UConn eclipses Purdue to win back-to-back titles!

Congratulations to the UConn Huskies on winning their second straight National Championship last evening, defeating Purdue by a score of 75-60, despite a heroic 37 point performance from Purdue’s Zach Edey. Tristen Newton paved the way with 20 points for the Huskies, who won their 12th straight NCAA Tournament game – all of which were decided by 13 points or more.

The win gives UConn their 6th career National Championship, the 3rd most all-time, and all of them coming in the last 25 years. What a run for Husky nation. UConn becomes only the third team since the John Wooden UCLA dynasty to win back-to-back championships, joining the 2006-07 Florida Gators and the 1991-92 Duke Blue Devils.

Turning our attention to the pool, here’s how the top 10 ended up in the G.A.M.M. standings:

Its National Championship Eclipseversary Day!

Glad to see the boys are rolling up to the Natty with proper protective eyewear! Be careful out there today, people!

So, here we go … the National Championship tips off tonight at 9:20 PM. Vegas has UConn as 6 1/2 point favorites. (Shohei Ohtani’s translator recommends giving the points)

With that 9:20 PM start time, the Commish is DEFINITELY going to need to get in a nap today if I want any chance of staying up for the game. Good thing I’m taking PTO today. No, not so I can take a nap. Or to see the eclipse.

Nope. While I will be both taking a nap and checking out the eclipse, I’m pretty sure this will be me by the end of the day:

No, aside from it being the National Championship game and the eclipse, today is also my and Mrs. Commish’s 35th wedding anniversary! Or “The Eclipseversary” as many people are calling it. I mean, credit to Mrs. Commish for sticking it out with me for three and a half decades. Not bad, considering she was one of my R.A.’s in college our senior year and caused me to end up on probation when she broke up a keg party of mine. Not that I’m still salty about it or anything. Whatever, it’s all water under the bridge and, besides, I’ve long since forgiven her. But that’s just the type of guy I am though … selfless to a fault. Oh, and humble too.

For those who are curious, here’s a pic of the darling couple from their happy day 35 years ago:

The Commish … ready for the eclipse since ’89

(And, yes, I used to have a full head of hair, smart guy.)

As a reminder, here is how the G.A.M.M. standings shape up heading into tonight, with Alex Johnson and longtime participant, Emily “going to the” Chapple, squaring off for 1st place:

UConn & Purdue roll into the National Championship Game!

I created that AI image before they even released the bracket this year. I was fooling around trying to figure out how to use it and thought there was a pretty decent chance it was going to come down to UConn and Purdue. Didn’t even try any other match-ups, and here we are.

Yeah, yeah … I know, “Commish, if you’re so smart, why did you have Creighton over Auburn on your bracket then, you idiot?” Well, first of all, “idiot” is kind of harsh. Accurate, but harsh. Second of all, because EVERYBODY was going to have some version of UConn and Purdue in the finals on their bracket and so I took a flyer on a completely different scenario to try and break away from the pack. Look, I agreed I’m an idiot, okay?

In the first game last night, Purdue jumped out to an early lead and never looked back, knocking off NC State by a score of 63-50. NC State hung around for awhile, but you never really got the sense they were going to pull off the comeback. Very sloppy game from start to finish, with tons of missed shots and turnovers. Purdue is going to need to clean some of that stuff up if they want to have a chance vs UConn on Monday night.

Not that UConn didn’t have their own problems last night, as Alabama gave them their first test of the tournament. The Huskies could only manage a slim 4 point lead at the half before pulling away for the 86-72 win. The 14 point margin of victory was UConn’s smallest of the tournament thus far.

When all was said and done, here’s is how the standings shape up heading into Monday night:

Happy Final Four weekend to those who celebrate!

That’s how AI envisioned the Final Four mascots btw. No matter how many different ways I asked, they just wouldn’t put an NC State jersey on that wolf, or an Alabama jersey on that elephant. And for some reason the elephant is wearing a helmet? Not sure what that’s all about? Looks like it’s ready to head over the Alps with Hannibal and the Carthaginians as they prepare to sack Rome.

Put jerseys on them in individual match-up pics? Sure, no problem! A group pic of the 4 of them though? Nope!

