← Eye On College Basketball
Eye On College Basketball
Highly ranked teams keep getting dropped: Nebraska, Illinois, Iowa State, UNC all lost Tuesday. Plus: Norlander’s scoop on Nova-Notre Dame opening the CBB season in Rome
01:08:01
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- [00:00]
Richard Deitsch
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- [00:34]
Matt Norlander
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- [02:07]
Gary Parrish
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. Honor Brandon Davies Smash. Smash. And if you haven't yet subscribed to the CBS Sports I own College Basketball podcast. Please also do that while you're here. Let's get into it. I want to start in the Big Ten where multiple top 10 teams lost at home on Tuesday night. Upsets on Upsets final score, number 13, Purdue 80. Number 7, Nebraska 77 in overtime inside Pinnacle Bank. Final score, Wisconsin 92. Number Illinois 90. Not inside the State Farm center, buddy. College basketball is on some kind of run. St. John's UConn on Friday, USC, Duke, Michigan State, Illinois on Saturday. We watch football on Sunday, a little bit on Monday, Kansas, Arizona. And then on Tuesday we get two overtime games in the Big Ten top 10 teams losing at home. Meantime, a third of the NBA is currently tanking for our best players. Norlander, good to see you on this Wednesday morning. We're having a fun time, aren't we?
- [03:19]
Matt Norlander
We are. And by the way, your boy here couldn't love the Winter Olympics more. So that every morning and afternoon is a fun little bonus as we have had seven teams ranked in the top 10 lose over a five day period starting with UConn's loss at the Johnny's on Friday. So UConn was three, it lost Friday. Duke and Illinois lost on Saturday when they were respectively ranked 4 and 5. Arizona number one goes down on Monday. If you want more of that conversation, go back into the feed. We touched on that on our ion college basketball CBS Sports Network Tuesday show. So go find that. It's in the feed waiting for you or right here on this YouTube channel. And then last night, Iowa State, Nebraska and Illinois all fall 5, 7 and 8 respectively. We'll touch all those games on this episode. Let's start, let's start with Pinnacle Bank. I mean Purdue, Purdue walked in and Nebraska slipped and fell on its ass.
- [04:08]
Gary Parrish
You realize that's like the, that's like the toughest thing for me. Yes, that's like the hardest thing for me to go through is Purdue winning inside Pinnacle bank because I don't know how to feel.
- [04:17]
Matt Norlander
You're, you're, you're just, you got all sorts of conflicting emotions. Shouts to Brett Strelo, former really good college hoop scribe who sent this, who created a slippery when wet. You don't just walk in the Pinnacle bank hazard sign just for us. I really appreciate that. Thank you so much. This was almost catastrophic for Purdue. I mean they, so they ultimately get the win. And when it gets time to selection Sunday and we're sorting out the resumes and we're figuring out what teams are on seed lines and all that stuff. The fact that Purdue almost blew 22, 22 point lead. But even beyond that, it was what Paris, it was like 14 with two and change to go. It was almost really, really, really, really.
- [05:00]
Gary Parrish
Let me, let me be completely honest with you. We're in studio there was a million things going on including updated rundowns and hey can you do this highlight instead of this highlight? Like everybody thinks we're just sitting in a studio watching basketball all night. That's not really how it works. We are doing a pre taping stuff and you know, TikTok stuff like there's a million things going on. I could not believe when somebody told me this game's going to overtime. What? How? What like what happened. They were up 22 at one point and then up a million with nothing left. The game was over and then it wasn't. It was a wild, wild, wild Tuesday.
- [05:38]
Matt Norlander
Night and this was after Nebraska got off to just an awful start like Purdue. Purdue had control of this game for the majority of it and should have won comfortably. Now credit for Nebraska for, for flipping it and and getting it to overtime period. It was produced first overtime of the season. Nebraska loses its third game in a four game span. Also its first overtime game of the season, 80 to 77. Final few notes on the game Purdue is 1, is 6 and 2 on the road. Has top 10 wins now over Alabama and Nebraska. Very quality victories obviously and, and, and good for Purdue which is now depending how you want to slot it, it's either like the last two or the first three. On the on the overall seed hierarchy there's plenty more for Purdue to to do here. So its placement is going to be shifting with the quickness here. Clough Oscar Clough at 12 and 14 he actually had the bucket that gave Purdue the lead that won with like six seconds to go in overtime. I thought he was key. Purdue launched 46 threes in this game which broke the record by 10. The previous high watermark for Purdue in a game for triples not made but attempted was 36. That had been done four times. Fletcher lawyer alone said. It's my night folks. He took 17 three point attempts. It's not the most in school history. Carson Edwards in that huge game against Virginia where he was incredible. But Purdue didn't win the Elite Eight a few years back in Louisville I was at that one. He took 19 threes in that game. Lawyer for his part 17 three point attempts, 18 points overall. He led the team in scoring but needed a ton of shots to to get there and get it done. Purdue won the game in the aggregate because it mauled Nebraska on the boards. The margin is one thing and rebound margin can be misleading but it was 54.37. That is notable. Purdue was able to really just exert its will and Prevent Nebraska from a lot of second chance opportunities on the glass, which I thought was. Was key. TKR in this game was an offensive force whatsoever. But he had by himself 19 snags, which I thought was significant. You know, I thought. I. I really thought Nebraska was going to come back and pull it out in overtime. You know, Rick Mass had a big play near the end there, but Purdue wins a wild night in the Big Ten. We'll obviously get to the Illinois stuff in just a second. Nebraska may be a little bit of a regression to the mean, I guess. Purdue, I don't even know at this point. Like it's. It's 13 in a row. And the win over to Maryland on the road wasn't close. You like to see that. Maryland's awful, whatever, but narrowly beat Oregon over the weekend. And then here you had it and you had it and then you were just trying to get. Give it away. Didn't give it away. Give it away. Give it away now. Shouts to Anthony Kiedis. As a result, Purdue is 20 and 4 with the 103 record in the league, and it has games against Iowa and Michigan upcoming. I know you're busy doing a little list. All that, just broad takeaways on. On another team. Walking. Walked right in. They just walked right in there. Pinnacle Bank.
- [08:43]
Gary Parrish
GP I don't. I'm conflicted. I don't know how to feel about that. On one hand, I want to be proud of my Bowler Makers for walking.
- [08:49]
Matt Norlander
In the penalty Boilermakers. Okay.
- [08:52]
Gary Parrish
Okay.
- [08:54]
Matt Norlander
I think. I think your meter's down to about like 18% at this point.
- [08:57]
Gary Parrish
That's not fair. That's not fair to me. That's not fair to me. That's not being fair to me.
- [09:04]
Matt Norlander
Yourself. And that's what really hurts.
- [09:05]
Gary Parrish
I stood by the Boulder Makers when they got beat by 70,000 points in the national championship game by UConn. I was still there with them. To discard me now is not fair to me. You can't discard me now. I stood by you while every person in the planet was telling me they're gonna lose to Yukon by a thousand. I was like, no, that's not. That's. I'm a bowler maker. I stood by. It's not fair to me. To discard me now. I was with you when Donovan Clingan was killing you or whoever that was. I was there for that. It's not fair to discard me now. So I don't know how to feel right now. On one hand, I'm loyal to Pinnacle bank on the Other hand, I'm loyal to Purdue and this is. That was a weird Tuesday night. I don't know why you don't wrap up Oscar Clough there though. How do you let him get that shot in? You have to just. I mean, I've never really played basketball, but I know you.
- [09:56]
Matt Norlander
There's a line to cross. A certain point it's going to be two shots in the ball, so. I understand.
- [10:02]
Gary Parrish
Anyway, big boy.
- [10:04]
Matt Norlander
Yeah.
