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Eye On College Basketball
BRACKET REACTION: Selection Sunday recap, first thoughts on all four regions, Miami U in First Four, seeds we disagree with most
01:16:05
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- [00:00]
Matt Norlander
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- [01:46]
Gary Parrish
Hey there, I am Gary Parish. Welcome back CBS Sports High On College Basketball podcast sometimes we discuss Camel Fighting, Dodo Birds, Leaky Black Matt Norlander is here with me. He's making out with a bracket. If you're watching on YouTube honor Brandon Davies that like button. Smash the like button. And if you haven't yet subscribed to the CBS Sports I own College Basketball podcast, please also do that wherever you subscribe to podcasts like Apple and Spotify. Let's get into it. The bracket for the 2026 NCAA tournament is officially set. There are 68 teams in it. Miami, Ohio is one of them. Auburn, Oklahoma are not. But the SEC still led all conferences with 10 bids. Norlander, good to see you on this Selection Sunday. We got here before midnight. Are you ready to talk about this bracket? If so, if so, start now.
- [02:43]
Matt Norlander
I am ready. I didn't know the SEC had the most teams in the tournament until you just told me. Just we're going to Dive in college.
- [02:51]
Gary Parrish
But some college basketball analysts you are.
- [02:54]
Matt Norlander
I got. Oh, I got, I got plenty for you. Okay. I got, I got loaded up with notes. I just. It didn't come up on hq. I didn't realize the SEC had done good for the sec. We have a very, very, very big live audience and we love this show every single year. Just as a reminder, this is almost. It's mandatory, but also by design, this is seat of our pants stuff. No idea which way the show is going to go. I am bowing down to the gods that this might be a record. Since we've had HQ and I've had studio duty. When you've had studio duty, I don't think we've ever started this early. I'm all ready to dive into the bracket. How about some quick overviews and let's just, let's just take it as it comes to us. And by the way, if anyone's listening or watching right now, I interviewed the committee chair, Keith Gill on hq. That is in the podcast feed. It was about a 9 minute interview. Tried to squeeze in as much as possible, quite understandably. So he goes on big CBS then to us. Was he on CBS Sports Network? Gp Gil, did you get the committee chair as well? He's got like.
- [03:53]
Gary Parrish
No, we had, we had. I talked. I personally talked to Martin Newton.
- [03:58]
Matt Norlander
Okay, Martin Newton. So we got that as well. Anyway, the point is we got it in. I. If I could have made it 15 minutes, I would, but we are on a very tight schedule and I try and get as much as possible. Frankly, committee chair wise, I thought Gil was about as good as any committee chair that has been, not just today, but in the past two months, quite literally in the past decade or so. We could start with a number of things. To me, it's not a lot of drama with the ones at all. Like not debatable. So we're gonna have plenty of podcasts and talking about the, the matchups and we'll get to that as well. I just, there's. There's no room to talk about anything interesting with the ones. Michigan loss, Arizona jumped it. So it's one Duke, two Arizona, three Michigan and four Florida. We knew that would be the case there. There's some teams on sea lines that I'm a little curious by. I remember hopping on the show last year if my brain's working correctly. And we didn't really have too many issues overall with the bracket. We had some confounding reactions to Carolina getting in, but overall not a ton of gripes. I think there's a couple teams that I got issue with, but we might as well start with Miami because I, I do think, and I was wondering if we were going to go here regardless. But let's dive into this. Miami is 37th and wins above bubble. It's in the field. There was some initial confusion over where Miami was actually in the field because the way that our buddy Seth Davis, who listens to the show. Appreciate you, he said Miami was the last team in the field. That is not technically the case. So I'm going to be very quick on this. If anyone listened to the committee interview, you know what the case is. What happened was Miami was voted into the field. So the committee, as it was getting down to it, it was saying, okay, what teams are still going to be under consideration? What teams are we putting into the field? When that happened, Miami was put in the field and there were still three more at large spots that had not been accounted for. So Miami University was not the last team in the field. It got in with plenty of room to spare. It. It would have survived getting into the field if there were three more bid thieves. That's cool. I like to see that. I thought Miami would be an 11 that wasn't going to Dayton. No, it is an 11 that is going to Dayton. What then happened was once they determined that it was going to be NC State and Texas and smu, those were going to be the final teams. Then they seed scrub again and those teams come up on the board and first they would have said, and I don't have the 160, that's the one thing I don't have in front of me. They went to the 1 to 68 list and they said, okay, Miami is here and do you think it's better than this team? And I'm actually going to give you the specific team gp and then I'll throw it over to you because I know I tweeted out the 1 to 68 earlier today. So Miami on the overall seed list is 44. It wound up 44. Then it's SMU, Texas, NC State, Texas a and M was the lowest seeded team not going to Dayton. So there were conversations about Miami versus Texas A M, Miami potentially versus Missouri, and every single time that they talked about the redhawks, they said, which team do you think is better? And so when they did that, Miami dropped below NC State and then it dropped below Texas and then it dropped below smu. It could not drop any lower. It was not in danger of falling out of the tournament. It was always going to be in. So as it stands, Miami is the lowest at large team Behind Miami is VCU at 45, South Florida at 46, McNeese at 47 and then Akron in its own conference two bit Mac for the first time since 99 with Wally, of course, who was the outlast team that year, Miami. So Miami's in. I'm not going to get on here and and complain too much that they're going to Dayton. I didn't think they should. I think you should reward an undefeated regular season. But quite, quite clearly, even though they got in with some room to spare, which is I, I think is important context, they looked at the predictive numbers. They saw zero Quad one wins. They saw zero wins over high major teams. They saw only two wins over the field, Akron and Wright State. And because of that the committee knew that they were going to be safe and they said, okay, we're going to ship them to Dayton. And oh by the way, I don't know how much that you talked about this. We talked about a little on the HQ set tonight. They are going to Dayton, so they are getting an extra game. But they do get the benefit of being local. Less than an hour away and that fan base is going to flood that arena. SMU is going to be playing a road game on Wednesday night on True tv. Your thoughts on Miami.
- [07:53]
Gary Parrish
You said you're not going to complain too much about them getting sent to Dayton. You know what? I don't think I'll complain at all. Like I understand it. I like it when you ask somebody in charge of something a question and they actually answer it and it's sensible. And that's what happened with both Martin and Keith. I thought they both handled the questions well, answered the answer them directly and made sense. And I say, I use that as a compliment because not every committee chair or co chair has been able to answer the questions.
- [08:24]
Matt Norlander
I'm never going to say bad ones, but there have been ones that have been extremely frustrating with this. And this is not the case with Keith. He did a great job.
- [08:29]
Gary Parrish
I agree. And so when you ask the question, just explain it to me like I'm 5 years old and see if it makes sense. And I thought they did a very good job of doing that. They did it essentially the same way you did. First thing we're doing is putting teams in the field. They're in the field. We got them in the field, but now we're going to scrub again for seating purposes. And when you start doing that, what you Find out pretty quickly is, is that Miami University is 39 spots lower at Ken Palm. And that's just one metric, but it's the easiest one to look up. It's 39 spots lower at Ken Palm than any other at large team. I think the next lowest at large team was UCF and Miami's 39 spots below them. So that just makes sense to me. We all believed, well, most of us believed an undefeated regular season team from the Mac or basically anywhere else belongs in an NCAA tournament. If we can't find a spot in a 60, 18 tournament for a team that just went undefeated in the regular season, like something's wrong, seriously burn it all down.
- [09:36]
Matt Norlander
And, and I'm glad this precedent was set because if it, if they, if they had missed, honestly, I would have been furious. Hopping on the show. We would have had to completely destroy the system and start, start a new. Now we know no matter how bad your non con SOS is, you, you run the table, you're getting into the tournament. And a very important precedent was set here tonight with Miami's inclusion.
- [09:54]
Gary Parrish
And you know what? I'm fine with it because I heard somebody suggest, well, this will encourage people to not. If you really think you can schedule in a way that allows you to go undefeated, good luck. Go try it. All right? I don't care who you are, you're probably not going to do it. Even if you're trying to schedule to go undefeated, you're probably not going to do it. So if that's, if that's the new precedent, and I know it's not written anywhere but like you go undefeated in the regular season, we will put you in the bracket. I'm fine with that. If you can't find a spot, it's not a 12 team tournament, it's 68. We got room. All right? And if you got to knock out one of these mediocre power conference teams with a billion losses to find a place for them, I'm also fine with that. Those teams had a million opportunities to prove they were worthy and they fell too often. So we all believe they should be in the bracket. But then when you start, okay, now let's, if you're really going to make it that simple. We put these teams on a court, who do you think is going to win? I mean, Miami University would be a significant underdog against any at large team. Any at large team. And as long as you can acknowledge that's true, then Dayton is probably where they belong. And I notice that maybe some Dayton fans, I Mean, some, some Miami Ohio fans, you know, had their sights set on advancing straight into the main bracket. And I get that. I'm not telling you not to be disappointed. I'm just saying if I'm being completely honest, I kind of get it. And it didn't, it didn't outrage me.
