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Eye On College Basketball
🚨🚨EMERGENCY POD: NCAA Tournament expanding to 76 teams; Tyran Stokes picks Kansas over Kentucky
01:04:35
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- [00:00]
Matt Norlander
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Gary Parrish
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- [02:33]
Gary Parrish
Hey there. I am still Gary Parish. This is still the CBS Sports I own College Basketball podcast. I have showered and changed clothes. This is where we sometimes discuss camel fighting Dodo birds and leaky black. Per usual, Matt Norlander is here with me. If you're watching on YouTube honor Brandon Davies, smash the like button. If you haven't yet subscribed to the Ion College Basketball podcast, shame on you. But you can fix that by doing it wherever you listen to podcasts like Spotify and Apple. Let's get into it. Obviously, we did not plan to talk to you again for a second time on a Tuesday, but sometimes plans change. And this time plans change because the NCAA tournament, barring a surprise, is expanding starting next March. Goodbye, 68 teams. Hello, 76 teams. Norlander, we both talked about this on CBS Sports HQ earlier, and I think the way Claudia set it up is the way to set it up. So before we express frustration that expansion is happening, first, can you tell the listeners what it's going to look like and how it's going to work?
- [03:37]
Matt Norlander
Look at us. Two. Two shows not even in the same day. Two shows within five hours, four and a half hours of each other. Oh, yeah, it's. It's great to see you. But the look on my wife's face because she, because I was on the phone on speaker in the living room, and she just generally knew that I was tracking the story. When this came down, it was like, ah, it's like it's Narch all over again. Sorry, honey, you're gonna have to put the kids down. Here we are.
- [04:11]
Gary Parrish
My wife said totally different. She's like, does this mean you got to go upstairs and you're going to be occupied for about an hour and I don't have to watch NBA playoffs for the 11th straight night? I was like, yeah, that's exactly what that means. You can watch whatever you want. I'll be back in an hour.
- [04:26]
Matt Norlander
Yeah. Well, here we are. I have. I've also changed shirts. I now have a different album behind me.
- [04:32]
Gary Parrish
Oh, wow.
- [04:33]
Matt Norlander
No chance. Gp gp do you know what this is? No chance.
- [04:37]
Gary Parrish
I recognize it, but don't know it.
- [04:39]
Matt Norlander
This is Unfreeze McGee safety and numbers. And to quote Unfreeze McGee safety and numbers, but I'm not impressed. We are going to go to 76 teams. And yes. Has this been in the air? Indeed, at a source. That credit to Pete Thamel. He got this out first on a personal reporting note. I did wonder if I was going to be able to break this. And then my source said, hey, I had to hold this for a couple of days. I'm sorry. And someone squealed to Thamil, hey, that's the game. That's the Game.
- [05:10]
Gary Parrish
I don't, I don't. I, I'm, I'm tired of giving people credit. I'm now doing the reverse credit.
- [05:15]
Matt Norlander
I know. No, no.
- [05:15]
Gary Parrish
Here's what I do now. I don't credit Pete Thammel. I give no credit to everybody who missed on it. So I want to give no credit to you. I want to give no credit to Rob Doster. I would like to give. No, I'd like to give no credit to Jeff Goodman right now. I would like to give no credit to John Rossi. I'd like to give no credit to everybody.
- [05:32]
Matt Norlander
Fair. Fair enough. Hey, this hasn't been officially the reason. What happened here was. Let me give you everything I got last week. Dan Gavitt, Charlie Baker, they went to New York City and they met with all the TV people at our company and at Turner wbd, they nailed down further specifics and they moved the ball ever closer. We're not over the. We're not over the goal line. Falls at the one yard line. this point, all of these committee have
- [05:58]
Gary Parrish
to vote this push.
- [05:59]
Matt Norlander
It's time for a tush push, tush push situation. It's going to happen. I had one source say there's a, quote, very, very small chance that one of these committees, I'm talking men's and women's college basketball oversight committees, the men's and women's selection committees, the Division 1 board of governors, there's a D1 cabinet, all this, they have to all vote it through. It has to be ratified. But because there's so many committees and because essentially the NCAA and the TV partners, they broke the huddle here. Someone was going to blab and, and they did. But this has not been ratified yet. It will be soon. It's going to happen. But theoretically, someone on one of these committees could rally to say, hey, if we're going to do this, fine, can we at least push it back one more year? That was proposed to me, but that's not the expectation. But they wanted to cover their bases. So here's what you need to know, barring a shocker. Yes, unfortunately. And do vote in the poll. By the way, do you favor going to expansion to 76 teams for the men's and women's tournaments that will be effective in 2027? What does that mean, other than just going to 76 teams? What does this format look like? Where are these teams going to play? Well, let me go with where they're going to play first. Dayton is still going to be in the rotation. The first four is dead. We did just unfortunately experience the final 68 team tournament. Kind of a bummer. Dayton will continue to host and be one of those cities. The other one is completely up in the air. It will either be in the Central, Mountain or Pacific time zone. It could be in anywhere from Des Moines to Dallas to Wichita to Albuquerque to Denver to somewhere in California. They don't know yet. And I was actually told intentionally the NCAA did not seriously try and narrow down what city will be the second site for that Tuesday, Wednesday because they feared if they did then it would have really leaked. Well here we are. It's leaked anyway. We don't know where that's going to be, but it will either be Mountain, Central, Pacific time zone. They'll make that decision this summer and we'll soon learn. What's going to happen is that by going to 76 you are going to have 12 games on that Tuesday and Wednesday after the selection show. So selection show 6 Eastern on that Sunday. Then there's going to be a whole bunch of teams that got a scramble to travel on Tuesday, which has always been the case. But the timing window is going to be updated. You're going to have games in the late afternoon. They'll stagger them, I'm sure. I don't. I'm assuming the 16s will be first. I'll get into the season that just a second. But as opposed to what it's been with the first four with that first 1616 game tipping off on that Tuesday night at like 6:40 now I would think 4pm Eastern hour. Something like that is when the games will get going on that Tuesday and it will involve all the 16 seeds will have to play their way into the Thursday and Friday. Half of the 15 seeds will also have to do that. What the first four format was it's going to be essentially doubled so half the field will be automatic bids. The low end of the pool that have to play their way to Thursday or Friday. The only benefit remaining being if you win those tournament games as long as they don't really screw over the small guy. And let's not just assume they're not going to do that anyway, but as
- [09:09]
Gary Parrish
it I assume they are, if you
- [09:11]
Matt Norlander
win those first four games on Tuesday and Wednesday you get an NCAA tournament unit that is significant money for those level of schools. So as things stand right now and that's another big big question that needs to be addressed in the coming months, I guess.
- [09:23]
Gary Parrish
But let me stop for a second. I shouldn't just be blurting out. I assume they're going to screw them out of money. I just mean, I assume just my, my neutral is like the little guy's going to get screwed one way or another. But continue.
