← Eye On College Basketball
Eye On College Basketball
INSTANT CLASSIC Saturday: History-making 40-pt performances; ILL, TTU, UNC, AUB log big Ws; SEC in a blender; 20-0 trio; Pitino #900
01:25:56
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- [00:01]
Matt Norlander
NFL fans spend an average of 690 minutes a week thinking about football. That's over 11 hours. You're checking matchups, tweaking your fantasy roster, reliving big plays, arguing calls. Football lives rent free in your head all week long. And when the game's on, every decision matters. A winning play or the right timeout. Just 60 seconds can flip the entire outcome. But here's the thing. Off the field, we forget to plan. We get so caught up in the pregame hype the food, the drinks, the vibe, and forget the most important part of the day, how you're getting home. So we're making it easier for you to plan ahead with Uber Code make a plan 26 take a minute to order an Uber and get 25% off your next ride on a game day by using the promo code. Make a plan 26 now through February 9th. That's M A K E A P L A N 26 whether you're hosting, headed to a local bar, or going to the game, make it part of your ritual. Take a minute, make a plan. Never drive impaired this message brought to you by Diageo, MAD and the NFL. Please drink responsibly. Diageo New York we all want to feel good and no matter the environment we find ourselves in, feeling good can often be tied to what we're wearing. You want to look nice, be comfortable and know you're in quality fabrics. And I found Vuori checks all of those boxes. Vuori isn't your typical old school workout gear. Everything is designed to perform but but it doesn't feel like it. Soft, lightweight, moisture wicking fabric with four way stretch means you can train, lounge, step out, grab coffee, meet friends without skipping a beat. I could wear it to go cover a college basketball game. The versatility is insane. These pieces are truly an effortless wardrobe essential. Inspired by the coastal California lifestyle, Vuori makes clothing built to last and built to inspire. Vuori is an investment in your happiness for our listeners. They're offering 20% off your first purchase. Get yourself some of the most comfortable and versatile clothing on the planet@vuori.com basketball that's V U O-R-I.com basketball exclusions apply. Visit the website for full terms and conditions. Not only will you receive 20% off your first purchase, but enjoy free shipping on any US orders over $75 and free returns. Go to vuori.com basketball and discover the versatility of Viori. Clothing exclusions apply. Visit the website for full terms and conditions.
- [02:38]
Gary Parrish
Hey there. I am Gary Parish. Welcome back, CBS Sports. I own college basketball podcast where we sometimes discuss camel fighting, dodo birds and leaky black. Matt Norlander is here with me. If you watch it on YouTube, be Brandon Davies smash a little bit. And if you haven't already subscribed to the Island College basketball podcast, please go do that. Wherever you subscribe to podcasts like Apple and Spotify, let's get into it. And if you don't mind, we're going to do things a little differently tonight. As you can tell from my uniform, I've been working all day and not like traditional work for me in a studio with 12 televisions watching every basketball game that's going on. This was a lot different. I've been at the kennel basically all day long here in Spokane, Washington. Shoot arounds, zoom calls, was on the sideline for a thriller for a thriller in South McCarthy Athletic Center.
- [03:28]
Matt Norlander
We're gonna get to that. Okay guys, as we're about to dive into this here lot going on on this show, one, I think might be people, people next door to me in this hotel pulling a gp. They're gonna have to deal with the noise. Two, I ordered dinner like an hour ago and I just picked it up in the past. I'm not exaggerating. Thirteen minutes. So I'm gonna do my best not to eat on camera, but this naan's gonna go cold. Three GP's got a bunch of games he doesn't even know the results to. The irony of this is I watched almost the entire day of college basketball, but as things progressed, the one game that I did not see a single second of was San Francisco at Gonzaga.
- [04:04]
Gary Parrish
So we will eventually get to that as well. For your support. Thank you for your support.
- [04:09]
Matt Norlander
It was, it wasn't intentional. AJ DeBonsa dropped 43 and then I had to interview him and some other folks after. That's why I got caught up in it. And then I had to come back to the hotel so that, that genuinely is what happened. But continue to lay out the pod because these Saturday night shows, I love them. They're rare, but I love them. And I love them even more when you're flying blind. And I think the case with you.
- [04:31]
Gary Parrish
Here, you telling me I can spend 27 minutes reading a guy a court report, but I can't get one minute.
- [04:37]
Matt Norlander
Like you ever have. That's enough.
- [04:40]
Gary Parrish
I can't get one minute out of my co host, but I got 27 minutes a week for a court report. That's interesting. Here's trying to say we're gonna do it a little differently tonight and we're gonna let Norlander guide this thing. And the reason is because I have been at the kennel all day long. Just wrapped up the Mark Few show. I just wrapped up the Mark Few show in mark fuse office. Gonzaga 1, by the way. Just got Gonzaga legend Zach Norvell to drop me back off at the hotel. This is really the life I'm living. But here's if you want to know the level of, of understanding I have about what happened in college basketball today outside of the kennel, here's a real thing that just happened. Right before I was leaving campus, Mark Few asked me, he said, so, did Betty O. Play down at Alabama today? And I said, yeah, he played. I saw that he checked in real early. And he said, did they win? And I said, hmm, let me pull up my phone. And I said, no, it looks like they lost. So we learned that together. Norlander, what are we talking about? This is going to be fun. You're going to tell me things that I would normally be like. I would. You're going to tell me things that I would normally be telling you, but under these circumstances, I'm going to be like, oh, wow, wow, that happened. That's interesting. And then I'll try to, then I'll try to say something.
- [05:52]
Matt Norlander
It's going to be, it's going to be a fun one. We're not getting out of here under an hour. I'd love to say that's going to be the case. I already know it's not going to be Mark Few. Also causing this podcast to start late is vintage Mark Few. But I'm glad that you could hop on his show before you hopped on your own show. Squeeze that in.
- [06:10]
Gary Parrish
Oh, by the way, I did, I did Sideline on a game, interviewed Mark Few and David Fogel after the game, then did the Mark Few show. And now I'm doing the college basketball podcast and I probably got like three pre taped halftimes to do when we're.
- [06:24]
Matt Norlander
Done with this in a top 25 and 1.
- [06:27]
Gary Parrish
Yeah, I did have that.
- [06:28]
Matt Norlander
It all lands on this humongous day for college basketball. That's the other thing. And you know, you're, I'm in Utah, you're in Spokane, we're in remote locales here. And, and would just as fate would have it, as coincidence would have it, we have had a genuinely historical day in college basketball. So yeah, I'll, I'll take the wheel, so to speak, and guide us through here. Our lead block, without question without debate isn't a single game. It is a group of performances because we had history. On Saturday I saw our buddy Jeff Borzello sent out the note through ESPN. On the research side on CBS, we had also researched and gone back, you know, 30 plus years. But ESPN's research today was the first day ever, ever that three freshmen scored 40 plus points on the same day. They came in a variety of different ways and even beyond that, by the way, we had seven total go for 30 plus. That hasn't happened since the 2002, 2003 season. The five biggest performances, they're in the YouTube thumbnail and if you are listening instead of watching, well, we're gonna lay all them out right now. Keaton Wagler had 46 on the road against top five Purdue to get the Illini a win there. We're going to dive into that where I was here in Provo thinking it was going to be A. And I'm here obviously for the big game on Monday. Arizona coming to town undefeated. We'll get to the Wildcats before we get out of the show. I thought I was going to come into a situation where holy war. Maybe you talk and keep it close, but it's probably an 18 to 20 point Utah win. Maybe I, you know, maybe I get a, a 20, 22, 25 point game out of Debons. Who knows? No dude drops 43. First time I've ever been in the Marriott Center. Extremely impressive. And before those two happened, it was down in Lubbock. It was the Kingston Fleming show looking like it was going to be a Houston road win. He gets 42 and at that point of the day it's like this is one of the best freshman performances we've ever seen. I sent out that this is one of the best performances in a losing effort that I could remember in a long time. Maybe since Buddy Heald went for 46 and Triple OT at the fog a decade ago. So those are the three big ones. Oh, by the way though, Cameron Boozer just casually again, just dominant at home against weight goes for 32. And another beastly stat line is Darius Acuff Jr. In a closer than desired home game against LSU for Arkansas. He goes for 30 plus in that one as well. Mighty, mighty impressive. Let's take them game by game here. Let me just guide you through the Illinois Purdue one because that's the biggest one. It's Purdue losing at home. If you would have told me before the season over under 0.5 home losses for Purdue, I would have taken the under they now have two Iowa State first. Illinois here 88, 82. A really, really good game. At one point after Wagler had been just going off, Illinois hit four three pointers in a row and Wagler didn't hit any of them. Tom of usage hit a three. Jake Davis hit a triple. David Merkavich, another freshman, hit a three and then Tom of East to chain another one. Illinois tied a school record with 18 triples in this game. GP shout out to Jared Burson. It's been a minute since he got a shout on the show. He said that Waglers 46 at top five Purdue are the most by any player on the road against a top five opponent in the history of college basketball. That's what we're talking about. I have even more notes here. This is an all time, all time performance. I think this is an all time day. When we did our year in review back in December, I was like GP, you remember February 1st? No, Norlander, what the hell are you talking about? Well, we had those. All these insane results and here's what happened. I think today is going to age similarly because of the outstanding, ridiculous, absurd talent that this freshman class has. We have so many more great days to come in this season. The fact that we got this on January 24th with two plus months remaining was just incredible. So Wagler, according to Illinois most points scored in a road win over a top 10 opponent in AP history set the school record for most threes in a game he had. He had nine. His 46 period were the most by any player regardless of regardless of class against the top five team since Buddy Hill had 46 that game I mentioned to you he set the Mackie all time scoring record for a visiting player, period. He is tied for the second most points by an aligney player in the 121 year history of the program. How you like this one? GP shouts to Dave Downey. Dave Downey, February 16, 1963. A cool 53 points on the road at Indiana. That's the all time record. Wagler tied Andy Kaufman. Not that one. Double OT against Wisconsin. Milwaukee back in 90. There's even more here. He's the first Illinois player to score 40 plus against the top five opponents since Brandon Paul did it in 2012. Illinois, I mentioned that school tying 18 threes. They have made at least 10 threes in six straight games. Oh, by the way, Illinois has six wins away from home in road environments this season. It has won nine in a row. That's the longest Illinois has ever won, longest winning streak since Brad Underwood got there. Let me just finish it up and then I'll take it back to you. Purdue loses a second straight game the weird thing about Purdue and losing this game, it had three turnovers on its home floor and lost the game. It lost when it shot better than 50% from the field in this game. That's only the sixth time that's ever happened under Matt Painter. And in the last 10 years Purdue is 137 and seven when it gets to at least 80. It lost to this game. Weirdly enough, they got this is per Purdue Sports Information. Purdue became the first team in the Stat Head database of the past 20 years to shoot over 56% from the field, score 80 points or more, have three or four three or fewer turnovers and lose. Period. They had a lead late. Braden Smith at one point in this game twisted his ankle and when they went to break, you thought is Braden Smith about to miss the next six weeks of the season? He was back on the floor after that. But for a quick minute we really thought and I know you know that because Wally Serbiak texted us about it and I said that it was that it was all on him. So that's the first game. I give it back to you. I know you weren't able to see a lot of it, but what Wagler did here is so mightily impressive. He definitively put himself in the top 10 status for a draft pick and now people are starting to wonder like will he be top five? The freshman class is so loaded. This is going to be an ongoing conversation but thoughts reaction on on really just an incredible all time performance that went down in West Lafayette.
