← Eye On College Basketball
Eye On College Basketball
EOCBB on CBSSN: First Four thoughts; injury news; interesting tourney what-ifs; March Madness flashbacks; Final Four And 1
00:49:56
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- [00:00]
Gary Parish
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- [00:08]
Matt Norlander
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- [00:49]
Gary Parish
Hey there Gary Parish. Welcome back to the ion college basketball podcast CBS Sports Network where we sometimes discuss camel fighting dodo birds and leaky black Matt Norlander is here with me and, and we're both going to be here with you for the next hour discussing the 2025 NCAA tournament which of course gets underway tonight with the first four in Dayton, Alabama State, St. Francis, Pennsylvania. That's going to be the first game the winner advances to be a million dollar, a million point underdog rather against Auburn. After that it's going to be North Carolina against San Diego State provided the Tar Heels make it to the arena on time because travel issues. That was the big headline on Norlander. What time did Hubert Davis and his Quadrant 1 Challenge basketball team actually make it to Ohio?
- [01:40]
Stuart Mandel
Well, action can give you the timestamp. This is becoming an annual thing. Parish. There's a plane issue with the tournament every year. UConn couldn't get to the Final Four in time last year. It was like three years ago. Colorado State couldn't get a plane. The exact time of touchdown. I actually have it. I truly do have it from the staff here. I'm bringing, I got to scroll back here. I want to give you the exact accurate reporting on the podcast and CBS Sports Network. It was oh my gosh, there's so many texts. Here it goes. It was at 6:42, 6:42. They landed in Dayton and then they went right to media. Then they practice Carolina let's maybe, maybe they're going to roll and win this thing by 27 points and just, and just really just rub everyone's face in after what happened there. But they're on the ground, good to go. And it is a quick turnaround by the way. I mean, you know, they've had a few days since, since they've played but they don't find out if they're in the tournament or not till Sunday. And then, you know, if you get that first, first four game, you're like, you're, you're off and on the road and in the air, ideally early on Monday. But, but yeah, they, they had to wait, you know, a number of hours before they actually got on the ground in Ohio.
- [02:46]
Gary Parish
And the jokes were everywhere on social media. Our buddy Stuart Mandel might have won the night with the comment the plane must have run into a quadrant one opponent. Obviously in reference to what was one of the big storylines on selection Sunday. North Carolina getting an at large bid despite having a 1 in 12 record in quadrant one. I also saw out there a plane don't lie, obvious ball, don't lie reference, obvious ball, don't lie situation ball, don't lie. You know, that wasn't a foul ball, don't lie. You get that in basketball all the time here. North Carolina doesn't belong in the tournament, but they're in. Okay, but we won't let their plane get them there at a reasonable time. So interesting night. And it does seem like it's become a pretty common thing, like somebody's always having travel issues on the there now and all the teams are there now and we're going to have two basketball games tonight. Obviously Hubert Davis, kind of, kind of a magical run through the go, got there as a number 8 seed all the way to the national championship game. Do you see a scenario where you could see North Carolina having another improbable run throughout this bracket?
- [03:57]
Stuart Mandel
By that do you mean like maybe not even Final Four, but just Elite 8? Because I'd say no. But I will tell you this. Let's do awesome teams. Go ahead, go ahead.
- [04:07]
Gary Parish
How hard do you have to think from. From North Carolina for you to imagine North Carolina in the sweet 16?
- [04:15]
Stuart Mandel
That's not unthinkable. It's possible. I'll name you awesome teams right now. Creighton, Mississippi State, Georgia, Oregon. It's a five seed by the way. Arkansas, New Mexico. These are all teams that if you take the predictive metrics and the net rankings and you average them out, all those teams I just gave you, some of those are teams that are have single digit seeds. They all rank behind North Carolina in predictive metrics. UNC is a, you know, 32nd, 33rd best somewhere in that range team and a 68 team field. So it's about halfway in quality. It's not inconceivable that UNC could win on Tuesday and win its first round game. That's absolutely on the table. Even with its lack of high end wins. And here we are in the tournament and Hubert Davis has actually found some magic before. So I do put it within the realm of possibility. This is a, this is an intriguing game. I was on the, I was in studio Monday night with Wally Zerbiak, Chris Walker and Brent Stover as you've done many, many times before. And Wally was saying that he, he's never looked forward to a first four game ever more than UNC versus San Diego State because he wants to see what kind of Carolina team shows up. Are they ready to go? Are they going to make a huge statement or will they show up flat against a San Diego State team that is, you know, really, really a quality team defensively? And he brought up the fact that, you know, UNC and San Diego State, these are two schools that have been in the national title game in like the past three years. So there's a lot, there's a lot surrounding this one. What are your thoughts and how much confidence do you have that the Tar Heels will reverse course at least immediately, if not being yet another team as we get almost every year to go from the first four into at least the second round of the tourney?
