← Eye On College Basketball
Eye On College Basketball
These 12 teams CAN WIN the title this season: The Ultimate Mailbag & a whacky Final Four & 1
01:56:25
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- [00:00]
Gary Parrish
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- [00:46]
Matt Norlander
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- [02:06]
Gary Parrish
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- [03:37]
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- [03:38]
Gary Parrish
Against it against against hey there I am Gary Parish. Welcome back CBS Sports. I own college basketball podcast where we sometimes discuss camel fighting, dodo birds. Leaky Black Matt Norlander is here with me. If you're watching on YouTube, be Brandon Davies. It's the holiday season smash and if you haven't already subscribed to the Ion College Basketball Podcast, please go ahead and do that. Wherever you subscribe to podcast, including Apple and Spotify, let's get into it. We're back. I hope better than ever. I hope no glitch in this time. I hope. I hope my club days are over. I'm a bald man these days. I don't belong in no club and I don't belong Sounded like somebody who belongs in a club. Hopefully today. First episode since that episode. Yes, totally glitch free.
- [04:22]
Matt Norlander
I think we're back. I think we're back. I think we're back. I think I faked you out. We're back. We're good to go. Here we have our annual Mailbag episode and these questions have been emailed shouts to cbs gmail.com Some of them are less than 48 hours old. A few of them, they're a couple of months old. So this is my annual reminder at the top of every mailbag show. Whenever you feel impulse to send us something, absolutely send it along. We can't squeeze everything in. I try and vary up the questions here, but we got plenty of presents for you. I hope everyone has had a wonderful holiday. Christmas week. We are pre taping this. Just another disclaimer here. This is happening before Christmas. The show is going live the day after Christmas. We're ready to go. We got some fun ones here. It's great to be with you, GP.
- [05:04]
Gary Parrish
All right, you want to get, you want to get going with the mailbag? I got question number one. It's all teed up.
- [05:08]
Matt Norlander
Let's go.
- [05:09]
Gary Parrish
I've got my mini driver out. Question number one is all teed up. It comes from Garrett. He's from Arkansas and he emails. He says I love when you guys go down memory lane and tell stories from the early 2000s. I started following college hoops in 2012ish. So my question what are some of your favorite coaches to almost take another job story? Norlander, I'll let you go first. Well, there's a lot of.
- [05:32]
Matt Norlander
This was a. I love the thought provoking ones. This was a very thought provoking. I've got a number of candidates here. I'm going to mention a few biggies. Coach K seriously considering taking the lakers job in 2004. Like if folks listening to this podcast that just got into college hoops two years ago, four years ago, even eight years ago, you might not be totally aware of that, but it was a major, major deal. Think about where Kobe Bryant was in his career. He didn't take the job and I do wonder if he had. Johnny Dawkins almost definitely gets that job. K is not considered arguably the greatest college basketball coach ever. If he goes to Los Angeles and does a good job. He might be considered the best basketball coach if he was amazing there. But it's, it's a very interesting what if Dawkins would have taken the Duke job? Is Duke now what it would have been had he taken the job? I don't know. That's a very interesting one. Mark few in 2009 drove basically halfway between his house in Spokane and Eugene, Oregon. He's an Oregon alumnus, met at a rest stop in Arlington, Oregon, practically in the middle of nowhere, right along the Columbia river, and met with then Oregon's athletic director. They talked for three hours. Both parties have since talked about this on the record, actually, it wasn't a, it wasn't like a, a fun meeting, so to speak. Oregon really wanted Few and Few had his had his doubts. Gonzaga had not made a Final Four at that point and Few was determined and had firm belief that he would get Gonzaga to a Final Four. Of course he's taken, taken them to a couple of them. Dana Haltman, Dana Altman saying yes to Arkansas, calling the Hogs at the opening, at the opening press conference and then going get me the hell out of here is a, it's a fun one where we had a coach that actually took one and then wound up going back to Creighton. Matt Painter got extremely close to taking Missouri and this was the first season I was at cbs. This almost feels like it's been memory hold, but I believe Painter might have gotten about as close to saying yes to Missouri without saying yes and then he changed his mind and wound up staying at Purdue and the rest.
- [07:35]
Gary Parrish
Let me interject real quick. The way I remember that I think somebody reported that he was going to Missouri.
- [07:42]
Matt Norlander
I agree. I, when I was building this out, I, I was looking that up and indeed it did get reported and then that report was quickly there walked back afterward because when it got reported, the, the rumor then became for however long it lasted. And this is really when Twitter just started to be a real news aggregating site. We're talking March of 2011 here. The thought was that Purdue was then going to aggressively chase after Brad Stevens and none of that ever came to. To pass. So those are just a couple. One more. The only one other one I have for you is that Dan Hurley was offered more money and I think the difference was more than a million dollars at the start of the contract to take pit. He turned down pit for Yukon. The rest is literally history. But I mean I can share this now. I talked with Dan Hurley the night before he took the Yukon job. He didn't know what he was going to do, but I very much remember being just down the steps from my office in my den talking to Hurley, trying to figure out when he was going to make a decision and what it was going to be. And at that point he had not decided. Obviously he picks the right job there, but it was Pitt and Yukon with offers on the table. He took less money to go to the bigger program and it's worked out well. So those are just a few that popped in my mind. What about you?
- [08:58]
Gary Parrish
I knew you would touch on some big ones. I'll be very specific with mine. I can Just sort of piggyback off some of the stuff you said with Dan. I don't know if he almost took Rutgers, but he was offered Rutgers the year before he was offered UConn. Ultimately, as you know, stayed at Rhode island, but I remember, you know, conversations around there and he was. My memory of it is that he was genuinely torn on some level, like, what do I do? And I think he was convinced you can go to Rutgers right now and have more money than you've ever had, be on private planes. But you got to remember this is pre nil stuff. So you don't know where the world's going. You're just going to be the Rutgers basketball coach of the Big Ten. Good luck. Or do one more year at Rhode island and trust that the bigger job's coming. And he did one more year at Rhode Island. The bigger job came, as you said, the rest is history. The Mark Few Oregon thing, just like you said. Both those guys have talked about this on the record. I trust that Mark wouldn't mind me sharing this. Now, I think I might have shared it before, but I reported on some morning in that off season that Mark Fuel was going to meet with Oregon. Like that the meeting was going to happen and he was really considering this. And I had a good relationship with Mark, still do. And I was then. So I reported. It's on the ticker on ESPN and now it's the biggest story in college basketball. What's Mark Few going to do? And I'm like trying to check in with him. I call him, it just goes straight to voicemail. I text him. Nothing. Wait a few hours, call again.
- [10:35]
Matt Norlander
I think you've said this on the pod before. Keep going. I think I know where you're going with this.
- [10:39]
Gary Parrish
Yeah, it goes to voicemail and I'm like, well, I guess he's mad. I guess I just messed this one up. You know, maybe I wrote. Wrote it too strongly. Maybe I didn't write it in a way that he liked. Maybe he didn't realize it was going to blow up into this and now here it is and now he's pissed. And I just had all these things I had imagined in my head. Fast forward. It's, you know, 7 o' clock at night, 8 o' clock at night. PHONE RINGS Mark Few.
- [11:05]
Matt Norlander
Hey.
- [11:06]
Gary Parrish
Hello? GP yeah.
- [11:07]
Matt Norlander
Hey.
- [11:08]
Gary Parrish
Hey, what's up? What's up with you? Nothing. What's going on? What do you mean what's going on? He had been fishing all day and just had his phone put away and I just. That was A great glimpse into the. The. The human of Mark Few. The whole world is talking about him. Two fan bases are living on message boards, debating everything, and he's just completely unplugged. I'm more stressed about it than he is. He's just out enjoying, you know, Washington State. So that's a memory that I have in there somewhere. And then there was the other one. There was another one you said, but.
- [11:51]
Matt Norlander
Whatever I've got, I mean, I can. I can roll back.
- [11:53]
Gary Parrish
I mean, it doesn't matter. So there's Garrett from Arkansas. So let me focus on the Arkansas coach, because I happen to be his beat writer for a few years. You probably know that there was a couple that are funny. So everybody remembers the last four years of John Caliperi at Memphis because it was four Sweet 16s, three Elite Eights, and a trip to the championship game. But the first five were not good. I mean, they weren't gonna fire him, but, like, people were not happy. You. You could. You would go on a message board, and it would be like, is this what you get for paying a coach a million dollars today? Like, they were paying John Caliperi $1 million and furious about it still. Every year he was a candidate for some NBA job, real or imagined. He was a candidate for some other job, real or imagined. And at some point and every year, he got a new extension, more money, more years. It'll be like, yo, you just took dejuan Wagner to the nit. But sure, here's a contract extension for more money in more years. Here we are again. Disappointing season, and Cal is reportedly a target for South Carolina. Now, you know as well as I do, he don't want to take the South Carolina job.
- [13:06]
Matt Norlander
Coaching South Carolina. No.
- [13:08]
Gary Parrish
So they go back to. At the time, one of the biggest and most influential boosters was a guy named Mike Rose. And the way I was told, the story is the AD goes back to Mike Rose and is like, hey, we got to get a new deal done for John. He's. He's. You know, if not, he might go to South Carolina. And Mike Rose is like, we have given this guy more money and more years after disappointing seasons than anybody in the history of the sport. If he wants to go to South Carolina, let him go to South Carolina, but he won't. He ain't leaving to go to South Carolina. So that's where the conversation stalls. Next thing you know, John Caliper and his staff is on a private plane. They went to South Carolina. I mean, they flew to campus, were photographed at like Waffle House or something. So John was like, oh, you don't think I'll go? I will get on the plane. And he still knew. I think I'm never going to take this job. But all these Memphis fans are going to watch me bounce around South Carolina's campus for a night. And as the beat writer, I was having to follow all of this. I'm out at one of the private airports in the Memphis area just trying to get lucky. Coincidentally, somebody I know is at another private airport in the area and says, hey, man, I don't know if, you know, calls me, but Cal's here. And so I knew what, what airport I thought they were coming back to, but then they flew into a different one. Either way, I'm sitting at an Airport like 2 o' clock in the morning on a Tuesday, whatever day, dealing with all this. As you know, he doesn't take the South Carolina job, ends up getting a raise anyway. But he pushed him into it. He got. You never hear about this. Even Lane Kiffin put his family on a plane, but he did not get on a plane to go to Baton Rouge. John Caliperi got on a plane and went to South Carolina while still being the Memphis coach. You just wouldn't hear about that today. Another favorite, one of mine. And then we'll move on or else it's going to take seven hours.
