← Eye On College Basketball
Eye On College Basketball
NCAA Tournament STAYING at 68 — at least for now. Reax and next steps. Plus: post-vacation catch-up and summer movie recs!
00:47:57
Loading summary
Transcript152 lines
- [00:00]
DSW Advertisement
Heading back to school, head to DSW first and save up to 25% on select styles from big deal brands. Score major savings on must have shoes and accessories from Nike, Adidas, Crocs, Reebok, hey Dude and Under Armour. You don't want to miss this one. These brands are almost never on sale. Whether you're prepping for the kids first day back or just for a busier calendar. Get up to 25% off a styles for women, men and kids at your DSW store or dsw.com for a limited time.
- [00:31]
Christian McCaffrey
Hey guys, it's Christian McCaffrey, pro running back. I'm partnering with Abercrombie this season to tell you about their viral denim. All you need to know is denim should fit like this. Abercrombie's athletic fit is a game changer. They're designed for guys with an athlete's build like mine. Just enough room and the perfect stretch. When a jean fits that well, I'm wearing it on repeat. Shop Abercrombie Denim in the app, online and in store.
- [01:14]
Gary Parish
Hey there, it's Gary Parish. Welcome back, CBS Sports. I own college basketball podcast where we sometimes discuss camel fighting, dodo birds and leaky black. Matt Norlander is here with me. If you're watching on YouTube, you know what to do to that like button shouts Brandon Davies. And if you haven't yet subscribed to the CBS Sports college basketball YouTube channel, please also do that while you're here. Let's get into it. What we hope would be true is now official. The NCAA Tournament will not expand beyond 68 teams, at least as it pertains to the 202526 season. NCAA Senior VP Dan Gabbit released a statement detailing the decision earlier today, after committee meetings in both Savannah, Georgia and Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He made it clear that discussions will continue in connection to the 2027 NCAA tournament and beyond. But for now, at least, things will remain the same. Norlander, your thoughts come right off of.
- [02:13]
Matt Norlander
Vacation and here we are. It's great to see you, gp. It's well timed. I mean I spent spent last week in Ocean City, New Jersey. Good family, family spot. Had a good time there. But if this broke it like Thursday afternoon, I just, you know, don't think you I would have been on the beach at that point. So it's well timed. I appreciate the NCAA and the selection committee is actually accommodating our podcast schedule beyond all else. Let's hit on a few things here. This isn't a surprise in this regard. If I go back like to last fall. Even, even this, this the. I think the March prior. I remember talking to Dan Gavitt and at that. So, yeah, let's go back to like March of 24 and wondering if we'd get an answer in the spring of 24 if that was going to happen, expand or no expansion. What's our timeline here? I remember hearing at that point like, it's got to be April. Okay. And then that didn't happen. And then we went through the summer of last year and they didn't have a decision. There was no updates, and we went through it. So then last fall it was like, well, if we're going to do this again, it's kind of got to be April. And then it got moved from April to the spring, and then the spring became it's got to be July. And then nothing came and happened in July. And so when we did not have, as anticipated, any kind of determination a little less than a month ago, I believe then and there that at least the 2026 NC tournament would stay at 68 teams, which. That became official today. We're just too far along. It's a calendar creep at this point. So this is a win. I am unsettled by just the fact that this is what they have reduced me to. This is what they've reduced us to. Like we get maybe one more year of a 68 team turn. Like nada. If you want, bring up the quote tweets. I put out this story shortly before the official announcement went out. And it's nothing but. It's just, it's praise, it's Hosanna's, it's hallelujahs, it's thank the Lords, it's shouts to Dana o', Neill, who did such an amazing job as a reporter for so long and now works in connection with Villanova. She put out the Elaine Venice dancing gif and all this stuff. And I agree, I agree entirely with that. But it's just, it's assurance of what this is. What they had pushed us to the brink of just this. This fear that they would expand it as early as 2026 and we'd never even get one more 68 team tournament. So now it's just one more year. I hope it's more and I can share more of what I have at this point. But you can see it if you're watching Dana. Oh, man. Michelle. But yes, like Chris Hassell @ CBS Sports HQ, thank the Lord, up and down, it's nothing but. And I really do hope that the selection committee, like And I do believe this, like most of these conference commissioners and athletic directors, like they're on Twitter, they see all of this. They know how widely unpopular this idea is. And so even the news release of it, of it staying put for one more year, if they see just how popular this is, maybe we still have a chance. Maybe. But the, the statement said, you know, expanding to 72 or 76 still remains on the table for 20, 27 and moving forward. We'll get to that in just a second. But not surprised by the decision today and, and happy to see it for at least one more year. We get the tournament as it should be.
- [05:25]
Gary Parish
I, I assume they'll sneak it through at some point. Like I assume one day we will watch a 76 team NCAA tournament. And like I've said before, I don't need it. I don't think it's necessary. If you put it up to vote, I would vote against it. It is also not the thing that I think is going to, quote, kill the sport or ruin the expanded. Basically every sport any of us follow in our lifetimes. And at least to my knowledge, none of them have been killed. NFL is bigger and better than ever. I think people still watch the World Cup. I love Major League Baseball playoffs. The NBA playoffs, yeah, they last forever, but you know, it's something.