- [13:18]
Gary Parrish
Just like where did this come from? And I don't mean this specific performance, although where did that come from but like where did this freshman season come from? This is not some like five star, you know. Was was McDonald's all American ranked sixth in his class. I believe he was around 150th according to 247 sports.
- [13:37]
Matt Norlander
I'm bringing it up right now. I thought he was even lower. Maybe it was the consensus. I'm bringing up his page 247Sports. He was 1-52-47 ye 150 in Shawnee, Kansas. Shouts to C.J. moore. He beautifully timed feature. He had a big feature on him earlier this week. He went to the same high school as our buddy CJ Moore who does great work for the Athletic and I don't know. Keep taking the mic here GP I just don't know how often we get this A1, a sub 150 recruit that doesn't emerge as just a lottery pick, but does it in a one and done fashion in this kind of way. Like we might have one or two analogs in the past 20 years, but. But he is absolutely a bolt from the blue.
- [14:14]
Gary Parrish
So Illinois is going to be ranked in the top 10 on Monday, I would assume. And that means the leading score for a top 10 team is a true freshman or freshman, I know you hate that word. A freshman who was ranked 150th in his high school class. Like, I bet you don't get Jared Burson. If you're watching, look that up. When's the last time? Let's just get real specific with it. When's the last time in. On January 24, a top 10 team was being led in scoring by a freshman who was ranked 150th in his high school class. Like that cannot have happened many times. We talked about that a little bit a few weeks ago and then boom, like 46. I mean, what. I was just like, look at this. I was just googling while you were talking just to try to actually remind myself of where he was ranked in, in. In the class of 2025. And I stumbled into this sort of a breakdown. It's, you know how the Internet works. When something like this happens, you know, there's always going to be a who is Keaton Wagler, you know, headline out there. And so I found that and I clicked on it. He committed to Illinois. I'm reading here straight from Yahoo Sports. It's. It's where Google took me. It's funny that Google took me to Yahoo. He committed to Illinois on September 18, 2024. The first member of Brad Underwood's Class of 2025. At the time of his commitment, Wagner had offers from. You ready? Tulsa, St. Louis, DePaul, Oral Roberts, UIC, Northern Colorado, LeMoyne, Texas, Rio Grande Valley, Kansas City and Rockhurst. And today, in his freshman season, he put 46 on Purdue inside Mackie. That's crazy.
- [15:55]
Matt Norlander
Yeah. Most points scored in a road win over a top 10 opponent in AP poll history. It is wild. Illinois has the number one offense in the country. And one of the other big takeaways here as a result of this game, and particularly how Illinois won it down the stretch. Like wagglers damage. The majority of it came before there was like four minutes to go in the game. Merkavich was the only other player to get into double figures. But my big takeaway is that Illinois, with alacrity is now in that pool of national title contenders. You get a win like this, you're 17:3. Purdue, you know, a couple meals ago was the number one offense in the country. It was three going into this game, coming out of it. Now it's actually in a loss because they were, both teams were really rolling. This was a really, really good game. You know, going into the day. Houston Texas Tech was the, was the biggest matchup, but this was also another really, really good one. It's a stinger of a loss for Purdue. They lose out in LA to ucla, they get dropped here. Oh, by the way, three of the next four are on the road, but for Illinois, just a big time takeaway, big time game for them and they do it. It's taking us this long to even mention this. Kyle and Boswell didn't even play in the game. And I don't know if him not being in the game enabled Wagler to have the kind of game that he did. Maybe it very well did. But if you're an Illinois fan, you're, you're on the clouds right now. You know, it just unquestionably. And our buddy Will Leach, no doubt about it, he might be even taking this in live as we speak on the East Coast. This is, this is Illinois fans. You have a team here. And Underwood's had some of these, without a doubt. He's had a few that have been really, really good. The one just a couple years ago that got, you know, knocked out of the Elite Eight by the, by that Yukon group. That was a really quality group. He had the one back in 21 that got knocked out in the second round, but that was a one seed because the offense, because of the talent, because of the rebounding prowess, they're really, really good at the line. This is the game that just flared Wagler onto the national radar, but also is going to vault Illinois in terms of its national profile and appeal overall. So big time stuff there. Anything else from that or you want me to move on to the next game?
- [17:54]
Gary Parrish
Now tell me about another freshman who was awesome.
- [17:57]
Matt Norlander
Okay, so let's go to, let's go down to Lubbock. They bumped the game up like four hours because of the snowstorm, which is like just. Yeah, a lot, a lot going on here. We had so many games front loaded here on just a, a crazy day across the country for, oh, by the way, a variety of reasons. Very, very much aware of, of what is happening in, in our country right now. And what we're talking about is very minimal on that scale. So didn't want to get through this show without at least acknowledging what is happening with our neighbors up north in the state of Minnesota. Texas Tech versus Houston, 90 to 86. They get it done. They split the series, the season series with Houston. I'm begging for a rematch, a rubber match in the Big 12 tournament and then give it to me again. If we can have it happen in the elite eight or the final four. Here JT topping goes for 31 and 12 in the winning effort. How about Texas Tech dropping 55 in the first 20 minutes against Houston? You basically never ever, ever, ever see that going into the day. In the past 20 years, the only freshman that had scored 42 or more against a ranked opponent was Malik Monk and the CBS Sports Classic when he had 47. Trey Young against TCU back in 2018 and Juwan Evans did it back in 2016. Well, we got it today on the road versus ranked teams with Wagler and then here with Kingston Flemings who had a variety of just throw it on the draft reel highlights. He carried them. He was outstanding. I thought the gumption here GP from Texas Tech was so impressive. Like the way that Houston plays is only second loss of the season. They had a really tight game against Texas Tech all of three weeks ago and here for Tech to show up, play the way that it did and really match and exceed Houston from an offensive standpoint like going in, I thought this was going to be probably like a 66, 63 kind of game. Hoping 92.86. Emmanuel Sharp had 20 for Houston in the losing effort, topping by far the best player. It was actually interesting to see that Donovan outwell Jalen Petty also showed up well, Christian Anderson 12 points, nine assists. So with that Houston, which had been playing better than anyone or as well as anyone essentially right there with Arizona over the past six weeks. It takes an understandable reasonable loss in Texas Tech, kind of similar to Illinois. It gets a win high profile, ranked on rank. Now it had the benefit of being at home. Unlike Illinois, the Red Raiders guns up only one loss since Dec. 13. That loss to Houston on the road.
- [20:31]
Gary Parrish
I don't mind you losing at Texas Tech. Like I think you could be a national championship contender and lose at Texas Tech obviously, but I don't like him giving up 55 points in the first half. Flemings was obviously amazing. I think you know there's a consensus on him now whether you knew his name or not on the day this season started. He's now a projected lottery pick by everybody could perhaps crack into the top five. I haven't heard anybody lately suggest he falls out of the top 10. So he gives a historically great performance. But ultimately, you know, I was, I've been in that arena down in Lubbock a couple of times as recently as last February. It's, it's terrific. You know, it's obviously bigger than the place I was tonight and, and some of the other great places throughout this country. But when they fill it up for a, you know, top tier Big 12 Conference game, it's as rowdy and as good as it gets. And when you've got that, I, I wasn't surprised to see Texas Tech win this game. Even if I did pick Houston in the final four. And one, these are two Final four contenders and I'm with you. Let's see them play again in the Big 12 tournament. Sign me up for that.
- [21:48]
Matt Norlander
No doubt about it. Just to reinforce the Fleming stuff real quick here he was 15 for 26 from the field, 8 of 10 from the line. He had 42 and actually I felt like he could have gone for 46 like waggler. It really did credit to Texas Tech to getting that win. Just awesome to have so many amazing performance again. Like we still have so much more season to go. This was just a, it really was a gift of a day in college basketball when no NFL, no college football obviously, like from a sports perspective, in many ways it really took advantage of the main stage that it had. Let's get to where I am right now and in Provo. Did not expect whatsoever to be talking about BYU and Utah in the, in the first block here, but we have to Utah give credit to Utah on this. The final score was not indicative of what the majority of the game was. BYU won 9178. It was a close game. The Banca goes for 43 in this one. I got speaking with him afterward. He wasn't even convinced this was his best game of his career. He mentioned the triple double that he had recently and all that. I asked how many times he went for 40 plus in high school. He thought it was about six or so. And I got to his father Ace listens to the pod on occasion. He wanted me to say hello to you and, and also he told me when I saw him, I was like. He was like, it's okay, it was okay. But you know the first thing I'm gonna say when I see him, why only six rebounds? Tough love from dad. Mighty impressive from Debanza. Rob Wright had 21 in this game. There was. I Want to say the Banta had like 32 with maybe eight minutes to go in the game and BYU was starting to pull away and he missed a shot that I thought he was going to make and in the moment when they were up big, I actually said to the fella sitting next to me, Jeremy from Draft Express, I said, I think that was his shot. He missed it. He's not going to get to 40. I was wrong because then it the crowd started the student section which. Have you been to the Marriott center.
