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Cover 3 College Football
Mailbag! Why Do Coaches Make Terrible Decisions? + Matt Norlander Joins For College Hoops Primer
01:02:13
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- [00:00]
Tom Fornelli
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- [00:31]
Chip Patterson
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Tom Fornelli
Welcome Back to the COVID 3 podcast with your hosts Chip Patterson, Tom Furnel, Kelly, Danny Cannell and Bud Elliott. It's your call for the best college football coverage from national signing day to
- [01:11]
Matt Norlander
the national championship and everything in between.
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Tom Fornelli
CBS Sports presents the COVID 3 podcast.
- [01:19]
Chip Patterson
And welcome back to the COVID 3 podcast here on CBS Sports. That's Tom Fornelli. I'm Chip Patterson coming to you live@YouTube.com cover3 and everywhere. Get your podcast on demand. Thanks for hanging out. Smash that subscribe smash that like and come and join us in the chat aka the COVID 3 tailgate where they are rolling with all kinds of questions because we are getting interactive here on a Thursday. We got questions from the big old bag of mail that we are going to get to. We have some questions here from the tailgate that we are excited to discuss as well. And yes, tailgate, we hear you. We are going to be getting a visit later in the show from Matt Norlander, senior college basketball writer for CBS Sports and of course one of the co hosts of the Eye on College Basketball podcast, the second best college sports podcast that's here on the CBS Sports family of I kid. They're what, fourth at best?
- [02:19]
Tom Fornelli
Like I don't we have a college basketball podcast.
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Chip Patterson
I kid, I kid, I kid, I kid. There are more of us than there are of them. We're excited to have Madden. He's done this before. A little bit disappointed. I'm gonna I'll just like but full behind the curtain here we Clerical error. We thought we were gonna have Bud here because Bud's college basketball knowledge is incredible. You know, I mean wasn't it the other day Tom when he said hey guys, have you seen Florida Pretty good, right? That's a pretty athletic team.
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Tom Fornelli
Yeah.
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Chip Patterson
So regardless, we are going to be having, we're going to be having Matt check chime in. And so if you want to get some questions in there, we already see dirty dogs got in a question for Norlander. Joey got in a question for Norlander. Coach K333, Corey, lots of good celebration coming from the tailgate. We're excited to have our friend and longtime colleague at CBS Sports joining us. So, Tom, let's go ahead and sort of unpack something that is not college basketball related and then we'll get into ripping through some of these tailgate questions because, yes, part of the conversation that I've seen throughout the tailgate has been both Notre Dame fans and college football fans in general mourning, but also celebrating the life of former Notre Dame coach Hall of Famer Lou Holtz, who passed this week at 8:40am Eastern Time in Gale, 29, jumped in the tailgate and said any fun or unique stories from you guys regarding Lou Holtz? I've got something larger, Tom, but I'll give you the floor first.
- [04:01]
Tom Fornelli
Yeah, I don't know if I have anything unique about Lou Holtz. Like Lou Holtz is, you think like college football is a, is a sport of characters mostly. You know what I mean? Like, there's been a lot of really big characters who are bigger than the sport over the years. And I think Holtz is one of those like one of the people that kind of crossed over a bit more than just being the college football coach. He became known just for being Lou Holtz because like when my college football coming of age was more towards the end of his time at Notre Dame. So I didn't really know him as a head coach so much. I knew Lou Holtz is the the guy on TV doing this, doing the segments with Mark May and Reese Davis where they were doing like the courtroom segment that they would do on like at like the highlight show at the end of the day.
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Chip Patterson
It was called Final Verdict.
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Tom Fornelli
There we go. Final verdict.
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Chip Patterson
So like don't forget Dr. Lou, too, where Dr. Lou would diagnose what's wrong with your football team.
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Tom Fornelli
Exactly. Like, so yeah, the Lou Holtz I knew more than the actual football coach. But I do know what he was able to do at Notre Dame. Like he won a national title there. Like, that's pretty big deal. He's the last one to do it. And it was he kind of helped revive that program and that was kind of his motive or his whole M.O. as a coach was like he was taking over programs that were kind of in a bad spot and rebuilding them and making them successful. So I think that you look at him as a coach. He doesn't typically strike you as the kind of guy who would be a college football coach because he's not a very large human being. He's small, he was frail, but he was very loud. And he was very effective at coaching football teams. And it worked for him in television. So it's, it's one of those things where, you know, losing him, college football loses one of its bigger characters that it's known over the years, especially as it became more of a television product. And I guess maybe you could argue that Lou Holtz was one of the first kind of coaches to really benefit from college football becoming the TV product because he was at Notre Dame. Obviously they had their own TV deal with NBC, but this was when, like, he kind of got out of the game in the mid-90s, which is when, like ESPN and ABC and everybody was really kind of starting to expand college football coverage more nationally to where it was in. You were getting a bunch of games. You were getting, you know, you weren't just getting the Notre Dame game and a couple Big Ten games in an SEC game. And those, a lot of those were still regional. Like, this is when it became a national sport. So I think he was one of the first people to truly benefit from that as far as the college football personality.
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Chip Patterson
Got tasked with writing a reaction for CBS sports.com yesterday and I. It was hard. It was hard because I do not feel like I am in a position of authority because of my age and experience. To tell you exactly what Lou Holtz did at Notre Dame to pull that program out of the wilderness when they went from winning three national championships and regularly finishing inside the top 10 for throughout Parsigian, throughout Divine is about a 15 year run in the 60s and 70s where they were at the top of the sport. And at the beginning of the 1980s under Jerry Faust, they never won more than seven games. And so I can't give you the I was there perspective on that to be able to tell that story. I did not want to write an obituary. I did not want to try to write the voice of authority on his legacy. But Tom, you mentioned what I actually did end up discussing, because to, to set the scene here, and we've been talking about this a lot, 1984 Supreme Court decision, NCAA versus the Board of Regents at the University of Oklahoma opens things up for schools and conferences to be able to make their own television deals without going through the ncaa. Now, do I think that Notre Dame, which had those national championships and was a recognized brand, do I think that eventually they could have gotten to where they were in 1990, signing, announcing a deal with NBC that would start in the 91 season? Would they have eventually gotten there? Yes, I do think that. But, man, oh, man, the. The momentum, maybe leverage, if you want to get into it, but the momentum that Notre Dame football had for that deal and to get in going off on your own was boosted by that 1988 national championship that Lou Holtz put together. Now, I don't think that Lou Holtz took over at Notre Dame and was thinking about television deals and going off on your own in the. Of college football on television, but as television and as the media started really gobbling up and being more interested in college football, Lou Holtz was an incredible personality to be the face of it. So when Notre Dame begins its NBC era in 1991 with Lou Holtz and his quick wit, his stature that does not match his personality, we've got play like a champion today, something that Lou Holtz has put up in the stairwell outside the home locker room at Notre Dame Stadium. We've got just a. He's written 10 books, Tom. He's got enough quotes, he's got enough sayings. Anybody who's ever talked about a motivational speech, it's just incredible. I was going through again, like, trying to prepare to write this piece, and there's a story Tim Brown tells about Lou Holtz breaking two fingers trying to show Tim Brown how to catch a punt. Tim Brown was struggling to catch a punt. Lou Holtz was like, well, I'll get out there and do it. Broke two fingers, came back to practice with his cast on and just went right back into a practice. There was not a better face for Notre Dame football as Notre Dame football was being beamed from coast to coast on broadcast television than Lou Holtz. He was the face of that first TV era. And then I got to speak to something that. I agree with you, and that was my second piece, which was he was a voice that helped a regional product become national. And that as he sat there and he would do college football scoreboard, he would give you the halftime shows, the updates through the day, and then at the end of the day, college football final with Rhys Davis, Mark May and Lou Holtz. That was because of cable television. You could not go from noon to midnight watching college football until the 2000s. And the fans that grew to love this Are the fans that Love Cover 3, the fans that tune into an instant Reaction show on Saturday night. They want some of that same piece that I loved about wrapping up a college football Saturday in the 2000s. Because they were silly and they were joyous and they were bleary eyed from watching 12 Hours of Football. And the things that Lou would say to Mark and the things that Mark would say to Lou would drive each other crazy.