- [10:05]
Gary Parrish
And Fletcher Lawyer. Like, honestly, as, as you're watching that play, it looks like he's over dribbling like, bro, pass it or shoot it.
- [10:11]
Matt Norlander
Completely agree. I actually hated it as it was playing out. Paris. I hated it as it was playing out. What is going on?
- [10:16]
Gary Parrish
What are you doing? Pass it or shoot it?
- [10:18]
Matt Norlander
I actually thought Smith had the shot in the paint and he didn't take it. I was like, I was like, they're gonna lose. Like, what? What's going on? But they didn't.
- [10:26]
Gary Parrish
They did. No, no. I, I was like, pass it or shoot it. You.
- [10:29]
Matt Norlander
You.
- [10:29]
Gary Parrish
If you bounce that ball one more time, you are making a mistake. But he found it, he dumped it off. The play happened and maybe that's a turning point for the season. As Matt said after the game, we, we did not want to get to overtime because when you're up 22, you never want to get to overtime. That's like just basic stuff. You're up 22, you don't want to get to overtime. But they got to overtime, they handled it. Now they're three and three in their past six. They offset that three game losing streak with a three game winning streak. That's a nice win. All jokes aside, Pinnacle bank might not be what I've made it out to be over the years, but going in there and getting that win, that's a, that's a big time win. That's a big time win for that, for that program that, that needed it and still has sights on a final four and whatever comes next. And they show the type of character at least that that makes you think maybe that's possible still.
- [11:17]
Matt Norlander
And before we go to the next game, just update on Smith, who bumped up the all time assists ranks again in this game Smith had 13 points, 10 dimes. So one of his better distribution games in, you know, recently, he's now at 968. He passed Syracuse's Sherman Douglas in this game. His next target is Steve Blake of Maryland who had 972. So Braden should move up to six in the game against Iowa upcoming this weekend. Now let's talk. Let's talk about champagne. Two top 10 Big 10 teams couldn't get it done on their home floors on Tuesday night. The Badgers get it done 92 to 90. Fanta and Hummel on the call. Fanta was on one. I will just, I will just say that they, The Badgers have two top 10 road wins just like Purdue. They have the win at Illinois and the win at Michigan. No program in the country has a better pair of road wins in the sport than Greg Guards.
- [12:25]
Gary Parrish
Let me, let me interrupt you. It's February 11th. That will still be true on selection Sunday.
- [12:30]
Matt Norlander
It feels like that's probably going to be true. I guess never say never, but that feels like it's going to be true. The Michigan and Illinois, like that's gonna probably be a one and it could be a two, could be a one, could be a one and a three seed. Feels like that's the best combo out there. I agree with you. What was I gonna say? Wisconsin was down 12 with about 8 and change to go. They have been able to pull off a number of big come from behind wins this season. Five times in the last nine games Wisconsin has been down double digits and won the game. So it's got some Kentucky going on in that regard. Nick Boyd and John Blackwell I thought were just stones in this game and it was a very compelling game. Again it looked like Illinois was going to win. Illinois banged up story. Akovich didn't play in the game because of his ankle. He had not missed time since the first game of the season. They still don't have Kylan Boswell. We're waiting to see how long it takes for him to come back from the. The busted up right hand here but I don't think that's going to be anytime soon. And so as a result Underwood played six guys in this game and Keaton Wagler, like he had 34 and 7 and he had some, he had some more amazing ones. I love watching Keaton waggler play basketball.
- [13:57]
Gary Parrish
I 100 thought that last shot was going in.
- [14:00]
Matt Norlander
I know. I, it's. It's one of those where like how does it. You think it goes up? You think it's going in it didn't it. I completely agree with you. I was convinced that thing was falling. It didn't. He's human after all. Had a nice game. Illinois didn't have the bodies. Ultimately it just. It became a battle of battery and. And they did not have it at the end. Credit to Greg Guard. He is good for like one or two of these a year. And by that I mean going into a game against a really, really good team, you'd think Wisconsin probably doesn't have that much of a shot and they wind up winning it anyway. Like, he, they just automatic, reliable. He's. He's never getting fired at Wisconsin. He's not that he should or would, but like, he's just too good of a coach. Like, he, he is just so consistent. They're not maybe as good every year as Wisconsin fans are hoping, you know, they want it to be, you know, like the peak years in the mid 2010s. I get all that, but man, he just finds a way. And I thought Boyd and Blackwell were, were terrific. What were your takeaways on the game?
- [14:57]
Gary Parrish
Well, of the succession plans. Like, this is a great one. Like Brian.
- [15:01]
Matt Norlander
Yes, yes.
- [15:02]
Gary Parrish
Like Greg guard Brian Dutcher has been a great one. These don't always work. We'll get to some of them later. But, but, but, but, but sometimes they do. And this one, this one's working. Just. You actually like asked me like, so what this image stands out. I like. And I don't know if I get hokey about this, but it's all over. Intense. It looks great. Wagner's incredible. And then it's over. And one coach is excited and one coach is disappointed and they like dapped up like they were in the bar. I love the final buzzer. And there's Greg and Brad. Just like they didn't just blow by each other. They took a minute to acknowledge this was kind of cool, wasn't it? I appreciate that.
- [15:48]
Matt Norlander
Yeah, I do appreciate it too. What I wish had happened. Josh, if you can find it real quick, I didn't send it to you. What I actually wish had happened though was for the Wisconsin's dobo to be at the ready. And instead of saving the Jake Davis wig for the post game locker room celebration, guard would have thrown that thing on his head in the handshake line at the end of the game and given us the visual of the entire season. That's really what I would have liked to see, but I like that he had a little bit fun with that. They go on the road, they win. It was the reason why it was wignite at Illinois for Jake Davis again. As I said previously, dude looks like he spins himself some dispatch on the daily and there ain't nothing wrong with that. I only wish Greg guard had just get the win. Wagler shot doesn't go through. Guard turns around. Hey, hey, give me it. I need it. Come here, toss it on and go in the handshake line. He would never do that. But I like imagining what that would have been like.
- [16:43]
Gary Parrish
Like, just to separate from the game for a second, like I mentioned at the top, like, from Friday to Saturday to Monday to last night. You know me. I'm not the guy who sits here and tries to yell at everybody that college basketball is the best thing ever. But it has been the best thing we've got, like, for the past week. And when you contrast it, because I am somebody I know not all college basketball fans are like this, but people, because they, like, sometimes we drift off into draft conversations or NBA conversations. And then I look in the comments and people are like, I hate the NBA. And it's. It's the same exact people who hate Bad Bunny. If you're trying to figure this out, it's the. It's. They come. They're the same people. They'll post over. If you over here, they'll tell you how much they hate Bad Bunny. And if you're over here, they'll tell you how much they hate the NBA. But it's the same people anyway.
- [17:31]
Matt Norlander
It's just.
- [17:32]
Gary Parrish
I don't. I love the NBA. I love college basketball. But if you. Right now, it's not even comparable. I mean, we are killing that sport. Like, you turn. Just put one on one screen and one on the other. Like, take the best NBA game you got tonight. Put it on one screen. Take the best college basketball game tonight, put it on another screen. It's not even comparable. One looks like it's the best thing you've ever seen, and it matters. And the other one, the only people you know, they're in street clothes and both teams are trying to lose, perhaps. So, like, this is a great. Like, I don't know that. It's always been a great time to be college basketball. And Charles Bettyako will pop in every once in a while and try to mess it up for us. But, like, this is. We are living through something. We're. We're having fun right now.
- [18:25]
Matt Norlander
This is good stuff.
- [18:26]
Gary Parrish
This is good stuff.
- [18:27]
Matt Norlander
I. I was preaching this in the preseason because I genuinely believe that here's garbage.
- [18:34]
Gary Parrish
That's what I'm talking about.
