Elite Eight Sunday: Norlander + GP in studio! Broome injury scare doesn’t slow Auburn vs. Sparty; Houston obliterates Tennessee to secure four 1-seeds in Final Four

Summary

Podcast Summary: Eye On College Basketball – Elite Eight Sunday

Title: Elite Eight Sunday: Norlander + GP in Studio! Broome Injury Scare Doesn’t Slow Auburn vs. Sparty; Houston Obliterates Tennessee to Secure Four 1-Seeds in Final Four
Host: CBS Sports’ Gary Parrish and Chip Patterson
Release Date: March 31, 2025

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1. Setting the Stage: A Historic Final Four

Gary Parish [02:41]:
"This is going to be awesome. It really might go down as the greatest Final Four we've ever had. On paper, there's a lot of data to support it."

Chip Patterson [03:15]:
"I do love it. First of all, I was the first to report this earlier today... This is the second time four one seeds in San Antonio."

This episode kicks off with Gary Parrish and Chip Patterson celebrating the unprecedented occurrence of all four number one seeds advancing to the Final Four—a feat only achieved once before in 2008, both instances hosted in San Antonio. The hosts highlight the exceptional quality of the teams, noting that each is among the top 10 in KenPom rankings ever, signaling potentially the best Final Four in history.

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2. Auburn's Dominant Victory Over Michigan State

Gary Parish [10:42]:
"Final score Auburn 70, Michigan State 64. Auburn is in the Final Four for the second time in school history... They went to Atlanta, not too far away from their campus."

Auburn secured its spot in the Final Four by defeating Michigan State 70-64. Despite shooting 43% overall and 7 of 25 from beyond the arc, Auburn maintained control throughout the game. Chip Patterson commends Auburn's resilience and Bruce Pearl's coaching, emphasizing that Auburn didn't rely on Cinderella-like performances but showcased consistent excellence.

Chip Patterson [11:57]:
"Impressive. Auburn wins despite... Janai Broome... he’s a faker, I guess."

The discussion turns to Michigan State's Janai Broome, who suffered a shoulder injury during the game. Patterson criticizes Broome's reaction, suggesting his premature declarations of being "done" negatively impacted the team's performance.

Gary Parish [14:00]:
"He was 10 of 13 from the field, 25 points, 14 rebounds... it was a missed opportunity."

GP reflects on Broome's contributions and the critical moments when his injury seemed to deflate Auburn's momentum, yet Auburn managed to secure the win.

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3. Houston's Overwhelming Victory Over Tennessee

Gary Parish [27:33]:
"Final score Houston 69, Tennessee 50 that was in Indianapolis... Kelvin Sampson is now in the Final Four for the second time with the Cougars for the third time in his career."

Houston dominated Tennessee with a decisive 69-50 victory, exemplifying their formidable defense by limiting Tennessee to 28.8% shooting from the field and 17.2% from three-point range. Chip Patterson praises Houston's consistent excellence, noting their 17-game winning streak and their ability to stifle opponents’ offenses effectively.

Chip Patterson [28:12]:
"Tennessee was borderline blanked in the first half... a 1-seed coached by Kelvin Sampson that has now won 17 games in a row."

They discuss Houston's strategic prowess and Kelvin Sampson's leadership, highlighting how Houston systematically dismantled Tennessee's gameplay, enforcing their dominance throughout the tournament.

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4. Insights on Coaching and Player Performances

Chip Patterson [20:13]:
"I don't expect him [Tom Izzo]... he will stay in it, kicking and fighting. He wants this. This is where he wants to be."

The conversation shifts to the longevity and commitment of legendary coaches like Tom Izzo of Michigan State and Kelvin Sampson of Houston. Despite Michigan State’s exit, Parish and Patterson express confidence in Izzo’s future, emphasizing his passion and dedication to college basketball.

Gary Parish [16:28]:
"Yeah, plans do change. But he will stay in it, kicking and fighting. He wants to coach college basketball."

They also delve into the impact of standout players like Cooper Flag and Janai Broome, discussing their performances and potential awards. The hosts analyze how individual accolades might influence team dynamics and future prospects.

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5. Final Four Predictions and Matchups

Gary Parish [42:54]:
"Final Four tip times are set... Auburn versus Florida and Houston versus Duke. Florida is a 2.5 point favorite over Auburn."

The hosts outline the upcoming Final Four matchups, including Auburn vs. Florida and Houston vs. Duke. They provide their predictions, discussing team strengths and potential outcomes based on current performances and historical data.

Chip Patterson [37:21]:
"Houston had to beat the best team in the second round... they happened to get put into a region with a team that plays just like them but like 7 to 8% better."

Patterson highlights Houston's challenging path to the Final Four, defeating top-seeded teams like Gonzaga and Purdue, reinforcing their status as deserving champions.

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6. Looking Ahead: Anticipation for San Antonio Final Four

Chip Patterson [47:06]:
"If you haven't read my story, please do. He was awesome to talk to..."

As the episode wraps up, Gary and Chip express excitement for the Final Four in San Antonio, reminiscing about past tournaments and the city's vibrant atmosphere. They anticipate engaging in detailed analyses on their upcoming CBS Sports Network shows, promising in-depth coverage of the Final Four games.

Gary Parish [44:22]:
"Top two teams at KenPom... it's just awesome stuff."

They emphasize the elite level of competition in this Final Four, reiterating that each team brings exceptional talent and strategic mastery to the table, setting the stage for what could be a historic conclusion to the NCAA Tournament.

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Key Takeaways:

• Historic Final Four: All four number one seeds have advanced, marking a rare and potentially the best Final Four ever.
• Auburn's Resilience: Auburn secured their spot despite shooting struggles, demonstrating consistent dominance and effective coaching.
• Houston's Dominance: Houston overwhelmed Tennessee with their elite defense, continuing their impressive tournament run under Kelvin Sampson.
• Coaching Legends: Discussions on Tom Izzo and Kelvin Sampson highlight their enduring impact and commitment to college basketball.
• Excitement for San Antonio: Anticipation builds for the Final Four in San Antonio, with promises of comprehensive coverage and analysis on CBS Sports Network.

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Notable Quotes:

• Gary Parish [02:41]: "It really might go down as the greatest Final Four we've ever had. On paper, there's a lot of data to support it."
• Chip Patterson [11:57]: "Impressive. Auburn wins despite... he’s a faker, I guess."
• Gary Parish [27:33]: "Kelvin Sampson is now in the Final Four for the second time with the Cougars for the third time in his career."
• Chip Patterson [20:13]: "He will stay in it, kicking and fighting. He wants this. This is where he wants to be."
• Gary Parish [42:54]: "Florida is a 2.5 point favorite over Auburn."

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This episode of Eye On College Basketball delivers an engaging and comprehensive analysis of the Elite Eight games, highlighting the historic significance of the Final Four lineup, the performances of key teams and players, and the strategic insights from legendary coaches. Whether you're a dedicated fan or new to college basketball, Parrish and Patterson provide valuable perspectives that deepen your understanding of the tournament's unfolding drama.

