The First Great Madness of the Weekend: Duke vs. UCF......Zion is Great!

The behemoth match up between Zion and Tacko at the most pivotal moment of the game! (Photo cred: USA Today video still)

The Duke-UCF game.
The behemoth match-up between Tacko and Zion. 7-foot-6 Tacko said he wouldn’t let Zion dunk on him. Then there was Coach K coaching against former top assistant, UCF Head Coach and Duke legend, Johnny Dawkins.
This was the first great Madness of the tourney!
UCF kept within striking distance for the 1st half and early into the 2nd half, Insanity Report Board Member and Gonzaga Correspondent, Marc Paulsen and I agreed that there seemed no real mojo in UCF to actually win the game.
But just like Apollo Creed’s trainer, Duke trying to talk Apollo out of a rematch with Rocky in Rocky II, UCF just kept…comin’…after Duke!!!! (the Blue Devils that is, not Duke the boxing trainer)
Coach Dawkins’ son, Aubrey Dawkins had the game of his life making shot after shot on his way to a 32 point, 12 for 19 from the field performance. He was unconscious. Tacko was doing what Tacko does. His presence had to be acknowledged at all times on his way to 15 points and 7 boards. UCF Guard, BJ Taylor brought it with timely hoops. As Boxing Manager Duke told Apollo, “UCF just kept coming after us!!! Now we don’t need that kinda (team) in our life!”
Fast forward to the final 2 minutes. UCF had the momentum with the 74-70 lead. They had a 2 on 1 break and Dawkins tried to finish the lob pass for an allep-oop dunk instead of a simple finish. Duke dribbled the ball down off of the Dawkins miss and 10 seconds later Cam Reddish dribbled around a screen to hit a huge trey for the 5-point turnaround! UCF only up 74-73 now.
Everyone in the Insanity Report Board Room knew that the Reddish trey was going to fall after the Dawkins miss. Dawkins saw the flash of the moment to put UCF up by 6, and it cost him the hoop. It was the Basketball gods that put that Reddish trey through the hoop to get Duke within 1 point, due to what seemed like the perceived search for glory by Dawkins.
After BJ Taylor hit 2 FT’s to go up 3 with 45 seconds left in the game, Duke dribbled down the court and seemed like they wanted the trey to tie it up all in one bunch. Zion shot that trey attempt as it seemed forced, but Javin DeLaurier grabbed the offensive rebound…..
Enter the behemoth match up.
The ball got to Zion and the other 4 Dukies cleared out. It was as if Zion was the only player in a Duke jersey on the TV screen.
He jab stepped, with his body language seeming like he was saying, “f%$* it!” Zion reverse dribbled and burnt BJ Taylor one on one to jump straight into Tacko…..here it was.
At the most pivotal moment of the game was the anticipated behemoth match-up like Andre The Giant staring down Hulk Hogan. Zion did not dunk on Tacko. He put a two foot stop and went up strong to the hoop……
And-1!!!!!!!
Duke down 76-75 with 14.4 seconds left. Zion missed his free throw and RJ Barrett was able to get the offensive rebound for the put back. Duke up one, 77-76.
RJ’s rebound could have been a missed push-from-behind foul onto Dawkins. Dawkins was pleading to the ref about the push and Insanity Report Board Member and Coaching Correspondent, J-Dawg was hat throwing and breaking clipboards in the Insanity Board Room about what he thought was a missed call by the stripes.
What do you think? Did RJ push Dawkins from behind too hard? Foul or no foul? Whatever you think, what is fact is that the freaking roar of the crowd after Barrett’s put back was insane.
It was March Madness InSaNitY!!!!!
UCF had one more chance with 8.1 seconds to win the game. BJ Taylor had a solid drive to the hoop and the ball bounced off the rim into a trailing Dawkins hand for the tip-bound.
That freaking basketball trickled inside the cylinder for a microsecond only to have it roll out.
Ball game. Duke wins.
42 of the 91 Inmates in the Insanity Pool who picked Duke as their Madness champion had a collective, straight jacket tearing sigh of relief!
Folks, take the hype train about Zion outta your brain for a second! Honestly, this hype train trivializes what he brings to the court and brings to his Dukie team! Zion is way more than an explosive jumper who weighs 285 lbs. We get it. We knew this back in November. Can we move on to what Zion has done on the court other then his highlight dunks? There is his defense, his developing jumper, his potential as a superstar.
Folks, Zion is great! Period.
Duke is a polarizing program all across North America. Millions love Duke and millions hate Duke. There are few Insanity inmates that don’t have an opinion on Duke. (D$, there is a Commissioner’s ransom for you for keeping any incriminating photos under wraps by the way) That is why March Madness is always more interesting when Duke is a powerhouse. It’s more entertaining. It tells a story of the “evil empire” or “us vs. everybody else”.
Duke makes the Madness more enjoyable. It just plain does.
There’s only 1 or 2 more weeks that we will see Zion in a Duke uniform…in the NCAA.
Whether you hate Duke or you love Duke, Zion is great. From his physical attributes. From his hustle. From his genuine support for and from his teammates. From the greatness of that last drive. It was one that again, was genuine. It wasn’t a forced attempt to get instant accolades or to “get his shots”. It was a drive with a determination to win.
To win and advance.
That is the creedo of every team in the single elimination tournament to determine the best team out of 353 teams.
Folks enjoy Zion. And folks, keep cheering for and against Duke.
Enjoy the Madness!
Yours in Insanity,
Commissioner Adolph

