← Eye On College Basketball
Eye On College Basketball
FBI’s game-fixing investigation rocks the sport; recapping a wild Wednesday (3 bonkers buzzer-beaters!); F4+1 for a stacked Saturday
01:12:23
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- [00:00]
Parrish
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- [01:19]
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- [02:15]
Norlander
There I am. Gary Parish welcome back CBS Sports. I own college basketball podcast where we sometimes discuss camel fighting, dodo birds and leaky black. Matt Norlander is here with me. If you're watching on YouTube B Brandon Davies go ahead and shout. Oh buddy, what is going on? Technical difficulties. My glasses started blaring. The ion college Basketball podcast right into my ear. Woo. That was something. Hey, if you watch it on YouTube, smash like Brandon Davies. And if you haven't yet subscribed to the CBS Sports I Own College Basketball, please also do that wherever you subscribe to podcasts like Apple and Spotify. All right, I think everything's cool now. Let's get into it. And I hope you like gambling scandals because that's where we're starting on this Friday morning. And that's because on Thursday morning, Federal prosecutors charged 26 people, including several current and former college basketball players in an alleged point shaving scheme. According to the indictment, more than 39 college basketball players on at least 17 different Division 1 teams either fixed or attempted to fix more than 29 games. The teams are low majors, mid majors and hilariously DePaul. Among the players involved is the preseason conference USA Player of the year, Simeon Cattle from Kennesaw State. Norlander, it is good to see you on this Friday morning. I think I ran us through the basics. Why don't you fill in the details and then we'll talk about this for, I don't know, probably 10 minutes longer than we should.
- [03:51]
Parrish
Well, yeah, we'll see on that. We've got a another bonafide FB related massive scandal in college sports. This is the diff. This is a different one from the one that broke famously, infamously, notoriously, in September of 2018 in a very different era for college sports. This one is a lot of what GP just laid out here. Shockingly enough, yes, we have four recently active players, including the preseason CUSA player of the year, Simeon Cottle at Kennesaw State who was dropping 20 a game this season that were named in the indictment. And all the players that were the four that were playing this season obviously have since been suspended. We actually don't have info on. I mean, it's an indictment. It's a federal indictment with charges laid down. I'm presuming that all of the people involved were formally arrested, but we actually don't have that information at this, at this moment. This is a, this is a genuinely huge story. When we did the year in review just, you know, two and a half weeks ago on this podcast, I wrote a thing for.com I put in essence this story at number 11 and the only thing that I said that didn't put it in the top 10 was we hadn't had a rest yet and there weren't big time names or big time programs involved. Well, now we have had a huge indictment come down and I Understand if a lot of people watching this dialing in, they're like, you know, man, this is Kennesaw State and Queens, this is Buffalo, Western Michigan, this is Robert Morris, Purdue, Fort Wayne. Like I'm looking at these games and if you want to know the games that were allegedly compromised, that's at the bottom of the story that you can read it.com right now. Nichols McNE State February 17, 2024 Folks, it is bigger than that. I mean game fixing has affected the NBA in multiple high profile cases as g as you know, pitchers at the major league baseball level have been alleged to have thrown some of their own pitches in an effort to affect their own prop bets here. And now we have this with college basketball. And when you take this in totality, the fact that you have that many players, at least 29 games that were alleged to have or believed to have been compromised in the first half, the first half, you know, spread or the overall game. It is the most widespread game fixing scandal in the history of college athletics. I know we don't have a big school involved, I know we don't have big stars involved. That doesn't mean one, it hasn't happened and it hasn't been found and two, that it can't happen again. So this is an important story. It's a terrible look obviously for college basketball and you. It's, it's kind of two things happening at once here. It, we're thankful that it gets caught because of the watch third party watchdogs that monitor all of this stuff like diligently with these super high level algorithms that pick up on any irregular betting patterns like it just instantly flagged because that's just the way the analytics work with this. And then obviously the casinos don't want to lose money on this. The sports books don't want it. They are quite literally trained and programmed to pick up on anything that is abnormal and then investigate it. Okay, the red flags go up. But also, so you catch all this stuff, but it's also just how pervasive gambling has become in our culture. This is not a surprise when the Supreme Court overturned the case that essentially allowed a majority of states. Now not every state, you can't gamble in every single state. In some states you can't necessarily like I, I, you know, I don't bet, so I don't know. But I'm pretty sure in Connecticut, like anyone that's a Yukon fan, I think you can't bet on Yukon in the state if you're in inside the state's Boundary, so to speak. But that hasn't stopped the massive, widespread proliferation of gambling and that. And to me, in the culture gp, it induces things like this to happen. So it's, it's. I'm not surprised by it. It's good that it was caught. I don't think that the story, the story is necessarily done there. I, I think there very well could be a few other players that haven't been named yet. Some separate stuff that could still come out later this year. Charlie Baker put out a statement yesterday. I mean, they were ready for it. He basically said everyone that was named in today's indictment, or most that have been named in today's diamond have already been banned by the NCAA or their cases were already under review. It's just the NCAA's court obviously different than the freaking feds. There's a lot to go with here. It is objectively hilarious how stupid some of this was. It wasn't one person dropping down 420k on a Kent State game because you had a literal con, a criminal conspiracy where multiple people would log bets at different spots to try and collectively get the numbers up and all that. But the idea that you had six figures regularly being wagered on these games and you thought that you weren't going to get caught, that's wild. And then two, two people at the center of this, Amaris Fairley and Shane Hennin. They are also central bad actors in the Terry Rogier, Chauncey Billups, massive NBA, illegal gambling ring, poker thing. That story from October. They're also actually have affiliations with that as well. So there's a lot of places to go with here. Obviously not a good story for college basketball. Good that it was caught. But I, you know, I don't think this marks the end of it. In fact, I think in many ways this may be. I hope it's not the case, Parrish, but this could be a thing in our American sports culture where we are living with this in perpetuity. We just get a story like this every 8 to 14 to 18 months where some sport, college basketball, college football, pro baseball, football, hockey, who knows? We just see something like this pop up again because of how commonplace and how easy it is now just to, you know, to bet on games, to bet on first half lines, to bet on prop bets, which the NCAA is still diligently trying to get off the board forever with the, with the help of Congress. It remains to be seen if that can or will happen anytime soon.
- [09:32]
Norlander
Whether you're Charlie Baker or Adam Silver, I imagine what you're hoping is that these arrest indictments being so public that it scares people straight. Like, exactly what you just said takes hold. Hey, you can't get away with this. It's going to get flagged. If anybody's trying to make any real money off of this, it's going to get flagged. When it gets flagged, they're going to trace it back to you. You'll be the next one to be in a national headline. But. And I do think that probably works on some level, but not entirely. Not entirely. And, you know, people can focus on the fact that this is mostly low major and mid majors, but all you have to understand is that it has also happened in Major League Baseball. It has also happened in the NBA. Multimillionaires with multimillion dollar contracts have been caught up in this stuff as well. That is evidence enough that just because we haven't seen it in the Big Ten or the SEC yet, theoretically, doesn't mean that. That we can't or. Or won't. The indictment is fascinating to read. Poor Chris Holtman. This guy. Like, one day you're. One day you're coaching at the Ohio State University. Fast forward. You got three dummies trying to throw a game. You're the head coach at DePaul. Like what? Like what? The game was February 24, 2024. February is a rough month for Chris Holtman. A man got fired on Valentine's Day. Now he's got three knuckleheads trying to manipulate the outcome of a game in 2-24-24. So Georgetown was favored in the first half by two and a half. All the money comes in Georgetown minus two and a half. DePaul has to make sure. That's right. These three players are involved. Georgetown's up 4128 at the break. That's a winner.
- [11:23]
Parrish
Just so we're clear, I think you're. Holtman was not the coach at the time of the game. This is before.
