NCAA Virtual Tourney

Just a reminder, I am using my DPPI to run the simulation. I run it 5 times and take the 5th run regardless of outcome. It has delivered some interesting matchups throughout the tourney. But as it usually is in real life, the cream rises to the top most of the time. We had an 8th seeded Richmond in the final four but we also had 3 No. 1 seeds. Here we are on April 5th and the Final Four is in the history books. Below is the review of this amazing and record setting final four.

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First a little NCAA history walk.


Cinderella’s have always been a fun part of the NCAA Tournament. There have been many Cinderella’s. In 2018, Loyola (Ill) made it to the Final Four as an 11 seed to stake their claim to one of the biggest Cinderella stories of all time. We all remember Shaka Smart’s VCU team as an 11 seed that also made it to the Final Four in 2011. In 2006 an 11 seed George Mason made it to the Final Four. The farthest a 12th seed has ever gone was Mizzou in 2002 coached by (gulp) Quinn Snyder. I’m not sure if that was vacated after all the sartorial shenanigans of Snyder with “sneakergate” and all. 15th seeded Florida Gulf Coast in 2013 has to be in the running for biggest Cinderella of all time as they made it to the Sweet 16. UMBC only won 1 game in 2018, but it was a biggie, as they were the 1st 16th seed to defeat a 1 seed in Virginia. But my vote for top Cinderella was in 1953, way before seeding. You see, Lebanon Valley was a small college in Annville, PA that boasted a total student population of 450 students. Based on my research, that makes them the smallest student body ever to put a team in the Sweet 16. And only a few of the players were on scholarship, to boot. They beat a decent Fordham team to get to the Sweet 16. Granted, they lost their next two games, one to the HOF Bob Pettit led LSU and the other to Wake Forest. But for a school of that size with only a few scholarship players to win a game in the NCAA and get to the Sweet 16 is pretty spectacular.

As for teams that lost in the Final Four since 1985 when the tourney expanded to 64 teams, the biggest underdog was 11th seed LSU in 1986. They were projected to win only 0.9 games based on the seeds of the opponents. 11th seed George Mason in 2006 is second projected to win 1.1 games. Loyola (Ill) in 2018 is a distant 3rd projected to win 1.42 games.

Here is an interesting piece of trivia. The most common matchup in the Final Four is North Carolina against Kansas. That has happened 3 times, 13 teams have met twice in the Final Four.

Well now. Let’s look at the Final Four for this year’s tourney.


( RICHMOND vs. (1) DAYTON
In game one, we had two Atlantic 10 teams pitted against each other. In fact, they were the 1st and 2nd place teams in the Atlantic 10. The last time we had a Final Four that included two teams outside the so-called Power 6 conferences, was 2011 when 8th seed Butler and 11th seed VCU were in the Final Four. In fact, that is the only time this happened since the tourney expanded to 64 teams and that was in 1985. In 1990, UNLV of the Big West and Arkansas of the Southwest were in the Final Four, But the Southwest would have to be considered a Power 6 conference. So the Dayton/Richmond game was only the 2nd time two non-power 6 teams were in the Final Four.

Dayton had defeated Richmond in the only previous meeting on January 25th in Richmond. In that game, Richmond kept the game close for the first 14 minutes, actually leading by 4 with 6:38 to play in the 1st half. Then Dayton buckled down and over the 18 minutes of play, up to the 8:30 mark in the 2nd half, Dayton outscored Richmond 40-16 to take a 20 point lead. To Richmond’s credit, they stayed cool and closed the gap to a final score of 87-79, outscoring Dayton 35-23 over the last 8-1/2 minutes. Both teams had improved since then and both came into the Final Four game with expectations of a victory.

Dayton opened the scoring when Obi-won Ke-Toppin received an alley-oop pass from Jalen “lean on me” Crutcher and proceeded to demonstrate one of his patented monster dunks. On offense, Richmond head coach Chris Mooney clearly wanted to move Obi-won out to the perimeter where the force was not as strong. He spread his offense in a high motion set that would switch to a quick perimeter passing set. Richmond displayed some of the most crisp passing we had seen all season. Many coaches often complain about the ball “sticking” when a player holds it a micro second too long. Richmond seemed to have mastered the art of crisp and concise passing with Mooney’s “no stick” offense. He called it his Teflon offense. It worked and really got the Spiders cooking. But once the big three for Dayton turned on the burners, it was out of the frying pan and into the fire for Richmond. Mooney tried to stir the pot by switching from man to zone. But Crutcher caught fire and started scorching the net from long range. Richmond’s rally fizzled to a flicker.

