REACTIONS

The reason this may be the best shot in tourney history is it was both unlikely and unexpected and, importantly, evolved organically (that is, coaches were not involved). A 10-second drama in three acts. Mullins' shot gets the nod due to the clash of powerhouse programs and the 19-point comeback.

Honorable mention to similar heroic shots from Gonzaga's Jalen Suggs to escape UCLA and San Diego State's Lamont Butler taking down fellow mid-major Florida Atlantic (coached by Dusty May, who's now at Michigan). Butler's shot, while clutch, was inside the 3-point arc. Suggs' was not. Worth revisiting a classic.

We're going to see the Mullins shot a lot as the years pass, just like the Laettner dagger against my team. With St. John's, coached by Rick Pitino, playing Duke last weekend, we saw and heard way too much about Duke-UK my taste. Kentucky star Jamal Mashburn, who joined the studio team for this year's tournament, agreed. They asked him if a St. John's win would erase the bad memory. Mashburn wasn't having it. No, he said flatly. I love coach Pitino, but nothing is going to make up for that loss. I am biased, but I think Mashburn has done a great job as part of the studio team. Barkley gets by on personality. But Monster Mash clearly follows the college game. And he's a bright guy. Across multiple dimensions. He earned generational wealth playing basetball. He then invested his earnings into 40 Papa John's, 38 Outback Steakhouses, several Dunkin Donuts and multiple car dealerships (the thoroughbred race horses may be more of a hobby). He made around $70 million as a player but now is worth around half a billion dollars. He is often cited as a model for asset management to younger players.

We can debate the most iconic shot in Madness history. But Duke-UK in 1992 was the greatest basketball game ever played. Period. Duke had Laettner, the player of the year who was about to become a member of the Dream Team; Bobby Hurley, whose assist record stood until last week; Grant Hill, who would himself win national player of the year in 1994; Cherokee Parks, who played in the NBA for nine seasons; and Erik Meek, who no one remembers but was better than every Kentucky player but one.

Kentucky had Jamal Mashburn, an excellent college player who would be named All-American the next season; three dudes from Kentucky who looked like taller versions of me and Sean Woods. That team took defending national champion to overtime. It took The Shot to beat them. Did I mention that Mashburn fouled out? I've seen that damned shot too many times. Let's take a look at the shot before the shot, the one that convinced my state that our team was back. (It's at 1:40)

Illinois coach Brad Underwood may be the most under-appreciated in the sport. It's true that his teams haven't exactly over-achieved in the tournament. Prior to this season he's only seen the Elite 8 once. Which is puzzling because the guy can coach. He looks like an old-school, defense-first kind of guy. But his teams actually run really nice motion sets. Until this season. With Keaton Wagler, two sibling 7-footers and a bunch of shooters, this team was built to pick-and-roll. Which is just what they've done. Against Iowa, they ran ball screen after ball screen and waited for the Hawkeyes to stop them. Didn't happen. Will be interesting to see how a tall and long Michigan team deals with Wagler (and vice versa).

The volume of insurance commercials during March Madness is insane. They spend over $7 billion collectively a year on various forms of advertisement. Which makes me wonder, do the ads work? Below are seven insurance company characters. Quick, what company do they represent?

The last one is actor JK Simmons, who won an Oscar for Whiplash. I had no idea his character was named Professor Burke. I could hum the jingle of the commercials he's in, but I couldn't dredge up Farmers Insurance. Guess they should have spent more than $68 million last year.

The most highly paid insurance commercial actor, by far, is Stephanie Courtney - Flo from Progressive. Courtney reportedly makes nearly $2 million a year to play the quirky, upbeat insurance saleperson. She's been doing those ads for 18 years! Previously, she was a member of the improv sketch comedy group, the Groundlings. She's actually shown up in a lot of things. Here she is on Mad Men.

I get sick of all of these commercials, with one exception. The ad campaign with Dr. Rick, the life coach who tries to keep people from turning into their parents. I love it. “If you printed out directions to get here, you’re in the right place” “There’s no place to sit. You’ve got too many pillows.” “We're not speed skating, we're dancing.” "This is a freezer, not a time capsule." "It's a football game, not a play date." So many good lines. Better than a lot of SNL sketches (particularly this season!). The insurance company is Progressive, meaning that Dr. Rick is employed by the same people that have inflicted Flo and her posse on us for nearly two decades (some of those ads are clever, many of them are not). The Dr. Rick writing is excellent and many of the actors have backgrounds in improv comedy as veterans of Second City or the Groundlings (like Stephanie Courtney). The reaction to the person with blue hair (“We all see it. We allll see it.”) was primarily improvised. Dr. Rick is played by 54 year-old Bill Glass; that Dr. Phil-style moustache is fake. The comedy rests on the terror of transforming into everything about your parents that causes you to roll your eyes. Which the ad campaign argues doesn’t happen when you move out or have your first child. It’s when you buy your first home and suddenly become conversant in load bearing walls. The ones running in the tournament focus on valet parking and going to the grocery store. I guarantee the line "Visiting four different grocery stores is too many" will garner only puzzled and disbelieving looks from the Dutton side of my family. Incredibly, I think the Scared Straight commercial actually should get more play...

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