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Matt Norlander
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Producer Josh
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Gary Parrish
Hey 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 YouTube, you can see he's still inside Lucas Oil Stadium. Also, if you're on YouTube, it's late on a Saturday night. No better time to honor Brandon Davies. Smash that like button. And if you haven't smash who's smashing
Matt Norlander
and watching right now.
Gary Parrish
I wish there's.
Matt Norlander
There's some sickos out there there and there might be, there might be some really happy Yukon and Michigan fans right now. Hey, more of us.
Gary Parrish
Imagine, Imagine if you're celebrating, you know, with your significant other and you're like, sweetheart, I just got a tweet alert. It says GP and Norland are about to start. Can we just turn it on in the background?
Matt Norlander
That's right.
Gary Parrish
Can we just keep it on in the background?
Matt Norlander
Come on, you tell me. These face, these faces, these voices, they don't rev the juices. We know what time it is.
Gary Parrish
Okay. I can't imagine this is the way you're supposed to start a college basketball Podcast.
Matt Norlander
It's absolutely not.
Gary Parrish
Hello immediately after the Final Four. So let's, let's, let's keep it moving. If you haven't yet subscribed to the I'm College Basketball podcast, I mean, what are you waiting for? Do that. Wherever you subscribe to podcasts like App, like Apple and Spotify, let's get into it. Final for Saturday. It's in the books. We played two games. We have two teams left. They are Yukon and Michigan. Norlander, it's late. Bump the small talk. Let's take the games one by one in the opposite order in which they were played because the second national semifinal. Oh, buddy. That's something I don't think many people saw coming. Final score Michigan 91, Arizona 73. Total destruction from start to finish in the spirit of a 30 for 30. Norlander, what if I told you Jackson Lindenberg would pick up two fouls in the first 82 seconds, would later suffer a knee and ankle injury that would limit the Big Ten Player of the Year to just 14 minutes. Would you have assumed Arizona would win? Perhaps. But that you'd have been wrong because everything I told you about Yaxel is true. But Michigan still beat the brakes off of Arizona. Up by 31 by 18. Norlander, what in the world was that?
Matt Norlander
It was an incredible night for Michigan fans and a massive bummer for the rest of the college basketball world. That was hoping that one of the all time final four matchups could live up to the hype. It did not even come close. So I, I as I do every year at the Final Four because we got a podcast. I've got HQ after the second game. I always write off of the first game but it's, it's, it's good. You know, it's a, it's a busy, busy turnaround but I wanted to be out here at the start. So I, I interview Dan Hurley on hq, get what I need to get. I get out here, I got a little bit of copy done. Want to watch some of the game to start. And it's immediate GP like just the they got off to a 10 to 1 start. I want to say Michigan did yaks but Yaxel gets the foul trouble. Then he twists his knee. We think he's out. Is his season over? Is his college career over? It just didn't matter. Michigan made Arizona look like it was an afterthought of an opponent in the non conference. Michigan reverted to players era. Michigan it, it logged one of the most impressive Final four victories we've seen considering the opponent, I mean, Arizona is going to finish as the number two team at KenPom this season. And Michigan just won 9173. Became the only team ever to score 90 plus points in his first five NCAA tournament games. And in every single one of those games, win by double figures. It was a, it was an 18 point margin that at one point
Gary Parrish
I
Matt Norlander
was part of this was. I was filing the Yukon story to make sure we were good and this wasn't traumatic. Michigan led by 30 in this game. I like if when that happened I, it was such a wide margin that I think I was filing the story and it was just like, this isn't even close right now. But I didn't. If you had asked me first question and I didn't have it in front of me, how, how big did Michigan's lead get tonight? I would have said 26 or so. They got up by 30. They got up by 30 HP on Arizona, an Arizona team that you and I both picked to win the game. I've got more on that before we get out of the show. Don't let me get out of here without bringing up that because we've got to talk about the fact that I was used as motivational material for the Michigan men's basketball team leading into this game. But we'll circle back to that eventually.
Gary Parrish
I'll have you, I'll have you know I picked Michigan at least three or
Matt Norlander
four times and Arizona another four or five. I'm aware of it. Okay.
Gary Parrish
Something like that.
Matt Norlander
Yeah. I don't, I don't know if your face was used in the promotional material to motivate the men's basketball team. Mine was. And Yaxel Lindenborg let me know it after our HQ interview was done, which I appreciate. Although it probably would have made for better content if he really just dragged me right there on camera.
Gary Parrish
So talk me through that. What did he say to you?
Matt Norlander
Okay, we can go into this right now, but I want to get back to the game. So I, I picked Arizona to win. But I had called Mike Boynton on the Michigan staff after we knew the Final Four matchup and all that. I was like, hey, man, I just saw this team playing San Jose. I saw them play at the Big 12 tournament. I saw them win at BYU. I saw them win at UConn. Like, they are an absolute behemoth. This must be like a ridiculous task you've got ahead of you. I was like, I'm just letting you know they got to make us pick the games. You guys have been awesome, but I'm taking Arizona. He proceeded to lie to the entire roster during the prep and said, this guy, Matt Norlander, he knows what he's talking about most of the time. Known him a long time, really smart guy. Has a great podcast with Gary Parrish. He told me he doesn't think we have a chance against this. Keep in mind he's saying this straight face to his players now. It wasn't just me, apparently on ESPN game day earlier today. I didn't see it, but the entire panel, the classic, every single logo was that red, white and blue A. There wasn't any block M that was picked. So there were a variety of different media characters that were used as motivational material. But I was apparently a part of this for the past two or three days. And so then Yaxel afterward was like, oh, I know that because this mug was used as part of it. He's like, oh, I, I remember that face. Yeah. Oh yeah. To give me real flack, which was awesome. Yaksa was an incredibly fun interview. A massive rap. He got drug tested after the game tonight. Told me he had like, I think he said it to everyone, but he said, I am playing Monday no matter what. He told me his family and his agent told him at halftime, you're not going back in the game. And he said, screw you, I got cleared. I'm going to play. Apparently sprained, he told me, sprained MCL and maybe a sprained lcl, but they're not keeping him off the floor. I'll be interested to see how he feels tomorrow. I'll throw it right back to you. There's a lot to get to with this game and I know we don't want to go too, too, too long tonight, but I was so mightily impressed by him coming back on the floor floor, which I didn't even think that was possible after everything that he went through there and, and then him logging all those minutes and they were winning easily. But awesome character and he was. The adrenaline was flowing through him. Heavy gp I appreciate him giving us time and giving us a one on one exclusive for CBS Sports hq.
