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Gary Parrish
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Gary Parrish
Rewards Rewards points on flights and prepaid hotels booked on amextravel.com, you get even more from on site overseeing. That's the powerful backing of American Express. Not all purchases will be approved terms apply. Learn more@americanexpress.com AmExBusiness hey there Gary Perris. Welcome back CBS Sports Ion College Basketball podcast where we sometimes discuss camel fighting, Dodo birds Leaky black. The Island College Basketball Podcast is presented by Jersey Mike's a sub above. Matt Norlander is here with me. If you're watching on YouTube, you know what to do to the like button shouts to 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. I want to start in the SEC where Auburn is the outright champion, but only by a game. Only by a game because after starting the season 272 overall, 151 in the SEC, the Tigers are now 274 overall, 15 and 3 in the SEC because they're taking a two game losing streak into the SEC tournament after losing Tuesday at Texas A and M and then backing it with a loss to Alabama this weekend. Final score, Alabama 91, Auburn. Alabama 93, Auburn 91 in overtime inside Neville Arena. Mark Sears got the game winning bucket at the buzzer, then stare down the Auburn crowd inside Neville Norlander. This time last week we both thought Auburn could lose its final two regular season games plus its opening game in the SEC tournament and still be the number one overall seed in the 2025 NCAA tournament. First question for you. Do we still believe that? Do we? Have we changed our beliefs over the past week?
Matt Norlander
I think Grant Nelson's just ridiculous, ridiculous dunk on Cardwell and then the crane that might have changed my stance. What a play that was. In a weekend full of incredible moments which we'll get to, that might have flipped me. I do think Auburn needs to lose its first SEC tournament game and Duke needs to win the ACC tournament and in that scenario then we can have a conversation. I think it's really the only scenario and I find it to be unlikely that that's going to happen where Auburn's going to turn around and lose his first game in the SEC tournament and Duke's going to win the ACC tournament. It's obviously thinkable, don't get me wrong, but I think that's the only possible scenario. So we might have been slightly ahead of the pace there, but I still think we're going to get to Auburn to be then the number one overall seed. Where do you land?
Gary Parrish
I. I think that's right. We, we're probably a little out over our skis a bit last week, got excited, got caught up in the moment. Honestly didn't expect to be having this conversation a week later. I, I know I said they can lose their, their last two regular season. I didn't think they would. All right. I didn't think they'd challenge me. I didn't think they would challenge my logic in such a dramatic way. I still think it and this is what I wrote to lead the top 25 and 1, I still believe Auburn's going to be the number one overall seed in the NCAA tournament, if only because I don't believe Auburn is going to lose a third straight game. But you know, the truth is the truth. Last week I said they could lose three straight games, go into the NCAA tournament. And still for sure guaranteed be the number one overall seed. And I don't know if that's true anymore.
Matt Norlander
I don't.
Gary Parrish
Yeah, Duke is the most obvious one that could maybe pass them if it won out. But if Auburn were to lose its first game and then Duke wins the ACC tournament. Yeah, we got a conversation we have to have. Honestly, I'll take it a little further than you.
Matt Norlander
Okay.
Gary Parrish
If Auburn loses his first game in the SEC tournament and Houston wins out, we might need to talk at least look at it. Houston would be 30 and four overall. They've got 10 quadrant one wins already. Probably add at least a couple en route to a Big 12 tournament title. And then here's the other one, Florida, 27 and 4 overall. If they were to win out, they'd be 30 and 4. If they were to win the SEC tournament, they'd be 12 and four tasting in quadrant one and have a win over Auburn and have zero losses outside of the first quadrant. I think if Florida were to win out while Auburn lost its first game, then we can have a conversation. But ultimately, I think for a week from today, when Adam Zucker is telling you who's the number one overall seed in the NCAA tournament, when he's doing that on cbs, America's most watched network of stars, I think it'll be Auburn. But it's more, it's more up for grabs than I anticipated it being. I think that's what I'm trying to say.
Matt Norlander
For those watching live, you can see, oh, nada, flash that, flash that, flash that back up real quick here. If I had, if I had told you that Janibram was going to respond. You see the box score here? 34 points, eight boards, three assists. Do you have four blocks in this one? Maybe five blocks. He had himself a really, really nice game, albeit in a losing effort. You would have thought that Auburn certainly would have won. The, the heavy narrative swings with both of these teams I find to be very intriguing. We had the huge number one versus number two matchup going in, ton of hype. And then Auburn took care of business on the road and this one didn't have as much. It was obviously a must watch game and one of the biggest ones of the weekend. And then as you see here, 93, 91, Grant Nelson with the best game he's had all season, 23 points, including the aforementioned, just phenomenal take to the 10 with alacrity. Incredible stuff. Auburn had won, by the way. It was 49 and 1 in its previous 50 games when it hit 91 points. Which stands to reason you get to 90, you're going to win most games. Didn't happen here. And not only that, they wind up losing on their home floor when they cross 90 overall. The last time Auburn actually lost a game when it had cracked 90 points was to UConn in 2021 at the Battle for Atlantis. This is more of the same with Alabama in terms of getting the points up. 17th time this season NATO's program has cracked the 90 point barrier. That is four more than any other team in the country. And what's more is 93 points against the number one team in the poll. Most by any team since I was there. Bama. I'm not going to trivia time it because I know there's. I know you wouldn't have it but you will remember this game. I think I was there as well. PK 85 Alabama Carolina overtime 103, 101. Just a wild game that was was the last time any team put up at least 90 on a number one ranked team. Real credit to Grant Nelson for how he played and and Alabama's. I thought their presence in the interior was the one. It was the key to winning the game. I mean they really were physical down low in a way that, that they're going to need to be in order to win the NCAA tournament and maybe to win the SEC tournament. They've gone three and four down the stretch which I know you're aware of. GP doing the top 25 and one and trying to figure out. I'll tee you up on the Tide here in just one second here. But three and four down the stretch with. Actually let me remind our audience like Bama fans, you're aware of this but just, just a refresher on what Alabama had to do over the past month. Home to Auburn it lost. At Mizzou, it lost. That's a top 20 team. Home to Kentucky it pulled out the win. Home to Mississippi State it got the win. Then at Tennessee, obviously we know how it lost a week ago home to Florida early this week, couldn't pull it out. And then at Auburn they get the win. That's a loaded schedule and for most teams like 3 and 4, you don't want to just take it but it's completely reasonable that it went this way. We're getting to a bunch of teams here that are on that two line and then the running for, for, for number one. But for those listening after the fact, we'll get to the results later. But the poll question is which team you know that's in the two seed equation right now. Do you think has the best chance to win at all? It's Alabama, Michigan State, Tennessee, St. John's we'll get to all those teams. But I thought that Alabama's performance here. I said it on HQ in studio on Saturday. To me. To me, the result. Well, I know we can make something about Auburn and I think you'd agree with me here. I didn't think there was going to be a time this season that Auburn would lose two in a row. And I go back to like the start of December, even with the SEC schedule the way that they were built, I just didn't think they'd get picked off twice in a row. It has happened. But still, I still think the game was more about Alabama. Key for that team psyche. Who knows how the SEC tournament is going to go? That's an insane bracket. We're in every single game of the SEC tournament. At least one team is projected into the field. It's ridiculous. But I thought the result on Saturday was more about Bama than Auburn. Where do you now have the Tide in the top 25 and 1. And any other takeaways from the game that went down on the plains on Saturday.
Gary Parrish
Okay, so this is all good setup. I do think there's. I didn't make any changes to the top eight of the top 25 and 1. They all won except for Auburn. And honestly, I looked at Tennessee because. I mean, I looked at Alabama because they just won at Auburn. And you naturally think you beat number one on the road. You got to move up. I didn't think there was anywhere for them to go. I've got Alabama seventh behind Auburn, Duke, Houston, Florida. Those are my top four and would be my four number one seeds right now. Then I got Michigan State at five, Tennessee at six, Alabama at seven. Like Alabama's got some big wins. They do. They have seven losses as well. And that's just at least two. Two more than anybody I have in the top five, at least three more than anybody I have in the Top 4. So I just didn't find a place for them to go. And then number eight, I've got St. John's so I do think those eight teams have sort of separated a little bit. I don't know that every bracketologist in the world would agree with me because St. John's resume isn't loaded with signature wins. But like, if that team is 30 and 4 on Selection Sunday, outright Big east champs and Biggie's tournament chance like you, you can't get caught up on four quarter one wins if you're the selection committee I don't know they will.
Matt Norlander
Be I said it on HQ St. John's will be a 2 seed on selection Sunday if it is 30 and 4 they they will not be held out as a double champ with four losses by again I know I'm a broken record but I'm seven points matters seven points, four losses double champ running away in that scenario with the league they'll be on the two line. I'm 100 confident of that.
Gary Parrish
You put them as a three seed. Whoever is the in that region is going to be complaining about it within minutes. All right I know they're not going to be able to match an SEC team or maybe even a great Big 12 team. Quad one win for quad one win but at some point you just got to go 30 and 4. The 4 losses by total of 7 points. Awesome defense outright Biggies champs. Biggies tournament champs. Rick Patino the biggiest player of the year. You just got to this is one where I actually believe I test like you just kind of got to look at it and and respect what you're watching I on selection Sunday I believe let me ask you this okay Because I want to I want to rope all these teams in St. John's by the way one crazy game at Marquette at the buzzer.
Matt Norlander
It was awesome.
Gary Parrish
It was awesome.
Matt Norlander
The way they wanted was vintage St. John's I mean RJ Lewis missed the three. Then it looks like Mark this isn't even in the overtime session let alone leading up to and I think everyone watching in real time except the frickin St. John's players on the floor think we're going to double OT in Milwaukee. And then lo and behold it's Kadari Richmond who had the first triple double since we're on our test for St. John's he pokes it free. Zubie edge of four. Johnny on the spot gets it off in time and it was for a St. John's team that played the play we talked about that on the show. They played their guys. The only thing they're effectively playing for and it does mean something. They're playing for a hope to stay to get to the two line. That's what they're playing for. Everything else didn't matter. They get it done get to Marquette a little bit later. That that's. That was a really really impressive win. And by the way were those two results in particular buzzer beaters among two teams that are national championship Contenders and to get it on the road with just across the board. Lewis had 28 points. Richmond with a triple double edge of four with the winner, Cam Jones on Senior Day. Cam Jones again. I enjoy watching this dude play ball so much, but there's only so much that he can do. 32 points, nine boards, seven assists. Just a great, great performance. And it wasn't enough. And Marquette has not beaten an NCAA tournament team since January 3rd. Oh, by the way. So I know I really took that thread and pulled on it, but that was an. Saturday was tremendous, and it got off to a really great start early, in particular with what went down between the Johnnies and Golden Eagles.
Gary Parrish
Yeah, just a terrific finish there. All right, so St. John's is. I think they went out. They got to be a 2. If you make them less than that, you're gonna, You're. You're not respecting what you're watching. The other one that I don't think we've touched on in any sort of detail yet, but that one again today on America's most watched network, that's Michigan State. And that's another one where if they were to win out, what do you do with them? Outright Big Ten champs, Big Ten tournament champs. They'd be 29 and five. They'd have 14 or 15, probably quadrant one wins. Like, that's. That's one where I could. Here would be my prediction right now. Auburn is a number one seed one way or another. Duke wins the ACC Tournament, is a number one seed.
Matt Norlander
Hold on, Pause it. Did Duke lock itself into a one seat?
Gary Parrish
Yeah, I think so.
Matt Norlander
I think so as well. I think it can lose, and in that scenario, it's losing to a Wake Forest or North Carolina, most likely. I think Duke can lose and it's still going to be a one seat.
Gary Parrish
Yeah, at that point, they're. I mean, the most they can be on Selection Sunday. The worst they could be is a.
Matt Norlander
Fight against Quad One wins and all that, I think. But I. Anyway, for the purpose of this discussion and anything you tell me, Florida wins and maybe, maybe not, but it feels pretty close. Maybe not an outright lock, but I just at least wanted to tee you up there.
