← Eye On College Basketball
Eye On College Basketball
EOCBB on CBSSN: Final Four picks and favorite storylines; Johni Broome to miss practice this week; Flagg vs. Broome for NPOY + more
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- [00:00]
Gary Parish
This episode of I Own College Basketball is presented by Travis Matthew Apparel designed for confidence and comfort no matter where the day takes you.
- [00:10]
Matt Norlander
It's that time of year again. My schedule is packed with bracket busting, three point shooting, non stop basketball action. I don't want to miss a second of it and I find myself staying up late to catch all the action I can't be dragging the next morning. That's why I go for a five hour energy shot. They're perfect for my days packed with back to back games or when my favorite team is playing late. With over 15 flavors to choose from like watermelon, Tropical Burst, blue, raspberry, peach, mango and more, there's a flavor for everyone on their website. You have the option to build your own 12 pack or 24 pack and have it delivered right to your door. And if you're out and about, you can always pick up a five hour Energy shot at your local grocery or convenience store. They're everywhere. Five Hour Energy keeps me going during the broadcast and the next morning when I need to get myself up and work. Visit Fiveourenergy.com for great deals and to stock up before the next tip off.
- [01:10]
Unknown
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- [01:52]
Gary Parish
Hey there Gary Parish. Welcome to the CBS Sports Eye on College Basketball podcast. We're here on CBS Sports Network where we sometimes discuss camel fighting, dodo birds and leaky. Matt Norlander is here with me and we're going to be here for the next hour discussing the 2025 Final Four set to get underway Saturday in San Antonio. As you likely know, all four number one seeds have made it for just the second time in history. Auburn, Florida, Duke, Houston, Norlander. If you don't mind, let's start with this. Imagine when this is all over, we have to make a film about this season. What's the best story? What could happen in San Antonio that would provide a filmmaker, a heralded one with the best closing scenes of a story told from the 2025 Final Four?
- [02:42]
Unknown
Yeah, I need your cinematography takes like I need air, by the way. For sure. You know, can we, can we, can we dive real deep into and how we're going to shoot this bad boy here. I will.
- [02:54]
Gary Parish
I think we're gonna do. I think we'll shoot the whole thing as a oner. I just watched episode 2 on Apple TV plus and now I'm a big fan of the one or so. I think we would either have an opening scene or a closing scene, but somewhere in there for sure we'd have a oner.
- [03:10]
Unknown
I think you need a good grip, man, if you're gonna have a oner. Okay, so variety of different options here. Just talk Duke. Talk through the Duke thing real quick. A lot of people would say not Duke. However. However, if Duke did win the national title and Cooper Flag was Cooper Flag as we've known him to be for the majority of the season in the Final Four, in the national title game, it could in retrospect become. Could. Okay, I'm not saying it will. I'm saying it could. It could be the start of a really, really, really good NBA career that would have slight echoes. Okay, again, I'm not saying this is what's going to happen. I'm just saying the Michael Jordan story started at the Final Four. If Cooper Flag is going to be what people hope he can be, and that is to be a top five to 10 NBA player over the next 12 years or so, then winning a national title would be the start of a really, really good story. But that's not my pick. I would. I think there's something to Auburn winning a national championship for the first time and Bruce Pearl doing it the way he's done it. Florida is not as compelling. School has a couple of back to back championships. Obviously either SEC school winning it after this would certainly be something for me. It would be Kelvin Sampson. It would be Houston as a program winning a national championship, doing it with this team. Kelvin Sampson having, you know, had top two teams according to the metrics, the four past seasons and the journey that he took to get to this point to do it in the state of Texas. Oh, by the way, you know, two years ago Houston was thought to have a really good chance at winning a national championship. But this program has never won one. It was a runner up in 83 and 84. It was obviously a notable program in the late 60s to early 70s. But the best movie in the here and now would be Kelvin Sampson doing it and oh, by the way doing it if it happened where we've got Cooper Flag, Janai broom, Walter Clayton Jr. This is a rare Final Four in that it's not often that you have the Clear cut. Three best players in the sport making it to the stage. In fact, you might not even be able to go back and look at more than two or three times this has ever happened. And yet if Houston did it with no one that's a projected first team All American, that would be the best movie in my opinion.