Day 3 Recap: Zags Stay on Path & KU with Mercy Ending to Season

Kispert! Great game yesterday, but keep those emotions in check please! (Photo cred: Kirby Lee, USA TODAY Sports)

Good morning all! The first weekend concludes highlighted by the Zion show in the afternoon with some games that may tilt the leaderboard of the March Madness Insanity Pool and particularly the Pete Vieweg Money Division.

Kirk “Old School RV Hall of Famer” Tyfting is tied for 1^st place in the entire pool, but unfortunately he did not submit an entry fee into the Money Division. However, the Madness still runs strong in Captain Kirk’s veins.

Also tied for 1^st in the Insanity Pool, yet having sole possession of 1^st place in the Pete Vieweg Money Division is Kirsten “Don’t Call Me Kirsten” Taylor with 41 points. Just a reminder, Kirsten is currently in 1^st place that has a prize of $840!

The rest of the Insanity Poolsters have submitted into the Pete Vieweg Money Division. The remaining top 3 poolsters have many common games today with Duke, Virginia, Tennessee, North Carolina, and Texas Tech in their picks to conclude the 2^nd round.

1^st Place Kirsten has some tilting games with Ohio State to move on. She is the only one in the Top 3 that has Liberty to move on. This could separate her more.

Tied for 2^nd in the Money Division is Craig “Mack” Young with 40 points. His separation pick is Buffalo topping Texas Tech.

Joining Craig in 2^nd place with 40 points is Russ “Our Resident A-Hole” Bock. He can rub it in all our faces if Oklahoma, Iowa and Houston moves on today.

Filling out the 3^rd Place position in the Money Division is Kris “Kross” Russell as he has 7 of the 8 games alive in his bracket. He has all common picks except Houston and Virginia Tech that can help him gain some ground for the $840.

Finally, tied for 3^rd Place is Tarah “Izing” Paulsen who has ALL 8 games alive in her bracket with Oregon, Ohio State and Buffalo has her uncommon picks.

Some insights for today’s games is hopefully Tennessee can put Fran McCaffery out of his immature misery by besting McScumbag’s Iowa Hawkeyes. Admiral Schofield and Grant Williams should dominate in the frontcourt.

North Carolina has all of the match up and athleticism advantages over Washington today. The Tragic12 is in the midst of a 3-5 year slump, but UDub’s Head Coach, Mike Hopkins has built a program with a firm foundation in only his 2^nd season at the helm bringing Jimmy Boeheim’s 2-3 zone from Syracuse as Jimmy B’s lead assistant for close to two decades.

UCF and Tacko Fall bring in the hype of 7-6 Fall saying he won’t let Zion dunk on him. This is interesting in that Fall is an absolute walking beast on the court, but key word on walking as he rarely gets any space between his feet and the ground, while Zion gets little space between his head and the rim.

Zion was very leveled in his response to Tacko’s comments showing yet another refreshing trait in Zion as he handles this media exposure of his talents while being a genuine player with a passion for his team and inner genuine hunger to win.

Look for other 2 main keys for UCF guard, Aubrey Dawkins and BJ Taylor to challenge Duke’s frontcourt and put up a fight. If they can weather the athletic pressure of Duke to limit transition opportunities, then whoooooo knows!

Buffalo v Texas Tech has some big Pete Vieweg implications as already mentioned. Buffalo has CJ Massinburg while Texas Tech has the 1^st ranked team defense in the nation. Tech’s offense has not been as sharp as it was in January, but they may have too much depth for the Bulls of Buffalo. Nate Oats will devise a plan for Buffalo to put up what may be the game of the day!

