← Eye On College Basketball
Eye On College Basketball
Mikel Brown Jr. the next frosh to arrive: Louisville downs UK; Illinois beats TTU despite Toppin’s HUGE night; Gonzaga’s awesome again; Florida, Michigan, BYU dodge upsets
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- [00:01]
Gary Parrish
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- [01:14]
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- [02:36]
Gary Parrish
Foreign hey there. I am Gary Parrish. Welcome back to the CBS Sports I own College Basketball podcast where we sometimes discuss Camel Fighting Dodo Birds in League E Black Matt Norlander is here with me. He's right there. If you watch it on YouTube, smash the like button like you're Brandon Davies. If you're one of us, let the world know in the chat and in the comments. And if you haven't yet subscribe to the CBS Sports college basketball YouTube channel, please also do that while you're here. Let's get into it. The place to start I think is inside the KFC Yum center where Louisville and Kentucky got together for a Tuesday night in state battle between top 15 teams. Final score Number 12 Louisville 96 Number 9 Kentucky 88. After taking over a program that finished 290th at Kim Palm in 2023 and 185th at Ken Palm in 2024 under a previous staff, Pat Kelsey has got Louisville off to a 30 start featuring a big win over its biggest rival. Michael Brown Jr. Finished with a game high 29 points. He's the latest five star freshman to show out early in this season. Norlander, I know you were at Duke army tonight. We'll get to that later. So I'm not sure how much of this you saw, but the truth is I don't think you had to see even a second of it to know it was a special night for a program and for that fan base. What'd you make of the developments in Louisville tonight?
- [04:14]
Matt Norlander
Yeah, no, this is where we got to start. Hello, not from Champaign, Illinois. We'll get to that in a few. I'm happy to see Paris was actually able to hop on an airplane. I know that everyone that watched and consumed our Sunday show the promises was that we would go live Tuesday night. We are good by our word. Promote something. We're going to show up. I'm now back at my house. We'll talk about all the other stuff later. I did get to watch the first half of this game. Also want to, you know, be a little bit transparent with the audience. This is a a fly by the seat of our pants kind of show. Some of the stuff I saw, some of the stuff I didn't. GP was in studio doing a whole bunch of stuff as well. So thrilled to tour through a night. I noticed someone in the chat said this really felt like the night the college basketball season arrived. I wouldn't necessarily agree because we've had some good nights. I was dialed in last Friday, Carolina, Kansas, you know, co a Pete show to open the season. But I get, I get the sentiment. Just an array of really interesting games and interesting results and let's dive in. I'm psyched to be doing this. And anyone waking up with the pod ready for you on a Wednesday, don't get used to this. This is a rarity. But we wanted to deliver as we said we would. I do think Louisville winning.
- [05:16]
Gary Parrish
Let me just say if you want to stay up with me till 2 o' clock in the morning every Tuesday night during the season, I'm happy to do it because I'm up anyway.
- [05:27]
Matt Norlander
I don't know about that one. Okay.
- [05:29]
Gary Parrish
So I just wanted, I just wanted you to have to reject something. I want to be able to tell our bosses. Like, listen, I told Norlander if he wants to go live every Tuesday, we could, but you know, he's got kids in school and stuff, so whatever. But I was willing to die. I was willing to die for the Island College Basketball podcast.
- [05:48]
Matt Norlander
I think you're still going to be close to death at multiple points this upcoming season for sure. And if we actually did that on a serious, on a semi serious note, the pod literally might not start until like 1:40am on some of those nights. So we're not going to come schedule a couple of takeaways on the Kentucky Louisville stuff. Yes, Mikel Brown junior's performance is the, is the next one. And for, for a great freshman, he's not a surprise going, you know, top five freshmen coming into the season. Now he had his moment. Here's yet another one. I mean, they're just coming one after another after another after another. And the first half that I was able to see and just so we're clear, I wasn't able to see the second half because I was at Duke army and had to do some media availability stuff. And then obviously I wanted to scoot my way home and listen to Texas Tech Illinois, we'll get that in a few. But for Brown to do what he did, 29 points, 5 assists, 10 of 11 from the line. I know Conwell also had a really nice game, hit four triples, Louisville to announce its full on return last season. You make the tournament obviously a huge turnaround, but you beat Kentucky. You beat Kentucky in a situation where I know Kentucky and Louisville fans felt a little bit awkward that, you know, they'd never played this early in a season period. They never played the basketball game before the Louisville, Kentucky football game. So I know on a certain level you were so eager for this, but it felt probably weird for Kentucky and Louisville fans. Like you usually like to get seven, eight, nine games into the non com before you build up to that game. Typically around Christmas here, we just dove right into it, added to a really awesome second weekend in college basketball, an awesome Tuesday night. And when I was watching courtside during the Duke army game, Louisville just was on all cylinders. They, they look tremendous. They look like the team that was just ready to go, ready to make a statement. That winds up being the case. Now. I know Kentucky made the push in the second half, from what I could tell and pick up here before we got going. I know Jaylen Low had some good moments, had some bumpy moments there. You know, you're on the road. If you're Kentucky, you're playing against a Louisville team that's inside the top 15 and justifiably so. The Cardinals were able to score a high clip, 1.25 points per possession. Most of that was Brown in Conwell, I understand that, but they really did distribute a ton as well. 20 assists and let me check this. Just six. Wow. Just six turnovers. None from Conwell, only one from Brown. That's big time stuff. I know Aberdeen was the big player that really stepped up. He had some really nice moments for Kentucky, but you didn't get quite enough out of away. You didn't get enough out of Low. Cam Williams, you want to see more. Garrison didn't step up enough there. This is great for college basketball. It's great for the rivalry. You need a little push and pull with this one. Kentucky owns the series historically between these two, it had not lost a game in the series in what, five years. Louisville gets the game on its home floor, puts up 96, by the way. I'd say I was surprised by the fact that even though GP it was in hostile territory. You got to go into the yum center. I, I wouldn't have expected Louisville to crack, I don't know, 83, 84 against a Kentucky defense that I think is going to run into shape. There's no. Jake Quton's obviously involved in the roster there, but yeah, you're Pat Kelsey. Come on now. In fact, I haven't been watching the screen in full. I know we've got the, the stats up here. I did see. Did you see this? I saw this. Moments before we went live, Kelsey dislocated this finger. Celebrating with the fans. Did you see that?
- [09:15]
Gary Parrish
I did not see that.
- [09:16]
Matt Norlander
Throw it. Well, the irony here is everyone knows it's L's up if you're Louisville, Kelsey is literally making a W with his hand because he had courtesy the photo and the Tweet, courtesy of Pat40, obviously there to cover the game. So he goes and celebrates afterward. And in the midst of celebrating with the fan base and with the students, he somehow gets his finger dislocated and now he's rocking a W for the foreseeable future. Your thoughts on what went down in Louisville on Tuesday?
- [09:43]
Gary Parrish
Well, if you flip that upside down, you can almost get an M. There you go.