- [06:01]
Gary Parish
Well, once we have a bracket and it's a single elimination tournament, all the quadrant stuff kind of goes away. Like it doesn't really matter anymore. Whatever you were, like you're now here and the path to whatever you're trying to do is, is, is right in front of you. We don't need to talk about resumes anymore. But I do think it's just interesting to take a look at this, given that North Carolina is the most controversial team in the field. And, and among the reasons is because it was 1 in 12 in quadrant one. The first thing I wanted to look at is, is San Diego State. Again, this stuff doesn't matter anymore. But would it qualify as a Quadrant 1 game? Technically, no. San Diego State is 52nd in the net neutral court. You need to be top 50. Your opponent would need to be for it to be a Quadrant one opportunity. So this is technically Quadrant two. That's good news for North Carolina. Undefeated in Quadrant two. They got emphasized a lot on selection Sunday, but this is a comparable team to the types of teams North Carolina has lost to a lot this season. I'm going to pick them, I think, to, to, to win the game, but there's nothing I've seen from this team that makes me think they'll win another one. I could see them get to the round of 64 but I don't trust them to go past, I don't trust them to go past that.
- [07:19]
Stuart Mandel
You know, this will be an intriguing matchup here. San Diego State is not a team that offensively is ultra dynamic. Dutcher's done a good job over the, over the years that he's had this, had this gig and they've had, they had the big run to the title game. Obviously we know about all of that. It's not also a big team and UNC obviously doesn't have a lot of size, so that can work in UNC's favor. Just a reminder, I'm a reminder on SDSU, this is a team that did beat Houston this season. It did beat Creighton. You know, it's, it's got, it's got some good heft on there, I think on the interior. Jared Coleman Jones is the guy really to watch because he is 610 and he can do some damage. But I, you know, I, I, I wonder if Carolina is going to try and get up and down the floor as much as, as much as possible and if it can do that, be good on the boards, pull out a win. RJ Davis got hot, you know, a couple times down the stretch. He had some, he had some words in at the press conference on Monday about, you know, I'm a paraphrase him here, but he was basically saying like, you know, people get asking me like, do we think we're a tournament team? Do we deserve, he's like, this hurts my basketball soul. Like, of course. Like we think we're good enough to be here. We deserve to be here and we're going to have a chance. And so yeah, I'm excited to watch the game. I want to see what, what Carolina does here and remember it was a year ago. We're talking about an ACC team that was in the first four and that was Virginia. And Virginia promptly did not, did not serve itself well. It had 42 points in a loss against Colorado State and that was a Virginia team that really stumbled down the stretch that folks are saying probably didn't deserve to be in the field. And then it effectively proved those people right. Carolina's going to score a lot more than 42 tonight, but the ACC is going to hope to avoid back to back years in which controversial inclusions up in Dayton don't, don't fall well short when the game gets played.
- [09:16]
Gary Parish
I do think the game is more interesting and we'll have more eyeballs on it because of the controversy connected in North Carolina's inclusion. Like Everybody thinks it should, or most people think it should have been West Virginia in North Carolina out. In theory, this could have been West Virginia against San Diego State. That's way less compelling to the broad audience than North Carolina against San Diego State under these specific set of circumstances. So I can't wait. Should be fun stuff on TRUTV before we move on. Meantime, over in West Virginia, they're still big mad about getting left out of this NCAA tournament. We touched on it yesterday. The governor held a press conference, alleged corruption. It had become a bigger story overnight into this morning. Is the selection process going to end up in front of the Supreme Court? Is that where we're headed with this?
- [10:06]
Stuart Mandel
Oh, man, I hope not.
- [10:08]
Gary Parish
I hope so.
- [10:09]
Stuart Mandel
I really hope not. Can we not, can we not have a situation where Jerry Paul needs to speak to Congress? We had to. The Supreme Court gp We don't need that. This was, this was political grandstanding at its, at its worst. It has prompt. And we talked about this on the show yesterday, so we don't know. We don't need to do a redux here. It has prompted a lot of discussion and I'm actually, I'm, I'm glad to see that it's getting more traction because I've been saying this for a long time about who comprises the selection committee. Should we diversify? Should it not be ads? You know, Bubba Cunningham stands to, in his contract legitimately benefit off of North Carolina getting into the field and advancing in the field. And I get all that. But he's also on the selection committee, so there should be real conversations and real discussion to had about who was on that committee. But no, I think your exact words were is the selection process headed to the Supreme Court? Anything's possible in this country in 2025. I really hope not. I mean, I truly hope I'm. You know how the Supreme Court, they don't even let cameras and video in. Like, it's the one institution where it's like old school. Like reporters that cover that, that beat. They literally. The photos, the videos, you see them when it, when a decision has been decided, when the verdict has come down, they're literally sprinting across the Plaza in Washington, D.C. running to file their stories and share. Don't let that be me in three years. I don't need to be sprinting out of the halls of the Supreme Court and letting you know what Judge Kavanaugh's final decision was when it came to deciding about what size the field is and who is selecting teams. I know you asking Jess but it's, it's insane that we're even here on a Tuesday in the middle of March talking about this.