- [18:35]
Matt Norlander
I know.
- [18:36]
Gary Parrish
It's Baby Bickerstaff. You can't find a picture of J.B. bickerstaff like that.
- [18:40]
Matt Norlander
No, I just. Head coach just steamrolling into a locker room, getting doused with water by his team with a. With a strawberry blonde wig on his head. College basketball is. I just Love it so much. And yes, we are having phenomenal season. It's just, it's, it's even been beyond what I thought. And I did, I did truly in my heart of hearts because of the talent, the returning players, how things stacked up. I did genuinely believe that we had a chance to have our best season at least 10 years and now we're like, we're drifting toward like this is one of the two or three best seasons since 2000, since we tried entered into this new century. And it's just one night after another for a variety of reasons. It's the scoring, it's the efficiency. There's a whole bunch of stuff that's tied to it. Really, really cool. Really great stuff. Congrats to Wisconsin for getting this win. Obviously trending easily toward an NC Tournament bid at this point. But like the fact that it was able to win on the road against Michigan and now Illinois. Whereas Wisconsin, if it kind of plays out the rest of the season as it maybe it wins the games it should and loses the games it should instead of sitting there with a double digit seed, it might well be a 7, 8 or 9. So, so good on, good on the Badgers for doing that. I think I'd have to check this. I think Wisconsin's only two Quad one wins. Are those two on the road? I think that's it right now. But they do mean a, they do mean a ton for their resume based metrics and, and a great job out of them. We got plenty more to get to.
- [19:59]
Gary Parrish
I do want to just circle back to Wagner for a second to emphasize what we're watching. That was incredible last night. That was just fun to watch. He finishes with 34. I'm actually surprised. Just the way he took it so casually was like this is, this is dropping because you and I know he's taken that shot 50,000 times. Like that's not a, that's not a. It's an awkward looking shot because we don't see that a lot in the context of a basketball game. He's taken that shot a million times. He's, he's incredible. Like in a year where the NCAA's all time assist leader could come from this conference, Jeremy Fears might be better. Like that's the best suit in the conference maybe. Obviously Bennett Sturts, I mean like what are we doing? Like, and, and that guy who was ranked 150th in the class of 2025 might be the best player. Not prospect, but maybe that too. But best player prospect in the conference. He's he's like, oh, like right up there with DebonSA.
- [21:01]
Matt Norlander
He.
- [21:01]
Gary Parrish
He belongs in the conversation with the other guys in terms of this is the dude you want to see play basketball.
- [21:07]
Matt Norlander
Yeah. And the end of that game, actually. Well, two more points for me. One, the way the end of the game sequence played out. No timeouts are on the board. And I don't know if it was just how it, if, if Wagler, like, specifically knew what he was doing or if it was just how the play unfolded. But, like, you could tell from the way Wisconsin was guarding it. Like, they weren't sure when to foul because they're up to. Remember, they're up to in this spot. Like, are we, are we gonna foul? Are we up three? And then Wagle was able to get that three pointer off. It felt like Wisconsin was just bracing, doing their best. And then he gets the shot off and it. And it doesn't go in. But yeah, he is, he is just. He is something else to watch. He really, really is. And then we don't need to play the video because it's like more than a minute long. I. Underwood was ticked off after the game. He's just, he's just got issues with the officia waiting. Welcome. A lot of this to me is just like, welcome to the middle of February in league play. And this is just part of the deal. He said he sent in. I want. He said he sent in like 10 plays to the league office from the Michigan State loss, and now he's going to send in more from this game. He was annoyed that there was an official that worked the game last night that hadn't worked a Big Ten game, or at least one of their games in two years or whatever. Some of this stuff really gets into the weeds. Coaches know, they care about this, they track this, they know who rush their games. They, they, they have very big opinions on this kind of stuff. Illinois is going to be just fine. You know, obviously you want the win, and I get all that. Maybe it wasn't the most consistent whistle, but it was all too ironic that Underwood was doing this. A game removed from Wisconsin, got job by the refs, and it's lost against Indiana. So these things tend to have a way of balancing out, that's all.
- [22:44]
Gary Parrish
All right, let's move on. When we come back, we'll do the Wednesday whip around. We're gonna start in the ACC where yet another top 15 team lost a game. But first, let's get a word from our partners.
- [22:55]
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- [24:11]
Gary Parrish
Right, it's time for the Wednesday Whip around presented by me. Let's start in the ACC Miami 75, number 11, NC 66. Miami still just 37th in the net, but that was a signature win, the type that they, I don't know had had before last night. That's one that puts them at least on your radar if you're doing say a top 25 and one every single morning.
- [24:34]
Matt Norlander
Yeah, the best win until last night for the Canes probably in Oxford against the Rebs against Ole Miss. But that's, that's and there that's not an NCAA tournament team but 195 right now and it's probably floating in that going to Dayton category. As of this as of this point, the the benefit if not drawback for Miami is everyone in the ACC 18 teams. Sue There are 17 other schools you can play, but you only play 16. So every school does not play one school each year. ACC did Miami a favor. We actually talked about this in the off season. Miami does not have to play Duke, which means J. Lucas doesn't have to coach in his first season against his former boss and John Shire that like you gotta I think it's fair to presume if they did have to play Duke this year, it probably would be on the road against Cameron. That's almost certainly a loss. So we'll see what happens with Miami come selection Sunday and what they still have to do. But not having to face Duke in the regular season, we see what happens in the league tournament. Of course that non result that doesn't materialize, maybe it winds up being the difference between Miami getting in and not getting in. An impressive win. 7566 and doing so I mentioned how Illinois didn't go with a lot of folks last night. Only six of them. Miami did the same thing, only only six guys really got some real burn in this game. But they get it done. They get it done. Despite only 3 of 13 from 3 point range, 4 of 20, 14 of 23 from the foul line Parish they were reliable inside which was surprising to be sure. And they did a good job on the boards. They really did. So impressed with the Canes. And then quickly for me on Carolina it's, it is the, the game after the big game that's the let down. You're on the road. You know keep in mind Carolina was trailing basically the entire game against Duke. And then they get it done. And then here Seth Trimble, the Hero Saturday, only four points here. Caleb Wilson 12 points, six boards, three blocks wasn't quite enough. Derek Dixon was bad actor whatsoever. Yeah, I mean you said it, not me but yes, of course. So Carolina, that's just a little bit with Carolina and I'll, I will know and when I had to do my HQ hit on Monday talking about the AP rankings. They're 11th in the AP rankings and I just, I brought up hey listen, they are 11th and I understand that. I don't even necessarily reject it because again the AP rankings are, they're a flashpoint of like okay, how is this team trending over the past three, four, five weeks? You know how the whole deal is. But I said UNC is 25th or worst and basically you know the 4 or 5 most important reference mainstream advanced analytics out there. So it's not a top 15 team. It's not a top 10 team. And you got some of that evidence tear on Monday on excuse me, on Tuesday night. So 195 overall Carolina is going to take the win at Duke at home if it means a trade off for a loss on the road against Miami. I get that. But you really could have had something cooking here from a resume perspective if you could pulled off a quad one win. It did not happen.
- [27:42]
Gary Parrish
Not even trying to like you know, spike the ball here. But the biggest discrepancy in the top 25 and one even before last night was North Carolina. They were 11th in the AP Pole. I think I had them 20th yesterday morning in the top 25 and one a little lower now. They're good, but I, I think people got a little too caught up in. They just beat Duke. Yeah, but like, that was one game in a series of games. And yes, that was one game in a winning streak, but if you look at the entire body of work, it was way closer to 20 than 11 even before what happened at Miami. Miami now. Okay, here's one. We've talked about basketball at least three times a week all season, sometimes four. We've talked a lot about Miami, but the other one, not this one.