- [05:37]
Gary Parish
I could make a good Cooper flag movie for all the reasons you pointed out. I could make a good Bruce Pearl movie for a variety of reasons. The way his career has unfolded, I think Florida, I want to be clear, would be a worthy and awesome national champion. But in terms of stories that turn into movies, out of these four schools, it would rank fourth of four. It would rank fourth out of the four. I think it's Houston and Kelvin Sampson. And I think for. For two different reasons. The one of them is because this is one of the greatest programs to never win it. You know, seven Final Fours, two title game appearances, no national championships. So there's that. But then the other part of it, and to me, this is maybe even the bigger part of it, is just the whole Kelvin Sampson story. It's just an incredible story. Grows up in North Carolina, the son of a coach. So son of a coach who becomes a coach. His first head coaching job is at Montana Tech, so NAIA school. Then, of course, he becomes the head coach at Washington State, Oklahoma, Indiana, and then at Indiana because of NCAA violations that, with the benefit of hindsight, seemed like nothing, but sure, felt like something at the time. He was forced to resign in the middle of a season when he had a top 10 team led by Eric Gordon. Like, that team could have gone to a Final Four, won a national championship. So he's fired, and then he ends up spending the next six seasons in some form in the NBA, Assistant with the Bucks, assistant with the Rockets. I don't want to say he was exiled from college basketball, but it kind of felt that way. And then he eventually takes over the Houston program in 2014, and that program, as we've discussed previously, was just left for dead. I had shared a clip from our Sunday night show when I was talking about what it was like to be a Conference USA beat writer and go into Hoffines Pavilion and for the first time, go, man, this is fi slam pajama. This is like, this is Houston basketball. This is sad. Nobody's here. Nobody seems to care. And I had people send me, like, pictures that they had taken from around the same time. And one man sent a picture, and he said it was from Kelvin's first season. There's some Thought that it might have actually been from the season before Kelvin took over. Either way, the sentiment's the same. You see basketball players on a basketball court. It's a home game for Houston. They're very clearly getting ready to play. And, buddy, there is nobody there. I mean, if you can find, like, seven people in the crowd, you're doing better than I did. I mean, it's just completely empty. And that's the program he took over before he took it over. One NCAA tournament appearance since 1992. Zero Sweet 16 since 1984. Now Kelvin has been to six. Six straight Sweet 16s, three of the past five Elite 8, two of the past four Final Fours. That's an incredible story. And I don't think we can have a better scene in San Antonio on Monday night than Kelvin Sampson, the son of a coach now working alongside his son, standing on top of a ladder in 2008, pushed out of the sport in 2025, standing on top of it. That's pretty good. I. I could get excited about any of these teams winning a national championship, but that'd make a pretty good story, wouldn't it?
- [09:11]
Unknown
It would. And I'm going to just extend a little bit off of what we mentioned on yesterday's show. I'm not battling the cough the same way I was 24 hours ago, thank goodness. So when I talked to Sampson, I think he has now subsequently talked with a few other reporters about this, but I don't know if he had really gone into detail too. Too much on the record prior to when we talked back in early February. So his time in Indiana ends, and I think it was on a Friday. I can't remember the exact day of the week, actually. Kelvin walked through me, walked it through me with all this.
- [09:41]
Gary Parish
I can. I can remember. I can remember it was 100% a Friday because it was 100% the Friday before the number one Memphis versus number two Tennessee game at FedEx forum. Because the plan was every national media member comes to my hometown, we're all going out on Friday night. And we did, but we all had to work on Kelvin Sampson stuff before we could even get to dinner.
- [10:05]
Unknown
There we go. Love that from you. So he tells me. His exact words were something to the longest of lines of, I was fired on a Friday morning, and two hours later, I had a job in San Antonio. So what? He and Greg Popovich got to know each other well because they both were working for Team USA Basketball the year before, I believe, or some years before. It was actually some years before when he was at Oklahoma, not the year before. Excuse me. And so they had maintained a friendship, a friendship that is extremely strong to this day. And Kelvin got his life together. I think like a week later, week and a half later, he flies to San Antonio. Popovich says, you have a job. Like, you're coming to San Antonio. I'm not going to let you just sit and stew and. And be ticked off at the way things went, ended at Indiana, and he gets picked up in San Antonio. It's actually the day of a game. I think he said they were hosting the Pacers that night or something like that. And so Popovich is waiting for him. The way that Sampson told me the story, it was almost like he thought he'd be getting to San Antonio and either, like they'd have a car waiting for him or he'd call a cab or just hop in a cab. And he turns the corner and Greg Popovich is waiting for him there at baggage claim, which is just an awesome image. Pops, like, come on, let's go. They drive right to the team facility. And when they get there, it's like Sampson's in the back of the room. Pop. They're going through the walk through former. One of the former 76ers coach, his name's escaping me right now. He's going through the. The scouting report. He's here, and Tim Duncan and Manu Ginobi and Tony Parker, and he's watching the team go through their pregame prep in a way that he had never seen before in his life. His eyes were, like, wide open to this whole experience there. He winds up spending a little time with the spurs before he goes and works with Scott Skiles and. And takes his whole tour through the NBA. And. And the point is that that Popovich, who unfortunately has not been able to coach due to health issues recently, he was the one that gave him a lifeline. And now it is all too appropriate that Sampson's next chance, perhaps his best chance. And I know the team that's standing in the way on Saturday night, so we'll see. To win a national championship will be in the city where he got his lifeline and coaching immediately after having a pretty ugly end and plenty of his own doing, by the way, at Indiana. And now, 17 years later, he finds himself back in San Antonio, two wins away from, as you were saying, a movie like ending.
