← Eye On College Basketball
Eye On College Basketball
Jeremy Fears Jr. enters the danger zone; Portland’s historic upset of Gonzaga; HUGE Fri/Sat on tap led by UConn-SJU; Duke-UNC; Illinois-Sparty; Florida-A&M
01:12:20
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- [00:00]
Commercial Narrator
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- [01:12]
Gary Parrish
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. Let's get into it. I want to start in the Big Ten where Michigan State is taking a two game losing streak into this weekend's top ten showdown with Illinois, while Jeremy Fears has developed into the biggest villain in the sport. Ten years after Grayson Allen got super weird and started doing all sorts of crazy stuff with his legs. Now Jeremy Fears is doing the same thing. He's tripping folks, kicking folks. According to Tom Izzo, he might not start the next game because he needs to grow up. Norlander, I think you'd agree. Jeremy Fears is having a season worthy of all America honors, but is also damaging his reputation dramatically. What is going on with this young man?
- [02:03]
Matt Norlander
Few things. Good morning. Has it really been 10 years since Grayson Allen? I went and checked. It has not been 10 years since he left. Thank God. But it was 10 years in 2018.
- [02:14]
Gary Parrish
But it was 10 years since he started tripping people. I believe that's correct.
- [02:18]
Matt Norlander
You I think you are correct about it since since the saga began. And to Fears his defense, although there's not a lot of room to defend him, he has not remotely approached Grayson Allen's level. Just hasn't like Grayson Allen had multiple blatant obvious year over year Instances. That's not what we have here. What we have here is quite a development over the past few days. Started with last week's, a week ago, the game that Michigan State lost and hosted against its rival Michigan last Friday night where Fears was pretty blatantly seen sticking his foot out and potentially injuring the Axel Lindenborg in the process. I did not do it. But then that kind of caught some traction over the weekend. And then on Monday Dusty May had a press conference and, and essentially called out Fears and Michigan State and said you could see it all over 40 minutes worth of, worth of the tape there. And then Izzo had a little bit of response and, and then you got the Minnesota loss on, on Wednesday night. Congrats to Nico Medved ending the losing streak. Good to see that for him. But you know Minnesota is not threatening to make the NCAA tournament. Michigan State is trying to buy to get a one or a two seed here. Fears has been top three, top five point guard in the country this season and he had two instances in this game where he, he presented unnatural movements. How about that one was the, the mule kick. And then there was another one where he was on the floor and his, you know, his foot and his leg kind of jolted out a little bit there. And I'm not, I'm not calling this a thing with a capital T yet. He just can't have it happen again. Not this weekend, not in three games from now, not in the Big Ten tournament. Because now there, now there is a general awareness of this. And for anyone that doesn't like Michigan State that's looking for reasons to go after them now Fears has given you all the ammo that you could possibly need. So we wait and see. They, they just so happen to have a massive game on Saturday which of course is going to be part of our Final Four. And one, I'm not going so far as to call Jeremy Fears Jr. The villain of college basketball this season. I don't think he has reached that stage. But if he has one more of these, then yes, I think we will have a, an out and out problem on our hands, but we'll see. And to your question, I do think that he is going to start. I mean their backup point guard is also is also injured. Injured his left foot in the game against Minnesota. Never say never. And I appreciate Thomas at least putting it out there and, and taking some immediate accountability in the game afterwards. GP But Jeremy Fears is going to start for Michigan State against Illinois on Saturday. I would be shocked if that wasn't.
- [04:57]
Gary Parrish
The Case I'd like to have this clipped and sent to all takes exposed just in case.
- [05:02]
Matt Norlander
And if it's not. And if it's not and I'm right, then what happens?
- [05:06]
Gary Parrish
I don't know. I never considered that.
- [05:08]
Matt Norlander
Exactly. All takes exposed has been a scourge on the Internet for too long.
- [05:12]
Gary Parrish
Oh, wow. Oh, clip that. It's in.
- [05:15]
Matt Norlander
That's worse than the snitch tag losers that tag all takes exposed.
- [05:21]
Gary Parrish
I do agree with that. Like, you're a real loser if you tag people in that skill.
- [05:27]
Matt Norlander
I don't care. You can tag, but you're a loser if you do it.
- [05:29]
Gary Parrish
I mean, you're a loser. Can we just keep going on a list of things that likely mean you're a loser? Like, if you sit around all day tweeting at sports writers, you don't know, you're probably a loser. All right. Anyway, the Twitter is calling. Jeremy Fears the villain of college basketball. That is what Twitter is calling him.
- [05:48]
Matt Norlander
Twitter's doing a lot of things these days. I wouldn't take too much stocking with.
- [05:51]
Gary Parrish
Well, I was going to point that out. You should see what they call me. You should see what they call me. So you take it for what exactly? Take it for. For what it's worth, I'm not ready to call it a thing with a capital T yet either. But one more incident, and it will. It goes to, like, a block sports center stuff because it is already a thing, in part because Dusty brought it up Monday, then because it happened again. So clearly Nico, if you saw his post game, took the high road, like, really complimented Jeremy and the family, but said, yeah, you can't do that. And I think everybody agrees, like, you can't do that. The mule kick, as you described it, like, that's outrageous. And I saw some people in some places being like, well, you know, his pivot foot was this. And he was trying to kid it. No, he just kicked him. He kicked him in the nuts. You can't do that. That's wrong. That's the type of shit Draymond Green does. And then goes like, hey, I don't know what happened.
- [06:48]
Matt Norlander
Profanity. Less than 10 minutes in on a Friday. Here we go. Hello.
- [06:51]
Gary Parrish
You can't do that. All right. You can't do that. And so I did appreciate Tom at least acknowledging. Hey, I. Maybe I didn't see it as clear as you guys have seen it in slow motion since it happened, but, like, you know, I. He's got to grow up. And he at least presented the possibility that he Might start the next game on the bench and, you know, made it clear like, I'm not coaching this and I'm not condoning this and we have to fix it and we will, so we'll see. But it is now a thing people are watching for and looking for. And it's a little bit like, think of this over the past week. I guarantee you Jeremy Fears isn't the only basketball player who's cheap shot at other basketball players. Just like Dan Hurley is not the only coach on a sideline who sometimes, you know, does what he does. But once you develop a reputation for that, then people are looking for it and they're hyper focused on it and there's a camera on you at all times and there's somebody out there, you know, watching every little moment to find any little thing that happens and then it will get blown up. So if Jeremy Fears isn't aware of that, he needs to be made aware of that. That fairly or unfairly, you can't get away with anything anymore without it becoming a bigger deal than it probably is. So be careful and don't further damage your reputation, because I really do think this is a thing in basketball. Like, I. Grayson Allen has developed into a completely competent rotation player in the NBA. Like he's having a nice career, but he is mostly known as a tripper. Like, that's just the truth.
- [08:39]
Matt Norlander
There's even been a few times in the NBA where something's come up and immediately it goes right back to what he did in college.
- [08:45]
Gary Parrish
That's right. And when somebody trips somebody in a basketball game, somebody immediately goes, I'm doing a Grayson Allen. Like that's a thing now. That's something people say. And if you're not careful, you'll become that thing. You'll be the next thing people reference when basketball players trip people. You don't want that. This young man has had an incredible college career, by all accounts, is an impressive student athlete. I don't know exactly how we got to this point, but. But I hope he pulls out of it because it's a weird thing that. That overshadows all of the other good stuff that he's done throughout his college career.
- [09:17]
Matt Norlander
Yeah, I mean, in particular, you know, it's been a few years now, and I almost feel like some of this hasn't been, you know, hasn't been in back of mind for the Michigan State fans that they watch on a. On a. On a game by game basis. But, you know, he got shot in the leg. Like I remember when that story emerged out of nowhere, Fears like went back home. Chicago fortunately wasn't. It wasn't that bad of an injury. He's. He's been able to return and have a really strong, awesome career. I mean, right now he's at 31 minutes a game, 14.7 points, 8.9 assists. Only second to Braden Smith, in fact. Is he ahead? Sorry, gp, I want to check this in real time. Is, is Fears ahead of Smith right now in, in assists per game? I'm checking right now because they were, they were neck and neck with this this season. They're both at 8.9, so they're both tied going into the weekend. He shoots almost 90 from the foul line. Does Fears really, really good player. And yeah, hopefully, hopefully this is the last time we ever have to talk about on the podcast. But, you know, nothing happened on Thursday. I noticed GP couldn't help but push off the Gonzaga loss until B block after going to see his boy Mark Few give him a little solid. They're not leading with Portland beating in Zaga. Don't worry, we're getting there. We'll get there with Fears doing what he did. Like it's, it's still in the consciousness. And of course they've got a huge game awaiting on Saturday. We'll pick that one in the Final Four and one.
