Regional Finals – Part 2

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King Xerxes of Persia: “Hand over your arms.”

Leonidas of Sparta: “Come and take them.”

We started with 64 (or 68, depending on whom you ask). Now we have four, the Final Four. Today’s games offered up some excitement and some shaking up of the standings.

Seven Is Lucky Again

For the first 19 years that I did this contest, I almost always quoted one remarkable fact: a number 7 seed had never made the Final Four in the 64-team era. That iron law was broken last year when 7 seed UConn not only advanced to the Final Four, but won the national championship. Now, for the second year in a row, a 7 seed advances to the Final Four. This time it is Tom Izzo’s perennial tournament overachievers, the Michigan State Spartans.  

  • Outnumbered – In the famed Battle of Thermopylae, Spartan King Leonidas led some 300 Greek soldiers against an innumerable company of Persians. It wasn’t quite THAT bad in Spartans vs Cardinals today, but when both Michigan State big men, Gavin Schilling and Matt Costello, had fouled out with just over two minutes left in regulation, the Spartans were down to just seven eligible players, none taller than 6-6. They played the final two minutes of regulation and the five-minute overtime period with just those seven guys and yet prevailed.
  • Fouls and Free Throws were definitely the big story in this game. You may recall that after Michigan State’s last victory over Oklahoma, I mentioned that poor free throw shooting could be their undoing. In this game they actually shot 75% from the line, better than Louisville’s 69%. However, Marvin Clark missed two free throws with 0:22 left in regulation that would have put them up by 3. Instead, Louisville had the ball and an opportunity to take the last shot for the win. On that final shot attempt, Clark fouled Louisville’s Mangok Mathiang, and again, free throws played a big part. Mathiang’s first free throw was a brick that went in; his second, a miss. It could be said that missed free throws cost both teams a chance to win the game in regulation.
  • Ba Ba, Blackshear – I don’t know how much wool he has, but Louisville’s Wayne Blackshear has plenty of skills. His stat line reads 39 minutes, 28 points, 12 for 12 from the line, 3 rebounds, 1 assist, 1 block, 4 fouls, 1 bloody nose, and a partridge in a pear tree. In fact, Blackshear played the final four minutes of regulation and the entire overtime period with 4 fouls. Sadly, I must award the Boneheaded Play of the Day to Blackshear for committing a lane violation on a missed free throw by Michigan State’s Bryn Forbes. With the miss the Spartans were up by 3, but given the second chance, Forbes hit the free throw, making it a two possession game. Michigan State would never trail again.

They Zigged When They Should Have Zagged

Alas, my beloved Zags couldn’t quite get over the hump and into the Final Four today. While showing flashes of brilliance, at times it seemed the stage was a bit too big and the lights a bit too bright for them. Nevertheless, this should be remembered as a terrific season that ended in defeat to a clearly superior Duke team.

  • Objects In The Mirror Are Closer Than They Appear, and this game was closer than the final score indicates. Gonzaga actually led by four early in the second half, but the turning point came with 4:51 to play. Down by just two points, big man Przemek Karnowski made another one of his patented no-look passes to Kyle Wiltjer, who was all alone right under the basket. But Wiltjer missed the point-blank bunny shot to tie the game, and Gonzaga would score only one more point the rest of the way.
  • Unsung Heroes – In many ways this was a strange game. Rather than a high-scoring affair as we might expect from these two teams, it was more a defensive battle. Gonzaga stars Karnowski and Pangos (who simply could not buy a basket all night) combined for only 8 points. Meanwhile on the Duke side of the court, consensus number one pick in the next NBA draft Jahlil Okafor had a modest 9 points and seemed out of sorts for most of the game. Duke’s role players, Winslow and Matt Jones, came up big instead with 16 points each.
  • Defense Wins Championships – In general I found the broadcast crew to be an annoying collection of Duke homers, but one observation they made rang true. Gonzaga had never seen a defense like this before. Rattled early, they responded with great defense of their own, only to wilt again in the final four minutes. I could do the usual complaining about how Duke seems to be favored by the officials in every game they play, but the truth is they are quick, harassing, and have active hands on defense. They forced Gonzaga into 13 turnovers while themselves committing only 2. That’s a winning differential no matter who you play.