- [15:01]
Matt Norlander
You're the one going long here, so I'm not complaining. I'm just saying.
- [15:04]
Gary Parrish
Ben Howlen left ucla. Left pit for ucla. The pit job is open. John Calipari is from Pittsburgh, from the Pittsburgh area. He's an obvious candidate, but the way I, the way I was told to be at. At the time was like, they weren't that interested in him for whatever reasons, but he, he was interested in the job. It's like Final Four season and the job's still open. And I can't get in touch with him. He's just gone dark on me. No text returns, no phone call returns. At some point, I connect with whoever the Pit beat writer was at the time, and we're both, if I remember correctly, at the Final Four, I think New Orleans, but it could have been somewhere else. And we, we. I'm like, what are you hearing? He's like, what are you hearing? So we're working together. Honestly, I think we're just trying to beat Andy Cats. Because that's all you were trying to do back then is if you could beat Andy Katz, you. You did your job. And so you're just trying to Beat Andy Katz on this. You just tried to get it on the ticker where they have to say it's you and not Andy Katz. So we. And I. I just had this idea pop into my head. I said, hey, man, what's your area code? He told me whatever it was. I said, is that the Pittsburgh area code? He said, yeah. I said, hammer your phone. I. John. John Calperi hadn't answered my phone call in, like, three days. I called him from the Pittsburgh area code. He answers, first ring.
- [16:26]
Matt Norlander
Amazing.
- [16:27]
Gary Parrish
Hello? John? Yeah, Scary. Parrish. Hey. Hey. Can I call you back? Can I call you back? Yeah, yeah, call me back whenever you want. But, like, I knew at that point. I know what's going on. It's just a funny he stuff. They hired Jamie Dixon. He stays at Memphis. I think it worked out well for everybody. But those are two sort of goofy coaching carousel stories right there.
- [16:48]
Matt Norlander
Give me your phone.
- [16:49]
Gary Parrish
Yeah.
- [16:50]
Matt Norlander
Fool them. Yeah. That is. That is what we call intrepid reporting, young folks. We'll move on. But just one I didn't mention because I thought you might mention it. Izzo came extremely close to coaching the Cavs and turned it down. That's one of the more famous ones of the past 15 to 20 years. And then two ones of just different variety that actually I just happened to be the one to be able to report on it. And for the coaches to publicly and disclose this for the first time. One was earlier this year, John Shire. Everyone knew about him not getting DePaul, but he disclosed for the first time after they made the Final Four. He and his wife really wanted the UNLV job even more than the DePaul job. Thought they were going to get it and didn't get it. And because of that, he's the Duke coach. Some wild what ifs. There's. And then Dusty May told me the year they made the Final Four at fau, he went on the record for the first time that he asked if he could get out of the job. He went to his wife literally crying because he said yes to it before he got to campus and was convinced he was going to fail. His wife said, you said yes to these people. I know you haven't signed a contract yet. You are going to do this. And because of that, look what happened. Gets to the Final Four. Now he's got a prime job in college hoops. Many other coaches with many otherwise might have reneged on the. On the. Yes, he didn't do it. He's all the better for it. There's a Little story time for you on question one. We will not and cannot go this long on all these questions. I have the next one. Question 2 It's from a Matthew. It's from who knows where because he didn't give his location. If you email us who you are, where you're from. Appreciate it, he said. Been a long time listener and I never missed the show as the comedy woven through a college hoops podcast makes my weeks, he says. Never forget the Jan van Bredikov episode. We hear you there buddy. What is the future of early season conference versus conference events? I recognize that some of the current ones going on like the SEC and ACC likely have a contract through a certain year, but with newer events like Players ERA taking over, will these events fall by the wayside, meaning the inter conference challenges? I got a quick one on this gp, but I'll throw it over to you first.
- [18:42]
Gary Parrish
I mean they're either going to stay damaged or they're going to adapt or they're going to die. I don't really think there's any. We don't. I think this is stuff we've talked about before, but like if Maui wants to be the Maui I grew up with, it's going to have to dramatically change its business model. And that's true for Atlantis or any other thing that is now competing with things like the Players Era Festival. Kelvin Sampson, I think I thought gave the simplest and best quote about Players Era. It doesn't matter how you feel about it doesn't matter whether you like Las Vegas. If they invite you to come, you, you have to go. You can't pass on the money, not in this era of the sport. And these other events are going to have to recognize that tradition. You know, history, all that stuff doesn't matter anymore. It's. It's money and if they don't have it to spend on teams, they won't ever be relevant again.
- [19:39]
Matt Norlander
As for the interconference stuff like the ACC sec, that is a ESPN owned event that's not going to go anywhere. It replaced the ACC Big Ten Challenge. The Big Ten S no longer has a media rights deal with espn, so that's why that's no longer there. The Gavit Games which were Big East, Big Ten are done. The Big Ten killed that Big east and Big 12 had had a series future of that one to be determined. Because of what GP just laid out for you there, I think it will be hard to get more of these, but the benefit will be I do think you will see a continuation of something we've talked about on the show in recent weeks a lot of these big games in November and December and some of this may be it might be overly optimistic from my standpoint, but it's also informed by talking to the coaches when they're building out these schedules in the off seasons. I do think you are going to get I don't know if we can match next season what we had this season. I think as we record this show we have had 48 non conference ranked on ranked matchups which is a record according to my bookkeeping. And I went and with the help of our CBS Sports research group we really looked into this. I don't think we've ever had more non con ranked regular season matchups than this season. I don't know if we can hit that next year or the season after. But I do think we're gonna get plenty and provided the conferences play ball, we're going to have more February non conference games. Whether that's one weekend dedicated to it or one some here, some there. We'll talk about that more when we get into February. Duke versus Michigan is going to be maybe quite easily the biggest game of the regular season and that's going to happen in February. Keep an eye on that. There is a bonus trivia time that this that this listener sent in. GP I didn't put it in the Google Doc, but that was with good reason because he gave the answers in the email. Scout's honor. I have not looked at them. I want to see if we can figure this out together in two minutes or less. Here's his trivia time. Okay, like many who were obsessed with the old Big East, I've I've come to enjoy what it is now but but miss it. In the olden days he says name the nine active D1 coaches in what we refer to as the old big East. So 2012 and prior that are still coaching in college basketball right now. He sent the answers. I have not looked at them and I didn't even I tried not too hard to think about this question because I wanted to go through this together. So the only one that I definitely know for sure is Ed Cooley. He coached in the old Big East Providence. Now he's it. He's coaching in college basketball period. He just happens to be in the current Biggie. So there are nine of them according to our listener here. Who else do we think was in the old Biggie still active in D1?
- [21:54]
Gary Parrish
Rick Patino.
- [21:55]
Matt Norlander
I agree with you. Patino is 2. I think you mentioned it before at flat. Jamie Dixon. Old Biggies still coaching. That's three.
- [22:05]
Gary Parrish
I'm gonna have to look at schools.
- [22:07]
Matt Norlander
All right, I'm gonna give you Kevin Willard, coaching at Seton Hall. That's four.
- [22:14]
Gary Parrish
How far back does Chris Holtman go?
- [22:17]
Matt Norlander
Oh, that's a great call.
- [22:20]
Gary Parrish
And is. But Butler's not going to go all the way back to 12, are they?
- [22:23]
Matt Norlander
No, they are not. So Chris Holtman's not going to qualify. But you know who is going to qualify? Nick Cronin. There you go. Qualify when he was at Cincinnati. And so that's five. We need four more. It's not Bayheim. No one that was at Boss. Oh, no. No one at Boston College.
- [22:44]
Gary Parrish
I know who I wish it was.
- [22:46]
Matt Norlander
Not coaching right now, is he?
- [22:48]
Gary Parrish
I wish it was Oliver Purnell.
- [22:51]
Matt Norlander
Oliver Purnell wasn't on the Old Biggies, was he?
- [22:53]
Gary Parrish
No.
- [22:53]
Matt Norlander
Yes, coaching.
- [22:54]
Gary Parrish
He coached at the ball in the old Big East.
- [22:57]
Matt Norlander
Is Al Skinner still coaching? No, he's not. He hasn't coached at Kennesaw State in six years.
- [23:06]
Gary Parrish
I don't think we can get this.
- [23:07]
Matt Norlander
I don't think we. I. There's got to be. So we've had Cooley, Patino, Dixon. Willard Cronin is 5. This is the fun part where we're trying to figure it out, and there are people in their cars, washing their dishes on a run, screaming at their phone.
- [23:24]
Gary Parrish
Oh, I got one.
- [23:25]
Matt Norlander
Okay.
- [23:26]
Gary Parrish
Buzz Williams.
- [23:27]
Matt Norlander
Buzz is a great call. That's six. That's Marquette. I'm not. I'm trying not to, but, you know, it's not syracuse. It's not UConn. Can't be anyone. Calhoun's retired.
- [23:37]
Gary Parrish
Can't be Villanova.
- [23:38]
Matt Norlander
Can't be Villain. Can't be Villanova. Miami. That was like Perry Clark. We got five. Can we. Can we get one more?
- [23:51]
Gary Parrish
If you'd asked me this a few years ago, I could have hit you with a Keno Davis.
- [23:55]
Matt Norlander
Yeah, Keno Davis. Not. Oh, no. Kino Davis isn't coaching now. All right, I'm gonna bring up the email right now. Answers at the bottom. Here we go. Oh, man, that's a. Okay. Ed Cooley, Kevin Willard, Tommy Amaker.
- [24:08]
Gary Parrish
Man, that's a good one.
- [24:10]
Matt Norlander
Steve Lavin is at San Diego. Come on.
- [24:15]
Gary Parrish
Oh, I hate this one.
- [24:16]
Matt Norlander
I don't get these. Patino, Buzz Cronin, Andy Kennedy, when he was at that, technically, was in.
- [24:24]
Gary Parrish
That's cheap. That's cheating.
- [24:25]
Matt Norlander
Stan Heath, Is he still coaching?
- [24:28]
Gary Parrish
Stan Heath? No, he is. He's back.
- [24:31]
Matt Norlander
Is he in the Mac? Is he, like Eastern Michigan.