- [11:19]
Matt Norlander
Yeah, I understand. And, and on a certain level I do as well because teams that got in and I got to look this up, I've just been so busy, I haven't had time to look at everything. Teams got in, I believe bringing up the web right now. Okay, so web teams that got into the field, did anyone that was. Did, did we have it? And I asked Keith Gill this. He said there's not a cutoff, but I actually wonder if the, if the numbers bear that out. So Auburn. No, it did not. Okay. Auburn was 44 in web. SMU was 45, Texas was 46, and there's the cut. So just for official bookkeeping purposes, the best web teams from in that large perspective did not get into the field with a line drawn of delineation. With the worst, Auburn didn't get in. And it looks like that's the only one, by the way. Auburn didn't get in because it went 17 and 16 as expected. Oklahoma the closest, then Auburn, then San Diego State. And anyway, I was, I was curious on that. I thought about it on the desk. We never talked about it on, on hq. And I wanted to look here and that's, that's the case. What we have. But when you juxtapose that with the predictives as we go live here. Ken Palm 93 for Miami Torvik 86 BPI 93 the net tries to kind of marry both concepts without really doing it is predictive. It's 64 in the net. We have a precedent setting, inclusion and quite clearly the committee said they deserve to be in the field. But now that they're in, we know what their team quality is according to what we've seen. They've also been winning some close games late and, and we'll see on that last thing, just in terms of the cut line. Take it away gp Auburn not getting in, not shocking important decision there. Not even that it was the first team out, but there was even some buffer there. You can't have a 16 team, 16 loss team in the tournament. You can't have a team that's one game above.500 in the tournament. The name of the game is to win games and you get plenty of cracks of the bat stepping up to the plate. Whatever. I'll abuse the, the analogy there, but. Or the metaphor, I should say. But Auburn didn't deserve to get in. And, and I know they made a push in recent days. I just, I didn't find it remotely compelling. Too many losses, not enough. And, and I thought that was also important as well. I'll note our bracketology model went 68 for 68, which is terrific. Generally speaking, you get 66 out of 68, you should be doing your job in my opinion. This year, though, the cut between smu. I thought SMU would be the last one, but if you want to get into any of that chunk of teams, smu, Texas, I actually thought Missouri would be in the first four, so there were some prizes there. But the line between in the field and then I thought it was Oklahoma and then Auburn and then San Diego State. When you really got in, they had Indiana fourth. Get out of here with that nonsense. But regardless, I thought this was a particular season where there was not a lot of room for debate around the bubble cut line. Any thoughts on the teams that didn't get in or any other surprises like NC State's going to Dayton. That is semi inspiring from the committee only in that I didn't love the resume, but I actually thought because of NC State's. I want to say NC State was like three or four games above.500 in road, in neutral, and I thought that would carry the day. But I fully acknowledge and understand that when they're talking all these teams, not every single data point is always going to get put out there. I wouldn't have State in the, in the, and going to Dayton. I'm surprised Missouri's not kind of surprised UCF isn't. And sitting there with a 10. Your thoughts about the teams that aren't going to win the title might not be a threat to get the Sweet 16, but let's get the, the lower end stuff out of the way.
- [14:46]
Gary Parrish
I mean, I could, I could move somebody who's an 11 seed up to a 10 or somebody that's a 10 to Dayton. But broadly speaking, I don't think there's a team that was left out of this tournament that has any real reason to complain or yell. And I don't think there's a team that's been placed into this tournament that was done so in ways that absolutely make no sense to most people. Last season we had the North Carolina thing and that was the dominant Selection Sunday outrage moment, in part because Bubba's on, you know, was the committee. It was nobody, nobody was genuinely suggesting anything out of line. But it just, the optics weren't great. And then North Carolina got in and that was the one everybody was yelling about. I, there's just not one for me to yell about. I, I, I, I, I didn't do a, a projected bracket. Sometimes I'll just put it on a little document, tweet it out and say, here it is. I didn't even do that today because I was working on other things. But I, I think based on the way I've been talking about this, these are the, these are the 68 teams that, that I think probably belonged in. And anybody on the outside looking in like you, you had opportunities probably and you, you didn't do enough. To me, the, the, the, the and again, we're just, I think nitpicking here,
- [16:05]
Matt Norlander
but we're here to pick nits on this part with this show is about we, let's pick nits. What do you got?
- [16:10]
Gary Parrish
Okay, so the thing that stood out to me was there's two St. John's being a five seed seemed a little low. Just a little. But, but, but low given that they're 19 and one in their past 20 outright Biggies champs. Biggies tournament champs. Two wins over Connecticut, two wins over Villanova. In this stretch, I would have had St. John's better seated than this. And then, and I think you tweeted about this one as well. McKenzie brought this up on CBS Sports Network. She, of course, you know, running our CBS Sports bracketology, Vanderbilt getting a five seed. You know, I had Vanderbilt at 13 in the final top 25 and one that will publish Monday morning. That would equate to the best four seed. Instead there are five. They're 12th at Kinpom, which again equates to a three seed. Yeah, that just seemed like just slightly off. I don't think there's maybe a whole bunch of teams that, that I think they probably missed by two seed lines. But Vandy might be one where you could argue they deserve a three and instead they got a five.
- [17:19]
Matt Norlander
So I'll take those in the order that you talked about them. The only reason that St. John's didn't get a four, this is my reasoning and I just don't see how it could be any other reason than this is St. John's did not beat a single NCAA tournament team in non conference play. And the Biggies being down also didn't help matters. And so SJU ends up on the five line. I don't like it. Now you can say it's a Power conference and only had three bids. I get that you double sweep a power five league with a record that's as good as St. John's I mean Riccatino's team enters into this NCAA tournament at 28 and 6. Should have been a. I should have been a four, not a five. Not the end of the world, but didn't like it. Vanderbilt's even less excusable our bracketology model and I don't know if I fully agreed with it, but if I didn't, I was one difference in model overall. If Vanderbilt had beat Arkansas, I actually think you could have made the case that it should have been the final two and it is a five now. I thought I had going into the selection show and knowing the result, I had Vandy as the best four on the board. So I had Emma in order. I had msu, then Gonzaga, then Illinois, then Virginia as my threes and then I had Vandy, then Nebraska, then Arkansas, then St. John's as my fours. Vandy got screwed more than any team in this field because they shouldn't be a five. Not only are they a five and I don't have the seedless up in front of me, I'll see how that breaks down. They've got to play McNiece, my man. They've got to play a McNiece team that has guys that was in the, that were in the tournament last season. A McNeese team that is top 70 at Kenpa. 285 team. A McD team that has high level power, five transfers on the roster and you get into the tournament, you get who you get. You got to win the games. No complaining. Lace them up. Let's go. I get all that, but Mandy got effed. It just did. Like it's not the biggest, most egregious thing. Last year, Michigan getting a five when it, when they had no business being on the five line may have been even worse. I was just, I was surprised by this. This is a Vandy team that has defeated UCF, VCU, St. Mary's SMU, Alabama, Kentucky, Texas A and M, Georgia, Tennessee twice and Florida. Those are all NCAA tournament teams. That's a team with the 268 record and it's a five. That's a miss seed. I don't know how it happened, but it is fairly egregious. Again, not a, not a plight against humanity, but. And if I, if you got to take one, if you want to move it from the five line to the four line, you got to switch one out our fours are Arkansas should be a four. Alabama, I have Alabama's a five. Kansas has a four. I'd have Kansas as a five personally and we've got Nebraska as a four. Nebraska fits on the four line. So I would have I Kansas has a four. You're gonna have to explain to me. I don't understand that at all. But then again, if Bill Self wins, he could well have one of the very best coaches ever waiting for him in the second round in Rick Patino.
- [20:29]
Gary Parrish
Just like you. I would have had Vanderbilt. I've mentioned I've got him 13th in the final top 25 and 1. You know, I do try to, I do try to evaluate these teams at this point in the season similar similarly to the way the committee would. So that would have been best number four seed just like you. I would have had them as the best number four, not as a number five. I think after complimenting the committee for broadly doing an impressive job, I think they, they messed up on, on Vanderbilt or, or missed something there. But you know, we can move on. Let's take a break and then when we come back, if you don't mind, I want to focus on the east region because that looks like the most interesting one. Big names, big brands. We'll talk through it next. First, Josh, get us a word from our partners.
- [21:15]
Matt Norlander
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- [21:46]
Gary Parrish
Parish from the Ion College Basketball Podcast reminding you that the big college basketball tournament is just right around the corner. Been a great season. Can't wait to cover what will be the my 23rd straight tournament. Hand to heart, I'm telling you there's nothing like being there live. If you can, you should try it. When you do, use game time because game time has the lowest price guarantee or gametime will credit you 110% of the difference so you can shop and purchase with confidence. You know my family's coming up to New York to visit me while I'm working. I decided I want to take them to the conference tournament in midtown Manhattan. So I looked at Friday session four, clicked on four tickets, dozens of options popped up. Found four in the lower level, clicked on that one Click later. I'm paying just like that. We got conference tournament tickets in nyc. It's going to be a blast. Take the guesswork out of buying college basketball tickets with Game Time. Download the Game time app, create an account and use code I for $20 off your first purchase terms. Apply again, create an account and redeem code EYE for $20 off. Download the Gametime app today. All right, Norlander, we're settling this right now. We're doing a pizza topping draft.