- [05:58]
Matt Norlander
Hey, dude, actually, hold on. NBA playoffs last too long. Let's be real. Does anyone want a seven game? This is part of what, like the issue I have is no one wants a seven game first round NBA series. Like, they don't need that. We know why they do it. It's because of money. All of this is because of money. And the reason why this has taken more than three years, Parrish, is because they don't have the money. At least they don't have it yet. They're trying, they're trying to get it. They don't have it yet. And so they, and oh, I'll just toss this in. This is in my story here. I was told by sources that at this point it's either stay at 68 or go to 76 is still officially on the table. It's still part of the, of the company line, if you will, you know, 68, 72 or 76. But I've been told that it's either you expand this team and expand this thing and you really expand it significantly by eight more teams or you stay at 68. 72 is just now not seen. Whereas like a month ago, Paris, I actually thought that's where we were headed. Like okay, they want to go to 76. They see how massively unpopular this is. And so maybe there's some sort of compromise. If there's, if there, if certain folks are hell bent on making it happen and there's others that would prefer to say 68, may they, maybe they come to a compromise of 72. But I'm told that's, that is the long shot. Now it's either 76 or 68. And now they're, now that they've. No, 26 is off the table, they'll step away. They'll convene again in a few months and figure out what they're going to do and whether 27 is the year they want to do it. 28, 29, who knows? The media rights deal, by the way, is also tied up in this to a certain extent. That goes all the way into the early 2000s. So who's to say whether or not this lasts until then? But anyway, I jumped in and I apologize.
- [07:29]
Gary Parish
Yeah, no, it's fine. I agree with the sentiment that the NBA playoffs might be too long and, and though I think it was a rhetorical question that you asked, I'll answer it honestly. Who needs a seven game series in the first round of the NBA playoffs? Not me. If it's against the Oklahoma City Thunder and John Moran is injured, definitely not me.
- [07:51]
Matt Norlander
Just live that.
- [07:52]
Gary Parish
I just lived it. Didn't need to see any more than four. All right. If you'd have made that best of one, I'd have been okay with it. I knew where that, I knew, I knew where that thing was going the whole time.
- [08:01]
Matt Norlander
We love the best of one here on the pod.
- [08:03]
Gary Parish
Yes, I would just take a, I wouldn't have minded a best of one and get it and get on with the off season there. But broadly speaking, my point is that expansion has not killed anything that we care about. And I don't think college basketball, whenever we get to further expansion, will be the thing that, that dies first. Again, though, I don't need it. I don't want it. I don't think it's good for the sport. And so from a just decision making process this seems, and I don't want to oversimplify it, so push back if you want, but. But in the simplest way, if what you're trying to do or considering doing is wildly unpopular with people who follow your sport and it's also not obviously going to make you a lot of money, like one reason to do things that are wildly unpopular sometimes is because they're incredibly lucrative So I get that that's the American way, but it's not clear that this is going to be incredibly lucrative or even profitable.
- [09:09]
Matt Norlander
Right.
- [09:10]
Gary Parish
And so if it's not going to be incredibly lucrative, or at least you can't guarantee that and it's not popular and you're up against a calendar crunch, punting this down the road is the only, like, quite literally the only sensible thing to do until you have a better grasp about what you're trying to do and how you're going to go about doing it. So not surprised that they punted this. I'm not surprised that they're leaving the window open in years beyond. And you know, I, I guess on some level I expect it to happen someday, but from my perspective, every year that we put it off is a, is a good year. So I'll take this as a, as a victory, small as it is.
- [09:53]
Matt Norlander
Yeah, I agree with you. Every year it's put off is a good year. And I do genuine. I'm going to just repeat what I said before because I would also hope, not that I know and who knows, I would hope that at least one or two folks that were in the room on Monday in the zoom, so to speak, listen to this show at some point, whenever they get to it and, and have, you know, a real well rounded viewpoint of, of why the tournament is beloved the way it is. There's also, there's also just other stuff like I was talking with someone about a week and a half ago. It's things that aren't really seen right now or talked about now. But if we go to a 76 team tournament, like, do you realize how bad the teams are that are going to be on the cut line? Like, do you really. And, and just, I guess this is an annoyance to me as much as anything else. And I think maybe you can identify this a little bit, buddy, as well because you get sometimes annoyed by just when we have certain things in place or systems in place and then something comes along and makes what we used to have moot or irrelevant for no good reason. Like that's just, that's.
- [10:56]
Gary Parish
I'll tell you, I'll tell you my. I'll continue. But I'll tell you my favorite one, which, my least favorite.
- [11:01]
Matt Norlander
And then I'll, and then I'll say what I'm gonna say. What is it?
- [11:03]
Gary Parish
I hate it when fans or coaches or anybody say things about, well, he's won 20 games three years in a row. Like winning 20 games means nothing. When I was a kid, yes. Like in the mid-80s, winning 20 games might actually mean something. In fact, I can remember like it was like. And every team that wins at least X amount of games, like makes things that, that 20 game thing gets brought up still randomly like, well, I mean, I don't know what the problem is with the. Why are people are unhappy the guys won 20 games forward the past five years. Well, winning 20 games also has you losing like 13 in some year. You know, like winning 20 games means nothing. So that's an example. We, we moved the bar. Something that used to sound good and, and actually be an accomplishment just isn't anymore. And yet people still sometimes try to talk about it like it's 1985.