- [28:37]
Matt Norlander
Yep.
- [28:38]
Gary Parrish
What's the better team?
- [28:40]
Matt Norlander
Well, the metrics would tell you that Miami, the University of Miami and Coral Gables is the better team comfortably. The metrics would suggest that I'm still going with the team that hasn't lost, though.
- [28:51]
Gary Parrish
That's fine.
- [28:51]
Matt Norlander
Give me the Redhawks.
- [28:52]
Gary Parrish
Yeah. And that's.
- [28:53]
Matt Norlander
They played on a neutral. I'm guessing the Canes would be favored by like 4 1/2 or whatever. Give me the only undefeated team still standing in the sport.
- [29:02]
Gary Parrish
Me, too. Me, too. I don't even want to get. I apologize for even asking you that because it just sets us up to talk about stuff we don't even want to talk about. Let me ask you this, though, because I was asked this last night on tv. How many losses can they take in.
- [29:14]
Matt Norlander
Inhawks.
- [29:15]
Gary Parrish
Yeah. In the regular season and then lose how many? Here's the question. How many losses can you take in the regular season, then lose in your conference tournament and still be in the bracket?
- [29:26]
Matt Norlander
That is dependent upon how the losses arrive.
- [29:30]
Gary Parrish
Everything they have in front of them is Quad three, Quad four.
- [29:33]
Matt Norlander
Right. Right. As things stand right now, Miami is not 24 0. It is 210 because it's non D1. Games will not count toward its resume. So just keep that in mind. It does. It will. It will matter. When we get Selection Sunday, they will have three fewer losses for the purposes of the committee on their team sheets than their actual record reflects because they played three on D1 teams. I think Miami can lose twice.
- [29:58]
Gary Parrish
That's what I said. Same thing. I said the same.
- [30:00]
Matt Norlander
It can't lose three times. Ick. If it loses. But I will tell you this, and I'm not even saying I agree with this, and I, I, I've held off on a lot of this because I want, I need to even see us get there. But, like, if it loses at UMass next Tuesday, which is it's now its toughest remaining game. I think. Yeah, that's his toughest remaining game. So let's say it loses at UMass and it doesn't lose another game in the regular season and then it loses its first game in the Mac tournament to what would be a bad team and a quad three loss. Probably in that circumstance I might need to have a conversation at that point. But that being said, no team with two or fewer losses has ever been left out of the tournament. So we'll get there. Three. I think you're. I, I don't think you're going with three. Honestly I think that's a blanket statement. I think it's fairly safe to say if it's one loss it is a lock there. It doesn't matter where the loss comes from. If the redhawks have one loss on selection Sunday and are not getting the the automatic bid so that one loss comes in the Mac tournament, wherever it happens, they will be in. I will not hear arguments otherwise. The committee will not leave out a one loss team from the tournament. 2. Depends on the context. Depends how it happens. Let's see if we get there.
- [31:06]
Gary Parrish
Yeah, we had, we had basically the same answer. And circling back to the other Miami Jay Lucas, 37 years old now 19 and 5 in year one. I know they didn't play the toughest schedule non league but you know 19 and 5 and in the NCAA tournament conversation in year one. Not every first year coaches is having so much fun. Let's move on. TCU 62 number five Iowa State 55. It's another top 15 team that lost last night. We had four, four top 15 teams lost on Tuesday night. Iowa State. I still haven't six in the top 25 and one because the body of work is still incredibly impressive. I would have them as a two seed right now but they are just five and three in their past eight. In two of those three losses are the sub 50 teams in the net.
- [31:53]
Matt Norlander
I always say first then the Hypnotoads who are dropping acid. Man, what the hell is this team? Okay, clones 21 3, you know, semi regrettable losses on the road to TCU and to Cincinnati. TCU went on a 120 run to finish this game. A couple bad plays from Lipsy down the stretch that surprised me. It was the lowest point total 55 for the Cyclones this season. 17 turnovers for Iowa State in this game which was a problem unquestionably and just not as disciplined overall. Like this was a weird game. This is probably the Kind of game where Altoberger and his staff are kind of like, who was that team out there? You know, Joshua Jefferson, he had an up and down game. He had 12 points, eight boards, nine assists, six turnovers, three steals, two blocks, four fouls. Like he was just, it was the entire buffet. He was giving you a little bit of everything. Some of it good, some of it not so good. Milan Momchilovich, who has been the best three point shooter in the country, was three of 11 from deep, including missing a shot that was near desperation in the closing seconds there just to try and give Iowa State a chance to, to get it to overtime. It didn't happen. Micah Robinson played well. Tanner Toolson off the bench, played well for tcu. Good on the frog. So Iowa State, you know, I, I still think I haven't, I haven't broken down the resume here. I would still think it's probably a 2 as of this morning. It obviously reflects that in your rankings. Tcu. Who the hell are you?
- [33:29]
Gary Parrish
This team, the weirdest, the weirdest resume.
- [33:32]
Matt Norlander
It has a win and a loss in all four quadrants. Okay? Including seven and one in quad four. It's played eight quad four games. It's 48th in the net. It's not better than 49th. And resume based metrics, it's not better than 51 in advanced analytics. This is per all team sheet metrics here. It has. Okay, remember it almost. It should have slashed, almost beaten Michigan earlier this season, but it didn't. It lost to Michigan. It blew a huge lead to Kansas. Lost that game in overtime. That one was on the road. Think people have memory hold that. And in addition to that, it opened the season with a loss to New Orleans at home. Yikes, buddy. It has a loss at Utah. It has an 8761 loss at Colorado. It lost at home to Notre Dame, which isn't good. But it has also defeated Iowa State. It has knocked off Florida. It is knocked off Wisconsin. It's 15 and 9. I'm not even going to try this. This team is an acid drop. It really is hypno toads coming through to the best possible. And next two games are on the road against Oklahoma State and UCF. If you told me it won one by 30 and lost the other by 15, I'd believe you. So I'm here for the weirdness. I have no idea if this team's going to make the tournament, though.
- [35:00]
Gary Parrish
They could beat the Oklahoma City Thunder or lose to Gardner Webb.
- [35:05]
Matt Norlander
That's basically it.
- [35:07]
Gary Parrish
Either one's on the table. Put Shake Alexander in front of them that they can handle that. They could also lose to Coppin State.
- [35:15]
Matt Norlander
It's amazing. And they're. And like they're generally like a fairly anonymous team and we understand why, like they don't have a big time player. They weren't expected to be that good. But I, I love a good psycho resume. Every year we get a couple of them. They're probably going to take home the title here. I don't know if anyone can catch TCU at this point. That's really impressive. Our poll today on YouTube is which team that lost on Tuesday do you trust the least? Carolina coming in with the highest voting 50. Then Nebraska 33, Illinois at 11. Cyclones fans, our audience still trust you. 7% coming then last. And you want to be last in that pool.
- [35:51]
Gary Parrish
I think TCU was prominently featured in Landman Season 2.
- [35:55]
Matt Norlander
Good to know.
- [35:57]
Gary Parrish
Michelle Randolph. You familiar?
- [36:00]
Matt Norlander
Unfamiliar.
- [36:01]
Gary Parrish
She's an actress.
- [36:02]
Matt Norlander
I. I figured that.
- [36:05]
Gary Parrish
She has an Instagram account.
- [36:08]
Matt Norlander
Okay.
- [36:09]
Gary Parrish
Number 22, BYU. Whoo. This is a good one. Did you see this one, A.J. devonza?
- [36:15]
Matt Norlander
I did.
- [36:16]
Gary Parrish
He went big again. They beat Baylor.
- [36:18]
Matt Norlander
Wasn't just him, though.