- [09:34]
Matt Norlander
We're going to get to that as well. So half the field for the opening round, which is what it will be labeled the first round will still be the first round. When there are 64 teams, that will be the first round. The opening round will now replace what is the first four and those two sites will be Dayton and TBT. And there'll be 24 teams playing to get 12 spots to advance that we will go from 52 to 64 teams so that when the tournament tips on Thursday, it is still a 64 team tournament. The site is to be determined. The slots will be triple headers, late afternoon dinner time evening, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday. How they determine when the 16s and the 15s and the at largest play that will be. That will be determined in the in the months to come. The t the field is expanding from an at large standpoint by eight teams. So every team that didn't make it in this year's tournament and was in the first four out and then the next four out, those teams would have been the ones that get sent to Tuesday and Wednesday. Opening round/first4 as it was previously known play. So so theoretically like Santa Clara was a 10 seed this year, Santa Clara would have still been a 10 seed. If you did this with a 76 team tournament, they wouldn't have been bumped out. So just keep in mind that general format. In general, I don't like any of this. I'm just trying to give you a layout of what's of what's happening here. Why is it happening? Two big reasons. One, yes, it is money. And the NCAA has had to go lax on its own morals and ethics to do this. It was told to me as it pertains to advertising with corporate partners alcohol. Could you see some sort of alcohol company now enter the fray and be a primary predominant sponsor? I think that is an automatic and it will come with a lot, a lot of money. I was told there will still be zero gambling advertising allowed, which speaks to some, maybe some refreshing logic, particularly when you look at the headlines that have come out of college sports and we'll even get to that, I'm sure on the pod in the next episode or two as well. But here's a direct quote from one of the sources I spoke with on the phone on Tuesday. Because of lawsuits and settlements, the NCAA is strapped for cash. So some people saying It's a money grab. They're probably not wrong. And end quote. And this was evidenced. GP I know you weren't there like during the actual games, you had to be on the network set. But it used to be that the, the usbwa, which is fought for as best access as possible. The Final Four for the most part, has been able to maintain that. But one of those end zone seating for the pressure, it never got filled to capacity. And the NCAA basically last, last year decided, you know what, we can sell every single one of those luxury boxes for like $6,000. And there's a lot of them. So they eliminated dozens and dozens and dozens of press eating, which coincidentally enough, created a massive issue at this year's Final Four because it was indie. There were teams that were drivable. There's a whole other issue in general, but the ncaa, with all of these lawsuits and, and the house case settlement and everything, like, they are desperate for money. The NCAA tournament, the men's one, not the women's. The women's is now going to stand to lose millions again. And that's just going to have to continue to be a loss leader. It will operate in the red. The men's tournament operates in the black. It will be up for a new TV deal in a matter of what, six years at this point, it is the thing that keeps the NCAA solvent, that keeps it as a, as an organization that exists. And so, yes, they have, in the NCAA's view, the ones that are making this decision, they have determined that, that by expanding to 76 after quite literally taking years to figure out how it could be done, they now stand to make a little, it was told to me a little, little bit more money in the short term with the idea that a 7016 tournament, when it comes up for renewal for a media rights deal in the early2030s, that's when it will really boost in value and get them even more money there. I'm probably not including something else in here. I'm trying to give you everything I have. You take it. If anyone in the comments has a question and I think it's relevant to the discussion that I haven't brought up and I have the answer to, I will address it and answer it as well. I send it back to you. We both are not in favor of this. I guess I have a longer rant on that that I'll say, but I don't want to hog the mic too much here, so you take it away.
- [13:50]
Gary Parrish
GP Well, I, I do love and have noticed that for Years we've been talking about the idea of this and every time I would be asked about it, I would get to a point where I would say something along the lines of, you heard me say it earlier on. I've been doing this for a while. Every big decision in college athletics that is made is typically motivated by money. I assume this one will as well. And that's why I assume we will expand someday and then there would be pushback. Like, yeah, you know, if they expand, we're not sure. It's going to be for more money. It's going to be for more money. And now they're acknowledging it. Off the record as a source, but they're acknowledging it. Yeah, this is a money maker. I don't believe that's the only reason they're doing this.
- [14:33]
Matt Norlander
I teed this up and I forgot what to say that the other reason is. Go ahead. And then I'll.
- [14:37]
Gary Parrish
You go ahead. I mean, I'll let you finish.
- [14:39]
Matt Norlander
There's this. There has been this like, lurking threat on behalf of the power conferences and more specifically the Big Ten in the SEC that you don't expand here. It sure would be a shame to see something happen to that little tournament of yours. This is my opinion and it's backed up by what I would say is fairly informed speculative intel. You will never convince me. I understand what the commissioners of those leagues and what. And what the power conference commissioners have been doing and continue to do with college football. I understand all of that. Okay. The idea that had the NCAA decided to stay at 68, which, oh, by the way, would have been a very easy decision to make. I cannot overstate how easy it would have been done to not move against the will of the American sports public. But they're opting against that. You will never convince me that Tony Petiti, Greg Sankey, Charlie Baker would have quite literally destroyed one of the greatest American institutions in the spirit of trying to build their own out their own 64 team tournament.
- [15:40]
Gary Parrish
Because doing that, you would have.
- [15:43]
Matt Norlander
And I've had this. I've had this opinion of mine backed up by people in the actual space, you would have destroyed the actual value that you are now set to gain as conferences and institutions where with the New Deal versus what it otherwise would have been, when you eliminate all of those other conferences, potentially even the Big east as well, I frankly believe they should have called their bluff, never done this, and remained at 68 and dared those people to remove themselves from the NCAA tournament and go off and made their own tournament. They wouldn't have done it. It would have been such a huge risk, liability, logistical headache. The NCAA tournament, what it has built over the years and, and the actual foundation and nooks and crannies of what it takes to actually put it on on a year by year by year basis is such a huge, huge, huge lift. It's one of the biggest logistical things that is done in all of worldwide sports. Only things like the Olympics, the World cup arguably are bigger, heavier lifts and those things are every four years. They got to do this every year. I don't think they would have done it. I think they should have called their bluff and I hate the fact that they cowered to this looming threat that I think was bogus to begin with.
- [16:51]
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- [18:54]
Gary Parrish
Let me ask you a question then. Name another thing that they have stopped short of destroying in the spirit of it's too good to destroy.
- [19:05]
Matt Norlander
There's been nothing that has been this big that would equate to it that would be like.
- [19:08]
Gary Parrish
But there has been nothing that has given them pause. Nothing. Pack 12 kill it. Rivalries. Kill it. And you know what? There are people. It ain't you and I. Maybe it's you. I won't speak for you. There are people who say this destroys college basketball. This right here. People hold that opinion. Now, I don't hold that opinion. I think that's hyperbolic. But there are people who are been screaming for years. If you expand again to 76, you are quote destroying something and they did it anyway. I understand your point that they might have been bluffing or, and, or at the end of the day, they just could not have pulled the trigger on it. But buddy, they pulled the trigger on everything else. They've done enough over the past two decades to make me if I'm the so called little guy or the NCAA president. I don't know if I can call their bluff because they do hold the big sticks. They've got the power, they can do whatever they want and they have shown no willingness to leave a dollar on the table if it's better for the broader picture. None whatsoever.