- [23:53]
Gary Parrish
Or no, I've been there once. I am trying to remember the context. It wasn't for a great game. I think I was there to cover a Utah BYU football game early in my CBS days and that was like maybe on a Saturday night and I went in on Friday and then went to the Marriott center because they had like a by game on that Friday night type of thing. So I have been there but it was for a. Whatever game. But I will tell you because as I was leaving the kennel, Mark was like, so you and Norlander podcasting tonight? And I was like yeah. And he said where is he? And I said oh, he's actually out in Utah. And he said for the Arizona BYU game Monday. And I said yeah. And he said tell him that place is going to be because they used to play there in the wcc. He's like, I know that place. That place is going to be wild on Monday night. You're going to see something that's going to. He was like, you're going to really like that?
- [24:48]
Matt Norlander
Yes. Well, remember now, this is holy war. So like the hype situation. Huge. They have a cascading wall of. I'm going to say that's got to be 7,000 students behind one basket. Anyone watching, listening after the fact. Maryland's got this. How many schools arenas have a student section that is that massive in the entire country? I'm talking and Marriott center is really, really. It is a capacity official of just under 18k. Really impressive pre game hype situation. There are more of them. Parish. So many them.
- [25:26]
Gary Parrish
Oh man, you don't have to tell me.
- [25:28]
Matt Norlander
So, so many. Just.
- [25:30]
Gary Parrish
But like, but like can we say this? The nicest people in the world.
- [25:34]
Matt Norlander
They're tremendously nice. I had some cougar tail earlier tonight. Are you familiar with the cougar tail?
- [25:40]
Gary Parrish
I don't. I think. I don't know if I need to know about a cougar. I might be too old for that.
- [25:45]
Matt Norlander
I ate some cougar tail earlier tonight. It's this Huge, huge, huge, long donut.
- [25:52]
Gary Parrish
Okay. I didn't know where you were going with that. I'm glad the word donut came out of your mouth. I didn't know where you were going.
- [25:59]
Matt Norlander
It's actually too much. And what was wild. I'm gonna get to the game. You guys worry about what? I was getting ready to go down to the post game afterward, and a lot of people are leaving. The way the. The way the building is set up, where if you're on the lower level, you got to walk up steps to get out. And I was walking. It was parish, 20, 25, 30 people. They're all leaving with the boxes of Cougar tail. Like it's a major thing. I didn't have anything. I didn't have any idea. But it is as. As my press row seat mate was telling me, you know, they don't drink, you know, highly religious people, so they just fill up on all the sugar. He got the cookie crumbler guy. I don't know. They. They get their fix in one way or the other.
- [26:38]
Gary Parrish
I don't know what to make it is you telling me things I didn't know about before. I. Today you're telling me there's a bunch of thems and you know what they. You know. You know. You know what you. You understand?
- [26:49]
Matt Norlander
I do, but.
- [26:50]
Gary Parrish
But they got no problem on a Saturday night getting according to you. You ready for this? To quote you, a huge long donut. They'll take a huge long donut. That's really a couple of bites.
- [27:04]
Matt Norlander
And then I was done.
- [27:06]
Gary Parrish
Real interesting. I'll tell you about my trip to. So I was there one time and I had to rent a car. I flew into the airport because I didn't know where else to fly into. So I fly into the airport, and then I go to the rental car thing. I've got a rental car. And they said, yeah, Mr. Parachute Car. And I said, thank you. And this little girl, young woman, I guess, and she was like, okay, I'll walk you right to your car. And I was like, it's a new one on me. And so she was like, so, what are you in town for? I was like, I don't know. I guess I'm covering football game and a basketball game. And she's like, so, where are you from? And I was like, I live in Memphis. She's like, oh, Memphis, that's neat. What's Memphis like? I was like, oh, you ain't got time. And so she, like, walked me, and she's like, well, is There anything else I can do for you? And I was like, what is going on here? Like, this is. Is this like a trap? I feel like I'm getting set up. Like, what are we doing? All right. No, there is nothing more you can do for me to turn around. And here's the truth. She was just being the nicest person in the world because everybody I've ever met in Utah is the nicest person in the world. I don't know what's going on.
- [28:01]
Matt Norlander
Very nice people. But I did, I. I took in the scenes as it was like pre game hype situation before the banta goes off for 43. And I'm looking around and it's, you know, it's just really, there's no, no premarital sex here. Like, you're telling me this isn't happening? Like it's a fairly good looking fan base. No. Really? Really. By the way, I'm loaded up on the scripture right now.
- [28:23]
Gary Parrish
Oh, hold up. I got one too.
- [28:25]
Matt Norlander
I couldn't have more scripture. And, and I'm. And I'm not. I'm not exaggerating.
- [28:29]
Gary Parrish
Hold on. I gotta get my.
- [28:30]
Matt Norlander
Walking into the game, getting ready and. And this is just an observation. There's no judgment whatsoever. But I'm walking in and there's a dude walking down the street. He's in his Book of Mormon. He's just. He's just soaking it up. Walking down there, pun on into there. I swear the pun was unintended. Just devouring the Book of Mormon. I'm like, what is going on? Heck of a scene. Incredible fan base, incredible environment. GP's looking for, I think, his scripture. I don't know. He lost his ears. Can you even hear me?
- [29:00]
Gary Parrish
I hear you fine. Don't worry about me. I just had to. You. You motivated me, you know? You know, I. It's still Saturday here in Spokane, but on the east coast, it's a day of worship.
- [29:13]
Matt Norlander
It is a day of worship. Yes, it is. We are after midnight.
- [29:17]
Gary Parrish
Jokes aside. Jokes aside, man. They put you to a test every time you check in. Every time you check in, they put you to a test. Look what I'm going. You don't have any. I've spent the equivalent of like seven years of my life in Marriott's. That's true. I've spent the equivalent of like seven years of my life in Mary eyes every time they put you to the test. All right, gp, check in. What you want to read? What do you want to read tonight?
- [29:44]
Matt Norlander
I got you.
- [29:45]
Gary Parrish
What do you want to Read tonight. Yeah, what do you want to read tonight? And I just put up, you want to know the truth? I put them both down and pick up Jeff Pearlman's Tupac book. That's the truth. I put them both down right where I found them, respectfully. And I said, you know what? I'm gonna read about Tupac.
- [30:04]
Matt Norlander
Fair enough. The Banta was incredible. He was 14, 13 of 24 from the field, 9 to 10 from the line, 6 boards, 4 or 5 from 3 point range. Just really did get into his bag. Talked to a couple of his teammates afterward and they, I think he had 22, I want to say at the half. I can't remember exactly, but that's when they. No, he had 19 at the half. I remember that because I remember thinking, can he, can he get more than he had in the first? But apparently it was brought up to him at halftime. And at that point it was a close game. Like Utah was, was still within striking distance. And Alex Jensen, in his post game press conference, Utah's coach, he actually, you know, he admitted, I asked him like, you know, when did he thought the. Think the game changed and what was the turning point and why? And he said this, this was actually the first time, like Utah's 9, 11, they're not a good team. He's like, this is the first time all season that we quit. Like, we just gave up. And I thought that was an interesting quote given this is the holy war. Like, this is a, this is a major game no matter what two sports teams between these two universities are playing. So I know that that particular quote, obviously going to land fairly heavily with Utah and have BYU fans quite gleeful. So the banter goes for 43. He does this, by the way, remember a week ago, had his worst game of his college career against Texas Tech. I asked him afterward, I was like, did you do anything in particular to motivate yourself? You know, sometimes players will, you know, if they want to get out of a funk for one reason or another, they just have their different ways of doing it. And he said, no, I was just, you know, pretty low key, pretty motivated, but just went through my, my typical process there. He got it done. Heck of a tune up. Heck of an appetizer for Monday night when undefeated number one Arizona is going to come to town. That was big time, big time stuff. So those were the three big ones. I mentioned boozer, I mentioned acuff. You can take them IKEA real quick. Gp. But the, the story, the overarching theme and story of Saturday On a day with a lot of. Of interesting results that we still have to get to was this is a. An all time special season with the best freshman class. It is not debatable. This is the best freshman class in the history of college basketball. And this was the single best day for any freshman class that we've ever seen, evidenced by the big time scoring we saw.
- [32:16]
Gary Parrish
I understand where Alex is coming from. You don't want your team to quit, but in fairness, if I were on the road against AJ DeBonsa and he was scoring like that, I'd probably quit too. I'd be like, I don't know what you want me to do with this. I quit.
- [32:29]
Matt Norlander
It. It got pretty.
- [32:31]
Gary Parrish
And when you see, when you see Mr. Devons again, you tell him I said, from my brief interaction with his son, I think he did a fine job raising him because I, you know, I sat down with AJ at Peach Jam a couple years ago for about 25 minutes or did a story way back then. He was leading the event in scoring after his freshman year of high school. And, you know, the job. We spend an inordinate amount of time, particularly in the summer, talking to teenagers. You know, I don't know if you've been following news, but you're not supposed to do that a lot. All right.
- [33:06]
Matt Norlander
Content.
- [33:07]
Gary Parrish
It's part of our job. So, you know, sometimes they sound like teenagers and sometimes they. They are a little more polished and comfortable. And I just remember watching AJ Play at that age, and that's easy to say. He's special. There aren't many people, you don't have to have recruiting rankings in your hand to walk in and say, he's different than everybody else on the court. But then I sat down with him and talked to him, and it was just like, we had an interesting, compelling conversation. And I don't know, I was just. I remember walking away from talking to him and going, yeah, he's a great basketball player. But also somebody's done a good job with him, you know, seems like he was raised by. By parents who, you know, I don't know. Tell him I said, congratulations. He seems like he's raising a nice young man who is an incredible talent.
- [33:53]
Matt Norlander
No doubt about it. I know they're very proud of that angle of it as well. Can't wait to see what comes Monday. And then obviously in the. In the later half of this season. Just been excellent. Josh, let's take a quick break. Word from our partners. There's. There's still a lot more to get to. I promise we're not going to take 30 minutes or three more games in time. We'll be here until 3 in the morning. Up next, we're going to talk about everything related to a noisy SEC on Saturday. This time of year right now, next few months, basketball season. My favorite time of the year, and as great as it is to take in the games on tv, the sport is even better in person. I love the buzz of an arena for a big game, NBA or college, and I know you do as well. But actually getting the tickets, that part can be a real pain. Online queues the logins, what's my password? The shock of a price jump at checkout. By the time you're done, you're already annoyed with the whole process, right? Well, Good news. The GameTime app is here to fix all of that. The GameTime app genuinely gives fans the advantage back. You can check college or NBA games on the upcoming schedule, searching in just a few quick taps and find seats at great and reasonable prices. The best part, other than the pricing, is how simple everything is. Fees are included up front, so what you see is what you pay. I used a Zone deal, picked my section and gametime handled the rest. And the seat View feature lets you see exactly what the view would be like with the tickets you want to buy before you pay for them. Plus, the gametime guarantee means the tickets are 100% authentic and delivered on time. Take the guesswork out of buying NBA tickets with GameTime. Download the GameTime app, create an account and use code I for $20 off your first purchase. Terms apply. Again, create an account and redeem code EYE for 20 bucks off. Download the Gametime app today.