- [11:55]
Gary Parish
I want Amy Comey Barrett to have to listen to testimony from Jerry Palm. And then I want us to do a live in person ion college basketball podcast from the Supreme Court all over the selection process being taken to the Supreme Court because the West Virginia governor is alleging corruption. As we said yesterday, it is not corruption. It is incompetence. Perhaps I'll go with incompetence, but it is not corruption that led to West Virginia being left out of this NCAA Tournament. Probably just incompetence. But I do think this is a place and time to reevaluate exactly who should be on the selection committee and whether it should be athletic directors and other people like that. I mean, it is true. Bubba Cunningham is going to get a big direct depos deposit because North Carolina is in this field and he would not have gotten that direct deposit if North Carolina wasn't in this field. And you can tell people as many times as you want to that you exit the room and there's no influence. But as we've talked about multiple times since this development materialized, influence exists whether you're in the room when the North Carolina discussion is happening or not. It just does among humans. And if it creates a perception of problematic things, that might be reason enough to take a new look at it. Beyond that, I say this respectfully, but there is no actual skill set any individual athletic director brings to the table that makes them a better so called bracketologist than literally anybody else on the planet. Like, it's not like, well, the reason we have ads on the committee is because they really know how to do this. You can teach anybody how to do this. You can basically anybody. You could teach how to assemble a bracket and you would get similar brackets to all the brackets we've, we've ever gotten. I, I do think this is a point where that should be a conversation. And I, I hope that, I hope that they have it. Let's move on. When we come back, we'll provide some injury updates for NCAA tournament teams. Got good news out of Alabama connected to Grant Nelson. Not so great news out of Memphis connected to Tyrese Hunter. What's the latest with Cooper Flag? We'll run through all of it next. It's the I Own College Basketball podcast. We're on CBS Sports Network.
- [14:10]
Stuart Mandel
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- [15:18]
Gary Parish
Welcome back to I Own College Basketball podcast on CBS Sports Network. Duke's Cooper Flag is the biggest name who is entering this NCAA tournament with an injury, but he's not the only one. Grant Nelson at Alabama, Tyrese Hunter at Memphis, Juwan Roberts at Houston. We'll get to all of them in a second, but first the latest on Cooper Flag. Norlander, how's his ankle doing?
- [15:40]
Stuart Mandel
Seems to be progressing along nicely enough. We talked about this at length on the Monday Bracket Breakdown show on CBS Sports Network and there was a good debate about should he even play in the first round. He may well want to. Maybe he'll be cleared. There's something to be said for actually getting game action, even if it is against a 16 seed in advance of playing what will be a true like all right, here we go. Kind of second round match up against an eight or a nine seed. But it's, you know, we talked about this recently as well. You're a doctor. I'm not we're not going to advise him specifically what to do, but it looks like it's trending in the right direction. My my read on it is that Cooper Flag is going to want to play in every single available and still be tournament game that he can, provided he feels good on that ankle. So so it wouldn't shock me whatsoever to see if he is starting when Duke plays on Friday night.
- [16:29]
Gary Parish
I am not his trainer obviously, but what he wants would, I don't want to say, not matter to me because that's not exactly true. But it would be down the list of things that matter to me pretty pretty far. My medical staff would talk to me about this. And if they said he's anything less than 100% or at any elevated risk of re aggravating it in a round of 64 game on Friday, then we're not playing in the game like this is. Duke with multiple other projected first round picks, you I know that we now live in a world where 16s have upset one seeds before. We didn't used to live in that world. We now do. But it's a wildly unlikely scenario and frankly if you can't trust that Duke roster to get past a 16 seed without Cooper flag, then, then you had bigger issues anyway. If he's 100% and just feels as perfectly as he's ever felt, by all means playing around the 64, what do I care. But the most important thing is to have him as healthy as possible, as deep into this bracket as he can get. And if playing on Friday complicates that or even possibly complicates that in any way, I personally would would rather just see him for the first time in the round of 32. Let's go down to Alabama. Encouraging news, I think out of Tuscaloosa. Nate Oates, the Alabama coach, said the imaging came back Grant Nelson. It's positive, not as bad as it could have been, not ideal. You don't even want to have to have these conversations this time of the year, but possibly he plays in the first round. They are aiming for at worst second round. If you're NATO, you got a real big sigh of relief. They've already had injury issues this season. You wouldn't want to lose your second leading score for any extended period of time heading into an NCAA tournament. So this is good news out of Tuscaloosa, right?
- [18:19]
Stuart Mandel
It is, it is. I checked in with Alabama on Monday and as things stood when I did my check in there and I know Nate also addressed the media, it sounds like they could be well, well be like a okay, if we need to hold them out, let's hold them out. But should be able to get in for the second game and then certainly there's, there's no long term doubt if Alabama can advance to the second weekend. Grant Nelson will be good to go. That's a, that's a key piece of news for the Tide, no doubt about it, because I think, you know, you're talking to a guy's got Alabama going relatively far in the tournament. I'm doing that under the understanding that Grant Nelson had a knee Tweak, but he should be healthy. He's a. He's pivotal to Alabama's national title and maybe even Final Four hopes.
