Immediate impact 💥 Reax to Cam Boozer, Koa Peat, Darryn Peterson, AJ Dybantsa + everything else from first two days of the season

Summary

Eye On College Basketball Podcast: Immediate Impact—Reax to Cam Boozer, Koa Peat, Darryn Peterson, AJ Dybantsa & Early Season Takeaways

Date: November 5, 2025
Hosts: Gary Parrish & Matt Norlander

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EPISODE OVERVIEW

This early-season episode dives deep into the standout performances and storylines from the first two days of the college basketball season, with a special emphasis on the incredible production of the highly touted freshman class. Gary Parrish and Matt Norlander break down the immediate impacts made by stars like Cam Boozer (Duke), Koa Peat (Arizona), Darryn Peterson (Kansas), and AJ Dybantsa (BYU), exploring what their debuts signal for their teams and for the evolving landscape of the sport. The hosts also touch on key games, emerging team narratives, coaching moments, and their own preseason prognostications—often with their trademark mix of analysis, humility, and humor.

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KEY DISCUSSION POINTS & INSIGHTS

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1. Duke’s Opening Win & Cam Boozer’s Debut

• Game: #6 Duke 75, Texas 60
• Cam Boozer Performance: 15 pts, 13 rebs, 3 stls, 2 asts, 1 blk (despite scoring zero in the first half)
  • Coach Shire called out Boozer for playing "soft" at halftime; Boozer responded with a huge second half.
  • "If things go the way we think they're going to go with Boozer this season, this will probably be among his six or seven worst games—and he still had 15 and 13, which is outrageous." —Matt Norlander [03:48]
• Isaiah Evans: Emerged as the game's most important player—23 pts (7-of-13 FG), making clear that Duke’s ceiling rises and falls with his efficiency and three-point shooting.
• Duke’s Consistency: Now 27 straight season-opening wins (last loss in ‘99 to Stanford).
• Game Turning Point: Duke opened 2nd half with a 10-0 run, didn't allow Texas a basket for first 5 minutes after halftime.
• Texas Outlook: Still finding its form—new coach Sean Miller, missed key shots, impressive moments from big man Modestas Medelis.
• Dick Vitale Event: Both salute ESPN for naming an early-season event after Dick Vitale at last—“the most important media member in the history of college basketball.” —Norlander [07:53]

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2. Freshman Phenom: Koa Peat’s Historic Debut for Arizona

• Game: #13 Arizona 93, #3 (Reigning Champ) Florida 87
• Koa Peat: 30 pts, 5 rebs, 5 asts, 3 stls in his first-ever college game (did it against what was seen as the top frontcourt in the nation)
  • “This was the best freshman debut I really want to say ever... To do that against the reigning champions, with their entire frontcourt back—absurd.” —Gary Parrish [15:11]
  • Only the second player (and only freshman) to go for 30-5-5-3 in a major debut.
  • “He might be the front-runner for national player of the year—two days into the season.” —Parrish [17:11]
• Arizona’s Unusual Style: Won with just 2-of-5 three-point shooting, emphasizing versatility in the college game.
  • “It’s rare... 93 points in a 40-minute game on barely any threes. That would never happen in the NBA.” —Norlander [23:31]
• Coaching Notes: Tommy Lloyd now 22–13 vs. ranked teams, 7–4 vs. top-5 opponents.
• Arizona Players Snubbed: None named preseason All-Big 12 first team despite this impact.

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3. Preseason Rankings Regrets: Player Evaluations

• Both hosts jokingly shame themselves for underrating Peat in their preseason Top 100 lists.
  • “Where was he?” —Parrish
  • “I had him at 94. That’s embarrassing.” —Norlander [13:55]

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4. NBA Prospect vs. College Star Debate

• Not all top freshmen are elite NBA prospects; Peat is less hyped as a pro, but his college dominance is irrefutable.
  • “Perhaps there should’ve been zero questions about how it would translate to this level.” —Norlander [19:08]
• Big three projected NBA picks for 2026: Peterson, Dybantsa, and Boozer, but Peat is shifting the conversation.

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5. Freshman Class of 2025: Best Ever?

• All four generational freshmen (Boozer, Peat, Dybantsa, Peterson) shined immediately.
  • “We might have the top six picks in the draft all be freshmen.” —Parrish [38:30]
  • Listener poll during episode: 75% say this will be the best freshman class ever.

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6. Quick Hits—Other Results & Notable Performances

• Kansas (#19) vs Green Bay: Darryn Peterson: 21-4-3, matches Dybantsa’s BYU line.
• BYU vs Villanova: AJ Dybantsa: “Not a huge line, but physically imposing as an 18-year-old on older guys with championship rings.” —Norlander [20:05]
• Purdue: Fletcher Loyer’s 7 threes and Braden Smith’s 11 assists vs. Evansville; Coach Matt Painter chides “not smart” fans who want Loyer benched.
  • “Let’s not talk to them.” —Painter (reported by Norlander) [34:10]
• Other High-Impact Freshmen: Nate Amen (Tennessee), among others, also started strong.

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7. Coaching & Team Miscellany

• Mick Cronin (UCLA): After a shaky win, Cronin: “Mistakes everywhere, I’d like to fire myself.” [44:21]
• Bruce Pearl (Auburn): Debuted as coach, tweeted premature “Boom” before Bethune-Cookman sent game to OT; his son Stephen eked out the win.
  • “I know Auburn fans are sick and tired of being asked to be patient...” —S. Pearl (paraphrased) [42:09]
• Close Calls & Upsets:
  • Auburn, Colorado, UCF, Xavier, Oregon, Georgia Tech, and Boston College narrowly escape or drop openers.
  • TCU loses at home to New Orleans, who won just 4 games last year.
  • Boise State falls to Division II Hawaii Pacific—"worst loss in the history of the school."
• Memorable Moment: Loyola Chicago beats Cleveland State at the buzzer in first game after Sister Jean passes away—"chill bump inducing stuff." [49:41]

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8. Thematic Threads & Running Jokes

• Admitting Preseason Misses: Both hosts candidly recount underrating Koa Peat, and other honest admissions.
• Producer Changes and Video Mishaps: Snafus about sending/receiving video clips for the live show, leading to jokes about family sabotage and 'hand-raising' when you make mistakes.
• Inside Jokes: Speculation about each other's cars, humblebrags about high school rides, and Gary accidentally sabotaging Ja Morant's parking spot with his dead EV.

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9. Notable Quotes & Moments

• “Zero points with 19:31 left in the game and [Boozer] still finished with 15 and 13. It’s his first double double as a Blue Devil.” —Norlander [04:53]
• “It’s interesting to see a star player get called out at halftime, then flourish in the second half as opposed to just shut it down and pop off in the postgame.” —Parrish [05:47]
• “[Koa Peat] gave college basketball a wonderful immediate boost by arriving on the stage and frankly looking like a guy who should be starting right now for the Suns, not even the Wildcats.” —Norlander [18:06]
• “The ones who want to get rid of [Fletcher Loyer], they’re not very smart, so let’s not talk to them.” —Matt Painter, paraphrased by Norlander [34:30]
• “If there’s really one person who embodies the enthusiasm and spirit of college basketball, it’s Dick Vitale... The most important media member in the history of college basketball.” —Norlander [07:53]
• “Mistakes everywhere—I’d like to fire myself.” —Mick Cronin [44:21]
• “Do you know what I drove in high school? Suzuki Samurai, with a Nine Inch Nails sticker... I was running.” —Norlander [57:18]

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10. Looking Ahead

• Quiet Mid-Week: Slim pickings until Friday—“It is thin stuff Wednesday and Thursday.”
• Advice for Coaches: “If I were running a prominent college basketball program, I’d be on the phone with my television partners [to get on TV Wednesday night, opening week].” —Norlander [52:21]
• Weekend Preview: Kansas, Carolina, Maryland, Georgetown, Alabama, St. John’s, Arkansas, Michigan State, Oklahoma, Gonzaga, Indiana, Marquette among Friday-Sunday headliners.
• Breaking News: Purdue and Tennessee to start a home-and-home in December 2026. [50:38]

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IMPORTANT SEGMENTS & TIMESTAMPS

• Duke-Texas Recap, Cam Boozer’s Impact: [01:00–05:40]
• Discussion: Coaching, Defensive Runs, Vitale Event: [06:15–09:00]
• Arizona-Florida, Koa Peat’s Debut, Freshman History: [12:47–19:08]
• Debate: College vs NBA Prospect Status, Three-Point Trends: [19:08–23:40]
• Best Freshman Class Ever? Poll/Discussion: [38:30–39:00][54:20]
• Purdue, Loyer, Painter quote: [30:01, 34:10]
• Buzzer Beater for Loyola (Sister Jean): [49:19]
• Coach Meltdowns & Quips (Cronin, Pearl): [41:22, 44:16]
• Looking Ahead / Big Picture: [51:46–54:20]

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SUMMARY

This episode framed the new college basketball season as a stage for a potentially historic freshman class, whose immediate impact is redefining expectations and adding enormous intrigue at both the elite program and NBA scouting levels. Gary and Matt’s breakdowns of Cam Boozer’s and Koa Peat’s performances come with honest reflections about missed preseason evaluations, while the rundown of other key games and strange moments (close calls, coaching quotes, and technical mishaps) rounds out a rich tapestry of early-season drama and humor. The message is clear: college hoops is back, its stars are shining as brightly as ever, and this class of freshmen may go down as the best ever.

