Stomp The Lunatic

West Virginia ended a wild Sunday of basketball where they were determined not to fall to the upset bug that was happening, as they beat Marshall 94-71.

This created something that I don’t remember seeing in the pool.  We have an 11 way tie for first place – as Josh Martin, Butch Bisese, Christy Lindvall, Edward Zhang, Alex Simon, Andrew Braslow, Bob Degenhardt, Steve Martin, Michelle L Miller, and both of Andrea Zimmerman’s picks are in the lead at 440 points, with another 6 entries (and my 2 fun entries of the Sagarin and BPI picks) just 10 points behind.  To make it even more crazy, 5 of our 11 leaders can’t correctly predict this year’s tournament winner.  With the scores so close and with so many upsets, there are a lot of people who are within striking distance to win the pool.

In the Upset Pool, Christy Lindvall has a decent sized lead as she has accumulated 239 points.  Triona Weeks is in second at 202 points, followed by Joe Chapman and Edward Zhang at 191 and Alex Simon at 190.

The Lunatic is hovering in 45th place – but with both Virginia and North Carolina out, he is stuck hoping that Villanova or Purdue will win the East and then the whole tournament.  Of course, he is also being beaten by his daughter Katie with her entry called Pink Sparkly Unicorns.

This morning, Charlie asked me how he was doing, and after letting him know that he was slightly ahead of Katie and I, Katie asked where she was – and I told her she was 60 points behind the leaders – tied with me.  She responded with the question, “Are points good or bad?”  So you know that she is probably destined to beat me with her picks of where Grandpa and Grandma went to school vs. the ones I poured hours of analysis into.

Whether you picked based on analysis or schools you simply like, my guess is you also had your bracket crushed today.   But you are not completely done – that is because all of us get a second chance.   The Second Chance Pool is up and ready for you – simply login to get to the Second Chance Pool entry page.

Good luck to everyone in Stomping the Lunatic!!!!!

 

 

Florida State after playing a tight first half found themselves down to #1 Xavier by as many as 12 with just 10 minutes to play.   But on crazy bracket busting Sunday, no lead is safe.  The Seminoles kept cutting down the lead – getting it down to 4 with 4 minutes to play.  Then, on their next two possessions, Mfiondu Kabengele would get the offensive rebound off a missed shot, and lay the ball in to tie the game.

Xavier would retake the lead 70-68 as Paul Scruggs was fouled on a drive and hit two free throws.   Then, after an offensive foul on Florida State, Xavier has the ball stolen by Trent Forrest, and in transition, Forrest kicks the ball out to PJ Savoy, who drains a three pointer to give Florida State the lead 71-70.

Florida State’s Braian Angola stole the ball on the next possession.  Xavier tried to trap PJ Savoy to steal the ball, but instead foul him.  Savoy hits both free throws and they are now up 3.   Then, in a strange possession with only 22 seconds left, Xavier shows no urgency at all – almost walking up the court.   They eventually set up a play that gets Kerem Kanter a wide open three pointer, but he throws up an air ball.  Now forced to foul, Florida State’s CJ Walker gets to the line and hits the final two free throws, and the top seed in the West is going home.

Florida State joins Kansas State as 9 seeds who won today.   The Wildcats played a tight game with Cinderella darling #16 seed UMBC – but eventually started pulling away at the end to win by 9 and ending the Retrievers upset streak.  So, if your bracket hadn’t been destroyed by the top 4 seeds all losing in the South, the West responded with both UNC and Xavier losing tonight.

Its going to be a wide open tournament!!!!!

Earlier today, one of the ACC teams that tied for 3rd in the conference standings, North Carolina, went up against the SEC’s Texas A&M, who went 9-9 to finish in a tie for 7th in their conference.  Because the ACC is so strong, and UNC went all the way to their conference tournament finals, the Tar Heels ended up being a 2 seed.  Of course, we know that the Aggies went and totally destroyed the Tar Heels.

So, later tonight, one of the ACC teams that tied for 3rd in the conference standings but was not considered as good as UNC got ready to play their Round of 32 game.  The #5 seeded Clemson Tigers would be the underdog – as they go against #4 Auburn, the SEC regular season co-champions.  So, of course, after seeing what Texas A&M did, you would have to figure that Clemson might be in a little bit of trouble.

So, with 8 minutes left in the game, Clemson finds themselves up 75-37.  Because that makes total sense.  Clemson blows out the SEC regular-season champion, and the better team from the ACC goes down by 21 to the SEC bubble team.  You have to love March!!!!

The Wolfpack found themselves down 22 points with just 11:34 left in the game.  But funny things happen in March, and Nevada produced a comeback for the ages.  Because Nevada finished the game on a 32-8 run.

That’s right, the Wolfpack made a huge run – and after Cincinnati’s Cane Broome hit two free throws to make the game a 5 point game, Jordan Caroline made a layup to cut the lead to 3 points.  With 57 seconds left, Caleb Martin hit a three pointer with someone in his face to tie the game.  And Cincinnati’s Jacob Evans missed on his drive – so the Wolfpack had a chance to take the lead.