Gary Parrish
I think Auburn's going to be a 1 seed. I think Duke's going to get the ACC tournament and get there, but be one no matter what. I think Houston's going to get one one way or another. And then I think the fourth number one seed is going to be Michigan State. I think Michigan State wins the Big Ten tournament and there's just so many places.
Matt Norlander
Tournament parish.
Gary Parrish
There's so many places for you to lose in the SEC tournament, even if you're good, that I could see Florida going out early just because they lost to a good team.
Matt Norlander
Sure.
Gary Parrish
But if Florida were to win the SEC tournament, they're going to be a 1 seed.
Matt Norlander
I'm going to ask you, I actually talked to Bubba Cunningham on HQ on Sunday afternoon and I asked this very question. Okay, so I'm gonna ask it to you as well, what you think should be the case. I basically asked him and he gave a note. He didn't give as much as I wanted. I, I asked him. When it comes to this exact scenario, a Michigan State, a double champ, even a St. John's with not quite as likely. But let's Michigan State, they sweep the Big Ten. If they win the Big Ten tournament, okay, there'll be a double champ. They have Michigan State. By the way, remember when we were like, man, this Big Ten race, it's going to be a toss up. We could have three teams tied for first. Michigan State won the league by three games. It's the second best league in the country. Parrish, in that scenario, what do you value more? A double champ like Michigan State or Florida, which didn't win the regular season in the sec, but in this scenario wins the SEC tournament. To you personally, which one would you give more? Credence. I know it's all about the resume, what you're looking at here, but. Because I think you can make a case for both.
Gary Parrish
Yeah, I think it, like that's a question. It's almost like, what do you like, steak or chicken? You know, like two people could have.
Matt Norlander
I like either.
Gary Parrish
For the record, that's the weirdest thing about you. You've never tasted chicken.
Matt Norlander
No, no, no, that's, that's not true. I have tasted chicken. The weird thing about me is I hate the taste of chicken.
Gary Parrish
That's the craziest thing I've ever heard in my life.
Matt Norlander
Crazy, yet true. What do you want from me?
Gary Parrish
Chicken tastes so good, it's disgusting. It's crazy. I never even heard another human say chicken is disgusting. I've never even heard another human say that out loud.
Matt Norlander
Yeah, foul bird. Pun intended.
Gary Parrish
That's a wild opinion to hold.
Matt Norlander
Yeah, listen, I'm not, I'm not saying everyone else is wrong. I, I get it. Most people like the taste of chicken. I, I can't help the fact that from the age of like 6, I could not stand the taste of chicken. It wasn't just that. It was A lot of meat. Your boy here is a pescatarian. It's a lifestyle. Anyway, you were going, oh, yeah. You were like Michigan State's chicken and Florida is steak. That's what I think. Where you're gone.
Gary Parrish
Here we go. Auburn, number one seeds. Let's predict number one seeds on Selection Sunday.
Matt Norlander
Predict them right now.
Gary Parrish
You would have it now what you think it will be on Selection Sunday. I would go Auburn, Duke, Houston. And I'm going to say Michigan State is a Big Ten tournament champ. They're 12 and four in quadrant one right now. All right, they got 12 quadrant one wins. It's not as many as Auburn, but that's a lot. If they win the Big Ten tournament, they are going to have a resume that is good enough, provided Florida doesn't go to the SEC title game and loses to Auburn or something like that. My prediction, Auburn, Duke, Houston, Michigan State. What's yours? All right.
Matt Norlander
Auburn, Duke, Houston, Michigan. That's your prediction?
Gary Parrish
Yes.
Matt Norlander
All right, I'm gonna predict. I'm telling, like, we got a week until this bracket comes out. Oh, my God, I love this week. I. For me, you know, even though technically not true, the NCAA tournament might as well be here because we have this kind of stuff in addition to the auto bits happening and the guys playing for at large status in and out. I just. I love it. So I'm gonna. I'm gonna put this prediction on the table and. And I'm very confident I'm going to be very wrong. Okay. Auburn one seed, Duke one seed. It wins in the ACC tournament and whatever, we're good to go. And it's clear there. Houston has been outstanding and it has one loss. News alert. The Houston Cougars have one. Have lost one game by one point at home and overtime since November 30th.
Gary Parrish
Outrageous. It's.
Matt Norlander
They're so. They're so good. I'm getting weird vibes off the Big 12 tournament. I can. I can feel it emanating from afar. That court is strange as hell. I. There's something's gonna go on at the Big 12 tournament. And Houston, by the way, a year ago got boat raced by Iowa State in the Big 12 tournament. So this will prove to be wrong. I'm an idiot. Whatever. I will say Houston loses and in the process opens up a. An alleyway here for another team. So I'll have Duke, I'll have Auburn. Oh, man, the SEC is just a gauntlet, man. You and I. And, And I think Michigan State's going to get picked up like the Michigan State has been playing amazingly well. Okay, right now, Tom Izzo, which, by the way, nada. Let's link. I did a huge deep dive on Izzo and Dusty May. We published it Friday. In the lead up to today's game, Michigan State destroyed Michigan. But Izzo gave me. I mean, he gave me too many quotes, which is always a great problem to have. But half the stuff he gave me, I couldn't even fit into. Couldn't even fit into this. I need Michigan State to make the Final Four so I can use what Izzo gave me before. Before it dies on the vine. Please go read it. He was awesome. And it was a juxtaposition about him and Dusty May. Two different guys, different points of their careers coaching at Rivals. And. And yeah, another good response there from. From both fans and those groups there. Msu. The point I'm making is it's eight and one down the stretch only loss to Indiana. Hoosier fans, we're getting to you. Don't worry. We have a load. This is a loaded, loaded podcast. There's so much to get to. I think Michigan State will get picked off in the Big Ten tournament. I can't tell you who, although I can tell you the bracket real quick here, Paris, which actually might help me answer you. And not so short order. So Michigan State's the 1. It will play the winner of Indiana. Oregon. If it wins that game, it would play UCLA potentially or Wisconsin bottom half of the bracket. Maryland's the two, Michigan is the three. I just. Michigan State can win the Big Ten tournament. Let me be completely clear about this. I just some funny business there too. So I'm gonna say Michigan State loses, Houston loses, and in the process the SEC gets a second one seed. And with that, I'm looking at this SEC bracket right now.
Gary Parrish
You got Michigan State and Houston both losing.
Matt Norlander
Yeah, maybe. Well, that's the other thing. Is that what I asked Bubba Cunningham about on Sunday on HQ is I said how much do these conference tournament results actually Ma. That one. He did not give me nearly a satisfactory answer. He was like, every game matters. Every game counts. I. I would like to believe that, but at this time of the year with. I don't want to say with increasing frequency, I feel like some years it hits more than others. In the SEC in particular, we get to the selection Sunday, we're like, wow, it looks like what happened in Nashville over the past four days didn't matter whatsoever. The sec, for whatever reason, that seems to be more consistent than any other league. But I did ask him about That I didn't get quite a satisfactory answer. Auburn's the one in the sec, Florida's the two, Bama's the three. So Florida and Bama would play in the semis on Saturday if they both advance. I can't bring my, I can't bring myself to think that Abama is going to win enough to get the one Paris because of the loss volume and it probably needs to win the SEC tournament. Oh God. I could be bold as hell and just say Bama wins the SEC tournament. Although GP if Bama won the SEC tournament, would it shock you whatsoever to discover that it still didn't wind up on the one line on selection Sunday?
Gary Parrish
It wouldn't shock me because they're still gonna have seven losses even if they win the SEC tournament.
Matt Norlander
And we've seen what that title game is about, you know, like.
Gary Parrish
Yeah, and they don't care about that. I mean I listen, I love Bubba and every committee chair says the same thing. But then you get the bracket and you, it's not obvious to you that what just happened in these tournaments matters that much, particularly once you get to Saturday, Sunday. Now I want to be clear, like I'm not calling anybody a liar. I'm just saying feels like every single year we get the bracket and we say, I can't believe this team is seated here. It seemed like they would be a little better given that they just won this game Saturday night or Sunday morning and then somebody else will say, yeah, but they don't really pay attention to Saturday night and Sunday morning. They just trying to get the bracket done. That is a common conversation every selection Sunday. And I, I assume it will be this one too.
Matt Norlander
All right, I'm gonna buck up and just give you the answers. Auburn, Duke effort. I'll still go with Houston. And then you know what, I, I just, I, maybe it's recency bias. There's something I, Bama, I can't get off, but I don't think they have enough to get there. And if I think Michigan State's going to lose, it's not going to be on the one line. But I think Auburn's going to beat Tennessee. So I'll say Florida's the fourth one because I think Auburn will beat Tennessee in the sec. I think Auburn, this is going to be. And I'm sure Auburn fans have talked themselves into it. I genuinely believe it. I think losing back to back games to end the regular season is going to kick their ass in gear and put them into the SEC championship game at minimum. Whether or not that has carry over into them making the Final Four. We'll see. But I think that Auburn is going to return to form post haste and at least make the elite and losing to Alabama the way that it I think will benefit the benefit the Tigers.
Gary Parrish
Need to because they haven't been good. That's the other thing. They didn't just lose two games. They've had some really clearing deficiencies in those two games. Trivia time, what do you think they ranked in adjusted defensive efficiency in this two game losing streak? So Tuesday through today, where do you think Auburn ranks nationally in adjusted defensive efficiency?
Matt Norlander
I'll say 94.
Gary Parrish
188. Okay, 188. Can't guard nobody. And that was, I think the final possession was symbolic of that on some level. You know Mark Sears, by the way.
Matt Norlander
Times two is 188. So I was halfway there.
Gary Parrish
They're playing like a, they're playing like a two man game. LeBaron filing and Mark Sears. Sears gets the ball and almost like fakes a double hand, a dribble handoff and either it looked like Denver Jones either wanted to switch it or hesitated just enough and Sears just gets to the free throw line easy like nope. And then it's just a high percentage little floater for him that he hits all day. You can't give up that shot. And they gave up that shot pretty easily. So I still trust Auburn. I'm going to believe in what I've watched for four months, not what I've watched over the past week, but they've got some stuff that they've, they've got to get fixed. One last thing on these group of eight teams, then we'll move on.
Matt Norlander
Okay.
Gary Parrish
We mentioned Michigan State knocking out Michigan earlier today on cbs. There was a little controversy at the end of it where Michigan State was shooting free throws. Two Michigan players were standing back on the Michigan State logo. Let me ask you this, did you know in real time this is a, this is a thing that you cannot do? Because it wasn't clear to me what was happening in real time. And then I was reminded, well, Michigan State players kiss the logo on the way out and the Michigan players are standing on the logo. Get off of our logo so we can kiss our logo. Like that's what that was about.
Matt Norlander
Yeah.
Gary Parrish
And I didn't, it was not clear to me. And Dusty, I don't know if you saw the postgame press conference, said as much after the game. He was like, are we not allowed to stay stand at mid court when they're shooting free throws. And. And then they were like, well, you know, it's a tradition. He's like, okay, I didn't know. I didn't know. All right, gotcha.
Matt Norlander
Like, I did rivalry stuff, though.
Gary Parrish
Trey Hollow.
Matt Norlander
Trey Holloman is not afraid of anyone, and he really went after him. And then. Yeah, listen, that. This is just good. This is. This is good for the rivalry. Michigan State Izzo continues to. To largely own Michigan over the course of his career. That's detailed in the story. Johnny Orr was the last time a Michigan coach in year one went to Michigan State and won, by the way. And that's going on almost six decades at this point. I didn't know. I knew. I knew it was a thing with the kissing when it happened. I didn't know what it was about. I didn't put two and two together. And then quickly you realize. And that's a really, really cool tradition at Michigan State, by the way. Love it. And, yeah, why not get a little feistiness? Michigan. Oh, boy. Although I kind of. I think a lot of people are gonna start to fade Michigan, which I think is. It might picking the Wolverines for the Sweet 16 matchup dependent. Might work out okay for you. We'll see. Because they're an easy team to fade right now, but they do with the way they run a lot of their stuff. They might. They might benefit from getting some fresh meat out of the Big ten, but that was. Yeah, that was Paris. I. I'm all for some good, healthy confrontation here and here and then. And. And that rivalry is underappreciated and. Yeah, let's have a little bit of feistiness. I got no issue with it.