Transcript

[Gary Parish]

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[Gary Parish]

Hey there Gary Parish. Welcome back to the CBS Sports I own College Basketball podcast where we sometimes discuss camel fighting, dodo birds and leaky black. Matt Norlander is here. Right, right here beside me. Doug, get your hands off of me. HR HR if you're watching on YouTube, you know what to do to that. Like Button shouts to Brandon Davies. If you haven't yet subscribed to the CBS Sports college basketball YouTube channel, please also do that while you're here. Let's get into it. The 2025 Final Four is set for just the second time ever. The first time since 2008, we're going to have all four number one seeds in the Final Four. Norlander, tell me if you recognize this phrase. All four number one seeds in the Final four. Yes, the chalk. Do you love it or do you loathe it?

[Chip Patterson]

No, I do. I do love it. I do have the live chat on. People are already hoping that we will kiss because we are in person. We're not going to do that. But I'm loving. I. I'm loving this. I love to get to do a podcast with GP face to face and actually, I'm looking at a monitor here. You want me to do this for you, buddy? Let me come down just a little bit for you. A little bit.

[Gary Parish]

Let's make it more billboard appropriate. Oh, yeah, I'm gonna go a little bit.

[Chip Patterson]

Yeah, yeah, that's. I'm gonna get up here a little bit. There we go. That's what I'm talking about. That's the energy I want on this show. Okay. It is. It's great to be with you. I have lost track of days, times, hours. I guess today is Sunday. Okay, It's Sunday.

[Gary Parish]

It's March 30th.

[Chip Patterson]

It is March 30th 4th 41 seeds. I. You know what I do love it and you know why I love it is it's. First of all, I was the first to report this earlier today. You saw that, right? I was the first report. This is the second time four one seeds in San Antonio. The first time happened in 2008.

[Gary Parish]

I saw you report that, but I haven't heard anybody say, like, where did it happen the first time it ever happened?

[Chip Patterson]

San Antonio.

[Gary Parish]

And.

[Chip Patterson]

And then this one is also. This. This one is also happening in San Antonio. You're not getting that. You're not getting this from anyone else. Okay. This is the show. This is.

[Gary Parish]

Nobody else knows.

[Chip Patterson]

Breaking this breaking news. We are breaking this news to you. Okay. For one seeds in absence of Cinderella. I do really. I like. I like the storyline and also we talked about on an HQ and we are going to have plenty of time all week to talk about it. But it's not just the one seeds. It's the best four teams by resume by advanced metrics, these are four of the top 10 KenPom teams ever, which to me signals we have the best final four ever. Never had a stronger final four than this in my opinion. We can get into reasons why and we'll probably do that even later in the week on our CBS Sports Network show and podcast. But your thoughts to to having four one sees. We'll get to their games and what actually played out on Sunday. But just big picture, I assume you just can't wait to get down to San Antonio and see just Must, must see, must watch matchups.

[Gary Parish]

Can't wait. It's going to be awesome. It really might go down as the greatest Final Four we've ever had. On paper. There's a lot of data to support. It's the greatest Final Four we've ever had. And I just kind of like the way this season is all coming together. Greatest conference we've ever had. Most teams from one conference in the NCAA tournament that we've ever seen. Now maybe the greatest Final Four we've ever seen got two SEC teams playing each other. You've got both of the national player of the year candidates in San antonio.

[Chip Patterson]

And the third best player in line with that, Walter Clayton Jr.

[Gary Parish]

So three probable first team Americans like you. I don't know that you can do better than this. And I like a good Cinderella story as much as anybody else. I guess actually that's not true. I clearly don't like.

[Chip Patterson]

I do.

[Gary Parish]

I clearly don't like them as much as anybody else because other people hate this. I can appreciate them. But do you know how those. And I know you do, those Cinderella stories usually in with a blowout? Yeah, they usually like George Mason. Going to the Final Four was awesome. But when you were getting ready to go to that Final Four, did you think there was any chance George Mason could win two more games? No, no, of course not. VCU going to the Final Four awes you think there was any chance they could win two more games?

[Chip Patterson]

No. I remember you called VCU a fraud. I remember he was the first. Tim Doyle.

[Gary Parish]

If you don't remember, you will never be able to prove that. There's no video of it. My point is those are great stories while they're happening, but they usually end with just. You get. You get smacked around by somebody who always looked like they were headed here and you just sort of realize maybe we don't belong. There's none of that in this Final Four. There are four teams there. They are all totally capable of winning the national championship. And I mean this. I don't think there's any combination of outcomes that you could put in front of me. And I'd say that's stupid. That's impossible.

[Chip Patterson]

Right?

[Gary Parish]

There's no way any outcome in the first game on Saturday, second game on Saturday and in the title game on Monday makes sense. These are the four best teams in the country. I can't wait.

[Chip Patterson]

And we are going to have all week to talk about it. We will. We truly will. I mean, Monday, Tuesday shows. As we get closer to Saturday, we will dissect the final four matchups from every possible angle, but at least wanted to start the show here with some, some big tent 3,000, 30,000 foot view on this, the fact that we do get this field this strong and a variation of ways that the teams got there. Like I wasn't on the pod Saturday night. So real, just real quick on my end, you know, I was in the building for Duke. Being Alabama and Duke only playing a B level game and beating Alabama by 20. Cooper Flag didn't have one of the 20 best games of his one and done career at Duke. It wasn't even close. They continue to be dominant. They've had one of the seven or eighth largest total margin of victory from a point standpoint of any team to make a final four. So Duke does it that way. And then the Texas Tech and I know you and Chip talked about it ton the way that Texas Tech, Arkansas itself and some of it was Florida, some of those shots were incredible. But the missed one and ones. To me it's just interesting how the teams got here. Auburn and we'll get to them in a second in Houston. The way they did it was different than how Duke did it and was certainly different than the way that Florida did it. But in the big picture, the right four teams, the best four teams are moving along to, to the national semifinals. And I do, I do think that because it's 4:1 season, it's only the second time we've had it like this is about as perfect as you could ask for from a college basketball appeal perspective. You've got Duke involved, you've got Cooper Flagg, who's probably. I just did the story a few weeks ago on the most famous college basketball players this century. And to me with where Cooper Flagg is now, like he certainly feels like top 10, top 12 in that list. So he's involved, period. Kelvin Sampson in Houston, they've been a top five team for five years running here. Florida is a program that has national championships and then Auburn. And Bruce Pearl has been one of the what, five to seven best coaches in terms of marketing himself his program in the sport over the past 20 years. There's just a lot of reasons to bring in the casual, so to speak. I think that's really going to benefit and I would. I mean this is not exactly a bold or spicy take. I think we are set to have this Final Four set records in terms of viewership that it hasn't seen in decades and decades and decades.

[Gary Parish]

So we get this Final Four because number one seed Florida and number one, see Duke win on Saturday. Like you noted, I talked about both of those games at length with Chip Patterson late Saturday night. If you missed that, go find it. Because tonight we're going to mostly focus on what happened today. We'll get to Sunday's games. We'll do it next. We'll discuss them in reverse order. But first, let's get a word from our partner.

