Kentucky Fans Burn Stuff After Win (Why?)

((ht: kentucky.com))

Please forgive us for stereotyping here, but we have questions...

Can someone please explain to us why you burn a couch after your team wins a big game?

Please?

We get celebrating that your team won and is going to the National Championship game. No problem with that...

But why the couch burning?

Is it an Appalachian Mountain thing? Is it something you feel obligated to do if you are a hillbilly? Sure, we're old and we don't quite agree with the whole rioting in the streets thing, but at least THAT, we understand. This makes no sense. The only two places we've ever heard of couches being burned in celebration are Kentucky and West Virginia (the stereotype question).

What does burning a couch signify? Heck, you burn your couch, it means you have to go buy a new one.

The reason we ask is this:

After their last second win vs. Wisconsin late Saturday night, University of Kentucky students and other hangers on took to the streets in Lexington, proceeding to burn couches and anything else they could light on fire.

According to Kentucky.com firefighters had to put out over 60 fires and at least 30 people were treated for injuries.

Read more from Kentucky.com RIGHT HERE

No doubt Kentucky fans will take offense of this, but...are you all that STUPID? And no, we aren't knocking you taking to the streets to celebrate, that's a time honored tradition....that's usually reserved for WINNING a CHAMPIONSHIP.

And we know full well if you win on Monday night, that's exactly what you'll be doing, celebrating in the streets, burning anything you can get ahold of.

But why?

Oddly, this seems to be something that Kentucky's fans embrace. We know people in that part of the world and they just kind of laugh about it.

Why?

We'd be more than happy to hear a logical explanation for this, but we don't think there is one. And no, "Kids will be Kids" isn't acceptable.

Why do you burn couches to celebrate?  One of life's mysteries we suppose, and it's all good 'til someone gets hurt, which is something we're betting is coming soon.

Video of the Burning of the Couches from Kentucky.com:

ICYMI: UConn vs. Kentucky Is Your NCAA Tournament Finals Matchup

So, outside of the UConn and Kentucky fans reading this, who actually picked these two teams to face off for the NCAA Basketball Tournament Championship?

Be honest.

Yeah, thought so.

Semi-Final Saturday provided some good drama and some pretty good (for the most part) basketball in the largest venue ever to host the tournament.

The first game was a slugfest.

Connecticut outslugged the top seeded team in the tournament, Florida 63-53. The game featured two teams known for their defense and that was a reason the game was so low scoring.

Four Huskies, lead by DeAndre Daniels with 20, scored in double figures as UConn led a good portion of the game. The Gators couldn't get closer than 6 points down the stretch and in the end, the Huskies pulled away.

Oddly enough, UConn a #7 seed, was seeded higher than the team they'll face Monday night in Jerry World, the Kentucky Wildcats.

Your Connecticut/Florida Highlights from CBSSports.com:



And your other finalist, Kentucky.

Nobody is sure why the Wildcats were a #8 seed with all the talent on the court other than the fact they underachieved during the regular season.

But when it counted in March, they were good. Very good.

UK got all they wanted and more against a game Wisconsin team but in the end, it was a Harrison twin that was the difference.

The most clutch guy on the team did what he's done all month long, hit game winning 3-pointers.

This time, with 5.7 seconds left and a hand squarely in his face, Aaron Harrison got a swing pass from brother Andrew and drilled a 3-pointer giving Kentucky a 74-73 win.

All we will say from here is Monday night should be quite the spectacle as two unlikely teams square off for College Basketball's biggest title.

Your Kentucky/Wisconsin highlights from CBSSports.com:

Arizona Students Riot in Streets After Loss?

((ht: kgun))

Okay, maybe we are just old, but the whole thing about college students rioting and destroying things after a game makes no sense to us.

A pretty large group of University of Arizona students inexplicably hit the streets of Tuscon near campus and were met with a pretty large group of police officers there to disperse them. This on the heels of the Wildcats losing to Wisconsin in overtime for a shot at going to the Final Four.

Of course once on the streets of Tuscon, chaos ensued and fifteen or so students were arrested and a handful were injured as police launched pepper spray into the crowd.

