March Sadness! Coronavirus wins 2020 NCAA Tournament!

Congratulations to that upstart team from China, the Wuhan Coronavirus, on their stunning victory, defeating the entire March Madness field and being named the 2020 Great American March Madness Champion!

In one of the most shocking moments in sports since “The Miracle on Ice,” the Wuhan squad defeated not only March Madness, but also the NBA, NHL, MLB, MLS, PGA, yada, yada, yada.

But life goes on, and hopefully the Wuhan squad proves to be a one year wonder. Until then, wash your hands, use hand sanitizer, socially distance yourself, and don’t look at your 401K balance.

From a selfish Commish standpoint, know what’s the worst part of this whole thing for me? I had all these great Baby Yoda / March Madness memes ready to roll, and let me tell ya, they were *killers* too!

Oh, well …  until next year, my friends!

The Commish

PS: Here’s a pic of The Commish from last night’s awards presentation with the boys from Wuhan. Better safe than sorry:

 

Redemption for Virginia! Cavaliers top Texas Tech in OT!

One year after getting bounced in humiliating fashion in the 1st round by a #16 seed, the Virginia Cavaliers have climbed the mountaintop and are now NCAA champions, defeating Texas Tech 85-77 in overtime last night.

Joining in on Virginia’s victory celebration was none other than Porter Lorenz, who used the Cavalier’s win to vault into 3rd place and join 1st place finisher, Mallory Smith Rooks, and runner-up, Jan Schubert, in the GAMM winners circle.

Here’s how the final standings shook out this year:Malory, Jan, and Howard/Porter … I’ll Venmo you your winnings later today.

A bit of housekeeping news … as you may have noticed while perusing the standings page, there are quite a few people in the standings with zeroes across the board under “Players With No Entry.” These are folks who clicked “accept” when I emailed them an invite and then never filled out a bracket, or added a second bracket and never filled that out, or they played previously under a different CBS account, or under a different email, yada, yada, etc, etc, … you know, that kind of thing.

Happy Anniversary, Mrs Commish!

Well, tonight’s the night. Texas Tech vs Virginia for all the marbles. Tip off at 9:20 PM, which probably means The Commish will find out who won when he wakes up Tuesday morning.

I won’t, however, have to wait until I wake up Tuesday morning to find out who won our pool, as both 1st and 2nd place have been already locked up.

Yep, you heard right, Deadpool. We already know.

It’s rare, but it happens. Due to only one person picking Texas Tech to win, that means that Malory Smith Rooks and Jan Schubert, have locked up the top 2 spots in the pool, respectively.As a reminder, here are this year’s payouts:

• 1st Place – $1,464 (60%)
• 2nd Place – $732 (30%)
• 3rd Place – $244 (10%)

Memo to Malory and Jan:

For purposes of our pool, 2 other individuals are hoping to also treat themselves as 3rd place will come down to one of my neighbors, either Lori Dorer or Porter Lorenz (playing under dad, Howard’s, name). If Texas Tech wins, Lori remains entrenched in 3rd place. If Virginia wins, Porter will leap into 3rd.

Auburn gets jobbed! Virginia & Texas Tech advance to Finals!

In what will go down as one of the more controversial finishes in Final Four history, the Virginia Cavaliers defeated #5 Auburn by a score of 63-62 last night in Minneapolis. Trailing by 2 in the final seconds, Virginia guard, Ty Jerome, pushing the ball up the court for the Cavaliers, appeared to double dribble after bouncing the ball off his foot.

The refs missed the call, however, and, instead of Auburn being awarded possession and essentially ending the game, Virginia was left with one last ditch attempt to avoid elimination with 1.5 seconds to go.

On the ensuing inbound play, Virginia’s Kyle Guy was fouled in the process of a 3 point attempt from the corner.

This sent Guy, an 82% free throw shooter, to the line where he calmly made all 3 attempts to give Virginia the win.

