Let’s win this game for all the small schools that never had a chance to get here. – Merle Webb, Hoosiers

Cinderella Arrives At The Dance, And She’s Got Competition

In some ways I think we all dream of this every year.  Oh, we know that in all likelihood, the big schools, the top dogs, the upper seeds – those will be the teams in the Final Four.  But we hold out hope that maybe, just maybe, plucky upstarts from the middle of nowhere will become unlikely heroes and fell the giants tall and mighty.  We’ve seen it in recent years – Butler goes to the championship game two years in a row.  VCU advances to the Final Four after starting in the First Four.  George Mason (who?) goes to the Final Four as an 11 seed under the direction of an affable Italian who now looks to guide Miami to a Final Four of its own.  This year, however, is even more historic in its potential.  We’ve not come this way before.

Tournament Firsts

Before I get into the juicy particulars, let me give you a quick rundown of this year’s Sweet Sixteen by the numbers, as it were.

• This is the first time a 15 seed has ever appeared in the Sweet Sixteen.
• This is the first time two teams seeded 13 or higher have ever appeared in the Sweet Sixteen in the same year.
• This is the first time three Florida schools have appeared in the same Sweet Sixteen.
• This is the first time two Florida schools will face each other in the NCAA Tournament.
• This is the first time a 9 seed has ever played a 13 seed in the Sweet 16.
• No 13 seed has ever advanced to the Elite Eight.
• Only one 9 seed has ever advanced to the Elite Eight (1994, Boston College, beat 5 seed Indiana).  Wichita State has pretty good odds of being the second given their opponent is 13 seeded LaSalle.
• 12 seeds have never defeated a 1 seed in 13 tries.  Oregon tries to become the first against Louisville.

Exploring New Territory

The last time LaSalle made it this far in the NCAA Tournament (1955), there was no Sweet 16.  After a drought only a Cubs fan could appreciate, LaSalle’s Tyrone Garland made the game-winning layup with 2 seconds left to “upset” the 12 seed Ole Miss and their brazen superstar Marshall Henderson.  This game was significant in that it earned 13 Contestants one of two coveted Scategories Bonuses awarded this evening.

Fly Like An Eagle

Who can say enough about 15 seed Florida Gulf Coast?  This is one of the most amazing, most feel-good (if that’s proper English, and if it isn’t, who cares?) stories in the history of March Madness.  This is no typical one-hit-wonder of a 15 seed.  After beating Georgetown in the opening round, many of us probably thought that, though rare, we’ve seen this movie before, and we know how it ends.  But this squad is different.  They’re actually GOOD basketball players.  They play a high-flying playground style that is just structured enough to be effective and just loose enough to confound opponents.  Opportunities for observations and awards abound with tonight’s historic victory by the Eagles.

• High Flyers – Did you notice how FGC frequently sends a guy flying in from above the key whenever a shot is taken inside of 10 feet?  How many posterizing dunks and put backs do they get with this maneuver?  I am guessing that Florida is going to watch the film of these two games and make certain they put a body on Superman every time a FGC shot goes up.  Florida will also have to figure out how to prevent the tidal wave of alley oop dunks that seems to have overwhelmed both Georgetown and San Diego State. In tonight’s game, especially, it seemed as though everyone in the gym knew it was coming, and yet no one could stop it.
• What can brown do for you?  FGC’s Sherwood Brown is one part leader, one part baller, and one part court jester.  He gets the Rolling Stones award for his signature celebration of a made basket, the sticking out of his tongue.  What a likable kid.
• The Quote of the Day award goes to game announcer and former NBA sharp-shooter Reggie Miller who quipped, “For all you Philadelphia fans, that’s how Eagles are supposed to play!”  I hope he had an armed escort out of the arena.
• Finally, I would be remiss to not give San Diego State an some sort of consolation prize.  The Dancing With The Stars award goes to #22 Chase Tapley, caught on camera doing a really comical jungle dance after his team made a basket when the game was still competitive.

In Other Games

After a day of yawn-inducing blowouts on Saturday, today’s offering was filled with nail-biting, heart-pounding barn burners.

• Survive and Advance – You could hear the collective exhale in my home state of Indiana as Victor Oladipo hit the game-sealing basket to survive a Wisconsinesque upset bid by the Temple Owls.  Indiana is not known for its ability to win grind-it-out games in the 50’s.  This test bodes well for them going forward.  Temple’s superstar guard Khalif Wyatt gets the Crybaby award for his end-of-game meltdown when his team needed him most.  Though he scored 31 points, he erupted in a stream of frustrated profanity when the officials refused to apply the Michael Jordan Rule toward the end of the game.  (You know the Michael Jordan rule, right?  If I missed the shot, I got fouled.  If I fumbled the pass, I got fouled.  If I stumbled, I got fouled.  If I turned the ball over, I got fouled.  If I flinched when the defender got too close, I got fouled.  I’m obviously too good for any other explanation to make sense.)  In any case, one astute contestant, J.R. Shrader, pointed out that Wyatt refused to even guard Oladipo on his final three pointer.  That is why he was so wide open.  You just can’t do that with the game on the line, especially as a senior.  That little tantrum likely cost Temple the game.
• There’s a Hurricane Coming – In a game where Miami ultimately prevailed, the Boneheaded Play of the Day award was earned by Miami’s Kenny Kadji, who inexplicably fouled Illinois’ Tracy Abrams 22 feet from the basket, less than 10 seconds on the shot clock, and with the game tied.  (See my previous rant on fouls late in the shot clock.)  Kadji also receives the Academy Award for an Oscar-worthy flop earlier in the game that drew a foul call on Brandon Paul.
• The Lord of the Rings award goes to Duke’s Rasheed Sulaimon.  It should be obvious why.