- [11:28]
Norlander
Oh, no. Boo.
- [11:30]
Parrish
Yeah. Yeah.
- [11:32]
Norlander
It was a better story that way.
- [11:34]
Parrish
Okay.
- [11:34]
Norlander
Yeah, yeah.
- [11:34]
Parrish
No, no, that was Tony Safield. Yeah. Yeah.
- [11:37]
Norlander
Okay. Well, I liked it better when I could feel sorry for Chris Holtman. That's on me as.
- [11:41]
Parrish
As I. As I sent out yesterday, though. Yeah, listen, DePaul had some players allegedly, you know, throwing games, but even that, just catching strays in a federal indictment from DePaul is just the exact. The exact hole. I'm going to read this real quick here, okay? So after this game, defendant Bradley Easy Wyro Sorry about the butchering of the name there. Attempted to recruit several additional players on other NCAA men's basketball teams to participate. Participate in the scheme in text communications with defendant Jalen Smith. Continue. Continue. They had. They included defendant Desean Nelson, a player on the DePaul University men's basketball team. Specifically on or about 2-24-20, the defendant sent Smith a screenshot of an Internet page with a photograph of defendant Nelson and his basketball statistics from DePaul. Defendant tested, quote, worst team in the Big east, end quote. He ready to tap in to the point. Script the point shaving scheme right now. Defendant Smith responded. Alrighty. Got him. As described below as part of a scheme, defendant Nelson helped fix multiple NCAA men's basketball games. Worst team in the Big East. Poor deposit.
- [12:45]
Norlander
If somebody told you two days ago, hey, there's going to be one power conference team, there could be a lot of schools caught up in this stuff. We, one power conference school. What's the perfect one? You'd be like, probably the Paul, I guess. DePaul. It'd probably be the Paul. You. You know, we've been talking long enough. You know how I feel about Division 1 men's basketball. I think it is way, way, way too big. The idea that, you know, I don't even want to name the school. I'm not trying to disparage anybody, but Whoever is ranked 342nd in the country right now, the idea that that school should be competing for the same championship as Kentucky and Duke in Kansas is. Is ridiculous. All right? And this is a byproduct of that on some level. Do you know why it's so easy to bet on Kennesaw State games? Because Kennesaw State is a division women's basketball program. But should it be. I don't mean it about Kennesaw State, but like, there's a. There's an interesting dynamic here that others have. Have laid out with Nil playing a role. You're a college basketball player now. You are watching some of your former AAU teammates get million dollar contracts, right?
- [13:51]
Parrish
Yes.
- [13:52]
Norlander
At. At power conference schools, you weren't good enough to go there. So you end up at the low major school, and I was not even a thing there. And your team's not any good. Like, you're losing anyway. And suddenly somebody's like, I can get you 30 grand cash, and buddy, I don't even need you to lose the game. All I need you to do is be behind by four at the half and then go beat him by 40 in the second half. I'm not asking you to throw a game. Like, no, people are going to act like, oh, you're going to throw. You're not throwing a game. You're just falling behind this many points by the end of the first half and then, and then go win the game and then it. So you, okay, we're not, you know, I don't have to throw the game. I just have to be behind by this many points at the half. We'd probably be behind by that many points at the half anyway. So what am I really manipulating like you? It's easy to see how you get down this path. And as long as we are putting point spreads on games because they're division one between teams ranked 285th in the country and 314th in the country, you're going to be susceptible to, to, to stuff like this. And I do not think it's coincidental that it is almost entirely low major and mid majors. That is where that is the easiest and most obvious place to go target people for this.
- [15:12]
Parrish
Exactly correct. All the way. The central bad actors in this story were paying out 10,000, 20,000, 30,000 per game allegedly to these players, most of whom weren't on any nil deals or if they were minimal at best. Also the other part of this, how this started again, you can Read all this at.com But Antonio Blakeney, who I remember seeing on the circuit more than a decade ago, so you see his name pop up in the story, you're like, whoa, was teammates with Ben Simmons, played at lsu, five star prospect and actually spent some time with the Bulls. He's been, you know, a few years back, he was dropping more than 30 a game playing in, playing in China. He links up with Henin and fairly and then starts manipulating games. And then that allegedly works enough where they get, they get the confidence to start overseas, so they start in China. And then they say, okay, let's take this, let's take this stateside. Let's, let's. Because apparently Blakeney just had enough connections. Again, this is according to the feds, had enough connections with enough people in the United States where they thought, okay, we could get ins, we've got relationships, we could find the right kind of people that we do this super, super discreetly, super quietly, like, just tell that, tell your boy over there 20,000 just not to cover the six and a half in the first half. They won't find us. They won't know. But then what happens? One, just the irregular batting patterns and people talk, any number of things make this thing entirely fall down like the house of cards that it is. And yeah, this is our prospect to that to being now one of the main characters in arguably, you know, the immediately the most notorious gambling scandal in college basketball history is pretty nuts.
- [16:59]
Norlander
Yeah, I mean these goofies are never masterminds. You know, like every time you read about it, it's like really, you texted that, you know, like, I mean I, I watched enough date lines to know you, you can't text that, buddy.
- [17:15]
Parrish
These dudes are not familiar with signal I, I, the Signal WhatsApp Encrypted Encrypted connections did not hit their, did I hit their radar? And so that's another thing that helped bring them down. And in addition to just tracking the bets, they did them in person. They did them, they did. These were not offshore. They did these on the phones with, with sports betting apps with their, you know, their web of people.
- [17:38]
Norlander
And something you touched on earlier, it was sort of the focus of Dan Wilkins column over at Yahoo. Sports about like, is this just how we're going to live? And there's plenty of reasons to suggest, you know, perhaps, maybe even probably. And as Wilkin pointed out, like we, we asked for this, this is what we said we wanted and now here we are now you in terms of.
- [18:04]
Parrish
Having that much gambling available at our fingertips.
- [18:06]
Norlander
Hey, hey, Ben. We need legal sports gambling in America.
- [18:11]
Parrish
Why?
- [18:11]
Norlander
You can do it in Las Vegas, you could do it in Europe. Why don't we have legal sports gambling in America? And then this state does it, that state does it. Next thing you know, it's everywhere. This is what we said we wanted and now we got it. I'll read you just a little bit of his column that I thought was interesting. Here's what he wrote. Nearly eight years ago, when the U.S. supreme Court struck down the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection act, the law that essentially limited sports gambling to Nevada, many of us celebrated, if you could bet on sports at a Las Vegas casino, why shouldn't you be able to do it in similar establishments in New Jersey, Mississippi or Ohio? It seemed like a win for freedom and common sense. Not to mention the casino operators ready to get their claws into new clientele. And, and what exactly did the rest of us win? We want a never ending deluge of ads for online sportsbooks. We want a generation of young gambling addicts who are ill equipped emotionally and financially to handle losing money on long shot parlays. We want a disgraceful level of harassment both in person, at games and online from fans toward athletes who didn't help them cash their bets. And we want a subculture of people like the six defendants in this indictment who preyed on young basketball players from low profile teams that saw their peers cashing in on name, image and likeness deals and became tempted by the promise of easy money. In other words, we lost something, too. Maybe a lot. I can't argue with much of that.
- [19:31]
Parrish
Nope, I don't argue with it at all either, honestly. Like, it's a Friday show. We're gonna do the Final 4 in 1 not sponsored by a gambling company today, by the way. And you know those, that segment is always about just previewing the weekend and making ourselves look silly and maybe giving you a few stats or whatever. For the most part. I think people that intake this particular show realize that you know where I stand on when it comes to gambling and all that stuff. And yeah, GP might not be able to help himself with the Mets, maybe.
