← Eye On College Basketball
Eye On College Basketball
Duke schedules UConn/Michigan/Gonzaga, with Amazon broadcasting. Not everyone’s happy about that. Louisville, Tennessee have F4 expectations thanks to $15 million+ rosters
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- [00:00]
Matt Norlander
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- [02:34]
Gary Parrish
Hey there, this is Gary Parish. This is the CBS Sports I own college basketball podcast and this is where we sometimes discuss camel fighting, dodo birds and leaky black. Per usual Matt Norlander is here with me. If you're watching on YouTube, honor Brian Brandon Davies. The only way, the only way you should smash that like button. And if you haven't yet, subscribe to the Ion College Basketball Podcast. Please do that wherever you subscribe to podcasts like Apple and Spotify. Let's get into it. And buddy, I hope you like media rights disputes because that's what we're dealing with today. We now have a media rights dispute, it appears that reportedly involves two different levels. Duke, Michigan, the acc, the Big Ten, espn, Fox, and Amazon. And the dispute stems apparently from a three game deal the Blue Devils have struck with the company that regularly and routinely delivers things to my front door. Norlander, it's good to see you again on a Monday complex situation, but you have written about it the headlines@cbssports.com can you explain to the folks listening right now what Duke and Amazon on have combined to do and why the Big Ten doesn't seem thrilled about it?
- [03:47]
Matt Norlander
Hey GP Good afternoon. Yeah, we have an unusual, we have an unusual, potentially groundbreaking story here. Let's first get into the games, all of which are going to happen. So Duke went out and scheduled UConn. That game will be in Vegas the Wednesday before Thanksgiving. And those two schools had been talking to each other for a long time. In fact, I had wondered after the way that UConn booted Duke out of the tournament, if John Shire might understandably say, you know what, maybe we don't need to go and face this team with the memories so fresh, with the, with the scabbing still not having completely healed. Nonetheless, they wanted them to keep that going and so they will. And they will, by the way, in the, in the sake of millions of dollars. So that will be the first game. This is next season. Duke, Yukon, Vegas, Wednesday night before Thanksgiving. Then the second big game Dec. 21 at the Garden against Michigan, reigning national champions. And not just that, but it will be the second consecutive season where those two programs will play each other in a non conference game. They of course played in D.C. back in February and Duke won that one. And then third game will be in mid February against Gonzaga. That game will be in Detroit. There are a couple reasons why that game is happening in Detroit. One of them, that is also the site of this, this upcoming season slash next season's Final Four. And so you want to do that with all the intentions and visuals and motivations that would be surrounding with all that. So those are the three games that are scheduled. They're going to get played they're going to broadcast on prime video on Amazon. This has not yet ever happened. We have never seen Amazon venture into the world of college basketball broadcasting. Obviously it's been in bed with the NFL as a small part of that league's massive billions upon billions when it comes to broadcasting NFL and having Thursday Night Football. Of course it's gotten into, into some other stuff. It's gotten into it with obviously baseball, with the NBA this particular season. In fact, I know Amazon has the NBA because sometimes I bring up my YouTube TV GP, are you like me? You bring it up. You're like, I thought these two teams were playing tonight. I'm not seeing, oh, it must be
- [05:53]
Gary Parrish
on prime
- [05:55]
Matt Norlander
and go see if it's on Prime.
- [05:56]
Gary Parrish
So I, I, I do more than ever previously have to, before I even decide what I'm watching, I go straight to the CBS Sports app to find out do I need to turn on DirecTV or do I need to go straight to the prime app? Sports are all over the place now. I think I've adjusted okay. But yes, it can sometimes be a little bit of a hunt to figure out where is this thing that you're trying to watch.
- [06:25]
Matt Norlander
And so now Amazon is going to get into the college basketball realm, at least initially with this three game Duke foray that John shy aggressively pushed for and tried to get done and has been able to achieve it. Good on him. But there's a reason why it took until late 2026 to have a streamer broadcast games of this caliber. Because these are three. Every single one of these games is highly appealing. You have Duke Yukon, it sells itself. Rematch. Not just that, you'll have the likes of Kaden Boozer and Braylon Mullins, the two central figures on the play that decided that game. To send one of those teams to the Final Four and kick the other one out of the tournament. They're going to be back. We understand that Duke Michigan is the reigning national champions. They just played. Obviously that's understandable. Gonzaga continuing to schedule relevant non conference games and playing that game at Little Caesars arena, what I presume is a stone's throw from forward field. So there's major storylines attached to all of them. That's awesome. It's really, really good for the sport. And as a reminder, next season we are going from 31 to 32 regular season games in college basketball, which is giving us one additional game for a lot of these schools to schedule. And in many instances, as you'll see later this week and even deeper into the off season, you're just going to see not a downtick in notable non conference games, which is a very good thing. However, there is, you know, a dispute, a disagreement, a frustration, however you want to frame it, that's also a part of this. I don't want to get too into the weeds on a lot of this stuff because I think a lot of fans are just going to be like, hey, can we watch the games? Awesome. They're playing games. Awesome. However, when it comes to these non conference games and if the games are not being played on campus and there used to be a multi MTE model that existed and now the MTE formats in general, like that's, that's, that's changing significantly. But the best way I can put it is this. Remember when Duke played Illinois at the Garden a couple seasons ago in February? GP right. That game was broadcast on Fox and that was an ACC team against the Big Ten team. And then last season, what happened? Duke playdoh Michigan non conference game in February. And what game was that? What network had that broadcast? Espn. So generally speaking, if it's not hard and fast language in these multimedia agreements with these conferences on behalf of their member schools, there very much is an understanding where it alternates. So Fox had the big Duke non conference game for 24, 25 and then ESPN had it for 25, 26 and then oh, look at this, Duke's gonna play a Big Ten team again. So Fox should have that game. And when this came out last week, this whole story