Gary Parrish
I love that Yaxel. I had that moment with you. Also love that he, according to you, defied the wishes of both his family and, and his agent. And I know that when his family and his agent, or I should rephrase, I think I know when his family and his agent say you're not going back in this game, perhaps they mean because it's lopsided and you don't need to. But you know, it's like, hey, we got to protect ourselves, we're a first round pick and all that stuff. Just know NBA franchises would much rather see him get back out there and play than shut it down in the second half. On the advice of family members and agents, he helped himself by trying to get back on that court. This is the type of stuff that comes into play when NBA front office executives are evaluating prospects. They want to know what's right here. They can see all the other stuff on synergy. But what drives you? How are you wired? What do you want? What do you chase? What will you fight through? These are questions that have been addressed in a variety of ways over the years with different prospects in it will be a big topic of conversation at the top of the draft this year. And I think Yaxel helped himself in only 14 minutes tonight by trying to get out there and playing a game where, according to you, he was being advised not to. As for the actual game, like the point I made on Bracket Breakdown at the end of the night on CBS Sports Network is like, one seeds don't do this to other one seats. This is not supposed to happen. This is the type of thing you see in the round of 64, maybe the round of 32. Every once in a while they pop up here and there. But 1 seeds are not supposed to do this to 1 seeds. In fact, you can look it up. This has only happened 18 points. A one seed over one seed a handful of times, up by 30 at one point in the game. Ridiculous. When your best player and the reigning Big Ten player of the year barely plays. I mean, incredible. And so they didn't just do this to anybody. They did it to a team that won the Big 12 outright, that won the Big 12 tournament. I don't know if you follow the sport closely, but if you don't like the Big 12 also has Houston and Kansas and Iowa State and BYU and Texas Tech. And I know this year they weren't great, but Baylor is a terrific program. We could go on down the line. But I think you get the point. If you win that league outright and you win that league's tournament, you are elite. Keep in mind, when we woke up on Saturday, Arizona was number one in the predictive markets. And when we went to bed on Saturday night, they had gotten beat down pretty good. And still big picture, I think incredible season. And if you'll let me argue it, I would say good weekend. I know you got blown out in the national semifinals, but you kept Your coach, and you kept your coach after he reinforced all aspects of the program to put himself and that program in a position to do this again. Oh, and I'm sure they will. Arizona and Tommy Lloyd will be back on this stage again. I assume next time it'll go better than it went this time. But this time it, it, they started poorly and it, it kind of got worse from there. I, I, I, I said a million times I could see the game going either way, but I could not see the game going this way. This shocked me. Seeing Arizona get handled like that was very, very surprising.
Matt Norlander
Yep. You mentioned it's happened a handful of times. Only two other times have two one seeds met. And, and there's been an 18 point margin period. We had this one, we had Kansas over Carolina in the 08 Final Four and that was that. Packer, this game is over.
Gary Parrish
I think that was, I believe that's it. I, I will tell you that got up, that got brought up many times tonight in the, okay, yeah, like somebody, somebody tweeted, you know, this game is over.
Matt Norlander
No, but I did like in the second half, I was like sitting here in pressure. I was like, are we done? This is done that we're not getting a close game. And, and then as I was thinking that the very next play, Michigan buried at 3, I was like, yeah, I guess we're done. So that one, Georgetown, St. John's in 85. Also an 18 point margin between 21 seeds. A real quick, you know, post mortem on Arizona. Then we give Michigan more love because they're very deserving of what they did here. Arizona finishes the season 36 and 3. I completely agree with you. Tommy Lloyd's going to make another Final Four. You know, nothing is ever guaranteed where he is in his career. You know, if he wants, he has a minimum of 15 years of head coaching ahead of him. And, and I think that he will, he will get back here. He had to be just downright stunned. And why wouldn't you be? We're all stunned. We just, we're not supposed to get this kind of result. The fact that it was just never a game is also part of it. Arizona had not lost a game wire to wire. I saw in our notes. I think it was 2024, like in November 24th. That's the last time they had a wire to wire loss, period, which is just stunning. Keep in mind, Arizona had dominated through the tournament. Like Michigan won every single game by double digits. Another shocking element to just the way that this, that this night played out the freshman not impactful. At the end of the night we sat here with Braden Burry's having 13, Co Opied having 16 and Karchenkov just had six. But they weren't efficient. Arizona as a team just shot 6 to 17 from 3. A team that doesn't take a lot of threes, not built to obviously come back from down 30. So there's that angle to it. Jaden Bradley had a couple. He got three first half fouls which was a killer. One of them was definitely not a foul. Whatever. Another one was debatable. I asked him about that in the locker room after says, you know, said what you think you'd expect him to say. Like it was tough. Wish he could have it back.
Gary Parrish
He had.
Matt Norlander
He, he also said, and I'm paraphrasing him here, but like, you know, a couple of fouls were, you know, debatable at best and, and, and completely understand. He handled himself incredibly well like Jade Bradley is. I got to see him in person and interview him multiple times a season. Extremely impressive on that end of it, but it's just. Thanks, man. Like Crevis was dominated by Mara in a way that I didn't think was going to happen. Die. Mara just like turned himself to a lottery pick. Maybe like this was just an incredible run, but we'll get to Michigan in just a second here. Bottom line in Arizona is really, really, really, really good season. One of the best Arizona teams ever. I'm sure there's a faction of Arizona fans that are out there that are like the drought ended but damn, it's like one heartbreaking exit from this tournament after another. Like we don't usually leave the tournament quietly. There's some dramatic ending or embarrassing ending or we're losing in the first round. I know this program has had a lot of that over the years. You're in good hands with Tommy Lloyd. He is your coach, you know, you know, for the next however, 10 plus years. And it was just stunning to see how much, how much of a factor they weren't in the game. Basketball is a funny game, man. Like let this be the latest reminder that there's just, there's never a guarantee. No matter how much you think a game could go one way or another, one team will win or another, you just never know. Any outcome is always on the table. Just about no matter the teams. I was stunned by this. It's an 18 part margin to me that feels closer to 30. And all credit to Michigan. So take it where you want, GP but I do want to give Michigan a little bit of love before we move on to UConn over Illinois.
