“People do give me a hard time about my hair because it’s orange and it’s big.” – Carrot Top
We were treated to a couple of exciting games this evening as well as some significant movement in the standings. If you had Syracuse from the beginning, you had a good day. I have several awards to hand out this evening, but first, I need to wax a few elephants.
Sunday Snapshots
- Uneasy Lies The Head That Wears The Crown – Tonight’s double header started where we left off last night with the #1 seed losing again, making the top seeds 0-3 to that point. Here’s a game that Virginia led by as many 14 with less than 10 minutes to play, and yet somehow managed to find a way to lose. Certainly credit is due to Syracuse for finding a way to win two games now in which they were down late, but I can’t help but question the Virginia game plan. For example, as alert minion Bill Spyksma observed in a email he sent me, why was Virginia rolling the ball up to half court without a touch to preserve clock at precisely the point where they had their largest lead? Wouldn’t they want to shorten the game at that point? Again, I’m somewhat astonished as the sheer lack of basic basketball smarts on display by so many teams in this tournament, and not just by scrappy underdogs like Northern Iowa, but also by top seeds, blue bloods,and storied programs. Could this be a side effect of the “one-and-done” phenomenon?
- Revenge Is A Dish Best Served Cold…but I’m not certain how I like my crow. It seems I have a few comments that I need to walk back (that’s politician speak for I was wrong but don’t want to admit it). First, a couple of minions alerted me to the fact that the Villanova Wildcats were not the only animal mascot remaining in the tournament, as the North Carolina Tarheels are technically goats. Someone else said that the Oklahoma Sooners also have an animal mascot, although I’m struggling to determine exactly what sort of creature a Sooner is. Maybe it’s a close relative of the elusive Hoosier supposedly indigenous to Indiana but never actually observed in the wild. Then again it could be more of a legend like the Yeti, Sasquatch, or Snipe. I bet “In Search of Sooner” would make a great reality show on Animal Planet. And then there was my anti-Syracuse rant and blatant skepticism of their achievement of getting to the Elite Eight because of the relatively easy road they had to get there. Tonight not only did the Orange beat the number one seed in their region, but they became only the fourth double-digit seed and the first 10 seed ever to make the Final Four in the 64-team era. One has to wonder how this team ever lost to the likes of St. John’s.
- Luck Of The Irish Runs Out – First, Brice Johnson made the Boneheaded Play Of The Day by earning himself a technical foul by tossing the ball over is head in disgusted protest of the personal foul he just received. This gave him fouls 3 and 4 and sent him promptly to the bench. Less than 30 seconds later, Notre Dame capped their 12-0 run to take a 52-51 lead, and thoughts of another epic collapse were swimming in my head. The Tarheels, however, refused to go the way of the other three #1 seeds and went on a 12-0 run of their own, never looking back after that. It would be easy to call North Carolina the team to beat in this year’s Final Four, and I doubt that’s much of a stretch. With strong coaching, senior leadership, and NBA-level talent, it will be a tall order depriving them of another national championship.
And now for the awards.
Elite Eight Awards
- The How The West Was Won award goes to Vanessa Sopke and Justin Wentworth who each were a perfect 15-0 in the West region with original picks. These are, in fact, the only two contestants who were perfect in any region in this year’s contest.
- The Southern Hospitality award goes to a number of contestants who went 14-1 in the South region with original picks: Jennifer Garten, Jamie Shannon, Lewis Schafer, Gavin Hand, Mike Blankenberger, Jack Harper, Lisa Wilkins, Kim LeFever, Ken Jordan, and Abraham Hadley.
- The Eastern Star award goes to another considerable collection of minions who went 14-1 in the East region with original picks: Kassy Morales, Andrew McGuire, Tony Morales, Cyrus Schafer, Sam Glassley, Stephen Canter, Randy Jewell, Jeff Harrington, Tom Bruner, and Kaylee Salm.
- The Crossroads Of America award goes to the one contestant who at 12-3 did better than anyone else in the brutal Midwest region, AJ Spuches.
- The Upset Stomach award goes to the contestant who collected the most upset bonus points throughout the rounds where they were available. Ayden Jent amassed 74 upset bonus points and sits in 16th place. Ironically, Ayden did not collect a Scategories bonus.
- The History Maker award goes to the contestants who actually picked Syracuse to make the Final Four and collected the largest payout of Scategories and Upset Bonus points of the contest so far: Devan Bailey, Kristen Barney, Bob Johnson, Daniel Labbato, Joanna Labbato, Pam Mikel, Katie Muschalik, Denise Nichole, Cindy Schaefer, and Zachary Schaefer.
- The Moving On Up award goes to Daniel Goers who has climbed from 714th to 33rd, and he has done so in rather conventional fashion, having not picked any big upsets to speak of. Daniel will receive an autographed photo of Sherman Hemsley.
- And finally, the All In award goes to continuing contest leader AJ Spuches. All of AJ’s fortunes now rest squarely on North Carolina’s ability to complete the mission and win the national championship.
Closing Thoughts
The Final Four offers us some intriguing contest scenarios. While the winner of the Villanova/Oklahoma semifinal does not offer any bonus points, a national championship by either one does. A Syracuse victory over North Carolina would be worth 48 points to five contestants, and a Syracuse national championship would pretty much replace the top three with three new names. I haven’t done all the math, but those of you who have a team not called North Carolina as national champ might want to take this week to do it yourself to see what your chances are. Suffice it to say that if you are currently in the top 10, you probably want North Carolina to win.
And now it’s time for the Wizard to step back behind the current for another week’s respite. This has been an exciting tournament with lots of surprises, and hopefully you are enjoying the exercise. I appreciate all of the tweets, texts, and emails. I’ll see you again on Final Four weekend.
Warmly,
The Wizard of Whiteland