- [12:26]
Gary Parish
So you touch on something interesting there, and then we'll move on. I was asked earlier today, coincidentally, do you think this is Bruce Pearl's last best chance to win a national championship or Kelvin Sampson's last, best chance to win a national championship. They're both older, obviously, than John Shire and Todd golden, probably closer to the end of their careers than the beginning, obviously. And I said on one hand, when you're in the Final Four, like, you're close to it. And yes, this could obviously be the. The last time you're ever this close to it, but both of those guys are running consistently successful programs, so, like, they could be back next year, and either way, both of them are just two wins away from it. That's very close. Most men never get this close to it, but to win it, and this is sort of the strength of the Final Four and everything we've been talking about, There ain't no trick in your way into this National Championship. You have to beat two monsters. So, yeah, Bruce is close to it and Kelvin's close to it, but whoever wins this national championship will have earned it, because however you got to the Final Four, whatever path you took, by the time you got to the Final Four, you. You had to beat two of the. Not just best teams in the country this season, but two of the best teams in modern history. That's the only way to win a national Championship now is to beat two of the best teams in modern history. And, you know, I don't know if this will be the last time Kelvin or Bruce was close to it, but they're obviously very close and. But the assignment is difficult.
- [14:04]
Unknown
Yeah, I would say that I was just one, the coach that I couldn't remember is Brett Brown, who's bothering me, that I couldn't pull it off top of my head, back with the spurs, by the way. And two, I think it's entirely possible that Kelvin Sampson and Bruce Pearl, I think you agree with the chip. But just to the question that you got asked, if you told me they were in this spot again in the next two, three seasons, I would entirely believe you. I think that is. That is still very possible. And, and judging of what I've talked about with Kelvin before now, if you want to title, maybe it changes. He does not feel close to retiring. Now, if you win a National Championship, it can really alter things.
- [14:37]
Gary Parish
But.
- [14:38]
Unknown
But I, I do not believe that either of those coaches winning a title, if that were to happen next Monday, would actually accelerate their timeline and, and we'd have a situation where Houston or Auburn were changing jobs. Coincidentally enough, both of those coaches have their sons as the top coaches on their staff, and, and Kellen is literally the coach in waiting and with Bruce and Stephen. I know that is an arrangement that they continue to work on and hope that will be the case whenever Bruce steps away.
- [15:00]
Gary Parish
When we come back, J. Broom is back on campus at Auburn and he soar according to his head coach, Bruce Pearl. We'll give you an upd, BP said about his star earlier today on CBS Sports hq. We'll do that after this break. It's the ion college basketball podcast, CBS Sports Network.
- [15:19]
Unknown
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- [16:20]
Travismathieu.com welcome back to the Island College.
- [16:24]
Gary Parish
Basketball Podcast, CBS Sports Network. Bruce Pearl and his Auburn Tigers are back on campus. The Auburn coach joined CBS Sports HQ earlier today from campus and said, among other things, Janai Broome is sore that he's not going to practice today and that he does not plan to practice tomorrow in advance of Saturday's game in the Final Four. Norlander do you think this is going to be a thing? Janai Broom, how does he feel? Is this something we're going to have to talk about all the way up into tip off?
- [16:53]
Unknown
Might be a thing. I mean, Pearl literally said he has no injury. The quote is he has no injury, end quote. But so this, I guess if we're taking Pearl at his word, then this is strictly precautionary. But it will be, it will be a plot point. I mean this has been one of the two best players in the sport this season and he is a key. If Janai Broom isn't at near a 100% hard for me to see how Auburn, who actually I think has the longest odds now to win the title of the 4 teams left. Not having him at full strength doesn't, doesn't seem like it gives Auburn a great shot at winning the national title. But I do think that he'll ultimately be fine. And Florida, you know, Florida's going to put out just an awesome game plan. We know how golden and that staff can scheme. But I do think that we should get a pretty close to healthy broom. And if you, if you, you know, tell me to guess what brooms numbers are going to be against the Gators, I'm going to say 22, 13 and five, you know, five, you know, four or five assists in a couple of blocks. I just, I think he's going to show up and be awesome on Saturday.
- [17:57]
Gary Parish
Yeah, I do too. I, you know, I imagine I'll get asked about it a bunch and I'll keep saying the same things over and over again. It looked bad when it happened, but he came right back. He performed well when he came back. I know the next day can feel different than the day of, but if his coach is optimistic that he's going to play and his coach is saying that there is no injury, as much as we're just dealing with what we're dealing with, I'm going to assume he's going to be in the lineup and. Okay. And that if Auburn is eliminated in the national semi finals by Florida, it will not be because of what happened to Janai Broome in the Elite Eight. I think that's where, where we'll land. Whatever happens happens. But it will not be tied to. I don't think it'll have to be a what if story forever. What if tonight Broom never goes down briefly in the Elite Eight? I don't think it'll have that kind of impact on the final Four, but as always, we'll see. Let's use this moment here in Orlando because we talked about it, I think on Sunday night disclosed that we were going to submit our ballots for First Team All American National Team First Second Team All American, Third Team All American National Player of the Year, Freshman of the Year, Coach of the Year. They were due noon on Monday. We have submitted them. The votes have not been published yet. So we don't have to disclose who is going to be the CBS Sports National Player of the Year or the CBS Sports National Coach of the Year or the first Team All Americans. But I think everybody understands the National Player of the Year was going to come down to Cooper Flagg in Janai Broom. Are you comfortable? Are you comfortable disclosing your ballot? Because I'm comfortable disclosing my ballot. I've got nothing to be ashamed of.
