Dusty May can’t go to NBA: Michigan-UConn rematch awaits in November; Mark Pope and UK fans; Players Era ups to 24 teams; HOF coaches don’t like NCAAT expansion

Summary

Eye On College Basketball Podcast (May 7, 2026)

Episode Summary:

Episode Theme:
Gary Parrish and Matt Norlander (referred to as GP and Josh in the transcript) dive deep into the college basketball off-season’s hottest topics: Dusty May and NBA interest, Michigan-UConn title rematch set for November, Mark Pope’s Kentucky Q&A and recruiting woes, the expanded Players Era tournament, and Hall of Fame coaches pushing back against NCAA Tournament expansion.

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Main Topics and Key Insights

1. Dusty May, Michigan, & NBA Interest

• Dusty May’s Future:

  • One month after winning Michigan’s first national championship in decades, NBA teams (Orlando, Golden State) rumored to be interested in hiring May.
  • Both hosts agree it’s unlikely Dusty May leaves for the NBA this off-season.
    • “I would be surprised if he left for an NBA job... I expect Dusty May with plenty of important players back to be right there in Ann Arbor, Michigan coaching the Wolverines next season.” – Josh (04:31)
    • “Dusty strikes me as the type of person that wouldn’t want to walk away from the situation that he has created.” – Gary Parrish (06:06)
  • Most top college coaches are at least intrigued by NBA opportunities, but quality of life and loss of control factor in their decision (07:00–08:23).
    • “If your front office puts you in a relationship with a star player you can’t get along with... you don’t survive that situation.” – GP (08:23)

• Michigan’s Roster Shaping Up:

  • Preseason Top 5; strong core returning plus notable transfers.
  • Big early match-up: Michigan vs. UConn, November 6 in Boston, first week of the season (10:07).

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2. Michigan-UConn Title Game Rematch (11:59–13:58)

• Historical Context:
  • This is the 11th non-conference title game rematch in the past 30 years; rare but not unprecedented.
  • Both coaches (May, Hurley) “leaning in” and embracing the spotlight of the showdown.
    • “Love this. Michigan is loading up... national championship rematch in Boston in a neutral site. One off. Love to see it.” – Josh (13:32)
  • Trivia segment: fun banter about how often these rematches actually happen (12:08–13:58).

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3. Mark Pope's Kentucky Q&A & Recruiting Woes (17:50–26:15)

• Mark Pope Engages Directly with Fans:

  • Pope addresses tough questions and online criticism in a social media Q&A after a lackluster offseason (missed on top prospects, decommits).
  • Mixed opinions from hosts about the effectiveness:
    • “I just don’t know that you actually help yourself in any meaningful way by doing this.” – GP (19:34)
    • Transparency praised, but answers somewhat superficial.
      • “With first change, I'd like to get all 20 kids to visit... Second, I’d like to land a few.” – Mark Pope video clip (20:56)
    • Pope notably dodges the “general manager” staffing question—a hot topic among UK fans (22:11–23:10).

• Recruiting Realities:

  • UK missed on 14 of the top 20 targets who visited campus (24:35–26:15).
    • “Kentucky should never go 0-for-14... that’s at the heart of the issue.” – Josh (26:08)
  • Fans of other bluebloods expect more urgent changes.

• Dan Issel’s Honest Take on Kentucky Recruiting:

  • On Lou Williams’ podcast, UK legend Issel bluntly explains the changing landscape:
    • “With NIL, we can’t cheat like we used to... College basketball really, really changed and brought a lot of equality.” – Dan Issel (27:05)
    • Hosts agree: NIL and transfer portal have leveled the playing field for smaller programs and other power conferences (28:15–31:19).
      • “Now everybody at the power conference level has the ability to get the things done you were getting done a long time ago under the table, and it makes it harder.” – GP (28:32)

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4. Players Era Tournament Expands to 24 Teams (36:01–45:25)

• New Format Details Announced:

  • Two separate events: an 8-team tournament (Players Era 8, pre-Thanksgiving) and a 16-team tournament (Players Era 16, Thanksgiving week).
  • “Yes, brackets… you will be able to look at brackets well in advance. Dare I say before we get out of May, you will be able to see the brackets for both Players Era events.” – Josh (36:18)
  • Big-money NIL payouts: “On average the teams will get paid slightly more than $1 million.”

• Field Highlights:

  • Players Era 8: Auburn, Florida, Houston, Kansas, Notre Dame, Rutgers, West Virginia, UNLV.
  • Players Era 16: Alabama, Baylor, Creighton, Gonzaga, Iowa State, Kansas State, Louisville, Maryland, Miami, Michigan, Oregon, San Diego State, St. John’s, TCU, Tennessee, Texas Tech.
    • “Between both brackets, 13 teams from last year’s NCAA tournament, 11 teams in GP’s Top 25 and One.” – Josh (41:05)

• Broadcast Moves to ESPN:

  • 37 games on men’s side; women's expansion planned; overtakes Maui/Atlantis as premier Thanksgiving event.

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5. NCAA Tournament Expansion – Coaches Push Back (45:25–51:13)

• Vote on Expanding to 76 Teams Looms

  • Many prominent coaches (Mark Few, Dan Hurley, Brad Underwood, Tom Izzo, John Calipari) oppose expansion:
    • “I am adamantly opposed. It’s totally unnecessary. It’s the dumbing down of the regular season, which is sad.” – Mark Few (47:54)
    • “The qualification process makes the regular season intense and pressure packed. It should be a privilege to play in the tournament, not a right.” – Dan Hurley (47:54)
  • Some support from coaches at smaller programs (ex: Ryan Odom supports expansion but doesn’t want 16 seeds to play entry round).

• Underlying Tension:

  • Expansion viewed as money-driven, not for quality or competitive balance.
    • “Some of the most prominent names in the game that still don’t think this should be happening. But that’s not going to stop it from happening.” – Josh (51:09)
  • GP’s article with full coach quotes discussed and linked.

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Notable Quotes & Moments

Dusty May NBA Speculation

• “Dusty strikes me as the type of person that wouldn’t want to walk away from the situation that he has created.” – Gary Parrish (06:06)

Mark Pope’s Q&A

• “With NIL, we can’t cheat like we used to... it has brought a lot of equality.” – Dan Issel (27:05)
• “Kentucky should never go 0-for-14.” – Josh (26:08)

Coaches on NCAA Tournament Expansion

• “It’s totally unnecessary. It’s the dumbing down of the regular season, which is sad.” – Mark Few (47:54)
• “It should be a privilege to play in the tournament, not a right.” – Dan Hurley (47:54)

Podcast Banter

• Multiple humorous asides about the Strait of Hormuz, hantavirus, and marriage to a murderer, culminating in:
  • “If I had to go on a cruise, I would hope that I’m married to a murderer.” – GP (55:56)

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Important Timestamps

• Dusty May NBA Buzz: 02:33–10:07
• Michigan-UConn Rematch & Trivia: 10:07–13:58
• Mark Pope Kentucky Q&A: 17:50–26:15 (Mark Pope audio: 20:56)
• Dan Issel on Kentucky Recruiting: 26:20–32:08
• Players Era Tournament Update: 36:01–45:25
• NCAA Tournament Expansion & Coaches’ Reactions: 45:25–51:13

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Tone and Style

• Conversational, occasionally irreverent, fan-friendly with plenty of inside jokes (e.g., Strait of Hormuz running gag).
• Willingness to critically examine prominent programs and speak bluntly about uncomfortable topics.

