Like Puccinelli before me and Herodotus before him, I am but a humble scribe simply tasked with the documentation of the historical events unfolding before my eyes.\u00a0 This year’s NCAA Tournament is only 1\/3 of the way to crowning a champion, but it is already the best edition of this legendary sporting event.\u00a0 So, let’s go through all of the MADNESS of what just happened, pod by pod, shall we?\u00a0 I’ll indicate the pod by the team that survived.<\/p>\n
Kansas<\/strong> Maryland<\/strong> Miami<\/strong> Villanova<\/strong> North Carolina<\/strong> Indiana<\/strong> Notre Dame<\/strong> Wisconsin<\/strong> Oregon<\/strong> Duke<\/strong> Texas A&M<\/strong> Oklahoma Virginia<\/strong> Iowa State<\/strong> Gonzaga<\/strong> Syracuse<\/strong> Like Puccinelli before me and Herodotus before him, I am but a humble scribe simply tasked with the documentation of the historical events unfolding before my eyes.\u00a0 This year’s NCAA Tournament is only 1\/3 of the way to crowning a … Continue reading
\nThe overall #1-seeded Jayhawks are through in one of the less interesting pods of the weekend.\u00a0 Led by Perry Ellis and a host of other good “college players,” KU romped 16-seeded Austin Peay and then handled a game UConn team.\u00a0 Freshmen Chieck Diallo and Carlton Bragg barely got off the bench for a deep, veteran-laden KU team.\u00a0\u00a0We did get drama in the 8\/9 game, as Josh Scott and Colorado led most of the way, only to see UConn – and the ridiculous free-throw shooting of Rodney Purvis and Sterling Gibbs – come all the way back to win.<\/p>\n
\nThe Terps took a big lead against #12 South Dakota State only to see it slowly slip away and slip away, but they held on.\u00a0 The other first-round game gave us some MADNESS as #13 Hawai’i – with a slew of skilled athletes like Roderick Bobbitt and Stefan Jonkovic – pretty much handled a 4th-seeded Cal team that was red-hot and featured several future first-round NBA draft picks, including Jaylen Brown. who is likely to be a household name at some point, and Ivan Rabb.\u00a0 The kicker here is that their leading scorer, Tyrone Wallace, broke his arm in practice the day before the game.\u00a0 Then, in the Second Round, this fun Hawai’i team led for about 30 minutes before Maryland turned on the jets.\u00a0 Now, the Terps, who I still believe have the best five starting players (not the best lineup because they don’t really fit) in the country in Melo Trimble, Rasheed Sulaimon, Jake Layman, Robert Carter, and Diamond Stone, are moving on to the Sweet 16.<\/p>\n
\nSheldon McClellan barely led the 3rd-seeded Hurricanes past a pretty gritty Buffalo team, who was making their second straight tournament appearance despite losing Coach Bobby Hurley to Arizona State last season in the First Round, but that was the least interesting game of a great pod.\u00a0 The other First Round game saw Ron Baker and Fred Van Vleet continue their incredible careers by upsetting #6 Arizona just two days after dismantling Wade Baldwin, Damion Jones, and Vandy in the First Four in Dayton.\u00a0 Two days after that, the Shockers were given a noon tip against Miami and fell down by 25 early.\u00a0 But, Baker and Van Vleet still had a little magic in them, as they stormed back and took the lead, only to see Angel Rodriguez just throw daggers at them to close out the game and two insanely historic careers in Wichita.\u00a0 Think about this – Baker and Van Vleet both arrived on campus four years ago to a school that was a good mid-major program, but nothing remarkable.\u00a0 But, four years later, the two of them graduate with a Final Four, an undefeated regular season, and 4 years where the only year that they did not win MULTIPLE TOURNAMENT GAMES was when they ended their season with only one loss all year – to the eventual national runners-up.\u00a0 Wow!<\/p>\n