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If you want in-depth, insightful, and thoroughly entertaining commentary on the college game, this episode is required listening—or at least, reading.

Transcript

[Gary Parish]

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[Matt Norlander]

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[Gary Parish]

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[Matt Norlander]

Style them with the Jetsetter T legacy button down shirt or the buttery legacy polo sweater and you've got timeless staples to meet your everyday wardrobe needs. Jack Archer is just better. For a limited time, get 15% off using the code getjack@jack archer.com again that's promo code. Get [e-mail] for 15 off your entire order. Hey there. I am Gary Parish. Welcome back CBS Sports. I own college basketball podcast where we sometimes discuss camel fighting, dodo birds. Leaky Black Matt Norlander is here with me. If you're watching on YouTube, smash the like button be Brandon Davies. And if you're one of us, let the world know in the chat and in the comments. And if you haven't already, please make sure you subscribe to the I Own College Basketball podcast. Wherever you subscribe to podcasts, let's get into it. Fun matchup on Tuesday night. Two big brands. The first half was competitive, the second half was not. Final score number six Duke 75, Texas 60. So John Shire, if you're keeping track, that's career win number 90, Sean Miller. Oh, and one so far at UT. I guess the main storyline Norlander is that five store forward Cam Boozer didn't score until the second half but still finished with 15 points, 13 rebounds, three steals, two assists and a block. Good to see you on this Wednesday morning. What'd you make of what we saw for the Blue Devils last Night.

[Gary Parish]

Good morning, gp. Good to see you as well. Yeah, plenty to get to but we'll go with the most recent result which was. It was a, it was a fine enough game. It actually I think game flow wise was about what I expected. Texas did put up some resistance. We'll open on Boozer, then we can dive into just a little bit more elsewhere. He, Boozer. It was actually stark to come off of everything that KOA Pete did on Monday. And then you got another guy who plays a very similar position. What Spoozer gonna do against Texas and just nothing in the first 20 minutes. Zero points, three boards. He still finishes with 15 and 13. Anyway, this will probably be. If the, if, if things go the way we think they're going to go with Boozer this season, this will probably be among his six or seven worst games. And he's still at 15 and 13. He's still at 15 and 13, which is outrageous. But you know, he was much more assertive in the second half. Isaiah Evans was the most important player on the floor for Duke last night, which I thought was an important development. He had a career high 23 points. He did on 7 or 13 shooting by the way, showing out right near where he grew up as is. And I think that is important because Boozer will be the teams or it should be the team's best player. But I, as I said on hq, I did a Tuesday night hit after the game went final. I actually think Duke's barometer is probably going to be along the lines of how Isaiah Evans goes. That's probably how Duke's going to go because you're almost certainly going to get just the stat stuffing from Boozer on a nightly basis. Can Evans be the guy that can be efficient, that can be a really, really good three point shooter, that can be a guy that if, you know what if they feel like they need to get 25 plus from him, he's capable of doing that. How he works within the offense. I know they have huge high expectations for him there as well. So yeah, those are my kind of dual takeaways. By the way. Duke 60 all time versus Texas and Duke is now 20. It won 27 games in a row to start its season. If you listen to the last show I told you, the last time they lost, that was against stanford back in 1999. So Duke is accustomed to opening with the W and it does so for the 27th season in a row.

[Matt Norlander]

If you remember earlier in the week when we talked on the pod for an hour and 45 minutes.

[Gary Parish]

That's a good time.

[Matt Norlander]

I loved it. It was a good time. You, you know, you gave me an over under on Cam Boozer. Double doubles. I don't remember what the number was.

[Gary Parish]

But like it was 26 and a half or 27.

[Matt Norlander]

I was like, yeah, I'll take the over. I mean, unless you'd have said like 41, I'd have probably still taken the over. Right? So. And last night was evidence of why. I mean, it's zero points with 19:31 left in the game and still finished with 15 and 13. It's his first double double as a Blue Devil. It was interesting in the post game press conference he was asked about his first half. He said, obviously the first half was rough, but coach called me out. Coach Shire called me out and said I was playing soft, which was true. And then I got going in the second half. Now, I don't know if you've been paying attention to what we, we've been dealing with down here in Memphis, but it was interesting to see a player, a star player.

[Gary Parish]

I have, I'm aware it was interesting.

[Matt Norlander]

To see a star player get called out at halftime by his coach and, and flourish in the final 20 minutes as opposed to just shut it completely down and, and then pop off in the post game. It was just interesting to see that in Charlotte last night.

[Gary Parish]

That was for sure. I did see those quotes as well. I actually would love to be in a fly on the wall and see like how hard it's, it's game one. How hard did Shire go at Boozer? But Shire, I knew, I knew I.

[Matt Norlander]

Should have taken to ban.

[Gary Parish]

I don't think it was something like that, although that would have been hilarious.

[Matt Norlander]

But regardless, zero points in the what is your nil deal. Get AJ on the phone. I think it was probably something like that.

[Gary Parish]

Incredible. If so, for Duke, winning the game two runs basically solidified it because Texas actually had the lead by one at the break. And at that point I was like, okay, maybe we, maybe we'll have a little bit of something here with, with Texas, you know, modest vocatitis. He actually had some. He really could be a guy for Texas this season. Seven footer, unafraid, went at it. Texas, it felt like missed 15 bunnies in this game, by the way, which also wasn't helpful. But for Duke, they opened the second half on a ten nothing run. And then later with like from the nine minute mark to about seven and a half to go, they went on another run, like an eight nothing run. That broke it open to an 11 point game. That's really how they got the separation. Texas only scored 60 in this game, just 27 after the break and Texas didn't even score for the first five minutes of the second half. So that's really how they pulled away. It's a good sign from a defensive standpoint like Texas is still going to take some time to kind of put the pieces together. I had him just barely inside my top 35 to start the season. GP Adam just barely inside his top 25 to start the season. We'll see. Tremond Mark was not nearly a factor and he's going to have to be one. Jordan Pope had some nice moments, but at least you know, Sean Miller's first game. As I mentioned on the previous show, house money situation, you're not expected to win. You're playing in Charlotte. They couldn't get it done, but at least they were, they kept it interesting. They, they kind of made it a scrappy deal for about the first 75 of the game. And then my last take on, on the game in general was having nothing to do with the teams, just the event. You know, it took until 2025, which is probably frankly about 15 years too late, for Dick Vital to actually have an in season event named after him. Good on ESPN and everyone involved in that for just doing it. The man deserves it. We are doing it. While he is not only still alive able to call the actual event named in his honor. So plans moving forward are to do this on a yearly basis, of course, and he deserves it. You know, if there's really one person that embodies the enthusiasm, the spirit of college basketball, it is Dick Vital. Anyone that has come after Dick Vital that has been in the media that is shown, you know, a propensity for high end enthusiasm and just cheery eyed optimism for what college basketball can be. In a small way, I consider myself a part of that group. But we all owe a huge debt of gratitude to Dick Vital, who is the most important media member in the history of college basketball. And so he was owed something like this. Glad that he was able to experience it. Jay Billis on the call, Dave o' Brien on the call as well. And so I just wanted to give credit to them what we, what, what needs to be one and done, in addition to kamboozer is the court. It was hideous. Take that court and toss it into the Atlantic Ocean. Get that thing out of here. Hideous, hideous court. But everything else about it was tremendous.