Gary Parrish
Yeah. It's possible that the way Trey Holloman interpreted that is they're effing with us right now.
Matt Norlander
The guys didn't even know what was going on.
Gary Parrish
Yeah. Or. Or. Or let's be fair. They were effing with them.
Matt Norlander
Yeah, they made. Or they're. They're playing dumb, or they're effing with them. And either way, I'm for it regardless.
Gary Parrish
Either way, it was like, I didn't mind it. And what I liked most is that while you watch the players, you know, take it up here, then very quickly the coaches bring it back down. And I think that's important. Like, I don't know that coaches should be escalating these things as much as they should be. And I just. The visual was good. Tom and Dusty, both of whom you spent time with recently, but, like, we both. We know Both those guys, those are both like at their core good people, you know, like they're just, they're likable humans. And so I loved the visual of, okay, our players are in each other's face out here. It's possible we either we just disrespected you or you just disrespected us. We're trying to figure that out right now. But like, let me put my arm around you and let's talk for a second. There's that visual of Dusty and Tom with arms around each other talking, like just sort of trying to make each other understand. Hey man, if we did something we shouldn't have done, I wasn't in the huddle but it seemed to be like, hey, I, I meant no offense if my players are out of line. We didn't mean to. And even Dusty after the game said, hey, like whatever. They earned the right to rub our noses in it. If we don't want stuff like this to happen, we got to be better.
Matt Norlander
The logo stuff in college sports continues to be hilarious by the way. Remember, I love all of them. I love flag and the turf and all this. Ohio State, Michigan, like all of it. All of it.
Gary Parrish
I love all of it. I just, you know, you, you don't want an ugly scene. I should be clear about that. But I thought the coaches did a good job of de escalating it. And then in the post game press conferences, they both, they both sounded reasonable to me, you know and you know, fun moment. So that's the story on the top eight teams in the country. We'll continue to monitor them over the next week. Let's talk some automatic bids to the NCAA tournament because as of this moment, I think we punched five. Five teams that punch bids to the 2025 NCAA tournament. We'll spend a few minutes on that. We'll do it next. First let's get a word from our partners.
Matt Norlander
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Gary Parrish
So far, five teams have punched automatic bids to the 2025 NCAA tournament. Let me run you through them. S I U E. Is that right?
Matt Norlander
That is. It's. It ain't SIU Edwardsville anymore. That's SIU E to you, sir.
Gary Parrish
S I U E is in the NCAA tournament out of the ovc. Congrats to Brian Baronet. High Point is in out of the Big South. Congrats to Alan Huss. Lipscomb is in out of the Atlantic sun. Shouts to Lenny Acuff. Drake is in out of the NBC. What's up, Ben McCollum. And Omaha is in out of the Summit League no matter what happens in the tournament title game because St. Thomas is ineligible, which is still the stupidest thing that the NCAA does.
Matt Norlander
There's a lot of competition for that.
Gary Parrish
Oh, okay.
Matt Norlander
Yeah, I should a lot of competition.
Gary Parrish
Things that it would be on the list of the stupidest that have laid down. Like I read like the actual if you googled like let's pretend you know nothing about college but basketball and you googled hold up. I'm. I just heard Omaha's already in, but I think Omaha's got to play a tournament title game against St. Thomas. What is Going on? I'm confused. And you Google what is going on? I'm confused about St. Thomas. You know what it says? St. Thomas is. Is still transitioning to Division 1. No, they're not. They're playing Division 1 basketball. They've been doing it all year. What are we talking about?
Matt Norlander
It's.
Gary Parrish
It's.
Matt Norlander
It's a transition process, man. Many phases.
Gary Parrish
There doesn't. Why are there. Why are there phases to it? Why? I love getting people who make these rules and then just asking them direct questions. Like. Like, I'll never forget the very first conference call they had about name, image, and likeness. We're going to try it out. Name, agent, likeness. And we're gonna. And we're gonna do it, but we're not gonna allow it to be a recruiting tool. Do you remember when they said that?
Matt Norlander
I do.
Gary Parrish
We're gonna have names of likeness, but. But we're not gonna allow it to be a recruiting tool. Press Star9 if you would last. Like to ask a question, Star9, let's go to Gary Parrish, CBS Sports. You can find the transcript, probably.
Matt Norlander
Let's go to Pat Ford.
Gary Parrish
Pat Ford's always on the.
Matt Norlander
Always Pat ford and not 40. Always covering college sports for more than three decades. In every single conference call, it's always Pat Ford.
Gary Parrish
I think Pat Ford asked the first question, and then I hit £9 because I want. I didn't want to go before Pav 4. I wanted to get all my chuckles out before I had to ask my question. So I let Pat Ford go first. All right. And then I hit pound nine, and they said, let's go to Gary Paris, CBS Sports. And I said, I heard you say you're going to allow name, image and likeness, but you're not going to allow it to be a recruiting tool. How are you going to do that? Well, you know, we are still in the, you know, exploratory process, and these are conversations that we're still having. Okay. Have as many conversations as you want and then hold another conference call. I'm gonna hit £9 just as soon as Pat Ford's done, and I'm gonna ask the same question again. And you know what? You're gonna say the same because you don't have an answer for this. There's no answer for it. There is no way to allow name, image and likeness without it being a recruiting tool. It's a stupid concept.
Matt Norlander
Similarly.
Gary Parrish
Similarly, what is the transition process? What is it? Why does there need to be one? One year you played here, the next year you're playing here. Who cares? Had a transition process into the Big Ten. They were just ineligible.
Matt Norlander
You know what? That'd be a phenomenal.
Gary Parrish
How you think Mick would handle that, by the way?
Matt Norlander
That'd be incredible. That would be. Man, oh man.
Gary Parrish
I just think it's ridiculous. Like it's a rule that is in place that accomplishes nothing except for creates these types of moments on college basketball podcast. That's all it does.
Matt Norlander
I know I want to give love to these mid majors, but my understanding of this is basically. And they've actually up. They significantly upped the cost to jump out of D2, D3 into D1 into the millions versus what it used to be. But it was basically to try and create a barrier because Division 1 continued to expand and in the, largely speaking over the past like 15 years, it hit that, you know, way too large number still. But in that 360 range, we're at 364 now. And it was there to prevent that. And then also, oh, if you want to do this, we're going to have you in the waiting room for four or five years before you can play in the NCAA tournament. So if you really want to make the commitment, like, you got to prove to us that you're willing to go through the hardships to do it in an effort to reduce the number of schools that were banging on the door one and getting the D1. That's generally why they do it. GP I'm just giving you. I'm giving you the answer and how I understand it. Not saying it's right. I'm just telling you that's why it is.
Gary Parrish
No, I am telling you. You're right. That is the explanation. I am telling you. Let me be clear. That is stupid. All right? There's 364 teams in Division 1. Does this rule. What is this rule going to do? This is going to be the rule that keeps us from getting to 372. Oh, we really need it because we, you know, it'd be a shame if we went to 372 instead of 364. Like, who cares?
Matt Norlander
I gotcha. Let's give some love to these schools. Okay. Five conferences.
Gary Parrish
I want to give love to St. Thomas.
Matt Norlander
All right. Absolutely. The Tommy's. That's actually, you know, it's a. It's a basic moniker, but I kind of like it. The St. John's Johnny's. The St. Thomas Tommy's. We should be having Tommy's versus Johnny, shouldn't we?
Gary Parrish
We might get it. We might get It. Let's start with Drake. They won on CBS earlier today. NBC tournament title game. I know you talked about it on hq. We had talked about it on Inside College Basketball earlier in the week. Would Drake have an at large case if it needed an at large bid? And to quote, that's out the window.
Matt Norlander
Well, I'm just so. I'm thrilled that this is not a topic that we have to wait a week to find out. It's actually refreshing to see that they went in Bradley's a good team and they thumped them and they're. And they're banging through and it's just. It's not something we have to sit and wait on.
Gary Parrish
That's all right. So it's a little bit like this is just sort of what popped in my head. Once upon a time, a hip hop artist, a rapper won album of the year or whatever. And the accepted speech was people wanted to know what I would do if I didn't win this. I guess we'll never know. And this is sort of like that, you know, with the committee give Drake and I an at large bid if I guess we'll never know. They got the automatic bid. They're 30 and three, 17 and three in the MVC. First year under Ben McCollum. He's now won 12 straight conference championships. All right, 11 straight at Northwest Missouri State, plus four division two national championships. Gets the Drake job and immediately goes 30 and three. I saw you tweeted. He's on a short list of people who have ever won 30 games in year one as a Division 1 head coach. And I'm not trying to because this is always complicated when you're a mid major. You have this amazing season, this amazing day, and then people like you and I are like, and what's Next for Ben McCollum? So I'm not trying to do that. If Ben wants to stay at Drake forever, awesome. This is the guy I would be looking at if I got a high major opening. You know why? Because he never loses.
Matt Norlander
Yeah.
Gary Parrish
And all that stuff about. But he's never recruited at the high major level, never worked at it doesn't matter as much anymore. And maybe not at all. As long as you have nil money. It's like being a general manager in the NBA. Like if we don't talk about NBA journal managers or MLB general managers as like. But do they have enough relationships? We just say do we have they have enough money to get things done. If so, if they're competent and good, they'll be able to get it done. If there's one thing and I, I knew very little about Mid McCollum this time last year, but having followed this story, read everything that's been written about him. This guy is an amazing basketball coach. There's just no way to argue otherwise. And somebody, if they want to, will have an opportunity to hire an amazing basketball coach. And the, the, the reasons that used to, used to might not the reasons used to come up with to maybe not give a guy like this, with this background a big boy job. I don't think those are real reasons anymore. I, I, this is somebody I would be looking at because again, 12 straight conference championships at two different schools, that's incredible.