- [09:48]
Matt Norlander
We doing gang signs on the pod again. This is, this is something that's come about.
- [09:51]
Gary Parrish
I mean, I mean, if you're raising the M, you got to know how to do it. M. If I'm Pat, I'm thrilled. A just big picture stuff. Like you mentioned, this is the first victory for Louisville over Kentucky since December 26, 2020. So, yeah, roughly five years. You know, the program he took over had been driven down to a place. I didn't think a program of that stature could be driven down. And for him to get it back to a great place so quickly is a testament to, yes, the program he's running, but also that administration that has set him up for, for success. So that's what leads to, to this night. But then you drill down on the game and it's, yeah, they got 29 from their five star freshman, but their five star freshman is special and he can go out and, and, and, and create performances like that. My larger point is it's not like they shot crazy from three. They shot a lot of threes, which they're going to do this season. They prioritize shooting in the transfer portal. They've got shooters all over the court. They're going to launch from beyond the arc. They took 40 of them, but they only made 13. Now, I know 13 without context is a big number. Like most college basketball teams do not make 13 threes, but when you do the math on, it's 32 and a half percent from three. They didn't go out and go 18 of 40 from three. It was 13 of 40 from three. That's not a, that's not like they're probably going to shoot better than that from beyond the arc most games even if they don't want quite that many. My point is this wasn't some like crazy good. They played out of their minds performance obviously getting 96 playing at that pace only turn it over six times. That's great. But if I'm pat, the thing that makes me feel best about the night is I, I don't know that I got some perfect performance from my team and I still beat a team that some people think is going to win the sec, that some people think can go to the final four, that some people have win in the national championship.
- [11:54]
Matt Norlander
Yeah, this is, I'm just, it's, you know, not really not giving a damn who wins and who loses the game. It's just refreshing that we had a Louisville Kentucky game with a good amount of anticipation around it. I think generally in that state obviously that this game has been, I mean Kentucky and Louisville fans have been jawing back and forth for months and you know it's practically a, a 365 day thing. But to have a game like this really entertaining. I know Louisville jacked up a ton of shots. We're going to see plenty of that. But then like for Brown to get his moment immediately, like this isn't a situation where we're getting to the end of November and preseason top five rated incoming freshman. When's he going to have it? No, it's here. It was here in the first big game. He showed up, he showed out. He was the most important player on the floor. He was the most effective player on the floor and he was able to get largely what he wanted when he wanted it. And an important result for Louisville which by the way, you know, just we're still very early into the season. Kentucky was one at Ken Palm entering into the night. Duke has subsequently left over Kentucky as you might expect as a result of that they were projected 1 point win in the metrics. But they, they get it done. They win by eight. And just touring through the box score just a little bit more here GP, you know. Kentucky 14 turnovers. Interesting. They only had one fewer made three pointer from two point lane. They were, they were relatively effective. You're just gonna need more depending on the kind of team you're going at. Like Garrison and Diabate both starting. That's not tremendously surprising. In fact, I think Kentucky's gonna probably have to roll with two bigs for much of this season. Be interested to see how they filter through a lot of their lineups. Overall if you're a Kentucky fan, never want to lose the Louisville. At least it's a Louisville team that's going to have the capacity to really make a push in the acc. Now you get a breather before we'll be talking about Kentucky again next week. I'll be seeing in person at Champions Classic when they go up against Michigan State. But it's just great to see Louisville back in this way again. They were back a season ago. They didn't win a game in the tournament. It was refreshing. Okay, this is a Louisville we know, but here's just the kind of win that transcends the state really resonates here. And if they can get it done to this level, you know, for the remainder of the month, then Louisville is going to have a chance. If it doesn't lose and it's. It's got a chance to basically not take a loss in all of November, then it could be a team that rises from where it is right now. I think it might be 12 in the rankings. GP in the AP rankings. That is, you know, to getting more to that top five, top six conversation overall. Can't wait to see how Brown and Con will continue to grow with each other. They got other good dudes on that roster, but it does feel like those two are going to be the ones that really dictate how high the ceiling can be for this Louisville team.
- [14:42]
Gary Parrish
Speaking historically, Michael Brown's. Michael Brown's 29 points, that's the most for a Louisville freshman since Edgar Sosa got 31 in 2007. The freshman record at Louisville for points in a game is actually 32. Trivia time. Who holds the freshman record for points in a game at Louisville with 32? It's a trivia time. It's a late night trivia time.
- [15:11]
Matt Norlander
Yeah. Never nervous Purvis.
- [15:16]
Gary Parrish
Never nervous Purvis is obviously an excellent answer, perhaps the most sensible one, but it's not correct. You're. You're in the right era.
- [15:28]
Matt Norlander
You're in there really.
- [15:30]
Gary Parrish
You got to be in the 80s, never nervous. Purvis was in the 80s. He ruined much of my childhood. And then this fella came along.
- [15:39]
Matt Norlander
Yeah, Daryl Griffin was my next guest. So Chat's loading up with it. Duncan Stein.
- [15:42]
Gary Parrish
That's a. That is a nice answer, but it is also incorrect.
- [15:48]
Matt Norlander
Who we got laid on me.
- [15:51]
Gary Parrish
The person who holds the freshman record points of the game at the University of Louisville with 32, it's the great Le Bradford Smith.
- [16:00]
Matt Norlander
Ah, Le Bradford Smith. How about that? Once erroneously referred to as the Jordan Stopper. His NBA career. Michael Jordan, Absolutely. Towards that guy.
- [16:09]
Gary Parrish
Well, I know he was the Memphis State tiger stopper. All these dudes. And by the way, you know, Trivia Time, Part 2. What conference did Le Bradford Smith play in?
- [16:20]
Matt Norlander
Come on. I was raised on the Metro.
- [16:23]
Gary Parrish
I was raised on the Metro.
- [16:25]
Matt Norlander
Metro.
- [16:26]
Gary Parrish
Shouts to Bimbo Kohl's.
- [16:28]
Matt Norlander
Okay, there we go.
- [16:30]
Gary Parrish
Yelling in a hotel room at 12.
- [16:32]
Matt Norlander
I love it.
- [16:34]
Gary Parrish
There is a. There's a businessman right next door to me. Like, what is going on?
- [16:38]
Matt Norlander
Did I hear somebody sell bimbo?
- [16:41]
Gary Parrish
Did somebody just yell bimbo Kohl's in the middle of the night? That's what's happening.
- [16:45]
Matt Norlander
It has been. It has been a. A wish of mine, a sick wish, a twisted W that either you or me at one point when we do these late night shows, just get someone, like someone from the front desk just come up to your door and just knock on in the middle of the show. Can you keep. Can you keep it down, please?
- [17:00]
Gary Parrish
I will say at the Final Four last season in. Where do you think we were last year? San Antonio?
- [17:08]
Matt Norlander
Come on.
- [17:08]
Gary Parrish
Yes.
- [17:10]
Matt Norlander
Yes. Last season. Yes. The Final Four was in San Antonio.
