Stomp The Lunatic

It looked like a sure thing with just about 3 1/2 minutes in the game as Loyola’s Marques Townes hit a free throw to extend their lead to 60-51.   But Tennessee would not go away.

First, Jordan Bowden hit a three pointer to cut the lead to 6.  Loyola’s Ben Richardson hit one of two free throws to make the lead 7.  Then, Jordan Bowe drove hard to the basket to cut the lead to 5.  And with just under 2 minutes, Lamonte Turner hit a three pointer to cut the lead to 2.  Both teams played great defense for the next minute and a half to set the stage.  Tennessee has the ball with 28 seconds and down 2 points.

So, Tennessee did what any team would do in that situation – get the ball to their best player.  The Volunteers got the ball into SEC Player of the Year Grant Williams who drove to the basket, made the layup despite being fouled, and then hit the free throw to give the Volunteers a surprising one point lead.   Then, Williams made a great steal attempt with 10 seconds as the ball went out of bounds, but the replay would show that the ball goes off Williams hand – giving the Ramblers one last chance.

So, the Ramblers did what any team would do in that situation – get the ball to their best player.  Loyola inbounded the ball into Missouri Valley Conference Player of the Year Clayton Custer.  Custer got the ball in the backcourt, brought the ball up and drove down the lane.  He shoots up a runner from the side of the lane and the ball floats up to hit the front of the rim, bounce off the backboard, and softly falls through the basket.

Tennessee would get one last desparation three pointer off before the buzzer, but Jordan Bowe’s shot missed wide.   And Loyola – Chicago wins the game 63-62.  The Ramblers are heading to Sweet 16.

Buffalo has cut Kentucky’s 9 point half time lead (that was in the double digits multiple times) down to 4.  And Loyola – Chicago has come back from Tennessee’s initial run to take the lead.   Go mid-majors!!!!   Lets continue to blow up the South Region!!!!

For all of us who had Virginia, you know you want to see UMBC, Buffalo, Loyola and Nevada in the Sweet 16.  If you can’t score any points, why not root for the whole region to break down.  GO CINDERELLA!!!

I think the UMBC games has put a scare into all the top teams – because they are coming out strong.   Villanova ran away from Alabama in the second half, Duke never let Rhode Island get close, Kentucky has been strong in the first half against Buffalo, and Tennessee has jumped out to an early lead against Loyola – Chicago.

Doesn’t lead to exciting watching of basketball games (well, unless you are fans of Villanova, Duke, Kentucky or Tennessee – then it is the most awesome basketball game ever).  But it does lead to a more comfortable day of watching the games and not thinking about how badly your bracket will get destroyed today.  🙂

Vegas did predict the evening games would be a little closer – so maybe we will still have some excitement – even if it is simply a game that is close.

Upsets are going on all the place.   Remember how so many experts said that Syracuse didn’t belong in the tournament.  Each year, a First Four team that everyone says doesn’t belong responds to the criticism with a victory in Dayton followed by at least a victory in the First Round.   This year, that team is the Syracuse Orange!!!!

They have a tough next opponent in Michigan State – but at this point, who knows what Cinderella will do.

And UMBC didn’t just pull the amazing upset – they destroyed the #1 team in the country.   The Retrievers just won 74-54 against Virginia – destroying so many of our brackets.

Senior Jarius Lyles went 9-11 from the field to score 28 points against the #1 defense in the country.  And UVa looked lost on offense – by the time they started scoring some points at the end of the game, it was too late.

Then, as the Cavaliers moved away from the defense that they are good at in order to press, the Retrievers simply kept going to the basket and scoring.

Just unbelievable.  To put this in perspective, the America East champion had only one top 100 RPI win – a road win against #60 Vermont in the America East Conference Tournament Final to win them their invitation to the dance.  Their other Quadrant 1 and 2 games were a 25 point loss to Arizona, a 15 point loss to Vermont, a 21 point loss to Maryland, a 18 point loss to Vermont, and a 11 point loss to SMU.

So, of course, it makes sense that they come and shoot lights out against the Cavaliers typically smothering defense.

I just don’t know what else to say – UMBC has just made history and shocked the entire college basketball world.  Congratulations to the Retrievers for winning the biggest game in their school’s history, and changing the entire landscape of the 2018 NCAA Championship.