- [22:48]
Matt Norlander
A full on pizza draft. Two loaded pizza builds just 9.99 each with Domino's best deal ever. I am ready.
- [22:55]
Gary Parrish
GP all right, I'll go first. Let's go. Handmade pan crust, pepperonis, extra cheese, jalapenos, onions and garlic parmesan sauce, please.
- [23:04]
Matt Norlander
Garlic parmesan sauce. Okay, I'm going thin crust, red sauce, spinach. You know what, give me some banana peppers too. Thin crust. It's the four seat of all pizzas. I stand by it.
- [23:16]
Gary Parrish
See, this is why this deal is perfect. Everyone gets exactly what they want.
- [23:21]
Matt Norlander
Especially for a watch party. You can build all the large pizzas you need, customize each and every single one and keep the whole crew happy for just 999 each.
- [23:29]
Gary Parrish
Any toppings, any combo. That's why this is Domino's Best deal ever. With Domino's Best Deliver, you can get any pizza with any toppings for just 9.99. Prices higher in some locations. Select this online only offer from 223 to 4. 6 size availability varies by crust. TYP max 7 toppings, 6 for New York style and pan crust. Stuffed crust is extra. Excludes XL and specialty pizzas. Minimum purchase required for delivery prices, participation, delivery area and charges may vary. Duke is the number one overall seed in this NCAA tournament. Man, they are in a loaded east region trivia time. There are six programs in the East Region that have won multiple national championships. Can you name them in less than 10 seconds?
- [24:15]
Matt Norlander
Say it again. Hold on. Say it again.
- [24:16]
Gary Parrish
There are six programs in the East Region that have won multiple national championships.
- [24:22]
Matt Norlander
Yes. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Off top of my head. Duke, Yukon, ucla, Michigan State. I'm trying not to look at the brack windows here. There's six.
- [24:35]
Gary Parrish
Six
- [24:39]
Matt Norlander
Multiple Ohio State and trying to pull this from my brain. Louisville, Is that. Am I good?
- [24:45]
Gary Parrish
But you better try somebody else's brain. Your brain ain't working so well. Ohio State 1 in Ohio State 1 NCAA tournament victory. Kansas has multiple. Bill Self got two himself.
- [24:57]
Matt Norlander
Idiot.
- [24:58]
Gary Parrish
I mean, I wasn't gonna say it. I wouldn't. I wouldn't talk to a co worker like that. I took that. I took that harassment course online.
- [25:07]
Matt Norlander
I'm calling myself. I tried to do it from memory, I don't think.
- [25:10]
Gary Parrish
I think based on my harassment training, I'm not allowed to call a co worker an idiot. But if you want to call yourself one for forgetting that Kansas has won multiple national championships, I won't step in. That's going to be between you.
- [25:22]
Matt Norlander
I got a sad trombone for me. Hold on. There we go. Yeah. Yeah.
- [25:26]
Gary Parrish
That's going to be for you. That's. That's going to be between you and you. Whether you want to call yourself an idiot, that's between you and you. The programs with multiple national titles in the East Region, Duke, Yukon, Michigan State, Kansas, UCLA and Louisville. And how about this?
- [25:40]
Matt Norlander
Coaches trivia time.
- [25:45]
Gary Parrish
There's already three Naismith Memorial hall of Famers. I. We don't have to do that again. Tom Izzo, Bill Self, Rick Patino, Dan Hurley will be a Naismith Memorial hall of Famer at this point. At this point. Hard to imagine John Shire not being a Naismith Memorial hall of Famer. I know it's early, but he's on track. I mean, you got five guys at least, and you got in this region, you got five guys who project as future hall of Famers, plus the greatest coach in UCLA history. What you gonna do about. What you gonna do?
- [26:15]
Matt Norlander
Trivia time. Okay, how many total national titles are represented in the East Region by the head coaches?
- [26:23]
Gary Parrish
Okay. Two, Three, Five. Seven. Seven is my answer.
- [26:36]
Matt Norlander
See what this button. Does the button do anything? No. Hold on. Let's see if I can get this for you. I think I got it. That's correct. That's a correct air horn. It's seven. Hurley and Patino have two, Self has two, and Izzo has one. There we go. And. And how about this? This is a hell of a nugget from our research team. The East Region has schools with a combined 32 national titles. That's the second most ever for a single region at the start of an NCAA tournament in 2022. The East Region that year had 35 combined national titles among the schools represented. So this is a beast of a region, both historically in the context of this year. Can I go a big picture on you? What do you make of the fact that. What do you make of the fact that the number one overall seed has what I think? Now, it might not break this way. It often doesn't. But going in objectively, this is the toughest region. And you Have a shorthanded Duke team that was given the toughest road, if I remember correctly. And boy, I might not be doing this. I want to say either last year or the year before or maybe both years. I feel like we've hopped on the show and done the same exact thing where it's like, why did the number one overall see you actually wind up getting the toughest road theoretically to the Final Four? To me it looks like it's the case right now.
- [27:47]
Gary Parrish
I also remember that happening in a different year. Don't remember the year or the team, but I do remember having the conversation. Probably a conversation pretty similar to the one we're going to have right now. I should point out, for whatever it's
- [28:00]
Matt Norlander
worth,
- [28:03]
Gary Parrish
the CBS Sports projections that were referenced tonight on our bracket breakdown show on CBS Sports Network actually suggested that Florida has the toughest possible path to a Final Four among the number one seats. But that's computer stuff. You can take it. For what it's worth, just my eyes, I would not want to be Duke under these circumstances other than I get Cameron Boozer. So that's a good place to start. I, I'm with you. Like in the second round you get an Ohio State team. Theoretically you might get a. If it just plays to bracket seating, Ohio State would advance out of that 8, 9 game. They've got a guard who can, you know, go for 30 and they've been playing better. You get to the Sweet 16, I mean you could be running into a St. John's team that just won the biggies outright title. Biggie's tournament beat Yukon twice, 191 in their past 20. You get past that, I mean there's UConn and 12 of the past three national championships possibly sitting there waiting for you. So it's, it's. Duke might have to beat St. John's and UConn to the final four. And to me that is, that's the toughest two game stretch you would have to have from the sweet 16 on that any team could have at least that's the one I would least want to have. Does that make sense?
- [29:24]
Matt Norlander
Yeah. So it could break any number of ways for Duke here. You might have to face, I mean, I guess second round shouldn't theoretically be tough, but Ohio State with its leading all time leading scorer or TCU team that's nearly took out Michigan earlier this year and has some really good wins. And then sweet 16, you could have to face Darren Peterson, potentially number one pick in the draft and a Hall of Fame level coach with two national titles. Or you might have to face a coach that some people think is an even greater coach. And by the way, if it's St. John's versus Duke, those are the two best big men in college basketball in a Sweet 16 battle with Zubi and Boozer. Zubi was outstanding obviously on Saturday night in the Big east title game. Then in the bottom you could have to face Izzo and maybe the nation's best point guard. And Jeremy fears Jr. You could have to face Dan Hurley and Yukon could have to face the greatest coach in UCLA history. There's a lot here. This is a very entertaining and intriguing region. Duke will obviously start in Greenville. This region has Greenville, San Diego, Buffalo and Philadelphia as the pods that will feed into the east regional in D.C. but I, I think this region is equal parts loaded. But something is telling me we are going to have some upset noise in this, in this, in this part of the, in this quadrant of the bracket there. So I'm intrigued by it all. I'm interested to see with Patrick Ngangba. Is he playing the first game? They're going to let him sit for two more days. They want to give him the run so he can be ready for a second round game. And then Caleb Foster obviously no indication he will play at all prior to the Final Four. And even if he, if they get to the final, the Final Four, if he'll be there. Other injuries in this region to know about. You've got Louisville Mikel Brown Jr. As a 6 seed. His availability and effectiveness obviously remains to be seen. Silas Demery Jr. Left the big east final now indications are he's going to be okay, but I guess we'll see on that. Donovan Dent, Tyler Billido, both hurt Saturday Big Ten semis. McCrone says they're both going to play so they're close to 100% but just know there's a lot of notable big time teams with just general curiosities of the effectiveness or how, how filled their, their bar is for health so to speak by the time we tip off later this week.
- [31:36]
Gary Parrish
So I mean to me that's the one where there's just a, you got whoever comes out of there is, is going to have beaten some big brands and some hall of Fame level coaches to get through there. But like I mentioned, the CBS Sports data suggests Florida would be the, would be the one seed with the toughest path of, of all of the one seed. So let's transition to the south region real quick. Florida's the one, Houston's the two. That surprises Nobody. It is allowed per bracketing principles. I don't like it. I, I. This is one where if you, why don't you like. I don't like the idea that if this region plays to seed, the one seed will play a road game against the two seed, but.