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For Listeners Who Haven’t Tuned In:

This episode gives a candid state-of-the-union on college basketball’s off-season drama: a star coach is coveted by the NBA, Kentucky basketball’s recruiting reality check, the explosion of NIL-driven tournaments, and a looming, controversial expansion of March Madness—directly quoting the game’s biggest voices. All topics are broken down with wit, stats, and just enough chaos to feel like a true year-round college hoops show.

Transcript

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[Gary Parish]

Hey there. I am Gary Parish. Welcome back to the CBS Sports I Own College Basketball podcast where we sometimes discuss camel fighting dodo birds in leaky black. Per usual, Matt Norlander is here with me. If you watch it on YouTube, honor Brandon Davies the best way you know how, smash that like button. If you haven't yet subscribed to the I Own College Basketball podcast, please do that wherever you listen to podcasts like Apple and Spotify. Let's get into it. It has been Exactly I counted 31 days, I hope I counted right since Dusty May guided Michigan to the national championship. Since then he's got enough done in the transfer portal, I think to have a realistic shot to try to take the Wolverines to back to back titles next season. But today's question is will he even be there? I asked because there are various reports, including one from longtime NBA insider Mark Stein, suggesting that multiple NBA franchises have various levels of interest in luring Dusty to that league. Orlando is reportedly one. Golden State is reportedly possibly another. Norlander, it's great to see you on a Thursday morning. I'm not surprised that NBA franchises are reportedly interested in Dusty May. If I had one, I would be. But my question for you is, would you be surprised if he left this offseason for any NBA job?

[Josh]

I would be surprised if he left for left Michigan take an NBA job. I wouldn't be surprised if we took the clock ahead, got to May 7, 2030, checked in on the world there straight a Hormuz fully open. Gotta believe it by 2030.

[Gary Parish]

I mean you say. If you say so.

[Josh]

Gotta believe it. Hantavirus hopefully well in the rear view.

[Gary Parish]

I mean if you say so. But I don't know man. They got mines in that straight. They put mines in the bottom of that straight.

[Josh]

It's got nothing to do with hantavirus.

[Gary Parish]

I know, but it's just a lot to deal with. It's a lot to deal with.

[Josh]

Let him go. He's rolling. And, and Destiny could be at the, at the NBA level in four years. The three things that everyone knows are connected, the Strait of Hormuz, haunted virus and Dusty May's professional career. Everyone knows. I, I think that we could get there eventually. Especially if Michigan is like this upcoming season is good again, top five team in the country, all that stuff. It'll only increase that. And generally speaking, I think he has the temperament for, for NBA coaching. I would be surprised if he leaves to take an NBA job. Doesn't mean like I don't know if it'll one happened to even get reported because a lot of this stuff is done very, very discreetly and quietly. It wouldn't surprise me at all if he actually gets at least one if not two actual interview opportunities. If for no other reason then he should want to go through that process. So whenever that opportunity does come, be it in four weeks or four years or whenever, it won't be his first rodeo. So I do think that would be a possibility. I think Billy Donovan going to Orlando is way more likely. Not even that Donovan would necessarily get that job for sure. Keep in mind the Knicks had a coach this time a year ago. He got fired for not making a deeper run into the playoffs and and fibs probably if he wants to is going to have another job in short order here as well. So we got a couple of Michigan adjacent things but the it I'm not surprised we got to this point first week of May, some jobs opening. You've got a guy who just won a national championship. He's not the only head coach that's obviously been connected to this kind of stuff. We've talked previously on Todd golden, but he's not going anywhere. He's just in the midst of a contract renegotiation. He'll be at Florida next season with the preseason number one team. But I expect Dusty May with plenty of important players back to be right there in Ann Arbor, Michigan coaching the Wolverines next season.

[Gary Parish]

I agree. I Dusty strikes me as the type of person that wouldn't want to walk away from the situation that he has created. It doesn't mean that he would rule out and I don't want to speak for him, but I don't assume that means he would rule out an NBA future at some point. Because frankly, and like let's settle in here for a second. Almost every college coach I've ever talked to who has a realistic chance to one day get that phone call from an NBA franchise has hinted to me or flat out said, mostly off the record, but still that yes, they would have an interest in that. Do you find that to be true that most college coaches do have a level of interest intrigue in moving to the NBA someday? It's at least in their head somewhere.

[Josh]

Yes. Most, not all. There are definitely some coaches over the years I've talked to whenever, however this comes up where they do not have interest. I'm talking like specifically coaches that would be in that top 25, top 30 program realm. There are some out there that are that just prefer the college game now. I've also some of these conversations frankly are backdated to 2022 or 2019 or 2017. A different era. Maybe they would have different opinions now in 2026 with that comes with Being a college coach. But both jobs have serious upside and serious downside. It's just a matter of how you view it. But yeah, this is, this is an understandable goal because it is the highest level of coaching in the world at the most, you know, talented, by far basketball league in the world. So it would, it would stand a reason why that would be the case there. But no, I don't think, I don't think Dusty's moving.

[Gary Parish]

Yeah, in. You're exactly right. There are pros and cons to both. What I hear from most coaches is that the pros of being an NBA coach would be, it's just you're done with the recruiting, you can really take off season vacations and it doesn't negatively impact your job. It's just a better quality of life thing. Even if you are, quote, working in a longer season and coaching more games, there's a quality of life aspect to it that, that is intriguing to, to the people I've talked to, or at least I don't want to paint with a broad brush, but, but lots of

[Josh]

them with less control. You give up a lot of control. You gotta be good with it.

[Gary Parish]

That's the other thing, with less control. So for instance, in college, if you sign somebody who is a problem for you or you overpay for something that just doesn't live up to its expectations, you can get out of that very quickly and you're in control of it. You can say, this guy's a jerk, I can't coach him, this guy's butting heads with me, this guy's not as good as I thought. And you can fix that. It might mess up a year, but it doesn't have to mess up anything more than that. In the NBA if, and it's not even really up to you. Usually if your front office puts you in a relationship with a star player you can't get along with for whatever reason, it's over for you. You, you don't survive that situation. In college, you have the control to fix that situation on your own. In the NBA, if you find yourself in that situation, with few exceptions, you have no control over it anymore. They get you and they move on with a new coach who they hope can connect with the star player. Because they got 250, $300 million tied up in this situation, they can't undo it. So that, that's the trade off. I think obviously there's more to it than that, but, but those are the two biggest differences, I think. You go to the NBA, you add a quality of life perspective that can be, you know, ideal or more ideal, but you give up a lot of control that you particularly when you're cutting nets and winning a national championship that you have on a campus you have around your program. Maybe not forever, but certainly for a long time.