- [17:14]
Gary Parrish
I remember that. The. We. We stayed in an amazing hotel. The hotel was great, but the walls were very thin. And like every day. Chris Walker, my colleague, yeah, I remember that. He was like, bro, I am listening to the Gary Perry show every morning and I don't want to. I want to sleep you. He had to hear every word. So my apologies. But sometimes, sometimes I get excited when I'm talking about the Metro Conference.
- [17:38]
Matt Norlander
I completely understand. Louisville fans, congrats on a really good win. Looking forward to seeing what you've got next. We got plenty else to get to, so I think the next most relevant result of the night is the result that I was not able to travel to. And that's Illinois staving off Texas Tech down the stretch. We'll get to that game. CGP's thoughts. But first, let's have a quick word from our partners. If you have a family, there's a lot to plan for all the time. Even the types of things you'd rather not have to plan for. But in the event of a tragedy, you want to protect your loved ones and keep them cared for. You want to be sure you're covered with life insurance. Looking out for your family's future is about a lot more than just money. It's about peace of mind. And the truth is, getting life insurance doesn't have to be complicated. Ethos is an online platform that makes getting life insurance fast and easy to protect your family's future in minutes, not months. There's no medical exam required. Just answer a few health questions, get a quote in as little as 10 minutes, and you can even get same day coverage without ever leaving your house. Some policies start as low as $2 a day and you can get up to $3 million in coverage. Ethos has earned the trust of over 3 million families and Business Insider named them the number one medical exam instant life insurance provider. So protect your family with life insurance from Ethos. Get your free quote@ethos.com I that's E T H O S.com Eye application times may vary. Rates may vary Avoiding your unfinished home.
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Gary Parrish
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- [19:04]
Matt Norlander
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Gary Parrish
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- [19:21]
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- [19:51]
Gary Parrish
Another top 15 matchup. Final score Illinois 81, Texas Tech 77 Andres Toyakovic he got a game high 23 points in 26 minutes. Made his first five shots. And so Illinois got a lot of headlines in the off season because of how it prioritized recruiting, specifically Eastern European players. I believe there's five on the roster right now and they got a big win over Texas Tech. JT Toppin One of only three consensus all Americans to return to college. But he had a big night. 35 points, 11 rebounds. But it comes in a loss. First by condolences, I know you did your best to get there, but jfk, not the man the airport would not cooperate.
- [20:38]
Matt Norlander
So yeah, yeah, well listen, GP did get to New York, which is good. He also, like I did, he dealt with delay after delay and cancellation. But credit to my guy over There because he's going on close to 20 hours.
- [20:52]
Gary Parrish
I woke up at 3:30 this morning.
- [20:54]
Matt Norlander
3:30 local, 4:30 eastern. It's now 12:20 eastern as we do this. And he's not close to going to bed. Neither am I. But he did make it there, which I'm glad to see we'll get to the game. But yes, I want, you know, I know we promoted. I would actually be talking from this arena. That's not the case. Two hours down to JFK on Sunday. You know, a couple of delays, I turn the corner. I, I don't even get the alert on my phone. I was like, I, you know, I had time to get a quick little dinner and I'm about to go to my gate. I see this, you know, woman, early 20s, and the look of despair on her face as she's looking at the screen. I'm like, oh, this poor woman, man. I just, it's just brutal, you know, you hate to see it. I turn the corner, it's my damn flight that's canceled too. My flight's canceled. I hadn't even gotten the text alert. I get ready to go down and just, I'm like, let me just go to the gate, make sure I don't even get there because the Delta help line is 60 people deep immediately. You know, there's got to be 20, 30 people in the line. They're, they're supposed to be on my flight to Indianapolis at this point. It's 8 o' clock at night on a Sunday. There's no hope. I'm not. You know what, we're gonna get to the game. The situation at JFK was a disaster. And the help desk situation, that. That's for another time. It's late. We're gonna keep it moving. But my God. And then I came. I had to bail on the trip altogether because I couldn't be guaranteed to get to Indianapolis by before 5pm alone on Monday with two flight stops. So it was, it wasn't worth it. And that's why we built on it.
- [22:16]
Gary Parrish
Oh, okay. Well, let me, let me compliment Delta a little bit. All right, I'm gonna, I've got a compliment Delta a little bit. They were good enough with the text message updates that I was. I for you never want to get delayed or canceled, but you'd rather it happen before you leave the house. So my initial flight Monday night was like 5:30pm I knew I wasn't leaving at 5:30pm by like 6:00 clock in the morning, I was already delayed. And then it was like to 6:30, but by like 2:00 clock they told me, okay, now it's 7:30. And then by like 4:00 clock they told me, OKAY, it's now 8:30. So I was delayed in total six different times on Monday. I got six updates. I had six different departure times at one point, the latest being 9:55, which would have got me to LaGuardia at 1:30 in the morning. And so I was just like waiting all day long to go to the airport. But I never actually went to the airport on Monday. I ended up going to my little guy's basketball game and I was just like waiting on the text and they said, you're delayed again. So I could finish watching that. Then I went to my other little guy's little program at school. And then I just, honestly I sat at a restaurant near the airport and waited. And I was like, I'm not going. I'm not checking my bags until I know I'm leaving. And I was about to leave the restaurant like 15 minutes from now. It was time to go. Got the text, you're canceled. But we rebooked you at 6:15 tomorrow morning if you want to do it. I said, of course I want to do it. So I got up at 3:30 this morning. I slept all the way to New York City and I've been going full speed ever since. Good to see you.
- [23:54]
Matt Norlander
Good to see you too. I will get to Champaign one day. Illinois fans. I'm very, very eager to get there. It just was not meant to be here. And I missed what I wound up being a pretty, pretty damn decent game. Both teams shorthanded. Thomas off of Visage being the most critical player not in this game. And Illinois wins even despite not having its key big man here. You mentioned Zoe Akovic, 23 points, had a key block to seal it late. I didn't see any the first half of this game. Then I was driving home tonight, so I had it on the, had on the Bluetooth in the car, the old YouTube TV situation. So I was able to effectively listen for the entire second half and close game good when Toppin was insane, I want to say at one point I heard the announcer say that he had made I think 11 shots in a row or something like that. And a lot of them just seem to be that, that just go to baby hook. Just unstoppable. The all first team all American campaign, even in a loss here for Toppin, is continuing a pace. I mean immediately. He finished with 35 and 10 in this game tried to will his team over the finish line. Just couldn't get there. Stojakovic, I know Boswell played well. There was, I saw in the chat earlier on, I know there was the controversial flagrant one that even gave Tech a chance near the end. Winds up not even mattering. Overall, Illinois gets the win. I thought an impressive and an important game for Stojakovic who has had a good portal reputation the past couple of cycles and been just kind of a guy that's, that's blended in. He's been a solid enough scorer, but he came up, he came up big in this one between him and Boswell. Merkavich also had himself a nice night again with, with both teams being shorthanded, but Illinois was missing more pieces. Lawn Watts at 21 for, for tech and then Chris Anderson, you know, was dishing left and right. It wasn't a huge score here. Quality game, quality loss, loss. You know, Texas Tech does what we think it's going to do and that's going to be a top 20 team. Ultimately this loss is just going to be, it's going to be a good loss on the schedule for Illinois. Get this one the way it did and not allow J.T. toppin to go for 35, what, 10 and 11. Three blocks, three steals. Just an awesome game. You don't let that team and that guy beat you. That's a good result for Brad Underwood. Steam gp.