The Cavaliers now advance to Monday’s National Championship where they’ll face #3 Texas Tech, who dismantled #2 Michigan State  61-51. The Spartans loss denied TJ Barresi a chance to win his 3rd Great American March Madness title in the last 4 years.

While TJ is now eliminated, let’s take a look at the standings as of this morning …

Oh, the shame!

Well, it’s that time of the year. The deadline to Venmo me your entry fee came and went at midnight last night, and it is my sad duty to report that we once again have some stragglers who have failed to settle their March Madness accounts. So, without further ado, here are this year’s inductees into the GAMM Hall of Shame:

Angie Ridder

&

Sean Cook

Not as cool an achievement as “World’s best cup of coffee,” but, still, it’s something you can tell your kids about some day though …

First off, there’s been “radio silence” from both Angie and Sean thus far. So, there’s that, which kinda, you know, hurts the ol’ Commish’s feelings a little bit. Now, both are veteran pool participants here, so I’m sure it’s all just one big ol’ misunderstanding …

Not an April Fool’s Day joke: Duke goes down! Sparty advances to the Final Four!

 

They’ve been tempting fate the entire tournament, but Lady Luck finally caught up with the Duke Blue Devils. Having been pushed to the wall by both UCF and Virginia Tech in their 2 previous games, Duke once again found themselves in a nail-biter, this time vs Tom Izzo’s #2 Michigan State squad. Trailing by 2 in the final seconds, Duke’s star forward, RJ Barrett, went to the line with a chance to tie things up, but missed his 1st attempt. This caused him to have to try and intentionally miss the 2nd free throw in order to give Duke a shot at the rebound. Murphy’s Law, of course, kicked in and he inadvertently made the 2nd shot, causing Duke to have to start fouling, but, unfortunately for Duke, the Spartans were not in the bonus yet and were able to run out the clock. Michigan State will now go up against #3 Texas Tech next week in Minneapolis.

Joining Michigan State in the Final Four on Saturday will be #5 Auburn, who were 77-71 overtime winners vs #2 Kentucky, and will next face #1 Virginia in the Final Four. Frankly, I found it hard to focus on the Auburn game yesterday. I mean, I’m not sure what was the bigger distraction … Auburn head coach Bruce Pearl’s absurd antics, or his profuse sweating.

War Eagle, coach!

As for our pool, here’s how the standings shape up heading into the Final Four:

Gonzaga Gone-bye-bye! #3 Texas Tech advances to 1st ever Final Four!

The Elite Eight kicked off with a bang yesterday, with both games going right down to the wire. The early match-up saw #1 Gonzaga get ousted by #3 Texas Tech 75-69 in a game that featured what is probably the play of the tournament thus far. Trailing by 6 with a minute to go, Gonzaga attempted a 3 to make it a 1 possession game. Texas  Tech’s Tariq Owens had other plans in mind:

The block was impressive enough, but to have the presence of mind to grab the ball in mid-air and pass it back in-bounds to maintain possession was stunning. I’m thinking we might just be seeing that one again at the end in a certain annual, post-tournament highlight video. (EDITOR’S NOTE: It’s been pointed out to me by Eliot Bloomberg that he stepped out of bounds on the play and it should have been Gonzaga ball. So, scratch that clip from the “One Shining Moment” video, I guess.)

Here was the reaction to that play by my neighbor, Kaitlyn Heckler, who was the *ONLY* person to pick Texas Tech to win this thing:

Not to be outdone in the excitement category, the late game featured #1 Virginia barely getting by #3 Purdue 80-75 in overtime, despite an incredible 42 points from Purdues’ Carsen Edwards.  Texas Tech and Virginia now advance to next Saturday’s Final Four in Minneapolis.

Hoping to join them there will be these 4 teams when the Elite Eight resumes later today:

2:20 pm – (5) Auburn vs. (2) Kentucky (CBS)
5:05 pm – (2) Michigan State vs. (1) Duke (CBS)

Checking in with the GAMM standings, we find Lori Dorer still temporarily in the lead, followed by Malory Rooks-Smith in 2nd place, and the patriarch of the McGurrin Family Dynasty tied for 3rd:

DUKE DOES IT AGAIN! AVOIDS DISASTER FOR 2ND STRAIGHT GAME!

