March Madness 2023 - Magic Mike: Musselman Edition

Not interested in the recap?  Then go right to the spreadsheet, which you can access here.

Saturday marked the beginning of the second round.  Would the Cinderellas from Thursday (Princeton, Furman, and Penn State) have anything left in the tank to make it to the Sweet 16?  We'd get one answer right away as the first game of the day featured Furman taking on San Diego State.  The Paladins probably didn't need to change up the scouting report from round one as San Diego State played a style of basketball similar to Virginia.  (In retrospect, we may owe Furman a debt of gratitude as a San Diego State - Virginia round two matchup might have wound up with a score of 47-45).  But this game got off to a very different start for the Paladins.  With the game tied about 10 minutes in, Furman watched the Aztecs break the game open with 13 points in a row.  The lead would be 14 at the half and San Diego State would keep it above 20 for pretty much the remainder of the game.  Furman will be featured prominently in One Shining Moment after the championship game due to their amazing last-second victory against Virginia, but their tournament runs here with a 75-52 loss to San Diego State.

Perhaps the most compelling matchup of the day was up next.  Duke had won 10 in a row and was on the upswing.  Tennessee had been near the top of the rankings for most of the year, but limped into the tournament.  Their 3 point victory over Louisiana was not nearly as impressive as Duke's 23 point win over Oral Roberts in round one.  So the popular opinion going into this one was that Duke would be moving on to the Elite Eight, as a win here would make them a huge favorite in the next round against the winner of Fairleigh Dickinson and Florida Atlantic.  But Tennessee had other plans as they decided to bring Duke down "into the mud".   The Vols were going to make this game very physical from the outset and see how the Blue Devils reacted.  Tennessee's center committed two hard fouls on Duke star Kyle Filipowski in the first two minutes, likely as a message to the Blue Devils about how the next 38 minutes were going to play out.  The Vols refused to give an inch on the defensive end, taking Duke out of their offensive routine.  Tennessee wasn't doing much scoring either until the very end of the first half, when they scored the final 9 points to take a 27-21 lead into intermission.  The second half was the Olivier Nkamhoua show, as Duke had no answer for the Vols forward.  Nkamhoua put up 23 points in the second half alone, turning a tight game into a runaway.  Duke's win streak ends at 10 as Tennessee moves on to the Sweet 16 with a 65-52 victory.

It's not uncommon for a tournament team to be affected by medical issues.  There are several teams who worked around injuries to key players in their first round games.  But Kansas was dealing with a whole different issue altogether.  Coach Bill Self was diagnosed with a heart issue during the Big 12 tournament, causing him to miss the team's run to the championship game, where they fell to Texas.  His doctors advised him not to be on the sideline for the defending champions opener against Howard and despite his pleas to coach the team's second round game against Arkansas, he was overruled by doctors once again.  He'd have to watch his team on TV as they took on the dangerous Razorbacks, a team that had been to the Elite Eight the past two years and began this year ranked in the preseason Top 10.  Like North Carolina, Arkansas was one of the big disappointments of the season, but they did just enough to get into the tournament.  After dismantling Illinois in round one, they got one more chance to prove that the preseason chatter was justified.  Early on in this one, though, it was all Jayhawks.  The champs jumped out to a 13-4 lead and thwarted every run that the Razorbacks threatened to go on.  It began to feel like one of those games where the team that had jumped out in front would hold the other team at arms length the whole way.  But with 12 minutes left, Arkansas grabbed the momentum.  A 10-0 run tied the game up and suddenly Kansas looked like they had been hit with a jab and needed a standing 8 count.  From there, it was a back and forth affair.  Inside the final minute, it was tied.  Then Arkansas took the lead on a layup.  Kansas was fouled and sank two free throws to deadlock the score again.  The Razorbacks looked to go back on top and were fouled.  They made the first free throw, but missed the second.  However, the rebound went right back to the free throw shooter, who was fouled as he charged to the hoop a second time.  This time he made both free throws.  This unorthodox three point play was huge with only 21 seconds to go.  If it sounds like there were a lot of free throws in the final minute, just wait.  Kansas drove to the hoop at the other end only to be fouled.  Two free throws cut the deficit to one.  The Jayhawks immediately fouled.  Arkansas hit two free throws to extend the lead back to three.  Then the Razorbacks fouled with 3 seconds left to stop Kansas from having a shot at a tying three-pointer.  Kansas made the first.  Then they attempted the basketball equivalent of an onside kick.  Intentionally missing a free throw so that your teammates can get the rebound is much harder than it looks.  As with an onside kick, you're basically looking for a funky bounce to go your way.  There is also the danger that you will do what Kansas did in this situation: accidentally make it.  The Jayhawks crashed the boards hoping for a rebound, but when the ball went in the hoop, they were totally out of position defensively.  Arkansas quickly inbounded the ball still up by 1 and ran the final three seconds off the clock.  Down goes another #1 seed as Coach Self doesn't get the chance to be on the court to help his team defend their title.  The other coach was a little more jubilant.  Razorbacks coach Eric Musselman decided to celebrate with the Arkansas faithful by ripping off his shirt and waving it above his head deliriously.  Unsure if he'll need to put it back on since Arkansas will be playing their next game in Vegas, but we'll see Musselman and crew again next weekend.

Was that recap a little long?  You're in luck.  The Missouri-Princeton recap will be much shorter.  This all-Tigers matchup would be one of the biggest blowouts of the weekend.  And no, it wasn't a case of the 15 seed having a letdown after taking out Arizona in round one.  The Ivy Leaguers completely dominated this game.  You might think Princeton is all back door screens, reverse layups, and the occasional open three pointer.  Not this squad.  Princeton made the Missouri press look silly, easily getting up court for the first 38 minutes of this game (they did have a little trouble at the end when the game was essentially over).  And in the second half, breaking the press meant open threes, which Princeton hit with deadly accuracy.  On those rare occasions when they missed, they were dominating the boards.  But my favorite tidbit from watching this game was seeing the smart kids do something all teams should do when trying to run out the clock with a big lead.  In college basketball, the clock runs after a made basket until there is one minute to play.  So anytime Missouri made a hoop, Princeton made no effort to get the ball an inbound it.  Three to five seconds would run off the clock before a Princeton player picked it up or a Missouri player heaved it to a ref in frustration to force a Princeton inbound.  Call me a nerd, but running the clock down with no risk is heady play as far as I'm concerned.  Athletically and intellectually superior, the Princeton Tigers are headed to the Sweet 16 after a 78-63 drubbing that was not as close as the score might indicate.

No one got a better draw this year than Auburn.  Not because Iowa and Houston are pushovers.  Rather because a 9 seed should never have anything resembling home court advantage, yet Auburn drew Birmingham, Alabama as the site of their opening weekend games.  The crowd was behind them as they took out the Hawkeyes.  They would need even more support to take out the top-seeded Cougars.  Houston had to be feeling a little pressure as no #1 seed had made it to the second weekend yet, with Purdue bowing out on Friday night and Kansas getting dethroned about an hour earlier.  Maybe those nerves played a factor in the first half as Auburn got the best of the Cougars, building up a 10-point lead at the break.  But Houston showed their superiority in the second half.  They came out knocking down shots to erase that Tigers lead quickly and then they won the free throw battle the rest of the way.  Typically that would mean that more fouls went their way and they got more free throw opportunities.  But this was far and away the tightest called game in the tournament.  Seemed like there was a whistle every time down the court for a stretch.  Auburn got the better this exchange in terms of free throw opportunities, but the Tigers struggled from the charity stripe, while Houston made everything from the free throw line.  Auburn wasn't only misfiring from the line.  They would make a paltry four field goals in the entire second half.  Houston began to pull away, with the only drama being whether they would have enough players to finish the game as almost everyone in their lineup had 4 fouls with 2 minutes to go.  They managed not to get everyone disqualified and became the first #1 seed to make the Sweet 16, cruising to an 81-64 victory over Auburn.