- [26:00]
Gary Parrish
Yeah, Stojakovich, you know, he's played at Stanford, played at Cal. Basically if you've got a really great university for smart people in California, he's been there at least a little bit. Weird game in the sense that Illinois closed the first half like on an 110 run to turn what was a two point lead into a 13 point lead. And then Texas Tech starts the second half making 11 straight shots. Went on a 2310 run, tied it at 55. So we had an even game with about 13 minutes to go and with Toppin, like, I know this isn't a losing effort and I remember one of the things Grant McCaslin told me about him at Big 12 media day was like, I was like, when did you know you had something special? One of those generic questions you're just trying to, you know. And he, he referenced a game where Toppin was amazing, but they lost and he was pissed and he was like, that's what I like to see. He wasn't over there proud of himself because he got whatever it was 27 and 13. He was upset because the, the result of the game was not in our favor. And when you're wired that way, you would rather win with nothing than lose with everything. That's a good, that's, that's, that's the kind of mindset you want your best player to have. I'm paraphrasing of course, but that was the sentiment. And so I know Toppin is, you know, probably not celebrating tonight, but 35 and 11 on 17 of 25 from the field, he, he missed the opener. He's played two games now. You got 30 plus in both of them. Every year or at least some years, there's a, a returning player who just becomes a statistical monster. And topping at least through the first week plus of the season. Looks like he could be that guy. Because when you're going 30 plus, I mean he's averaging about 30 points per game so far. Small sample size, but he's, he's, he's, he's looked special.
- [27:58]
Matt Norlander
Yeah. And I did as I'm, as I'm making the drive back, trying to get back home in plenty of time to prep for the show and take it in this, taking in this game, I'm like, is this gonna be, you know, talk about all the freshmen, what they've been able to do is Toppin actually going to will them to a win here. And in the process just to make the kind of definitive statement that you get, you know, to pair with a victory to say, hey, you know, maybe I need to be considered as likely to be a national player of the year can as anyone else. He still should be in that conversation. But they couldn't get the win on the road. Understandable. Illinois does get the dub there and Brad Underwood, who is scheduled ambitiously yet again, gets the benefit this season of having this game on his home floor. In a week's time, Illinois is going to play Alabama in Chicago at the Bulls arena. So there's going to be plenty of opportunities here. They've got UConn the day after Thanksgiving, they've got Tennessee still to come, they've got Missouri and non conference play. A lot of interesting games for Illinois forthcoming. I do think the offensive capacity for this team, I mean the fact that they were able to do this, get 80 plus on Texas Tech, which I think will have some good defensive attributes on the whole this season I thought was really important. I mean Noah Visich in the game and they still were able to do it. Waggler, Wagler. I actually heard the play by play announcer. Don't know who's doing the call. He referred to him as Both. I thought it was Wagler. Maybe it's Wagler, so I'll have to check in on the proper pronunciation. But I know the freshman who Underwood's been big on. At least he was able to. To have some good moments there as well. And he's, you know, he's starting. He's. He's stepping into that role as a wing player, and he was. He was important as well. I'm seeing the chat. Had another comment about the. About the foul against Boswell. It didn't bite you? You know, I. I wasn't able to literally, like, watch my phone as I'm driving, because, hello, I'm driving.
- [29:44]
Gary Parrish
I'm not somebody. You're not committed. You're not committed.
- [29:47]
Matt Norlander
I wasn't committed to that, and I wasn't committed to hitting the. The. The text chain back with you and some other folks as I was driving. But as I'm. It was one of those situations where I'm hearing about it, but I can't, like, investigate the video, so I still, as we go, I. I could. And then maybe I'm not on the podcast, so maybe that. Ask yourself what's more worth it? Me on the show now or me getting into a car crash and getting to the hospital?
- [30:09]
Gary Parrish
Let's listen. I don't wish bad things for you, but, I mean, it'd make for a good story. Yeah, I mean, I'd have.
- [30:15]
Matt Norlander
That would have a good story. Not remotely.
- [30:18]
Gary Parrish
It'd be an interesting story. Not a good one. It'd be interesting, though. I could turn it into a good story.
- [30:24]
Matt Norlander
Please don't. No need. Illinois gets the win. 81. 77. Congrats to you there. Any other thoughts before we bounce around the. The rest of the day?
- [30:33]
Gary Parrish
Well, you know, on the opening day of the season, I updated the top 25 and 1 1 last time, I guess, technically, for the preseason. And I move some things around just because I start doing this the day after the national championship game. I update anytime roster moves dictate it, and then I just sort of lock into where I'm at, and I'm pretty comfortable with it. I mean, it lines up pretty closely with the AP poll, whether that's because it's right or because it influences the AP poll. You know, I think perhaps there's some truth to both of those things, but either way, I get locked into things, and then I look up as the months progress and things sort of slow down, and I'm like, I think I've got this team too high. That was St. John's perhaps I, I go, I go, man, I think this, maybe I got this team too low. And so I moved a few teams up with no reason to do it other than I think I should move these teams up. And if this is going to be my final preseason ranking of record, I would rather it look a little more like this than a little more like that. My point being Illinois is one of the teams I just moved up because when I talked to Brad Underwood about his team, when you take a fresh look at the roster and how it was constructed, what they brought back, what they added, all the stuff that it just looked like it was probably a better basketball team than I had projected it earlier in the summer. So I think I had them in the top 16 of the top 25 and one this morning, which is perhaps still low. They'll be higher when I update on Wednesday. Brad Underwood once again looks like he's got a really good basketball team at Illinois.
- [32:12]
Matt Norlander
Yep, deserving of a, of a bump up. All right. We got plenty more to get to, including the result that I think might prove to be the most significant when we look back, say a month or two from now. We'll do a Tuesday night, late night bounce around. But first, I can't a rarity here, but I'm just trying to keep trying to keep it moving. Let's get a word from our partners, a little break and we'll talk about all the other games right after this.
- [32:33]
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- [33:05]
Gary Parrish
It's Vaughn Miller, Super Bowl MVP Sagmaster, and now your host of Free Range. This is where NFL meets Real Talk. Every week I'm bringing you inside the game, from locker room stories to league wide headlines. You want football iq, locker room insight, and real conversations with the people shaping the league. Welcome to Free Range with Vaughn Miller, where nothing is off limits and every down counts. New episodes every Wednesday. Listen and follow Free Range with me, Vaughn Miller, wherever you get your podcast with TikTok ads.