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[Gary Parish]

18/ TNC supply we're going to start in Atlanta. Final score Auburn 70, Michigan State 64. So Auburn is in the Final Four for the second time in school history. For the second time in the past six NCAA tournaments. And Bruce Pearl is there for the second time in his career. We had talked about the Tigers probably more than we've talked about any team all season. They had separated from the pack mid season, had wrapped up a one seed and then I think the number one overall seed still in the regular season. They Take their foot off the gas a little bit, lose three of four. Heading into the NCAA tournament, people were skeptical that they could flip a switch and turn it back on. I understood why, but they clearly did it. Maybe they weren't as sharp as they could have been in game one or game two of this NCAA tournament, but they went to Atlanta, not too far away from their campus. And I know that the Sweet 16 game was, you know, not quite as impressive as this one, but they jumped on Michigan State early on Sunday. And though the Spartans made it a five point game in the second half, it never felt like Auburn was seriously threatened. And they end up winning the game by six. What did you make of what you saw from Bruce Pearl's team?

[Chip Patterson]

Impressive. Auburn wins despite. I say despite. I mean, 43% shooting. Overall, it was 7 of 25 from beyond the arc. Michigan State, 7 of 23. We know the story there all season long with MSU, but as I said on HQ, I don't even think that was necessarily the reason why they lost. It was just another. It was. It was a reason compiled on other ones. And we figured that was going to play a part whenever MSU got bounced out of this tournament. Janai Broom. All right, let's get into this guy here because back in December, he's a faker. Oh, there, he said it. He's a faker. He hurts his shoulder, leaves the game, doesn't return in the moment. We're like, can he be back by like New Year's Day? He plays the next game, no problem. Okay. And then the injury looks scary. I mean, he had, you know, three parts of his body going in three different directions. It looked like he mouthed. And even Ian Eagle Bird says on the broadcast, he said, I'm done. He goes back to get an X ray, Everything's negative. And in real time, everyone goes from like, RIP Janai Broome to he's back in the game, grabs a one arm, rebound. Next time down the floor, he casts a 3. That it was. The final margin was 6. But that, that effectively got it done. When he went out, it was, I think, 10 points. And so there was like, okay, maybe Michigan State's actually got a window here with no broom. You know, I'm thrilled that he's doing okay, but Janai, enough already, okay? You keep doing this. It was the ankle before, now the shoulder. Now it's however many body parts it was. He's a faker, I guess.

[Gary Parish]

Yeah, I don't mean to say he's a faker. I don't Want to put labels on people. But I do think if you mouth to your teammates, I'm done. I'm done. You shouldn't be allowed to come back in the game.

[Chip Patterson]

He might have mouthed more of us. I don't. I don't know. I was trying to read what he said.

[Gary Parish]

He could have said more of us.

[Chip Patterson]

Yeah, he might have said that.

[Gary Parish]

I'm trusting Ian Eagle on his lip reader. I'm not a lip reader. I'm not a lip reader.

[Chip Patterson]

And if I. Eagle was like, I think he might have. Did he just say, bill, do you see more of us? That would have been.

[Gary Parish]

Did he say more of us? And then referee's like, I always knew tonight Brome wasn't of them. That could have been really nice.

[Chip Patterson]

Future of the pod.

[Gary Parish]

Like, listen, they've done enough for the pod. We're appreciative of what we have. But that would have been the missed opportunity.

[Chip Patterson]

Yeah, it was.

[Gary Parish]

It was a missed opportunity. I. It's just. I don't know what. You know your body better than I know your body. You're the one that fell down and felt it, and your immediate reaction was, I'm done. It's over for me. I was like, oh, wow. Because in that moment, it does feel like they're. They've been awesome. They're up comfortably. They've controlled this whole game. I haven't even thought in the past five minutes that they might not advance to the final four. But now their best players out, they're playing the outright Big Ten champs. Like, this ain't nothing easy, and is this going to slip away? And before that, I even got through getting all that through my head. Jennifer was back in the game, grabbing rebounds. It's just. It's. It keeps getting called Willis Reed.

[Chip Patterson]

I know. I don't know Paul Pierce.

[Gary Parish]

I mean, by definitely, there's no wheelchair.

[Chip Patterson]

So the Paul Pierce stuff, I mean, by any.

[Gary Parish]

By definition, anybody can create a Willis Reed moment. If you just walk to the locker room and then just come back ready to go.

[Chip Patterson]

I might do it on the pod before we get out of here. I might leave this show for four minutes and go back in.

[Gary Parish]

Since you guys are so impressed by people who walk out for a couple minutes and then walk back in. Watch this. I'll just unplug.

[Chip Patterson]

You can't. There. There you go. Oh, he's out.

[Gary Parish]

He's gone.

[Chip Patterson]

I think you're good. Make sure you're good. No. Oh, it's now.

[Gary Parish]

You can't leave.

[Chip Patterson]

You got to take the mic off. You can't do it. Okay. It's not as easy as it looked. Okay.

[Gary Parish]

I give credit.

[Chip Patterson]

It's not as easy as it looks.

[Gary Parish]

In fairness tonight, Burn didn't have to play basketball with all these wires.

[Chip Patterson]

That's true. Although you know what to I. I guess I could try it, but I'll be real. We've never done this in this setting before and I'm terrified that if one of us does it, we're not going to get back on the ship and one of us is going to have to talk for the rest of the pod. You can handle it, obviously, but go ahead.

[Gary Parish]

Serious first.

[Chip Patterson]

Okay.

[Gary Parish]

He was 10 of 13 from the field, 25 point, 14 rebounds. And I don't remember whether it was Saturday night or a previous night.

[Chip Patterson]

Time is a construct.

[Gary Parish]

There was some night recently where I noted this has been an awesome National Player of the Year race. Two guys sort of separated from the pack and neither really separated from each other. Although I thought Cooper Flag might when Broom went out. But then turns out he never, you know, he didn't matter.

[Chip Patterson]

Correct.

[Gary Parish]

Right back. No problem. I will tonight, just in the spirit of full transparency, we will submit our ballots for CBS Sports National Player of the Year.

[Chip Patterson]

Yes.

[Gary Parish]

Tomorrow morning.

[Chip Patterson]

And our all American teams. The whole deal, all of it.

[Gary Parish]

And it'll publish later in the week. Yeah, I had sort of made up my mind. It's going to be Cooper Flag. That would be the ballot I submitted. And it still might be, but after what Janai Broom did in this one, and I don't mean the leaving and coming back.

[Chip Patterson]

No, that's.

[Gary Parish]

That adds nothing to it for me. I mean, 10 of 13, 25.14 rebounds against the outright Big Ten champs in an Elite Eight game. To do that, on top of everything else he's done to take this to the Final Four, it will at least make me sit down and reconsider. I've got to sit down tonight, pour a nice drink and take a fresh look at Jenny Broom and Cooper Flag because it is very, very close. And I don't know that there is a wrong answer wherever I settle. I don't know that if you or somebody else settles on the opposite player, I will be able to say, I don't know what you're doing. If you told me, maybe not right now, but give me 30 minutes to look at it tonight and really dive into all of the numbers. I could sit down and make you a compelling case that it has to be Cooper Flag and then I could take a word from our partners, come back and make a compelling case why it should be Jani Broom. They've both been awesome.

[Chip Patterson]

Your mic fell into your jacket. Let's get that clip back up. Not so easy now, is it there buddy?

[Doug Gottlieb]

I agree.

