March Madness fans go wild at White Lotus viral meme before iconic basketball tournament begins

By ISABEL BALDWIN

The latest episode of ‘The White Lotus’ had college basketball fans saying the same thing ahead of March Madness. 

The fifth episode of season three of the hit HBO series aired on Selection Sunday when the NCAA committee revealed the brackets for this month’s tournament. 

And, with the episode hitting the airwaves just two days before the NCAA tournament’s First Four kicked off, one scene in particular had fans linking the show to college basketball. 

Throughout the season viewers learn that Jason Isaacs’ character, Timothy Ratliff, is facing financial ruin after being implicated in a money laundering scheme under FBI investigation.

Towards the end of the episode, the character attempts to kill himself before being interrupted by his wife, Victoria. 

Yet, before his suicide attempt is foiled, one shot captured the Harry Potter actor dressed in a Duke t-shirt, holding a gun to his head. 

The latest episode of ‘The White Lotus’ had college basketball fans saying the same thing

And, despite the sensitive content, the scene sparked a wild reaction among college basketball fans who claimed that it was perfectly timed.

Many hinted that the Blue Devils, who are heavily favored to reach at least the Final Four of the national championship tournament, could be set to face an upset.

‘White Lotus just blessed us w an all-time meme if Duke loses early in the tournament (and for any brutal Duke loss thereafter),’ said one social media user on X, formerly known as Twitter, as they hoped for a Duke upset.

‘Jason Isaacs in The White Lotus holding a gun to his head in a Duke t-shirt is going to do absolute numbers on this site if the Blue Devils get bounced early this tournament,’ another claimed. 

‘Duke dude from White Lotus about to be the most tweeted image ever during March Madness,’ a third predicted. 

‘Good chance we will see this meme before the next white lotus episode,’ one chimed in, as another added: ‘Unfortunately this white lotus ep just gave us the perfect meme for when Duke blows it in the tourney.’

Meanwhile, one user claimed it was intentionally planned by White Lotus creator Mike White to act as promotional fodder. 

‘Mike White having a character in a Duke shirt do that during that scene in White Lotus the week March Madness kicks off is god-tier promotional savvy bc that’s gonna be in heavy meme rotation on here for the next month,’ they said. 

A scene showing Jason Isaacs’ character in a Duke shirt with a gun to his head went viral 

Meanwhile, another added: ‘Duke is the most popular national championship pick in the ESPN tourney challenge by a pretty wide margin White Lotus summed it up perfectly last night.’

The Blue Devils (31-3) retained the top seed heading into March Madness even after star freshman Cooper Flagg was injured, with the team still able to go on and win the ACC tournament. 

Flagg , widely expected to be the No. 1 pick in this year’s NBA Draft, exited Duke’s ACC quarterfinal against Georgia Tech with an ankle injury last Thursday. 

However, head coach Jon Scheyer suggested that the 18-year-old could make a return in time for their first game Friday. 

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March Madness fans go wild at White Lotus viral meme before iconic basketball tournament begins

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