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Tom Fornelli
Right?
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Chip Patterson
Rhys Davis is wearing a judge's robe and banging a gavel. I mean it was incredible. And that fandom never existed. It didn't exist in the 60s and the 70s and the 80s and the 90s. It was not possible for you to sit in your home in Illinois or my home in North Carolina and go from noon to midnight. And Lou brought so much passion and joy about college football. So the explosion of college football on television post 1984, Lou Holtz is the face of it. 1993, 22 million Americans tune in to watch the game of the century in Notre Dame Stadium. The very first ever on campus college game day is to go see Lou Holtz's Notre Dame team in that spot in mid November. Like he was part of the explosion of everyone across the country realizing that outside of the school you went to or the school that's down the street, there is an awesome, awesome world of college football out there. So I, I again I cannot speak. I didn't want to like yada yada a couple of ways that 10 years didn't end so well along the way I didn't want to yada yada, you know, any other things. I didn't want to talk about his, his overall, like who he was as a person. That's what an obituary is for. That's what someone who knew the man personally is for. What I can speak to is as a college football fan, he was right there, a main character as people started watching this thing from coast to coast. And then as a, as an analyst, as a respected former coach, he brought so much joy and passion to a sport that was regional and helped make it national. And so I thought that that was, that was something that was cool because I did see a lot of people, I mean as much as they were celebrating a 1988 championship and all those double digit wins and like 60 some odd wins in a five year season and a lot of people were sharing clips from them going off on RG3 versus Trent Richardson at 1:00am
- [13:10]
Tom Fornelli
you know,
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Chip Patterson
it was just, it was, it was good stuff. It would, I, I, it, it's not always easy. Like you mentioned, when these figures who meant so much to so many people to, to try and weigh in there. But this was one that, when you think about his role in college football on television, it was a, that, that, that was a spot that I at least felt comfortable, you know, leaning in on.
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Tom Fornelli
Not to mention his role in like teaching coaches how to convince themselves that nobody believes in their team.
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Chip Patterson
Oh, yeah. The motivational speeches was incredible.
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Tom Fornelli
Lou Holtz trying to convince Notre Dame that, you know, they had no shot against like the little sisters of the poor. You know what I mean? He was able to do it. It worked. And where would Kirby, would we even have Kirby Smart today if not for Lou Holtz? I think that's a great question to ponder.
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Chip Patterson
It's a great question to ponder. But yes, the Notre Dame community, obviously, I think at this, you know, there had been reports of some health issues. I think that this, I hope for a lot of Notre Dame fans is a time of celebration. So, yeah, share those clips. Enjoy those motivational speeches and those quotes along the way. Lou Holtz passing this week at the age of 89. All right. Yeah, let's keep that clean. Well, coming up on the other side, we dive into your questions, our answers. It's Mailbag Thursday and more more next spring.
- [14:39]
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- [15:58]
Tom Fornelli
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- [16:29]
Chip Patterson
back here on the COVID 3 podcast, we have asked you to jump in the tailgate and get the conversation going early. And that's exactly what we had some friends do. So before we jump into the big old bag of mail, let's start there. 8:24am Eastern Time. Brad. Oh, I like these right off the top. Brad, who will be the top five, five defenses for this coming season? Now, I, I would say that you could probably, you could probably comfortably throw. I mean, because what are we talking about? Scoring defense, Total defense? Are we just power ranking or power rating these things in on March 5th? I kind of think it's more of a power rating. You know, how do you stack these teams up rather than trying to go schedule analysis. But tomorrow, again, we, your questions are answers. Who comes to mind when, when we start to think about that?
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Tom Fornelli
Well, I mean, yeah, it, what are we, what are we ranking based on? I would say just overall best defenses will be Oklahoma. Oh, good call. Notre Dame. I still, I mean, Ohio State's replacing eight starters on defense. I still think they're going to be fine. You know what I mean?
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Chip Patterson
It's like that was the first one that came. I was about to be like, well, Ohio State, Georgia maybe. That's lazy on my part that you said Oklahoma. And I was like, oh man, that's a good call.
- [18:00]
Tom Fornelli
I think Ohio State will still be in that discussion. Georgia should be. I don't, I mean, Georgia's defense kind of, you know, wasn't that great last year, honestly. But I, I don't expect it's going to be terrible. So I'll, I'll throw them in there in the conversation. Oregon, Miami, I mean, I'm naming more teams than there are five right now. It's hard to say because a lot of key defensive players left. Like Texas Tech's defense was fantastic last year, but they lose pretty much their entire defensive line. They're, they're losing their captain and linebacker and Jacob Rodriguez. So it's, it's hard for me to think they're going to be just as good. Good. Indiana was a fantastic defense last year, but they, you know, unlike. They really lose a lot of those guys compared to what they did the prior season, even though they still have Brian Haynes. So they won't be as experienced. And a lot of what they did was like, again, this is not a knock. They were a very talented team, but it was also the experience that was huge for them. Like, they were just well coached and knew where to be and they knew everything that they were doing. So that helps overcome some of that talent gap. Do they have that same kind of edge next year? I don't know. I think Indiana would be a top 10, top 15 defense, but it's hard for me to say they'll be top five. Five again. Yeah, I. I would say those are probably your most likely candidates. Oregon. I don't know if I mentioned the Ducks. I. I think A M will take a step back. Did I mention Texas yet?
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Chip Patterson
No.
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Tom Fornelli
Maybe the Longhorns can get back in there. They're going to be down.
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Chip Patterson
I mean, listen, top five is tough. Like, that's. I mean, you're talking about, like, there's 140 teams. Well, and especially when I think about the top five defenses, you know, the way that it ends up playing out, sometimes it is like, oh, that team needs their D, I guess the teams that are competing for national championships, maybe, but also teams that are just overwhelmingly strong on that side of the football in the way, you know, slanted almost in the way that Oklahoma is. So Oklahoma is a great call there. I was going to say Notre Dame, Georgia, Ohio State, again, like, familiar names, but that's probably where I would be going to first. And on the Georgia note I am, I need to go and, like, double check this and start to really put pen to paper to make sure. But my notes mentally right now go back to the word retention and go back to, you know, a young team last year and sort of throughout that transfer portal window, a lot of the conversation is, no, they're good. You know, like, they. Are they gonna bring anybody in? No, they like who they have. And so if that's going to be the case, then. Then I think that it's going to be a pro. I mean, it's just. I'm sorry. I think Kirby Smart's gonna have a good defense.