- [20:12]
Matt Norlander
Completely fair and valid opinion. I think had they held and it had to come to that point, they wouldn't have done it. That's just my opinion and I and I hate the fact that that looming threat played a, in my opinion, significant part as to why we're here. Do I think it ruins college basketball? No. Do I think it deteriorates the fabric of the sport? Hell yes it does. Parish, wait until next year when you and I gotta fire up this podcast machine and start talking about a bubble team on March 2nd. And we're looking at the teams at the cut line. 75, 76, 77, 78. It's going to be disgusting. And I think there needs to be and I'm going to say this for a different show. There needs to be certain implementations into the sport when it comes to scheduling and tournament qualification that need to be implemented in order to protect college basketball from itself. Because I am not buying this idea that by doing this you are providing more opportunities for the little guy in the mid major? Yes. If you're adding eight more bids. Do I concede that the that you know we got the Pac 12 coming back? Because the Pac 12, whatever. However that league is going to settle as a high major, a mid major plus whatever. Could a bonus team from that league or the Atlantic 10 or whatever could they get in? Yes, but it's not going to be half and half. It's probably never going to be 5 versus 3. 6. 6 on 2 will probably be if you were lucky. And all of the high major coaches already don't have the incentive to schedule these teams to begin with. So I'm gonna. I've got ideas on that. I'm saying saving that for later in the off season. But you do this, there are serious reverberations and consequences on the last thing I ended on HQ tonight was if coaches think that by going to 76 teams this brings them more security at their jobs. Dead wrong. Dead wrong. Not only by lowering the barrier of entry does it make your job more vulnerable to firing. Because now everyone thinks everyone gets into the tournament if you don't look the hell out. 2. If you get in and you're one of these teams, that's, that's done and out of the field by 8 Eastern on Tuesday night. All of GP 50 hours removed from the selection show. You think that's going to help with job security? Hell no, it's not. Because the team that you're going to have lost to is also going to be completely uninspiring, have had a bad season, have played itself into Thursday or Friday. We will see more coaching turnover as a result of this decision. This does not make coaching security better across the board. I'm, I've never been more convinced of it than right here right now tonight.
- [22:32]
Gary Parrish
Yeah, we've changed the pass fail line for making the NCAA tournament, but we will not change what we regard. Or at least I will not change what I regard as a quality basketball team. I will talk about these teams in that range the way I've been talking about them in that range for years. Last year, you know what I'd say about a power conference team on the wrong side of a 68 team tournament? I'd say yeah, I guess they've got a chance, but they're not very good and they haven't been very good all season or much of the season. That's why they're in the position they are next year. I will be talking about that Exact same team. I will say the exact same thing, but then I'll say, but yeah, I guess they'll still probably make the NCAA tournament because you don't have to be good anymore to make the NCAA tournament. I, I don't want to hear coaches brag about it either. If they've snuck into the tournament, you know, for the past five years in this expand like it's a little bit like the 20 win thing. You used to hear it all the time. Dumb fans still tweeted at you all the time, but used to hear it all the time. Like, if you get 20 wins, it really means something. Well, yeah, really, but something when you played not 40 games, but when you play 40 games, winning 20 doesn't mean anything. Making the NCAA tournament when it was a 64 team feel that was a real accomplishment. At 68, less of an accomplishment, but I still think one at 76, I guess by definition it'll still be an accomplishment, but it'll be less of one. And it will mess up the end of the regular season because we're going to be watching people talk about bubble teams and they're going to be garbage. You will have, quote, teams on the right side of the bubble whose fans want to fire the coach. That will be a real thing.
- [24:07]
Matt Norlander
Bingo. Ding, ding, ding. Where. Where's the. Where's the button? Say it again, GP Say it again so I can ding you.
- [24:13]
Gary Parrish
We will be in late February and there will be a coach with a power conference team who is on the right side of the bubble and at the exact same time where he is projected to take his power conference team to the NCAA tournament because it has expanded. His own fans will want him fired because he's underachieving, because he's not running the program the right way. That will be a real thing and we don't need that. And I hear an argument out there about. Because this is the one. You hear a college administrator every once in a while, a coach every once in a while. Well, look at how many teams we've got. Look at all these teams. Look at all the teams that have been added to Division 1 over the past however many years. I mean, it used to be this, and now it's 300 million. I mean, should we really only have 68 spots for 300 million Division 1 men's basketball teams question, how many national championship contenders have we added to Division 1 men's basketball in the past 20 years?
- [25:09]
Matt Norlander
The answer is zero.
- [25:10]
Gary Parrish
Zero.
- [25:11]
Matt Norlander
I wrote a whole column on this. We talked about it last summer. I Completely eviscerated this talking point. Link it in the podcast thing after the fact. I'll probably write something on this tomorrow for the site and I'll link it therein. There were all of these teams that have been added to division one since we went to 64, period, let alone, you know, to 65 to 68. It is a completely bogus talking point that frankly shouldn't have never passed the meeting room where it was first concocted all those years ago. Not a single team that got added to Division 1 has been a national championship team, and only a few rare ones have even been good enough to make a deep run. The only one, the only one since they went to 64 that made the final four was Fau, coached by none other than Dusty May, who may prove to be a Hall of Fame. That's the only. That's the only one, period, that. That got there. So I can't stand that talking point. I know why it's out there. You're gonna hear it trumpeted again, and Charlie Baker loves it. It's just not true.
- [26:08]
Gary Parrish
It's just not true. It's a silly. I'm with you. If I were in the room with Charlie Baker, I'd say, hey, buddy, I know you think that sounds smart and it might play with dumb people, but the smart people are going to pick up. It's nonsense. Just keep that one in your pocket.
- [26:21]
Matt Norlander
There have been 91 Division 1 teams added since 84. 85. Those schools have a total of 168 tournament bids. Out of the 168, how many gotten that large? How many. One. One. One of those teams gotten that large since then. It's bad. There's all this. More data that I had in the story we'll link.
- [26:41]
Gary Parrish
What you're telling me is the only reason to ever expand the NCAA tournament because we have expanded Division 1. Off chance the greatest coach in the world happens to be at fau?
- [26:51]
Matt Norlander
Pretty much, yeah.
- [26:52]
Gary Parrish
That's pretty much the only reason to do it.
- [26:54]
Matt Norlander
This was before this, before this year's tournament. 25. 25, 20 tournament games. Since the tournament went to the field of 64, how many D1 schools added have won a first round game or later? Out of 2520, the answer was 19.
- [27:07]
Gary Parrish
That's right.
- [27:09]
Matt Norlander
Out of 2520, that's less than 1% of all teams added to the Division 1 pool. I. I'm gonna. We can keep it moving.
- [27:19]
Gary Parrish
This.
- [27:19]
Matt Norlander
This talking point, like truly great on my skin, how phony and bogus it is in general this idea that the percentage and population of a given sports
- [27:29]
Gary Parrish
that makes postseason such nonsense.
- [27:32]
Matt Norlander
Just shut up like that, man. It's, it's, it is, it's not even apples to oranges. It's apples to damn gravel rocks in your driveway. It's not the same thing. It's not the same thing whatsoever. And the other thing that really listen, I still love the sport. I'm still going to cover the sport, all that. But like, no, you should quit covering
- [27:49]
Gary Parrish
the sport right now. Announce it so you quit. Quit right now.
- [27:52]
Matt Norlander
Had they gone to 96, I might have been having to navigate and change some other stuff, but they're not going to go to 96. That's never been on the table. That would have been truly get the, get the hell out of my face forever. But I, I do want to, you know, emote on the sleeve a little bit on this show. Like, I'm still depressed to sell over this, even though it was inevitable. And judging by the, the chats in the comments here and people watching the video after the fact or listening or wherever you can drop your comments as well, the NCAA has been able to successfully just beat the American sports public down at least a portion of it. To say, what are you gonna do? Well, at least it's not 96. Well, at least it's not 88. Well, at least it's NOT 80. No, this still sucks. And they did not need to do it. And no sport. I said this on hq. I'm gonna pre myself right here on the no American sport, not one, Not Major League Baseball, which has had its troubles with it. Not the NBA, which has had its troubles with it. There has not been a sport in this century that has faced a more profound issue with keeping the entirety of its regular season both relevant and urgent. The way that college basketball, ooh, I
- [29:03]
Gary Parrish
don't know if that's true anymore. I mean the NBA is struggling.