- [20:05]
Norlander
I, I, listen, I, I, I do gamble. I'm, I literally take money from gambling companies, right? Like, there have been parts of this show that have been sponsored by gambling companies. Like, we're in it. I'm not going to be a hypocrite here, but I, I will also always speak honestly about this. I, I do gamble. It has never wrecked my life, but I have seen it wreck people's lives, people I care about, people I'm close with. I've seen it devastate them financially, devastate them and then ruin other aspects of their life, mess up their job, mess up their marriage, mess up relationships with children, mess up relationships with family members. So this is serious stuff. I'm never the one out there going, man, just go gamble all day long and get to the casinos and bet, bet, bet, bet, bet. You know, everybody's free to make their own decisions. I don't judge. But this stuff can be very, very dangerous and devastating. I have seen it up close.
- [21:07]
Parrish
Yeah, no doubt about it. And I'll just extend the PSA by saying, like, if just general life advice, like, you know, do not wager a single cent that you can't afford to lose, Obviously. But I do think to the point of Dan's column, this is probably like, I don't know how many stories like this have to surface before enough people that actually compete in mainstream American sports get SC enough. If I was, if I was a college basketball coach, this story happens. Like, practice can wait. Literally everything can wait. And I'm taking the opportunity again to say, go read this story, Go read that story. You see this clip? You See this podcast, not one of you better remotely be even considering thinking about any of this. You're done. Your life's ruined. You'll never play competitive sports again. Obviously the vast majority of Division 1 men's basketball players are not engaging in this kind of behavior, but you never know who is. And I had a conversation with a coach just a couple of months ago talking about a variety of things, but this story, this topic came up and he admitted he was like, man, I think my roster is good. But, and he was like half joking, half serious. He's like, but I'm telling you, like, there have been a couple of times where I've been like, what the hell did I just see on the floor? Like, is that incompetence? How am I supposed to know? Am I going to take my player aside and be like, hey, are you throwing the first half line for us? So. And it was an enlightening conversation. And he was like, you know, you do your best to safeguard against it, but ultimately if someone's motivated enough to do something, you can't necessarily stop them. So it's not like college coaches are going out there and ignorance, they're very aware of it and particularly the coach I spoke with is not a high major coach. They are a head coach at a mid major school who genuinely had some like I had to call a couple of my other colleagues. He mentioned, he called a couple other coaches and, and they admitted to the same worries as well. So this thing is, is, you know, really crept up to the, to the forefront of, of many a coach's mind and we wait and see on, on what happens next. I do think we'll have more from not just this case, but I think there's going to be a few other players that weren't named in this, that could, could pop up, sprout up here in the months to come, if not later in, in the year. So just, just keep an eye on that. And until then we wait and see on prop bets. You know, the NC is asking for Congress for help to basically fix and fix its entire existence. I don't know if that is going to happen. It would be a, it would be a start. I just don't like the idea of any college, any 19 year old having an over under of eight and a half rebounds, they grab seven and suddenly they're just subject to just, you know, an inundation of online harassment and death threats. You got to get that out of the culture as much as you feasibly possibly can. And by eliminating prop Bets you at least do that. You don't fix. You don't fix the. The notion that someone could be compromised to try and toss a game or toss a line, but at least it's something. Something is better than nothing. But here we are. And this is the first, you know, this is the first major story of 2026. When we go to the end of the year, we do our year interview. This story will be in the top 10, unquestionably, because this kind of stuff is serious. If you don't have the structural integrity that the competition is honest on both ends, you have nothing. It is the very single thing that every league, Roger Goodell, Adam Silver, Rob Manfred, go down the line, every commissioner, every this. If you don't have this, you have nothing. You have professional wrestling. And that is where everything crumbles. You need to have your games have structural integrity. If the public doesn't believe it's true, perception can become reality and then everything begins to fritter away. That's why this story is so important. Even lacking high profile schools, high profile players, any of that. It's just as important that it was happening at the Mac level and the MEAC level as it would be if it was happening in the big turn of the sec.
- [24:58]
Norlander
If college basketball turns into professional wrestling, we're going to look up one day they're gonna have the Final Four in Saudi Arabia. You ready to cover the Final Four in Saudi Arabia?
- [25:09]
Parrish
I am not.
- [25:10]
Norlander
I bet you somebody's thought about that.
- [25:13]
Parrish
There have been, we can keep it moving, but literally there have been. Not Saudi Arabia, but there have been ongoing plans for a couple years now to try and get a game or two for a ton of money played in the, in the Middle east in general. And we'll see if that comes to the fore.
- [25:29]
Norlander
So you mentioned the coaches being concerned about seeing incompetence on the court and wondering if it's just incompetence or something more. And I know, I've seen other people make note of, hey, it's just like we noted earlier, it's just low major teams and coaches I never heard of and players I never heard of. Well, you know, if you're a fan of a high major team, where do you think your coach came from? Probably a place like this. Like there is somebody, and I don't want to get hyperbolic here, but like there is somebody who possibly is on their way to the type of season that could get them the next job, but they got players in their program that are compromised and therefore the Season doesn't go the way it otherwise would, and you never get the ACC job that you otherwise might have gotten. Like, you know, like, I'm not saying that happened, but it obviously could. And so, yeah, this is. This is. This is bad stuff. And just to double down on what you said, and then we can move on. You know, you mentioned, hey, like, psa, if you don't have money to lose, do not gamble with it. I'll take it a step further. Like, you won't win. So, like, don't even, like, think about it. Can I afford to lose this? Like, don't even think, like, I'm going to lose this. Is it all right if I do? Is it all right when I do, like, think of it like that? I have a buddy who used to run a sports book, you know, before everybody had the apps on their phone.
- [26:56]
Parrish
I think the correct framing for that is, I have a buddy who used to be a bookie. I don't think he. Did he run a sports book, like, an actual sports book?
- [27:04]
Norlander
I mean, he just. He. He. If you needed to put in bets that he was the person you got in touch with, type, that's the bookie.
- [27:10]
Parrish
Okay?
- [27:11]
Norlander
You can. You can describe him however you want. All right? And I asked him one time, I was just picking his brain, and I was like, so, how long you been doing this? And he gave me a number, and I said, so how many people play with you regular? Like, you would call them regular customers? And he gave me a number, and let's just say it was, you know, it's a pretty big number. And I said, okay, out of all of those people, how many, like, at the end of a year or at the end of six months or at the end of two years, how many are up? Like, they're winners. He's like, what do you mean? I was like, just like, they've been gambling all year. Football, baseball, basketball, whatever. At the end of the year, they're up. How many of those customers do you have? Zero. Was his answer. Zero. There's no. That guy does not exist. That's what. That's what sports gambling is. If you want to know how they can afford to put a commercial on every 10 seconds.
- [27:58]
Parrish
Yes.
- [28:00]
Norlander
Yeah, yeah. That's gambling.
- [28:01]
Parrish
I mean, you and I have gone to Vegas, and you go to Vegas and you're like, like, I'll do a little blackjack, okay? I'm cool. If I go play, have some fun with GP or whomever at the. At the tables for three hours, I lose 200 bucks. I can. Whatever. That's, you know, that's what. That's what it is. You just have to know what the deal is.
- [28:15]
Norlander
That's exactly right. That's exactly right. All right. You think it's time to move on?
- [28:18]
Parrish
Yeah, we. Let's. We got. We actually had some stuff on. We got a final form want to do. But before that, J.P. we had some stuff on Wednesday that we still have to address because Wednesday was a pretty fun night.
- [28:26]
Norlander
And we're gonna start it with Kentucky winning at the buzzer at lsu. But first, let's get a word. Let's see who our partners are. You never know.