got told fairly quickly. Fox is not happy at all with this, with this arrangement. Whether it can actually do something to change that remains extremely doubtful as far as I can tell right now. But there will probably be like there's, there are already concessions that had to be made with this like ESPN because it's going to play the Michigan game at Madison Square Garden. Well, Syracuse is a member of the acc. So for non conference games in basketball, if you want to play a non con game, a one off at a neutral site venue, if you play it in a state where you have a member school, the conference has the broadcast rights to that. So it attaches to espn, period. ESPN was willing and I say willing because it did not have to do this. But then again, Duke is Duke to say, okay, you want to go and play Michigan at the Garden, we'll let you do that. But if you're going to do that, then you've got to play two events in 2728 and 2829 that will be on ESPN's. There that ESPN will, will create those spec. These, these are things we don't even know what they're going to be. Maybe one of them's the Jimmy V. Maybe it's going to be something we've never even heard of. And they're going to concoct a new four team event that Duke will have to be a part of. That was the trade for it. This is. I talked to a source earlier today. I want to give you a direct quote that the, that the source gave gave me here. Everybody's keeping an eye on quote, here's the quote. Everybody's keeping an eye on this because if Duke can do this for basketball, then others are going to keep an eye on it for other sports. Why wouldn't Kentucky and Carolina be calling ESPN and saying hey come on now, we bring in just as much value as Duke and you're going to do that for Duke and not for us. ESPN opened the door as to where that cut line is, end quote. As it stands to non conference one off matchups. And if you're going to have streamers get involved in this like it gets really, really messy when it comes to broadcasting non conference games. Whereas the, the leagues have been essentially working in gentlemanly fashion over the. It gets contentious. There's, there's a lot of value in about 10 of these schools. Duke is at the top of that list. And so here we are. I don't think it's going to go anywhere other than Amazon GP and I've got even more on this, but I've been taking way too much. You teed me up. I'm trying to give you everything but it is intriguing none the same. And I do think we will get to a reality, I don't know, not too far in the distant future where a streamer will be part of the college basketball viewing experience beyond the level where it is now, where you've got to go to Peacock to watch them. That's not what I'm talking about. I'm talking about streamers that don't have specific rights deals right now. I think this is the, this is the door cracking a jar and probably leads us to a path that we can see where we're going.
- [11:47]
Gary Parrish
If you're North Carolina, how do you feel about this? Are you mad at ESPN for allowing this to happen or do you recognize it as well, hey, you better not stand in front of us when we try to do something similar. Because this isn't just because for fans. Perhaps we should clarify this for fans. This really is just like hey, two awesome basketball programs are going to play a game. I don't care where you put it. I can't wait. That's going to be great.
- [12:14]
Matt Norlander
Yeah.
- [12:15]
Gary Parrish
But from a basketball perspective, this is an agreement that puts millions of dollars into Duke's players pockets.
- [12:23]
Matt Norlander
Yes.
- [12:24]
Gary Parrish
This is a, this is a real advantage for the Duke men's basketball program that other programs have not been able to tap in yet to, yet to this degree. And you know, like so from North Carolina's perspective, like you just enhanced our rival and you didn't have to. That comes at the expense of us. I'm wondering, are you furious or do you go all right, we, maybe we, maybe we should have thought of that. But now that we know what's allowed, well we're going to be knocking on your door and asking for permission very soon. And I dare you to, to even hesitate a little.
- [13:05]
Matt Norlander
Yes to that exact note. One of the sources I talked with earlier today said that this Duke situation on Amazon opened up quote Pandora's box, end quote when it comes to this because of this specific thing. The, the first report on this. Ross Dallinger at Yahoo had it late on Friday over just the big tension, unhappiness with all of this. If you'll, if you really are paying attention to a lot of this stuff, you'll notice that Michigan, when it announced this, go check every single official Michigan panel. The word Amazon, the word prime, the word video doesn't appear in any of those releases. There's even some questions on did this get put, did this get pushed through by Duke on a quicker timeline than the other three schools were, maybe even comfortable with that the Big Ten was comfortable with. I think that's out there. Duke is also, this is my informed speculation. I don't think there's a world in which Duke isn't getting paid the bare minimum of $4 million for these games. I think 5, 6 or 7 million is way more likely. Meanwhile the schools playing in these Yukon, because Duke is taking on. They're trying to basically run three different standalone, standalone one off non conference games. Not necessarily MTEs, but they want to be the organizer, they want to be the event organizer. They want, they don't want to hire some of these other companies that do this kind of thing. So they're going to get the line. So they're going to enter into the agreement with Amazon. I get all that. But Yukon, Gonzaga, Michigan. 500, 600, 700000 to play a game which is good money no doubt it's not close to what Duke's making on this. So did we have something like a Pandora's box open here? Is this Duke situation specifically going to lead to media rights agreements when they come up for renewal? And we still got years on some of these. The ACC one is still what GP a little less than a decade away. Will we see you know language written to these contracts that prohibits this down the road? I don't know. There college football fans listening and watching are that really follow this stuff. Again you got to be into this on, on a hardcore level. But usc, Notre Dame, they tried to, to essentially market a game a one off to Netflix and the, the television company was like you're not doing this. You are extremely valuable inventory to us. That's why like this is a whole other side of the industry that we work in when it, when it comes to TV deals, but quite literally worth billions of dollars and why there's a lot of stakes attached to a lot of this stuff. So it is, it is interesting to see that this, that there was a not so delayed immediate report about hey the Big Ten and front of until Fox not happy whatsoever with this. And we might have a couple more, I don't know bumps barriers along the way GP but I do think we will get to December 21st and you will turn on your television, you will have to bring up prime video and on that night you will see Duke play Michigan on Amazon.