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- [33:57]
Matt Norlander
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- [34:04]
Gary Parrish
All right, Norlander, Kentucky, Louisville, we've knocked that out. Illinois, Texas Tech, we've knocked that out. Where you want to go next?
- [34:11]
Matt Norlander
Well, I love when the we don't do this often, but every so often we'll get a show where we get to a certain part and we just start flying blind. And I love it. We're gonna go Creighton Gonzaga Gonzaga vaporized cream Gonzaga is now two at Ken Palm after this 90 to 63 final. I did get a peek on some of this once I was able to to get home and then it was in a flash. It was a decent game and then Gonzaga said see ya big time showing here. Grammy K20 points, 10 boards led Gonzaggin scoring. Bradenhoff put up 14. Adam Miller, who seems like he's been in college forever, 11 points. Mario Saint Superi 13 points. Freshman gonna have to get a home. Yet another freshman that's making an impact here. Gonzaga had this game at at the Kennel and Creighton just vastly overmatched. Gonzaga is likely underrated GP. They beat Oklahoma last weekend 83 68. They'll play at Arizona State on Friday. They didn't have any issue whatsoever at all with a Creighton team whose outlook is TBD seen in the preseason is somewhere between mid 20s to maybe mid 30s. I think they'll probably settle there. They're not there in the predictives right now. I know you've been doing a ton here with TV stuff and I know you might not have gotten to see a ton about this. I'm just gonna blindly ask you and even if you don't know the answer, how high do you think you're gonna scoot up Gonzaga after? I know you don't think he had Creighton ranked? I don't know. This is, this is a big time performance. I am fully ready to admit that I had Gonzaga too low. I had him like 20, 19 or 20 overall. Probably should have been preseason top 10 by the looks of what they've been putting out there for the first week and a half.
- [36:07]
Gary Parrish
Yeah, I mean I've got Gonzaga 20th as of Tuesday morning. I've obviously got to get that improved. Not just because they're 3 0, but they're 30 with two wins over top 60 Kinpom teams by. By blowouts. And this one. This one was. Was more impressive than the first one. Creighton. You know, I. I sort of gotten on the wrong side of some Creighton fans. Not. I. I hope it's understood when. When we talk about fans, like Louisville fans, we never mean all the fans. Most fans, I assume, don't even know who we are. Right. I mean, I mean, like, if you take 20, 000 people sitting in an arena, how many of them gonna, like, really even know what's going on? Yeah, right. I mean, no, it's not that, but it's like vocal fans. Those are the ones we're talking about. Vocal fans with Twitter accounts. We had gotten into these, like, dribble handoff questions where it was like, name a team in the top 25 that you don't think is going to make the insta A tournament. And I'm like, well, the only team in the top 25 of the AP poll that I don't have in my top 25 one is Creighton, so I guess I'll go with them. And I was careful to say it doesn't mean I don't think you're gonna make the tournament. It just means I think you're the least likely of the teams. It's just exactly answered as asked, the least likely of these teams to. To make the tournament. And they didn't like hearing that. But here we are. And now I'm. I'm less sure they're going to make the tournament than I was maybe two weeks ago when I was writing that. But I think it does probably say more about Gonzaga. If I'm Creighton fan, I hope it says more about Gonzaga than it says about Creighton. But the Zags like, they're doing it again. And, you know, the whole sport has changed. Mark Few lost his most important staff member, but Gonzaga has not changed. It's still operating an extremely high level consistently. And it. It. I. I know at one point, I'm not bringing this up for any other thing, but like, you were like, will Mark Few ever be this close to a national championship again? Will he ever be in a position to get one? Like, is that over? And I understood where you were coming from. You weren't the only person whispering that or wondering that. But he has maintained his program in a way that not everybody assumed he would. And that's super impressive stuff.
- [38:20]
Matt Norlander
Super impressive. Gonzaga looks really really good. Gonzaga fans taking this live right now or listening on on Wednesday, you're feeling great and you deserve to feel great about your program. This was awesome. Shout out to Evan Miyakawa. He. He tagged me because I dubbed a 20 to nothing run. He's got the 10 nothing run being a kill shot. I said, you know, that's seems a little bit weak to me. But you know, 10 nothing doesn't. If it's a kill shot, it should be like, you know, the team shouldn't have a chance to win. So I said a 20 nothing run should be an avalanche because almost no one can overcome a 20 nothing. So in this game, Gonzaga did have a second half avalanche 20 to nothing run on Creighton. As a result of this win, Gonzaga's won eight in a row at home against ranked teams. This is now obviously the most recent. How could it not be? They won in 2024 for Baylor 23 over St. Mary's 2022 against Kentucky. And it's the second biggest win by margin against a ranked team ever for Gonzaga tonight by 27. When they beat Baylor in 2024, that was a 38 point win. So good gains all around there. We can keep it moving if you want. I'd say the next most interesting result is probably the one that got the night going in Detroit, not in Ann Arbor. In Detroit, Wake Forest and Michigan go to overtime. 85, 84. I watched almost all of this game on my computer from West Point wake. Steve Forbes probably isn't gonna sleep tonight. Wake Forest absolutely had the opportunities and should have closed us out in regulation. And then it had the opportunities again in overtime. Juke Harris had himself a nice game. 19.6 boards. Makai Mason for Wake Forest. 16 points, 7 rebounds, 5 assists. Reseals. They got some really, I mean, it was a really, really good effort for a Michigan team that's got really high hopes. Was probably expected to win this with some level of comfort. Wake Forest gave him one hell of a game. A Dai Mara was crucial, crucial in this game. I sit next to Jonathan Gavoni of Draft Express, formerly espn. He says hi by the way, gp and he was taking this in with me and we noticed that, you know, Mara was getting, getting fed plenty on this. He missed a couple of. He missed at least one bunny late that I think could have put Michigan in position to win the game. But he finished with 18 points, 13 boards, six assists, five blocks. One of the biggest reasons why I had Michigan in my preseason top five is frankly, I thought Cadou would Be better markedly at Michigan than he was at Carolina. I think the jury's somewhat out a little bit on that. But he had 17 tonight. Did Cadou in addition to seven dimes and eight boards. So all around a good night. But he did give the ball away five times. And I thought Morrow was really gonna evolve into a real game changing player when he, when he wasn't that at ucla. Interestingly enough. Jaxel Lindenborg just kind of a pedestrian night a little bit. Watching the game as it was playing out, like he just, he was not a player that popped to me. I noticed. Mrs. Johnson and Spurs, Cado and Spurts, Mara and Spurts, even Roddy Gale. But Michigan pulls it out. Narrow win, one point in overtime. Wake Forest had it hasn't been able to break through the tournament under Forbes yet. They've had some teams that have been good enough to win games in the tournament. We'll see if they can do it this, you know, this year or not. A weird night for the ACC all around. This was an opportunity that slipped through their hands. Again, I know you're in the studio, so I'm not sure how much you did or didn't see, but thoughts on the game?
