Morning Perk: Making Sense of the Madness

Monday morning. Your alarm goes off for the first time in two days, you head back to the office and then spend the first few hours of the workday planning how you’ll survive until closing time on Friday. Luckily, Poker Central and Death Wish Coffee have you covered. The world’s strongest coffee gives you a “Morning Perk,” recapping the weekend sports action on Monday and then the best from across the internet on Friday.

Every year, without fail, the first weekend of March Madness does not disappoint. This weekend was no different and after some upsets, shout out #11 seeded Xavier, and some complete flops, shout out to Seton Hall and SMU, we now get a few days to collect our breath and prepare for the Sweet Sixteen. This Monday’s “Morning Perk” could be 3,000 words long but, here were some of the best from a madness filled weekend.

The #Sweet16 is set! #MarchMadness pic.twitter.com/7Kle0wOQwz

— NCAA March Madness (@marchmadness) March 20, 2017

Four days. Madness, mayhem and everything in between has left us with 16 teams advancing to the second weekend of the NCAA Tournament. There are a few teams that everyone expected to be there, Kansas, North Carolina and Gonzaga all advanced as #1 seeds but Duke and Louisville, as #2 seeds, couldn’t extend their seasons. The former lost to a pesky South Carolina team, while the latter fell to the white-hot Michigan Wolverines. Arizona and Kentucky are still alive and I am still WILD ABOUT THEM CATS.

No. 1 seed Villanova is in the sunken place after losing to Wisconsin. pic.twitter.com/fa8DjEFsC3

— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) March 18, 2017

The only #1 seed to not advance from the first two rounds was also the top overall seed in the tournament and the defending champion. Unfortunately, Villanova couldn’t get past an under seeded Wisconsin team in the Round of 32. I wrote last week that the East Region was the toughest and most wide open of all the regions and with Nova and Duke falling in the first weekend, no one would be surprised to see even more madness from that region this week.

I hope we all find something we love as much as this kid loves Northwestern basketball. pic.twitter.com/QrB9P6wru6

— SB Nation (@SBNation) March 18, 2017

I’ve had this theory for a while but after watching CBS cut to “Northwestern Kid” dozens of times throughout the second half of the Northwestern vs. Gonzaga game, I’m convinced that CBS has a “Meme Finder” on their payroll. This clearly distraught Wildcat fan, he was right to do so after one of the worst no-calls ever derailed Northwestern, was funny to see come across the screen once but after the third or fourth time they showed him, the jig was up. CBS beat “Northwestern Kid” into the ground and I’m sure the internet will too.   

TYLER DORSEY! #MarchMadness pic.twitter.com/adwh6YRDcM

— NCAA March Madness (@marchmadness) March 20, 2017

If I was a college basketball coach, gamer would be at the top of my recruiting list. What makes someone a gamer? They want the ball at the end, they want the pressure and they want to be the man. Tyler Dorsey is a gamer and while there haven’t been any pure buzzer beaters to close out any games, Dorsey’s ice-in-his-veins three with less than a minute left in Oregon’s Round of 32 victory was as close as we got.

Ok so Destiny Slocum just did the most incredible basketball thing ever and the #Terps lead 38-24 at the half. pic.twitter.com/RlRADYz5Z4

— Connor Newcomb (@ConnorNewcomb_) March 19, 2017

Sure, no actual game-ending buzzer beaters were hit but there was this incredible shot from Maryland’s Destiny Slocum that put the Maryland Terrapins up 14 at the half against West Virginia. Maryland went on to win the game by nearly 30 points, so they didn’t exactly need the bucket, but in terms of 2017 March Madness highlights, that is one of the best we’ve seen so far. 

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