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- [36:20]
Gary Parrish
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- [36:22]
Matt Norlander
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Gary Parrish
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Matt Norlander
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- [36:46]
Matt Norlander
Visit blueapron.com terms for more. All right GP Sec a lot to get to I think the most notable result is what happened as the last result of the day in the league. That is Tennessee winning for the fifth time in a row against Alabama. Doing it on the road. Nate amen. Another freshman, one point shy of 30 by the way, had 29 here. Charles Bediaco of course makes his second debut, if that's even a proper term. The return of Beacco. He actually did play relatively well. Alabama was no way in the Holloway had multiple players that were out 7973 in favor of the Vols, who have not defeated the tide five times in a row since the 60s and 70s. Like the crossover 68 to 72. Betty aka finished with 13 points, three rebounds, two blocks in 25 minutes on the floor. I know you did not see the game you and Mark for you learned of the result of it. So shy of asking you know anything about that, you were not on of course the the Friday show we talked about a little bit on Wednesday. A big big court case awaits. A hearing awaits in just a couple of days here on whether or not he will actually be deemed eligible to play. I was told the NCAA is like they are arming up as much as they possibly can for this. Whether that's going to mean anything I don't know. The joke's already flying on Twitter. Can Alabama take this result to a local judge and get it overturned by Monday because Tennessee won the game? Tennessee the the account dunked all over them and and basically started calling out G League teams as well. So a lot of predictable fun on social media. Can't help but chuckle at it. But just I don't know your overall thoughts on on Alabama and Tennessee by the way has been win, loss, win, loss, win loss for about six three weeks in a row here.
- [38:41]
Gary Parrish
Okay, I can't break down the game. I didn't even know the result until it was over and about, you know, 45 minutes ago. But what I can say is that result and a other results within this league to me, like if you had me writing a SEC wrap up column tonight, the takeaway would be this might be the best league in the country with no great teams like they, they. Yes, they might. They might end up rating the SEC as the best league in the country and not have a team get a top two seed in the NCAA tournament. Now I don't think that'll happen because somebody's going to win the SEC tournament and they're going to just stack quad wins on the way and they'll be hot and that'll influence something and you know, but like right now, who's the great team in the sec? You might have said it was Florida, but then we just watched Florida lose at home to Auburn. You might have said it was Alabama, but we just watched him lose at home to Tennessee. You know, you don't think it's Kentucky, but like they keep winning for some reason. It was Vanderbilt a few weeks ago, but they've lost three of four. Georgia was interesting, but not that interesting.
- [39:52]
Matt Norlander
Arkansas lost by 14 to Georgia. How about this? Your first place SEC team is Texas A&M at 6 and 1 in the league right now. That's right. Bucky Ball, the Aggies. They won at home over South Carolina. Doesn't move the needle, but they are 6 and 1 in the league. Also important overall context in terms of strength of schedule in the league. Texas A and M has the easiest strength of schedule. I'm not saying they can't be the best team or finish first, but they are the easiest thing.
- [40:17]
Gary Parrish
Those two things are connected.
- [40:18]
Matt Norlander
Sure. And the tough, if you're curious about the Toughest, Tennessee is 1, LSU is 2 for strength of schedule. Conference so far. Yeah.
- [40:24]
Gary Parrish
And I apologize for if I, if I false started your, your rundown and just started.
- [40:29]
Matt Norlander
You're good.
- [40:31]
Gary Parrish
But I wanted to apologize because I hate it when you do that.
- [40:34]
Matt Norlander
Well, that's too bad. I don't know what to tell you. I don't hate it. I'm good. See, I go with the flow.
- [40:39]
Gary Parrish
Okay, good. You're a better go with the flow guy than I am.
- [40:41]
Matt Norlander
Yeah, I'm going with the flow. Tennessee, a very, very, I'd say important win just for the resume. Bama is. Who the hell knows. Now they weren't, they weren't full strength but just not a trustworthy team. Thirteen and six and in the here and the now, the Goodwin, St. John's Illinois, Clemson, that's home. Kentucky if you want to give them that. Lost to Purdue, Gonzaga, Arizona, Vandy, Texas, Tennessee. Really, really good offense. But, and I know they didn't have the full. I know they didn't have everyone on the floor. You gotta win the game. Didn't win the game. Some people that hate the Betty Aqua thing, I'm sure think it's. It's karma related. But there you have it. Let's keep it touring in the SEC because I do want to keep the podcast moving. Florida losing at home to Auburn. You maybe can call it the most surprising result of the day. Like, I'm more surprised by this than I am surprised by Illinois going and beating Purdue and Mackie. Florida had been rolling. Auburn picks up, without question the best win of Stephen Pearl's first season. Thomas Hauck was awesome in this game. He actually then said afterward, this is all my fault because he was guarding Keyshawn hall for a decent portion of the game. Keyshawn hall at 24 and 7, but a big time performance there was it. I think it was. It might have been. I can't remember which Keyshawn was either Keyshawn hall or maybe. I think it was Keyshawn Murphy. At the end of the game, he dunked it to give it the final. You didn't see it, but it was. It was a meaningless dunk. They didn't need to do it. Time was running out. He landed and it looked like he landed awkwardly and might have hurt himself, but he was faking it. Then he got up and started screaming at the Florida student section. And then the camera cut to Stephen Pearl, who's headed as his hand because he's like. It's like his child who won't stop throwing food. Not. And Pearl and Todd golden are like genuinely really good friends.
- [42:31]
Gary Parrish
Right?
- [42:31]
Matt Norlander
Like, Todd's not going to take offense to it. It was a funny scene at the end of a very important win for Auburn. I'm sure Pearl was pissed about how that went down, but that is a, that's a sea line bump win for Auburn and I do think it is significant for the Tigers because they, they're not out of the weeds yet. They certainly weren't going into this game. They've had some nice wins, but it's now three in the row. Three in a row, including two back to back. Ole Miss on Tuesday and then Florida here.
- [42:54]
Gary Parrish
I'm with you. I was surprised by this result. I think everybody was surprised by the result. But like, you know, just as surprised as Illinois winning at Purdue, Florida had seemed like it had turned the corner and was in the computers now projected to not only win the SEC, but win it outright. I mean, that was what we were talking about, I think middle of the week. And so for them to just then, you know, go into the O Dome and, and, and, and lose like that to an Auburn team that's been, I don't want to say up and down, but like all over the place. I mean, they, they've beaten some good teams and then got their brains beat in like the next game or so. So yeah, I didn't see that coming at all. And perhaps a so called great team can emerge from this league. There's clearly plenty enough talent in theory for that to happen. But as of right now, I think you can reasonably say, like, I think this is a, a not inaccurate thing. We could, we could debate it and argue it and get into it, but I think broadly speaking, you could say, yeah, that might be true. Best league in the country might not have a great team.
- [44:00]
Matt Norlander
I can, I refuse to give myself to the. Where SEC is best leading country, even though it is there, obviously in some metrics right now. I just, I can't buy in. Not.
- [44:09]
Gary Parrish
Yeah, I wouldn't call.
- [44:10]
Matt Norlander
Yeah.
- [44:10]
Gary Parrish
I want to be clear. I think the Big 12 is the best league in the country because I think it has more championship contenders than any other conference. But right now at Kinpom, at least the SEC does rate number one.
- [44:20]
Matt Norlander
This was the first win for Auburn at Florida since 1996. Had lost 15 in a row. Mighty impressive. Keep it moving, the SEC. Texas came to life, beat number 21, Georgia by 20, outscored him by 30 in the second half. They had 57 points in the second half. Dylan Swain had 26 points, Tramond Mark had 23. You know, Sean Miller needs to keep calling out his team because every time he does it, they respond by having a really impressive win. So this result gets lost in the shuffle because there's probably 10 or 11 more notable ones on the day. But we're in the SEC here. That is a, that is an important win for Texas. I don't know if it's going to make the tournament or not, but you get enough of these wins, you're gonna have enough on the resume when we get to selection Sunday. So Sean Miller's team gets it done there. I'll keep it moving. GP Missouri needed two buzzer beers.
- [45:09]
Gary Parrish
I did see this.
- [45:11]
Matt Norlander
You did or did not?
- [45:12]
Gary Parrish
I did see this. This is.
- [45:13]
Matt Norlander
Oh, well, I was about to. Well, if anyone didn't see it or you didn't hear it, Josh has the video. Let's see how Missouri kept Oklahoma in hell here's Barrett.
- [45:28]
Gary Parrish
Fast mid court, gives it up. Pierce from the logo. Got it. What if he's gonna learn to carve back?
- [45:36]
Matt Norlander
He's guarded six to play. Off balance.
- [45:38]
Gary Parrish
Got it. Beautiful 4.8 left. Here's Mitchell across midcourt from Mizzou for the win.
- [45:52]
Matt Norlander
Credit to ESPN too. So Trent Pierce hits the shot to get it to overtime. A junior comes off the bench. He's 610. Guy doesn't even take that many threes. And then Mark Mitchell, who is now 8 of 28 from the season. They're down two. Mizzou gets the win and in doing so avoids a fourth loss in five games. Oklahoma, meanwhile. Josh, toss up the terminology. I sent it to you. This is the sixth loss in a row. And a reminder that we have our own terminology here for losing streak weeks. Six in a row is officially a spiral. They were in a slump, now they're in a spiral. Next game for Oklahoma is home to Arkansas. If they lose that game, that's officially a tsunami. And it's over. Border motion. It is. It is going horribly for the Sooners right now. Not good whatsoever. Any quickie thoughts on this one?
- [46:51]
Gary Parrish
What comes after a tsunami, I'd be interested in knowing.
- [46:53]
Matt Norlander
That's it. It just doesn't end. It's just a tsunami. That's it. You can't reverse it.
- [46:57]
Gary Parrish
You're in a tsunami forever.
- [46:59]
Matt Norlander
Yes, you're correct. I, I'm. When we talked about this a few years back on the show, I, I don't know how many teams at the high major level have ever lost seven in a row and actually received an at large bid to the tournament. It's very, the number is very low and Oklahoma will not be one of those teams.