12-seeded Liberty can shoot from the parking lot, but Va Tech is uber organized and has a backcourt of assassins on both sides of the court. If Va Tech can get past Liberty (Liberty, Liberrrrr-teeeee) then their warpath to Duke will remain.

Virginia had their scare in the 1^st round. They should roll a well-coached Oklahoma. This game will be boring to many casual fans but to Insanity Pool Maniacs, this will be a clinic in well-disciplined basketball.

Houston vs. Ohio State has a Houston team that may be on their way to the Final 4 being on nobody’s radar. We shall see.

In the battle of the yearly 12 seed vs. 13 seed 2^nd round game, the surprisingly deep UC-Irvine playing the solid pressure D of Oregon. Oregon has streaky slasher Peyton Pritchard. Speaking of 12/13 match ups and the yearly dismal performance of the Commish, I just want to pick the correct 12/13 match up one year!!! Just one year!!!!

I had Northeastern/Georgia State as my 12/13 match up in the Midwest, but this didn’t pan out as Kansas put an absolute cleaning on Northeastern.

But Auburn put a mercy ending to KU last night as KU had a super disappointing lack of motor. The disappointment was with their season ending to Udoka Azubuike and loss of Lagerald Vick and ineligibility of Silvio De Souza and remaining inexperience, but not as disappointing in the collective motor of this rag tag bunch of shoulder slouchers.

The Kansas program and Head Coach, Bill Self face NCAA sanctions due to the eligibility of De Sousa as well as more possible fluff from the FBI NCAA Investigation. Rumors have it with Self pulling the “Pete Carroll’ and heading pro taking the Chicago Bulls head coaching gig avoiding all sanction hearings and penalties for him, but not for KU. We shall see.

More of yesterday’s games had an unceremonious ending to Wofford’s Fletcher Magee’s NCAA 3-point career record career with an 0 for 12 game from downtown. This was a tight game and even if he shot a poultry 20% from three point land Wofford could have been in the Sweet 16. Baahhhhhhh, the basketball gods!!!!

Ja Morant put on a killer performance for Murray State yesterday……for the first ten minutes. He continued to battle but the depth of Florida State just decimated Murray State and Ja. NBA tankers, you’re on the board.

Florida State 6^th man and leading scorer, Mfiondu Kabengele continues to rein treys and own the paint. He may be joining Ja in the draft room this spring?

Gonzaga had an 83-71 win over gamer Baylor where the win was never in doubt, but the depth of Gonzaga covered the stinker of a game that Rui Hachimura has as well as the uncharacteristic technical foul of Corey Kispert who was an uncharacteristic taunting prick on the court. Straighten up Rui and Corey!!!

Finally, the support of Tom Izzo’s public outburst on Aaron Henry was rampant after their first round game. Henry dispelled all questions by supporting the outburst and supporting Izzo. One more comment about this issue is that it is unfair to group this outburst with other public shamings that coaches have had on players in the past.

What Tom Izzo has done is EARN the permission of Henry and the rest of Sparty to challenge them the way Izzo does.

Tom is demanding but he’s never demeaning!

This challenging process of Izzo and his roster has developed Cassius Winston and Matt McQuaid into leaders that may take Sparty to yet another Final 4 berth.

Remember your months of the year folks: January, February, IZZO, April, May, June, Jul……

Enjoy the last day of the first weekend everybody! And off to the unproductive anticipation of the Sweet 16 for Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday!

Good luck in your picks. As you look down at the entrants below you…..be gentle on the Commish.

Yours in Madness,

Commissioner Adolph

Day 2 Recap: No Madness Anarchy Today

RJ and Duke put a stomping on the Bison in the 2nd half! (Photo Credit: Youtube still photo)

Day 2 started with Cincinnati dominating the offensive boards and getting all the 50-50 balls until 7 minutes left in the 2^nd half to cough up a 79-72 loss to Iowa. Yet another wrong pick in the Commish’s last place bracket, but the reason to pick against Iowa was an emotional one. It’s been way too many years seeing Iowa Head Coach, Fran McCaffery’s embarrassing public outbursts on the sidelines and at the refs. Way to get a Madness win Coach McScumbag.

Ole Miss with the 2019 Kent State performance of the Madness with their 95-72 shellacking at the hands of Lon Kruger and the Oklahoma Sooners. Nuff Said.

Northern Kentucky hinted at some Madness anarchy having the game within 3 early in the 2^nd half to fall to Texas Tech’s suffocating defense 72-57.