The Duke Blue Devils, the overwhelming favorites to win this year’s NCAA Tournament, once again escaped by the skin of their teeth last night. After dodging the UCF bullet last weekend, Coach K’s boys found themselves in a bit of a jam again vs Virginia Tech. Trailing by 2 in the final seconds, Virginia Tech was awarded the ball following a controversial out-of-bounds no-call (a rare moment of NCAA officials not being in the tank for Duke). The Hokies then called timeout and off the ensuing inbound play, had a great look at a game winning 3, only to have it clang away and go out of bounds:

With the ball last touched by a Duke player, Virginia Tech then had one last ditch effort and almost pulled off the amazing alley-oop buzzer beater to force OT:

Here’s a closer look:

Holy “agonies of defeat,” Batman!

I mean, like, holy crap. That poor kid’s gonna have nightmares about that for the rest of his life. Speaking of nightmares …  just like that, Duke now lives to fight another day. Bastards.

So, I mentioned Virginia Tech getting a huge call from the officials? Here’s the play in question. Happened just prior to their ill-fated game-winning 3 point attempt.

IT’S A GREAT DAY … FOR BEING SAD!

TEXAS TECH BEATS MICHIGAN!

COMMISH OUSTED!

Live look at the Commish after waking up to find Michigan lost

Well, so much for that. #3 Texas Tech’s 63-44 thumping of #2 Michigan last night eliminated not only the Wolverines, but, more importantly, your beloved Commish too. This now means I’ll have to wait until GAMM XXVII for another crack at winning this thing. Angry “I told you so” email from Dominick Peraino coming in 5, 4, 3, 2 …

Sure is, man. Sure is.

Also having to wait another year for a shot at the money is The Commish’s youngest son, Matthew, as his #2 Tennessee squad went down in a 98-89 OT loss to #3 Purdue. This one was a real roller-coaster as Tennessee had come roaring back from a 15 point deficit to eventually take a 2 point lead. Purdue though was fouled on a 3 point attempt in the final seconds, managing to make 2 of their 3 free throws to force overtime. In the extra session, it was all Boilermakers though and Purdue now rolls into the Elite Eight.

Other action last night saw #1 Gonzaga blow out #4 Florida State 72-58, and #1 Virginia escape with a 53-49 win over Oregon.

When the smoke cleared, here’s how the standings shaped up:

The Sweet 16 is here!

The Sweet 16 kicks off tonight with 4 exciting match-ups on tap:

(4) Florida State vs. (1) Gonzaga 7:09 p.m. ET (CBS)
(3) Purdue vs. (2) Tennessee 7:29 p.m. ET (TBS)
(3) Texas Tech vs. (2) Michigan 9:39 p.m. ET (CBS)
(12) Oregon vs. (1) Virginia 9:59 p.m. ET (TBS)

As a heads up: The Commish is hitting opening day festivities today and then catching the Reds opener tonight at the GABP, so that, coupled with a couple of start times that are past the ol’ bed time, probably means I’ll totally be mailing it in with tomorrow’s update. (Truth be told, kinda mailing it in with this one too)

Please join me in wishing a happy 25th birthday to 2010 GAMM Champion (and Assistant Commish as well as VP of Memes) Lauren Dennehy!

Here ‘s the birthday girl practicing proper fire-pit safety precautions at the Commish family residence last year. After all, last thing one needs is some pain-in-the-*** crazy neighbor lady complaining to your HOA! (Not that those types of people exist)

Oh, almost forgot! This is too funny! This is my buddy, Gregg, in Columbus. He didn’t want to join my pool because, get this, he didn’t want to download the Venmo app. 

ONE SHINING BRACKET: Gregg Nigl of Ohio has the last perfect March Madness bracket, according to the NCAA: https://t.co/ncqrgl9ktf pic.twitter.com/UJF7aNTqEW

— ABC 7 Chicago (@ABC7Chicago) March 26, 2019

Bet you’re kicking yourself now, Gregg!