Matter of fact, here’s a gallery of some of the many “fails” it generated:

Okay. Down to business. The Final Four gets underway tomorrow night. Here are the scheduled game times:

Both Purdue and Connecticut are heavy favorites according to Vegas, with the Boilermakers favored by 9.5 over NC State, and UConn favored by 11.5 over Alabama.

And, yes, The Commish will be rocking his Alabama shirt on Saturday.

Here is how the G.A.M.M. leaderboard shapes up heading into the weekend. Alex Johnson, along with her Purdue selection, continues to hold onto 1st place, but lurking 2 points behind is none other than Emily Chapple, whose UConn Huskies are the overwhelming favorites to win the whole thing:

America rejoices as NC State knocks off Duke!

Uncle Sam laughing at the Blue Devils. Is this the most American picture ever?

Ah, yes, my favorite part of the NCAA tournament … when Duke gets eliminated. Yep, those upstarts from NC State, who needed an improbable run through the ACC tournament just to even make the field of 64, continued their Cinderella story as they ousted everyone’s favorite March Madness villain, the #4 Duke Blue Devils. Paced by star forward D.J. Burns’ 29 points, #11 NC State, after trailing by 6 at halftime, turned it on in the 2nd half to take down Duke by a score of 76-64. NC State moves on to their first appearance in the Final Four since Jim Valvano’s squad won the title in 1983.

America thanks you for your service, D. J.!

Waiting for them in Arizona will be #1 Purdue, who outlasted #2 Tennessee 72-66. Paving the way for the Boilermakers was superstar center Zach Edey who popped for 40 points and 16 boards, as Purdue makes its first appearance in the Final Four since 1980.

Here is the schedule for next Saturday’s games:

• 6:09 PM – #1 Purdue vs #11 NC State
• 8:49 PM – #4 Alabama vs #1 UConn

Heading into the Final Four, here’s how the standings shape up this morning. Vegas has installed longtime participant Emily Chapple as the favorite to win the pool by virtue of her UConn over Purdue scenario:

So, there’s a couple of breaking G.A.M.M. news items from over the weekend. First, all entry fees have been paid. And, second, I’ve banned one of this year’s participants for life.

Is UConn inevitable?

Having worked for 17 years in Connecticut, I was there for the beginning of UConn’s rise to power in the world of college basketball. With it came the rise of their fanbase as a bunch of insufferable blowhards. Given the way this tournament has gone so far, I don’t think that’s changing anytime soon (probably should have added a trigger warning for this post for Husky nation).

UConn’s 77-52 blowout win over #3 Illinois marked the 4th straight tournament game where they lead their opponent by at least 30 points. Coincidentally, UConn at one point went on a 30-0 run against the hapless Big 10 champs, dashing Mrs. Commish’s GAMM hopes as she had Illinois in the finals. I hope I’m wrong, but I don’t think anyone can stop them from winning a second consecutive title. Man oh man, how excruciating would a UConn vs Duke title game be for me?

The Commish’s personal nightmare scenario

The next team to go up against the Storrs buzz saw will be Maddie Hammond’s #4 Alabama squad, who survived a tough battle vs #6 Clemson. The Commish happens to own both a Clemson and Alabama tee shirt, so I was ready no matter what for the winner of that game to face UConn in the Final Four next week.

As of this morning, the pride of Grandview Heights, Leo Readey, and Paige Amazon find themselves temporarily in 1st place with 83 points. Their respective stays will be short-lived though given their Gonzaga and Marquette picks:

Duke must be stopped, no matter the cost

Longtime participants will recall my contempt over the years for Duke. Heck, we still have plenty of our “A bad day for Duke is a good day for America” and “Honk if you hate Duke” tee-shirts available in our G.A.M.M. online store:

Enter promo code COMMISH for free shipping!

To be honest though, in recent years with Coach K retiring, the hate kinda fell away a bit. I thought maybe I was just going soft in my old age. Well, now it’s back. Between Kyle Filipowski’s flopping like a soccer player following the Wake Forest court storming, Jon Scheyer apologizing to the fans for losing to UNC, and just their whole arrogant vibe, well, I could feel the hate coming back.