But then, like a Phoenix from the ashes, Richmond came alive. Grant Golden become money from the arc and Coach Mooney was mining Golden for all he was worth. Golden finished the 1st half hitting treys on the Spiders last 4 possessions, pulling Richmond back to within 2, 40-38.

Much like the first meeting, the game went back and forth with neither team able to build a lead greater than 4 points. But in the end the force of Obi-won was simply too much for the scrappy and spunky Spiders. The forceful Flyers behind the obvious and overt operations of Obi-won outscored and outplayed the overmatched opponents.

After the game, Toppin was asked by the ever-energetic Ian Eagle about his enigmatic and enterprising emergence at the end of the game. Toppin asked him to repeat the question, citing wildly wonky and weird words and a completely unnecessary and excessive use of alliteration. When Eagle rephrased the question, Toppin said he is singularly wanting to meet Kansas in the final and that was his motivation. He said that KU had been hyped as the best team in the country and the favorite to win the national championship and that Obi-won was on a mission from the empire to defeat the forces of this media alliance that seemed to be all rooting for Kansas. Toppin will get his wish as we will see after we review the marquee game of the Final Four.


(1) KANSAS vs. (1) MICHIGAN STATE
In a matchup that many anticipated would come about in the Maui Invitational in November, Izzo and his merry band of Spartans faced off against Bill Self and the prohibitive top seed Kansas Jayhawks. Kansas and Michigan St. have had three previous meetings in the NCAA Tourney. One was back in 1986 when top seeded Kansas led by Larry Brown defeated the 5th seeded Spartans led by Jud Heathcote. The other two meetings were in 2009 and 2017 with Self and Izzo at the helms. The two teams split those games, so this game was a rubber game of sorts for Self and Izzo. Kansas opened the season ranked 3rd and Michigan St. opened the season ranked No. 1. Kansas stayed toward the top of the standings all season, finishing No. 1, but Izzo’s Spartans went into a funk in December and early January before putting on the afterburners and finishing strong, earning a share of the Big Ten championship. Both earned a No. 1 seed coming into the NCAA. Overall, KU and MSU have faced each other 14 times with the record even at 7-7. Self, overall, is 3-3 against Sparty and Izzo.

This game was an interesting matchup in that KU’s anchors were the point guard, Devon Dotson and the center, Udoka Azubuike, both All Americans. Michigan St. was led by their point guard, All American Cassius Winston and their big man inside, Xavier Tillman Sr. Both teams boast a defensive stopper with Kansas having the defensive player of the year in the NCAA, Marcus Garrett while MSU has Aaron Henry. Kansas and Michigan St. are the only two teams in the country that have an offense and defense both rated nationally in the top 8. Kansas has the 8th best adjusted offense and the top defense while Michigan St. has the 3rd best offense and the 5th best defense. Michigan St. finished as the 5th rated team by the world famous gold standard in adjusted computer rankings, the DPPI, behind Kansas, Gonzaga, Dayton and Baylor, but over the last 12 games of the season only Kansas ranked higher. Most pundits viewed this as the two most fundamentally competent teams coming into the NCAA. They were also the only two teams in the top 10 that played a top 15 SOS. Kansas had the toughest SOS in the land and Michigan St. had the 14th best schedule in the country.

A quick review of the leading prognosticators were pretty much calling this game a toss-up. Sentiment was leaning to KU with their two AA’s and the better record and strong season finish. But there is the “Izzo Factor” in the NCAA tournament. Tom Izzo is one of the highest achievers in NCAA history. His net probabilistic win total of 7.9 is tied with Rollie Massimino for best all-time (since 1979 when seeding began). Bill Self’s record in the NCAA is not nearly as rosy, having 1.6 net probabilistic losses. So, while the Jayhawks on paper, looked to be a few points above the Spartans, the line was coming in at even money due to the Izzo factor. One other factor that may come into play is that Self has largely played a 7 man rotation with a spot 8th man whereas Izzo plays an 8 man rotation with a spot 9th man. KU has 3 players averaging 30+ minutes per game whereas MSU has only 2. But at this stage, this may not be a factor. But all that failed to matter when the tip went up.