- [10:34]
Gary Parrish
You know, my initial question to you was, what's going on with this young man? And I don't know that there's a clear answer to that. I remember having these conversations when Grayson Allen was dealing with whatever he was dealing with, and I don't know that anybody ever pinpointed it. But the theory I heard from like, people who understand this type of stuff better than you and I might was there's an instinct that can kick in sometimes. Like somebody told me if you go and watch the Grayson Allen incidents, there's a pattern where he's, he's either getting beat off the dribble consistently or he's struggling in some way. And it's like, I need this to stop. How can I stop this? That's a way to get it to stop. And sometimes you react in these unusual ways out of frustration slash desperation. It's a, it's a mental thing more than anything else. And so I'll let other people try to diagnose it with Jeremy Fears. Hopefully they get it figured out. But it has become, you know, it's the type of thing people are talking about throughout the sport. And it's, there are people who didn't even know Jeremy Fears. His name two weeks ago who now know there's a player at Michigan State who's, you know, being called the villain of college basketball in some circle. So this is where we are. We'll pick the game in the final four. And one few interesting results developments from the past couple of days. We're going to bounce through them next. But first let's get our first word from our partners.
- [12:05]
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- [12:35]
Gary Parrish
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- [13:35]
Gary Parrish
All right, we touched on Michigan State, Minnesota. Let's do another upset. Final score, Portland 87, number six, Gonzaga 80. Shantae Leggins coach the the Pies with the they were 22 and a half point underdogs. Yep, he coaches them to an upset of the zags with the ruptured Achilles. Our pal Brenner Green had the story. Apparently Portland's team was so sick recently that they had to, you know, they didn't have enough bodies to practice any sort of meaningful way. So you know, Shantay's like, I'll step in, I'll get out there. Ruptured Achilles. Because when you're in your 40s and you're trying to do something athletic that you. You haven't done regularly. It's pretty easy for your body to fail you. I've learned this in multiple ways over the past couple of years and now Shantae Leggins is the latest. But what a win. What a moment. What a story. Congrats to them.
- [14:26]
Matt Norlander
Yeah, no, good, good stuff. Shantae with the cast on the sideline. That was, that was, it was a cool visual. Obviously faint images of Ron Hunter on the scooter back when Georgia State beat Baylor as a 14 in the tournament. That's been more than a decade. Wow. Okay, a few things here. WCC finds they win the game. I want to get to a couple of that Portland we court storm weak. I mean it was a trickling and then the WCC on Thursday comes out with an announcement that it's a $5,000 fine. I'm offended by this because it wasn't a court storm. It was a sauntering by about 80 people. This is not worthy of a fine. Do better wcc. Okay. And also Gonzaga's leaving your league like you should. You should be paying Portland more money. It just. It's sending Gonzaga out of the pack 12. This is the first time Gonzaga had dropped to Portland in 12 years. 20 games. And, and, and good on them because it got a little close near the end. Portland led from almost the entire game. Yeah, the five thousand dollar fine, that's also the lowest fine I can possibly imagine ever for any kind. Like I think in the SEC if you storm the field it's like up to 250,0005k.
- [15:48]
Gary Parrish
JT Topic could pay this out of his pocket.
- [15:51]
Matt Norlander
Correct? Correct.
- [15:53]
Gary Parrish
That's the part that's funny to me. Is 5000jt topic to cover this.
- [15:59]
Matt Norlander
Now that you say that Parish, it's funny that the WCC find one of its member institutions for like 73 people walking onto the floor. Not even immediately by the way. And that amount of money wouldn't register among the 500 largest nil deals in this. Just what are we doing?
- [16:21]
Gary Parrish
It's an illustration of the difference between the haves and the the have nots. Hey, I don't want to steal your thunder, but let me ask you this question.
- [16:28]
Matt Norlander
Yes. Throw it at me.
- [16:30]
Gary Parrish
Was that a seedline bump?
- [16:32]
Matt Norlander
That's a no. Okay. Sea line knock. That's a season bump is a positive result. The seed line knock is the negative. That is. I want to touch on a few things here with this game. Yes. Gonzaga's chances at a one seed are almost zero. The only conceivable way now that's a quad three loss. The only conceivable way that I could see Gonzaga playing its way to a one seed is it winning out. It beating. It's got to play Santa Clara on the road. That'll be a quad one game. It's got to play St. Mary's on the road. That'd be a quad one game. It's Got to play both of those teams again in the, in the semis and the finals of the WCC tournament if it wins out and then it gets help with all of these other teams that are on the one line in the two line like taking on an inordinate amount of losses versus what's projected. That's the only way Kanzak's not going to be one seed. It will fight for a two. It could conceivably be a two if it doesn't lose again and it does what I just told you that that's actually, that will be on the table if we can do that. But that's, that's a damaging loss. It was the first sub 150 Ken Palm loss for Gonzaga in six teen years. The stature of the upset in general was the biggest of the season. Portland was a 22 and a half point dog. That was the biggest spread by any team that won going into a game this entire season. Gonzaga had not. I had a couple of goodies here. Gonzaga had not lost to, to a team like Portland in general that low in the rankings. I said that since, since 2010. What else we got for you here? Portland had never beat a team ranked that high. Number six in the country. Gonzag is right now. It will obviously it will drop there. I just. It's cool to see man like Gonzaga it has dominated that league. It means so much to the WCC. It's going to the PAC 12. Understandably. So it has ruled over that. And and for Portland to do this under those conditions was really really cool. And then here's what's the other one that I want to share with you. Opta Stats had an awesome note by virtue of Portland winning on the road or excuse me, Portland winning at home over Gonzaga and Minnesota winning at home over Michigan State. On Wednesday you had two teams under.500 that beat top 10 opponents on the same day. That had not happened since 2-22-1992. 9 and 15 NC State beat 4th ranked Carolina and 10 and 11 Notre Dame beat 2nd ranked UCLA back in 92. So we had two notable upsets in the same day, which was, which was pretty damn cool. And as I mentioned on Twitter, it was the first time since 2014 and only the second time in at least 20 years where follow me here. A team that was under 500 defeated a top 10 team that was, that had won at least 15 games in a row. Boston College did this to syracuse back in 1314 in an overtime game. I was, I remember that game specifically because it was when Syracuse wore the blue shorts and the orange tops that had the whole mismatch deal. That Syracuse team got off to a hot start. Didn't even make the Sweet 16 that year. So a lot of rare stuff that went down good on Portland that Gonzaga will probably, I guess never say never perish in our lifetimes. Gonzaga is never playing in that building again. That's the child. Portland's home venue. They're not gonna willingly schedule a home and home with the Pilots. So very cool for Portland. You can have take every single thing you have from that game, put it up in your athletic facility. Because the most recent game in perpetuity that you have played against Gonzaga at your home building. You got the dub. Congrats to the Pilots.
- [20:11]
Gary Parrish
There's a lot of different ways to show just how wild of a result this is. It's a, It's a quadrant three loss to a team that was ranked 231st in the net and on a three game losing streak. And oh and nine in the first two quadrants at the time of tip off. How about this one? Portland lost to Pepperdine last month. Gonzaga has beaten Pepperdine 51 straight times.
- [20:37]
Matt Norlander
Which I believe is the second longest school streak against another in the history of the sport.
- [20:41]
Gary Parrish
Yeah, but Gonzaga just lost to Portland. There's no way to make sense of it other than they were shorthanded.
- [20:47]
Matt Norlander
Yep. No. Braden Huff still.
- [20:49]
Gary Parrish
Yeah, but like that doesn't even make sense of it.
- [20:51]
Matt Norlander
I agree. I'm just a reminder to everyone that Gonzaga still doesn't have a second second best player and it won't for a few more weeks still.
- [20:57]
Gary Parrish
That's correct. Like, but like that needs to be noted. But you're still 22 and a half point favorite without Bradenhoff expected to play. So it's just a lack of focus thing which can happen incredibly. It doesn't happen to them very often. That's really a testament to the consistency of that program that this doesn't happen to them. They have to play a lot of games like this and this doesn't happen to them very often. Which is among the reasons it was. It was so notable. But I'm. I am. I am appreciative of you acknowledging it is a seedline knock because we're on, you know, in. In CBS Sports Network the other night, and this game goes final, and I get asked about it, it gets clipped, and I'm like, yeah, this is devastating if the goal is to be a one seed. And you know, that quadrant three loss, like, you play in a league where you don't have eight quadrant one opportunities in front of you, so it's hard to offset this. And that thing's gonna, you know, it could be the type of thing that at the end of the day, it's just hard to overcome if you're. If you're in pursuit of a one seed.