\nJay Wright’s ‘Cats get the monkey off their backs of 6 years of total disappointment in this tournament.\u00a0 Freshman Jalen Brunson and senior Ryan Arcidiacono led the way, along with unsung superstar, Josh Hart, as #2 ‘Nova romped UNC-Asheville in the First Round and absolutely destroyed #7 Iowa in the Second Round.\u00a0 Pretty lackluster madness, right?\u00a0 Nope!\u00a0 The other game in this pod was Iowa versus #10 Temple.\u00a0 The Hawkeyes – led by the sharp-shooting of Peter Jok and Jarrod Uthoff – were up most of the way, but the Owls made a furious comeback and actually sent the game to overtime on three INCREDIBLY clutch free throws by senior star, Quentin DeCosey.\u00a0 Then, the overtime went back and forth until all-around d-bag, Adam Woodbury hit the winning putback at the buzzer thanks to a blatant two-handed shove in the back that wasn’t called.\u00a0 Had that been called, there would have been free throws for Obi Enechionya on the other end, and we would have all been treated to an NCAA Tournament game between two BIG FIVE TEAMS!\u00a0 We were robbed by the MADNESS.<\/p>\n
\nThe MADNESS here came in the First Round.\u00a0 There was a hint of some MADNESS even in the First Round game for top-seeded UNC.\u00a0 #16 Florida Gulf Coast (not exactly strangers to MADNESS, themselves) played toe-to-toe with the big, bad Tar Heels for the entire first half and entered the locker room down just 1 at 41-40.\u00a0 The Heels came out and flexed their muscles in the second half, but it was fun for 20 minutes.\u00a0 The other First Round game was fun for all 40.\u00a0 Providence and USC went up and down and back and forth all night before Kris Dunn hit a couple ENORMOUS shots down the stretch to erase a pretty sizeable USC lead that was built by their relatively unknown stars, Julian Jacobs, Jordan McLaughlin,\u00a0and Bennie “Buckets” Boatwright.\u00a0 And, then it happened – MADNESS!!!\u00a0 USC,\u00a0up 1 with :01.5 seconds left\u00a0was so focused on stopping either Dunn – the two-time Big East Player of the Year – or Ben Bentil – the 2016 Big East scoring champ – that they forgot to cover little ole Rodney Bullock, who took the inbounds pass and scored a wide-open layup to win it.\u00a0 Wow!!!\u00a0 The Friars moved on to the Second Round and got pummeled by Carolina, but they had already contributed to the MADNESS.<\/p>\n
\nMaybe not true MADNESS, but probably the best actual basketball game of the tournament so far came from this pod.\u00a0 When Indiana rolled Chattanooga and Kentucky rolled Stony Brook in the First Round, we were guaranteed this great matchup between two ultimate college hoops heavyweights who were the respective champs of the Big Ten and SEC.\u00a0 Star PG Tyler Ulis versus star PG Yogi Ferrell.\u00a0 Everyone’s favorite one-and-done, Jamal Murray, versus the completely unknown future star, O.G. Anunoby.\u00a0 In what was just a terrific basketball game that was no befitting the Second Round, the Hoosiers eliminated Calipari’s ‘Cats and sent Ulis, Murray, and Skal Labissiere to their next stops in the Association.<\/p>\n
\nMADNESS lives and his name is Austin, Stephen F. Austin.\u00a0 The 14th-seeded Lumberjacks simply dominated #3-seed and sleeper Final Four pick, West Virginia, in the First Round winning by 14 in a game that wasn’t even that close.\u00a0 The other First Round game saw Demetrius Jackson and Zach Auguste come back from a huge deficit to lead #6 Notre Dame past #11 Michigan.\u00a0 That set up some MADNESS.\u00a0 Stephen F. Austin, who best player, Thomas Walkup, actually might be a lumberjack, outplayed Notre Dame, but the Irish took every punch and eventually got the game-winning tip-in at the buzzer turning a one-point loss into a one-point win.\u00a0 And, who scored that monumental basket?\u00a0 But, of course – Rex Pflueger.\u00a0 I mean that makes sense, considering he hadn’t scored since March 5th, and only scored more than 2 points in SEVEN of ND’s 34 games.\u00a0 MADNESS!!!<\/p>\n
\nOn January 12th, the Badgers were 9-9 and 1-4 in Big Ten play.\u00a0 They had lost to Western Illinois, Milwaukee, and Marquette at home.\u00a0 They had lost their Hall of Fame head coach.\u00a0 So, why wouldn’t they be in the Sweet 16?!?\u00a0 They won a First Round game that was the lowest-scoring game in Tournament history, 47-43 against Pitt, and then took on #2 Xavier, led by Jalen Reynolds, Trevon Blueitt, Myles Davis, and freshman star Edmond Sumner.\u00a0 This is the best Xavier team ever assembled and a legit championship contender.\u00a0 Then Bronson Koenig happened.\u00a0 The junior hit a 26-footer with :15 seconds left to tie the game at 60.\u00a0 Then Sumner committed a charge on the other end with :05 seconds left, setting up Koenig’s heroics, as he took an inbounds pass in the corner and calmly DRILLED a ridiculous game-winner.\u00a0 MADNESS!!!<\/p>\n