DUKE DODGES A BULLET! LIVES TO FIGHT ANOTHER DAY! NATION IN MOURNING!

About that Duke game, I’m just gonna let Pawnee, Indiana’s Director of Parks and Recreation sum it up for us:

Exactly, Ron. What the hell DID just happen?

Well, they say you can’t win the NCAA Tournament without a “back to the wall” moment and, man oh man, did Duke have their backs to the wall vs Central Florida yesterday. The Blue Devils, trailing by 3 with less than 20 seconds to play, put the ball in the hands of superstar Freshman Zion Williamson, who drove the lane and was fouled while hitting a short jumper to pull them within 1. Williamson proceeds to miss the potential game-tying free throw, only to … well, watch for yourself:Wait, Duke grabs the missed free throw and puts it home to take a 1 point lead? Are you kidding me?? So, now Central Florida has one last chance and, boy, did they get a good look at hitting the winner. Frankly, you couldn’t ask for a better chance than this:Alas, ’twas not be. As a wise man once said, “A bad day for Duke is a good day for America.” Well, America weeps today. Thanks for nothing, Duke.

LSU WINS ON A BUZZER BEATER!

Well, we finally have our signature moment of the tourney thus far in #3 LSU’s 69-67 win over #6 Maryland yesterday. With under 30 seconds remaining, Maryland’s Jalen Smith hit a 3-pointer to knot things up at 67-67, but then with time expiring, LSU’s Tremont Waters managed to drive the lane and put in a layup to give the Tigers the heart-stopping win:

Hey, remember when I picked #14 Yale to beat LSU in the 1st round since LSU doesn’t have a coach right now? And how I compared them to the Bad News Bears that time they drove themselves all the way to the Astrodome to play a game even though they didn’t have a coach? Well, it was pointed out to me that the Bad News Bears actually ended up winning that game.

Not even a glass of delicious, refreshing, chocalatey Ovaltine is gonna be enough to take the sting away from that blunder for the Commish

In other action, #2 Kentucky ended up surviving a bit of a scare vs #7 Woffard, as the Wildcats managed to escape with the 62-56 win. This one gave the ol’ Commish a little heartburn as I’ve got Kentucky in the Finals. Survive and advance though, baby. Survive and advance.

Also surviving and advancing was my Michigan squad, who put the hammer down on Florida with a 64-49 victory.  Speaking of which, noted Michigan fan, Dominick Peraino,

HISTORY DOESN’T REPEAT! VIRGINIA MANAGES TO AVOID 1st ROUND HUMILIATION THIS YEAR!

A number of top seeds survived scares yesterday, most notably #1 ranked Virginia, whose fans went into collective cardiac arrest when the Cavaliers found themselves trailing by 6 points at the half to #16 Gardner-Webb.

Footage of Cavalier Nation at half-time

Virginia managed to wake up in the 2nd half though and ultimately ended up winning in going away fashion. As you might just recall (since it was, you know, the equivalent of a March Madness earthquake) Virginia was bounced in the 1st round last year as a #1 seed by #16 UMBC, the only time a #16 has ever beaten a #1 seed in NCAA history.

UMBC didn’t make the tourney this time around and so I guess they weren’t paying much attention to the day’s events:

Why are our notifications blowing up—-oh pic.twitter.com/t8KIq5Iapc

— UMBC Athletics (@UMBCAthletics) March 22, 2019

While Gardner-Webb couldn’t seal the deal vs Virginia, #13 UC-Irvine managed to pull off the biggest upset of the tournament thus far, taking down #4 Kansas State 70-64. Right behind them in the

COMMISH OFF TO ROCKY START!(Alternate headline: The more things change, the more they stay the same!)

Day #1 of the NCAA Tournament is now in the books with little in the way of major upsets. Of course, that’s with the exception of a #12 seed, in this case, Murray State, knocking off a #5 seed in Marquette. Like I told you yesterday, #12 seeds win every year, so if you didn’t pick one, you didn’t do it right.

