Sometimes you just need to sit back, not overanalyze or critique anything and acknowledge something that we’ll probably never see again in our lives. Shout out to Oregon State for their incredible run, validating Wyoming Cowboy fans everywhere that we are trending in the right direction. We’re able to say we beat a team that made the Elite Eight, not something many fans can say right now. Oregon State fans, you just lived my dream as a Wyoming fan and I envy you, but I’m happy you get to talk about this for the rest of your lives. For the winners of that game–I don’t care if you’re in the Final Four or not…Houston…you’re still fraudulent and I hate how much I despise you. The highest seed you played was a Rutgers team just happy to win a game in the tournament and you snuck by them by 3 points. I love their resilient story, I love Kelvin Sampson, but Houston is going to get absolutely slobberknocked by Baylor next round.
To recap: 27-20 in the first two rounds, 4-4 in the sweet 16 and 2-0 so far in the Elite Eight. We’re guaranteed to have a positive result from the tourney, but we’re not in it for “positive results”. Let’s finish this thing off and give us some money to lose heading into the NHL, NBA and MLB grind of the year.
Tuesday
11 UCLA vs 1 Michigan(-7.5) (136.5)
Michigan is back to being the wagon they were before the B1G tourney and are finding their identity without Isaiah Livers. Brandon Johns Jr. stepped up against FSU with 14 points, 6 hustle rebounds and a couple assists. As impressive as he’s been, the energy Chaundee Brown has brought off the bench has been just as electric for the Wolverines. He had an incredible play where he sprinted in from the 3 point line, got an offensive board and put it back down with authority. That being said, UCLA feels like a team of destiny, which we’ve learned from my past experiences ends eventually (I believe I’m 1-4 in team of destiny picks). I love over 136.5, I think Michigan will score 80 by themselves which means we need UCLA to just be coherent on offense. I might even same-game parlay this with Michigan -7.5.
6 USC vs 1 Gonzaga(-9) (154)
This is going to be an awesome game. I really like USC and am trying to keep from talking myself into them against Gonzaga–an unbeaten team who absolutely shit pumps everyone who steps on the floor with them. I probably shouldn’t do this for 3 out of the 4 games…but I’ll take over 154–life’s too short to bet the under. The Zags have scored 80+ in 10 of their last 11 games. I’ve been partial to the Gonzaga unders during this tournament because the totals are set so high, but USC will need to match them score for score to keep pace and they have the ability to do that, unlike everyone else the Zags have played.
5 games…just 5 games separate us from life without basketball in its purest form for 2 ½ calendar seasons. Sure, we could watch the NBA and talk about the inevitable Lakers vs Nets showdown looming…but for now enjoy the tournament and every missed layup, free-throw and air ball 3 before it’s out of our lives. Love you, bye.
The Morning Flush 