- [32:23]
Matt Norlander
Oh, good. A genuine disagreement on the show. They can't account for this. Like it. Ha. Like this.
- [32:29]
Gary Parrish
Account for it. I just accounted for it. I just accounted for it. What are you talking about?
- [32:33]
Matt Norlander
Okay, let me, let me talk you through this here. Ones, Ones and twos.
- [32:37]
Gary Parrish
You're not gonna talk me through it. You're gonna say a bunch of stuff and I'm gonna tell you I don't. And then you're gonna. And then I'm gonna tell you I don't agree with you, but go ahead.
- [32:43]
Matt Norlander
That's fine. That's fine. Let's. Let's go. Let's get feisty on a Saturday night or no Sunday night.
- [32:49]
Gary Parrish
See? Brain talking to you. Gonna talk me through something.
- [32:53]
Matt Norlander
I'm gonna talk you through it here right now. Okay.
- [32:55]
Gary Parrish
Okay.
- [32:56]
Matt Norlander
The ones and twos and threes and fours are given geographic preference as they marry with the concept of where they will go in the bracket. Okay? So Florida is the best one. It has to be put in the one region where it makes most geographic sense. That's the South. We just so happen to be in a year where Houston as a city is hosting a regional final in the same year where Houston as a program is good enough to go to that same exact region. Houston should not be penalized for being the best two seed and getting shipped elsewhere. If anything S curve wise. Let me make sure this is accurate before I say it. By the way, let me see what the NCAA put out. Was Houston the 5 overall? Were they ahead of UConn? They were. So even according to S curve, which they don't use anymore, Houston was next in line. I know you say you don't like it. I don't have any issue with it whatsoever. This could have easily been a year in which the South Region was playing in Atlanta, but it just happened to be Houston. They should not. Houston should not be penalized for being the team that was closest to the one line that gets shipped elsewhere. And they're not going to do that because they're not going to send Yukon to Houston when it can go to D.C. because that makes sense. Seating, practical sense, and also from a travel perspective as well. So you don't have to like it, but it is how it is and it's not changing And I got no issue with it whatsoever.
- [34:11]
Gary Parrish
Okay. I don't like it. I understood everything you said. I knew it all before you said it. I still think it's ridiculous. Here's why.
- [34:19]
Matt Norlander
This is not ridiculous. You're focusing. You're asking two teams that are not separated by even one more seed line to play each other at a venue that's not Houston's home venue. Oh, by the way, Florida might travel just as well in that building as Houston, which is. Which honestly, does not have nearly the fan base nationally as Florida does. I think. I think this is. I think you're. I think you're overreacting.
- [34:40]
Gary Parrish
You're not. You're not trying to argue that this is not going to be a de facto home court advantage for the two seed if it gets there.
- [34:47]
Matt Norlander
I don't know what the crowd situation is. Okay. We also, by the way, we have to even get there. And a lot of times when this stuff comes up, we don't even get to the point where they have this matchup. That being said, I got Florida versus Houston in the Elite Eight.
- [34:59]
Gary Parrish
Yeah, me too. And I know because Martin Newton pointed this out, and like, here's. It's one of those things where you ask the question, you already know the answer, but you still want to ask the question because it's something people are talking about. And so he said, you know, we don't plan for that because the 1 and twos only meet in the elite 8 history. Like, they have data on this, and it only happens about 30% of the time. So he's like, we're not going to, you know, all the. We're not going to manipulate this hypothetical matchup to try to avoid something that doesn't happen 70 of the time. I get all of that. But it does happen 30 of the time, and it should happen more than any other possible matchup. So when you say things like it only happens 30 of the time. Okay, but is it. Is it the most likely thing to happen? Yes, by. By at least by the number of
- [35:48]
Matt Norlander
the time it happens every time.
- [35:50]
Gary Parrish
It. It. If that's not what I'm saying, I'm saying that it is the most likely outcome. It is what you think is going to happen, and it's what I think is going to happen according to our brackets, Florida and Houston. To me, it makes no sense to talk about. You can't penalize Houston just because we shouldn't. Shouldn't you aim a little higher with the. You shouldn't penalize teams. You shouldn't penalize a 1 seed by making them play a. What is a de facto road game if they get to the Elite Eight against the two seed. If I were in charge, that would be a bracketing principle. We are not going to make one seeds play possible road games if in the Elite Eight now, we're not going to count for everything. Like, we're not going to say, ooh, the seven seed could be really close to home. Not, we're not worried about the seven seed, but the way it should play out is one versus two. And if it gets. I'm just telling you, if we get to that Elite 8 game and it is 1 versus 2, you're going to have a whole bunch of people saying, is this right? Because I actually saw this up close one time. My last year on the Memphis beat was 2006. Memphis was the 1 seed, got shipped out west because I guess it was the fourth number one Memphis get shipped out to the west and ucla is the two seed. And in the elite eight because the bracket played the seat, it's one seed Memphis, two seed UCLA in Oakland, and it's like, you know, 15,000 UCLA fans, Memphis was in a road game as the one seed. That didn't feel right. It didn't seem right. And we have set ourselves up for that again. I know it's allowed. I just think it's wrong. I think it's wrong that you could possibly be putting a one seed in the position that Florida could possibly find itself in playing Houston in Houston as a higher seeded team in the Elite Eight period.
- [37:31]
Matt Norlander
Houston had to do this, by the way, in the first weekend four years ago when they had to play, I want to say Auburn and Birmingham in the second round and I'll evens out eventually. But yeah, I. This exact thing came up at this year's media mock selection exercise when we started talking about where they were sending, like it was on us to start sending teams after we had the field of 68 and started putting them everywhere. And this exact thing came up and what Gavitt basically told the room of assembled media and. And all the other folks that were there was, there are certain things that we're going to abide by, but honestly, a lot of the stuff doesn't come to the fore anyway, as Martin explained to you. And when you really start tugging on that thread, you actually start unintentionally manipulating the bracket and the sea lines in a way that that isn't appropriate and you can put yourself needlessly into spots that you didn't need to do. To begin with. And so they have had discussions about if they should implement this kind of stuff before, as I understand it, multiple times over the decades. And ultimately they think it's a one versus a two. It's not on their home venue. And. And so that's why they have. It doesn't bother me, but I understand where you're coming from. I do.
- [38:33]
Gary Parrish
What? Just watch. I acknowledge there's a better than good chance that we don't even get to that game. But watch this. I promise you, if we get to that game, you'll see everybody who talks about this stuff on TV saying, is this right? Should Florida really be playing in Houston as the one? Everything I'm saying now, people will be saying in advance of that game if we get that game. And it's a reasonable debate. Like, I understand what you're saying. Like, there's nothing you said that I don't know. There's nothing I said that you don't know. I just fundamentally believe this is wrong. Like, this is one that you could. You could work to try to avoid. And you don't. I don't know. I don't mean manipulating the whole bracket. I mean this. As simple as this. Hey, guys. One thing we will avoid in putting together a bracket is setting up a situation where a one seed would have to play a de facto road game against a two seed in the Elite Eight. Any one versus two combination that leads to that, we avoid that and stop there. I'm not saying we don't want a. A, a two seed playing a three seed on the road in the sweet 16. I'm not. I'm strictly talking about one versus two in an elite eight. The one should not be at a massive crowd disadvantage, and in theory, Florida could be, but I think we.
- [39:48]
Matt Norlander
Yeah, we did. This happened to Houston literally a year ago. Houston was the one, Purdue was the four. They had the regional semis in Indianapolis at Lucas Oil. Houston won the game, but Purdue had the.
- [40:00]
Gary Parrish
But that's 1 4. That's different. I'm talking strictly 1 2.
- [40:03]
Matt Norlander
Okay.
- [40:04]
Gary Parrish
Oh, you're talking sweet 16. That was sweet 16. Yeah, but I'm not worried about, like, I don't love that either, but I understand. You start stretching this out too far, you get into some problems. So I'd leave the. I'd leave the 14 matchups alone, but
- [40:17]
Matt Norlander
1 versus 2 would have done. So what you'd say throw Iowa State into the south, like, but then you're punishing. Like, why doesn't Iowa State, as the two get to play in Chicago or who are you putting? Why does you.
- [40:28]
Gary Parrish
I'm. I can look at anybody else below the ones and say, I don't want to punish you, but I would rather punish you than punish the one. The one at least. Like, you know, if you didn't want to be punished, you should have been a one. Well, I just think. I just think, like, just the twos is crazy. Like, you keep saying things like, how could you punish the twos, but you're punishing the one.
- [40:51]
Matt Norlander
Well, the. Okay, so the best one can't play the best two, which means Houston could not have gone to D.C. because Duke is the best one. So that means the only twos that you could have had there instead are Iowa State, which you can't take out of Chicago.
- [41:02]
Gary Parrish
This is crazy to me. You are saying all these things you can't do.