- [29:09]
Matt Norlander
It's on a hell of a train trying to catch up. But college basketball and the NCAA just did themselves a massive favor because by adding and expanding to the tournament and lowering the bar, deteriorating the quality of team that gets into the field, you are making the regular season less urgent, less relevant. This has trickle down effects for the casual American sports audience in general that is already hard enough to bring into the sport in November, in December, let alone the thing that we're going to lose. That I just hate, man, I hate this. I love the period post Valentine's Day and basically up until the Saturday before we get the bracket on that Sunday Night. There is a population, a group of teams that are both good enough to be in the tournament, but their resumes are kind of constantly in flux. They make for very intriguing talking points they get read about when we write about them. They are reasons why people go and check the bracketology. People check bracketology on February 27th to see who's the number ones and then who's the 12, 11 and the 10. They're not dialing in to see who the 7 is and they're certainly as hell not going to be dialing in to see who's going to be the 13 that's going to be in the play and they're not going to do that. And we are losing this element of the sport where there was a real magic in teams that could get hot and make themselves into a lock that could get hot in their conference tournament and get themselves into the field as a result. And by adding eight more teams into the field that are all going to be in that at large pool, it is just, it's not going to ruin college basketball. It's going to deteriorate a very underrated, in my opinion, element of what makes the sport so embraceable. Once we are done playing the super bowl, once college football is fully in the rear view, we haven't started the baseball season yet. We haven't even gotten to selection Sunday. That's going to wither away and in real time as we process all of this. I haven't even had time to look at the reaction on this. Honestly, it's been one thing after another. I assume that all of these sentiments are out there. I just. I hate the fact that it won out. I hate the fact that we had something that was perfectly fine at 64 and then the Mountain west had to be born out of the rib of the whack that made them go to 65 and that set the precedent that that's when the die was cast. And then there was this talk about going to 96 and then we settled for 68 and we were just clinging on. Okay. This is just barely enough. And it's just. It's so representative of our culture in this country. It's just add on watered down, just accepted things can't be as good as they once. It's why your refrigerator breaks after seven years. Were ones that were built in 1971, lasted for 30 years. It just, it's so annoying that we cannot accept when something is good, acceptable, successful, accept it for what it is, hold on to it for what it is. There's no reason to sweep this. There's no reason to fix it because it wasn't broken to begin with. And yet here we are in 2027. We're going to have a 7016 tournament in the men and the women.
- [31:56]
Gary Parrish
You're going to look up last weekend of February and the 13th place team in the SEC is going to be playing the 14th team. 14th place team in the SEC combined. There'll be about eight games under.500 in the league and the winner will be on the right side of the bubble. That's where we're headed. Like you noted, it doesn't matter what the number of Division 1 schools is. If it's 365 or 465, you could make it 965 tomorrow. We still don't need this many spots in the NCAA tournament. And most people who do not have a financial interest in it agree with that. Agree with that. With that sentiment. I like you, don't think it'll destroy the sport or ruin the sport, but it does lessen it and also just adds confusion. I mean, call me old fashioned, but I kind of like the idea of it's selection Sunday. Yeah, they're gonna flash a bracket on a television screen tomorrow morning. It's going to be in a newspaper. It's gonna fit perfectly. And as soon as it comes out, I know exactly who my favorite team is playing and the possibilities of what would be next and where it's going to be and what time it's going to be. And let's go. And now that bracket's going to come out on Sunday and people are gonna go, hold up. We're the what scene and we're playing where. And then what then? So, okay, our game's on Thursday. Our game's on Thursday and we play the winner of what game? There's a game. Hold on. There's a game on Tuesday afternoon between this school and this school and then we. So then we'll fight. Like you just. I like the idea that on Sunday everybody knew exactly what the school was and now it's just like what? We'll figure it out.
- [33:50]
Matt Norlander
I guess I have beat this drum and I'm not the only one. I know Pat40 has been there with me in addition to some others. Do not underestimate. I know. Well, I know that when we wake up on Thursday morning in mid March, we're going to have a 64 team tournament. It's the Goldilocks zone, as I like to refer to it. Not too cold, not too hot. It's just right. It's perfect. It is how it is. We will get there. However, I just happen to have. This was. It hasn't been marked up. This is my disaster of a bracket this year. Okay? Now this was the 6018 tournament back bracket. You see how they have to squeeze those first four in up, up here.
- [34:23]
Gary Parrish
I don't like it.
- [34:23]
Matt Norlander
There are going to be eight more of these games and all of these teams will not tell me how this is going to work. In practicality, the average sports fan when it comes to bringing in your office pool and filling out this stuff. And yeah, if you want to have people just like fill it out Wednesday night, 10pm at night, or have everyone rush on that Thursday at 9:45am sure, maybe there's always been an element to that. But the teams and the brackets that you're gonna. This will not fit comfortably and easily on a piece of paper. You'll have to cram it in. It's going to be weird. You're gonna have all these playing games. It's just not going to be the same again. Is it ruining in the tournament? It's not ruining the tournament. It's just needlessly deteriorating the fabric of what makes college basketball in the tournament and just a great American tradition and institution. So good because why? Because we got to get just a little more money because we got to appease this tiny group of people. Few things ever. Few. I don't know if there are five. If there are, I'd love to hear them. Have been done so flagrantly in the face and against the will of the American sports public. This is an extremely unpopular idea. The NCAA knew it for years and it did it anyway.
- [35:36]
Gary Parrish
Well, they did it anyway for the same reasons they were always going to do it. And just in the spirit of this. And then I think we can move on. Every year at the Final Four, somebody asked me in person and somebody tweets me. Then somebody makes the comment on Twitter as if they're thinking of something nobody's ever thought of. And it's like, man, I sure do miss when the biggest college basketball games of the season were played in basketball arenas. Why don't we just put them back in basketball arenas? Don't we all agree it's better in a basketball arena? And I think we do kind of all agree it's better in a basketball arena. But, like, the answer is obvious why you will never watch a national championship game in a basketball arena again, I don't think. And it's because you can sell Way more tickets and way more boxes and way more everything in a. In a stadium as opposed to an arena. So is it better for the sport to just suddenly, to end the whole thing, take it to a spot nobody's ever played in? No. Nobody argues that's better for the sport, but it is better for the bottom line. So you do it. And this is the same thing. And oh, buddy, if a television network ever tells them they can make more money by expanding again, they'll do it. They'll do it. They. They ain't. No, they ain't. The first time they stop chasing dollars because somebody stands up and says, hey, I've got the power to actually do this thing, but I don't want to do it, even though it'll make everybody more money, because I just don't think it's good for the sport. The first time I tell me when somebody says that, because I ain't heard it yet. I ain't heard it from Greg Sankey ever. I ain't heard it yet.