- [15:59]
Gary Parrish
I agree. Um, I do find the whole situation fascinating though because I, I read, I've read a lot of stuff about this and I saw a tweet from a guy, I apologize, I, I, I, I didn't bookmark it. It's somebody very smart about stuff like this who seemed like, seem to, they certainly, if they don't know what they're talking about, they're very good at sounding like they know what they're talking about. And they bottom lined it basically with the Big Ten has a complaint here, but probably not a real course of action. Right. Like I understand why the Big Ten's pissed or Fox is pissed or whoever's pissed, but they probably are not going to be able to do much about it other than raise concerns and try to use it as a negotiating tactic to get something from somebody down the road. But this game is going to be played as presented it appears. What's interesting is that I was about to say I promise. I shouldn't say things like I promise about things I'm not actually that well versed on. But I bet you if these contracts are written in a way that gives Fox in the big ten no recourse. The next contracts will be written differently. Like you'll put language in there to try to shore this stuff up. Because this seems like another situation where the world just changes but the contract language doesn't quite change with it. And somebody Duke recognized a possible loophole and was able to jump right through it on a much smaller scale, like the smallest scale. But it's sort of similar in nature. I think I'll be quick with this, but when I left a, you know, I worked at a radio station here in Memphis and I left there and came straight over here to grind city media without any interruption. Even though it is pretty standard for radio people to have non competes in their contracts like you. So in theory a normal standard radio contract would be I couldn't leave one station in Memphis and go to another station within a hundred and something mile, 200 mile, 300 mile radius within six months.
- [18:02]
Matt Norlander
Go ahead. Because you weren't on the radio and you were on streaming on video and that's why you could do it.
- [18:06]
Gary Parrish
Think about, okay, you ready for this? Exactly. This is not a radio station.
- [18:10]
Matt Norlander
Yeah.
- [18:11]
Gary Parrish
So they recognize this could be a problem at some point over there. Honestly when Chris Vernon left and didn't have in the non compete then they came back to everybody and they were like we got to change the language. And I just refused to ever get it changed. But now I assume everybody at that radio station now has language in their contract that says podcast, videos, anything. But it was just old language and an old contract that never got negotiate, never got changed, updated for the, for the times that we were now living in. And perhaps this is something similar. What I love about it is that, and this is why also I believe in John Shire because I believe in smart people and he's clearly just, he's a good thinker, he's clearly sharp like these, these, this opportunity has been sitting out there theoretically for a while for people to tap into. And that's the program that, that did it. And now it'll. It'll. It'll it. I promise you. Other coaches of big brands woke up the day after this was announced and were like, hold on, are we missing something here? Are we missing something here? Why didn't we see this the way they saw it? I love it when people, particularly in college athletics, or at least I appreciate it when they go, okay, what are the rules here? What's going on? What? Because I promise you, maybe somebody else thought about this at some point and then somebody said, yeah, but we can't do that. Yeah, but we can't do that. Well, at Duke, they clearly said, why not? Let's think of a way that maybe get the. Get the smart people in here, get the lawyers in here. Let's figure out if it's possible to do this, and then let's try to do it at a very different level. I wrote a story, it might have been about 20 years ago at this point, about elite camps. Do you remember elite camps? Like the concept of elite camps? So the concept of an elite camp would be, you know, this is amateurism at its core. You can't pay people. You can't do anything. So the elite camp, you. You know, every basketball program has a camp, and they invite. They invite my kids. Like, you know, they get a letter in the mail, and it's like, hey, if you got little kids and they want to come to, you know, the. The Rick Barnes basketball camp, you can send them to the Rick Barnes basketball.
- [20:14]
Matt Norlander
Down four days. We go from nine to five. The whole deal. Yes. Every program does this. And honestly, before nil, it was one of the most critical ways to both make money, and you could actually get your players to earn real deal money as a. As a legal workaround for a long, long time. There still exists, but it's not what it once was. Yeah.
- [20:31]
Gary Parrish
So the concept of elite camps, I think Billy Donovan, when I started talking to people, they were like, billy Donovan is the one who came up with this, or Billy's the one who took it to another level. And I wrote the story, and I just remember getting the call from Billy, and he was like, I wish you wouldn't have wrote that. But I was like, I remember talking to Billy, and I was like, billy, I think this is awesome. And he was like, yeah, but I don't like people. I don't know what he said. It was a long time ago, but he.
- [20:54]
Matt Norlander
I know, the innovator. What do you want to say? You know?
- [20:56]
Gary Parrish
Well, but I. I thought it was awesome, because here's a guy going, let's think, let's think, let's think. What can we do? What can we do? So here was the concept of elite camps. You would run your normal basketball camps to get, like, my kids to pay 250 bucks to come hang out with Joe, Kim, Noah or whatever. But then you would have elite camps, and those were invitation only. And, hey, you don't have to pay nothing to come to these. You're just an awesome high school player. You don't have to pay anything now. We can't pay you to come. We can't do anything. But you, if you can get here, you're here now. Who do you hire to work your camp? That player's high school coach for a lot of money. And it's just sort of understood that coach has now got the money to get you here. That coach has got the money to do whatever that coach needs to do. And this was a way to get some of the best prospects in the country onto your campus. You literally hire coaches to work your camp and then they covered the expenses to get players on your campus. It was a workaround and then everybody started doing it. And this feels like that that Duke found a workaround. And now everybody who has a brand big enough to even get the attention of Amazon or anybody else is at least going to be wondering if not pursuing similar type deals. And until these contracts are upgraded with updated with different language like you're probably like it's a weird time because something just happened that could change the way universities all over the country, the biggest, biggest brands are thinking about doing things in contradiction of traditional television contracts that we've always assumed just sort of made it the way it's always been.
- [22:42]
Matt Norlander
No doubt if there's anything that's in the actual like written language with the Big Ten and Fox, like if there's something there, you could see a lawsuit on. Again not with Duke side like Duke, Amazon, espn they cleared this like that. That's they came to the agreement. They are the ESPN is allowing this to happen frankly because Duke is Duke. Duke wields a bigger stick than anyone in college basketball. You get that on the Michigan side, the Big Ten side, they would have to quite literally have language in there. And I figure if they did we wouldn't have gotten to this point. I would think then again Duke went with the, with the release first and then the schools follow thereafter. Not far after back on back on Thursday. But this does feel like to me a more of a Big Ten versus acc. Let's figure out what's going to happen here. And what could well happen is again we're super into the weeds on when it comes to like broadcasting these non conference games. The Big Ten by nature of losing out on this Duke Michigan game which is a Duke Michigan at the Garden the week of, the week of Christmas. That's going to be a massive day for for balls. That's a massive game to not have. It would not shock me if and who knows if you know what games they'll be if if Fox gets The next two notable ones of this and maybe it's not necessarily Duke specific, but they're probably going to be handed. There's going to be have to be a favor that's going to come back around on this. I would think with all this and, and if my bottom line take on it, this is a really good thing for college basketball in this regard. The inventory of the sport in November and December, it does seem to be rising. Not that it was never not valuable, it always has been, but it really feels as though you've got a lot of coaches that want to schedule these games that want to try and find each other. It's a really great time to be for college basketball, great space to be in and so but the nature that this is such a massive deal reflects very well on college basketball because for the fan, for people watching this podcast, listening to us, your experience and enjoyment of the sport before we get to conference play, it is being uplifted as a result. And you want this kind of competitiveness that's out there to make for the best games possible long before we get to January.