- [47:15]
Gary Parrish
Well, Missouri's interesting because they look like they're just going to be fighting for their lives every game of the week for the rest of the season. Like, they're very much a bubble team.
- [47:25]
Matt Norlander
Yeah.
- [47:25]
Gary Parrish
And when you are a bubble team, like, every game is important. You know, every game like is huge. So middle of the week they had Georgia at home. Like, no, that's one like, you know you're gonna have, you're gonna play ranked teams in the SEC and some of them are going to be tough to get on the road. Unlikely. But that's the type of one you need to knock out. And they weren't able to get it and it's like, oh, missed opportunity. And then it looks like they're about to drop a bad one at home and they get the, the long three to Send it to overtime, then another shot to end it just to. I mean when you look back on a season, if they get where they're trying to get to, what happened today on specifically those two shots could be the things that got them there.
- [48:08]
Matt Norlander
SEC was just crazy. On, on Saturday we mentioned the Arkansas close win against LSU. Darius Acuff comes up huge. 31.6 dime shot well, 47 from 3 point range. Two more results. 1. Vandy battered Mississippi State. Avoided the swoon in the process. I appreciate that because Vandy's next game is at home against Kentucky. I will be there on Tuesday in Nashville. Kentucky won its fifth straight. That was one of the. That was the earliest tip of the day. It got the win against Mississippi. 72 63. Kentucky's now 14 and 6, 5 and 2 in the league. Obviously they've got the injury issues. An impressive showing. Colin Chandler had a couple of really nice buckets in this one. Ortega always showed up again. Adam Finkelstein talked about him on our Friday show going into the weekend there. So big gains for Kentucky, which I, I'm not going to wind up being right about this, but I remember us doing the whole like, who can win the sec? And I was like, you know what? Give me Kentucky. Let me, let me, let me get to this. Tommy Lloyd says hi, by the way. He says get off the podcast and get to Jack and Dan's because he knows where you're at. Yes, Tommy Lloyd knows where you're at. I was, I texted because I don't know they're coming in tomorrow and I'm trying to see where they're going to be, but he says hello.
- [49:18]
Gary Parrish
So I had a night out at Jack and Dan's in the whole deal. One night I. Somebody gonna have to correct me if I'm wrong out of the group, but I think it was. I think it was Tommy Lloyd, Dan Dickow and Adam Morrison. I mean that's an altar to me, that's an all time Spokane night. And if I know Adam, I know Adam was there because he was like a rock star walking around everywhere like we. You.
- [49:43]
Matt Norlander
Yeah.
- [49:44]
Gary Parrish
But I like it here. I'm having a good time. I settled into a little place called Purgatory yesterday. Sounded like where I. Sounded like where I belonged.
- [49:54]
Matt Norlander
Yes. Hey, hey. I know I know a way out of that.
- [49:59]
Gary Parrish
I don't. I got it. Hey, I got plenty of reading material here to get me back in, to get me back on the right.
- [50:05]
Matt Norlander
We can keep them. Like how conflicting are these scriptures? I have no idea, man.
- [50:09]
Gary Parrish
I Pick them both up and I look at them and then I put them both down and I read Jeff Perlman's Tupac book.
- [50:16]
Matt Norlander
Heck of a musical, by the way. Really fun.
- [50:17]
Gary Parrish
Okay. I love Spokane. I love it here. Like, I like bro. I'm going out in a minute. I don't know what I'm doing, but I'm just walking around. I'm going walking in a minute. Who's my buddy? Who's my. Who's my buddy? My quarterback.
- [50:34]
Matt Norlander
I have no idea what you're talking about.
- [50:36]
Gary Parrish
My quarterback who was on assignment and he just went walking around one night. Next thing you know, he's getting stabbed.
- [50:42]
Matt Norlander
What?
- [50:43]
Gary Parrish
What was that? Buddy's in the quarterback. Oh, my God. Matt Leiner.
- [50:47]
Matt Norlander
Matt Leiner. No, Mark. Mark Sanchez.
- [50:50]
Gary Parrish
Mark Sanchez.
- [50:51]
Matt Norlander
Oh, here's the thing. You got to keep this moving. I have a blank. I have a blind spot for this. I. I went dark for nine days when I went to Paris and Amsterdam. That happened when I was gone. I. I didn't even know it was a thing until two weeks after I got back. So that's. I got a blind spot for that.
- [51:04]
Gary Parrish
What I'm trying to say is I don't want anybody to worry about me, okay? I do like to walk around, but I am not confrontational at all. I don't even speak out loud, hardly at all. The last words I say tonight will be said into this microphone. Then I will just walk around and never talk to anybody the rest of the night. But I'm looking forward to it. And don't worry about me. I don't want anybody to worry about me. Be like, GP Be careful. We heard what. But you know, sometimes television people do on the road, and then you get out and you're walking around a little bit too much. Next thing you know, you're getting stabbed by a truck driver. Don't worry about me. I know how to walk around without having confrontations.
- [51:40]
Matt Norlander
We were on 14 and 6, Kentucky. This is all my fault. Sorry. Tommy Lloyd texted me in the middle of show. I had to give you the shout out. I should have waited until we got to Arizona. Kentucky's 14 and 6 won five in a row. Next up at Vandy. My thanks to both of those teams for winning this weekend. To make that game a bit more compelling when I get to Memorial Gym on Tuesday. Josh, let's take our second break. There is still plenty more to get to.
- [52:04]
Gary Parrish
Oh, man. I ain't never going to. Never going to get out of this hotel room.
- [52:08]
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- [52:33]
Matt Norlander
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- [52:42]
Gary Parrish
Most trusted, most watched.
- [52:44]
Matt Norlander
David Muir on abc. I'll get you out of here, okay? You got, you got places to go. I'm trying to crash early. You're always hitting altar tomorrow. Okay, here's the close. Let's go.
- [52:55]
Gary Parrish
I was, here's the truth. I was supposed to get up early in the morning and fly back home, but. Oh, I don't, I don't know if you've seen what's going on in, in throughout the country weather from a weather perspective, but my hometown is covered in ice and snow, so there ain't no getting back home. So now I am rebooked on a 2pm I'm just going straight to New York. I'm just going straight back to New York. I'm not even going home.
- [53:23]
Matt Norlander
Hold on. Tomorrow, 2:00pm yeah. You're not, you're not on that plane. You're not, you're not taking off at 2.
- [53:30]
Gary Parrish
They said.
- [53:30]
Matt Norlander
Where? The storm that's hitting the Northeast tomorrow.
- [53:33]
Gary Parrish
They said I'm taking off at 2.
- [53:34]
Matt Norlander
No, no, you will not be taking off at 2 o'. Clock. Okay?
- [53:39]
Gary Parrish
I don't know. I don't know what I'm doing. I'm just gonna go for a walk and figure it out on my wall.
- [53:43]
Matt Norlander
There's no chance. You tell the hotel I'm gonna need this room another night. You're sleeping in Spokane.
- [53:49]
Gary Parrish
Here's the truth. I don't care if they keep me here another night. Just don't make me get up, pack all my stuff, go to the airport and then sit there all day. Cancel me right now and I will have a party.
- [54:02]
Matt Norlander
No chance. There's no chance right now. There's no chance.
- [54:06]
Gary Parrish
Like cancel me right now. And I'm about to go out. And I'm about to go Mark Sanchez the night away. Minus the wounds. Minus the wounds.
- [54:17]
Matt Norlander
I got. You're done. You're toast. Dude. It's still going to be snowing at midnight Eastern tomorrow in New York. Okay. You're not. You're not flying on that flight.
- [54:26]
Gary Parrish
That's okay. All right, so here's the. Here's this, my flight. Even if I have a flight, it's not two. It's not till two o' clock tomorrow. And by the way, I'm on the west. I'm in the. I'm out west. So, like, I'm gonna wake up at 4aM Anyway, so I'm ready to go. I'm ready to go. I'm gonna get into it tonight. So what else? Hurry up. What else? We got to talk about who else won and who else lost. Did anybody get hurt? When's Darren Peterson gonna play again?
- [54:52]
Matt Norlander
Tommy Lloyd says next pivot, White Stripes concert. Do you know what that means? Yes, because Arizona is the next on the docket. Arizona one. Nebraska won. They're both 200 with Miami. Three 200 teams. First time since 2013-14. And hold on. And a credit to our CBS Sports research team. This is only the third season since 75, 76. Again, special season, folks. Third time that we've had three 200 teams in 75, 76. It was Rutgers, UNLV. And of course the Hoosiers went undefeated. Then we saw it in 13, 14. Now we've got it here. Go ahead, White Stripes. Tommy Lloyd. Markview and Tommy Lloyd are taking over the show. Not even on this show.
- [55:34]
Gary Parrish
I don't. I much rather tell stories about the White Stripes and Tommy Lloyd than sit here and try to break down Oklahoma's buzzer beating defense. So one of my wife's best friends moved to Augusta several years ago, long time ago. And so she was always like, when, when GP Comes to Peach Jam, you should come with him and we'll hang out together. It'd be nice to see my best friend. And so that's what happened. So I take my wife to Peach Jam, or my wife joined me at Peach Jam. I don't know how it worked. And so one night we end up in a little, you know, Peach J.
- [56:06]
Matt Norlander
I was with you on this night.
- [56:08]
Gary Parrish
You were here this night.
- [56:10]
Matt Norlander
Correct. Okay, so 2012, I think maybe 2013, something like that.
- [56:16]
Gary Parrish
So we settle into a little bar, the type of bar in Augusta that it is.
- [56:20]
Matt Norlander
The dive of all dives.
- [56:21]
Gary Parrish
The dive of all dives. All right. But like it's. But it's open and they got cold beer and so we're good. And my wife is. She's not a drinker. I mean, she will have a drink, but she doesn't drink a lot. All Right. But she was out trying to hang out with the guys, and she was like, yeah, I'll have another. Next thing you know, she's had a little too much to drink. All right, so White Stripe. Best I can remember, White Stripe song comes on, and she's like, oh, we. We saw White Stripes. We went to see the White Stripes. And Tommy's just trying to be nice, and he's like, oh, really? How was that? And she tells him the whole drunken story. I mean, it's a 20 minute white stripe story. I mean. I mean, buddy, he's done. He's in it. Okay, so that story is over. And then, I mean, it's like eight minutes later, she's like, yeah, so we went to this White Stripes concert, and I'm like, kelly, you just told that story. Like, what are we doing? And so me and Tommy have laughed about that for years. Like, hey, man, you ever been to a White Stripes concert? So earlier this season, I flew home from wherever. I just settled in the house and the whole family's asleep or fall asleep. And I'm just up watching the Rock and Roll hall of Fame induction and the White Stripes were inducted. I'm just sitting there and I. There's Jack White. I take a picture of Jack White and I was like, I sent it to Tommy. I was like, hey, man, I would tell you about the time me and my wife went to a White Strikes concert. All time. Fun night, man.