Michigan St. won the tip and Cassius Winston threw down the gauntlet to Devon Dotson and showed why he was an AA by coming straight down the court, coming off of a perfectly set screen by Henry and showed that ultra quick release for a swish and 3-0 lead for Sparty. Self surprisingly called an immediate timeout. Apparently, he was livid that Isaiah Moss had failed to switch on the screen by Henry. Self was up in Moss’s grill and called freshman Christian Braun to enter the game. Calling a timeout after a single possession is virtually unheard of. As it turns out, Moss did not reenter the game. Apparently, Moss had tweaked the hamstring that had bothered him early in the season and was somewhat limited in mobility. After the fact we learned that Self’s ire with Moss was not that he failed to slip the screen but that he had told Self he was 100% and it was apparent that he was not. This left the Jayhawks dangerously low on reserves in the backcourt.

Braun made his presence felt on the very next play. Kansas ran a play that looked like their standard high screen by Garret to open a driving lane for Dotson. Rocket Watts anticipated the play and moved effectively to cut off the driving lane. Tillman was backing Azubuike so there was no room for a lob pass. But Braun was in the strong side corner. When Dotson deferred from driving, Braun faked like he was running baseline taking Henry with him. But Braun was faking and immediately reversed and stepped back behind the three-point line in the strongside corner. Dotson seeing what was happening and being in perfect communication with Braun, had the pass headed Braun’s way before he was even set. Braun received the perfect pass and immediately went up to shoot before Henry could recover. Swish. Game tied 3-3 on a beautifully executed play by the Jayhawks. Their incredible communication just showed a big reason why they are the top team in the country.

The game evolved as many we expecting. Izzo’s biggest fear was that the new and improved, far more mobile Azubuike would be able to stay step for step with the very agile Xavier Tillman. Michigan St. kept trying probing entry passes and giving Tillman room to operate with a dribble fake. But Azubuike showed why he is the best defensive big man in the country. In hi post game interview Izzo lauded praise on Azubuike as one of the best defensive big men he has coached against in his entire career. Time after time, Michigan St. would get Tillman the ball only to have him try to get and edge and end up passing back out to the perimeter. Tillman who averaged 13.7 points per game on the season could only mange to score 8 in this game.

With Kansas possibly undermanned on the perimeter due to the injury to Moss, Izzo adjusted him game plan and went onto an aggressive motion and high screen offense looking to get Winston and Ahrens some open looks. The plan worked and at halftime, Braun, Dotson, Garrett and Agbaji all had 2 fouls. Yet KU led by 2, 38-36 on the back of Braun’s 3-3 from the 3 point line and Dotson’s 14 points, coming from 5-5 from the FT line and 1-2 from the 3-point line and 3-3 on drives to the basket. Winston had bettered him by 2 scoring 16 points and going 4-6 from the three point line.

As previously mentioned, Izzo made some adjustments at half to go after KU’s guards trying to get them in foul trouble. The plan started off perfectly as on a wham bam play that appeared to be a questionable call on replay, Winston, who had 2 fouls himself, drove hard to the basket when Agbaji appearing to have proper position was called for a blocking foul, giving him 3 for the game. Agbaji had to come out in favor of the freshman Enaruna. To add insult to Injury, Dotson was called for a charging foul at the 15:39 mark giving him a third foul as well. KU now found themselves with Dotson, Agbaji and Moss on the bench and the game tied at 45 all.

Over the next 5 minutes, Michigan St. continued playing aggressively and managed to build a 4 point lead when Self put Dotson and Agbaji back in the game. With 9:59 to go, KU trailed by 4, had some serious foul trouble and had yet to solve the perimeter game of Michigan St. Immediately after coming in the game, disaster struck for Agbaji. He was guarding Arhens after a switch. Ahrens went up for a three-pointer when Agbaji just barely touched him on the wrist. Unfortunately for Kansas, the ball went in and Ahrens, an 80% FT shooter made the FT giving the Spartans an 8 point lead. KU buckled down and on a 4th three by Braun, a beautiful left handed up and under by Dotson, a Garrett to Azubuike alley-oop and a offensive rebound and stick back by Enaruna off of a Dotson three pointer, Kansas scored on their next 4 possessions. But behind the otherworldly shooting by AA Cassius Winston and Kyle Ahrens, MSU actually extended their lead to 9 points at the under 8 minute mark. KU’s vaunted defense was getting shredded by the hot shooting of MSU. The Spartans were 12 for 19 from the arc at that point in the game.