- [19:44]
Unknown
Nothing. Nothing to be ashamed of. You've got nothing to be ashamed of right now?
- [19:49]
Gary Parish
I mean, I'm short and bald. Those are like two obvious things to be ashamed.
- [19:53]
Unknown
Hey, hey, hey. You know, No, I won't have any of that on this show. You do not need to be ashamed. No matter how short, no matter how bald you are, you do not need to be ashamed of that. You understand me?
- [20:03]
Gary Parish
You won't let you. You won't let me body shame myself.
- [20:06]
Unknown
That's correct. That's correct. Okay.
- [20:08]
Gary Parish
Thank you.
- [20:09]
Unknown
You might have a. You might have some stuff to be ashamed about. You still. You still hitting those weird golf clubs or did you move to full on irons here?
- [20:16]
Gary Parish
Oh, buddy, you don't even know you. Don't you? I can't wait to show you what you're dealing with.
- [20:24]
Unknown
Okay, let's get to the topic at hand. No word. We will not reveal.
- [20:30]
Gary Parish
We sound like a presidential debate, just arguing about golf. We sound like a presidential debate, just two old men arguing about golf.
- [20:37]
Unknown
All right, let's get to the topic at hand here. The CBS Sports All America teams and National Player of the Year and Coach of the Year and all that stuff will be announced, I believe, on Wednesday, no later than Thursday. But I think Wednesday is our target here. We have already had three National Player of the Year awards announced and there are six traditional big ones. And Cooper Flag and Jenny Broom will, will split. We know that there will not be a sweep. It will not be unanimous. The Sporting News has already announced that Janai Broom is the National Player of the Year. Meantime, the United States Basketball Writers association announced that it was Cooper Flag. And I believe we had the NABC announce within the past hour that Cooper Flag has won the National Player of the Year. So we wait on the likes of the Wooden Award, the Naismith Award and the Associated Press. I will be down there on Friday and I, I believe I'll be on hand there at the, at the press conference for whether it's Broom or Flag. I voted. This was obviously the toughest vote I have literally ever had. I voted for Jani Broom. My vote for National Player of the Year was denied. Broom. And how about this? I actually, I think Cooper Flag's the better player. Like, I'm going to talk on CBS Sports HQ later today. I'm going to give my top 10 players in the final four. And Cooper Flag is going to be one on that list and Janai Broom is going to be two. But I think that Janai Broom had the better season. Barely, barely had the better season. Points wise broom 18.7 per game. Flag 18.9 rebounds wise broom, 10.9 boards per game. Flag, 7.5 rebounds per game. Assists flag, 4.2 per game. Broom, 2.9. And then if you combine the steals and blocks, Broom this season averaged 3.0 combined steals and blocks. Flag average a combined 2.7 steals and blocks. Ultimately, Flag's team did win the head to head and had the benefit of playing that game in Cameron Flag had the better game head to head with Broom, but Broom had to play consistently. Much tougher competition. And I did take this into account. And again, this is. I'm telling you, GP, this is like 50.2% to 49.8%. Janai Brum's numbers would be even better than they are right now, and they're really good. If he did not get hurt in the early part of two games, which essentially dragged his per game averages down ever so slightly, but nonetheless did like he would almost certainly be at better than 19 points, better than 11 rebounds, better than three assists, and maybe even better than a steal per game. If we're not getting hurt. You know, your, your per game numbers get hurt if you can play a combined 12 minutes over two games that otherwise you would have played, you know, a combined 63 minutes. So I did take that into account. And should I. Broom was my vote for national Player of the Year.
- [23:17]
Gary Parish
I voted for Cooper Flag. And so this is interesting. Not only is the national awards going to be split, they were split amongst. And I don't think there's a wrong answer. As long as you're picking one of those two, you can. I could do two minutes right now and make a compelling case of why it has to be Cooper Flag and then take a break, come back and do two minutes on why it needs to be Jani Broom. And I could get you to believe both of them. They're both worthy national players of the year. I think Cooper just had a slightly better. I mean, slightly. I agree with you, by the way. This was the hardest time I've ever had. Voting, picking one. I don't believe in co anything. Just make a decision. Yeah.
- [24:02]
Unknown
Like I can't.
- [24:02]
Gary Parish
Somebody's gonna be one. Yeah, yeah.
- [24:04]
Unknown
You gotta make it. You have to make a choice.