- [19:01]
Gary Parish
More good news down at Houston. Juan Roberts, who missed multiple games in the Big 12 tournament with an ankle sprain, is reportedly good to go. We're expecting him to play in the round of 64, correct?
- [19:13]
Stuart Mandel
Yes. I checked in with Houston on Monday. I was told if, if Juwan Roberts suffered the injury that he has right now, if he had suffered that, say, in the Elite Eight, he would have been good to go for the next game. They held him out as a precaution. He is 100, 100% playing, which is also. Which is also good news.
- [19:31]
Gary Parish
And then at Memphis, not so great news. Nothing official from Penny Hardaway about Tyrese Hunter, who's a top three player on this roster, a guy who has played power conference basketball before, played in NC tournaments before. He has suffered a foot injury in the AAC tournament. He missed the AAC tournament title game. He was in a boot. He was on crutches. He did climb the ladder down in Texas to cut a piece of that net after the Tigers won the AAC tournament, but it wasn't an easy thing for him to do. Penny held his weekly radio show here in Memphis last night and said that they're not ready to make any sort of declaration about Tyrese Hunter one way or another. But I can just tell you everything I'm hearing suggest it's at least unlikely that he's going to play on Friday in the round of 64, and also unlikely that he plays again for Memphis in this NCAA tournament. We don't have to make any big declarations, but I'll just ask it to you this way. If Tyrese Turner is on the court for Memphis in this NCAA tournament, would that be surprising to you at this point?
- [20:38]
Stuart Mandel
I think so. It doesn't sound like it's good. I would love for that not to be the case. I actually got a chance to interview and talk with Tyrese Hu back when Memphis was in Maui, and it was an awesome interview. He also had a really great showing out there, and it is damaging. Now. P.J. haggerty could go for 40 against Colorado State. I get all that. But it's damaging not to. Not to have him. And he's a player that's, you know, there's a few guys here that are just really fun players to watch and not having them potentially at all, or at least for a number of games, it's. It's going to put limitations on certain teams. You know, Keyshawn Gilbert not going to play for the whole tournament for Iowa State. And there's actually been like there was some, we had this a year ago with Kansas as well. Like is he actually hurt enough? He had to go on social media and say no, I actually am. Like there's, there's, there's actual injury issues behind why I'm not playing. So there's that as well. Take the as you please gp but just two others that we didn't touch on. Malik Brown has a shoulder injury for Duke. He's not going to play and his timeline to to return is to be determined. And then rain. Smith is at an angle as Drew as well at Louisville, but he is going to play and that's obviously a biggie. We'll get to Louisville versus versus Creighton before the end of the show.
- [21:43]
Gary Parish
One of the things I've realized about the NBA playoffs, and not just me, but anybody who follows the NBA playoffs is every year they are often like the results are dictated by injuries. It's an ankle over here, a shoulder over there, and important players throughout the Eastern Conference and the Western Conference just aren't available. And we're running into that a little bit with the NCAA Tournament. Obviously, like two number one seeds are dealing with significant injury stuff. It sounds like it's going to be okay at both Duke and Houston, but two number one seeds losing top three players in their conference tournaments is, is, is, is never what any coaches is hoping for. So hopefully at most of these places everybody heals up as quickly as possible. But obviously at other places, specifically like Memphis, this might just be a what if situation. Penny Hardaway trying to get the Tigers to the Sweet 16 for the first time in his career. For the first time since 2009. They weren't guaranteed to do that, obviously, even with Tyrese Hunter, but it would have been easier to try to navigate this bracket, particularly with a second round possible matchup against Maryland if you had all of your most important players available. And again, it looks like Memphis might not. When we come back, let's look at some interesting matchups that we either are guaranteed to see or might see early in the bracket. Among the obvious ones, we could have a second round matchup between John Calipari at Arkansas and rick Pitino at St. John's that would obviously be fun. What are some more interesting matchups or possible matchups keep an eye on in the bracket? We're going to discuss that next. This is the Ion College Basketball Podcast. We're on CBS Sports Network.
- [23:29]
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- [24:42]
Gary Parish
Welcome back down College basketball podcast, CBS Sports Network. Let's dive into the bracket. Try to find some interesting storylines or possible storylines in the second round. I everybody has picked up on this one. We could get a classic John Caliperi Rick Patino matchup in the second round of this NCAA tournament if Arkansas and St. John's both win their first round games. That would be fun. Sign me up. Norlander, I know you've identified some other interesting matchups or possible matchups in this bracket. Run me through your favorite ones if you got a second.