With the #1 seed in the Midwest moving on, it was time to see if the #2 seed could join them.  Texas had won the Big 12 conference tournament last week, moving them up the list of contenders for this year's title in the process.  But they were running into possibly the hottest team in the tournament in Penn State.  The Nittany Lions were firmly a bubble team leading up to the Big 10 conference tournament, but winning 8 out of 9 and losing the title game by a bucket to Purdue showed that they were going to be a tough out in the Big Dance.  They further served notice that they meant business by thrashing Texas A&M in round one.  Penn State was slow to get going in this one, only scoring 23 points and trailing by 8 at the half.  The second half was a lot more entertaining.  Both teams found their rhythm offensively, with the Longhorns still appearing to have control of the game.  Then the Nittany Lions ripped off ten straight points and suddenly it looked like the Big 12 could see another powerhouse eliminated in the first weekend.  That was when Dylan Disu took over.  The Texas forward personally outscored Penn State 10-2 in the closing minutes, ensuring that the top two seeds in the Midwest region would be playing next weekend.  Penn State's late season run falls a little short in round two as Texas advances with a 71-66 win.

Penn State may have been eliminated, but there was still one other feel-good Big 10 story remaining in the tournament.  Northwestern doesn't have a long March Madness resume, but coach Chris Collins managed to take a team with low expectations and led them to a second place finish in one of the country's major conferences.  They'd have a big hill to climb in this one as they were taking on UCLA, a team many thought should have gotten the final #1 seed over Purdue.  And the Bruins looked like a #1 seed early in this one, jumping out to a 14 point lead in the first half.  But the Wildcats didn't win all those games in the Big 10 this year without going through adversity.  And maybe, just maybe, they felt at home in Sacramento.  You might think that UCLA would have the advantage with the game being in California, but the purple-clad Wildcats were playing on the big purple court of the Sacramento Kings.  Whether it was violet-inspired or not, Northwestern began a comeback in the second half.  They put together a 17-4 run that tied the game at 45.  But they were never able to edge in front of the Bruins.  UCLA would score the next 6 points and never relinquish the lead the rest of the way.  UCLA is another team headed to Vegas next weekend after taking out Northwestern by a score of 68-63.

The last game of the night involved the overall #1 seed in the tournament.  Now as you might know, our household is very Crimson Tide friendly, especially when it comes to football.  But it's hard to ignore the storyline with the Alabama basketball team this year.  Earlier in the season, a young woman was killed in Tuscaloosa.  One member of the Alabama team has been charged in her murder.  The other player involved might be the best player in college basketball.  Brandon Miller is an absolute superstar and he will probably soon be a great professional player as well.  Still, it's tough to get excited about the athletic exploits of someone who supplied the gun used in a murder.  Was that a crime?  Should he have been suspended for his actions?  Reasonable people can come to different conclusions.  It just feels a bit icky to root for the guy, all things considered.  Why write about all that?  1) Because it truly is an important storyline regarding the top team (and top player) in the land.  2) Because the final game of the night was a complete mismatch.  Maryland was only down by 5 at the half, but it felt like the Crimson Tide were in command.  In the second half, the scoreboard reflected that.  The lead kept growing and growing and growing, making its way to 22 when the final horn sounded.  Alabama will take on San Diego State in the first known Sweet 16 matchup next weekend.

Time for the standings and these results are a bit hard to explain.  Ok, maybe not the leader of the Main Pool, as Princeton alum Fred Alcaro was the only one to have the Tigers making it to the Sweet 16.  But somehow I am tied with Maryanne for second place despite going with the full homer bracket where NC State wins it all.  It's even worse in the Gamblers Pool, where I'm leading by 1 point over Mark Grimes, with a 4 way tie 4 points back between Natalie Schweitzer, Jenn Nichols, Michael Blumenstein, and Tommy King.  Not to worry though.  I'm pretty sure I need the winner of Fairleigh Dickinson and Florida Atlantic to cut down the nets to stay above all of the other brackets for the next two weeks.

Don't want to scroll up?  No problem, the spreadsheet is linked once again here.

The field of 24 will be whittled down to the Sweet 16 this evening.  Recaps headed your way again tomorrow.

March Madness 2023 - Advancin' Ain't Edey

In many of the recent tournaments, there has been a ton of fireworks during the first round games on Thursday, followed by a bit of a ho-hum second day on Friday.  I'd guess that the shock of seeing fellow teams from a major conference getting upset or at least taken to the brink set off alarm bells in the minds of the Day 2 favorites.  But things were a little different on Day 1 this year.  Sure, we saw a couple of huge upsets when Virginia and Arizona were sent home early, but for the most part, the seeds held throughout the day.  And in a lot of instances, the games weren't particularly close.  Would Friday's favorites be ready to play or would Thursday's results leave them more vulnerable than normal?

Well, we'll get to that in the recap, but if you'd rather skip all of that, than you can go straight to the spreadsheet, which you can find here.

First game of the day would be between Michigan State and USC, a 7-10 matchup.  This year's Michigan State team is not that different than what you'd expect to see each year from a Spartan squad in the tournament.  Their seed is a little lower than usual, but they played one of the toughest schedules in the country and should be battle tested for whatever may come their way over the next three weeks.  USC was out to prove that the PAC-12 was more than just UCLA and Arizona this year (or should I say more than just UCLA?).  The Trojans hopes would seem to rest on star player Boogie Ellis and when he went most of the first half without a bucket, USC found itself down 11.  But the rest of the team rallied over the last few minutes of the half and this game went to intermission tied.  In the second half, Ellis was able to make a few buckets, but it was Michigan State that opened up a lead yet again.  Six minutes into the second half,  the Spartans would be up by 9.  Then it ballooned to 15.  USC wouldn't have an answer this time as Michigan State marches forward to round two.

Xavier-Kennesaw State was an interesting matchup because very few brackets had Kennesaw State winning this game, yet very few brackets had Xavier advancing to the Final Four.  If the 3 seed in this region was such a no doubter in this matchup, why were they so unlikely to make it to Houston?  My guess is that it was because Kennesaw State was a name that most bracket predictors were unfamiliar with.  Substitute in Valparaiso, Murray State, or Loyola-Chicago, and maybe more folks would have selected the Owls.  One thing that was for certain is that Kennesaw State was not intimidated by the Musketeers.  They were here to run and gun and that translated to a 43-36 advantage at the half.  They would extend that lead to 13 at several times in the second half, the last time at 61-48 with just over nine minutes to play.  But they ran out of physical and mental energy from that point forward.  Xavier began picking up the pace on the offensive end and the Owls could not match it with their fading defensive intensity.  And on the other end, it seemed like Kennesaw State had one play left that they could run.  Point guard Terrell Burden would dribble around a bunch of screens, dive to the hoop, and put up either a pressured layup (hoping for a foul really) or an out of control pass that would generally lead to a turnover. The lack of energy and imagination cost the underdogs as Xavier would rattle off 15 points in a row.  They still had a chance to win it down one in the waning seconds, but everyone in the building knew what was coming, especially Xavier defender Jack Nunge, who swatted away Burden's final layup attempt.  4 free throws in the final 2 seconds made the margin look larger than it really was, as Xavier was very lucky to escape being upset in round one.

The other two games in the early afternoon session were pretty similar with the underdog team keeping it close in the first half (UCSB actually led Baylor at the break), but the favorites pulled away in the second half, as Baylor defeats the Gauchos by 18, while St. Mary's sends VCU home after a 12 point victory.

For the second set of games, I'm going to remove the elephant from the room right off the bat.  NC State lost.  If I wrote honestly about this game, it would just sound like bitterness and bias.  So I'll leave it at this...congrats to the Creighton Bluejays on moving on to round two.  And thank you to Terquavion Smith for spending another year at NC State.  Hope you have an awesome NBA career.

