This Is Madness!
This…is…Spaarrrtaaaaaa! {Cough} Sorry, I got carried away, there. The Elite Eight is set, and five of the eight games were won by the lower seed. Half the remaining teams are seeded lower than three, and only one #1 seed remains. When was the last time the Final Four did not have a single #1 seed? It was the year 2000 with Michigan State, Florida, Wisconsin, and North Carolina. That year was truly unique in that both Wisconsin and North Carolina were #8 seeds. In the maddest of all possibilities, this year’s Final Four could have a #4 seed as its highest participant. I didn’t say it was likely. I said it was possible, and in a year of historic firsts, why not? Speaking of historic firsts, let’s get started with tonight’s rundown.
Shaka Da World!
Believe it or not, in the 26 years since the field was expanded to 64 teams (or more, I guess), this is the first time a 10 and an 11 seed have ever played one another. In terms of drama, this game was full of it, and thus, quite entertaining. On the other hand, this has to be one of the strangest games I’ve ever watched. We had Shaka Zulu and his band of warriors running and gunning and bombing three pointers. Then we had the Florida State Seminoles, warriors in their own right, playing tough defense and grabbing a ridiculous number of rebounds. Folks, check out this stat: FSU out-rebounded VCU 45-25! Conversely, FSU shot 36% from the field compared to VCU’s 46%. So, we had an offensive team that struggles to defend and rebound versus a defensive team that struggles to score, and did Florida State ever struggle to score. They had the final possession of the game not once, but twice, and didn’t just miss, but failed to even get a shot off. For that, the Florida State Seminoles get my annual Reggie Miller Memorial Choke Artist award for snatching defeat right out of the jaws of victory. Each Seminole will receive an autographed picture of Spike Lee and a commemorative New York Knicks jersey.
The Dark Knight Strikes Again
VCU’s victory over FSU was more like Cinderella slugging it out with the evil step-mother trying to recapture some semblance of former glory. Ohio State vs. Kentucky, on the other hand, was Clash of the Titans, perhaps the first real match-up of two high-profile programs from power conferences in this year’s tournament. Honestly, I’m still trying to figure out how Kentucky won this game, but here are what I see as a few keys to the victory:
- Liggins’ Leggin’s – Kentucky’s DeAndre Liggins and his Kentucky-blue, full-leg neoprene sleeves put up 15 points and a defensive presence that seemed to annoy the Buckeyes all night.
- Buford T. Justice – Ohio State’s William Buford was more like the inept sheriff from Smokey And The Bandit than a hero, shooting 3-19 and missing the game’s final shot. He was ice cold. Why Jon Diebler didn’t take the last shot is anybody’s guess, but it might have had something to do with…
- Whatsa Matta U – A good friend of mine and contest participant Brad Schafer observed that Buckeye coach Thad Matta should have worn a red sweater vest for playing Tressel-ball in the closing minutes of the game. Coaches at this level get paid a lot more than I do, and it’s easy to armchair quarterback with no horse in the race, but you have to wonder why Buford just kept shooting them out of the game while Diebler was uninvolved for most of the night.
- Good Knight, Brandon – Once again, Kentucky’s Brandon Knight was a relative non-factor for most of the game, until it counted the most, that is. Knight was 3-15 from the field when he buried the game winner and the Buckeyes in dramatic fashion similar to how he buried Princeton in the first round.
- Play That Funky Defense, White Boy! – Kentucky’s Josh Harrellson was an absolute load, scoring 17 points and harassing (and perhaps fouling) Jared Sullinger all night long.
Wake Me Up When It’s Over
That was my philosophy with the night’s first two games. Both blow outs, never competitive, I have very little to say about them, because, well, I caught up on some much needed sleep at the time. Suffice it to say that Kansas and North Carolina have established themselves among the favorites to advance to the Final Four.
Quick Hitters
- That Should Be Illegal – The Low Blow award goes the VCU player (I didn’t catch his number) who, as he was falling out of bounds, fired the ball with all his might off the Florida State defender at a point-blank range…right below the belt. Yowza! Call me soft, but if it isn’t against the rules, I think it’s bad manners to rocket the ball at your defenseless opponent’s nether region just to avoid a turnover. Honorable mention for this award goes to Kentucky’s Josh Harrellson who fired the ball at Jared Sullinger’s head in similar fashion. Come on, fellas. This is basketball, not dodge ball.
- Even And Odd – I know this is meaningless, but I can’t help but pick up on stuff like this. The East and Southeast regions’ remaining teams are both even-numbered seeds, while the West and Southwest’s are both odd. Draw your own conclusions.
- First Time For Everything – The History Maker award has to go to the VCU Rams. In the first year of the “First Four”, they are the first ever to advance to the Elite Eight by winning four games instead of the traditional three. They are the first 11 seed to ever play and defeat a 10 seed, foiling a Scategories Bonus for those who picked Florida State in the Elite Eight, I might add. Now, I’m ready to say there is no way VCU can beat Kansas, but bear this in mind. The four previous meetings of a #1 vs. a #11 in the regional finals have been split 50/50 between the two seeds. Come Sunday we will know if the slipper still fits.
Elite Eight Awards
Time for the Elite Eight awards sponsored by Super 8 Motels. We’ll keep the light on for you.
- The Reality Check award goes to Joanna “That’s how I roll” Labbato who was woofing it up on Facebook about her Kentucky and VCU picks. Joanna is 169th but very pleased to be beating the two men in her household.
- The VH-1 I Love The 80’s award goes to Mike White for his nostalgic reference to the 80’s classic TV show The Jeffersons on Facebook, where he pointed out that he had picked seven of the Elite Eight correctly and was “movin’ on up” to 104th place.
- The Pick Six award goes to two contestants who picked six of the Elite Eight correctly with original picks: Ben McCann and Rachelle Layman. Ben is in 20th while Rachelle is 52nd.
- The Lucky Seven award goes to seven contestants who picked seven of the Elite Eight, re-picks included: Mike White, Ken Schmidt, Aaron Drone, Daphne Allender, Ben McCann, Margaret Dean, and David Kincheloe.
- The Riddle Me This, Batman award goes to Brian “What’s gray and green and red all over?” Gerlach. Ooh, ooh. I know! Your bracket! What do I win?
- The Worthless Nut award goes to the the 358 of us (yes, I said “us”) who picked Ohio State to go to the Final Four.
- The Don’t Count Your Chickens just yet award goes to continuing contest leader Jane Gomez. This year’s contest is completely unique due to the number of unlikely teams remaining in the Elite Eight. I just checked the Possible Scategories Bonuses report, and six of the eight remaining teams are Scategories picks for the National Championship. That means that only Kansas and VCU are championship picks worth a mere 32 points. Every other team is worth the Ultimate Scategories Bonus of 96 points for a few lucky contestants! Jane went with the chalk and picked Kansas, and if Kansas indeed takes the championship, she is likely to win the contest. Any other winner, however, and who knows who will win the contest. So if you picked Kentucky, North Carolina, Arizona, Connecticut, Butler, or Florida to win it all with your original pick, you still have a shot of a very high finish, if not an outright contest victory.
Now I’m going to go sleep until the Butler game tips off at 4:20 PM. All texts, tweets, and Facebook taunts will be summarily ignored until that time.
The Wizard of Whiteland
Important Contest Note
My web hosting provider has notified me that they are relocating my account to their new data center sometime overnight on March 26th-27th. It is possible, then, that contest updates will be delayed after Saturday’s games, depending on the availability of the service. This is beyond my control. I apologize in advance if it causes anyone contest-withdrawal.