- [37:14]
Matt Norlander
And just I'd have a little bit of event session here. They. They know that the tournament is too good. That eventually, like so many other things in this world, like, we'll just come to accept it, live with it. Not quite as this thing, that thing. I'm not even talking about sports. Not quite as good as it used to be. But you know what? We'll just accept it. And honestly, that more than anything else has become the American way in this century. And so. And so it goes. And so it is with men's college basketball. We'll have more on this as it develops, more details as you need to know about it. But this was such a big one that we intended to obviously podcast tomorrow morning. As we told you earlier on Tuesday, too big of a story not to hop on and share our feelings there. So I'm all set for now, GP if you've got anything else, feel free. If not, we can get to. Oh, by the way, the other big headline that shoved to the back burner but is nonetheless important and has been official for what, an hour and a half at this point.
- [38:13]
Gary Parrish
Tyron Stokes, the number one recruit in the class of 2026. He is a Kansas Jayhawk Norlander. Why don't you tell him who he picked Kansas over?
- [38:25]
Matt Norlander
He picked him over Kentucky. I was about. I was about to do after the break, but everyone knows pretty much that at this point as well. Another big man. We got a commitment. We'll mention that after the break. Here we're getting.
- [38:36]
Gary Parrish
He picked he picked Kansas over Kentucky. And oh, Kentucky fans are feeling some kind of way because I see them. We've reached the point where Kentucky fans are offended that you mentioned they got beat on a recruit. It's like, just leave us out of it, man. Why do you even have to put Arden, why'd you even have to put a K in there? Let's get a word from our partners. We'll be back in a sec.
- [38:56]
Matt Norlander
Partners.
- [38:58]
Gary Parrish
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- [39:28]
Matt Norlander
You don't wash your jersey during a win streak. You don't switch seats when your team's up big, and you definitely don't shave during the playoffs. When things are working, you don't change them. That's why when you drink Jagermeister, you drink it ice cold. Anything else, well, that'd just be bad luck. Drink it cold or don't drink it at all. Jagermeister. Damn, that's cold. Drink responsibly. Jagermeister liqueur, 35% alcohol by volume. Imported by Mast. Jagermeister US White Plains, New York.
- [39:57]
Gary Parrish
Amazon presents Jeff versus taco truck salsa. Whether it's verde roja or the orange
- [40:06]
Matt Norlander
one, for Jeff, trying any salsa is
- [40:09]
Gary Parrish
like playing Russian roulette with a flamethrower. Luckily, Jeff saved with Amazon and stocked up on antacids, ginger tea and milk. Habanero. More like habanero. Yes. Save the everyday with Amazon. So big NCAA tournament news tonight. Also big.
- [40:31]
Matt Norlander
One more thing I didn't mention. This is my guess. I would love to be wrong. I would love to be wrong. My guess is by virtue of this, it will eventually get college football to the place where it goes to 24, which is way too big. But I think the CFP will eventually get to 24 as well. And not by eventually, I mean in 12 years. I mean that will be the next move. That's just a guess on my behalf. I think we see the fallout from this and then CFP powers that be saying whatever. So it goes. They'll get to 24.
- [40:54]
Gary Parrish
That's my so eventually we just gonna have everybody gets to be in the tournament. Everybody. If you have a team, you're in. If you have a Team you're in, we send you to Dayton.
- [41:03]
Matt Norlander
All right, all right. Let's talk. Let's talk. Kansas, which will make next year's NCAA tournament. And then again, it makes all the tournaments, regardless of the size.
- [41:10]
Gary Parrish
Yeah, Kansas makes all the tournaments. They did. Kansas is the last is Kansas, Gonzaga, Michigan State. They did not need this. All right. They did not need this. Tyron Stokes, number one recruit, class 20, 26. He picked Kansas over Kentucky. He picked Kansas over Kentucky. Over Kentucky. Over Kentucky. Over Kentucky.
- [41:31]
Matt Norlander
You're going full res right now. You really are.
- [41:37]
Gary Parrish
Actually, I just saw on Twitter, I just saw on Twitter that Kentucky fans are actually mad that people are mentioning Kansas over Kentucky.
- [41:46]
Matt Norlander
That's what it was.
- [41:47]
Gary Parrish
So I just think it's funny to just. Over Kentucky, over Kentucky. How many times can you hear it? In one off season, player X has picked team A over Kentucky. It happened again.
- [42:06]
Matt Norlander
You know the Resnar meme that I'm referencing, though. Oh, you don't know it?
- [42:11]
Gary Parrish
I don't think I do.
- [42:11]
Matt Norlander
It's a great one. I don't know if Claire, if you google Trent Reznor meme, have a bad time, something like that. It should come up. Basically, he comes out, Andrew. It says hi to the crowd. How are you tonight? Having a good time? Ready to party. Have fun. Well, that was the last guys Rock band. We're here to have a bad time. That is the Kentucky fan right now. It is kind of brutal. Although I. I told this to people in the past 36 hours and I genuinely believe it. I think there is a scenario in which had he picked. Had Stokes picked Kentucky and, and we can speak it plainly and clearly here, this is not true of just Stokes. It's been true of plenty of players over the years. There's a lot of baggage there. Some schools just didn't want to go through the process of recruiting them because there's a lot attached to that. He could prove to be the best teammate ever and lead Kansas to a national championship. We'll see. But some coaches were scared off by that. I'm not so convinced that had Kentucky brought in Stokes with Pope in a hot season year and things don't go well that that doesn't completely go sideways and blow up in his face. So I thought he'd go to Kansas. Playing for Bill Self, that might be the best environment for him, honestly. And congrats to Kansas on getting the number one ranked recruit. I still think that roster has more to do, but Bill Self, less than a month ago was publicly deliberating whether or not to retire. Opted to come back for at least one more year. Did so. Got Stokes to come aboard. He made that. I don't know. I know he said it on Inside the NBA earlier. The tournament stuff took over my life, so I haven't even been able to watch how he revealed this. I think he had like a mock up 2k game or something. That's all I saw. So I don't.
- [43:57]
Gary Parrish
We were like. We were both on hq. I think as this was happening.
- [44:00]
Matt Norlander
I think that is true. So I haven't even been able to see what he said, how he did it. We have been just. We wanted to get you this podcast as quickly as possible. But that. That is, that's. This isn't. Claire's got the. The. Well, she's got the video, but she's got the meme there. So when you were going into the Reznor voice, I don't know if she's gonna try and play the video. This might be a little too tough in real time here. Appreciate Claire, by the way, for hopping on Josh, nowhere to be found tonight. To be fair, he said he couldn't do the show. Claire is getting it done and we really appreciate you. So we're. We're rolling with. With Claire, who's doing a great job producing for us. But when you're going with the resident stuff, the. The meme pop that we're here to have a bad time. Not unfortunately, as Kentucky fans right now. What is your take on Stokes to learn?
- [44:45]
Gary Parrish
Well, I mean, I understand all of the concerns about enrolling him despite his talent. I mean, we've both heard those for years. We don't have to lie to each other. We also don't have to, you know, trash a young man on the biggest day of his life. But like you said, there are blue blood programs that would normally recruit the number one player in the country who just did not get involved in this. And there have been questions about what kind of teammate he is, how coachable he is. You go to Peach Jam and you go, so how's it going? And you hear some stories that are like, so, you know, but like, who is better at dealing with just, you know, Bill's had some characters come through there.