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Tom Fornelli
I mean, the one thing you could point to, like, with Georgia, you look at mock drafts right now every single year, there's usually, like, you know, multiple Georgia players that are going to be going in the first round on defense to get drafted this year. Not a lot of draft eligible Georgia Bulldogs in the draft, which means there's a lot of returning talent. So yeah, they have the experience. They have the talent. They will. I hope they, because they, they. The pass rush was such a problem for them last year that it kept them from being elite. If that takes a step forward again, at least gets back to the level that you've grown to expect from the Bulldogs, they will most likely be one of the best defenses in the country.
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Chip Patterson
Again, I think that Miami will have the best defense in the acc. Top five in the country might be a step after what they're losing. Yeah, they lose a lot and like important players too. They really talented players. And, and obviously we've got a, got a big thumbs up for Corey Heatherman in terms of like overall trust that we're going to put that he's going to lead a good unit. He's built that up over the last couple of seasons. Broyles award finalist and all. But I, I'm, I'm not going to throw them in that top five national conversation. But yeah, I don't know. I don't know who else in the ACC that I'd be taking outside of the Hurricanes when it comes to top five defenses.
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Matt Norlander
But.
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Chip Patterson
Yeah, good question, Brad. I appreciate that. We'll. We'll have to start stacking up our top offenses, top defenses, and more coming up here in the coming weeks. All right, let's stay right there in the tailgate. Good morning, Lynn. Lynn. Wait, is this Lynn for real?
- [22:28]
Tom Fornelli
I don't know.
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Chip Patterson
Could be.
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Tom Fornelli
Could be.
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Chip Patterson
Good morning. I read this question a couple days ago and want to Hear your answers. 2026 Indiana against 2025 Ohio.
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Tom Fornelli
You go first.
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Chip Patterson
Ohio State.
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Tom Fornelli
Oh, that's a confident.
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Chip Patterson
Yeah.
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Tom Fornelli
Well, let's hear it. See, I'm on the fence a little bit here. I want to hear your thoughts.
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Chip Patterson
I think. Oh, yeah, this was real easy. Dumb knuckle dragging, transitive property. Okay. 2026 Ohio State lost 13 to 10 to 2026 Indiana. I think 2025 Ohio State was better than 2026 Ohio State. And I would take the experience, I would take the run game and I would take the quarterback. In a college game, you would take
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Tom Fornelli
Will Howard over Fernando Mendoza?
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Chip Patterson
No, no. Over to. And saying.
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Tom Fornelli
Oh, you're talking. Okay. You're comparing the Ohio states. I thought you were saying. Okay,
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Chip Patterson
no, I'm, I'm saying if 13 to 10 was our data point of 2026 Indiana against Ohio State, then, like, let's isolate the two Ohio states. I think there is a, a gap between 2025 Ohio State and 2026 Ohio State that in this hypothetical, I'll go Buckeyes.
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Tom Fornelli
I mean, I, I lean your direction. I was just surprised by how confident you were. Yeah, I, I do think if. I don't think it would be a blowout, but no, no, no. Towards 2025 Ohio State, just because the overall talent level on that team, I think is a bit more. And then, I mean, Miami was a very talented team. Miami had them. You know, that was not an easy win for them in the end. So. Yeah, I, Yeah, I think Ohio State probably wins more often than not, but this is like a 55 to 45% kind of situation. Like, I think the spread would be about 3.
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Chip Patterson
If Quinton Judkins and Travion Henderson were playing for the Buckeyes in Indianapolis, I think they would have scored more than 10 points.
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Tom Fornelli
I agree. But I also kind of think Ohio State's offensive line this year was a little bit better than.
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Chip Patterson
A little bit better than last year.
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Tom Fornelli
Yeah, so. And they struggled against Indiana, so. I don't know.
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Chip Patterson
I just remember that, like that Rock fight against Texas where just one Trayvon Henderson play broke the game open. You know, it's just like a couple special. They're just a few more players, you know, or the, the Joe, wasn't it Big Bear, Joey Sawyer who ripped the ball out and took it the other.
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Tom Fornelli
I mean, it was just Sawyer. Yeah.
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Chip Patterson
Jack Sawyer.
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Tom Fornelli
Yeah.
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Chip Patterson
Yeah. There were, there were just a few players that I think tipped the scales. JTT was also out there, you know, just couple players that I think would tip the scales to, to me taking the Buckeyes there. But like, everybody in the tailgate seems to be saying It's a 31. Maybe you think it's a 31, 28. Raymond Joey says it could be 20 to 16. Everyone. I, I, Tom, I don't know about you, but I see it the same way. If those two get out there, it is a, it is a six, three, four, eight point win. It is something that is definitely coming down to the very, very end.
- [26:09]
Tom Fornelli
Great question, Lynn. Not just because you might be my wife.
- [26:13]
Chip Patterson
We'll see.
- [26:16]
Tom Fornelli
I didn't mean that, honey. I don't know.
- [26:20]
Chip Patterson
All right, let's. Hey, Mikey, let's take a trip on down to the mail room.
- [26:35]
Matt Norlander
All right?
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Chip Patterson
A reminder. If you want to get questions added to the big old bag of mail, one way to do it is to leave us A five star review. And in that review you put your question. This question comes from Chris in Colorado. The COVID 3 podcast is simply the best podcast out there. Not just the best college football podcast, the best podcast overall. I love you guys. Thanks, Chris. Chris says given how the whole Darian Mensah situation played out the past couple of weeks, I have to ask, are multi year nil deals possible or is the whole sport just an annual game of musical chairs?
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Tom Fornelli
The whole sports an annual game of musical chairs. Although I do think that is changing, could be changing because of the situation we saw with like demont Williams. I don't know what the difference is. Billable hours isn't here today, but it seems to me that whatever kind of format the Big Ten was using is legally viable and is able to lock these guys in. So I'm guessing whatever the Big Ten did, we're going to see all the other conferences kind of start doing and they're going to start going boilerplate with these deals to kind of lock these dudes in. So maybe that'll change. But I still think primarily your roster is year to year. I don't, I don't think coaches are spending nearly as much time doing long term planning right now. I think they are thinking, all right, this is what I have to do for next year. And then I'll figure out two years from now after I see what it looks like when it shakes out.
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Chip Patterson
And seemingly like that's, seemingly that approach is just what they're going to be fine with. Like when Eli came out and said, oh yeah, it's just free agency every six months now, supposedly we're not going to have that now that we only have one portal window, but something to keep an eye on. I think that. So the Big Ten took action against Xavier Lucas, but obviously could not prevent Xavier Lucas from going to Miami.
- [28:35]
Tom Fornelli
And then they changed their contracts.
- [28:36]
Chip Patterson
Then they changed their contracts.
- [28:38]
Tom Fornelli
I think, I think that I honestly, I think the Big Ten learned from that case what they had to do to their contracts going forward and they kind of all got together and figured it out.