- [22:04]
Matt Norlander
Yeah.
- [22:04]
Gary Parrish
And, yeah, I thought it made. I said it cleaner than the way I just said it right then. And so then it was on the Internet and I was. And then people are like, what are you talking about? Gonzaga is awesome. They lose one game and you say they suck. And I'm like, I didn't say they suck. I didn't say any of the stuff you think I said. I. I said, this is a Quadra 3 loss. That's going to be hard to overcome if you're trying to be a 1C. I don't know what else to do. I don't. I don't know what else to say.
- [22:31]
Matt Norlander
But it's. It's a. It's a resume knock there. There is unlikely to be a team that is in the conversation to be a one seed and potentially. Potentially, we'll see. There's plenty of season to goes here, so there's going to be another upset or two, but potentially a team that's fine to get a two seat that doesn't have a Q3 result on his resume, that's in the negative. So we'll see that with. With Gonzaga. Ultimately, if you're good enough to make the Final Four, you gotta earn it. Whether you're on the one line, the two line, the three line, whatever. Very fun result. And. And my biggest, like, my big takeaway was, you know, really on any random given night, like, you can just get something like this. The game was on ESPN Plus. I didn't even dial in until I noticed around 15 minutes ago in the second half against Aga was down sizably. I checked the score bug. I was like, okay, it's time to just see if they. See if Portland can hold on and they can do this. And they did. It adds to the fun of the sport. I I remember when Portland did this last time because it was a fairly big deal. That wasn't really that Gonzaga team that lost 12 years ago was not as good as this Gonzaga team. So good on the Pilots getting it done. That was the most notable result from Wednesday night. We talked about the mish the Michigan State loss against Minnesota. That was also notable I would say after that Bama A M. But we'll get to that in the in the final four and one what else to you from Wednesday you want to dive into here?
- [23:47]
Gary Parrish
Let's get into one other notable upset final score Oklahoma State 99 number 16 BYU 92 unfortunate chance notwithstanding, fun night at historic Gallagher IBA AJ debons he got 36 points. He was terrific. But BYU lost is now one in four in their past five with Houston on tap. This thing's going the wrong direction.
- [24:12]
Matt Norlander
It is a couple things from this game. Well BYU just hasn't proven that it can beat a really really good team yet. It's got another great opportunity this weekend. It hosts Houston. Got the game in Provo. Major opportunity. Houston is a monster to play though so we'll see if they can get it done. It would it could really use a win of that kind of caliber there. I'm not surprised Oklahoma State won the game. It showed up well. It actually responded well after BYU made a good push, took the lead and then you know Anthony Roy had himself a night previously at Green Bay one of the best, you know just general bucket getters in the Sport. He had 30 in this game wasn't the high score. His team got the dub. I guarantee if you told debonso you're not going to score but you'll win the game he would take that. But they didn't win the game Oklahoma State 1 and in the process got to 16 6. It's got a hell of a game this weekend. It has to play at Arizona undefeated obviously. So that's going to probably be too tall of a task but by nature of getting the win Oklahoma State, you know it's in the general at large conversation as we drift you know into more realistic bubble talk a week or two from now. There was also Kevin Young had a had a comment post game where he obviously condoned and completely understandably so what he heard to be f the Mormons chance he said on on two different occasions there has been there has since been dispute that the students were actually saying refs a Mormon as in one of the officials was actually a Mormon. I haven't I haven't looked into whether that. I haven't looked into that. Obviously you watch the show, you listen to the show. GP is instituted, one of the. The go to slogans. But that is all in good fun and entirely different. And we do not condone whatever was being said by the Oklahoma State student section. You just don't need to do it. Like, you just don't need to do it. BYU's basketball team, I believe its volleyball team was on the. On the wrong end of this at some point in recent years. No doubt the football team just don't need to do it. Folks like you can be very creative in many different ways. And, and as Kevin Young pointed out, right, wrong or otherwise, there's only like four guys on the team who are Mormon anyway. That's not, that's not how they build their rosters in 2026. They do have some four or five guys who do practice in the LDS Church. But, but I didn't want to get through this game without at least mentioning what Young pointed out. And, and if you watch all of. He talks about it for maybe 70 seconds, his points are sound fair, Entirely reasonable. Hopefully we don't see that again.
- [26:40]
Gary Parrish
Yeah. I mean, student sections on one hand have been student sections forever.
- [26:43]
Matt Norlander
Right?
- [26:44]
Gary Parrish
Bad chance have been bad chance for a long time. On the other hand, I do think it's worth acknowledging we are living in a time where all, or at least most social norms have been thrown out of the window. And people say and do and post things about other people all the time that are. That you couldn't even imagine, you know, in different times. And so perhaps this is another byproduct of that on some level we're living in a place where people are very comfortable crossing lines and congrats to Oklahoma State. No, that's not a reflection of their entire campus or community. But yeah, that shouldn't happen. And, and hopefully they understand that now. Yeah. Final score. Number eight. Houston 79, UCF 55. Just when, just when, just when the night start feeling good about themselves. They had to go lose to kelvin Sampson by three touchdowns and a field goal. Cougars are 20 and two now and broke. And broke. According to Kelvin. You see his quote I did.
- [27:55]
Matt Norlander
He said we're, we're poor. Listen, I'm not saying Houston spent the most. It's not top five, not top 10, maybe not top 15 in NL roster. You can't, you can't be leading the Cougars and have one of the very best programs in the country. You just, you just got some Some money for playing in players era. He, and to be fair, he was, he wasn't saying their nil roster was poor. He was saying the athletic department, which frankly is, it speaks to the reality of college athletics. We don't need to veer too far into this, but I actually had a conversation in the past like week and a half with someone who essentially is in charge of a lot of this kind of stuff. He's like, college athletics is amazing, man. It, the economics of it. Don't. We don't run our lives, our bank accounts, our personal finances, the way that things happen in college. Broke and stumble into another 50, 100, 150 million in debt. It doesn't matter. So I think Kelvin's talking more about that. You can have an nil roster that's paying out 10, $11 million in men's basketball, but your university's athletic department is operating in the red. I think that's more of what he was getting to. But people are going to see the headline and they're going to run with it regardless. That's just going to be how it is.
- [28:57]
Gary Parrish
I don't mean this about Kelvin specifically because I think Kelvin was making the point that you believe he was making. But broadly speaking, I do think people need to recognize like just self awareness. Again, not Kelvin, just broadly speaking. I understand the economics of college athletics right now are outrageous, but like I didn't hear people yelling about it too much until the players got cut in a little bit. You know, a lot of salaries on college campuses, a lot of the W2s people have been getting for a long time have been outrageous.
- [29:31]
Matt Norlander
All right.
- [29:31]
Gary Parrish
And out of whack with any. You don't need that many people in your athletic department. You don't need that many associate ads.
- [29:37]
Matt Norlander
Yes.
- [29:38]
Gary Parrish
And everybody was comfortable, but now the players are getting cut in and now it's like, can you believe how we're spending money? So like just. I'm not saying you're, I'm not saying you're wrong. I'm just saying you should be aware of how it plays. It doesn't play as well as you think.
- [29:51]
Matt Norlander
Yeah, agreed. What else?
- [29:53]
Gary Parrish
From Wednesday, Utah State 86, New Mexico 66. I mean you go to the pit one by 20, you've done something. Utah State 19 and three, four game winning streaks, two way tie atop the Mount West Conference standings. Now Utah State San Diego State both 10 and 2. New Mexico 9 and 3, Grand Canyon 8 and 3 with an Amari Bailey visit on tap. Let's go.