[Matt Norlander]

This might be hard for younger people to understand, but There was a point in time in college basketball where I think you could reasonably argue Dick Vital was the face of the sport. Like, yeah, like we had Bob Knight, we had Mike Jasheski and Rick Patino and whatever. But you could reasonably argue Dick Vital was the face of the sport. For instance, right now, if ESPN or CBS anybody is coming to broadcast a game in an arena on a campus, do people, students, fans, immediately like, first question, who's going to be on the call? I don't know that that is really a thing anymore, you know. Yeah, but, but with Dick Vital it was, it was like, oh, this game, this weekend, it's on espn. Is Dicky V coming? That was like a part of the conversation. Just an incredible ambassador of the sport. In many ways the face of the sport. And just as we've talked about a million times, a sweetheart of a man who has really endured with a brave and positive face, incredible health issues in recent years. But it was just awesome to see him. It's the second night of the season. There was Dick Vital on TV last night. Like me and my wife just sit there and watch and you know, she doesn't know Dick. She was aware of him, but she doesn't know him. But she loves him just because of what she's seen and what I've told her. And so we got to watch that together. And it was sweet and I appreciate the point you made. We don't have to wait till people are gone to give them their flowers to, to give them those moments. And yes, credit to ESPN and anybody else who could have possibly been involved for making that happen last night because it was, it was a high profile basketball game early in the season. I'll take that every year. But it also was an opportunity to shine a bright light on a man who has meant an immense amount to the sport.

[Gary Parish]

All right, you want to get to the by far biggest performance notable event of the first two days of the season?

[Matt Norlander]

GP Co Opiete. He was the star the first two days of the season. Arizona freshman put 30 on the reigning national champs season opening victory over Florida. We'll dive into that next. First though, I need a word from our partners. What's up everyone? It's the counselor of Cash Siyanajad from the Early Edge, a daily sports betting show powered by Sportsline and part of the CBS sports podcast network. If you're looking for the best bets, picks and analysis for the day in sports, we're your one stop shop. We're locked in every day with the NFL bets and player props, college football picks and so much more. Download and follow us on Apple Podcasts, Spotify and anywhere podcasts are found. Subscribe to the SportsLine YouTube page to watch us live at 10am Eastern Time every weekday. Make sure to turn on those notifications so you don't miss a single pick all season long. Good luck. What's up everyone? It's Siya Najad from Fantasy Football Today dfs, a weekly NFL daily fantasy show that's a part of the CBS Sports Podcast Network. If you're looking for NFL game by game previews, which players stock is up or down, and DFS strategies and advice, Mike McClure, Meg Shoup and I have you covered every single week. Download and follow us on Apple Podcasts, Spotify and anywhere podcasts are found. Make sure to turn on those notifications so you don't miss a single pick all season long. Good luck.

[Gary Parish]

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[Matt Norlander]

Final score on opening night. Number 13, Arizona 93. Number 3, Florida 87. Credit where credit is due. Norlander. You've got Arizona in your final four against Florida. The Wildcats, they made you look smart, Norlander. I know you knew Arizona would be really good. You made that clear. Did you also know Koha Pete would be so awesome that he could dominate Florida's heralded front court in his first college game at the age of 18?

[Gary Parish]

Did you go back and look where you put Coapede on your ballot for preseason top 100 players? Did you look?

[Matt Norlander]

Nope.

[Gary Parish]

Was he okay? Hey, honesty. Honesty session here. He was on mine. Was he on yours or no?

[Matt Norlander]

Oh, 100.

[Gary Parish]

He was on yours. I think he was like, dude. I think he was like 81 on my list.

[Matt Norlander]

I'm gonna find out here.

[Gary Parish]

It was embarrassing after the fact.

[Matt Norlander]

I don't think I'm nearly as embarrassing as you.

[Gary Parish]

Okay, well, that's fine. I hope I'm not as GP's looking. I had Jaden Bradley on my list. He was in the teens.

[Matt Norlander]

Oh my God. I'm more embarrassing than you.

[Gary Parish]

Where was he?

[Matt Norlander]

He is on my list. But he is, I'm embarrassed to say.

[Gary Parish]

No, you right now.

[Matt Norlander]

Say it.

[Gary Parish]

Say it.

[Matt Norlander]

97.

[Gary Parish]

I had 97.1 on your radio FM dial. Where is he?

[Matt Norlander]

I had him at 94.

[Gary Parish]

Okay, there we go. But some of the thinking with that we're gonna fail in trying to justify.

[Matt Norlander]

Some of the thinking with that was stupid.

[Gary Parish]

You know what? It's so fun. This is why we love the sport surprises immediately.

[Matt Norlander]

My thinking was, I think why I love the sport. I hate the sport because of shit like this.

[Gary Parish]

I thought that Brad. I had Bradley like 15, 16 or something like that. I just, I thought that he was going to be knocking on the doorstep of not being an All American this season and he was going to be tremendous. And then you get Pete and Burry's. I think I had buries behind Pete. I know Burry's. He might have landed higher on our list. I can't remember. Anyway, Burry's was a no show. He fouled out at three points. He was a non factor and didn't even matter. But what Pete did was insane. And so yes, even like yesterday we published at the USBWA our preseason Oscar Robertson award trophy watch list. 50 names. That voting was done last week. Co opied's not on the list. And now like immediately it's aged terribly. Let's dive into this game. Yes. 93.87. There's a number of takeaways here, but let's focus on Pete first. He's the. This, this to me was the best freshman debut I really want to say ever. But you know, I know Bernard King went off for Tennessee back in the day. It wasn't against the reigning champions that were number three that brought their entire front court back. There were great debuts by Lou Alcinder, but he wasn't a freshman.

[Matt Norlander]

This is.

[Gary Parish]

And Lou Alcinder, if he had been able to play as a freshman, he would have been just as amazing. He would have had it. But that's, you know, exception on technicality.

[Matt Norlander]

No, there's no, there's no scenario where Lu Alcinder doesn't also dominate. Alex Condon 100.

[Gary Parish]

I think I'm, I'm totally, I'm totally good with.

[Matt Norlander]

With that hypothesis would have give Alex Condon to business.

[Gary Parish]

Without a doubt. But having said that, Pete nonetheless statistically is the first player since. @ least. At least. And this is any player not just a freshman. Although it would stand to reason all these are going to be freshmen. But you could technically have been a juco guy and come into college hoops or whatever. But at least 30 points, five boards, five assists and three steals in a debut. There had been no one until co op did it from a freshman standpoint to do that against reigning champs again, they brought back their entire front court, regarded as the best in the country. Heading in. When we previewed this game on Sunday night, I said I wanted to see how Arizona's front court matched with Florida's because I thought it was actually a really, really good matchup overall. And Pete was, he was absurd. He was ridiculous. He had that, that one handed alley oop lob that they felt all the way up in Reno. He was the first player since Cole Anthony to go for 35 and five plus in a debut Cole Anthony did against Notre Dame in 2019. He was an absolute stud. You know, he announced his arrival with authority. At minimum. He turned the big three conversation into a big four. But as I said on hq, I, I really do think like it might expand beyond that. Like we really might have five, six or seven freshmen that play on such a level where it could be a fab five or a sweet six, whatever you want to say. Pete is in that conversation right now. He's the front runner for national player of the year. Two games. Games. Two games into the season and from a game flow game.

[Matt Norlander]

Sorry, Braden Smith. It's over for you.

[Gary Parish]

It's over.

[Matt Norlander]

It's over for you.

[Gary Parish]

Although he did dominate. He dominated Evans.

[Matt Norlander]

11 assists. Yes.

[Gary Parish]

To be fair, like Matias crevis wasn't a huge factor. Toby walking him off the bench and he didn't contribute a ton. The game was largely won by Pete and then Bradley who had a stretch where he had what, 1012 points in a row for Arizona, including back to back possessions where he's like near the rim, but they're off balance. Just circus like shots. Really, really impressive stuff there. So dive in where you want to. Gp let's obviously focus, focus on Zona first. There's another crazy sound on this game, but I'll save that for just a second. I just, I thought it was great to have a game that good. The matchup was good then. The game was great to open the season. And Pete gave college basketball a wonderful immediate boost by arriving on the stage and arriving ready and frankly looking like a guy who should be starting right now for the Suns, not even the Wildcats.