UC-Irvine started the upset train with a 70-64 win over 4^th seeded K-State. Down by 5 with under 2 minutes left, K-State’s Xavier Snead made an amazing one handed rebound and pitch out for a trey that may have been a turning point, but Irvine hit some late free throws to come out with the W. UC-Irvine was almost a unanimous pick as a sexy upset team by many prognosticators and it panned out for the Anteaters.

Then there was another attempt at madness as 15^th seeded Colgate gave a late game effort to then fall to All-Adolph 1^st Teamer Admiral Schofield’s 2 uber clutch treys to close out a 77-70 win for 2^nd seeded Tennessee. Insanity Report Board Member, T-Smack stood at attention after the 2^nd trey saluting and yelling, “Yes sir, Admiral, sir,” she said. Schofield nodded to T, and instructed, “at ease Insanity lieutenant, at ease.”

Then there was Virginia. Yes that the #1 seeded Virginia who lost to #16 UMBC last year playing another #16 seed in Gardner-Webb. Everybody’s collective phone and social notifications were going haywire as Gardner-Webb got to a 14 point lead and ended the 1^st half up by 6. The Madness Universe was collectively saying, “No…..wait…what…again…c’mon”. There was utter shock.

Not for Virginia. They remained calm and came out of the locker to start the second half on a 25-5 run to shut down all the naysayers as well as exorcise the 1^st round demons. DeAndre Hunter led the way with 23 points, as this All-Adolph 1^st Teamer was injured last year during the UMBC game.

Hunter may or may not have made a difference last year vs. UMBC, but he made a difference today. Virginia took advantage of Gardner-Webb wilting under the pressure with predictable and easily defendable offensive possessions. The calmness helped many dagger three pointers fall to further bury Gardner-Webb.

Many in the Insanity Report Board Room thought that the very memory of the UMBC loss would catapult Virginia to a dominating 30-40 point win today. The yearlong reminder of UMBC kept Virginia on point all season. They used the chants as fuel and welcomed the mention of their place in NCAA history as the first 1-seed to lose to a 16-seed. You best believe that this 1^st half scare will serve as ultra fuel for the Cavaliers for the rest of the tourney.

What seemed to be the upset anarchy that early games were looking to give us, gave us some uneventful beat downs in the early afternoon games with #6 Buffalo and Nate Oats sending their old Head Coach, Bobby Hurley and his Arizona State Sun Devils back to their Tragic12 wasteland with a 91-74 drubbing of the Sun Devils.

Speaking of Tragic12, this year’s bracket has a handful of teams that seem undeserving, such as Oregon (even though they earned an automatic berth by winning the Tragic12 tourney) and Washington. As in other years, when there are teams that seem undeserving, there will be one of these teams that will make a deep run.

Oregon seems like that deep runner with their trapping pressure and the streaky drive to the basket slitherness of Payton Pritchard. The 72-54 win over Wisconsin was tighter then the final score, but the 2^nd half folding of the Badger tent showed that Ethan Happ and company just could not get over that Top 15 hump all year.

UDub was actually the only Tragic12 team that deserved to be in the Madness and they showed it with a convincing 78-61 win over Utah State. The game started with some solid defense from both sides but right before halftime into the 2^nd half, UDub kept a cushion allowing us to channel surf to the Duke game.

Duke was in tight for a chunk of the first half, but nary a person was that concerned, as it wasn’t a matter of ‘would’ Duke make their run, but ‘when’? And they did to open the second half. It was the Zion Williamson and RJ Barrett show. The underrated Zion defense produced may transition possessions leading to the highlight dunks most of us have seen 2-3 times over on the Sportscentre loops and trips to the FT line.

Duke actually shot the three ball quite well tonight, but again Duke can be exposed if their opponent can take care of the ball vs. the Duke pressure to limit transition possessions while converting the higher then average Duke turnovers. Duke shows these holes, but holy moly Zion has the ability to cover these holes up for 5 more wins to an NCAA title or he can tire and Duke can be defeated. We shall see.

But after much consultation among the Insanity Report shareholders, board and an impromptu poll, due to the objection of original Insanity Pool Commish, Kevin Outher, the 2019 Outhet Player of Year will remain Zion Williamson; But, it is Zion Williamson from Spartanburg Day High School!!!

How’s that Kev?

The Insanity Pool Universe values your contributions, as you are a pioneer and visionary. The Outhet Player of the Year Award shall not be besmirched.