- [24:35]
Gary Parrish
Yeah. One of those, like, wow, that is.
- [24:37]
Matt Norlander
A great trivia time. Andy Kennedy is a sneaky answer. That's some good listener trivia time. We appreciated that. Five out of nine ain't bad. Honestly, when I looked at this question, I thought we'd get to seven, so I'm disappointed in us. Keep it moving. You've got question three.
- [24:54]
Gary Parrish
Okay. Question three. It's from Josh from North Dakota. He asked, looking at the landscape, what storyline most intrigues you going forward? Michigan, Arizona, Iowa State. Surging St. John's Flop. That one definitely doesn't interest me at all. Biggie's peril or something else? I mean, after what happened earlier in The Week with AJ DeBonsa, like the National Player of the Year race is, is suddenly interesting. I don't know if you saw this. I don't have the numbers right in front of me.
- [25:24]
Matt Norlander
I saw and I have it detailed in the court report, which by the time you're watching and listening is already live. But as we record this now, it's not yet published. Go ahead.
- [25:31]
Gary Parrish
It was, you know, in the month of December. He just did a points, rebounds, assist shooting percentage with an undefeated record thing that is unprecedented in the past three decades in college basketball. He got a 33.10 rebound, 10 assists, triple double according to the Internet.
- [25:51]
Matt Norlander
I know, I've gone to Opta stats.
- [25:53]
Gary Parrish
Right.
- [25:53]
Matt Norlander
I believe that had that.
- [25:54]
Gary Parrish
I just, I've gone down some bad paths with the Internet lately.
- [25:57]
Matt Norlander
Yeah, it's been.
- [25:57]
Gary Parrish
I start trusting things, the next thing you know, I'm just making stuff up. But on the Internet, I did see this. He is the youngest person in NCAA history to ever have a 33 point triple double.
- [26:09]
Matt Norlander
He's also the only freshman this century to have a triple double with at least 30 points involved. He's been awesome. That's a really good one. Dupont is coming on strong. Very excited to, to see what develops.
- [26:20]
Gary Parrish
With him and the stuff at Kentucky. Like, I'm interested, I am genuinely interested to see where Kentucky goes from here because I could see them in a Final Four if healthy and I could see Jalen Lowe's shoulder never being right. And then they're never right either.
- [26:36]
Matt Norlander
My number one is actually something that's tied to another question on this in this mailbag. So I'll tell you what that is when we get to it. So I don't want to spoil it here, but my number two would be the SEC and where it falls this season. I also detail this in this week's court report. Try and squeeze a little time here over the weekend if you want. And just the the step it's taken back how the league race plays out. Can the league get nine teams into the tournament? Does it have a national championship contender like a true one? Are we going to look in the middle of January? Will it be there? That is my most intriguing one. Just everything tied to the sec. You can fold Kentucky into that, but that would be my number two. I'll share you my number one with you once we get to the question that ties to it.
- [27:15]
Gary Parrish
Now we're at question number four. Is that you?
- [27:17]
Matt Norlander
We are at four. It is me. But you know what? I think we're, I think we're due for a word from our partner. So let's take a quick break.
- [27:26]
Gary Parrish
This isn't just combat, it's cinema. Ready or not, you might know.
- [27:33]
Matt Norlander
Let's go.
- [27:35]
Gary Parrish
Are you not entertained? The new home of UFC Paramount.
- [27:41]
Matt Norlander
Guys, by now you've heard me talk.
- [27:43]
Gary Parrish
About collars and company makers of the dress collar polo. They've already sold over a million of these amazing shirts.
- [27:49]
Matt Norlander
Well, collars and co just came out.
- [27:51]
Gary Parrish
With the new Maverick Performance blazer. This blazer is sharp and wrinkle resistant.
- [27:55]
Matt Norlander
So you can travel anywhere with it.
- [27:57]
Gary Parrish
Just throw it in your bag and it will remain wrinkle free. It even comes with security zip pockets.
- [28:02]
Matt Norlander
A sunglasses loop and an optional pocket Square. So visit collarsandco.com and use code TIKI for 20% off@collarsandco.com hey, Ryan Reynolds here wishing you a very happy half off holiday because right now Mint Mobile is offering you the gift of 50% off unlimited. To be clear, that's half price, not half the service. Mint is still premium unlimited wireless for a great price. So that means a half day.
- [28:32]
Gary Parrish
Yeah.
- [28:32]
Matt Norlander
Give it a try at mintmobile.com.
- [28:36]
Gary Parrish
Upfront payment of $45 for three month plan equivalent to $15 per month required new customer offer for first three months only. Speed slow hacker 35 gigabytes of networks busy taxes and fees extra cmn. Here at Blue Apron we know exactly how hectic school nights can be. That's why we created assemble and bake.
- [28:50]
Matt Norlander
Delicious one pan meals that make family dinner simple. Just assemble the pre chopped ingredients and.
- [28:56]
Gary Parrish
Put the pan in the oven to bake. Then you're free to help out with.
- [29:00]
Matt Norlander
That last minute diorama shop.
- [29:03]
Gary Parrish
Assemble and bake@blueapron.com get 50% off your first two orders with code apron50. Terms and conditions apply. Visit blueapron.com terms for more.
- [29:13]
Matt Norlander
All right Glenn, which is not a name that you run into. Too much G, L, Y, N. You know any Glyns?
- [29:18]
Gary Parrish
I got some Glyns in my life.
- [29:19]
Matt Norlander
You do not.
- [29:22]
Gary Parrish
Do you genuinely? I have some Glens in my life.
- [29:25]
Matt Norlander
Google famous Glenn's.
- [29:26]
Gary Parrish
Every once in a while. Every once in a while I'll get on a golf course with a Glenn. Okay, you don't mean specifically Glyn?
- [29:33]
Matt Norlander
Yes.
- [29:34]
Gary Parrish
I don't know that I have a Glyn in my house. I've got plenty of house.
- [29:39]
Matt Norlander
I know you don't, but I'm talking in your life.
- [29:41]
Gary Parrish
You mean in my life. I don't. I don't think I have any G, L, Y ns in my life. I have some. Otherwise Glenn's in my. In my life. I've got. I got a few Gwyn's, but I don't know if I know one of these.
- [29:52]
Matt Norlander
Glenn. The only Glenn I know is Glenn Johns, famous record producer, worked with Zeppelin, big rock bands in the 70s, Beatles who, etc. Anyway, okay.
- [30:02]
Gary Parrish
Yeah.
- [30:02]
Matt Norlander
Glenn from Washington demands to know.
- [30:04]
Gary Parrish
Okay.
- [30:06]
Matt Norlander
And this is. I think we had another question about this like two, three months ago, but so the fact that we had multiple people email about this had to be brought up on the show. All right, when are we Getting a top 25 and 1 buildings ranking from GP? This one's all you. And I'm genuinely curious. You knew this question was coming. Did you build out a list of 26 buildings for this episode?
- [30:27]
Gary Parrish
Of course not. Ain't nobody got that kind of time.
- [30:31]
Matt Norlander
I didn't think you did. But you talk about how much you trust buildings.
- [30:35]
Gary Parrish
Yeah.
- [30:35]
Matt Norlander
The listenership is going to want some sort of reference point here. I got you bibliography, if you will. When's it coming?
- [30:42]
Gary Parrish
Here's what I can't, man. I'm just trying to get through every day as best I can. I would say this. I think you could figure out which buildings are most trustworthy just by looking at winning percentages and stuff like that. Right. So I don't care about that. But I can just a list of places that I look forward to going there when I get back there or places I remember walking in and being like, this is what college basketball is supposed to be. It's why I prefer everything in true home road environments. It's why you're starting to hear more people like, as much as everybody is disagreeing and debating the college football playoff, the one thing that seems the majority agree on now is that we need more on campus stuff, not less. Even Dan Lanning at Oregon.
- [31:35]
Matt Norlander
I loved what he said that?
- [31:36]
Gary Parrish
Loved it. Loved it.
- [31:38]
Matt Norlander
By the time you're listening, this is now four days old, but Dan Landing saying we should be playing our game against Texas Tech at Texas Tech. I love to see this from coaches in football and basketball because in many ways they are wired to think like you and me are the everyday fan. And only by speaking out publicly and doing it in that kind of fashion can you actually, in my, in my opinion, affect change in both sports.
- [31:58]
Gary Parrish
That's right. It's just better. You can put any football game in a neutral site and it'll be fine. Put it on Oregon's campus and it's better. Put it on Ole Miss's campus and it's better. And so I hope going forward we get more of that in the College Football Playoff. We play the AFC Championship game in the NFC Championship game, the semifinals of the NFL in true road home environments. We should do it in college football as well. So just under that umbrella of places I love going to or remember loving being there, because it's what college basketball should be. My list always starts with Alan Foothouse. It's just pay heed. It's. It's the field actual. It's the field house aspect of it. It's the Rock Chalk Jayhawk. That's if. If Fenway and Wrigley are bucket list for baseball people at Lambos bucket list for, you know, football people. And the Garden is bucket list for NBA people. I think college basketball people bucket list. Allen Fieldhouse should be on it. Cameron and Door as well. Others. The Kennels, Great assembly hall at Indiana, incredible. Mackie arena, awesome. Memorial Gym at Van. That. That's a great place to pop back into the Breslin Center. Neville arena down at Auburn, Hinkle Viejas. I've been there once. It was awesome. I've been to Gallagher IBA once. It was a long time ago, but I just remember like that was a cool, like the way it was explained to me. They built it on top of an original thing and just the whole thing was just. It was a cool place to be. It felt like there was real basketball history there. So those are some of my favorites. I don't know that that list is too unique to me, but my favorite thing about among my favorite things about college basketball is you walk into an NBA game. I know the Intuit Dome is different than the Garden, is different than Gainbridge Field House, but they're all like, you know, big, nice NBA arenas. They kind of look and feel the same college basketball you can be in A big place or a small place, an old place or a new place. And they all have like different things that make them special. And the NBA can't provide that, but college basketball can provide that with student sections. And that's where we should play all the games as far as I'm concerned. All right, next question is you from Brian in Connecticut. He says Dan Orlovsky made a point recently about James Madison and Tulane and how all their most talented players move on to more lucrative nil deals. Widen the gap between power four and group of five. Similar issues arise in basketball. Imagine if we adopted the English football model of loans transfers for college sports. The school where students are transferring from gets a percentage of the nil deal from the players new school. With that money going straight into the school's future nil packages. They get rewarded for developing talent while also hopefully being able to keep some future talent in place. You go first.