- [25:13]
Stuart Mandel
I will. This is listen, I wanted to give us a little bit of an angle we haven't talked about yet and this one's intriguing and folks love to overreact. And I mean overreact sometimes appropriately so about like oh look what they're he was trying to do. I'm here to tell you that there are so many coaches that have so many relationships and so many schools that some of this stuff, no matter what combination of bracket you put together, it will be inevitable. That being said, in this beautiful, beautiful clean sheet here right now, some of the stuff to look for one's in the first round and I'll be there on Thursday, Will Wade just happens to be coaching against his alma mater, the McNeese coach, went to Clemson. You don't often get that in the first round matchup. Astro stuff that's further down the road. Danny Wolf at Michigan, it's entirely conceivable that he would have to play his former team, Yale in the second round. And I actually got to see Wolf at Yale. I live here in Connecticut, took my boys to a couple of Yale games over the past couple of years and he was incredible there. So you have that something that I think a lot of fans might not know. Texas Tech coach Grant McCaslin and Drake coach Ben McCollum, they're in the same pod and they are practically best friends. They might have to coach against each other in the second round of the west. If Drake beats Missouri and Texas Tech beats uncw. Not only are they good coaches, like their staffs know each other. So that's, that's kind of super intriguing. And all the more reason why, if you're confident about either Texas Tech or Drake making the sweet 16, why that might happen elsewhere in the bracket. Oregon, Arizona, just I love the Pac12 vibes. That's a potential second round Pac12 throwback over there in the East. Duke in Arizona, if they met in the Sweet 16 one, we've seen that in a national title game. But also those are two teams in far off places. It will actually have been the third meeting in two seasons between those two because Duke played at Arizona this year and Duke one. I was at that game and then Arizona won at Cameron last season. They could meet in the Sweet 16. Eric Bossi, who does great stuff for us at 247-Sports and has an article up@tbssports.com I believe today now gets into Brad Underwood and Sean Miller. Those two are going to coach against each other in the first four on Wednesday night and they're going to. They could both wind up coaching against Texas. Sean Miller will for sure. Brad Underwood might. As I mentioned previously, Sean Miller was a rumored about candidate for the Texas job the last time it came open before Rodney Terry got it. Brad Underwood has huge Texas ties. I'm not saying Brad Underwood wants to leave one shade of orange for another, but if and when Texas were to open, it's conceivable that Texas might have to or these two coaches might have to coach against Texas and they both, well might wind up being candidates for the next opening. Just a couple other notes here. Four teams that played in Maui, they're all in the South. I saw all these, all these teams out in Paradise. GP Auburn, North Carolina, Michigan State, Iowa State, they were all in, they were all in Maui and obviously a couple of those teams played against each other. They're all in the same region there, so a Maui flavor. And if Florida and UConn meet, if they meet in the second round, that will be the two most recent programs to win back to back national titles. And Florida will try and prevent UConn from besting it. And Yukon's albeit long shot quest to, to have a three beat. There's probably a couple more out there, but I don't know. Which one of those do you find to be the most interesting?
- [28:26]
Gary Parish
I just like the Will Wade, Clemson thing. And you're exactly right. I, I used to put together brackets like, you know, use going according to all the principles. This is the way it needs to go. And when that bracket comes out each election Sunday, I think people grab it, look at it and then find things that are interesting and sometimes go, oh, that must have been intentional. Will Wade against his alma mater. That must have been intentional. And like you said, the truth is there's almost no way to put together a 68 team bracket without finding stuff like this. We could go to three year ago bracket, seven years ago bracket, just pull it and we would be able to identify similar things. They're always there. I don't think they're ever intentional, or at least I think they're often just coincidental. But still, like the first time I ever met Will Wade, he was at Clemson. There was a time where Oliver Purnell's the head coach and I believe on staff there, running around that campus, you had Shaka Smart, you had Will Wade, you had Mike Morrell, like all these guys who are head coaches now, just sort of young assistants running around the Clemson campus. That's where I first developed relationships with, with any of them. And so obviously Will, it sounds like, has big things in his future. He's probably going to be a power conference coach again sometime soon, but for now he's still the head coach at McNeese and he will in the first round be coaching against his alma material, that's Clemson. And then obviously as this bracket unfolds in certain parts, it will unfold the way we assume in other places, not so much. And there'll be other storylines that materialize that you can't even really identify right now because you think they're wildly improbable. But there'll be a reality. That's the way the bracket tends to go year after year after year. When we come back Gonna turn our attention to a flashback segment presented by Travis Matthew. And with the first four tonight, what I want to do is take you back to the first. First four we ever had. Back when VCU started a magical run to the final four with a memory over what was at the time a Pac 12 school. We're going to do that next. This is the Ion College Basketball podcast, CBS Sports Network.
- [30:49]
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- [31:20]
Gary Parish
Welcome back to the Ion College Basketball Podcast. Now it's time for the flashback segment brought to you by Travis Matthew Apparel designed for confidence and comfort no matter where the day takes you. Today's flashback segment going to take us back to March 16, 2011. First four in Dayton. First four for the first time I was there. VCU got an at large bid out of the CAA despite being outside of the top 80 at Ken Palm. And everybody was wondering, man, what is this Bubba Cunningham up to? I'm just kidding. Bubba Cunningham had nothing to do with it. Still, it was very controversial. Very controversial. Then VCU goes to the first four. They beat USC in Dayton 5946 to advance into the main bracket. Then they beat Georgetown, Purdue, Florida State and Kansas to advance to the school's first Final Four. And they did it with a 33 year old head coach, a guy named Shaka Smart. Norlander, what, if anything, do you remember about that team, about that run, about what was clearly Shaka's rise to stardom?