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Chip Patterson
I mean, you got about a billion alumni. A couple of them got to be
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Tom Fornelli
attorneys, I would imagine some.
- [28:57]
Chip Patterson
I would imagine probably.
- [28:59]
Tom Fornelli
I know, I know some of the athletic directors are so.
- [29:02]
Chip Patterson
Oh, some of the athletic directors are attorneys.
- [29:04]
Tom Fornelli
Yes.
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Chip Patterson
Yeah. Okay, there you go again. I'll go ahead and take, go ahead and take some blame here. We thought Bud was going to be here today because this one just frankly, it's right up Bud's alley. So he'll have to chime in later. He'll probably interrupt an answer and take call. Back to this question.
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Tom Fornelli
At the end of Monday's show, when we're talking about something completely unrelated, Bud will let you know the answer to this question.
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Chip Patterson
Yeah, this question comes from Brett. When coaches make terrible decisions, is it more often a blind spot or an ego thing? I tend to give coaches a ton of slack because I think fans often oversimplify how hard it is to call plays or manage a game. Now, that being said, there are some truly baffling decisions, whether it be deciding to play man on a dominant wide receiver or deciding to stop feeding the ball to your best player. How or why does that happen?
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Tom Fornelli
Because humans are not perfect beings and they make mistakes. I, you know, it's, I think, you know, the, the question. Brett was his name.
- [30:24]
Chip Patterson
Yep.
- [30:25]
Tom Fornelli
Brett makes an excellent point in that he thinks that fans have really hold their ability to call plays in much higher esteem than the reality of the situation. And I think that's like when you play video games. I think playing video games does a lot to help you understand clock management. I don't think just running the same three plays that work on NCAA or Madden have taught you a damn thing about play calling or how they play, the scripting works, or why they're doing anything. I think that you just know, like, I would have called the play that works. It's like I, I feel like when people complain about play calling, they need to tell you the play they would have called and why and what, what coverage and defense they were expecting for the reason that they would call that play. Because I guarantee you, four of them might have an answer for you and every other million people out there will be like, I just think it's a good play. So it's, I think when it comes to making a difficult play, I try not to say that was a terrible play call unless, you know, I try to understand why they made that decision and if I can't come to a reason why that they would think that was a good idea, that's when I say, well, that was a dumb play. But there's also certain situations that come to play during a game. Like your left tackle might have rolled his ankle and maybe the TV hasn't noticed it, but your coach does. So he's not really confident in having running a play to that side or dropping back to pass in a certain situation because he's not sure his tackle can hold up and he's going to get, you know, lose yards, get a sack. There's all sorts of those things that go on during a game. Now to me, the more confounding errors that coaches make that are based out of stubbornness are when they clearly come into a game with a game plan like we're going to try to do and then that is absolutely not working. And then they stick to it when it's like it's become evident to everybody in the world that like bro, that's, you can't be doing that. They, they are feasting on it, they are picking on it time after time. You need to adjust. That's when I get more critical of the coach being stubborn. But as far as just making mistakes, I think that you know, man, in the arena it's sometimes you get out there and you just screw up and there's really not a whole lot you can do about it. It's, it's still. You can plan, you can do everything you want, but at the end of the day it's still a bunch of 18, 29 year olds now going out there and everybody having to do everything in concert. And if one person makes a mistake, it can make everybody look like an asshole.
- [32:45]
Chip Patterson
The, the modern game also puts so much on the players to be making reads and decisions. I mean how many like we obviously run pass option, like important for quarterback to diagnose the defense, make the right decision. What about option routes? Like how many offenses are now based on okay, quarterback and wide receiver need to look at the coverage and we need to both recognize what this is because that's going to lead to whether this is a pick six or whether this is like an eight yard slant. You know so much of the game right now and I can't speak to the pro game where obviously our iq the amount of time that we can spend teaching this stuff like, like I can't speak to that because I'm not talking to those coaches. I don't keep as my eyes on as that game with as much detail. But man, it is the, the coach play calling the, the play that you call right now in 2026, that's like four plays in it or you know, lots of different ways that it could go. And so I'm, I'm not going to go crazy over play by play play call. But to your point, being able to diagnose what the other team does, being able to make the pivot off of that and you know what's the, our, our friend Parker Fleming that he's got the, the script, the American Psycho meme of like oh nice, very nice. Now, let's see the script.
- [34:26]
Tom Fornelli
Scripted play.
- [34:28]
Chip Patterson
Yeah, yeah, yeah. So it's, there's so much that's happening on the fly. There's so much that's going on outside of just whatever they call in on the headset that I would hope fans at least have that built in now. The use of timeouts, that's real. Yes, that is, that is something that if you want to go crazy about how. And it's, you know, we talked about coaches make terrible decisions trying to decide who we're going to put in the thumbnail. Clearly we've got a face for this that we can't use anymore, or at least not right now. You can't put Mario Cristobal on the thumbnail for bad coaching decisions. He just coached his team all the way, the national championship game, but he is also the face of a lot of questionable coaching decisions.
- [35:10]
Tom Fornelli
I, I, when it comes to timeouts, I think the worst defenders are the offensive gurus who are calling timeouts, like, because they don't like the play call that they got or they don't like the look, and they're sitting there in like a second down in the third quarter thinking, oh, I got to get the perfect play, and not realizing, you're probably going to need that timeout at the end of the fourth quarter, champ. You can just give up the play and then figure it out from there.
- [35:31]
Chip Patterson
I mean, even national championship winning head coach Kurt Signetti will throw you off with like, a timeout just because he didn't like something. You know, he might not have liked the vibes or some, or, you know, all of a sudden he just didn't see anything he likes. We're burning two timeouts before the end of the third quarter. Luckily, Indiana, you know, had enough of an advantage most games that it wasn't really an issue. Anything else on coaches and bad decisions basketball. All right, let's make a good decision. Coming up on the other side, fired up to be joined by Matt Norlander, senior college basketball writer for CBS Sports and host the Ion College Basketball podcast. He's got your questions, our questions. And, and, and since Bud didn't make the cut, we'll, we'll make sure we leave him some nuggets of things he can learn for he thinks he can learn for filling out his bracket and more. Next. Yes. Let's go, let's go.
- [36:34]
Tom Fornelli
Wait a second.
- [36:35]
Matt Norlander
Where the hell is Bud Elliott?
- [36:37]
Chip Patterson
I know.
- [36:38]
Matt Norlander
Where is this dude?
- [36:39]
Chip Patterson
No, listen, it was like over tape right now.
- [36:41]
Matt Norlander
Is he diving into the potential 8, 9, and 10 seeds.
- [36:44]
Tom Fornelli
He's smoking some meat or something. I don't know what Bud's doing right now.
- [36:47]
Chip Patterson
Yeah, I mean, it was just like, coaches making bad decisions. Norlander coming on to explain March Madness. I mean, honestly, we had really set this thing up on a platter for him. So the. The. The late. Like, hey, guys, I'm actually not in today was a. Was a bit disappointing, but wow.
- [37:02]
Matt Norlander
Okay. Supposed to be on the show and bailed out.
- [37:06]
Chip Patterson
Well, we're not. We're not gonna hash out. There's. There's some he said. He said going on about the communication breakdown in community.