- [30:16]
Matt Norlander
I know, I know. I'm all right. Let's go. How about let's not, let's not go home Ari Bailey. Let's not. But yes, it was reported by numerous outlets on Thursday, Mari Bailey has an official visit set up for Grand Canyon. We'll see. And as we speak here like later today the Charles Bediaco case is going to get heard. Presumably we're going to have a ruling here before we it's going to happen after the pod. We'll talk about it on on our next show. But the of the Bailey stuff actually is connected to the Betty Ako stuff and we'll see what happens there. We you know we can't really go too deep into it because we just don't know what what the result's going to be. I feel like he's going to get cleared and going to play for Alabama for the rest of the season and then we take that from there as just the general principles of eligibility in general are just frittering away. Specifically on the Mountain west here. This is the last season of the league as we know it. CBS Sports Network obviously and CBS Sports are your go to spot for the Mountain west and I really hope we get an amazing race down the next month here. GP you mentioned it before but Utah State and SDSU tied atop the league at 10 and 2. New Mexico Man it would have been good for the Mountain west of New Mexico had been able to pull that out. That would have been a beneficial result to help this league's chances at three bids overall. Could still get there but a little bit of a missed opportunity there. Grand Canyon's done well for itself and Nevada's and Boise State are still good enough to beat those teams on a given night. Utah State is 193 the second best mid major in the country to St. Louis at this point. Jared Calhoun is going to be a hot commodity again on the coaching carousel. They're looking good. Utah State's got Wyoming on the road this weekend but it is a it's a team that's capable of making the second weekend. Absolutely. That was a nice win for the Aggies on on Wednesday. On Wednesday night the only other one GP before we do the Final Four and one from Wednesday that that I think was was notable. That's not Bama A M again we'll talk about that in the final four and one Clemson won at Stanford and Clemson is now 19 and four nine and one in the ACC. There's obviously a very high profile ACC game this weekend but Clemson's doing the the west coast swing. Brad Brownell's doing a really nice job. I don't know if they'll get out of that 2. 0. They got to play Cal. That's going to be a tough one. Cal's actually playing to get itself really into conversation as well. So just keep an eye on the Tigers. That was another one. I couldn't help but notice there were some other ones I just didn't register. Kentucky didn't have an issue with Oklahoma. This is when you should be happy, when you're a Kentucky fan. Like, you win. You're supposed to win. You win easy to an inferior team and then move on to the next game. So there were some other stuff Wednesday, but nothing else that really registered other than Bama winning over a. M. All right.
- [32:48]
Gary Parrish
Are we ready for the final four and one.
- [32:50]
Matt Norlander
I'm ready.
- [32:51]
Gary Parrish
Hey, let's take a break. Then let's come back and then let's hear. Josh, I want you to get into my ear and tell me how good I am at picking these games. We'll do that right now.
- [33:00]
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- [33:30]
Gary Parrish
Time for the final four and one where we pick five of the weekend's top games guaranteed to go 5 and 0. This is the way you get rich in America.
- [33:39]
Matt Norlander
It's not.
- [33:41]
Gary Parrish
Josh, update me on my record how good I am at this. Tell. Tell the folks how good I am at this. I. I mean, I. I suppose you're still better at this than Norlander is. That's really all I'm trying to aspire to be.
- [33:53]
Matt Norlander
Really.
- [33:53]
Gary Parrish
That's a little bit like saying that the. The Mavericks telling the Jazz that they have a better record than them. It's like, yeah, it's not the most impressive thing of all time.
- [34:03]
Matt Norlander
Very sensitive subject with Paris right now.
- [34:06]
Gary Parrish
Yeah, we share that. Y' all have no idea the movie.
- [34:11]
Matt Norlander
I think Josh does. I think Josh is. Is also a Grizz fan.
- [34:15]
Gary Parrish
You don't know the. The mood in this building.
- [34:18]
Matt Norlander
You couldn't get anyone to take John Moran. Is that. Do I have that? I'm not really following a ton of trade deadline stuff, but the presumption was he was going to be gone. And he's still. He's still hanging around, huh?
- [34:25]
Gary Parrish
According to Brian Winh. Let's just trust an NBA insider, all right?
- [34:29]
Matt Norlander
Wonderful job.
- [34:31]
Gary Parrish
The best. According to Brian Windhorst, the Grizzlies wanted to move on from John Morant, but nobody would take him unless the Grizzlies would attach assets to it. In other words, it's not just that he has no trade value. According to Brian Windhorst, John Moran, at the age of 26 has negative trade value. So we still. So we both still work here, at least for now.
- [34:58]
Matt Norlander
Yeah.
- [34:58]
Gary Parrish
Okay.
- [34:59]
Matt Norlander
There we go. By the way, for those listening, Parrish is literally at FedEx forum right now. He's in the building.
- [35:05]
Gary Parrish
This is my place. This is where I work sometimes.
- [35:08]
Matt Norlander
Yeah, there you go. All right. What's game one?
- [35:13]
Gary Parrish
Game one.
- [35:15]
Matt Norlander
I already know it is. I'm just trying to set you up there.
- [35:18]
Gary Parrish
Okay. Friday. Oh, It's a good one. 8pm Eastern. Number three, Yukon at number 22, St. John's inside. R.J. lewis Garden. We gotta. We gotta reach back to the good times. We gotta reach back to the good.
- [35:34]
Matt Norlander
Times a year ago.
- [35:36]
Gary Parrish
Yes. We gotta reach back to the Good times. This R.J. lewis Garden tonight. You can watch it on Fox. Yukon minus one and a half.
- [35:43]
Matt Norlander
I will be there. Let's go. Let's go, Squirrel. Yukon. Johnny's. A lot of great stuff attached to this game. This is only the second time ever Credit to Mike Lepre, new comms director for the Big East. This is the second time when the Big east has had two teams meet in February or later and each team has one or fewer losses in league play. The only other time in the history of the conference. That's the stunning stat. The only other time in the history of the conference has happened. Rick Pitino was involved. 2-2-09, number one. UConn met Rick Pitino's Louisville Cardinals in the Big east at Freedom Hall. That is Pre Yum Center.
- [36:26]
Gary Parrish
I was raised on the Metro Conference. You don't have to tell me anything about Freedom Hall.
- [36:30]
Matt Norlander
Yes, but this was a Big east game.
- [36:32]
Gary Parrish
But you don't have to tell me anything about Freedom Hall.
- [36:35]
Matt Norlander
I understand the Huskies won that game 68. 51. Let's hope this one's much more competitive at MSG. Specifically, when these two teams have met in their history, UConn has won 15 times. St. John's has won 14 times they can tie up the all time series at the Garden between these two. It is the ninth time these teams have met while both have been ranked in the eight prior meetings. Four wins for each side. So if one school will take the edge tonight and this is the third time ever they have met at the Garden. Specifically while both ranked we at the Garden while both ranked the last time most recent time January 30th, 1999 Yukon top ranked beat number nine St John's 1774 and then before that was back in 91. So we just don't the stage we're going to have tonight we just haven't had a lot at the Garden ranked Yukon ranked St. John's let's get it done. And beyond that you've got gaudy records Yukono projector one seed St John's trying to bump up and get closer to that four four seat territory which with the win here it would have a it would have a viable case in my opinion. St. John's hasn't won three in a row against UConn since 2000. It can do so if it wins tonight because it won both a season ago. UConn is 12 and oh and Big east play for only the second time ever in program history. It started 14 and 0 in 95 96. Shouts to Ray Allen I'm keeping an eye on Zubia for in this game he leads St. John's in points, nearly 16 a game and board seven and a half a game assists. Yes, Zubi leads the team in assists. Speaks to my next point after this. 3.3 dimes per game and he leads the team in blocks. He's obviously by far it's not even close to the most valuable player on this roster. Terrace Reed vs Zubi Edgar 4 Big Man Battle matchup. Really looking forward to that. Reed has the best field goal percentage of any team in the big of any guy that's playing in the Big east this season. 65% per game. So want to see those two go head to head. And then the point guard battle or potential lack thereof. Silas Demery has been outstanding this season for UConn. He is at this point the best distributor in the in the conference at more than six dimes per game. We know what he can do defensively. I'm fascinated to see what he can do in this kind of spot and for for St. John's you know how much is Dylan Darling on the floor in this one, how much they rely on Isaiah Sellers to run the offense here. Dylan Mitchell I maintain Might be their best player at ball handling and passing combined, but that's just not what they ask of him. So Ptino is going to have to get creative. I cannot wait to get in this building. Last year I want to say it was like 65, 35. Johnny's maybe 60, 40, Johnny's fan split. Obviously UConn fans are going to try and flood store south as much as they can. Incredible vibes all around. Can't wait to get there. I'll do post game HQ. Of course I will take UConn to win and in doing so cover here. I think the line you said was one and a half. Give me the Huskies to keep it up, but I do expect a close game. Like I think we get to the under four media timeout GP in the second half and the game is up for grabs. It's certainly what I'm hoping for and so many others. Can't wait. What do you think on the game?