- [36:19]
Gary Parrish
No, it wasn't just him. 99 Baylor. 94 to Boss at 36 points. 14 to 20 from the field. Nice road win that it looked like they might not get for a little while. But the Bonsa went big again and he had Franny fired up on social media. Did you see Fran Pachilla? He's calling out all the. All the NBA draft analysts and our buddy. Our buddy Sam Pacini seemed to take offense. It was wild last night on social media.
- [36:43]
Matt Norlander
We'll see if Sam's a little busy right now. We'll see if we can get to Sam before the end of the show.
- [36:47]
Gary Parrish
But he's here.
- [36:48]
Matt Norlander
He's here. I. I did see that. Fran basically said, who are these draft experts that. That are projecting AJ Outside the top third because they can't make up their minds? I don't know. Fran's a great dude. Love chatting with Fran on the regular. I don't know what the hell he's talking about. I don't know.
- [37:06]
Gary Parrish
I think.
- [37:07]
Matt Norlander
I think.
- [37:07]
Gary Parrish
I think maybe Franny was saying, like, you've got to put Debons at the top of any list. And why isn't he there? And most people say Devon says one of three that need to be in the conversation. And that's what we were arguing about.
- [37:20]
Matt Norlander
Y. I've maintained. I've maintained this more than anyone. I know he wasn't coming after me. He's the second freshman with 35.5 and 5 in a game this season. The other one. Who's the other freshman? 35.5 and 5 in a game this season. Yep.
- [37:34]
Gary Parrish
I would guess Wagler.
- [37:35]
Matt Norlander
Let's go.
- [37:36]
Gary Parrish
Oh, a boozer. I would guess Boozer.
- [37:38]
Matt Norlander
Correct. Cam Boozer on November 14, but Waggle is a good guess there. DebonSA past six games, averaging 30.7 points, 4.7 boards, 4.0 assists per game in the last six. To be clear, BYU has dropped games that it shouldn't be dropping. It didn't drop this one. I thought that was significant. But the only major conference freshman in the past three decades to go for at least 30 in a six game span. DeBonsa, Trey Young, Michael Beasley, Kevin Durant. Those are the only four. Those other three had incredible freshman seasons and they had national player of the year worthy. Not all of them got it, but they had worthy seasons for that. DeBonta is on in here. Tinde Yasufu also had 37. He outscored the Bots in this game. He outscored the Bonse. He played well. He's a nut.
- [38:32]
Gary Parrish
He's my favorite thing. My favorite thing. All time leading scorer in California high school basketball history. Nobody even knows he, he, he, he's a person. Well I, well nobody knows he exists. Nobody listens right now knows he's a real person.
- [38:49]
Matt Norlander
Because Baylor's 13 and 11. He is another like he's another outstanding freshman. It's just maybe he's the prime example of just how laughably deep this one and done freshman classes. Because he's really, really good. And yes to your point, he can walk down the streets of Waco. No one's gonna know. But he had 37 in this game. The rare game, and I mean rare, where you had two freshmen in the same game for go for 35 plus. That almost never happens. Oh, by the way, Rob Wright III returning to where he was was. And he had 30. He played well. A couple, couple of really, really nice plays and, and big foul shots near the end. And you know what I enjoyed and to be clear, I was hopping around. I didn't have the volume on that game the whole time, but a couple of times I caught it. It was just huge chance of Trader. Trader. That's entirely fine. That's, that's what he should have expected. It's all in good taste and, and I enjoyed that that the Baylor students came up with something that was a bit piercing, entirely accurate and not over the line or Offensive, well done all around.
- [39:53]
Gary Parrish
Yeah, that's a good chance. Right?
- [39:55]
Matt Norlander
You know, and if you don't know the backstory, Wright played a Baylor last season. He literally signed a deal to come back in an IL deal, reneged on that deal, went and played at byu, obviously didn't sit well with Scott Drew privately when it happened. And then Drew and we've gotten to the point. I love this. I love this. We've gotten to the point where coaches in football and basketball, they're just more empowered to speak out about this stuff. Yes, please, can we move it from the conversations off the record, over the phone into the press conference? And Scott Drew said he said it in a kind way, but he was basically like, you know, I wish he hadn't signed a deal and left. That's my biggest issue. And he's got a point there. But, you know, bygones being a bygones, they've gone their separate ways. Baylor wishes it had Robert because it's not going to the tournament without him. But I. I did enjoy that the student section stepped up in a way, but it wasn't, you know, it didn't get to an ugly point where we had to open the A block with it, so to speak.
- [40:43]
Gary Parrish
Well, that's the. That's the. The ugly part of all of this. I am for player empowerment. I think anybody who listens to this podcast understands where I stand on all of these issues. But it's not okay when you think you have a player coming back to anchor your team, you actually, like, do all the things you need to do to secure his services, and then it's gone out the door and there is literally nobody available to you comparable to him. That's not okay. That, like, messed up their whole season.
- [41:14]
Matt Norlander
They didn't bring back.
- [41:17]
Gary Parrish
They brought back no players from last. That messed up their season. That messes up their program. Scott's the nicest guy in the world. Like, maybe. Maybe actually the nicest guy in the world. And even he was, like, comfortable publicly saying, like, yo, man, this is messed up, and other guys would have yelled it and cussed it and whatever. And so, like, yeah, that was. That was on television last night, too. The guy who should have been the centerpiece of Baylor's team, what was, you know, the centerpiece, or at least among the pieces of another team. And if you're trying to figure out why Baylor, this team that won national championship not too long ago, is going to miss the NCAA tournament, that is the biggest reason why.
- [41:58]
Matt Norlander
And by the way, we got to keep it moving, but I'll just. Since we're talking about Baylor real quick. James Najee. Six minutes.
- [42:05]
Gary Parrish
Yeah.
- [42:05]
Matt Norlander
Zero points. James Najee's point total this season. How many trivia time. James Najee was cleared and played in his first game for Baylor on January 3rd. How many points has James Najee scored this season?
- [42:20]
Gary Parrish
21.
- [42:23]
Matt Norlander
Lower.
- [42:25]
Gary Parrish
17.
- [42:27]
Matt Norlander
Lower.
- [42:28]
Gary Parrish
Oh, this is Epstein stuff, buddy. I can't go lower than that. I'm not going lower than that. I'm not trying to get in any files. All right? I stop at 17. I'm stopping right there. You can go lower if you want to. I'm not. I'm not comfortable with this.
- [42:41]
Matt Norlander
The answer is 13 points.
- [42:43]
Gary Parrish
No, no, no. I'm not doing that. I'm not doing that. I've been watching the news all week. I'm not doing that.
- [42:54]
Matt Norlander
What's the next game, Please? What's the next game?
- [43:01]
Gary Parrish
Final score. Hey, if I were Scott Drew, you know what I would do? Seriously? I would take James Najee to an Alabama court yesterday and I'd be done with this. Why hasn't Scott take to an Alabama court and be done with this? You get in this right now, this dude has scored 13. You went through all of this for 13 points. Take him to Alabama court and end it. This is crazy. One more in the Big 12. Final score. Arizona State 85, Oklahoma State 76. I only bring this up because Oklahoma State was quite literally two things. The only team that was positioned last in the CBS Sports bracket on Tuesday morning and the only team on CBS Sports Network in the bracket on Tuesday night. So I was fired up high. Fakes game, and they went and lost it. Happy for Bobby, but, like, missed opportunity.
- [44:05]
Matt Norlander
That's about it. It's like these. I know it kind of blends into the. The background on a game on and out with a lot of big games. But, like, if you want to make the tournament, this is. You gotta win the game. Like you're a program that's trying to break through. You couldn't get it done. That is. That is unfortunate. For sure. The hope's not lost, but I think they're going to rue the day.
- [44:25]
Gary Parrish
I hope they don't rue the day.