Oh, the hate was definitely flowing last night

The Blue Devils managed to survive and advance against a hapless Houston squad that couldn’t hit water if they fell out of a boat. Especially after losing superstar Naismith finalist, Jamal Shead, to an ankle injury in the 1st half. Honestly, up to that point, Houston seemed to be in control of that game. Once he went down, everything changed.

While the Commish is filled with hate for Duke, not sharing in my hostility are Melissa Buchanan, Sara Sutton, and my beloved cousin, Suzie Gallagher, who are the ONLY 3 people to have picked Duke to win it all.

Next up for their Duke squad will be a fellow ACC team, #11 seed NC State, as the Wolfpack’s magical run continued with a 67-58 win over #2 Marquette.

Rounding out the rest of last night’s action, The Commish’s pick to win it all, #3 Creighton, went down to #2 Tennessee 82-75, and #1 Purdue blew out #5 Gonzaga 80-68:

For those who are curious, yes, I managed to stay up to watch the late games. A 45 minute nap earlier in the evening may have played a role. Regardless, credit to me for being able to overcome such adversity.

We ended up going with the 2 TV setup at GAMM headquarters last night. Gotta tell ya, with each of the late games featuring a team in blue vs a team in white, it was a little disorienting at times, especially since I was rooting for the blue team (Creighton) on one screen and rooting against the blue team (Duke) on the other:

Commish wakes up this morning to find #1 UNC had gone down to #4 Alabama!

Hey, Forrest, can you name a team who The Commish wasn’t able to stay up to watch win last night?

Yep, that’s one of them.

Well, I *TRIED* to stay up to watch those last 2 games, but eventually had to pull the plug at about 11 PM as the Commish was struggling to keep his eyes open. Many people are saying it was heroic of me just to even make it to that point. (Jack Dennehy is not one of those people)

So, as mentioned, I woke up this morning to find #4 Alabama had knocked off #1 North Carolina. Grant Nelson lead the way for Alabama with 24 points, but none bigger than this 3 point play with 39 seconds left to give the Crimson Tide the lead in their 89-87 win.

The other late game featured #3 Illinois edging past #2 Iowa State 72-69, as the Fighting Illini secured their first Elite Eight appearance since 2005.

Waiting for Illinois will be none other than #1 UConn, who put on a clinic vs #5 San Diego State last night. The Huskies picked up right where they left off in the rematch of last year’s title game, as they rolled to an impressive 82-52 win.

The other early game saw #6 Clemson pull off the upset over #2 Arizona 77-72, with the Tigers advancing to face off against Alabama on Saturday.

Taking a look at the standings, Alex Johnson’s hold on first place was briefly interrupted by Josh Puckett at one point last night, but she’s back on top as of this morning:

Happy Sweet 16 to the birthday girl, Lauren Dennehy!

AI’s idea of what a Lauren Dennehy birthday party would look like during March Madness

Oh, wait. Sorry about that. No, Assistant Commish (and hair stylist extraordinaire) Lauren Dennehy is not turning 16, she’s turning the big Three-Oh. You see, the NCAA Sweet 16 gets under way tonight *AND* it’s her birthday. I can see where that title could lead to some confusion though. My bad, guys. This is however the 14th anniversary of her turning 16, if that counts?

The Asst. Commish then and now. She’s the self-proclaimed Queen of St. Patrick’s Day in case you can’t tell.

Because you guys have been so generous when it comes to buying your beloved Commish beers for March Madness, if anybody would like to buy Lauren a 30th birthday beer for her “Birthday Bar Crawl” she’s having on Saturday night, well, as I’m sure you can tell from the above pic, I doubt she’d turn it down. So, switching things up, here’s *HER* Venmo for those who are so inclined:

https://account.venmo.com/u/laurendennehyy

PS to Lauren: When you’re out on your Birthday Bar Crawl on Saturday night, just remember …

Okay, the “dad” portion of today’s blog is now over. The “Commish” portion begins now …

Remember that time The Commish went to a wedding the day before and totally mailed it in the next day?

As mentioned, I’m in New Jersey this weekend for my niece Nora’s wedding which took place yesterday, resulting in your beloved Commish staying up waaaaay later than he’s used to. Matter of fact, we got back to the hotel and I was ready to crawl into bed but, of course, the Creighton – Oregon game just haaaaad to go into overtime, and since I have Creighton winning the whole thing, I had to stay up even later. Oh, the sacrifices I make for you people! All of which means I’m getting a much later start on this and am exercising my annual “free pass” and just mailing it in today.