- [24:49]
Gary Parrish
I know Duke Yukon, just to double down on what you said, it's also it's not just Duke Yukon after that Elite Eight game. It's Duke Yukon with Kaden Boozer, with Braylon Mullins. Like in college basketball, we don't get to revisit moments very often because the players just come and go like they're just gone. And yet we will relive perhaps the biggest moment of the 2026 NCAA tournament and one of the biggest moments of all time. And like we're going to get together a year later and the characters are going to be the same. It's going to be the same. Coaches like, like Braylon Mullins and Kaden Boozer are the key characters in one of the biggest moments in NCAA tournament history. And like, you know, I'm assuming they're going to sit down and have to talk about it and all that. We just, we don't get that in college basketball. That's going to be a cool day.
- [25:41]
Matt Norlander
Yeah. And last thing here, it's just, it just sprung to mind. I think I saw maybe a little bit of, of questions about this out there in the ensuing hours after this stuff got released. Why is Duke not playing Yukon at the Garden? Why aren't they playing Gonzaga in, in Vegas and why aren't they playing in Detroit? It's specifically because those territories, non conference wise and what leagues have control versus don't have control over the, the scheduling freedom that comes with it. I know it's a little bit antithetical to think why are Duke and Yukon flying all the way to Vegas to play each other on the Wednesday before Thanksgiving when when they could play at the Garden? It doesn't, it can't happen like that. The Big east would have and and the ACC having territory in New York City makes that extremely hard to do. So that's if you've had that question why? That's essentially the reason why they are doing it at those specific venues. Oh, by the way though, you're going to have Duke Yukon Wednesday night before Thanksgiving. That's going to actually pair with players ERA out there. So that's going to be a pretty magnificent week out there in the desert leading up into Turkey Day.
- [26:44]
Gary Parrish
All right, we ready to move on to some transfer portal top two portal
- [26:49]
Matt Norlander
classes of this year's cycle because we got some news buddy.
- [26:51]
Gary Parrish
We have some news. Louisville has added a center. Tennessee has added a high scoring guard from Wake Forest. We'll get into both of those developments next. First, I'm going to need a word from our partners.
- [27:04]
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- [29:07]
Gary Parrish
Got a few recruiting developments we'll touch on here. Let's start at Louisville, where Obina Akizi Jr. A top five prospect in the class of 2027, has committed to the Cardinals. He is reclassifying after being labeled as the number one center in the class of 2027. A consensus top five prospect in the class, he will reclassify to 2026 enrollment this summer and play for Louisville next season. I'm not going to ask you to break down Obina Akizi Jr. He's very young. I can't imagine you've seen him much, if at all. But it is another undeniably talented piece for Portal Pat Kelsey who is absolutely cleaning up. What did you make of what Louisville has done lately this offseason? And it looks like a final four contender to me. Does it look like one to you?
- [30:03]
Matt Norlander
Yes. Final four contender, yes. Yeah, Akizi, I just actually checked our 2026 page. He hasn't been thrown in there. I would think he's, I mean he's going to be anywhere after the fact. Here's the, here's the 2026 prospect rankings. Stokes to Kansas, Jordan Smith Jr. To Arkansas, Caleb Hole to Arizona. And then you've got Cameron Williams to Duke at 4, Jason Crow Jr. To Missouri at 5, Bruce Branch at 6 to BYU. I would think Akisi at worst is 7 because right now 7 is Anthony Thompson, Ohio State. I think a keys he's a better prospect than Thompson. Dylan Mingo going to Baylor, he's eight. This is class 26. Remember, Keezi is reclassifying Christian Collins, USC at nine and then Darren Rippey as a point guard. He's gonna go play at Duke and come off the bench next season. So how about that? I'm looking at this right now. GP we've got nine players going to. Sorry, 10 players going to nine schools next season. And if that really bumps, actually. That'll bump Rippy down. That's.
- [31:03]
Gary Parrish
Yeah.
- [31:04]
Matt Norlander
How about that? 10 players to 10 schools. I like that. Don't always get that. That's kind of a good spread out there. Louisville Final Four contender. Yes. Akizi likely to come off the bench, although if you told me they played. And Akisi is like a seven foot guy, really good defender, good around the rim. I don't think he's 18 yet. I think he turns 18 this month. Pair him with Badunga. Who's going to be the center? Alvaro Fogueris from Iowa. Probably start at the four. Maybe flex between Akisi and Fulgaris and the front court there. Carter Knox will start transfer from Arkansas. Adrian Willie back at the 2. And then Jackson Shell stat will be the one making his way from Oregon there. This is I believe 247 ranks. This is the number one portal class and A Keys. He's not in the Portal. He's just reclassifying his high school prospect there. You'll also have London Johnson, 6:3 point guard from the G League coming through. Deshaun Montgomery, Dayton transfer. He's a guard who's in the mix there as well. Louisville has a lot of talent. It remains to be seen if they actually, ironically enough, they don't have the shooting they did a season ago. But they've got the size, they've got the athleticism. They've got a roster that it's got. I think it's got to be preseason top 10 here. GP. In fact, I think both teams are going to talk about in today's show, coincidentally enough, top two Portal classes probably. I think we got to put both in the top 10. And in a welcome change of pace, we just have. I just wouldn't have thought this wasn't the case five weeks ago. I. I'm really intrigued and excited by the schools that are populating like the top 10 ish, 15 ish of the rankings at this point. But the pressure will be on. I don't know how much Pat Kelsey and Rick Barnes and we'll get to. We'll get to Juke Harris in just a second here. I don't know how much they're spending in totality in the aggregate cumulatively on these rosters, it's definitely north of 15 million. And if you told me it flirted with 20, I'd believe you. So with that comes a lot of pressure. Louisville has done nicely. Year one, year two after the Kenny Payne era, Kelsey has gotten that program right back on track. Now they have not had the March success yet and now this roster is going to come with those kind of expectations, dare I say Final Four expectations there. But getting a Keezy is a, is a good ad. I mean he really adds some really nice front court depth and a lot of promising talent. I don't know if he's going to step in in his freshman season and be one of the 10 most impactful first year players in college basketball. I don't know if that'll be the case. I don't know. But I do know by adding him and giving you that much more insurance in the front court, it does give Louisville fans rightful optimism to say we have a team that should be top three in the ACC for sure and be a team that with with all that comes with that we should have at worst a four or better next to our name if we can dodge any, you know, injury issues.