[Chip Patterson]

I think in fact if these folks Broom and flag wind up splitting, there has been some rare cases over the years where we have had a single award go to two. It's probably not what's going to happen at CBS Sports. Obviously we're going to pick one way or the other with our collective voting, but I wouldn't object to it. I wrote about in January this has been one of the more compelling races of the year and frankly it's going to be something once we've decided we can talk about later this week on one of the shows there. I'm leaning slightly one way more than the other, but I'll save that for disclosure later this week. We got plenty of time to talk about Auburn. Let's talk about Michigan State just a little bit here. They get 17 out of Jackson Kohler, 15 out of Jaden Akins. Jason Richardson is 4 of 13 from the field, 11 points, 3 rebounds, 1 assist. Auburn took a, you know, it took Michigan State out of a lot of what it wanted to do. Obviously they, they made Cohen Carr a non factor. Tom Izzo had himself a really, really nice year. I thought Richardson and Akins personally needed to be both pretty impactful. They were good, not great. Fears was a non factor altogether. So I partly wondered, all right, is this all really going to do this again with this group? I thought he had a chance and then when you see the way that Auburn plays, they get it done. And great on Bruce Pearl, but in totality with MSU season, I mean this is, this is a Michigan State team that was not preseason top 25. And oh by the way, a random note about this, there still has With Michigan State and St. John's both now losing, there still has never been a team that wasn't ranked in the preseason top 25 that wound up with a one or a two seat on Selection Sunday that made the Final Four. St. John's and MSU both qualify for that description going into the tournament and they both failed to get there. It's a weird one, but it still oddly enough remains true. That being said, Izzo did a wonderful job this season. I'm interested to see what the roster will be like in six weeks from now. Richardson's gone to the NBA. They're going to lose a couple of these guys that were big time factors there. How much what does MSU get in the portal? They have not been considered to be a team that's top 20 in nil. And you take a look around and really what the programs that are bracing to spend GP7,8,9 million overall. I mean, I got told earlier today that Donovan Dent. And more power too. No, no issue with me. But Donovan Dent alone more than $3 million to go to UCLA.

[Gary Parish]

Good for him.

[Chip Patterson]

Great for him. That's amazing. And I love that a player that, that's, that's that good, who will be a, probably a preseason first team all American is getting $3 million. That's incredible. But I'm interested to see what MSU can do moving forward. But beyond that, you know, just thoughts on what Izzo was able to do at the age of 70 after having a team that wasn't even projected to be top five in the Big Ten.

[Gary Parish]

Awesome stuff. You know, anytime you win an outright conference championship, you've. You've done something. Anytime you get to an Elite Eight with maybe only one NBA player, you've. You've done something. I, I don't believe that we're going to look up in October and be like, Tom Izzo didn't have any money to buy a team. Yeah, I think they'll figure out a way to. He'll have a roster that is talented enough to give him a shot to compete for all of these same things again. But he wears this stuff hard. You know, he, he gets emotional after wins, but he also feels it after losses too. And you could see that. I think the most frustrating thing for Tom and he could speak for himself, but they just let the game get away from him so quickly. Like they weren't in it.

[Chip Patterson]

Just like kind of like Bama, like you got out early and like just being in that building. Gp, sorry to cut you off, but like I. We had four great Elite Eight matchups and we just had a few of these where it just was not like Florida and Texas Tech was, was plenty enjoyable. Houston just strangled the life out of Tennessee. We will get to it in a little bit, but I thought that MSU was going to be able to really tussle for 40 minutes. And that's just not that. That's not what happened in Atlanta.

[Gary Parish]

Yeah, I mean they were down 15, 10 minutes into it.

[Chip Patterson]

Yeah.

[Gary Parish]

And like I said earlier, they got it to 35, 30 early in the second half and you're like, okay, here we go. And then Auburn banged home a three, then a bucket. That five point lead went to ten again really quickly. And then it stayed there for much of the rest of the game. It got to a point where you can bang home a three, maybe get a turnover, get a stop, maybe you could turn these last two minutes into something interesting. But they couldn't do enough of any of those things and then they end up losing the game by six. That was a good Michigan State team that could have gone to the Final Four and it wouldn't have been shocking. But if I'm being completely honest, I never put that Michigan State team in the same category as an Auburn or a Duke or a Houston. And then I think regardless of what the predictive metrics said, like it took Florida a little longer in my mind to get there, but they eventually got there as well where it was just undeniable. And I thought if we were dividing the sport into tiers, I would have had an Auburn, Houston, Duke tier for a long time. And Michigan State never cracked that tear in my head, if that makes sense.

[Chip Patterson]

It does. I think this is the sixth or seventh 30 win season that Izzo has had. He's also had a a few 29 win seasons overall, 30 and 7 for MSU. Another elite really good stuff out of ISO. I I don't expect him this is just purely based on going to East Lansing last month and even what he said he told me a year ago. I just I think Izzo's got at least two more years coaching this for at least. He did say a lot about how this group really reinforced why he loves being a coach. He can have his issues with stuff that's happening in college athletics in terms of just how unwieldy it is. But he's not spending a lot of his time griping and spending hours and hours on conference calls and trying to change that kind of stuff because he knows that the progress along those lines is going to take a long time and it won't be figured out until long after he's coaching. So that in mind, I'll never be stunned. Stunned. But I'm fully not expecting if you're checking into the show and you're like okay, MSU just lost on Sunday night. Did Tom is just coach his last game? I'm telling you that is absolutely not his plan whatsoever. And I don't expect that to change in the next couple of weeks.

[Gary Parish]

Yeah, not in his plans, but it doesn't mean his plans couldn't change. Yeah, plans do change. I don't know that Tony Bennett was certain he was going to retire.

[Chip Patterson]

Right.

[Gary Parish]

But he had thought about it.

[Chip Patterson]

I know yeah, he was more like, should I? Should I not? I'm going to stay. And then October came around. He's like, I can't do this right.

[Gary Parish]

I could see Tom's mind changing just because I could just see him getting frustrated. I could see him getting in these conversations about transfer portal.

[Chip Patterson]

I've said this to you before, Tom. The number of times that Tom Mezzo has retired at lunch and come back by dinner is countless. So that's entirely possible.

[Gary Parish]

Almost every conversation I have with Tom Izzo ends up in. It ends up there eventually, right?

[Chip Patterson]

Yeah.

[Gary Parish]

So I could easily see him getting into this transfer portal conversation and somebody like in this moment he doesn't even know exists is asking him for $1.4 million. And it's just like, I could see him going, all right, all right. I see what Jay was doing. I see what Tony was doing, but he loves it too much, I think. And not to suggest the other guys didn't, but Tom really, this is what he wants to do. He wants to coach college basketball. The day that he stops will be the day that age or health, you know, makes it necessary. Or he has just been beaten down, beaten so down by the sport that he's like, I can't do this anymore. But he. He will stay in it, kicking and fighting. He wants to. This is where he wants to be.

[Chip Patterson]

He actually put it in a tangible way for me, and then we can move on to Houston, Tennessee, if you want. I don't think I put this in my story, but he's. He's like, it's the red eye roll. He's like, you know, our flight situation has changed, but I still have to fly occasionally. Commercial and recruiting. And the second that I'm not willing to get on a red eye in California to fly to Texas or fly to Florida to see another recruit the next morning, I'll know it's time to get out. He said, I still don't mind the red eyes. So that's just another way of putting that in addition to the nil stuff, just body and all that, but just.