\nLet’s start in the First Round with some MADNESS.\u00a0 #8 St. Joe’s took on #9 Cincy in a true East Coast style brawl out in Spokane.\u00a0 Isaiah Miles hit a 3 with :20 seconds left to put St. Joe’s up 78-76.\u00a0 Cincy comes down, Troy Caupain drives the lane, draws about 4 Hawks defenders, lets go of an incredible wrap-around pass to Octavius Ellis, who does exactly what you’re supposed to do and DUNKS THE BALL.\u00a0 The problem?\u00a0 When the red light goes on, the ball is through the basket, but he is still touching it.\u00a0 Basket waved off, St. Joe’s survives, MADNESS wins…as always.\u00a0 The Hawks and superstar, DeAndre Bembry, then move on to face #1 Oregon, who dispatched Bill Carmody’s 14-19 Holy Cross team that won their first 4 road games of the year in the Patriot League Tournament to win the thing.\u00a0 Oregon, led by Pac-12 POY Dillon Brooks and Pac-12 Newcomer of the Year Chris Boucher, actually struggled most of the way against the Hawks, but hit some monster shots down the stretch to squeak out a victory.<\/p>\n
\nMADNESS!!!\u00a0 #5 Baylor got manhandled by #12 Yale in the First Round.\u00a0 Yep, you read that right.\u00a0 Yale manhandled Baylor.\u00a0 They outrebounded Baylor.\u00a0 How do a bunch of Ivy League kids outrebound big, bad Baylor?\u00a0 Well, some awful reporter asked Taurean Prince that question in an even more ignorant, condescending way than I just did.\u00a0 And, Prince’s deadpan answer was phenomenal:\u00a0 You see when someone takes a shot and misses, anyone on the court can go up and grab the ball with two hands.\u00a0 When that happens, it’s called a “rebound.”\u00a0 Ya, they got more of <\/em>those.\u00a0 But, anyway, MADNESS struck with a little white guy named Makai Mason dropping 31 on Baylor and eliminating a sleeper Final Four pick before the sun went down on Thursday.\u00a0 The first game of the tournament had the potential for Madness, but Brandon Ingram, Grayson Allen, and the last\u00a0Plumlee\u00a0put the Dookies on their backs and carried them past a good UNC-Wilmington team.\u00a0 Then, Duke ambushed Yale from the start in the Second Round, but Yale came storming back, cutting a 27-point lead to just 3, but couldn’t finish the job, and Duke and their 6 useable players move on to the Sweet 16.<\/p>\n
\n<\/strong>Obviously, there were a lot of pods with a LOT OF MADNESS.\u00a0 But, nothing can top the MADNESS that ensued in this little pod.\u00a0 Let’s get this out of the way first – #3 Texas A&M ran over #14 Green Bay in an easy First Round win.\u00a0 Jalen Jones, Danuel House, College Station’s own Alex Caruso all were too much for the Phoenix.\u00a0 But, that is where the non-MADNESS ends in this pod.\u00a0 First Round, late Friday night:\u00a0 11th-seeded Northern Iowa (who got into the Dance on a crazy buzzer-beater by Wes Washpun to beat Evansville in the MVC final) led #6 Texas almost the whole way, but the ‘Horns made a great comeback and tied it on an Isaiah Taylor runner with :02 seconds left.\u00a0 Overtime, right?\u00a0 Nope…MADNESS!\u00a0 The incredibly well-coached Panthers had an inbounds play ready to go without even using a timeout.\u00a0 They threw the ball to Paul Jesperson, who took two dribble and shot a one-footed shot from half-court.\u00a0 GOOOOOOOOODDDDD!!!!!\u00a0 You gotta be kidding me.\u00a0 One of the best moments that’s ever happened to this program (at least from a guy not named Faroukmanesh), right?\u00a0 Well, yes…and no.\u00a0 It sent the Panthers to the second round, which is great, right?\u00a0 Well, yes…and no.\u00a0 In an evil twist of fate, the greatest buzzer-beater in NCAA Tournament history enabled the worst collapse in COLLEGE BASKETBALL HISTORY.\u00a0 I still don’t believe that this happened, but UNI had a TWELVE-POINT LEAD WITH :44 SECONDS LEFT.\u00a0 WHAT?!?!?!?!?\u00a0 But, they didn’t have their “designated inbounds passer,” who was struggling with cramps.\u00a0 What?\u00a0 Not having an inbounder costs you 12 freaking points in :44 seconds???\u00a0 Good grief…\u00a0 Yes, A&M went on to win in double-OT.\u00a0 Absolute incredible and total MADNESS – no other word for it.<\/p>\n