- [28:37]
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- [29:07]
Norlander
Oh, buddy. Wednesday night was something. I was in studio all night, CBS Sports Network, and we had a buzzer beater and then another buzzer beater, and then another buzzer beater. Let's start with your Kentucky Wildcats final score. UK 75, LSU 74 in Baton Rouge. We got a buzzer beater that looked familiar to UK fans, I'm certain. Josh, let's watch it together with a chance for a big guy to come up against the ball. Long throw in, caught by Marino. The jumper got him.
- [29:38]
Parrish
The Cats come back to win.
- [29:42]
Norlander
Oh, buddy. I mean, that's. That's what you call stealing one on the road, isn't it?
- [29:47]
Parrish
That. That was an outright theft. Theft. 75, 74. There was a great floor angle posted by Kentucky. One of their. One of their folks in house took it of Chandler, Colin Chandler through the pass to Malachi Marino, who is. Who is not, you know, just a little bit beyond the following. Yes, shades of Lightner heavy in that one. Although Rick Patino took to Twitter within like three minutes of the game ending and gave Pope credit for the. For the play design and said, and by the way, there was a guy on the ball. Patino famously caught grief for not having anyone guard Hill on the inbound pass. The Leitner in the 92 regional final in Philadelphia. This was a theft LSU should have won by nature of the loss. By the way, LSU has lost four in a row including back to back home games. South Carolina, which it should have won and it wasn't close. Got like down close to 30 in the first half of that game and then you blow it against Kentucky. Matt McMahon, Seat unfortunately is hot. We're going to now they've had injury issues. We'll see if they can turn around. But the schedule is actually tough upcoming. Kentucky's the story. They get it done. They avoid a third loss in four games. It is an escape hatch root win here for Moreno to hit it for them to come back the way they did. Massively impressive. They never led by more than one in the game. The final margin, 75, 74. They were down by as many as 18 in the second half overall. So it is a good win. And I do wonder, is this just an isolated incident or is this going to be the thing that shoots. Kentucky just into the 7, 8, 9 seed range. They don't have Jalen Lowe for the rest of the season. He's out with the shoulders. Jaden Quaint didn't play in this game. His availability remains to be seen. Is he coming back soon? Is he going to not return at all? What do they have or don't have with jq? Those are major factors. A loss here. Kentucky would have been out of the projected tournament picture, I think, although we're still like we got two months to go so we don't go too nuts on the, on the forecast stuff at this point. But it would, I, I do wonder if this is a hinge point. You got Tennessee on the road this weekend. We'll get to that in the final four and one. This was, it felt super crucial, dramatic win. The play is highly unlikely to even be successful. Perfectly thrown ball, perfectly caught by Moreno, turns around, shoots cash. You get the win on the road, you steal it. And now Kentucky fans know there's really been two epic games in that building period. The Maravich center, there was this one and then famously in the early 90s, Kentucky had just a humongous, humongous comeback. The biggest in program history that they did in that building as well. So a good on Kentucky, but I don't know if this is a one time thing or if we look ahead, you know, a month from now and suddenly they're actually kind of rolling. And this was the night where it all changed.
- [32:38]
Norlander
So if you think of it as like a football play, it's like, because it really was like completing a Hail Mary that's what it looked like. So, like, imagine completing a Hail Mary and then you have to turn around and make a basketball shot. That's what happened. Terrific. And like, you see Mark Pope there just seemed like he had a million pounds lifted off of him. Because I don't know if you were following Twitter on Wednesday night, but he got fired 7,000 times in the first half. I mean, he was fired. They were doing coaching searches. They were starting to track planes already. They were looking for private planes out of Lexington. It was getting.
- [33:13]
Parrish
Yeah, he's not. By the way, Kentucky fans can get as mad as they want. He will not be fired. If. Famous last words here. They could finish. They're 11 and 6 right now. They could finish with 14 wins. They're still not firing more Pope. And I know it's Kentucky. He's an alum, did good in year one. You can get frustrated all you want. He's getting to year three regardless.
- [33:31]
Norlander
Right. I understand the frustration. I will never try to talk a Kentucky fan out of being frustrated. I stopped doing that probably, I don't know, at least a decade ago. It never worked. Be frustrated if you want, but. Yeah, you can't be in the business of firing the captain of a national championship team after two years, Particularly. Particularly when year one was pretty okay, you know? Yeah. Like, I just. You. That won't work out for you. So he's gonna get to year three and he'll have a big checkbook to go out and go shopping with, and we'll. We'll. We'll see if it goes better.
- [34:08]
Parrish
Goes better this.
- [34:09]
Norlander
This next time. As for whether this is a turning point or not, I don't know with the state, it feels like it's just something that we might look back and go, yeah, that was a lucky thing that happened. You know, that was.
- [34:22]
Parrish
Kentucky should have lost the game. Like this was. This was a theft. So congrats on the. On the thievery.
- [34:27]
Norlander
My fear, if I were a Kentucky fan, would be, you'll look back and go, that was just a lucky thing that happened. That calmed us down for a minute. But now we're right back to being the dysfunctional basketball team we've been much of. Much of this season. Final score, SMU 77, Virginia Tech 76. We got a boopy buzzer beater, Josh. Let's see it.
- [34:49]
Parrish
For the Mustangs. Into Miller, defended by Hammond from half court, The Flames.
- [35:02]
Norlander
Look at the Flames.
- [35:03]
Parrish
By the way, that's awesome.
- [35:04]
Norlander
From the backboard as the ball go through the net. That's Perfect stuff from the. From the pyro guy. Oh, by the way, I think I saw an interview with the pyro guy. With the guy.
- [35:13]
Parrish
Pyro guy got some love. Deservedly so. How about Miller?
- [35:17]
Norlander
Yeah.
- [35:17]
Parrish
From the Miller. From the Miller at half court, David B. Miller is the biggest donor. He's why SMU is in the acc. I love Miller. From the Miller. Before we get to the end of this, this game in general, more impressive. Kentucky win the way it did it or Miller from the Miller More.
- [35:36]
Norlander
More visually satisfying. Miller from the Miller with the fire.
- [35:41]
Parrish
Definitely. But which was, which is the hardest? Which one was harder to pull off?
- [35:46]
Norlander
The Kentucky.
- [35:48]
Parrish
I think I. I think I agree with you players all the time, but you're still half court running. He's running as he shoots it against the clock. It's narrow, but I think the Kentucky one is. Is a harder one to pull off.
- [35:58]
Norlander
Basketball players make that shot all day long. They. They take it every day and they. They make it every day. Not 100%, but you get the point. That's not an unusual shot for them. Whereas I think it might be harder to complete the pass on some level that Kentucky had to complete than it is to make that shot. Both high degree of difficulty, but I think the Kentucky sequence harder than the SMU sequence.
- [36:23]
Parrish
Yes. Josh says in our private. Josh, you can post this in the chat too. He said the SMU shot is more difficult. The Kentucky play is more impressive. I would agree with that. Miller from the Miller is awesome. And two reminders. Never change this rule. Okay. I know NBA, you get to advance it without actually advancing the ball. I don't like it. Me and De Courcey have been on that. Mike Decorsi of Sporting News, USBWA hall of Famer. He's an institution. I'm sorry. We get these kind of endings regularly in college basketball. They are thrilling visuals. They lead literally. They lead CBS Sports hq. They lead Sports center. They lead highlight shows because it's not an inbound play from, you know, 35ft away with a guy coming off a double curl screen. And they hit a buzzer beater. That's fine too. That's cool. There's still room in the college game for that. You gotta make them move the ball up the floor of their own accord. Never change the rule. It's not even up for necessarily changing at this point. But we get this every single week we've talked about on the show. But I forget you're with me, right? Like there's no, there's no need to Just put it. Say you can advance the ball with the timeout. I know the NBA does it. The NBA can do its own thing. I love that college basketball still has it the old school way.