[Gary Parish]

Know everybody gets there.

[Chip Patterson]

Yeah.

[Doug Gottlieb]

Oh, yeah.

[Chip Patterson]

I know it'll happen, but hopefully, I mean that. Like when he had that clip that went viral four or five days ago about. I understand why you're asking about nil, but, like, I'm not going to cheat my team. You're just. Just hammering the deus. That's the. I love seeing that side of Tom Izzo. I love having him in the sport. And selfishly, as long as he's willing to do it. He's 70. I hope he gives us at least five more years.

[Gary Parish]

Yeah, the sport's better when he's in it. Yeah, when he's got a championship caliber team in it. And both of those things were true this season. I certainly hope we get many more of of him in charge. We come back, we'll turn our attention to Houston and Tennessee. This was another one that got lopsided pretty quickly. We'll do that next. First, let's get one more word from our partners. Take Me out to the Ball game.

[Chip Patterson]

What are you doing?

[Gary Parish]

Did you know DirecTV has the most MLB games? So you're singing. Yeah, they put your favorite teams front and center right?

[Doug Gottlieb]

When you turn it on, buy me.

[Gary Parish]

Some cold cuts and Flapper Jacks. Those aren't even the words I'm allergic to peanuts. Stream DirecTV, home of the most MLB games. Visit DirectTV.com claim based on total games offered on national and regional sports networks. RSN is available with choice package or higher. Availability of rsns varies by zip code and package.

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[Gary Parish]

Final Score Houston 69, Tennessee 50 that was in Indianapolis. Kelvin Sampson is now in the Final Four for the second time with the Cougars for the third time in his career. Total domination from Houston held UT to 28.8% shooting from the field, 17.2% shooting from three. They were up 22 in the first half, up 19 at the break. Won the game by 19. Norlander since 1939, I gather.

[Chip Patterson]

Yes, exactly.

[Gary Parish]

95 schools have made at least one Final Four. Houston has now done it seven times and Tennessee is still stuck on zero. Your thoughts?

[Chip Patterson]

Yeah, Tennessee. It didn't get blanked, but it borderline was blanked in the first half. It only had 15 points through 20 minutes in Indianapolis. That's the lowest ever in any tournament game by any team that was a one or a two seed. That's what Houston did to the Vols in the first 20 minutes. They actually I believe they played to an even number in the after the break overall, but they just didn't listen. We're going to credit Houston a ton, but I just got it. Let's just start with Tennessee. This is the nature of the tournament. There are just, every year there are really, really good college players whose final game does not. It's not even a loss. It's just the way it goes. I saw it with Mark Sears on Saturday night and we saw it with Zakai Ziegler on Sunday. He was not nearly as effective as he was just two days prior. Credit to Houston. There was a lot of that. Chaz Lanier was also off. Tennessee was over its first 14 from 3 point range. That really did them in. They were just the latest victim with Houston. By the way, credit to our research department on this. Houston is in this tournament. Houston has held every single team that it has played to at least. This is insane. At least 12 points under its average scoring. But really overall, when you take the siue, the Gonzaga, the Purdue and the Tennessee wins across the board, it's more than 20 points below their scoring average collectively that Houston did that. Rick Barnes, I think he's going to get more flak and grief again and I don't really know if he should. Houston's insanely good. He ran. They happened to get put into a. They were two seed, had a great season. At some point this team was ranked number one. This season they get put into a region with a team that plays just like them but like 7 to 8% better. Okay, they get that. A year ago they played against one of the most dominant college players of the past couple of generations and they run into Purdue in the Elite Eight. Rick Barnes only made one Final Four. It was, it was all the way back in 03 with Texas. Because of the nature of the way that Tennessee lost, I think there's going to be more like here we go again. Like Tennessee has 31 wins. It's now tied with, with with Xavier for the most wins in the tournament ever. For a program that's never made the final Four, I get some of it, but I think you have to take the circumstances and the context into account. And I do not fault Barnes and his volunteers for falling short. Keep in mind two years in a row they lost to the better seeded team in the Elite Eight. They didn't get packed off early by Cinderella. I know Tennessee fans you want, I know you want your team to break through. I would push back on people that are trying to get Barnes flack. It's not a great look that you got run. I understand that. But to me it was so much more about Houston pissed off they lost shed a year ago, got knocked out of the Sweet 16 by Duke Sampson had just an elite, elite defensive team. And to me, it was more about Houston than Tennessee. But specifically, GP when it comes to the Barnes talk, where do you land on it? Because I think collectively, I don't have it right in front of, but I think now he's about six, maybe seven games over.500 in his career. Tournament.

[Gary Parish]

It's well documented. Rick Barnes flames out in the incident of a tournament. Like, just do a Google search on that. You'll. You'll see a bunch of stuff pop up. And I understand it. I've read it all. I've documented it. We've talked about it on the podcast. This isn't that.

[Chip Patterson]

I don't think some people will say it is.

[Gary Parish]

That's fine.

[Chip Patterson]

All right. I'm just letting you know people can.

[Gary Parish]

Say whatever they want. Yeah, I've learned that.

[Chip Patterson]

I know, I know. I'm just.

[Gary Parish]

I've learned that.

[Chip Patterson]

Resetting it for the listener.

[Gary Parish]

People can say whatever they want. Yeah, but what did he really do today? Yeah, got blown out. I understand that's not good, but. Got blown out by who? A 1 seed coached by Kelvin Sampson that has now won 17 games in.

[Chip Patterson]

A row, longest in the country.

[Gary Parish]

And 12 of those wins are over NCAA tournament teams. That's who you are. That's who took Rick Barnes out of the bracket. All right. I think it's very similar today. What happened. What happened to the Spartans? They ran into a better team. What happened to Tennessee? They ran into a better team. That's the thing. When you don't get these Cinderellas, you could be the 2 seed in the elite 8. You might not be the better team.

[Chip Patterson]

Right.

[Gary Parish]

That's what happened today. Michigan State was eliminated where Michigan State was supposed to be eliminated. Tennessee was eliminated where it was supposed to be eliminated. If I'm a UT fan, do I wish it would have been more competitive? Sure. But we got to the Elite Eight with a team that was supposed to get to the Elite Eight, and that's where it ended. Because that's the first time we ran into a team that was better than us. Supposed to beat us. Betting markets, predictive metrics, you name it. You mentioned Zakai Ziegler. The way he goes out sort of mirrors the way Mark Sears went out. Yeah, he's two great college basketball players, but that's the key. College basketball players. You know what happened to Mark Sears? He ran into NBA players.

[Chip Patterson]

I know what happened to Mark Sears.

[Gary Parish]

Come on.

[Chip Patterson]

Malawat switched on the screen at the top of the key, and suddenly he looked and he looked like it was ridiculous. And that's one of many instances. But yes, NBA players, they played a big role. Yeah.

[Gary Parish]

Okay. Zakai Ziegler, you know what happened today, ran into the best defense in the country.

[Chip Patterson]

Yes.