Speaking of not doing things right, while I may have nailed the Murray State game, aside from that, very little went my way as The Commish went a pathetic 11 for 16 yesterday. Things went south for me right out of the gate, as I “took L’s” with #7 Louisville’s loss to #10 Minnesota and then my surprise Sweet 16 pick, #14 Yale, falling just short of pulling off the upset vs # 3 LSU.  So, basically, things are going great. Just great.

I know the feeling, Tracy. Believe me, I know

My day could have been worse though, as I at least didn’t lose my Champion on day #1, like Joe Schlosser (4) did. Poor Joe, aka legendary Connecticut radio personality “Sebastian” (he makes me add the “legendary” part btw) who had Marquette winning the whole enchilada. Ouch!

Actually, you played, like, 14 brackets, so you do have options, Joe!

As for the rest of the Great American March Madness folks, taking a peak at the standings finds an 8 way tie for 1st place among folks who went an amazing 15 for 16:

HERE WE GO!!

Welcome back, my friends, and thanks for joining me for Great American March Madness XXVII (That’d be “27” for those who aren’t fluent in Roman Numerals or Super Bowls).

“Wait a minute, Commish. You mean to tell us you’ve been running this basketball pool for 27 years??“

Holy mother forking shirt balls, indeed. Yep, 27 wonderful, glory filled, er … 27 heart-breaking, fruitless years.  (Wait a minute, maybe I’ve really been in “The Bad Place” this whole time!??)

idk, bro. Maybe that whole “27 years of futility thing” should’ve been your 1st clue

Anyhow, we’ve once again broken the previous year’s record for most entrants, with an eye-popping 494 participants. Putting my New Jersey public school education to work, at $5 per entry, that makes this year’s pool  a whopping $2,470. Payouts, as always, will be made on the following time-honored basis:

Looking for your bracket?

Click … here.

PSA: All entry fees must be paid via VENMO this year! No exceptions!

To pay your entry fee, please send it to me via my Venmo account: Greg-Dennehy. Venmo is an easy to use app for electronically transferring money and can be found in both iTunes and the Google Play Store. I am not accepting cash, checks, paypal, bitcoins, the barter system, or any other type of payment.

Any payments made above and beyond your $5 will be considered a donation to the CBF (Commish Beer Fund).

The Commish’s Beer Fund, you say? Why, I’ll drink to that!

 

Villanova & T.J. Barresi each win their 2nd championship in 3 years!

Live footage of the Barresi living room last night

Congratulations to the Villanova Wildcats, who rolled to a 79-62 win over Michigan, and also T.J. Barresi, of course, who now joins Chris “C-Mac” McGurrin, as the only other 2-time champion in GAMM history.

Last night’s game started off fairly competitively, but Michigan’s shooting started to get cold midway through the 1st half, allowing Villanova to open up a 9 point half-time lead. Michigan was never able to get it going in the 2nd half, thus allowing The Commish to cut his losses and pull the plug at 11 PM in order to get to bed.

When the dust settled, here’s how the top 10 shook out:

Congratulations to the following participants on their winnings!

1. T.J. Barresi – $1,344
2. Taylor Schwartz – $672
3. Hayden Horner – $224

Please contact me so we can make arrangements to get you your money.

To quote Kevin Hart …

Indeed, it is, Kev. Indeed, it is.

Well, here we go … #1 Villanova vs #3 Michigan for all the marbles, tonight at 9:20 PM on TBS. Part of me is rooting for a great game that ends in a buzzer beater, but another part of me is secretly rooting for a blowout so I can go bed at halftime. Either way, I think the ol’ Commish is gonna need a pre-game nap to stay up for this one.

As a reminder, here’s what’s at stake tonight:

• 1st Place – $1,344 (60%)
• 2nd Place –   $672 (30%)
• 3rd Place –    $224 (10%)

And here’s who’s playing for it …

If Michigan wins:

1. Sheryl Hemphill
2. Sheryl Hemphill
3. Bill Corcoran

If Villanova wins:

1. T.J. Barresi
2. Taylor Schwartz
3. Hayden Horner

As always, gratuities are never expected, but always appreciated.