[Matt Norlander]

I think I know your crazy stat because when I saw it I was like, that can't be right. We'll get to it in a second. But I had, I went and actually double checked it in another box score just to make sure. Is that really right?

[Gary Parish]

Yeah.

[Matt Norlander]

On Pete, I was thinking through this like, because it's not like he's out of nowhere, like who is this? He's five star, you know, five star recruit, been famous forever. USA Basketball elite performer, projected one and done first round pick. But this is where the conversation gets twisted up. I think most people, ourselves, including ourselves included, sometimes when we talk about freshmen coming in, we tend to think of them as NBA prospects as opposed to what are they going to be in college. So that conversation centers on Darren Peterson, AJ Devonsa and Cam Boozer because they are in most people's eyes the most legitimate candidates to, to go first overall in the 2026 NBA Draft. And in most mock drafts right now, you'll find them 1, 2, 3 in some order. Co opit is not thought of that way as a prospect for obvious reasons. If you watch him play like is he a combo forward or is he a 4, 5 small ball 5. Will he ever be a real stretch option? He doesn't shoot it like that. Evidence being that he took zero threes in this 30 point performance. And so there's some questions about how it translates to the next level, but perhaps there should have been zero questions about how it will translate to this level because against what was being described in advance of the game as the best front court in America with a first team all American, whether he should have been or not a preseason first team all American matched up against you copied was the best player on the floor. And it was, it wasn't even close.

[Gary Parish]

No, it wasn't just.

[Matt Norlander]

And he was physically imposing too as an 18 year old, physically imposing on older guys who have, who have championship rings.

[Gary Parish]

It was awesome to see just the kind of thing that just again good for college basketball. The stat that is insane because it just runs counter to how we even think about how Tommy Lloyd builds out his offense. So Arizona wins against a top five team to start the season. Arizona drops 93 points and goes two of five from the three point arc.

[Matt Norlander]

They took five three pointers.

[Gary Parish]

That's Parish. That, that's amazing. I think it's incredible. They were 1.13 points per possession. They didn't even need to do this. And what's even more interesting is it's not like Fland and Xavian Lee are elite high level shutdown guards that are, that are, you know, turning off the water from that deep. That just wasn't whether it wasn't in the game plan or the flow of the game. And the next thing you know like co op heats bringing the ball up and they're taking what they're giving them and it's just, it's just working the way it's working. It's. It's rare that you have something like that. I saw credit to Will Warren. I saw he put this, I think, on Blue Sky. It was the first time since 2011 that a top five team was defeated despite the winning side making not even just taking, but making fewer than five three pointers. When that happened, it was the Johnny's that did it. And who did they beat? Who did the St. John's red storm beat back then? Who do they do?

[Matt Norlander]

Providence, probably. Oh, the Duke.

[Gary Parish]

Come on, Duke. Yeah, they beat Duke. So shouts to little ones. That's a good stat there. Top five teams loses despite only having the other. The other side shoot, make five or fewer three points. I believe that was the stat there. Big time stuff from Arizona right away. Let's. Let's dive into Florida just a little bit. Oh, actually, I got two more notes on, on, on Zona. Tommy Lloyd, now 22 and 13 against ranked competition as a coach, it's pretty good. And he's seven and four when facing top five opponents. And if you want one more bit of egregiousness. This is egregious. This is more egregious than where we put Pete on our list. The Big 12 puts out a preseason all league first team. That's 10 players deep, which is stupid, but whatever. Not one Arizona player was preseason all. All Big 12 first team. Not one.

[Matt Norlander]

They'll rue the day for that.

[Gary Parish]

They are going to rue.

[Matt Norlander]

They're going to ruin the day. They're going to rue the day.

[Gary Parish]

Some major, major ruing there. Good stuff. Good stuff by, by Zona there and again. Yeah, go ahead.

[Matt Norlander]

I was just gonna say real quick. So then I. After two or five from three, I was like, okay, but is this wildly out of whack? Because off the top of my head, it didn't. They don't shoot threes under Tommy at Arizona. They were 289th last season in percentage of field goal attempts from beyond the ark. They ranked 281st the season before that, 169th season before that, 223rd season before that. So in a time where the game is shifting in that direction, Tommy has been, I don't even want to say reluctant. I don't even know if that's the right word. They're just not. They don't subscribe to it the way some others obviously do. For instance, just understand something like this. You ready for this would never happen in the NBA never impossible.

[Gary Parish]

Like I like that for college basketball that it wouldn't because I, I like the. I like the counter that it can still. That it can still happen. I like that styles makes fights and all that stuff.

[Matt Norlander]

You will never watch an NBA game where only 8% of a team's field goal attempt or something. Whatever it was last night or the other night. You'll never see that type of disparity in an NBA game regardless of who's playing, who are the. Who are the coaches, anything. It just. It does not. It could not happen.

[Gary Parish]

Yeah. And the fact that it can happen in college basketball and you can get 93 in a 40 point game, that's really good stuff. Really good coaching. Great job by the Arizona staff. Let's talk about the Florida side before we move on to the other results. Thomas Hauck showed up 27, 22 and 2. He played well. Reinforced my notion that he will be Florida's best player this season. Condon actually got the preseason All America honor. Some think that it could be flanned if he can really hit. We'll see. But it was clearly Hauken. He was the most consistent player. Xavian Lee had some nice moments, 14 points. But it was on 4 of 13 shooting, six rebounds, five assists. You know, let him get his sea legs at the high major level. He might turn out to be okay. But. But Fland and Lee combined, didn't I? I thought as a unit they kind of displayed a little of why I was just hesitant to put Florida in my top five again. Got him easily in my top 15. But it's why I didn't go all in immediately. Flynn 3 of 9, 4 fouls, just 9 points. Condon fouled out. Chin. Liu fouled out. Chinley at one point had his jersey rip. I had never seen that. The front of a jersey just ripped straight off. Had to put on some backup threads there. But those two combined for 15 points and nine rebounds. Hand logged in was serviceable off the bench. But Florida could not handle the counter punch because they were up first 10 minutes. Florida was winning the game and it was looking crisp, like they came out ready. In some ways it reminded me of my Bears in the first four or five games of the season where Ben Johnson had this great opening drive script. You know, four or five games in a row, the Bears on their first possession, they look great. And then once the game got going it was like, okay, can we pivot? Florida had a little bit of that with with Arizona. Gators had been 33 and 1. An opener since 91, 92, that goes by the wayside. It's just Game 1 for me. The most important thing is that these, these coaches and these teams agreed to play each other and we get, we get a game like this beyond Florida is going to be okay. It just. Arizona has the athletes, has the talent, had the scheme. They got it done. I'm going to, you know, I promise we're not going to. At least I won't overreact too much here. Let's, let's give Florida plenty of time here to settle in and see what they're going to be as the reigning national champions. They've got a home date against North Florida tomorrow night. They've got Florida State next week, they've got Miami after that. You know, they don't really play a team that's projected to make the NCAA tournament until Duke on December 2nd. That's at Duke. ACC, SEC, SEC challenge. So the Gators, they're going to be a little bit off the radar for a little bit here, but, but overall, like it wasn't embarrassing. It was just you, you got out strong and then Arizona came back on you. And I just want to see, I want to see how the shooting evolves. Last thing for me on this GP is you know, Florida was 7 of 27 from beyond the arc. Did mention that in a couple of our pods leading up into the season. I just wanted. They weren't a great three pointed shooting team last season as well. Now they overcame that, they win the national title, can they do it again? You know, role dispersal hall, that stuff comes together, I'll be interested to see. Ultimately it was a six point loss against a really good Arizona team that again could be a top 10 team this season.

[Matt Norlander]

Yeah, I'm not going to get concerned about Florida after a competitive loss to a team that had an all time great, literally unprecedented performance from an 18 year old freshman. If you're, you know, if you're in Florida, you want. One of the questions going in was like, people think Thomas, how could be a breakout player after breaking out in the NCAA tournament last season? Well, he looked the part. I mean 27 points for him and no big deal. Like even Tommy Lloyd after the game said, I don't remember exactly how he put it, but it was something along the lines of I really wasn't thinking, you know, much about winning or you know, losing or like let's just go play the game. See, it's not that big of a deal. Now you obviously want to win it. It's. This is one that's going to you put it in your back pocket and you carry it to selection Sunday to enhance your resume. But there was, there was no result outside of something that was connected to season ending injury of a key player that was going to be catastrophic for anybody. It was just a fun basketball game. TNT I thought did a good job with it. The studio crew was terrific and it was just I was glad we had that doubleheader on on Monday night and I was glad that as we mentioned on Sunday that Todd and Tommy were willing to make that game happen.