Other Assorted Minutiae

• You can charge like a rhino and separate a guy’s shoulder, and that’s not even a foul, but an incidental elbow above the shoulders is an automatic flagrant?
• Sticking on that theme, referees will stop a game for 3, 4, or even 5 minutes to go to the monitor to “review” a random elbow to the chops.  What exactly are they reviewing?  And why does it take so long?  They then emerge from the conclave to assess a flagrant foul.  However, game-changing, easily fixed calls regarding who last touched the ball before it went out of bounds are not reviewable.  Tell me why that makes sense.
• With 48 games played so far, we have not had a single game go into overtime.
• The My Fair Lady award for mispronunciation goes to analyst Kenny Smith who pronounced Victor Oladipo’s name oh – la – da – PEE – doe.  That’s just turrible.

Round 2 Awards

And now, before I run completely out of gas, the final awards before we embark upon the Sweet 16.

• The Last Laugh award goes to The Brothers Paul (Smith and Sopke) and Gabriel Geistwhite, whom I ridiculed yesterday for not winning any games.  With their collection of bonus points today, they all three now reside in the top 25.
• The Hindenburgh award goes to Adam Regan who dropped impressively from 211th to 638th.
• The Schizophrenia award goes to Justin Wentworth, who rank has swung wildly from as low as 653rd to as high as 83rd.  Congratulations to the both of you.
• The It’s An Alias, Not A Blog award goes to Ben Watkins who attempted to set his alias to “I thought I really messed up my bracket. And I actually did, but thanks to Jeff’s wild scoring system I’m not doing too bad!”  Dude.
• The Who You Callin’ Redneck award goes to Ramona Lisa Wicht, who used her alias to quip, “We DO have TVs & teeth in Mississippi.”
• The Never Underestimate The Power Of A Good Vacation award goes to Jordyn “Big Sister” Glassley who picked Florida Gulf Coast because that is where her family is going on vacation soon.
• The Maybe It’s Because Your Name Also Comes Last Alphabetically award goes to Mike Zimmerman, sole possessor of last place.  Poor Mike was trying to avoid the curse of the Z-name by listing himself only by his alias, Daniel Larusso.  Next year, try the crane technique.
• The Silent But Deadly award goes to my college roommate, Ken Schmidt, who without much fanfare has crept into 15th place.
• The Outperform award goes to Greg Hensley, whose alias reveals that the tool he used to assist in his picks guaranteed 47% correct.  His current winning percentage is just over 60%  Moody’s just upgraded him to “buy”.
• The Despicable Me award goes to Rebecca “Fluffy” Harper, currently in 42nd.  Rebecca will receive her very own minion.
• And finally, the Living Up To His Name award goes to new contest leader Josh “The punisher” Paddack, which sounds like either a comic book anti-hero or the latest MMA star.  Josh put on an impressive performance in the round of 32, winning 11 out of 16 games (Which was not the most, by the way.  Several contestants won 12 out of 16).  Where Josh excelled was in picking both Scategories games correctly in addition to sporting a well above average winning percentage of .750.  Josh does NOT have the most bonus points in the contest, spoiling the notion that the way to win is to throw caution to the wind and pick an outrageous number of upsets.

Re-Pick Round Begins

And now it is the moment many of you have been waiting for since about half way through day two – the re-pick round.  This is your opportunity to re-pick any of the remaining 15 games you wish.  Exquisitely detailed instructions on how to make your re-picks are published on the website here: re-pick instructions.  Please read them carefully.  Please read them thoroughly.  If you still have questions after that, feel free to send me email.  By far the biggest question I get every year on re-picks goes something like this.  “Hey Wizard, I just went to make my re-picks, and my score is wrong.  I picked Florida Gulf Coast to win, but it is showing up red in my bracket.”  No, you didn’t pick Florida Gulf Coast to win.  It is showing up red in your bracket exactly because you got that game wrong.  The reason Florida Gulf Coast is listed there is so that you can pick them to win going forward if you so desire.  Again, please read the instructions carefully.

With that it is time for me to take a 3 day, 15 hour, 19 minute break.  That’s how long you have to submit your re-picks before the Sweet 16 round of games tips off on Thursday night.  Until then, sleep well, and enjoy the Madness.

The Wizard of Whiteland

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