[Josh]

And now look at what Dusty's got coming back. Just as a quick refresher. They're going to be a preseason top five team. They've got a huge matchup. On top of which then just a second. But the roster will be Elliot Cado, who comes back. Trey McKinney who comes back. They're still waiting on Mirez Johnson. I think he's gone. It's not, I'm told it's not 100 decided, but call it 80, 20. He's not going to come back. I understand why that would be the case if he did come back. Who? Boy, then we got to really have a conversation about preseason number one again. But let's say he's gone. JP Estrella from Tennessee comes in. Mustafa Cham, the Cincinnati big man who will start at the 5 there. Jalen Reed, LSU transfer Brandon McCoy, who I know they're really, really high on Lincoln Cosby comes in. They've also got a player named Oscar Goodman who's from New Zealand. I want to say he'll be a sophomore and not really buzzed about outside of that building. But they, they have good expectations. He can move into a real spot of impact next season. So with that in mind, the other Dusty May, Michigan adjacent news just to hit on quickly, we got a lot to get to and less than an hour to get to this. So let's, let's keep it moving. GP we are going to have a title game rematch. I'll have more on the Yukon side of this, I Think on Friday. On.com Dan Hurley is loading up again and the first game that's of note is in the first week. It's going to be Friday, November 6th in Boston. Remember how UConn and BYU played last season in Boston? That's part of that hall of Fame series. There's a variety of different games across the country in different spots. They're single game events, but the teams get paid hundreds of thousands of dollars to do it. And good on Dan Hurley and Dusty May for leaning in. We are going to have not just a title game rematch, we're having a title game rematch between non conference opponents between two coaches that have won national championships. You know, justy may just happen and obviously Hurley had two before that and we're getting it in the first week of the season. Trivia time.

[Gary Parish]

Okay, let's go.

[Josh]

So we will have UConn vs Michigan Friday, November 6th in Boston. Title game rematch. That's a non conference affair since in the past 30 years.

[Gary Parish]

Yep.

[Josh]

And the answer's not zero, one or two. So I'm not leading you down to like this almost never happens. No, it's happened. But just see if you can get on the first guess. How many times have we had a non conference title game rematch the ensuing season after those two teams met for the championship?

[Gary Parish]

It's obviously seven times.

[Josh]

You want to give it one more? One more guess. Including Michigan, Yukon, how many will it be?

[Gary Parish]

Oh, including Michigan, Yukon. I must have misunderstood the question. In that case, it's obviously nine times.

[Josh]

Nine times. A little bit more than that. The most recent was Nova Michigan, but we had Duke vs Butler do it the year after they did it. Carolina, Michigan State, Florida and Ohio State did it. Carolina and Illinois did it. Maryland and Indiana did it. Michigan State, we had a run here from 96 through 02. Kentucky, Syracuse met. Arizona, Kentucky met. Yukon, Duke met. In fact, I think Yukon, Duke met in the first or second game of that season. Michigan State, Florida, Maryland, Indiana, we've had it 10 times, but only one previous instance over the past 15 seasons. And that was when Nova and Michigan met. November 14th, the year after Nova won the national championship. So. And a beautifully awesome thing that both of these coaches leaned into this. They want the rematch. Obviously. UConn's gonna get the rematch with Duke in November in Las Vegas. We'll get to some more Vegas hoops here before the end of the show. But I love this. And Michigan is loading up on its schedule. It's part of players era. We'll get to that in a second too. But yeah. GP come on now. First Friday, it's Friday nights when they could get the the building, when the TV inventory would allow for it. But whatever the. The season will start that Sunday in Rome with Notre Dame and Villanova and then five days later, right away, national championship rematch in Boston in a in a neutral site. One off. Love to see it.

[Gary Parish]

And if you want to get excited about it, get fired up heading into it, you can of course revisit Made for March on Paramount. Plus you can find it. It's right there on your screen next to Landman Season 2. I did watch it. It's great. And if I were an NBA front office member watching that, I would totally be like, yeah, maybe we should talk to Dusty May. He seems like the type of person that has the right temperament to, to coach in our league. And also I thought the star at least of the last episode. I mean, did you know L.J. kason was this awesome?

[Josh]

He was great, great call. Didn't know he was that awesome, but he was awesome. Yeah, like passing up his just gassing up his teammates and making sure Yaxel was in the right headspace. Really, really good stuff.

[Gary Parish]

He was great. I mean I like he, he played a role in winning that national championship even though he never stepped on the court in the, in the NCAA tournament. And it just as I'm watching him, I'm just like, well, if I'm lucky enough to still be doing this, you know, in 15 years, at some point I'll be talking to him about his coaching career because he seems perfect for that. So made for March on Paramount. Plus you can relive UConn Michigan in the 2026 title game and get ready for that non league matchup we're going to get in the first week of the 202627 season. You want to move on to the Bluegrass State? Oh, it's getting interesting down in the Bluegrass State. Kentucky coach Mark Poe. He has decided this week to take questions from fans on social media, all while former UK great Dan Issel jumped on a podcast and had an honest slash hilarious take explanation for why the Wildcats maybe aren't recruiting the way they used to recruit. We'll dive into all that stuff next. First, a word from our partners.

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[Gary Parish]

So we'll get to the Dan Isle stuff in a second. Let's start with Mark Pope. He of course is the third year coach at Kentucky. It's his alma mater and at least this offseason it hasn't been going so well. They've targeted a lot of high level prospects, not gotten most of them. The fan base is, you know, they're struggling with it. And so Mark Pope decided, hey, I'm ready to talk to you. If you got questions, send them in and I'll answer them best to my ability. And so I gather they received thousands, thousands of questions and he jumped on social media to try to address some of them. Obviously can't do all, I guess. Here's my question, Is this a good idea? Is this a good idea?

[Josh]

Well, when he announced that he was going to do it with a video, it seemed like a lot of the response when he announced it was this is a terrible idea. I wasn't sold on it. It was terrible. And then it seems like we're going to have at least a two part series if not more. And we can see some of the responses here in just a second. Josh. But after he did this then you saw a lot more like this is really good of Pope. Glad that he's doing it. He's leaning into it now. There are some big questions that he still hasn't addressed and I would hope he does in a follow up video whether that happens later today or whenever. But I like that he is doing it and the other context around this is that Mark Pope has not had a single bit of media availability since his team was knocked out of the second round of the NCAA tournament. And a lot has happened with the Kentucky situation since then. So you've got the most bloodthirsty online fan base in college basketball, maybe in all of college athletics, just waiting to hear anything, anything from its coach. And so they finally have.