- [24:06]
Gary Parish
Yeah, make a choice. And so this is the hardest time I've ever had making A choice. I think Cooper Flag slightly, ever so slightly, had the better season. And if one of the points in Janai Broom's favor is that he did this against the SEC and Cooper Flagg only did it against the ACC for the most part, I understand that because it's true. Clearly, Auburn played a tougher schedule once the league play got started than Duke did because the SEC was a monster and the ACC was the opposite of that. But I genuinely believe Cooper Flag would have done this against anybody in any league. I think Duke would have been maybe not the same record, but would be similarly awesome in any league. So I know some people are like, you can't give it to a guy who comes out of that league, but we have had National Players of the year from the Atlantic 10, from the mountain west, from the West Coast Conference, we can have a national Player of the Year from this version of the acc. So I went Cooper Flag, but it's, it's close, man. It's really, really close. We've had an awesome Player of the year race. And do you think that is the, that's the premier title game? Like, if, if you're trying to make it as big as you can make it, it's Auburn, Duke on Monday night, the two teams that have been one and two for much of the season, the two guys who have been battling for national Player of the year. At this point, you can't, we can't, as a sport do better than that, can we?
- [25:31]
Unknown
Correct. Now you're talking to a guy who picked Houston on Selection Sunday. I've got Houston winning the national championship. So. And I think Houston, any of these teams can win the title, but I think if we are speaking objectively, the most absolutely compelling national title to the entire sports audience that will tune in, it would have to be Duke and Cooper Flag and Auburn and Jenny Broome. And that would provide us a rare instance. I mean, if I have time on the flight tomorrow, GP we'll see if I can get this done. I'd love to know how many times ever, period, the top two players in the sport actually squared off in the title game in the history of college basketball. And we are far, we are so far from guaranteed of getting that because Houston can be Duke and Florida can beat Auburn. There's this. Any combination of any title game is not going to surprise me in the slightest. But. But given that these two teams won met earlier this season and the Broom Flag race has been really compelling, it's one of the best ones ever. That would be fitting if we if we wound up getting to that kind of end.
- [26:30]
Gary Parish
When we come back, it's time for a flashback segment. We're going to take you back 10 years to the 2015 Final Four, a trip down memory lane. That's next on the Iron College Basketball Podcast, CBS Sports Network.
- [26:43]
Unknown
This episode is brought to you by 20th Century Studios. The Amateur when his wife is murdered, Charlie Heller, the CIA's most brilliant computer analyst, must trek across the globe and use his only weapon, his intelligence, to hunt down her killers and enact revenge. Starring Academy Award winner Rami Malek and Academy Award nominee Laurence Fishburne. The Amateur. Rated PG13. Only in theaters April 11th.
- [27:12]
Gary Parish
Welcome back to the I Own College Basketball podcast on CBS Sports Network. Now it's time for the flashback segment brought to you by Travis Matthew Apparel designed for confidence and comfort no matter where the day takes you today. Norlander we're flashing back to the 2015 Final Four. That's where John Calipari's best shot to get a second national championship and make history was derailed by the Wisconsin Badgers. The date was April 4, 2015. John Calipari's Wildcats, led by future NBA All Stars Carl Anthony Towns and Devin Booker, entered the Final Four. They had a 38, no record. They were the favorite to win the national title and finish with a perfect 40 and O record. College basketball never had a 40 and O national champion Kentucky was very close to becoming the first, but then Frank Kaminsky, Sam Decker, Nigel Hayes got in the way. They upset UK 71, 64. Devin Booker only played 19 minutes. Frank Kaminsky got 20 points in 37. Sam Decker added 16 and 34. Simply put, Bo Ryan played his best players maximum minutes. John Calipari did not. So Wisconsin moved on and UK's dream season ended in two days later in the title game, Duke beat Wisconsin 6863 to win the national championship. Norlander, what, if anything, do you remember about Wisconsin over Kentucky in that 2015 Final Four? We're flashing back right now.
- [28:35]
Unknown
We're flashing back Quick question as as our viewers and listeners are aware of your duties with CBS Sports Network now put you outside the stadium because you got to be up pretty quick after these semifinals and title games. Was was this Final Four the last time you were in the building on the night of the title game or because I want to say you were not in the in the joint with me when Jenkins won that one at the buzzer in 2016. So was this the last time you actually were in the stadium when it hit triple zeros During a National Final.
- [29:04]
Gary Parish
Okay, you have to tell me, was I there?
- [29:09]
Unknown
You were at the. I don't remember. I mean, maybe.
- [29:14]
Gary Parish
Okay, I was definitely at the Final Four. I don't know where I'm at. I don't know where I'm at.
- [29:19]
Unknown
I'm asking you. And you go, okay, you're going to have to tell me, was I there?
- [29:22]
Gary Parish
I'm hoping you would. I would. You have a better shot at, like, remembering a column I wrote from the 2015 Final Four than I do? All right. I know I was at. I have been to every final four since 2003. But was I actually in the building for Kentucky, Wisconsin, or outside of the building for Kentucky, Wisconsin, on a television set that I don't have an answer for you.
- [29:45]
Unknown
I think you were. I think you were in the building. I think this is the last time because I want to say we talked beforehand. All right. Anyway, couple things, man, I bet, man.