[Gary Parish]

Agreed. Agreed. We got more to to get to here including agent Abance Villanova, that game for Monday and the notable close shaves the high majors that lost a couple of vids to share. But first, let's go. We're from our partners Number two if.

[Matt Norlander]

You love the NFL and NFL draft, you'll love with the first Pick a part of CBS Sports Podcast Network, CBS Sports Draft analyst Ryan Wilson and former Titans GM Ran Carthon come to you twice a week to give the front.

[Gary Parish]

Office perspective on the biggest NFL storylines of the day.

[Matt Norlander]

We also follow the NFL Draft closer than anyone, the weekly updates on our.

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[Gary Parish]

On Apple Podcasts, Spotify and anywhere podcasts are found. What's good y'? All? It's Vaughn Miller, Super Bowl MVP Sagmaster, and now your host of Free Range. This is where NFL meets Real Talk.

[Matt Norlander]

Every week I'm bringing you inside the game.

[Gary Parish]

From locker room stories to league wide headlines. You want football iq, locker room insight and real conversations with the people shaping the league. Welcome to Free Range with Von Miller where nothing is off limits and every.

[Matt Norlander]

Down counts new episodes every Wednesday.

[Gary Parish]

Listen and follow Free Range with me, Von Miller, wherever you get your podcast. It's football season and you gotta keep up with the action.

[Matt Norlander]

Listen in to Pushing the Pile part.

[Gary Parish]

Of CBS Sports Podcast Network with Mike Mike Renner, Kyle Long, and now me, JP Acosta for smart analysis of everything between the lines. With four episodes a week Sunday night.

[Matt Norlander]

Recaps, film review, power tiers and weekly previews.

[Gary Parish]

You will know ball. Stick with us until one team lists to Lombardi Download and follow Pushing the pile on Apple Podcasts, Spotify and anywhere podcasts are found.

[Matt Norlander]

All right Norlander, it's time for what I like to call the midweek bounce around It's a midweek bounce round, if you don't mind. Let's start with the sports. Top ranked team. Purdue bowler makers. Final score Purdue 82, Evansville 51. Preseason national player of the year, Braden Smith. He got 11 assists in 30 minutes, so he is on a proper pace to break Bobby Hurley's all time NCAA assist record. Fletcher Lawyer made seven three pointers, finished with a game high 30. And afterward, Purdue coach Matt Painter was asked to address the idea that there are some Purdue fans who love Fletcher Lawyer, obviously, but then others who would just as soon replace him in the starting lineup. Josh Mullinax is our new producer. Welcome to the show, Josh. If you got it, let's watch Matt Painter address the Fletcher Lawyer haters out there.

[Gary Parish]

We have it. Hold on. He doesn't have it. He doesn't have it. TP what did he say? GP okay, how about, how about this? How about you do your Matt Painter impression talking about Fletcher Lawyer?

[Matt Norlander]

The. The question was presented this way. It was. And I want to be clear. I. If I did not send that, then that's on me. I'm not trying. I thought I sent it. But full disclosure, as I was finalizing prep as I was finalizing prep for the show this morning, this is just in the spirit of transparency. I'm sitting in my chair. I've got the kids all showered and the teeth are brushed and everybody's got their backpacks and my beautiful wife is gonna be kind enough to take the boys to school. And I'm like, all right, I just gotta finish. And it's probably right at this time where I was like, let me send, Let me send this Matt Painter clip to everybody. And then my wife comes back into the front door and she says, my car's dead. And I said, damn. She goes, she goes, do you mean just take the. Take the boys and then come back and get you? And I was like, I don't think we have talked about our schedules today. I have a podcast starting in, you know, about an hour. We don't have time to do all the stuff you're doing. And at that point it was scramble mode. Up until the point I turned the mic on this morning, so it's possible I forgot to send them that is.

[Gary Parish]

Giving me a couple of. Giving us a couple of good. We've got a nada. With a wink, we've got a. That's a tough day debut from Josh. This may not be on Josh.

[Matt Norlander]

I. I'm. I'm going back through my text messages now. It appears it Gets on me. Okay, I'm gonna take responsibility for this one. I'm gonna hold. I'm gonna hold. One of the things I try to talk to my boys about sometimes is that it's okay to make a mistake, but when you do it, don't look around like you don't know what happened. Hold your hand up and say, that's on me. I. I messed that up and I'll be better next time.

[Gary Parish]

It is note perfect for this podcast that on our first show in the post Nada era, you. You call because I. I got my own video that I'm going to call up, and I know he has it.

[Matt Norlander]

I know he has that video ready.

[Gary Parish]

That you called it up and it wasn't there. That's one.

[Matt Norlander]

When you mess up, you hold your hand up and you say, this is on me. So if I queued a matte Painter clip that nobody had other than me, that's on me. But if you want to circle back to the root cause, maybe you're gonna blame your wife. Maybe when you're taking things out of your car at night, you'll remember to shut the door so it doesn't stay open all night. He's trying to blame his wife for.

[Gary Parish]

The new producer not having the matte Painter video.

[Matt Norlander]

Maybe. Maybe my wife sabotaged Josh opening pod. What if we find out my wife was team Nada the whole time? It's entirely possible, and now she's trying to sabotage things. I'm just saying I held my hand up. Maybe everybody should hold their hand up. Anybody who played a role in this should maybe hold their hand up and say, yeah, I could close my door.

[Gary Parish]

All I know is I got my video ready whenever we want to get to it.

[Matt Norlander]

Here's what Matt Painter said. He was asked. He said, hey, you know, you know, Coach Paint, there's some. There's some Purdue fans out there, and some of them love Fletcher Lawyer, but other ones, you know, they. They just soon. They just soon have him transfer to Indiana State or something. And, and Matt Panner said, well, the. The ones who want to get rid of them, they're not very smart, so let's not talk to them. I, like Matt Painter has instructed the smart Purdue fans to not talk to the not smart Purdue fans. Did you know, in all seriousness, for a second, did you know there was a Fletcher lawyer hater component to the Purdue family?

[Gary Parish]

Good thing, like, some of this stuff is going to hit our radars. It's unavoidable, given what we do. But sometimes you, like, plumb the depths of these certain fan like you don't want to go down that you don't want to be that lost into the force. So I did not know that that was a thing. And, and let's, you know, let's take it easy folks. I mean Fletcher Lawyer.

[Matt Norlander]

Yeah, he's an above 40% three point shooter for his career. He's a four year starter. He's 44.4% from three each of the past two years. He started 111 games, won two Big Ten regular season titles, a Big Ten tournament title, made three straight trips to the NCAA tournament, been a part of multiple number one ranked teams and played in a national title game like his. His name is going to hang in that place someday. What are we talking about?

[Gary Parish]

I hear you, I hear you. Meanwhile, Purdue walloped him by 31. Can we get to, can we get to Debance?

[Matt Norlander]

Yeah, I don't mind.

[Gary Parish]

Okay. He had 21 points.

[Matt Norlander]

You got a video for it?

[Gary Parish]

I don't actually. That's not the video. 214 3. Which is also what Darren Peterson had 21, 4 and 3 on his opening night against Doug Gottlieb's Green Bay Phoenix. The bansa was out of 18 from the field. Just one three point attempt by the way from Debancer in that game. Richie Saunders at 15, Rob Wright III at 14. I actually thought Cavequeda was the most valuable player on the floor. 8.7 rebounds, 3 blocks. But if you watch the game a menace and immediately a player who I. I already considered him to be a very much plus defender but you know, maybe he's going to be a guy that's going to be in that top three, top five conversation for defensive player of the year. Nova gets the win. I mean Nova gets the close loss by 5. I thought it was notable that they held BYU to just 71. This is a team that we think is going to be capable of dropping 80 plus with regularity. Didn't happen there. Good fight from Villanova. Bryce Lindsay who started his career at A M last season when went to jmu and now he's coming off the bench. At least for this game. He was. Maybe not for long. He had 22. Looked really nice for Kevin Willard's group there. Duke Brennan transferred from grand canyon. He had 15 boards for Villanova. So just some kind of like Texas a little bit. You lose the game, but you lose it relatively close. You see some good initial signs. New coach. How are the pieces going to fit? Nova, barring it taking a loss, it doesn't want to take. It's going to be off our radar here for a bit. It doesn't have another relevant game until Michigan in more than a month on December 9th. But for BYU, you get the win. The main stage Debanta plays well. He doesn't, you know, absolutely pop in a huge way, but he didn't need to. Got enough from Saunders and Right as well. And with that, we had a poll go up earlier in the show. Who do you think is going to be the best freshman? The season options were Debancer, Peterson, Boozer or other like Pete and other. And right now all others JP leading it 49% say that the best freshman this season will not be one of the big three. Boozer is number two with 21%. Peterson three at 16% and then the bance coming in the caboose. There was still a healthy 14%. But yeah, you know, the big three of the field is basically a 50, 50 split right now.