- [11:54]
Matt Norlander
Yeah. Coaches will often even invoke the 21. That 20 wins just doesn't mean that much. Sadly it does. It meant something like 25 years ago because it generally did. With the size of the season, that doesn't, that doesn't matter. But you know, the past 40 plus years of determining, you know, what makes for a, even a halfway decent resume to maybe get in the tournament, like that, that goes away. Like all this precedent of like this is the small stuff. But sorry, the small stuff means something to me. Like here's the, here's the team with the, with the most losses and here's the team with the worst net or the best net not to get in like these, these, these benchmarks that occasionally get moved because we have extreme cases where a team will be. Either they'll be prejudiced against them and they won't get in, or they'll get in despite some bad numbers that now all goes out the window every if and when they decide to go 76, whenever that is, a year from now, 10 years from now, everything that we have to assemble the tourname, it just starts over. And to me, I'm sorry, I just, in addition to it not being necessary, that's also highly annoying to me. And I'm just telling you, the teams like the, the team that would be 77 in this, in this model. Right. That doesn't get in. You would be stunned if you actually teased out the math last year, the year before, the year before, that those teams aren't even on bracket matrix. The, the resumes would shock you how bad they are. And I'm going to read a direct quote from Charlie Baker that he gave last month when he was speaking at the National Press Club in Washington D.C. he said, quote, there are every year some really good teams that don't get into the tournament for a bunch of reasons. One of the reasons they don't get in is because we have 32 automatic qualifiers. There are 32 conferences in D1, and their conference champion gets into the tournament. Now, I love that. I think it's great and I never want that to change. But that means there's only 36 slots for everybody else. And in many cases, there are teams that are among the 50 or 60 best teams in the country, end quote. Charlie, you've been listening to the power conference commissioners way too much. I'm sorry. But while I know there have been some cases, and they're fun cases, where you've had VCU and UCLA make the Final Four from the first four. And that's been, that's been fine. That's been great. Those are, those are good stories. There are not teams being left out of the tournament that are capable of winning the national championship, of making it to the national championship game. And if you really went down and did the percentage wise, the teams that even squeak in and make the first four, period, those teams are better than the ones that you're keeping out. So the ones you're keeping out theoretically aren't going to be any more successful, certainly over a period of time. And I just, I just don't buy this. You have plenty of the teams that get in already. Like this has become an annual rite of passage. It's a session almost every single year when we get to March 7th and it's like, good God, the bubble. It's like you're disgusted by it after you and I have to write about it, talk about it when we're doing all this. But after weeks of culmination leading up to the conference championships, we're just, we're thoroughly offended by these teams and the idea now that those teams that are just barely getting in will now be able to kick back their feet. And essentially, and I know you said it won't ruin the sport, I agree with you. It won't ruin the sport. But don't underestimate the idea that in the final two weeks before Selection Sunday, you will have a variety of teams that have, that comfortably project into the bracket and are playing thoroughly uninspired basketball. And that will not generate interest, it will not generate intrigue. Right now I think we do truly have the. A very special balance of a big enough tournament for enough teams and you can even be and still get in versus expanding that even more and, and just making it way more of a free for all and turning it into this ramp up where it just doesn't carry a lot of urgency because it's a 76 team tournament. In addition to how that affects the start of the season, where even if we have interesting matchups, I think your casual sports fan, the kind of fan who, as much as I'd love to believe it isn't happening, isn't tuning into an August 4th off season college basketball podcast. If they know there's there's a 76 team tournament on some level inherently, they're not going to be drawn to say, why am I going to watch this November 14th game? Okay, it's against the number eight team, against the number 26 team or 24 team in the poll, sure. But these teams are probably going to make the tournament anyway. I just, I do think that there are downstream effects when it comes to that and it really would impact the urgency and relevancy of the regular season.
- [16:06]
Gary Parish
There clearly are. And I want to respond to all of that before we get too deep into it. Let's pay some bills. Real quick, let's get a word from our partners.
- [16:16]
State Farm Advertisement
This episode is brought to you by State Farm. Checking off the boxes on your to do list is a great failing. And when it comes to checking off coverage, a State Farm agent can help you choose an option that's right for you. Whether you prefer talking in person on the phone or using the award winning app, it's nice knowing you have help finding coverage that best fits your needs. Like a good neighbor, State Farm is there. On WhatsApp, no one can see or hear your personal messages. Whether it's a voice call message or sending a password to WhatsApp, it's all just this. So whether you're sharing the streaming password in the family chat or trading those late night voice messages that could basically become a podcast, your personal messages stay between you, your friends and your family. No one else, not even us. WhatsApp message privately with everyone Right now.
- [17:13]
Christian McCaffrey
At the Home Depot you'll find storage solutions made to fit your needs. Grab an HDX tough tote to protect your tools or keep your sports equipment contained with reinforced snap fit lids. Or stack up and make better use of your space with bins and totes built to last. Whatever your storing, we've got the gear to keep it organized and protected at the Home Depot. How doers get more done.
- [17:43]
Gary Parish
Okay, so a lot to unpack there. I agree with you. It it does impact the regular season. It just does. And I think there's a a sliding scale on this in the sense that expanding the NCAA tournament at this point devalues the college basketball season. Whereas I don't think expanding the College Football Playoff in the ways that we have have devalued the regular season. I actually think it's enhanced the regular season because I just somebody who lives in the south and follows college football, you know, every day during the fall. I can tell you that in the BCS era and even in the 14 playoff era, there were times where it was like, man, this team's pretty good. They're 11th in the country. They've got three games left, and it's over for them. We already know it's over for them. They can't get there. And that's like if you just had more spots available, which now you do. That team that's ranked 11th in the country with three games left, they've got everything to play for now, as opposed to nothing. Expansion has helped the College Football Playoff in recent years. Now, if you keep expanding, we will get to a point where that's too much as well.
- [18:55]
Matt Norlander
I'd argue that 16 is too much on that front as well. And that sport is now also enduring a battle here that I think it ultimately will lose and for the worse off. I think 12 is a. You landed at the. The irony here. Keep going, GP the irony here is that you've got two numbers in two different sports with vastly different seasons and, and just the way that they're built and the fan bases, for the most part, college football is a little more splintered, but people are like, okay, 12, I see how it works. You're not going to give the Autobias to the four conference champions this upcoming season. You should have the perfect formula. And in basketball, you got 68. So right now we're in this moment where we have these, these postseason formats where so many people are like, yes, this is what we want. This is what we want. And the alleged grownups in charge, tasked with doing whatever should theoretically be best for the sport, just seems so hell bent on saying, nope, not good enough, got to keep going more. And it's just wild that that's the place that we find ourselves in.
- [19:45]
Gary Parish
Yeah, I guess I would say to that. I don't know what the perfect number is for football. I don't think we've had enough experience with that yet to know. But I know it's more than two, and I know it's more than four. Right. It might be fewer than 16. You might be right. But I, I'm willing to go too far as opposed to just stay at 4 and, and pretend that's a Good number. It's not. If we gotta bring it back sometime. Happy to that. I don't know where the number. And on the men's basketball side, I actually don't think 68 is perfect. I know you don't either. 64 to me is perfect, but we're never going backwards. So we just sort of. This is where you and I and Seth Davis kind of get caught in it a little bit. Like, he. He was of the opinion of, like, why. How did Everybody just decide 68 is perfect? And my response to that is we didn't. We think 64 is perfect, and 68 is closer to 64 than 72 or 76. We're just trying to stay as close to 64 as we can. That's why we've settled on 68. But if you take it down to 67, we'll settle on 67. Just keep going backwards. We'll keep settling until we get to 64, but 68 is the best we're gonna do.