With KU trailing by 9 and 6:45 to go, one of the toughest plays of the season happened for Kansas. Aaron Henry stole the ball from Enaruna and drove down for a dunk. In a play that will surely be a candidate for block of the year, Azubuike matches Henry step for step down the court and just as Henry is going up for a dunk, Azubuike jumps what seemed to be 50 inches and slammed the ball off of the backboard. Henry had no clue what just happened as he though he had a free dunk. Truly one of the most impressive shot blocks in the history of the NCAA. Unfortunately the ball bounced directly to Rocket Watts out at about the FT line. Dotson who was also trailing the play managed to swat the ball from Watt’s hand but once again the ball bounced directly into the hands of Kyle Ahrens at the top of the key. Ahrens rose to shoot while Dotson, desperately tried to get around Watts who was between him and Ahrens. Ahrens got off the shot, swish, and Dotson was called for his 4th foul on a push of Watts. So MSU got the 3-point basket and 2 FT’s for Watts. Watts made both FT’s giving Michigan St. a 14 point lead with 6:20 to go on what amounted to a great series of defensive plays by Kansas where the ball simply bounced fortuitously into the hands of a Spartan player. Kansas now trailed by 14 points, Dotson and Agbaji each had 4 fouls and MSU had made 13-20 from the 3-point line.

Some games have been called a tale of two halves. This game was the tale of the first 35 minutes and the last 5 minutes. What Kansas would do in the last 5 minutes is nothing short of mind-boggling. KU had not played poorly up to this point. Michigan St. was hitting just about everything they threw up guarded or not. With the season on the line, Self chose to leave Dotson in the game and brought Agbaji back in for Enaruna. On the next possession Agbaji missed a trey and Tillman got the rebound. MSU slow walked the ball down the court clearly looking to run some clock. Cassius Winston dribbled down but instead of Dotson, he found Marcus Garrett on him. Thinking he could get around Garret, he head-faked to his left and did a cross-over dribble to his right. The next thing he knew was he did not have the ball and Marcus Garrett was dribbling down the court for a slam. 68-56, MSU. 5:20 to go.

KU guards the unbounds forcing Gabe Brown to call a timeout. You could see the intensity in the KU huddle during the timeout. Both teams came back on the floor with KU back in a full-court press and Garrett guarding the inbounder. Brown tried a bounce pass under the arms of Garrett to Watts. It was a great plam and would have been a great pass had it actually gone under the arms of Garrett. Garrett managed to slam the ball straight down. As it bounced straight up, he grabbed the ball and passed to Agbaji who was streaking to the basket. A perfect alley oop pass over the edge of the backboard for one of the most athletic alley-oops of the season. MSU 68-58 and 5:15 to go.

MSU manages to get the ball in still looking to run clock. KU’s defense is stifling. As the clock runs down, Winston drives the lane and tries to go up and under on Azubuike. It was a brilliant move and would have been a great play had it actually gone up and under. Azubuike recovers and not only blocks the shot but comes up with the ball as if he simply reached out and took it our of the hands of Winston. MSU 68-58, KU ball with 4:42 to go.

MSU is locked in on defense as well. But KU runs a ghost screen much like earlier in the game hoping to open a land for Dotson to drive. Just as earlier, Braun in the strong side corner takes a step down the baseline. As he does he gives an obvious head fake luring Henry into thinking he would step back for a possible 3-pointer. Henry hesitates that fatal half second. Azubuike is in perfect communication and sets a world class block out screen on Tillman as Braun comes bursting down the baseline. Braun goes up as Dotson passes a pinpoint pass to Braun for a beautiful slam. It was not quite as athletic as the Garrett to Agbaji but a thing of beauty nonetheless. MSU leads 68-60, 4:22 to go and MSU has the ball.

Once again, KU’s defense is stifling No longer desiring to run clock but still feeling they need to be deliberate to get a good shot, Winston has the ball with 5 seconds on the shot clock and nothing had developed. He figures he needs to shoot as he comes off of a screen but KU switches beautifully and Winston finds Garret covering him like a glove. With 2 seconds on the shot clock he passes off to Watts who is guarded by Agbaji. Watts takes a dribble since Agbaji is all over him. By the time he goes up to shoot the clock has run out. KU ball. 3:52 to go, MSU up 68-60 and KU has the ball for the last media timeout.