While I was watching my favorite team play their final game of the season, there were three other games in action.  Marquette has been one of the best storylines of the year, going from unranked when they tipped the ball back in their first game in early November to Big East champs and a #2 seed as they began this tournament.  They might still be fighting for nationwide respect, but they likely have it in the state of Vermont after dominating the Catamounts from start to finish in a 17 point victory.  Pitt squeaked by in their First Four game, earning them a matchup with an Iowa State team that dominated on their home floor throughout the season.  But this game wasn't in Ames, and the Cyclones had no aim early on, doing their best Oral Roberts impression and falling behind 22-2.  Iowa State would get as close as 5 before the Panthers turned on the afterburners again, whipping the 6 seed in a comfortable 18 point win.  Finally, Iona was playing in a very familiar venue, taking the court in Albany where MAAC rival Siena plays its biggest games.  The Gaels held the edge at the half over Connecticut, but like UCSB earlier in their game against Baylor, the team with designs on a bracket-busting upset was simply outclassed in half number two.  The Huskies put on a clinic in the second half, showing why they will be a tough out in the loaded West region.  UConn moves on, ending Rick Pitino's tenure at Iona in a 24 point blowout.

Eight games left in the night sessions to wrap up round one.  The first matchup figured to be the least competitive game of the night.  Purdue was one of the best teams in college basketball this year and they featured the player of the year, dominant big man Zach Eddy, who stands 7'4" tall.  On the other end of the court was Fairleigh Dickinson, a team that only got into the tournament because the team that won their conference (Merrimack) is ineligible to play in the NCAAs until next year.  Did I also mention that the Northeast Conference was the lowest rated of all conferences in college basketball this year?  And that Fairleigh Dickinson was the absolute smallest team in college basketball this year, which is kinda less than ideal when facing the best big man in the land?  Well nobody told the Knights about how badly they were supposed to get beaten.  In fact, after winning their First Four game on Wednesday, their coach declared on camera that the more he had seen of Purdue, the more he thought his squad could beat them.  Bold words.  But his team was doing everything they could to back them up.  The Boilermakers had the size advantage, but Fairleigh Dickinson had the speed advantage.  And for some odd reason, Purdue was running everything from Kentucky's playbook in 2022 when they lost to St. Peter's.  In that game, Kentucky ran everything through All-American Oscar Tshiebwe.  When it worked, great.  When it didn't, then the other 4 players on the floor looked extremely hesitant to shoot the ball.  And as this Purdue-FDU game got to the later stages with the Knights still hanging around, the non-Edeys tightened up more and more.  Awkward lob passes were thrown to the star player, which were either picked off or stolen away when Edey brought the ball down to where the Knights could swipe at it.  And when FDU hit a three with less than 1:30 to go to increase their lead to 5, you could sense that we were about to witness history.  Purdue had a couple chances late to tie things up, but their sloppy play continued.  In perhaps the greatest upset in college basketball history, tiny Fairleigh Dickinson plays giant slayer, taking out #1 seed Purdue.

It was hard to keep focus on the other early evening games with history taking place in Ohio, but a couple of other powerhouses were on the court at the same time.  Kentucky is another college basketball blue blood that struggled for most of the season, but like Duke, they have hit their best stride late.  They held a 7 point lead at the half against Providence, then kept the Friars at bay for the final 20 minutes, basically holding on to a 4 to 8 point edge throughout the evenly played second half.  Kentucky moves on to the second round.  Gonzaga was the #1 overall seed in this tournament the last two years, but they seemed to be headed for something in the 5-6 range until they found their killer instinct late in the season, which got them up to a 3 seed.  They were neck and neck with a feisty Grand Canyon team through the first half of their game, but early in the second half, the Bulldogs went on a 24-4 run to break the game open, before waltzing to a 12 point win.

The last game of the early evening set looked like it could produce our first 5 vs 12 upset.  Miami looked like they were playing the role of the underdog in their matchup vs Drake, as it was the Bulldogs who held the lead for most of this game.  The Hurricanes would come back time and time again to tie things up, only to see Drake build a lead again.  And when the Bulldogs built their biggest lead (8 points) with less than 5 minutes to go, it felt like they had finally put Miami away for good.  But whether you want to say Drake pulled an Arizona or a Kennesaw State, the Bulldogs simply didn't have it in the final few minutes of the game.  The Hurricanes amped up their defensive pressure and finished the game on a 16-1 run.  No 12 seeds in the second round this year!  Miami comes through late to play another game on Sunday with a 63-56 victory over Drake.

The last 4 games of round one featured two nail biters and two games without much tension.  Let's start with the easy ones.  I've already mentioned that Purdue and Marquette were not in the preseason top 25 and had amazing years.  Kansas State might not have been in the preseason top 125.  Coach of the Year Jerome Tang has done wonders in Manhattan, Kansas in his first year with the team, getting them a #3 seed when most people thought they wouldn't even make the tournament.  They weren't spectacular in their first round test against Montana State, but they were always in control of this one.  Their performance was actually kinda similar to how their next opponent, Kentucky, played on the same court about two hours earlier.  We'll have Wildcats battling Wildcats in round two as Kansas State moves on after a 77-65 victory.  The flow of the Indiana and Kent State game was similar.  Indiana was always in control and the lead seemed to slowly grow as the game went on.  The Hoosiers move on to face Miami after taking down Kent State by 11.

If you stayed up until midnight, you were treated to two of the best games of round one.  Up first was TCU and Arizona State.  Early on, it looked like the Sun Devils were jet lagged after traveling from Dayton where they won impressively in the First Four.  The explosiveness from Wednesday night was missing as they quickly fell behind 15-4 to the Horned Frogs.  But they answered with a 13-2 run to tie things up, before going on another run that spanned the late first half and early second half to move ahead by 11.  It was time for TCU to go on a 13-2 run of their own.  Arizona State replied by scoring the next 8 before the Horned Frogs went on a 13-5 run to tie things up yet again.  Like a high scoring NFL playoff game, this one felt like it might go the way of whoever had the ball last.  And unfortunately for the Sun Devils, it was TCU holding the ball as the final seconds ticked down.  JaKobe Coles made a slicing move into the lane and floated the ball into the net with 2 seconds to go to retake the lead by 2.  Arizona State was unable to get off a desperation shot to try and win it, giving TCU the honor of taking on Gonzaga in round two.

Easily the craziest game of round one was the battle between Memphis and Florida Atlantic.  And all of the crazy was on the Memphis sideline.  Earlier in the day, there was a moment in the Xavier game where two of their players got into a heated argument during a timeout.  Memphis took that one level higher when an injured Tiger hopped off the court screaming at a teammate.  When the teammate got to the huddle, the injured player (who refused to sit down despite his ankle injury) barked at the teammate some more.  Which led to the teammate shoving the injured player in the back.  Memphis also forgot to sub in for a player who picked up his 3rd foul early in the second half.  And naturally that player got his 4th foul while the sub sat on the sideline.  Memphis would also have substitution problems in the last minute of the game.  Oh yeah, they were also playing a tight game against a Florida Atlantic team that spent several weeks in the Top 25 this year.  With two minutes to go, the Owls led the Tigers by 2, but Memphis was able to convert an "And 1" to re-take the lead.  A missed shot was redeemed by a fortunate tip-in to give Florida Atlantic the lead back, but then the exact same thing happened on the other end to put Memphis back up by 1.  The Owls came back down hoping to get the lead, but there was no tip in following the next missed shot and Memphis got the rebound.  The Tigers simply had to run out the clock or make some free throws once they were fouled, but they inexplicably threw the ball away.  Perfect opportunity for Florida Atlantic, except the dribbler immediately slipped and gave the ball back.  Or so it seemed.  There was a mad scramble on the floor where it looked like Memphis got control of the ball for a split second.  A Memphis teammate tried calling timeout, but a bunch of Owls descended on the Memphis player with the ball.  With the refs focused on the chaos on the floor, they didn't see the timeout being asked for and a jump ball was called.  The possession arrow pointed towards Florida Atlantic and they would have 5.5 seconds to try and steal this game.  Florida Atlantic called time out.  Then Memphis spent their final timeout for some unknown reason.  After two timeouts, Florida Atlantic drew up a very nice play, inbounding the ball to a player in the corner, who pump faked a three, drove into the lane, and laid the ball into the hoop with 2.5 seconds to go.  Memphis, now with no timeouts, had to rush the ball in.  The first player dribbled to half court, then passed it to a teammate.  Did I mention there was only 2.5 seconds left on the clock?  By the time his Memphis teammate caught the ball, the buzzer had sounded, and Memphis coach Penny Hardaway was throwing his water bottle across the court in frustration.  Memphis lets a golden opportunity slip away, while Florida Atlantic moves on to face Fairleigh Dickinson in the most improbable second round matchup in NCAA tournament history.