- [20:47]
Matt Norlander
If you went to 69, I'd be open to it just for the jokes, but I won't go more than that.
- [20:51]
Gary Parish
I'd be. I'm open minded about it. You know, I'm trying to be a little more open minded.
- [20:56]
Matt Norlander
So.
- [20:58]
Gary Parish
So I. I don't know. I don't. I agree with you. It. Will expanding will the men's college basketball tournament impact negatively the regular season? In a way that college football expansion to date has not negatively impacted that regular season, but there is a. There's a sweet spot for it. And, and on the college basketball side, at least I think. I think we've gone past it. As for the arguments that you hear from Charlie Baker or anybody else, I say this is respectfully, like, I'm long past my days of everybody's stupid and everybody's an idiot. Like, I'm just. It just. Their arguments don't even make sense to me. Like, they don't even have good arguments on their side. Like, if this were a court case and they were trying to. And we were in court and they're trying to make their case for expanding the NCAA tournament, I'd say, all right, your honor, let them go. I'll listen. And I just sit there like this. And then when they got through, I'd say, we rest our case because we. I don't even feel like I need to say anything because they didn't say anything. Like, I don't even know why I need to argue with them because they didn't make a good, compelling argument. I can make a million compelling arguments about why we don't need to expand further. And my point is when I hear the people who are arguing in favor of current expansion, I don't think they make good arguments. They might be smart people, but they're not making good arguments. They might be smart people, but they are misguided on this topic. They might be smart people who are compromised. Like, I don't think Greg Sinki is an idiot. Like I don't think you can get to run the SEC by being an idiot. I think he's wildly misguided on this topic, but I understand why he is. He's working for him. He's working for his league. Like if you made me run the sec, I might be trying to shape arguments the way Greg Zinke is trying to shake shape arguments. I just don't think in this particular subject he's doing a good job. And I don't think anybody in favor of expansion has done a good job of explaining why they actually want to do it. They have, they have their reasons, but every one of them can get swatted out of the air. You've done it yourself in column form. Every one of their reasons can get swatted out of the air pretty easily. It doesn't take a genius to find holes in their logic.
- [23:10]
Matt Norlander
Yeah, we'll, we'll link that in the POD description. We talked about it when we broached this topic a month ago on the show. But in July I wrote a pretty lengthy column that as GP said swatted down a lot of the talking points, a lot of them just frankly built on castles a stand sand if, if that. I will say one thing. Now this is albeit this is single sourced but I did have one conference commissioner tell me earlier this year and I haven't asked Sankey about this but this is in his defense and something that makes him at least it runs a little bit counter the narrative. So I'll just at least pass this along because I haven't heard this discussed publicly, but I was told that Sankey has expressed that if there is a situation in which expansion would lead to a dilution in NCAA tournament units and or would actually be a an outright losing financial proposition for the ncaa, then he would not endorse expanding the tournament at the financial expense of that. Now I'll be clear. This is one conference commissioner who told me that guessing based off of conversation he had with Sankey which if true would be welcome because I, I it's not just Sankey. Petiti is and your mark Petiti with the Big Ten and your mark with, with the Big 12 have been as aggressive on this as anyone. And there's others like, you know, they're commissioners of multi bid leagues that, that are obviously endorsed this because they're, they're thinking is all right, if we went to 72 or 76, you know, we get one or more of our schools and in some years, yeah, that's probably gonna happen. But you're nuts if you think that this is gonna be an every year thing where your programs are gonna benefit from this. I just, sorry. I've looked at how the trends have, have worked over the past decade and I, and I don't, I don't think that's the case. I did want to bring up two more things. One, the reason why this happened today is the Division 1 board of directors meets tomorrow. And that's I guess a quarterly meeting. And so this just needed to be. There needed to be an answer in to determine whether or not like theoretically, if they decided, okay, we're going to go to 76, the board of directors has to approve that. And so they needed to meet today to figure out, okay, for sure, like we're not expanding for 20, 26 at minimum. Yes. Okay, cool. So that's why I came in today. I do think the board of directors might adjust something with NCAA tournament units, which is way in the weeds there. But you know, this is stuff that commissioners and leagues really care about a ton. So we might have an update on that later this week. What we're also probably going to have on Tuesday is a decision in, on governance structure in college athletics. And I am very aware that this kind of topic can make a lot of people go. But it does matter in this regard because you've got the Power 4 conferences that are trying to essentially switch over the governance model. One that would give them 65% weighted voting on all NCAA committees. So the men's basketball oversight committee and any, any committee across the board would have representation from the powerful conferences. It's never been like that in the history of the ncaa. And so obviously you have all these other leagues that are fighting against this. And so Tuesday is a relatively important day for the future of college athletics. And the timing of staying at 68, I think is interesting on the, on the eve of that decision coming in because you know, ever, obviously every league, every mid major league is fighting against this because their belief in talking to a few people in those leagues over the past few weeks is, you know, it is power consolidation of four conferences maybe the PAC 12. We'll see what they're even designated as going forward. And they're doing it like they're trying to say this is how the NCAA will be progressing, but really it's allowing them to truly take over college athletics at a level which has never been had before and really will and could have profound effects. Now, some of those effects I actually think can be very positive, but others can be devastating for the majority of leagues. And if you've got a 65% share on every single committee, then you've already had everything tilted in your favor up to this point. It will be even more so tilted in your favor. And that's why, you know, alarm bells are ringing on this topic. It's why they think, you know, with this kind of influence, it only increases the chances that eventually the tournament will expand. So there's, it's a big week in NCAA athletics. I think most people don't realize just what's happening with this board of directors meeting on Tuesday. But that's, that's a biggie. And so we won't get too, too into the weeds on that. But I at least wanted to bring that up, that today's decision comes in advance of, of what could be a, the latest transformational shift in governance structure. But nonetheless, like, these are the kind of decisions that get made in the thick of off seasons, in the thick of summers, where they will impact significant stories that we talk about on this podcast that will lead television shows over the next six months, one year, two year, five years. So just keep an eye out on that. We'll have more on that on the site as, as it develops later this week.
