And David Put His Hand In The Bag…

And David Put His Hand In The Bag…

by The Fillerbuster

The Cast 031718

Unfortunately, I didn’t really have a problem finding a topic this week for my blog.  Forgive any grammatical errors.  This is a brain dump to shed light on it and make myself feel better honestly.

Ugghhh.

Last night, you either witnessed or heard about history being made.  It wasn’t the kind of history of someone scoring the most points in a tourney game.  It wasn’t the kind of history where a buzzer beater defied all logic.  It wasn’t the kind of history where we had the most amount of overtime sessions in a game.  We had the unthinkable happen.  A #1 seed actually BEAT a #1 seed…handily.

Odds are most of you either don’t know WHO you just advanced the #1 seed in the region against, or at least don’t know what the acronym stands for.  You just advance them to that second round because math doesn’t lie and history is king.  Understandable and you are not alone.

And, as a side note, as a UVA alum, this hits me much more personally.  I have been in a fog.  I swam all my usual laps today in the pool all at once because I am STILL waiting for the alarm clock to go off and prove to me this is a bad dream.  So, to get out of my fog, I have decided to write about this while I sit on my couch watching the teams who ARE still left.  Maybe it will help.  Maybe it won’t.  But let’s talk.

Listen, it had to happen someday.  Odds are against it every single year, but it is a 40 minute window where anything can happen.  Of course, given the talent delta, a LOT of things have to happen, but given this chance happens every single year four times, at some point the dominoes are all going to gang up and beat the obvious odds.  At some point, the perfect storm WILL occur.  At some point the 0-135 record will spin to the “1” number.

HOW DID IT HAPPEN?

• UVA was unranked preseason. That means nothing of course, but what it DOES mean is that on PAPER, they are not scary to inferior teams.  Well, they are not AS scary to inferior teams as teams like Duke, UNC, KU, Kentucky, etc.  All year, UVA played larger than they were.  Heck, they even had ME sold.  There are no larger players or five star recruits coming off the bench to scare a team.  The walk on the court, and look more similar than they thought.
• If the strength is not in the players, then the strength is in the SYSTEM. Therefore, although only two teams successfully did it against UVA all season, you know you have to give it a shot at disrupting them and playing YOUR way.  If it doesn’t work?  No problem.  You were supposed to lose anyway.  If a couple other things happen, then just wait and see what transpires.
• You need a hot player. You need one of your guys on auto-pilot.  UMBC had that.  Jairus Lyles not only was unconscious in going 9-11 from the field, but he did it at key points in the game.  And, he added some cramps for campfire storytelling embellishment.
• You need the better team to NOT shoot as well. UVA was 18% from deep.
• When you are playing a suffocating defense, you need your OWN shots to fall. UMBC shot 50% from deep.  That will do.
• You need to disrupt the better team to the point where they are not acting like themselves:
  • UVA’s offense is to find the open man. Most shots were contested even if UMBC had ZERO blocks.
  • UVA had 5 assists in the game. How is that for not trusting your teammate to help you out of the mess?
  • UVA got beat in transition more times in THIS game than they have all season. I don’t have stats for you.  That is what it felt like from a guy who has watched every game.
  • UVA got to the point where they were shooting three’s in the second half instead of trying to fight there way back the right way. UMBC had them drinking the Kool-Aid way too early.
• You need something odd to get them off their game. IF he is 5’8”, Maura did this.  He was a pest on offense (once literally STOPPING mid drive to get a fouled called), a pest on defense, and seemed to dribble around the UVA defenders like Bo Jackson did in the original Tecmo Bowl.
  • Related to the above, UMBC got into the paint (a no-no in UVA’s pack line D) a LOT.
• You have a couple of the above dominos fall, and then get the better team in their uncomfortable zone. UVA’s pace is effective, but I am not splitting the atom when saying they are incapable of coming back from BIG deficits.
• If you ARE missing some shots, rebound. UMBC outrebounded UVA to add insult to injury.  By ELEVEN rebounds.
• UVA not only was only 50% from the line, but only went there EIGHT times. You are not attacking the rim.
• Oddly, I thought UVA would go down again when they had a lot of turnovers. I understood the WVU loss for that reason.  UVA only had SEVEN turnovers, which is not bad.  To have that low amount and still get smoked by 20 points is not…good.
• You also need a home court that isn’t a home court advantage. Sure, UVA had a hefty amount of fans there.  But: 1) UVA isn’t known for being the loudest group of fans.  We are polite to a point.  We dress up in sports coats for football games.  It makes us classy and not very raucous. 2)  Baltimore isn’t exactly much further away from Charlotte than UVA is.  And, they are much closer to a main airport to add to it.  3)  Anyone who IS “neutral” is going to root for the underdog.  You know, so they can say they were AT the first #1 seed going down to a #16 seed.  Charlotte wasn’t exactly a huge advantage for the Hoos, unless they were playing a small school from out West.