- [45:33]
Matt Norlander
He certainly has. And this will probably be, you know, I don't. It stands to be a really high upside, but maybe there's more variance here than. Than ever before. I don't know.
- [45:45]
Gary Parrish
Oh, to your point, I, I had
- [45:47]
Matt Norlander
not like it's so when it wasn't known, they were like, Bill came Back. He's had heart issues, and now he's going to try. Is he. He's going to coach Tyron Stokes. Like, there has been a little bit of that out there, but I give him all of the Runway. And by him, I mean Stokes. I give Stokes all of the Runway. To reverse some of the reputation that he did develop over the past year and a half or so, because undeniably, it just has been out there when you kind of operate in our space and you hear stuff like. And he's, again, he's not the only one. He just happens to be the number one player in the class. Right? So. And. And he took all the way until two days before the month is over in the spring, before his, you know, he will play next season. He's playing next season. Took him this long to commit. Finally got it done. It will certainly be fascinating, but I will also say, like, Self needed someone of his talent level to even have a team remotely in the conversation to be, like, top 25 level. Like, this was necessary. And so in the process, he boosts himself. It was a. It was a high swing, no matter what. Like, you get some. Kentucky doesn't. Now Kentucky's kind of, you know, Pope's kind of out there with.
- [46:46]
Gary Parrish
Yeah, like, to your point, if I'm Dusty May at Michigan, I'm like, yeah, we're good. If I'm, you know, Brad Underwood at Illinois, yeah, we don't need, you know, if I'm John Shire at Duke, I think we're good. Where Bill Self found himself on April 28, 2026, we can have all these reservations, and they might be real. I don't think they matter. You got to take him and, like, pay for him and do the whole thing you got to do. And just fingers crossed, Hopi is one of those players that maybe had a certain kind of reputation entering college and did a lot of stuff to change that while in college, by the way, is, like, worth millions of dollars to him going forward. If you want to be the number one pick in the next draft, the one after this one, you don't need to have the reputation that he carries with him right now, do you? Is that fair?
- [47:37]
Matt Norlander
Yeah, I think that's fair, yeah.
- [47:38]
Gary Parrish
Being as being as respectful as I can be, but as honest as well as I can be, there are things there that. That caused schools not to recruit him, and there are things there that would cause NBA franchises not to be that interested. Like, you go to Peach Jam and you hear things like, yeah, I saw him. He was yelling at his coach. And so to your point that I didn't put this together until you said it, but like, oh, I could easily see a scenario where it starts to go sideways at Kentucky. He's there, he takes three bad shots, Pope pulls him, says something, he snaps back in a very public way. And now your hot seat coach is in a. Like, it is in a. Like that could it. That. That is well within the cards. Yeah.
- [48:24]
Matt Norlander
I just, I don't. I'm not saying Kentucky is better off for not having got him. I'm saying because you did not get him, there might be avenues that were. This can go better for Pope than maybe it otherwise would have. But. But we'll see. And, and Kentucky fans, I know are probably. They're just hard. They're also not in a spot where they're used to, you know, think about what they were conditioned to for so many years into Caliperi. Not always, but way more often than not. If they were involved for a top three prospect and it was down to two schools or even three schools, that guy was going to Big Blue Nation. And it. And it. And it didn't happen here. And so, and, and now like Popes, I understand Pope's gotten this, like, this is social media that kind of takes over on this stuff to a certain extent where he's whiff man and all this stuff. But I don't know. Well, I, I maintain on some level for all parties involved, it really might have been best for Stokes to go to Lawrence. That's all.
- [49:21]
Gary Parrish
Yeah. And.
- [49:23]
Matt Norlander
And I think he's gonna be a preseason all American. As we talk about all this, like, he's ridiculously talented, Stokes is. And so I'm not saying first team, but like, as I think about it now, going to next season. Gp, I would seriously consider having him as like a third team preseason All American.
- [49:37]
Gary Parrish
I mean, I think that. I think the highest rated freshman in the country annually belongs in that conversation. And, and I would say the same for Stokes. So if you're Kansas, I think you had to take him. I want to be clear, if I were Kentucky, I also wanted him because we just need players at this point. And I think the John Caliperi thing does complicate this because if you're a UK fan, what you, what you can reasonably assume is that your former coach would have either got this done or would have already had four five star prospects committed and didn't even need to get this done. And so when you're then staring over in Fayetteville and he's Building a roster over there that looks more like what your rosters used to look like than what your roster looks like right now. Like all of this is, all this is a problem. So it's possible Kentucky avoided something bad like, or complicated here. But like, let's not lose the plot. They need talent, they need players. And they just missed on another really talented player again today to burrow in on that point.
- [50:40]
Matt Norlander
I think we've talked about this every so often over the past like 15 years on the pod. You talk to any coach that's a veteran in the recruiting space and the whole dynamic has changed now. I got that. But like for so long it was one of those deals where once you really understand like how to recruit and you're at the high major level, what you need to develop a sense for. And if you can't ever fully develop it, like you need to have a staff that is right there with you. You need to know at a certain point in recruitment if you actually can get the player.
- [51:08]
Gary Parrish
Yes.
- [51:08]
Matt Norlander
And if you can't, for public appearances, if they, if they, if your school is going to be on a list, you know, a top five or whatever, like that's all fine and good, but you need to not over invest in a certain player. If by not getting that player you find yourself again, I'll use the term like in a real lurch. And Calipari, that never happened to Cal. Just. It just never did. Didn't it doesn't happen to Shire, didn't happen to Shashevsky, doesn't happen to Bill for the most part, ironically and coincidentally enough, like it kind of did happen with Bill in this particular cycle. But hello, Bill self got his guy. You don't want to put yourself in that position and you need to have the foresight months and months and months in advance. So as you're recruiting now again, the dynamic exchange with the Portal. This particularly stood as a, as a recruiting maxim, you know, in the 80s and the 90s and 2000s, 2000s. But Pope has found himself in a situation where they did take it to the end. They did push off some other recruitments with the hopes that they would get Stokes, who was on the EYBL circuit, was a Nike player Kansas plays for. Obviously he's an Adidas school. Was that going to wind up being a factor in the end? Ultimately we got to the moment he revealed it on national TV and that was a Jayhawk and not a Wildcat.
- [52:18]
Gary Parrish
A couple of stories that I think hammer home this point. Bear with me. I can Remember being at ABCD camp in Indianapolis? I think, I mean, a million years ago, so long ago that I was talking to rising high school senior Brandon Wright. Okay, I'm the Memphis B writer. Brandon Wright from Nashville, He's a five star prospect. Honestly, looking back on it, it was kind of stupid for me to even bring up the University of Memphis to a five star prospect from Nashville who had North Carolina and Duke offers. But you just do it because he's in state, you're looking for stories. And he actually told me, he said, yeah, I'm interested in Memphis. I love Coach Cal, he's a legend. I would definitely look at Memphis. So like, there's your story. Brandon Wright says he's interested in Memphis. I go right back into the gym, sit next to John Calipari. I don't think he would mind me saying this. I hope not. If so, I apologize, John, but I said, hey, just talk to Brandon Wright. Are you guys recruiting him? He's like, no, we're not recruiting Brandon Wright. And I was like, well why are you not recruiting? Like he's in state. He just told me five minutes ago he's interested, he's not interested, he's not coming.
- [53:19]
Matt Norlander
He, he.