- [28:07]
Gary Parish
Some housekeeping items, I believe, because this is sort of a, I don't want to call it an emergency pocket, nothing emergency about it. Like nobody, we just wanted to say.
- [28:16]
Matt Norlander
We just, you know, we wanted. Give me your, give me your, give me your housekeeping.
- [28:20]
Gary Parish
Been a minute, just been a, it's been a minute since we've done a live episode like this. We want to jump on, but this will fall in between and we didn't know this as we were recording them, but this will fall in between a couple of episodes of our summer shoot around series. The Purdue episode starring five time Big Ten Coach of the Year Matt Painter that dropped on Monday morning. Then this drops on Monday afternoon and then on Wednesday we'll have our next summer Shoot around series episode and that'll be on UConn. And I'll be joined by the Field of 68's Rob Doster. How about that?
- [28:54]
Matt Norlander
Yeah, that's good. I listened to. I listened. I was strolling the. The beaches of the Atlantic Ocean and I listened to you and Fanta. I queued it up and he did. I was. I. I gave John a call this morning just to say, hey, thanks for doing that. I haven't listened to the. The Houston one because I did it. I don't. I don't need to listen to it. And I haven't listened to the Evan one or the Matt one. I did link up with Nada before we went live. He said Painter was awesome, which is no surprise. It's why I reached out to. I won't spoil it. But we have at least one more coach that we typically don't do coaches. Because frankly, most often coaches are not going to be candid. They're going to be fine, but they're not going to really pop beyond the audience of their own fan base. But Painter is genuinely one of the five best on the record coaches in the sport. And in fact, he very. He almost never asked to go off the record. He's like Izzo in that regard. And so I knew he'd be great. I heard he was great. I haven't listened to the show yet, but. But I know Purdue fans, we're all too happy. I. You had to do it 1. Because of my vacation too, because I think it's reduced now. I think you're like 31% boilermaker. Maybe it's increased.
- [29:59]
Gary Parish
I. I will say this for any Purdue fans that are, as I'm diving into this Purdue episode, getting ready to talk to Matt. Like, among the things that have happened, I don't just change my opinion as it pertains to the top 25 and 1. Like, I just don't wake up in July and be like, you know what? I think I've got Clemson too low. I need to move them up today. I just decide I don't do that. Doesn't mean I shouldn't. It just means that I don't. But as I'm going, like, so at some point back in April, Purdue gets a commitment from Omar Meyer, an Israeli guard. Well, at the time, like, you know, I can text Jonathan Gavoni and see what's up. But, like, does this really move the needle in any sort of meaningful way? And I don't think I impacted the top 25 and one because of that commitment. I don't think that that moved the needle. Well, then he bought out in the FIBA U19 thing. He gets invited to Chris Paul Camp. Like, what if this guy's really, like, one of the five best freshmen in the country? What if Purdue's got two of the best seniors and one of the five best freshmen in the entire country? Here's what I'm telling you, Purdue fans. I hear you. Like, what if they just added in the middle of April and none of us really, at least most of us, didn't recognize it in real time. But what if in addition to bringing back the top five scores from a Sweet 16 team, including two All Americans, one in your back court, one in your front court, you're adding top five freshmen, one and done first round draft pick? Because that might be what they did. I might have them too low. That's what I'm trying to tell you. And so if you want to question my bowler Maker percentage, right now is a good time to do it.
- [31:37]
Matt Norlander
He's back. G. Purdue. Right there. The P stands for do not Paris. That's Purdue.
- [31:42]
Gary Parish
But I feel like I can get back up to about 47 boilermaker if I just, you know, start acting right again.
- [31:50]
Matt Norlander
That's true.
- [31:50]
Gary Parish
It is weird that I was ride or die with Purdue for two straight years while UConn was winning national championships. Okay. This. Ride or die with Purdue, the whole. During the entire Yukon dynasty.
- [32:04]
Matt Norlander
Yeah.
- [32:05]
Gary Parish
I was ride or die with Purdue. Now the Purdue dynasty might be here and you're.
- [32:09]
Matt Norlander
You're gone. Yeah.
- [32:11]
Gary Parish
And I'm over here looking at St. John's yeah, I'm like that meme. The guy. Like, St. John's is walking by and I've got my arm around Purdue, but I'm looking at St. John's for some reason, I understand why I'm being questioned. I'm not comfortable with any of this. All right? I'm not comfortable with any of this.
- [32:29]
Matt Norlander
Any other housekeeping notes? What?
- [32:31]
Gary Parish
I. I mean, I feel like I have done.
- [32:33]
Matt Norlander
I did not. I did not get on social media once. So did anything happen? Kind of catching up this morning. 700 emails to go. That's always fun. Just bring it. Oh, God.
- [32:43]
Gary Parish
I don't know if you've heard about this Epstein thing.
- [32:47]
Matt Norlander
I mean, I'm aware of it, but I didn't watch the news once. You know, I don't think that's what we need. That's not the updates I'm looking for. I'm talking about college sports, college basketball. I don't know.
- [32:57]
Gary Parish
I'm not really. Bill Self went to the hospital, but now he's out.
- [32:59]
Matt Norlander
I did. I did see that. Glad that he is out. I Feel I. I texted Bill, so I feel like that happened before I left for vacation, but I think he maybe got out of the hospital like last week, so he must have been in for a few days. I don't know.