- [32:28]
Stuart Mandel
You know, great choice, gp as we done our Travis Matthew Apparel here. Very comfy.
- [32:34]
Gary Parish
Look, we look like real adults. Look at us. We look like adults today.
- [32:38]
Stuart Mandel
I know.
- [32:38]
Gary Parish
Like, we kind of look like real. Like if you saw us, if you saw us out in the wild, you know what people would say about us? They kind of look like they're dressing their age. They kind of look like it's nice to see them put something on other than a T shirt. We look, we look like real people.
- [32:52]
Stuart Mandel
Other than a band T shirt. Yeah, it's all good. I met Shaka Smart for the first time this season. This was the first year I worked at cbs. VCU beat UCLA at the Garden. And I remember doing. This is all like popular now. GP we'll get to the first four running and the tournament run in a second. But I remember Shaka Smart. I asked the Sid then. This was the first time I ever interviewed a coach with someone holding a phone after. And it was, it was shocking. Smart and I that's. I remember learning like he was a huge Bears fan, had Chicago ties. We talked about all that. Little did I know at that. I'm bringing up the schedule here. They had lost to Tennessee two nights before. This is the preseason nit. Back then they beat UCLA and this team would go on not only to make the tournament. You want to flashback to a different era, 23 and 11 in the CAA and got in that large bid. I mean that is near unthinkable now in the modern era with conference realignment. But. But that's good stuff. And they were controversial inclusion. I remember there was a lot said because VCU at one point it went from 18 and 5 to 23 and 11. So it really was tripping over its shoelaces down the stretch. Nevertheless, it gets in, beats usc. And the Kansas game is what I think most people remember because VCU went insane from three point range. That game was in the Alamo Dome. Oh, by the way, this year's Final Four will be there. And VCU hit 12 three pointers on 25 attempts. About 28%. Meantime, Kansas went super cold. 2 of 21. That Bill Self team couldn't break on through. That was a Kansas team. Oh, by the way, that featured the likes of the Morris Twins, Tyson Taylor, Thomas Robinson, Brady Morningstar. Meantime, VCU set a. I. You know, it's funny GP as I just talked with Shaka last week at the Garden because we were talking about this team, his current team, not being a great three point shooting team and he had mentioned that his VCU team in 2011, it was just okay. But it got aberrationally hot. And he was like, I don't know if anyone's ever broken that record. VCU made 53 threes on its way to the Final Four. That was a record at the time. I got to imagine that has actually since been beaten given how teams shoot. But maybe it, maybe it actually hasn't. Regardless, I remember the three point barrage. I remember Joey Rodriguez and how awesome he was running the point. Jamie Skeen, Brad Burgess, who. I think, I think Burgess hit the shot against FSU in the sweet 16. That was the overtime win and the real moment was like, whoa, we might have something here. So vcu like they happened after George Mason, but they were the next mid major that really Mason kicked it off in 06, but after VCU and Butler as well. I should, I should correct that, but it was Mason, then Butler and then vcu. Doing it again is like we might really might have something here. And obviously since then we've had others. Loyola Chicago being notable, but that was a really, really fun team. Love those dudes. And Joey Rodriguez to me is like an all time awesome vintage college basketball point guard. Ton of fun. Can't believe Shaka was only 33 when it happened.
- [35:52]
Gary Parish
Shouts to Javante Redick. I remembered it this way some of the stuff you just said, but I wanted to go back and confirm it last night, so I did. The three point shooting stuff is interesting the way you framed it. This is the way I remembered it. VCU played 34 games that season before the NCAA tournament and made double digit threes in a game. One time, one out of 34. They did it four times in the NCAA tournament. They just got crazy hot, crazy hot from three and literally started shooting the ball in a way from the perimeter that they had not shot it all season long and got to the final four. It became a huge story because it was VCU like this little mid major that maybe wasn't even supposed to be in the tournament because it had the young head coach Shaka. The name helped. All of a sudden everybody just run around yelling Shaka. Shaka became a Shaka. Went from somebody nobody knows to a one name celebrity Within a matter of weeks he went from a one name.
- [36:55]
Stuart Mandel
He was diving on the floor during practice and shoot arounds like getting up, guarding his guys. Like it was, it was a whole big thing. Yeah, no doubt. Yeah.
- [37:02]
Gary Parish
So here's what's funny. Shock and I just told you, when I first met him, he was an assistant at Clemson. We were probably in our late 20s, early 30s the first time we met each other. And then he was an assistant at Florida and like we were, we're around the same age. I think I'm maybe three or four months older than him. It might not look that way, but.
- [37:21]
Stuart Mandel
I think I'm only about three or four months anyway. Continue.