- [37:33]
Norlander
I am. I think I'm with you. I am not nearly as with you on it as de Courcey would be. Like he feels very strongly about it. Like he will die. He'll die on this hill.
- [37:45]
Parrish
It's going to be like the take is going to go in the ground with him. Like he's taking the.
- [37:50]
Norlander
Yeah. It will be his final words.
- [37:53]
Parrish
You know how some people when they're. Sorry, Mike, I think he listens. Some people when they're, when they're dead and gone, someone puts a rose on their chest or something. Someone's going to print out the take and put it with the Corsi. That's what's going to be on his.
- [38:05]
Norlander
Chest in honor of Mike. If I, you know, Mike's going to outlive me. I don't even know what we're talking about.
- [38:10]
Parrish
Yeah.
- [38:11]
Norlander
So, like, there's 100% chance Mike outlives me. But on the off chance I make it and to honor Mike, I'm going to get my sons and we're going to inbound the ball under a basket and we're going to go the length of the court and try to make a play with a clock on us.
- [38:25]
Parrish
Love it.
- [38:26]
Norlander
I don't, I don't think losing that would devastate the game. Because the counter argument is. Yeah, you get more realistic buzzer beating opportunities if you advance the ball. You miss out on Tyus Edney and you know, Christian Laitner and that's some big stuff to miss out on.
- [38:43]
Parrish
But, but you get Jalen Suggs in the final four. The list is, I'm not exaggerating, like hundreds long of these all that's true.
- [38:51]
Norlander
Yeah. I mean, like it's forever long. So you, you, you miss out on that. But what you get in exchange for that is more realistic buzzer beaters more regularly. And so I'm open to both of those things. But if I had to vote one way or another, I would vote yes. Keep it. Keep it. Keep it the way it is.
- [39:11]
Parrish
Okay, 13 and 4. Where are they in your top 25 and 1. This was a brutal loss for Virginia Tech, which actually. Hold on real quick. Virginia Tech has lost at home near the buzzer to wake or. Sorry, at wake. Near the buzzer at home to Stanford a week ago at the buzzer. And here Virginia Tech is 2 and 3 in the ACC and could easily be 5 0. Sorry Hokies fans. That's brutal. I don't even know the last time that happened at the high major level where you had a team lose. They've lost three of the past four. Three games out of a four game stretch where you lose by the, by the lead switching in the final couple of seconds. I, I honestly don't know last time that happened so that's tough. SMU on the reverse though, you know with Bupy Miller back they're now 13 and 4. They avoided three game losing streak. Do you have them in your top 25 and one in any other thoughts on the game?
- [39:59]
Norlander
I do. SMU 24 followed by St. Louis at 25 followed by Utah State at 26. So I've had them in there for a while. They were in the top 25 and one the Mustangs were before they got into the AP poll I believe. So listen, anytime you can flip a loss into a win, that's an awesome moment. When you can do it with with fire going off immediately, it makes for an amazing highlight. We had one more on Wednesday night. You ready for it? Final score Ole Miss 97. Number 21 Georgia 95. Patton Pinkins was the hero this time. Josh hit play Jiffa to store store with three to shoot.
- [40:41]
Parrish
Turnaround jumper no good.
- [40:43]
Norlander
Rebound down foul. Yes, what a foul.
- [40:52]
Parrish
Good win there and that wasn't even. It was a put back overtime situation. George has had a really nice season to start. It wasn't even like a missed box out. There was a, a tip, a wild ball off the glass and then Pinkins hits it. Who is the son of Al Pinkins. Just a gem of a man. Such a nice guy could have been. You know he's kind of for the most part a career assistant. Has bounced around at a bunch of different spots. Just a really, really great assistant coach and a really good dude. Thrilled for him and his, his family that Patton was able, who's just a freshman was able to hit this hit this winner. Get. Get. The University of Mississippi Rebels to 10 and 7. Still a lot of work to do but man that felt urgent because next is at Mississippi State Rivalry game this weekend. Home to Auburn at Kentucky, home to V so far from a lock to make the tournament and have been one of the bigger letdowns. So that's a big one for them. Georgia's 143 dropped two of its past three has a big home game upcoming this weekend against Arkansas. That's a stinger home loss but Mike White's Team on the whole, still outperforming. But yeah, Wednesday night it was the buzzer beater night. We had three high profile ones at the high major level. Those two, that last one wasn't as impressive as the first two but still weirdly nearly as unlikely. Just when you watch the highlight, the ricochets, the caroms and then Pinkins that he gets one, one hand on the ball just before time expires in the, in the free session and, and yeah, Ole Miss gets the win.
- [42:21]
Norlander
So we got the Wednesday buzzer beaters out of the way. Let's bounce through some other interesting results before we get to the final four. And one. Texas 80, number 10, Vanderbilt 64. So we're down to just three undefeated teams. Arizona, Nebraska, Miami, Ohio. Norlander, let me give you credit. I think you picked Vandy to upset to get upset at Tennessee, at Texas. If so I, I tip my cap to you then. If I had a cat.
- [42:48]
Parrish
I did, I did. You had Iowa State still without a loss like three weeks from now. They lost eight hours.
- [42:54]
Norlander
I realized I don't think I know how to tip a cap. How do you tip a cap? Is it just like one of these?
- [43:00]
Parrish
No, it's like. There you go. Yes.
- [43:02]
Norlander
Yeah.
- [43:02]
Parrish
Yeah.
- [43:02]
Norlander
Okay. I tip my cap to you tip your cap.
- [43:05]
Parrish
I appreciate that. I'll take it. I'll take a, I'll take a hat tip. A hack hat tip. Yeah. Yes. Vandy went down. Texas played back to back. Big wins for Texas by the way. So Vandia gets knocked from the ranks of the undefeateds. They got a big game. We'll talk about that in the final four and one upcoming on Saturday and the margin was surprising. 80 to 64. Texas played his best game of the season in what I thought was its most important game of the season. But it was coming off the road when against shorthanded Alabama. But back to back wins for Sean Miller's team to go from 9 and 6 and trending to not making the NCAA tournament to now. Okay, you've actually got some footing here project as a tournament team in the here and now you got more work to do. Impressive showing by Miller's group and they actually have some real juice for the first time this season. So that was mighty impressive. Yes. Just down to three undefeated teams. We wait and see if Texas can sustain some, some real success in the days ahead. The chat has been asking for you to address what happened in West Lafayette on, on Wednesday night so we can, we can go before we go to out west because there's a result There I want to talk about, can we talk about Purdue in Iowa and Braden Smith and Bennett Sturts and get your, get your quick take here.
- [44:18]
Norlander
Number five. Purdue 79, Iowa 72. Braden Smith scoreless in the first day. There was a moment because you might remember on Wednesday's I Own College Basketball podcast, I was, I was like, I've lost my way. I used to be a building truster and 46 boilermaker. Lately I'm picking against Braden Smith, I'm picking against Alan Fieldhouse. I need to do some soul searching, look in the mirror, all that stuff. And so I'd almost been like. It was almost. It was. I don't think, I don't know if I said I'm sorry, but it felt like an apology to both Allen Fieldhouse and my fellow Boilermakers. And, and then there's a point in the first half where it's like Braden Smith ain't scored a point and I was up pretty big and I'm like, I, if I just held out for one more day, this, it could have all circled back in my favor. But then Braden Smith went wild in the second half. Iowa didn't so much and Purdue continued to be a A1 loss team. Braden Smith finished with 16 points, 8 assists, 2 steals. He was great. He is great. Nobody ever said he wasn't great.
- [45:22]
Parrish
I think you said he wasn't great.
- [45:25]
Norlander
I said he's not tall. I said he's not that tall. But that's all I've ever said. He's obviously great and I look forward to him breaking the all time assist record perhaps in the Big Ten tournament.