- [39:38]
Gary Parrish
Well, as I wrote in the top 25 and one on Friday morning, there are games this weekend, multiple games this weekend featuring higher ranked teams against each other. But there's nothing more compelling than this. This is as good as it gets. You got two, two time national championship coaches. One's already in the hall of Fame, the other's on his way. You know, there's a, there's enough of a personal thing there that makes it interesting. It's not quite Patino Caliperi, but it's.
- [40:05]
Matt Norlander
Something, it's something there. Patino actually tried to downplay going into this game and he was actually complimentary viewcon when he was doing it. Everyone knows the deal here. This is the premier game for the the league. The league needs this game and needs these coaches. It is a rivalry. He can downplay it all he wants. He and that coaching staff desperately want to kick the crap out of UConn.
- [40:21]
Gary Parrish
There you go. The Huskies have won 18 straight. They've been incredible. The Johnnies have won eight straight. And yeah, some of it, it's the byproduct of a weak Big east not presenting serious challenges too often. I mean half the league is ranked outside of the top 80 of the net. And so this is the first time either of these teams have played a team like this in a while. So that's part of why it's, it's so compelling. As for the pick, I thought through it. I thought through this.
- [40:59]
Matt Norlander
It's a tough one for you for sure.
- [41:01]
Gary Parrish
It's a tough spot for me. There's no getting around it.
- [41:04]
Matt Norlander
No getting around it at all.
- [41:05]
Gary Parrish
I could jump back on.
- [41:07]
Matt Norlander
You know, a man with real character, morality and principle would.
- [41:13]
Gary Parrish
All right.
- [41:14]
Matt Norlander
So you've never claimed to be any of this.
- [41:15]
Gary Parrish
Yeah, yeah. I mean, I'm a lot of things, but I wouldn't start the list with those words. So I thought through it, I could jump back on the St. John's train. This would actually eight games ago would have been a good time to do it. Yeah.
- [41:33]
Matt Norlander
Yeah. You are on the platform and the train is Bye. Bye.
- [41:38]
Gary Parrish
I jumped off the train. I, I, I jumped off the train and tried to crash it. All right. And then, and then I, and I was doing all right. Seriously.
- [41:48]
Matt Norlander
Yeah.
- [41:49]
Gary Parrish
So some of this is a byproduct of just the weak Big east doesn't give them consist. That's how you remember last year, how. I think I said something along the lines of the problem with the ACC isn't that Duke has that conference record.
- [42:00]
Matt Norlander
Yeah, I gotcha.
- [42:01]
Gary Parrish
It's that Louisville and Clemson have those conference records that, that's the problem. Duke should be this good, but they're. They maybe should. The big. Like, I don't know if St. John's is really as good as a team that can win eight straight in a power conference, but they are by definition a team that has just won eight straight in a power conference. Some of it is because the power conference is weak relative to the others and half the leagues outside of the top 80 of the net. But here's my point. If you trace it back to January 6th. Bartorvik.com I'm a data sorter. You can run the numbers. Where do you think St. John's ranks in that stretch? January 6th, you're going to know. There ain't no in that stretch. There ain't no in that stretch since January 6th. Where do they rank in the country? 13th.
- [42:39]
Matt Norlander
Okay. Give them too much credit.
- [42:42]
Gary Parrish
13Th and Yukon's right there around them. So that at least suggests we could be in store for something good tonight. I thought through it, this would be an opportunity for me to, to jump back on. But then there's gonna be that graphic and it's gonna say GP and St. John's and just as soon as UConn wins by 11. I got. I got.
- [43:03]
Matt Norlander
This is your last. This is your last chance. It's this or never.
- [43:07]
Gary Parrish
No, I'll always. I will always have the preseason top 25 and one if I need it. I will always have the preseason top 25 and one if I need it. I think the smarter play here is to, for me personally, it's just for me personally, I think I take Yukon, and then if, if, if St. John's loses, Yukon wins. I just say, yeah, I told you this eight games ago. I told you what was going on. All right? I got off the. I got off the train because I told you what was happening here, all right? And then if St. John's actually wins the game, well, then it's just like, all right, I guess I was wrong, but I was. I mean, all you guys, all you're in my mentions every day telling me UConn's the greatest program in the history of the programs. So, like, I just assumed they could knock out little old St. John's so I guess I was wrong for believing the best program in the world could get the little old St. John's victory. So I think that's where I'm at. I take a Yukon, I gotta protect.
- [43:59]
Matt Norlander
Sounds like a bulletproof argument to me.
- [44:01]
Gary Parrish
I'm protecting my peace. I'm protecting my peace and my mental health. I'm taking UConn. Game two, Saturday, 6:30pm Eastern. Number four, Duke at number 14, North Carolina, inside the Austin River Center. You can watch it on ESPN. Duke -5 1/2.
- [44:21]
Matt Norlander
As the crow flies.
- [44:22]
Gary Parrish
JP it's that time. It's that tie, Dan. Show me you don't let me down. I want to hear it, Dan.
- [44:29]
Matt Norlander
We better get it. We better get it. We better get it on the broadcast here. See if I can get. I'm actually@asthecrowflies.in Florida Info. Okay. Huh. I'm bringing it up right now. Chapel Hill. All right. As the crow flies. I. I don't want eight miles, gentlemen. 8.84 miles as the crow flies from Durham South. Chapel Hill. You know what to do. 8.84 miles. That's the crow flies. I gave it 0.22 kilometers, if you're curious.
- [45:11]
Gary Parrish
I gave it to Austin Rivers because the, the clip, the highlight came across my timeline some way this week. I just.
- [45:19]
Matt Norlander
That's good. That's good. You got a little variety from the fist fights and murders.
- [45:23]
Gary Parrish
I like that, man. I watched a wild fist fight yesterday. It was a principal and a high school student. The principal had just had enough. He was like, you know what? If I, if this is the way my career is going to end, this is the way my career is going to end. But I'm. I gotta fight this guy. It was wild. It's a wild situation. Yeah. So out of, in between all that, a basketball video miraculously appeared in my phone. It was wild. I was like, what is this stupid thing? Get me back to a Norm MacDonald video. I'm trying to watch basketball. Give me a Norm MacDonald joke.
- [45:56]
Matt Norlander
So.
- [46:00]
Gary Parrish
That was an all timer. I happen to be in the building. Austin Rivers.
- [46:04]
Matt Norlander
I don't remember you being in the at this game. You were at the game.
- [46:07]
Gary Parrish
I, I, I remember being at the game. Okay, but I could, There's a chance.
- [46:12]
Matt Norlander
I may remember this more accurately than you do, but I will take your word for it.
- [46:15]
Gary Parrish
I, I mean, I could have dreamed it, but I, I, I believe I was at the game and I, I didn't take the time to look it up, but I remember thinking, oh wow, that just happened. It was one of those, oh wow, that just happened. The game is over and that team won because of that dude making that shot. And this place is quiet. So we'll see if Duke can do another one of those this weekend inside the Austin River Center.
- [46:39]
Matt Norlander
Yeah, we've got a real legit challenge allegedly here for Duke. 21 and one only loss of the season by one against Texas Tech at the Garden. The week of Christmas. Duke has been just strolling and rolling and steamrolling competition in the league. Can it finally find a close game? I don't think it's got. What, one? Yeah, I don't, I was, I was gonna say, I don't think it has more than one game decided by single digits in league play. No, that's, no, it has two. That's true. SMU actually kept it within. Well, that would make sense. That was when I, when I was away in Vermont that weekend. The SMU seven point loss in Durham and then three. Florida State kept it, kept it within striking distance. Back at the turn of January, Duke is number three overall in defensive efficiency. Top five in offensive efficiency. Cool.
- [47:27]
Gary Parrish
Cool.
- [47:28]
Matt Norlander
Subplot to this game. Shouts to our. Cameron Salerno had a story on this and Fink provided some additional scouting stuff. You can read this@cbsforce.com this is the first time since the late 1980s that Duke and Carolina have met. And when they meet, each team is going to have a player that is reasonably projected to be in the top five of the forthcoming NBA draft. You've got Boozer on one side and then Caleb Wilson on the other. Now, part of this is owed to the strange but true fact that UNC just hasn't had a top five pick in decades at this point. But when it comes to both sides actually squaring off in this epic rivalry, you got to go back to Danny Ferry for Duke and J.R. reed. For Carolina, he wound up. J.R. reid wound up going fifth that year. Ferry was taken number two overall. Those were obviously not one and done players. So you get that, which is pretty cool. There was a close one where Kobe White and Cameron Johnson were playing for Carolina back in 19. That I think is a pretty fair one. But if you're talking about top end prospects, which Wilson and Boozer obviously are, you've got that there.