- [33:43]
Gary Parrish
Top two transfer portal classes according to 247 Sports, as you mentioned, are indeed Louisville in Tennessee in that order. And Louisville, I mean they ain't having no money. Are you surprised that the closing of the straight of Hormuz has had no impact on Louisville spending?
- [33:58]
Matt Norlander
Not surprised whatsoever. I think we talked about this back in like early February. We didn't think the straight of Hormuz and everything attached to that was going to have any impact on whatsoever on Pat Kelsey's ability to recruit really deep in the portal.
- [34:09]
Gary Parrish
The straight of hormones is wild. I cannot get enough of the straight hormones. I had no idea. Be honest. Did you know the strata hormones existed two months ago?
- [34:21]
Matt Norlander
We went over this previously. We don't need to relitigate this.
- [34:24]
Gary Parrish
I love it. It's like I learned about just something new.
- [34:27]
Matt Norlander
Don't get me back into that Suez Canal talk again.
- [34:32]
Gary Parrish
I love the strata hormones. It's wild. Anyway, no impact. It's had no negative impact on Louisville spending.
- [34:37]
Matt Norlander
No oil is not affecting Louisville's ability to load up in the rost and in the portal and and build up a huge roster. And quite possibly, I don't know if this is the case or not possibly have the most expensive roster. It's definitely one of the top five. Tennessee and Louisville unquestionably will have two of the five most expensive rosters. And you know what, good on, good on you for doing so. But as you see with Kentucky.
- [34:57]
Gary Parrish
Oh yeah,
- [34:59]
Matt Norlander
blood source that comes with that.
- [35:01]
Gary Parrish
You know, this is how it goes. If you, if it doesn't go well, we go from going man. The straight of Hormuz has had no impact on Louisville spending. Pat Kelce's got it rocking and rolling. You go from that to how you not winning. Spending $50 million on a basketball roster like you you it it blessing and a curse is exactly right. Ask Mark Pope. Ask John Shire. Just for different reasons like you you. It is awesome to have the national player of the year in back to back years. But when you fall short in back to back years with the national player of the year, people start to use that to hit you in the head with it. And if this Louisville team is not great, Pat Kelsey will live the exact same life that Mark Pope lived last season. And that's, that's, that's not an easy life.
- [35:47]
Matt Norlander
It's not. But envy of plenty of people right now, no question. And, and I'm happy for Louisville's fan base to have. They've had. They were rosy going into two seasons ago and going into last season as well. This is really a level up here but don't want to frame that as like it's this, you know, impeccable roster. It's not. They, they. They have traded off some shooting certainly to up in size. You just look at, in fact you look at Keezy Bulgaris is like a fairly stretchy four badunga, one of the five best defenders in the sport last season. Knox and his size, they are seeing not every team but they are seeing the teams that were in that conversation to be 1 seeds. And he is, he is saying okay, I'm gonna trade off on going super guard heavy, having five guys on my roster that can shoot 38 or, or better from three and instead lean in on the size and physicality point of it. And with that when you get more bigs they tend to be more expensive. Like I don't know how much that they had to pay for flooring. It was definitely at least 4 million. If you told me it's 5, I'd believe you. So with that you're going to have to spend a ton of money and hopefully it all pays off. But no, no guarantee of it whatsoever. The Heat will be on, but I can't wait to see what Louisville looks like because this is, this is a very tempting roster in general. Like I don't have Carter Knox lost in the shuffle, but I, I feel like people don't realize like what how he stands to become even better. Like if he really taps into everything he's capable of, like he could be the guy that really unlocks Louisville to be that final four level kind of program there. So yeah, I'm excited and and good on them for getting a reclass here. I see Akizi as just a nice insurance policy. Like it's a bonus. You would have had a really good roster without him. And now you add the seven footer, someone who 13, 13 and a half months from now GP could be like. It's conceivable he could turn himself into a top 20 pick in the NBA draft and in what will be a definitely a down NBA draft. Good on him. Getting it done, getting to reclassify. Hopefully from a physicality point he's ready. He seems ready to me and I'm excited to see him next year in ufo.
- [37:50]
Gary Parrish
Another place where the closing of the straight of Hormuz has had no negative impact on spending is Knoxville, Tennessee for Rick Barnes added earlier today, Juke Harris from Tennessee. He of course played at Wake Forest last season. More than 21 points per game. Rick had said something recently, I think we touched on this about how recruiting is. He enjoys it this way more than the way he used to enjoy it. It's just more efficient, less wasted time. It's very transactional. But if you're at a place like the University of Tennessee, if things are transactional, you've clearly got the resources to, to, to flourish in that game. And Tennessee basketball is doing it right now. They are.
- [38:32]
Matt Norlander
And I just can't help but chuckle because there is a rule in college recruiting chicken the portal era, no matter, no matter what people said you spent to get a player, that's never the price you actually paid. And if you lost a player, you definitely lost them for way, way more money. So I reported earlier today, and this is through multiple sources, this has been weeks long now. The asking price for Drew Cares is $5 million. Okay. And, and, and checking in one more time earlier today with what with one such source, 5 million no matter what. And the source said at least his edge, his agent would not accept a penny less than $5 million. So I understand if there's gonna be like some slight damage control because it's not a, it's not an enviable position to be in as the Tennessee staff. If you get Juch Harris and then you have a national reporter reporting that he came with a 5 million dollar asking price with that because you've got other players on your roster. But the game is the game and everyone knows that. Juke Harris was out there for weeks. He dabbled with the pre draft processing an extremely high asking price. And good on him for getting paid that amount of money. And good on Rick Barnes for having the kind of support straight of Hormuz, not holding them back.