\n<\/strong>The MADNESS here is pretty much confined to how freaking awesome one dude is.\u00a0 The guy known simply as “Buddy” was an absolute force in two games so far, scoring 53 points in a pair of OU wins to reach the Sweet 16.\u00a0 The games weren’t without their fun, though, as the 2nd-seeded Sooners were pushed by both #15 CS-Bakersfield (with Dewayne Durham) and #10 VCU, but survived in both of them.\u00a0 The other game in this pod was a decent game where VCU’s Melvin Johnson outdueled Gary Payton III and Oregon State, who was playing without their second-best player, Tres Tinkle.<\/p>\n
\nUVA looked pretty good in validating their #1 seed, as future U.S. Senator, Malcolm Brogdon and, especially, Anthony Gill and London Perrantes, rolled over Hampton and then survived a REALLY tough test from Kellen Dunham, the immortal Rosie Jones, and the rest of the Butler Bulldogs, who looked very upset-ready.\u00a0 The ‘Dogs had knocked out Tubby Smith’s Texas Tech Red Raiders in the 8\/9 game in the First Round.<\/p>\n
\nThe MADNESS in this pod came from two teams that are no longer around.\u00a0 #5 Purdue, with the ridiculous\u00a0frontline of AJ Hammonds, Isaac Haas, and Caleb Swanigan, were cruising past a 29-win AR-Little Rock team, up 13 at the under-4 timeout.\u00a0 But, then their glaring hole at point guard reared its ugly head and Little Rock came storming back including an INSANE 3 to force overtime by Josh Hagins.\u00a0 The Trojans finished the job in double OT, knocking out yet another sleeper Final Four pick before their tournament even got started.\u00a0 The Cyclones of Iowa State, led by 56 points in two games by Georges Niang, ran away from AJ English and Iona and then took care of Little Rock to reach the Sweet 16.<\/p>\n
\nMADNESS!!!\u00a0 An 11-seed in the Sweet 16 is always crazy, but it’s starting to be less so with the ‘Zags.\u00a0 They have now made – get this – FOUR Sweet 16s as a double-digit seed.\u00a0 No other program has ever done that more than twice.\u00a0 Cinderella stops being Cinderella when it’s always the same team.\u00a0 But, the ‘Zags, who were a 2-seed last year and a 1-seed the year before that, looked very much like the best team in this pod, as they crushed #6 Seton Hall and an exhausted Isaiah Whitehead in the First Round and then absolutely pummeled Jakob Poeltl and #3 Utah in the Second Round.\u00a0 Utah had nearly blown a lead to Marvelle Harris and #14 Fresno State in the First Round, but survived.<\/p>\n
\nAnd, after all of this, we STILL haven’t mentioned the craziest thing that happened.\u00a0 THE BIGGEST UPSET IN NCAA TOURNAMENT HISTORY.\u00a0 Ya, that happened, too.\u00a0 There are good arguments about whether or not the Middle Tennessee upset of #2 Michigan State really was the biggest upset ever, they are all based in the fact that MTSU isn’t all that bad and were criminally underseeded as a 15-seed.\u00a0 But, NO ONE is arguing that this Michigan State team is the best team in the history of the tournament to lose in the First Round.\u00a0 They were – along with Kansas – the Vegas favorites to WIN THE WHOLE F’ING THING.\u00a0 The other 2-seeds to lose to 15-seeds were very vulnerable and overrated 2-seeds like Missouri, South Carolina, and Georgetown.\u00a0 Or, they happened in years with prohibitive favorites, like ’91 Syracuse in a year when UNLV and Duke were LOADED, ’93 Arizona when the Fab Five were all back as sophomores and UNC was loaded.\u00a0 Or, 2001 Iowa State, in a year with a 1-loss Stanford team and a Duke team that had\u00a0an NBA starting lineup of\u00a0Jay Williams, Chris Duhon, Mike Dunleavy, Shane Battier, and Carlos Boozer.\u00a0 But, this Michigan State team was one of two odds-on favorites to win the whole thing, had one of the two best players in the country, and a coach that is going to be elected into the Hall of Fame this year.\u00a0 You’ve got to be kidding.\u00a0 Giddy Potts just hit ANOTHER THREE.\u00a0 And, in under-the-radar MADNESS, 10th-seeded Syracuse, who shouldn’t have even been in the tournament, cruised past Dayton and Middle Tennessee for a spot in the Sweet 16, where they will wear home whites as the higher-seeded team against #11 Gonzaga.\u00a0 Trevor Cooney and Michael Gbinijie are laughing all the way to Chicago.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"