How many brackets had Fairleigh Dickinson winning?  Just one and that bracket belonged to John Falco, who has surged to the lead in the Main Pool with 31 points.  Two points behind him are Fred Alcaro and Maryanne (sorry, don't know your last name!).  Oddly enough, John Falco leads the Gamblers Pool with a different bracket that did not have Purdue losing in round one.  That bracket has 30 points, with Mark Grimes in 2nd with 28 points, and Tommy King in 3rd with 27 points.

Again, if you don't want to scroll all of the way to the top, you can find the spreadsheet here.

That's all for round one.  Only two games on Saturday have been completed, so I'm not as insanely behind as I usually am on the first weekend.  Enjoy the hoops!

March Madness 2023 - Tough When You Lose To Them Smart Kids

Thank you to everyone for your patience with the first entry in this year's blog.  It's always a little time consuming getting all of the brackets into the spreadsheet, but I've been a bit slow getting back up to speed after a week in Vegas.  (Pro tip: no more than 4 days in Vegas.  You'll thank me!)

And as always, if you don't want to read the recap and just want to see the spreadsheet, click here.

There's no better event on the sports calendar than the first two days of March Madness.  16 games each day, always some shocking upsets and buzzer beaters.  Plus there is the mental test of trying to remember which channel the game you want to flip to is on.  That process is made slightly harder by the fact that every time you flip the channel, it seems like you land on an AT&T commercial rather than a basketball game.  We're not here for you, Lily!

One thing the NCAA has done in recent years is to try and space out the games in the early session on Thursday and Friday so that it isn't non-stop chaos.  There was always about an hour break between the early and late sessions, but that cushion has gone away somewhat so that you don't have a bunch of close games coming down to the wire all at the same exact time.  (Horse racing has been unable to solve a similar problem, despite the fact that they could easily push back a race or two by a couple minutes so that degenerate gamblers like myself don't have to lose money in one fell swoop).  So the first 4 games went off in more of a 2x2 fashion, with the earliest two tipoffs providing very exciting finishes.  Maryland-West Virginia got things started with two halves of basketball that were eerily similar.  In the first half, the Mountaineers jumped out to a 13 point lead, but the Terrapins would claw their way back to hold a 2 point edge at the break.  West Virginia got off to a hot start again in the second half, building up a sizable 9 point advantage.  But just like in the first half, Maryland responded, holding a 2 point lead with seconds to play.  A missed Terrapin free throw gave the Mountaineers a chance at a game winning three, but the shot would not fall, making Maryland the first team to advance to round two.  

Starting soon after Maryland-West Virginia was Virginia-Furman.  Furman might not be a household name in college basketball, but they were featured in one of the more popular highlights of March in 2022.  They were playing in the finals of the Southern Conference Championship and appeared to be on their way to the Big Dance.  But a buzzer-beating 3 in overtime crushed those dreams.  The Paladins refused to fall one game short again this year and their reward was a matchup with the Cavaliers.  Virginia spent most of the year at the top of the rankings, but they started to backpedal a bit late in the season with losses to Boston College, North Carolina, and Duke.  This one figured to be close because that's simply how Virginia plays the game.  They play suffocating defense, but don't score a ton, resulting in fairly close low-scoring affairs.  And for most of this game, the Cavaliers were in control of this one.  They never trailed in the first half, and in the second half, they led by a dozen with under 12 minutes to go.  But the next 7 minutes belonged to Furman, as they went on a 19-4 run to take a 3 point lead.  Virginia wasn't fazed though, going back in front by 4 with only 19 seconds left on the clock.  Then two incredibly crazy plays happened.  Virginia fouled a 52% free throw shooter for Furman with 12 seconds left, a seemingly safe play given the circumstances, but Garrett Hein calmly stepped up to the line and drained both free throws. Then came the play that everyone will remember from this tournament, no matter what happens the rest of the way.  The Paladins trapped guard Kihei Clark on his own baseline with last 10 seconds ticking away.  Rather than call timeout, Clark attempted to heave the ball backwards towards the other end of the court.  It barely got to half court, where Hein was waiting.  He picked the ball off, threw it to his teammate JP Pegues, who rose up and drained a 3 to stun the crowd and give Furman the lead.  Virginia had one last chance from half court to steal back victory, but just as we saw in the first game, the miracle buzzer beater would not fall.  Furman reminds us why we love March, sending home 4th seeded Virginia in the first upset of the tournament.

The last two games of the first session were not as close.  Howard hung with top seed Kansas for about 16 minutes before reality set in as Kansas would pull away for a dominant 96-68 victory.  Utah State kept it closer in their matchup with Missouri.  In fact, they led with 10 minutes to play.  But it was at that stage that the Tigers would go on a 18-5 run that the Aggies could not recover from.  Missouri advances with a 76-65 triumph.

The late afternoon session began with another #1 seed putting up 96 points as Alabama sent home First Four victor Texas A&M - Corpus Christi.  The next game had the feel of a Virginia-Furman remix.  Rather than it being a 4 vs 13 matchup, we had the historically-ripe-for-an-upset 5 vs 12 matchup between San Diego St and Charleston.  San Diego State plays very slow and relies on suffocating defense (sound familiar?).  Charleston came into the game as a bit of an enigma.  They won 31 games, but they definitely needed that 31st win because their strength of schedule was so weak that they likely wouldn't have gotten an at-large bid had they lost in their conference tournament.  San Diego State also had something to prove.  As the Mountain West champion, they needed to defend their conference's reputation, as Utah State's recent loss meant the Mountain West had lost 10 straight NCAA games.  The Aztecs weren't doing a lot to give MWC supporters confidence early on as it was Charleston that held the lead for most of the 1st half.  But San Diego State did enough before intermission to hold a 3 point edge at the half.  They would extend it to 9, but the Cougars would find a way to tie it back up with 3 minutes to go.  There wasn't a lot of pretty basketball in those last 3 minutes, and as you might expect, that favored the Aztecs.  San Diego State would score 10 of the last 14 points in this one, getting the Mountain West in the win column with a 6 point victory.

Next up was a game that didn't figure to be all that close: Arizona vs Princeton.  Arizona was a 2 seed that had just defeated UCLA in the PAC-12 Championship, making them national title contenders in many people's eyes.  Princeton won the Ivy League Tournament, but it's been a while since those Princeton and Penn Ivy League squads had entered the NCAAs as a real threat to take a game or two.  However, the Tigers did play a role in two of the most famous NCAA tournament games in history.  In 1989, they were a shot at the buzzer away from being the first 16 seed to take down a #1, falling by a point to heavily favored Georgetown.  Things went Princeton's way seven years later as they would back cut their way to an upset over defending champ UCLA.  And it wasn't like Arizona didn't have some scar tissue as a #2 seed in this tournament, having lost to Steve Nash and Santa Clara in 1993.  The Wildcats problem in this game was allowing the Tigers to hang around.  At several points in the first half, Arizona led by 8, but Princeton only found themselves down 1 at the break.  The Wildcats would push the lead to 10 with eight minutes to play, but their offense sputtered the rest of the way.  Meanwhile, Princeton began nibbling at the lead.  Soon they were in the lead.  And Arizona had no response.  The Tigers would end the game on an 18-4 run.  Suddenly Virginia's failure paled in comparison as a #2 seed had been taken out in round one.  Arizona's players and fans were in shock.  As Charles Barkley said after the game, "it's always tough when you lose to them smart kids".  Princeton moves on to the second round after a 59-55 shocker.

Arkansas and Illinois met in the final game of the afternoon, but this one was never as close as you might have expected an 8-9 matchup to be.  The Razorbacks jumped out to a 14 point lead early on and never really looked back, cruising to a 10 point win.