- [35:00]
Matt Norlander
I love this idea. I have had coaches at the high major and mid major level talk to me about this idea. What I just said about Dan Lanning. I actually think coaches can impact and affect change here. We saw this. Now you can't rely on this as a model every time because it just won't happen. John Summerall literally just did this at Tulane. He's leaving the program to take the Florida job and cut a significant check toward Tulane's nil funding for the football program in the season or seasons to come. How you actually get this to happen, it's not going to be easy. Many coaches start at the mid major level and I do believe that once they get to the high major level, they still genuinely, because they still have friends that work at that level, they have a level of true empathy for what it's like to coach at that level. I know how difficult it is now if you got the right band of coaches to publicly and truly push for this, I do think it would be conceivably possible where you could have some sort of system that at least betters the chances at the bin major level to have something somewhat related to the the English football model of loans and transfers. You take our player, then we're going to get a cut of this. I think frankly it might be, if not necessary, something close to it in order to have a bit more balance moving forward. So appreciate the question. I happen to have had this exact conversation before with at least eight or nine coaches in the in the past year and just know that there are coaches that are open to exploring this idea and actually putting it into practice. But it would be a very heavy lift to actually bring it to something that, that is a part of the sport, you know, as early as say 27 or 28.
- [36:40]
Gary Parrish
Okay. For starters, there is no balance going forward. You can give up on that, correct?
- [36:44]
Matt Norlander
There's no balance. I think this is, instead of making, making it, you know, just this massive, massive gap. Can we reduce it by say 10, 15%? That's all.
- [36:51]
Gary Parrish
The people in charge of making the decisions don't want to reduce the gap. They have no interest in reducing the gap. Ask Greg Sankey if he wants to reduce the gap. All right, they don't want to do that. And I'm not offended by the premise, but I would ask this question from an honest place. Why does anybody think anybody owes anybody for anything? You don't own this player. Congratulations mid major school for signing a player out of high school. You do not own him. Why do I owe you anything for him? Answer that.
- [37:21]
Matt Norlander
Of course not. You don't. It's yes.
- [37:24]
Gary Parrish
I don't even know what we're talking about. Like if you want to put, like if you want to sign a player to a multi year contract and then put a buyout in that contract and get him to agree to it, then like I am against anything unless it's negotiated and placed into writing and signed. But inherently this is where just I break apart from, from, from this way of thinking. I understand how hard it is to be a mid major coach right now. I don't think the high majors owe you anything and I don't think the players who came to your program owe you anything other than what they were giving you while they were there. When the season's over, if you still have them under some sort of contract that binds them to you, congratulations. But if not, they are essentially a free agent, the same type of free agent we think about in professional sports all the time. And at that point they are free to do what's best for them. And I don't know why anybody thinks at that point they owe anybody else anything.
- [38:22]
Matt Norlander
No, I think a lot of this stems from a desire to bring as much stability as possible because we're never going back to the way it was and in many ways we shouldn't. But can you get to a place where you collectively bargain and if you do that to bring a little bit more incentive from both sides of it? I mean high majors can benefit from this just as much as mid majors can. Overall, I think that was also part of the spirit of the question.
- [38:46]
Gary Parrish
We can keep it, but you Mentioned Fornelli. I think earlier it might have been the last podcast, maybe. I just think about Tom Fornelli all the time.
- [38:54]
Matt Norlander
He's in your head, there's no doubt about it.
- [38:55]
Gary Parrish
He had a really great column on this about the football side of things, but it translates to basketball. He points out that everybody's bitching about the College Football Playoff. It's not broken. The sport is broken. The gap is widening. If you look at recruiting rankings right now, it is. It's not just Power 4, it's SEC, Big 10.
- [39:16]
Matt Norlander
All right. Yeah.
- [39:17]
Gary Parrish
So everybody's focused right now on the gap between the power four and the group of five. What you should be focusing on is the growing gap between sec, Big Ten and everybody else. Because eventually those leagues are going to pluck the best from the ACC and the biggest brands from the Big 12 and then it's going to be a real halves and haves knots with those two big leagues and everybody else is then going to be treated like James Madison. So like you're a fan of a Big Ten, Big 12 school or an ACC school and you're like, yeah, get James Madison out of here, get Tulane out of here. Understand it might be you soon. They gonna talk like that about you soon. Because once upon a time at the mid major level you could recruit players, develop them and yeah, you might lose them to a bigger school, but it theoretically ain't supposed to be over millions of dollars and they ain't supposed to be able to play immediately. So you can leave me if you want to, to go play at the bigger school, but you're going to have to sit out of here. You really want to do that now, Coach? I guess I'll stay here. That's how mid major basketball existed. And then what, every once in a while pop off in the NCAA tournament? Now those players are leaving those schools every year for lots of money. It is hard to maintain, bordering on impossible. But I do not believe it's anybody's responsibility to take care of of that. That's. This is just the natural order of things. The people running the sport are clearly driving it in another direction. And I don't enjoy this, but I really do think the way whatever ways we used to glamorize or love anything outside of the traditional power structure, it is going to be so much harder for those things to exist. Just real quick on this, I think I can make this point. Then we'll move on. At the University of Memphis right now, after each of the past three seasons, after the three best programs on that campus, in theory, are football, men's basketball, and women's soccer. It's like a top 10 women's soccer program in America. Those three programs, after their most recent season all lost their best, most important returning player. Player of the year in the conference in basketball, left for the Big 12. Player of the year in the conference in women's soccer is in the transfer portal. And the heralded quarterback recruit, highest, one of the highest ranked in history. He's in the transfer portal. So even a school like Memphis that has never really been beaten down by its mid major affiliation now is having a hard time keeping players from bouncing to the league. Less than. I guess it wasn't less than, but, you know, this century. Derrick Rose, the number one pick in the draft, played there. He picked that school.
- [41:56]
Matt Norlander
And.
- [41:56]
Gary Parrish
And now players are actively leaving that school for bigger things. This is where we're at. I don't like it, but I don't know that there's any real way to fix it.
- [42:03]
Matt Norlander
All right, next question is a quick one, but I appreciated the sentiment and I think GP will as well. Nick from Austin, Texas has a nitpick. Why do we call tournaments MTE's? Every game is a multiple team event. If it's not a multiple team event, it's an intra squad scrimmage. These things need to be rebranded as M G es Multiple game events. I would appreciate if you could be both on the front lines with me on this one. It is a valid point. Any other misnomers in college hoops we should address? GP and what do you think about switching it up from MTE to mge?
- [42:34]
Gary Parrish
This is one of those that I don't think you even think about unless you're super high or. Or you got that same little. The same little autism thing. My wife is convinced I'd be diagnosed with if I'd ever get it diagnosed. You got to have a little bit of that because I understand this completely. This. This makes the most sense to me. Like it. It's like when people say defending champ, I know nobody else cares. I know you so well, it drives me crazy.
- [43:05]
Matt Norlander
We are in agreement. You're not.
- [43:07]
Gary Parrish
And I know I'm the only one who notices.
- [43:09]
Matt Norlander
We have forever lost this battle, by.
- [43:10]
Gary Parrish
The way, but I am the only one who notices it. I am the only one who cares.
- [43:14]
Matt Norlander
Hey, I'm right here with you, buddy. Right here.
- [43:16]
Gary Parrish
I'm just saying you can host SportsCenter, do a Florida highlight, say, and down in Gainesville, the defending champs, and nobody even blinks. It's Fine. It's fine. But you're not defending anything, and it drives me crazy. You're the reigning champ, not the defending champ. This is. This is under that umbrella. It's. You're right. Any game has multiple teams, so.
- [43:41]
Matt Norlander
I will make an honest, earnest effort on this podcast to call them MGEs moving forward.
- [43:45]
Gary Parrish
Okay, I'm doing it too. Right now. Let's. Right as of this moment, I. I will never intentionally say multi team event or MTE again. I will say multi game event and mge. It starts right now.
- [43:58]
Matt Norlander
Let's go.
- [43:59]
Gary Parrish
The movement starts right now, right here.
- [44:01]
Matt Norlander
Got it. Done. And by the way, that was our most. I think that was our most recent of all the questions we're talking about. I think that's the most recent submission. I think so. There you go. Just goes to show you, you send one in right before the buzzer, you can change this podcast forever. You've got question number seven.
- [44:16]
Gary Parrish
GP comes from Marcus. Parts unknown. Sounds like.
- [44:19]
Matt Norlander
Not our editor, by the way. I fact check. That.
- [44:21]
Gary Parrish
Sounds like. Sounds like Marcus might be on the run. What if Marcus is on the run?
- [44:26]
Matt Norlander
He might be on the run.
- [44:27]
Gary Parrish
I mean, they're starting to release those Epstein files a little bit. You know, not the good stuff a little bit.
- [44:32]
Matt Norlander
Keep it moving.
- [44:34]
Gary Parrish
Sounds like Marcus might be on the run. Or he's either a wrestler. One of the two. He's either on the run or professional wrestler, he says. With non con schedules over, what is a realistic number of ACC teams making the tourney? The conference has performed much better so far, and I've got at least seven in. Okay, Marcus, you won't tell us where you're at, but you'll tell us exactly how many ACC teams are going to be in the field. I got my eye on you.
- [44:58]
Matt Norlander
I. I got a way that we can deduce all this here. All right, before I do it, ACC as of when we're redoing this pod, 16 and 31 overall in quad one. Still much better than it was the past couple of seasons and really last season. And it's got, you know, more than half the league registers in that top 80, top 85 overall. So it has done better and it does rate better. I don't have my doc up right now, but the ACC percentage wise, has done better than even the SEC when it comes to games versus ranked competition. So it's done better this season, undeniably. I'm going to read you. I just. Let's go. Rapid fire. Okay. You and me both. I'm going to read Every single school, alphabetical order. And you just tell me what your instinct says. Do they make the tournament, yes or no. On selection Sunday?
- [45:42]
Gary Parrish
Okay, let me get. Let me get this right in my head real quick. I'm ready.
- [45:50]
Matt Norlander
Okay. Boston College?
- [45:52]
Gary Parrish
No.