Gary Parrish
Yeah, so we'll put a bow on Arizona, come back to Michigan, then move on. It had been a topic of conversation. You know, Arizona doesn't shoot threes. They. It's not that they don't take. It's not that they don't make them at a high percentage. It's that they don't take them at all. And can you really win a national championship playing this way? I think I got to a point where if you can win the Big 12 outright and win the Big 12 tournament, you, yeah, sure, you can win a national championship playing this way. Why not? But you better not go. Go down 30 in a game, because it's hard to come back when you don't shoot threes. And so that was a point that was obvious tonight. And I, I, you know, Tommy talked to Tracy Wolfson post game and was great. And I just, like, you know, he handled it the way I assumed he would handle it. Having known Tommy for a long time, he was composed and cool and like, we're gonna go watch it, you know, and we're gonna look like and try to learn something from it. And that strikes me as a totally true statement. He is absolutely the type of coach who will dive into that and figure it out and recognize this is what I should have done differently. This is what we should have done differently. He'll be a better coach having this happen to him tonight. And he's already, obviously one of the best coaches in the country.
Matt Norlander
Yeah, I agree. It's such a stinger. You want to just be involved in a competitive game where I'm talking to you right now. This is my. This is my press seat here. Look, actually, I'll show real quick one of the. One of the cool things about. I used to sit, as people know, behind one of the benches. When the selection committee went from 10 to 12 people, the press lost two seats. And as a result, those purchase rep, which actually were super beneficial and valuable as a reporter, but they're not there anymore because, like tonight, I guess, like, represented like Bret, your Marcus was in the seat that I once sat in, famously with the gusters for lever stickers. But that's. That's. That's Bird right there. That's Iron Eagle. That's Grant Hill, and that's. And that's Bill Rafter receipt. And this is where this was my perch. But if we go right across the way, that's Arizona's bench right over there. And I only bring that up to say I'm looking at like I got a clear line of sight on Tommy and just GP like at the under 16 called another timeout after that I think before the under 12. And he's just got a look that it's like how is this happening? And it's completely understandable. I look forward to seeing how that program bounces back. I would. This is just guesses off of my end here. And then one with Michigan. Burry's gone. Pete gone. Karchenkov back. Crevis is an interesting one. I will say. He comes back. Bradley obviously gone. Del or so gone. Owaka gone. Those are the biggest rotation players there and then they'll. They'll load up as a function of his new contract there. Arizona is going to have plenty to work with in the portal and they've got plenty to sell. Tommy Lloyd finishes year five 148 career wins. No coach in the history of the sport has more wins in his first five seasons as a head coach than Lloyd, who capped it off with the final four run. We'll see where it gets back. Okay, Michigan got to talk Mara. He goes for 26 points, nine boards, a pair of blocks looked incredible. There were a couple of gorgeous like delicate lobs from Cadou to Mara on. On these, on these alley. Oops. He was all over the floor. Could someone in the chat had this a few minutes ago? I completely agree. Like Cado had like the the best bad game ever on a Final Four stage. He was 5 of 17 from the field, 2 of 10 from 2 from 2 point range but had 10 dimes, 2 to go with 6 turnovers to go with 4 steals. Getting to see him up close here at court level like played with real physicality. So how he set up Mara Mares Johnson is just a size and a problem. He didn't have the best game but he played well. Londonborg. The fact they did this without him on the floor for 15 minutes is incredible. Let me look at the plus minus here. GP real quick. This is why I hate plus minus. A die. Mara was a plus 10 and he was by far the best player on the floor. Cadot plus 21. Trey McKinney plus 22. The best of them all. I hate individual plus minus. It's not a reliable stat whatsoever. But I was curious what yaxels plus was. It was plus 15. Dusty May 3 years ago Got to this point. Remember what happened GP trivia time off the top of your head. Final Four.
Gary Parrish
Yes. San Diego State hit a crazy shot at the buzzer.
Matt Norlander
There we go.
Gary Parrish
Lamont Butler shouts to Lamont Butler.
Matt Norlander
Butler. I believe it's the only shot in the history of the Final Four where the losing team ball was in the air. If the shot misses, you lose. If the shot goes in, you win. I think it's the only instance that's ever happened in the Final Four game. Anyway, the point is Dusty came so close to getting to Monday night, couldn't get it three years ago. Now he gets here under much different circumstances. I'm wowed by all of it. I think the way that Michigan won this game. Setting up for potential to win on UConn. And we'll mostly preview the title game on Sunday. This is more about reaction stuff tonight, but if Michigan does this again, and by does this, I mean if it wins comfortably by double digits, it's going to have a case as one of the better champions of the past 25 to 30 years. And doing it while Yaxel was largely a non factor in this game is outrageous. So all credit to the Wolverines for recapturing that magic from players era. And obviously they had a few other times this season. They've been, they've been rolling in the tournament as well. They were able to carry it over into Indianapolis in the way that Arizona wasn't and, and sends a real, real, real big message and congrats to Wolverines fans. You got one more to break the Big Ten drought. Can they do it Monday night? You know, everyone knows at this point, 26 years since you last got one.
Gary Parrish
And so with. I, I think maybe what we're going to realize at the end of this thing is that this, and perhaps we should emphasize this now, maybe this says less about Arizona and just illustrates exactly how overwhelming Michigan can be because they've done this to other good teams this year. I just didn't expect them to do it to this team on this night. But they've done this to other really, really good teams this season. So Dusty has built an absolute monster. And he now has at least two perfect pregame photos from the same season. One when he is sitting in front of the student section at Michigan State earlier in the season at the.
Producer Josh
What was tonight?
Matt Norlander
I don't know. Tonight's.
Gary Parrish
There is a picture of Dusty Mae sitting courtside scouting. I thought maybe you're the one that tweeted it.