- [41:05]
Matt Norlander
You want to get Purdue to the west and then. And. Or Houston of the west and Purdue to the South. So Florida has to play Purdue. Go ahead, knock yourself out. Doesn't bother me.
- [41:13]
Gary Parrish
Now, what I'm saying is you're basing all these. Well, you can't do this and can't do. I'm saying the. The determining fact. It should start up here with, we're not going to have a one playing a road game against a two period. We can. We can. We can change all that. So this whole. Well, you can't send them here and you can't send. I'm saying you can do anything to try to avoid getting that. That's what I would do if I were in charge, but I think we spent too much time on this. That's okay.
- [41:37]
Matt Norlander
I like when we have some organic disagreement. The chat thinks we're getting divorced. Everything's okay. Mom and dad. We're fine. Don't worry about it. Where do you want to go next?
- [41:45]
Gary Parrish
Let's go to the West Region. Hey, Arizona. Gonzaga in the lead eight. Is that what you're predicting?
- [41:51]
Matt Norlander
Absolutely not. Although that would be something. But no, I don't have. I don't have Gonzaga getting there. Are we spoiling some of our picks? Like, what are we doing here?
- [42:00]
Gary Parrish
I don't know. I just wanted to ask you something about the west region and stop arguing.
- [42:04]
Matt Norlander
Okay. To everyone that wanted us more on South. Folks, we got it. We got a two marathon prediction podcast coming on Monday and Tuesday. We got you covered. We're going to cover every single game. Don't you worry about it. We can go on to the West Region. These games will be played in San Diego. Portland and St. Louis as they feed into the San Jose regional. I will be there for the Sweet 16 Elite 8 in a couple of weeks. Josh is bringing up the bracket on the screen right now. If you're watching on YouTube, Arizona is the one. We said earlier on HQ we thought Arizona had the easiest road to the final four of any of the one seeds. Do you agree with that statement? Gary Parish I
- [42:41]
Gary Parrish
no, if I could have any, if I could have any one seeds region, I would think I would take Michigan's. I think I would take Michigan's.
- [42:53]
Matt Norlander
Okay. I don't know.
- [42:56]
Gary Parrish
It's debatable. It's debatable because let's just talk as the two if you're Arizona as the two, you get Purdue and that's a team that obviously playing well right now and was preseason number one but I think was the seventh seed in the Big Ten tournament or something like that. So you get a short, possibly a shorthanded Gonzaga in there, possibly a shorthanded BYU in there. Yeah. So I'll tell you this. I like the right side of the bracket with Arizona and Michigan. I like those one seeds pass better than I like the the left side of the bracket.
- [43:28]
Matt Norlander
Okay. By the way, I want to touch on a couple things here. What are your thoughts on 10 seed Mizzou getting to play St. Louis for the first weekend? So Miami's the 7, Miami, Florida of course Mizzou's the 10, Purdue playing Missouri and St. Louis potentially in the second round. Thoughts?
- [43:44]
Gary Parrish
Don't like it because I don't like that.
- [43:46]
Matt Norlander
I have way more issues with that than the 12 in the elite 8 because 1 this is way more likely to happen. I do not like the idea of two teams separated by six plus seed lines getting this kind of situation. Now Purdue should win but like that that worse than Potico on that shouldn't happen. I don't know why it happened. That seems avoidable to me. I don't want to take apart the Lego assembly that is this bracket but you're telling me they couldn't have put Mizzou anywhere else? Like just thinking out loud here, why couldn't a Mizzou gone. Let me see if this makes sense. Why couldn't a Mizzou is the 10 gone over to the east and played UCLA and then you throw UCF from the Big 12 against Miami and then play Purdue like this is. I just, I don't get it. Just change their cities. This, this one actually annoys me.
- [44:37]
Gary Parrish
Oh as we go now you're okay with Changing cities. Interesting that.
- [44:42]
Matt Norlander
Yeah. First game this. That's a little different. That's right. I don't know. I got Miami winning the game regardless. But that one's a little funky. Which one bothers you? Which one bothers you more? And then we can move past this.
- [44:54]
Gary Parrish
Oh, like the floor. The Houston, Florida thing bothers me more than anything in this world right now. I am more bothered by that than anything in this world right now. That's obviously not true. There's a lot of shit in this world right now. I'm actually bothered by a lot of stuff right now. But on the list somewhere is the Houston, Florida thing. I promise you. But I hate this too. Is remind me, does this. Is this the same thing that happened to Duke, South Carolina when the Gamecocks went to the Final Four? Duke had to go play them in South Carolina 17.
- [45:28]
Matt Norlander
So 2017. That's correct. Same exact thing happened.
- [45:32]
Gary Parrish
Yeah, I don't like it.
- [45:34]
Matt Norlander
7. I want to say. Yeah, that exact same thing happened. You hate to see it. All right, other things in the west real quick. I think Nova, Utah State is probably going to be the most consensus one team pick to win being Utah State and that usually means we're going to be wrong. Wisconsin as a five is the right seed and they get a 30 win high point team. Oh my goodness. That high point team I was told had an nil north of 4 million by the way from a single pit league this season. They've got some dudes back to back tournaments for them. Arkansas is the four. I love it. Darius Acuff Jr. Is I mean I can't get enough of this guy. I do think he's got the capability and he's got enough talent around him too. And D.J. wagner looked really good in the in the SEC title game on Sunday. Man oh man. It is impossible for me not to pick Arkansas to make a sweet sixteen two years in row under Cal and I would love to be covering an Arizona Arkansas Sweet 16 game. We'll see if we get there. But that being said, Nick Boyd and John Blackwell have been just outrageous. And then Austin rap became a one man wrecking machine over the weekend of the Big Ten tournament bottom half of the bracket. So DebonSA and BYU is a six. And if Texas wins that means DebonSA would have to play his favorite players alma mater. He. His favorite player is Durant North Carolina State. Texas is a Sean Miller Will Wade FBI Special. Did you pick up on that connection? That is true that Texas is. The game's gonna get raided I know
- [47:08]
Gary Parrish
the game's gonna get raided.
- [47:11]
Matt Norlander
Strong ass game. I knew Texas was, was bound for the, for, for the, for the first four. Surprised by NC State there but, but I don't know. I, I don't know if the winner of that game is, is going to be able to get past BYU again. We'll make more of these picks later. Gonzaga broadly speaking. What's the deal with Braden Huff? Is he playing? Is he healthy? Is he done Like a lot of fogginess around the, the Bradenhough thing. Talked about Missouri and Miami and then Purdue. Just real quick on Purdue actually. What the hell do we make of this team? What is going on? They, they look their T ball score was plummeting. They've been asked lately if you're new to the pod by the way, that's the T ball metric all right. Unofficially recognized in the committee room, although not on the team sheets. T ball get to know it and learn it and love it. Had lost five of their final what they do here, Purdue going In, they lost 1, 2, 3, 4 of their final six. Then they beat Northwestern by 13. They beat Nebraska 74, 58. They handle UCLA which lost Donovan Dent in the middle of that game. Tyler Bildo had his injury issues and then like I had eyes on the game but that, that Big Ten title game. Every year as a function of getting ready for this, for the bracket, for the selection show, for four and a half hours on hq I, I can half pay attention to what's going on and at one point in the second half I, I just look up and I'm like what the hell's happening? Like this is Purdue now out of nowhere, like maybe Michigan just had no motivation whatsoever and knew it was not getting the number one overall. It knew it had the one seed. It already won the Big Ten regular season multiple games out before it ended. Braden Smith ripped off his own jersey. He wears number 41. Purdue coming slow but speeding. I don't know what's going on but that's a hell of a plot twist. And as a result and function of that win on Sunday, that is why we see Purdue on the two line and Michigan State on the three line. Just some quickie thoughts on the Boilermakers because they got everyone, they got everyone twisted in a phone booth right now. We might have just been rope a doped over the past month.
- [49:09]
Gary Parrish
I, I think most of what you said there is is an explanation for what happened. You know that's a proud program. You know they've been beaten up a little bit I think they woke up on Sunday like, this is, you know, the biggest thing for us. Let's go get this today. Real motivation and all Michigan's hurt for a week is you're locked up, you're good to go, you're one seed. And I do think that that enters your head at some point. It doesn't mean that one team's there to win and the other team doesn't care. It just means that it is totally natural to, like, you know, back against the wall stuff and, like, I'm motivated in ways that that's all real stuff and human nature can play a role. And I think Purdue just came out, you know, jumped and got that lead and then. And then was able to hang on. And it doesn't make me think any differently about Michigan at all. It just makes me think that Matt Painter and that program are great and I'm never surprised when they win anything, even when they've been struggling, and that today felt like a program win more, more than anything else. As for where they go next, we'll see. But, you know, I don't know that I'm ready to flip all the way back to Purdue's going to go win a national championship based off of 40 minutes on a Sunday afternoon or even, you know, a run through the Big Ten tournament. But clearly they are performing better over the past week than they had been performing over the previous couple of weeks. And if what every coach says is true, which is that you want to be playing your best basketball heading into this bracket, well, then Purdue, at least in theory, is. Is one of the teams.