KU comes out of the timeout and immediately runs that same ghost screen at the left elbow by Garrett. But this time Dotson drives. Winston is with him and Tillman is backing Azubuike so there is no easy alley-oop. But Dotson does pass over the top of Tillman to Azubuike. It was a brilliant play as Azubuike takes one step as if he going to try to power up a shot, Henry takes a step as if to help Tillman of the stronger Azubuike. Just as the play is designed, Garret seeing he had that single step on Henry goes to the basket where Azubuike makes a perfect pass for an easy layup for Garret. 3:37 to play, MSU up 68-62.

MSU once again being very deliberate looking for a high-quality shot passes the ball around the perimeter. Seeing that Winston was going in to pass into Tillman, Garret drops off of Henry and slapping down with precision timing knocks the ball from Tillman’s hands just as the pass arrives. Seeing Dotson rushing down the court, Garret puts a perfect three-quarter court pass on the money over Dotson’s left shoulder wherein Dotson lays the ball in and draws a foul on Watts. Dotson sinks the FT. MSU 68-65 with 3:09 to play.

At this point KU has scored 11 straight points and has stifled MSU on the last 5 possessions so Izzo calls a timeout to calm his team down. But someone needed to calm Izzo down. On the ensuing inbounds play, KU manages to trap Watts in the corner, forcing him to call Michigan State’s final timeout. KU once again going with what has been working, puts on a full court press with Agbaji now guarding the inbounder. As Gabe Brown inbounds to Watts, Garrett anticipates perfectly, steps in front of Watts, intercepts the pass and takes 4 steps to the basket for a lay in. MSU 68-67 with 3:05 left to play.

Michigan St. manages to get the ball in and after running motion for 20 seconds, Winston manages to get a shot off for the first time in 6 possessions. The shot misses giving Azubuike his 15th rebound to go along with 15 points and 5 blocks. Azubuike makes a crisp outlet pass to a streaking Dotson. Dotson drives all the way to the basket and lays it up but Henry gets a piece of the ball and it deflects off the backboard. But the Nigerian flash was bursting down the court and manages to grab the deflection and stuff it back in while being fouled by Henry. Azubuike steps to the FT line and with that famous feathery touch swishes the FT giving KU it’s first lead in the 2nd half. KU 70-68 with 2:45 left to play.

KU keeps only Dotson back to pressure the ball. Winston brings up the ball. He is lingering at the top of the key calling a play when he looks to his right for a millisecond. But that is all the best defensive player in the country needs. Just that quickly, Garrett slaps down, stealing the ball from Winston. Winston overreacts and slaps Garrett on the arm trying to recover the ball. That puts KU into the double bonus where Garrett sinks both FT’s putting KU up by 4 now, 72-68 with 2:30 left to play.

In the next possession MSU managed to run a nice play and get a decent shot off at the rim. But in an amazing feat of athleticism, Azubuike manages to get the very tip of his finger on the ball deflecting it just enough to keep it from going in. Braun, always seeming to have a nose for the ball is Johnny on the spot and grabs the deflection. At this point KU is not exactly running clock but they are ow the deliberate ones on offense. In some of the most crisp passing of the season, KU passes in, out, around, skip and back around where Braun finds himself open. He rises up and with beautiful form belying his freshman status drains a perfect swish. KU 75-68 with 2:06 left to play.

Michigan St. has clearly become a bit unglued at this point with Kansas scoring 21 straight points and shutting MSU out on 10 straight possessions. There was a hint of desperation in MSU’s next possession as Winston puts up a guarded 3 pointer with 15 seconds left on the shot clock. Azubuike grabs rebound 17. KU has the ball and the lead with 1:51 left to play.

As if things couldn’t get worse, Tillman fouls Azubuike on the ensuing possession as Azubuike is shooting a rare face to the basket jump shot. In fact, that may be only the second of his career. To his and everyone’s surprise, the shot falls and Azubuike goes to the line. Quickly becoming the 12th best FT shooter on the team, Azubuike sinks the FT giving KU a 78-68 lead with 1:31 to play.

MSU now clearly desperate, has Ahrens shoot a 3 pointer early in the clock which serves only to give Azubuike his 18th rebound. On what appeared to be a planned play, Tillman, immediately fouls Udoka giving him 2 shots at the FT line. He hits the first, but reality sets in when he misses the second. But surreality continues as Agbaji skies for the rebound and immediately passes out to a completely open Braun. Torn between taking a completely open 3-pointer or run clock, the freshman impulsively decides to shoot. Not only does the shot go in but a hard charging Watts manages to hit him on the elbow giving him an and-1 as well. Meanwhile Izzo could be found on the sideline looking for a either a S&W 45 or a cyanide tablet to end his misery. Braun continues his freshman heroics and sinks the FT giving Kansas a 83-68 lead with 1:17 left to play. But at least the Spartans have the ball. So not all news is bad for the merry band.