(Actually, make that my semi-annual “free pass” because I’m not even doing an update tomorrow as I’ll be taking off first thing in the morning for Cincinnati in the G.A.M.M. Mobile Command Center)

In any event, The Commish and family had a great time at my niece Nora’s wedding. She took care of business and was able to arrange for a little March Madness viewing for her guests:

The bride getting all fired up over Arizona going on a 10-0 run in the 2nd half.

Speaking of pics from yesterday’s festivities, here’s one of some random guests from the wedding. Don’t recall who they were, but the guy who’s 2nd from the right looks a little shady, if you ask me.

Okay, moving right along, heading into today’s games, we find ourselves with a 5 way tie for 1st place:

R.I.P. Commish! Auburn loss continues beloved March Madness icon’s stay in the “Pit of Despair!”

Pour one out for the ‘ol Commish. My impressive streak of never having won money in my own (bleep)ing March Madness pool has now reached 31 consecutive G.A.M.M. pools. The Commish, who went with a finals scenario of #3 Creighton over #4 Auburn, had the joy sucked out of him yesterday afternoon as Bruce Pearl and his Auburn Tiger squad went down in flames 78-76 to #13 Yale, mathematically eliminating me from contention.

Live look at the Commish in the “Pit of Despair”

The “Pit of Despair” somehow got even more despairing as the day went on as #5 St. Mary’s, one of my Elite Eight picks, got upset in late night action by #12 Grand Canyon.

All told, your beloved Commish ended up with a less than spectacular 19 points in the 1st round and finds himself in an embarrassing 538th place.

Not embarrassed by their performance however is none other than O.G. participant, Rick Pattavina, who has played since G.A.M.M. I back in 1993. Rick now finds himself in sole possession of not just 1st place, but also the $100 prize that goes along with it! Congrats, Rick! Incoming Venmo payment on the way!

(Shout-out to my niece, Marissa, on her near miss with 26 points!)

Since I’m going to be seeing a lot of you people today at Nora Dennehy’s wedding, if you’re one of those multiple entry folks, you can keep your little success stories to yourself about all the 1st round upsets you got right.

You played multiple brackets. No one wants to hear about it.

Speaking of today’s wedding, time to hit my brother up for this big ol’ laundry list of favors I have for him:

CAT-astrophe! #14 Oakland shocks #3 Kentucky!

In an a bit of a stunner, #14 Oakland knocked off #3 Kentucky 80-76 last night, as the Wildcats continued their seemingly annual tradition of early NCAA exits. Oakland was paced by viral breakout star Jack Gohlke’s 32 points, including an incredible *10* 3-pointers.

Hardest hurt by Kentucky’s loss no doubt were the 36 GAMM participants who picked them to win it all on their brackets. To a lesser extent, it also hurt for your beloved Commish, who had them going to the Elite Eight.

Oakland’s win sets up a match-up vs #11 NC State, as the Wolfpack, building off their surprising ACC Tournament Championship last week, continued their hot hand by knocking off #6 Texas Tech 80-67.

Despite a decent number of upsets, a peak at the standings shows 7 participants going an impressive 15 for 16 yesterday, including my first ever boss at Great American, Ron Gifford, and Assistant Commish Lauren Dennehy‘s boyfriend, Zach Giesting. However, lurking just behind them in a multi-way tie for 8th place with 14 points is none other than Mrs. Commish:

As nobody had a perfect bracket yesterday, Andy Marquart and Marc Pine’s record for most 1st round points in GAMM history of 31, set in G.A.M.M. VIII, cannot be broken. However, if any of the 7 individuals tied for 1st can run the table today, they would be able to tie them though. As I mentioned yesterday, this year I bumped the prize for most 1st round points to $100. In the event of a tie, the tiebreaker will be whoever called the biggest upset.

As many of you already know, in these past 31 years I’ve been running this pool, my career winnings have amounted to a a stunning $0.00. As always, I’m forced to point out that I am also the *ONLY* member of my family to have never won any money in this thing. That’s right, they’ve all won money at some point:

Greetings from Interstate 80!