- [39:45]
Gary Parrish
Yes.
- [39:46]
Matt Norlander
15 plus million dollars into a roster. There's no shame in this whatsoever. There's still a little bit of that out there, folks. There's no shame in it at all whatsoever. Yes. Does it come with the, the public knowledge of like how much they spent on this roster and so they better win? Yes. As to what we just talked about with Louisville, unquestionably. But Juke Harris's addition to Tennessee, to me, puts them as a top 10 roster overall. He'll start at the 3. You gotta figure he'll start at the 3. I'll run down the roster here real quick for you, GP I don't know where you've got them yet. You can reveal that to us in just a second here. Data Aims from Cal will run the point. He averaged 17 points a game last season. By the way. You'll have Jalen Harrison from Notre Dame, average 16 in obscurity. Fighting Irish for any good. But he's, he's a bucket getter. He'll start, I would think, if they opt to start. Terence Hill Jr. He had 50 coming off the bench at VCU, but he was just, he was a bench player in name only. This player this big out of Kennesaw State, Braden Lou. He might wind up starting at the four. And then quite clearly, Miles Rubin from Loyola, really good defender. He'll start at the five. They've also got Tyler Lumblade from Belmont, who's a career 43 three point shooter, averaged 15 and a half a game last season. They've got the dudes. And Rick Barnes has made one Final Four in his career. It was more than two decades ago when he was at Texas. This program. Tennessee has never made the Final Four. Three consecutive Elite Eights for this program and understandably so. Barnes is going to turn 72 later this year. I don't know how many more seasons he has left. Maybe this is going to be his last one. Maybe he's got one or two more after this. But they are going all in to try and make not just a Final Four happen. They also haven't gotten a 1 seed. Tennessee has been, as I wrote earlier today for the site, GP Tennessee has been the best program in college basketball in the 2000s that did not have a one seed or a Final Four to its name. It's had plenty of two seeds. It's had some deep Elite Eight runs. It's got some SEC championships in there. It had some really high draft picks. It's had one of the three best defenses in college basketball across the past half decade. Like, it hasn't had a down year, but it has not had that one season where it did finally break through. Credit to Barnes and his staff. Danny White, the athletic director of Tennessee, all the boosters that are going to make this happen, they will have one of the most expensive rosters in the sport and they should. They're going all in. They're going to try and make this happen and break through to a final Four. Getting Juke Harris one of the highest paid players in the portal kind of clinches that. And to me, unquestionably, unquestionably has Tennessee as a top 15 team. I personally would have them in the top 10.
- [42:11]
Gary Parrish
I had them 17 before this development. I'll definitely move them into the top 15. Louisville and Tennessee will both be in the top 15 of the updated top 25 and 1. I hear you on the money thing, like just on a very surface level, like Juke Harris, $5 million sounds high, but whatever, it's, there's no salary cap. It's just wealthy people's money. If I were in my 70s trying to get back to a final Four, yeah, sure, give him $5 million, get him on campus, why not? And I, I, I guess I just have a difference of opinion on how the money stuff is interpreted among fans because I, I guess it could go a million different ways. But like, sometimes people would ask me as a Mets fan when the Mets have the highest payroll in baseball. You see how that's going, by the way. But they'd say, hey, like, even if they win just by spending all this money, like you just be buying a World Series. Is that really what you want to do? And I'm like, yes, yeah, yeah, please. Have you ever met a miserable Dodgers fan recently? Like, by definition, they are kind of buying World Series. It seems awesome. Ohio State in football bought the highest paid team a few years ago. They won a championship with it. It looked fun as hell. And so I think the money, it gets used against you by, by other people's fans and your own if things aren't going well. Like Mark Pope had to hear about his payroll from his own fans as much as he had to do for me, other fans last season. But when it's going well, only your rivals bring up your money. When it's going well, you just have fun. When it's going well, you just love it. Like, and so right now, people in baseball reference the Mets payroll because they stink and Mets fans reference it because they stink. But I promise you, the Mets were leading the NL east right now. I would. You could laugh about their payroll all you wanted. I'd be like, bro, I just watched Juan Soto go two for three last night. I'm having a blast. If you're winning, you don't have to apologize for how much you spent. And your own fans, it won't even be in their head. They'll just be winning so much. They're having a blast. Nobody cares. And so don't apologize. I, if, if I were a head coach, I would want all the money and I would spend it as best I could and I, I'd go try to win as many trophies as I can. And I don't think you got to apologize at all. Because in truth, whoever's holding the trophy at the end of this thing, almost regardless in whatever like football, men's basketball, almost regardless of who's cutting nets at the end holding trophy, they are going to be somebody who spent millions and millions and lots of money on a basketball roster.
