Stomp The Lunatic

The Lunatic was so excited that his handicapping went 8-0 yesterday.  And he is continuing with his trend from last year of doing outstanding on picking if the game will be under or over the totals.   So, this is probably right around the time that the picks go poorly.

That was much better than my bracketology that missed 3 teams.  But according to the evaluation process from the Bracket Matrix project, while getting crushed badly by most of the media bracketologists, I did somehow beat the Fox Sports one.  To be fair, I think that said more about how poorly the Fox Sports bracketologist did vs. how well I did – because I did awful.

Need something to be excited (other than the games that are about to start) if I am going to get stomped…..

Sam Brunner continues to hang onto the lead of the Standard Pool, but he now has company, as Brody Atkinson has tied him at 430 points.  And they have lots of folks close on their tails.  David Link is all alone in 3rd place at 420 points – just 10 points back.  And Ethan Busby, Brad Harding, Jocelyn Knox, Michael Urban, and Alan Miller are in a tie for 4th – just 20 points behind.

In the Upset Pool, Sam Brunner has claimed the lead of that as well – with 197 points.  Brody Atkinson has moved into 2nd at 183 points, Tanmay Gautam is in 3rd at 181 points, Murli Buluswar is in 4th at 180 points, and Jocelyn Knox is in 5th at 178 points.

The Lunatic has a good day on Saturday, as his picks have moved out of the far bottom of the pool – as his insane picks are now in a tie for 84th and his sane picks are in a tie for 127th – considering that I think at one point the sane picks were in the 300s on the standings, I will take moving up to respectability.

Should be a fun day of basketball on Sunday – 3 of the top 4 seeds are in play as Duke, Virginia and North Carolina will try to advance to the Sweet 16.  With so many upsets on Friday, many believe that you should see a lot of the favorites win today.  It’s a fair assumption – I would expect teams like Duke, Virginia, UNC, and Tennessee to be able to win today as well.  But if you are a top seed – you should beware.  These teams pulled upsets on Friday for a reason – they are dangerous.  If you come out thinking you will easily beat these teams, you might find yourself going home early.  And if you don’t believe that, the last game of the day should remind you – as #12 seed Oregon will play #13 seed UC-Irvine for a chance at the Sweet 16.  At this point in March, the numbers are meaningless – you are playing talented teams, and have to bring your best game if you want to make it to the Sweet 16.

Enjoy today’s games!!!!

I totally understand – especially since I was rooting for a blow-out so that I didn’t need to worry about Purdue.  But I have to admit, when it is not my team playing, and it is the only game left, and it is after 11 pm at night, I was really hoping that the game would be a little closer than 51-25 at halftime.

Not sure that I will be able to hang for the last 20 minutes – most of my energy has been spent happily cheering for my Boilers!!!!!

Carsen Edwards was amazing.  The Purdue defense was amazing.  Everything about what Purdue did today was simply amazing.  Playing against the defending national champion Villanova Wildcats, Purdue took a large first half lead and never took the foot off the gas – cruising to an 87-61 victory.

Edwards showed how he can totally take a game over – as he scored 42 points – making 9-16 three pointers.  There was simply no stopping him tonight.

I can’t begin to tell you how happy the Lunatic is – I might get Stomped, but I can still be happy that my Boilermakers are doing well this year!!!!!

Carsen Edwards is crazy hot, and so are the Boilers – who started the half hitting three pointer after three pointer, and ended the half with two huge dunks by Matt Haarms!!!!!

Thrilled to death with a 43-24 lead at the half – hope they keep the defensive pressure up and keep hitting three pointers!!!!!

BOILER UP!!!!!

Well, the blog has been a little bit quiet.  Part of that is it really hasn’t been that interesting to write about.

Kentucky survived against Wofford – in a game that was a defensive battle.  Wofford did a great job of slowing down the Wildcats, but unfortunately for them, Kentucky shut down their star player and that was enough to give them a 6 point victory.

Then, Florida State and Michigan came out and just throttled their double digit seeded opponents.  Florida at least stayed a little competitive with Michigan for a while until Michigan went on a run at the end of the game to finish off the Gators (but to be fair, they were still up 6-8 points most of the game before that run).  Murray State wasn’t as lucky – Florida State stopped Murray State’s hot start, and then never looked back.

So, going to get ready to help the kids with bed-time, and then turn on the game that I really want to see.  I sure hope the Boilers can beat the defending champion Villanova Wildcats.  It should be a great competitive game – although I would be much happier if it was more like the Florida State game (well – as long as Purdue is the team with the Florida State score….)

BOILER UP!!!!!!

 

Maryland was down big in the second half – and then, they started coming back.

The Terrapins even took the lead for a little bit.  It was definitely exciting.  With the game tied, Skylar Mays made two free thows with a 1:13 on the clock, and then on LSU’s next possession, drilled a three-pointer to give the Tigers a 3 point lead.

But Maryland would not back down – Anthony Cowen Jr drove to the lane and kicked the ball out to the corner, where Jalen Smith calmly sank a three-pointer to tie the game with 28 seconds – setting the stage for the final play.

Tremont Waters let the clock click down, drove to the basket, and hit an impressive under-handed lay-up while being contested by multiple Maryland players to win the game 69-67.

It makes me sad – it is very clear that LSU should be ineligible right now – their coach clearly stated on a federal wire-tap that he was paying a player and that he had done it before.  It wouldn’t surprise me if the entire starting lineup was paid to come to LSU.  You might be on the side that the players deserve to be paid – you might be on the side that everyone does it.  But at this point that is irrelevant.  It is against the rules, and LSU got caught.  Yet, LSU will continue to advance in the tournament.