Final Four Facts

  • By The Numbers – This year’s Final Four is comprised of three #1 seeds and a #7 that looks more like a #3. It reads like a who’s who of college basketball history and success: Kentucky, Wisconsin, Michigan State, and Duke. With the possible exception of Wisconsin, these are the true blue bloods of college basketball.
  • Conference Count – It is interesting to note that the Big 10 (or B1G if you prefer, which almost no one does) has two representatives, while the supposedly stronger Big 12 has none.
  • Year Of The Rematch? – As I have already noted, Wisconsin v Arizona was a rematch of their regional final meeting last year. Now Wisconsin faces another rematch of last year’s national semifinal with Kentucky. Wouldn’t it just make sense for the national championship game to be a rematch of this year’s Big 10 championship game between Wisconsin and Michigan State? The spiteful part of me hopes it happens just to irritate CBS/Turner by denying them the spectacle of Kentucky playing for the perfect season and the championship.  Anyone believe Wisconsin isn’t better than Notre Dame? It should be interesting.

Round Four Awards

These awards are always some of my favorites in the contest, as it gives us an opportunity to recognize top performers in each region.

  • The Mistake By The Lake award, in honor of the city that hosted the Midwest regional, Cleveland, OH, goes to the 10 minions who got 14 out of 15 games correct with original picks: Maggie Booher, Jimmy Dempsey, Patrick O’Bryan, Judy Anderson, Nicole Kelso, Mike White, Alan Thielen, Tom Seely, Abby Hoag, and Alan Switzer. Winners receive a free trip to Cleveland in the dead of winter.
  • The Wild, Wild West award goes to Brandon Lane who was a perfect 15-0 in the West regional with original picks.
  • The Beast of the East award goes to Mark Myers who was 14-1 in the East regional with original picks. This is quite impressive considering how many upsets there were in this region.
  • The Southern Comfort award goes to Jason Roehl, Emma Dean, and Al Davis, each with 14 wins and only 1 loss with original picks in the South regional. Everybody say YEE HAW!
  • The That Was Easy award goes to the surprising small army of minions that picked all four Final Four teams correctly with original picks. Apparently it was easy to do this year, as there are 22 of you. I am certain that’s a record. Holly Easton, Ron Walker, Tom Seely, Bob Huppert, Bev Thomas, Jamie Shannon, Chad Wright, Chris Randazzo, John Lederman, France McKone, Jeffery Beard, Philip Randazzo, Shawn Durnell, Tim Curtis, Tom Kline, Terr’e Moss, Bill Riley, John Ruff, Heather DiIulio, Mark Ehly, Mark Pate, and Eric Bates. Winners will receive an easy button from Staples.
  • The Major Tom award goes to Tom Kline who finally cracked the top 10 in 10th place. This is much better than the Minor Tom award winner, Tom Gidley, currently in 326th place.
  • The Upset Stomach award goes to three minions who collected the most upset bonus points (42) throughout the contest: Dave Barndt, Avery Richardson, and Kip Layman. Now there’s a motley crew if I’ve ever seen one! There are no upset bonus points remaining to be awarded, as the seeding no longer matters in the Final Four.
  • The Fear The Beard award goes to 11th place contestant Jeffrey Beard. Bonus points to this minion for sharing both the beard and the name with The Wizard.
  • The Bucky Badger award goes to 13th place contestant Rita “Someone beat Kentucky!!” Dieringer. For Rita, that someone would be Wisconsin.
  • The Let’s Go With “Stay Home” award goes goes to Elise “Go big or stay home” Darling, currently in 747th and never higher than 616th. Better luck next year, Elise!
  • The I’m Innocent! award goes to Chris “It wasn’t me” Jones, who wisely re-picked Michigan State over Louisville from whence his namesake was dismissed and has been rewarded with 19th place in the contest.
  • And finally, the 12 Wrongs Still Make A Wright award goes to current contest leader Chad Wright, who is 48-12 over the first 60 games and holds a tenuous 4 point advantage over second place minion, Kenneth Jordan.

Because so many games were won by either favorites or popular picks this year, we have awarded no Scategories bonuses so far. However, there is still one available, the granddaddy of them all, the Ultimate Scategories Bonus, available to those 10 contestants who picked Michigan State to win it all with their original pick. Should this miracle transpire, each of them will receive 96 points and turn the entire contest leader board on its head. In the more likely event that one of the other three teams takes home the trophy, well, the results won’t be quite as drastic, but the final winner is still very much up for grabs.

So take a break, minions, enjoy your week, and I will see you again after the national semifinals.

The Wizard of Whiteland

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