Houston’s 84-55 feast of Georgia State was missed….again due to the Zion show.

Liberty boosted some Madness into the evening games with another 12-seed upset by topping Mississippi State 80-76. Liberty was down by over 10 points with about 7 minutes to play when they started their run. Usually it’d be reported how Mississippi crumbled or dare I say choked; But Liberty dictated every defensive possession manufacturing steals and they converted almost every possession in their dominating comeback late in the 2^nd half.

The trend of 1-seed having slow starts continued with North Carolina having to come from behind down 5 at half to beat Iona 88-73. Roy did what Roy does with letting his players play out these runs. It’s a great player friendly coaching method. And when it works it works, case in point, two straight national championship games with one of the being a National Championship 2 years ago for Roy and UNC. But, I’ll be that guy and say that during droughts or after losses, it still seems that Roy could call a timeout to organize a play. But again, who are we to disrupt this recipe of success?

The Tacko Fall puns dominated as much as Tacko’s UCF dominated VCU 73-58. The Rams of VCU did not go chasing Tacko Falls because it was Tacko Time all day with his 13 point, 18 rebound performance. Right about now, Insanity Report Board Member, Marc Paulsen is leaning back in his board chair ringing in another Paulsen Pun hashtag. Well played sir.

The Mediocre Bowl was won by Ohio State 62-59 over Iowa State.

Va Tech trounced a flat Saint Louis and may be on a collision course towards a meeting with El Duke.

That’s it. Their wasn’t much Madness, but the Insanity Universe is balanced with the yearly basement dwelling of Da Commish.

After the first round, Russell “The Resident A-hole” Bock remains in first place in the whole Insanity Pool and in the Pete Vieweg Money Division. But he has also lost a Final 4 pick as he lost Wisconsin. Wisky? Yah nice pick….idiot!!! (Love ya man)

2^nd round tomorrow!

Yours in Madness,

Commissioner Adolph

DAY 1 RECAP: THE CALM BEFORE THE MADNESS ANARCHY STORM

Coach Izzo take a chill pill? Naw man, he's just developing players! He's demanding, and this was not demeaning! (Photo cred: Detroit Free Press)

Merry Madness!!!

As Insanity Report Board Member, Marc “Dabestus” Paulsen stated yesterday at an Insanity Report meeting, the days leading up to the Thursday 1st round is the longest wait!

Well wait no further Mr. Paulsen! Today came and went and it did not disappoint. The higher seed won 12 of the 16 games today. You know what that means? Expect for shear Madness Upset Anarchy tomorrow!!!

But first, here’s a quick overview of todays games:

10th seeded Minnesota Golden Gophers started the day with a convincing 86-76 win over the Louisville Cardinals. Louisville made little runs and couldn’t get closer to 5-6 pts at any point of the game as Minny had momentum the entire game by controlling both sides of the floor. The storyline of Minny Head Coach, Richard Pitino getting revenge on Louisville for firing his father, Rick Pitino was one that had no causative effect on this game. Louisville Head Coach, Chris Mack has taken over from the Rick Pitino era for the Cardinals and he did a great job of maximizing the mediocre talent left from the whole Pitino mess to make it to the Madness as they were picked to finish 13th in the 15 team ACC to be a 7 seed in the Madness. Coach Mack can freaking coach and he can recruit intelligent ballers; Watch out for them in the next 1-2 seasons.

Now speaking of a coach being on the hot seat having a possible effect on the game, there’s LSU’s Head Coach, Will Wade getting a 79-74 victory over Yale. The next court cases in the FBI Investigation exposing apparent fraud within the recruitment of high school basketball players includes a subpoena for Coach Wade to testify in the near future. This will be a testimony under oath that may prove Wade’s involvement in a payment to an LSU recruit. This may confirm court proof of the first big name head coach’s involvement in this investigation. Upon the news of this development many thought that Wade would step down. He was passively defiant in saying he wouldn’t step down.

There is a theory within the Insanity Report newsroom that Wade’s perceived defiance may be a big middle finger to the whole investigation and to the NCAA. Wade may have been caught, but lets call a spade a spade; Players have been getting paid for many years, possibly decades. Under the table there is a value to high school players as they give value to hundreds of universities, athletic departments and the entire NCAA in the amount of billions of dollars. What these top players get for their services may be up to hundreds of thousands of dollars in tuition, room, board, world class facilities and chartered flights, but these over-the-table and under-the-table benefits pales in comparison to the billions of dollars these services give the NCAA and D1 schools.