If there's a reason that fans do things like this, we'd love to know. Though we supposed this isn't as silly/stupid as the whole couch burning thing that University of Kentucky students did Friday night after their win, which only got them to the Elite 8.

Why riot? Why destroy stuff? Because you can? Because it's a chance to burn off steam and vent? Once upon a time, back in the dark ages, we went to college and don't remember that being a prerequisite for the school's sports teams having success.

But then again, we're old.

Here's your TV story from KGUN-TV in Tuscon:

NCAA Friday: It Wasn't The Two Fours, But It Did Bring An 8

((HT: March Madness TV))

The HQ thought that the most underrated seeds in the men's college basketball tournament were the two 4's in Michigan State and Louisville...

Turns out the 8-seed Kentucky has something to say about that...
In a back-and-forth game that resembles any regular season meeting between the two, UK beat U of L to move on to the final 8 teams left and will get Michigan Sunday night.

Here's the ending...


Michigan State held off Virginia in the other Friday game- knocking out a 1-seed- by a team a lot of people thought should never be a 4-seed...

There are 3 B1G schools in the Elite 8 for 1st time since 2005- when it was Illinois, Michigan State, and Wisconsin. The Illini and MSU made the Final 4, but UNC won the title that year.

Weird Ending For Women's Game With UNC and Tenn-Martin

((HT: WTVD-TV))

First, a little context...

This shut down the UNC-CH campus Sunday afternoon...


At the same time, the Tarheels were playing the Skyhawks at Carmichael on campus...
UT-M had a 12-point lead at the half and an 18-point lead in the second half. But, as is normally the case, the home team came storming back in the late stages. Even after the game, fans were forced to stay inside Carmichael after police announced there was an armed and dangerous person near the campus.

But... here's where the fun starts...
Rebecca, Kara, and Kevin discuss...


The Tarheels get Michigan State next...

Saul Phillips Personifies What This Tourney Is All About...

((HT: NDSU Athletics))

Some of us had North Dakota State in our picks for the early part of the tournament...

A lot of you did not...

But it's "teams" that do well early on if they get the chance to hang around against higher seeds, and the Bison did that beating Oklahoma.

Along with teams like Mercer, Dayton, and Stephen F. Austin, it has reminded us what makes this month one of the best 30-day stretches in the calendar year (see Brother Phil's ode hyah to reinforce the theory)

But, no, the Bison didn't make it past their match-up with San Diego State to go further. But we will remember the Basketball Bison for a lot of reasons- head coach Saul Phillips' exultation after the first win is only a part of it. It's his remembrance i=of this first weekend that's a big part of it...

Here's his presser... and the moment the HQ is talking about is just short of the 11-minute mark...

Brackets Continue Implosion With UConn and Dayton

((HT: WSYR-TV Syracuse))

Tyler Ennis' jumper with time running out didn't go in for a change and Dayton's run in the March tournament continued with a 55-53 win over 3rd-seed Syracuse in Round 3...

It was the first game since the Big East Tournament in 1995 that Syracuse failed to make a three-pointer as the Flyers packed it in the paint defensively and dared the Orange to make a shot from outside.

Three of Syracuse's last four losses were by five points or less.

By the way, if the math escaped you temporarily, Syracuse lost six of their last nine. All that after being ranked number one in the country at one point in the season and winning their first 25 in a row before losing to Georgia Tech in ACC play to start the down slide that ended in their second game of the tournament...

Here's the look from Syracuse...


"That thing was on line and he went for the win," Dayton head coach Archie Miller said postgame. "The thing that went through my head was the game at Pitt, when I saw that highlight 7,000 times when he banged the 3. I thought he was going to go to the basket. When I saw him raise up, I didn't feel good about it. But Buffalo's been good to us these last couple of days on the buzzer shots."

The 11-seed now moves on to play the winner of Kansas-Memphis...

The other big win Saturday came from UConn over former Big East counterpart Villanova... a 7-seed knocking off a 2...