Finally, since we’re at the end of the tournament, I’ve got a quiver full of  GIF files that I didn’t get around to using, so here’s a random assortment. You’ll have to try and imagine your own  amusing commentary to go along with them, because I’ve got nothing …

Clock strikes midnight for Loyola! Sheryl Hemphill’s Cinderella run alive & well though!

It was fun while it lasted, Sister Jean. #11 Loyola’s miraculous run has come to an end, as they went down in defeat at the hands of #3 Michigan, 69-57, in a game they actually lead at the half. Michigan will now face the tournaments #1 overall seed, Villanova, on Monday night, as the Wildcats destroyed Kansas by a score of 95-79.

Heading into Monday night’s championship game, here’s how the standings shape up:

No, that’s not an April Fool’s Day joke … that really is Sheryl Hemphill in both 1st *AND* 2nd place.

Sure is, Larry. Sure is.

Everybody’s working for the weekend …

Man, those Loverboy guys, huh? Those dudes knew what the hell they were talking about. It seems everybody really is working for the weekend, even your beloved Commish. I know what you’re thinking, “Yo, Commish! What are you talking about? You only have to be The Commish for, like, 2 weeks out of the year. There are 50 other weekends out of the year for you to work for.”  Well, not so fast friend. Being the Commish can feel like a year round gig at times, as my Facebook friends can attest.

You see, it’s not just March Madness when duty calls, as I’ve presided over various other “bracket-like competitions” over the years on my Facebook wall. Here’s a couple of examples, for your review and discussion.

First off, here’s  my “Christmas Movie Bracketology” tournament from 2015. Each day I’d post a couple of polls pitting one movie vs the other, until we eventually worked our way down to greatest Christmas movie of all-time.

Click on the bracket to open in full-size

This one featured a controversial finish as “A Christmas Story” blew a fairly sizeable lead, literally in the 11th hour, as noted “Elf” fan, and famed Oregon Ducks special teams player, Mark “Longsnapper” Mitchell, rallied his supporters to tip the scales in his movie’s favor. Went to bed that night thinking “A Christmas Story” had it all sewn up, and awoke to a “Dewey defeats Truman”  type situation with “Elf” having pulled off the miracle comeback.

OMG! WE BEAT A CHRISTMAS STORY!

And let’s just get this out of the way now … no, “Die Hard” was *NOT* included.

I know, right? Can you believe there are people that actually believe that??

Look, it’s a movie that *takes place* at Christmas. That’s it. (Don’t @ me, either)

We’re down to only 1 late entry fee ….

Updates? I mean, the last game was on Sunday, and they don’t resume again until Saturday, so no, no updates. Well, not basketball updates anyways. Money updates, you say? Oh, sure. That I can do.

So, to bring everyone up to speed, Dave Louis and his son, Zach’s, accounts have been marked paid in full, as he stopped by my house last night with his money. He ended up having a (legit) family emergency the other night and couldn’t make it over.

Scott Szymkowicz (pronounced “Sim-ko-witz” for all those wondering at home) also paid his entry fee. Actually tracked Mrs. Commish down at Kroger to do so. And when I say “tracked down,” I mean he accidentally ran into her there and was forced to awkwardly hand over $5.00. Looked a little something like this, I imagine …

Kenny Wilson? Your guess is as good as mine. He and his money are M.I.A. Like I said yesterday, not his first trip to the March Madness delinquent accounts rodeo, and probably not his last. While he may be a former Super Bowl champion, you’ll note he did it with the Raiders though. The rules never applied to the Raiders.

The list of shame

The Lannisters always pay their debts. Folks in our pool? Eh, not so much.

It’s not like they weren’t forewarned. On a daily basis. With specific instructions on how to immediately pay their entry fee. Nope, it’s not like that at all. Yet, here we are. It is with great sadness that I’m forced to advise you that the following individuals have missed the deadline to pay me their GAMM entry fee:

• Dave Louis
• Kenneth Wilson
• Scott Szymkowicz
• Zach Louis

You bet we are, Frank!