[Matt Norlander]

Let's go ahead and circle in one more final score and we can talk about all this together. Number 19, Kansas 94, Green Bay 51. Like we've noted, it was an incredible first few days for the freshman. Peterson got 21. Debons, I got 21. Co opit we've talked about Nate Amen at Tennessee went big. Like you never want to get caught up in hyperbole. But I've seen things like best freshman class ever and it sounds like it could end up being true the same way we talked about the SEC last season as this could be the best men's college basketball conference in the history of the sport. I, I think we're going to end up in a pattern and you know how I like my patterns. We're going to end up in a pattern where we're saying pretty consistently. Well, you realize this is, this is, this is the best freshman class in the history of the sport. Like that. That's, that's going to be a thing, isn't it?

[Gary Parish]

I think we are. Okay, you know what, let's, let's overreact. I think we have a chance that that's going to be the case. And that could be evidenced by we might have, you know, the top, maybe the top six picks in the draft are all freshmen. Like, we'll see, we'll see how it develops. But yes, we've got some immediate good signs there. And you know, for, for the most part here you look across the players that were, you know, top 10 in their respective in this respective class and they all immediately made Some made some immediate impacts there.

[Matt Norlander]

Yeah. So there was one Power conference ranked team that got a scare on the first couple of days, and that was Auburn against Bethune Cookman. Final score was 95. 90 in overtime. This was a blast for me. I'm just sitting around and I see it's a competitive game. Late in the second half. I'm like, all right, let me figure out what this is streaming. Turn this on. First thing I see is Reggie Theus. I'm like, there's Reggie Theus. And then the next thing, and they're like an arterial Morris. I'm like, hold up.

[Gary Parish]

I know.

[Matt Norlander]

Hold up a second.

[Gary Parish]

Dude is in college.

[Matt Norlander]

I know. I know that. I know that. I don't know that name. I know. I know that ain't who I think it is. And then I'm like, isn't he the. And I was like, oh, yeah. His career got derailed a little bit. Five star, five star prospect, McDonald's all American. Was enrolled at Kansas for a bit. Was enrolled at Texas for a bit. And you know, you can Google it. His career went sideways a little bit. Apparently bounced around in Juco, and now he's Bethune Cookman.

[Gary Parish]

Yep.

[Matt Norlander]

And knocked down three. Like in the Darius Washington moment. He knocked down three straight free throws near the end of regulation to send the game to overtime. All's well that ends well for Stephen Pearl, I guess. But that's not the type of first impression you want getting pushed like that by Reggie Theus and. And Bethune Cookman. No.

[Gary Parish]

Okay. A couple things on this game. We actually had some more high majors that took some close calls and losses. I'll get that in a second.

[Matt Norlander]

But what we do, great teams, high major ranks.

[Gary Parish]

Yeah, I know, I know, I know. I'm saying, like, the ones that aren't ranked. I'll mention that. Sorry, TC is not getting out of this podcast without getting dragged for losing to New Orleans. Okay. They're getting mentioned. But the first of all, I couldn't watch this game because I got YouTube TV and they got this whole dispute. Was able to do the Duke game because I had to stay on task here, but just I had to go to my parents and ask for their login information because they use a different service. So I could watch the Duke game last night because I refused to sign up for, like, these free trials. So thankfully I'm. I'm on the. I'm on the right path now. But I wanted to watch this game. I had no way to do it.

[Matt Norlander]

On Monday night on this. By the Way on speaking on behalf of cable. Cable subscribers, satellite subscribers.

[Gary Parish]

Yeah, I know.

[Matt Norlander]

I got done dirt. I got done dirty by ESPN Unlimited. All right.

[Gary Parish]

Okay.

[Matt Norlander]

They had this WWE event when they launched the whole thing a few weeks ago, monthly, whenever it was, and I was like, I got DirecTV. I. I guess I probably have that right. I got everything. I should have everything. They were like, no, you don't get this. I'm like, what? So they said, no, GP, you got to pay us 300 for the year to watch Roman Reigns. All right, whatever. If this is the. Is, this is what it takes. Is what it takes. I want to watch my tribal chief. So I gave them $300, and then like a week later, they were like, hey, GP got good news. Your DirecTV subscription. View ESPN Limited. Do I get my 300 pack?

[Gary Parish]

No, they took it. You were robbed.

[Matt Norlander]

I was robbed. They robbed me. I was robbed by ESPN Unlimited.

[Gary Parish]

Oh, my gosh. Okay, let's keep it going here. What I was going to say was, I wasn't able to watch this game. I did. I was able to watch Bruce Pearl, who made his TV debut. He thought that they won the game before the psychotic foul on Arterial Morse, which allowed him to go to line to get it to overtime. So Bruce Pearl sent out a tweet that said, boom. As if, like, just won his first coaching debut. But in that moment, he was actually going to overtime. And Bruce actually said the story on television. And the way that he said it was basically like he sent the tweet. I think this is how it went down. He sent the tweet. He left his phone in the green room because they went out to the set, they realized it was going to overtime, and he was like, someone's got to take that tweet off my phone. Which is amazing. Stephen Pearl gets the win. Pearl. Stephen also had a very funny quote afterward where basically said, I know Auburn fans are sick and tired of us of being asked to be patient because of the whole Hugh free stuff. So very, very meta in that not the right way you want to start. But they get the win. They dodge it. But again, we'll see how this goes for the Tigers. Yeah, just. That was not. Not what Auburn fans wanted to. To see there.

[Matt Norlander]

Still, it's nice to know that Arterial Morris is alive.

[Gary Parish]

Sure. High majors who had close calls. Colorado, ucf, Xavier, even Oregon last night, one by one on his home floor over Hawaii. Those are high majors that had close calls. There was another high major who had a close call. This is the video I'm Talking about. Did you see what Mick Cronin said after the game?

[Matt Norlander]

Yes, of course. There's going forward. For the rest of my life, as long as I am breathing on this planet, I will not miss anything. Mick Cronin.

[Gary Parish]

I'm glad to hear it. Josh has this video. It's about 30 seconds. For those who didn't see it or.

[Matt Norlander]

Hear it, your wife's car didn't go dead this morning.

[Gary Parish]

Let's hear. Let's hear what? Let's hear what Mick Cronin had to say after the win on Monday night. The wrong attitude in life, it shows up.

[Matt Norlander]

So. But I blame myself because I knew it. I knew this was coming tonight and.

[Gary Parish]

I couldn't stop it.

[Matt Norlander]

So I failed miserably. I tried and shoot around. You were there. Arrogance, lack of humility. Don't want to defend, don't want to rebound, don't want to play defense. There's so many mistakes. Mistakes I'd like to fire myself. This is. This is game.

[Gary Parish]

All right.

[Matt Norlander]

Be careful saying stuff like that at ucla. All right.

[Gary Parish]

Well, I.

[Matt Norlander]

They'll get. They'll get you.

[Gary Parish]

I know he did just get a. A contract extension in the off season, so I think that's also what goes into that. It was an 80 to 74 win over Eastern Washington. This is game one. I, as promised, I sent out a few additional predictions for the season on social media earlier this week. When we didn't squeeze them in at the end of the previous pod, the one that I did not put on that list that I had written in my doc, but I was like, it's 11. I'll scud it down to 10. Was I said a minimum of four viral cronin moments on the mic this season. I don't know if this is quite on the level of viral, but we are one game in. And if you actually, the whole. The whole presser is like six minutes. I watched the whole thing. I am hoping he is in for another generational run behind the mic because Mick Cronin just not giving an F about anything is tremendous content and I just. I couldn't. We couldn't not play that on the show after. Again, after a win, him wanting to fire himself.