- [48:36]
Gary Parrish
And one of the.
- [48:37]
Matt Norlander
Caroline, go ahead.
- [48:38]
Gary Parrish
I'm just that. And that led to one of the great draft night moments when Kobe White is being interviewed and finds out that Cam Johnson was just, just selected higher than what most people expected. Go find that in your free time. It'll make you smile.
- [48:54]
Matt Norlander
Yeah, that was good stuff. You know, we don't need to wax nostalgic on Duke Carolina. Everyone understands that. But for the purposes of the game and the matchup of what it means in the context of this season, here's UNC at 18 and 4. It's 6 and 3 in the league and can really, you want to talk about a seedline bump? Here you go. In your building. There's also like, you know, Dukes coming to town. There's been a ton of, you know, fraught discussion over the future of where North Carolina will eventually, you know, I think like three, four, five, six years from now play its home games will be in a renovated Dean Dome. Will they take it a little bit off campus and have something that's a little smaller, much more modern? There's a real fight for UNC's alumni. I only bring that up to say, like, here comes Duke amid what's been a pretty buzzy topic over the past month. Plus, in that area, that building will be ready to go. It's going to be a very, very fun one. I do hope we get a real close one. Duke has had its way with Carolina more often than not recent seasons Here.
- [49:54]
Gary Parrish
You said the line is 6.5/2 is what I had.
- [49:57]
Matt Norlander
Okay, so we have an out and out line, not a Kemp projection right now. Yeah.
- [50:01]
Gary Parrish
For whatever reason, we had lines on all these games last night.
- [50:05]
Matt Norlander
Okay, love to see it. Give me Carolina to cover. I, I, I'm gonna try and talk this into existence here and we'll see what, what transpires over the weekend. It's such a busy sports weekend as is. But I almost wonder, like, Caleb Wilson's reputation is very good right now. Now. But I'm talking like kind of a broader sense. If Carolina can win this game.
- [50:22]
Gary Parrish
Oh, Wilson. Yes.
- [50:24]
Matt Norlander
And Wilson can show up like If Carolina wins and Wilson puts up like 24, 12, 6 and 2 in this spot, like, he just. In terms of his prominence in the sport and the general sports audience and culture, he will just. He will bump up a notch. He's got to do it. They got to win. But I do think, like, few individual players stand to gain more this weekend than what Caleb Wilson could theoretically do. That being said, he's got more. He's more. That's just. UNC is so much more than Caleb Wilson. Obviously. They've got some. They've got some really, really good players. They've done a really nice job this season. I. I'll take Duke to win narrowly, but I like Carolina to cover. I think they really show up and they play well and. And Duke finally gets to find itself in a real push in a tight moment late.
- [51:04]
Gary Parrish
It's a good point about Caleb Wilson. He's awesome. We've talked about him, but he does not get thrown into that conversation. Conversation of the, you know, elite freshman.
- [51:14]
Matt Norlander
He was I Parish. I think he was there like the first couple of weeks and then he's been consistently good, but hasn't had like a performance that's gone there. So now I think he can come back. I felt like in the first few weeks of the season he was maybe.
- [51:24]
Gary Parrish
There, but perhaps, perhaps. I guess maybe I'm just using this as the gauge and maybe this is an improper gauge, but this is a true thing I'm about to tell you. You do a random radio interview over here, a random podcast over there, radio we hit over here and they start asking you about this freshman class. Hey, so, you know, we're reading that this is maybe the best freshman class ever. So let me ask you about AJ DeVont. You get about debonts a question every time you get a Darren Peterson question every time you usually get a camera boozer question. I don't remember anybody ever asking me about Caleb Wilson. Like he. In that way. He hasn't like, penetrated that conversation. But you're exactly right. This is a massive stage. He goes big against Duke inside the Dean dome. Yeah, it's. This is the. This is that type of opportunity. Not that he needs it to like, be confirmed. Incredible. He's an all American and lottery pick. That's. That's done. Or at least it feels close to done. But if you want to do the other stuff, this is a. This is a big stage for that Carolina. Duke is massive almost always, regardless of the circumstances. I do feel like this is bigger because, like, half of this league this league's better than the Big east, but half of this league is outside of the top 55 of the net.
- [52:40]
Matt Norlander
And it's definitely way better than it was a year ago. Not that you're saying it wasn't, but, like, just context, it's. It has jumped up. It's still not a top three league.
- [52:50]
Gary Parrish
Right.
- [52:50]
Matt Norlander
But it's in a much better situation than was a season ago. Duke, Clemson, Carolina State, Virginia, Louisville. I think you'll get at least one other team into the tournament. They're just. It's better overall. Continue making your point. But as you say that, I was just thinking out loud here, like, at least it's. We're not in the spot this year with this game, in this conference as we were a year ago.
- [53:08]
Gary Parrish
This is one of those deals where I will say a bunch of words and then people will just pick the words that they want and draw a conclusion from it. It's like, no, that's not what I said. I didn't say the ACC stinks. I said it doesn't give them as many opportunities, as many consistent challenges as, say, the Big 12 gives a Houston or an Arizona or a Big 10 gives an Illinois or a Michigan State. The league is better. I don't think it's great, but it is better. And so there aren't many opportunities for Duke and Carolina in this league to play teams like. Like each other. So that makes Saturday night more interesting, perhaps, than it otherwise would be. I'll take the points at home. I think Duke wins the game. I want to be clear about that. I think Duke wins the game. I think Duke's the better team, but I'll take in a rivalry like this. I'll take the five and a half points at home and see if we can get a close when it comes down to the final minute. Game three, Saturday, 8pm Eastern. Number five, Illinois, at number 10, Michigan State. Inside the cash is Winston Center. I never see him kick nobody in the balls. You can watch it on Fox. Michigan State minus one, one and a half.
- [54:25]
Matt Norlander
Yes, party favorite. Illinois's got the number one adjusted offense in the country, if you're curious. Purdue is two, Alabama three, Arizona four, Duke five. Those are obviously per Ken Palm and adjusted for competition there. We've got really just wonderful assortment of games here. Every single game we've talked about in the Final Four. And one wouldn't, and I guess in a given random average year, average weekend be the game of the weekend. We've got tons of them left and right. Keaton, Wall Art GP Keaton Wagler. I'll give you his I'll give you his point totals as of late here Northwestern only 13 prior to that 28, 22, 46, 13, 17 I'm going to say Keaton Wagler 21 and a half on the road in Breslin. You going over or under?
- [55:12]
Gary Parrish
Over.
- [55:14]
Matt Norlander
I will go under for Keaton Wagler, see if we don't get a big game out of David Mirkovich again. Still no Kylan Boswell for Illinois of course Thomas Lava Vicich. I think this is a big moment for him. Great battle on the front courts here in general. Unquestionably. But presuming that fears starts which I will presume and he logs you know 30 plus minutes in this game. How does Illinois choose to guard him? How much will it be? Wagler would think it will be instead of Stojakovic there maybe some hummer casts. I don't know that that will be a game within the game. Unquestionably fantastic matchup. Illinois is on fire. Illinois fans are aware of this. If you have forgotten, Illinois has not lost in almost two months since it dropped at the buzzer at home against Nebraska. This team has won 12 in a row and is playing quite well. Michigan State now finds itself in an urgent position for its hopes at getting a premier seed in the tournament. Drop two in a row and can avoid three games in a row. The last time Michigan State lost three in a row wasn't last season was the season before that near the end when they when they slipped up a little bit that MSU team wound up with the nine seed. I will take Sparty to reverse course get it done. Not ultra confident it but I'll take I'll take Michigan State to win a cup.
- [56:40]
Gary Parrish
So Illinois is on this 12 game winning streak. It dates back to December 22nd. Sort the data go back to December 22nd where you think Illinois ranks in the country.
- [56:51]
Commercial Narrator
Two.
- [56:53]
Gary Parrish
Higher one.
- [56:58]
Matt Norlander
Bing bing bing bing bing bing bing bing.
- [57:01]
Gary Parrish
That's the best team in the country since December 22nd according to Bart torvik.com followed by you can just say Torvik.
- [57:08]
Matt Norlander
By the way everyone knows when you say Torvik what it means. You don't have to say bartorvic.com I.
- [57:12]
Gary Parrish
I like to be I like to.
- [57:13]
Matt Norlander
You don't say kenpom.com youm just say Kenpom. Give Torvik that same respect. He's earned it.
- [57:18]
Gary Parrish
Marcus Nelson wants@kenpom.com on first reference we.