- [37:24]
Gary Parish
I think I'm only about three or four months older than him. So he would come into Memphis to recruit and I at the time I was hosting like a Monday Night Football trivia thing at a local bar. And so one Monday he was in town recruiting he was like, hey, what are you up to? And I was like, I've got to host this thing, but you're welcome to come by. And so he, like, comes to the Monday Night Football trivia thing, all right? And I introduced him to my friends and we're just having a good time. We hang out all night long, all right? And I swear to God, this is so funny. It's like, fast forward two years later or three years later, VCU is on this run and I get like text messages from my friends and they're like, gp, this VCU thing is crazy. This guy Shaka is amazing. And I'm like, you don't even remember, but you sat and had quesadillas with him during Monday Night Football two years ago. You don't even remember who you were with, but it's the same guy. You're now blown away by. It really went from nothing to everything very quickly. And he's obviously been a big name in the sport ever since. So I, I don't remember why I was at the first four, other than. I think it was just the first one and we were already there. And yeah, I think that must have.
- [38:34]
Stuart Mandel
Been vintage Parish, by the way. I absolutely remember that was my first season writing for cbs. They had never had Dayton first four, period. It was a. It was a big, intriguing thing. And yeah, you wanted to, you wanted. I'm telling you why you went. You don't even remember. You wanted to go. You wanted to cover it. You wanted to see what this was going to mean. Were these teams going to be terrible just to. We needed someone there. This is also, back in the day, we sent a writer to every single site, no matter what. And so you did that. I went off to Denver the next week and that. That site was. Was littered with upsets. Denver is now hosting a first round pod. This, this, this tournament as well. So I want to think, I want.
- [39:10]
Gary Parish
To think there was a pod.
- [39:11]
Stuart Mandel
This is a fun flashback, gp, Just thinking about that run. Obviously, Butler making the title game. UConn won it all that year. Pretty cool season. Pretty cool tournament for college hoops.
- [39:21]
Gary Parish
I just sort of remembering it in real time. I think there might have been a pod in Columbus, Ohio that year as well. And I think I might have gone straight from Dayton to Columbus to cover the first round and second rounds there. I don't really remember, but it's one of those deals. I've always appreciative that I happen to be in Philadelphia for Florida Gulf coast, just to witness that. One of the great mid major stories of, of our adult lives. And I also happen to be in Dayton for VCU's start of its final four run. And I'm, I, I was glad Cleveland, by the way to be there. It was Cleveland. That's exactly right. It was Cleveland. I went from Dayton to Cleveland. But that's, that's now I'm starting to remember how my life has unfolded. Your help. I just needed your, I just needed your help. But it was fun to be there. And just as I was going back last night and reading about it and looking at old videos, it was, it was, it was a fun flashback. And that was the flashback segment brought to you by Travis Matthew Apparel designed for confidence and comfort no matter where the day takes you. Appreciate Travis Matthew sending all the stuff like I'm ready to go the golf course, buddy. Look at me. I mean, I ain't got time.
- [40:25]
Stuart Mandel
Me too. I'd love, there's definitely no time, but I'm ready. But there's, there is zero time.
- [40:32]
Gary Parish
Oh, I'm gonna look so good on the golf course. Thanks to Travis Matthew. Appreciate you guys. When we come back, we'll do the final four and one presented by FanDuel Sports. But we're gonna pick all the first four games and the first game of the actual like round of 64, we'll do that right after this break. It's the Ion College Basketball Podcast. We're on CBS Sports Network.
- [40:59]
F
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- [41:34]
Gary Parish
It's time for the Final Four and one presented by FanDuel Sportsbook. Make every moment more. If you are a regular listener of the podcast, you know that typically on Fridays we're going to take, I'll pick four games. Norlander will pick the fifth. We do it against the spread. They're called expert picks. They're below 500. But, but we're trying hard. We want to, we want to be good at this. We're working on it. You ready? Norlander game one.
- [41:57]
Stuart Mandel
This is going to be the fastest final four and one ever. GP let's go.
- [42:00]
Gary Parish
St. Francis, Pennsylvania against Alabama State tonight inside Obi Toppin arena in Dayton. Alabama State minus four and a half. How you gonna act?
- [42:10]
Stuart Mandel
You bet. It's Obi Top and Arena. I'm going with. I'm going with some personal bias, some recency bias, while Tony Madlock is rocking a killer, killer Alabama State hat. If you've not seen it, it's awesome. I'm going to go with St. Francis here, Psalm win in the NSC tournament. These are the two lowest rated teams in the field, but I will go with Rob Krimmel's crew to get it done and win. Keep an eye. We're obviously going to pick both of these 16 on 16 matchups. More years than not. These 16s, these 16 on 16 games, one of them is usually pretty dang dramatic in the final 3, 4, 5 minutes. It may well be this one. I will go with St. Francis to cover, and I'm going to take St. Francis straight up.
- [42:53]
Gary Parish
If you can go with personal bias, so can I. Tony Madlock, like myself, University of Memphis graduate, graduate, played for the Tigers once upon a time. I've known Tony for a long time. So thrilled to finally see him after decades of an assistant coach, get a head coaching opportunity. And now he's at Alabama State with his son as his third leading scorer. TJ Matlock in the NCAA tournament. Awesome stuff. I'll take Alabama State. I'll lay the points. Game 2, North Carolina against San Diego State inside Jalen Crutcher arena tonight in Dayton. Tariffs.