- [57:45]
Matt Norlander
That was a very fun night. Someone might have thrown up by the.
- [57:49]
Gary Parrish
End of that night, but my wife, the next morning.
- [57:53]
Matt Norlander
Can't be. You said without me. That was. Yes, I remember. Oh, we have to keep it moving.
- [58:00]
Gary Parrish
It was tough. No, you want to get off this. Josh texted us. He was like, literally within two minutes. GP is like, you got to get me out of here. Hey, one time my wife went with me to Augusta.
- [58:11]
Matt Norlander
Correct.
- [58:11]
Gary Parrish
This is Tommy Lloyd's fault.
- [58:13]
Matt Norlander
Keep it moving. Nebraska is the first 20 and oh team in the Big Ten since 2010. 11. Ohio State, by the way. And how about this? This is a great note from our research team. Fred Hoiberg is the only coach of a power conference program since 96, 97 to have three straight 20 plus lost seasons, followed by three consecutive 20 plus win seasons. That's a great flip by him. Nebraska's next game is a biggie. We'll get to that at the end of the show. Whether that comes in six minutes or 26 minutes. Hopefully sooner than later. Yeah. How about this, though? Nebraska's won 24 in a row. I'm not even gonna trivia time you. It's too late. You got no chance. You're brand is fried. That's the second longest winning streak by a Big Ten team in the last 40 years to the 050405 Illinois team that won 29 in a row.
- [58:59]
Gary Parrish
I swear to God I, I could have, I couldn't have told you the team but I could have said Illinois because I have some memory of that.
- [59:06]
Matt Norlander
The point is Nebraska has been getting consistent and continual love on the show as it deserves to. Yes, we both picked again on the Friday show but in the bigger picture we've been giving their their shine and I hope broadly I still feel like people don't consider it like a real contender, national title contender, Final four contender because it's Nebraska. We're not used to it. They've won so much here. How much more can you ask of them? It's just, it's such an awesome story. We will keep it moving. Carolina 185.80 to at Virginia on the road. UNC was down by as many as 16 in this game. Jaren Stevenson was awesome. This game was one of the earlier tips of the day. Also bumped up because of of the weather situation. Caleb Wilson, like Caleb Wilson, another amazing freshman just has an oh by the way 20 like it. Just one performance after another after another here. Wilson hit a shot that in the moment down the stretch when he did it I was like man, that's the dagger. They're gonna win the game and sure as hell they did do that. A big reverse here. A big boomerang situation for Caroline in the past couple of games. That is impressive. Impressive to be down, you know, 43, 26 in this game. Come back, get it done. Virginia, you know you got Carolina on your home floor. You let that spoil a little if you'd won the game like strong second place bona fides for the acc. That goes by the wayside. I know you don't know too much about the game. I am curious off the top of your dome versus where they were going into the day because I don't know gp, Carolina, Virginia, where they're going to be ranked your top 25 and one going into Sunday. Any idea?
- [60:44]
Gary Parrish
I, I haven't even looked at it but I had Carolina out as of this morning. They had been bumped out by Miami, Ohio's admission. So obviously I've got to get them back in there. Georgia I know is in the 20s somewhere so that looks like an easy out. Carolina will be ranked I Gotta figure all that out as soon as I get done with my walk.
- [61:05]
Matt Norlander
Yep. As Chats mentioned here as well, Derek Dixon definitely growing into a very valuable player for North Carolina. Good game. This one went to overtime. Yukon beats Villanova 75 to 67 in Hartford. Villanova had its chances, unquestionably had its chances in this game. Had some really good play from Duke. Brennan and Tyler Perkins each had 16 here. Devon Askew was nice off the bench. Solo Ball had 24. Alex Caravan had a couple of timely buckets there. Terrace Reed fouled out in this game. Afterward, Dan Hurley said, I'm going to severely paraphrase him here, but he essentially was saying, you know, when I got the job, Yukon sucked. Nova was running this league. And I know things have flipped here, but it feels good to that. It certainly seems like we're getting back to a place where Yukon and Villanova can be, you know, at the top of the league. Nova's 15 and 5. It has lost two of its past three, but those are understandable to St. John's and to Yukon, all things considered. You got anything on that or you want me to keep moving?
- [62:06]
Gary Parrish
I would just say, like, I didn't know. I don't think most people knew what to expect from Kevin Willard's first team at Villanova, but they're good. Like, they're. That's a good. That's a rock solid. Could finish second in the Big East. Should go to the NCAA Tournament. Team like it. I don't. I don't know that Villanova's backed but is respectable again in lost. You can still see that respectable.
- [62:31]
Matt Norlander
It needs to like, it's got a couple more opportunities here. Obviously, because you do the double round robin in the Big east, it just, it needs to pick off one or two more to really like just show that it's. It's for real. For real. Has lost nine in a row against AP top five teams. UConn's won 15 a row overall. It was the first time these two programs played an overtime game in 14 seasons. We're just kind of bouncing around all over the place here. No. Darren Peterson was no problem for Kansas. Saw a majority of this game. Kansas 1 at Kansas State actually had not done that. Surprisingly enough, Kansas had not won at the Octagon of doom since 2020. They get it here. Kansas has won four in a row. 86, 62 final. Melvin Council Jr. Was great. Florida Badungo was awesome. Kansas pulled away. Kansas State actually narrowed the gap there. PJ Haggerty had 23. He played well, but the. The K State defense just wasn't remotely acceptable. Darren, I, I texted with Bill Self earlier in the day. Peterson twisted his ankle earlier in the week in the game against Colorado. And then because I'm not saying this is right or I'm not saying this is fair. I'm just saying like this is what happens when you miss so many games. This was the 20th game of Kansas season. Darren Peterson has missed exactly half of them. Ten.
- [63:41]
Gary Parrish
Right.
- [63:42]
Matt Norlander
And I had a few people ask me is he actually really hurt? Like, you know, and I was like, no. If you actually watch what happened, he legitimately twisted his ankle and I understand that he's sitting out for this. Self told me he does genuinely think that he will be back for the game a week from now, which is going to be Dynamite Mammoth Peterson versus the Banda that's in Kansas. So we wait on, we wait on all that. But, but a good, a good showing out of Kansas leading into that. Any quick thoughts?
- [64:08]
Gary Parrish
Yeah, I mean with the like with Darren Peterson, I really do think it is as it appears like he rolled his ankle.
- [64:14]
Matt Norlander
I completely agree with you. Fair or not though, this is now becoming a thing attached to him with it, but it is out there and evidenced by just person here, person here in the business, whatever. Does he actually really hurt? No, he actually is really hurt. The dude really twisted his ankle. He's not sitting out to avoid going into the Octagon of doom. That's not what happened here.
- [64:35]
Gary Parrish
Yeah, I, I do wonder if this starts and, and I'm not claiming that it does. I'm wondering if it will start to influence the evaluation of him because availability is a thing. And I know it's just been one little thing after another, but it has been one little thing after another. And you know, I happen to live in a city that has a franchise player who is now reportedly possibly about to be traded. And the number one reason if he has moved out of that franchise I'm obviously talking about, John Moran will be because he just doesn't play basketball a lot. He's played about 30% of the games over the past three years for any number of reasons. And it could be anything like he just missed however many games in a row, you know, because of one thing came back was awesome, bumped his elbow and now he's out for past the trade deadline. It's just always something. And quite literally the reason the Grizzlies are ready to move on reportedly and the reason there is no trade market for him is because this is an amazing Basketball player who just doesn't play basketball that often. And I wonder at what point point does that. If we are really at the top of the draft having a Debonsa Peterson debate, does the thing ultimately become. They're both awesome, but one of them, like, I don't. It's always something, or at least it's always been something this season and the other one, I mean it looks like he's there just about every game. I just wonder if that ever becomes a part of the conversation.
- [66:03]
Matt Norlander
Yeah, I even talked with Devonson. Not about the injury, but as he was wrapping. I was the last person he talked to before he left. He's. He's asleep, by the way. He was like. He's like. I was like, what are you gonna do the rest of the day? He's like, I gotta go watch Kansas. I gotta see how they play. Which DP was on the floor. And he's, he's like eager and excited to go. He's 02 against Darren Peterson, their high school career, but just interesting to see how he's looking forward to that matchup and really wants that matchup as he well should. And I think that we're going to get it after the game. Even Kevin Young, as you would expect him to say, was just like, you know, what we saw here with the Bonsa is why he, you know, needs to be the number one pick in the draft. He's his coach. He's going to say that. Obviously he believes that. But on a night like tonight when Demons was able to do that, Peterson wasn't available, it makes, you know, his case that much stronger. We'll see if if indeed they both play against each other. That's the highlight a week from tonight. Keep it moving. Iowa State in the Big 12, no issues whatsoever. 18 and 2 now 84, 71 win at Oklahoma State. That could have been a spot where, you know, Iowa State, given its recent play, maybe it gets picked off, maybe it plays close and that's understandable or at least not surprising. Wasn't that whatsoever good on tj? Alzberger's guys wanted to acknowledge them on the show. We'll keep bouncing it around. Michigan State beat Maryland. That game was on cbs, as was the Arizona winter remain undefeated. This is notable for two reasons. One, earlier in the week in the court report, I highlighted why I thought Virginia was having the best run of any team with the first year coach at a high major program. A M fans probably want a crack at that title now after Virginia lost at home. Well, the inverse is Maryland, they are, they are horrendous in the first season under Buzz Williams. They have had some injury issues, weren't expected to win this game, but it is stark. Like, Buzz just doesn't typically have teams that are this bad. Meantime, Jeremy Fears, 17 points, 17 assists. It's actually not a program record. Cleaves had 20 in the year they won the title. So it is second best all time. Mighty impressive stuff there, GP.