Welcome to Great American March Madness XXXI, everyone! And, yes, you read that headline right … as we go to press, the Commish is driving across Route 80 in Pennsylvania on my way to beautiful New Jersey on this, the opening day of March Madness (aka the busiest day of my entire year).

You see, my beloved niece, Nora, is getting married on Saturday and as there are wedding-related activities taking place on Friday that we want to be there for, we’re traveling today. And so Mrs. Commish and I, along with the youngest of our 3 former tax deductions, Matthew, have fired up the G.A.M.M. Mobile Command Center (pictured below) and we are currently eastbound and down.

The G.A.M.M. Mobile Command Center. Give us a honk if you see us!

The Commish, ever magnanimous of course, thought nothing of missing most of today’s games. Or trying to manage an increasingly unmanageable basketball pool where people routinely hit me up with 11th-hour problems about accessing their brackets or not receiving their invites. Or having to keep track of hundreds of Venmo payments. Or cranking out blog content for all 2 of my fans.

Nope, didn’t even think twice about it.

Like I told everyone who asked … this is family, and, after all, I *AM* Nora’s favorite uncle.

(I’m also her ONLY uncle too, but that’s beside the point)

Many people are rightly pointing out though that if I really were her favorite uncle, she wouldn’t have scheduled her wedding to coincide with the start of March Madness.

Good question, Don Vito!

But, whatever though. What’s done is done. Or, as they say in the Garden State, “fuhgeddaboudit.” My wedding gift to you, Nora, is this: “forgiveness.” So, there ya go. You’re welcome.

(Poor Mrs. Commish, btw. She’s got to listen to me whine about all of this for the whole 600+ miles.)

So, as you may have noticed from the GAMM Mobile Command Center pic, I’ve been fooling around a bit with AI image generators to prepare for this year’s pool. I’m hoping it will help save me some time so I’m not fumbling my way through the usual crappy photoshops I tend to crank out. I experimented with a few image generators before finally finding one I liked. This morning I described my current situation and asked it to create an image of me trying to manage this pool while in the GAMM Mobile Command Center and here’s what it came up with:

Irish eyes are smiling! The March Madness bracket has been released!

Wait, it’s St. Patrick’s Day *AND* Selection Sunday?? What a time to be alive!!

Please check your email for invites for my 31st Great American March Madness Basketball Pool (aka GAMM XXXI). Let me know if you did not receive one.

Please note the following before joining though:

1) ALL ENTRY FEES MUST BE PAID VIA VENMO

YES, CHEF!

Actually, I have no idea if you can Venmo $1M, Chef! You CAN however Venmo $5, which is the amount of our entry fee for a 31st consecutive year!

2) YOU ARE NOT ALLOWED TO INVITE ANYONE TO JOIN WITHOUT MY APPROVAL!

(Exception: You are however allowed to invite members of your household, or anyone who is a co-worker of mine)

If you haven’t joined before, you need to sign up at cbssports.com with your own user ID and password. After that, you can access your bracket by entering our group password, which was included in your invite.

Other stuff you need to know:

G.A.M.M. XXXI coming March 21st!

Brackets get released on Selection Sunday on March 17th!

Email invites will go out that evening!

Tournament play begins Thursday, March 21st!

Also, I’ve started experimenting with AI image generators … so be afraid. Be very afraid.

The Commish

UConn rolls over San Diego State to win title!

The Connecticut Huskies have won their 5th National Championship after dismantling San Diego State by a score of 76-59 last night. As they’ve done all tournament long, UConn won in dominant fashion with their 20 point average margin of victory tying an NCAA record and securing them as one of the most dominant champions in March Madness history. San Diego State didn’t help themselves as they struggled tremendously from the field in the 1st half, going 8 for 28 and allowing UConn to jump out to a 12 point halftime lead. Frankly, it could have been an even worse deficit if not for the Huskies having shooting struggles of their own in the 1st half. The Commish had taken an early evening nap in order to be able to stay awake for the end in case it was a close game, but was having significant second thoughts at that point. San Diego State would not go down without a fight though and eventually pulled to within 5 points with about 5 minutes to play before UConn regained control to cement the win.