- [45:40]
Parrish
Really good game. Purdue winds up with the plus 7 margin, but Iowa had the lead early and was really comporting itself. Quite well made for a better than expected watch. Iowa now sitting at 12 and 5. Losers of three in a row. Indiana road game upcoming this weekend. Another noisy result from Wednesday night and a fun game as it was going on. I was, I was thinking like when's the last time that I was like truly locked in for the majority, if not in the entirety of a 40 minute game that involves Stanford playing at home. But I was there on Wednesday. Kyle Smith's Cardinals win 95 to 90 to get to 14 and 4. They've got the Tobacco Road 2 for they're going to host Duke Saturday. But on Wednesday night it was the Abuka Okorie Show. He is, he might be a top five freshman in the country. He's at worst like seven. He had 36 in this game, nine assists, a pair of steals, only one foul, one turnover and 36 minutes was the key player. And in a game that also features Caleb Wilson, you've got two top five, six, seven freshmen in the game. Wilson went for 26, had nine rebounds himself. Paris Steel. So it was awesome to see them go head to head. They were the two most vsar also had a beast of a game for Carolina. It just wasn't enough credit to Kyle Smith what he's doing there. That was a big win. I don't you know Stanford does not rate well in the advanced analytics. It just doesn't but record wise it's doing okay. And Okori is a stud. Just a, a fantastic player in fact. Go ahead gp take it away. I had a nugget on him. I'll dig it up. I think I sent it out on Wednesday night. What your impressions of just, of just the game and as you took it in in the studio.
- [47:31]
Norlander
Well, just I was in studio and Wednesday night I had, I never felt the impact of realignment as much in studio as I felt it Wednesday night. What, what I mean is this, you'll know what I mean. We had like maybe a 10 o' clock tip Utah State and then we go live at midnight and then it's a 30 minute show that re airs at 12:30. That re airs at 1. That re airs at 1:30. Yeah. And typically we're waiting on one game. Maybe the Zags, maybe we're not waiting on anything. But it was like we just got to keep doing the show over and over again because North Carolina's still playing, Duke still playing. There was so much going on that started after 9 o' clock to even 10 o' clock on the east coast that I, I, I think I even said to Adam, Adam Zucker. Zucker at some point like I, I don't remember this many important games happening this late on a Wednesday night. So yeah, we were locked in on Stanford and North Carolina. Tar Heels are up by as many as 12 and like lead for like in terms like 95% of the game. They led for 95% of the minutes but then it obviously flipped on him. And Nikori is, he is terrific. Sort of off the radar freshman in a season where there are so many stars studded. But statistically, I mean Buddy, he's up there, his name comes up a lot.
- [49:07]
Parrish
He was ranked 119th in the class. So not like not a completely off the radar guy, but not far from a five star prospect out of Brewster Academy. Really, really good player to this point in the season he is averaging. I'll bring this up for you real quick and I'll give you the nugget I had and then we can get on to the to the final four and one because he's a genuinely really fun player to watch. 22.9 points, he's top five in the nation in scoring at this point are knocking on the door. That 3.7 rebounds, 3.3 assists needs to work on his shooting a little bit but man, he's got a knack for for getting it done. Nugget that I that I referenced before a Corey is the second freshman according to our CBS Sports research team in the past 30 years with at least 35 points and eight assists against a ranked team. The other one was Trey Young against TCU on December 30, 2017 when he went for 39 and 14 in a game. He yeah, Corey is is absolutely awesome. And to your point, on Wednesday night at one point after midnight on the east coast, yeah Arizona was in a scuffle with Arizona State. Arizona 1 but it was actually a pretty compelling game. BYU top 10 team was losing in the first in the first half after midnight on the east coast was losing to tcu. Of course BYU won. The Banta was awesome again. Duke was in a battle for a bit. They pulled away but after midnight they were in a battle at Cal. That was just as hilarious as I expected to be just seeing that on my screen. One lost. Michigan was in a close game after midnight at Washington. In general, I don't think we have had in a generation a night. I'm including the tournament because the tournament, even the tournament, like you might have one or two stragglers after midnight where you had four top 10 teams playing a game after midnight at the same time. I I'd love to know the last time that happened because it feels like that never ever, ever happened. So I'm right, I'm right there with you. I practically fell asleep on the couch. I was exhausted. But it was, it was a fun little change of pace. It doesn't need to be a normal thing. Like I was dialed in as if it was a Saturday at 2:30 in the afternoon. Because you know, for the purposes of the podcast for you being on on network for hq, you got to watch, you got to know what's happening here. And Wednesday was Wednesday was even more fun than Tuesday.
- [51:27]
Norlander
Yeah. And like this is something if you're a baseball fan you you might be used to, you know, your favorite team goes on a west coast trip or an NBA fan you might be used to, but traditionally in college basketball, this isn't really supposed to be a thing. You know, your conference games are, you know, back in the old days were largely played by against schools geographically sensible to you. But now you've got, you know, North Carolina and Duke playing in the Pacific time zone, which means you got North Carolina and Duke fans like the die Hards on a Wednesday night up after midnight. Like that's, that's, that's not ideal. That's not. Oh, not to mention college students, but we stopped. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. College students. Like college students. And I know classes might not have started here or there, whatever, but you'll get the point. College college students who enrolled in the state of North Carolina spend a week in January or February in California. But we did. We. We. I think we stopped caring about that stuff a long time ago.
- [52:31]
Parrish
We did.
- [52:31]
Norlander
One notable headline, if not result from Thursday. I think we should touch on real quick. Gonzaga won at Washington State 8665. That was a fun game on CBS Sports Network. I had it on late last night. 181 now. The Zags are great. The headline, Bradenhoff, it was announced pre game. Yeah. Gonna be sidelined four to eight weeks with a knee injury that he suffered in practice earlier this week. So if you were going, oh, well, I just watched the Zachs play and he seemed fine. It's something that happened in practice. Eight weeks from the announcement is March 12th, the West Coast Conference championship tournament championship games. March 12th.
- [53:11]
Parrish
10Th.
- [53:12]
Norlander
Yeah. Selection Sunday is March 15th. So let's hope this is closer to four weeks than eight weeks because if it's eight weeks, that's going to have him missing, you know, everything. Everything heading into the NCAA tournament.
- [53:27]
Parrish
Yeah, that's so minimum of a month. You hope it's short. 48 weeks is actually a pretty wide spread. Huff is 17.8 points a game, 5.6 boards, has been a very good player. And I don't know how much it affects them. Maybe the St. Mary's game. Santa Clara is actually pretty damn good this year as well. So we'll see there. But that is. That is a notable injury update for a top 10 team in the country. You get him back in time for tournament, you got obviously real aspirations of winning a national title, making the final Four and all that. But we'll see how long he winds up being out. Of course, rooting for the best sooner rather than later.
- [53:59]
Norlander
You know, as I pointed out, in the top 25 and one on Friday morning, Gonzaga's like 25 spots better than anybody else at Ken palm in the WCC. Take St. Mary's San Francisco, put them over here. They're basically like 90 spots better than everybody else in the WCC. My point being this might not impact their record much, if at all, but you still want this to be closer to four weeks than eight because you just don't want to try to re acclimate a big piece like this heading into a single elimination tournament. You'd like to have at least a few games before that to get him back into rhythm, get his teammates back comfortable playing with him. So I don't think the time frame is important as it pertains to what seed the Zags will be on selection Sunday. But I. I feel better about it if. If I could get him back in time for two regular season games, the WCC tournament. And now, now we're good to go. So get well soon. Young man, you ready to do the final Four and one?
- [55:05]
Parrish
It's going to be our shortest one of the season, by the way.
- [55:08]
Norlander
Let's bounce through it quickly. First, let's get one more word from our partners.