- [29:54]
Gary Parish
If I was in a building, man, I bet that was fun.
- [29:58]
Unknown
Oh, yeah. Oh, my gosh. Okay.
- [30:03]
Gary Parish
I bet I had a. I bet I had a good time.
- [30:06]
Unknown
It was. This was a fun Final Four to cover for a few reasons. You had the Kentucky going for an undefeated season. I was in Cleveland the weekend before when Notre Dame got extremely close and almost beat Kentucky. So there was a little bit. And. And do you remember? This was absolutely a thing, but I. And you don't remember. Am I going to ask if you remember? You don't remember, so I'm just going to tell you. Going into that tournament, a lot of people said the one team that is built to actually threaten Kentucky is Wisconsin. And Wisconsin did wind up getting it done. I remember sitting there courtside and when the game went final and Kentucky lost 71, 64, Frank Kaminsky took the ball, had it, and screamed out to kind of the Wisconsin fans. They were, yeah, make them believe. And that was their whole rallying cry was make them believe. Make them believe. Make them believe. That Wisconsin team was a ton of fun to cover. It was Frank the Tank. It was Sam Decker who had an immaculate Yoshi impression that he did for me on the Record that week because those dudes love playing video games together. Nigel Hayes was a ton of fun. Bronson Koenig, Josh Gosser, a lot of fun there. So the Wisconsin team was really good. And, oh, by the way, that Wisconsin team has the highest. It has the most efficient offense in Ken Palm history, or at least right now has the second most, because this season's Duke team is narrowly ahead of it and really it depends on how good Duke can be against the number one defense in the country, win or lose, over whether or not that Wisconsin team will still hold the position of the most efficient offense over the past 27, 28 years. Obviously that Kentucky team, the Harrison twins, everything about that group and Cal, a lot of it worked. Obviously, Kentucky finished that season number one in Ken Palm, 38 and one. But as you well remember, you know, Devin Booker came off the bench. How he used the Harrison twins, Tyler Ulis, what he was doing as a freshman there, that they had cat that season. Yeah, a lot of, a lot of intrigue with, with that team in general. Duke winds up winning the national title with freshman. You know, they had Grayson Allen come off the bench and he played well in that title game. Jalil Okafor was one of the best players in the country that season. Tyus Jones, Justice Winslow. And then the kind of the forgotten team of that Final Four was that was a Michigan State team that made the Final Four as well. They just got absolutely routed by Duke in the national semi. So those are some of my, some of my memories from a very fun Final Four to cover in Indianapolis.
- [32:33]
Gary Parish
I bet I had a good time that year. I bet it was fun. I bet it was fun. I'm going to look back on it and see if I can spark some memories. The thing I remember thinking in real time was if you would have allowed me at the start of that NCAA tournament to suspend three of John's players. I get to pick them. He didn't get to pick him. I get to pick him. Let me suspend three of his players and cut his rotation down. He wins the national championship. I think Kentucky is 400 national champions if they just don't try to play all those people like you remember, it was we got so many great players, we got to play them all. And I was like, I don't know. Just play, play the, play the, play the best ones, the most. That's Devin Booker and, and Carl Anthony Towns. That was the flashback segment brought to you by Travis Matthew. Apparel designed for confidence and comfort, no matter where the day takes you. Appreciate, as always, Travis Matthew being a part of the Iowan College Basketball podcast. Great clothes, great quality. I'm wearing it right now. When we come back, Trae Young has been named assistant GM at Oklahoma. What does that even mean? I'll ask Norlander that question next. We'll do it on the Island College Basketball podcast, CBS Sports Network.
- [33:50]
Unknown
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- [34:20]
Gary Parish
Welcome back to the I Own College Basketball podcast, CBS Sports Network. Big headline this week. Trey Young, Oklahoma alum, NBA star, has been named an assistant general manager at the University of Oklahoma. Norlander, do you have a clear understanding of what that means? What does that mean exactly?
- [34:37]
Unknown
Of course, I have no idea what this means. Steph Curry did it first with Davidson, which is really cool, and now Trey Young's doing it. I do love the idea of Trey Young getting like, put on an email list and be like, hey, we need you on that. We need you on this. Zoom Tuesday at 11:30. Can you hop on? Because we got to get into the nitty gritty of what we're recruiting. I don't know. I don't know what assistant GM means to me. And listen, I want to make a joke here, but I understand that these players are actually, they're donating millions of dollars and they want to help their situations with their schools. But this does feel like a situation where the schools, because of a real relationship with their players, hey, can you just give us money and let us just say that you're working for us so we can get the best possible players so we, we don't get our butts kicked in the, in the portal. That's what's happening here as far as I'm concerned.
- [35:22]
Gary Parish
So, like, what an assistant GM would do in any sort of traditional sense is like, you know, crunch numbers on a salary cap, evaluate players, you know, consider trades. Do we, do we actually think Steph Curry and Trey Young have any role in the roster building process at their alma maters?