[Gary Parish]

I, I understand why it might pop into your head, like, let's try this because I, I gather Mark Pope is. Is online. He probably sees what his own fan base and the in state media is saying and tweeting and posting. So it's like, okay, everybody says, I need to talk, let's talk. This is a way to talk. And I watched it, you know, I guess part one of the Q A, and I came away from it going, all right, he's a good guy, seems like a good guy, but I always thought he was a good guy. And I'm like, it seems like a smart guy, but I always thought he was a smart guy. I just don't know that you actually help yourself in any meaningful way by doing this. Did. Do you think Kentucky fans watch that Q and A and said, all right, cool. I guess everything's cool. Like, it just seemed to me like it was a good attempt, but I don't know that it actually accomplishes what you're trying to accomplish other than I know Kentucky has a smart and good man running its program that really desperately wants it to go well. I know that after watching that, but I knew that before I watched it.

[Josh]

Let's watch. Listen just a little bit here of what Pope did from his UK office here earlier this week.

[Mark Pope]

Changes are being made to recruiting. You have to see a problem with 14 top 20 kids visiting, landing none. What's the change? With the first change, I'd like to get all 20 kids to visit our campus. That's a major win and there's no limit. Second, I'd like to land a few. Third, this year we were chasing a generational talent and we fell a little short, but we weren't sitting on our hands. We put together a roster that we are going to love watching Crush it in Rupp Arena. Last question from Instagram from ephpalmer. Where you been? So in the last few days, I was in Tel Aviv, Ljubljana, Milan, Cremona, as well as five or six cities in the States. But I am so happy to be back in Lexington. Let's go, cats.

[Josh]

So with that, you get one. I do like the transparency of Here are the places I went. Mark Pope was not taking a late April vacation. He was there to recruit. He notably lost that when he said Tel Aviv. He went to go see a player that subsequently committed to lsu, which now officially has two players on its roster. But Will Wade maintains he's going to have like nine international players. So we wait and see on that. That's a whole other kettle of fish. The generational talent that you refer to there was obviously Tyron Stokes, who chose Kansas over Kentucky instead. And you're going to get a little bit of politician spin with Pope there as well. He was a little. In the video. I actually like that he did this. I think some Kentucky fans did come away perhaps a bit more satiated because they did it. And again, I think you need another. I think you need to. I do think you need another video because he, he needs to address the general manager question. What? He doesn't have one. He obviously doesn't believe he needs one. At this point, it's probably the number one topic for all of Kentucky fans because again, the Kentucky fan base, it isn't just online, it's intelligent, it follows the sport, it follows the team every single day of the year. And this isn't one of those things where it's a niche topic. No. People that, that know Kentucky, that follow that team, that love that team, they are aware of the fact that a lot, not all other, but a lot of other programs out there have a general manager in place. Kentucky does. And in spite of that, in their view, that's led to the roster situation being less than desirable. And I'm putting it kindly at this point for, for Pope, but I like the fact that he did it.

[Gary Parish]

Like, again, smart guy, it's his program. Do what you want. But if I were a UK fan, I'd have a real hard time listening to somebody try to tell me they don't need a general manager in a time where most of the other great programs think that they do. Particularly when your roster looks the way it looks like you've got the money, you don't need money. We got the money. You need the players and you don't have them. And most like John Shire has a general manager. You know, Dusty May has a general manager. Most of the guys who are operating at the tip top of the sport right now have gone down that path already. And so on some level, it just seems kind of stubborn to me. Like you overpaid for a bad, yes, the injuries mattered, but overpaid for a roster that Accomplished nothing last season of note relative to expectations. And now you're sitting here on May 7, and you don't have a roster that I personally think should be in a preseason top 25 right now. That is a problem. And you can keep saying you don't need help, but there's certainly a lot of evidence that suggests that, that, that maybe you do ask Kentucky fans, put it in a poll. Yeah, you know, and like, again, I guess I don't mind that he did it. I mean, of course I don't mind that he did it. But, like, some of the questions are. So we've had 14 of the top 20 transfers visit.

[Josh]

Got no, like, he included that question. It's very easy to filter them out now. Some of them were like, sure, I want you to be at my wedding and whatever. But some of them are real tough questions. I think we need one more batch of like two or three real legitimate questions. Address that stuff. You'll at least bring down the temperature a little bit. Seats going to be hot no matter what. GP but at least there was that, like, this could have gone way bad because it was a controversial idea to begin with. And the fact that it was even this level of controversy when they announced it just speaks to the passion of the Kentucky fan base. That's a good thing. But it could have gone way bad if he hopped on, posted a video that was 3 minutes and 24 seconds and there wasn't a single hard critting question included. Thankfully, there was enough awareness that we got to address some of these things head on.

[Gary Parish]

I also like that he acknowledged, hey, yeah, we've missed a lot of. And acknowledge right from the jump. Like, somebody asked, are we getting used? He was like, yes, yes, we're getting used. Yes, Other players are using us to leverage against other programs to get better deals, and then they go to the other programs. Yes, that is something that's happening. So I appreciate the transparency, but I guess this is what I'm saying. And then we can move on to the funnier thing. If I were a Kentucky fan and I said, hey, we've had 14 of the top 20 transfers on our campus and we got none of them. Like, what's, what's. What needs to change? And the answer is, like, you know, we need to get them well, yeah, I mean, yeah, I know, I know. But, like, what is wild that that's the case?

[Josh]

I think it was 14 of the top 20. Is it transfers or high school prospects?

[Gary Parish]

Whatever it was, whatever it was should

[Josh]

never be the case.

[Gary Parish]

Right.

[Josh]

Kentucky should never go over 14. Kentucky should probably. Kentucky should never go over four.

[Gary Parish]

Right.

[Josh]

Let alone over 14. And that's at the heart of the issue of where Mark Pope stands right now with that job.

[Gary Parish]

Which brings us to Dan Ansell, the UK great who jumped on a podcast yet? I, I saw it yesterday. I, I, it was at some point in recent days, the Run It Back podcast with Lou Williams, I think Michelle Beetle Chandler Parsons. And he was asked more or less like, what is different about Kentucky's recruiting, you know, right now? Because as noted, it ain't what it used to be. Here is a Kentucky legend talking candidly about the state of Kentucky recruiting. Why it's not what it once was.

[Josh]

Hasn't won a national championship since 2012.

[Gary Parish]

It's been a lot of turnover as far as leadership since that time.

[Josh]

Why do you feel the biggest reason that is?