Nova had a lead early in the game, but hit a stretch of 11:24 without hitting a shot from the field before sinking a three near the end of the first half to go in trailing 25-24. But, for the second game in a row, UConn's Shabazz Napier carried the Huskies- even with a bruised shin that kept him on the sidelines for a while late in the game.

Napier had 21 in the second half and 25 in the game...

The Huskies play the winner of North Carolina and Iowa State in New York City...
Here's a part of their second half of success...
((HT: NCAA March Madness))

And Another 5-12 Goes To Stephen F. Austin

With all apologies up front to Richmond sports talk show host and FOSG Greg Burton...

VCU got bit, too...

A lot of people are wondering where the foul came from with VCU leading four as time ran out in regulation...
Frankly, the HQ can't find it... but here's the play in question...
((HT: NCAA March Madness/SnappyTV))


Desmond Haymond gets credit for the four-point play and with this game being the fifth OT game of the opening rounds- according to the Elias Sports Bureau, that sets the record for the most OT games in the opening two days.

There were two previous Round of 64's with 4 overtime games: 1995 and 2000.

And when you win, you celebrate in your locker room...
((HT: NCAA March Madness/SnappyTV))

And The Zinger From Macon For Mercer

((HT: Macon Telegraph))

The Mercer win over Duke blew up plenty of brackets around the planet...

So, it was the Telegraph's turn to show the world what it meant...

Ain't it cool...

NCAA Upset: Mercer Beats Duke, No Really, They Did (Update at bottom)

God bless the NCAA Basketball tournament, in College Football, games and upsets like this would never happen.

The Mercer Bears from Macon, Georgia made tons of casual College Basketball fans happy and sad at the same time after they beat the mighty Duke Blue Devils 78-71 in their NCAA Tournament opener.

The Atlantic Sun champs kept the game close all the way through and actually began to pull away from a very cold shooting Duke team as the game progressed.

We should note that as happy as many fans who hate Duke are, there are now tons of NCAA Tournament Bracket challenges that can be thrown away because quite honestly, how many people picked a #14 seed to beat a #3 seed.

The Bears were led by Jakob Gollon with 20 points and the team shot 56 percent on the game. By contrast, Duke shot 35 percent.

Here's the ending...
((HT: NCAA March Madness/SnappyTV))

Check out Mercer's Kevin Canevari's celebration dance:



CBSSports.com gives us reaction from Mercer coach Bob Hoffman and others:


***UPDATE***---We feel like this should be mentioned: We give Duke grief for being the New York Yankees of College Basketball, but it should be noted that coach Mike Krzyzewski took time after the game to go to the Mercer locker room, congratulate them and say "If we got beaten, at least we got beaten by a hell of a basketball team". Nice...

The Art Of The Zinger: Dayton Daily News

Here's their headline...

And it's well-played...

How 'bout that...???

Bison And Flyers Help Thursday Be Thursday

((HT: ValleyNewsLive))

Just so you see what it as like in these two towns after the fact...

Here's the late live shot from Fargo/Spokane
Valley News Live - KVLY/KXJB - Fargo/Grand Forks

And Dayton
((HT: WDTN-TV))


So let Friday be Friday...

And Then There Was The ASU-Texas Finish

((HT:NCAA March Madness))

Jonathan Holmes missed his three-pointer wide right, but Cameron Ridley was camped out underneath the basket as time expired. A lot of folks think Ridley would not have made the basket he made this season as his put-back gave Texas the win over Arizona State.

It's the first Texas win in the March tournament in three years
Here's the finish...

How About Another 5-12 Upset...??? NDSU Wins For Fargo...

((HT: NCAA March Madness/Snappy TV))

An absolutely electric shooting performance in the first three-quarters of the game kept Summit League champ North Dakota State at bay against Oklahoma. But the Sooners came back and took the lead before NDSU scored on a three late in regulation from Lawrence Alexander...

That meant only one thing involving the best shooting team in the country...

The third overtime game on the opening day of the tournament...

Freshman Carlin Dupree was the key in overtime for NDSU and it was good enough for the team's first win ever in the tournament, 80-75. NDSU shot almost 53-percent from the field for the game. Oklahoma shot 35-percent including 12-for-30 from three point range.