The early night session looked like it would have a couple of compelling games, but this ended up being the least entertaining block of games on Day 1.  Iowa-Auburn was another 8-9 matchup, but it was effectively a road game for the Hawkeyes with the game being played in Alabama.  The game was tied at 12 before the Tigers rattled off 9 in a row, the first of many times in this game when they would go on a run as Iowa seemed to be climbing out of a hole.  Auburn advances to a second home game on Saturday after an 83-75 win.  The Northwestern-Boise State game was similar in that Boise State kept trimming the Wildcats lead over and over again, only for Northwestern to hold them at arms length.  Northwestern also advances with an 8 point victory.  And Texas-Colgate played out more like a typical 2 vs 15 game as the Longhorns move on after a 20 point rout.

But the game most people were looking forward to in the early evening window was Duke vs Oral Roberts.  Duke has been on a 9 game win streak, getting hot at the right time of the year and pretty much dominating the ACC tournament.  Oral Roberts had been even better, winning 17 in a row after going undefeated in conference play.  This was also a team that had nearly made it to the Elite Eight two years ago as a 15 seed, so they were not going to be intimidated by this Blue Devils squad.  What they would be was ice cold.  One of the top offenses in college basketball missed their first 12 shots, digging themselves a 15-0 hole.  It would get worse from there.  The Duke lead would grow to 20 in the first half and as high as 27 in the second half.  The Blue Devils get their 10th straight win in a 23 point blowout over Oral Roberts.

The final session of the night included a couple more blowouts as UCLA saw what happened to Arizona earlier in the day and decided to put their game against UNC-Asheville out of reach early on their way to a 33 point romp.  And a suddenly white hot Penn State team beat the second place team from the SEC, Texas A&M, by 17 in a game that wasn't really even that close.

That left two games to go.  One was a game that many had penciled in as a potential upset.  Tennessee had been one of the best teams in the country for most of the season, but like Virginia, they relied on their defense (best in the country!).  Like Virginia, they were offensively challenged.  And like Virginia, they were definitely struggling down the final stretch of the season.  They drew the Ragin Cajuns in round one. And Louisiana learned quickly how tough it was to score against this Vols defense.  With 20 minutes in the books, they only had 19 points, finding themselves needing to make up an 11 point deficit in the second half.  With 12 minutes to go, the deficit was 18 and Tennessee was looking like the national title contender they had been for the first 2/3 of the season.  Then recent Tennessee showed up.  The Vols could not put the ball in the hoop, giving the Ragin Cajuns life.  The lead was all the way down to 3 with 23 seconds left.  Tennessee could only make 1 of 2 free throws, allowing Louisiana a chance to creep even closer, but a three pointer that could have made it a 1 point game was off the mark.  Tennessee holds on to play Duke in round two.

We had seen a 4 seed get knocked out.  Then a 2 seed hit the showers.  Was it possible that we could lose a 1 seed on Day 1?  Houston was a big favorite over Northern Kentucky, but their best player, Marcus Sasser, had suffered a freak injury in their conference tournament last weekend.  He tried to give it a go in this one, but after less than 14 minutes on the court, he took a seat on the bench.  To add to the Cougars' woes, guard Jamal Shead also got injured during this game, though he was able to play through the injury for the most part.  Add in some sloppy play from the top seeded Cougars and suddenly the Norse had a chance.  They only trailed by 3 at the break and just a few minutes into the second half, the game was tied.    Would Auburn really be getting a home game in round two against Northern Kentucky?  Well no.  The class of this Houston team eventually took over as they began to slowly pull away from that point on.  It wasn't a pretty win, but by the time the horn sounded, Houston had a fairly comfortable 11 point victory.

On to the pool standings!  There was one regular member of this pool who you knew had the Princeton upset on their bracket and that is Fred Alcaro.  The Princeton alum holds the early lead in the Main Pool with 17 points, 1 point ahead of Scott Brown, and 2 points ahead of Aiden Schweitzer.  In the Gamblers Pool, Mark Grimes leads the way with 18 points, 1 point ahead of John Falco, and 4 points ahead of Nate Heffner.  If you don't feel like scrolling all the way to the top of this post for the spreadsheet, you can find it here.

That's it for Day 1.  Day 2's games are wrapping up as I write this.  A full recap will be posted early tomorrow.

March Madness 2022 - Roller Coaster, No Love

Sometimes the championship game ends up being a dud.  That was the case last year when Gonzaga emptied the tank to survive their semifinal matchup with UCLA and had nothing left for the Baylor Bears.  Then there have been the iconic games that came down to a winning shot in the waning seconds, like Michael Jordan's jumper to lead North Carolina over Georgetown or Keith Smart's almost identical shot to lead Indiana over Syracuse.  We've had championships decided by near buzzer-beaters (Gordon Hayward's half-court heave that nearly knocked off Duke) and actual buzzer-beaters (Kris Jenkins nailing a three to elevate Villanova over North Carolina).  But in all of the national championship games I've ever watched, I'm not sure one has ever had as many wild swings as the one that was played on Monday night.  And despite each team trading haymakers for 40 minutes, it still came down to one final shot.

The beginning of this one had a familiar look.  When St. Peter's had run out of gas, they fell behind 9-0 quickly to North Carolina.  Villanova came into the Final Four without one of their key players and found themselves in a 10-0 hole to Kansas before they knew what hit them.  And after an emotional game where they beat their arch rivals and ended the storied career of Coach K, it appeared that North Carolina may have sleepwalked on to the court in this tilt vs. Kansas.  The Jayhawks were full of energy from the opening tip, rushing out to a 7-0 lead as the Tar Heels tried to get their bearings.  Part of the early adversity was physical for North Carolina.  The best player in this year's tournament, double-double machine Armando Bacot, had injured his ankle late in the victory over Duke and he looked to be moving a little gingerly during the first few possessions.  Brady Manek, the only player whose age was also his jersey number, got hit in the head multiple times early in the first half, needing to be checked out for a concussion at one point.  The physical maladies would be a hard luck theme for North Carolina throughout this game.

Despite getting beaten up and starting slow, the Tar Heels were not about to give in.  They scored 12 of the next 16 to grab their first lead.  Over the next few minutes, we would have one of the few periods of level action between the teams as they traded buckets, leading to a deadlocked score of 22 all.  But then came the best in-game sideline interview of all time.  Tracy Wolfson pulled Hubert Davis away from his team for a few moments during a timeout and we got to experience some television magic.  Wolfson barely got her question out before Davis blurted out "IT'S LIVE ACTION!"  And if you think I'm exaggerating by going all caps on that one, you must go find this interview online somewhere.  Davis had gone full Ric Flair and Wolfson just gave up on asking questions and let the Tar Heels coach have his moment.  He must have brought that intensity over to the team for the remainder of the timeout, because they came out playing with that same fervor.  North Carolina would score the next 16 points of the game and suddenly we had gone from "Kansas might run away with this" early on to "Kansas might be done" before we had reached halftime.  The Jayhawks looked completely confused on the offensive end, while North Carolina was getting whatever they wanted when they had the ball.  Even when the Tar Heels missed, it seemed like Bacot was there to get the offensive rebound to keep the possession alive.  Bacot would set a tournament record with his 6th double-double, an accomplishment he would nail down before the half.  When the buzzer sounded to end the first 20 minutes, the score was 40-25 in favor of the Tar Heels.  It would take a historic comeback if Kansas was going to cut down the nets at the end of the night.

Quick tangent: my love for March Madness may have grown over the years because the NBA has become so unwatchable (personal opinion).  Every now and then I'll turn on an NBA game, but it usually isn't very long before I become bored and switch to something else.  There is still one thing I really do enjoy about the NBA though and that is the halftime and post-game show with Kenny Smith and Charles Barkley.  And since TNT and TBS are part of the family of networks that cover March Madness, those two were on the desk for the Final Four.  If you watched the Final Four on Saturday night, you may have heard Chuck guaranteeing a Kansas title before the North Carolina-Duke game even tipped off.  You also might have sensed the dread on Chuck's face as Kenny's alma mater won the second semifinal, meaning he was one game away from having to hear the Jet brag about his team for the next 12 months.  And with Kansas down 15 at the break, Chuck was not shy about critiquing Coach Self's game plan.  "What the hell are they doing?", Chuck asked repeatedly, calling the game plan "dumb".  Kansas needed to pick up the pace and stop running a slow half-court offense through their big man as they had done in their victory against Villanova.  North Carolina didn't have a bunch of little guys like Villanova, so that strategy wasn't gonna work.  Chuck pleaded for the Jayhawks to come out in the second half with the intention to run and gun.  I know that the Tar Heels didn't hear Coach Davis's sideline interview, but it seemed like it had an effect on them.  By the same token, I know the Jayhawks didn't hear Chuck's halftime advice, but you would have thought he gave that speech in their locker room when you saw how the second half started.