- [45:52]
Matt Norlander
No. California?
- [45:56]
Gary Parrish
No.
- [45:56]
Matt Norlander
But maybe I'm saying yes. I can't believe it, but I'm going to say yes.
- [46:01]
Gary Parrish
I mean, they're better.
- [46:01]
Matt Norlander
They're better. They're in a good fire. Yes or no?
- [46:04]
Gary Parrish
I said no.
- [46:05]
Matt Norlander
Clemson?
- [46:07]
Gary Parrish
No.
- [46:07]
Matt Norlander
No. Duke?
- [46:09]
Gary Parrish
Sure.
- [46:10]
Matt Norlander
Yes. Sure.
- [46:11]
Gary Parrish
I guess so.
- [46:12]
Matt Norlander
Florida State?
- [46:13]
Gary Parrish
No.
- [46:14]
Matt Norlander
Hell no. Georgia Tech? That's a no. Louisville?
- [46:19]
Gary Parrish
Sure.
- [46:19]
Matt Norlander
Yes. Miami? No. No. But a few ends. North Carolina?
- [46:28]
Gary Parrish
Yeah. I'm gonna let them do it.
- [46:30]
Matt Norlander
Yes. North Carolina State?
- [46:32]
Gary Parrish
Yes.
- [46:33]
Matt Norlander
Yes.
- [46:33]
Gary Parrish
I just want them there.
- [46:35]
Matt Norlander
Notre Dame?
- [46:36]
Gary Parrish
Nah.
- [46:37]
Matt Norlander
No. Pit.
- [46:37]
Gary Parrish
I can't even have Christmas at Notre Dame. That's what I read.
- [46:41]
Matt Norlander
Pitt, smu.
- [46:46]
Gary Parrish
Yes.
- [46:47]
Matt Norlander
Say no. So that's where we flip on Cal and smu. Stanford? No. Syracuse?
- [46:54]
Gary Parrish
Nah.
- [46:55]
Matt Norlander
No. Virginia?
- [46:56]
Gary Parrish
Yes.
- [46:57]
Matt Norlander
Yes. Virginia Tech? Nah. Yes. Wake Forest. And I say no. So I think I have. So I have Cal, Duke, Louisville, Carolina, North, NC State, Virginia, Virginia Tech. I have seven.
- [47:16]
Gary Parrish
I think I got six. I got North Carolina, Virginia, North Carolina State, and smu. But just Duke, Louisville, North Carolina look like guarantees at this point. Virginia seems like there's no bracket that would have Virginia out today, so they'd.
- [47:30]
Matt Norlander
Have to play their way out into the wahoos. And a couple of questions here.
- [47:33]
Gary Parrish
NC State, Miami, SMU, Clemson are all in the 30s in the net right now. That means you're in play. And so they have eight schools in the top 40 of the net. And then Cal is 44th at 11 and one with a win over UCLA. Like they might get there. I. I know I only identified six. I think Marcus from Parts Unknown, like I.7 sounds like the number. I just couldn't identify which schools. Let me say this. Duke, Louisville, North Carolina, Virginia, North Carolina State, smu, and one more to be determined. Seven.
- [48:05]
Matt Norlander
I'm going to stay with seven. I will be genuinely surprised if it's not six, at minimum. And I think there's a scenario in which as many as eight are in play, but I'll go with seven. I'm next. Joe in St. Joseph, Michigan emails and I think this was more for GP, but I'm taking it for both of us here. I've been listening to the podcast since the days of Norlander with Parrish and Goodman. As a Michigan State fan, I know that both of you have a ton of respect for the job. Izzo has Done over the years. It feels like this year whenever you talk about true championship contenders, the line seems to be drawn at Michigan State. By the way, aside from me, we got another question about that very thing coming up in just a few minutes here. The email continues without any real evidence. Whenever a loss happens amongst the teams ranked above them in the top 25 and 1, it feels like you count. You can count on them dropping in the next update, but never below where MSU is ranked at number nine. What would the Spartans need to do to show over the course of the rest of the season to move into the conversation of real contenders on the national level? I'll just real quick GP and then you can take it and then we'll go to the next question. I have Michigan State as the national title contender as of today. 11, one quality schedule, only lost by six at home to Duke. Really good defense, top three point guard in the country with fears veterans galore. Good athleticism is a coaching. They are in that group. For me as of today, I think this email is more about maybe waiting to see Sparty climb up higher in your rankings than it has been. What say you about MSU and its bona fides as a national title contender?
- [49:26]
Gary Parrish
I don't think the point about people maybe drawing a line just above Michigan State and saying if you're above this line, I could see you winning it all. If you're below this line, I don't know. I think that's probably a real thing for most people and it's obviously got nothing to do with Tom Izzo. Everybody understands he's capable of winning a national championship. He's done it. I think people look at this roster and go, is that a roster you can win a national championship with? Is it a roster you can go to Final Four with? Sure. Can you win a Big Ten title with it? Yeah, I guess so. Can you win a national championship with it? Because like you tell me, who's the lottery pick, who's the first round pick, which of these guys are playing in the NBA? Because you usually need at least one of those guys, often two, sometimes three, four. You know, you can look at some of these Kentucky rosters. They go way deeper than that. UConn's done it with five. So does Michigan State have that level of talent that it typically requires to not just make a Final Four, but once you get there, win two more games. So if you want to say I don't know that the whole world looks at Michigan State as a true title contender, that's probably the place to to point. But I have a ninth in the top 25 and one. And it's not because I think there's only eight national championship contenders. And then they have to start the next conversation. The truth is everybody I have in front of them is either undefeated or also a one loss team. And all of them either, all eight of them. This is anything I base it on, but I did notice it after the fact. All eighteens I have in front of Michigan State are also ahead of Michigan State in the net. So you can reasonably argue everybody I have in front of them actually has a better resume at this point in time. So where I have Michigan State ranked has literally nothing to do with whether I believe they can win it all. But I do wonder if I'm being honest, if that is a roster that's good enough to actually go win the national title. Because typically you need more obvious NBA talent than this roster has. Would you agree or disagree with that?
- [51:35]
Matt Norlander
I will reveal that in just a couple of questions. We have a question about that very thing. You're next up with a thought provoking one from Mark, a Gator fan in Philadelphia.
- [51:45]
Gary Parrish
Okay, you guys mentioned on the podcast who you think the Bluebirds of college basketball are and I'm curious what it would take for Florida to reach that status for you. UF has made it to at least one Final Four for four straight decades. They have three national titles, the only back to back champion who did it with the same starting five, and a Hall of Fame coach. Not to mention some straight up iconic players. I'm not saying they're slam dunk to be there at this moment. I understand there are a lot of teams with incredible history and tradition, but the Gators have got to be close, right? Right. What do you say?
- [52:14]
Matt Norlander
Well, I don't think they're close. In 2020 when we were all going through it, I spent probably about two months researching 80 plus programs to determine who the best 68 were in the history of men's college basketball. You can google, you can google that and frankly if I have the time and the desire, I probably should update that list at some point in the coming years. I applied a point system when I did that that was everything to total wins, NCAA tournament appearances, national championships, final fours, NBA picks, the amount of weeks you've been ranked. A whole bunch of stuff went into it to make it, you know, semi scientific. It was a full on pretty widespread accounting of a hundred plus years of men's college basketball to that point. And when I did that Florida was 40th. Now it has since won a national championship. If I redid the list today, it's going to be closer to 30. But it's still not a blue blood and it's. I don't think close. And you know what a big hindrance is here. Who I think the blue bloods are? Carolina, Kentucky, Duke, Kansas, UCLA, UConn. I'm a little easier on this than some. And then Louisville and Villanova. I actually.
- [53:32]
Gary Parrish
Something about. I made the same list last night. I think we vary on the schools, but there's something I noticed about that list of schools that doesn't apply to Florida.
- [53:40]
Matt Norlander
Yes.
- [53:40]
Gary Parrish
I wonder if we're saying the same thing.
- [53:42]
Matt Norlander
What do they all have in common, every single one of those schools? And if you want to put Indiana in there, you can. I'm of the belief that it has actually fallen out of that and can get back you to me. You don't get entrance into it and you're there forever. Frankly. Villanova might be teetering right now, but what are the. All of them in Indiana? What do they all have in common? All of them? Basketball is the show in town. It's the main thing. It's not that at Florida. It will never be that at Florida. And so because of that, I just don't think Florida is knocking on the door of blue blood status. You can be a tremendous program and Florida is. It is a great, great program. It's one of the better jobs in the country. But to elevate to blue blood status, you're. You're so much closer in football than you are in basketball. I've got a couple of thoughts on. I think the programs that are closest to achieving blue blood status. We can get to that in a second. What are your thoughts on the question?
- [54:31]
Gary Parrish
Gp so we were on the exact same page here. Made the same note last night. I did a AI overview.
- [54:38]
Matt Norlander
Oh, God, no, that's. I don't want to hear that.
- [54:40]
Gary Parrish
I did an aio.
- [54:41]
Matt Norlander
I don't want the AI. I never want the AI overview ever.
- [54:44]
Gary Parrish
I was trying to get overviewed by the AI and I said, what are the basketball blue bloods? And this is what it spit out. Kentucky, UCLA, North Carolina, Duke, Kansas, Indiana and UConn. It stopped right there. Okay, take it up with AI overview if you want to. And immediately I'm like, okay, basketball is the most important thing on every one of those campuses, except for obviously at.
- [55:05]
Matt Norlander
Indiana now, like currently now. But obviously big picture, it's still.
- [55:08]
Gary Parrish
Yes, of course it is. So that was My question for you, can you be a blue blood in basketball when basketball isn't the most important thing on your campus? Like. Like I don't even know the answer. I'm asking from Anonymous.
- [55:21]
Matt Norlander
Maybe theoretically, but I would say, I would say no. Especially like now when you can try and commit as much as you can to both, but one's going to win out over the other. And at Florida football, well, that is interesting.
- [55:34]
Gary Parrish
There was, it is a dual school.
- [55:35]
Matt Norlander
Like it went, remember back when they won the 2000s, the only one to ever hold it at the same time, all that stuff. So it has proven it to a certain level. I want to be very clear about this, but it's a very, very good program. But it also, the totality of the program, the history of it, like, it's just not one of the 25 best programs in the history of the sport. It's just not to this point, but.