- [57:22]
Matt Norlander
Are on a podcast you can say you can say Ken Poppins.
- [57:27]
Gary Parrish
Bart, I.
- [57:27]
Matt Norlander
Got your back, buddy. Torvik has earned the shorthand, that's all.
- [57:31]
Gary Parrish
Okay, that's fair. That's a fair point. All right. All right. He could just be Torvik. Illinois number one since December 22, followed by Houston, Michigan, Florida and Arizona. I'm gonna take the Illini on the road. Despite being a. Despite being a building truster. I'm gonna take the Illini on the road.
- [57:51]
Matt Norlander
At least we've disagreed on a game.
- [57:52]
Gary Parrish
At this point. I don't know who I am anymore. Game four, Saturday, 8:30pm Eastern. Number 17, Florida at Texas A and M inside Alex Caruso Arena. You can watch it on the SEC Network. Florida minus four and a half.
- [58:10]
Matt Norlander
SEC network tells you they didn't think this would be a game game.
- [58:13]
Gary Parrish
That many? Yeah, the SEC Network's like, hey, man, we didn't know either. We didn't know. We didn't know Texas A M was.
- [58:19]
Matt Norlander
Gonna be any good coup for the SEC Network. A&M almost, but not quite.197 on Wednesday night at Alabama.
- [58:28]
Gary Parrish
Oh, that was a game, though.
- [58:29]
Matt Norlander
It was a wonderful game, honestly. As hoped for, as expected. First team to 90. Well, no, first team to 100. Alabama got it done. Aiden Holloway had a funky little play along the baseline that dropped in that helped provide the winning margin. A and M couldn't hit a shot at the buzzer to get it done. So they take a loss, falling the 7 and 2 and in the process setting up this battle with Florida for first place in the sec, which is all the more fun. The Tide play Auburn this weekend. Not in the final four and one, but you got some good rivalry stuff on tap there. And that game also takes on some real urgency. Again, we don't know the fate of Charles Bediaco in advance of that game being played. This podcast will be done before that hearing is held later today in Tuscaloosa. We'll presume that YKO gets cleared and he'll be on the floor for that for A and m and Bucky McMillan. He's right there with Ryan Odom for. For biggest hits in year one after being hired at the high major level a season ago. Interestingly enough, though, A and M is not overly efficient at any one specific thing. It gets up and down the floor. It's plenty capable on offense, but it's not. It's not ultra elite at anything in terms of its efficiency margins. So now you've got Florida coming to town, and Florida can absolutely wreck your efficiency margins. Paris, I'm going to take A and M to win this one at home. It's one of the bigger and they've had some solid teams in recent seasons. This just feels like one of the bigger A and M home games since COVID It really does. They've got a wonderful opportunity. See how they can battle with that front court there. And then just when you think that like it's, it's not like Lee and Flander incapable, maybe they wind up being big time showers in this game. But I will take, I'll, I'll take A and M to get it done, to win and to cover. This is a good one. You should be able to find if you got YouTube TV and I know not everyone does but if you do this should auto populate for your multi view situation later on Saturday night. Give me, yeah giggle. Give me the Aggies.
- [60:19]
Gary Parrish
I love Bucky's post game Wednesday night. Just, I mean I can't overstate how cool that story is to me. Like he grew up going to those games, you know and he, he like he explained like I looked up and like you know, that's where me and my mom and my dad used to sit, come watch the Crimson Tide. And now you're coaching against the Crimson Tide in your home state and you're in first place. And now you know that went the way it went. They weren't supposed to win and they didn't. But they're still tied for first with the reigning national champs. I mean just like that, just these little things, these little facts you can say Bucky McMillan is tied for first in a conference with the reigning national champions. It's just a cool thing to say out loud given the way his career has unfolded. So I love the story. I'm with you. I don't have boots on the ground there, but I just imagine this is going to be one of the great environments in college basketball this weekend. I also, I think the Aggies get it done, not just cover. Straight up, straight up Texas A and.
- [61:19]
Matt Norlander
M straight up YouTube poll. Which game are you most excited for this weekend? The options were Yukon, St. John's Duke, Carolina, Illinois, Michigan State or other. Other coming in last at 10%. I actually wondered if other might be more competitive. The winner, Illinois Michigan State 34 narrowly beaten Duke, Carolina 32, Yukon, St. John's 23 speaks to the strength of this week.
- [61:37]
Gary Parrish
I, I, I will, I will say so that's an interesting question because my initial, my like answer now quick. I'd say St. John's Yukon. Like that's me too.
- [61:47]
Matt Norlander
But I'm Also affected by the fact that I'm going to the game. So not only am I super excited for the game, I'm gonna be there. So that amps up my excitement.
- [61:54]
Gary Parrish
But, like, I, like, I wanna. I wanna get home today after I do 4,000 shows and like, order wings and like, get the kids and like, hey, guys, this is a big time college basketball game happening tonight. Let's watch this. Like, I want to have that night tonight. But Michigan State, Illinois, it's got. It's got the Keaton Wagner thing that's taken off.
- [62:15]
Matt Norlander
Yep.
- [62:15]
Gary Parrish
It's got the Jeremy Spears. Yes. It's got that. It's got Michigan State at risk of three game loot. Like, it's got a lot of. It's got the team that, hey, feel free to use it on the broadcast if you want it. Since December 22, this team is the best team in the country according to Torvik.
- [62:32]
Matt Norlander
Boom, there we go.
- [62:34]
Gary Parrish
Use it on the broadcast. I'll give it to you for. For free.
- [62:36]
Matt Norlander
There we go.
- [62:37]
Gary Parrish
So, yeah, I. I still think if you told me I could only watch one, I might just want to just see the scene in the Garden. But Michigan State, Illinois is awesome. I can't wait.
- [62:48]
Matt Norlander
I'll take the N1 and then I'll give you a quick tour. Other games. I'm going to respect an undefeated team and the undefeated team with the more compelling matchup here. So here it goes. And one Saturday, four Eastern. ESPN plus. This is a rarity. I don't know if it's unprecedented to have a final four in one game be an ESPN plus affair. It is Miami University and it's 230 record on the road against what is statistically its toughest remaining game against the Marshall Thundering herd, which are 15 and 8. This is, of course, the Max Sunbelt Challenge. GP knows all about that.
- [63:24]
Gary Parrish
Of course.
- [63:25]
Matt Norlander
I'm going off the Ken Palm line. If you. Josh, if you want to correct me in real time, if we have an actual line here, fill me in on it. Ken Palm has the Redhawks at minus 3, but we can adjust this to the actual line if he sees it. Otherwise. Who you got?
- [63:43]
Gary Parrish
I mean, come on. What are you talking about?
- [63:46]
Matt Norlander
Oh, I didn't give you the court, by the way.
- [63:47]
Gary Parrish
This is.
- [63:48]
Matt Norlander
This is obviously Hassan. Whiteside court. Sorry.
- [63:50]
Gary Parrish
Of course it's. Hassan wants that, Chord. I mean, what do you want me to do? I mean, if I pick against the Redhawks, I have to block Wally in my phone. I have to block his number.
- [63:58]
Matt Norlander
I thought you already did.
- [64:00]
Gary Parrish
No, no, no, no, no. I mean, you go with the. Like, you can't pick against the Redhawks. I mean, I'm not, I'm not exaggerating. I have to. I have to eat Shake Shack with Wally on Tuesday night.
- [64:13]
Matt Norlander
All right.
- [64:14]
Gary Parrish
I got to take the Redhawks. And oh, by the way, by the way, I noticed you said Miami University. Is that where we're at now?
- [64:22]
Matt Norlander
That's what they prefer.
- [64:23]
Gary Parrish
Okay. Because I saw that on the Internet. Somebody was like, miami, Ohio.
- [64:27]
Matt Norlander
A lot of people, they'll still take that. But Miami University existed before Miami was a city in Florida. They prefer Miami University.
- [64:34]
Gary Parrish
Okay, so let's do it then. Miami University. But on the way it's written, like, if you go read the AP recap of a Miami game, it says Miami, Ohio. It does not say Miami University.
- [64:43]
Matt Norlander
Yeah, I'm just trying to respect.
- [64:45]
Gary Parrish
Do you know how tired you get doing this?
- [64:48]
Matt Norlander
Yeah. Well, that's also the St. Joe's thing. They don't. I love this story. I just. I don't think Miami gets to claim the arm flap. I think that's a St. Joe's hawk thing, bro.
- [64:58]
Gary Parrish
This is. Wears you out, dude.
- [65:01]
Matt Norlander
The St. Joe's Hawk has to do that for two hours every game.
- [65:05]
Gary Parrish
I don't know how anybody does that. They have to switch them out, like during timeouts or something. There is no way.
- [65:10]
Matt Norlander
It's like the prestige.
- [65:12]
Gary Parrish
Yes, it's like the Prestige. There's no way one human can do this this for two hours. That's a crazy thing to do for two hours.
- [65:20]
Matt Norlander
And I also agree with you. We got to keep moving. Got to get out here real quick. I am going to. I want to see this story continue Miami. What? Four of its past five Mac games have been decided by six points or fewer. A couple overtime results. It almost lost at the buzzer on a three pointer at Buffalo on Tuesday. It is flirting with danger. But as I wrote earlier this week, week, it is just awesome for college hoops that we have gotten to February. We'll get to February 7th, minimally the morning of with two undefeated still standing. I think that's incredible. And the fact that a mid major is one of them makes it that much more fun. I want to see this story keep going as long as it can conceivably go. So I will take Miami to win and to cover. I think you and I agree on four of the five, which is how you try and maintain a lead there in the final four. And one before we get out of here, just a few more games to Be aware of this weekend, noon Eastern Wisconsin at Indiana on Fox. That's a good one to get the day going. Two Eastern Ole Miss at Texas ESPN2. That is Chris Beard.
- [66:22]
Gary Parrish
Yeah.
- [66:22]
Matt Norlander
Back in Austin. Has he.
- [66:25]
Gary Parrish
He's never been back there.
- [66:26]
Matt Norlander
Right before we went up. Has he returned to Austin?
- [66:28]
Gary Parrish
Not yet.
- [66:29]
Matt Norlander
At. At. At Ole Miss since he got there?
- [66:31]
Gary Parrish
I don't know. I don't believe so. I think this is his first trip back. I think. I think that's true.
- [66:36]
Matt Norlander
Yeah.
- [66:36]
Gary Parrish
I was. I was texting with our buddy Tom Hart yesterday about this game. He's on the call.
- [66:40]
Matt Norlander
Tom Hart does a wonderful job. We know he listens to the show as well. We appreciate you, Tom Hart. You want to mix in and as the crow flies from Oxford to Austin, we are here for it. We wouldn't make that happen.
- [66:50]
Gary Parrish
You do that. We will clip it and celebrate it.
- [66:53]
Matt Norlander
That's right. And please send it to us if anyone hears it in real time. I do want to. I'm not even kidding. Give me an. As the crow flies from Oxford to Austin. I. I can't even. What. What do you think it is? I'll look it up right now. How far do you think it is? That's the crow flies Oxford to Austin, man.
- [67:09]
Gary Parrish
I don't know. But you better fly if you're trying to get out of Oxford because it is still just covered in ice that places shut down, bro. You still can't go to school at Ole Miss. It's been two weeks.
- [67:19]
Matt Norlander
That's. That's a tough situation.
- [67:21]
Gary Parrish
My car, like, here's the truth. You ready for this? Yeah, I know I could go buy a shovel and all that stuff. I got it. But. But as of this morning, my car can still not back out of my garage. As of this morning, it's been two weeks.
- [67:36]
Matt Norlander
557 miles as the crow flies Oxford, Mississippi to Austin, Texas, if you were curious. Okay. What else for the weekend here. Apologies on the cybertruck, man. I know that stuff. Oklahoma State at undefeated Arizona for Eastern on espn. But also the bigger game, the better game likely. Alabama at Auburn for Eastern on ESPN2. Did you see where Stephen Pearl basically said, I hope Charles Bediako gets to play?
- [68:02]
Gary Parrish
Yes. I love that.
- [68:03]
Matt Norlander
Yeah.
- [68:04]
Gary Parrish
I just love that. I just think that's. What are we doing? I just think that's a funny thing about Steven. I just think that's a funny thing to do if you're him. Like, if I.
- [68:11]
Matt Norlander
It almost like he found himself like talking himself into it.
- [68:14]
Gary Parrish
Like biggest rival. Like if he would call you want him eligible? Like if he was like, I don't.
- [68:18]
Matt Norlander
Know what he'll do if he doesn't get to play. My man is 23.
- [68:22]
Gary Parrish
He'll figure it out.
- [68:24]
Matt Norlander
He'll figure it out.
- [68:26]
Gary Parrish
Not like he's gonna be a homeless 13 year old. But I thought this was hilarious because if Stephen would have called me and been like, hey, do you think this will be funny? If I act like I'm the one person in college basketball who wants Alabama's pro to be eligible, I would say that's hilarious. Please do it. Please do it.
- [68:46]
Matt Norlander
I like, I couldn't believe what I was seeing. It was just, it was just, it was just funny and not caring who wins or loses. It will be even funnier if Betty Ako is cleared. They play the game. This is at Auburn and he goes for like 24 and 14 and is the reason that Auburn loses. That's the funniest possible outcome of the entire weekend. We'll see what happens. You still got to go to court later. He's got to go to court later today before playing the big rival on Saturday. God bless college sports. A few more. Clemson at Cal 80 Eastern ACC Network on Saturday night. That is a big game for cal for sure. 8:30 Eastern. The one that was cut. Sorry I had to get preference for Miami University undefeated team. I'll give him some love. Tennessee at Kentucky is obviously a biggie. 8:30 Eastern on ESPN. By the way, it's built for 8:30. Duke, Carolina's at 6:30. There's no way that game tips at 8:30. There's no chance it's again, that'll be an 8:40, 8:45 tip Eastern, guaranteed.
- [69:36]
Gary Parrish
Hey, this is something we do at cbs. We, we properly time games, correct.
- [69:40]
Matt Norlander
We stack. It's all about the stagger. Or you can always count on us at CBS. We get that covered for you. And then 1030 Eastern, Houston at BYU. If BYU had defeated Oklahoma State, I probably put this in the final form. One is the N1. BYU's got to prove it at this point. It's a really good game worth turning into like we're going to be. It's a heavy, heavy Saturday night gp, there's so much going down. Keep an eye on Houston byu. We'll have no shortage of stuff to talk about on our next show. And then Sunday one Eastern Michigan at Ohio State. Oh, by the way, Lindsey Vaughn races Sunday for a medal in the Olympics. I love me some Winter Olympics that's going on. And of course the super bowl on Sunday. Night. I don't know when we are podcasting. I'll be in studio for hq. Deep, deep into Saturday night. We'll get it to you some way, somehow, sometime. But. But our next show and when we are going up is very much to be determined because I got Olympic stuff I got to do. We got the Super Bowl. I don't even know if GP can podcast from his house at this point. So we'll find out one way or the other.
- [70:35]
Gary Parrish
It sounds like. It sounds like we're going. We got Michigan, Ohio State, one Eastern on Sunday, Texas Tech, West Virginia, one Eastern on Sunday. Something like a 3 o' clock Eastern start. Sounds good to me.
- [70:45]
Matt Norlander
Me right up again. Okay, so we go mid afternoon Sunday before the Super Bowl. I think that. I think that's a plan.
- [70:51]
Gary Parrish
All right. And can we call that a show?
- [70:53]
Matt Norlander
That is. Hey, that's a show.
- [70:55]
Gary Parrish
I got it Now I get. Now I go from laughing and having a good time to now. Two hours of this coming up.
- [71:07]
Matt Norlander
Now. What do you. What are you reaching for here? He's on the. By the way, he's on the air for his other show in less than five minutes. Ah, yeah, look at this. Too bad he's holding some bobbleheads in.
- [71:17]
Gary Parrish
Back to back years. ESPN said. Yeah, this is the franchise set up for the most success going forward. Shouts to Devin Downey. Shouts to Chester, S.C. shouts Terry Teagan, legend. Hucklar now. Thank you guys once again for watching listening to the Ion College basketball a podcast. You're not subscribed. Please go subscribe anyway. Subscribe Podcast. Apple, Spotify. More of us than there are of them. That should be reflected in the comments. Do that. We're going to talk to you again on Sunday. Till then, take care.
- [72:00]
Sponsor/Advertisement Voice
Paramount Podcasts.
- [72:03]
Commercial Narrator
I'm back. I'm really back.
- [72:05]
Gary Parrish
School Spirits returns. Why am I here? Not dead, right? This place is an. An absolute death trap.
- [72:12]
Matt Norlander
We need to get out of here now.
- [72:14]
Gary Parrish
School Spirits new season now streaming only on Paramount Plus.