- [44:27]
Richard Deitsch
Hey, this is Richard Deitch, the host of the sports media podcast.
- [44:29]
Matt Norlander
If you're interested in what's happening with.
- [44:31]
Richard Deitsch
All the places where you consume sports, the sports media podcast has you covered.
- [44:35]
Gary Parrish
I've been turning down interviews all week. Koda Kopi reached out. Oprah, George Stephanopoulos. So I said no. I was booked on the Deitch podcast before the Taylor Swift phenomenon. I must live up to my responsibility.
- [44:51]
Richard Deitsch
Listen, wherever you get your podcasts.
- [44:57]
Gary Parrish
Let's move on to the SEC. Number 19. Vanderbilt 84, Auburn 76. Commoners go on the road, get a win. Auburn's all over the place. Not quite like tcu, but still all over the place.
- [45:09]
Matt Norlander
I mean, I have the answer for why this happened. Talked about Stephen Pearl last Friday. I just don't think he's emotionally recovered from the fact that Charles Bediaco had the ruling go against him. We haven't even talked about on the show yet.
- [45:25]
Gary Parrish
He had to. He had. He had to. He had to deal with that.
- [45:28]
Matt Norlander
He. Listen, on Monday, late Monday, a judge denied Charles Betiako's injunction to permanently play for Alabama for the rest of the season. So he's. He's off the team now. And that's a whole other topic, which, frankly, we don't have a ton of time to get to today. But I guess we can, we can swerve into it right here if you want. Honestly refreshing. And it is rare. One, it's rare for the NCAA to get a win of this significance in court, but it got it. I think that's important. Two, it's rare for the overwhelming sentiment among almost everyone to be rooting for the NCAA to win a case. That was the case here. Like the unquestionably across the spectrum of college athletics and even beyond that, that's the case. And you know, we know what Stephen Pearl said. Like he didn't. This was hard on him and. And wasn't able to recover as a result. It's a home loss, 8,476 to Vandy. And yeah, we'll see. We'll see if he can, if he can turn it around here. But thoughts with Stephen Pearl. I know he was conflicted about Alabama's eligibility case with Charles Bediaco that didn't go his way.
- [46:36]
Gary Parrish
We're all humans. We all have to deal with good news sometimes, bad news sometimes. I don't know if you've ever, you know, received bad news in the middle of an afternoon. God knows I have, of course. And it can shake you. And yet one of the things you learn is that the, you know, the world keeps spinning, man. It don't stop for you and your problems. And that's the main thought I had yesterday afternoon when I heard this. You know, the Betty Akanu comes down now Steven still has to coach a game. Yeah.
- [47:12]
Matt Norlander
He was put in an unfair position. Let's be honest.
- [47:14]
Gary Parrish
It's put it up. We all say, listen, you got to know how to compartmentalize. We all say that like it's an easy thing to do. But if you expected Stephen Pearl to have to deal with the Betty Ako news and then Vanderbilt all in the same short period of time, it's just a big ask. It's a big ass.
- [47:35]
Matt Norlander
He's. He just got the job. He's just got the job. Yeah. It's just, it's unfortunate. Yeah.
- [47:43]
Gary Parrish
How many people do you know in their first year in the job in a league like the SEC had to coach a game against the top 20 team immediately after receiving news like that?
- [47:58]
Matt Norlander
It doesn't happen often.
- [48:00]
Gary Parrish
It's not, it's not something that happens often.
- [48:02]
Matt Norlander
Yeah. And now barbers 14 and 10 lost three in a row on the road to Tennessee, home to Bama, which had Betty Oko. That's the other thing. It's. He just saw him, you know, just saw him. He just there a few days ago and now he's out of the league.
- [48:18]
Gary Parrish
For the rest of his life. He'll be like, he. I just saw him. I mean, we was just there and then it was just over. I mean it's just. Life's unpredictable.
- [48:30]
Matt Norlander
It is. Congrats to Vanderbilt 14 of its past five now.
- [48:34]
Gary Parrish
Tyler Tanner's great. I know you wrote 7 billion words about him. He's wonderful.
- [48:39]
Matt Norlander
It's more like 700. But yes, Tyler Tanner's been outstanding. I'll give our buddy Chef Borzello a shout here. He was on it after this game went final without Duke. Miles, who was, you know, they were a wonderful 1A, 1B. But Miles has been dealing with an injury with his knee and hopefully he's, he'll come back before too much longer. But I know they're, they're, they're going to be intentional and delicate with that. But Tanner, averaging 24 and a half points and 7.3 assists without miles on the floor, he's been outstanding. Just one good point guard after another after another. There are so many good point guards in college basketball. Goes back to what we Talked about about 30 minutes ago on the show with how good this is. The point guards have played a significant factor in that as well. So Vandy gets a nice road win. Auburn's NCAA tournament case is now really coming into focus and, and up for some debate here. It's got some nice wins, but it's taking on a lot of losses, a lot of good losses, but nonetheless lost volume has to matter. 14:10. Here's the problem for Auburn. Next game at Arkansas, after that at Mississippi State, which isn't good, but it's a. It's a road game, so it's not going to be easy. And you can't afford to lose it home to Kentucky after that. We'll see what. We'll see what Pearl's team can do upcoming here.
- [49:51]
Gary Parrish
All right, let's keep it moving. One more in the SEC. We'll keep it quick. Number 21, Arkansas 91, LSU 62. Just speaking of awesome point guards, Darius Acuff, he's on that list, right?
- [50:02]
Matt Norlander
Yes. He continues to put up amazing numbers. And I think this is. I think last night was kind of. This is my own conjecture, obviously, but I just think it was Matt McMahon's last stand. Last chance. I. I am expecting a change in Baton Rouge once we get to next month. Not fun.
- [50:17]
Gary Parrish
Well, this is not. Yeah, I mean, we're at the point of the season where you can start going, okay, at Arizona State, this is going to happen. And at this place, this is going to happen at lsu, it's not even like a secret, like the AD has publicly said, like, if we don't do this, this, we might have to do this. And so here we are. Not never a fun conversation.
- [50:37]
Matt Norlander
But.
- [50:37]
Gary Parrish
But. But here we are, just one from the Big east that we haven't touched on. Villanova 77, Marquette 74, and whatever. That's a good result for the Big east because you need Villanova to keep winning in the spirit of get as many teams in the NCAA Tournament with great seeds as you can. But the headline here from you yesterday, Villanova's gonna open next season in Rome. Is that a real thing?
- [51:02]
Matt Norlander
It is a real thing, yes. I, I've been sitting on this for. For a bit there and then. I know the timing was weird. We actually ran the story in the middle of the Villanova game, but I'd received enough information that it. The information might be getting too loose, and it was just time to go. So almost went with this last week, in fact, but sat on it a little bit longer. This is awesome. So Villanova and Notre Dame. If you have not read the story, please do CBSSports.com let it go in the middle of the game. I was told at least one coaching staff was informed at halftime that, hey, by the way, when this game is over, you might get asked about this because the story is now out there, which I find to be funny. Men's and women's teams, they are lined up to go. Now. The paperwork hasn't been signed. But barring, like a significant event that alters it from happening, this is going to happen. Pope Leo, he is a Villanova alumnus. Notre Dame, the most prominent Catholic institution of higher learning in the entire world. It literally has an outpost based in Rome. So if any two schools are going to go play in Rome, this would be the reason why. And the two that would do it. It makes a ton of sense. And the plans for this have been seriously in the works since essentially the early fall was actually first pitched back, like, way back, like the Pope Leo became Pope Leo in May. And I think the idea for this kind of quietly germinated among a couple people in the weeks after that. But it didn't really start to gain actual traction until later into, into September. A game will be on Fox. The men's game, I believe the plan is. And this isn't all finalized, but this is what I've been told. 9:00am Tip on Fox. It will lead into NFL coverage, uh, that day. The women's game will be played on Fox Sports. 1. Those games will tip in the afternoon in Italy, which means breakfast basketball. This is also All Saints day. It is November 1st. The NCAA gave a special waiver to these teams because the season will start earnestly on Monday, November 2nd. This. These games will be November 1st. So it will be, you know, an opener on foreign soil. The Pope's involvement or lack thereof is still very to be determined. And really behind the scenes, this is why I didn't go with the story for quite a while, because they still have to. Like, you're dealing with the Vatican and quite literally one of the most famous people on the planet. So because of that, they got to.