Joining UConn in the winner’s circle was Drew Szydlo, playing under mom Donna’s bracket, as his 118 points were good enough to allow him to have his name etched on the coveted “Bill O’Keefe Trophy.” Here’s the way the final standings shaped up:

Your beloved Commish finished in a distant 168th place, btw:

Here’s what our 3 winners will end up taking home:

A San Diego State Miracle! #5 Aztecs advance to Finals on buzzer beater!

Wow! What an ending to the San Diego State vs Florida Atlantic game! SDSU, trailing throughout almost the entire game, clawed their way back from a 14 point deficit to find themselves down by 1 in the final seconds. FAU with possession but facing a shot clock differential, was forced to put up a shot with 10 seconds to play. FAU’s Johnell Davis’ missed layup attempt gave SDSU one last chance and Aztec guard Lamont Butler drove down the floor and drained an all-time buzzer beater to give them the 72-71 win.

San Diego State’s win marked the 5th largest comeback in Final Four history, but it almost didn’t happen as Butler came oh so close to stepping out of bounds on that final play:

YIKES! We almost had a Greg Brady photography moment there!

Facing San Diego State in Monday night’s Championship game will be the #4 seed Connecticut Huskies, who steamrolled #5 Miami 72-59. UConn’s 13 point win was their closest game of the tournament and Vegas has rightly installed them as 7.5 point favorites for Monday.

As I mentioned previously, my niece, Nora, is a San Diego State alum and did NOT pick them to win on her bracket. While the goat thing was a bit of a plot twist, it would appear she had a little buyer’s remorse last evening:

The G.A.M.M. Hall of Fame has opened its doors

Before we get to the big news, as a reminder, the Final Four kicks off tomorrow with the following match-ups on tap:

No doubt the Szydlo and Thacker families will be watching that Miami vs UConn game quite intently. Should UConn win tomorrow, Donna Szydlo (or more accurately, her son, Drew) would win the pool. Should Miami win, not only would Karen Thacker automatically win the pool, bur her daughter, Lauren, would then be in position to finish in 2nd place if the Hurricanes win the Championship on Monday night. At least I *think* that’s the case. After all, as you may recall …

Moving on, I am pleased to announce the G.A.M.M. Executive Council has announced that 3 candidates have garnered the necessary 75% of ballots cast for admission into the G.A.M.M Hall of Fame, which many experts say is the most exclusive club in all of sports.

The G.A.M.M. Executive Council in action

So without further ado, please put your hands together to welcome the newest members of the G.A.M.M. Hall of Fame:

Horns down! #5 Miami ousts #2 Texas!

The most chaotic NCAA tournament in history continued to roll along as two #5 seeds, Miami and San Diego State, punched their tickets to the Final Four in Houston next week.

San Diego State’s 57-56 win over #6 Creighton was fairly controversial. With the score tied 56-56, Creighton’s Ryan Nembhard was called for a questionable foul on SDSU guard Darrion Trammell as he drove to the hoop with 1.2 seconds left.

San Diego State heads to the line in a tie game with 1.2 remaining 😮#MarchMadness pic.twitter.com/zRP3Hc2KGu

— NCAA March Madness (@MarchMadnessMBB) March 26, 2023

Trammell missed his first free throw, but sank his second to give the Aztecs their margin of victory. A desperation, full court, inbounds heave fell short for Creighton as time expired.

Joining Creighton in the Final Four is #5 Miami, who knocked off the tournament’s highest remaining seed, #2 Texas, by a score of 88-81. Texas seemed to have things firmly in control as they lead by double digits in the 2nd half. The Hurricanes kept chipping away though and before Texas knew what hit them, momentum had completely swung Miami’s way, spelling doom for the Longhorns.

Here’s the schedule for next Saturday’s games:

Florida Atlantic advances to the Final Four (just like we all predicted)

The most shocking NCAA tournament in recent memory continued along its chaotic path last night as #9 Florida Atlantic knocked off #3 Kansas State 79-76 in an absolute thriller. The Wildcats had a chance to tie at the end but FAU’s Johnell Davis was able to swat the ball out of Ismael Massoud’s hands in the waning seconds to ice the game. The Owls will now be making their first ever Final Four appearance, where they’ll face the winner of today’s San Diego State vs Creighton match-up.