- [67:57]
Gary Parrish
Yeah, yeah. 17 and 17, like early in the day before or between shoot arounds, like I had time to like get caught up, like start putting comments together for the top 25. Just do anything, you know, it's one of those days where you got 10 minutes. Let's try to spend it doing something productive. And so, you know, every day it's like, and so and so got this points and this rebounds and a blank blank win over so and so and so. You're like, and Jeremy Fear has got. Whoa, what? What? 17? You don't type 17 and 17 too often. So he was great. He is great. And just the Maryland thing, I mean, Buzz is obviously great and has been great for a long time. And I don't have any doubt he'll get that, or at least I'm confident he'll get that right? But this is, I mean, they just, they're getting, they're getting be bad a lot.
- [68:48]
Matt Norlander
8 and 12 getting beat bad. It is a lost season. See if they can fix it. You know, I know Nova lost today, but you can't help but notice Willard left. Nova's gonna probably make the tournament. His replacement is going to miss badly in year one. A few more results here before we look ahead and get out of here. St. John's one at Xavier, Rick Patino gets win number 900. This was another comeback win. It actually looked like his son was going to spoil it. I'm sure on some like, you know, Richard wants to win every game he's not satisfied with, but I, I that on some level, I guess happening this way just feels appropriate. They were down by 16 though. St. John's was. And they get it done. They have won. St. John's has won eight straight games on the road in the league. There hasn't been a team that won eight in a row in Biggie's play on the road since 1516. Villanova's title team. So that's good on St. John's to get that done. Also in the Big East, I mean, this is a Yikes, man. Georgetown won 8178 at Providence. It was at Providence we know all of these are two teams not going to the tournament, but it's because it's this rivalry. It's because it's cooly. Going back to where he coached, providence was up 21 in the game. 21 and they blew it. The, the Kim English hot seat stuff is going to spike as a result of this. Providence was. Is a hopeful NCAA tournament team heading into the season. As a result of this loss, the Friars are now 9 and 11. Not good. So two notable results there in the, in the Big east there. Cooley probably sleeping just fine tonight even though his team isn't that good. Province had no business blowing the game. Just none whatsoever. They are 3 and 16 in their last 19 Biggies game GP.
- [70:37]
Gary Parrish
Yeah, that's. That's rough, you know, like, yeah, you're. I mean your Providence, you're at home. You are playing your former coach who is on a long losing streak. Like close that out and yeah, that's a rough one. Those are the ones that, that stick to you. Like that's, that's, that's the worst kind of game you can lose when you are in the situation, you know, coaches sometimes find themselves in.
- [71:06]
Matt Norlander
And what's next at UConn?
- [71:08]
Gary Parrish
Oh, that sounds Nova.
- [71:10]
Matt Norlander
At UConn, then. At Nova.
- [71:11]
Gary Parrish
Oh, buddy, you better take. You better take this with you. Or this. You better.
- [71:16]
Sponsor/Ad Voice
You better.
- [71:16]
Gary Parrish
I'll let you pick. I don't want to press. I'll let you pick which one you want to take. But buddy, before you get on that plane, you better grab one of them. Plus the two part book. It's good. It's really good.
- [71:27]
Matt Norlander
I think there's only one more result to get to from this loaded Saturday in college hoops. And it is the game that you were at the game that, that not with intention, in fact with. With great regret that I did not see a second of. Gonzaga wins close. Folks, we're more than an hour in, but it's finally time Paris can talk about a game where he knows what the hell happened and saw it. Gonzaga close against San Francisco now. No gram ek, right? It's disappointed in you by the way. You had that. You had this before anyone. You could have put it out there. You're like, no, I'm good. I don't need to put any news out there. You could have had it first.
- [72:03]
Gary Parrish
I don't know.
- [72:03]
Matt Norlander
But I was like, yeah, I want to see it from the guy once he puts it out there.
- [72:06]
Gary Parrish
Oh, speaking like a man with, with no sideline reporting experience.
- [72:11]
Matt Norlander
That's correct. And Then I texted the great Sid Ed Gonzaga, Barry Bear Anderson. I go with it. He goes, he's too cold. What does that mean? Were you freezing your ass off today?
- [72:26]
Gary Parrish
What happened?
- [72:27]
Matt Norlander
He said, you're too cold. I was like, why didn't GP tweet this? The Grammy K thing? He said, he's too cold. Does that mean like, you're too cool or were you actually, like, cold in the building?
- [72:35]
Gary Parrish
I mean, I was cold. I mean, it's cold. They're no getting around that. People have pointed out in the chat. It's 12 degrees. GP if you really want to go walking around Spokane right now, I might go Ubering around Spokane right now. I might Uber around for a little while. There's just sort of an understanding. Sometimes it's like, seriously, when you're at shoot around, that, that, that if Graham Ek is going to be a game time decision, he needs to be a game time decision. If you want to know the truth. I watched him through the entire shoot around. He was not dressed. He did not do anything. He sat on a stationary bike and walked around a little bit. But then if like, you know, like that came on the pa, he would, you know, he could dance around a little bit so he. I could tell you where his ankle is right now. It is too sore to play match to his foot.
- [73:21]
Matt Norlander
I know that much.
- [73:22]
Gary Parrish
It is too sore to play, but it is not too sore to dance. When like that comes on. That's where. That's where we're at with Graham Ek. All seriousness, I think if. I think this is what I think. If anybody asks you, where'd you hear that? Just say it's what Gary Paris say things. Well, why do you say things? He never really said why he thinks. He just said he thinks it. Here's what I think. I think if they'd have been playing St. Mary's tonight, he could have played.
- [73:52]
Matt Norlander
Yeah.
- [73:52]
Gary Parrish
And he will. He will. Wait now they. They're off. They're off tomorrow. They don't have a midweek game. Next up, St. Mary's Saturday at the kennel. I imagine Graham Ek will be in the starting lineup for that. What's interesting, and we don't need to spend 10 minutes on it because it was, you know, whatever, but they're down two starters, like two all American candidates in Bradenhoff and Grand bk. Like, they're down to all American level guys, both in the front court. Somehow they're better defensively, and it's because they're switching everything. And like I, they. They opened tonight on a 12, 0 run. And it was because San Francisco couldn't get a shot. Like, and it was because they were switching everything and they were just, they're, they're very different. I'm not saying better. Just very different. Without those two guys, they get smaller. Davis Fogel, the freshman. Oh, Buddy, he's gonna be, he's the next one and he's gonna be.
- [74:40]
Matt Norlander
He is considered the next one for sure.
- [74:42]
Gary Parrish
He's the next one and he's going to be the one who tells you about it. Like, he's gonna be the one who, who shoots in your face and then tells you about it and go viral and all that. It's coming because like, like he comes off the bench, played 10 minutes in the season opener. He's just supposed to be a, you know, a rotation piece on this team. Trust me. He thinks he's the best player. Okay.
- [75:02]
Matt Norlander
Already incredible level in the best way. I heard that at players ERA too. And like in, in the most complimentary way, he's just, that's how he's wired.
- [75:10]
Gary Parrish
So he's just wired that way. And, and so, you know, injuries can sometimes be, you know, there's silver linings to them.
- [75:20]
Matt Norlander
Right.
- [75:20]
Gary Parrish
You would rather have Braden Huff and Gram Ek for every game if you could. And Huff's going to be out a little longer.
- [75:25]
Matt Norlander
It.
- [75:25]
Gary Parrish
I know the initial time frame was 4 to 8. This is also just what I think. But it ain't gonna be four.
- [75:31]
Matt Norlander
I, I've, I've, I, I talked about it on hq. I might have done the pot, but yeah, it's, it's not gonna be four. It's not gonna be, it's not gonna be four.
- [75:37]
Gary Parrish
Yeah, yeah. I think it's closer to eight than four, which is not ideal. But one of the good byproducts of this is that it forces Davis Fogel into the, like, buddy, you got to play. He played 32 minutes tonight and he was shot. Creating shot making. I think he finished with 15. He's going to be the next, like, it might be a year away, but like face of the zags All American next season. Yeah, I could see that.
- [76:03]
Matt Norlander
Easy, easy. Before we look ahead.
- [76:07]
Gary Parrish
You know what? That's another story I could tell another time. Let's get. It's another story I can tell another time.
- [76:12]
Matt Norlander
Okay. Keen Walker did not have the most points in the game today. I'm going to shout out Cal Baptist Senior Dominique Daniels Jr. 47 points against Utah Valley. So just a, just a really, really fun Saturday. We see the chat humming. We saw what Josh said there a lot of you are up late. It is. We are approaching 1 Eastern in the morning on the East Coast. We don't do a lot of these Saturday shows because there's usually Sunday games to get to. But when we squeeze them in, we know that our live audience shows up in a big way. We really appreciate you, gp Take back the wheel we got. Let's look ahead to the next few days here because we got some big ones upcoming.
- [76:50]
Gary Parrish
All right, let's look ahead to the next couple of nights, really, I guess, next three nights at this point. But before we get to the games, let's predict the AP poll. What is it gonna look like on Monday? Norlander, you want to take the first shot at it?
- [77:03]
Matt Norlander
I will take the first shot at it here. AP poll refresh on Monday. I'll even give you. I'll give you a top 10 guess here in order. Okay, I will say 1, Arizona, 2, Yukon. Michigan will hold firm at 3. Michigan at the win on Friday. Duke will bump up to four. Nebraska will be five. And Nebraska, when it is ranked fifth on the AP poll on Monday, will set a program record. It's never been as high as 5. Gonzaga will be 6. Iowa State will be 7. Michigan State will be 8. Illinois will be 9. Texas Tech will be 10. Which means, I think that Purdue is that actually. Yeah. Purdue and Houston will fall out of the top 10. That speaks to how deep. Folks, the pool of title contenders is insane. That's incredible. That also means, Paris, that if, if I'm right, that means that BYU, which is 16 2, will not be ranked in the top 10 when it welcomes in Arizona on Monday. If I'm right, if I'm wrong, and it hops in more power to him, I'm just not seeing how it can get ahead of Texas Tech, Illinois, Michigan State, Iowa State, Gonzaga, all this team's won. So I think it's just going to be a loaded top 12.
- [78:22]
Gary Parrish
I don't know about 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, but I think you got 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. Exactly right. Arizona will maintain the number one spot in the AP poll. They will likely be the unanimous number one again. And did you notice this, by the way, for the first time this season, the Wildcats have moved to number one at Kim Pom.
- [78:38]
Matt Norlander
Yep.