- [53:30]
Gary Parrish
Put him in the student section. Like Bobon.
- [53:31]
Matt Norlander
As much as, as much as I would love to see that, I think there's, I think there's real hesitancy over the idea that the Pope is going to attend the game. I think they're hoping they can. They can. I would love to see it. And by the way, I would love to expense this trip. We'll see if we can get that done. Would love nothing more than to, to stop over on Italy and can I get a sit down? Can we get the Pope on Ion College basketball Police. Begging police.
- [53:53]
Gary Parrish
I'll talk to the Pope. I'll find out. I'll. I will. I'll find out once and for all. Hey, Pope. One of us.
- [54:06]
Matt Norlander
There you go. I, I don't think so. I think that goes. I think it's kind of the rule, man.
- [54:13]
Gary Parrish
Like my fire Alarm is going off.
- [54:15]
Matt Norlander
Okay, well, that's good times.
- [54:16]
Gary Parrish
If you want to know why my eyes look like this, it's because this happened till 3:30 in the morning.
- [54:24]
Matt Norlander
Gosh.
- [54:25]
Gary Parrish
Watch the fire. And security commissioner is about to come on and he's going to say something and then he's going to repeat it. Because apparently that's in the protocols. You have to repeat everything you say. So he's going to say this. May I have your attention?
- [54:39]
Matt Norlander
Attention.
- [54:42]
Gary Parrish
This is the fire master. May I have your attention? I don't think it's the fire master.
- [54:47]
Matt Norlander
But something like fire starter.
- [54:48]
Gary Parrish
And he's gonna say, we have a situation here at the hotel. I repeat, we have a situation here. And I'm like, buddy, I know you. I, I know everything you're about to say because I've heard you say it twice almost every week that I've been here for the past two months. Like this happens a lot here.
- [55:11]
Matt Norlander
In the band.
- [55:12]
Gary Parrish
I told you what I know. The alarm's been activated, buddy. I know. I'm doing my normal activity.
- [55:21]
Matt Norlander
All right, well, I'm gonna keep going with this. That was a prodigy reference, by the way. As much as I would.
- [55:26]
Gary Parrish
You have my. I told you he would repeat it. He asked for my attention, please, three times. I don't. You had my attention when the bell rang 70 times. The bell gets my attention. I don't need you to ask for it. The. You hear that bell, buddy? The bells got my attention.
- [55:42]
Matt Norlander
As much.
- [55:43]
Gary Parrish
As I, I'm not exaggerating. 3:30 in the morning. This was still going on last night.
- [55:46]
Matt Norlander
Oh, I believe you. I've. And I have been there, and it's, it's an atrocity. I think everyone is rooting and was hoping for this game to be played at St. Peter's Square, which would be the sight of all sites. You got the, you got Pope Leo on the balcony just watching from on high. That's not the case. They're going to play in Rome at a, At a. At an arena that seats about 3, 500 people. That's about 30 minutes from the Vatican. So details still to be figured out, but really cool opportunity and frankly, a very high profile, amazing thing for college basketball to start next season in Italy. Very excited. We'll have more details on this, including a couple other things I didn't have in my story that, that may become more publicly known. Not by the end of the month and maybe at some point in March. But I appreciate you bringing up the story. I'm really excited to see what they can do. And my understanding is like, I put this out there and they're like, who's going to coach Notre Dame? Micah Shrewsbury is still going to be coaching next season. So I know Notre Dame fans are frustrated with all of this. Maybe they're seeking for defined intervention. But I don't expect any coaching changes in any of the programs before this game is played next year.
- [56:51]
Gary Parrish
College basketball, we'll put two teams in Rome, we'll put two teams in South Dakota. We don't care.
- [56:57]
Matt Norlander
Correct. And actually I like the fact that the sport, after getting all of the Europeans over to the states. Yeah, let's just send our teams back over.
- [57:04]
Gary Parrish
Let's just boomerang send them back over there with blank checks.
- [57:08]
Matt Norlander
Exactly.
- [57:10]
Gary Parrish
We have, hey, we have blank checks for hundreds of thousands of dollars. If you would like to play for us next season, hey, let's move on because I think I got another thing starting in like 19 minutes. Let's get to the C block. Now it's time for our weekly Naismith Watch segment presented by Jersey Mike's. In your. Let me ask you, you go to Game Day foods feeling uninspired? Mine aren't. Mine aren't. Next time skip the usual suspects and order Jersey Mike's. At Jersey Mike's, they make every sub to order with premium fresh sliced meat and cheesesteaks are cooked on a flat top grill. Download their app for delivery curbside or in store pickup. Jersey Mike's so proud sponsor of the Naismith Award and a proud maker of a sub above Norlander. Long way to go. I know. But right now give me your as of this moment, best five candidates for the Naismith Award. I know you're starting with Cameron Boozer.
- [58:03]
Matt Norlander
I'm starting with Cameron Boozer and I don't know what to do. I don't know what to do after that. Here is as of this morning, I jumped to Bonsa to number two. He leads the country in scoring and I think he's going to wind up finishing leading the country in scoring. That will be a and obviously major statistic that will affect the national player of the year race. If BYU can get attacked together and get some big wins, DeBonsa will have a chance to catch Boozer. He's at 24.5 points per game. He leads PJ Hagerty in obscurity 23.3. And Jordan Riley of East Carolina, they have 23.3 tied for second and then Boozers at 23.0. So I've got Boozer, then DeBonsa then Joshua, Jefferson, Kingston, Flemings, and I'm gonna say Jeremy Fierce Jr. Still narrowly ahead of Wagler, but two through like 9 HP is just, it's incredibly hard to do. So that's my favorite.
- [59:01]
Gary Parrish
That's like we can all agree, or at least most of us can agree on 12 or at least 12 for you is going to be 12 for me, and 12 for us is going to be 12 for, for lots. But after that, you could go in any order and pick from a list of 15 people and you can defend it pretty easily. So your list makes sense to me. But here's another one. Boozer 1, debons a 2, Keaton Wagler 3. Yaxel Lindenborg. Best player, best team at 4. Joshua Jefferson, who wasn't great in the loss last night, just I think five or 14 from the field, but still has had an incredible, incredible season. But you know, I, I go Boozer, debonso, Wagler, Lindenborg, Jefferson. I'm leaving off Flemings, which seems ridiculous because that's a team that's climbing and everything and would be my pick right now to win the national championship. And he would be the best player on a team I think is going to win the national championship. So I think we, we touched on it a million different times in this, in this episode, but this is really one of the great seasons of, of college basketball we've had in a long, long time. And you can talk about that from a team perspective, from a conference perspective, but also from a national player of the year race perspective. Like Boozer Debonsa, I do think belong 1, 2 in this, in this moment. But after that, you could take 10 different dudes and put them in any order and it, it kind of makes sense. Let's look ahead before we get out of here to the next two nights. Later on Wednesday, I'm going to be in studio here in New York, CBS Sports Network. Adam Zucker, Roy Hibbert, John Rothstein will be with me inside college basketball. 30 minute episode six, 30pm Eastern. Then we got a doubleheader concluding with Cincinnati at Kansas State. Oh, my God. Has there ever been a game where two coaches need to win worse than that one? Will the loser cry? Will the loser cry at the press conference? Will the loser shed tears?