- [55:12]
Parrish
How many discounts does USAA Auto Insurance offer? Too many to say here.
- [55:16]
Norlander
Multi vehicle discount, Safe driver discount, New vehicle discount, Storage discount.
- [55:21]
Sponsor Voice Blue Apron/Shopify
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- [55:27]
Norlander
It's time for the final four and one. Josh, I need you to update us. We can just. I want to hear the game. I want to hear about these records. Just update us on these records. Get it in my ear. Soft voice if you. If you got it.
- [55:41]
Parrish
I. I didn't bring that with me to the office.
- [55:43]
Norlander
Little lower. A little lower. Apologize.
- [55:46]
Parrish
Sounds great to me.
- [55:47]
Norlander
Josh, you've set the standard. I. You've set the standard. I know what you're capable of now. So I feel like we got to pick games.
- [55:54]
Parrish
Like we're. Come on.
- [55:55]
Norlander
Like you're being lazy. I know what you're capable of. Lazy is.
- [55:59]
Parrish
Lazy's kind of crazy, but that actually is kind of 26, 23 and 1 for Parrish. 23, 26 and 1 for Norlander and.
- [56:13]
Norlander
Our friend Kyle Boone.
- [56:14]
Parrish
Strong jaw. 3 and 2 on the records after being involved last week. Well, that's a small sample size.
- [56:20]
Norlander
So I might be wrong about Braden Smith sometimes. And I might be wrong about Alan Fieldhouse sometimes. But, buddy, when it's time to pick games, I'm going to knock it out of the park.
- [56:31]
Parrish
All right, let's see how it goes.
- [56:32]
Norlander
What's game one game one Saturday noon eastern. Kentucky at number 24. Tennessee inside Dane Bradshaw Arena. You can watch it on espn. Kim Pom has it. Tennessee minus six.
- [56:46]
Parrish
That's smaller than you expected.
- [56:51]
Norlander
No, Kentucky still has pretty strong computer numbers. How about this? That's the kinpom number. I bet you once a Jalen Lowe Jaden Quaintance is factored in. The number is bigger on Saturday.
- [57:06]
Parrish
Tennessee. That's an that's a one from Tuesday that we talked about. Double OT home win against Texas A&M. 12 and 5 on the season. Just a beast of a team on the boards. You know, I don't know what Quinton status is. Is he playing in this? Is he not playing? If he is, it's it actually genuinely matters to how I would how I would pick the game. But I'm going to I will say Tennessee gets six is a weird number. I'll say Tennessee wins and covers and we have a little bit of a Kentucky would be sky is falling if they hadn't gotten lucky with the win at LSU on Wednesday night. So give me the balls.
- [57:49]
Norlander
That's where I'm at. I think we'll look back on what happened at LSU and be like that was a neat thing that happened, but it didn't, it didn't flip the season the way anybody would have hoped. I will also take Tennessee minus the six. Game two Saturday, 1pm Eastern. It's UCLA at Ohio State inside the Greg Odin Center. You can watch it on cbs. It's America's most watched network. It's the network of stars. Kim Palm has it. Ohio State minus three hey, if you.
- [58:18]
Parrish
Want to watch us preview this game twice, CBS Sports Network Friday night, Toledo at Kent State, Ohio at Ball State. We might have taped a halftime segment about this very matchup and about this very game. Get a little double dose of GP and Norlander on UCL Ohio State. This is a CBS Sports Classic game that is no more. UCLA is no longer in the rotation there, but of course it is a Big Ten matchup. Not doesn't hit quite as weirdly as Duke at Cal or Duke at Stanford, but it'll have to suffice. Both of these teams have been underachievers. The the the problem with the game for the winning team here is that neither of these teams have a win over a projected surefire NCAA tournament team, Parish. And that will still be the case after this game because the loser is not going to have an NCAA tournament resume. UCLA got the win on the road against Penn State on Wednesday night and it was, you know, plenty of breathing space in that one. Can they go for the back to back? You'll recall earlier this month they got dropped at Iowa and then at Wisconsin. This is the only other significant road trip that UCLA has until their last one to a different time zone. Michigan, Michigan State in a few weeks here I will take, I'm gonna take the team that's at home with the best player. That is Bruce Thorton and Ohio State. But Ohio State's been up and down and up and down. You go back to late November, Parish, it's loss, win, loss, win, loss, win. By game win, Rutgers. So essentially by game, loss, win, loss. So the pattern would suggest they're due for a win here. I'll take the Buckeyes to win and cover.
- [59:56]
Norlander
I heard Mick said he would get back involved in the CBS Sports Classic if they would agree to play it at the Intuit Dome annually. Well, that's not every, every year. CBS Sports Classic inside the Intuit Dome. I don't think, I don't think that's going to happen. Yeah, I actually didn't hear that. That's just something, that's just something I made up. I, I, I, I can't pick a, I can't pick McKronin in the eastern time zone. Inside the Greg Odin Center. This feels like a get d situation. Remember when dealer was a thing, only.
- [60:31]
Parrish
You made it a thing? Yeah, it was fun a thing because you said it on a podcast like nine times in a row. Sure, I remember that.
- [60:38]
Norlander
That is how things that, that's how things become things. Yeah, like I, we had that.
- [60:44]
Parrish
Things become things.
- [60:46]
Norlander
That is how things become things. We have that power. We just say stuff. Next thing you know, I'm out there just randomly getting asked to do peacock impersonations. I can't walk down the street without somebody trying to pull me aside, ask me to act like a peacock. This is how things become things. See? See? This is how things become things. Get diebler, returns to college. Get dieblerd. He got die blurred. Has. Has been absent from college basketball lately. The way that, the way it. After bursting onto the scene.
- [61:19]
Parrish
I think we call that three point variance. But yeah, go ahead.
- [61:24]
Norlander
Got deblered. Burst onto the scene. That's how you got the job. And then it's like disappeared just a little bit. But my prediction, it returns this weekend. Somebody's going to get deeper this weekend and that person is Mick Cronin in the eastern time zone. He will be cranky about it. Game 3, Saturday, 2pm Eastern. Number 19 Florida at number 10 Vanderbilt inside Kevin Stallings gym. Ooh, he deserves that. He did good things there. Don't ever forget. You don't ever forget that. You can watch it on espn. Kim Pom has it. Vanderbilt minus three.
- [62:00]
Parrish
What a tasty game this is. And and really it becomes the game for SEC supremacy. Now at this moment, Florida, Vandy, Arkansas A and M and Mizzou. Those are your three three in one teams. There is not an undefeated team left in the league. The only winless team is the aforementioned LSU Tigers. But the winner here is going to be in the catbird seat for SEC supremacy. Vandy gets the benefit in this one of hosting the Gators. See how they respond after, after that loss to Texas. JP Is this the game of the weekend?
- [62:33]
Norlander
I think so. And it's, I mean it's got to be up there pretty high on the biggest games at Vanderbilt since whatever something, probably something to do with Kevin Stallings, you know and, and oh by the way projected co favorites in the SEC. Now according to kinpom it is Florida and Vanderbilt. There's they're, they're now projected to finish with the exact same record in the league and that record would be good enough, good enough to share the regular season conference championship. So it is kind of a reminder that you know, college basketball seasons can take a lot of different turns because there is a point, I guess that point would have been when Florida started 5 and 4 and Xavier and Lee could make a shot and it was like oh no, they might have got this wrong. This is going to be one of the most disappointing teams in the country because while everybody was talking about Kentucky and St. John's and whatever else, there was a moment where Florida was actually the team that was highest ranked in the preseason AP poll that had found itself unranked at some point and now all that seems in the past they've cracked the top 20 of the AP poll and now just if they play to expectations going forward might hang another conference championship.