The tempo of Kansas's offense went way up after intermission.  They were driving to the hoop with a purpose.  They were boxing out on the defensive end, limiting Bacot's offensive rebounds, and setting up their transition offense.  North Carolina was flat coming out of the locker room.  The Jayhawks kept chipping away at the lead.  Then it was tied.  Then they had the lead.  Soon after Kansas went on top, they stole the ball and got an easy three-point play to extend their advantage to 6.  The Tar Heels were getting a standing 8 count and showing little indication that they could keep going in this fight.  It was a 31-10 run to open the half and Kansas led 56-50.

After a timeout, North Carolina returned to the court bloodied but not beaten, although there was more physical adversity on the way for them.  Their top shooter, Caleb Love, would twist his ankle while cutting to the hoop and looked unable to run at full speed, but Kansas would not be able to take advantage.  Instead, the Tar Heels looked to other options for scoring.  First, it was RJ Davis.  Then it was the Puff Johnson show.  The Carolina reserve who hadn't logged a lot of minutes played like a man possessed.  And then all of a sudden he looked like he had the fitness of that 7'3" dude from Purdue.  After a frantic sequence where both teams sprinted up and down the court trading baskets, Kansas's Ochai Agbaji pointed towards a stricken Puff Johnson and the refs stopped the game.  Johnson was on his knees vomiting on the court.  He reached at his chest a couple of times, which raised alarm bells that something more serious might be happening, but it turned out that the pace of play combined with a shot to the stomach led to Johnson's One Nauseous Moment.  Once again, the Tar Heels would have to change course in order to keep their national championship hopes alive.

With the game tied at 65 and about three minutes to go, the teams kept trading blows.  A Remy Martin three put Kansas up 68-65, but North Carolina responded with a layup and a tip-in on an offensive rebound to lead by 1.  The Jayhawks would miss on the other end, but convert on an offensive rebound of their own to move back in front.  And then came the final, most cruel injury to the Tar Heels.  Down 1, they trusted their fate in Armando Bacot.  He made a move to the hoop, but collapsed to the floor as his ankle, which had held up for 39 minutes of game time, finally gave out.  Kansas snapped up the loose ball and could have taken advantage of a 5-on-4 situation, but they were more interested in running clock than taking a 3 point lead.  As a result, Bacot had time to hop down the floor on one leg, where officials were finally able to call a timeout to address his injury.  With Bacot out of the game, Kansas smartly dumped the ball back inside as the Bacot-less Tar Heels had become Villanova-esque.  Jayhawk big man David McCormack rose up and hit a short jumper with 22 seconds left to put Kansas up 3.

North Carolina came down the court with every intent to tie the game with a 3 and you knew who would be shooting it.  Caleb Love got the ball and launched from beyond the arc, but he couldn't convert this time.  Another offensive rebound for the Tar Heels led to a Puff Johnson attempt from downtown, but his shot missed and the ball went out of bounds to Kansas with less than 5 seconds to play.  That seemed like the clincher.  The Jayhawks just needed to get the ball inbounds, have North Carolina foul them, and make their free throws.  Even if they missed the 1-and-1, the Tar Heels would be hard pressed to tie the game in less than 4 seconds.  Kansas would likely foul them before they could attempt a game-tying three.

But in a game full of wild swings, there were more unexpected plays to be had, even in those last 5 seconds.  Kansas was able to inbound the ball, but DaJuan Harris Jr. inexplicably ran out of bounds as soon as he caught it, not only turning the ball over with almost no time coming off the clock, but giving the Tar Heels the ball down at their offensive end of the court.  It was "Chris Webber calling a timeout he didn't have"-level dumb.  That being said, the Tar Heels were still up against it.  There was simply no way that Kansas was going to let them get off a tying three.  Even with a foul, North Carolina would have to make the first free throw, intentionally miss the second, get an offensive rebound without the guy who snagged all of their rebounds for them, and then score within 4 seconds.  And Kansas wasn't going to make two boneheaded plays in a row with the title on the line.  Right?  RIGHT?!?!

Somehow they did.  Not only did the Jayhawks not foul, they let the Tar Heels inbound the ball to their best shooter, Caleb Love, who would get an opportunity at one more magical shot for his tournament highlight reel, this one to send the national championship to overtime.  He didn't get the cleanest look and his final prayer would find nothing but air.  Kansas did everything they could to blow this one late, but the Jayhawks are your new national champions, outlasting a gritty North Carolina squad by a score of 72-69.

And with that result, I am happy to announce the winners of this year's pools.  Only one bracket had the Jayhawks winning it all, and with that result, Yarmela is the champion of the 2022 Main Pool.  Vince takes the runner-up spot, while Chubbs takes 3rd.  There were no brackets with Kansas on top in the Gamblers Pool, so Vince grabs top honors there.  The only thing to decide was who would be second: Tiny or Dwight?  Tiny went with a total final score of 140 in the championship game.  Dwight went slightly higher with a guess of 142.  And because the Madness never disappoints, we had a total score of 141, resulting in our first ever tie.  All results from this year's pool can be found here.

That's it for this year's March Madness.  I hope you stuck around for One Shining Moment, which was awesome as always.  The Indiana cheerleader, the crying Tennessee player, and the St. Peter's Peacocks were prominently featured.  Because of all the Coach K stuff on Saturday night, I forgot to predict that there would be a lot of him in the montage, but there deservedly was.  The only miss was the shirtless Kelvin Sampson celebration.  For some reason, other tamer locker room celebrations were shown.  Boooo!

Thanks to everyone for playing!  Wishing you and your families a happy and healthy 2022!

March Madness 2022 - Ca-ro-li-na, Ca-ro-li-na, Coach K-hey, good-bye

It is pretty rare that we get to the Championship game and still have things to decide in both pools, but that will be the case this year.  In the Main Pool, Yarmela will be rooting for Kansas to cut down the nets and elevate her to the top spot, but if they lose, Vince will win both pools.  That is because Vince is the newest champ of the Gamblers Pool.  A tiebreaker will be needed to decide second and third place.  If the total score is less than 141, Tiny is the runner up.  A total score over 141 points gives Dwight the silver medal.  The standings can be found here.

In our first national semifinal, we had an undersized team from the Northeast wearing dark blue uniforms that fell way behind quickly.  Did the St. Peter's Peacocks crash the Final Four?  Nope, it was actually the Villanova Wildcats who found themselves down 10-0 in the first two and a half minutes of the game.  It would actually get worse from there as Kansas took a 38-19 lead with five minutes to go in the first half.  Was there a Jayhawk with a huge number of rebounds that I could follow in the second half?  This eerily felt like North Carolina - St. Peter's part two, except Villanova wasn't a 15 seed.

The Wildcats championship fight was on display from that moment forward though.  Villanova would score the next 10 points to trim the lead to single digits.  The deficit would be 11 at the break, but at least the Wildcats had planted a seed of doubt in the heads of the Kansas players that this thing wasn't over.  Even when the Jayhawks extended the lead to 16 early in the second half, Jay Wright's players let it be known that they would not be sent packing quietly.  They kept scrapping and chipping away, getting within 6 with more than six minutes left to play.  But that would end up being as close as they would get.  The dagger would come with 4 minutes to go.  Kansas was up 9 and the shot clock was about to hit zero when Christian Braun nailed a three to effectively clinch the Jayhawks spot in Monday's title game.  Kansas was probably the least heralded of the #1 seeds coming into the tournament, but they'll be the ones playing for it all.  The Jayhawks defeat a resilient Villanova squad by a score of 81-65.