- [50:49]
Matt Norlander
That is just a reminder. I don't have the numbers in front of me, but the data has proven this over the decades. High major teams that win their conference tournament are not more likely to make the Final Four than teams that don't, generally speaking. So Purdue got hot. It's not necessarily an indicator that that's what's going to happen in that. In that region. Let's go to the Midwest. And I throw it right back to you. You think Michigan is the path you choose the most. Why is that?
- [51:14]
Gary Parrish
First off, I just think they're great. Like, they. They might, you know, Duke is missing a, you know, multiple key players. We expect one of them to be back. We don't know about the other. You know, Arizona is awesome and reliable, but, I mean, I'll just spoil it for you. I've got 21 seeds making the final four, and they are the two ones from the right side of the bracket. I've Got Arizona and Michigan all the way to Indianapolis in part because I think they're excellent, obviously, but also because I don't want to say I don't see a team in there that can beat them, but I don't see a team in there that's that I would pick to beat Arizona. And in the Midwest, Iowa State's awesome has been all season. I could certainly see I was taking to a Final Four, but on the right side of the bracket, I'm going to take Arizona and Michigan as the one seeds to advance. I their paths are more, at least in my head, more manageable than the past for Florida and the pass for Duke because in theory, Duke has to do this thing without Caleb Foster and Florida has to perhaps not to circle back, but win a game against Houston and Houston.
- [52:31]
Matt Norlander
Okay, Midwest overlook. If Michigan plays Georgia in the second round, that will be Dusty May going against his really good friend and I guess, quasi mentor. He was an assistant for Mike White for a very long time. They worked together at Louisiana Tech, work together at Florida so they could meet in the second round. Otherwise we could get Michigan Slew. Now, SLU's been bumpy. They didn't win the A10 tournament championship and they have lost now four of their past eight. After getting off to A24.1 start, I actually was mildly encouraged to see the committee put slew on the 9 line. I thought they might be headed for the 10, but I thought 9 was just about right for them. Texas Tech is the five here, getting Akron, and that's going to be out in Tampa. The Michigan stuff's going to be in Buffalo, by the way. And actually, real quick, before I lose this thought in my head, we'll wait and see what Monday brings and what Tuesday brings with teams getting to sites so like Michigan and Michigan State. They're going to Buffalo, they're going to take buses because they're within 400 miles. The teams can pay for their own planes if they want. But the whole issue is that there's a shortage of planes and charter planes across the country because of the federal government and ice and all of what's attached to it. Well, that and that in addition to the TSA reduction in workforce and the partial government shutdown. I don't know if we ever talked about this on the pod, but I wrote a story about it. I don't know if this will cause an issue or not, but the NCAA sent out a memo close to a month ago that said, hey, listen, we're going to need even more patience than Normal this year because, and this is me throwing out hypothetical times. If you think you're leaving for your site Tuesday at 10am on that plane, that plane might not actually take off till 3 or 5 o'. Clock. So we want your patience. Hopefully this doesn't become a story, period. But there is a real shortage of charter planes and I almost wonder every so often professional franchises that have the planes to use. I almost wonder if a couple teams that might have connections might need to use that. But as a result of this, like Michigan and Michigan State probably going to be taking the bus because they're within the, the, the radius there. And the na off obviously, of course pays for the charter bus is just something to keep an eye on. I have not looked at every team and where they're going and who's got to fly and who's got to drive, but I am curious on that overall. Keep going down in the bracket GP
- [54:40]
Gary Parrish
on that I will say I hope nobody's trying to fly out of New York City tomorrow because that ain't going to be.
- [54:46]
Matt Norlander
Well, because you're, because you're also pinned, aren't you? I'm sorry, you're pinned right now. Like you can't, you can't get out.
- [54:53]
Gary Parrish
No, I'm stuck here. I've had, I've been on four different flights in the past five hours, like through the entire bracket breakdown show. Every segment I wasn't on. I was trying to figure out how to get back home tomorrow. And I don't think I am like, yeah, I'm stuck here. I, I, and I'm stuck again. You got booted.
- [55:11]
Matt Norlander
You got booted, man. You thought you were going, okay, I'll, I'll settle for the, I'll settle for the, for the first four at worst. No, you're out.
- [55:18]
Gary Parrish
I was going out. I was, I was going home for one day. I was going home for one day and then they porter Mosered me.
- [55:26]
Matt Norlander
They put him out. Hate to get Mosered, you know, as coincidentally enough, I'm going to be in studio for HQ for the first weekend of the tournament. I typically, I don't go to a first weekend site. I would, I would have probably gone to Philly and drove anyway. But dodging a flight right now is probably the way to go, at least in the short term. Okay, Tech, Akron, Bama, Hofstra are going to Tampa. That seems like a ton of fun to me. Like Akron and Hofstra, I think they're viable candidates to maybe make some noise. Keep an eye there. I Want to see how Tech responds without topping? Just generally speaking, not just in that game, but just can they make noise? Can they get to sweet 16? Can they threaten in the, in that game to get to only eight? I don't know. Bottom half here is where we've got the Miami SMU game on Wednesday and the winner of that will play Tennessee on the sixth line. Virginia, Wright State, Kentucky, Santa Clara, Iowa State. Tennessee is the bottom half of the Midwest region. And that you've got Philly, you've got St. Louis there. I don't know. Kind of feels like we're gonna have a little bit of a fun noise here and if you got any more on this region, I'm happy to hear it. I will say I do think and I am going to try and wishcast this a little bit. Admittedly last year was historic in his chalkiness in the tournament. You know, Arkansas was the only double digit C to make it from the sec. Didn't have any mid major representation into the second weekend. That was a first. I'm not going to sit here and tell you I think we're going to have a total rash of mid majors making, making a plunge. But I feel like we've gotten a little too comfortable with the idea that, that this thing is top heavy and we're going to have teams moving along and that's when the tournament's the best. When it has the capacity to remind us just how little we know and it can shock and awe us. I can't tell you where they are. They're hiding in plaints. They're hiding in plain sight right now in this thing. The upsets, they are out there. They are going to happen. They are going to materialize. But the fun of this whole thing is we don't know when, we don't know why and we don't know how. But I can't shake the feeling, Paris, that we are going to have. Give me at least, give me at least a couple of twelves or you know, 13 or 14 mixes in there. I want to believe it's going to happen and it's just a matter of if it does. But, but I think we've got a healthy chance.
- [57:35]
Gary Parrish
One point here and then we'll move on. You mentioned Texas as the 6 seed in the Midwest. I mean Tennessee as the 6th seed in the Midwest. You know, one of the points we dove into on the bracket breakdown show was, you know, different upsets in the 12, 5 range, 11, 6 range. Those are usually pretty obvious places to take a, take a Shot. And if you look at the six seeds, Tennessee in the Midwest, you know, but then listen to the other three and then try to tell me what they have in common. North Carolina, it is. Louisville, byu, you know, I mean, yeah, I mean, like, they're all missing key players.
- [58:20]
Matt Norlander
They're all missing key players. Yep.
- [58:22]
Gary Parrish
And we'll see what happens with Michael Brown. But we know that Kayla Wilson is not playing at North Carolina and we know that Richie Saunders is not playing at BYU. So if you are looking for 11, six upsets, just know that three of the 11 seeds are playing six seeds, that at least two of them are playing six seeds that are missing very important players. And another one is playing a Louisville team that, you know, hasn't had Michael Brown consistently and didn't have him in the, in the ACC tournament. Hey, let's take another break and then we come back. We're going to do the whip around. You know, the whip around. We're going to do the whip around.
- [58:57]
Matt Norlander
Yeah, we're going to do it.
- [58:57]
Gary Parrish
We're going to do it a little differently. I'll explain in a second. First, first, watch me do this. This is Gary Parish. I have a confession. The confession is that sometimes, yeah, I hit an afternoon wall. Say, in between doing the Iowan college basketball podcast and, you know, walking to the broadcast center for a night in studio, I realized I probably didn't get enough rest. I need some caffeine. I want something sweet, but not like some big sugary drink. And that's why I'm obsessed with the new fruity rainbow shots from five Hour Energy. They seriously taste like a handful of classic rainbow candy. Bright, juicy and fun, but with a caffeine kick built in. It's like caffeine finally got that flav flavor glow up it always deserved. It was 17 flavors total in the five hour energy lineup. There is something for every mood, but this fruity rainbow launch is all about that bold, sweet, fruity chaos. What do I love most? It's the big flavor in that tiny portable two ounce bottle. I can throw it in my bag, keep one in my car, stash it at my desk, golf bag. It's no bulky can, no sticky wrappers, no sugar crash. It's a zero sugar treat that's totally sweet tooth approved. So it feels indulgent, but it's actually practical. If you're gonna grab caffeine anyway, it might as well taste like candy. Get candy flavored Chaos with fruity rainbow 5 hour energy shots available online at FiveHouseEnergy.com or Amazon Real skin results start with one daily ritual. Meet daily microfoliant from Dermalogica. This iconic exfoliating powder activates with water to gently polish away dullness and uneven texture. It leaves skin instantly smoother and more luminous while supporting your skin barrier. Formulated with professional expertise to deliver visible results daily, even on sensitive skin. Discover your healthiest skin today. Visit dermalogica.com and use code smooth at checkout for an exclusive gift with your $65 purchase.