- [41:40]
Gary Parrish
Well, just at the end of regulation, you got to get something better than that.
- [41:43]
Matt Norlander
Yeah.
- [41:44]
Gary Parrish
Bounce it.
- [41:45]
Matt Norlander
I didn't like it at all. Yeah. In fact, to be honest, I hated it. I don't know what was going on there, but whatever. They ran wake force at the end of regulation. Throw it in the trash. I, I didn't get the whole ISO wait until five seconds on the clock. And it was not the, it was not the play you to wanted. Yeah.
- [41:58]
Gary Parrish
Like unless you got James Harden. That's not the way I want to play that possession. Right. If you got James Harden, let's maybe play that possession like that. But I don't like playing that possession like that.
- [42:07]
Matt Norlander
You're right.
- [42:08]
Gary Parrish
I'm sure Forbes is sick. And it just feels like everything at Wake Forest with, with Forbes has been like they're just right there. They're just right there. You remember, I guess it was two years ago. They win the game, Cal Filipowski almost dies in a court storm. They damn near took his life, all right. Nearly took his life. They nearly took Kyle Filipowski's life. And it's like. And here it is like here's finally the breakthrough season and then it just sort of falls apart after that. They don't make it. And this is one man if you get not only helps your program, it helps your league. I Mean, every day I'm talking about this stuff. Somebody asked me about the acc. You got Mike Jasheski the other day trying to merge it with the Big east because we got to get the ACC in a better place. Some of the ACC getting in a better place is just Louisville being great again. Yeah, it looks like it's there.
- [43:00]
Matt Norlander
Good result.
- [43:01]
Gary Parrish
Virginia being great again. A lot of people think Ryan's going to be able to do that. NC State being what it should be consistently. A lot of people think Will Wade is going to be able to do that. Syracuse being what it was for much of my life, got to get back to that. And when you have opportunities like this, a top 10 team on the ropes, you need to knock it out. This would have been a big win that could have held up all the way through Selection Sunday. And to let it slip through your hands doesn't mean anything's over. It's only November 12th officially, as of right now here on the East Coast. But that's, that's one where you, when you got it, when you got it in your hand, you need to, you need to grab it and put it in your pocket.
- [43:43]
Matt Norlander
They do wakes going to have more chances. It gets Texas Tech in eight days and Baja Mar. Purdues in that 14 field as well. You know, can they get out of the Bahamas with at least a win? Because it's going to be, you know, just so problematic if you, if you fly back home from the Bahamas. Oh, and two, we'll see if they can get there. That's for.
- [44:04]
Gary Parrish
Well, they probably end up, you know, if it, if the bracket goes as it's seated or as it's projected to go, we will get Purdue, Texas Tech title game, Memphis, Wake Forest.
- [44:15]
Matt Norlander
Right.
- [44:15]
Gary Parrish
Third pace game. And there's a scenario where, I mean those are two proud programs that with the fan bases that care and there's a good chance by the time they meet, they'll both be in a, in a not so great place.
- [44:29]
Matt Norlander
Yep. No doubt about it. We'll get to Memphis a second. I'll just stick with some ACC results. I'll just tour through this and you tell me your takeaways here. Duke, army, you know, just, I was there. They went easy. Army had 49, three point attempts. That for anyone watching or listening, that hasn't been there. It is just the drive in is incredible. I was getting there just as the sun was coming down, just, you know, right on the Hudson River. It is the most gorgeous drive to a college campus that might exist in the United States. Of America. Just it had been 10 years since I'd been to West Point and it was awesome to be there. They honored Mike before the game. They put a banner up for him. I was actually somewhat surprised, but I guess somewhat. Not that they hadn't done this, but you know, he did sort of just retire a few years ago. This was not his doing, by the way. I talked to Shire after the plan came together a couple years ago and Shire was like, we didn't ask him and we weren't going to ask him because we didn't want him to say no. Like we wanted to do this. We wanted to come here. Initially the plan was for Duke to open the season on Veterans Day against Army. And then the whole college basketball calendar from the time they said they were going to do this to getting here this year, the season just extended by a week. But no matter, really just a really cool event to experience. Yes, it was a blowout, as expected. No surprise there. Game was on CBS Sports Network. Lap and Tom McCarthy were on on the call. Rostein did the, did the sideline and the cadets on either end, like how many if any other than Army. I'm sure there are, you know, especially at these small schools but they've got their student section, you know in the old school bleachers on each, on each baseline. It was hilarious to see the size discrepancy between and Army. I'm sure if you picked it up on, on, on the TVs in the bullpen parish. But it was, it was something else. Just really cool for them to do this. Shire raved about it. You know, I went to New Haven last weekend and Penn State went and played at, at new to D1 New Haven and under different circumstances here Shire just, he goes and takes his team and they play at army and they made it a whole trip. They did a bunch of stuff yesterday. But you know we talked, I talked to Shire a little bit about that afterward as well. Just for Duke to do it. You know, I like seeing this. If you're gonna have a really good team, a top 10, top 15 team and you have some sort of reason to connect you to bring to play some sort of road game against the mid major, you know, why the hell not? I was, I was, I, you know, I wanted to be in champagne tonight. Couldn't because of, because of our current situation with, with the government shutdown. But this was an awesome consolation prize and even though the game wasn't close, I was really happy to, to be in the building. Take all that in And I gotta tell you, GP let's go. K is 78 and. Come on, dude, he's still looking. He's. I hope we're looking that good at 78.
- [47:18]
Gary Parrish
I mean, I don't look that good at 48.
- [47:20]
Matt Norlander
You don't.
- [47:21]
Gary Parrish
I know. That's the problem. How am I going to look as good as Coach K at 78 when I don't even look as good at him at 48? It's a dilemma. It may. Perhaps I should start playing better defense.
- [47:33]
Matt Norlander
That's right.
- [47:35]
Gary Parrish
It looked great. I was thrilled to be in studio first off. It's just fun to be back in studio. See, you know, these are people that I spend the winners with every year and haven't seen them in a while. So great to be back in studio. Fun night on CBS Sports Network. We had an hour pregame show and then we had Cameron Boozer and Duke on and AJ Debons and BYU on in back to back games.
- [47:57]
Matt Norlander
Now down at the half, I missed that entirely, but it got scary for a second. We almost had BYU in the A block, but they pulled away late, bro.