Joining FAU in the Final Four will be #4 UConn, as the Husky juggernaut completely rolled over #3 Gonzaga by a score of 82-54.

The Commish watched the evening’s festivities at the home of his friends, the McGowans, where hostess Kathy McGowan impressed the crowd with her basketball themed jello shots (which The Commish of course abstained from so as to keep his wits about him for blogging purposes)

The Commish with the ever creative “Hostess with the Mostest” Kathy McGowan & her awesome basketball themed jello shots

The Elite Eight continues with 2 more games on tap today as #6 Creighton takes on #5 San Diego State, and #5 Miami goes up against #2 Texas:

Taking a look at the standings, Dan Sheedy continues to temporarily hold down the top spot as he waits for his doomed Alabama selection to drop him out of contention:

Houston, we have a problem!

Oh, there’s a big ol’ problem alright, Houston. Or, rather, there’s a big ol’ problem if you *PICKED* Houston as the Midwest Region’s #1 seed was sent packing last night at the hands of #5 Miami 89-75.

Hey, Tom Hanks, can you name another #1 seed who had a problem last night?

Good answer, Tom! Joining Houston in helping to reset the “Days Without a Number One Seed Losing” meter back to “0” was none other than the tournament’s #1 overall seed, and Forrest Gump alma mater, Alabama. Yep, the Crimson Tide are also heading home following their stunning 71-64 upset loss to #5 San Diego State last night. The “Friday Night Massacre” (as it will be known as in the years to come) ensured that this is now the first NCAA tournament in history where NO #1 seeds advanced to the Elite Eight.

Really feeling the sting from that Alabama loss was my niece, Nora, a San Diego State alum who picked the Aztecs to LOSE to the Crimson Tide last night.

Oh, Nora, Nora, Nora …

Also not being awarded any points for that game was the pool’s co-leader, and my neighbor, Dan Sheedy, who finds himself tied for 1st place with the leader of the G.A.M.M. youth division, Emerson McCormack. Young Emerson’s hopes were unfortunately dashed as well though as her #3 Xavier squad was ousted by #2 Texas last night.

After the smoke cleared from all of last night’s carnage, here’s where things stand as of this morning:

Oh, what a night! Gonzaga & Kansas St. win in thrillers! Commish stays awake to watch it all!

♫ “Oh, what a night, late in March, back in ’23.” ♫

With apologies to the Four Seasons, oh what a night, indeed. Glad I was able to stay awake to see it. A 30 minute early evening nap may have helped a bit, if we’re being honest.

The games started off in thrilling fashion with #3 Kansas State defeating #7 Michigan State 98-93 in overtime. The pivotal play in OT came on a back door alley-oop, where it appears star point guard Markquis Nowell and head coach Jerome Lang engaged in a fake argument as a diversion to allow the play to unfold:

Following #4 Connecticut’s 88-65 blowout win over #8 Arkansas, we then had #8 Florida Atlantic continue their magical run with a stunning 62-55 win over #4 Tennessee in the biggest win in program history. FAU had never won a tournament game prior to this year and now find themselves in the Elite Eight.

Credit to the NCAA script writers for saving the best for last though as #3 Gonzaga’s 79-76 win over #2 UCLA was something else. UCLA, which led by 13 at halftime, went on an all-time cold spell in the 2nd half, going 11 minutes without hitting a field goal and allowing Gonzaga to take an 8 point lead with a minute to go. Following a furious rally, the Bruins came storming back to grab a 1 point lead with 12 seconds left. Gonzaga then came right back down the floor with Julian Strawther calmly hitting a 3 from the logo for the winner. The play was eerily reminiscent of Villanova’s game winner vs North Carolina in the 2016 Championship Game:

Taking a look at the standings, we find a familiar face staring back at us in 1st AND 3rd place in the person of G.A.M.M. Hall of Famer Frank McGurrin:

The Sweet 16 is here! Commish to make valiant effort to stay up to watch even though it’s a school night!

Okay, we’re back, guys. The Sweet 16 kicks off tonight with 4 games on tap:

As you can see from the headline, your beloved Commish is going to try to stay up to watch them all. Not gonna lie, that’s gonna be a tall order for me, especially with those last 2. Heck, that Gonzaga vs UCLA tip-off is after my bedtime, for crying out loud. Ya know what though? That’s just one of the many sacrifices that I’m willing make for you, my faithful readers.

