington upset Utah State to make the second round.  And Oregon – who would not even have been invited to the tournament if they had not won the automatic bid – ended up in the Sweet 16.  The Pac 12 really wasn’t supposed to win a game – and each of their 3 teams won a game.  So, why is this an A-.  Because at the end of the day, the Pac 12 is a major conference.  And major conferences don’t consider success having their best team eliminated in the Sweet 16.  They showed that they are more talented than expected, but you can’t be excited about 4 wins when the other major players are winning double digit games.

SEC (12 wins – 11 expected) – B+.  Auburn as a 5 seed was supposed to be gone by the end of the second round.  Except the SEC toAurnament champions had different plans – as they knocked off #1 seed North Carolina, conference rival #2 seed Kentucky, and almost took out Virginia in the Final 4.  Other than Texas Tech, no team has exceeded expectations more than Auburn.  Florida also pulled an upset to get to the second round.  Kentucky (Elite 8) and LSU (Sweet 16) met what are pretty tough expectations.  And Tennessee came overtime away from meeting its lofty expectations of the Elite 8.  Ole Miss did get upset in an 8-9 game by Oklahoma, and Mississippi State fell victim to the classic 5/12 upset to Liberty – but there are really not a lot of blemishes.  So why not an A.  Well, the grader of this class is biased.  And as well as Auburn and LSU did, I can’t stop thinking about the fact that their coaches (and thus, current players) broke the rules by paying their players.

American (3 wins – 3.5 expected) – B.  UCF may have only performed 1 game over expectations by winning their 8/9 game – but they came inches away from pulling off the biggest upset of the tournament against Duke.  And for a smaller conference like the American conference, while Houston was expected to get to the Sweet 16, it is a big deal for a school like Houston to get to the Sweet 16.  If Cincinnati had not been upset by Iowa, this would have been an even more impressive tournament for the American.

West Coast (3 wins – 4 expected) – B.  This is an unfair conference to grade.  But I will.  St. Mary’s wasn’t supposed to win a game – and they lost to Villanova.  And then there is Gonzaga – who was only down 2 points to the Red Raiders with 12 seconds in their attempt to meet expectations of a Final Four.  So, why is this a B – because while Gonzaga might not want to admit it – they are still part of a mid-major conference.  And mid-major conferences having teams in the Elite 8 is an incredible performance – regardless of what the seeds say.

A couple more conferences before we get to the elephant in the room.

Big East (1 win – 2.5 expected) – D.  The Big East like the Pac 12 is considered a major conference.  But based on their 4 teams seeds, they do not look like a major conference.  Then, when Villanova is the only team that wins a game, and the top seed from the conference in Marquette gets upset by a 12 seed in Murray State (and doesn’t even look competitive against that 12 seed), it is a bad tournament.  The Big East is a proud conference that includes last year’s champion – not getting a team out of the second round is a disappointment for them – even if the seeds say that is what should have happened.

Ohio Valley (2 wins – 0.5 expected) – A.  It doesn’t feel right to give the Ohio Valley the only A+ with only 2 wins.  But lets be really clear here.  It is incredible that this mid-major conference got an at-large team in Belmont into the tournament.  But past that, both Belmont and Murray State won a game in this tournament.  The Ohio Valley champion typically is just happy getting a chance to play in the tournament.  This year, the Ohio Valley’s two teams did more than just play – they won.  That deserves a ton of praise – even if it is only 2 wins.  Both Belmont and Murray State belonged in the tournament, and they backed it up.

OK – here we go…………

ACC (14 wins – 21 expected) – C.  I still don’t know if this grade is fair.  Lets be honest.  If your conference was expected to win 10 games and you only won 3, this grade would be an F.  How can I give a conference that finished 7 games below expectations a C.  Unless Virginia wins the championship tonight, not a single team in the ACC will have performed above expectations.  Well, part of the problem with expectations is the ACC entered the tournament with 3 #1 seeds.  Duke, Virginia and UNC were supposed to all be playing in Minneapolis on their way to 15 wins in the tournament.  (Let that sink in, those 3 teams were expected to win more games than any of the other conferences that were placing 7 and 8 teams).  Sure, Louisville and Syracuse bombed out – they were supposed to get past the First Round and they were upset by Minnesota and Baylor.  The middle of the conference did pretty well.  Florida State and Virginia Tech were expected to make the Sweet 16 as #4 seeds, and they did exactly that.  And Virginia Tech almost beat Duke in the Sweet 16 – which would have been pretty impressive, but wouldn’t have impacted the conference’s number of wins.  But UNC got blown out in the Sweet 16 by Auburn.  When you are a 1 seed, you are not supposed to be blown out by anyone, especially not in the Sweet 16 – that was rough.  And Duke was supposed to win the whole tournament – and they barely snuck by UCF and Virginia Tech before finally coming up against a team they couldn’t sneak past in Michigan State.  I can’t give them an F – they had 5 teams in the Sweet 16 and won more games than any conference in the tournament.  Regardless of what Virginia does tonight, the ACC is still the best conference in college basketball.  But I can’t give them an A either.  They were supposed to absolutely dominate this tournament – Duke was supposed to be unstoppable with Zion Williamson and RJ Barrett, and they were supposed to be joined in the Final 4 by the two conference regular-season champions.  And if it wasn’t for an amazing last second comeback against Purdue, the best conference in the country almost didn’t have a team in the Final 4 when they were supposed to have 3.  And that team needed last second heroics to get past Auburn to get to the championship.  Virginia might very well defend the ACC’s honor and win the National Championship.  But Virginia being in the championship game is the only thing that makes this a passing grade for the ACC.