[Dan Issel]

Well, I, A couple of reasons, Lou. I think number one, with nil, we can't cheat like we used to. I was hoping Boogie was on the show because we need him to kick in more NIL money and help us out a little bit. But I think the landscape of college basketball with the transfer portal and with NIL has really, really changed and it has brought a lot of equality to college basketball. And when you used to count on Kentucky and North Carolina and Duke and Kansas being at the very top, I don't think that's going to happen anymore.

[Gary Parish]

Sometimes you see a man or woman, a person in their late 70s, talking about the current state of things and they're a little detached. Right. They just can't quite grasp it. That day's coming for all of us, I assume. Not. Not Dan Ansel. Like, see, hey, seems like he's got it Seems like he's got it about right. I really do think the best explanation for why has. Why have things balanced out.

[Josh]

Yeah.

[Gary Parish]

Why do the recruiting rankings not look the way they used to look? It's that once upon a time, not to name names, but once upon a time there was a. Whatever the number is, but there was a number of programs and coaches that were out there really rocking and rolling, and most people knew who they were. And if you were one of them, you only had to beat the other ones to get the thing done. And so, like, you can.

[Josh]

Let's go.

[Gary Parish]

So you just had. If you're recruiting the number one player in the country, you do which other schools are going to be recruiting another number one player in the country and everybody's going to do what they had to do and somebody get it done. Now everybody at the power conference level has the ability to get the things done you were getting done a long time ago under the table, and it makes it harder. That's, that's the truth. If you want to look at the recruiting rankings from 10 years ago and look at them today and they'll look a little different. And the reason is because things have balanced out because the things that some programs and coaches used to do to get top ranked recruiting classes, now everybody is armed with that same weapon and it makes, it spreads things out. Undeniably.

[Josh]

It does, it has, it will continue to do so. It's much more year by year for a lot of programs given where they are with their coach, where they are from a momentum standpoint, with how many wins they, they're coming off of. It's not just going to be the same eight teams that for sure have the most money year over year, although there are some teams that have really loaded up and been consistently able to spend big. Louisville being one of those, in addition to some obvious ones, they're like, you know, we've got some stuff about, you know, Duke in the, in the chat here and obviously Duke is, is well healed as it, as it should be. Carolina, speaking of, you know, pun unintended, there being a well healed program, Kentucky a season ago, but Kent Rookie, not expecting to spend as much this upcoming season as it did last season. These things change and there is a bit of a reckoning in terms of, for not just coaches. I think for the general American sports fan to understand that there was a hierarchy. It existed in college football and college basketball for a long time. And maybe there's a school that scooted in, maybe there's a school that slipped out, but you looked around, you're like, okay, those are the, those are the programs that just have the most history, the most championships, the most prestige, they have the most sway. And when it comes to recruiting, for a variety of reasons, sometimes that was also backed by the shoe companies doing under the table stuff for the, for decades and decades. Right. And now that's all gone and it's still going to take I think another like good three to four years for a lot of people to understand that the paradigm has shifted. It just has unavoidably. And I love what Issel said there. Kentucky fans proudly will tell you Kentucky invented cheating like this. This is near and dear to their hearts.

[Gary Parish]

Yes.

[Josh]

And, and no longer can they have that, that specific kind of advantage there. I love the honest, unfiltered stuff. By the way, Dan Issel a bona fide Hooper. Look him up, kids. Two time consensus all American career averages in college, 25.8 points, 12.9 rebounds. At a time when he was like a 6, 9 center playing for, for Kentucky, big time prospect out of Illinois and, and putting up those numbers long before we had 31, 32 game regular seasons. We didn't have a 64 team tournament or anything like that. Real deal stud. And it was great to see. I hadn't heard from Daniel in a while, but happy that, that he added to the discourse. Everything he said was correct.

[Gary Parish]

Yes, everything. And just take AJ DeBonsa for example. Then we'll move on.

[Josh]

Yeah.

[Gary Parish]

If AJ DeBonso were in the class of 2015 instead of the class of 2025, he would have, somebody would have tweeted a list of schools and he would have been considering Duke, Kentucky, Kansas and UConn. That's what he would.

[Josh]

In 2015, he wouldn't have been considered, oh, maybe Yukon because of Brockton, Massachusetts. They were in the American. I'm not so sure about that.

[Gary Parish]

I, I only mean because of, of where he's from. You might, Yukon would have been like, oh, let's go try to bang heads with John Calipari and Coach K and Bill.

[Josh]

Fair and valid point.

[Gary Parish]

Okay. But that's it. There is no scenario where if you're Kentucky or Kansas or Duke, you have to worry about BYU recruiting this player. That does not exist. But that is the reality in this era of the sport. And that's why every word Daniel said, or at least among the reasons everywhere Daniel said, rings true to me. We got an update on the Players ERA Festival.

[Josh]

Big one.

[Gary Parish]

I mean a big one. As long as you tell me, I'm gonna be able to. All right, here's what we're gonna do. We're gonna take a break.

[Josh]

Yeah, we are.

[Gary Parish]

And then we're gonna come back partners. And then you're gonna tell me. I hope to God you're gonna tell me. I'll tell you that when I get ready to consume the Players ERA Festival.

[Josh]

Yeah.

[Gary Parish]

Next season.

[Josh]

Yeah.

[Gary Parish]

That when somebody asked me, gp, who you think is going to play in the championship game, I can look at a bracket and go, hmm, I'll take this team up here and this team from down here and I think they'll meet right there. I'm going to trust you're going to be able to tell me something like that. If not, I'm throwing his microphone through a wall.

[Josh]

All right, find out if that's the case after the Break.

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[Gary Parish]

Landman Season three coming up sooner than you think.

[Josh]

That's what I'm streaming on Paramount plus.

[Gary Parish]

No, not season three. Season two is now streaming on Paramount plus season one and season two. But season three is coming sooner than you think.

[Josh]

By the way, everyone listening to the show.

[Gary Parish]

Yeah.

[Josh]

That came out of the commercials. Or we know how it works. You're just sitting that fast forward. We know. We all understand. Why the hell are they talking about Landman again? It's because if you watch on YouTube. Hey, YouTube. The commercial was about Landman.

[Gary Parish]

That was Billy Bob Thornton. He said, you don't know a thing about this business. That's. That's him actually talking about the Players Air Festival.

[Josh]

I wondered if that was the case.

[Gary Parish]

He was. He's actually talking. He's. He's like looking at it and he's going, you don't know a thing about this tournament. All right? Am I going to be able. What? Am I going to be able to properly plan for a championship game? Am I? Am I. Do we have a real bracket with the players there? Let's just start there. All right?

[Josh]

I'm gonna give you everything. All right? Just sit back and soak it in. All right, so announcement came in shortly before we went live this morning. The players era, which was 18 teams a year ago and used margin of victory to help determine who was going to get the most Money and win credit to Michigan which won by a thousand points.