Who knows if Wade is directly rallying his players in this manner, but Wade’s job is on the line; He hasn’t been fired, nor will he step down. If certain players got paid, there is no recourse for them to pay the money back. As of now there is no proof of payment/fraud revealed….yet. So why not go down with the ship and coach LSU for this last Madness run?!? Even if this action or in-action isn’t deliberate, it is still a middle finger to the NCAA. It could rally LSU as they play Maryland in the 2nd round for a possible Sweet 16 berth.

The next game had New Mexico State give us our first possible taste of Madness with a chance to tie the game at the end of the game. New Mexico State guard, AJ Harris had a wide open lay-up to tie the game, but passed it up to pass to an open Terrell Brown for a game winning three. Then there was a comedy of errors with Brown getting fouled on his attempted game winner. He only made 1 out of the 3 free throws, but the rebound was bobbled off of Auburn out of bounds. New Mexico State then had an open three pointer to win the game, but missed. The Insanity Report staff can not get over Harris passing up a tie. I mean, the layup Harris had was wide open!.....so open!!! A pet peeve is the whole argument that these are still young 18-22 year olds. They’ve played in the limelight long enough to be able to accept this pressure and bottom line, it was a bonehead play. Gonna judge, and Harris ya just plain blew it!

Florida State was in control for most of their game to weather a solid game from the Vermont Catamounts winning 76-69. FSU’s leading scorer, Mfiondu Kabengele showed his dominance in the low post when he was surrounded by a solid triple team, only to split it for a killer emotional dunk! That. Was. Impressive!!!

Watch out for the Florida State Seminoles folks. They have alllllll the ingredients for another long run in the madness: Two bigs, including Kabengele, who comes off the bench by the way! Ya’ll saw Kabengele’s dunk, well my boy can shoot the trey too! They have a solid two point guard line up with 2 hustling 6-5ish vets in Terance Mann and Phil Cofer. Head Coach, Leonard Hamilton always runs a suffocating defense. The Seminoles are ready to role!

The next game had Tom Izzo and his Michigan State Spartans weather a slow start that is becoming common place for them in Madness 1st Round games to beat 15th seeded Bradley76-65.

A big story out of this game was an obvious display of frustration Izzo had toward freshman, Aaron Henry. Izzo has been known to get fired up, but folks he was irate at Henry. He was visibly angry at Henry coming into a timeout enough for Cassius Winston having to step in to break them up. Then in the timeout Izzo had another fit of fury where Matt McQuaid stepped in with Winston to cool the waters.

What angered the Insanity Report Staff was that there were articles following this game saying that Izzo wouldn’t apologize for this outburst. Apologize??? Firstly, who is saying he has to apologize!?!?!? And secondly, this is Tom Izzo! He’s a Michigan State legend where he has been known to be fiery but also the biggest supporter of his players. His own players and alumni love him and most importantly they trust him! He’s earned this respect by being a coach that holds his players accountable at times when he feels they need to be accountable. Izzo, cares for the success of every player and by being a winning D1 Head Coach for over 25 years now, he will be competitive.

Izzo defended himself after the game by saying, “ I did get after him. He did respond. He did make a couple of big buckets. He did make some big free throws but that’s not good enough. It’s one and done time. The ‘my-bads’ are out the window.” Izzo was also mentioning more on why he was angry with Henry by concluding, “they were effort related.” Izzo was also heard in a George Costanza like voice saying, “You can stuff you’re my-bads in a sock mister!!!”

Again, Izzo has earned this level of confrontation with his players. He is trusted to have the best interest of his players and his team in the high stakes one and done games of the Madness! This plea for an apology had Izzo lawyer, Jackie Chiles yell, “This is outrageous!!! Egregious!!! Appalling!!!” Here here Jackie, here here!

11th seed Belmont had a tie game in the last minutes of the game to come short losing to #6 Maryland. There was hint of buzzer beating Madness once again, to no avail. This was an offensive battle with Maryland’s front court size taking the stage.

Next, the disappointing 4th seeded Kansas Jayhawks showed #13 Northeastern who was boss with a 87-53 shellacking. Insanity Report Board Member, Terri “T-Smack” McCarrell was heard saying, “looks like KU pulled their collective juco heads out of asses” Nuff said.

Next was the Ja Morant show as we got our 12 seed win over a 5 seed (this is no longer considered an upset) as Murray State and Morant walloped Markus Howard and Marquette 83-64. Morant has a Larry Bird dominant game with a nutty triple double of 19 points, 12 boards and 16 crazy assists. All of this was off only 10 shots!!! Back in the day Larry could dominate every facet of the game, while taking a low amount of shots. You could say that Ja, in fact, RULED the game?? Aidez moi, aidez moi!!!