Matt Norlander
Yeah, maybe he may well choose to stick around and Drake and frankly seeing coaching superstars or stars on the rise like this do that, it's kind of cool to see. But he is quite clearly going to have some options here once Drake seasons end. And I, I know I poke fun at this because people love to say it on tv, write it on in stories, put it out in tweets, do it in podcasts and sometimes it's true, sometimes it's just something we say. I mean it. You do not want to see Drake in the, you do not want to see Drake if you're a high major team, you don't, you do not want to see this team. He took four dudes from his D2 team, brought him up to D1. One of them is Bennett Sturch, who's been one of the best players in the country this season. Incredible story, man. What they are doing and I love watching them play. I don't, I don't know where they're going to get seated. Personally, I'd love to see a team that won at the level that they did consistently enough. I'd like to see him rewarded with a nine seed. I don't know if it'll happen. And the idea that Drake, if it beat its 8 9, had to face a 1 seed to me is, oh, I love it. Something tells me with the resume, looking at it, they might squeak in as a 10. I think 11 would be unfair for what they've done. Whatever. We'll worry about that when we see where they're seated on Selection Sunday. That's just my personal opinion, but watching them play, it's a ton of fun. And I think he's a, maybe he's not even a dark horse anymore at Indiana. We'll see where it goes. I think he's gonna, he should get a look if you're Indiana. I don't know if Iowa will or will not open. He is coaching in the state of Iowa right now. If you are the Iowa athletic director and you're wondering if your program needs a reboot in the later years under Fran McCaffrey who wants to come back, you know what? Look at what that guy's doing in your state right now. Keep an eye on that in addition to some other spots. And hey listen, we're not going to turn this into coach's corner. We got carousel stuff to get to in general. But you brought it up at least wanted to to acknowledge that I did post a list. Here are the names of coaches their first year they ever coached in men's D1 as a head coach. Bill Guthridge has the record with 34. Tommy Lloyd had 33. Bill Hodges at Indiana State with Larry Bird at 33. Brad Underwood at Stephen F. Austin 32 Steve Prom at Murray State. We'll get to him before the end of the show. He had 31 back in 2012. Jamie Dixon at Pitt 131 and then the 30 win names are McCollum Brad Stevens at Butler did this in 08. Stan Heath at Kent State in 2002 when they made the deep run in the tournament and then 1945 John Warren at Oregon. Who doesn't know that Good on Drake. Here's a nugget for you as you get ready to wonder what you're gonna do with them. Your bracket only only two teams this season have allowed 50 points or fewer at least six times. Houston at nine and Drake with six. They're also only the second team ever to win three straight MVC tournament titles. The other one was Southern Illinois back in the 90s and they did it with two different coaches. This is actually the rare example of a mid major program making the NCAA tournament three consecutive years with two different coaches and in the process of doing that winning at least at least 25 games in all of those years. So what's going down at Drake is is really really special. That's not a first time dancer though. Who is Siue Omaha because of the St. Thomas stuff that we talked about before and High Point Lipscombs in for the second time they win the A Sun There was a that North Alabama game really really fun stuff right alongside the MVC championship on cbs. But the first three teams into the tournament are teams that had never been there before. SIUE Omaha and High Point. They are Teams 3, 3 3, 334 and 335 in the history of the NCAA Tournament back to 1939. There have now been 335 teams that have been in. And for SIUE, it's, it's a really cool thing. There was a great moment where the Brian Barone in the post game, he had someone. Did you see this? Yeah, one hand him nada. I think I sent you the video. You know, we're gonna do this in real time. It's. I think it's like a 25 second clip. Not if you have the video, I'm going on faith and if not, I'll tell you what happened now to play the video of Brony afterward and if not, I'll describe it. Here we go.
Gary Parrish
Six years ago, I put this above our locker room door. Six years ago, right? Six years ago. So proud of you, man. We did that six years ago. It's been hanging above our locker room door. People didn't think we were going to be able to do it, but that dude did right there. That dude right there. Believe me. We talked about filling the corners in our, in our arena.
Matt Norlander
We did that.
Gary Parrish
We talked about, hey, we're going to break this right now because we've been waiting six years to use these scissors right now. And I'm proud of it, okay. Because of the kind of culture we have, the kind of guys we have.
Matt Norlander
And that was. That's. I'd never seen something like that before. Kind of cool like you know, before it happens. And if you weren't watching, you're listening after the fact. He's got a pair of scissors like old school metal shears. And until you do it, it can seem pretty corny. But then when you do it and you. They bust open like break in case of emergency. Saturday night wasn't. They broke it open. They use those scissors to cut the net and, and that's a really, really cool deal. Brony, you know, just son of a coach quietly been going after it and. And they pull it off. So congrats to them. High Point. Allen Huss has done an incredible job immediately in two years at High Point, he's also done, done amazing stuff and this is why I love the tournament. You've got schools that have never ever been to the tournament and not every year do we get a first time dancer. We get them, you know, here and there with regularity. But some years we just, we have a team that maybe it's going for the second time or just the third time. This one, the first three into the dance are first time entrants. That's awesome stuff.
Gary Parrish
I love the scissor stuff, and it gave me a wonderful idea. Here, our house, we can't ever find scissors. No idea where they are ever. So I'm just gonna frame a pair. I'm gonna buy a pair from Amazon, buy a little frame, frame it, and then just like, you know, when I need to cut something, I'll go get it. I don't imagine it'll ever be used for nets to celebrate, but they're just. I can't tell you how many times over the past few years I've been looking for scissors. Can't find them anywhere. Maybe the key is just putting them in a frame. Happy for Brian. You know, I got to know the Baroni family a little bit because Tony Senior worked here in Memphis in the Grizzlies front office. And so, you know, I've known Brian for a while and. Yeah, coach's son. And you're just sort of. This time of the year is always interesting because you. It's just like, there's Brian Barone going viral, and just like you hadn't even. When's the last time you saw Brian Barone on television? You know, it's just like we don't. We spent a lot of time talking about Duke in Kansas and Kentucky and Indiana, right? And there's all these little interesting things happening just sort of right below where most people are looking. And then they pop up this time of the year. And like watching Penny Hardaway celebrate an outright conference championship on Friday night like that. I love watching these things. And just the years and the hard work and the disappointment, I mean, every emotion you can probably think of has been in place at some point when you have been building to this moment. And when you're at a place like. I'll just keep it factual. When you're at a place that's never, literally never been to this place is probably likely that you will also never get to that place. And yet you still fighting every day, working every day. And to finally get there, just that sense of accomplishment is something I really appreciate. I love watching people have goals and then chase them and then grab them and then. And then it. And then sit in it. And that just seemed like a special moment for Brian and everybody involved last night. It is my favorite thing. I will never lie. I do not sit around watching low major basketball every night of the week. I am not the guy who says a basketball game's on. I gotta watch it. If it's an interesting basketball game, I want to watch it. I ain't just watching Anything for anything. I love this stuff. I love these moments. I just. Yeah. And we, we get them every night this week. Every night this week. Some. A dream is coming true every night this week. Lives are changing. I don't mean to get hyperbolic, but like.
Matt Norlander
No, they are.
Gary Parrish
Oh, these are contract extensions. These are, these are, these are. The lives do change because of stuff that happens this week and the next and the next. And I, I love every bit of it. I, the, the scissor thing, I just loved Good man. I loved what it represented.
Matt Norlander
I, I did too. And I'm just, you know, I know I can be an earnest earning over some of this stuff, but I mean it. And I know people watching this podcast and listening to it feel it too. Like these, like SIUE is playing for months in obscurity. You know, it's not selling out its own buildings. If you want to watch it on any kind of video platform, you got to pay on a streaming service to maybe watch it. And they're just. And it's a, it's a group of people tight knit from a small place. If I, if I polled every single person listening to this show right now and told you to get within 30 miles of Edwardsville, Illinois, how many could not even get close to it? Right? And the idea that they have lived this existence for months and months and months and then they get their moment on national television and you can see it in their faces and their body language and yes, the other side, when the losing team, when they met. This is why the tournament is special. I'll harp on it every damn year. It's why it's the perfect size. You don't need to expand it. You don't need to rip a single auto bid away from a low major conference because we get the best possible outcomes and visuals, everything tied to the tournament, the way that this whole thing is built is so special. And I could not agree with you more. When I saw, as ridiculous as it is, when I saw Brian Barone sit down in that post game interview and say, give me this. And you see, I knew what it was before he said it. When I saw the scissors under glass in a box in my mind, I. I didn't know a thing about it. I was like, I actually thought he put those things at the start of the season. He put them in when he got the job six years ago when he was promoted and had been waiting and waiting and waiting. It is kind of Ted Lasso ish. Who cares? It's cool as hell. Can't wait to see SIU in the tournament. They're probably going to Dayton. Whatever, man. That's an awesome story. Just like Omaha and just like Lipscomb and just like Drake. Just like all on down the list with all of them. High point as well. Great on all of you. More coming this week.
Gary Parrish
Yeah, like, I guess some people would look at that and roll their eyes or call it cheesy. I don't know. I love it. It's sort of. It's not too far removed from. You've heard these stories before. I think these are real stories. I don't. I think this is a real story. Somebody will like write a check to themselves for a million dollars and then they just hold it in a drawer and like, I'm going to cash this someday. And then you get to pull it, pull it out someday and go deposit it. Like that's a sense of accomplishment. Like, I set out to do this and I did it. That's what those scissors represented. And just a special scene. Anything else on the five teams that are in or you want to go to bubble talk?
Matt Norlander
Let's listen folks. This is a stack show so we got plenty more. Let's. Let's go. Let's go bubble stuff first. Let's nada. Let's go partners here. And then we'll get into pretty much every single notable bubble result over the past three days. Robert Half Research indicates nine out of ten hiring managers are having difficulty hiring. If you have open roles, chances are you're feeling this too. That's why you need Robert Half. Our specialized recruiting professionals engage their skills with our award winning AI to connect businesses of all sizes with highly skilled talent in finance and accounting, technology, marketing and creative, legal and administrative and customer support. At Robert Half, we know talent. Visit roberthalf.com today.
Gary Parrish
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Matt Norlander
Okay, let's go. Let's go bubble. Let's go Bubble. Winners first. I think three teams locked up their position in the Tournament by virtue of winning and they were all heading that way anyway. But I think Georgia, Utah State and West Virginia all winning over the weekend. They're good to go. They're going to get in the field. If they lose and whatever, we'll see where they're seated. But they're. They're good to go. Don't need to spend much time on them. And good on Georgia for turning its season around. Other winners. I am just shy on Arkansas now. Arkansas won 93, 92 over Mississippi State. Really dramatic ending. Billy Richmond blocked a shot. Mississippi State had one more opportunity. It didn't fall. They win. Arkansas is now 19 and 2. They finished the regular season winning seven of their final 11 games. D.J. wagner and Jonas Adu were both tremendous. It was actually like a really. If you're a Hogs fan, that was a really inspiring, inspiring win on, on the way you're doing it. You did that and how you've done this. No, I do thorough. Arkansas is 8 and 12 in Q1 and Q2. That's 4 under.500. So the idea of Arkansas lost one more game was 8 and 13. I'm just, I can't get there just yet. They don't have a resume metric better than 39. I think they're pretty close. I think they're going to get in, but I don't know if I can go. Lock. Lock. I wouldn't bet my absolute life on it. So we got more to get to. But Arkansas has been obviously a very intriguing team all season and that was an awesome game on Saturday. Yeah. Any thoughts on. On Razorbacks? Either the game or big Picture?
Gary Parrish
Well, John had an interesting quote after the game. Like, you know, everybody put us in a coffin. I'm paraphrasing here, but they forgot the nails, which I, you know, I don't mind. Like, everybody had something to say when they were struggling when they were 0 and 5. I will never get mad at or even bothered by somebody if it flips around. Saying something back like John deserves to. I understand why he's saying stuff back. I would be too. And he's done it not to. Let's not ever get it all twisted up. This is a disappointing season relative to preseason expectations, relative to what they spent on that roster. This team has not been as good as it was supposed to be. And you ready for this? Still isn't as good as it was supposed to be. But they started 0 and 5 in the SEC. Everybody was laughing. People were actually questioning, is this like, is it over for John Caliperi like, has he just hit that. That place where, yo, man, you can't do it anymore? Like, these were real conversations people were having, you and I included. And he has turned it around enough to where. I agree with you. Not a lock yet. Because it would be. I wouldn't. I would not wish this on cow. But like, there's a scenario where you get into a. Your first game in the SEC tournament.
Matt Norlander
Do you know what it is? I'll tell you if you don't know what it is. Guess who they play first. This is why I can't say. Luck.
Gary Parrish
I looked at it earlier. I just. I. I know this. There's a chance they could take a horrific. Like a bad loss.
Matt Norlander
It's South Carolina on Wednesday. If Arkansas loses to South Carolina. I'm sorry, I just. There's no way I can go that far. If you. A lock is. You can lose every single. Whatever. And I can't say that. I mean, if they lost that game. That's your Wednesday noon tip in Nashville.
Gary Parrish
That would be the most.
Matt Norlander
Yeah.
Gary Parrish
I mean, that would be the St. Peter's the Jack goalkeeper.
Matt Norlander
I. You're not wrong that it is absolutely right in that genre.
Gary Parrish
You can't do that. You cannot. I do not. I would not wish that on John. That's miserable.
Matt Norlander
That. Oh, gosh. Yeah.
Gary Parrish
That's miserable to fight all the way back to where, hey, we got it. And you're talking about the coffins and they didn't get the nails. And then you back it up with a loss to South Carolina. That bumps you on the wrong side of the bubble.