- [60:47]
Matt Norlander
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- [61:17]
Gary Parrish
The weekend whip around is brought to you by Domino's. Guys. This is a championship level deal. You can get any pizza with any toppings for just 9.99.
- [61:28]
Matt Norlander
Okay, how. How the hell are we gonna whip. We gotta break down the big ten semis right now. How are we whipping around?
- [61:34]
Gary Parrish
Okay, okay. I had to get creative. All right, all right. Yeah, it's the whip Around. We can pay for his transparency.
- [61:45]
Matt Norlander
The chat is calling it aigp. That's amazing. Anyway, go ahead.
- [61:53]
Gary Parrish
It's a. It's a spot. This is what they call a sponsored element, and it's called the whip around. And we usually spend it on Sunday night. Like, you know, we say in the acc, and then we say, and then we go, all right, let's get to the big ten. And then I'll take about six minutes and tell a story and got nothing to do with nothing. And then I'll say, all right, let's. Let's go. And then we'll check in on Miami Ohio. And then I'll tell another story and got nothing to do with nothing. And then some dude will tweet me and be like, gp, listen to the show, man. I used to remember when you would actually analyze games and I'm like, no, you don't remember that? I don't analyze game. What are you talking about? I tell stories. All right, but typically we look back at stuff but on the night of the bracket getting announced, I don't want to be looking backwards. I want to be looking forward. So you know what we're going to do? We're going to whip around to each region and I want you, Mad Norlander, to tell me what game in the first round you are looking most forward to in each region. Whip yourself around that bracket and pick me. One game in each region.
- [62:56]
Matt Norlander
By the way, that sound. First of all, after Parrish the Heresy on the last show, he's like, I never print brackets. Your boy here has like 50 of them.
- [63:06]
Gary Parrish
Well, well, that's why Kawhi Leonard had to take that no show job to plant all them trees because you're printing out all them brackets.
- [63:12]
Matt Norlander
Happy to do it. I have so much. I got so much paper. Not the right kind. All right, game. I'm looking forward to most in each region. Let's go with the most obvious one. Will Miami versus SMU be the most watched first four game on record? Question. Genuine question. I think it will. What do you.
- [63:34]
Gary Parrish
Probably. But like, if you really want to.
- [63:36]
Matt Norlander
Not a big brand whatsoever. There's like no appeal to SMU at all. But you've got the Miami. Go ahead.
- [63:41]
Gary Parrish
I. This should not have happened because it would have been wrong. But, oh, buddy, it would have been fun if we had Auburn, Miami, Ohio. That would have been the best. Like, the absolute best.
- [63:51]
Matt Norlander
It would not have been if. It would not have been. If Auburn and Miami were both in the first four and Auburn made the tournament, I would have been furious. I would still be ranting if that had happened. There was no reason for Auburn. Okay.
- [64:03]
Gary Parrish
But then eventually we would get to that night and that would be correct. And then.
- [64:07]
Matt Norlander
And then it would be like, watch like the Final Four.
- [64:10]
Gary Parrish
Yeah. You'd have. You'd have Bruce and Wally in the crowd. Perhaps. I mean, it'd be good.
- [64:19]
Matt Norlander
I can't deny that. I can't deny that.
- [64:20]
Gary Parrish
I wouldn't have. I wouldn't have wanted it because it would have been right. But oh, buddy, it would have been good. But to your point. Yeah, probably because Miami Ohio is such a big story. That is a. You know, I am not somebody who believes every first four is great. You know, sometimes they're just games between two mediocre teams. But yes, I am looking forward to watching Miami, the Redhawks play a power conference team and they are. They are underdogs. And. And, you know, you saw the line.
- [64:48]
Matt Norlander
I just saw the line. I didn't know it till just now. You've seen it.
- [64:51]
Gary Parrish
I think it's around five or six, something like that.
- [64:53]
Matt Norlander
No, it's seven and a half right now.
- [64:55]
Gary Parrish
Oh wow.
- [64:55]
Matt Norlander
Seven and a half. Boy oh boy. SMU is getting BJ Edwards back so that'll be a factor. I'm making that my game in the Midwest. That's a Wednesday, approximately 9:15 Eastern tip by the way on True TV. Barkley and Vital on the mic. I, I want to say for the entire first four, I don't think it's just one night. That's going to be, that's going to be tremendous. So I'll give you that in the Midwest, in the West. Do you want to pick one as well or am I going first and then you're going how are we doing
- [65:19]
Gary Parrish
this well in the Midwest. So you went in the Midwest, I'll go in the Midwest and I'll just go Kentucky. Santa Clara. Here's a Kentucky program that's been a big like one of the biggest brands in the sport. Been a big topic of conversation this season in part because of the amount of money they spent on the roster. Now they're in a game against a traditional mid major incredible coach in herbs and deck once took NC State to five straight NCAA tournaments and they won 26 games this season. I know it sounds Kentucky against Santa Clara. I think Kentucky's just a two point favorite in this game. I can't wait to watch this one, if only because this will be the face of a lot of stuff. You know how like if you're a Kentucky fan it's go Big Blue. If you're not a Kentucky fan, you like to watch the little school from the west coast conference beat up on the 20 plus million dollar roster. So that's a fun game to put your eyes on in the Midwest region.
- [66:13]
Matt Norlander
I said on HQ earlier tonight my biggest toss up of any first round matchup is Kentucky Santa Clara. Don't know what to do there. I picked Santa Clara right now I reserve the right to change my pick before we get to Thursday. Let's go. You know what, let's, let's, let's go, let's go. Let's go Pong this, you know instead of let's we start at Midwest, let's just go to the East. Let's go diagonal. Let's do it. I will go. That might not be what you wanted to do, but whatever. It's after midnight and we've been working for like
- [66:41]
Gary Parrish
scroll for Josh on that bracket. Oh yeah,
- [66:46]
Matt Norlander
that's funny. I didn't even think about that. Am I remembering the right game. Pong. Yeah, I think that's what I'm thinking of.
- [66:51]
Gary Parrish
I played Pong. I know Pong.
- [66:53]
Matt Norlander
Yeah. It was a little before my time.
- [66:55]
Gary Parrish
Okay. You set me up so you could call me old. I got it.
- [67:00]
Matt Norlander
You didn't. You to yourself. Tell you what, Johnny's Northern Eye will be interesting. Northern Iowa allows the fewest points in the country. Loves to grind it down. I gotta go Louisville, South Florida for a couple reasons. One, and I haven't gotten to see this yet, but our producers told me in my ear earlier tonight, South Florida is going to go play this game against Louisville in Buffalo. And Brian Hodgson is from Buffalo. His father has dementia and has never seen him coach. I guess as a head coach or. I don't have all the details right now. He's going to the game. This is like really like heartwarming stuff. Like genuinely that of all the sites that South Florida has been sent to, it's going to the TED coaches. You know, the area that he's from. And that's also just a really compelling matchup. South Florida is a top 50 team at Ken Palm. It's lost once in the past two months. It's a little more defensive oriented than offensive oriented, but it's really good on, on the offensive glass as well. I don't know. They, they've. I understand that this team has been off the radar because they're in a single bid league. The American doesn't have good TV coverage. Generally speaking. It's not, it's. It's just not the league that we want it to be. And because of that, South Florida gets a little, little short shrift. It's 111 in a row. Hodgson's a good coach. They've got some good, They've got some good physicality to them. They challenge themselves in the non conference. They haven't beaten a team as good as Louisville this season. I understand that, but you know, I'll spoil this pick on this show. Like I've got South Florida winning that game because I don't know what we're going to get from Mikel Brown Jr. That is my game to watch in that region.
- [68:43]
Gary Parrish
All right. I actually had Ohio State tcu, I think. Are we in the east right now?
- [68:49]
Matt Norlander
We're in the east, yeah.
- [68:51]
Gary Parrish
I had Ohio State TC written down, but I love that story. So I'm going to go usf. I'll go USF Louisville.
- [68:58]
Matt Norlander
That's.
- [68:58]
Gary Parrish
That's a sweet story. Yeah, you know, like dementia, Alzheimer's. If you've Ever dealt with that in your family? I have. It's just a nightmare, man. Just an absolute nightmare. You. You go and see people you've known your whole lives and they don't know you anymore. You know, like, like both of my grandmothers died that way. Just not, not really knowing who I am anymore. And so that's a hard one, man. That's a hard one. So, yeah, I wasn't aware of that with Brian's father, but that'll be a. That'll be a sweet scene in Buffalo. Let's go. To go to the. You tell me, what's the hardest place for Josh to get to go to the West? Is that the hardest part? Yeah. Look at that. Look at that.