[Gary Parish]

It was the right, the, the thing

[Josh]

about that parish is like they didn't have an outright bracket but the right team got the most money like that. That is undeniably true. We will have brackets. It is going to be 24 teams. Initially the hope was to have two 16 team events that got downgraded to 24 last year was 18. So it still is an increase in size. There will be an 18 bracket that will play the week before Thanksgiving and then there will be a 16 team bracket that will play the week of Thanksgiving. Yes, brackets. This will be bracket play. You will be able to look at brackets well in advance. Dare I say before we get out of May, you will be able to see the brackets for both Players Era events, which are called, by the way, the Players Era 8 and the Players Era 16 straight to the point. I don't love it, but I don't know what could be better. Whatever. They're going to play games, we're going to watch them. It's going to be bracket play in and around Thanksgiving.

[Gary Parish]

So let me, let me interrupt and ask you a question. Is the 18 tournament you play three games to a trophy? The 16 team. Do you play four games to a trophy?

[Josh]

Yes, for the final two teams, as it's been told to me now, these specific details were not released on Thursday, but the final two teams in the 16 team bracket will play a fourth game. And when we get the bracket stuff, we'll get a little more into the details on this later this month. But as a function of not knowing who those final two teams are going to be, those two teams not knowing if they're going to play in the championship, the players ERA will then have to, will then have to pay off, presumably if they are scheduling for 32 regular season games a season, whatever subsequent low major buy game they have on their schedule, you can't play 33 regular season games. And so I was told the players ERA will pay those teams off. So they, they get paid even though they're not going to play the game. We'll get more into the nitty gritty on that.

[Gary Parish]

Even, even they'll pay him off even if the straight remains closed.

[Josh]

Even with the straight of Hormuz. Correct. If, if the straight of Hormuz is still closed by November. Yeah, we said a year from now. I said yes. I, I can't, I can't give you November. So that, that remains to be seen. With the Straight of Hormuz, let alone the hot Virus.

[Gary Parish]

That's tough. That's tough.

[Josh]

Here's the eight team feel. This will be the.

[Gary Parish]

When you plan this, you don't think you're going to have to deal with a bottleneck situation in the straight. You don't think.

[Josh]

I know.

[Gary Parish]

I just. When you're planning this, this is not something you factor into it, I imagine.

[Josh]

I agree. Okay, 18 bracket before Thanksgiving, the week before. So sometime, you know that Monday through Friday, whatever. What?

[Gary Parish]

Sometimes I just think about if somebody doesn't know anything about us, just roll.

[Josh]

Yeah, no, they gotta, they gotta, they gotta. Don't, don't, don't break character now. They gotta, they gotta be able to follow this. Okay. It all leads back to the straight up hormones. Here's the 18 bracket alphabetical order. Auburn, Florida, Houston, Kansas, Notre Dame, Rutgers, West Virginia, UNLV. So by far the three biggest preseason number one, Florida, preseason top 10 Houston, and then Kansas with GPS in his top 25. And one could have the number one draft pick in next year's draft.

[Gary Parish]

And then Auburn in or on the bubble? Is Auburn inner on the bubble?

[Josh]

Auburn's in.

[Gary Parish]

We're gonna put them in.

[Josh]

Auburn's in.

[Gary Parish]

Okay, good.

[Josh]

Auburn's in.

[Gary Parish]

About time they made a tournament.

[Josh]

I, I could, I'm not gonna do it, but I could be a total jackass and send Stephen Pearl a message. Be like, hey, by the way, congrats on getting into the. He is like, he is so well wired that he would genuinely laugh and appreciate.

[Gary Parish]

I know, I. But I went from like thinking it was funny to like actually feeling like, geez, man, Stephen, this is a tough spot for him to be. And I went from like in the bracket.

[Josh]

He's in the field, by the way. Champion Auburn Tigers.

[Gary Parish]

You're damn right. NIT champion Auburn Tigers, without a doubt.

[Josh]

So that's your, that's your players era 8. The players era 16. Alphabetical order. Alabama, Baylor, Creighton, Gonzaga, Iowa State, Kansas State, Louisville, Maryland, Miami, Michigan, Oregon, San Diego State, St. John's TCU, Tennessee and Texas Tech. That is a loaded, loaded field. Between both brackets, you've got 13 teams that were in last year's NCAA tournament. And I counted it up this morning, GP, you've got 11 of these teams in your top 25 and one. And at the high end, you're looking at Florida, Houston, Gonzaga, Iowa State, Louisville, Tennessee. There's a lot of, there's a lot of stuff to be excited about there. So the particular matchups that's coming in a few weeks and oh, by the way, ESPN is now the broadcast rights holder, it was on TNT the past two years and there'll be 37 games on the men's side total between both events. And then the women's are still going to happen as well. More details on that are coming out. They had a 14 women's event last year. So I think, I mean four, six or eight for this upcoming season. I think they're still narrowing down the details on that. But the big picture takeaway on this is this was this has obviously been something that has disrupted all of non conference scheduling and it's down like Maui will have Arizona and a couple other good teams this year. So Maui says still clinging, right? The battle for Atlantis still going to be around and involved as well. And that's almost got its field finalized, but they're just not what they once were. And this is an event that when it was being planned and even in going into the year one and then going into year two, like a lot of people were skeptical that it would make it to year three or even year two. And now it's going to be on espn. And now like from a programming standpoint like Maui will still be played when it's always been played, but it is going to be the premier event and understandably so when you 24 teams with national championship contenders and all that, again, I don't know if it will be here in year five, six or seven, I don't know. But it's still there. And I checked in earlier this week on the status of the NIL payments because every singles on average I was told for this 2014 field, on average the teams will get paid slightly more than $1 million. Not every team gets the same amount. Kansas is being paid more to play in this tournament than any other school. Whereas other schools like understandably just I'll pick the local school UNLV not making a million dollars to play in this. But you know what, if you're UNLV or Josh Passner, why wouldn't you do it, right?

[Gary Parish]

Let me ask you this, let me ask you this. Is it tied to Tyron Stokes at all? Does the players ERA festival get in there and say if you, if you got Tyron Stokes on your roster, this is what we can pay. If you don't have Tyron Stokes on your roster, this is what you could pay. And that could like enhance my understanding

[Josh]

of Kansas agreed to, I want to say three year deal like a year and a half ago and they had no idea at that point whether they gotcha. But that's A good question to ask. And last year when the CSC came the college Sports Commission nil go all that stuff it changed the dynamic of how some of the some of the payouts, not all the payouts like for example we don't need to get too into the weeds here but like okay like Creighton as an example they have revenue sharing and they don't have football so they so the players era can pay Creighton it goes into rev share. Creighton plays players not an issue. But with other schools like in Alabama or Miami that have big or Tennessee or Texas Tech that have big time football and they maxed out the rev share cap those players still had to put their nil stuff that they got through the system. I was told most payments have gone through. There's still but there's still a small portion that have not been cleared yet. But that that was a big lingering question with a lot of this is all right, are all these schools, are all these players are they actually going to get paid? So I checked in on that and did my diligence. Most have not all have and it sounds like there's still a number that's still got to go through but 24 teams will pay out well over 24 million at least. That's what the, that's what they're purporting next season. And so that is your big players era update this keep in mind the second the suite the 16 bracket that will happen with the Yukon Duke game on Amazon also in Vegas happening amid all of that. So that's a different network but there's even more of a draw like Vegas week of Thanksgiving, that's the, that's where the center of the sport is and, and you know, and all eyeballs will be on college basketball because of the teams involved.