Matt Norlander
Yeah. Gotta win that game. They win Ole Miss as the eight. Let's deal with that when it gets there to be closer. Move on down the line. Oklahoma wins 76, 7, 72 against Texas, gets to 19 and 12. That's a six quad one win for the Sooners. They're between 35 and 50 in all the team sheet metrics. The conference record isn't good, but you know what it is? Six wins. And this is the sec and that's where we're at. Porter Moser had a great week. They win at home by double digits over Missouri. And then they follow that up, go against arrival. They split with Texas in the process. In or out Oklahoma right now for you.
Gary Parrish
Say in. I think I'd agree, but I have to. I hate it when people do that, what we just did, because I think you need to put down pen to paper before you're just shouting in and out.
Matt Norlander
Not as fun. Let's just start Shouting. You know what, though? You bring up a good point. People don't realize, and they do not talk about the fact that you have to put 68 teams into this tournament.
Gary Parrish
That's right. That's right. But I do. I see people on TV all the time, and they're just like, I think this team's in. I'm like. And there's no way they've actually put down pen to paper and have actually made a cut line and all of that stuff. And I think I'm putting down things.
Matt Norlander
Like, yeah, I'm putting down. I'm putting down pen to paper right now, by the way. I'm doing this pen. Here's my pen. Here's my CBS logo. Here we go. Bend the paper.
Gary Parrish
I'm doing it. Okay. I don't have a pen. I'm gonna. I'll just use my notes app.
Matt Norlander
I rarely use the notes app, and it. That just does not hit the same.
Gary Parrish
I know I'm talking to somebody. And they were like, well, let me. Let me look at. I got it down in my notes app. And I was like, okay. And they pulled up their notes app like a normal. Like. Like, here's what my notes app looks like. There's nothing on it.
Matt Norlander
It's a white screen.
Gary Parrish
Yeah. But this person had, like, a book of notes, and they were like, yeah, just. I just put down thoughts every day, all day long. I just. My whole life's in my notes app. And I couldn't tell whether I'm crazy or they're crazy. Which one do you think it is?
Matt Norlander
Column A, Column B. What do you want from me? We both got Oklahoma in the field right now. Indiana. Indiana. Nada. Get it ready. Indiana is 5 and 2 in its last seven. Comes back from down 10 with 12 minutes to go against Ohio State at home. Ends the game on a 30 to 14 run. Overall was 15 to 4 in the final five minutes, and specifically over Ohio State, which did not make a field goal in the final five. And change had four turnovers in. Indiana won this game by making, what, 23, 24 free throws and only 19 field goals. A very weird way to win the game. They won it nonetheless. Game was on cbs. What did Mike Woodson have to say on the floor afterward after getting this win? Nana, can you play that for our list?
Gary Parrish
Mike Woodson, you're one of the best players ever at Indiana. Great. Coach, can you try to sum. Sum up your feelings right now? Maybe I'm leaving too soon.
Matt Norlander
I don't know.
Gary Parrish
You know, this brings back old Memories. Bring it back. Wouldn't that be fun? Oh, please, bring him back. It'd be so much fun. Bring him back. Give him one more chance. Can't you give him one more chance?
Matt Norlander
That was something right there on the floor. Maybe. Maybe I'm leaving too soon. I don't know. He wants to say it. He wants to say it. I don't have the Leo. I'm not leaving. I should have had it on the board. I'm not effing leaving. Oh, man. Good on him. Good on the. You know what, Indiana fans, in all seriousness, you got to be living, even if like that, for about five minutes, had you a little shook, like, wait a second. This isn't going to happen, right? You. You know, you're getting a new coach and you're looking good. Heading to the NCAA tournament. Now, I can't go lock status. Indiana plays Oregon in the 8, 9 game in the Big Ten tournament. Now that's a quality opponent with a loss. You know, just allow for the bit thievery. We don't really know. Let's just keep an open mind on that. Indiana right now is 52 in the net. Its average metric rating is 41. For resume, it's 50. And predictive, it's 9 and 12. See, when I get to like 3, 4, 5 games under.500 in Q1 and 2 combined, I just. I gotta pump the brakes just a little bit. So, Indiana, you're doing well for yourself. An Oregon win there will be no doubt. But a nice win for you over the weekend. I got a few more here, but you got any thoughts on the Hoosiers?
Gary Parrish
Be hilarious. They hire a new coach, miss the NCAA tournament next season, and we can sit here and be like, I mean, they had a guy who went to three NCAA tournaments in four years, including last season, and they made him. They just told him they didn't want him anymore. So, you know, those are always fun.
Matt Norlander
I don't wish that for Indiana, but as you bring this up, I mean, it's entirely within the realm of possibility that that exact thing happens. Unless it's been McCollum. You hire Ben McCollum, he's going to win the conference.
Gary Parrish
Then you're winning third, then you're winning the Big Ten. It's over for Thomas, though. I'm GL. That is 11th this year. You bring in Ben McCollum, it's over with. Ben McCollum gonna run. It took Tom Izzo decades to win 11 Big Ten titles. Ben McCollum gonna do it in 11 years.
Matt Norlander
Four more bubble winners. Before we get to the negative side of it. Xavier has won seven in a row. It has gone from 14 and 10 to 2110. It's a five seed in the Big East. I will be there on Thursday when it faces slumping Marquette in the Big east quarters. It is a win and in situation as far as I'm concerned. Average resume met 38.7. You need that to be better. It's 9 and 10 in quad one and quad two. There isn't a bad loss on the schedule. Fascinating deal here with Xavier. Certainly like a vintage right on the cut line dancing on the bubble. Either or how you're looking at it depends. And then three more here. San Diego State beat Nevada to get to 21 and 8. It faces another bubble winner. Although this is distant stuff here. Colorado State's got to win more. However. Colorado State beat Boise State on Friday night. Is the Mountain West 2 seed. CSU is 22 and 9. It will play San Diego State on Thursday in the Mountain west tournament. So that is an intriguing head to head game there. Colorado State needs to probably make the Mountain west tournament championship game. Then we got to stop and evaluate. I think, I think, I don't know. They got an intriguing resume overall. They got the win. And then in the, in the realm of Drake here, UC San Diego is 28 and four has a win at Utah State. It won. It won the outright Big west championship over the weekend there. If you see San Diego gets to the title game of the Big west and loses, we can have a conversation that records gaudy. They are like a top 35 Ken Palm team. Another awesome mid major. Those are your bubble winners. Any thoughts on any of those four before we go to the other end of it?
Gary Parrish
As long as we're putting 68 teams in this, I would love to put teams that have win totals like, like that San Diego team. But I'm not, I'm not optimistic that they're going to be able to get there. If they don't get the automatic bid right now. Let's just. They lose before selection Sunday. Can you, can you get them into the bracket? I don't. I don't know that you can.
Matt Norlander
They have one quad three loss, zero quad four losses. They are three and three combined. Q1, Q2. It will be tough for them to get in. They would actually. I have this. Hold on. Let me give you this note here. So they would tie. They would set a record here. Let me just check real quick. Parrish, because that win total, I'm not Saying this won't prove not to be the case. But UC San Diego so they have 26 D1 wins because remember like the 28 and 4. Good. Good on you but the committee will not look at the two non D1 ones just so for the committee purposes right now they're 26 and 4 and the record for most wins not to make the NCAA tournament is 28. Coastal Carolina did it twice. St. Mary's did it seven years ago. UNC Greensboro did it in 2019. I remember that. And then Indiana State also did it as well with 28 wins. So UC San Diego, if it doesn't get the auto bid could set the record for most wins without getting in not the fewest losses. That's Utah State with three back in like oh two one of the all time snubs. But yeah good point. Good to keep it keep it in mind there they are definitely good enough to do damage. Eric Olin is their coach. They've got a dude who leads the nation and steals. I want to see him in the tournament because you know they could they could really be a be a feisty out in the in the first round immediately. Let's go to the other side bubble watch losers. We'll start with Texas. The exact quote on HQ at about 12:10am Saturday into Sunday night from Jerry Paul was Texas is dead. He said Texas needs to make the SEC tournament title game to have a chance as in that large Trey Johnson was 0 of 14 against that again from the field against Oklahoma. Jordan Pope showed up and he played well. But Texas you can't lost too many home games this season. It's been a real problem and Texas is not likely to get in. If Oklahoma does get in the and this is now with bigger conferences like these kind of records are going to go by the wayside. But the record for the most games under 500 in league play for at large teams is 4. It's been done by 5 teams. The most recent one was West Virginia two years ago with 7 and 11 in league playing got in and I remember there was some noise about that Oklahoma actually did it it back in 2019 as well. Texas is 6 and 12. Okay so it is six games on and this is just in the regular season not counting for whatever you do in your conference tournament there that's it's not a good situation in Austin right now and they need an aberrational run in the SEC tournament to do it. If you're listening and curious what the road is, I've got you covered Vandy on Wednesday. And then if they win, they have to beat A M. If they win that, they have to beat Tennessee and then could theoretically place Auburn in the semis and then we might have something. But it's a, it's a long road, it's very much in danger.
Gary Parrish
Yeah, that doesn't sound. Even if you, even as you were just laying out the path, the possible path, it was like, all right, we're not doing that.
Matt Norlander
You were like Norland, you said A M, you can stop.
Gary Parrish
Well like, well like once you, once you've been so mediocre that you're on the wrong side of the bubble, it seems crazy to think you're just going to run through a league like this. This like I would be a little more open minded about a mediocre ACC team running through it because like you just get Duke popped off somewhere and then you know, I know Louisville and Clemson are good but like let's, let's go play. But in the SEC it's like here's A M, there's Florida, there's Tennessee, there's Alabama, there's Auburn, there's Mississippi State, there's Ole Miss, there's Kentucky, there's Missouri. Is like of all these teams, you're going to be the one at the end. I doubt it.
Matt Norlander
Let's stick in Texas. What are we doing with Baylor here? 18 and 13 team, it loses at home to Houston. 65, 61. The notable wins, Arkansas, St. John's Quality, West Virginia at home and that's about it. My buddy. They're in the field right now, but that's a bubble loser. 10 and 12 in Q1 and Q2 resonated metrics are outside the top 40 at present. I gotta bring up the Big 12 tournament bracket here. GP give me your thoughts on Baylor while I bring up this bracket. Tell you who they're play.
Gary Parrish
Jerry Palm's got him in the first four right now.
Matt Norlander
Right now according to Palm.
Gary Parrish
Okay. That means the road to Joy could start in Daytona.
Matt Norlander
You know they say the road to Joy does start in Dayton, so that makes a lot of sense.
Gary Parrish
Baylor, the road to Joy starts in the first four.
Matt Norlander
Baylor is a seven seed in the Big 12. Have you seen this Big 12 court, by the way?
Gary Parrish
I have not seen the Big 12.
Matt Norlander
Oh my gosh.
Gary Parrish
Is it outrageous?
Matt Norlander
Prepare. It's a bunch of Roman numeral 12s. Like you feel like you're on a gummy the second you turn on the TV it's gonna be. Women have already done it. So it's Already gotten some buzz on social. Social media. This is going to go go viral again in a couple of days when the Big 12 tournament starts.
Gary Parrish
I'll get high and watch the Big 12 tournament if you want to.
Matt Norlander
Yeah, you might. You might. You might find yourself at the nexus of the universe if you do that and watch the game there. Toss on some dead while you're at it. Baylor's the 7C that will play the winner of Arizona State. Kansas State. Don't lose that game. And then if it wins, it gets Texas Tech. Just keep an eye on Baylor, folks. Definitely a letdown season. Let's keep it moving. Carolina loses to Duke. The situation hasn't changed. Let's talk the game real quick. They gotta be. They're gonna have to beat Duke. They got. They have to beat Duke in order to. In order to get into the tournament. It's now the 5 seed. It needs to beat the winner of Notre Dame. PIT Notre Dame 1 in four overtimes against Cal, by the way, on Saturday. So Carolina's got to be probably pit. I mean, excuse me, probably wake for all. In a way, it will be pit it. And then it would play Duke in the semis at the ACC tournament. 111 quad one. It somehow is 28th in BPI, but it's near 50 in resume metrics. Much more to do. RJ Davis was really having a moment there Saturday. Like, it actually felt for about 20 minutes of real time. I was like, hot damn, Carolina really might do this. Like, they might give us a really cool kind of plot twist here heading into the postseason tournament. Pull off a quad one win, get themselves into the field and instead, if you were watching the game, you know Malik Brown had two made triples the entire season. He hit two in the second half to match the season total. That felt like backbreakers. And one of them, he was so wide open, it looked like Carolina was just daring him. Paris to shoot it. He hit it. It was cash. It was almost like Duke was messing around on the playground. And then at a point it was like, not gonna happen. Like, we're better than these guys and we're just gonna straight up knock him out of the. Knock him out of the building. They did. It was a 29:10 run over the final 12 and change into Duke. Duke went Duke and Carolina went Carolina. I don't suppose we have more to say on unc, but I'm giving you the floor to do so if you want.
Gary Parrish
Yeah, it's. They're in a tough spot obviously, for tournament purposes, but I Just think, broadly speaking, it's. The program's in a tough spot right now. There was a couple of moments that I don't know if they went viral, but they went enough to where they popped into my timeline, and I saw them. There was a moment on game day yesterday morning where Jay Billis is talking about North Carolina's resume. Did you see this?
Matt Norlander
I did not, no. I was at my guys. My guy's little game there, so I did not catch game day.
Gary Parrish
Okay. Yeah, we had baseball practice yesterday, so I was actually watching Zubie Edge of war on a MacBook, you know, sitting at a. On a bleachers at a baseball. Youth baseball field. So we were experiencing this stuff the same way, at least part of the day. So I think Jay's talking, like, right now, Carolina's 1 in 11 in quadrant one. This time yesterday, they were 1 in 10. So Jay says something like, Carolina is 1 in 10 in quadrant one. But the thing you have to realize is, you know, seven of those losses are against top 25 teams, and game day is at Carolina. And Carolina fans are like, yeah. They start applauding that, and it's like, wow, we've reached the point where Carolina fans are applauding their quadrant one losses. Right? I mean, that's a real thing that happened. Jay was like, but, you know, the. The 11. The 11 losses, you know, most of them are two good teams. And Carolina fans were like, yeah, we lose to good teams a lot. We lose to good teams a lot. And bad ones in free.
Matt Norlander
And we'll do it again. And they did. We'll do it again.
Gary Parrish
And then they did it again. And then there's the moment last night. There's two women to. They look like students.
Matt Norlander
That was. That was very NCAA tournament pep band, flute girl, villanuel. There was a lot of that energy that was coming off the screen there.
Gary Parrish
And I. I'm not a lip reader, but other people are. And so thank God for lip readers. What will we do with our lip readers?
Matt Norlander
I think we'd be all right.
Gary Parrish
We'd probably be all right, but I'd be all right. I like them. I'd rather have them than not.
Matt Norlander
Respect and admiration to the lip readers. I think we'd be all right.
Gary Parrish
I think we'd be all right, but I'd rather have them than not. There are. There are plenty of people I'd like to remove from this earth, but if you leave it up to me, I'd keep the lip readers. I like them.
Matt Norlander
All right.
Gary Parrish
I like. I like what they Give us. So these two women are talking but we don't have mics on them. So we need lip reader. This is exactly why we need lip readers. And apparently one of the women in tears. First off, I just think it's funny that people cry at basketball.
Matt Norlander
Hey, listen, don't, don't hate the passion.
Gary Parrish
People get invested. I, I know but like how invested could you be to cry after watching your school lose for the 11th time in a quadrant one opportunity? How invested could you be at this point?
Matt Norlander
Well, we, we saw just how invested.
Gary Parrish
So she's crying and then she apparently says, according to the lip reader. She says, well, at least they tried hard. Which is like that's what I said.
Matt Norlander
At my kids game on Saturday.
Gary Parrish
This is North Carolina basketball.
Matt Norlander
To be honest, my. It was wreck. Let's be clear. It's rec ball.
Gary Parrish
He didn't try hard.
Matt Norlander
They just. They destroyed the other team. They destroyed them. And we weren't keeping score or anything like that. So they did try hard. They got. But they got the win. By the way, shouts to Dan Schulman. I was on the HQ desk doing highlights and stuff. So I did not hear this in real time and no one has sent me the clip yet. Did you hear it? He called out. He did the pod reference. He did the. I didn't hear it.
Gary Parrish
If he said it, I did not hear it. My apologies.
Matt Norlander
I was juggling. Texted me at a commercial break and there's like, it's done. I was like, thank you. Appreciate that.
Gary Parrish
He's the best. He really is the best.
Matt Norlander
He is the best. We appreciate you, Dan. A couple more losers. Nebraska is done. Nebraska was 16 and 8 and is now 17 and 14. It's not even going to the Big Ten tournaments. It's out. Iowa walked into Pinnacle bank just like Minnesota walked into Pinnacle bank. Just like Michigan walked into Pinnacle bank. Just like Maryland walked into Pinnacle. I don't like it in the Pinnacle bank. Just like Rutgers walked into Pinnacle Bank. They all walked in, got a win and walked right out. This season. They all walked into Pinnacle Bank. GP Nebraska fans, apologies, but. But you're done. You're toast. You're not going to the tournament. Big bubble. Lose.
Gary Parrish
Loser. I don't like it. I don't like anything you said.
Matt Norlander
Well, facts over feelings here. At least they tried a couple more. Ohio State was a loser. 17 and 14 now four and six down the stretch. By the way, we'll play Iowa. Speaking. And they will play Iowa. So I was going to try and kill off another big 10 teams. NCAA tournament Frank McCaffrey. He might be going out, you know, if he is indeed, he might be going out with a vengeance here. If I. If Ohio State beats Iowa, it would then get Illinois and then Maryland in the Big Ten tournament. I think the Buckeyes need two wins minimum here. D Blur Better Debler. Like he hasn't deblared before. Otherwise. Yeah, Bucks are. They might be playing that in that crown thing. That's just atrocious that they're playing in Vegas. If you haven't looked it up. Don't. Boise State and VCU both lost as well. Boise State 83.73 to San Diego State. It's now in a must win game against SSDSU in the Mount west tournament. Or is it. Is it SDSU? I don't think so. Hold on. Yeah. Faces SDSU. Yeah, that's right. And then VCU, they've got. You know what's interesting about them? They lost Friday night to Dayton and they lost at home. So they're 25 and 6 GP. They're 7 and 5 in Q1 and Q2. Their net is 31. Their quad four losses to a Big east opponent in Seton hall, but they don't have a win over a team in the field.
Gary Parrish
Right.
Matt Norlander
Ah. Can they make title game lose and still get in? I don't. I don't know yet.
Gary Parrish
I'm worried they're not going to be able to. Yeah, I'm worried they're not going to be able to take a loss. What I was hoping is that they would do enough in the regular season because that's a team having watched them a million times, including in person, that's a team that I could easily see in the Sweet 16 if they got to the tournament. But. But they might not get to the tournament. The problem for them now is once you lose this home game to Dayton, it's a resume ding. Pushes you down the bracket. Palm's got him as an 11 seed as of this morning. And then you go in the A10 tournament and there's almost. There's base. There's nothing that can help you there and just stuff that can hurt you. And I don't know that they can take another questionable loss and feel safe on Selection Sunday. They might have to go win this.
Matt Norlander
Thing before we get to. I'll do a little carousel stuff before we get out of here. Those are all the bubble results. I'm going to read off all of these. These are the notable games that we haven't touched on. You just tell me which to you means the most. Illinois beat Purdue on Friday. A line I've won three straight. Purdue is 2 and 5 in his final seven. Kentucky beat Missouri and tied the all time record for most top 15 wins in the regular season by any team ever with 7879 Duke and 9293 Indiana. Keep in mind doing this without Jackson, Robinson and no Kirk Risa who's not coming back this season. Ortega away continues to be on a tear there so UK got the win. Kentucky. Oh actually hold on real quick GP let me check this in real time because it had the third most Quad one wins as of Saturday. Let me see if this is still true. Auburn's number one, Michigan State is number two, Bama is now three and then Kentucky is tied with Houston and Tennessee for most Quad 1 wins in the country. I said on social media Illinois and Kentucky feel like the two choose your own adventure teams in the bracket. Maybe final four, maybe one and done. We'll see. I'll keep it going here. Kansas did beat Zona has not lost a senior night game since 19838376 Hunter Dickinson 33 points, 10 boards. They got themselves a good win. Arizona didn't show up. Arizona has not won two in a row in well over a month and it had that hot spot in the middle and now it looked more like it did at the start of the season. Keep an eye on that. But Dickinson went out really strong in that game. Wisconsin lost at Home to Penn State 8675 A Penn State team that will not go to the Big Ten tournament. One of the WTF results of the past two months. GP Bucky in the process cost itself. That is a seed line knock situation. They are no longer a two seed, no way, no how. And these results didn't mean a lot. But I do want to give them shouts here because we talked a lot about the ACC and all that. Duke, Louisville is 182 in the ACC 256 after what they've done. Really really impressive. And Then Clemson has 26 wins this season has tied the 8990 team for the most wins ever. Clemson is going to set the record under Brad Brownell, now the longest tenured coach in the league for the most wins ever in Tigers history. So good stuff, good stuff there of all I just mentioned there, which one means the most to you?
Gary Parrish
Okay, so two Illinois winning. I put them back into the top 25 and one that's a team that when healthy and not dealing with viruses I think has a high high ceiling and they look the part in that game I think they're 25th in the top 25 and one as of this morning. Kansas won and that's great. And it's just like you want to, you want to win that, that game, your last game in Allen Field House. You want to win it every season. They typically do. It was just sort of weird because I, I didn't like look back. Okay, let me take a look at body of work again with Kansas. It feels like they're just a disaster. And I'm like I could have recently put them back in the top 25 and one this morning. I didn't, but I could have. And then you mentioned Kentucky, Missouri. Like, like Kentucky at this point. It's just, what Mark's doing is really impressive of he's lost a key player. You know, they battled injury stuff and he's kept this thing at a good place. The Missouri thing has kind of gotten a little. They've lost three in a row, four of five. I have consistently said Dennis Gates has done a great job. They won zero SEC games last season. He's comfortably in the NCAA tournament. I'm not going to think about it any more than that. But they have not closed well. That's, that's undeniable. And, and I was sort of understanding of the back to back road games because it's back to back road games against likely NCAA tournament teams. You know, you, you could, you can lose those, good teams can lose those. But you should come back home and, and be able to handle this. And that they didn't, I think is at least an area of concern for Missouri fans right now. Like okay, what. Everybody always talks about playing their best basketball in March and Missouri's not doing that right now.
Matt Norlander
Yeah, Mizzou is the seventh seed in the SEC tournament. We'll be on TV again Tuesday and maybe we get into some of these high major brackets and refresh our audience. But they will play the winner of LSU, Mississippi State. Mississippi State is the 10 in that league. Winner would go and play two seed Florida on, on Friday.