That being said, I will go back to the Selection Committee on this one – as I said before, I have to give the Selection Committee a lot of credit for sticking to their guns about the fact that they are seeding teams not conferences.  If they think the best 3 teams in the country are Duke, Virginia and UNC – then, those teams should all get #1 seeds.  But I think this tournament is the cautionary tale of why while that is a great principle, the selection committee is wrong – we have to also seed conferences.  Michigan State had the same number of losses and one more victory than UNC, and won both the Big 10 conference regular season and conference tournament title.  Texas Tech at 26-6 had the same number of losses as UNC and one less victory that the Tar Heels and won the Big 12 conference – somehow, that was only worthy of a 3 seed.  The SEC had 3 teams that had records that were the same or slightly better than Texas Tech and UNC (LSU, Tennessee and Kentucky).  There is great basketball being played in all the conferences – and while it is easy to get blinded by the fact that the ACC is still the best conference in the country, you can’t simply give them all the protected seeds.  The other conference champions have shown they also have earned that right – and they have demonstrated through their success in the tournament that whether the selection committee seeds them in a way that gives them a harder road, they are still champions, and champions rise to the top.  Maybe it doesn’t matter – if the champions will rise to the top no matter who they play, then I guess it doesn’t matter if the Selection Committee gives them a 2, 3 or 4 seed.  But it certainly doesn’t feel fair.  Just like the ACC getting a C in this article for having the most victories in the tournament and a chance to win the National Championship – sadly, life is not always fair.

Matt Mooney has played at three schools – he started his college career at Air Force – the only school willing to give him a scholarship.  That season ended with an off-court injury, and he decided to sit out a season and transfer to South Dakota.  There, he led South Dakota in scoring for two seasons, but watched as South Dakota State would knock them out in the conference tournament.  Then, his coach decided to leave to take the job at Utah State, and so he decided to transfer as well to give him self one last chance to play in the tournament.  As a graduate transfer, he could play immediately – and he chose to come to Texas Tech.  And in the second half of the game against Michigan State, the graduate transfer hit multiple three-pointers on his way to 22 points and to stretch the Red Raiders lead to 48-35.

Jarrett Culver was a three-star recruit out of high school – he had multiple schools recruiting him but nothing like the attention that the one-and-done stars get.  In his sophomore year, he is now getting attention from NBA scouts as he was the Big 12 Player of the Year.  But in this game, Michigan State had shut him down.  With only 3 minutes left in the game, Culver only had 3 points.  And at this point, Aaron Henry from the Spartans drove into the lane strong and hit a layup to cut the Texas Tech lead to 52-51.

But star players want the ball – and Culver is a star.  First, Culver drove to the basket with a floater to extend the Red Raiders lead to 3.  Then, with 1 1/2 minutes left, Culver drove to the basket and was fouled – hitting one of the two free throws to extend the lead to 4.  And finally, with one minute left in the game, Culver got the ball at the top of the key, let the shot clock come down, and then made a quick move towards the basket, stepped back and drilled a dagger three-pointer that extended the lead to 7 points.

Meanwhile, Texas Tech’s amazing defense continued to baffle Michigan State – they would not score in those final 3 minutes after Henry had cut the lead to 1 and Culver had extended the lead back to 7.  The Red Raiders would hit a few more free throws and won the game 61-51.

This whole tournament, Texas Tech has played with a chip on their shoulder – as they mentioned that no one would believe that they would do well in this tournament.  Even in the Lunatic pool, despite being a 3 seed and being the Big 12 champion, only 5 entries picked the Red Raiders to get to the championship game, and none of them picked the Red Raiders to win.  Let that sink in – a Big 12 champion who was the 3 seed in the West and the 10th overall seed in the tournament – was chosen by no one to win the pool – not even as a crazy upset.  While people felt Gonzaga might be a 1 seed that could be upset – many were looking for Michigan or Florida State to pull that upset – not Texas Tech.  But it is the Red Raiders who are still playing.

So, in their first ever Final 4, the Big 12 champion Texas Tech Red Raiders will play the ACC champion VIrginia for the National Championship.  Either way, on Monday, one of these two schools will win their first National Championship in school history.  And with both teams being tough, physical, defensive-minded teams, it should be a close exciting game.  Can’t wait for Monday night!!!!!