[Matt Norlander]

So at Big Ten media day, I sat down with Nick and he was already stressed about what he thought would be issues with his top 10 team. He was already like. And I just love it because that's where his mind sits. He was like, I mean, a different coach might be like, I'm bringing back Tyler. I've got the Mountain West Conference player of the year. We're set up to go. And he was just like, I don't know if we can guard anybody. I just don't. I don't know. You know, it's just like he was already like stressed out about. And I guess he knew what he was seeing because it did show itself in that season opening win. Sure, but it was a season opening win. Let's not, let's not let that get lost.

[Gary Parish]

Pepperdine next Friday night at home. We wait to see what's coming there. Another high major that barely won was Georgia Tech 5652 in overtime against UMass, which is Maryland Eastern Shore. Not great. I mentioned TCU loss to New Orleans. New Orleans won four games last season and had former players that were alleged to have been involved in illegal gambling activity. And that's who TCU lost to at home. Not good for the Frogs. The other high major that lost. I'll be on the road. Boston College got to OT against FAU. They lost 83, 70. Just a few more notes for you here, GP and I actually have one more video as well. If you watched CBS Sports Network on Monday night, as we told you, Kelvin Sampson notched his 800th win. So good news there. Elsewhere in the Big 12, Texas Tech didn't have like half of its team last night to lower body injuries. I don't know what's going on in Lubbock. I'm going to see that team next Tuesday. I would, I would like to see JT Toppin healthy.

[Matt Norlander]

They're all in wheelchairs.

[Gary Parish]

They're all lower body injuries.

[Matt Norlander]

The whole team's in wheelchairs. It's outrageous.

[Gary Parish]

What are we doing?

[Matt Norlander]

What's going on? What are y' all doing in. In Lubbock?

[Gary Parish]

They sent out the. They sent. Because now the Big 12 teams, as should be the case everywhere, you got to send out the injury reports and all that. And so I don't know, 90 minutes before game time, you get the email. Lawan Watts, JT Toppin, Luke Bamboy, Josiah Mosley, they're all out lower body injuries.

[Matt Norlander]

What. What are you doing to your players lower bodies?

[Gary Parish]

What the hell's going on?

[Matt Norlander]

What is going on with the Texas Tech lower bodies?

[Gary Parish]

Ah, man, they, they got the win regardless. And Christian Anderson was awesome. 34 points career, 11 assists, 7 rebounds, 4 steals. They cruise past Lindenwood, but notable there all the same. We had two Mountain west ohs. Josh Passner lost to Ut Martin last night. GP. That was the 297th team at Ken Palm going into the game so rough one there and then Boise State lost to a Division 2 school, Hawaii Pacific, which is there a Hawaii Atlantic? I don't get that.

[Matt Norlander]

Like, I hope so. I hope there is. I hope there is.

[Gary Parish]

Nevertheless, Boise State lost. Bad, bad stuff there. BJ Range, who covers the program says that's the worst loss in the history of the school. And then only two more mid major one of note, High Point. Furman I highlighted as a really good mid major matchup on Monday. High points steamrolled them 97, 71. There is a thought that that could really be one of the best mid majors in the country. They have a new coach. Flynn came in who was on staff last season after Allen Hoss went to Creighton. And then last one got to do it. GP you saw what happened here, Lake Michigan on Monday night.

[Matt Norlander]

That's the most famous nun in America.

[Gary Parish]

I assume many people watching or listening are aware of this, but Josh has this video too, by the way. GP See, I. How did he get all these videos elements before we go on the show.

[Matt Norlander]

So that we have all these videos?

[Gary Parish]

So. Yeah, exactly. We actually have a small news thing that I'll get to before we get out here as well. But let's see how Loyola Chicago ended its first game with Sister Jean watching from above.

[Matt Norlander]

Goes into Tamaras for the win. It's good. And the Loyola Ramblers take down Cleveland State 91 to 88.

[Gary Parish]

They're gonna review. That's badass.

[Matt Norlander]

You cannot let day well get get a clean look like that.

[Gary Parish]

I don't think it mattered.

[Matt Norlander]

How do you let day wilt get.

[Gary Parish]

A clean look like that watching from on high. There we go. Sister Jean, seriously, how great is that? That in the first, the very first game after she passes less than a month ago, Loyola Chicago gets the win on the buzzer beater. Beaten Cleveland State 8178. Some really, really good opening night vibes there. And as promised, Sister Gene Bobblehead. This is on. This is on the shelf behind me for the entire entire season. Good on, good on the Ramblers there. That's just. Yeah, that's. That's chill bump inducing stuff. Before we look ahead. Josh mentioned to us this in our, in our chat and this has been announced. Purdue and Tennessee home and home series beginning next season. So that'll be in December of 26. So just a small news item that's breaking literally in the middle of the show. I don't know why this couldn't have been announced in the preseason, but they got it Done. And that's a. That's a really nice home and home situation there. So, yeah, live as we're taping right now.

[Matt Norlander]

I don't know if you can tell I'm sick. I'm battling an upper respiratory.

[Gary Parish]

First of all. This is. This is mid February behavior for you. How dare you do this in November.

[Matt Norlander]

Yeah, I don't know what's going on. I was saying it because I just was trying to talk and there was.

[Gary Parish]

I wasn't looking. I was putting my sister. Can you think.

[Matt Norlander]

I was trying to talk and there was no. I couldn't get any words out. This is tough, man. I don't know how to send videos or talk. This is tough.

[Gary Parish]

Like, what did I get in?

[Matt Norlander]

What did I get myself into?

[Gary Parish]

What did I get myself involved in?

[Matt Norlander]

Hold on. I gotta. I gotta produce a podcast with an. Who says he sent me videos but didn't. And he also can't talk. This is gonna be. This is gonna be something. Looking ahead before we get out of here, to the next couple of days. On Wednesday. That's today. Nothing great. Number 23, Creighton, only ranked team in action. Blue Jays gonna open their season in Omaha against South Dakota on Thursday. We've got four ranked teams in action. Number three, Florida, hosting North Florida. So a chance for the Gators to bounce back. Number 11, Louisville. Jackson State. Number 16, Iowa State, Grambling. And then number 20, Auburn, against Mary Mack. You can't get pushed by Mary Mack after getting pushed by Bethune Cookman, can you?

[Gary Parish]

Yeah, I think it's Merrimack, but if you want to call it Mary Mack.

[Matt Norlander]

Mary Mack is the way you say it. That's Mary Mack.

[Gary Parish]

If I'm Merrimack, by the way, I definitely have like a. Like an all black that I'm. That I'm rocking on the regular there. Yeah, it is thin. It is thin stuff. Wednesday, Thursday, we couldn't mix in one of the. Like, we couldn't mix in one game tonight. Like, one halfway decent game. Gotta wait till Friday.

[Matt Norlander]

So, I mean, in all seriousness, you should, like, people should think about this. If I don't running.

[Gary Parish]

I guess it's not on the coaches specifically, but, like, if I were right.

[Matt Norlander]

If I were running a prominent college basketball program, I would. I would be on the phone with my television partners and being like, hey, can. Can. Let's work on. I want to be on TV on. In prime time on that Wednesday night, opening week of the season, because there's no football and it doesn't appear there's going to be anything else there. All eyes can be on me to the extent that all eyes are pointed at a, at a sporting event in America, I can point them my direction. I, I would be. I would have tried to same thing in college football if I had like a. I say this about the Memphis football program all the time. I'd be trying to get those Friday night games whenever I can. It just, just you play on Saturday. Nobody's going to watch you, even if you're ranked because Alabama is also playing, Ohio State's also playing. Put me on Friday night. Let everybody see me. And for college basketball, yes, we. It would be nice to have something compelling on TV tonight.

[Gary Parish]

Yeah, we don't. So when our Friday show, really, unless there's a headline, like there's really not going to be a ton to look back at if there's something like, we're obviously going to talk about it, but a ton of preview stuff.

[Matt Norlander]

So we'll make something up. I will. I'll make something up.

[Gary Parish]

Just make sure you send Josh the video if you're going to do that.

[Matt Norlander]

Yeah, I'm gonna, I'm gonna make something up. I'm gonna send Josh some videos we can get. We get 45 minutes out of that, no problem.

[Gary Parish]

Kansas, Carolina, Maryland, Georgetown, Alabama, St. John's Arkansas, Michigan State, Oklahoma, Gonzaga, Indiana, Marquette and others. We do have some really good stuff on tap for Friday, Saturday and Sunday. We'll see what happens over the, the next few days. Until then, I, I think, I think that's a show, you know, you got, you got anything else here?

