There Is Crying in NCAA tourney. And Yelling. And Joy. It's All Part of the Deal

Remember that anguished kid who was having a meltdown as Northwestern’s upset plans against Gonzaga fell apart two years ago?

Maybe you saw him last week on Pizza Hut ads. Turns out he is John Phillips, son of NU athletic director Jim Phillips, a serious candidate to succeed retiring Big Ten commissioner Jim Delany.

When approached by Pizza Hut, Jim and his wife, Laura, allowed John to make the call. John chose to relive the video melodrama, with the proceeds going to two charities.

“I am not interested in getting any more fame from this,’’ John told the Chicago Tribune, ``but when the chance came to help others, that’s when I agreed to it, and I’m honored to make a positive change out of this.’’

CHALK TALK: It’s a good year to pick chalk. A really good year.

Only two seeds lower than 4 are in this year’s Sweet 16: No. 12 Oregon, which beat No. 13 UC-Irvine. And No. 5 Auburn, which beat No. 4 Kansas. And a No. 5 seed is hardly a big departure from chalk

LITTLE GUYS COME UP BIG: That said, let’s take a moment to celebrate Wofford, Murray State, Liberty, Belmont and Irvine. These supposed little guys played inspired basketball. Even if they are out, they shouldn’t feel too down. They showed how effective a basketball team can be when it meshes its parts. Even if they aren’t mega-parts.

TOUGH NIGHT FOR KNIGHTS: The greatest threat to this chalk-laden Sweet 16 came in dramatic fashion.

Central Florida, coached by former Duke star Johnny Dawkins, came within two bang-bang possessions of knocking out the mighty Blue Devils, who are the top seed in the entire tournament.

Afterward, as Rankman explained, the UCF dressing room was a tear-filled and weepy place.

Down three points, Duke got two baskets in one possession. It scored on a drive and a putback of a missed foul shot to take a 77-76 lead on the Knights. That margin held only after UCF answered with a drive and putback that both rolled around but failed to drop.

``Lucky,’’ coach Mike Krzyzewski kept saying afterward.

He was right.

CONFERENCE CALL: Three leagues occupy 12 of the Sweet 16 berths: The ACC (which went 10-2 on the opening weekend), has five teams still alive. The SEC (9-3), has four. And the Big Ten (10-5), has three.

BRACKET DILEMMA, PART I: Let’s say you’re not a Duke fan but you picked the Blue Devils to go deep because, well, they have every reason in the world to go deep.

When UCF had a chance to knock off Duke in dramatic fashion and give Dawkins’ squad an historic upset, who were you rooting for? A very appealing underdog? Or your very precarious bracket?

BRACKET DILEMMA, PART II: This is Reason No. 22 why I probably will never win another bracket pool. . . I had a feeling my Badgers got a bad draw against Oregon. But after I picked Wisconsin to reach the 2015 Final Four and lose, I then faced the dilemma of rooting for my beloved Bucky or rooting for my (potentially lucrative) bracket vs. Kentucky, I decided to retain my amateur standing no matter what.

So yeah, I picked the Badgers to go too deep. And yeah, I am going to do that again. And again.

LEAVE IZZO ALONE: Anybody who knows Tom Izzo knows that, even though he over-reacted the other day, he has outstanding relationships with his players.

Too excited in that (and other) instances? Yup.

But some kind of Bob Knight-like ogre? No way.

Just ask his players. And not necessarily in public. If you could get them in a setting where they could be completely candid, they would have no problem with him. None.

PAC-12 DOWN. BUT NOT OUT: What’s all this talk about the Pac-12 being down?. That was a great two-man weave, Oregon and Washington. And yes, Virginia should be wary of the smokin’ hot Ducks.

CHARLES BROCCOLI! YES: I love Charles Barkley. And I am proud to say I have no idea what product he is hawking with his awesome straight men, Spike Lee and Samuel L. Jackson. But keep up the fun work. And bring back Gloria Gaynor. I Will Survive.

DRINK AND DRIVE? Things we learned in the first weekend. . . As if we didn’t already know this. . . There’s a lot of money to be made in car insurance. And domestic beer.

LAND OF DIS-ENCHANTMENT: The next time a so-called hardwood expert tries to sell me New Mexico State, I am going to sell him some beachfront property in Las Cruces, N.M.

Passing up a sure-thing layup to tie the score and send the game into overtime? Tossing the ball out to a guy who misses a three-point game-winner but gets fouled? And then misses two out of three free throws?

There’s a diagram of that in the dictionary—right next to the phrase ``March Madness.’’

My old friends, Lou Henson and Jimmy Collins, who guided the Aggies to a long-ago Final Four, don’t need this kind of grief.