C
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Gary Parrish
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Matt Norlander
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Gary Parrish
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Matt Norlander
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Gary Parrish
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Matt Norlander
Carousel stuff Real quick gp. Let's focus on NC State. But I will note this since we last podcasted, I actually think it would. I think it was within like 30 minutes of the show. Finishing the Luke Lauk stuff, you know, got to the point where it was it was going to happen and he has been actually officially announced. A really cool moment for FSU by the way. They beat SMU. Leonard Hamilton won his 200th regular season ACC game. So only Mike Shashevsky, Dean Smith, Roy Williams and Leonard Hamilton have ever won 200 regular season ACC games. I was really happy for Leonard and that they brought back a lot of guys from the UT Martin teams that he played with in 19, like 69 and 70 when he was the first player to integrate at that school. Really cool scene. Leonard Hamilton deserves this. He's going to go play in the coach in the ACC tournament. But it was nice to see he deserved like they've been a bit of a disaster over the past three or four years. We can't ignore that and we understand the circumstances that are leading to him leaving, but he's going to have one of his former players replace him. And the scene in Tallahassee I thought was really, really cool. But the loud stuff is official. There is a camel fighting. We're actually going to talk about camel fighting very briefly on the podcast. The first time in a long time. Kevin McGee was there for a dozen years. He was fired on Sunday. So Campbell will have a new head coach. I'll try and Break it down on the pod whenever we know who that is going to be. But keep that in mind in the Murray State Steve Prom went back at the first time around. He did a good job, got the Iowa State job. Then that ended with a. With a bad ending. He went back to Mercy three years ago. He is now out there. That is considered the best job in the Missouri Valley and it is. It has the best local fan support, a lot of good schools but that one is just considered the job and I'm told that they are ready to, to really go in at that level from an nil perspective. We'll see if that's the case there. The big one here is Kevin Keith was fired on Sunday morning. NC State lost to Miami on Saturday. Miami is awful. NC State to me, like it sucks to see Keith lose his job but this is legendary stuff and I'm like half serious, half joking. This dude made maybe the most unlikely Final Four run ever because it was nine winner go home games that had never happened in the history of the tournament. He does that that he gets a contract extension all the way to 2030 in the process and follows it up with a 12 and 19 season that gets him promptly fired within hours of it ending. And in his goodbye note that he posts on social media it closes with I am officially entering the portal. Incredible. Incredible stuff. 1. Your thoughts on NC State doing this, Keats? I guess that's just in general because I think a lot of people and I. I'm guessing you agree with this. A lot of people like you know what good on NC State, the Final Four run. That was an awesome thing. In all time memory we'll always have DJ Burns. But we're not going to let the fact that we went on an operationally hot run affect the future of this program. We're not going the right direction and we're not going to be beholden to a guy for another year or two just because we have to because of a contract. They're going to pay nearly 8 million to buy him out. Feels like the right moves for NC State. I want your thoughts on what went down in Raleigh.
Gary Parrish
Yeah. Without speaking on Kevin as a coach, I don't want to make this personal, but it seems pretty clear NC State reached the point where they decided they wanted somebody else to be their head coach. And once you decide that you should do it, you should do it.
Matt Norlander
If I can interject real quick here, please. I got this on the record last year when I wrote the NC State Final Four story like he was getting Fired if they did not have a run in the ACC tournament. This was going to happen. Staff members under him were preparing for it with stuff in their life. And then, lo and behold, they make the inside tournament, and then they make the Final Four, and everything changes. So that's the backdrop to what GP's laying out there.
Gary Parrish
Well, this is not too unlike what I talk about with interim coaches. If you have an interim coach that you really believe should be the next coach at your school for the next 10 years, hire him, promote him or her. Fine with me. What I think is idiotic is when you have an interim coach who you believe is just holding a place, like, we never wanted to be here, but now this guy's holding a place and then he wins. And you still can't really envision him as your coach for the next 10 years, but you feel compelled to give him the job because he did a good job on an interim basis. That's a mistake. Hire people you believe in, keep people you believe in, remove people that you don't. Kevin Keats spent eight seasons at NC State. So last season was year seven, and around this time of the year, in year seven, his bosses had decided they did not think he was the guy for the job anymore. And then he won some games, and it was an amazing story. But guess what? It should not have changed the big picture. And I want to have. I'm not saying what they should have done is fired him last year, except that would. That would logically make more sense to me than keeping him three more years because of something that randomly happened in 2024. In other words, I would. I did not campaign for this because I wouldn't have it. It'd just been a weird thing to do.
Matt Norlander
But you got it. They beat Duke, make the Final Four, get Keats the hell out of here. Don't even let coach in Phoenix. What are we doing?
Gary Parrish
I would not have campaigned for that. But I'm telling you, this would have made sense to me if somebody at NC State would have been on the phone with me and say, listen, here's the truth. He's going to the Final Four, and it's going to trigger this contract extension. But gp, like, here's the truth. We've had this guy here for seven years. He's finished outside of the top five in the ACC every year but one. Last season, he was 10th in the accident. We just don't think he's the guy for the job. So this is fun. But let me tell you what we're going to do when this is over, we're going to pay him his money that he is contractually owed and we're gonna, we're gonna do the exact thing that we thought we were going to do on March 1, which is hire a new coach and get on with it. I would not have campaigned for that, but I would have understood that mindset. And yet that is not the mindset universities ever have. They think if you do enough to keep your job, then you must keep your job, whatever that means. And here's an example of it. I give NC State credit for getting out of it now because they are getting out of it quicker than some other schools would have. Some other schools would have been like, he just went to a Final Four less than a year ago. Let's give him one more year and then you'd be doing this next year. You know who's going to end up in the same spot. You ready? Perhaps I'm not predicting it, but perhaps.
Matt Norlander
This is school just down the road.
Gary Parrish
That's exactly right. That's exactly right. They don't feel like they can do it now or they don't aren't compelled to do it now or they want to give it a little more time, all those things. But here's the truth. At North Carolina, I think, I think deep down they, they don't know if they have the right coach. I think deep down they're not sure of that. I mean, let's just use comments. That's just, that's a totally reasonable thing to assume it. Like, do we have the right coach? They're, they're having those thoughts and I bet you they're like, well, let's do a general manager and improve an IL and he's one of us and let's give him it a little more time. And I'm not saying it'll be next year or two years from now, but event just the, the list of people whose administrations lose faith in them and their fan bases lose faith in them and they're really thinking about making a change and then don't do it. I, I think the list of people who survive that for the good long term is very short. Usually this ends. We usually this time last year we kind of knew where Kevin Keats thing was going to go, whether it was one more year, two years, three years. I didn't think he was going to be the head coach at NC State for the next 10 years. Even after that Final Four and it's March 9, 2025. Would you bet a paycheck that Huber Davis is going to be head coach of North Carolina in three years?
Matt Norlander
No.
Gary Parrish
Okay, then what are we doing? I'm not advocating anything. I'm just saying these are the conversations that I think get very complicated. And too often universities lean the opposite way of what NC State lean today. There are a lot of people who would have told NC State, but the guy just went to a Final Four last year. You can't pull the trigger on him now. And NC State said, we don't think this is the right guy for the job. Truth is, we didn't think it was the right guy for the job last year. And then we kind of got caught up in what happened. But now we're ready to move on. I understand what happened today. It makes sense to me.
Matt Norlander
Let's wrap up. Let's wrap up with just a quick look at here as we, as we get going. Hey, listen, Beefy, tons going on this week. Hope you guys enjoyed an extra long Sunday episode as we're a week out from the bracket. Literally one week from right now will probably be about 50, 75 of the way, if not more through the bracket reveal. That's going to be great stuff. You want to take a bull by the horns with the schedule? You want me to talk us through it?
Gary Parrish
It. Well, just on Monday, you can fill in the blanks wherever I got them. But we get the CAA tournament title game in D.C. on CBS Sports Network at 6 Eastern. That's the last game I was at before the whole world shut down in 2020.
Matt Norlander
Did you say Monday is the semis? Tuesday's the title game.
Gary Parrish
Oh, yeah. Okay. Yeah, we get the semis. My bad. And then the title. So we get the semis on Monday, title game on Tuesday, 2020 title game. CAA tournament in D.C. was the last thing I was at before the world shut down. I watched Hofstra punch a ticket to the incidental tournament, flew home, caught Covid, and then the tournament got canceled. Me and Rudy Gobert just coughing our lungs up. WCC tournament semifinals on Monday. That's always fun. St. Mary's in one game, Gonzaga in the other. Barring a surprise, they'll play each other on Tuesday. What else do we need to know about Monday?
Matt Norlander
We will have the SoCon title game and that will in the real time as we're doing this here. Furman beat Chattanooga, which was the higher, was the better seed. So Furman will play the winner of VMI Wofford in the SoCon title game 7 Eastern Monday. ESPN ESPN2 also has a title game at 7 Eastern. That's the Sunbelt title game. And that will be Arkansas State South Alabama winner against the JMU Troy winner. So we'll, we'll talk about that on Tuesday show on CBS Sports Network. And then on Tuesday, CBS Sports Network 7 Eastern CAA title game. Keep an eye on that. That's always a good one. Horizon League title game teams TBD at this moment, that's also 7 Eastern. Man. All these are at 7 Eastern. ESPN Horizon NEC title game 7 Eastern. ESPN2 St. Francis we know that. We know this one because the way the league does its does, it's a staggered bracket play. St. Francis at Central Connecticut State once went to a party at Central Connecticut state circa like oh 2. It's been a minute. I'm, I may have to drive up and see the Blue Devils trying to try and get this auto bid on Tuesday night. I may well do it. And then WCC title game, nine Eastern ESPN teams, obviously to be determined, Big 12 and ACC tournaments. You want conference bloat, you're going to get bracket play in the high majors as early as Tuesday. So Both the Big 12 and ACC will get underway on Tuesday. All the other ones, we'll get to that later in the week because they start later in the week and that's what we're looking at over the next 48 hours or so in college hoops.
Gary Parrish
All right. Big 12 tournament starts Tuesday.
Matt Norlander
Yep.
Gary Parrish
Norlander says get your edibles ready.
Matt Norlander
I'm saying you might not even need them. When you see what this court looks like, it's. It's a lot. It just, it looks.
Gary Parrish
But it'd be more fun with them. It'd be more fun.
Matt Norlander
I'll let you. I'll let you decide all that.
Gary Parrish
You don't want to take too many. Then you get paralyzed. You don't want to take too many, but just the right amount in a good Big 12 tournament court, it might be.
Matt Norlander
I mean, it feels like there's no better time than if you're watching a team named the Horn Frogs.
Gary Parrish
Shouts to Devin Downey. Shouts to Chester, South Carolina. Terry Teagle's a legend. Hook. Lauren. If you're not subscribed, please go subscribe anywhere you.
Matt Norlander
Hold on, hold on. Keep going, keep going.
Gary Parrish
Please subscribe anywhere you subscribe to podcasts, Apple, Spotify. There's more of us than there are of them. That should be reflected in the comments. I don't know where Norlander went, but I'm on the road to Joy. I. I hear him. Are you all right? You're on the road to do it, too.
Matt Norlander
It's the road to Joy.
Gary Parrish
It's the road to Joy. It starts in Dayton, Ohio, maybe. Look at this. Why does the road to Joy. What? Who knew? Do you think Scott knew the road to Joy might start in Dayton when he wrote this book?
Matt Norlander
I don't think he knew that. Mine's not even personalized. I assume yours is. Mine's not, though. Is this personalized? Mine's not personal. Mine is not. Look at it. There's nothing here.
Gary Parrish
I think I got a personal note. Maybe me.
Matt Norlander
You know what? There's probably a note that came with it. Yeah. Yeah.
Gary Parrish
Look what else I got.
Matt Norlander
Legend, Legend, souls. Okay, There we go. I actually want to read that. That Arma Katan.
Gary Parrish
Yeah. I spent. I spent about 20 minutes on the phone with Sonny and Pam a couple weeks ago.
Matt Norlander
Oh, look at you.
Gary Parrish
It's just great to hear their voices.
Matt Norlander
That's awesome.
Gary Parrish
So people who are a little younger, like this man right here, Sonny Vaccaro, he used to run grassroots basketball, like one of the most important people in amateur basketball here.
Matt Norlander
Jordan to Nike. That's kind of. He's got a lot of claims to fame Nil era also being a huge one. But if you haven't seen the movie era, it's in part based on what he did. And, yeah, he was responsible for getting Jordan the Nike.