- [48:05]
Gary Parrish
I mean, they were down big early down at the half and then they outscored them, I think 51, 31 in the second half to, to pull away. But yeah, you know, I was at the Veterans Classic on Friday and I was talking to Eric Conkel, the Tulsa coach. They played Rhode island one looked good while doing it. And when you go to the Veterans Classic, like the day before the game, your players just spend time with, with the young people, you know, on that campus and get a better understanding of how they live and what they do. And you can't come out of there with anything but an immense amount of respect for, for these people who are dedicating their lives in some way to, to serving our country. And I was talking to Eric, he was like, you know, you don't. Because you want your players to appreciate it, but you don't know if they will. Right? You know, they're 18, 19, 20 year olds and on some level they might be wanting to be playing a PS5. Eric didn't say this, but you just don't know how they're going to react. And he said just the best thing. He said one of his players at the end of the night was just like, hey, you know, and it was a long day. I mean, you get up early, you're. You're going, going, going, going, going. And he's like, you don't know how they're gonna respond to it. He's like, coach. So yeah, man, what he goes, that was dope. That was a dope day. And it was just like, that's, you just want him to take in some of it. And like I said tonight on tv, I commend John for, for making this happen, John Shire agreeing to do it because they will have pictures hanging in that building forever from this night. There will be people who will talk about this night forever. There will be young men who will be off doing who knows what for our country going forward. And they're going to have a story about the time they played against Cameron Boozer, about the time they played against the Duke Blue Devils at home. And I'm not saying every coach in America needs to take his pro high major coach in America needs to take his program to a place like this. This was obviously special set of circumstances, but I love it when it happens because I know how much it means to the other side. And this was a, it wasn't a competitive game or even a compelling game, but it was a, a really special night.
- [50:24]
Matt Norlander
It was, I, I just, as I was getting ready to leave Cam Boozer was getting ready to walk out to the team bus and I just said, you know, hello, introduce myself again and said what if like this is your first, first real like you know, real deal regular season road game. Obviously they had the big exhibition stuff. He's like, yeah, you know, it was, it was actually pretty, it was, it was pretty cool and you know, forever like camp. Boozer could go on to be a Hall of Fame level player in his first actual road game in a college environment on the road against Army. Pretty cool stuff. I'll have a story that'll publish at some point on Wednesday from there. And I did some stuff for social, so if you follow CBS Sports, CBB on Twitter, Instagram, Tick Tock or whatever, I did a whole bunch of stuff there. You'll get a, you'll get a look at that as well.
- [51:07]
Gary Parrish
Just one thing on Duke that I would add about the game specifically. You know, last season it was not all about Cooper Flag, but largely about Cooper Flag. That was still a top 10 three point shooting team in America and they were 16 of 37 from beyond the ark in this game and the backcourt of Caleb Foster, Isaiah Evans, Dame Saar, all made at least two. I think they combined. Those three players commit combined. Combined to make nine. So that's just a great combination. When you got size at every position, you've got shooters that at least three positions. It just creates a lot of space for Cameron Boozer to operate in. And so the early stuff we're seeing from Duke is, is pretty encouraging to be clear. Yes, I know it was 16 made threes against army. That's different than against Louisville, I understand. But still 16 of 37, that's at 42. 43.2%. That's a, that's a nice performance from, from John Shire's team.
- [52:11]
Matt Norlander
Keep it in the acc. Two more results. One is a yikesy. It might be the best team in this conference, but it's still a low major Central Connecticut 1 in the final five seconds on a layup against Boston College. Not great at all. And then also in the acc, Florida State almost pulled off the win against the reigning national champions. This game was at the Odome. 78, 76 Florida wins. Full transparency. I did not get to see literally a second of this game, but I checked in with the Florida staff after and like, understandably so like proud of the hard fought win against arrival at a couple of these rivalry games of course on Tuesday night. Also of the belief that Florida State, you know, widely undervalued heading into the season. Well, that may prove to be true. I don't know if it will or if it will or won't, but you've got the reigning national champs that really got pushed to the limit here on their home floor after not winning against Arizona to start the season. How cut himself a nice game. Boogie Fland chin Liu had 10 and 16 so it seems like they got some good production out of some guys. I really wish this is the game that we're talking about that I wish I'd actually been able to take in. But even if I couldn't, I want to talk about it on the show because it's obviously irrelevant a result there. We will not do overreactions with Florida. I will just simply point out that they had a competitive game but didn't beat Arizona. And then they win by two against an FSU team that is not projected to be a top 10 or 12 team in the ACC this season that could prove to be wrong. Luke Laux, Year 1 what are your quick hit takeaways on what the Gators were able to do and narrowly dodging what would have been, you know, a not good loss, obviously if it had come to pass on Tuesday night?
- [53:55]
Gary Parrish
Well, it's, it's not proof, but it certainly suggests that they're not just going to pick up right where they left off. Right. Sometimes you talk about great teams like that. Like they were great. They lost Some pieces, but they added some pieces and they're just going to continue to be great. This team can be great, but they're not, they don't look great right now. Lose a season opener as a favorite and then get pushed by a Florida State team that, to your point, might be better than we realized. I mean, Robert McCray, the Fifth.
- [54:24]
Matt Norlander
I love it.
- [54:25]
Gary Parrish
The Fifth? Hell yes, I love it. I mean, AC Law. AC Law thought he was doing something trying to be the fourth. We've got Robert. We got Robert McRae the fifth. The fifth it took. They had to make five, but by the time we got to the fifth one, buddy, he's. He got 29 points on 21 shots. FSU might be better, but still if you are Florida, FSU might be better than we imagined. But if you're Florida, you, you shouldn't be getting pushed like this. I don't, or at least they didn't expect to get pushed like this. So, you know, perhaps losing your backcourt from a championship team takes a little while to adjust. You know, Boogie Flynn, Xavion Lee is still getting comfortable, but how cut 20 points, 13 rebounds. He seems to be just about everything. People, the people who were excited about him heading into the season after what they saw down the stretch last season, he seems to be making the jump that a lot of people thought was coming. But if I'm, if I'm Florida, I, I know they're ranked in the top 10 right now, but is that really one of the 10 best basketball teams in the country right now? Perhaps, but they haven't performed like it. I don't think.
- [55:40]
Matt Norlander
If you're looking at that box score on the screen right now, you'll see Fland comma B and Lee comma X combined for 3 of 17. From beyond this game, my biggest reason that I did not put Florida my preseason top 10 is I just had some skepticism over that guard combo being able to be, you know, 75 of what the three guard combo was last season. The best backcourt in the history of Florida. Maybe they can get there. I just wanted to see a little bit more of it. And through the first week and a half, you know, they, they need a little bit more time to, to come together. A few more results before we look ahead and then wrap it up. Take it where you want here. Three results for Monday. Iowa State Cruise versus Mississippi State. Really good sign for T.J. altzelberger's group. Mississippi State. As fun as it will be to see Josh Hubbard, maybe have to hoist 30 times a night they cannot do that and and push themselves to a single digit seed. They got plenty of time to try and fix this. But it's looking like Mississippi State might really have to be the Josh Hubbard show this season. I don't think that's a big picture winning formula, even if it might give us a couple of awesome performances by him. Good on Iowa State. No issues there. And then on Tuesday night GP Memphis Ole Miss didn't see a wink of it, But Rebels win 83.77 in Oxford. Close enough game for Memphis. I don't know if you can speak to that or not. And then Bearcats they beat Dayton 74 62. Home win for West Miller's group. Wes is on the hot seat this season. That's an end state game. He was not afraid to do a home at home. Good on him for doing it. And then here getting the, the home game this season, Cincinnati gets itself a nice win and just dodge is what would have. Obviously that's the kind of game where if you lose it, it's understandable somewhat maybe not exactly if you're a Cincinnati fan. And then that loss can really be a compounding thing by the time you get to mid February and you're like damn. That could be the difference between having, you know, a tournament worth a resume or not. Because it's a tone setter. They get it. Not an issue. Any of those three results you want to expound upon.