- [44:56]
Matt Norlander
And that might have to be the case moving forward. Now we'll see if this. And by that I mean adding to the portal. Michigan just won a national championship. First team ever. Every person that started in the national championship game did not begin their career at the University of Michigan. There had never been a national championship game where that was the case where every single person did not start their career at that given school. Now we have plenty of schools occupying GP's top 10 right now. They've got some really healthy retention. That could well be the case. We could see the team that wins the 2027 national championship be a team that was able to keep a key three or four or five pieces on the roster and that can lead. Lead itself down the way to, to having a national championship team. We'll see. But I do know this. If Tennessee is able to have big time success next season, it will have been because of the size of his checkbook and, and rightfully and understandably so. Rick Barnes has been at this for 40 years. Many of his contemporaries will tell you that he is too good of a coach to only have one Final Four trip on his resume. I would say that actually speaks to how difficult it truly is to even get to the Final Four reinforces that idea because it is very, very hard to do so. But, but Harris is a good player. I don't. They've got so many guys who can score on this roster. The Tennessee shift in identity is going to be interesting. Everything that's happening at Tennessee is interesting. Like you've got a situation with a coach who's been there a dozen years, has made 20 plus 25 plus trips to almost 30 trips to the N Subway tournament his career and yet from the outside looking in this looks like there is a coaching change like Jacoby Gillespie eligibility expired okay Nate event one and done season be a top 15 pick okay Jalen Carey transfers out. JP Estrella transfers out Bishop Oswell transfers out Amari Evans transfers out Cade Phillips transfers out this team went to the elite eight. It won 25 games. It was a healthy six seed just don't typically see this and so for Barnes to be able to react and respond and bring in again with the help of a very serious nil backing a roster that to me is top 10 quality is really impressive and we'll see if they can all if they can gel he's going to go offensive leaning like I I think the pure nature of his scheme and how he coaches like Tennessee probably should be again a top 10 defense in the country. As a refresher I was 14th last year so let's say top 15 last season. Ken Palm adjusted defensive efficiency rating 14th year before that three before that three before that number one before that three before that five. This has been a program that has been operating defense first and although it's had some solid offensive performances in the past couple years of course Dalton Connect came from obscurity to be the transfer of the year a couple seasons ago and he was an offensive first guy. They're doing this collectively and and and Juke Harris adding to the group here is is going to be it's going to be really something worth watching here. Florida's going to be the favorite in the sec. I get that and you got some big you got some heavy hitters in that conference but Tennessee may well set up as the second best program in that conference. Tennessee Texas. I've talked about how much I like them as well a lot of interesting stuff going on there so very cool. Good for the Vols and and get ready because I do think this will be his most hyped team heading into a season that he's had yet. We've got a chat poll Josh has sent along who will be better next season. Louisville 71 Tennessee 29% I actually would expect more of a split there. I might go Tennessee between the two but I think you'd lean Louisville GP.
- [48:31]
Gary Parrish
I think I'll have Louisville yeah a little ahead of Tennessee but not much. They would both be in this category for Me, not one of the teams that I would predict on this day to be in the Final Four, but definitely both on the list of teams I would reasonably consider Final Four contenders. Like, when I say that, what I mean is I don't have to imagine a bunch of lucky bounces and upsets for you to get to the Final Four. In theory, on paper, you're the type of team that I. I could reason you that that could be a real. Like, if you looked at me and said, gp, my goal this year is to get this team to the Final Four, I could say that's a realistic goal. Hard to do, but I think. I think you've got the pieces on paper to do it. Both of those teams look that way to me.
- [49:16]
Matt Norlander
All right, good deal. I think that's pretty much a show. I think.
- [49:20]
Gary Parrish
Let's call it.
- [49:21]
Matt Norlander
We can call it, by the way, today, my wedding anniversary.
- [49:24]
Gary Parrish
Happy wedding anniversary to you.
- [49:26]
Matt Norlander
It was a trivia time.
- [49:28]
Gary Parrish
Okay.
- [49:30]
Matt Norlander
How many years ago did I get married?
- [49:32]
Gary Parrish
You got married. No, let me.
- [49:37]
Matt Norlander
Let me.
- [49:37]
Gary Parrish
I got. I'm gonna get this close. I'm gonna be in the rain.
- [49:41]
Matt Norlander
Get the air.
- [49:42]
Gary Parrish
I'm gonna say you've been married 15 years.
- [49:45]
Matt Norlander
Try again.
- [49:47]
Gary Parrish
I'm gonna say you've been married 14 years.
- [49:52]
Matt Norlander
One more time.
- [49:53]
Gary Parrish
13 years.
- [49:56]
Matt Norlander
13 years ago today, it was a Saturday, and I've been working at CBS for close to two and a half years. Paris was invited to the wedding. He did not show. I think he was playing golf that day.
- [50:10]
Gary Parrish
Literally working at a golf tournament.
- [50:12]
Matt Norlander
Literally.
- [50:13]
Gary Parrish
You want to know the truth? Here's the honest to God truth. I wasn't playing golf. I was working at a golf tournament. I was also financially in a different place where, like, I probably needed to work at that golf tournament. If you got married again, if you. I was poor. Here's what I'm trying to tell you.
- [50:37]
Matt Norlander
I was poor.
- [50:39]
Gary Parrish
In that moment, it made more sense for me to work a golf tournament than it did to spend money to go to a wedding. But if you got married this Saturday, my whole family would be there.
- [50:52]
Matt Norlander
There is no chance in hell I'm inviting your kids to my wedding. Not even close. Josh asked before we went live what year the wedding anniversary was. I said I would work in a trivia time one way or the other. It was a fantastic. If I do. If I do say so myself. Now, I worked weddings in college, so I had worked. I can't even tell you how many. Like, I worked at a catering hall. So by the time it was, you know, came for Me to have my naturals in the big party. I knew exactly all the dues, all the don'ts, and as a result, we had an absolute blast. Borzello can attest to us he was the. The one member of the college basketball media that did attend. And to this day, he will. He will. He will stump his stand for just how good that wedding was. So you missed out on a good time.
- [51:36]
Gary Parrish
I know I did. I know I did. I. I don't. I hope. I don't ever want you to. I don't ever want you to have a failed marriage.
- [51:45]
Matt Norlander
We are. We're good to go. We're. We're just cruising along, knock on when we should be good.
- [51:49]
Gary Parrish
Yeah, I know, but I just want to make the point. I want it to be, if I
- [51:52]
Matt Norlander
get married again, you'll go to the wedding. That's what you're getting at.
- [51:54]
Gary Parrish
Anywhere in the world you can have this wedding. Yes, anywhere in the world you could have this wedding.
- [52:00]
Matt Norlander
What is your take on destination weddings?
- [52:04]
Gary Parrish
Like, if you really want to have this conversation, and I think this. Yeah, I think this will go a long way into explaining, like, my mindset and possibly explaining why I was not at your wedding. Here's the truth. My wife and I got married young, and we got married in the Bahamas. And the reason. So a destination wedding. And literally invited nobody because we were young, and I knew that my friends did not have the disposable income to travel to a wedding for me, and I did not want to put that pressure on them. And so I announced to everybody, you're not even. It's not even an option to go to a wedding, to go to our wedding, because we are doing this alone. And I think we might have framed it like we want it just to be about us, but in truth, like, her parents don't have that kind of money. My parents didn't have that kind of money. Nobody was paying for our wedding. And so we just went and got married. And it's. It's. It is a big regret that I have. It's kind of a set sad because it's like we were just by ourselves. Like, on our wedding day, we were just by ourselves. Like, if you look at my wedding certificate, the best man in my wedding is like a, you know, some dude I met in the Bahamas.