FALLOUT

• Hunter’s absence would have stopped SOME of the drives, but I was worried about missing him against teams such as Arizona, Kentucky, UNC, and Gonzaga. I was not worried about the first two games.  No reason to cry foul on this at ALL.
• Not only did a #1 fall, but they fell by TWENTY. I think most of us thought when history was made, it would be some miracle half court shot or OT or whatever.  It was one thing to watch my team lose.  It was a whole other thing to watch them get SMOKED.  All other close calls for #1 seeds have been one possession games.
• And it wasn’t just a #1 seed. It was the #1 OVERALL seed in the tourney.
• Props to Kyle Guy, who kept playing hard until the end and didn’t lose his cool.
• NOT props to Ty Jerome, who proved to me that things are really cool when they are good, but he was not classy near the end.
• I think the Brogdon/Gill/Anderson squad should have won it years ago. I didn’t think this squad could win it, but they sold me during the year.  Suddenly, this on the resume gets things going into your head in future years, new players or not.  This shadow won’t go away quickly.
• Is their pace of play a regular season heaven but an eternal curse on the postseason? I don’t know the answer to that.  I just know what I watched last night SHOULD make high up people rethink a lot of strategic items in their quest for a title.
• UVA already had dibs on being the biggest upset in college basketball history. Chaminade beating Ralph and friends was the biggest.  Now, UVA has the luxury of owning BOTH of the biggest upsets in college basketball history.  We are really making a name for ourselves.

Hey.  A #1 lost to a #16 seed.  We experienced history in our lifetime.  Yay.  They must call it March Madness for a reason.

David slugged Goliath in the nose while he was ready to defend.  This wasn’t a Houdini write off.  I sure don’t have that same feeling I have after watching Hoosiers though oddly.  Hey, Tony Bennett, go get us Jimmy Chitwood.  Get us five of them.  Thanks.  Wahoow….never mind.  Let me go check the tennis, swimming, soccer, and lacrosse standings to make myself feel better.  Enjoy the rest of your tourney weekend.  Ugghhh.

Al McGuire once said this quote when referring to the tourney as the Dance.

“Absolutely. You gotta wear the blue blazer when you go to the big dance.”

Thanks for showing up in hungover pajamas, UVA.

Do I feel better?  No.

That’s it for today.  Hope you enjoyed or are at least more informed.  Will I blog again?  That is a CLOWN question, bro.  Peace.