Matt Norlander
Oh, no. Okay. Yeah, no, no, now I know what you're saying. Yeah, I did. Yeah, he was. I think, I think that. I think this is Goodman. So credit to Jeff Goodman from Field of 68, who they may or may not be podcasting right alongside us. He had it down there.
Gary Parrish
Credit where credit's due. I wouldn't try to give it to you if it was Goodman. That's Jeff Goodman, 68.
Matt Norlander
But I talked to Dusty at halftime, and I said, I don't know if I've ever seen a. Because usually the assistant scout, I was like, I don't know if I've seen it, like, for Arizona. Back behind me over here, Jack Murphy, associate head coach. He had the scout. He was taking care of it primarily, but Dusty was with one of his assistants, Kyle Church. And I said, what do you think? He's like. And he actually gave me. This was another thing. That guy. I'm getting grief from Michigan left and right on. On hq. He's like, I don't know why they give you media folks such great seats, but I loved it. I love taking in a game. And he did tell me he's like one. I wanted to see UConn in person. He obviously seen Illinois in person. I wanted to see them in person myself. I wanted to do this. But he also wanted to take in the game from like, this. He doesn't get to do this.
Gary Parrish
Right.
Matt Norlander
He's coaching in the games. He never gets to actually, like, sit courtside and watch a game. And so I think the first thing he told me was, I just want to watch a basketball game, man. So, like, half joking, half serious, but that was. That was. That was. That was pretty cool. And we'll see if it pays off for him on Monday night.
Gary Parrish
All right, when we come back, we will turn our attention to UConn Illinois. But first, can we get a word from our partners?
Matt Norlander
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Gary Parrish
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Matt Norlander
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Gary Parrish
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Matt Norlander
Garlic parmesan sauce. Okay, I'm going thin crust, red sauce, spinach. You know what, give me some banana peppers too. Thin crust. It's the four seed of all pizzas. I stand by it.
Gary Parrish
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Matt Norlander
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Gary Parrish
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Matt Norlander
Yeah, I, I, I do think we've got two different doozies from Saturday night in very different styles. Michigan winning was way more of a shocker than how UConn won. But you know Dan Hurley has won with this team this season in a variety of different ways. Okay and if if anyone wants to go and find my interview with Hurley after the game game on HQ really cool moment. I was interviewing him and as I am interviewing him the entire Fab Five walks by. So like the interview is interrupted by Chris Weber and Hurley whispering I don't even know what into his ear. Just cool fun stuff. And then I asked him about that. Hurley is superstitious as anything I know. Our social account posted when he walked into the arena today and had for the first time he's going to the locker room in inside the arena. They're playing things from past Final fours in Indianapolis and what does he see? He sees his brother in 1991 in Indianapolis playing for Duke's first national championship team. He takes it as a sign. Sure, why the hell not. He got it done and he from from Terrace Reed transferred from Michigan. Alex Caravan comes back and he was a part of the title teams Braylon Mullins bringing him back to to Indiana and and one thing after another he just feels like he feels like it's faded to be and why wouldn't it be fated to be but the way they won this game I thought was impressive in this sense. Keaton Wagner for the most part had himself a nice game but they neutralized so much of what the Bigs wanted to do and they were able to get another they didn't get an amazing game out of Terror street but Terrace Reed had enough. They didn't get an amazing game out of Braylon Mullins, but Braylon Mullins had enough. In fact, he hit three over there. Did it make it eight? I can't remember the margin, but when he hit that three on your viewing right side coming off that curl, it might have even been the same action or very similar action as his second three of the game right over here in front of me. That, that was enough. Solo ball, 13 points. Didn't have a great game. It was enough. Alex Caraban in the spot, really did not have himself a good game, but in aggregate, it was all enough. And Illinois was incapable of handling some of the blitzing on the ball screen action they did was not. It had some bad bounces, some bad rolls. I mean, one all time bad roll where the ball practically took a nap on the rim and still didn't go in. But at the end of it all, GP Hurley said, I was surprised, not that we were an underdog. I was surprised that we were not given more of a chance. And considering what we did previously. So they get it done. Really impressive. And there it is.
Gary Parrish
So, yeah, we'll get back to the broader game in a second. I do want to circle back to Braylon Mullins and I think this is probably a good place to talk about tonight's most impactful performance or at least tonight's most impactful shot in the same day delivery of the game brought to you by Shipt your go to grocery delivery destination for anything you may need for game day. Norlander. We're going to give this to Braylon Mullins back home in Indiana. I actually sat down with his mom and dad, Josh and Katie, on Saturday afternoon. Talked with them with Adam Zucker on CBS Sports Network. Pleasant folks. They were terrific. And then they got to watch their son. Look who's behind you. It's Jeff Goodman. Hey, tell him, will you tell him? I just credited him. I just credited him.
Matt Norlander
Yeah, you got credited for your Dusty May picture. Yeah. So you got tell him I miss his youngest son. His youngest son.
Gary Parrish
He has to bring him to Tom's Watch Bar tomorrow.
Matt Norlander
No, you have to.
Gary Parrish
Four to seven. Four to seven. John Martin will be hosting and we got to have him talk about his chin. All right.
Matt Norlander
There you go.
Gary Parrish
Better do it. You better do it.
Matt Norlander
There we go. I don't know what any of that means.
Gary Parrish
My, my family's here with me. My little guys and my wife are here. I believe oldest son is, is maybe coming tomorrow.
Matt Norlander
Okay.
Gary Parrish
And so we ended up at St. Elmo the other night and Lou Was holding court at the. At the table, you know, after he went and dapped up Darren Peterson, he then was holding court at the table all night. And he seems to be the star of the Final Four. He has a. He has a big personality. I. I've been told more than once this. This week. Yeah, I, I can see he's your son. So.
Matt Norlander
Okay, well, there you go.
Gary Parrish
He's. He's. He's a. He gets going sometimes with his mouth a little bit, and he's. We've had a blast. We were there for the first game. I was in the building for the first game tonight for this.
Matt Norlander
Wow. I think that was the first time in more than a decade Paris has been in the building for a Final Four title game.