All of these folks are friends of mine in town, which immediately makes me think they’re just trolling me. Leading us off is my neighbor, Dave Louis, who was to drop his, and son Zach’s, entry fees off last night. He seemingly forgot. Hey, he’s a busy guy. I get it. I’m just concerned about the example he’s setting for young Zach. Kenny Wilson? Eh, not sure what the deal is.  Texted me yesterday asking how he can get his money to me. Dude, seriously? Are you not sick of me plugging Venmo every day? Not his 1st time on this list though, so no surprise. Scott Szymkowicz? Don’t know what to tell ya. Messaged him on Facebook about it but he seemed to think I was inquiring about him winning $$$, or something. I’m at a loss with regard to him, which is kinda par for the course.  

Rock Chalk Jayhawk! Kansas survives OT thriller vs Duke!

The Final Four is now set as the two #1 seeds from the right side of the bracket, Villanova and Kansas, will join #3 Michigan and #11 Loyola next weekend in San Antonio.

Villanova, the tournament’s overall #1 seed, fended off some late pressure from #3 Texas Tech, before putting the Red Raiders away somewhat easily, by a score of 71-59. Meanwhile, Kansas won an epic overtime contest vs Duke, 85-81. The end of regulation play proved to be quite a thriller, as the tournament’s main villain, Duke’s Grayson Allen, drove to the basket for what looked like the game winner, only to have the March Madness gods hilariously abandon him in his moment of need …

“A bad day for Duke, is a good day for America “ ™

– The Commish

Long-time GAMM participants will recall my animosity for the Duke program, and my trademarked catch phrase referenced above, dating back to their dynasty days with Christian Laettner, Bobby Hurley, etal. Back then, like Grayson Allen, Laettner was always the tournament villain. He just came off as so cocky and arrogant. Made it easy to root against him. Gotta tell ya though, maybe I’m just getting soft in my old age, but that ESPN “30 for 30” on him, “I Hate Christian Laettner,” really caused me to do a 180 on the guy. If you’ve never seen it, you should check it out. Well worth your time. Who knows, maybe 25 years from now, I’ll actually like Grayson Allen too?

Eh, enough of me being all introspective in my old age. Whatever. Let’s get down to business.  As for our pool, here’s how the GAMM leaderboard stacks up heading into the Final Four:

Hail to the Ramblers! Sister Jean’s boys punch their ticket to the Final Four!

Well, half of the Final Four is all set and I think I’m pretty safe in saying nobody, and I mean *NOBODY*, saw Loyola coming. Not even the Ramblers biggest fan, Sister Jean, who only had them making it to the Sweet 16 on her bracket before having them get knocked off. Loyola rolled past #9 Kansas State 76-62 to become only the 4th #11 seed in history to reach the Final Four, joining LSU in 1986, George Mason in 2006, and VCU in 2011.

Next up for the Ramblers? #3 Michigan, whose fight song I took the liberty of co-opting for today’s headline. The Wolverines survived a tough battle with #9 Florida State to nail down the 58-54 win. This one ended on a weird note though as Florida State seemingly chose to give up with 10 seconds remaining in a 4 point game.  Not sure what they were thinking about there, as they could have continued to foul. If it wasn’t over when the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor, it sure as Heck-fire wasn’t over with 10 seconds remaining!

Ya know, because I’m old, I frequently drop that Germans / Pearl Harbor reference on the various youth sports teams I coach whenever one of my players starts getting all “doom and gloom” about our chances. Occasionally one of them will  give me a look and go “Uh, coach? I’m pretty sure it was the Japanese that bombed Pearl Harbor,” and I’m just like, “Dude, it was the Germans. I saw it in a movie once.”

Well, it’s kinda funny, but I don’t know about gold

Alright, enough shtick. As for our pool, here’s how the standings shape up as of this morning: