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Eye On College Basketball
March Madness 2025 Round 2 Saturday Recap - Arkansas UPSETS St. Johns; Auburn, Michigan, BYU advance
00:53:00
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- [00:00]
Gary Parrish
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- [01:52]
Gary Parrish
Hey there Gary Parrish welcome back to the CBS Sports I Am College Basketball podcast where we sometimes discuss Campbell Fighting Dodo Birds. Leaky Black Kyle Boone is here with me. If you're watching on YouTube, you know what to do to that. Like Button shouts to Brandon Davies. And if you haven't subscribe to the CBS Sports college basketball YouTube channel, please also do that while you're here. Let's get into it. On Saturday, eight teams punch tickets to the Sweet 16 of the 2025 NCAA tournament and one of them, believe it or not, John Caliper's Arkansas Razorbacks final score Arkansas 75, St. John 66 it happened in Providence. That's the 10 seed in the west over the 2 seed in the West. So after starting 05 in the SEC, the Razorbacks are now in the Sweet 16. KB first off, thanks for staying up with me. You're too kind. Feel free to sleep in tomorrow. I give you permission. As for Arkansas, St. John's lots to get to, obviously including Rick Patino's decision to bench the Big east player of the year for the final 456 of the game. But let me just start by asking you how surprised you are that John Caliperi just got Arkansas to the second weekend of the NCAA tournament, given the way much of this season has gone for he and his program.
- [03:05]
Kyle Boone
Yeah, shoot. Oh, good morning, GP Good evening, good night, whatever it is, man. Yeah, I mean, if you had to ask me about Arkansas potentially even making the NCAA tournament two months ago, I think we all would have probably said no, that's not going to happen. So, you know, they started 0 and 5 in sec sc, sec, sec play. As you mentioned, they lose Boogie Fland, who at the time was, you know, projected lottery pick, expected to miss the regular the rest of the season, the regular season at least, and potentially the rest of the season, you know, and they rally, they, they end up rallying go into, into Rupp Arena, Calipari's old stomping grounds, end up 10 and 5 to close the season since going into Rupp arena and beating Kentucky and this was just another notch in the belt for, for Calipari and for Arkansas that it's just really impressive. I mean, you just have to tip your cap to the Arkansas Razorbacks because we, I did not expect them to be it at this spot in the Sweet 16 in the NCAA tournament. I certainly did not expect them to be at this spot in the NCAA tournament beating preseason number one Kansas and beating a number two seeded St. John's team coached by Rick Pitino that won 31 games and was one of the best defensive teams all season. So you know, I saw, I watched a little bit of CBS Sports Network tonight, saw you had a Razorbacks hat on. I want you to explain yourself first of all, GP but also, you know, I think it's just, it's just, it's a cool moment for Arkansas. It's a great moment for Calipari who's, who's had some real struggles in the incident boy tournament the last few years under Kentucky and a little bit of a rejuvenation period for him and, and for Arkansas in his first year.
- [04:50]
Gary Parrish
Now to explain the Razorback head, our producer Amy Salmons and our Emmy Award winning producer Amy Salmons. Sent me a clip from the, the, the. A pregame show the other day where I think they had a live ram in studio. Seth Davis maybe had a live ram.
- [05:13]
Kyle Boone
I saw this.
- [05:13]
Gary Parrish
Yes. And so I was like, I would, I would like to request a live Razorback if it's in the budget I wouldn't mind having. I was just trying to think of the most ridiculous thing you could have in a television studio. And Razorback popped into my head, right? The one with slobber. So that was the end of that conversation. That was a couple of days ago and tonight I didn't know it was coming, but Chris Walker's on the other side of the desk and they had a Razorback head, you know, the type of thing you might see inside Bob Walton arena underneath the desk. And he pulled it out. I did not know that that was planned. That was all caught me off guard. But we had fun with it. I put the Razorback head on and just sort of mentioned how this is going to complicate things for me when I get back home because I am a University of Memphis graduate who lives in the Memphis area, born in Memphis, works in Memphis and you know, they don' love Arkansas there so much and they certainly don't love the man who now coaches Arkansas, even if he did give the Memphis fans the best years of Memphis basketball that has ever existed. So we were just having fun in the studio. I think anytime you start a show at 1am you might as well laugh a little bit. As for the game, it wasn't the prettiest game in the world. Teams combined to shoot 4 of 41 from 3. That's 9.8%. But John Caliperi said afterward, and I've heard him say this before, you know, he'll take ugly wins over pretty losses. Just happy to move on. And it, it should be noted that, you know, they move on without their leading score. He's been sidelined with an injury. That's the think about like we think just John Calipari and a bunch of talented basketball players. So whatever. But like think of it in this way. Forget John Caliper. He got anything to do with this. A 10 seed that started 0 and 5 in its league and is missing its leading score is on its way to the sweet 16. And the way they got there is by beating a St. John's team that won the outright Biggies title for the first time since 85 Biggie's tournament for the first time in 25 years and had won 31 games and was a 2 seed and coached by one of the all time greats, Rick Patino.
- [07:11]
Kyle Boone
Yeah.
- [07:11]
Gary Parrish
Who this 10 seed that started 0 and 5 in its league and was missing its leading score just accomplished. It's an incredible story. And you know, Norlander had a nice column from Providence and he not only talked to John, but he talked to Ellen. And Ellen of course is John's wife. Megan is, is John's younger daughter. And just the quotes from them were perfect. As you know, Ellen and Megan explained in Orlando, like it's been a hard two years. These are, these family, this family. Their problems aren't like most Americans problems. Right. You know, they're, they're, they're wealthy many times over. But that don't mean these past two years and really probably even a little longer than that if we're being honest, haven't been hard. You know, it's great to be the king of Kentucky up until people decide they don't want you to be that anymore, then it's not so much fun. And so he gets nudged out of there and it couldn't have started worse. As you're losing games one after another, you also lose your best NBA prospect. Not only did I not think Arkansas was going to get to the sweet 16, I, like you, didn't think they were going to make the NCAA tournament.
- [08:18]
Kyle Boone
Yeah.
- [08:18]
Gary Parrish
Did they turn it around? They won at Kentucky. That seemed to launch everything. And they went 10 and 5 in their final 15 games before or they're 10 and 5 now.
- [08:32]
Kyle Boone
Right.
- [08:33]
Gary Parrish
It's losing at Oklahoma I believe on or to Oklahoma I believe on January 25th. So they turned it around and now here they are. And it's just, you know, I can appreciate good stories no matter where they come. And this is a terrific story that I, I didn't envision unfolding this way but, but now here we are and it's just a reminder and then I'll kick it back to you that as long as you have talent, there is always a chance that you can flip a switch and turn it on later than normal. Particularly if the talent is, it's is younger and if the talent is not used to each other. In other words, brand new team. It's pretty clear at this point it just took a while for Arkansas to figure out what it was. And that's a hard league by the way, to figure out who you are when, when you, you're already starting, you know, 05. Like how are you going to catch up and, and, and, and get your feet back underneath you? But this was a team don't ever forget that. Had one of the most expensive rosters in the sport that was ranked 16th in the preseason. A people 16th, by the way. It's crazy to think about this now. Preseason, eight people, Arkansas, 16th. St. John's unranked. So the talent was always in place. We didn't just decide because John Caliperi is coaching Arkansas, he should be top 20 in the preseason. It was like, look at that roster. That looks like a good roster. And it took them longer than I'm sure anybody would have hoped in Fayetteville, but they got there. And John's done stuff like this before. This may be the most dramatic, you know, but he was a four seed in 2011 and got to the final four, and eight seed in 2014, made the title game again. Because even when. And this is what his time at Kentucky certainly taught us, there were times when he had great teams from November through the end of it. And there were other times, like 2014, where it was up and down, up and down, but the talent was always there. And suddenly you win a game, then you win another one, then you look up and you start asking questions like, why not? Why can't we just go get this done now? So just incredible stuff from Arkansas, and it's a. I'm sure they're celebrating accordingly.
- [10:44]
Kyle Boone
Yeah, you know, early before the season started, right after Caliperi was hired, you know, he had a line in one of his press conferences where he said, you know, I met with my team. Oh, wait, what team? You know, like, I don't have a team.
- [10:57]
Gary Parrish
Right.
- [10:58]
Kyle Boone
And it was essentially like, yeah, like, he had to start from scratch at Kentucky. He recruited a lot of those at Arkansas. Excuse me. He recruited a lot of those guys when he was at Kentucky, of course, brought some guys over, a duthiero among them, the. The team's leading scorer. But, you know, even on paper, like, yes, they were a preseason top 20 team, but, you know, I don't think this is anywhere near Kyle Perry's most talented teams that he's ever fielded, not by a long shot. You know, they've got some good guys on this team. The Arrow is really good. Fland is really good. But, like, you know, they got six points out of Flan today.
- [11:32]
Gary Parrish
He.
- [11:32]
Kyle Boone
He gave them some good minutes, but he wasn't, you know, the star, the guy who. Who led them past St. John's and the headwinds that they had to overcome in this game. You know, St. John's 28 offensive rebounds. Like, any team that's getting 28 offensive rebounds is, you know, missing a lot of shots probably, but also probably winning the game as well. So, you know, St. John shot 2 of 22 from 3 point range. That certainly helped Arkansas. But just, you know, the, the depth of this team and the balanced contributions they got from D.J. wagner and Trevon Brazile, John L. Davis, Carter, Knox, I mean like from top to bottom, it was a, it was a team performance and it was really impressive. I think what, what Arkansas was able to accomplish today.
- [12:18]
Gary Parrish
I hate that today is Saturday and tomorrow is Sunday. Because if tomorrow were a weekday, we would have all of these debate shows on cable television and talk radio to discuss the decision Rick Pitino made late in this game. Because it is a perfect thing to throw up in the air and let people debate it back and forth, as you know. And this became perhaps the, if not the biggest storyline, because I think the biggest storyline is just Arkansas advances, St. John's loses. But certainly a sidebar would be the rotation decision Rick patino made. With 456 left in this game. RJ Lewis, who is the reigning Big east player of the year, went to the bench with 456 left. He was 3 of 17 from the field at that point and he never came back into the game. It was 64, 62 when he left. Arkansas was up by two and then Arkansas outscored St. John's 11 to 4 the rest of the way. You can rationalize it, I guess, but it is still wildly unusual, particularly when you recognize that as bad as RJ Lewis was shooting, St. John's was still plus 5 with him on the floor in the game and minus 14 when he wasn't. What did you make of, of Rick Patino benching the biggest player of the year for the final 456 of this win or go home competition?
- [13:49]
Kyle Boone
Yeah, certainly in the moment it was puzzling. Definitely a surprise. St. John's really struggled in this game. I think I want to emphasize to shoot the basketball. Their offense was abysmal and that has kind of been the theme of this season. Kind of the weak point of this. The St. John's team, they've been great on defense all season. They've been great at crashing the offensive glass. The offense has been, I think if you wanted to point to like why they wouldn't make the Final Four, that's probably the reason why. And RJ Lewis has been kind of the stopgap for that. Right. Like he's been the guy who has been able to get them buckets in, in crucial times playing in the half court, he really struggled today. And say, basically Patino put him to the bench with 456 remaining, decided to sit Louis down. He was 3 of 17, as you mentioned, when he went to the bench. And in the moment you're thinking, man, that this is like the only scoring punch that St. John's has. Why would you, why would you sit him? And, and I think it seemed silly. In fact, I think it maybe seems a little bit silly now. But after the game, basically Patino explained, like, hey, look, I just, I just wanted to play some other guys. I played him 30 minutes. I felt like that was enough. And as you heard him explain, I think you could kind of and tell me if you think I'm wrong. GP But I think it was kind of reading between the lines of like, I didn't really like how the offense was being executed with him in the game. I thought he was being too assertive and, and maybe not passing the ball enough. The ball was stagnating with him on the floor and they wanted to just get a different look. And so, yeah, I'm not sure I think that's the right decision. But that's the decision that hall of Fame coach Rick Patino made. And yeah, it's, it's tough to, it's tough to disagree with that.
- [15:38]
Gary Parrish
The press conference was strange because Rick was asked about it and rather than just answer the question directly, he acted like the question was somehow out of line, which it wasn't. You want to know the truth about the question? It should have been the first question. I think it was the second. In the press conference. We carried it live on CBS Sports Network. Not only was the question appropriate, it was probably the biggest question that needed to be asked of the St. John's coach in that moment. Why did you take the biggest player of the year out of the game with five minutes left in a one possession game? The only thing Rick actually said to try to explain it was that he was 3 of 17 from the field. Here's the problem with that answer. I do not think it's because he was 3 of 17 from the field.
- [16:25]
Kyle Boone
No.
- [16:25]
Gary Parrish
I don't know. Coaches who pull out stars over missed shots too often, it's really not a thing. Every, not every. I don't want to paint with a broad brush, but most coaches I talk to, they want their stars. If their stars are scores, they want their stars scoring, they want their scars taken shots. You know, they prefer it to be 17 of 17, but if it's 3 of 17, they still want that guy on, on the court. So we discussed it in studio before the press conference, after the press conference. And I thought Rick's explanation was, you had to really read between the lines because I don't think it's 3 of 17. And he was subsequently asked a question about RJ and it was like a. Put it on a T. I just want you to say nice things about RJ Lewis. And he really just started talking about other guys. It was like if somebody, if I were being interviewed and somebody said to me, hey, what's it like working with Matt Norlander? He just seems like the best. And how was he? And I said, you know, I tell you what, it's really awesome working with Carbohm and man, David Cobb, he's amazing. And I've ever told you about Marcus Nelson, he's one of our editors. And like, and I just talk about everybody else that I work with and noticeably leave out the one person I was actually asked about who I just benched for five minutes at the end of a game. You had to read between. He got, he just decided he was frustrated with effort, focus, all sorts of that kind of stuff and just decided, you know what? I've been begging you this entire game, I've been begging you for 35 basketball minutes to give me something different than what you've given me. And you're not. I mean, there was this one moment where Zubi Edge of War actually has RJ Lewis, like the way you would put your arms on somebody if you're like, hey, wake up, man. Like, he actually did the wake up man thing with him. So I think Rick just got frustrated and said, you know what, man? You ain't got it and you don't seem willing to want to give it to me, me. So just come sit over here and we'll try to do this without you. You can justify it like that. And in studio tonight, Roy Hibbert, the former Georgetown All American, two time NBA all Star, said that he understood it. Like, if that guy's not going to give you what everybody else has given you and what you expect and, and, and want, then, then he can, he can. This. That's a teaching, teaching moment. Cal Neptune, the former Villanova coach, was in studio with us tonight. He was awesome. He also said he, he sort of understood it. You know, Rick was making a point. I'm, I'm, I'm gonna, I'm gonna advance without you or go down without you, but I'm not going to let you continue to do this anymore. I'M paraphrasing, I'm not quoting Cal, but that was the sentiment. Cal seemed to understand it. I'll be clear. I am not Rick Patino. I'm not a basketball coach. I'm a bald podcaster. All right? I would never get into a debate with Rick Patino about how to guard ball screens or about just about anything in basketball. It would seem ridiculous. That is one of the greatest basketball minds of all time. And I mostly just rank basketball teams every 20, every morning and then talk all day. All right, that said, I think it's fair to, to wonder about this, to question this. And this is the way I sort of flipped it around on Kyle and Roy and in studio was, if you want to try to justify this, then tell me the other time you can remember it happening. This is not a normal thing. All right? The NBA playoffs will start soon. There will be, I guess, 20 teams in it to start in the postseason. You can watch every elimination game in the NBA playoffs from the moment they start until the NBA Finals are over. Seriously, take me up on this. Every elimination game, I'm trying to make it apples to apples with an NCAA tournament. So it'd have to be a, you know, if you don't win this game, your season is over. Find every game that happens in the NBA playoffs, and those are the set of circumstances. And then try to find me an example of any coach putting his best player on the bench for the final five minutes of a one possession game unless that player is injured, tired, or in foul trouble. You ready for this? It will not happen. Steph Curry can be one of 50 and he will be on the court in those final five minutes. And that's the most obvious way to question a Hall of Fame coach who in many ways should be above being questioned like nobody else does this. I can't even really remember too many examples of other people doing this. And I guess it'd be fine if it worked out, but when it doesn't, when you get outscored 11 to 4 the rest of the way, after you take out the biggest player of the year and when you could focus on the bad shooting numbers but ignore the plus five when he was on the court, the minus 14 when he wasn't, I, I think this is a, maybe the most reasonable place to question a coach of, of his caliber.
- [21:25]
Kyle Boone
Yeah, I think it's one thing to, to maybe sit and, and make a statement, you know, on a Tuesday night in the middle of February when you're playing Creighton, but certainly NCAA tournament With a chance to make the 16 on the line and you're sitting your star player to, you know, to, to make sort of some sort of statement about, you know, the, the, the way in which he's played the game. Yeah, I, I think that's, that's the beef here for sure.
- [21:51]
Gary Parrish
Yeah, you know, I, I understand teachable moments. I would prefer to teach them in November, December, any other time than the final five minutes of a round of 32 game that you're trailing by, by two points. Either way. St. John's incredible season over. And it was an incredible season. Just a rough ending. Incredible season, rough ending. And now Arkansas moves on to the Sweet 16, where they're going to play Texas Tech on Thursday in San Francisco. And that's because the Red Raiders eliminated Drake on Saturday. 77. 64 Big 12 Player of the Year. J.T. toppin. Took 13 shots, made 11 of them, finished with 25 points, 12 rebounds. KB Any thoughts on Texas Tech over Drake or on where you think Ben McCollum is going to be coaching next season?
- [22:37]
Kyle Boone
Spicey. Yeah, let's, let's look into the crystal ball here. I'm gonna guess Iowa. Just, just riffing off the top of my head. I like that potential pairing there. But yeah, I mean, like just an impressive performance from J.T. toppin, who remains like one of the most fabulous players in college basketball and I think will be a household name, which is long overdue. He had 26 points, 12 rebounds against Drake and Drake just had absolutely no answers for Toppin. Darian Williams, also big in this game, had 28 points for Texas Tech and they are moving on. I picked Texas Tech to advance into the Final Four and that's, that's looking a little bit more promising after today. St. John's bowing out of the NCAA tournament. The path for the Red Raiders is, is very much open. It's in play.
- [23:24]
Gary Parrish
And just while we're talking about a Big 12 team, it should be noted the Big 12's now 9 and 1 in this tournament.
- [23:29]
Kyle Boone
Yeah.
- [23:29]
Gary Parrish
And the only Big 12 team to be eliminated so far is the blue blood of the, of the conference, the Kansas Jayhawks. Weird fact. As for Ben, obviously he's a candidate at Iowa. He was all asked about it after the game multiple times. Just sort of said, you know, he wasn't interested in discussing any of that type of stuff right now, but he'll have some, it appears, have some big decisions to make in the coming games, coming days rather. Next up we're going to go to the Midwest Region where one of the NCAA Tournament's greatest streaks is no longer an active streak. We'll talk Houston, Gonzaga. We'll do that next. But first, let's get a word from our partner.
- [24:14]
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Gary Parrish
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- [27:24]
Gary Parrish
Final score Houston 81, Gonzaga 76 Caleb Battle launched a potential game tying three in the final seconds. It was blocked. Houston sank a couple free throws put things away. So now the Cougars are in the Sweet 16 for the sixth straight season and Gonzaga streak of nine straight Sweet 16 appearances is over. That was a fun game. Houston seemed like it was in control for much of it but then suddenly you look up and the Zach's had a shot.
- [27:52]
Kyle Boone
Yeah, that was really impressive kind of last ditch effort from Gonzaga. Houston ends up winning this one, but it looked like it was very much in peril. They were up 14 points in the second half and the Zag stormed all the way back, actually cut it to one point in the final minute, but Houston just had a little bit more. They had a few defensive stops down the stretch, made some clutch free throws. LJ Crier was big, had 30 points and end up escaping this one. But yeah, Houston nearly near nearly nearly gave this one away. It was an impressive late run from the Zags, but too little too late. Houston moves on.
- [28:33]
Gary Parrish
Yeah, just some interesting statistical stuff. The The Zag shot 50 from the field, which is obviously awesome against Houston, but they still lost the game even though Houston was a little lower than that at 47%. So the question is how did Houston win with a lower field goal percentage while also by the way getting beat at the three point line and the Answer is offensive rebounds and turnovers. Houston had 13 offense rebounds. Gonzaga only had five. Houston only had seven turnovers. Gonzaga had 11. That's how Houston ended up getting 10 more field goal attempts and five more free throw attempts in the game than Gonzaga. When you get so many more opportunities than your opponent, it's just a math thing. You don't have to be as efficient as you otherwise would be to win. So Houston just continues to operate at the the tip top of the sport again. Six straight Sweet 16s for Kelvin Sampson's program. And as I mentioned earlier in studio before they got to the Big 12, people were wondering like, like how are they going to adjust to the Big 12? And they have made the Big 12 look like the AAC. Obviously the Big 12 is not the AAC, but Houston is making it look like the AAC. If you add up all the games Houston's played the past two seasons against Big 12 opponents is 39 5, 395 against Big 12 opponents the past two years. Two outright conference championships won the league by four games this season. And now in the Sweet 16 once again Gonzaga, the the streak of of nine Sweet 16s is is snapped. But like just amazing stuff. And I love that Kelvin in his post game interview on the court really used a chunk of it to just compliment the coach and man that Mark Few is the program that Gonzaga has become. And you got to remember because of where Kelvin once coached like he was within proximity of that. He knows what that used to look like and you know for it to go from where it was in the late 90s, early 2000s to where it is right now is just incredible. They'll be back. This will not be Mark Fu's last NCAA tournament I don't think. And I know he's been a nine straight Sweet 16s before this year. I wouldn't be surprised and I don't think anybody should be if they start a new streak as early as next season. Next up for Houston going to be Purdue on Friday Indian in Indianapolis. And that's because the Boilermakers started the day with a 7662 victory over McNeese. Nothing too interesting about this game. Purdue was up double digits barely five minutes in, led for all but 19 seconds, never trailed and this is now the eighth Sweet 16 appearance for for Matt Painter. So I guess we go from talking about two great coaches in that game to another one in that one.
- [31:26]
Kyle Boone
Yeah. No. And it's an impressive notch in the belt again for for Matt painter. Purdue had seven Sweet 16 appear program before Painter arrived. They now have eight since he took over in 2005 and Trey Kaufman ren again fantastic 22 and 15 along with three cysts. Braden Smith actually kind of quiet in the second half, but set the tone early. Had 10 points, five assists in this one and since 2005, since Painter took over, they have been to eight Sweet 16 appearances. Only 10 teams have more in that span. So Purdue obviously went to the national championship game, lost to UConn last season, operating again despite losing, you know, a lottery pick in Zach Edie, a two time national player of the year and Zach Edie at among the highest level of the sport in college basketball.
- [32:20]
Gary Parrish
After the game I thought Matt's media availability was interesting. He said among other things, we will not go any further in this tournament if we're not better offensively. And I think what he means by that is the turnovers have been a problem all season and they were again today, 19 turns, only 17 assists and Braden Smith is awesome All American guard, Big Ten player of the year. He turns it over a lot, man. And he had eight turns again today, so that's obviously a problem. We just talked about Gonzaga turning it over against Houston and getting beat on the offensive glass by Houston and ending up with 10 more field goal attempts and then Houston ending up with 10 more field goal attempts than Gonzaga. This is not the type of team you need to be trying to give the ball away to, so they've got to clean that up. If you tell me Braden Smith is turning the ball over like that and Purdue is turning the ball over like that, I'll tell you Houston's going to win this game pretty comfortably, even though it will be played just 65 miles from Purdue's campus. And I don't want to spend much time on this, in part because it's 3:00 in the morning and I know the selection committee can't account for every possible matchup and they'll tell you they don't even try at some point. They don't. It's just. It is what it is. But this is something I noticed just as soon as the bracket comes out. And it's not crazy to think a 1 seed could play a 4 seed in the sweet 16. In fact, like, that's the way it's supposed to be. The 1 seed is supposed to play the 4 seed in the Sweet 16. If the bracket goes the way it's supposed to go, the 1C will play the 4. And that means you were setting this up for a likely scenario where the one seed in this region would have to play what's going to amount to something similar to a road game in the sweet sixteen. I, I don't think that's right. I'll let Calvin Sampson complain about it later in the week if he wants to. He won't and he probably won't because he doesn't even feed into that stuff. Like let's just go play basketball. And I think the thing he had that even tonight, you know, he was, he was fired up and ready to go and happy and like let you know, it just. I love every bit. I love the Kelvin Sampson story and that he's doing it at Houston and has done at Houston. He probably won't complain about it. So let me complain about it on his behalf. Not the biggest deal in the world. Let's not waste another second on it. But I don't think it's right. I don't think it's something that should happen next. Let's go to the south region. That's where top seed Auburn advanced to the Sweet 16 with a win over Creighton. But before we do that, can we just get another word from our partners?
- [34:57]
Kyle Boone
Let's do it.
- [34:59]
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- [36:00]
Gary Parrish
Final score, Auburn 82, Creighton 70. Yes. The number one seed in the south and the number one overall seed in the bracket was trailing at the half. That was a little concerning if you got Auburn winning the national championship in your bracket. But they outscored Creighton 4733 the rest of the way and they won the game by 12. KB are Bruce Pearl's Tigers back to what they were mid season when they were dominating basically everybody, or you're not so sure quite yet.
- [36:24]
Kyle Boone
I'm not so sure quite yet. It's been kind of hit or miss or what we've seen from Auburn here the last couple weeks, really. But, you know, credit to them, they were able to rally and this one end up winning comfortably by, by 12 points. And Tahad Pettiford was great, 23 points, six rebounds. Chad Baker Mazzara ended up with it with some sort of like, hip injury. It looked like Bruce Pearl after, after the game said something like, he's got a little bony ass. So. So we'll see exactly how that injury shakes out. But I mean, Pettiford was fantastic. One one point short of, of a career high as a true freshman. He was great. Janai Broom, just eight points in this game. Auburn just did enough and able to limit Brenner to 18.7 rebounds. Auburn advances. I don't know if they look like the, the Auburn that was humming at an elite level in the middle of the season, but certainly I think they're among the three or four best teams right now. Even if they don't really have their best stuff, this is still a dangerous team that can win the national championship.
- [37:30]
Gary Parrish
Chad Baker Mazar, not thick.
- [37:31]
Kyle Boone
Not thick.
- [37:32]
Gary Parrish
Not. Not thick. I never even really thought about it, but now that I'm thinking about it for the first time. Not thick. Let me ask you a question, cowboy. Yeah. Should he consider taking part of his nil and getting a bbl? Nil to a bbi? Hello? You think nil gets you a bbl? Chad Baker Mazar comes back next year with an extra year of eligibility and he's thick. What you think?
- [38:03]
Kyle Boone
I mean, if he had a BBL, he probably would have played more than 21 minutes in this game, right? Like, he could have been 30, 35 minutes.
- [38:11]
Gary Parrish
I think a BB. I think a BBL is going to get you three extra rebounds a game on average, at least.
- [38:18]
Kyle Boone
I mean, he fell on his, you know, little bony ass and was kind of out for most of the rest of the second half. BBL probably would have fixed that to some extent.
- [38:28]
Gary Parrish
That's what I'm trying to say. And like, that's what. That's. That's what I'm trying to say. All right, just think about it, all right? I'm not here. Hey, your body, your choice.
- [38:37]
Kyle Boone
That's right.
- [38:38]
Gary Parrish
Your body, your choice. I'm not here to make decisions for Chad Baker Mazar. I'm just saying Nil could get you a bbl. We could fix that bony ass. Once upon a time, if you lived on planet Earth, if you had a bony ass, you just had a bony ass. But we could fix that now.
- [38:55]
Kyle Boone
That's right.
- [38:56]
Gary Parrish
We got surgeries. We can fix that now. Think about it. Stay focused on the tournament for now, but once this is over, think about it. Jenny Broom, only 8 points, 12 rebounds, 4 of 13 from the pier. But Pettiford, like you said, was awesome. Auburn, a little bit like Purdue in the sense that they don't get to play their Sweet 16 game close to home as well. They're going to Atlanta. Atlanta is only 110 miles from Auburn. Sometimes people get confused. You always assume if a city is in the state, like if everything's in the same state, they must be close together, right? And. And if they're in different states, you have no context. And I actually live in a place where this is all backwards. Like I like if you're in Memphis, you're like six and a half hours from the University of Tennessee and like an hour and a half from Ole Miss, two and a half from Mississippi. In Memphis, Tennessee, you were closer to like a million SEC schools than you are the University of Tennessee. And I actually live in the state of Mississippi. I can be to Tennessee in 10 minutes or Arkansas in 15. So the Auburn, Atlanta, things a little bit like that. Yeah, you got to cross the state line. But it's only 110 miles. You could drive it like an hour, 35, hour 40. I don't mind this one because Auburn's the number one seed. This is just an advantage for being the number one seed. Congratulations. You get to fill up an arena in Atlanta. I don't mind the one seed getting a geography advantage in the Sweet 16 or Elite 8. I just don't like it when a number one seed is at a disadvantage. So in Indianapolis, the number one seeds at a disadvantage. In Atlanta, the number one seed is is at a place of advant. Next up for Auburn, they're going to play Michigan on Friday in Atlanta. And that's because Michigan eliminated Texas A&M 9179 to advance to the Sweet 16. Like Auburn, Michigan actually trailed at the half but eventually won by double digits. The Wolverines were outscored by outscored Rather A and M56 to 40 in the final 20 minutes. Flag. Golden got 23 points, 12 rebounds, three blocks. As you know, he's the first Michigan player to get at least 2010 and three in the NCAA tournament since Prince Weber did it in the title game of the 1993 NCAA tournament. And now Vlad golden and Dusty May are in the Sweet 16 for the second time in a three year span. Back in 2023, they got there with FAU, now they're there with Michigan. Year one for Dusty may going all right, Nan Arbor, isn't it?
- [41:19]
Kyle Boone
Pretty good. Pretty good. Pretty good. Yeah. This is a huge turnaround for Michigan. And you just got to give your, your flowers to Dusty May. I mean they're, they're at 27 wins right now. They were 8 and 24 last season. GP. Things were not, things were not great. They finished last in the Big Ten. Kind of a laughing stock in, in, you know, in the, in that league for, for many reasons. No other team has lost that many games in one season. In one season and then made the Sweet 16 the next season since the Sweet 16 officially began in 1975. That's according to Optus stats. And Michigan earned this one. They, they put on a show in the second half and really rallied. Roddy Gale was big, 26 points, four rebounds. Vlad golden, as you mentioned, 23 points. Him and Danny Wolfe combined for six blocks. And this is a, this was a really good Texas A M team that is very, very physical. They pound the offensive glass. They're really good at second chance points. They didn't have the offensive firepower to keep up with this Michigan team and the way that they play. And it was a really, really impressive performance from, from Dusty May and the Wolverines today.
- [42:30]
Gary Parrish
It also sets up a situation where if Michigan State is able to get past New Mexico on Sunday, the Michigan State and Michigan will both be in Atlanta in the sweet 16. I just think that's kind of neat. You got two in state rivals from a different part of the country traveling to one of the America's great cities. And you know, you just got all of that Michigan stuff walking around downtown Atlanta. That'll be a fun scene if, if it'll be a fun scene no matter what. But it'll be especially fun if, if Michigan State joins Michigan. Two in state rivals from the Big Ten hanging out in Atlanta for a few, for a few days. Two more games from Saturday to touch on this one. If it wasn't the best it was up there, pretty good. Final score. BYU 91, Wisconsin 89. That's the number six seed over the number three seed in the East Region. The Cougars are in the Sweet 16 now for the first time since 2011 and for just the second time since 1981. And we got big performances in this one. John Tanji got 37. That's a tournament high so far. Richie Saunders at BYU, 25 points, seven rebounds. Officials got involved. Dawson Baker got, got ejected from the game. Like there was a lot going on. That was a, that's the way an NCAA tournament game I think is, is supposed to feel.
- [43:47]
Kyle Boone
Yeah, that was, it was an awesome game. I think probably the second best game behind St. John's and, and Arkansas earlier in the day for sure.
- [43:55]
Gary Parrish
And this was actually, this was actually a more enjoyable game to watch. That was just like close and exciting and the stakes felt so high. But, but in terms of just like let's watch basketball and get, let's actually get the ball through the hoop a lot. This was, this was more enjoyable.
- [44:08]
Kyle Boone
Table yeah, Arkansas, St. John's was a rock fight. BYU, Wisconsin was, was peak offensive basketball. Tanje with 37 points. He actually missed the game tying shot in the final seconds and, and really just kind of a botched final possession. Just, just a last second heave just to try and make something happen. Didn't happen. But yeah, I mean like this, this BYU team is super fun and I, I wouldn't say really that they came out of nowhere either. This, this team was 2 and 4 to start Big 12 play and you know, it looked, looked a little bit listless, a little bit aimless. They finished 14 and six in Big 12 play. They've now won 11 of their last 12 games and a really, really fun team to watch especially on offense. 12 of 26 from 3 point range today. Jaegor Dimon, who, who I have is a potential top 10 pick in the this summer's draft class, had A game high 8 assists for BYU. Of course, as you mentioned, Saunder Saunders 25 points leading the way today. So a really fun game. Probably the best like offensive game we've got of, of the NCAA tournament so far.
- [45:19]
Gary Parrish
More of them.
- [45:19]
Kyle Boone
Yeah, that's right.
- [45:21]
Gary Parrish
I mean more of them. I don't, you know, I tip my hat when I need to tip my hat. More of them.
- [45:26]
Kyle Boone
Absolutely.
- [45:27]
Gary Parrish
This, this was by the way, Wisconsin losing the first loss for the Big Ten in this NCAA tournament. The league started 10 0, which is the best start for any league in the history of the NCAA tournament. They're now 10 and 2 and that's because the last game of the night, Tennessee beat UCLA 67 58. Chaz Lanier got 20 points. He now has 49 through two games of this NCAA tournament. So Tennessee moves on. UCLA is eliminated. We still don't know who will play these last two games that we mentioned? They're waiting for their opponent. BYU will play the winner of Sunday's game between Alabama and St. Mary's and now Tennessee will play the winner of Sunday's game between Kentucky and Illinois. But what did you make of Tennessee 67, UCLA 58? And I hope you caught Mick Cronin's post game comments because they were exactly what you would expect them to be.
- [46:24]
Kyle Boone
I did not catch Cronin's post game. I look forward to you briefing me on that. I was actually expecting something to be explosive. So, yeah, I'm looking forward to the debrief there. But yeah, this was, you know, more rock fight than offensive shootout. This was closer to Arkansas, St. John's than BYU, Wisconsin. Tennessee just, just won by bludgeoning the Bruins. Defensively, UCLA just cannot get things going. Zakai Ziegler was big in this one. 15.6 assists, linear. As you mentioned, 20 points in this one after 29 points in the first round win for the Vols over Wofford. And yeah, good win for, for Tennessee. This kind of an ugly game, but ended up advancing here. I need the deep refund on Cronin.
- [47:08]
Gary Parrish
I'll just read it to you. I could, I could, I could read this quote and not even tell you who said it. And then I would say, okay, K.B. who said that? And you would get it right. All right, here's the quote right now. Guys, it's 12:40am and our season just ended. Right now my biggest concern is how bad the seats are on the allegiant flight on that terr. Horrible plane. We're gonna have to fly home on tomorrow. I love that he just decided to on the plane at the end of.
- [47:37]
Kyle Boone
The night, get on the allegiance.
- [47:42]
Gary Parrish
He's so mad about this allegiant flight. And imagine allegiant like they're sitting around like, and we're partners with the ncaa. This is gonna be good for the brand. And then the UCLA coach just craps on you and they're tagging allegiant on Twitter. It's like Mick Cronin said this tag allegiant. It's just a, it's a rough. That's a rough business deal for allegiant. You think? And I should be clear, I don't even know if it's a business deal. It just whatever. But like, poor allegiant. I'm Team Delta, so I don't care. But like poor allegiant. Yeah, you probably get. You're probably not the allegiance. The Allegiant CEO, whoever that is, goes to bed on Saturday night probably thinking, you know what? Life's pretty good. And you're gonna wake up on Sunday morning and find out the UCLA basketball coach was very dis. Displeased with the terrible, quote, terrible plane we're gonna have to fly home on tomorrow. If Mick has spent postgame press conferences complaining about the Statue of Liberty and Allegiant air, it's a fitting in.
- [48:49]
Kyle Boone
It's a fitting in for Cronus.
- [48:50]
Gary Parrish
This is the way it should be. Don't ever change, Mick, because here's the truth. On one hand, I know nobody wants to hear anybody, particularly a multi millionaire, complain about a private plane. At its core, that's what this is. A multimillionaire complaining about a private plane home tomorrow. All right? On one hand, nobody wants to hear that. On the other hand, if you've ever gotten on a plane, a. On a awful airplane relative to the standards you have established for yourself, it's not great.
- [49:23]
Kyle Boone
Especially after a rough weekend.
- [49:24]
Gary Parrish
Right, Especially after a rough weekend. So I have also been known to complain about things that other people would be like, yo, man, if that was my worst problem, things would be good. I. So I can appreciate Mick Cronin. He's grumpy. His team, his season's over, and he's got a awful plane ride tomorrow. I at least hope the WI fi works. I at least hope he's downloaded some. Some good movies or. Or at least season two of Severance. Maybe just watch season two of Severance on your flight back. And given how far they always are from everything, you could knock out the whole season probably just on the. On the flight home. Kb, you tired enough? You ready to go to sleep?
- [50:02]
Kyle Boone
I'm so tired. Let's go to bed.
- [50:04]
Gary Parrish
I'm actually not ready to go to sleep. Here's the thing. I. I will not go to sleep right now. The other night, after I got done with this 2:30am podcast, I went to bed at like, 6 7. The last time I looked at the clock was like, 6:17. I sat here overlooking Times Square, watching the sunrise over Times Square. I just. I'm up now. How about this? I was walking the studio today. My phone rings, and it's a 212 number, New York City. And I'm like, who is this? So I answered, hello. And they said, Mr. Parrish? Yes, this is so and so from the hotel. I said, yeah, what's up? She said, I'm just. We're just. You've had the do not disturb sign on your door for three days and we're doing a wellness check. They did a wellness check on me today, my hotel did. And you know what I told him? I said, oh, no, no, I'm fine. I just work till 6 o'clock in the morning now and I sleep till noon. And then it takes me 20 minutes to get my head together. And so I just don't leave my room until it's time to go back to work at 4:00. So I just keep the sign on the door all day. But my hotel was concerned I might be dead. That's where we're at. That's where we're at. Oh, it's March, baby. It's March. It's March. And my hotel thinks I might be dead.
- [51:19]
Kyle Boone
I'm glad you're not dead, gp.
- [51:20]
Gary Parrish
I'm glad I'm not dead too. You know, I'm glad I'm not dead too. So you go to bed. I'm just go, I'm just gonna go right over here and look out the window for a few hours and then, and then we'll, we'll do it all again tomorrow. It'll be fun. Shouts to Devin Downey. Shouts to Chester, South Carolina. Terry Teago's a legend. Huck Larnell. Thank you guys once again for watching listening to the Ion College Basketball podcast. And for those of you who are really here live at 3:20 in the morning and I'm looking at you, that's incredible. Like, I'll never take that for granted that there's this many people hanging out with us this late at night. I know the overwhelming majority of people who consume this are going to get it when they wake up on Sunday morning. You can sneak an AirPod in and listen to it at church. That's what I would do. I'd put an AirPod in and listen to it, you know, during the service if you could get away with it. But to all you guys who are here live, amazing, we appreciate it and we're gonna be here every night in some form. Norlander, Cobb, me, Boone, whatever the combination is, we're gonna be here every night after the NCAA tournament, no matter the time. So I don't expect you guys to always be here with us this late. I know you got other. You can't sleep. You guys can't sleep till noon tomorrow. Okay, I, I probably, I don't need to, but if I need, if I have to, it, it's not the biggest deal in the world. So thank you guys for being here. Appreciate you. We'll have a new episode tomorrow night after Sunday night's games. And then we'll have the sweet 16 completely, completely set. It's gonna be a fun Sunday. Appreciate you guys. Talk to you again real soon. Till then, take care.
- [53:01]
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