- [35:45]
Unknown
This is the great question because. All right, I'm going to flashback to last spring when we had Adrian Mojanowski on the pod and he is the general manager now of St. Bonaventure. But he told us he was like, he was literally in his free time, spare time, diving into the portal, looking at players, checking out video, trying to help, trying to help Bonaventure. This is before he had his job and he was still at espn. And then he had a point where he's like, you know what? I Care way more about this one thing than I do about what he would go on to describe as just vapor. Just, like, getting scoops on player transactions that just. What is it for, you know, why am I doing this? And so do I think that Steph Curry right now is. Is really following. Is really following, you know, like, the seven to eight social media accounts that traffic and portal updates by the hour. I don't. I would love it if. I would truly like. It would bring me actual. Some sick level of joy if, like, the warriors had some sort of game and the guys are getting out to the locker room and like, Steph, we gotta. Steph, we gotta go. And he's like, hold, hold on, man. Like, we're trying to get this guy out of the Mac. Come on. I would love if that was the case. I don't think that's the case. Please let that be the case. That being said, gp, I have. I have a few more players who need to step in and do this as well. I need this to become a trend across the NBA and college basketball. I think three notable ones, programs that could so clearly just get that extra boost and it would help them in a major way. Anthony Edwards. No one even remembers this dude playing at Georgia. Oh, by the way. But that's where he played. One of the biggest stars in the sport. If he can help him out. An obvious.
- [37:29]
Gary Parish
I think on the list of things Anthony Edwards should be, quote, helping out. Maybe the Georgia basketball program is a little lower than some other things. But. But that's another podcast.
- [37:41]
Unknown
Regardless. Another one of these. That and some of the. To be clear, some of these players, either publicly or privately, have helped their program significantly financially and made donations over the years. But if we're talking about, okay, we want you to come on in the system. Troll. Not even kidding. Like, I fully expect Kevin Durant to do this at Texas if he does not do this in the next year or so. It would actually surprise me that now they just hired Sean Miller. They're not hurting for money. But seriously, that. That seems like one that could be good. Kate Cunningham, helping Oklahoma State. Seems like one. Now, I understand he's trying to get the Pistons in the playoffs and do all this kind of stuff. That would be good. And then another one that makes a ton of sense. This guy's already. I was just on this campus in the past two months and. And he's donated plenty. But if Draymond Green could get himself, like, in the later stages of Tom Izzo's career, if he wanted to, to Come on. In this kind of role, he really, really cares a ton about that university. These are some other ones that. That make a ton of sense to me. The ones that, like, you know, 20 of the league is Kentucky and Duke guys, they're not exactly hurting for this kind of stuff. As cool as it would be to see Kyrie take on another. Another job and enjoying John Shire staff in an assistance capacity, those schools aren't as hurting as much as maybe the other ones that could benefit from it.
- [38:52]
Gary Parish
One that stood out to me because, you know, if you're SEC school, a Big Ten school, you're not hurting for money. But outside of the traditional power structure, things can get difficult. Kawhi Leonard, San Diego State. You know, like a program operating outside of the traditional power structure that isn't set up to flourish the way a Big Ten or SEC school is. That's one where you could really benefit from having somebody who has benefited incredibly financially from his time at your school. Like, if you could convince him to play a role in the future of your program. Yes, with donations to nil, but also just, you know, being closely connected to it, that would be beneficial. Another program like that. And really, I'm just taking a. Programs outside of the traditional power structure who have superstars who went to school there. Memphis and Derrick Rose. Although Derek didn't leave Memphis under the best of circumstances, they ultimately had to vacate a Final Four because of his standardized test score. And then I think there was a moment where some Memphis boosters, like, literally sued Derrick Rose in the courts for a minute. And, you know, so I don't know how D. A lot has changed since then. D. Rose came back to Memphis and lived here, played for the Grizzlies. But if they could ever get him connected to that Memphis basketball program in a meaningful way, that would. That would be awesome as well.
- [40:19]
Unknown
I got one more for you. And this one's. Now that we're talking about. This actually hadn't thought about it before, but this one's obvious. This player, I don't know if he's done it as much in the past two years, although if he did, it wouldn't surprise me. But I did a whole story on it a couple years ago before he had his major issue. Is there any single school that might not benefit any more? Curry's the number one example. But then John Morant and Murray State at that level, that's. They've got such a huge. Like, Murray, Kentucky takes a. You got to really want to get to Murray Kentucky to get up in Murray, Kentucky. But John Morant, he used to work in pickup games with the guys, the players there. That's another huge one. And he has, he is a vocal and proud Murray State alumnus. That's another obvious potential candidate. This isn't the easiest thing sometimes for these schools because they don't want to like the player. They don't want to ask too much of their super famous, very busy alumni. But there are instances where these, these players like they genuinely care and want to help and it's you aren't asking too much of them. They want to do this and Curry doing this and Trey Young are two fine examples. I do expect to see more of this. I do think this will become something of a trend and put me down for KD is among the most likely obvious candidates to do it sometime soon.
- [41:28]
Gary Parish
JA cares deeply about Murray State, supports that, that program and that university. And I think you'll see that increase in the coming years because there's some connections there. Now you know who Murray State's new head coach is? Ryan Miller.