Gary Parrish
I watched the entire game. I was there from start to finish. But again, we'll get back to Braylon Mullins real quick. I got to sit down with. With Josh and Katie. They were terrific. And then. This is just never lost in me. They walked back. Norlander ate all the cookies tonight. There were no cookies in the middle of a story. Would you tell them this is a sponsored segment.
Matt Norlander
We're doing a sponsored segment and we get out of here. This.
Gary Parrish
This is why I could never go over there to the field of 68. There's too many people just jumping in all the time. There's like.
Matt Norlander
There's like 14 of them. Okay. It's ridiculous.
Gary Parrish
Do you think I could ever do that? I need it to be me and you.
Matt Norlander
That's all. That's all we need.
Gary Parrish
It's me and you. That's all I need.
Matt Norlander
That's. That's all this ever needed.
Gary Parrish
I'll take a Fornelli every once in a while. All right.
Matt Norlander
Where is Fournelli? Where are you? Show your face, you coward.
Gary Parrish
Show your face for Nelly.
Matt Norlander
I haven't seen a lot of tweets from Tom in the past five or six hours.
Gary Parrish
All right. I hope shift is loving this.
Matt Norlander
I know. I think you were still in the middle of a Braylon.
Gary Parrish
Yeah, they're getting a 10 minute segment out of this, a 10 minute sponsored segment because of Jeff Goodman and Rob Doster. All right. So anyway, as I was saying before I was so rudely interrupted by the field of 68. They. They live 30 minutes from this building. You know, this is a place. This is a place where they. They come to watch football games and concerts. And tonight they walked into that same place and watched their son bury a dagger three with 52 seconds left. That turned a four point game into a seven point game and more or less secured the victory. The victory. He just caught it and let it fly from 25ft.
Matt Norlander
Yeah.
Gary Parrish
Quick, quick release. Which is why he's gonna be a top 20 pick in the draft and make a lot of money at 6 fix 6 and letting it go like that. Did you call game at that point when he made that? And I know Keaton Wagner came back and banged everyone and I was like, all right, let's go.
Matt Norlander
I know.
Gary Parrish
I was like, okay, this is the good stuff. But it felt like when Mullins hit that shot it was done and tents that purposes it was because I think whatever point total that put Yukon to Illinois never got to that number.
Matt Norlander
I could be wrong on this. I want to say that got it to 6,153. It doesn't matter. I can't remember but I.
Gary Parrish
It pushed it from four point game to seven point game in the final 52 seconds.
Matt Norlander
Yeah, there we go. Yeah. Yeah. So it must have been more than that. Maybe 66, 59, whatever. It was a really, really big shot in. In the moment. And Mullen showing up like that's just so awesome for him. I really, really love that we had our. You know, March Madness Confidential crew has been with UConn for this whole run. They had a good thing that published earlier. I think they ran it on Saturday, maybe they ran it Friday. But they did all these interviews like leading into the sweet 16 like after the bracket came out and just stuff on Braylon in general and Dan Hurley saying like maybe he's got a moment coming. It was just cool foreshadowing. They couldn't possibly know what he was going to do in D.C. and then oh, by the way he started the game, hit his first two three pointers here so kind of picked up where he left off. I thought that was important for UConn in the early going there and yeah, I just keep I with Yukon winning the game this way and I know we gotta. I know we're in the middle of a segment here, but to have Mullins not shrink in the moment.
Gary Parrish
Right.
Matt Norlander
And and him to play that role I thought was. Was pretty key. And Wagler and Mullins I said is this out earlier CBS Sports research with an insane nugget. They both freshmen opposing teams in a Final Four and or national title game at least 15 points. The only other time that's ever happened was Jordan and Ewing in 82. So that's absurd. Absurd. I don't think Braylon Mullins and Keaton Wagler are going to necessarily have those kind of two massive legacies, you know, decades from now, but they could go on to incredible NBA careers and they made some history going up against each other here on this night.
Gary Parrish
Well, thanks for ruining my trivia time.
Matt Norlander
Oh, I'm sorry. I tweet. I tweeted out in the middle of the game, so what do you want?
Gary Parrish
Okay, I wasn't paying attention. Yeah, yeah, it been hilarious. If I trivia timed you on something you tweeted an hour ago.
Matt Norlander
Yeah, I'm pretty sure that that's happened plenty.
Gary Parrish
So, hey, like I mentioned, I. I sat down with Brayland's parents and I was talking. So we sat down and we had like 20 minutes before we went live. So we're just like chitchatting. And I was like, you tell me, because I've been saying all week, like, it sort of occurred to me, I've been saying this all week. I've been like, you have to understand when you could shoot it like that, you know, 32ft in rhythm, step into it, that's really nothing for a guy like that. I bet he's in the open gym, he can make that shot all day long. And I'm like, I've been saying it on TV all week. I don't. I've never been in a gym with your son. You tell me, could he make that shot all day long? He said he takes it all day long. Like he's. And then this. There was a stretch, Braylon's father told me today where he wasn't shooting well this season. And just sort of in a flippant way, his dad told him, maybe you need to back up a little bit. Like, you don't usually shoot from the three point line anyway. You can get cleaner looks if you back up a little bit. Just back up a little bit. And you know, you can shoot from 25 instead of whatever. And so he. So he was sort of grinning like. And then he really backed up out of necessity. And Barry's a shot of, of a lifetime. So it was just for them to experience that last week and then get to spend this week immersed in it. And then like, just wake up in your house and get in your car and drive to the stadium. You looked at your whole life and your son, and then he comes out, he's banging threes home at the beginning, in the middle of the game wasn't so great, but he finished strong, made the biggest bucket of the game. And that suggests to me that you do this in back to back games on big stages where Maybe you're not as sharp, but at the end you deliver when it's time to deliver. That's. That's something. That's not an accident. He's. He's built that way, he's wired that way. That will help him when it comes NBA draft time. And that was the same day delivery of the game brought to you by ship.
Matt Norlander
An all timer. You're welcome. Shipped.
Gary Parrish
You're welcome.
Matt Norlander
You're welcome. Shipped.
Gary Parrish
We did you right. Shipt. You can use Shipt to order all your favorites same day. From your favorite snacks to theme. Perfect decorations. They got it covered. Download the app or order@shipt.com that's shipt.com S H IPT.com all right, this is where I had my trivia time.