- [55:51]
Gary Parrish
To your point, it's now there was a time when Florida was doing that and people would say things like, see, there's no reason you can't be great at both. And then Bruce Pearl famously, you know, we're in an everything school. There's no reason you can't be great at all these things. What's interesting now is there is actually a reason you can't be great at all these things. And it's because if you give too much of the money to one of these things, it is coming at the expense of one of these other things. So they do, they take away from each other, literally take away from each other as it pertains to revenue share. And so I think it's perhaps more, more difficult than it has been recently. At places that don't prioritize basketball, like Kentucky and North Carolina, it might be more difficult to keep up with them because the way this is going is the football schools are lean into football and some of the basketball schools lean a little. Everybody leans toward football, but the basketball schools at the, the basketball programs at the big basketball schools tend to get taken a little better of in rev share than. Than say, you know, the LSU basketball coach right now, I'm certain.
- [57:06]
Matt Norlander
Okay, real quick before we move on. So you did not have Villanova or Indiana on your list, correct?
- [57:12]
Gary Parrish
AI overview didn't.
- [57:14]
Matt Norlander
Okay. Who is the school that you think is closest to achieving blue blood status that isn't there? Well, guessing you would say Villanova. I have them there.
- [57:25]
Gary Parrish
Villanova's obviously like, I think Villanova would be there if Jay had never left. I don't know where that's going next, but certainly on a list of possibilities. I. I don't. I'm not saying Louisville. I mean, I've got like right at the top there.
- [57:42]
Matt Norlander
I think I personally, in that state, the history and you. And actually the thing that actually firms up that they're there for me is they came off their worst run ever. They got a coach, and look how good they are. Immediately to me, they are there. I would put Louisville there. And I frankly think you have to work harder to take them off the list and you have to put them on it.
- [57:58]
Gary Parrish
That's fine with me. I was raised on the Metro. You ain't got to tell me nothing about this. What does Michigan State got to do to get there besides the obvious win match, more national titles?
- [58:07]
Matt Norlander
Well, the two that I have that I think are the closest are Arizona and Michigan State. You need to have a minimum of three national titles to your name to be on this list. Michigan State has two, Arizona has one. But they are the two that I think if they did enough winning in the next five to seven years, they could get there. I actually think it increases your case if you win it with different coaches, which Duke cannot claim, but Duke is obviously there. We understand that UCLA has multiple. UConn has multiple. Villanova has multiple. Louisville has multiple. Carolina has multiple. Kentucky has multiple. If you can. Kansas has multiple. If you've had different coaches bring you to national championships, that strengthens your case. Arizona, Michigan State would both fit into that box. I think they're knocking on the door. I don't think they're there yet, but those would be my two closest again, because I already have Ville and Nova on the list and I have Indiana on the outskirts. It can come back in. I know Indiana fans. I think the general public would put IU there. They have just drifted so far afield of what they were for the past 25 years. To me, it's a status that you can lose. You can get it back. But I have Indiana on the outside looking in right now.
- [59:11]
Gary Parrish
I could see theoretically if Gonzaga's next hire is great. I could see Gonzaga getting there someday, Purdue getting there someday.
- [59:19]
Matt Norlander
I think you need three titles, though. I honestly do. Like you need to win multiple titles. I don't think one thing gets like blue blood. Highest. Highest level gp. I. Even if Gonzaga won this season, few was there. They won in two years. I still wouldn't put them there because they wouldn't have enough titles. That's just.
- [59:32]
Gary Parrish
Okay, fine. Ready for this?
- [59:34]
Matt Norlander
Yeah.
- [59:35]
Gary Parrish
Best candidate to be a blue blood going forward. Finn McCollum Ben McCollum is a blue blood. He's four national titles. You said you only need three division two level.
- [59:49]
Matt Norlander
So if you want to, if you want to make Northwest Missouri State a blue blood, for sure, I want to.
- [59:53]
Gary Parrish
Make Ben McCollum, him personally a blue blood.
- [59:56]
Matt Norlander
We got to keep it, we got to keep moving.
- [59:58]
Gary Parrish
You know what though, that's very disrespectful to Ben McCollum. This guy's got four national titles.
- [60:02]
Matt Norlander
Another we need another break word from our partners. Then we'll keep it moving in my.
- [60:06]
Gary Parrish
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Matt Norlander
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Matt Norlander
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Gary Parrish
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Matt Norlander
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Gary Parrish
Stores for a limited time.
- [61:01]
Matt Norlander
Literally every single clearance item at your designer shoe warehouse store is on sale right now. Sneakers, boots, dress shoes. If they're on the clearance racks, they're 50% off. So what are you waiting for?
- [61:13]
Gary Parrish
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- [61:14]
Matt Norlander
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- [61:23]
Gary Parrish
Chris Hassell, Gary Parish here. So I'm doing a show with Norlander. I'm trying to make Ben McCollum a blue blood by himself and I'm getting real pushback here.
- [61:35]
Matt Norlander
It's the one guy you can go to for reinforcement of your belief.
- [61:38]
Gary Parrish
I don't he's upset with you. Chris Hassell's upset with you. He's gonna make a funny video about you.
- [61:43]
Matt Norlander
I would be so honored if that wound up being the case. Scott from Lehigh Valley, Pennsylvania wants our lists how many teams can win the national championship? And related to this question, Russ Steinberg, AKA Russ from the Boneyard wants us to go through and do a thought experiment look at the number one team in GP's top 25 and one.
- [62:02]
Gary Parrish
Okay.
- [62:02]
Matt Norlander
Would you take that team versus the field to win the title? If no, include the second team. Would you take number one and two versus the field? Keep going down that list until each of you take the top whatever in GP's field and where do you land? So let's. Let's do Russ's thing. This is the top 25 and 1 as of our taping here, which will not change by the time you listen to it. How deep can we get before we take the field over the teams at the top of GP's top 25 and 1. Read off what you got.
- [62:29]
Gary Parrish
I would take Ben McCollum against the field right now.
- [62:32]
Matt Norlander
You would not.
- [62:35]
Gary Parrish
Win four national titles in a six year span.
- [62:37]
Matt Norlander
You still. I. That's an AI overview answer. You would not take McCollum versus the field. Let's deal with the contents of the question, please.
- [62:46]
Gary Parrish
Okay. I actually did take this seriously, even if it doesn't sound like it. Top 25 and one as of this morning is number one, Michigan. Number two, Arizona. Number three, Iowa State.
- [62:57]
Matt Norlander
Let's call it. Hold on. Michigan versus the field. I'm taking now. I mean Michigan and Arizona versus the field. I'm taking the field.
- [63:06]
Gary Parrish
Taking the field.
- [63:08]
Matt Norlander
Michigan, Arizona, Iowa State versus the field. I'm taking the field.
- [63:11]
Gary Parrish
Field.
- [63:12]
Matt Norlander
Michigan, Arizona, Iowa State, Yukon. I'm still taking the field, Phil. Michigan, Arizona, Iowa State, UConn, BYU versus the field. I am still taking the field.
- [63:27]
Gary Parrish
I'm still taking the field.
- [63:30]
Matt Norlander
Michigan, Arizona, Iowa State, UConn, BYU, Purdue versus the field.
- [63:38]
Gary Parrish
This is where I def. This is where I start thinking about it, correct?
- [63:44]
Matt Norlander
Ah.
- [63:45]
Gary Parrish
I'm still taking the field.
- [63:48]
Matt Norlander
I will take the field. But at the next school is where I'm drawing the line. So I give me Michigan, Arizona, Iowa State, UConn, BYU, Purdue and Gonzaga versus the field. If you have Gonzaga in the field, I take the field. Gonzaga with the other six. That's where I draw my line. Which means I am betting against Duke, Michigan State, North Carolina, Houston, undefeated Vandy, Kansas. Theoretically with Darren Peterson, Alabama, Illinois, we see what they've done. Texas Tech, Louisville. Well, it knows what Kentucky is coming gonna be over the next month or so. But that's where I go. We on the same page?
- [64:30]
Gary Parrish
Not quite.
- [64:30]
Matt Norlander
Okay.
- [64:31]
Gary Parrish
The. The highest I would pull the trigger. Like if you were trying to let me get best bang for my buck like GP. I can get you plus 220 here if you draw the line here. But it's gonna be minus 130 if you take it down between, you know, Gonzag and whatever. Where I would try to get the best bang for my buck is I would cut it off after Purdue. I would take Michigan, Arizona, Iowa State, UConn, BYU, Purdue, and I would trust that my champions in there. But. But I'm worried about Gonzaga, Duke, Michigan State, Houston, Alabama, Louisville, Kentucky. But I, I would draw the line there my floor like the absolute lowest I would go where I would feel like, okay, I feel good right here after Duke at 8. Give me Michigan, Arizona, Iowa State, UConn, BYU, Purdue, Gonzaga, Duke. Draw the line that leaves me without Houston's the one that scares me the most. Louisville also scares me. Kentucky, if it got right, would be a little scary. Alabama could win the sec. If you can win the sec, you can win the national title. I'm leaving some good ones out that worry me. But I think if you gave me I'd take the top six. But if you gave me the top eight, I'd feel real good about it.
- [65:43]
Matt Norlander
This is what I was referencing for my favorite storyline of the season, and that is the depth at the top of the sport. This led the court report this week. I think this is our strongest field of contenders that we've seen in men's college basketball since the 1415 season. This is the storyline that I'm interested in. The the top 10 right now in men's college basketball has seven combined losses. It has one of the most successful win rates. The AP Top 10 as it stands going into Christmas through seven weeks of the regular season. It has one of the most successful runways that we've seen in the past 25 years. That's the storyline that I'm so interested in. Will we, will this continue or are we going to see? Like, I understand that Michigan and Arizona, Iowa State are considered on a tier above the rest, and I don't even disagree with that. But I think the depth of teams that can win it all is deep. And so to answer the first part of the question, my list is 12 deep and I normally don't. This is a bit early for me to, to go into this, but for the sake of the mailbag, I'm gonna do so. I don't have typically, like supreme confidence by Christmas on who can win six in March and April. And my list will change. It'll get. It'll obviously like, if we check in on this in February, Valentine's Day, there's going to be four teams that I'm going to give you right now that I probably take off the list, and there's probably two teams not on my list that would jump on then. I have 12 teams right now that I genuinely believe can win six. And as I've said many times on the show, I think winning six is different than winning four. I think winning six is different than winning five. The teams I think can win the national championship are Michigan, Arizona, Iowa State, UConn, Purdue, Duke, Houston, Gonzaga, Michigan State, Illinois, BYU and North Carolina. There are some good teams that I don't have on that list that I'm willing to put on that list. But as of right now, Those are the 12 that I think have the capability to win six in the tournament.