If you just look at it from a pure basketball perspective, Waters made a very impressive basket to win the game.  But Karma should have ended this run to a championship.  It would be very tainted if it happens.

It is just the reality that the Lunatic has to live with. Not everyone can have a passion for the sport. I will eventually take over the TV when the kids go play – but for now, I am stuck watching LSU build a double digit lead on Maryland on my computer so that Katie can watch Ravens Home while she eats lunch. To provide you this blog post and still see parts of the game, I have to write this on my phone app – which is fine – just much slower.

But I wanted to add this since I thought it was funny. As many of my loyal blog readers know, my father-in-law Fred did his post-doc and taught for a while at Duke. That brings me to my sister-in-law, Mary Kate.

This morning, she was in Kohl’s wearing a Duke shirt, when some random stranger said something about the Blue Devils having a good day. She politely just nodded, but when she got home, she texted Elizabeth and her mom that she thought it was funny that someone was talking to her about sports.

You see, Mary Kate is a very nice person with lots of cool interests. But I can guarantee you that not only could she not tell you who Duke played yesterday, she probably also didn’t even know Duke had a game – she is not a college basketball fan.

So, that led Elizabeth to type back – you should have a conversation with Tom – in 2 hours he could get you caught up.

This prompted my mother-in-law, Kate to type – Only 2 hours – I doubt that. Maybe you could finish in 6 if you don’t ask any questions.   EDITOR’S NOTE:  The Lunatic’s mother-in-law is correct.  2 hours is totally not enough time to catch up.   We could probably finish in 6 – maybe.

Which prompted Mary Kate – that’s OK. I’d rather just burn the shirt….. While I am wearing it…..

That’s right – here I am trying to watch every last minute of basketball while I can, and my sister-in-law would rather set herself on fire than listen to even a word about the sport.

It is OK – everyone is allowed to have different passions. We still love you, Mary Kate – and I think they still love me. Maybe….. She did say that she would rather burn in fire than listen to me talk. That’s love, right???

Enjoy the games!!!!

The Hokies did finish off St. Louis – and the First Round is in the books.  And thanks to Upset Friday, that First Round saw 12 underdogs (a 13 seed, three 12 seeds, an 11 seed, three 10 seeds and all four 9 seeds) advance.

That’s why it was so impressive that our leader, Sam Brunner went 29-3 in the First Round to be the leader of the Standard Pool.  Sam only missed on Baylor, Ohio State and UC-Irvine to take a 20 point lead in the pool.  Brody Atkinson, Tanmay Gautam, Kyle Kelly (our 2013 Stomp the Lunatic Champion), John Greene, and Jocelyn Knox all did an impressive job of going 27-5 to be tied for 2nd.  And there is a group of 11 people just 30 points behind – going 26-6.

In the Upset Pool, Tanmay Gautum is our leader with 163 points.  He might have missed two more games from Sam – who is in second place with 159 points.  But he picked 13 seed UC-Irvine giving him the edge in the Upset Pool.  Kyle Kelly at 149 points, Dave Evans (our 2010 Upset Pool Champion) at 147 points and Murli Buluswar as 142 points rounded off the top 5 of the Upset Pool.

The Lunatic’s Crazy Picks are in a large pack at 22-10 – tied for 150th.  A thorough stomping so far.

But the points double for victories on Saturday and Sunday – so there is plenty of time to come back.   That is, assuming that the 12 underdogs didn’t take out one of the teams you had going far in your bracket.   🙂

Congratulations to all our leaders – it amazes me how constantly impressive all of you do at picking the games.  Having 17 entries go 26 out of 32 with this many upsets is really awesome!!!!!!   Good luck to everyone over the weekend!!!!!!

As one would have expected, UNC came out in the second half to run away from 16 seed Iona.  However, the other two favorites were not as fortunate.

In Tulsa, the 11 seed Ohio State Buckeyes nursed a small lead through most of the second half – led behind Kaleb Wesson’s 21 points and Keyshawn Woods’ 19 points.

But the Cyclones had cut the lead to one at the last TV timeout, and Marial Shayot hit a jumper to give Iowa St a one point lead with a little under 4 minutes to play.  But Ohio State wouldn’t back down.  Woods came right back down the court and made a jumper of his own to regain the lead, and then hit a three-pointer from the corner to increase the lead to 4 points.

Iowa State continued to try to come back, and with 23 second left, Lindell Wigginton hit a three-pointer to cut the lead to one.  Then, Iowa State almost stole the inbounce pass.  Ohio State eventually got the ball into their best FT shooter on the court – and Keyshawn Woods was fouled and hit both FTs.  Still – it is only a 3 point game.

But the Buckeyes committed a foul trying to fight through a screen – sending the Cyclone’s star, Shayot, to the line.  And the 88 percent FT shooter missed the front end of the one-and-one, forcing Iowa State to foul Buckeye’s big man Kaleb Wesson.

Of course, Wesson can’t ice the game – he misses his FT as well, leaving it as a three point game.  Iowa State drove down the court, got the ball into Nick Weller-Babb for a decent look at a three-pointer, but the shot missed – Ohio State got the rebound and managed to quickly pass the ball out of the lane to burn the last couple of seconds off the clock.

The Buckeyes advance the Big 10’s record to 7-1 in this tournament, and become the Big 10’s third double digit seed to advance – where they will play #3 Houston on Sunday.

 

Meanwhile, as I typed this the UCF Knights finished off the local hometown VCU Rams 73-58, giving upset Friday another underdog a victory.

So, that leaves Virginia Tech as the only team left.  Unlike the other three top seeds in the late games, they came out strong, and have maintained a double digit lead.  Just 4 minutes left to hang on -and the Hokies will be the last team to advance to the Round of 32.