Here's the ending...


Which allowed for celebrating in the Bison locker room...
((HT: NCAA Courtside))

12 Beats 5: Harvard Downs Cincinnati

Geez, tough day for college basketball fans in the state of Ohio. Or at least part of it.

First overrated Ohio State loses to Dayton (yes, we know they're in Ohio too).

Then sloppy Cincinnati, seeded #5, loses to a scrappy and talented #12 Harvard team in the East region game in Spokane 61-57. (How's a game in Spokane an East game?)

Star guard Sean Kilpatrick vainly tried to keep the Bearcats in the game...and in the NCAA tournament, but his efforts were not nearly enough.

In the meantime, Tommy Amaker's bunch just continue to enhance their reputation as the best, most underrated smart school basketball team in America. They move on to the round of 32 to play the winner of the Michigan State vs. Delaware game later on Thursday.

If Amaker wasn't on Boston College's radar before the game, he really is now...
Here's the end of the game...
((HT: SnappyTV/NCAA March Madness))

Your First Bracket Buster: Dayton

((HT: NCAA/CBS))

Dayton, in all probability, knocked a lot of you from winning your billion dollars from Warren Buffett...

But it won't stop all the spam messages...

Here's how Aaron Craft didn't either get fouled or make the final lay-up of his college career...


Now, why as it that Thad Motta wasn't interested in playing Dayton, again...???

Sun Belt Tourney: Ark State Takes Down Little Rock in 4 O.T's

((ht: sunbeltsports.org))

No, the SunBelt conference isn't exactly a glamor conference when it comes to College Basketball, but Friday night, in the conference tournament quarterfinals, there was a game for the ages.

Arkansas State took down Arkansas Little-Rock 116-114 in 4 Overtimes behind Melvin Johnson III's 19 points. Johnson hit what would end up being the game winning 3 pointer with 6 seconds to go.

Yes, 4 O.T's.

The game featured two buzzer beaters, missed free throws down the stretch and Little Rock not being able to get off a shot to close the 4th overtime.

And as a reward for that effort, the play conference top seed Georgia State Saturday afternoon in the conference semis--

Your highlights from the Sun Belt Conference their ownselves:

The Politics Of Dancing: Wofford Says It All...

((HT: Ashley Rowe/Wofford IMG Sports Network))

This is what the month and a half of college hoops post-season is all about...

Wofford senior Aerris Smith was asked what it meant to get to the tourney...

Here's the response...
)

Wichita State Keeps on Rolling, Now 32-0

((ht: espn.com))

So, how do you feel about the idea of running the table? Going undefeated heading into the NCAA Tournament.

That's what Wichita State may very well be doing after winning their first game in the Missouri Valley Conference tournament Friday night raising their record to 32-0.

The Shockers cruised past Evansville 80-58 behind 17 points apiece by Cleanthony Early and Ron Baker.

Granted, the win only moves them to the conference tourney semi-finals, but it doesn't appear anyone in the MVC is going to give Wichita State much of a challenge.

Which raises the question we asked at the beginning....

If you are the superstitious sort, do you want to be undefeated at this point? Do you believe the law of averages is going to bite you? Can you REALLY run the table?

All good questions. And surprisingly, there's still some debate as to whether the Shockers are a "#1 Seed" heading into the "Big Dance". If for some reason they lose in the conference tourney, then yes, the question is legit...but if they win, then no, you have no argument.

Anyway, enough soap box, here's your highlights from ESPN.com:

Rick Pitino's Tattoo: Things We Didn't Need to See

Wow! Rick Pitino wins an NCAA Tournament title coaching the Louisville Cardinals and celebrates by getting a tattoo?

Yup.

Apparently Pitino promised he'd do just that if his team won the title. And he's apparently made good on the promise.

Behold the red L in it's pasty Italian greatness.

You know...while we respect Pitino and the job he did with the Cardinals this year, we kind of think this is one of those things that probably shouldn't be shared publicly.

Though in hindsight, we suppose since the usually nattily attired Pitino will have this covered at all times, we kind of wonder what would have happened if the bet was that he had to shave his head.

Just a thought...