After being tied at halftime, #16 seed University of Maryland – Baltimore County has jumped out to an 11 point lead over Virginia – and will come back from the TV time out shooting 3 free throws.

After so much chalk has won throughout the last two days, can the #1 National Seed actually become the first top seed to lose to a 16 seed.

Even better – the announcer just mentioned that UMBC has only 1 victory against a power 6 conference team in the history of its school.

Lots of brackets are in danger of being busted for a moment in history no 1 seed ever wanted to have happen.   I am sorry for lots of my friends who are probably crazy nervous right now.  I can’t decide what I want right now – I have the Cavaliers in the Final 4, and yet, how can you root against Cinderella…..

It had seemed like a really good day.  Purdue had comfortably won their game against CSU Fullerton, which made me happy.   Then, #13 Marshall upset Wichita State to become the second 13 seed to be playing in the Round of 32.  And as I was packing up my work computer to go home and get dinner for the family, I went to check the scores.  And popped up on the ESPN news feed was the horrible news.   Purdue’s star center Isaac Haas had fractured his elbow after a hard fall in the second half, and the injury would require surgery.  This would be the last game that the senior would play as a Boilermaker.

At first, all I could think about was how bad this was to the Boilermakers chances – when Haas is in the game, the offense often runs through him.  They dump the ball into the big man, and if the defense double teams him, he kicks it out to one of Purdue’s great three point shooters.  Leave him alone and he typically backs you up to the basket until he turns and lays the ball in softly off the backboard.

But then I thought about Isaac.  I have heard Isaac interviewed a few times and many stories about him, and he genuinely seems like just a really nice person.  He has dedicated his basketball to playing for his younger sister Erin who has epilepsy.  There is a really nice story that was written about Isaac in ESPN – http://www.espn.com/mens-college-basketball/story/_/id/18166926/purdue-boilermakers-isaac-haas-playing-cure-sister-epilepsy.

Purdue is a senior-laden team, and it has been a really special group of seniors.  Haas, Vince Edwards, Dakota Mathias and PJ Thompson can claim that their recruiting class has won more games at Purdue than any other group before them.

When Isaac Haas was on the floor, he was almost always the biggest player on the court.  But off the court, you would find that the best part about Haas was how big his heart was.  And so my heart is broken that his senior season was ended too early – he deserved to be out there with his teammates to try to make one last run at a Final Four.

My apologies – but I decided to wait until the morning and a few hours of sleep to ramble about the leaders.   Normally, I would do it immediately after the last game, but I went from flipping to the Florida / St. Bonaventure game to noticing that they had moved on to another television show – without remembering what happened (although Florida was comfortably ahead, so I figured the Gators had won – turns out, so did Michigan).

I did give our leader Laura her own post – going 16 for 16 is pretty amazing.   But she is not alone on the leaderboard.  Both Christy Lindvall and Craig Mize went 15-1 to be just 10 points behind in the Standard Pool.  And there are 14 other entries who are just 20 points behind because they went 14-2 on Thursday.

In the Upset pool, Laura obviously leads as well – when you get every game right, you get the max amount of points.  Christy is 2nd at 81 points just 6 behind, and Craig is 3rd at 74 points.  Rounding out the top 5 is Joe Chapman at 70 points and Stacy Dooms at 69 points.

The Lunatic’s sleep deprived picks are lurking in with the many people at 13-3.  However, I did lose a Sweet 16 team when Arizona got knocked out – as I picked the Wildcats to also beat Kentucky – based solely on my dislike for Calapari.   Although I will have to use one of my wife’s quotes from last night.  As Davidson was close and we were rooting for the upset (because how can you not root for the upset – well unless it is your school who is the favorite), she said, I am pretty sure I have Davidson in both my picks.   And when I said – wow, you picked Davidson to beat Kentucky, and she replied, “I’d rather lose than pick Kentucky.”   I’m not sure that the Lunatic will go that far, but it looks like at least for one game on Saturday, I might be in the same boat.  Unless of course Buffalo continues to play the way they did last night – go Bulls!!!!

Good luck to our leaders in keeping their picks so perfect.   And good luck to everyone in Stomping the Lunatic!!!!!!!!   Enjoy the games!!!!!