- [37:15]
Matt Norlander
Very clear. I don't have any idea what I'm stepping into right now, so. It is a joy to be on. Chip is going to be making some appearances on the ion college basketball podcast in the not so distant future. Fornelli, do you have any desire whatsoever to make the occasional cameo? Because I'm more than happy to bring you on in the mix, but I don't know if you're. If you're like, they don't pay me for this. You think. You think I have any desire to go on another podcast? No shot. So where do you land on this?
- [37:41]
Tom Fornelli
I will. I would occasionally dip my toes in. Sure. Especially if I could just yell at Gary about his damn top 25 and one every day.
- [37:48]
Chip Patterson
That's.
- [37:48]
Matt Norlander
That's correct. I think Parrish might have to maneuver and be like, Anyone but Fornelli. Please, abf. Anyone but Fornelli. We'll see if we can make it happen for you, especially if you're a lion eye. Can make a. Can make a big run. My best two Brad Underwood. the moment, the man is down with the flu, so I tried to get him on the phone just to talk about a little something, and he is. He is battling it, but hopefully should be good in short order. Shorter here.
- [38:15]
Chip Patterson
See, I think that's galaxy brain. You run it through the team now because you're going to be traveling a lot in March. Everybody gets super exposed. Look, I. This is not a statute of limitations thing, but I. I do wonder if college football, when it got going in the fall of 2020, I do wonder if some of these teams just let their. Let it run through their whole team. Like, hey, listen, if we just let our whole team get sick in September, then we ain't getting no positive tests popping in when it's time to get close to conference championship in the College Football Playoff. I. I think that is Brad Underwood. The same way he finds the market inefficiencies with the Balkans. He is also ahead of it in terms of making sure that he gets his, his spring sickness out of the way now and builds up the antibodies. Great work.
- [39:04]
Matt Norlander
It's galaxy brain, sure. But as I told Underwood, I'm actually terrified of getting sick in the month of March. Yeah, I can, I can ill afford pun unintended to get sick in this month. So knock on all the possible wood around me, do everything we can to stay happy and healthy here and hopefully can dodge it. But yes, this, that is a very real thing. Teams usually typically in basketball season they run into this, you know, December, January, typically, typically it doesn't show itself by March. We're getting toward the end of flu season here, but we'll see. What do you guys want to throw at me?
- [39:38]
Chip Patterson
All right, so here's what we got. Let's see. Joey was fired up. That is at 9am Two hours before start time. Joey says the annual Norlander episode is always a good time. We got a couple questions in here too. Let's just go ahead and jump in. Dirty dogs at 9:27am for Matt. Would you take Florida to repeat or the field?
- [39:56]
Matt Norlander
I mean, this isn't even close. It's the field. Florida is a very good team. It can win the title. There's one big reason why it probably won't. I'll get to that in just a second. But the field easily the, the more compelling question is would you take all of the projected one seeds or the field and then maybe you get into a real question there because you've got Duke, Arizona, Michigan. Those are all one seed locks. And then right now EUCOM, which beat Florida head to head, is the projected one seed. At this point, Florida's the best two. Florida's main issue is that it is a terrible three point shooting team. Ranks 325th in the country from beyond the arc at 31%. Can you win six in the big Dance if you are not a reliable team from deep? The counter for Florida is it's got the best front line in the, in the country, top five defense. It's just animals on the glass. Incredible, incredibly efficient. Has just one loss since January 3rd. Quite clearly and quite obviously, Florida is one of the five most likely favorites to win the national championship. That makes a ton of sense. And it all depends on the draw here. We'll see what they, what they can get, but they've been, they've been rocking. They've got a game at Kentucky this weekend. I am interested just to see how that goes. Kentucky's still got plenty to prove. It's been up and down, dealt with injuries. Wildcats are not a Final Four threat. Meanwhile, Florida is going to go and try and sweep the Wildcats, but that's, that's a big moment in that gym for that Kentucky team. And can Florida just make mincemeat of another opponent again? Or does Florida get picked off one more time before we go into the SEC tournament, where of course Gators will rise above all others as the most likely team to win that bracket?
- [41:25]
Chip Patterson
Question.
- [41:26]
Matt Norlander
Yep.
- [41:27]
Chip Patterson
Houston is the south or Houston is this regional? Yes, yes.
- [41:32]
Matt Norlander
We 16 Elite 8 sites this year. D.C. chicago, Houston and your boy here. We'll be taking the trip all the way out west. I'm going to San Jose.
- [41:41]
Chip Patterson
So San Jose will be in the Sharks arena. That's an arena. D.C. is going to be arena. Chicago is going to be arena. Is Houston NRG or is it arena?
- [41:48]
Matt Norlander
No, it's a. I'm almost. I'll. I'll fact check this in real time. It almost definitely has to be an arena. They now intentionally. Now we had that like 15 year run where when the Sites were getting a Final Four the year before that would also be the regional. It's kind of like the dress rehearsal for when the Final Four came there. They have largely, but not entirely, but largely faded that out. I'm almost positive that Houston is actually in the basketball. Basketball arena and we. Yes. Toyota Center.
- [42:13]
Chip Patterson
Toyota center where the Rockets play. Because. All right, if it's, if it's nrg, it doesn't matter because you might need to play volleyball to score at nrg. If Florida's playing in a football stadium, then you've got like having a million feet of arms and legs and offensive rebounding like one of the best rebounding teams in the entire country. Then I think you're overcoming that a little bit because I was trying to think if they're. Because the Arizona will go. Because that's what we're talking about. We're seeing who goes to Houston, right?
- [42:45]
Matt Norlander
Yeah.
- [42:45]
Chip Patterson
Michigan will go to Chicago. Arizona will go to San Jose. Duke will go to D.C. and so it's either a Yukon or Florida end up going to Houston. If Florida's in Houston. If it had been in nrg, I think they could have negated that. They've got a couple of shooters. You know, I mean it. All it would take is for you to be able to just say like, oh, wow, look who got hot. I'm not going to write off Florida just because of the, the three point shooting just quite yet. What about UConn's flaws? Turnout?