 

But, since I am comfortable writing on my couch, I will write the usual This And That segment in the main blog this time around.  My notes from the last few days in tourney play and all sports in one sentence only style:

• If you don’t have MoviePass are aren’t paying $10 a month for unlimited movies, then your only excuse is that you don’t like movies.
• The new Rock movie, Rampage, is taking advantage that viewers like large monsters and robots doing cool stuff with great visual effects.
• Part of me misses being at the antics of the St. Patty’s Day parade moments from my house, and part of me is quite content on my couch in my quiet house watching hoops.
• Lost in the reaction of the actual #1/#16 upset is that Kentucky’s road is about as clear as it can be. K-State, UMBC, and Davidson in their immediate area.
• If you care, the ONLY two teams who have not made a trade or picked up a free agent in the last few weeks are the Cowboys and the Steelers.
• Check out my Truths drop down on my site too, as I am using that for things in life I view as factual.
• In all of this “madness,” all #5 seeds advanced, and they typically what we can count on for first game oddness.
• I am officially tired of the new U2 song, don’t push it on us, and let’s just stick with the traditional March Madness song.
• Fingerprint and face recognition features are fun for unlocking your phone, but I am fine with just sticking to a four digit number code.
• The Texans picking up Mathieu was a great pickup, and I personally wanted my Steelers to snag him.
• With Crabtree signing with the Ravens, I think Ravens WR lineups over the last 10 years is a GREAT trivia question.
• Villanova looks like they just found out the #1 team in the country is out of the tourney, and know that their road just got easier with Purdue losing Haas.
• Most people don’t understand that Purdue literally starts FOUR guards and Haas…this hurts their big picture chances.
• The Lions may or may not have wanted Blount, but why NOT take your chances on a guy who has switched teams twice in the last two years and played on the Super Bowl champion each time?
• In Bill Walton style, Jose Altuve is the shortest guy from Venezuela to play sports and make $151 millions ever.
• Anyone who is a Broncos fan and complains about getting Case Keenum isn’t looking at the list available of QB free agents close enough and should be happy they have a good guy and good QB, no matter if he has a lower ceiling or not.
• You guys are simply rooting for Rich Gannon II (guy who suddenly is good after years in the league).
• And 30 years old is not that old considering he spent like 5,000 years at the University of Houston.
• Don’t think fully guaranteed contracts like Kirk Cousins will become the trend, and just know the Vikings were getting him no matter HOW they got him.
• (thinking about a Keenum-Cousins Super Bowl and how awesome it would be)
• Anyone get the feeling from interviews and weird tweets that Kirk Cousins is not the most TEAM guy ever and this was all about the payday???
• Interesting that a Warriors injury like Durant’s wouldn’t worry us so much because they have like three other superstars, but the fact the Rockets could get home court advantage in the playoffs IS the problem.
• I think if I was an identical twin, I would think constantly about devious things I could trick society with.
• I hope the McCourty twins play some MAD jokes on The Hoodie.
• I bet you Alex Smith saw the Sammy Watkins pickup by the Chiefs and said “NOW you get me a WR weapon!!!”
• It is utterly amazing to me that local Broncos radio on 104.3 continued to talk about the Denver QB situation constantly even after the brackets were released.
• Totally bad week for UVA as Roger Mason, Jr. was also replaced as the BIG3 Commish.
• UVA would have been beaten by 40 if there was a 4 point shot though.
• We went to Colt and Gray for Valentines Day and it sucked (in comparison to the bill cost), and went to Guard And Grace for her birthday this week and it was worth every expensive penny (best steak I have ever had I think).
• I feel like Venus beating Serena tells us NOTHING about Serena’s post baby progress since they hit together all the time.
• I am going to a magic show this week, and am very excited, because I pretty much love magic.
• You should watch the movie The Prestige.
• Or The Illusionist.
• The Cardinals picked up Sam Bradford and I am excited to watch him throw three 400 yard games before getting injured so he can remind us once again about his potential.
• I agree with the Packers that Jimmy Graham is worth taking a risk on if we are talking high ceiling for a year or two.
• I don’t agree with the Packers and would have found a way to keep Nelson.
• I am elated if I am Jordy though, going to hang with Carr and Gruden in Oakland and then Las Vegas.