- [53:19]
Gary Parrish
And this was basically it. He's from Nashville, two parent home with private school and he's got Duke in North Carolina. That ain't the type of player I'm recruiting here. And he was right. I mean that's like 100% right. And just, just never even get involved in that. Did not care that a five star player from three hours away said he's interested in your school. I ain't picking up the phone because it is a total of time. I was at a camp at Florida one time, coaching clinic. Larry Shiat, Billy Donovan put it on. Billy brings in as one of the speakers. Sure, Brad Stevens and whoever else. But this guy, who is he? He teaches sales teams how to get better at their jobs. He knows nothing about basketball, has no concept of recruiting outside of what he's picked up on. But Billy recognized it's the same skill, it's the same thing. So I'll never forget this. I thought it was enlightening. The guy is in front of all these college basketball coaches. He probably knows almost none of them. He says, hey, I don't work in sports, you guys don't work in my profession. But let me ask you a question because I think we gotta, I think we work in similar fields. He said, when you are recruiting somebody, when you start and you go, I think I'm gonna get this guy. I'm pretty sure this is. This is somebody I'm gonna be able to get. How often do you say you get him? Like more than half the time. Like, almost everybody raise their hand like, yeah, we get those.
- [54:49]
Matt Norlander
Classic line, yes.
- [54:50]
Gary Parrish
He says, how many times when you think I'm in there? Like, I'm in the final five, but I'm closer to five than one. How many times do you get that player? Never. So what are you doing? That was his whole thing. Once you think you guys know, once you think I'm don't, I'm in there. I got a visit set up. Does not matter. Are you closer to five than one because you ain't making up all that ground. All right. You got to know when to get out. Get a quick. He said the best answer you can get from recruit is a quick yes. The next best answer a quick no. Don't take the I don't knows maybes. I'm still in there with you. I'm still thinking, looking. That'll drag it out and you know, deep down from the jump, it probably ain't gonna work out for you. Get out of it. I think that's an incredible lesson for coaches to learn.
- [55:38]
Matt Norlander
Very much so. I have this conversation with coaches every so often now, even in the portal where there's some high profile player, hey, where do you think you're at with them? Not sure. Okay. And you're not getting them unless you up that price by $400,000. And you know it. Like you know it at that point. If you tell me that we are now a week or two and the timeline changed now because of the portal and all this stuff that you're still not sure on a certain. You're not getting the player. Like that player and his camp have already made their conversations in contact with the school that's going to get him. And now they're finishing out the final details. Maybe you get lucky, something falls through or the money jumps, yada, yada, all that stuff. It's a big time lesson to be learned. Pope's aware of it. Obviously. Stokes was so good. At a certain point, you are quite literally pot invested in all.
- [56:16]
Gary Parrish
I think, I think I. To be fair to Mark Pope and his staff, I think at this point, given where they're at from a roster perspective, the money they have available, I think they were to borrow a poker for. I think they were pot invested. I think they had to go through with this.
- [56:30]
Matt Norlander
Yep. And. And so congrats to Kansas on getting it done. Quick look at that roster and we got one more. We actually have a commitment that happens as the pod went live. We'll mention that before we get out of here. So you'd have what you'd have Stokes, who will play. I guess Stokes will play the three. He's big enough to play the four. He's actually good enough that if they wanted to ever play in the two they could.
- [56:52]
Gary Parrish
I think. I think from a roster perspective they're gonna have to slide him up to the fourth.
- [56:56]
Matt Norlander
So Kenny the two they got that transfer. They got Blyden who's gonna. Kenny will play the 1. Blyde into the 2 blind.
- [57:04]
Gary Parrish
The 2 transfer from Toledo averaged 16 points per game last season. Shot 41% from 3. I guess at this point. Cole Rosario.
- [57:14]
Matt Norlander
Rosario I would think is in the
- [57:16]
Gary Parrish
starting lineup with Stokes was in the rotation this year. Top 75 recruitment class of 2025. He will be a sophomore who averaged 12 minutes per game this past season.
- [57:28]
Matt Norlander
This. They just got Reeves from Charleston. He will. He's like 7:1. I want to say he would. I It's either him or in bia. That would be. I would think Reeves will win out and be the starting five there. But they don't have a lot of depth like they still need.
- [57:46]
Gary Parrish
They got Dolls from Utah who average 12 and a half and nine but he's closer to six nine than seven foot.
- [57:54]
Matt Norlander
Hmm. They still need more.
- [57:56]
Gary Parrish
Yes, they still need more.
- [57:57]
Matt Norlander
But. But
- [58:00]
Gary Parrish
they still need more. But they've got, they've. They still got. They still need more clearly if you want to play at Kansas level. But they do have a five star freshman at the one. A five star freshman. The number one prospect in the country in their front court. A former top 75 guy who was in your rotation this past year, you know, back and you know that's a decent place to start.
- [58:25]
Matt Norlander
That is a good place to start. Gonzaga landed Masamba job from Arizona State. Since we went live, that was a battle between Gonzaga and St. John's and from what I was told an expensive one at that. That's a very, very big get. We're so GP we're. Are the Zags in your top 25 one right now?
- [58:45]
Gary Parrish
Yeah, they were 11 this morning. One spot behind Virginia. I'll move them up.
- [58:50]
Matt Norlander
They'll get back 10 job good player. I think maybe a little bit inflated in value just because he was a big and the portal that's going to happen there. But that is a big win for Mark Few going into year one of the PAC 12. So they'll have, they've got some. So job is there? I'm trying. Sorry, I'm just doing this on the fly. Huff member Huff will be back. They got Davis, Fogel, Ogle in the mix there. Braden Smith transferred out. They still will have it. Like yeah, like that's probably a preseason top 10 team. Look at Mark Few, newly minted hall of Famer by the way, beating Al Patino for a big time player. That's really impressive. I have one more that hasn't popped yet, but I don't. Knock on wood. Barring any like huge news, we're not going to podcast here in the next like 24, 36 hours. And it seems as though this guy who got drafted because we talked, we actually talked about this coach earlier in the day, Salu Niang from Italy. He got drafted a year ago. He got stashed. He's apparently going to LSU for a ton of money. And I don't know if that's getting announced later tonight, tomorrow, Thursday, but that, that is very much the word that is going around and, and right before even the tournament stuff kind of went wild. Someone was, was reaching out to me on that and someone else sent me on that. So will Wade. We'll get another player. I don't know if he has a starting five yet but their LSU is going to get a notable player on the roster who quite literally was an NBA pick, didn't play in the NBA. He's been in overseas in Europe since. But, but that'll be another one that, that pops here in the coming days
- [60:22]
Gary Parrish
and then LSU will make the tournament because everybody gets to make the tournament now. So look forward to seeing Masamba job in the NCAA tournament next year at lsu.
- [60:31]
Matt Norlander
Saint super, as someone mentioned for Gonzaga. Saint Super. Yes, he's great.
- [60:35]
Gary Parrish
And also like I sat down with him when I was in Spokane. Like we just, we were just sitting there talking courtside. Yeah, hilarious. Yeah, like a funny guy.
- [60:46]
Matt Norlander
I've maintained this opinion for a long time. We just need more funny athletes in American sports. Like I love someone who is both like incredible what they do, but they're hilarious. And I completely agree with you. Like Illinois's got that with Merkavich obviously and some others there. But we need funnier athletes in the NBA.