[Gary Parish]

So before we get out of here, you got a piece up CBSSports.com where you talk to a bunch of coaches about the expansion from 68 to 76 of the men's basketball NCAA tournament. What did you hear when you talked to the coaches? I gather a lot of them aren't thrilled.

[Josh]

They're not. I mean the driving force of the of the conversation was that while some coaches do are in favor of expansion and we got it. By the way folks, we got just as a heads up, we got a busy day. The selection committee is voting on this today. So whenever you are taking this podcast, if it's early that might not be out, some people might not be eating this until Thursday night or Friday like that News will have come and gone. We've already talked about the fact that the tournament is going to expand, so there's not going to be any emergency episode or that barring literally someone getting on one of these committee calls and being like, hey, we're gonna do this, but everyone realizes, like, the overwhelming majority of people don't want.

[Gary Parish]

We're gonna.

[Josh]

We're still gonna. We're gonna. We're gonna do this. Right? Okay, cool. Barring anyone stopping it, which isn't going to happen, the tournament official vote will be coming down later on today. And so there we have it. So, in advance of that, heard from Mark Few, talk to John Caliperi, talked to Dan Hurley, talked to Brad Underwood, talked to Tom Izzo, talk to Ryan Odom, just because he was once the coach of a 16 seed that beat a one. And Ryan Odom is in favor of tournament expansion, but he doesn't want any of the 16s or the 15s to have to play on the opening Tuesday or Wednesday. He did not have to when he was at umbc. And he and his staff were, like, praying that they wouldn't have to go to the opening round, because although if you win, you get the money.

[Gary Parish]

Right.

[Josh]

Do you really actually experience the tournament?

[Gary Parish]

But that's the thing. Like, this is one, and we've talked about this before, where I used to really stand on that heel of the automatic qualifiers should be in the main 64 team bracket. They shouldn't be in Dayton.

[Josh]

Yeah.

[Gary Parish]

But the more and more I talked to coaches who were guiding 16 seeds, they were like, I want to go to Dayton because I can get a win. It's money for my school. But beyond that, it's a. It's a win on my Wikipedia page. So. So, like, this is one of those things where if you talk to fans, they largely agree with what you just said, but if you talk to the men who coach those teams, a lot of them have told me they would rather go to Dayton than be a 16 playing on Thursday at noon against Duke, because you know what happens there.

[Josh]

No doubt. So I. I appreciated Odom's input there. He has a quote in the story. We can link it in the pod description, Josh, and. And send people there. But, like, here's just a sampling of what the coaches told me. Mark Few, quote, I am adamantly opposed. It's totally unnecessary. It's the dumbing down of the regular season, which is sad. We're out here trying to generate more interest in the regular season, and expansion doesn't help. He's got more, but that's an end quote. Dan Hurley what I think makes the tournament special is the qualification for it. You don't want the regular season to be rendered meaningless and to take away from November, December, January, February. The qualification process makes the regular season intense and pressure packed. It should be a privilege to play in the tournament, not a right. And obviously if it expands too much and you don't have to have a real good season to make it, that would take away from the tournament. End quote. John Caliperi I'm a big believer in the idea of if it's not broke, don't fix it. And I think that applies to the NCAA tournament. Having said that, if we are to expand, my hope is that at least half the spots are held for non power four teams. If we do that, we are making the decision for the right reasons. And quote Caliperi then his biggest issue is the fact that he doesn't even think that term the tournament expansion should be on the table right now because he hates the transfer rules. Like he's like, this should be the, he had a whole soapbox that he went on and, and I, and I get it. So he's like, listen, I'll give you my opinion on tournament expansion. We, I've said this before but I need you to put in there like why are, why aren't we putting this much effort and attention consistently into the transfer rules as we alternative expansion. I appreciate where he came from on that. Brad Underwood of Illinois. I asked if he was for or against. He said indifference. I don't understand who is pushing this. If we want change, let's do it to blow the doors off. Financially, this doesn't move the needle at all. It's not good for mid majors, low majors at all. Tom Izzo is ultimately anti expansion, but he was like, I see it from the side of, you know, you get the conferences that are bigger, you have more teams, I get that. But he went on to say, I feel for the lower, smaller programs. I hate to break something that isn't broken. And I know we went from 64 to 68, it's like nil. You can get to 10 million, you still won't have enough. You can have 20 million and it's not enough. If we go to 76, 96, it's never going to be enough. End quote. Izzo also invoked that, you know, the NCAA selection committees, they never actually came to the coaches to the NABC level and actually sought like real dialogue for real feedback. There are coaches that are in favor of it. Kelvin Sa is in favor of it. Dusty May is in favor of it. There have been coaches that have spoken out and are in our for it. But there are other coaches in the past like John Shire, Fred Hoiberg, Nate Oates. They've been outspoken. They don't think there's a need to expand the NCAA tournament. So as we ready for this to officially become a thing in May 7th to almost certainly be the day that the tournament expanded to 76 once and for all. I thought it interesting that quite literally national championship winning coaches, hall of fame coaches were willing, able, comfortable to speak out and say, you know what, we just don't need to do this. I think some of the conception of some fans GP is that all the coaches want it. Why wouldn't they want it? Well, that's actually not the case. There's no shortage of some of the most prominent names in the game that still don't think this should be happening. But that's not going to stop it from happening. All the same.

[Gary Parish]

All right, if you want to read it, you can find it. It's on the college basketball page right now, CBS sports dot com. I think that's a show. We're going to call that a show.

[Josh]

We can call it a show. Wow, you are. You're ready, you're done. You got time before the GP show. You're done. Okay.

[Gary Parish]

I mean, I. If you got anything else to say, I'll talk to you.

[Josh]

I mean, you wanna, you wanna break down the straight of horror moves a little bit more. I figure you got pops.

[Gary Parish]

I did watch. I did. I did watch. Should I marry a murderer?

[Josh]

Of course you did.

[Gary Parish]

The answer is no. The answer is no. The answer's Spoiler alert. Spoiler alert. No, you should not marry a murderer. What a dumb question, right?

[Josh]

And yet they'll make a tv. They'll make a TV show out of anything.

[Gary Parish]

Three part series. Three part series.

[Josh]

Never heard of it.

[Gary Parish]

It's on Netflix right now.

[Josh]

Okay. It's a Netflix one.