- [43:17]
Matt Norlander
Well, remember a year ago Yukon going for the 3P. It was still a good team. Wasn't just a, it wasn't a top 10, top 15 team. Yukon is balanced. It's not an ultra high end level scoring team but it's still pretty good. But it doesn't rank top 40 and three point accuracy. Doesn't rank top 30 and two point accuracy. And it's not a good team from the foul line. That said, it's got dudes like Terrace Reed down low. A really really good center. 611 has had some incredible performances. Solo ball has not been as good as expected. That's the one thing. Like he's shooting 31 from three. I thought he would be a third team all American. This season hasn't been the case. Alex Caraban been around, been on the title teams. This is his final year. He's the team's best player. Good from deep. Braylon Mullins is the next freshman that's coming in and he's a good, he's a good two way player. I think he can afford to be a one and doner. I'd love to see him back. And Pop is probably one of the best sophomores in the country next season. They seem to get it done. Now UConn, although it's a projected one seed, predictive metrics don't have UConn as one of the six or seven best teams in the country so far this season. I'm not discounting any team that's coached by Dan Hurley and his back to back national champions championships. And the defense has been good also. UConn has beaten Illinois. It has beaten Florida. Thanks for bringing nyu, although that that's kind of dropping. And it just held St. John's to 40 points. And what was statistically the worst loss of Rick Patino's legendary long career. I was in that in that building eight days ago when that happened. So still plenty viable but not considered on the level. I think from a metric standpoint as Duke, Arizona, Michigan, Florida. Those are four that feel like a a separation apart. Although I will say for and on in all earnestness like Fornelli's align, I have the best offense in the sport. Could be the best offense in the history of Ken Palm. We'll see if they can get their march. The opponents get more difficult so that number very well could come down. The defense has been a little bit up and down. They force turnovers less frequently than any team in college basketball can. Illinois outscore six NCAA tournament opponents. I have them on the list of teams I think can win the national title. Keaton Wagler has been outstanding, but it's not just him. Like Wagner's getting a variety of of the pub and I get that. But Boswell can really play defense. Merkavich at this point is actually somehow underrated and he is such a baller. You got the. The V6 twins who obviously do plenty and then Stojakovic weirdly enough is not the shooter that I thought he'd be. But he just had a really nice game there. There's enough for Illinois. It is going to be a little bit matchup dependent. Like they might need the right kind of opponent in the Sweet 16 or the Elite 8 to get them off to Indianapolis. And if that happens, hello to the Orange Crush that will descend upon that city in driving range of course of Indy. But. But I think Illinois is right there along the likes with UConn, with Houston, potentially Iowa State, maybe Michigan State of teams not just, not just Final Four, but can they actually win 5 or 6? I clearly have them in that group.
- [45:58]
Tom Fornelli
I would prefer if UConn, Duke and Michigan all lost for the Sweet 16. I think that would make Illinois very live title contender. I have a question for you that's not so much tournament related, but it is Big Ten related. I have seen like a lot of, you know, a lot of projections for the first team all Big Ten and there's typically four guys around everybody. But then there's a battle for the fifth spot between Braden Smith and Bennett Sturtz. From what I have seen, I want to know if you were on team Braden Smith or if you were on team Bum slaying. Bennett Sturt numbers up against the dredges of the Big Ten and then struggles anytime that they face a good team.
- [46:32]
Matt Norlander
I am on Braden Smith at this point.
- [46:35]
Chip Patterson
Yeah. Thank you. Against against power conference opponents for four dagum years. All right, listen. Come on.
- [46:43]
Matt Norlander
Yeah, Braden Smith actually what's weird is his numbers are better than they were a year ago for the most part. For the most part, not entirely their level are better. But he has not been what we thought he would be. He's not going to be a first team all American. If I had to make my all American list right now and I don't, I wouldn't have him as a second team all American and he's got a decent chance at being the all time assist leader. Purdue almost got knocked off in Evanston last night. Bad vibes. I almost wonder if there's some sort of reverse thing going on here where Purdue is lulling everyone into like we suck. Don't pick us. And then somehow they're going to all put it together and make the Final Four. Like there's something weird about this Purdue team and I don't know what to do with them. But in your specific scenario there, I think. I think Smith is going to be a. It's going to be all a Big Ten first team. He will beat out Sturts. I think that being said, you know, we're not done yet. We still got technically a little bit more to go here. Although I don't know if league for official all league purposes. I assume that's done at the end of the regular season. I actually think what you do in the conference tournament should matter. But what does my opinion mean?
- [47:47]
Tom Fornelli
But I. I think what matters is that we need to get the quote card. Matt Norlander agrees. Bennett Sturtz is a bumslayer. There you go. Tweet it out.
- [47:55]
Chip Patterson
I know, listen, I. Sturts. Sturts hasn't had enough help. Devries is the one who is just like absolutely shrunk front compared to my expectations where Wilkerson's become the one who jumped up from a smaller conference and
- [48:09]
Matt Norlander
also got the biggest bag. So in that regard it's not surprising.
- [48:12]
Chip Patterson
What a stuff. So we took a daddy discount. So what? You know, like it's still like two players who entered the Big Ten. Everyone's like whoa. And it just you know, a little bit, a little bit underwhelming, you know. But I mean sometimes starts it does feel like he's playing hero ball out there. He just doesn't have a lot around him.
- [48:30]
Tom Fornelli
He doesn't have much around him.
- [48:31]
Chip Patterson
No.
- [48:32]
Matt Norlander
Like in all honesty, even McCollum getting Iowa to easy NCAA tournament status and if you actually dig into the resume, it's not that inspiring, but whatever. Like he's basically like up. You know, there's the. The meme with the upgrade and you're pushing the button. It's like not that at all with Iowa, but at the same time it is like he went from non D1 to Drake to Iowa and he's like dragging all these pieces with him. God bless Bennett Sturts. He very well might be a first round pick later this year.
- [48:56]
Tom Fornelli
I will say Ben McCollum, if you are watching right now, just rest all your guys against Michigan and go after Nebraska for me because I really need you to beat the Cornhuskers.
- [49:06]
Chip Patterson
Question from the tailgate coach K3333 says Norlander question. Let's go over. Under, over, under. Two and a half. Final Four teams from the Ken Palm. What is the Ken Palm? Over. Oh, that's the net rating, I guess, right?
- [49:23]
Matt Norlander
Yeah. Their net rating is above 35.
- [49:25]
Tom Fornelli
Yeah.
- [49:27]
Chip Patterson
Michigan, Arizona, Florida. Final Four teams line being set here by the tailgate at two and a half.
- [49:35]
Tom Fornelli
Let's go, Duke.
- [49:36]
Chip Patterson
Come on.
- [49:37]
Matt Norlander
I would say, oh, the tournament is a fickle beast. I will go under Duke, Michigan, Arizona, Florida in the final four if it was 1.5. I'm going over three out of four of that is asking a lot. Those four teams will be in four different regions. Almost definitely. Duke's going to the East, Michigan's going to the Midwest, Arizona is going to the west, and Florida to the South. So those four can all get there. And what will probably be the case is that all four will be the favorites to get there. But I will go under and say two.
- [50:17]
Tom Fornelli
Will you agree with my take that Florida is an SEC merchant?
- [50:20]
Chip Patterson
No.
- [50:21]
Matt Norlander
Like, I don't know what. Like this. This merchant term that now just gets tossed around. I don't. I don't know.
- [50:25]
Tom Fornelli
All right, here they're. They're 15 and two against the SEC, and they're nine and what, something. Nine and four against everybody else. What's the record overall?
- [50:35]
Matt Norlander
They felt SEC is not bad.
- [50:37]
Tom Fornelli
Like, yeah, well, it's not. Who's the best team in the SEC outside of Florida? Like, there's a lot of really good teams, but there aren't any great teams. Like, if you look at who they've played so far this year, they have played. According to Ken Palm, they've played three top 10 teams. All right, they've lost all three. Arizona, Duke and UConn. They haven't played a top. They haven't played anybody. The best team in the SEC season
- [50:56]
Matt Norlander
when they were bringing in a new backcourt and replacing the best backcourt in the history of the school. Just keep that in mind.
- [51:01]
Tom Fornelli
Okay, But I'm just saying, the rest I know.
- [51:03]
Matt Norlander
I don't know how much you bring in context to your discussions here on the COVID 3 pod, but.
