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March Madness’ Biggest Villain Lost In The ‘First Four’ And College Hoops Fans Are Conflicted

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  • Peter Kiss is the nation’s most polarizing player lost in the ‘First Four’ of March Madness.
  • However, while some are thrilled to see him go, others are disappointed he is gone.
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Bryant University basketball’s Peter Kiss was both the nation’s leading scorer and biggest villain in 2021/22. The loud, confident senior is known equally for his scoring as he is for his antics.

Kiss, who averaged 25.2 points per game during the regular season and conference tournament, plays very loud and will get right in your face. He backed up his talk by walking the walk on the court and is, by all accounts, a great person off of the court.

Some college basketball fans love Peter Kiss, others hate Peter Kiss.

Either way, the fans on both sides of the aisle may have seen him play his final collegiate game— although he has one last year of eligibility. March Madness’ biggest villain and greatest showman was bounced during a First Four play-in game on Wednesday.

Bryant, which only became eligible for the postseason in 2012, received its first NCAA Tournament birth by blowing out Wagner in the Northeast Conference Tournament final. The Bulldogs did so in front of a home crowd in the home gym and Kiss was everywhere.

https://twitter.com/stunnanumba11/status/1501597949368885251?s=20&t=kbR3LUrOje9mSfBX7Rm76A

At one point, the redshirt senior turned to a reporter who had picked Bryant to lose and said “that’s for you, b—h!”

As a result of the 70-43 blowout, Bryant made its first-ever NCAA Tournament appearance and was forced to play Wright State in a play-in game for the #16-seed. Making the #16-seeds play in a First Four game is rather unbecoming by the NCAA, but that is a diatribe for another day.

The Bulldogs took the court on Wednesday night for the chance to play #1-seed Arizona in the First Round. Because of Kiss’ shooting ability and polarizing attitude, Bryant was considered by many to be an easy bet to move on. Sharp money, on the other hand, was on Wright State.

(I was one of the people who took the cheese and got burnt, and it is extremely upsetting. It was always Wright State.)

It was close at halftime, but the Raiders pulled away in the second half and won by a (not-so-close) nine points.

Kiss went for 28 in the game, but if Bryant was to win, he needed to really pop off and Wright State’s defense kept him mostly in check. At least, compared to what could have been— only two other players reached double-digit points in the game so Kiss was the centerpiece of the offensive success.

In the end, Kiss could not lead his team to the First Round of the NCAA Tournament. He talked smack all night, despite not leading for the vast majority of the game, but college basketball’s biggest villain was silenced by the final buzzer.

After the loss, people had quite a few thoughts online, some glad that Kiss lost, others disappointed by the lack of showmanship against the Wildcats in the First Round.

Here are some of the reactions to Peter Kiss and Bryant basketball’s First Four exit:

https://twitter.com/damniwanther/status/1504261199357255687?s=20&t=KFs6-76X-L48WoMb0NzfEw