- [61:02]
Gary Parrish
It's Anthony Edwards. Now I know he's problematic in some areas of his life, but he is, he is genuinely like a funny person. Like if you were with Anthony Edwards at the cafeteria table to take it to a play, he would be the guy Making everybody laugh.
- [61:17]
Matt Norlander
Love it.
- [61:18]
Gary Parrish
All right, I think that's.
- [61:20]
Matt Norlander
That's a show. That's a show. That's. That's two shows in five and a half hours. So everyone that got to these after the fact, please, please rate, like, 5 stars the whole deal. We love you. We want to be there for you. And. And a double dose. And two very, very different podcasts, but two big headlines we didn't want to have you wait till Wednesday. And a big thanks to Claire for. For making that happen.
- [61:45]
Gary Parrish
In the. In the middle. Can we say I don't think about in the middle of trivia night? This woman is doing trivia night and time. Yeah.
- [61:51]
Matt Norlander
All the more so. Come on now.
- [61:53]
Gary Parrish
Hey, Claire, ask me a question. Just ask me any question I want to say. Let's play trivia for a second. Ask me a question.
- [61:58]
Matt Norlander
Yeah, we gotta. We got a trivia time. I'd love to hear it. By the way, I'll interrupt. Claire, the. The Real Time live chat. Do you. Do you favor expansion? 80, 20. No. Which is actually more in favor of yes than I would have guessed. So go ahead, Claire. The question we just got asked was who was the Art Ross trophy winner this season in the NHL? Oh, what trophy winner? Art Ross, which is leading scorer.
- [62:24]
Gary Parrish
Oh, I think it's a buddy that lost his tooth. That's that buddy that lost his tooth.
- [62:28]
Matt Norlander
You think it's Jack Hughes? Yeah.
- [62:30]
Gary Parrish
This gotta be Jack Hughes. He's the only hockey player I know.
- [62:32]
Matt Norlander
No, I'm pretty sure the big David McDavid is the answer. He just announced it, so our team got it right.
- [62:39]
Gary Parrish
Ah, I thought it was gonna be
- [62:41]
Matt Norlander
good player, but, yeah, I thought it
- [62:43]
Gary Parrish
was gonna be Mario Lemieux. Oh, man.
- [62:46]
Matt Norlander
How about that? We have. Do we have one more trivia time? Anything? Any. Any subject, Claire, that you can toss
- [62:51]
Gary Parrish
in there, Claire, just ask me anything.
- [62:54]
Matt Norlander
Ask you anything. Oh, gosh, you're putting me on the spot. Oh, I could tell you. Oh, what is Flavor Flav known for wearing a clock. There you go. Clock.
- [63:05]
Gary Parrish
That's too easy. What kind of trivia time? What are you at first grade trivia time?
- [63:09]
Matt Norlander
Claire's in first ones all night.
- [63:13]
Gary Parrish
All right, all right, Claire. Get back to your trivia time. All right? Thank you for. Thank you for sitting here with us. I can't imagine that was.
- [63:19]
Matt Norlander
That was an epic step in right there. No doubt about it. We appreciate Claire for. For getting that done. And during a trivia night. Trivia time, no less. But that is a show. We appreciate it. GP Send us off. Safety in numbers, but I'm not impressed.
- [63:31]
Gary Parrish
Shouts to Devin Downey. Shouts to Chester, South Carolina. Terry Teagle. Legend. Hook Larnell. Thank you guys for watching and listening to the I Own College Basketball podcast. If you're not subscribed, please go subscribe anyway. Subscribe podcast. Apple Spotify, more of us. There are of them that should be mentioned in the comments. Noted, highlighted, do it in all caps. We appreciate it. Apple and Spotify.
- [63:54]
Matt Norlander
We will. I'm gonna try to talk to you.
- [63:57]
Gary Parrish
No, you will talk to you when you talk to you. Meantime, I got about. I got about two and a half more hours of a tornado watch.
- [64:03]
Matt Norlander
Oh, do you really?
- [64:05]
Gary Parrish
Yeah, I'm gonna try to. I'm gonna try to survive a tornado.
- [64:08]
Matt Norlander
Stay safe, buddy. I didn't realize that was the. Look at that wild podcast. Two in one day off season. Trivia time. Trivia night.
- [64:15]
Gary Parrish
Trivia night.
- [64:17]
Matt Norlander
And GP is going through a tornado watch all the same.
- [64:20]
Gary Parrish
Yeah, man, I've survived so many tornado watches my life.
- [64:23]
Matt Norlander
Yeah, they just don't really register. They don't hit the way they used to. Right.
- [64:26]
Gary Parrish
I'm undefeated in tornado warnings.
- [64:28]
Matt Norlander
Well, let's not, let's not get crazy. By the way, your boy over here, I obviously have no memory of this, like, first three weeks of my life was. I. I was, as it has been told to me, I was born in Denver and there was a tornado and in the neighborhood there I was. My mother covered me in the bathtub and whatever it was like a quarter of a mile away. Tornado came through, destroyed one house, did not destroy the house that I was in. So I have lived through and survived. I don't know. That's not a wash. That's a tornado touchdown. A tornado attack. I don't, I don't even know.
- [65:04]
Gary Parrish
So I know, but I've survived like a bunch of them. Like, oh, but you survived one.
- [65:10]
Matt Norlander
I mean, GP's like, I've been through like 74 of these things. Yeah, you're like, you're like hit your neighborhood. Neighborhood.
- [65:16]
Gary Parrish
Not this neighborhood, but. But another neighborhood. Took a roof off of a neighbor's house, like three houses down, four houses down. When I was a kid, you're like, if this were. If this were NCAA tournament wins, career, all time. You're like Nebraska and I'm like Kentucky. In terms of surviving tornado watches. You just start.
- [65:36]
Matt Norlander
You want to be comparing yourself to Kentucky on a night like tonight.
- [65:38]
Gary Parrish
Yeah. Tonight is not the night to be Kentucky. I'm more like Kansas. I'm more like Kansas.
- [65:44]
Matt Norlander
I don't know if that's the case there.
- [65:45]
Gary Parrish
All right, and you're bragging about surviving one when you were young. Could you still survive one at this age? Could you survive it? Could you survive a tornado warning at this age?
- [65:53]
Matt Norlander
Yeah, I could. I could survive.
- [65:55]
Gary Parrish
Okay.
- [65:56]
Matt Norlander
I could get that. Yeah. And by the way, don't even come at me with these tornadoes when we.
- [66:00]
Gary Parrish
We got these. These.
- [66:01]
Matt Norlander
These northeast blizzards. Come on.
- [66:04]
Gary Parrish
Here's the thing. Because I'm back and forth, I experienced experience, all of it. I get the northeast blizzards and the tornadoes in the south. I get it all. It's a miracle I'm still alive.
- [66:14]
Matt Norlander
Okay.
- [66:15]
Gary Parrish
All right, let's go. And. Okay. Keep an eye on the news. This will be. This will go viral if.
- [66:22]
Matt Norlander
Don't even say these things. Don't like this. No. No. All right.
- [66:27]
Gary Parrish
I feel pretty good about it, man. I feel pretty good.
- [66:30]
Matt Norlander
Talk to you again? Yeah, real soon. Till then, quite literally. GP Take care.
- [66:36]
Gary Parrish
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