- [53:16]
Matt Norlander
What the hell?
- [53:18]
Gary Parrish
Like, you have to have a witness. And it's just like. It's just like a guy who. Just a guy signed it who will
- [53:23]
Matt Norlander
be a witness for my Lord God.
- [53:25]
Gary Parrish
Yeah, it was just like, it Was so. It's the saddest. I have, like, I have an incredible marriage, but the wedding day is rooted in. We were just broke. And I didn't. We didn't have money to do anything better than what we did. And most of my friends didn't. I didn't want to put that pressure on. Here's the honest to God truth. Long before you got married, I did not want to put pressure on my friends to feel like they had to spend money to get on planes and come to my wedding or anything like that. And we did not have the money to. To have a big wedding at home. And so we just went to the Bahamas by ourselves and got married. That. Yeah. So. So that's my mindset. Like, that's the whole. That's. That's how my head works. And so,
- [54:08]
Matt Norlander
like, that is saying, get married again. Why don't you do that? Why don't you sell it? Do the whole thing?
- [54:14]
Gary Parrish
You should.
- [54:14]
Matt Norlander
If you did that, I would go to that.
- [54:16]
Gary Parrish
Okay, good, good. And then, and then, and then. If you did that, I would go to that.
- [54:22]
Matt Norlander
Renew the vows. Hey, listen, 25 year kind of thing. We're halfway there, I guess.
- [54:26]
Gary Parrish
Hey, why don't we do a joint? I am basketball. Renew the vows.
- [54:31]
Matt Norlander
I feel like our wives would love that.
- [54:34]
Gary Parrish
They probably love that. We love that. So here's what I'm saying. You can get married again anywhere in the entire world.
- [54:44]
Matt Norlander
Entire world.
- [54:45]
Gary Parrish
And I'll be. I have so many Delta points says
- [54:48]
Matt Norlander
we're going to Italy. You're down.
- [54:49]
Gary Parrish
I'm going to Spain this summer for a wedding. Swear.
- [54:52]
Matt Norlander
Oh, yeah. Oh, there you. Okay, there we go. There we go.
- [54:57]
Gary Parrish
I got so many Delta points. Now, hold on, hold on.
- [54:59]
Matt Norlander
Is this someone that lives in Europe? Is it, What? A foreign exchange? You remember? Yeah, the foreign exchange. Foreign exchange there, that's a different deal. That's not. That's not one of your boys who now lives in Atlanta and they're up and going to Spain.
- [55:10]
Gary Parrish
No, no, this is. They live in Berlin, but they are getting married in Mallorca, Spain. So I'm going to. I'm going to be the one person from Mississippi who's been. I would be making my second trip to Mallorca, Spain. Why have I been to Mallorca, Spain twice?
- [55:27]
Matt Norlander
You're living life just fine if you're doing that. By the way, Spain looks incredible, so.
- [55:31]
Gary Parrish
Oh, Mallorca's nice. It's nice. I look. I look forward to it. All right. I feel like we've said enough.
- [55:38]
Matt Norlander
I feel like, we've said everything, by the way, anniversary falling on a Monday. Hey, every, every six, seven years.
- [55:44]
Gary Parrish
Do you have, do you have real anniversary plans tonight? Like, you're, what are you.
- [55:48]
Matt Norlander
We did a little, we did a little brunch. Kids are, see, this is to the young ones out there. We got two kids in elementary school right now. So we went out, had a nice little brunch while they were at school. Might try and do something as a family later. But, but no, that'll be a, that'll be about it. And that's, that's totally fine. But it was, it was all too funny and appropriate that the way the calendar broke. And of course, Juke Harris, I mean, come on now. Juke Harris had to get a podcast on the 13 year wedding anniversary. Here we are.
- [56:14]
Gary Parrish
So, hey, on your, by the, by the time you get to your 14th, by the time you get to your 14th wedding anniversary, yes or no. And then we're out of here. Straight a Hormuz. Open or closed? Yes or no, man? Open.
- [56:26]
Matt Norlander
You think?
- [56:26]
Gary Parrish
Open.
- [56:27]
Matt Norlander
Open.
- [56:27]
Gary Parrish
You think? When you celebrate.
- [56:29]
Matt Norlander
Yeah, 2027.
- [56:31]
Gary Parrish
Yeah, open. I don't know, man.
- [56:33]
Matt Norlander
Open.
- [56:34]
Gary Parrish
I don't know.
- [56:35]
Matt Norlander
Ready for consummation? Let's go. Absolutely. April 2027, straight of Hormuz. Let's do it.
- [56:43]
Gary Parrish
This train of hormones will be open on Norlander's 14th wedding anniversary. If you're looking for a headline out of this podcast, Matt Norlander predicts the Straight of Hormuz will be open by his 14th wedding anniversary. That's the description.
- [56:57]
Matt Norlander
That's right. That's a show.
- [56:58]
Gary Parrish
That's the show. Shouts to Devin Downey. Shouts to Chester, S.C. shouts to Terry Teagle. He's a legend. Huck's a legend. Larnell's a legend. Harmuz is a legend. If you're not subscribed, please go subscribe anyway. Subscribe to podcast. Like Apple and Spotify. There's more of us than there are of them that needs to be reflected in the comments. So please do that and we'll talk to you again real soon. Till then, take care. Paramount podcasts. Saturday, May 9, UFC on Paramount plus is back with bad blood. Hamza Chimayev. He wants to kill me. I wants to kill him. Sean Strickland. If my day keeps going this way, I just might break your phone face tonight. Give me something to break. It's time to settle the score. How much security you think we're going to need? Give me something for the middleweight world title. UFC 328 Chamayev vs Strickland Saturday, May 9 Free with your subscription only on Paramount Plus.