[Matt Norlander]

Well, like if nothing notable happens over the past couple days, we could just circle back on Friday to that Matt Payne or Fletcher lawyer video.

[Gary Parish]

You want to. He will. Actually, you know what? Maybe we should. Maybe that's how we open. Maybe, maybe that's the A block.

[Matt Norlander]

I just. You know what, Josh, I'll send it to you in a second. Just send us.

[Gary Parish]

Let's get some. Let's get some like tasty three day old video.

[Matt Norlander]

Yeah.

[Gary Parish]

Two shows later, really, really settle into that. Do some analysis. Maybe even play it twice. That feels like a. That feels like a really solid, healthy A block. I kind of like that.

[Matt Norlander]

Yeah, let's play. Okay, that, that's our, that's our working plan and we'll adjust if necessary.

[Gary Parish]

That's a. That's a deal. Looks like Josh put up a second poll, by the way. Chad is 75, 25 in favor that this will be the best freshman class ever. Could be true. Could be prisoner moment. We'll See, but, but appreciate everyone joining us here. If you like what you're hearing, just make a make up. Make a habit of joining us for the shows. Live shows on Sunday nights in the general 6, 7pm hour Wednesdays and Fridays when Parrish doesn't have to overcome a dead car in his driveway. 9:45am on Wednesdays and Fridays. That's the target. So we are planning to be back for our Friday show at 9:45am Eastern Time.

[Matt Norlander]

On behalf of my wife, I would like to apologize to Josh for sabotaging. For her sabotaging.

[Gary Parish]

Can you do me a favor? Can you just send me a picture of your car and I'm going to put it in the no context preview, the one that was dead even if you've got. Do you have a picture of your car available?

[Matt Norlander]

No, I cannot send a picture of my car.

[Gary Parish]

He didn't send. He didn't. You won't send me a picture of his car? He didn't send a picture of his.

[Matt Norlander]

TV set of his promise. You notice I have never there. You've never seen a picture of my car? Never. And it's because people get jerky about it, you know. So no, I'm not going to show you my TV setup.

[Gary Parish]

And what I'm going to do is I'm going to now put a picture of the car that I think Parrish has and that's going to go in the no contact screen.

[Matt Norlander]

I will not show you my TV set up and I will not show you my car. I don't want to be shamed. But it's nice. It's nice.

[Gary Parish]

That's a show.

[Matt Norlander]

Shouts to Devin Downey. Shout out to Chester, South Carolina. Shout out to Terry Teagle. He's a legend. Hook Larnell. Thank you guys once again for watching and listening to the I Own College Basketball podcast.

[Gary Parish]

People got you driving a cyber truck in the comments.

[Matt Norlander]

I do not have a cyber truck.

[Gary Parish]

Oh, that's beautiful. This is why the chat rules. It's a cyber truck. Oh, look at that.

[Matt Norlander]

If you're not subscribed, please go subscribe anyway. You subscribe to podcasts, Apple, Spotify, there's more of us than there are of them. That needs to be reflected in the comments.

[Gary Parish]

Nissan Juke.

[Matt Norlander]

In high school. In high school. Do you know what I drove in high school? Put this in there because this is, this is my. This is what I drove in high school.

[Gary Parish]

Nissan Juke is sending me.

[Matt Norlander]

Oh my God. When I was rolling up to my junior year of high school, I was, I was Rocking a Suzuki Samurai. I drove a Suzuki Samurai. Look that up.

[Gary Parish]

I'm looking it up right now. No way.

[Matt Norlander]

I drove.

[Gary Parish]

Hold on. We actually have two minutes. Throw this on the screen. There's no way this was your first car.

[Matt Norlander]

Gosh.

[Gary Parish]

Get it on. Here's. There's the first show. Here's the first show.

[Matt Norlander]

I think my first car was actually a Mazda RX7. All right. But then I transitioned to a Suzuki Samurai. Look at this.

[Gary Parish]

Look at this.

[Matt Norlander]

I drove a black Suzuki samurai with a 9 inch nail sticker on the back. It had an N I N. This is incredible, man.

[Gary Parish]

This is incredible.

[Matt Norlander]

You tell. I was. I was having to beat them girls off of me. Suzuki samurai with a 9 inch nail sticker, buddy. I was running.

[Gary Parish]

I had a red Ford. I want to say it was a red Ford Taurus. Maybe I can't remember. I'd have to ask my parents. But I was so dumb. When I got my first car. Well, I didn't know it was low on oil, but I drove it for, like, four months. Didn't change the oil.

[Matt Norlander]

The thing.

[Gary Parish]

I was on my way driving, I think, to work. The thing just overheats on me in the middle, and it's just dead. I had my first car four months, and just. It just died on me. Oh, you're supposed to put oil in this thing. You're supposed to change the oil.

[Matt Norlander]

I was.

[Gary Parish]

It was brutal. It was awful.

[Matt Norlander]

I have a memory from my childhood where. And by the way, this is evidence that I haven't always had nice cars or nice TV setups. I'm out the mud. I'm out the mud, if you want to know the truth. All right. I have a memory because I just remember my parents, like, would be complain. Like, God, I got to fill up with gay. I just remember money being an issue with them. Like, I got. Had to put 20 bucks in the gas tank again. I just remember. And so I had this idea. I was like, I can fix this. I can help. And I filled my father's car up with water. The water hose. That was not. It was not helpful. It didn't help things the way I thought it would.

[Gary Parish]

Josh. This is the show, by the way. He's aware. He's listened to it before, but, yeah, we were supposed to end five minutes ago. Next thing you know, we got Paris driving a cybertruck. Throw him back to his days driving a freaking Suzuki. What was it? A Samurai.

[Matt Norlander]

Suzuki Samurai. And at one point. At one point, the, like, you know. You know how in most cars back then in the mid-90s, you'd put a key in and then you would turn it. It would start right up.

[Gary Parish]

Yes.

[Matt Norlander]

That didn't, that's, that stopped working. So as I was delivering pizzas, my guy Grady. I don't know how I remember Grady.

[Gary Parish]

All these years later. I know one knows who you're talking.

[Matt Norlander]

About, but Grady, Grady, he was real good at, like, just doing stuff with wires and stuff. And so he installed in my Suzuki Samurai what amounted to a doorbell underneath the steering wheel. And I would get into my Suzuki Samurai and I would hit the doorbell, and that's how my car would start. And then I would go deliver pizzas. I was out the mud, man. I'm out the mud.

[Gary Parish]

Doing your cyber truck, man. Love to see you just pulling into FedEx forum parking lot. You got your own space. The cyber truck's taking up two of them. You're probably croaking.

[Matt Norlander]

I do have an electric vehicle. It is not a cyber truck. And it did go.

[Gary Parish]

Draw your own conclusions.

[Matt Norlander]

And it did go dead here at FedEx forum one time. Like, it was a 1%. It was about to go dead. And I had to go down to the players garage because they have chargers down there. And I had to charge my car. I was sitting in Marcus Smarts.

[Gary Parish]

I was about to say that that's why John Morant doesn't want to be on the team anymore.

[Matt Norlander]

Yes.

[Gary Parish]

He was like, that's the event that started it all.

[Matt Norlander]

Yes. I job pulled in and he was like, who is in my spot? And now the whole Everything's blown up. I was sitting, I was charging my vehicle in Marcus Smart's spot, literally, when he got trade. True story. True story. I appreciate him, though. That was his biggest contribution to the franchise, by the way, was charging my car. That was the biggest impact he made in Memphis.

[Gary Parish]

Wrong.

[Matt Norlander]

He let me. I, I, he gave me an ability to charge my car so I could go home and see my children. All right, Hey, I got another show today. All right, I gotta go. All right, bye Friday. Talk to you Friday. Bye.

[Gary Parish]

Paramount Podcasts This November, action is free on Pluto tv. Go on the run with Jack Reacher. Every suspect was a train killer.

[Matt Norlander]

Then buckle up for drive.

[Gary Parish]

World War Z.

[Matt Norlander]

Every human being we save. Just one less fight and Charlie's Angels. Damn, I hate to fly.

[Gary Parish]

Launch into sci fi adventure with the fifth Element and laugh through the mayhem in Tropic Thunder. What is going on here? All the thrills, all for free. Pluto TV Stream now pay never.