- [33:14]
Gary Parish
Brock Lesnar's back.
- [33:16]
Matt Norlander
Okay. Brock Lesnar's back. That's good to know.
- [33:22]
Gary Parish
Max is pretty good.
- [33:23]
Matt Norlander
What's up?
- [33:24]
Gary Parish
The Paul Simon documentary on H. I mean, the Billy Joel documentary on hbo.
- [33:28]
Matt Norlander
Maximon documentary.
- [33:30]
Gary Parish
Yeah, it's just Billy Joel. You could see how. You could see how I'll get to.
- [33:33]
Matt Norlander
The Billy Joel I watched. See, I watched what I watched. I watched Happy Gilmore too.
- [33:38]
Gary Parish
Yeah, it was. It was fine. I don't understand all the pushback. It was exactly what you want it to be.
- [33:44]
Matt Norlander
Was there pushback?
- [33:45]
Gary Parish
Yeah. People are like, this is the dumbest movie ever. And I'm like, the whole premise is about a hockey player becoming the best golfer in the world. It's kind of like dumb out of hand.
- [33:54]
Matt Norlander
I actually, I, I liked it more than I thought I was going to. And I mean, I don't think we're really like spoiling stuff here, but at the end of the movie, you don't want, if you want to, if you still haven't watched it, like just hit the 30 button like two times and get 60 seconds ahead of this. The whole, like the live golf stuff, like, I don't know, the last scene with the, with the pop up green seems ridiculously stupid to me. And Haley Joel Austin being the Haley Joel Austin being the antagonist was also himself. But for the most part I thought it was good. And Will's alatoris I thought was awesome. I thought he was the best in terms of all, like Scotty Scheffler poke fun of himself. That was great. But Zalatoris being the kid caddy growing up and being a total, I thought was amazing.
- [34:36]
Gary Parish
I thought Zalatoris was good. I thought Scotty was good. I. I might be the only one who laughed at this, but I thought the out of place. That's what she said. Xander Shoffley jokes. Like, I like that. I like the I, I like the idea of a guy thinking he's being funny but just missing at every turn. And I. So I like that. I thought Travis Kelsey was good. I thought Bad Bunny was.
- [34:58]
Matt Norlander
Bad Bunny was great. Probably the best part of the movie.
- [35:01]
Gary Parish
Bad Bunny was great.
- [35:01]
Matt Norlander
He was probably. He was probably the best part of the movie. My wife laughed hardest. I love how we just pivoted into Happy Gilmore. 2 reviews. My wife laughed the hardest. When they were all trying to, like, get the car started. And then Buscemi got in the scene and, like, they were like, what are you doing? This is a family affair. It was very well timed. I thought that was also very good.
- [35:24]
Gary Parish
So daily was good.
- [35:25]
Matt Norlander
Daily was good. As. As expected. Yeah. Tons of callbacks, but I thought it was good. I didn't realize there was a. There was pushback.
- [35:33]
Gary Parish
Yeah, there was. I just saw a lot of, like, this is dumb. This is stupid. And came out while we were on vacation and we didn't want to watch it on iPads, like, in hotel beds, all separately.
- [35:43]
Matt Norlander
Yeah.
- [35:44]
Gary Parish
I was like, let's just all save it for when we get home. When we get home, we'll watch it. So we got home on, like, late Sunday night. We on Monday night, settled in, watched it last Monday night, and perfectly enjoyable. Two hours of family television. Like, we had a good time with it. So, yeah, so, yeah, there's that.
- [35:59]
Matt Norlander
Well, on that note, we. We did an Airbnb and to the Airbnb owners that, like, make sure, like, that. That they have a Netflix account. Like, not that you can't log out. Log back in. It's just great to. All right. Is there a Netflix account that's, like, already logged in? So we, we had it up and then we had. We got to avoid all that stuff, which was just super appreciated. I watched that. I watched the Accountant 2 better than I. I, I watched like, four movies. Like, wife was in bed early, and I. I can't get to bed too early. I watched it count two better than I thought. What else did I watch? I'm halfway through Killers of the Flower Moon. I read the book. I've just taken forever to watch the movie.
- [36:34]
Gary Parish
God, it's so funny you say that. It took me three years to watch that movie.
- [36:37]
Matt Norlander
Well, I'm halfway done. I probably will finish it either tonight or tomorrow. But I started on the last night of vacation.
- [36:43]
Gary Parish
I had it in my phone for, like, I might be exaggerating, like, longer. Longer than a year. It was just sitting in my phone.
- [36:50]
Matt Norlander
On your phone.
- [36:52]
Gary Parish
I watch movies anywhere. Phone, iPad.
- [36:53]
Matt Norlander
I can't. That's even. That's a step.
- [36:55]
Gary Parish
85 inch. Whatever you need me on, I can watch that.
- [36:58]
Matt Norlander
I understand. Like a big iPad. If you got to. In a pinch, watching movies on the phone, that's a no go.
- [37:01]
Gary Parish
I'm. I'm pretty. I'm a pretty versatile movie watcher.
- [37:04]
Matt Norlander
You are? Yeah. Well, that's.
- [37:06]
Gary Parish
The.
- [37:06]
Matt Norlander
The movie makers are coming for you.
- [37:09]
Gary Parish
That is.
- [37:09]
Matt Norlander
That. That is as offensive as. As it gets is watching a movie on this. That's as offensive as it gets.
- [37:14]
Gary Parish
I think I'm a pretty versatile movie watcher. I can get. I can do it however you want to do it. Like you want to do it. You want to do it on an 85 inch. I can do it on 85 inch. You want to do it on a little iPhone? I can do it on a little iPhone. Whatever you need. But I had. I had it for, like, more than a year, and I would watch it, and I'd be like, jesus Christ, I'm never gonna get done with this. And then. And then, you know, I would start reading tweets or something. I finally finished it.
- [37:39]
Matt Norlander
First of all, that's ridiculous. You're watching on your phone. How are you reading tweets on your other phone?