[Gary Parish]

And when you were running into a defense like that, Houston defense, a defense that everything you can say about it has been said it ranks number one. Bobby Hurley earlier this season after a loss to Houston at Arizona State said, it feels like there's six people on the court. Yeah, there's not, but that's what it feels like. They're awesome. When you were playing a defense like that, do you know what the. You know what? You need somebody who's just so immensely talented that they can break it down like, all right, set him a ball screen and let him go. Those are NBA players. And Zakai Ziegler is a lot of things, an awesome college basketball player. But I think that was pretty an obvious problem early that whether it was Chaz Lanier, Zakai Ziegler, I mean, they combined to go 5 of 27 from the field. Everything was hard for them. And when everything was hard for them, everything got hard for Tennessee. But I don't put this on Rick Barnes. I mean, Rick Barnes this season coached one of the eight best teams in the country pretty much from start to finish. I know that that lack of final force for the program in history is a real thing that, you know, Kentucky fans will bang on Tennessee about. I see some Memphis fans bang on Tennessee about, but if you're a Tennessee fan frustrated with this season, I don't know what to tell you. This was an awesome season for Rick.

[Chip Patterson]

Another two seed, 31 season, 70 year old coach, Tennessee, Michigan State, it both applies there. And Ziegler, Lanier, Milicich, Gainy. Like there's a big roster overhaul coming here and again, like I'm thinking and believing that Rick Barnes will come back, but I'm just wondering, like, are we going to be doing an emergency podcast five days from now, two weeks from now about some coach that just, you know, is retiring without, you know, a little bit of a bolt from the blue? Hope not, but Tennessee will have a, will have a lot to do there and we'll see. Houston, let's talk about the fact that they got this done. Crier had 17, Sharp had 16. He had a couple of really big buckets. Milos Yuzan was not a big time performer statistically in this game, but he still had a lot of good moments on the defensive end of the floor. Tugler continues to be awesome. And they were even. They were even. Not at full strength. So Roberts, he's had the ankle issue. He played 16 minutes. Malik Wilson, he was what he would play. He wound up playing. They get it done as well. And Kelvin Sampson, a couple of old guys got it done here on Saturday. Pearl in the 60s, Sampson up there as well. But he deserves this. I said this on hq. I'm going to repeat it here. Houston had to beat the best team in the second round that I think anyone seeds ever had to face in Gonzaga, top 10 Ken, bomb team. Then I had to go to Indy, beat Purdue in his backyard and it got it done. Had to beat Tennessee, which was statistically and from a resume perspective the best two seed on the board. Got that done. And now the Cougars, appropriately so, get afforded a chance to play a Final Four in their home state two years ago. Remember that was Nance's final tournament in Houston and they were one seed. They had to play Auburn. They didn't get there. They made the final four in 21 but it was the COVID tournament so a lot of Houston fans couldn't even get there for that. And they obviously didn't win it. Every team that's going to San Antonio has, has earned it. Maybe Houston deserves it as much or more than anyone else considering the circumstances attached to the road to get there. Oh, by the way, they played Shouts to David Warlock on this. He sent it out. This is. Let me bring it up because I want to give him credit because I did not realize this in real time. Houston beat the best available seed it could have possibly played en route to making the national semis. And this is the first time since Carolina in 2017 that the 1 seed took the hardest possible seed path to the Final 4 being the 16, the 8, the 4 and the 2. Shouts to Dave Warlock. He does a great job with the NCAA. Your thoughts on the Cougs?

[Gary Parish]

I mean they won 17 straight games coming out of the Big 12 and.

[Chip Patterson]

The one game was by one point. It's again, I still don't think they get enough credit for how insanely they don't.

[Gary Parish]

Like they don't.

[Chip Patterson]

The run of dominance here since December is outrageous. It's a one point loss at home in OT to a Texas Tech team that very well could be in the Final Four.

[Gary Parish]

And do you realize haven't lost in regulation since November 9th.

[Chip Patterson]

That's nuts.

[Gary Parish]

That was against Auburn.

[Chip Patterson]

By the way. That's my national championship pick. Just a reminder.

[Gary Parish]

It's seems totally reasonable. Yeah, except for the team they have to play.

[Chip Patterson]

I know, I know. And we will. I got two dozen thoughts on that matchup, and we're gonna maybe touch on a little before the end of the show. And then, trust me, we're getting this heavy later in the week, too.

[Gary Parish]

They are 30.

[Chip Patterson]

Yes.

[Gary Parish]

They're 34. Four. And three of the four losses came in overtime. The only regulation loss came in November, Literally the second game of the season to the number one overall seed in the NCAA tournament that is also in the Final Four. I mean, they're excellent and it's. But they were excellent last season with a different best player.

[Chip Patterson]

I know.

[Gary Parish]

And excellent before that.

[Chip Patterson]

The different best player.

[Gary Parish]

It doesn't matter. As long as Kelvin's there, it really doesn't seem like it. It matters. And to watch him do it with Kellen on the bench with him, which has been that way for a while, but sort of, that was the image that stuck with me from the final seconds of the Elite Eight win. Like, Kelvin and Kellen getting to embrace and have that moment, it's just awesome. I love that. I love that he got to come back to college basketball. You told this story on hq. You've written it before. But, like, the last conversation Kelvin ever had with his father.

[Chip Patterson]

Yeah.

[Gary Parish]

Was, hey, you need to get back in college basketball. And that meant something to him. And he. You still don't know if it's ever gonna happen or happen in a place where these types of things could happen, but he is taking something that I guess wasn't dead, but, man, it felt like it.

[Chip Patterson]

It felt like a life support.

[Gary Parish]

It felt like a buried, left for nothing basketball program. I mean, I would go there as a Conference USA beat writer, and there would be nobody there, and nobody cared, and they weren't any good.

[Chip Patterson]

But it's what you said on the. On the desk, you're like. And I never walked into it to see it, but I can picture in my head, you're like, this is where Elijah, Mon, and Drexler. Like, this is where they played.

[Gary Parish]

Because I. My introduction to college basketball was early 80s. That was it.

[Chip Patterson]

Yeah.

[Gary Parish]

If I slam a jam, it was like something I knew when I was my younger son's age. Like, I was aware of that the way my youngest son is aware of Patrick Mahomes. I was aware of Houston basketball. And then all these years later, I'm a beat writer at a newspaper covering Memphis, and I'm a CUSA game at Houston. And you walk in, it was dark and old and empty and yuck. That's. That's the job he took and to take it to this place where Houston's back in the Final Four and it doesn't even seem weird. Houston's 117 straight and like, oh, wow, I guess so. Houston hasn't lost in regulation since November. Okay, I guess. Okay. It's just he has built. There's a ton of great stories in college basketball in terms of men who have built things. Scott Drewitt, Baylor, Mark Few at Gonzaga. But this rebuilding of Houston is one of the great stories of the past, you know, decade plus.

[Chip Patterson]

Yes. And reminder, or if you didn't know, in the past five tournaments, these three programs have the most victories. Tied for second is UConn and Gonzaga with 13 apiece. Houston has 15 going to try and capture a national championship. And if you're a fan of any of the teams that are still standing in the Final Four, you've got a different reason to have optimism or something to point to about, like, yeah, the way they did that, you know, that makes sense. With Florida, it's like, yeah, Walter Clayton Jr. Has been the best guard in the country, and he made sure that Florida got past Texas Tech to get there. Auburn, I recognize that team. I remember you guys. The way they were able to do that, particularly on Sunday with Duke, it's just outright dominance. And if anything, you have confidence. It's like, we weren't even at our best. Cooper Flag wasn't that amazing. And we still beat Alabama by 20. With Houston, you saw the team that is able to just put teams into a headlock, a vice grip, and suffocate the life out of them. Parrish. I've seen this literally dozens of times over the past three, four, five years with this program. The one difference here being. And we'll get to this later in the week, this Houston team is so much better from beyond the arc than any other previous team. It's why they're very, very viable national title contender. What else you got?