[Gary Parish]

It was top five in TV shows yesterday. I said, you know what, I'll give, I'll give this a try. And you should not marry a murderer.

[Josh]

No, you should not.

[Gary Parish]

I mean, I'm willing to listen. I understand like different set of circumstances, like, you know, never say never. I got that.

[Josh]

Yeah.

[Gary Parish]

But just, I'd advise against it. I'd advise against it, that's for sure.

[Josh]

All right, Well, I guess that's a show. Don't marry a murderer. Open the Straight of Hormuz. Let's Hope we're not heading for another epically stupid pandemic.

[Gary Parish]

That was wild, wasn't it?

[Josh]

They went bird watching Argentina. Is that what I heard?

[Gary Parish]

I don't know what's going on.

[Josh]

I'm actually surprised you're not more up to date on the hantavirus.

[Gary Parish]

I'm trying to be out of sight, out of mind.

[Josh]

Okay?

[Gary Parish]

I'm just trying to.

[Josh]

Is that your new approach now?

[Sponsor Voice 4]

Yes.

[Gary Parish]

Yes.

[Josh]

The virus doesn't exist.

[Gary Parish]

Yes. I think that's what we. I think that's what like half the country did last time and they seem to have more. Hey, in fairness, I think that's what half the country did last time and they seem to have a lot more fun. All right? I mean, yeah, they died. Some of them died too, but like, whatever. I'm out of sight, out of mind with this virus.

[Josh]

Argentina. I got the AP story right here. Hantavirus is on the rise in Argentina where a stricken cruise ship began its journey. I remember experts in Argentina are scrambling to determine if their country is the source of the deadly hantavirus outbreak that has gripped an Atlantic cruise. Talk about your all time nightmare vacations, man.

[Gary Parish]

Gosh, just getting on a cruise ship. I think just start there.

[Josh]

I am. Have we talked about this on the show? I am generally speaking fairly anti cruise. Have never been on one. Have no desire to be on one. Happy to be married to someone who has, has just as much non desire to ever go on one. It just doesn't, it doesn't appeal to me. And, and yet having said that, I've got a couple of friends. I know there is an entire faction of people. All they do for vacations is the cruise life, bro. That ain't, that ain't, that ain't me.

[Gary Parish]

You ever heard of stories?

[Josh]

Close quarters. You don't know who, you don't know who you're going to be next to. You got 22 year olds living up their best life. No, but not if you.

[Gary Parish]

If you think you don't want to go on a cruise, even though you've never been on a cruise, buddy, go on one. It will enhance your already strong opinion. It is awful. I've been on one. I wanted to jump off the boat. I was ready to end it. I was ready to end it. You could have told me they had mines in the bottom of the ocean. I'd have jumped, blow my legs off, I don't care. Yes, I was ready to have my.

[Josh]

Rather marry a murderer or go on a cruise?

[Gary Parish]

Honestly, marry a murderer.

[Josh]

Okay, there we go.

[Gary Parish]

Because I feel like with I could marry a murder, I'd be like, all right, I'm going to do this. But like, you can't murder me too, or else I'll tell on you.

[Josh]

Is that how it works?

[Gary Parish]

I think I would tell on them. I would. I would threaten them with a. I will tattletale.

[Josh]

I don't think tattletailing has ever been a strong deterrent to the murderers.

[Gary Parish]

I think that's an instigating factor on my favorites. In my context. I would push favorites and it would have crime stoppers and I would just show them all the time. I'd be like, Listen, I am 1, 1, 1 button away from really messing your life up. I will tattletale. I will marry you even though you're a murderer. And I will try to keep this between us.

[Josh]

But.

[Gary Parish]

But get a little lippy with me.

[Josh]

You would. You would rather marry a murderer.

[Gary Parish]

Yes.

[Josh]

And get murdered than marry the murderer and go on the cruise with said murderer.

[Gary Parish]

If I had to go on a cruise, I would hope that I'm married to a murderer.

[Josh]

So they would kill you on the cruise?

[Gary Parish]

Yes. I could. I could request. I could request a homicide and I could. And they would be like, but I don't want to kill you, G.P. and I'd say, listen, we both know you've done this before. We both know you have history with murdering. All right. I was always hoping you wouldn't murder me, but now that we're here, please. In this. In this. Yeah.

[Josh]

They would make a Netflix documentary out of it. That's really the way you want to go? Really?

[Gary Parish]

I would love.

[Josh]

You might be able to pull this off if you really set your mind to it.

[Gary Parish]

Yeah.

[Josh]

Can we be honest? There are a few things you'd appreciate more in the afterlife than the idea that they would make a Netflix documentary about you.

[Gary Parish]

Not if it was like that Hulk Hogan one. I don't want it to be like that Hulk Hogan one.

[Josh]

I don't wanna.

[Gary Parish]

I don't want a three part Netflix documentary where they're like, GP was a racist non stop. Nobody needs that. Don't make a Hulk Hogan documentary about me.

[Josh]

You're just not looking.

[Gary Parish]

If you're looking for a good cruise documentary. That's Amy Bradley,

[Josh]

okay?

[Gary Parish]

She was on a cruise on Netflix and she just did. They don't know what happened. All these years later, they don't have any idea what happened.

[Josh]

Can't get me on. Yeah, that cruise. Not gonna happen.

[Gary Parish]

Just can't. Don't do it, man. Don't do it anyway. Hey, anything else? I gotta go.

[Josh]

That's a show.

[Gary Parish]

Okay, I think we've said enough here. Shouts to Devin Downey. Shouts to Chester, S.C. shouts to Terry Teagle. He's a legend. Larnell Hormuzzi. If you're not subscribed, it's gonna subscribe anyway. You subscribe to podcasts, Apple, Spotify. There's more of us than there are of them. That needs to be reflected in the comments. So do that. Don't ever marry a murderer. Unless the alternative option is going on a cruise.

[Josh]

But watch. So I Married an Axe Murderer. Very good movie from the early 90s. Mike Myers. There you go. There you go.

[Sponsor Voice 6]

All right.

[Gary Parish]

Hey, we'll talk to you again real soon. Till then, take care of.

[Josh]

Paramount podcasts

[Sponsor Voice 8]

streaming May 15th on Paramount Plus, Beth and Rip are back in Dutton Ranch.

[Josh]

This life here is gonna work, isn't it?

[Sponsor Voice 8]

We'll make it work. Starring Kelly Reilly.

[Josh]

Legacy is a beautiful thing, but only if it survives.

[Sponsor Voice 8]

Cole Hauser.

[Josh]

Let's go to work.

[Sponsor Voice 8]

Ed Harris family is the only thing worth fighting for. Anna Net Benning.

[Josh]

I can make this a lot harder for all y'.

[Sponsor Voice 8]

All. And peace will have to wait. Dutton Ranch new series streaming May 15th on Paramount Plus.