- [37:43]
Gary Parish
That's the thing. I have to. That's the thing. Even smaller.
- [37:46]
Matt Norlander
So the movie's in the top right.
- [37:48]
Gary Parish
Corner on your phone. I'll do whatever I need to do. I am versatile. I'm a versatile movie watcher.
- [37:55]
Matt Norlander
Not small enough. I'm gonna make. I'm gonna shrink it even lower so I can half watch this movie and scroll Twitter at the same time.
- [38:00]
Gary Parish
I can barely see Leonardo DiCaprio the whole time. I can barely see him the whole time. All right? But that's the thing. I run into this problem. I'm like, do I really want to watch this for the next seven hours or look at some. Look at some tweets? So. So I start looking at tweets, and I just could never get through the movie. So then finally, at some point this past season, I'm like, I'm gonna finish this movie come hell or high water. And I finished it. You know what? You know what I said? As soon as it was done, I was like, damn, that's pretty good. I wish I'd watched that earlier. It was best. Pretty good film. It is good. It's really good. You're gonna enjoy it.
- [38:33]
Matt Norlander
Well, I mean, I. I know it's. I mean, I assume there's no plot. I've read the book, so I know what's gonna happen.
- [38:38]
Gary Parish
Oh, hey, listen. We heard you the first time. Yeah, listen, I read the book, Okay?
- [38:41]
Matt Norlander
I read the book. I read the book. The book, like, three years ago, so I forgot.
- [38:47]
Gary Parish
Congratulations. You read the book. I used to read books. Now I read tweets. I used to read books. Now I retweets.
- [38:55]
Matt Norlander
There was one more blanking on it. I thought it was good. I can't remember what it was. It's been a minute. But anyway, yeah, we had the back to back vacation, so we haven't done this. We haven't done a live podcast.
- [39:05]
Gary Parish
Yeah. So it's good. It's good to see you.
- [39:07]
Matt Norlander
It's good to. It's good to see you as well. Hey, over, under. How many days of the calendar year do you need at the beach? I did three. I was on the beach for three of our days down there and I'm. And I hit my quarter for the year.
- [39:20]
Gary Parish
We just, we just did five days at the beach. That's probably two more than I needed. Yeah, I don't actually enjoy the beach. We've talked about this before. I like the ocean.
- [39:28]
Matt Norlander
Being in the ocean's fun.
- [39:30]
Gary Parish
I don't even. I don't think, I don't think I set foot in the ocean. I think I might have put my foot psychotic.
- [39:36]
Matt Norlander
Get out of here, man.
- [39:37]
Gary Parish
I might have put my foot in the ocean. I don't need to be in the ocean. You know, here's what I like to do. I like to open up my window and look outside and see the ocean, but I don't want to be around it. I just want to look at it. I don't want to touch it. I want to look at it. But like, yeah, we, we wonderful family vacation. We had an incredible time. But I don't. When I am on the beach the whole time, I'm thinking, man, I wish I could think of something else for us to do besides just sit here. That's what I'm thinking the whole time. I'm like, you guys want to go do literally anything other than just sit here on the beach? I don't like sand. I don't like the way it feels.
- [40:11]
Matt Norlander
That's the whole sand thing, man. And like, oh, I don't like I had to. Look, I'm not, I'm not complaining, but I'm gonna complain. Like, we stayed. It was probably like a 10 minute walk from our Airbnb down to the beach in Ocean City, New Jersey. Which, if you have a, if you have a young family, I, I genuinely endorse. It's a good spot. It's a dry county. So the boardwalks. Well, no. And that means, like, the boardwalk's not a disaster. It's not like Wildwood or anything like that. Okay, so it was a good spot. I know you never go Drag county. No chance, but it was, it was good. Shouts to Brown's Donuts. They came through. Big time spot for sure. But I'd be lugging this like, I gotta take. I'm the dad, I gotta. I just lugging this thing down. And then you get to the sand and the tires in the sand and I'm just like, it's too much dragging this thing. Like I'm transporting myself to the beaches of Normandy just. And then I got to get in, I got to dig it into the sand.
- [40:58]
Gary Parish
That's exactly like the beaches of Normandy.
- [41:01]
Matt Norlander
Just put this damn umbrella up. Because I get. I'm like dripping in sweat. And that's actually why I love the ocean. I get all this. I'm exhausted. I put on the sun lotion before this. Now I've got little white beads of stuff all over my face. My wife's looking at me like, what the hell's the matter with you? I'm like, what are you talking about? I just set everything up. Just sprint right into the waves. Just got to get in there. I can't believe you don't go the ocean. I can at least take. You ride the waves, you get a little boogie board action. That's fun. Everything else though, I'm more of a rat.
- [41:28]
Gary Parish
I'm more of a lazy river guy. Oh, buddy, you put me in a lazy river. That'll eat up a good 45 minutes.
- [41:35]
Matt Norlander
That's. We had a small. There's a little water park there. We did a little lazy river and the oldest, he went down like the big slides for the first. I was mighty impressed. We did the water park. That was a good time as well.
- [41:45]
Gary Parish
So, yeah, I like a good lazy river. That's me the whole time I'm outside on vacation. I'm just trying to get through the day. I'm like, well, I guess it's lazy river. Eat up 45 minutes and then maybe then it'll be time to go to lunch. I'm just trying to eat up the days.
- [42:00]
Matt Norlander
Man, that sounds like a hell of a vacation. How can I, I get through the day to get to my next meal.
- [42:04]
Gary Parish
That's what I think. That's what I think about the whole time. How do I get to dinner? I'm just constantly trying to get to the dinner table. I really enjoyed. I enjoy dinners and then I enjoy coming back to the room and I enjoy everybody getting into bed. What do what just.
- [42:22]
Matt Norlander
You enjoy coming back to the room?
