“Talent is God given. Be humble. Fame is man-given. Be grateful. Conceit is self-given. Be careful.” – John Wooden

Outwit, Outplay, Outlast

In some respect today’s offering of games resembled a season of Survivor. It’s not always the best or most talented but the last man standing that wins. The trend today seemed to be low-scoring affairs, some because of great defense (San Diego State) and some because of horrific offense (Syracuse, St. Louis).  Check out these halftime scores from today.

• Pitt 22, Florida 27
• St. Louis 16, Louisville 25
• San Diego St. 30, North Dakota St. 23
• Dayton 20, Syracuse 18
• UConn 25, Villanova 24

Ironically, the team known historically for its slow pace and low scores, Wisconsin, won a track meet with Oregon 85-77. How does Syracuse score 18 points in a half? We’ve gone through the looking glass here, minions. Normalcy has been voted off the island.

Bleacher Report

• SDSU beat upstart NDSU in the game sporting acronyms so similar it was hard to tell who was winning just by looking at the ticker. In the classic immovable object versus irresistible force, the team with the best field goal percentage defense (SDSU) held the team with the best field goal percentage offense (SDSU) – over 51% for the season – to just 29% shooting including 2-11 from the 3 point line. As I watched this game, I began to wonder if the old cliché about the relationship between brawn and brain had an element of truth, as NDSU’s best player, Taylor Braun, seemed stuck in a rut of bad decisions almost the entire game.
• Remember the Big Dog? Glenn Robinson, Jr. the Purdue standout from the early 90s, famously wanted to be the NBA’s first $100 million man. I remember the owner of the Milwaukee Bucks quipping at the time, “I’ll tell you what. You give me $100 million, and I’ll give you my franchise.” Robinson’s son and namesake, Glenn III, played like an NBA prospect as Michigan walloped Texas on their way to the Sweet 16.  Michigan made 14 three point baskets in that game.
• Now there’s something you don’t see every day. At one point in the second half of the Dayton-Syracuse game, Dayton’s Scoochie Smith (no, I am not making that name up) shot a long three pointer that hit absolutely dead on the back iron. Instead of sailing all the way back out near midcourt as most long range shots that hit the back iron do, this one defied all known laws of physics and dropped gently in the basket. It seriously looked like a joke you might see in a Harlem Globetrotters routine.
• Speaking of through the looking glass, we’ve seen teams so far defy the odds and win games despite horrific free throw shooting.  Exhibit A: Dayton, who shot a laughable 55% from the line and yet still managed to win. On the other hand, Oregon shot a stellar 91% from the line – 21 out of 23 – and yet still lost to a Wisconsin team that shot only 64% from the stripe. In fact, Oregon should get the How The Cincinnati Bengals Lost The Super Bowl award for leading the game in nearly every statistic except points scored.
• Actually, the one statistic that Wisconsin did dominate in was Offensive Rebounds with a whopping 14-3 advantage. Never was this more important or more evident than on their ultimate go-ahead possession. Trailing 75-74 with just under two minutes to play, Wisconsin missed two shots but collected two offensive rebounds to extend the possession. After a timeout, Wisconsin’s Frank Kaminsky missed yet another shot, but Sam Dekker grabbed the third offensive rebound of the possession, which eventually led to Ben Brust burying the go-ahead three pointer after almost 50 seconds of elapsed game time. You just can’t give a team four chances to score in one possession and expect to win.
• I’ve decided the EuroStep is aptly named, because you have to travel a long way to execute it. The move should be banned. It’s traveling almost every time.
• Not-so-lucky 7 – #7 UConn looked impressive in their victory over overrated #2 Villanova this evening (personally I think Louisville and Villanova were switched at birth this year), but consider this. No 7 seed has ever advanced to the Final Four. Ever. Ironically, a 7 seed has advanced to the Elite Eight…wait for it…seven times. They have lost all seven: four times to a 1 seed, two times to a 4 seed, and once to an 8 seed. If UConn advances to the Elite Eight, they will face (you guessed it) a 1 (Virginia), a 4 (Michigan St.), or an 8 (Memphis).
• The 25% trend continues. – In round one, 25% of the games were won by the lower seed. This trend continued today in round two with 2 out of 8 games being won by the underdog. Should we expect two more upsets tomorrow? Who will it be? The minions have put their money on Kentucky and North Carolina.

Team Awards

I know the point of the contest is to give the awards to you, the minions, but here are a few shout outs I simply must give to the squads who took the floor today.

• The Shoeless Joe award goes to Syracuse, or should I say, Syra-shoes, who had a player lose a shoe during live play not once but twice. Tie those puppies up, as Bill Raftery would say.
• The Kellen Winslow award for playing through the pain goes to UConn’s Shabazz Napier, who left the game hardly able to walk only to return to make sure Villanova could not mount a comeback.
• The What Not To Wear award goes, hands down, to the Oregon Ducks. Someone call the fashion police. Eesh.
• The X Factor award, sponsored by Simon Cowell, goes to San Diego State’s Xavier Thames. His coach calls him “X”. With 30 points, Xavier nearly outscored the rest of his team combined en route to a 63-44 victory over the Bison.
• The You’ve Got To Be Kidding Me award goes to the parents of Jordair Jett of St. Louis, who, according to the game announcers, named him Jordair because they were big fans of Air Jordan back in the day. Really?
• The Bagel award, sponsored by Einstein’s Bagels, goes to St. Louis and Syracuse for going a collective 0-25 from the 3 point line today. That’s Oh and in Zero for 25. St. Louis set a tournament record for futility, I believe, with their 0-15 performance. Live by the 3…you know the rest.

Day Three Shout Outs

• The One Shining Moment award, given in memory of the late Luther Vandross, goes to John Lederman who spent a few hours in first place today before being knocked back down to 2nd when Villanova lost. John took to Facebook to relish his moment of glory. You can see his comments on the contest’s Facebook page.
• The Pass The Popcorn award goes to April “Here for the halftime show” Adams, currently tied for 489th.
• The Return of the Cold War award goes to Trevis “Russia annexed my house from there” Litherland, currently in 29th.
• The Bombs Away award goes to Wendy Cooper, who after climbing as high as 23rd, has dropped to 162nd.
• The Comeback Kid award goes to Marc Worthley who has clawed his way up from 662nd to 107th.
• The Crazy Eights award goes to 8th place minion Janae Dailey who might not have known her rank had my wife not sent her a text.
• The Just In The Nick of Time award goes to Nick “Nick” Snider and Nicholas “Nicholas” Harper for reasons I hope are obvious. Oh yeah, they’re doing well in the contest, too, in 3rd and 21st, respectively.
• The When Your Ship Is Sinking, It’s Time To Lighten The Load award goes to Aleah “Lightening” Hand, who apparently is tossing all unnecessary cargo overboard to avoid dropping from next-to-last to dead last.
•  The Mission Accomplished award goes to Nicolette “Hopefully I do better this time” Fraser, tied for 77th. That’s much better than dead last where she finished last year.
• And finally, the You Conned Your Way To The Top award goes to contest leader Mike Weier, who jumped into first with UConn’s victory this evening. Mike can only win 6 of tomorrow’s 8 games, so it will be interesting to see if he can hold the lead.

Ok, minions, church comes early. Time for sleep. More news tomorrow night when the Sweet 16 is complete.

Until then,

The Wizard of Whiteland

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