(Fingers crossed those last two are early blowouts so I can go to bed)

As a reminder, here’s where things currently are in the standings:

Where’s The Commish, you ask? Oh, I’m mired waaaaay down in 458th place with an unimpressive 35 points. While 3 of my Final Four teams are still alive, including my champion, Texas, my other finalist Marquette’s loss was effectively a death blow in a pool this size.

Switching gears, in case you haven’t seen this yet, give it a click. This is the CBS “announcer cam” of Kevin Harlan, Stan Van Gundy, and Dan Bonner at the end of last week’s game between #13 Furman and #4 Virginia. Just some all-time reactions from Harlan and Van Gundy:

Stick a fork in The Commish! #2 Marquette ousted by #7 Michigan State!

Same, Kev. Same.

I suspect it’s not just The Commish who has to apply Neosporin to the mysterious fork wounds in his backside. After this weekend, you can probably stick a fork in quite a few GAMM participants, I would think. While there wasn’t an opportunity for the “Days Without a #1 Seed Losing Meter” to reset to “0,” we did have the next best (worst?) thing as #2 Marquette went down to Tom Izzo’s Michigan State squad 69-60 yesterday. The loss not only eliminates Marquette but, as you probably gathered, it also likely eliminates your beloved Commish, who had them in the Finals.

As if that wasn’t bad enough, I woke up this morning to find #6 TCU, one of my Elite Eight picks, had gone down to #3 Gonzaga by a score of 84-81 in late night action. Hey, you can’t expect The Commish to stay up to watch a game with a 9:40 PM start time on a school night!

Standings wise, Mindy Wall is still temporarily holding down the top spot, as her Arizona pick means it’s just a matter of time before she starts to fade away.

My fellow Mason, Ohio participants will no doubt be shocked to find Dan Sheedy sitting in 2nd place, and with an impressive 172 Max Points available at that! That’s the most of anyone in the pool. I mean, Dan Sheedy??? C’mon!

I know, right??

So, for those who are new to my blog, here’s a little peak behind the curtain on some stuff. I’m able to view statistics for things like how many visitors I get, which pages are viewed and by how many people, yada, yada. I’m always amused to find that the most amount of hits on my site continues to be for my “Disney March Madness” tournament I held during the pandemic:

Dust in the wind! Arkansas shocks #1 Kansas!

Well, it’s time to set the “Days Without a #1 Seed Getting Eliminated” meter back to “0” as the West Region’s top seed, Kansas, was knocked off by #8 Arkansas 72-71 yesterday. The Jayhawk’s loss comes 1 day after #1 Purdue’s stunning loss to FDU the night before. On the upside, with no #1 seeds in action today, the “Days Without” meter gets a chance to crank back up until play resumes next week.

Arkansas’ win of course resulted in head coach Eric Musselman literally losing his shirt, as he’s been prone to do following big wins for the Razorbacks.

Have you considered switching to decaf, Coach?

In other news, the magical season continues for the #15 Princeton Tigers, as they punched their ticket to the Sweet 16 for the first time in 56 years following their 78-63 dismantling of the #8 Missouri Tigers. Princeton overwhelmed Mizzou, jumping all over them right out of the box as you can see from this clip from CBS:.

Block or charge?

Joining Princeton in the Sweet 16 will be #4 Tennessee who took down everybody’s favorite school, #5 Duke, in a 65-52 thumping yesterday. Longtime participants are well aware of my disdain for the Duke program, but without Coach K there anymore, I don’t know, it’s just not as satisfying when they lose. Or maybe I’m just getting soft in my old age? Whatever, a bad day for Duke is still a good day for America, I guess. And for all of you North Carolina fans out there, I still have a few of these shirts available in the G.A.M.M. online store. Enter promo code COMMISH for free shipping!

Taking a look at the standings, we find the Pride of Peoria herself, Mindy Wall, in sole possession of 1st place. Probably not for long though given her ill-fated Arizona pick.

Taking a peak at the OTHER end of the standings, we find a familiar name lurking dangerously close to the bottom: