Dan Bernstein (43:23)
So I think we used to have a problem in college basketball where before coaches adapted to what was happening a lot of the early season college basketball and in some of these tournaments that they have where everybody's at Madison Square Garden or people come to United center, it was ugly because coaches had systems and coaches would think, well, you know, I got these one and dones. The whole idea of one and dones and it's screwing everything up. And now we've got to, we gotta simplify. And I can't run my intricate passing system because I don't have juniors and seniors who are here. But they adapted. Coaches got better at this and they got better at running stuff that was easier to teach simultaneously. Players are coming to college, the best players are coming to college much more polished than they used to. You used to pull some of these gangly kids out of high school who all they were doing is running and dunking for their high school team and doing whatever they wanted. The quality of coaching in general in season, off season, the private instruction that guys are getting, the weight training that they're getting at younger and younger ages. The reason the stuff we're saying about the NBA is true, because the production pipeline for basketball players internationally, I'm saying whether you're in Paris or whether you're in Cameroon or whether you're in Mexico or you're here, everybody's getting better at a younger age and more polished. And you can run real stuff now. And they're running NBA stuff at the college. A lot of that's getting standardized now. When you start looking at the five out things that they're doing, they're using the horns, sets and the Iverson cuts and a lot of that stuff. So what I used to always say is, I don't want to watch college basketball until the conference season, end of the conference season. That's when it gets good. I don't think it's necessarily true anymore. And I also love it when coaches take on challenges. And it's one thing about Brad Underwood that I really do respect is he likes to test his team. Tom Izzo does it every year. Tom Izzo is always one of these guys who, they might have more losses than they would otherwise have, but they're a better basketball team because of it. And they make a longer run in the tournament than you think. So I had, I was trying to watch with a close eye because Alabama, they, they play hard. They play hard. And they've got a couple NBA dudes out there. The, the Illinois team is a fascinating group this year. They're enormous. They've got so much size between the Visages and Murkovich. And I'll tell you something, Paja Stojakovic, his kid Andre, he's going to be a thing. He is. He is as, as a, as a raw college player. He is. He's got a very, very high iq. And my guess is, and I didn't really get to see much of Petrovich, who's supposed to be awesome, too. I think he's like 30 years old at this point. But they are Illinois. Forget the outcome last night. Illinois has the bones of a Final Four team. They really do. This is a very, very strong set of raw materials. I wish I thought more of Brad Underwood as a game coach because I still think that's kind of where this is lacking. He can obviously recruit, he can obviously motivate. I think he may be. Have the highest differential between how mean he looks and how nice he is, because he actually seems to be a really nice guy from what I know. But, boy, does he look like a villain. He really looks like a, Like a, Like a cart, like a Chris Cooper character, like a, Like a really nasty kind of villain. And just that his, his angry face. He's. He looks like a meaner Brian Kelly sometimes when he's angry, but I don't think he's actually like that. He has put together a big, strong, pretty smart team. They need more ball handling when. When Boswell is out, they really struggle to have somebody prevent bad shots and somebody settle them down, get them into what they're doing, be a. Be a pace setter up or down. And Boswell's a little bowling ball. And if he could shoot, this would be an absolute Final four team. But he can't really shoot. He's got a. He's got to go to the basket. He's. He's just all shoulders. He's kind of built like, like Jalen Brunson, but he can't, he can't shoot. They're. They. They'll figure this out. Like, they've got a lot of growth left and they're, they're big. They're not tremendously athletic. And that's why the matchup against Alabama was fascinating to me, because Alabama was beating them with at times, both foot quickness and hand quickness. I think Illinois's bigs have to be much more disciplined in not bringing the ball down, because if I were going against Illinois, my scouting report would be attack the ball underneath, scrape at it, swipe at it, poke at it, and when they do clear a screen on the perimeter, attack the dribble, send weak side help. Not, not as a full double team, but rake at it, attack their ball handling when, especially when Boswell is not in the game and force those turnovers. And Illinois hung with them. They hung with them. I thought that was a really good test for them, and they lost. But that's okay. That's okay. I'll be very interested to see how this comes together because that Humrick House big dude firing threes, you know, they've. And if Petrovich is able to step into the role that they think he can, you've got a. You have the makings of a Team that could make a long run if not win a national championship.