[Gary Parish]

Just before we get out of here, let's just set the table for the weekend.

[Chip Patterson]

And then, by the way, weather on the 8th. I'm waiting for. I'm waiting for a weather break with you and me talking like this, dressed like this. I'm waiting for someone to. Hakeem Dermis. Can we get. Can we get a weather update before we get out of here? Joe Muso, I need the traffic. Let's go.

[Gary Parish]

I just wonder what it's like back. Back in the production room. They're like, did this idiot really just take his mic off?

[Chip Patterson]

You're really trying to walk away.

[Gary Parish]

Is he really just trying to walk.

[Chip Patterson]

Off Broadcasting professional right here? Forget about it.

[Gary Parish]

Hold on. We're all working late tonight for this stupid.

[Chip Patterson]

I'm just going to stop talking and try and walk off the stairs.

[Gary Parish]

And the ball guy just decided to walk out.

[Chip Patterson]

I actually was all for the bit, but I'm, I'm serious when I say we have never done this before and I would be terrified of the prospect of like it not getting back to normal for like five minutes and that would have just been a complete train wreck. So we had to sidestep it. What do you want to look at it do?

[Gary Parish]

My apologies to audio.

[Chip Patterson]

My apologies to Anthony who's doing a great job along with not a producing the show.

[Gary Parish]

Final Four tip times are set. Let me run you through them. Saturday, 6:09pm Eastern. It's going to be Auburn against Florida and Florida opened.

[Chip Patterson]

Oh, let me guess, let me guess and do a little Simmons here. Guess the lines. I've not seen them. Okay, so I already know. So you said Florida, right? Okay, I will say. I will say the line is Florida minus one and a half.

[Gary Parish]

Two and a half. Whoa.

[Chip Patterson]

Okay, that's a miss by me.

[Gary Parish]

Has opened as a 2 1/2 point favorite over the overall number one seed in this bracket. That's the Auburn Tigers. Florida, of course, one at Auburn earlier this season. Then at roughly 8 the techno, the time is officially 8:49pm Eastern. It could slide. You know it could slide.

[Chip Patterson]

Love to slide. That tip.

[Gary Parish]

8:49Pm Eastern. Houston against Duke. That's the main event.

[Chip Patterson]

I'm going to say Duke. You said Florida over Auburn - two and a half. I will say Duke is favored. First of all, anything, in my opinion, anything more than three is an outright insult to Houston. I will say it is Duke minus three, four and a half. Oh, that's an absolute disrespectful. That's disrespectful. Disrespectful. Number four and a half.

[Gary Parish]

But I can see it happening. How great is Duke? Is that the question?

[Chip Patterson]

Yeah, how great is Duke?

[Gary Parish]

Here's the answer. Yeah, Duke is so great that it is a four and a half point favorite over a team on a 17 game winning streak that hasn't lost in regulation since November. That's how great Duke is.

[Chip Patterson]

This is the number one offense against the number one defense.

[Gary Parish]

Top two teams at KenPom and it's.

[Chip Patterson]

By the way, Duke is one at Ken Palm and Houston is one at Torvik. So we got, we got a little nerd fight going on there.

[Gary Parish]

And it was hilarious because Turner CBS even while the Auburn Michigan State game is going they were like and the tip times are set.

[Chip Patterson]

I privately I was like when Duke won last night I was over.

[Doug Gottlieb]

It's over.

[Chip Patterson]

This is the second game. It doesn't, it literally does not matter what the other team is. Duke's going to be the second tip.

[Gary Parish]

It did not matter. Yes, Duke and Cooper Flag were going to headline but to have it against Houston and Kelvin Sampson is is awesome. So as you pointed out, it's not just the four number one over four number one seeds. It's the top four teams at Ken Palm. It's just awesome stuff. And we are going to start previewing it, getting ready for it in more detail on Monday at 1:00 Eastern. We'll be taking this back to CBS sports network. Yes, one hour show. Yes, 44 minutes of content.

[Chip Patterson]

That's right.

[Gary Parish]

Starting at 1:00pm Eastern, Monday afternoon more to come on CBS Sports Network. And then we'll also do it 2:00 East. No, we'll do the same thing Tuesday, 1:00 Eastern. Also CBS.

[Chip Patterson]

We will do the same thing Tuesday. We will dive into all sorts of stuff with that. Whatever advances on the carousel. I refuse to talk carousel on the show. We'll get into that maybe tomorrow because I know there's been more that's happened since we since we last talked on that front. We have news headlines there. But closing thought for me here, it's been an enjoyable tournament. The actually the margin of victory for the winning teams in the second weekend was actually lower than it has been in a number of tournaments. So even though you've had the better teams for the most part and the better seeds advancing the games, they've been more competitive on average than what we've seen in recent years. I thought that was pretty good. It's been a satisfactory tournament. And now, man, we just, we have a stage set Paris where there is as long as we don't have a situation where, you know, Duke goes supernova or Houston does and on the same side and we don't have these two blowouts. I mean there is a to me, this is the best collection of teams we've ever had in the final four. And again, pretty sure I said this at the top of the show, again, we're losing track. Four of the top 10 KenPom teams ever, ever are in this field. In fact, I'll give you how they rank right now. Duke is second. This year's Duke team is the second best KenPom team in adjusted efficiency margin. Okay. Houston is 6 all time, Florida is 8 all time, and Auburn is 10 all time, that tells me it's the best ever. And when you toss in the fact that you have flag Broom and Clayton, who have been the three best players in the country this season, and then you'll. By the way, you've got Houston just doing its thing. It'd be kind of an interesting twist if Houston actually wound up winning while not having a first team All American. It's on the table. Yeah. It just makes for some incredible stuff. And again, as first reported here, this only previously happened once. 2008, it was also in San Antonio.

[Gary Parish]

And it is kind of cool that we're going back to San Antonio not because of 2008, who cares? But because, like, San Antonio is one of the great Final four cities.

[Chip Patterson]

It is like, it's just a. And it's not on the books. We don't know, like, it should happen again. But like, I don't know when it's going to.

[Gary Parish]

But there are. Sometimes you go to the Final Four and let's just say. I don't even want to say the cities because people get.

[Chip Patterson]

I need you to say it.

[Gary Parish]

But you go to certain places and it's like, all right, I see the signs that say Final Four, but I don't feel it. You know, I don't really feel like there's something big happening here either, because the city spread out and there's bunch of stuff over here and a bunch of stuff over there. That's a good example of that. Dallas is a wonderful example of that.

[Chip Patterson]

Fine cities. They're just not the best Final four cities.

[Gary Parish]

Fine cities, but not the best Final Four cities.

[Chip Patterson]

Yes.

[Gary Parish]

San Antonio is awesome. There's no way not to feel it. The second you get there, it's like, oh, yeah, the final four's here.

[Chip Patterson]

And I know.