- [61:03]
Matt Norlander
I'm going to say no. Too much pain to shed any tears?
- [61:06]
Gary Parrish
I don't know, man. I'm not sure. I'm not sure at this point. Elsewhere on Wednesday, number 14, Florida at Georgia. Number 6, UConn at Butler. Number 2. Michigan at Northwestern. This is a good one. Missouri at Texas A and M. You care about any of that?
- [61:22]
Matt Norlander
I want to see how Georgia responds at home. Florida coming to town. Pretty big game. I think the Florida, Georgia game is the best matchup of the night. I think objectively, I think that's the case. Bama plays at Mississippi. No. Charles Bediaco. First time without him. We'll see how that goes.
- [61:42]
Gary Parrish
Moment of silence. Moment of silence. Bow your head.
- [61:48]
Matt Norlander
And. And you know, in all seriousness, I say as I chuckle, I do think that ruling, which I was not entirely surprised by now I thought he was going to be made eligible. That ruling was significant. And you need to have proper eligibility standards in order to continue to have the natural flow of high school players into college and not have pros be able to come, particularly in season and just join rosters in December and in January. So it was a refreshing ruling from that judge and, and I thought a genuinely important one for the long term. Stability and kind of the next phases of college basketball getting its act together as best as it can to say, okay, if you're going to play in college, you got to be. And these are just my broad parameters, 18 to 23. Five years to play. Five. You know, I understand there's still a huge thing to figure out with players who don't go to American high schools, aren't from the United States. Their pathway is different. They have club ball over there. It's not, it's not a simple thing to figure out when it comes to translating from. If you're 20 years old and you played pro for three years, come over, you want to be eligible. It's not easy to figure out. I get that. But I think you can have some basic, fair, rational, broad bylaws that set up college basketball to have better stability with this, with its roster stuff. And I actually thought the Betty Ako thing also was important for college football because had he been allowed and depending on what happens over the next few months, who's to say that college football did not, or maybe still may not see 8, 10, 12 guys get cut during training camp and say, actually let me double back and play in the acc? So I, I thought, I thought the ruling carried more profound significance than just Alabama losing a key front core player for the rest of the season?
- [63:47]
Gary Parrish
So that's on Wednesday. On Thursday, Alabama plays.
- [63:52]
Matt Norlander
Alabama plays Ole miss tonight at 7:00 on SEC Network.
- [63:54]
Gary Parrish
Sorry, I wasn't talking, I'm not gonna.
- [63:57]
Matt Norlander
Talk about it again. And it was a big headline. We spent like four shows, talking about it. I wanted to put a bow. Sorry.
- [64:01]
Gary Parrish
I wasn't trying to mock you. I was just trying to move on. I swear to God.
- [64:05]
Matt Norlander
It's all good. By the way, USC plays at Ohio State. That's also a key game on Wednesday. Just for both teams. Like that. That is a double bubble game. 6:30 Eastern. Big Ten Network. Go ahead.
- [64:14]
Gary Parrish
So on Thursday, there are zero ranked teams in action. But. But I did notice Elvis Presley's alma mater is playing. Bryant. Is playing Bryant, if you're interested in that. That's a show.
- [64:30]
Matt Norlander
Okay. That's all you got?
- [64:31]
Gary Parrish
Yeah. That's it. That's. What else you want me to say about that?
- [64:33]
Matt Norlander
We got a top 100.
- [64:35]
Gary Parrish
What else? What? What? Okay, I'm sorry. Do you have anything else to say about Elvis Presley's Alma Modern? Brian?
- [64:42]
Matt Norlander
I don't. I thought the hook was going to be like, Bryant wasn't doing anything for me, but I didn't know what was. I didn't know where you're going with that.
- [64:49]
Gary Parrish
I was going nowhere. I was going straight to Devon down Thursday.
- [64:52]
Matt Norlander
Thursday is. It's slow on the men's side because women, their big night is Thursday. So that's also why Thursdays have become what they've become. So, yeah, that's basically. You've got another show. So. Yeah, that's a show.
- [65:06]
Gary Parrish
Yeah, we're gonna call that a show. Shout out to Devin Downey. Shouts to Chester, South Carolina. Terry Tigo's a legend.
- [65:11]
Matt Norlander
Hook Lauren, El.
- [65:12]
Gary Parrish
Thank you guys once again for watching. Listening to the I Own College Basketball podcast. If you're not subscribed, please go subscribe anywhere you subscribe to podcasts, Apple, Spotify, more of us, then we're all.
- [65:23]
Matt Norlander
I'll do respect.
- [65:25]
Gary Parrish
All due respect, all respect.
- [65:28]
Matt Norlander
Isn't that Poplia one of the most powerful, influential people in the world. Is it them? Can't deny that.
- [65:34]
Gary Parrish
Can't deny that. All right. Can't deny that. But I respect it. I respect it when it comes to.
- [65:41]
Matt Norlander
Pope, who is an avowed sports fan, caught on TV back in 05 cheering for his White Sox, which, you know, I'll overlook. He only became Pope in May of 25. Yeah, Villanova won titles in 16 and 18. He wasn't living in the States at that point, but no doubt loves his Wildcats. Do we think. And this podcast has existed for much longer than that. Do we think the Pope has ever listened to an episode of Ion College Basketball?
- [66:09]
Gary Parrish
This is. This is where I think. I don't assume anybody knows anything about me ever.
- [66:16]
Matt Norlander
Correct. Pun not intended. No chance in hell the Pope has ever heard.
- [66:22]
Gary Parrish
I mean, I. I mean, I think there's a better chance the devil is.
- [66:28]
Matt Norlander
I think there's actually a chance.
- [66:30]
Gary Parrish
I think there's a chance the Pope knows who John Fanta is, and I think there's a better chance the devil has listened to this podcast.
- [66:39]
Matt Norlander
That's right. I think that's also appropriate.
- [66:42]
Gary Parrish
I think there's a better chance the devil has listened to this podcast than the Pope.
- [66:48]
Matt Norlander
I think you are absolutely right.
- [66:50]
Gary Parrish
Hold on.
- [66:51]
Matt Norlander
Where is it?
- [66:51]
Gary Parrish
I'm a sun devil. Look at me. See what I'm saying? I think we might work better in hell than heaven. That's disappointing to hear out loud.
- [67:06]
Matt Norlander
Yeah, it is.
- [67:07]
Gary Parrish
Just. All right, well, then, hey, you know what? Maybe we need to work on that, and we'll start Friday.
- [67:13]
Matt Norlander
Try our best next time.
- [67:14]
Gary Parrish
Let's. Hey, let's work on that starting Friday. Let's see if we can create an audience with. We have a year. I mean, at this point, it's less than a year. We have less than a year to create an audience with the Pope to where maybe we can get him at a Villanova Notre Dame game and get him as an audience member of the Island College basketball podcast. Right now, we're. We're operating with the devil, probably, but we can. We have time. It's never too late to turn it around. That's one of the things I've learned in my scripture. It is never too late to turn it around.
- [67:48]
Matt Norlander
That's working in your benefit, although I don't feel like it's coming from an honest, genuine place there. Hope sees right through that. So we got that now. Now that I think about it, it's also working.
- [67:56]
Gary Parrish
I don't know, buddy. I've been tricking people my whole life. I think I keep doing it. I don't think the Pope's going to be the one to figure me out.
- [68:06]
Matt Norlander
End this show. We will see you Friday.
- [68:08]
Gary Parrish
Hey, till then, take care.
- [68:22]
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Matt Norlander
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Gary Parrish
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