- [51:07]
Chip Patterson
Oh, easy, easy.
- [51:10]
Tom Fornelli
Oh, I'm sorry. Because Boogie cut his hair, so he's a good player now. He wasn't good early in the year. His hair was weighing him down.
- [51:18]
Chip Patterson
Hey, we did that with Quinn. Yours, too. Okay. We did that with Quinn.
- [51:22]
Tom Fornelli
Quinn.
- [51:22]
Chip Patterson
Quinn cut his hair and then he was business. Quinn. That boy used to have a mullet. We did not take him seriously.
- [51:27]
Matt Norlander
So, by the way, I don't know if fornelli realizes this. But name this coach Fornelli.
- [51:33]
Tom Fornelli
That's Brad. That was when he was asked about. Oh, that was after what loss was that he got. He was pissed at somebody's defense.
- [51:39]
Matt Norlander
He was pissed at his defense.
- [51:41]
Tom Fornelli
Yeah, but it was a player in particular. I think it might have been Kylan he was pissed at. He was asked like he was asked about their defensive effort or something. He just went.
- [51:48]
Matt Norlander
Underwood is on the board.
- [51:51]
Chip Patterson
It did make me laugh earlier.
- [51:53]
Matt Norlander
This is an SEC merchant, though.
- [51:56]
Chip Patterson
He said, he said Ben Hummerkaus couldn't have guarded Tom Izzo's mom.
- [52:01]
Tom Fornelli
Yes.
- [52:01]
Chip Patterson
He started in Illinois Curry.
- [52:03]
Matt Norlander
You can't guard my mother. Amazing. It's been an incredible year for coaches. On the mic, on the hot mic, left and right consistently won't stop, can't stop. And we're about to get even more over the next three weeks. I can't wait.
- [52:17]
Chip Patterson
All right, this, especially in those off day availabilities, like if it's a Thursday Saturday pod, like the Friday press conferences, the coaches that won, they let it fly. All right, this one can't. One of us, Tom or I will have to play the role of Bud. Need Bud and Norlander to figure out the Jeff Capel of college football. Eight years during his tenure, one successful season and a big buyout.
- [52:43]
Matt Norlander
Yeah, you guys are gonna have to figure that out. I will just say this as we speak right now, literally. I have a coaches to know story. Like names that'll pop, head coaches, assistants that just went live. And then earlier this week I had the hot seat stuff. I do think Pitt is opening now. I've been told it's going to be north of 12 million to pay out Capel. It's going to be expensive. That athletic director has already made some soft contact with other candidates at this point. It's not a. The decision is not in. I do think we are heading there and the Pit job will come open. Unfortunately, it didn't happen. Real sliding door situation. Eight years ago, Pitt was offering Dan Hurley more money than UConn. But Hurley picked UConn because it was Yukon. And look what has happened since. So we see what which way Pit decides to go. If indeed it moves on from cable. I am expecting that to happen. Who is, who is the comp? Eight years and only one. I would say the comp would be. It has to be an eight year run, huge buyout and you only have one season of like nine or more wins. I don't even think 10. Like Capel never even had like what's equivalent to a 10 win season. So I don't even know who that would be.
- [53:44]
Tom Fornelli
I have one that was only six years. It's not quite eight. But there's only been one good season and there was a huge buyout. In fact it's one of the biggest buyouts in college football history. I would say Jimbo Fisher at Texas A and M is the Jeff Capel of college football.
- [53:57]
Matt Norlander
Fisher was way bigger of a name though. Like Capel wasn't like as buzzy as Fisher. Yeah.
- [54:00]
Tom Fornelli
But cable came with like the coach K kind of. Oh he's one of Kraszefsky's guys.
- [54:04]
Matt Norlander
He's a dookie.
- [54:05]
Tom Fornelli
He's going to blah blah, you know, all that crap. So like I would say it's not, it's not perfect. You typically don't see college football coaches last that long without any good seasons.
- [54:16]
Chip Patterson
It could have been Mel Tucker if Mel didn't mess it up for himself. Like he had the one Peach bowl year.
- [54:21]
Matt Norlander
Feels like it would have been comparable.
- [54:23]
Chip Patterson
Yeah. Like he had the one Peach bowl year and probably would have been very ho hum other than that. But yeah. Mel, Mel picked up that telephone and that one, that one wrapped that one up pretty quickly. I've got one.
- [54:35]
Bob's Discount Furniture Announcer
Okay.
- [54:37]
Chip Patterson
No, this isn't a college football coach. This is about buyouts because I scan. I scanned your piece. I, I read it.
- [54:43]
Matt Norlander
Okay.
- [54:44]
Chip Patterson
I didn't see USC mentioned once there.
- [54:46]
Matt Norlander
Southern Cal.
- [54:47]
Tom Fornelli
Yeah.
- [54:48]
Matt Norlander
With Eric Musselman.
- [54:50]
Chip Patterson
Yeah.
- [54:50]
Matt Norlander
Two years or. No, we're not doing anything right now. No, this ain't football.
- [54:54]
Tom Fornelli
Should we, should we. Yeah.
- [54:56]
Matt Norlander
Could we get there? Yeah, but we're not going to. He just, he just got there. Now they're, they're like they're fading off the, the tournament bubble with a quickness here.
- [55:03]
Chip Patterson
Forget the tournament bubble. I mean I'm just saying like the quality of the has just abs like, like little menus came and they had like a teeny tiny little spike. Things are interesting. Then Chad became checking himself out of the game. The team is just getting absolutely pounded into a bloody oblivion like it is, it is bleak
- [55:23]
Matt Norlander
from here, from here until when they leave. Who's at USC longer, Riley or Bus?
- [55:27]
Tom Fornelli
Lincoln.
- [55:28]
Chip Patterson
Lincoln.
- [55:29]
Matt Norlander
Okay.
- [55:31]
Tom Fornelli
Lincoln's.
- [55:31]
Chip Patterson
Lincoln's got like good off field investment in the last two years. New strength coach. New. New like player personnel department.
- [55:40]
Matt Norlander
Like how big is the strength coach into to the lifespan of a coach's tenure at a school?
- [55:45]
Chip Patterson
Well for a team that's been soft.
- [55:47]
Matt Norlander
Yeah.
- [55:48]
Tom Fornelli
All right. You know did Darren Peterson walk so Chad Maker Mazar could run. Is that. Is that a.
- [55:56]
Matt Norlander
Something like that? Yeah. By the way, I'm embracing. I'm gonna be in Kansas City for the Big 12 tournament next week, and they're playing on a glass floor. It's.
- [56:03]
Tom Fornelli
It is getting.
- [56:03]
Matt Norlander
I know on social media right now, but like, when the projected lottery picks are on the floor there, it's about to have a moment. They can't. You can't drink in the courtside seats because it's a glass floor.
- [56:15]
Chip Patterson
Dude, sweat.
- [56:16]
Matt Norlander
Where the. Where the. Where are the players drinking their. Their water during the time? I'm like halfway terrified that there's going to be a legitimately serious injury incurred as a result of this glass floor. I hope not.