[Gary Parish]

It's just. When you heading down.

[Chip Patterson]

I'm going to be down Wednesday, by the way. Not only is it the second time we've had it in 08. The semifinals were on April 5th and the title game was on April 7th. Let's check that calendar, see when these games are getting played. The flat circle. I'm heading down Wednesday. Are you going to be there Wednesday or Thursday? I'm going Wednesday. All right.

[Gary Parish]

It's been a minute.

[Chip Patterson]

I feel since you flew in on a Wednesday to a final foresight harder.

[Gary Parish]

To get to San Antonio from Memphis than it is, you know, some places.

[Chip Patterson]

Yeah. Are you. Did you. Did you Find a direct flight.

[Gary Parish]

Didn't even look for one. Okay, team Delta, baby. I'm going to Atlanta.

[Chip Patterson]

Hold on a second.

[Gary Parish]

Atlanta's the wrong way, but that's what I gotta do.

[Chip Patterson]

Hold on. You're gonna fly in the wrong direction.

[Gary Parish]

I do it all the time. I do this all the time.

[Chip Patterson]

This is so stupid.

[Gary Parish]

I fly the wrong way all the time.

[Chip Patterson]

How many hours are you adding to your trip?

[Gary Parish]

I don't care.

[Chip Patterson]

You don't care? Delta for life. Insane, insane decision by you. I'm literally going to fly, what, 250 miles on the WR direction. Double back. Yeah, it's ridiculous. It bothered me when I went to Gonzaga that I had to fly to Seattle, fly over Gonzaga, just to come back and fly to Spokane. I hated that. That's nothing compared to this.

[Gary Parish]

Oh, no. I do this all the time.

[Chip Patterson]

Oh, gosh. I'm con. I think I'm, I think I'm. White Plains to Atlanta to San Antonio. Much, much more logical. I couldn't, hey, maybe I'll see you in Atlanta. You know, it's, it's.

[Gary Parish]

What time. Do you know what time you're flying? We'll figure it out. Maybe.

[Chip Patterson]

You know what? We'll figure it out. Oh, by the way, I have, I.

[Gary Parish]

Have just randomly run into people. Atlanta on the way to the final Four, I think, I think me and Dusty May sat and talked for like an hour last, last year.

[Chip Patterson]

Totally believe it. I t something on the show last week that I didn't pay off on. Ken Pomeroy. I'm sorry. But he did give me the percentages that none and all one seeds would make the final four. So we'll pay it off here. In typical flawless podcast, I said it.

[Gary Parish]

Was clearly the number one seeds. We had the better chance. And you argued with me.

[Chip Patterson]

No, I didn't argue with you.

[Gary Parish]

You wanted to argue. Let's see who was.

[Chip Patterson]

No, I, I, I, I think the gap that you had. I didn't agree with the gap and shouts to Evan Miyakawa because he listened to the show and sent something as well. This is, this is before the tournament. His percentages were 7.7% that all one seeds would make it. So we hit it 7.7. The percentages that none would make it was 4.9%. So it's actually not that. I know, I know it wasn't that big overall, but I wanted to pay. I said this like the TV show like 5 episodes ago. Forgot to mention it. We're paying you off here. Hey, this is great. You want to Just do this tomorrow.

[Gary Parish]

No, no.

[Chip Patterson]

The first in person is so much better. So much better. I don't rarely get to do this.

[Gary Parish]

I didn't like my posture.

[Chip Patterson]

I like this. We got a big monitor here.

[Gary Parish]

I lost. Yeah, you got a big monitor there. I can't see it.

[Chip Patterson]

What do you mean you can't see it?

[Gary Parish]

Well, because it's over here.

[Chip Patterson]

Turn around. Look at it. Right there.

[Gary Parish]

Yeah, this is.

[Chip Patterson]

Oh, yeah, you got nothing.

[Gary Parish]

Hey, I know that I took my mic off mid show, but. But just know that I know what I'm doing.

[Chip Patterson]

Are you sure?

[Gary Parish]

Despite that, I know what I'm doing. And I know that on television, you're not supposed to be doing this.

[Chip Patterson]

Oh, yeah? Watch me.

[Gary Parish]

Okay.

[Chip Patterson]

We're on YouTube right now. It doesn't count.

[Gary Parish]

Yeah, this doesn't count. It's just YouTube.

[Chip Patterson]

Little Ty Loosen. You got anything else? Are we gonna.

[Gary Parish]

No, I'm ready to go. Aren't you ready to go? New episode, White Lotus is out.

[Chip Patterson]

I Dude, I haven't even begun watching White Lotus.

[Gary Parish]

Wild ride.

[Chip Patterson]

I I It's a wild ride. I'm at least two weeks away from even starting that. It's a problem. But yeah, and I gotta. I gotta. I gotta get home. Oh, one more plug. If you haven't read my shire story, please do. He was awesome to talk to. Revealed some stuff that he had never revealed publicly. It is crazy to me that this guy. Maybe we'll get into a little on the Monday show. But he thought he was going to get UNLV or DePaul four years ago, he didn't get either of them. And effective privately, less than two months later, he was told he would be the coach in waiting at Duke. And now look what he's been able to do. So maybe we talk about that on the Thunder on the Monday show, but I was obviously not on the show with GP And Chip late. I was up late writing that story and he was great to talk to on that. So if you haven't read it yet, please go give that a read.

[Gary Parish]

1:00 Eastern.

[Chip Patterson]

Yes.

[Gary Parish]

Monday afternoon, we'll be back on CBS Sports.

[Chip Patterson]

I'll be in your hotel room. We got to do this again. Recreate the magic. Let's go.

[Gary Parish]

I'm going to be in my hotel room.

[Chip Patterson]

Just one finger touch. Oh. Oh, the magic.

[Gary Parish]

I'll be in my hotel room. He'll be wherever he's at. 1:00 Monday afternoon, CBS Sports Network shouts to Devin Downey. Shouts to Chester, South Carolina. Terry Teagle's a legend. Hook Larnell. Thank you guys once again for watching listening to the Ion College Basketball Podcast. If you're not subscribed, please go subscribe anywhere you subscribe to Podcast, Podcast, Apple, Spotify. There's more of us than there are of them.

[Chip Patterson]

That's right, baby. Don't you forget it. I had, by the way, we're going to wrap. I had a, I had a BYU fan in the arena the other night said, there's more of us. I was like, there are. He's like, no, there's more of us. I was like, you're a them.

[Matt Norlander]

You're.

[Chip Patterson]

There's more of us. So I, I appreciated, I appreciated that very much. Everyone who said hello, they listen to the pod.

[Gary Parish]

We appreciate you, in fairness, like, we are getting out of here. But the BYU fans, at least the ones who interact with me, yes, they're.

[Chip Patterson]

They're terrific.

[Gary Parish]

Awesome.

[Chip Patterson]

They are terrific.

[Gary Parish]

They seem to have fun with it and laugh along with us instead of get oddly offended by two people just joking around. I know, as people who have to deal with folks getting oddly offended about stuff that really shouldn't be that big of a deal. We appreciate BYU fans.

[Chip Patterson]

We appreciate that. And we'll, we'll get to weather on the 8th right after this.

[Gary Parish]

All right, bye. Bye.

[Matt Norlander]

Paramount Podcasts.