National semifinal #2 was the marquee matchup because it featured the sport's biggest rivalry on a stage they had never played on before.  Duke and North Carolina is typically must see TV, but they had never met in the NCAA tournament, much less the Final Four.  And with this being Coach K's final season, there was somehow one more layer of intrigue added to this game.  Duke was seeking revenge as the Tar Heels had ruined Coach K's last home game by blowing them out in Durham a few weeks ago.  Duke had been the most clutch team in the tournament so far, while an argument could be made that North Carolina had been the most impressive through 4 rounds.  Something would have to give and this game would not disappoint in terms of drama.

It was back and forth from the opening tip, but North Carolina looked like they might have an early advantage when the ref's whistle kept going against Duke in the beginning of the game.  The Blue Devils would be called for the first 6 fouls in this one, including 2 against their best big man, Mark Williams.  That would land him on the bench for the rest of the half.  His replacement, Theo John, would remarkably pick up 4 fouls before intermission, something you almost never see in college basketball.  Despite encountering some incredibly rare foul trouble, Duke managed to lead after 20 minutes by a score of 37-34.

The second half would be even more frantic.  As was the case with Duke's game with Texas Tech, the Blue Devils emerged from the locker room displaying much more aggression than they had in the opening half, extending their lead to 7.  But North Carolina would respond with the biggest run of the night.  The Tar Heels scored the next 13 points to leap ahead by 6.  There wouldn't be much separation the rest of the way.  During the last 7 minutes of this contest, there would be 10 lead changes.  Both squads seemed determined not to let their season end at the hands of their hated rival.  A three on one end would be answered by a trey from the other team.  It became a matter of who would blink first.  And the blink wouldn't happen on a missed three or a blocked layup.  It would actually happen at the foul line.

With Duke up 1 and just over a minute to go, Carolina's RJ Davis drove to the hoop and was fouled.  He stepped to the line and calmly sank two free throws.  In this seemingly never ending game of tit-for-tat, it only made sense that Duke would get fouled on a drive to the hoop.  The Blue Devils had a chance to take the lead, and perhaps most importantly, it had eliminated one of North Carolina's key players from the game.  Armando Bacot had more than 20 rebounds for the second consecutive game, even shrugging off a rolled ankle that had occurred with about 5 minutes to go.  But the rules say you can't shrug off your 5th personal foul, so Bacot had to take a seat.  If this game went to overtime, the Tar Heels were going to have their hands full defending Duke's big men and getting rebounds without Bacot.  To the free throw stepped Mark Williams, and he would be the one who blinked.  The first free throw was long, the second free throw short.  North Carolina had possession of the ball, a 1 point lead, and only 47 seconds remained.

Many teams would run down as much of the 30 second shot clock as they could in this situation, eventually leaving themselves with a horrible forced shot, but the Tar Heels played it smart.  They certainly didn't rush into their offense, but when their best shooter, Caleb Love, found some space at the top of the key, he didn't hesitate to hoist up a three.  And it was pure.  Carolina was up 4 with less than 28 seconds to go and Duke had no timeouts.  Suddenly, you could sense that Duke was in huge trouble.  To their credit, they rushed down the court and got an easy drive to the hoop to bring the deficit back down to 2, but they would be forced to put Love on the line.  Love made the first, but he missed the second, suddenly giving Duke life again.  As the Blue Devils ran their offense to set up a game tying three, North Carolina accidentally fouled them.  How do I know it was an accident?  Because it almost resulted in a three-point play that could have tied the game.  Trevor Keels went to the line and sank the first, missed the second.  Was the miss intentional?  Nope.  How do I know?  Because there was no one in the neighborhood of the rebound.  Each team had made the first free throw, missed the second, and tit-for-tat had officially been restored with the two missed free throws by Williams being the only blip along the way.  That was one extremely costly blip though.  Love would get sent to the line again and he wouldn't miss this time, putting North Carolina up 4 with only 8 seconds left.  Duke would miss one final three pointer and that was it.  I've never known college basketball without Coach K, but one of the greatest coaching eras in sports has now come to a close.  North Carolina moves on to play Kansas for the title after ousting the team they (and many others) hate the most.  The Tar Heels defeat Duke by a score of 81-77.

One game left and the focus will shift from Coach K to Roy Williams, who isn't coaching either of the teams in the title game, but he had long stints with each of them (15 years with Kansas, 18 years with North Carolina).  Prepare for lots of shots of him in the stands where he will most definitely be clad in Carolina powder blue (where he won three titles).  It should be an excellent national championship game followed by a wonderful One Shining Moment featuring a shirtless Kelvin Sampson celebrating, the crying Tennessee player being comforted by Juwan Howard, lots of St. Peter's highlights, and the cheerleaders who were able to get the basketballs stuck above the backboards.  Be sure to tune in Monday night!

March Madness 2022 - Double Digit Seeds, Double Digit Blowouts

Standings can be found here.  Scenarios for each pool will be found at the end of this one.  Don't worry, it's not a long read.

The allure of March Madness is that anything is possible.  It's not a 7 game series played between teams.  One game.  Typically on a neutral court.  Loser goes home.  And that setup works perfectly for the little guy.  Is St. Peter's beating Kentucky 4 out of 7 times?  Not a chance.  Would Kentucky ever visit St. Peter's for a game at Run Baby Run Arena?  Nope.  The big schools almost always hold sway in making the smaller schools come play in their packed house.  And who feels more pressure in a situation where the losing team is done for the year?  The team with all the expectations.  Add it all up and you have the perfect recipe for upsets.

These Cinderella stories are the best part of this event and sometimes, when we're lucky, it will last beyond one round.  Seeing a double-digit seed get to the Sweet 16 is always an awesome story.  But after going home for a few days and soaking up their newfound fame, it's tough for a team to show up at a new location the following weekend and win yet again.  St. Peter's was the magical story of a team that simply refused to lose.  And both they and Miami (who won their Sweet 16 Cinderella battle vs Iowa State) were now one step away from the biggest stage of all: the Final Four.

Miami would get their shot first, taking on #1 seed Kansas in the Midwest Regional Final.  The Hurricanes were only a 5 point underdog in this one despite being the #10 seed in the region.  They had played so well in the first three rounds that people were giving them a legit shot to take down the final #1 seed remaining.  Miami, like Houston, had spent very little time playing from behind in this tournament, so they would face the same acid test that the Cougars did.  Would they pass?  Not exactly.

Luckily for the Hurricanes, they did not fall behind right out of the gate like Houston did.  Miami played toe-to-toe with the top seed for most of the half before going on a late 9-2 run to establish a 6 point halftime edge.  That was the good news.  The bad news is that we were headed for the most lopsided 20 minutes of basketball in the tournament when the teams returned to the court.  The Jayhawks ended the talk of an upset quickly.  Within 4 minutes, the game was tied at 40.  And then over the last 16 minutes, Kansas would outscore the #10 seed by an outrageous 36-10 margin.  If the Jayhawk team we saw in the second half of this game shows up in New Orleans, everyone else is in big trouble.  Kansas ends Miami's Final Four hopes with a 76-50 thrashing, taking home the title of Midwest Region champs.

The last spot in New Orleans came down to your typical #8 vs #15 matchup.  The St. Peter's Peacocks had been the story of this tournament, making history with their win over Purdue on Friday night, becoming the first #15 seed to get to the Elite Eight.  There was a sense that this miraculous run had to end at some point, but if you looked at who they beat to get here, it was hard to imagine that they would be intimidated by anyone left in the field.  They took out Kentucky, one of the favorites to win this year's championship.  They took down Murray State, the team with the longest winning streak in the country.  And they took down Purdue, who spent nearly the entire year ranked in the top 10.  North Carolina was actually the lowest seeded team that they were facing in this incredible run.  Could pesky defense and clutch shooting get them a date with Duke in New Orleans?