Gary Parrish
When I first got to cbs, I mean, one of the things you do, I mean, every July, you go to the ABCD camp in Teaneck, New Jersey, you go to Sonny's ABCD camp, and then you'd go to Sonny's event out in Las Vegas. And there's Sonny and there's Pam, and they were big fixtures. Now they're obviously retired, living peacefully out in California. But it was just great to just hear Sonny's voice again and talk to Pam. And I got the book and I'm looking forward to. To diving in. Let's get out of here then. All right, so here, let's update on the schedule.
Matt Norlander
Yeah.
Gary Parrish
Tuesday, 1:00 Eastern, CBS Sports Network. No, 12:30, I think.
Matt Norlander
Yeah. Actually, as you're saying this, I think we are on air a half hour early because there might be soccer promoting. So if you watch us live 1230 Eastern on Tuesday on CBS SportsNetwork, that episode, obviously, we'll hit the fee later in the afternoon.
Gary Parrish
Right. So 12:30 Eastern on Tuesday, be back on CBS Sports Network. And then Wednesday morning back right here on YouTube, the I Own College Basketball podcast. We'll talk to you then. Till then take care.
Matt Norlander
Paramount Podcasts Let the bodies hit the Think about how.
Gary Parrish
Screwed up we would be if we had survived a plane crash only to end up eating each other. The only way to truly be be safe is to be the only one left. You really are insane. Yellow Jackets New season now streaming on.
Matt Norlander
The Paramount plus with Showtime plan.
Podcast Summary: Eye On College Basketball – "One Week to Selection Sunday: Bama, St. John’s Win on Buzzer-Beaters; Race for Top Seeds Tightens; 5 Teams Dancing🕺🏻; Big Bubble Recap; Kevin Keatts Fired @ NC State"
Release Date: March 9, 2025
Hosts: Gary Parrish and Matt Norlander
In this episode of Eye On College Basketball, hosts Gary Parrish and Matt Norlander delve deep into the latest developments as the NCAA Tournament selection looms just a week away from Selection Sunday. The discussion spans pivotal games, shifting seed races, bubble candidacies, and significant coaching changes affecting the college basketball landscape.
The episode kicks off with an in-depth analysis of the Southeastern Conference (SEC), spotlighting Auburn’s unexpected struggles.
Auburn’s Ups and Downs:
Gary Parrish begins by highlighting Auburn's position as the outright SEC champion, albeit narrowly by a single game. Auburn's late-season downturn, marked by back-to-back losses against Texas A&M and Alabama, has thrown their tournament seeding into uncertainty.
Gary Parrish [03:24]: "I still believe Auburn's going to be the number one overall seed in the NCAA tournament, if only because I don't believe Auburn is going to lose a third straight game."
Matt Norlander concurs but introduces scenarios where Auburn might not top the seed list, emphasizing the potential impacts of conference tournament outcomes.
Matt Norlander [04:09]: "I think that's really the only scenario and I find it to be unlikely that that's going to happen where Auburn's going to turn around and lose his first game in the SEC tournament and Duke's going to win the ACC tournament."
Revisiting Predictions:
Reflecting on their initial optimism, Gary acknowledges the shifts in Auburn’s performance but maintains faith in their overall resume, albeit with reservations.
Gary Parrish [04:56]: "I still think Auburn's going to be the number one overall seed in the NCAA tournament... but it's more up for grabs than I anticipated it being."
The hosts engage in a lively debate over the projected number one seeds for the upcoming NCAA Tournament.
Gary Parrish’s Predictions:
Gary outlines his top four seeds as Auburn, Duke, Houston, and Michigan State, considering their performances, Quadrant One (Q1) wins, and conference tournament possibilities.
Gary Parrish [17:28]: "My prediction, Auburn, Duke, Houston, Michigan State."
Matt Norlander’s Take:
Matt echoes similar sentiments but expresses skepticism about Houston's sustained dominance, anticipating potential upsets in the Big 12 tournament.
Matt Norlander [17:58]: "I'm telling, like, we got a week until this bracket comes out... I'm going to put this prediction on the table and I'm very confident I'm going to be very wrong."
Discussion on Conference Tournament Outcomes:
The conversation underscores the volatility of conference tournaments and their significant influence on final seeding decisions, stressing that despite Auburn’s setbacks, their overarching season performance keeps them in contention.
A standout segment focuses on St. John’s remarkable buzzer-beater victories, propelling them into the NCAA Tournament.
Dramatic Wins:
Matt recounts St. John’s stunning wins against Marquette, showcasing standout performances by players like RJ Lewis and Kadari Richmond.
Matt Norlander [12:10]: "Cam Jones on Senior Day. Cam Jones again. I enjoy watching this dude play ball so much, but there's only so much that he can do."
Gary praises the team’s resilience and execution under pressure, highlighting their automatic bid secured through intense moments.
Gary Parrish [43:38]: "These are the detailed elements that make the tournament special. Watching Brian Barone cut the net with those scissors was a beautiful representation of their journey."
Emotional Celebrations:
The hosts express admiration for the emotional and symbolic gestures by the team, such as cutting the net with a specific pair of scissors to commemorate their achievement.
Gary Parrish [43:57]: "They pulled it off. So congrats to them. High Point. Allen Huss has done an incredible job..."
Gary and Matt shift focus to mid-major conferences, celebrating teams that have secured automatic bids to the NCAA Tournament.
Teams Securing Bids:
Five teams have clinched their spots, each emerging from different conferences:
SIUE (SIU Edwardsville) – Ohio Valley Conference
Gary Parrish [31:23]: "SIUE is in the NCAA tournament out of the OVC. Congrats to Brian Baronet."
High Point – Big South Conference
Gary Parrish [31:30]: "High Point is in out of the Big South. Congrats to Alan Huss."
Lipscomb – Atlantic Sun Conference
Gary Parrish [31:38]: "Lipscomb is in out of the Atlantic Sun. Shouts to Lenny Acuff."
Drake – Missouri Valley Conference (MVC)
Gary Parrish [31:43]: "Drake is in out of the MVC. What's up, Ben McCollum."
Omaha – Summit League
Gary Parrish [31:49]: "Omaha is in out of the Summit League no matter what happens in the tournament title game because St. Thomas is ineligible."
Notable Achievements:
Drake’s Historic Run:
Under first-year head coach Ben McCollum, Drake has made an unprecedented impact, winning 12 straight conference championships across two schools.
Gary Parrish [38:32]: "This is somebody I would be looking at if I got a high major opening..."
Omaha’s Automatic Bid:
Due to St. Thomas's transition to Division I, Omaha secures their spot regardless of their conference tournament outcome—a decision Gary criticizes as nonsensical.
Gary Parrish [31:58]: "Omaha is already in, but I think Omaha's got to play a tournament title game against St. Thomas. What is Going on?"
The hosts dissect teams on the bubble—the borderline for NCAA Tournament selection—highlighting their performances and potential outcomes.
Highlighting Bubble Teams:
Arkansas:
Arkansas secures a crucial win against Mississippi State but remains on the bubble due to a nuanced resume.
Matt Norlander [53:02]: "They have a decent win but with an 8 and 12 record in Q1 and Q2, they're not a guaranteed spot."
Oklahoma and Texas:
Both teams grapple with securing their bids amidst strong competition within the SEC, with Matt expressing doubt about their chances.
Gary Parrish [65:11]: "You cannot... it's a long road, very much in danger."
Indiana:
Indiana showcases resilience with a comeback win against Ohio State but faces an uncertain path in the Big Ten tournament.
Matt Norlander [57:02]: "Indiana right now is 52 in the net. Its average metric rating is 41."
Xavier and Colorado State:
Xavier remains a strong contender with seven straight wins, while Colorado State navigates the Mountain West tournament to secure their spot.
Matt Norlander [62:33]: "They are definitely good enough to do damage."
Key Metrics and Predictions:
The conversation underscores the importance of Quadrant One (Q1) wins and overall resumes, with both hosts sharing their predictions for which bubble teams will make the cut.
Gary Parrish [31:13]: "We're getting to a bunch of teams here that are on that two line and then the running for, for, for number one."
A significant portion of the episode is dedicated to the abrupt termination of Kevin Keatts as head coach of NC State, despite his previous success.
Background and Reasons:
Gary and Matt critique NC State’s decision to fire Keatts after a Final Four run, despite his performance that season. They argue that the program had already questioned his long-term suitability prior to his tournament success.
Gary Parrish [84:26]: "It seems pretty clear NC State reached the point where they decided they wanted somebody else to be their head coach."
Matt Norlander [85:07]: "They make the Final Four, and everything changes."
Impact on the Program:
The hosts debate the implications of this decision, suggesting that NC State’s administration prioritized a strategic direction over recent achievements under Keatts.
Gary Parrish [86:32]: "This would have made sense to me if somebody at NC State would have been on the phone with me and say... but that is not the mindset universities ever have."
Matt Norlander [89:13]: "They hire Ben McCollum, he's going to win the conference. Ben McCollum gonna run."
Future Outlook:
Both Gary and Matt express skepticism about NC State’s future success under new leadership, hinting at ongoing instability within the program.
Gary Parrish [89:45]: "They don't feel like they can do it now... They don't know if they have the right coach."
Beyond the primary discussions, the episode touches on various other noteworthy events and stories:
Drake’s Coaching Success:
Praise is extended to Ben McCollum for his phenomenal performance in his first year as Drake’s head coach, leading them to multiple conference titles.
Gary Parrish [38:32]: "This is somebody I would be looking at if I got a high major opening... he's an amazing basketball coach."
Michigan State vs. Michigan Rivalry:
The intense rivalry game between Michigan State and Michigan is dissected, including post-game interactions and traditions like the Michigan State logo kiss.
Gary Parrish [27:29]: "They made something like this... the visual was good. Tom and Dusty had their arms around each other trying to understand."
Rising Mid-Majors:
The hosts celebrate the achievements of other mid-major teams like SIUE, High Point, Lipscomb, and Omaha, emphasizing their historic entries into the tournament.
Gary Parrish [43:38]: "These teams have never been to the tournament before... It's a rare example of a mid-major program making the NCAA tournament three consecutive years with two different coaches."
Player Highlights:
Individual performances, such as Grant Nelson’s standout game for Auburn and RJ Lewis’s efforts for St. John’s, are lauded.
Gary Parrish [05:24]: "Grant Nelson's just ridiculous, ridiculous dunk on Cardwell."
As the episode wraps up, Gary and Matt preview the upcoming conference tournaments and their potential impact on Selection Sunday. They encourage listeners to stay tuned for further analyses and updates as the tournament approaches.
Gary Parrish [90:23]: "We get the semis on Monday, title game on Tuesday... So Both the Big 12 and ACC will get underway on Tuesday."
Matt Norlander [93:40]: "It's the road to Joy. It starts in Dayton, Ohio, maybe."
They also touch upon lighter moments and interactions, maintaining an engaging and conversational tone throughout.
Gary Parrish [04:56]: "I still believe Auburn's going to be the number one overall seed in the NCAA tournament, if only because I don't believe Auburn is going to lose a third straight game."
Matt Norlander [17:58]: "I'm going to put this prediction on the table and I'm very confident I'm going to be very wrong."
Gary Parrish [43:38]: "Brian Barone cutting the net with those scissors was a beautiful representation of their journey."
Gary Parrish [84:26]: "It seems pretty clear NC State reached the point where they decided they wanted somebody else to be their head coach."
Matt Norlander [85:07]: "They make the Final Four, and everything changes."
This episode of Eye On College Basketball offers a comprehensive and nuanced exploration of the tumultuous week leading up to Selection Sunday. From Auburn's roller-coaster SEC journey to the emergence of mid-major powerhouses, and the unexpected coaching shake-ups at NC State, Gary Parrish and Matt Norlander provide insightful commentary and spirited debate, ensuring listeners are well-equipped for the impending NCAA Tournament excitement.