- [69:41]
Matt Norlander
Going to the West. That's right. He's getting there. Okay. Ah, I'm gonna say I think there's some fun potential over the idea if Texas beat NC State and then debons are like dropped 30 plus on Katie's Alma mater. Like there could be something there but we don't guarantee to get the game. So I'm not going to pick that. I will go. Wisconsin High Point and Bucky fans, like, tell me how you're feeling right now because you've got a team that is hitting its stride. Came really close to knocking off Michigan in the semis. Has been on a roll. Won five of its past six leading up to that, including just a really impressive win Friday night against Illinois and the Big Ten tournaments. I mean that's always happens every single year like this. Just these four or five days that lead up to Selection Sunday. Like I'm living and dying with every hour and I love it so much. And a Big 12 tournament was a joy to get to cover. And I'll never forget, I'll never forget the night when they changed the damn floor and everything that went leading into that. I'm bringing this up to say like, and then we get to the bracket and it's like all of that stuff just practically deteriorates behind us almost instantly. It's just, it's the swing into the NCAA tournament mode. It is so violently beautiful every single year. And as I think back on what, what Wisconsin has been doing, I wonder, can they keep this up? Because Boyd and Blackwell to this point are pacing to be. If not they're like top three backcourt in the country. And now they got to play High Point. And two years ago I saw a Wisconsin team that had a 5 next to its name and it was playing a 12 seed that was from a mid major conference. That wore purple, that had 30 wins, and that team was James Madison, and they beat Wisconsin. Now, I do think that this Wisconsin team is better than that Wisconsin team, but nonetheless, I think this one's got a real chance at some upset potential. High Point is a good squad. They've got players that have been in this spot before. And so in a region where I think you've got a number of different options, to me, the 12,5 upset potential there is worth noting. And with Miami no longer being undefeated, if you didn't know, now you know. The Panthers of High Point have the longest win streak of any team in the tournament. They have won 14 in a row.
- [72:04]
Gary Parrish
I'll go Utah State, Villanova in the west in a first round matchup. Looking forward to. I've got the Aggies after they won the Mountain West Conference tournament. I've got them 26th in the top 25 and one. And yet they get a nine seed in the bracket. I'm not even arguing against the nine seed. It actually lines up with their strength of record and their wins above bubble. But I believe. Let me double check this. Utah state is like 26th in the net. So that's a team that obviously had some ups and downs, but it won a lot of games. And I'll pick them to get past Villanova in the first round.
- [72:45]
Matt Norlander
Okay, good deal. That was the weekend whip around, wasn't it?
- [72:48]
Gary Parrish
No, we got one more, I think, don't we?
- [72:50]
Matt Norlander
Oh, do we? Oh, yeah, we forgot the South.
- [72:52]
Gary Parrish
Did we pick. Did we pick every region? I'm lost now.
- [72:55]
Matt Norlander
No, no, I do. I understand.
- [72:57]
Gary Parrish
No, we didn't do the South. We didn't do the South. Whip around to the South.
- [73:02]
Matt Norlander
Yeah, you go first.
- [73:03]
Gary Parrish
Okay. I. I put Nebraska, Troy, just because history could be made there. Even Fred. We had Fred Hoiberg on our bracket breakdown show tonight, and he said, listen, we all know the elephant in the room with our program, that we've never won a game in the NCAA tournament, that we. I don't think he said this, but I'll say it for him. They're the only Power Conference school that's never won a game in the NCAA Tournament. Obviously, with the season they had, they are now seeded in a way that they're expected to do it. But, oh, buddy, you don't want to. You can't lose Detroit and stay winless in the NCAA Tournament all time after the season you just had. I think Fred and his sons want a player, want a manager. Get Nebraska's first NCAA tournament win in school history and so that's a fun first first round matchup to watch in the South.
- [73:51]
Matt Norlander
I'm going to take Carolina's lost two in a row at Duke close to Clemson. That was all the way back on Thursday. Oh my God, I can't believe that was on Thursday. VCU Rams, they've lost once in more than two months. I was at the game, they lost and then the final margin was 13 at Slew back on February 20th. I mean Slew did a great job coming back. VC looked like it was winning that game for the first 65 of it. How does UNC respond? This game is in Greenville, by the way. So a six seed Carolina gets gets a Greenville site, which might mean it third seated Illinois has to play Carolina. It's not that close, but still it's North Carolina, South Carolina location here. But VCU Carolina is my pick there. I had to pick a full bracket for hq. I have VCU winning that game. I may change my mind, but in the here in the now I've got VCU winning. They've been, they play really well together. They really, really do. Like if you, if you watch them at all during that that a 10 tournament, they got genuine pushes, but they've got real composure to themselves. And so I could have easily given you the oil and water of Mary's A and M. I could have given you Nebraska, Troy, like GP I could get. Vandy McNeese is ripe for the picking and even Clemson Iowa just feels like a toss up to me. But. But the one I think that I have most intrigue on, that's a TNT match of 650 on that's Greenville and that is Thursday. So that'll be a Thursday tip there.
- [75:24]
Gary Parrish
That was the weekend whip around brought to you by Domino's. If you're settling in for a full slate of college basketball, it doesn't get better than Domino's. Best deal ever. Any pizza with any toppings for just 9.99. That's what I'm getting for game day. Shout out to Domino's. For sponsoring prices higher in some locations, select this online only offer from 223 to 46 size. Availability varies by crust type. Max 7 toppings, 6 for New York style and pan crust. Stuffed crust is extra. Excludes XL and specialty pizzas. Minimum purchase required for delivery prices, participation, delivery area and charges may vary. All right, so we're about an hour 12 into this thing. I actually looked last season on selection Sunday we went 115. So we're right in here and I think we're planning to talk again on Monday.
- [76:12]
Matt Norlander
We are? I think so. I think so. There's just. There's just so much. I'm just getting through this and then I'm. I'm at the HQ head. I'm at hq. HQ right now. As every, as every Selection Sunday, we may be breaking a record. We're not even at 12:30 Eastern. I don't know the last time we finished a selection Sunday show this relatively quote unquote early. So with that being said, there's so much more to get to. We'll break down the matchups, we'll dive into it as much as we need to. I don't have to. To interview Pearl Jam's bass player this year. Although if Jeff Amen or Eddie Vedder want to come on the pod, the invitation is always open. But I think that's fair. By the way, look what they had downstairs. Look at this. I haven't had a Twinkie. I haven't had a Twinkie. I think at least 10 years. Oh, I'm house in this thing. But I'm not doing it on camera because I got too much respect for myself to do that. But I'm going to town on this Twinkie before I drive home. As far as I'm concerned, we got a field of 68. We've got a tournament, we've got a bracket, we've got the printouts. Some quick housekeeping from me on my end. CBSSports.com and the CBS Sports app. I mean it. To everyone watching and listening. I am so immensely proud of the product that we put out covering the sport in this tournament. There is no shortage of information, analysis, the whole deal. If you can't get enough of this tournament outside of just this podcast and watching stuff on tv, please, please, please go to our site. Our writers are doing a great job. From Cobb to Salerno to Trotter, all on down the line, we've got some great guys helping pitching in with stuff. Please go check it out. We've got so much. And GP and I will have more as the week goes along and I just really appreciate all the efforts that go into it. I know you did a great job. I can't watch you, you can't watch me. But I really love the stuff that we did on, on HQ. Some of that stuff now lives on the YouTube page, CBS Sports, CBB and CBS Sports in general. So please go find that. And to everyone that dialed in with us, I know we go later. It's the nature of the beast. I wish we could go on and podcast at say 8 8pm on a selection Sunday. But they need our faces on TV to talk about this stuff. So everyone that looks forward to this show every year to watch it live, we love doing it as well. And we've got so much more coming for you every single day of the week. And we will have a recap show, first four excluded after every tournament round. Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday and for the remainder of the tournament.
- [78:31]
Gary Parrish
I obviously echo all of that. Appreciate you guys being here with us late on a Sunday. We'll be back on Monday. We'll be back on Tuesday. Time to be determined based on our schedules. Because honestly, my schedule as of this moment is nothing like it was supposed to be five hours ago. I'm still trying to figure it out. Let's call it a show. Shouts to Devin Downey. Chest to South Carolina Terry Teagle. He's a legend. Hulk Larnell thank you guys once again for watching Listening to I Own College Basketball Podcast. You're not subscribed. Go subscribe anywhere. Subscribe to podcasts, Apple, Spotify. More of us than there are of them should be reflected in the comments. Please do that. We'll talk to you again soon. Till then, take care. Paramount Podcasts this episode is brought to you by Progressive Insurance. What if comparing car insurance rates was as easy as putting on your favorite podcast? With Progressive, it is. Just visit the Progressive website to quote with all the coverages you want to. You'll see Progressive's direct rate. Then their tool will provide options from other companies so you can compare. All you need to do is choose the rate and coverage you like. Quote today@progressive.com to join the over 28 million drivers who trust Progressive, Progressive Casualty Insurance Company and affiliates. Comparison rates not available in all states or situations. Prices vary based on how you buy.