- [41:43]
Unknown
Yes.
- [41:43]
Gary Parish
Do you know who Ryan Miller's brother is? Mike Miller. Do you know who John Morant's agent is? Mike Miller. So this is all connected in some way. It would not surprise me in the least to see John Morant more formally associated with Murray State's basketball program going forward. We come back, one more segment to go. We're going to call it the Final one and one. We're going to pick both national semifinals against the spread presented by fanduel. We'll do that next. See I'm College Basketball podcast presented on CBS Sports Network.
- [42:18]
Unknown
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- [42:40]
Gary Parish
Payment of $45 for 3 month plan equivalent to $15 per month required. Intro rate first 3 months only, then full price plan options available, taxes and fees extra. See full terms@mintmobile.com welcome back to the I Own College Basketball podcast on CBS Sports Network. Before we get to what we're calling the final one and one presented by FanDuel Sportsbook. Make every moment more some breaking news. Coaching carousel Buzz Williams has reportedly agreed to leave Texas A and M to become the next head coach at Mary, Maryland. Reportedly wraps up its search pretty quickly. Norlander, what do you make of this development?
- [43:12]
Unknown
Yeah, this is even faster than Maryland was maybe anticipating just tracking this over the past couple of days. Buzz Williams was identified as the most practical next candidate there. His name had been attached to some other vacancies both this cycle and next cycle. This is actually an odd one for I'm literally getting texts in real time as we're doing this on TV here. It seems like it is going to be Buzz. I don't have it yet that it is actually done done, but you could certainly do worse with this, you know, and we're up against the clock here so we don't have a ton of time. The intriguing part about this is there were definitely Marin Maryland people that were not wanting to hire another coach that didn't have direct Maryland ties because they're tight. And Len Elmore had an A letter he put out about this on social media on Monday. But Buzz Williams is pretty accomplished overall and behind the scenes there had certainly been rumors that he was certainly willing to listen to potential offers to leave.
- [44:09]
Gary Parish
Texas A and M. All right, let's do the final one and one before we get out of here. Presented by FanDuel Sportsbook. Make every moment more. What we're going to do here is pick both Saturday's national semifinals. We'll do them in the order that they're going to be A play first game 609 Eastern Florida against Auburn on CBS. Florida is listed as a 2 1/2 point favorite.
- [44:35]
Unknown
Yeah, I will go with I will go with Auburn to win and cover in this spot broom to play healthy and I I think this has a potential to be just an awesome, tremendous game overall. Clayton's been incredible. Look for Denver Jones to be locked up on Clayton and Denver Jones is one of the best perimeter defenders in the country. And and yeah, I will go with Auburn here.
- [45:02]
Gary Parish
It's a reminder that number of how these two programs have been playing heading in different directions as the NCAA tournament approaches. Obviously once we got here they both won four games to get to this place. But Florida and Auburn were operating at different levels heading into the NCAA Tournament. That's how the numbers get to a place in the computers where Florida is actually now a favorite over the outright SEC champion and number one overall seed in this NCAA Tournament. I too would take Auburn plus the points Auburn to win straight up. Game two is going to tip around 8:49pm Eastern on CBS. Houston and Duke. How awesome is Duke? This is the best answer to that question. Houston has won 17 straight games outright. Big 12 champs. Big 12 tournament champs. 12 of these past 17 wins have come against NCAA tournament teams, and Duke is still a 5 1/2 point favorite over that team. Which way you go here?
- [46:04]
Unknown
I'm going Houston. Houston's the better defensive team. Duke's the better offensive team. This is an amazing matchup. Cooper Flag better well be playing against. Come on. Malawatch as much as possible in practice because he has not faced a defender like JoJo Tugler this entire season. That is a different beast altogether. Tugler is good enough to give Flag a real game. No, they're not going to completely shut him. But. But Duke having that big of a number is way too big for me. Houston can shoot from deep. It's gonna have a huge fan presence as well. Give me Kelvin Sampson and the Cougars to win straight up.
- [46:36]
Gary Parish
Yeah, I don't want to say that's too big of a number because the number is the number is the number. It's a sensible number based on how these teams have been playing and how this season has unfolded. But it feels like a big number against a Kelvin Sampson coach team. It feels like a big number against that team we saw just absolutely locked down one opponent after another on the defensive side of the ball, really, from start to finish throughout this season. So is Duke playing like the best team in the country? Yes. Can I understand why Duke is a significant favorite over Houston and would be over anybody, of course, but five and a half points Kelvin Sampson. I'll. I'll take the five and a half points with Houston on Saturday, but like I've said many times over the past few days, there's no combination of outcomes that would surprise me. Shouts to Devin Downey, Chester, S.C. terry Thiegle legend Huck Larnell. Thank you guys once again for watching the Ion College Basketball Podcast. Make sure you subscribe anywhere you subscribe. We'll talk to you again next time.
- [47:48]
Unknown
Paramount Podcasts.
- [47:51]
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