In the battle of the season long disappointing teams, the 10th seeded Florida Gators showed a glimpse of the solid performance they are capable of from their PK80 tournament run well over a year ago by defeating the 7th seeded Nevada Wolfpack, 70-61. Nevada concluded their mediocre season by showing that their Elite Eight run in last year’s Madness was a one off.

We didn’t see one second of Kentucky’s 79-44 shellacking of Abilene Christian as Insanity Report Gonzaga Correspondent, Marc Paulsen and I had the Gonzaga game on the whole time. There’s no flipping back and forth between games when the Zags are playing!

Gonzaga fired on all cylinders with a gem of a 87-49 win over Fairleigh Dickinson. Zags were the Zags and they had the walk-ons playing as early as 6 minutes left in the game. Shear dominance from a NCAA Tournament Champ favourite!!

Fellow West Coast Conference team, Saint Mary’s just couldn’t get over the hump to beat Villanova as they lost 61-57. This was a complete rebuilding year for Saint Mary’s due to players they lost last year to graduation but also in losing a projected starter right before the season started. Coach Randy Bennett squeezed every drop he could outta this season. Look for Saint Mary’s to be a regular Top 25 team again next year.

Then there was the Fletcher Magee show for Wofford in their 84-68 win over Seton Hall. Magee made 7 treys on his way to break the career NCAA mark as well! Suck it Steph! (Oakland shooter, Travis Bader had the career record, but it just sounds better to stick it to Steph then Bader….so Steph, you can stuff that record in a sock mister!.....Jerry was heard saying, “I still don’t get that”)

2nd seeded Michigan Wolverines and coach John Beilien walloped Montana in the 2nd half led in part by Canadian froshie, Iggy Brazdeikis. Iggy had some dunks and some swagger. Awkward swagger, but swagger nonetheless.

Syracuse’s 2-3 zone just looked flat as nameless Baylor outlasted the Cuse 78-69 to Cuse backer, Terry McKaig’s disappointment.

The last game of the night had an uneventful shellacking with Purdue putting a 61-48 beatdown on Old Dominion.

Not much Madness yesterday?

The Law of Madness and Law of Gus dictate that one day of the 2-day First Round of March Madness will always be chalk city where the other will be bracket busting, Madness anarchy. Tighten up those straight jacket straps for today folks!!!

In the March Madness Insanity Pool standings, Jason “J-Paq” Paquette and Russell “Our Resident A-hole” Bock are tied with an impressive 15 points out of a possible 16 points from the first day of the Madness. Once again, look for their brackets and many other being busted with the likely anarchy today!

In the 4th Annual Pete Vieweg Division standing, Russ is in the lead of this one! J-Paq has chosen to maintain his amateur status for this year and is contemplating going pro for next year.

Madness ensues today!

Enjoy!

Yours in Madness,

Commissioner Adolph

THE SKINNY ON ZION WILLIAMSON, YOU’RE 2019 OUTHET PLAYER OF THE YEAR, THE SKINNY ON DUKE (and the rest of the 2019 All-Adolph Award Winners)

Zion & RJ. Great teammates to each other and their Dukie teammates. Rare for highly ranked McD All-Americans and high NBA draft picks. (Photo credit: Grant Halverson/Getty Images)

Yes, this take will be long, but it won’t be all Zion.

It will be stated and it is unanimous amongst the Insanity Report Staff that Zion is the 2019 Outhet Player of the Year! (Insanity Report Board Member, Terri McCarrell may have had LeGerald Vick as a write-in vote, but overall it was unanimous) Zion deserved any and ALL credit that goes his way for his play this season. What gets the attention and awe to all is his freakish abilities while weighing an ungodly and non-chunky 285 lbs. His dunks capture the imagination of millions of fans’ own nerf dunks, but he actually does his own dunks with a regulation size ball and regulation 10-foot hoop…….with a regulation non-springboard hardwood floor.

What we feel goes completely unnoticed about Zion is that he may very well be a better defender then he is the complete offensive force he is within the quote-unquote eye test but also on the stats.

Zion’s dunks are off solid steals he generates on D. He covers for a lot of mistakes of the Duke team defense while at the same time giving the rest of his 4 Duke teammates the confidence to take the chances on D they do, knowing that Zion is under the hoop ready and capable of swatting the ball not just 30 rows back, but while being what seems to be at an un-defendable distance such as his highlight of the night block of DeAndre Hunter in the 2^nd Virginia game. This has led to Duke having an uncommonly high ranking defensively all season being the 5^th rated defense in the nation according to the Kenpom.com ratings.