- [67:33]
Gary Parrish
I would throw Louisville in that group.
- [67:35]
Matt Norlander
I am. It was my last team to get cut, and I could not get myself there now, but I am very open to getting there a little bit later in the ACC season.
- [67:45]
Gary Parrish
All right, next question. You.
- [67:48]
Matt Norlander
Next question is me. This is Alan from Alexandria, Virginia. He sent a photo. Debo's got it. Can we flash this on the screen for our YouTube audience? He said, hey, guys, I was in Lincoln this weekend for work, and I swung by Pinnacle Bank. Kind of feels like you can just walk into Pinnacle Bank. And what we have here, Debo has put on. This is Keith, who emailed this as well. This is not the photo of Pinnacle Bank. This is the banner. We asked earlier this season if someone could make this banner. Someone did. It's Paris's famous quote. You don't just walk into Pinnacle Bank. This needs to be blown up and put on the facade of the building permanently. So, Keith, thank you for that.
- [68:26]
Gary Parrish
At the very least, let's get. Let's get a student with a poster board. You can't just walk into Pinnacle Bank.
- [68:31]
Matt Norlander
I know. And there's the picture from. From Alan.
- [68:33]
Gary Parrish
It does.
- [68:35]
Matt Norlander
It kind of looks like you can just walk in there. I gotta agree.
- [68:37]
Gary Parrish
You don't just. Yeah, we gotta get it right.
- [68:39]
Matt Norlander
It's.
- [68:39]
Gary Parrish
It's. Is it. You don't just walk into Pinnacle Bank. What did I invent? I mean, you don't just walk into Pinnacle.
- [68:46]
Matt Norlander
Correct.
- [68:47]
Gary Parrish
All right.
- [68:47]
Matt Norlander
It's. It's. If you're listening, it's now back on the screen. You don't just walk in the Pinnacle Bank. It's not. You don't just walk in a Pinnacle bank arena. It's. You don't just walk into Pinnacle Bank.
- [68:56]
Gary Parrish
That's right. You just. You don't just walk in the Pinnacle. I invented that.
- [68:59]
Matt Norlander
There you go. And there's, you know. Appreciate that. He also sent a question though. Anyway, he is a Virginia fan. He wound up in Nebraska nonetheless. But he wants to know, is the Ryan Odom fit too good to be true? What's a reasonable goal for this year? Make the tournament Sweet 16? How should Wahoo fans be feeling about their program specifically this year?
- [69:16]
Gary Parrish
Gp, it was the obvious hire and it's obviously going well. I've got Virginia 23rd in the top 25 and one right now. Totally reasonable, as we previously discussed, for them to make the NCAA tournament. You know, I don't get caught up. It's always been odd to me to play for four months and then determine whether somebody had a good year or bad year based off of like a game or two in a final week. So I try not to get too caught up on that. But if you told me Virginia could get into the NCAA tournament safely, win a game for the first time since 2019, I think you call that a really, really nice first season for, for Ryan Odom and anything beyond that, let's call it great.
- [69:58]
Matt Norlander
Yeah, feels like a really good fit. Right away the thought was that this Virginia offense could generate, you know, 30 points or so a game off of three point buckets. And that's really what it's pacing to be right now. Way better shooting team than obviously we saw with a lot of the Bennett teams. They have come through on that. They, they identified people in the portal and they have met the expectations based off the scouting there. That staff has done an excellent job. I think finishing top three in the ACC is possible. I know you go Duke, Carolina, Louisville. I get all that. I wouldn't be stunned if Virginia finished top three in the ACC at the end of the season. I think the reasonable goal for Virginia this season, if you're a Wahoos fan, land between a five and a seven seed, win an NCAA tournament game, finish with at least 24 wins. That's totally cozy. I think that's, that's rational. If you get anything better, you go with it. If you fall a little bit shy of it, obviously you're going to be good. Considering this is just year one, GP's got the next one. And it is the weirdest but most fun question of the entire show.
- [70:51]
Gary Parrish
It comes from Rob, also from parts.
- [70:54]
Matt Norlander
And no, no, they didn't identify.
- [70:56]
Gary Parrish
I wonder if he knows Marcus.
- [70:57]
Matt Norlander
He might. Maybe there were. Maybe they're in cahoots.
- [71:00]
Gary Parrish
What if they're in cahoots?
- [71:01]
Matt Norlander
They might be in cahoots. When's the last time you were in cahoots?
- [71:03]
Gary Parrish
By the way I get into cahoots. Sometimes.
- [71:09]
Matt Norlander
I need to get into some cahoots. It's been. It's been too. Been too long.
- [71:12]
Gary Parrish
You need to get into your scripture. I need to give.
- [71:15]
Matt Norlander
I got a non question about that very thing coming before we get out of this show. So sit tight.
- [71:22]
Gary Parrish
Okay? I've been dabbling in Leviticus come from Rob. Parts unknown. I wonder if he knows Marcus. He said, this is a question we've been avoiding for years, but it's time to tackle it. Who would want to match up in a game of basketball? Is it five Zach Edie's or five Braden Smiths?
- [71:42]
Matt Norlander
They're playing each other, obviously.
- [71:43]
Gary Parrish
Obviously.
- [71:44]
Matt Norlander
No other podcast is giving you this content.
- [71:47]
Gary Parrish
Okay, I'm gonna. I'm gonna answer the most unserious question in the most serious way.
- [71:54]
Matt Norlander
Tell me you spent more time on this than any other question, please.
- [71:59]
Gary Parrish
I'm. I mean, I was just sitting here watching the Grizzlies get beat by the Oklahoma City Thunder last night. Just going down memory lane, thinking through everything. I was having a good. I was having a good time. I think it's five Zach Edis and it's obvious five. Five Zach Eaties would destroy five Braden.
- [72:16]
Matt Norlander
And to be clear, I interpreted the question. This is Zach Eaty is best in college. So senior year Zach Edie versus senior year, Braden Smith. That's how I interpreted the question.
- [72:24]
Gary Parrish
Any anytime Zach Edie against anytime Braden Smith. This is getting bad because Zach eat is like 7 foot 4 and Braden Smith is like 5 foot 10. And I know there's a theory that.
- [72:37]
Matt Norlander
Maybe 5 foot 10.
- [72:39]
Gary Parrish
I was trying to be generous. I stood next to him, and I'm nowhere close to 5 foot 10. And he's pretty. He's pretty close to me. All right, so he's five foot something. And I know there's a theory about, hey, we could spread him out and you know all that, but in the most simplest way you can think of it. What if. What happens when one of the Zach Eaties does this with the ball? And then you go, hey, other Zach Edie. And then the other Zach, he holds his arms.
- [73:09]
Matt Norlander
The overwhelming majority of people listening. Parrish has his hands over his head as to mime throwing the basketball, what equates to, you know, 14ft, 13ft in the air? Yes.
- [73:19]
Gary Parrish
Yeah.
- [73:19]
Matt Norlander
And then. And then.
- [73:20]
Gary Parrish
Then the other Zach e throat. He says, hey, other Zach Eddie, get your hands up in the air. And he throws it way up there, and he grabs it. And little Braden Smith can't reach, like, literally can never touch the ball. They would never touch the ball if you didn't want him to.
- [73:33]
Matt Norlander
Yes, that is a great question. It is flawed on this premise because Zach Edie, 74 in shoes, 300 pounds, one of the most unstoppable college players I've ever seen and really developed to have some genuine skill over the four year course of his career. Now, as fun as it would be to see five Braden Smiths running around and making things happen and jacking some threes and look when working the angles and all that, they could score. Yes, but Zach Edie could even hit from the mid range.
- [74:04]
Gary Parrish
We're not taking mid ranges. That's crazy.
- [74:06]
Matt Norlander
Even if, even if they do, a bear system is putting out there like at five different parts of the floor. Two of them are at opposing rim. So everyone's just a dunk. Even if you want to say that's all we're doing. I know. Even if you want to say you can't do that. And Edie has to take a shot from five feet around, he's still getting one of the EDs, is getting every single offensive rebound. I'd love to say this could be competitive. It wouldn't. The EDS would destroy the Braden Smith.
- [74:30]
Gary Parrish
The 80s would destroy him. I've got an E.D. inbounding and I'm going to have an Ed over here and an Ed over here. I can go either direction. Then I'm gonna have an 80 up here and then I'll have a two 80s down by the rim. I might then send one to the corner just to keep it spread out a little bit. All right. But not for driving lanes. We don't need those. And I'm really just playing. Think about this. It's you and four other use against five of your youngest sons and you decide we're just going to keep the ball up here the whole time. He can't get it. He can't get the ball. We. It would be one pass, one pass, catch it, dunk. And then we just sit back inside the arc, let them launch from three. Eventually they're going to miss a wide open three. We're going to grab that and now we're just throwing it up in the air again. Up here, up here. Little Braden Smith would never touch the ball, ever. We would destroy them. I don't know why I've decided to make myself a part of the Zach Edie team. I know I'm more part of the Braden Smith team, but that's, that's iron. When I thought about this, this became this Became quite a mismatch. I don't understand how Braden Smith could get this done.
- [75:34]
Matt Norlander
I wanted to be closer than it is. But so it goes. You go five Zach 80s against five Camboozers. Now we're talking. Now we got something. But that wasn't the question. You are next, GP I think we've got a, a quickie one on your, on your home city.
- [75:48]
Gary Parrish
Okay, where are we at here? Let's go down to Kansas. Yeah, Alex in Kansas. I got it. So he's, he's, he's, he's a tourist and he's coming to me. Here's what I'll just read to what he writes. GP I'm writing to ask for a wreck or two on what to do with an 8 year old boy in Memphis for a day or two. Going to Memphis for a weekend in January for wolves. Grizz. Christmas gift to both of us. What did you do with your kids in Memphis when they were that age? Memphis term website. Not super helpful. Okay.