• Butler heads to the Titans/Patriots South.
• Anyone else surprised that the Pats let go of Amendola?
• Teddy Bridgewater must have weighed winning soon with going to a big city and decided on the big city.
• I saw Dave Chappelle the other night at small, little, awesome Comedy Works, and I was most impressed that his humor was a lot of improv and audience inclusion as opposed to bits…love seeing people and walking out UNDERSTANDING that they are indeed that good.
• Russell Westbrook became only the fourth player to 100 triple doubles, and although some stats and leaderboards make us think, I would say that naming the three players in that same group is something that every basketball fan can name.
• My weeks are rocketing by since The Voice fills in the non basketball days very nicely.
• LeBron calling himself a “fine wine” might be accurate, but I really wish he would let OTHER people say those things about him.
• The Browns might only win a couple of games next year, but you can’t fault their ACTIVITY, right?
• The Lakers-Nuggets rivalry is really blooming, and now we just need both teams to get good, or at least make the playoffs.
• I still haven’t won the Hamilton lottery for tickets, but the daily ritual is getting old, it can’t be THAT good, and would be much more fun and alluring if the winner of the lottery got CHEAP tickets.
• I am basically entering a lottery to spend a lot of money on something I don’t care if I see or not, and if I DO see it, I probably will be in nose bleeds.
• NFL free agency needs to be a different week than the leadup to March Madness.
• I wonder if Joe Thomas retired because he didn’t feel like learning all of new teammates to coach through regular season hell again.
• There has to be something else going on, because I really see no reason why Memphis fired Tubby Smith.
• I felt like Eric Ebron would be a Lions lifer.
• When AJ McCarron had some pops celebrating his new team, do you think he drank out of celebration of leaving the Bengals, or depression of having to live in Buffalo?
• Not sure if it tastes ok, but I am sold on the LOOK of those new egg things from Taco Bell.
• Tiger, I am in town this weekend, and will just be sitting on my couch the whole time, so do that leaderboard thing again.
• I know I was focused on hoops this past week, but hole HELL was I surprised that Floyd is doing MMA training…just ride into the sunset, bro.
• I knew during the GAME that Ayton and Trier were going pro, as it obvious they were already checked out DURING the Buffalo game, and couldn’t they let the paint dry for a LITTLE more time?
• SFA’s coach called out millennials and their focus on the game, so he basically is calling out the entire age group of kids he is recruiting AND dissing his whole present team, right?
• Stallings must have been a HECK of a dude, because I remember mass transfers after a coach leaves on GOOD teams, but don’t remember ever seeing an exodus like this on a BAD team.
• Really bad team.
• Maybe Nurkic WANTED to be on posters on kids walls…
• Why did I not eat ice cream sandwiches for the past 10 years until 2018?
• Kind of like me asking if “aioli” is a new thing in food or whether I missed it for the last 20 years.
• UVA losing even put off to the side a week of cracking on the Pac-12…
• UVA losing even put off to the side a week of cracking on Texas basketball and the lead THEY gave up.
• I like the new Stoneys location in Uptown, but apparently if you have more than three iced teas, you have to get charged for two of them.
• I drink about 7 during a meal.
• I picked Missouri in my now dead bracket and WOW, Michael Porter, was in much worse physical shape than I imagined he would be after a couple of practices.
• Before you get all upset on how bad Gonzaga looked in Round 1, remember there is a LONG list of champions who won ugly their first round or two.
• You just have to WIN 6 games, not look good in all of them.
• I can’t wait to watch this WVU-Marshall game tomorrow, as not only will it be exciting, but there is bad blood in between the schools you can Google.
• I even backed off picking that in my knockout pool since everyone and their mother will be going that direction.
• I admit to thinking that Auburn AND/or Clemson would get upset their first round…still surprised.
• I love how Syracuse lives on the bubble each year and then proves us wrong by winning a game or two.
• The Selection Show this year sucked in it new format, and don’t change a good thing.
• We all want to know games IMMEDIATELY, not some alphabetical release of crap.
• I just noticed that UMBC could be spelled out as U Must Be Cinderella, and I know that I am behind on things.
• I want to go prepare for the meat of the Saturday action. Have a great day.