Matt Norlander
Okay.
Gary Parrish
I was like, by the way, interesting note on keaton Wagner getting 20 and Brayla Mullen's getting 15. You know how it ends after that?
Matt Norlander
You want trivia time? I got trivia time. Okay. Come on, a trivia time.
Gary Parrish
Let's go.
Matt Norlander
Well, it's on Michigan. I guess we can do it anyway. Michigan, through five games in the NCAA tournament has outscored its opponents March total margin of victory by 118 points. It's the fifth most ever. Can you name two of the four teams that have had more to this point in the history of the tournament?
Gary Parrish
I can't.
Matt Norlander
But can you give me guesses?
Gary Parrish
No, but I just saw it. I saw it like 45 minutes ago. I just didn't put it in my notes and now I can't remember. But I know exactly what you're talking about.
Matt Norlander
Here it is. Michigan's +118.96. Kentucky was +120. 2016 Villanova was +121.24 Yukon was +125 and 99. Duke, maybe the best team or certainly one of the three or four best teams ever did not win a title. Plus 126 heading into that national title game, which they lost to Eucon. So we'll see if Michigan can get it done or if it's going to be a victim of UConn again. Hey, real quick on the. On the Illinois side. 289 season Underwood gets this program to a final four. The two programs that had the longest routes here in Indianapolis, they couldn't get one more game to get to the ultimate night in college basketball. So not only do we not have an Arizona Illinois title game, that and what that would have stoked with with their previous NCAA tournament history, neither of them even get their Period. And Illinois brought a ton of people. If you want to get into the national title game on Monday night, tickets will be able to be found. And Michigan fans are going to scoop them up heavy. But congrats to Brad Underwood and the Align Eye on a really, really good season. Unfortunately, they just were not able to get enough support all around him. And credit to kymani Young, the UConn assistant. He had the scout here because he had the same scout for the Illinois game back in November. This Illinois team only scored fewer than 65 points two times this season, and both times they were against Yukon, and the only other time, and I saw our buddy Borzello sent us out. Courtesy of ESPN Stats and Research. Illinois's three worst games period, in the past three seasons all came against UConn. The two this season and then that drubbing in the Elite Eight in Boston back in 24. So that's.
Gary Parrish
That's the scout. To be clear, that's not an accident. That's.
Matt Norlander
Yes, they.
Gary Parrish
They figured out something that for some reason other staffs have not figured out.
Matt Norlander
Correct. Yeah, no doubt about it. So that's what I got on that end. It's all you.
Gary Parrish
All right, like, I think we've done enough there. Let's do. Up next. Let's get a break. Let's get a break from our partners.
Matt Norlander
I got no idea where we're going right now.
Gary Parrish
Okay. It's the weekend whip around. Is it with a twist? With a twist. It's the weekend whiff around. With a twist.
Matt Norlander
Oh, I can't wait to find out what we're doing.
Gary Parrish
You're about to see how creative I had to get with this. Give me a word from our partners. This is Gary Parrish. I have a confession. The confession is that sometimes, yeah, I hit an afternoon wall. Say, in between doing the I Own College Basketball podcast and, you know, walking to the broadcast center for a night in studio, I realized I probably didn't get enough rest. I need some caffeine. I want something sweet, but not like some big sugary drink. And that's why I'm obsessed with the new fruity rainbow shots from Five Hour Energy. They seriously taste like a handful of classic rainbow candy. Bright, juicy, and fun, but with a caffeine kick built in. It's like caffeine finally got that flavor glow up it always deserved. It was 17 flavors total in the five hour energy lineup. There is something for every mood, but this fruity rainbow launch is all about that bold, sweet, fruity chaos. What do I love most? It's the big flavor in that tiny portable two ounce bottle. I can throw it in my bag, keep one in my car, stash it at my desk golf bag. It's no bulky can, no sticky wrappers, no sugar crash. It's a zero sugar treat that's totally sweet tooth approved. So it feels indulgent, but it's actually practical. If you're gonna grab caffeine anyway, it might as well taste like candy. Get Candy Flavored Chaos with fruity rainbow 5 Hour Energy shots available online at 5 Hour Energy.com or Amazon. March is here, and if you've ever followed the tournament, you know one thing, the only predictable thing is the chaos. Upsets buzzer beaters, Cinderella runs. It's and that's exactly why DraftKings Sportsbook, the number one sportsbook for live betting, is built for March. The tournament is unexpected, rewards are guaranteed, and DraftKings Sportsbook is delivering some of the most generous rewards in the market. What I like about DraftKings it is the live betting. With DraftKings, the number one sportsbook for live betting, you're not betting on what might happen later, you're betting on what's happening right now. While the game unfolds, momentum shifts, big plays, last second drama. You can get in on the action as it happens. And if you're new to DraftKings, it's the perfect time to jump in. Just bet $5 and get 200 in bonus bets instantly. Download the DraftKings sportsbook app now and use code I. That's code I eye to turn five bucks into 200 in bonus bets instantly. In partnership with DraftKings. The crown is yours. Gambling problem. Call 1-800- Gambler or 1-800- My Reset New York call 877-8-HOPE NY or text Hope NY, CT call 888-78-9-7777 or visit on behalf of Boot Hill Casino in Kansas. Wager Text Pass through May apply in Illinois 21 in most states. Void in Ontario, restrictions apply. Bonus bets expire seven days after issuance. For additional terms and responsible gaming resources, see sportsbook.draftkings.com promos Limited time offer.
Matt Norlander
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Gary Parrish
The weekend whip around is brought to you by Domino's guys. This is a championship level deal. You can get any pizza with any toppings for just 9.99. Okay, now it's time for the weekend Whip around, which we will use, which we will use this time to put a bow on a couple of players from teams whose seasons ended this weekend here in Indianapolis. If you don't mind, Norlander, let's start with Keaton Wagler. Assuming his college career is now over after this one season, he will finish with 37 games played at Illinois. And yet on that campus, he's a legend forever, right?