- [42:24]
Gary Parish
Yeah, I don't like being outside. I don't like being outside. This is what I'm trying to tell you. The only time I like being outside is to play golf. That's it. If I'm not playing golf Outside. I don't want to be outside that period. So every minute I'm outside not playing golf, I'm trying to find my path back home, man.
- [42:48]
Matt Norlander
You know what? I think a lot of people listening will identify with that.
- [42:50]
Gary Parish
I think a lot of people listening have turned this off.
- [42:53]
Matt Norlander
No, I think, I think we got. So we got some folks that said this is what they really came for, the podcast.
- [42:58]
Gary Parish
Well, we'll see about that.
- [43:00]
Matt Norlander
Listen, enjoy this. We got a number of shows where it's either me or gp. Next one, sorry, spoiler I on that and then the one after that. Spoiler gpa. And on that one. So we've got some shoot arounds. We will jointly.
- [43:11]
Gary Parish
We're just catching up right now. We just. We're not gonna be talking too often lately. So we're.
- [43:17]
Matt Norlander
That's all it is, just a little catch up. The lot if you made it this far. The lot. The auctions to win the three bonus episodes. Those are live. I wish I had thought about this before we went live. But we didn't know we're talking about this. We'll make sure we'll do it in episodes to come. Get a little QR code on the screen and all that. There are three separate eBay live auctions for the bonus episodes. Why are there three separate ones? Because you know they're going to be three different winners. So pick whatever one you want. We will look for the Ion CBB podcast, Twitter handle. Do that. See if I can convince Paris to tweet about this at least once in the next week and a half. Check his Twitter feed. I will send it out as well. You follow on Blue Sky. I'm still active there. I'll put it there. You've got time. The auctions expire, I believe. You know what, let's make sure this is accurate. Parrish, you didn't respond to the email chain yet. It expires August 14th. There are three different ones. They expire at 5:05, 6:00pm and 7:00pm Eastern on August 14th. So you've got time. But again, these are for the episodes for the teams that are not already predetermined for the summer Shoot around and stay tuned. We'll be pushing this frequently and you win. You get to ask a few questions, maybe dictate some of the episodes content and we'll take it there. And you know what? Classic us said this would be a 20 minute show, 43 minutes and counting. But that is a show I had.
- [44:40]
Gary Parish
No idea we were going to talk about. Killers of the Flower Moon. Today, But I'm glad you brought it up because I had a similar experience.
- [44:46]
Matt Norlander
I'll wrap up the rest tonight. The Accountant to Amazon Prime. It's, it's not, it's not gonna knock your socks. I just thought it was, it was better than I was expecting, that's all. What's the other movie I watched? I'm gonna text you eventually. I can't remember what it was. It wasn't that good. If I can't remember, I give two.
- [45:03]
Gary Parish
Thumbs up to Billy Joel.
- [45:05]
Matt Norlander
Yeah, I gotta get to that too.
- [45:07]
Gary Parish
Two part documentary on hbo Max. It was actually interesting. Like I knew all the songs, I grew up with them. I don't think I had a great grasp for his story, his entire story. I knew the highlights but not the entire story. It's, it was interesting. We, we, we, we, we enjoyed that over the weekend. So anyway, let's go. I gotta go. 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 listening to the I Own college basketball podcast. If you're not subscribed, please go.
- [45:33]
Matt Norlander
Sinners. I watched Sinners. It was so good.
- [45:35]
Gary Parish
Oh, Sinners is good.
- [45:36]
Matt Norlander
It was so good. That's what it was. Come on, Matt.
- [45:39]
Gary Parish
Center set, set right here in the Mississippi delta.
- [45:44]
Matt Norlander
Really good.
- [45:44]
Gary Parish
But Salton Clarksdale, which is, you know, two hours south of me, really, I.
- [45:49]
Matt Norlander
Just interrupted the shots, but I just, just popped. Extremely good movie.
- [45:52]
Gary Parish
Yeah, Sinners. Yep, Sinners was great. If. Let's just leave it there. Sinners was great. Larnell, if you're not subscribed, please go subscribe anywhere you subscribe to podcast.
- [46:03]
Matt Norlander
Hell of an actor. You know, he really, you know, started on the wire. Just a hell of an actor.
- [46:07]
Gary Parish
Michael B. Jordan. Yeah, he's terrific.
- [46:10]
Matt Norlander
Yeah. As opposed to what? Michael J. Jordan.
- [46:13]
Gary Parish
That's just got to be. I always thought like, what do you do if your name is Mike? Like I would have not been Michael Jordan at a very early age. I'd have been B. Jordan. Okay, that has just been B. They just been introduced and now starring in Sinners. B. Jordan. I'd have just been.
- [46:28]
Matt Norlander
We can wrap the show. But that was my test. If I wanted to keep GP Going for another seven minutes, just say, just.
- [46:32]
Gary Parish
Say things, just randomly say things in the middle of me talking.
- [46:35]
Matt Norlander
Going to take me months to get over the fact that you are watching a movie in the top right corner of your phone.
- [46:40]
Gary Parish
I'm a versatile movie watcher. I can do it however you want to do it. You pick how you want to do it. That's the way I can watch this movie with you. You pick. I'm pretty versatile.
- [46:49]
Matt Norlander
All right, we'll talk to you again soon.
- [46:53]
Gary Parish
Bye. By you can be anything.
- [47:34]
State Farm Advertisement
Paramount podcasts.
- [47:39]
Christian McCaffrey
September 4th on Paramount plus.
- [47:42]
Gary Parish
Someone is trying to frame us until our names are cleared. More fugitives from Interval like Bonnie and Clyde with better snacks.
- [47:51]
Matt Norlander
Espionage?
- [47:52]
Gary Parish
You still as good a shot as you used to be?
- [47:55]
Matt Norlander
Better is their love language.
- [47:57]
Gary Parish
We like to walk the that fine line between techno thriller and romantic comedy. We make up our own rules.
- [48:04]
Matt Norlander
NCIS Tony and Ziva streaming September 4th on Paramount Plus.