March Madness Is The Best

As you've heard me say so many times, there's arguably nothing better than the first four days of March Madness. But the flip side of that is there's arguably nothing worse than Comedown Monday. AKA the crash at the end of the dopamine binge. For four days, you’re on the greatest trip slash bender ever, and then all of a sudden it's full-stop. It's like an adrenaline hangover. It's jarring.

But at least we got one of the very best games of the weekend at the very end of the weekend. Between two damn good teams in Texas A&M and Houston. And two damn good Jungle programs. 

You all know Kelvin Sampson and Buzz Williams are regulars around here. Hell, Buzz is so regular he goes around quoting The Reinvention Project. Guy claims to have listened to all 83 episodes and the way he coaches, I believe it. Because the dude gets it. And he almost got Houston last night.

The Cougs led by 12 with 2:03 left, they had a win probability of 99.3% and people all across America were turning the game off and going to bed. And if that was you, you messed up. Because from that point forward, the Aggies poured in 17 in the final two minutes to force OT and capped it off WITH THIS BUZZER BEATER AT THE END OF REGULATION.

Unreal shot. Unreal finish. Classic Madness. And suddenly a major test for Houston. Were they gonna get up off the mat? Were they gonna be able to finish this game and get to the Sweet Sixteen in their fourth straight tournament? Could they make it to the end even with four dudes fouled out?? 

That's how they found themselves with Elvin at the stripe and the season on the line. I said Elvin, not Alvin. Not Allen. Not Elvin Delloro. I'm talking about senior Ryan Elvin. A senior walk on. Who had only played 173 total minutes in four years before last night? He had only attempted 7 career free throws before he went to the line with a chance to put Houston up 4 in the final 20 seconds.

And of course Elvin went 1 for 2 to put the game out of reach and send Houston back to the Sweet Sixteen. Dude dude yes yes. 

Another total masterclass from Kelvin Sampson and a gritty as hell dub. He was loving it, I was loving him loving it, it was all pretty great. But Houston is not the only one seed breathing massive sighs of relief today. Because I'm pretty sure Purdue is feeling relieved as hell, even if they basically haven't broken a sweat yet in this tournament. 

Nobody was under more pressure coming in than those dudes. Purdue absolutely had to get past opening weekend this year. They couldn’t take another huge tournament opportunity and set it on fire. They couldn't go down as a 1 seed again. But for once, the Boilermakers are actually living up to the billing so far. In fact, they’ve been better than the billing, they’ve been totally dominant, led of course by their gigantic big man who seems like he's been around since the early 2000s in Zach Edey.

He's now the first player with 50-plus points and 35-plus boards through the first two games of the tournament in nearly 30 years... it hasn't been done since Antonio McDyess back in '95. So that's pretty good. I also thought he had a pretty good response after he got done curb stomping Utah State about the pressure facing the program. 

I can respect that approach... but we all know there was pressure. Of course there was pressure. Massive pressure. 

I get it, you can't dwell on it. It accomplishes nothing. Just like dwelling on bad takes. I know better than anyone else how much of a waste of time that is because I get more bad takes hurled at me than anyone else.

But even I think it's pretty funny that there are all these haters out on social media who think Edey is only good because he's tall. I think that goofy take is funny, but his coach doesn’t.  His coach thinks it’s a moronic take: and he was even more pissed when he heard than I am when I hear or see some of your worst takes: 

The dude has some good ideas right there, I'm sure testing people before they get let into the JTP would greatly improve the quality of submissions to the program. But also, I'm not sure any of you could pass the test, any test, so...

Obviously, saying Zach Edey is only good because he's tall isn't really fair. But saying he’s so big that his tiny number looks ridiculous on his uniform is totally fair. Because it’s true. Its looks absurd. It looks like they put a toddler sized number on a Triple XL jersey. It looks like his number shrunk in the wash but the rest of the jersey stayed the same. The dude is tall enough, he doesn't need a baby number on his back to make him look any bigger. 

It's not just the one seeds feeling themselves though... looking at you Clemson and my dude Brad Brownell. Clemson are riding the Jungle karma into the Sweet Sixteen and they're also reminding the haters.

I never thought Clemson hoops would be such a lightning rod, but it seemed like nobody was happy with this program going into the tournament. Nobody wanted them in the field, their coach was under fire from the fan base, they backed into the tournament, the vibes were all off. 

And now the vibes are incredible, Clemson is back in the Sweet Sixteen for the second time under Brownell and Clemson players have free advice for haters.

All those fire Brownell guys can kiss it. Amazing quote. And it's not just Clemson telling everyone to kiss it, it's the whole ACC. Because since the First Four, the ACC is 8-0 and they just put four teams in the Sweet Sixteen. Even though everyone just spent the last two weeks talking about how overrated the conference is. Whoops. The ACC says you all can KISS IT.

The ACC can't lose right now and neither can the Big East. Once again. After a 12-4 performance in the tournament last year, the Big East are 6-0. And UConn still can't find a competitive game. 

Maybe the championship rematch they have coming up with Brian Dutcher and San Diego State will be more competitive than the actual national championship was. Let’s hope so because it would be nice to see UConn actually get pushed by someone, anyone, before they just rampage their way to a second title in a row.  Because after two absolutely hospital jobs, this tournament is no longer wide ass open like we said it was for the last several weeks: in fact, duthcer himself said it best, it’s the UConn invitational.  And he’s not wrong, it really is UConn v. The field.  That’s how unbelievable they’ve looked.  And it goes without saying how well they’re coached under jungle favorite Dan Hurley.

But really my top UConn request is not having to hear about Dan Hurley's superstitions anymore. And you all know I love Dan Hurley. You all know this is a huge Dan Hurley house. We had him in here right after they won, we had him in here two months ago talking about going for the repeat.... so clearly, I like the guy.

I just don't need to hear about his underwear anymore. And I definitely don't need to see it, I just don't need any more footage of his red dragon underwear

I'm not sure anybody knew that existed until last night. Just like nobody knew what Hurley's red dragon underwear looked like until last night. And I really wish I didn't know. Because unfortunately I can't unsee.

I'm don't know what worse, the footage of Hurley’s boxers or the sound was coming from the Grand Canyon cheering section. Grand Canyon, I hate to say I was rooting for you to lose, especially against Mr. Wrong Spot, Wrong Time Nate Oats. But America's gonna turn on you when your fans show up and do this, SCREAM.

That's what I sounded like when they flashed that footage of Hurley's red dragons.

And that's what's going on in my brain right now that's there's no more Madness until Thursday.