Matt Norlander
Yeah. You helped guide Illinois to a Final Four. You're absolutely a legend. And doing what he did after being, you know, not ranked by Every service except 247 sports coming out of high school and, and becoming quite possibly, if not Definitely, a top 10 pick in the draft. Come on, that, that's, that's big time stuff.
Gary Parrish
There's no way he gets out of the top 10.
Matt Norlander
I would, I would agree with you. It's just a loaded, It's a loaded freshman class. So I guess, like, you never know. But he cannot fall out of the top 10. He cannot. 20 points in this one. Eight boards, two assists, three turnovers, three personal fouls. Played 37 minutes in his 37th game of the season. And he's not the only a line I player who played his last game with the program. On this night. Hummerkaus was a senior. Boswell a senior. I think I heard Tommy Lloyd. I, I saw the transcript where he was, I think he was talking about Jaden Bradley and he was saying, like, I wish he had another year, but I guess everyone gets another year now, so maybe, maybe there's hope. I don't know. I, I got the. I think he found a little bit of room for a little bit of humor, which is, which is good on Lloyd for doing that. But yes, Keaton Wagler, tough way to go out, but he didn't go out shyly. I mean, he was the most important player on the floor. And Illinois would have been moving on to Monday night if he had just a little bit more collective help from his teammates. I will note Wagler had two assists. Illinois had three total assists in this game, and they averaged close to 15 per game. Like UConn, just in many ways, they just shut off so many of the alleyways of things that they wanted to do.
Gary Parrish
I, I know Wagner scored 20. I didn't think he was great. And he, I mean, he was like, I think two attempt from three, it was bad from three. And then there was just a couple of moments he dribbled a ball off his leg. I mean, one of the things that made Illinois the team in possession of the top rated offense in the country is that they didn't turn the ball over and he, he dribbled it off his leg and then they just ripped it from him one time. Just uncharacteristic stuff. I mean, he's still a special talent, but I did not think this, this was his best performance, even though he did score 20 points in the second game. We watched Jaden Bradley's college career, I think, come to an end. He played 112 games at Arizona. Big 12 Player of the Year as a senior, Big 12 tournament MVP as a senior. Got Arizona to its first Final Four since. Since 2001. That's a legacy. I know it doesn't end where he wanted it to end, but that's a. He's got a legacy in Tucson for forever.
Matt Norlander
Yeah, he does. And I mentioned it earlier. I would have saved it for this part if I knew that was coming. But that's some late night podcasting from courtside here for you. Bradley was one of the best point guards in a loaded year for point guards this season in college basketball. He was one of the best and certainly among the most clutch. It's a, it's just bitter to swallow that your final college game, not only is it not competitive, but you're just, you're handcuffed by foul trouble, you gotta sit. You wind up logging 25 minutes when we both know that Tommy would have wanted him out there for 35 plus in this game. Couldn't be done. And as a result, yes, he goes out but hand himself, handles himself well in the locker room after for sure. But last game for him buries Pete Del Orso Owaka. We'll see about. We'll see about the others there. Whether or not I think Crevice is one of the the biggest. Will he stay or will he go pro? You can make the case for either. I'm guessing he'll come back, but we'll see. He'll make him a lot of money if he does.
Gary Parrish
That was the weekend Whip around brought to you by Dominoes. If you're settling in for a full slate of college basketball, it doesn't get better than Domino's. Best deal ever. Any pizza with any toppings for just 9.99. That's what I'm getting for game day. Shout out to Domino's for sponsoring prices higher in some locations. Select this online only offer from 223 to 46 size availability varies by crust type max 7 toppings, 6 for New York style and pan crust. Stuffed crust is extra. Excludes XL and specialty pizzas. Minimum purchase required for delivery prices, participation, delivery area and charges may vary. All right, before we get out of here, let me tell you the plan moving forward as best we know it. All right?
Matt Norlander
Sure.
Gary Parrish
We're gonna have a fresh episode of the Island College Basketball Podcast on Sunday. Yeah, we gotta nail down a time. We will, we will do that, but we'll do it off the air. We don't need to bore you guys.
Matt Norlander
We have no idea it's happening, but we cannot remotely promise you when that's coming.
Gary Parrish
Then we'll be back again. Michigan UConn on Monday after that game, in between that game will be played. It will tip at 8:50 and right now Michigan is listed as a 7 1/2 point favorite. The total is 144.5. Just a reminder, this game will be on TBS, True TV or HBO Max. Don't get all weird on. Don't be, don't be tweeting me on Monday night talking about gp what I got. Nope. You know, you might not. Here's the truth. They don't even ask me where I think the game should be. So there is no need for you to ask me what I think about where the games are. All right? This is the way television works. You'll be able to watch the national championship game on tbs, True TV or HBO Max. And like I said, Michigan is a 7 1/2 point favorite and we'll dive into the championship game on Sunday. But sort of what I said on CBS Sports Network because we were asked for prediction at the end tonight, I said, I just, I don't know how I can pick against Michigan after watching that. But the uncertainty connected to Jax, the Lindaport and the presence of Dan Hurley and UConn makes this more compelling than that point spread might suggest. I know that most people are going to pick Michigan to win this game. How many people are going to be comfortable laying seven and a half points against UConn and Dan Hurley? Now you know, Betty Marcus might be saying, hey, knock yourself out, we know what we're watching. But it's going to be a hard thing for people to wrap their heads around that UConn's not going to show up on Monday night and that UConn's not going to be there at the end on Monday night. If you listen to the Iron College Basketball podcast, I'm not going to sit here and try to guarantee you anything. But I imagine the thought process is going to be somehow, some way dan Hurley and UConn are going to be in this thing at the under four. And if so, I mean awesome, because perhaps this isn't the best title game we could have gotten, but it's a pretty damn good one. I mean it's, it's the team that is now number one in the predictive markets and has been blowing people out all year. Your outright Big Ten champs against the program that has been the best program undeniably of the past four years and is now a win away from a third national championship in a four year span. So it's best team and best recent program. Boom. Banging heads on Monday night. I can't wait. 8:50 tip. You know where to find it. Do you have any initial thoughts on it?