Mainly, Zion is the most hyped and famous NBA prospect since LeBlame James and rightfully so. He is the modern version of Dominique Wilkins; He is the “Human Viral Clip”!!! However he does this while having the hustle of an enthusiastic team player and being an encouraging freshman.

Zion’s teammate, RJ Barrett was actually the #1 rated recruit in college basketball in the pre-season, and RJ has shown to be the bonafide #2 NBA Prospect behind Zion’s #1 status. RJ being the unanimous #2 projected pick in this spring’s NBA Draft is both obvious and non-news worthy due to RJ’s own play the entire season.

What is not lauded by fans and media alike is how Zion AND RJ are actually good teammates.

With them being the unanimous top 2 NBA picks in the 2019 NBA Draft, they display zero ill will or the common entitlement that is stereotypical of top NBA prospects and top NBA stars. Both Zion and RJ are as supportive and as much each other’s top fan allowing Coach Krazy-helmet-hair-despite-being-70-ski to not have to worry of getting the right amount of touches to appease the ego of a stereotypical top high school, McDonald’s All-American.

With these two being supportive and having their team-first demeanor, they have also influenced the other top talent in Cam Reddish and Tre “Don’t Call Me Tyus” Jones (Both being the top rated Shooting Guard and Point Guard recruits respectively) in not being egotistical cancers that could happen with this collection of top “Fab Five” talent.

That’s the good part of Duke.

The flip side to this coin is that the many Duke highlights throughout the whole season and commendable teamwork within this team have allowed many weaknesses to go on the wayside.

Firstly, in an era of basketball where the 3-pt is key in all playbooks, Duke shoots a very low 30.2% from behind the 3-pt line while still shooting the average amount of 3-pt shots per game compared to the rest of the nation. They shoot in the teens and twenty percentiles in many wins as they have in losses, but this is a palpable weakness for Duke, especially when many upsets are predicated by a team being hot from 3-pt land. Duke is unlikely to get hot from 3-pt land. (Yet they defend the 3-pt shot well ranking 9^th in the country in this category)

Secondly, Duke is very turnover prone as they turn the ball over in 17.7% of their possessions, which is average in the NCAA, but really high compared to the other top ranked teams in the Madness. This may not affect Duke early in the tournament, but a solid team they may play later in the tournament may take advantage of these turnovers such as a possible matchup vs. Virginia Tech or the highly anticipated Elite Eight match up vs. 2^nd seeded Michigan State (AKA Izzo).

Thirdly, Duke has 4 freshmen. As talented as all 4 are, they are still rookies. A rookie lineup with a supporting cast of role players.

The question is: Can Duke win 6 games in a row to the title without having a high turnover game or low 3-pt shooting game affecting them? If one or many of their freshmen have an off night, then can a Javin DeLaurier, Jack White or Alex O’Connell step up?

They are the overall #1 seed in The Madness for a reason, and Zion is the type of player that can carry the Dukies while covering for their mistakes. But, again, can he do it for 6 straight games?

We shall see how this pans out in the March Madness Insanity Pool with the anticipated high amount of brackets choosing Duke to win it all. 

Not a bad choice….or is it??

2019 ALL-ADOLPH AWARD WINNERS

2019 OUTHET PLAYER OF THE YEAR: Zion Williamson, Duke Blue Devils

2019 ALL-ADOLPH 1^st TEAM:

Brandon Clarke, Gonzaga Bulldogs

Rui Hachimura, Gonzaga Bulldogs

Coby White, North Carolina Tar Heels

DeAndre Hunter, Virginia Cavaliers

Cassius Winston, Michigan State Spartans

2019 ALL-ADOLPH 2^ND TEAM

RJ Barrett, Duke Blue Devils

Kyle Guy, Virginia Cavaliers

Admiral Schofield, Tennessee Volunteers

Markus Howard, Marquette Golden Eagles

Zach Norvell, Gonzaga Bulldogs

2019 ALL-ADOLPH COACH OF THE YEAR: Kermit Davis, Ole Miss Rebels

2019 ALL-ADOLPH ALL-COACH TEAM

Kelvin Sampson, Houston Cougars

Chris Mack, Louisville Cardinals

Nate Oats, Buffalo Bulls

Tom Izzo, Michigan State Spartans

Scott Drew, Baylor Bears