- [78:38]
Gary Parrish
Arizona is now number one at Kim Palm, which suggests they would be favored over anybody on a neutral court right now. Yeah, number two is going to be UConn 19 1. Still, the loan loss is when they were down two starters. Michigan is going to be three, they're 18 and one. Now Duke will be up to number four, 18 and one loan loss to Texas Tech, they got a seven game winning streak. And yes, Nebraska at 200 I believe will be fifth in the country. If you're interested in the top 25 and one, I don't know how like number 17 and number 24 and all that stuff's going to shake out yet. I'm going to look at that after either my walk or Uber. But I can tell you the top five in the top 25 and one, it will be number one, Arizona, number two, Nebraska, number three UConn, number four, Duke, and number five Michigan. No change from where it was this morning. Now let's look at the games on Monday. Couple of great ones. Louisville at Duke and then of course the one you're going to be at, Arizona at byd, byu. You got anything more interesting to say about what's happening on Monday night?
- [79:37]
Matt Norlander
I just, I'm so, I'm so geeked and happy to be here for this game. It's rare to have a number one team with at least a 200 record going on the road to playing a top 15 opponent. Like I'm sure we've had it occasionally, but I'd actually love to do a research dive on that. This, this feels like maybe three times in the past 40 years kind of situation. You just don't get this a lot. So very, very excited that the building was really good today, the Marriott center, but on Monday it should be outstanding. Just an incredible showcase for college basketball on that Monday night. And then Louisville, Duke, oh by the way, Michael Brown Jr. Returned today. Louisville, like Duke, got the win at Homer for Wake and then Louisville won against Virginia tech at home, 85.71. Brown came back, which was just great to see. He even had 20 in his first game back back and played relatively well for the most part. So that's also good news. And while the Louisville at Duke game, it doesn't carry the kind of cachet that we expected it to a month ago, it's still a pretty big game. And with Brown in the lineup, like Louisville is a top 10, 15 level team. And now we see if they can really threaten and give Duke a game on Monday. So that is, that is an excellent. You know what it actually invokes to me, it's like even though the conferences were different to a certain extent, that's like a legitimate old school, Big Monday kind of night. Like Louisville at Duke at seven. And then I'm guessing that the tip here In Provo east coast time. I bet you that game doesn't tip till 9:12, 9:15. They're going to try and hold that if the first one goes long, but that's, that's an excellent one. And then. So folks know we're going to go into the Tuesday stuff here. I'm gonna, I have a column to write and then I gotta fly on Tuesday. If that, if Arizona, BYU is like, good, good, good, I may just hop on and give you like 1012 minute monologue to, to carry over because I'm gonna have some travel stuff that's gonna keep me off the next show. So if there's enough to give you just a quick burst from me late on Monday off Arizona, byu, I'll, I'll have something pop into your feet on Tuesday.
- [81:37]
Gary Parrish
In theory, I'll be in studio. CBS Sports Network provided. I mean, we'll see, we'll see about that. We're gonna have to see about that. But if I am in studio, the games I will be popping in halftime on 7 o' clock Eastern. Richmond VCU, 9 o' clock Eastern, St. Joe's at Loyola Chicago, 11pm Eastern, New Mexico at UNLV. And then at 1pm Eastern we will have a 30 minute edition of Inside College Basketball. Elsewhere in the sport on Tuesday, Tennessee at Georgia, Purdue at Indiana, Kentucky at Vanderbilt, Missouri at Alabama, undefeated. Nebraska at Michigan, undefeated. Miami Ohio is hosting UMass. Are the Cornhuskers and Redhawks still undefeated? When I'm doing a podcast on Wednesday morning.
- [82:21]
Matt Norlander
How about this Wednesday morning podcast? How many undefeated teams are left?
- [82:27]
Gary Parrish
Probably one, right?
- [82:28]
Matt Norlander
I think one. Now, it's totally conceivable that Arizona comes into this building in this town on Monday and gets the win. That, that is very on the table. Nebraska, Michigan. I was talking with Hoiberg earlier today. This might just be, it could be true. But also it's just, you know, you're getting ready for this. His opponent just. Hoiberg thinks that Michigan has, you know, the most loaded best team in the country. And so he's, he's, he's loading up for that. That's a big ass for the Corn Huskers. You've gotten to this point, like, if you take the loss, no one's going to fault you for it whatsoever.
- [82:57]
Gary Parrish
I am. I'm gonna fault them.
- [82:59]
Matt Norlander
Okay, well, there you go. There you have it, Nebraska fans. Look how quickly he turns on you. Look at that. You don't just walk in the Pinnacle bank. Look what this man is doing. You see this?
- [83:09]
Gary Parrish
You, you, you will look at me. Look at me. You will be at fault. You will be at fault. If you want to prove you're legitimate, you must go to the Chrysler center and beat the team that has been beating everybody by 50 or else it's.
- [83:27]
Matt Norlander
Been a little bit shaky as of late. What an awesome Monday and also Tuesday.
- [83:31]
Gary Parrish
To just circle back to your question, how many undefeateds on Wednesday morning? I said, I said one probably. If you literally just go by nothing other than the current projections at Ken Palm. Yeah, you should have, you should be left with one because Arizona is expected to be an underdog on Monday night and then undefeated Nebraska is expected to be and it will be an underdog on Tuesday night.
- [83:55]
Matt Norlander
Yeah. And then just you mentioned Purdue at Indiana, how they respond. You know, Indiana, not a good team this year relative to the rest of the Big Ten or the top half of it. But that, that's a, that's a big game. Missouri, Alabama, who the hell knows? That is the most unpredictable game of them all. Either team could win by 30 or lose at the buzzer. So that's high entertainment. That nine eastern window is Purdue, Indiana, Missouri, Alabama, Kentucky, Vandy on Tuesday. I'll be in the house for Kentucky at Vandy on Tuesday night. I've never been to Memorial Gym. Super stoked and excited to get there. So we got plenty of good stuff over the next couple of nights in college hoops to anyone that stayed up with us, we appreciate that so, so much. And for. If you're waking up on a Sunday, if you're snowed in, I know the weather has been just wreaking havoc across the country here Saturday into Sunday and even into Monday there. I hope we could give you a little bit something extra to enjoy the Sunday and ahead of our normal pace there. So appreciate you guys so much. It was a late night one, but it was worth a gp. I'm, I'm just bummed that you didn't get to see and I understand why, like when you decideline kick, there's a lot that goes into that. You got the shoot around. So it's a long, it's a long day of legitimate work and it can take you away from it. I'm just bummed that you didn't get to and take a lot of what happened today because this was on the short list three or four most enjoyable regular season Saturdays of the past four or five years. It was, it was good, good stuff and I'm eager to see if it can possibly be topped at some point in the next six weeks.
- [85:19]
Gary Parrish
I need to correct myself. I want to hold myself accountable. For a second while I was trying to hold Nebraska accountable, I was out there thinking I'm on the I was out there thinking I'm on the Arizona page at Ken Palm, but I'm actually on the BYU page at Ken Palm. So when I told you Arizona would be a two point underdog at byu, it's actually the other way around. Arizona is a two point favorite at byu. My apologies, Tommy Lloyd. Have you ever heard about that White Stripes concert? I'm going to Wichita. Probably shouldn't yell in the hotel this late at night, but whatever. Shouts to Devin Downey, shouts to Chester, S.C. shouts to Terry Teagle. He's a legend. Huck Larnell. Thank you guys once again for watching and listening to the Ion college basketball podcast. If you're not subscribed, please go subscribe anywhere you subscribe to podcast including Apple and Spotify. There's more of us than there are of them. Oh, there's more.
- [86:17]
Matt Norlander
Well, I can't say the same right now.
- [86:22]
Gary Parrish
You are, I'm in Spokane.
- [86:25]
Matt Norlander
I am outlined and outnumbers.
- [86:28]
Gary Parrish
I, I'm in Spokane. I know what goes on in Spokane.
- [86:33]
Matt Norlander
We are in very different towns right.
- [86:35]
Gary Parrish
Now, that is for sure. These bars are filled with us, is just out there trying to us all night. They. These bars are filled with us, is trying to us all night and you're surrounded by a bunch of them. That's a wild deal. Who's gonna have more fun tonight? I'm just going to bed.
- [86:53]
Matt Norlander
I'm going to bed and I'm going to ski. I'm going skiing in the morning.
- [86:58]
Gary Parrish
I don't know where, I don't know where I'll be next time you talk to me. I could still be sitting right here. Could just still be.
- [87:07]
Matt Norlander
I hope not because the next time we're scheduled to talk is Friday. You better not still be there.
- [87:15]
Gary Parrish
I don't know when I'm, I don't, I don't even. I feel like a man without a home right now. I, I can't go home. I can't go back to New York. They won't let me go anywhere I want to go.
- [87:24]
Matt Norlander
I have two, I have two hotel rooms right now. That's a story for another time. We can end the show, but yeah, I'm in one of two. I have two hotel rooms on this floor. Yeah, that was, that was.
- [87:34]
Gary Parrish
I only got one, but I can.
- [87:36]
Matt Norlander
I can go get two more. I can go get two more of.
- [87:38]
Gary Parrish
These bad boys and bring them in.
- [87:39]
Matt Norlander
Before we get out of here. I will have never been in more.
- [87:42]
Gary Parrish
Of my scripture than this show. The only books I got with me I got the Holy Bible, the Book of Mormon and Jeff Pearlman's two part book. That's all I got. That's all I need. That's all I need.
- [87:54]
Matt Norlander
Everyone stay safe, stay warm, travel all that. We'll talk to you soon.
- [87:58]
Gary Parrish
Yeah, we're gonna talk to you soon. Till then, take care.
- [88:13]
Sponsor/Ad Voice
Paramount Podcasts hello.
- [88:17]
Matt Norlander
Are you looking for occasionally insightful but always thrillingly entertaining analysis from the world's leading soccer brackets? Football podcast?
- [88:23]
Gary Parrish
Well, look no further.
- [88:24]
Matt Norlander
I'm Max Rushton, the host of the Guardian Football Weekly podcast. Join me every week as we pick over the latest action and news from the beautiful game, from the big wins to the crises at Manchester United, Spurs.
- [88:35]
Gary Parrish
Chelsea, West Ham manager meltdowns to minor mishaps.
- [88:38]
Matt Norlander
And with a guaranteed agenda against your club. If it happens in soccer, we've got it covered. Listen on Spotify now and watch the full episodes over on YouTube.