- [63:52]
Parrish
Sometimes games don't come down to a single statistical edge but I do wonder if it happens here. Vanderbilt has a top 103 point defense. Florida ranks 353-353-out of 365 teams and 3 point accuracy. I do wonder if the 3 point shooting and the lack of, lack of prowess there for the Gators winds up being the difference here. I will take a third straight home favorite. Give me Vandy to winning cover.
- [64:18]
Norlander
I want to take Vandy too but I just can't keep matching you like this.
- [64:22]
Parrish
You can come on over. Come on.
- [64:25]
Norlander
All right, let's go.
- [64:26]
Parrish
Vandy minus Christine Aguilera once saying come on over.
- [64:29]
Norlander
Oh, man, Christina Aguilera. She's saying a lot of stuff.
- [64:32]
Parrish
She did.
- [64:33]
Norlander
She's saying a lot.
- [64:34]
Parrish
She was a genie in a bottle.
- [64:35]
Norlander
Oh, buddy, you ain't got to tell me. I watched all them videos. I know them videos.
- [64:41]
Parrish
We all did. We all did.
- [64:42]
Norlander
We all did. How could you not? I, I, I. Let's keep it moving.
- [64:45]
Parrish
We got like five. Let's go. Let's go.
- [64:47]
Norlander
Don't get me daydreaming about Christina Aguilera. Jesus Lord, put her in the no context thing, but let me pick out the picture.
- [64:58]
Parrish
Absolutely not. What's game four?
- [65:01]
Norlander
I, I, I, I need to re establish myself as a building truster. That's why I'm going with Kevin Stallings. GM Vader. But minus three. Game four for Saturday, 8pm Eastern. If Florida Vandy ain't the game of the weekend, this one might be. Number 11, BYU at number 15. Texas Tech inside Pat Knight Arena. You can watch it on espn. Ooh, it's a little number. Kim Palm has it. Texas Tech minus one.
- [65:26]
Parrish
I only give Florida Vandy the slight edge because it's Vandy in a home game big time. We just don't see it that often. Texas, Texas had some good ones, but Saturday is just stacked beyond belief. There's basically nothing on Sunday. The only thing on Friday is Baylor at Kansas. Tonight we wait and see the Darren Peterson show and all that stuff. Saturday is just jammed. And you've got the NFL obviously as well. This is fantastic. You've got BYU on the road in a big spot. It's one on the road in league at K State one by 10 and then at Utah last weekend one by five. This is a big step up here. Toppin Christian Anderson against the Bansa. Rob Wright, Richie Saunders, just terrific. Terrific. I'm so jacked for this game. Can't wait for it. This is an 8 Eastern. You said 8 Eastern tip here.
- [66:15]
Norlander
GP 8pm Eastern.
- [66:17]
Parrish
Let's go inside.
- [66:18]
Norlander
Pad Night Arena.
- [66:19]
Parrish
That is, that is fun stuff. Big stuff. I will again, again, again. I will take the home favorite here. I will take McAthlin's group to get it done. JT Toppin is coming off an absurd stat line earlier this week, but this one has immense entertainment potential. Give me ttu.
- [66:39]
Norlander
Yeah, I'm a building truster. You know that. I'm re establishing. I'm getting back to my core, getting back to my roots. Texas Tech minus one in all seriousness Bat Knight Arena. He's got to be like that's going to be a fun visual on Saturday night. Like that, that building. I was I've been there multiple times. I was there last season when Texas Tech is good. That building is great. And yeah, debona in a hostile environment. Terrific. What an awesome way to wrap up, wrap up a Saturday night. Give me, give me, give me the.
- [67:13]
Parrish
N1, the N1 on a list that was very deep of candidates. I'm going with a critical Big east matchup. It is St. John's at Villanova on Saturday. This is an 8pm Eastern tip on Peacock. I think I mentioned this on the show before. Reminder if you have YouTube TV you now have NBC Sports Network. You can watch the Peacock games on your TV in the quad box situation. So you can watch this right alongside BYU at Texas Tech. This is as always for Villanova home games on Carrie Kittle's court. 10 pound has this Nova minus one. I put you in a tough spot here. I admit it. Okay.
- [67:58]
Norlander
This is tough. St. John's is my preseason number one. You might have heard about that. Don't know what. Don't know why we decided to make number one.
- [68:07]
Parrish
I think it's now your in season number 84 right.
- [68:12]
Norlander
I don't know why we decided to make a thing out of St. John's being the preseason number one. But buddy, we did it. Yeah, so I could but I I have also decided I hate them for what they've done to me. So I will hold on to that hate for another day. At least. I'm taking Villanova minus the point.
- [68:30]
Parrish
I will go with the Johnny's to get it done on the road, but a true toss up game here. These teams are both 51 in the big east by the way. So a game with some real leverage and both tracking toward NCBA tournament land. We'll see if they wind up getting there. That's another really fun one on a loaded loaded Saturday. Before we get out of here, let me just give you a few more to be to keep an eye on because yes, Saturday is a it's just a big old day for for hoops here. Stuff we didn't touch on randomly here. Arkansas plays at Georgia 4 years 4 Eastern ESPN2 that's a tasty matchup. Virginia on the road against SMU is a good ACC battle that's going to get it going at noon Eastern On Saturday on ESPN2. Iowa at Indiana 2 Eastern on Fox. That's got some leverage to it. Mid major flavor 7 Eastern ESPN plus St. Mary's at Santa Clara is one we're turning into. Bama goes on the road against Oklahoma. Just keeping an eye on that one. Kind of a sneaky one. Miami at Clemson was the game I almost put in the final four and 1. Miami is 15 and 2. Clemson right now 15 and 3. Clemson has not lost in league play and guess what, neither has Miami. Both those teams are some nice surprises there, so they're looking good. Purdue has to travel out to LA. It's going to play at USC 6 Eastern on Peacock on Saturday. That's a good one. A&M plays at Texas 6 Eastern on ESPN on Saturday. That's tasty. Arizona undefeated watch. Arizona is on the road at UCF for Eastern on Saturday to Nebraska on the road against Northwestern 4 Eastern on Big Ten Network. Miami Ohio is at home against Buffalo, the most likely team to come out of the weekend without a scar or a scratch. In the lost column. There's even more, but that's a, that's a general scan of what should be a pretty packed and a pretty loaded show for us. GP on Here's a heads up for you. A heads up Sunday. Sunday morning I think we're going to target, you know, 10 or 11am Eastern. We got the Bears on. Let's go Bears. We got the Bears Sunday night and it is my wife's birthday so Sunday afternoon is jam packed for me and there's no games of note. So we are going to give you a pod nice and early on Sunday come off of what will be a very riveting Saturday. Worth the hoops. Mark it down. Join us live. Little little eye on college basketball. Basketball brunch episode. Change up the pace.
- [70:50]
Norlander
Yeah. Ain't no, ain't no sense in waiting till the afternoon when the temperatures are dipping and they're going to cover the greens anyway. You know what I mean?
- [70:58]
Parrish
I know what you mean. Absolutely. Yeah. GP couldn't get the, couldn't get the round of golf in. So thankfully you'll have him and I both going early on Sunday morning. Which to recap, which I mean I could see 1314 results worth diving into. It's a very, very fun, very awesome Saturday in addition to to the NFL playoffs, which will obviously occupy a lot of people's time.
- [71:18]
Norlander
All right, let's get out of here. Shouts to Devin Downey. Shouts to Chester, S.C. shouts to Terry Teagle. He's a legend. Huck Larnell. Thank you guys once again for watching listening to the I Own College Basketball Podcast. You're not subscribed Please go subscribe anyway. Subscribe to Podcasts, Apple, Spotify. There's more of us than there are of them. That needs to be reflected in the comments. Do that. We will talk to you again real soon. Till then, take care.
- [71:52]
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