- [56:26]
Tom Fornelli
But what I hear is somebody without the forward thinking, innovative mind of a Brett your mark questioning the decisions of the Big 12 who are truly changing the game with their glass courts.
- [56:37]
Matt Norlander
That's true.
- [56:40]
Chip Patterson
What Big 12 school has the best, like engineering or coding department because the opportunity to airplay whatever you want, apparently.
- [56:54]
Matt Norlander
Maybe this is controlled by an iPad. Maybe. I don't know. That's. That's the other thing I was talking.
- [56:59]
Chip Patterson
Am I just opening up airdrop and just like putting whatever I want out there?
- [57:04]
Tom Fornelli
The Big 12 intern with. On the public wi fi.
- [57:07]
Matt Norlander
Just changing the course images. I just. I was talking with my buddy Stephen Hartzell. We do a fun little sideshow on the. On the Learfield network now. And he was saying like, can this be hacked? Can you hack the floor visually? Like, if you can't just. I don't want it, but I kind of want it.
- [57:25]
Chip Patterson
Start. I mean, what. How about this? We're all of a certain age.
- [57:29]
Tom Fornelli
If they.
- [57:29]
Chip Patterson
Rick, roll the floor. I would just absolutely love that.
- [57:33]
Matt Norlander
The best case scenario.
- [57:34]
Chip Patterson
It would. That is best case. There's a lot of bad case, worst case scenarios.
- [57:40]
Matt Norlander
There are many, many worst case scenarios.
- [57:43]
Tom Fornelli
We can keep it, but think of the social media impressions that that could cause.
- [57:47]
Matt Norlander
Correct. I know.
- [57:50]
Chip Patterson
See, now that's thinking like Brett, your mark.
- [57:52]
Tom Fornelli
Yeah, that's what I'm saying. Brett might be the one hacking it.
- [57:55]
Chip Patterson
Yeah. We're gonna plan the hack to be able to create the buzz. All right, let's see. Yovi93. Few minutes left here. Matt, what's your pick for Wisconsin versus Purdue? And if Wisconsin wins, how will that help seating for the Big ten tourney?
- [58:13]
Matt Norlander
Okay, well, let's see here. Right now, double buys, mostly locked.
- [58:17]
Chip Patterson
I think maybe there's five teams for four spots left.
- [58:20]
Matt Norlander
Yeah. So if Wisconsin beats Purdue, that would be a tie between those two in the standings and Wisconsin already has the previous win, so they'd have the tiebreaker. So if other things go the way they're supposed to. Sorry, I'm gaming this out in real time. 1, 2, 3, 4. Wisconsin's the 5. In that case, still can't get to Friday for its first games. Purdue would drop down. And Purdue also lost to ucla. It actually could have some significant bracketing in the Big Ten. That being said, I'm going to take Purdue to win at home. And I know that Wisconsin has literally one of like the two toughest spots this year in Michigan and Illinois.
- [59:01]
Chip Patterson
Grant in the tailgate says Utah and byu, according to a quick Google search. In terms of engineering in the Big 12, which have then brings about the ability of competing hacks in a rivalry. Utah, BYU, Big 12 tournament game on day one. Because I think Utah's in last place, right?
- [59:19]
Matt Norlander
Yeah, I think so. Yeah.
- [59:21]
Tom Fornelli
But on the other side, like, if it's. If it's BYU hacking, we know it'll be family friendly, so that's probably better.
- [59:26]
Chip Patterson
Utah, not.
- [59:27]
Tom Fornelli
No, Utah would be very, very opposite.
- [59:30]
Chip Patterson
Yeah. Utah prints out pictures of Chip's face and writes vulgar things on it.
- [59:35]
Matt Norlander
Did that actually happen?
- [59:36]
Chip Patterson
Yeah, this fall.
- [59:37]
Tom Fornelli
I sent them all the ideas.
- [59:39]
Matt Norlander
Nice. I love it.
- [59:40]
Tom Fornelli
All right.
- [59:40]
Matt Norlander
You're making a real impact. That's some your mark level thinking right there. I love it.
- [59:45]
Chip Patterson
All right, that is Matt Norlander. Friday. You can catch him. Do you know what time y' all are going live? Because we are gonna go live.
- [59:52]
Matt Norlander
Listen, Ion college basketball, me and Gary Parrish, 9:45am Eastern Friday, Sunday night shows. Never miss a Sunday show. Of course. And then, yeah, if you are even a casual, like, we welcome in the casuals, but we want you on board. We have a really fun time. Parrish is completely out of pocket on every single episode. I try and keep the train on the tracks. I often fail. But we have a great time. Please, please hop aboard. We're gonna have a ton of fun. Chip is going to be on multiple episodes of the Ion College Basketball Podcast during the NCAA tournament. Which ones? I ain't gonna tell you. You're gonna actually have to listen and follow the show in order to get it done. So please follow. Like all that good stuff. We have a. We have a really, really good time. I appreciate both of you. For Nelli, if Illinois can do some real stuff here, we'll. We'll mix you into a show some way, somehow we'll get it done.
- [60:36]
Chip Patterson
And as a surprise to Gary, because if there's one Person who cannot stand.
- [60:39]
Matt Norlander
Let's agree to this. Don't put it on social media. Paris will never listen or watch this. We are going to surprise him.
- [60:47]
Chip Patterson
Yeah.
- [60:47]
Matt Norlander
With a Fornelli appearance. Just gotta. It's gotta. And it might. And because of our work schedules and being in the studio during the tournament, sometimes Paris and I aren't on the same show. So if I can't be on the show at the one that Paris is on, even all the more. We will navigate and we will make that happen and. And completely. Just drop it out of nowhere and make sure he is unprepared for all of the Fornelli. Right. Right there, right in front of him. Just taking it.
- [61:09]
Chip Patterson
Yeah. I mean, he'll. He'll be so flustered. They'll have to get another word from our partners. Just to give your time to collect.
- [61:15]
Matt Norlander
We'll need another word from our partners. Hey, fellas. I appreciate you. You guys do a wonderful job, and I love that we are. We are podcast mates. And. And I know you guys have just been killing it. Continue to do so. You've got an amazing, loyal audience, and that's awesome, awesome stuff. Best month of the year is here. Can't wait for it. Thank you so much.
- [61:31]
Tom Fornelli
Thank you.
- [61:31]
Chip Patterson
And you can follow him on Twitter at Matt Laura Lander. You can follow him at Tom Fradel. You can follow me at Chip Underscore Patterson. Gentlemen, thank you very much.
- [61:39]
Tom Fornelli
Thank you.
- [61:41]
Chip Patterson
Can you keep a secret, dad?
- [61:44]
Tom Fornelli
It turns out I hadn't died.
- [61:46]
Matt Norlander
Now streaming on Paramount plus, the money
- [61:49]
Chip Patterson
from your dad's life insurance finally came through. Please, this is fraud.
- [61:52]
Matt Norlander
A new original series.
- [61:54]
Chip Patterson
You have to give the money back. What sort of friend blackmails their own mates?
- [61:59]
Tom Fornelli
We're a crime family.
- [62:00]
Chip Patterson
Oh, don't be silly. We're just a bit complicated, like the Beckons. Can you keep a secret?
- [62:06]
Matt Norlander
New series now streaming on Paramount Plus.