Nevada’s Cody Martin let the shot clock run down, drove to the free throw line and stepped back for a jumper.  The shot ended up missing, but Josh Hall got the offensive rebound, and instead of kicking the ball out to make sure the Wolfpack got the last shot, he decided to make the play of the game, he made one dribble in the lane to the basket, and put up the shot that rolled in and gave Nevada its first lead of the game.

Cincinnati got one more chance to tie or win the game – but they were unable to score.  And so the Wolfpack led the game for 10 seconds.  But it was the correct 10 seconds – the ones that will send Nevada to Atlanta for the Sweet 16.

And at this point, one of the following teams will win the South Region – #7 Nevada will play #11 Loyola – Chicago, and #5 Kentucky will play the winner of the #9 Kansas St / #16 UMBC.   I am sure everyone had that in their brackets…..

Purdue had built an 8 point lead with 4 minutes to play, but no lead is comfortable or safe in the NCAA Tournament.  Sure enough, the Butler Bulldogs slowly started chipping away at the lead, cutting it all the way down to 2 points.  But despite a few Boilermaker turnovers, Butler couldn’t get any closer thanks to some awesome defense – including a fantastic block by Vince Edwards on a drive by Kamar Baldwin.

So, the Boilers have the ball with 27 seconds left nursing their 2 point lead.  And after running some time off the clock, Ryan Cline passes the ball to Dakota Mathias at the top of the key, and the senior drains a huge three pointer to ice the game.

Purdue might have been without their big man Isaac Haas.  But Matt Haarms and Jacquil Taylor played great to fill the void in the center.  And all three of Purdue’s other starting seniors, Mathias, Vince Edwards, and PJ Thompson all scored in double digits to pull out a victory and head to the Sweet 16.

BOILER UP!!!!!

At the end of the night, we have a three way tie for the lead, as Andrew Braslow, Bob Degenhardt, and Michelle Miller are all at 400 points.  Dave Evans and Jack are just 10 points behind, and 11 entries are tied just 20 points behind.

As for the Upset Pool, Christy Lindvall is still ahead with 183 points.  Christy is followed by Triona Weeks, Andrew Braslow, and Lauren Martin at 170 points, and Bob Degenhardt at 168.

Right now, 106 entries are stomping the Lunatic – including being beat by his son, Charlie (which will make him happy) and being tied by his daughter, Katie (which probably won’t make her nearly as happy as knowing that on Monday she can start watching her shows again).  But to show how competitive this pool is, the Lunatic is only 60 points back – so there are lots of opportunities for changes in the standings (probably more for all those others – we know the Lunatic will eventually be stomped).  And we have 8 more exciting games to help decide that.

 

This game felt like a slugfest with foul after foul.  Mortiz Wagner made a layup with a little under 2 minutes left to give the Wolverines the lead.   And they made a defensive stop.  But on their next possession, they were called for a foul on the defensive rebound.  This gave Houston’s Devin Davis a chance to give the Cougars the lead from the free throw line with no time coming off the clock.

Muhammad-Ali Abdur-Rahkman missed a jumper down the lane and Charles Matthews almost tipped it in.   But when Devin Davis grabbed the missed tip-in, he was fouled by Matthews.  This time, Davis only hit one of the two free throws – extending the Cougars lead to 2 with 25 seconds.

Abdur-Rahkman drove down the lane again, makes a pretty good move to get a chance at a layup, but can’t make it – and once again, Devin Davis gets the rebound.  With 4 seconds left in the game, it looks like the Cougars are going to win the game.

But Davis misses both free throws and Michigan calls time out.  Abdur-Rahkman gets the in-bounce pass around mid-court, dribbles once and rifles a pass over to Jordan Poole.   And the freshman drains a last second three point shot with a defender in his face to win the game 64-63.

It might not have been a pretty game for Michigan.   But Poole’s three-pointer was an incredible ending to the game.  And at the end of the day, Michigan survives and advances.

Texas Tech and Florida played a pretty tight game all the way through.  Florida had just tied the game up at 64 with about three minutes to play.  But Keenan Evans would not let the Gators finish the comeback.

Evans drilled a three pointer to give the Red Raiders back the lead, and then built that lead to 5 with a nice drive to the lane where he drew in the defense and passed it to Zhaire Smith for a dunk.

Florida’s Chris Chiozza quickly drove down the lane and cut the lead back to three with a layup.  And then, Jalen Hudson stole the inbounce pass to give the Gators a chance to tie the game.  But Egor Kouechov and KeVaughn Allen missed three pointers from the corner, and the Red Raiders survive and advance.

One more game tonight, and so far, only Loyola – Chicago has been able to crash the party.  But #3 Michigan and #6 Houston are tied with about 15 1/2 minutes to play.  Will the Wolverines be able to join the other top seeds into the Sweet 16?