Little good did having possession do them for that possession ended rather ignominiously at the hands of Mr. DPOY Marcus Garret as he stole the ball yet again, this time from Aaron Henry. This one required a pass to Dotson that was barely half of the court in length, a rather mundane play at this stage of the game. Dotson considered pulling up and taking the ball back out for about 1 billionth of a second as he showed his legs still have bounce after sitting for that 5 minutes earlier in the half as he slams the ball home. Not finding a S&W 45 nor a cyanide capsule, Izzo can now be seen on the sideline beating his head against the scorers table. His assistants briefly considered grabbing him and pulling him away but instead decided to join him. It was quite a sight. Just down the on the other side of the scorers table Self was seen yelling at Dotson to pull the ball back out and run clock. But as he turned to face the bench, he was seen giving sporting a huge smile and giving Kurtis Townsend a huge fist bump. What was once a 68-54 point lead for Izzo’s demoralized, dejected and destroyed merry band had now become am 86-68 deficit and there was still 59 seconds for Xerxes to continue to destroy the Spartans.

At this point Izzo, temporarily refraining from his self-flagellation, instructed his players to pull up and run clock. KU did the same and the clock ran out giving Kansas a victory and a berth in the National Championship game against Dayton. KU finished the last 5 minutes in the game on a 32-0 run, unparalleled in the annals of the NCAA tournament. Izzo, recovering his aplomb, graciously congratulated Self and the rest of the KU team.

In the post-game interview, Tracy Wolfson asked Izzo what he said to his team after Kansas had come back from that big deficit to tie the game. Izzo in his raspy voice, and clearly distracted by the dizziness from so much head trauma, said, “No retreat, no surrender. That is Spartan law. And by Spartan law, we will stand and fight... and die. A new age has begun: an age of freedom! And all will know that 300 Spartans gave their last breath to defend it!” at which point Izzo began to pound his chest jumping up and down. Later Izzo was spotted sitting in the stands watching videos of the Road Runner cartoons repeatedly saying, “I really though it would work tis time.”

Coach Self, who showed up at his post-game press conference in an Adidas/Snoop Dogg t-shirt, was all smiles. He discussed how Michigan St was dominating the game and was shredding KU’s vaunted defense, especially from the 3-point line. When asked what he told his team in the timeout preceding the game-closing 32-0 run, Self related, I said, “Men…great moments are born of great opportunity, and that is what you have here. If we play our best these last 5 minutes they may still beat us 9 out of 10 times. But not this 5 minutes. This 5 minutes we run them into the ground. I’m sick and tired of how they have been dominating us for the first 35 minutes. This is your 5 minutes. For the next 5 minutes, you are the most dominating basketball team in the world. You were all meant to be Jayhawks. You were born to be Jayhawks. And you were born to be champions. Now forget the scoreboard. I want to see a 32-0 run, nothing more, nothing less. No go take it!!”

When asked about the rematch with Dayton, Self first congratulated his good friend Coach Anthony Grant of Dayton for a great season and making it to the championship game. He said he felt that both teams had improved from when they met in November but he thought KU matched up well with Dayton. He said the force of Obiwon was strong but as the Naismith player of the year but He felt KU’s defense would adjust and be the difference in the game. He said he would not be surprised to see another overtime game though.

So the stage is set for one of the most anticipated rematches in KU history, or at least since 1988 when KU met Oklahoma in the National Championship final after losing to them twice earlier in that season. Buckle up. This final looks to be one for the ages. The early line has Kansas as a 2-1/2 point favorite and a 65% probability of winning.

So exciting. I would have missed most of the 32-0 run...I would have been too nervous to watch!

FiveThirtyEight has their version up.

fivethirtyeight.com/features/it-was-a-ro...ns-bracket-champion/

Boo 538, even though it was a simulation.


I used to have a ton of respect for Izzy, but with reports surfacing that he contacted a witness during an investigation and that he knew more about sexual assaults by his players concerns me. If the reports are true, Izzo’s behavior is very concerning.

I am not saying this could not or has not happened with the Ku Staff. If this were a KU Coach, I would be calling for them to be fired or worse.