Matt Norlander
I'll save most of them for tomorrow. Just one more tag on all that. UConn just held the number one points per possession offense in the country that had a huge fan backing in this building to 62 points on Saturday night. Illinois was 0.98 points per possession, not even 1.00 flat. So even more a reason why, you know, just there are interesting stakes tied to this game, but we'll, we'll save all the preview stuff for whenever we link up on Sunday. As a reminder, keep it as much as you can. Watch CBS Sports Network. GP's doing great stuff there. I plan on having more from the stadium tomorrow with coaches, quite possibly players. No shock like tomorrow. Cameron Boozer's coming. He's probably already in Indianapolis, but he's coming in. I've told the eyes a really tough situation there, but he'll be receiving like three of his national player of the year awards tomorrow, so we'll have that as well. So there's a lot going on on Sunday, but we will deliver you a podcast at some point with plenty of ramp up and run up before we actually tip the game on Monday night.
Gary Parrish
All right, we're going to call that a show. That's a show. We'll call that a show. Shouts to Devin Downey, Chester, S.C. terry Teagle's a legend. Huck Larnell. Thank you guys once again for watching and listening to the I Own College Basketball podcast. You're not subscribed. Please go subscribe anywhere. Subscribe to podcasts, Apple, Spotify, more of us than there are of them. That needs to be reflected in the comments. You know what? I'm in the streets of Indianapolis. I got men yelling. More of us.
Matt Norlander
I got it in the stands.
Gary Parrish
Yeah, I got it everywhere.
Matt Norlander
I got it everywhere.
Gary Parrish
Okay.
Matt Norlander
You come banana section yelling at me. I didn't even. They said they were yelling it for like 10 minutes. I missed it entirely. It's one after another and okay, and by all means do it, please.
Gary Parrish
But here, I don't think I've heard a woman say gp.
Matt Norlander
There's more looking to get. You're looking for women to call for you. I got you.
Gary Parrish
I would like for women to yell there's more of us. At me as I'm walking through the streets of Indianapolis with my children. Yeah, I created those children.
Matt Norlander
What time did you get in last night, by the way? Didn't Parish did not socialize with the Group. Understandably so. Eating dinner with his famous. I get all that. What time did you turn in?
Gary Parrish
So me and the family just sat on a patio outside because it is freezing tonight. These are hand warmers. I had them outside. It is freezing.
Matt Norlander
Big time rain situation going into the stadium for a walkable city. There were members of the media parish walking in drenched.
Gary Parrish
Okay.
Matt Norlander
Blazers.
Gary Parrish
Okay. Well, let me tell you something that some people might not know. You can get anywhere. You need to get downtown Indianapolis without going outside. Like when I leave here, I am at the convention center in our green room just outside Lucas Oil Stadium. Outside of our sets.
Matt Norlander
Yeah.
Gary Parrish
I will get all the way back to my hotel without going outside. I wish Mark Sanchez would have known about this.
Matt Norlander
All right, let's keep it moving.
Gary Parrish
You know.
Matt Norlander
Wow, it's 41 degrees right now in Indianapolis. Yeah, it's chilling. Yeah.
Gary Parrish
I want. I want. Who's gonna be the first woman to yell, there's more of us than there are of them? While I'm walking through the streets of Indianapolis or the lot of office of Indianapolis. My children. I created those children. I think I proved my point. All right. I think I.
Matt Norlander
Well, you didn't because that's. That was actually postmarital.
Gary Parrish
I made one premarital.
Matt Norlander
Okay, that was good for you.
Gary Parrish
I made one.
Matt Norlander
That's a show. But that could not be more of a show.
Gary Parrish
End this thing. It's a true story. He'll be here tomorrow. As I always tell everybody, my wife and I, we had one when we were too young together, and then we had two when we were too old together. We did not plan this perfectly, but. Oh, buddy, aren't we lucky? We're having the time of our lives. We'll see you next time at some point on Sunday. Till then, take care. Paramount podcasts. You're listening to this podcast, so I know you've got a curious mind. Here's a helpful fact you might not know yet. Drivers who switch and save with Progressive save over $900 on average. Pop over to progressive.com, answer some questions, and you'll get a quick quote with discounts that are easy to come by. In fact, 99% of their auto customers earn at least one discount. Visit progressive.com and see if you can enjoy a little cash back. Progressive Casualty Insurance Company and affiliates. National average 12 month savings of $946 by new customers surveyed who saved with Progressive between June 2024 and May 2025. Potential savings will vary.
Episode: FINAL FOUR REACTION: Michigan mutilates Arizona 😱 UConn wins a grinder over Illinois
Date: April 5, 2026
Hosts: Gary Parrish & Matt Norlander
This episode is a rapid reaction to the Final Four games of the 2026 NCAA Tournament, breaking down Michigan’s shocking beatdown of Arizona, and UConn’s signature grind-it-out win over Illinois. Parrish and Norlander deliver immediate insights, behind-the-scenes anecdotes from Lucas Oil Stadium, and contextualize the results in modern college basketball history.
| Segment | Time | |--------------------------------------------|-----------| | Show Start, Banter, and Opening Remarks | 01:44 | | Michigan-Arizona Reaction Begins | 02:42 | | Yaxel Lindenborg Injury & Motivation Story | 06:32 | | Arizona Post-Mortem, Tommy Lloyd Legacy | 12:37 | | Michigan Star Performances Breakdown | 17:45 | | Discussion on Michigan's Tourney Dominance | 22:17 | | UConn-Illinois Reaction Begins | 27:47 | | UConn’s Defensive Adjustments | 28:53 | | Braylon Mullins’ Dagger & Freshman Duel | 35:23 | | Illinois & Wagler Legacy Discussion | 48:10 | | Closing/Look Ahead to Title Game | 52:11 |
The episode is high-energy, conversational, and blends analytics with storytelling. There’s a good-natured ribbing between hosts, quick pivots from comedic banter to serious hoops talk, and regular references to being inside Lucas Oil Stadium, adding immediacy and atmosphere.
For full context, find the Eye on College Basketball podcast wherever you listen—especially after this nuclear Final Four.
Show-ending callout:
“Shouts to Devin Downey. Chester, S.C. Terry Teagle’s a legend. Huck Larnell. Thank you guys once again for watching and listening … More of us than there are of them!” (56:12–end)