No.  Just no.  The crowd was rocking as everyone was pumped to see St. Peter's make history again, but within 4 minutes, it felt like we were at a funeral.  Everything went wrong for the Peacocks early.  Soon it was 9-0 and coach Shaheen Holloway was forced to call a timeout.  It didn't get much better from there.  St. Peter's was able to drive to the hoop, but it seemed like they could never finish.  Meanwhile, the Tar Heels were playing fast and loose with their big lead.  At no point could the Peacocks truly put pressure on them in the way they had with their first three opponents.  The lead was 19 for North Carolina at the break and the most interesting part of the game was wondering how many rebounds Tar Heels big man Armando Bacot would end up with, as he had a ridiculous 15 at intermission (Answer: 22).

The second half was played mostly in silence, with the occasional dumb "Tar...Heels!" chant breaking out after a North Carolina dunk or made three.  No one expected a comeback.  We were all just watching the minutes tick down so that we could give a standing ovation when the players who made this magical run happen were pulled from the game.  That moment came with 1:21 left.  Both teams emptied their benches and the fanbases saluted their players.  But the extended loud ovation was for the Peacocks.  It will take a #15 seed getting to the Final Four to top the amazing story of St. Peter's in the 2022 tournament.  The Peacocks head back to Jersey City, while the Tar Heels make plans for New Orleans to take on their nemesis Duke in one of the national semifinals.  North Carolina is your East Region champ, taking out the Peacocks by a score of 69-49.

Scenario time!  I'll list out the 8 remaining championship game scenarios and who will finish in the top 3 for each pool given those outcomes.  Drum roll please!

Main Pool:

• Duke def. Kansas: 1st - Andrew, 2nd - Yarmela, 3rd - Belden
• Duke def. Villanova: 1st - Vince, 2nd - Chubbs, 3rd - Scott P
• North Carolina def. Kansas: 1st - Vince, 2nd - Yarmela, 3rd - Chubbs
• North Carolina def. Villanova: 1st - Vince, 2nd - Chubbs, 3rd - Scott P
• Kansas def. Duke: 1st - Yarmela, 2nd - Scott P, 3rd - Vince
• Kansas def. North Carolina: 1st - Yarmela, 2nd - Vince, 3rd - Chubbs
• Villanova def. Duke: 1st - Vince, 2nd - John B, 3rd - Chubbs
• Villanova def. North Carolina: 1st - Vince, 2nd - Chubbs, 3rd - John B

Gambler Pool:

• Duke def. Kansas: 1st - Tiny, 2nd/3rd - Vince/John F (tiebreaker)
• Duke def. Villanova: 1st - Vince, 2nd - Tiny, 3rd - Nicola
• North Carolina def. Kansas: 1st - Vince, 2nd/3rd - Tiny/Dwight (tiebreaker)
• North Carolina def. Villanova: 1st - Vince, 2nd - Nicola, 3rd - Chubbs
• Kansas def. Duke: 1st - Tiny, 2nd - Vince, 3rd - Dwight
• Kansas def. North Carolina: 1st - Vince, 2nd/3rd - Tiny/Dwight (tiebreaker)
• Villanova def. Duke: 1st - Vince, 2nd - Nicola, 3rd - Tiny
• Villanova def. North Carolina: 1st - Vince, 2nd - Nicola, 3rd - Chubbs

That's all until Saturday!

March Madness 2022 - Deuces

Just five games left in this year's Madness after Saturday's action.  Less games means less possibilities and less possibilities means more clarity on who can win this year's pools.  You can find the current standings here.  Main Pool is down to five possible champs: Chubbs, Scott, Vince, Yarmela, or Andrew.  Gamblers Pool is down to two: either Vince or Tiny will take that crown.

Time to book some trips to New Orleans!  The South Regional was up first.  Villanova had gotten the bad end of the deal when it came to where they were playing their regional final.  It made sense for them to be in the East Region, but with the regional semifinals and finals slated for Philly, it would have been unfair to give the #2 seed home court advantage in a potential matchup against the #1 seed with a spot in the Final Four on the line.  (No, I'm not bitter that my beloved NC State women's basketball team lost a road game in double OT to UConn.  Why do you ask?).  Unfortunately for the Wildcats, every contingency doesn't get taken into account by the selection committee.  As the #2 seed, it was expected that Villanova would play in the South Regional Final, but the appearance of #5 Houston was a small surprise, given they would have to knock out higher seeds Illinois (#4) and Arizona (#1) along the way.  But the reward for taking down those opponents was that the Cougars would effectively get a home game in San Antonio in an attempt to advance to the Final Four for the second year in a row.  Sorry Villanova!

I mentioned in my recap of the Sweet 16 that Houston had spent almost no time playing from behind in this tournament and that it would be interesting to see how they would adapt should that scenario unfold.  We got to see that play out right from the opening tip in this game.  Villanova scored the first 5 points and it didn't take long for the lead to grow to 11.  Uncharted territory for the Cougars!  And if there was one team in this tournament that you didn't want to fall behind to, it's Villanova, as they are about to set an NCAA record for made free throw percentage in a season.  Houston would need to make up this deficit before they hit the final few minutes of the game to have any chance and they did a decent job of it.  They were only down 7 at the half.  They had drawn within 2 with just over 5 minutes left.  But the downfall for the Cougars in this game would be their inability to hit from deep.  They wound up a woeful 1 for 20 from three point land.  And this battle tested Villanova squad kept Houston from scoring inside late.  Unfortunately for Villanova, it wasn't all good news as the final seconds ticked off the clock.  The Wildcats were trying to run the clock down in the final minute when an incident happened that might affect their title chances.  Justin Moore, one of six players who routinely sees time on the court for Villanova, tore his achilles with 35 seconds to go.  He's done for the season, but his teammates are not.  #2 seed Villanova is the champion of the South Region, taking down Houston by a score of 50-44.

Even though I bet on horses regularly, I don't bet on sports very much.  I'm sure I could delude myself into believing that I had an edge, but my results in this pool over the years have kinda set me straight on how sharp (dull?) of a sports bettor I might be.  That being said, if there was one game I would have bet a lot of money on in this tournament, it was the West Regional Final between Duke and Arkansas.  And I would have let it ride on the Blue Devils.  Why?  Not because I believe there is some giant conspiracy to get Coach K a title in his final season.  There were two other reasons why I would have bet on Duke:

1. Arkansas just had this amazing high from taking out the #1 overall seed in the previous round.  Teams like that tend to have a bit of a letdown in their next game (Scott Brown will not let me call this a bounce).  Occasionally, a team like Arkansas will bump into another team coming in off of a similar situation and be able to find continued success.  But that wasn't the case with Duke.  Yes, they were happy that they survived their battle with Texas Tech, but they expected to win that game.
2. Arkansas was successful this season because of one specific strength that they had: free throw shooting.  Not just the ability to make free throws, but also the ability to get to the free throw line often.  No team shot more free throws than the Razorbacks this season.  In a game where a trip to the Final Four was on the line, what were the odds that Arkansas would get to the line more than Duke?  Zero.  Point.  Zero.

That's not to say that the refs swayed things in favor of Duke in this one.  I highly doubt you will ever see a game like North Carolina-Baylor where the refs didn't hide the fact at all that they were favoring the Bears.  Even Arkansas-Gonzaga had quite a few controversial whistles that impacted the game.  There was no controversy to be found in this one.  I'm just saying that if they played this game 100 times, Arkansas would shoot less free throws than Duke all 100 times.  That's my story and I'm sticking to it.

The truth of the matter is that the Blue Devils were simply the better team in this matchup.  Duke held a small lead for most of the first half before scoring the last 8 points to take a 12 point margin into intermission.  In the second half, there was only one moment where Arkansas seemed to have a glimmer of hope.  They made a run to draw within 5, leading Coach K to call a timeout.  And say what you want about him (oh, I say plenty), but Coach K has been exceptional at drawing up plays for his teams out of the timeout.  Duke immediately scored, sparking a 19-6 run that put this game away.  The Razorbacks fall one step short of the Final Four for a second consecutive season as Duke heads to New Orleans.  The #2 seeded Blue Devils win the West Region with a 78-69 victory over Arkansas.

Two more spots available in New Orleans and I'll be back in Philly to see who comes out of the East.  Can a double-digit seed keep their Cinderella story going?  (Please let it be the Peacocks!). One more recap before the Final Four coming up.