- [57:31]
Gary Parrish
Well, Memphis was competitive with Ole Miss down in Oxford. That's a, a beautiful facility, a great home court advantage. You know, the Tigers got beat up pretty bad in their exhibitions. They lost both of them by 20 plus. And then Penny, few days before the season opener was publicly expressing some real concern about, about his team. He's like the most, my most talented guys aren't my best workers and my best workers aren't, aren't good enough. I mean that's more or less what he said. Then they go out, they beat San Francisco and so you know, it was like, okay, that's a win over a top 80 KinPom team. Given where you were and what your coach was saying, take it and you know, but the schedule's just difficult. Like Memphis could be the best team in the American and still start like 6 and 6 against this non league schedule. So they were competitive but still take a loss in their first high profile game of the year. There's a couple of more things from Tuesday that I think are notable for, for different reasons and not really because of the results of the game. Like North Carolina beats Radford, who cares? But it's the first game since Tremble fractured his forearm.
- [58:43]
Matt Norlander
Yeah, that's actually a good. No GP that came out, I think Monday and practice. We don't know how long he's going to be out for.
- [58:52]
Gary Parrish
I did some Googles, buddy. I, I mean, I did some Googles on it and it ain't great. Yeah, I mean, it sounds like you don't even start thinking about it for six weeks if it requires surgery. And he reportedly had surgery yesterday. So no official timetable for a return, but a quick Google search. I don't mean to act like a doctor, even though I am one.
- [59:14]
Matt Norlander
My forearm before, granted, I was 13. I think it took me longer than six weeks to be on. Be on the comeback there.
- [59:21]
Gary Parrish
So I fractured my arm when I was 12 and I think I was out for like four or five years. It felt like.
- [59:27]
Matt Norlander
All right, there we go. GP. They heard it from GP. Seth Tremble's College career is over.
- [59:31]
Gary Parrish
But it's just like, I know you were dealing with airport messes on Sunday, but me and Cal Boom were here and I was just like, if you're North Carolina, you've just gotta feel maybe if this is. I was talking to you about it earlier in the week. I don't know, I get it confused. But it was like, if you're North Carolina, you come into this thing, you're borderline top 25 in most people's eyes, your coach is on the so called hot seat. Where's this going? And then you get an incredible performance from your five star freshman in the first big game of the season against Kansas. You got to feel pretty good about things. And then this happens and this is your third leading score and your third leading rebounder and you're going to have to play the bulk of the schedule at the very least without him. And then even if he does come back in six weeks, eight weeks, 10 weeks, what does that even look like? I mean, that's a long time to not be playing basketball. It's a long time to not be using your arm the way basketball players used to use their arms.
- [60:32]
Matt Norlander
Agreed. Let's. Let's wrap up the little look ahead here. I've got the schedule.
- [60:37]
Gary Parrish
I was gonna say there's this one more.
- [60:38]
Matt Norlander
Oh, what is it?
- [60:40]
Gary Parrish
I mean, you might not even know that. I don't. I'm not trying to catch you, but like Aaron Peterson did not. Darren Peterson did not play tonight for Kansas.
- [60:45]
Matt Norlander
You know what? I saw that very, very briefly and then I got taken away to something Else do we know the deal there?
- [60:51]
Gary Parrish
What was that about Bill Self? I read that Bill said pre game that it was a combination of cramps and the stomach bug. Might just be one of those deals where you're playing it safe. I saw some fans on social media like, you know, people can get panicky, particularly with elite NBA prospects. Like is he ever gonna play again?
- [61:13]
Matt Norlander
Come on.
- [61:14]
Gary Parrish
Yeah, Way, way too quick for that. I'm gonna trust that he had some. He was dealing with cramps. He was perhaps dealing with some sort of something. And the opponent was Texas A M Corpus Christie. So who cares? We'll see where it goes from here. But it is worth noting the projected number one pick in the draft, you know, has already missed a game.
- [61:35]
Matt Norlander
Let's get him right so that we can have Boozer vs Peterson next Tuesday in midtown Manhattan. Please, quick look ahead and we can call it a show Wednesday. The Wednesday is thin, folks. You do have a high major game. You have Minnesota at Missouri. So listen to high majors on campus. Never going to complain. That's an 8 o' clock eastern tip. Looks here like you need SEC Network plus to watch the game. Who the hell knows why? Whatever. Minnesota at Missouri, that's your one high major. Everything else is fairly. I mean there's a couple of like, you know, big time teams playing, but it's just not, they're not playing against legitimate competition. Thursday is where we dial into the big boy game. But before that we've got Cal at K State on CBS Sports Network. Check into it. GP and I will be doing another halftime show for CBS Sports Network. So if for no other reason, watch for PJ Hagerty and watch for Gary Parish and Matt Norlander. Backyard brawl. It's going down pit at West Virginia. Like to see that obviously on Thursday. And then the big one, number eight, Alabama against number two, Purdue. Alabama is hosting this in Tuscaloosa. That's a seven eastern tip. So we will. Frankly, I can't see how we could start our show on Friday with anything else but a reaction to what Purdue and Alabama give us here. Top 10 matchup and can't wait to see to see how this one goes down. These teams met last season. Purdue won the game in West Lafayette. They won by nine points. Then I wanted to say these teams to play three years in a row. Yes, because they had that really awesome neutral, sort neutral site game two seasons ago. Purdue won that one as well. So Purdue looking for three in a row against the Tide. It's a big time, big time Thursday matchup. In the midst of what's obviously an awesome week for a ton of ranked on ranked games.
- [63:20]
Gary Parrish
Yeah, that'll be awesome Thursday night. And you're exactly right. I can go ahead and promise you unless something crazy happens in the sport, we will be opening Friday with Purdue, Alabama and I think I'll and I'll be operating on a few more hours sleep. I hope. I hope you can. I hope at least. Let's get out of here. Shouts to Devin Downey. Shouts to Chester, S.C. shouts to Terry Teagle. He's a legend. Huck Larnell. Thank you guys once again for watching and listening to the I Own College Basketball podcast. If you're not subscribed, please go subscribe anyway. Subscribe to podcasts, Apple, Spotify. There's more of us than there are of them. That should be reflected in the comments. So do that. We will talk to you again on Friday morning. Till then, take.
- [64:20]
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- [64:23]
Gary Parrish
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Gary Parrish
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- [64:39]
Matt Norlander
What are you saying?
- [64:41]
Gary Parrish
I'm all right. If you think you're gonna take me out, it's gonna be really difficult.
- [64:48]
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