DAY 3: LESSONS IN MADNESS

Press Virginia did it again vs. Notre Dame today! (photo credit: Getty via sports.yahoo.com)

LESSONS IN MADNESS

Oh boy!

This is indeed March Madness! Villanova, the defending NCAA champion and East Region #1 seed lost to Wisconsin in an exciting 2^nd Rd masquerading as an Elite 8 game. Many comments have been made that a veteran laden lineup with previous experience such as Wisky should not have been an 8-seed, but alas they beat Villanova in a well played game where both teams grinded.  Yet again, the defending champ and a #1 seed falls in the 2^nd Round. Ahhhh, out first taste of true Madness this year!

Huge huge ups to Slider, Diana Lee, Julie Smulders and Brady Janzen for being the only 4 out of the 78 Insanity Pool contestants to pick Wisconsin over Villanova! Their interest in Wisky, especially that of Slider brought back some more “Wisky” memories with J-Paq and the Commish set to the AC/DC song, “She’s got the Jack!”  Yeeee-yoooooooo!!!!

Those memories too were great Madness!

Wisconsin is in real tough vs. Florida who had little trouble vs. Virginia today to make it to the Sweet 16 in Head Coach, Mike White’s first March Madness. Virginia is a solid program with a solid team led by Sr. PG London Perrantes, but they were missing one key piece that one couldn’t put their finger on. Losing players like Justin Anderson and Malcolm Brogdon over the past 2 years to the draft seemed to be too big of holes for Perrantes and the Cavs of Virginia to fill. Nonetheless, you had a great career London.

The day started with another solid match up where #5 Notre Dame got their behinds press virginia’d by Huggy Bear’s #4 ranked West Virginia. The oft patient Fighting Irish were forced into corners of double teams and many turnovers. The solid match up was an easy victory for the Huggy Bear where they will take their high-pressure defense to the Sweet 16 vs. #1 seed Gonzaga.

<sigh> Gonzaga……

Gonzaga is still a team to be reckoned with despite their first 2 games showing some cracks in their armor, as they have not played a full 40 minutes of their usual offensive schemes settling for rushed shots at many times vs. SDSU and Northwestern. Today’s game vs. Northwestern was a game where they had the lead for the entire game. They were up 20 points in the first half, where the second half took a bad turn in exposing the Zag’s nerves. Losing the big lead that Gonzaga had only exposed another side of Madness that Commissioner Adolph wasn’t too proud of. This led to some takes on Gonzaga predicated on some ugly wagering Madness that garnered some lessons in discipline and wagering management that was helped by Insanity Report Chief of Staff, D$ talking the Commish off the ledge.

Gonzaga weathered the storm by playing some rotations rarely played as Coach Mark Few stuck with the hot hands. As cliché as it sounds, for the remainder of the Madness, Gonzaga’s best players will have to play like their best players…..for the full 40 minutes. As Insanity Report Gonzaga and WCC Correspondent, Marc Paulsen mentioned, Gonzaga’s game vs. Press Virginia is a new game. It’s starts at 0-0 with just as much of a chance to make it to Few’s first Final 4 as they had before today’s game.

Zag’s Unite!

Lessons in Madness.

Middle Tennessee learned another lesson in Madness that there is a fine line between being a Madness darling after a big upset making it all the way to a Final 4 team in the same fashion as the 2006 George Mason Final 4 team or the 2012 Lehigh team that upset Duke only to lose by 12 points in their next game.

Middle Tennessee learned Lehigh’s unfortunate lesson of Madness following a big upset for the second straight year. Butler was too tough. They don’t look great, but those Bulldogs find a way and they found a way today vs. a Middle Tennessee team that graduated some generational players who gave their school and fans 2 great Madness victories vs. Michigan State and Minnesota.

Iowa State gave it the ol’ college try with their 20-point comeback vs. Purdue today, but fell short to Purdue’s superstar forward Caleb Swanigan hustle and rebounding. Iowa State big man, Deonte Burton’s 2^nd half showed why he should be a lottery pick this summer. If not, he’ll still have a long career in that other league.

St. Mary’s also gave Arizona a scare. They fell short while executing their slower, yet efficient tempo for 30 minutes until Arizona’s length and athleticism gave some clutch hoops in the final minutes.

Another lesson in Madness: Brackets getting busted!

Defensing Insanity Pool champion Derran Watts is back in the lead and this year submitting his entry into the 2^nd Annual Pete Vieweg Money Division.

Standings for the Money Division will be released after tomorrow’s games.

The Sweet 16 will be complete tomorrow!

Yours in MADNESS,

Commissioner Adolph