- [43:33]
Stuart Mandel
I see what you're just. They're gonna. They're gonna switch over. They're gonna take out the name, place. This is going to go from OB Top into Jalen Crutcher in a matter of 30 minutes.
- [43:39]
Gary Parish
Yes, we have 30 minutes and that's plenty of time.
- [43:43]
Stuart Mandel
Gotcha. Okay, I just want to make sure that we were all on the same page there. We talked about a ton about this game. This number's too big for me. I will take San Diego State to cover.
- [43:52]
Gary Parish
I will also take the Aztecs to cover. Just because I know where this is going to go. I was just on TV for two straight days talking about North Carolina didn't belong in the tournament. If North Carolina wins, a lot of people will try to tell you it proves that they belong in the tournament. It won't be true. Nothing that happens after Selection Sunday has anything to do with what should have happened on Selection Sunday. I hope we know that, but I know we don't. I know we don't. I'm trying to avoid stupidity. Give me San Diego State plus the four and a half. Game three, first four tomorrow, Mount St. Mary's against American inside Scoochy Smith Arena. It's American minus two and a half.
- [44:31]
Stuart Mandel
I'm going to go American here to win and to cover Mount St. Mary's a nice story. Donnie Lynn getting the. Getting them going just immediately and. And winning that conference. But I will go with. I will go with the Eagles to fly. No, I will not be making an Eagle noise here on the show. If the Eagles can somehow be a 16 over one. Winner gets Duke. Winner gets Duke, right? We make an Eagle noises if the winner here beats the Blue Devils. Not doing that right now. Give me American.
- [44:57]
Gary Parish
I don't know how to do an ego impersonation right off the top of my head, but I can learn one. I mean, I learned a peacock impersonation from the ride from the CBS broadcast center to my hotel in the middle of the night one night. No problem learning an Eagle impersonation if I need to. I will. Like one team has Matt Rogers and the other team doesn't. What do you want me to do? I'm taking American minus the two and a half inside Scoochy Smith Arena. Game four tomorrow night, Xavier against Texas in the first four. This one's in Charles Cook Arena. Xavier minus three and a half.
- [45:34]
Stuart Mandel
Feel like you're missing a really good flyer here, but that's okay. I will go. Texas has been just so up and down. I'll tell you what. I will take Xavier to win and cover. So give me Xavier over under gp. Combined points from Trey Johnson and Ryan Conwell. I'm going to set it at 55 and a half. Conwell and Johnson, you're taking the over there under who you got in the game.
- [45:58]
Gary Parish
I think I'll go under on that just because I think that's probably statistically the smart thing to do. I'll take Xavier simply because I like to say I told you so sometimes. And I believe Xavier should have been in this tournament. I do not believe Texas should have been in this tournament. I'll take Xavier to win the game. I'll lay the three and a half. Game five. That's yours. And I know you're going with the first game on Thursday. That's going to jump into our television. Creighton and Louisville. We got it at Louisville -two and a half. I named the arena. It's technically rupt, but I called it Michael Kidd Gilchrist Arena.
- [46:30]
Stuart Mandel
Okay, this is on. And I named the court. This is on Tayshawn Prince court. This is the 9 8, first tip CBS 1215 Eastern. And as the line stands right now we've got Xavier. I mean, excuse me, Xavier. We've got Louisville being the favorite team by two and a half, I believe. GP I'm going Creighton straight up. This is probably an idiotic pick. Louisville is going to have as much more fans in that building than maybe in the history of that building down there in Lexington. They are misleated. They're both really good teams. Ryan Kalkbrenner is going to be a big factor. I mentioned Rain. Smith will be back for the Cards, but I will take the Jays. That's where you'll find them in my bracket@cbssports.com Louisville is under seated.
- [47:10]
Gary Parish
That's the bad. But gets to play 70 minutes from its home. That's the good. They'll have a home court advantage. I'll take Louisville to win the game and cover that number. Kelsey goes into the round of 32 where you get a presumed second round matchup against the number one overall seed, the Auburn Tigers. The basketball's almost here. Can't wait for it to get tipped off. Appreciate all you guys spending an hour with us. Shouts to Devin Downey. Shouts to Chester, South Carolina. Terry Teagle's a legend. Hook Larnell. Once again, thank you guys for watching the I Own College Basketball podcast. If you're not subscribed, please go subscribe. We'll talk to you again real soon. Till then, take care.
- [48:00]
Unknown
School Spirits is the phenomenon that gripped audiences everywhere.
- [48:05]
Stuart Mandel
Where is my body?
- [48:06]
Unknown
And in the all new season on.
- [48:08]
Gary Parish
Paramount, the girl you saw out in the world isn't me.
- [48:11]
Unknown
Get the answers.
- [48:12]
Stuart Mandel
Wait, does that mean that you're not dead?
- [48:13]
Unknown
We are running out of time everyone's been dying for.
- [48:17]
Stuart Mandel
You have no idea what I'm capable of.
- [48:20]
Gary Parish
What other secrets are you keeping?
- [48:24]
Unknown
Stream the new season of School Spirits now on Paramount.