- [76:15]
Matt Norlander
This is just, this was a 4 HP special. Every so often we get stuff on this and, and, and frankly, I wanted to give you a moment to, to, to cook on your city because perhaps Memphis doesn't get enough of it to do. And there's certainly things to do outside of the obvious and that's Graceland.
- [76:28]
Gary Parrish
Yeah, we need, yeah, we need some good pub, you know. So I don't have an 8 year old anymore. My little guy just turned 9. But this is very much the range of my little guys. The Memphis Zoo is genuinely one of the best zoos in the entire country. It rakes that way every single year. It's terrific. We're members. I understand we're talking January. It could be cold, but if it's not too cold. The Memphis Zoo is incredible. Shelby Farms is, I want to say the largest. Don't get me the lion, but maybe the largest urban park in America. It's certainly one of them and it's tremendous. We take the kids out there all the times. Our oldest spent lots of time out there. The Memphis Children's Museum. I was sitting with my little guy last night as we were watching Grizzly OKC Thunder and I said, hey, bud, if I had to ask you one place for somebody your age to go in Memphis, where would you say? He said? Children's Museum. So Children's Museum is great. Take your boy to the Peabody. You don't have to stay there, although, you know, you can if you want. It's nice. But they go see the ducks. There's something wild about watching these little ducks march down through the lobby, hop into a fountain, swim around, then they hop out and they all walk in straight line. Like them ducks mind them duck masters. Better than my kids mind me. Like, I can't get my kids to walk in a straight line anywhere. These ducks will walk anywhere in a straight line. It's just fun to see the Rendezvous, the downtown barbecue spot in the alley. It's just a cool experience. It's, you know, the most famous barbecue spot in Memphis, and it is also the coolest experience you can do. Tom Lee park down by the river has been completely redone and is an awesome place just to spend an afternoon. It's right by FedEx forum. And then I don't know if it's age appropriate, but if Alex thought it was the National Civil Rights Museum is like an incredibly special place. They have taken the site in downtown of one of the worst moments in American history, the assassination of Dr. King, and turned it into this incredible place that tells a story, but is also inspiring. And I don't know how you could walk through that place, feel what you feel, see what you see, hear what you hear, and not be incredibly moved by it. And so I get it. It might not be age appropriate, but if. If you think that it is, it's the first thing I tell everybody to do when they come to Memphis. If you have time and you think it'll interest you at all, go see the Civil Rights Museum.
- [79:00]
Matt Norlander
Good stuff there. And yeah, love to love to hear a lot of that. Memphis has got plenty to offer anyone in Connecticut listening. Hartford has a children's museum science center that is really, really cool, like four stories high. Went there for the first time with my children back in the spring. Really enjoyed it. All right, I've got the last question, then a few bits of correspondence that I have to toss on your lap that GP does not know is coming. Sean from Norwalk, Connecticut. Hey, I used to live there. He wants to know what is your airport airline routine? Early or late to the airport, at the bar or at the gate before boarding, watching a show, reading, or sleeping on the flight. Eddie also wrote a different emailer. What would you rank as the top airports in the continental United States? You go first.
- [79:41]
Gary Parrish
It's my favorite kind of. I could do two hours on this.
- [79:43]
Matt Norlander
I know you could, but let's try and get in and out of this in like six minutes, okay?
- [79:47]
Gary Parrish
I always travel with lots of stuff, right. I've got podcast equipment. I've got a podcasting background. I'VE I've just. So I have to check bags every time. So it almost requires me to get to the airport early. At most places like LaGuardia, you got to pack a. You got to check a bag an hour in advance. So I'm usually early to the airport, check bags, straight to the Delta Club, straight to the Sky Club. Sad as it might sound, I know everybody in these clubs. I know these people. They know me. It's. I know these people better than I know some of my cousin's kids. I spend a lot of time in sky clubs. So in the Sky Club, get a drink, make sure I'm totally where I need to be on my downloads. I got the movies, TV shows, whatever I need to download. I've got everything set up that's very important. You want to make sure stuff charged where it needs to be charged. So I'm doing all that stuff. And. And then I wait there till literally the last minute. I'm like the last person to get on the plane almost every time in Memphis, I've had them because I just lost track of time. They literally call the Sky Club and be like, tell GP to come on. Like that's really happened.
- [81:04]
Matt Norlander
That's another level. That is another level.
- [81:06]
Gary Parrish
They know they're waiting on me. They know who I am because I take the same flight every week. And they. And they're just like, hey, all right, we ready to close the door? Waiting on G.P. hey, call the Sky Club. He's down there. They know I'm. They know exactly what I'm doing. Exactly, exactly where I'm at. The only part where I. It gets a little. Sometimes if you get delayed, I. I think this should be illegal. Like, actually Illegal flight departs 12:30. Push it back to 12. Push it back to 110. Okay, fine. Stuff happens. Well, now I am operating off of 110. Everything I'm doing is at 110.
- [81:41]
Matt Norlander
Right.
- [81:41]
Gary Parrish
I know the doors closed again. Yeah, I know the doors closed 15 minutes before departure. So I know I got to be there at 105. I know it's a five minute walk from the Sky Club to gate 16 at Memphis International. So I know I need to walk out of there at like 12:55, 1:00 clock. Just, I'm. I'm walking out of the Sky Club with five minutes of wiggle room. Like, if I happen to fall down and trip, I might miss my flight. I cut it that close every time. And sometimes they will push the departure time back up. So original flight 1230. Now they push it to 110. I'm basing everything I'm doing off of 110. And then they come back and push it to one o'. Clock. Well, now I'm late. I think that should be illegal. But I do take it. I take it up to the. I take it up to the buzzer every single time. Minor complaint. I wish they'd be a little more mix it up with the Delta Sky Club food. It. I eat the same stuff every week all the time. But I know I'm nitpicking here.
- [82:42]
Matt Norlander
Caviar. It's so old.
- [82:44]
Gary Parrish
As for. It's just I've had. I've had more jerk chicken than you need to hear about.
- [82:50]
Matt Norlander
All right.
- [82:52]
Gary Parrish
As for airports, I will say the ones I'm in more than any other. Memphis and LaGuardia are probably two of the most improved airports in the country over the past five to 10 years. Like LaGuardia had an 8 billion dollar renovation and it's now it went from like worst to best or like one of the worst to one of the best. And then, you know, Memphis is smaller, but it's for a small airport. It's really nice. Now rankings. Let's do this. I got my five new LaGuardia is great. It can be a long walk.
- [83:26]
Matt Norlander
They got to take into account where the airport is. It's. I'm not Everything about the airport, where it's located, what it takes to get there, to get out of there. LaGuardia's improved. It's not a top five airport. It's.
- [83:35]
Gary Parrish
It's the easiest one to get to for Manhattan. Midtown Manhattan it is, but it's.
- [83:42]
Matt Norlander
I live in the.
- [83:42]
Gary Parrish
I have no problems.
- [83:44]
Matt Norlander
Here's.
- [83:44]
Gary Parrish
Here's what I love about LaGuardia.
- [83:46]
Matt Norlander
Way worse. But LaGuardia is not top five airport for me.
- [83:48]
Gary Parrish
LaGuardia, I, I get there as quickly as I can get to any airport from midtown Manhattan. Check the bags outside. They handle it perfect. No line there. I'm straight through security in a matter of two minutes. I mean, it's nothing. And then the Sky Club is ten steps past security. So you're just like through security in the Sky Club immediately. Now it can be a long walk to your gate, but I like the new LaGuardia. Minneapolis I've always enjoyed. Got lost there one time. Almost missed my flight. But that was my fault, not theirs. Minneapolis is great. Salt Lake City is a place where if you're a Delta, you're going to make connections every once in a while. That airport is terrific. Plus you get to see like the mountains and the snow. I love that. So Salt Lake City's great Detroit, but.
- [84:43]
Matt Norlander
It is a good airport. Yep.
- [84:44]
Gary Parrish
They've got a Weston right in the terminal. I don't know if you've ever been stuck in Detroit on a Wednesday night in January, but there's something nice about like, I remember one day I was so tired and I flew into Detroit. I was about to make a connection. Everything got canceled and they were just like rebooked you tomorrow. And I was just like. And that Weston was sitting right. I was like, I'm booking here at the Westin. I went to like a PF Changs, ate a ridiculous meal straight into the west and fell down in a heavenly bed. Turned a bad trip into a good one. I like Detroit. Indianapolis has Harry and Izzies.
- [85:18]
Matt Norlander
It's solid. Not top five, but it's very. It's an efficient spot for sure. It was. It was under consideration on my list.
- [85:24]
Gary Parrish
Harry and Izzy's is like the offshoot, like sister restaurant to St. Elmo. So I. Every time I'm in Indianapolis, I try to go there. How do you feel about jfk? I'm in JFK a lot this season.
- [85:35]
Matt Norlander
It's hideous. It's the worst. It is atrocious. It is undergoing renovations that will last more than a decade. When you land, you cannot. You have to take a shuttle to go catch an Uber. It is awful. It is at the bottom of my list. And living in the northeast corridor, there are three airports typically that I'll fly out of. Hartford's just too far north and you get no direct. So I almost never fly out of Hartford. So it's either White Plains if I can manage. I like to fly non stop. So White Plains only has a limited number, but that's number like White Plains. I show up 35 minutes before the plane's supposed to take off because with clear scoot right in and you're there. Otherwise it's LaGuardia or JFK. Like for example, I'm going to go. I'm gonna see BYU play in January. My non stop flight option unfortunately is jfk. Not thrilled about it, but that's how it is. We took a trip to Europe back in October, got a fly out of jfk. Not a fan of it whatsoever. So I have it at the bottom of my list. Here are my top five airports. Okay, five. Portland, Oregon. Great scenery, good airport. The drive to get from the airport to the city, totally manageable. Good drive, that's five.
- [86:40]
Gary Parrish
Four.
- [86:40]
Matt Norlander
Salt Lake City for Reasons that GP just mentioned. Just a really the best view that you could ask for all that stuff. Three is Vegas. It is super.
- [86:48]
Gary Parrish
I got it here. Vegas is awesome.
- [86:49]
Matt Norlander
Vegas, you are right there. It's. There is a real comfort in knowing when you have to go to the airport. How far away or not is it Vegas? As close as you're going to find. I have Minneapolis at 2. All the hype about Minneapolis is justified. And although this is a tear down city wise, just the logistics of all of it. Charlottesville, Virginia has my favorite airport. From getting there to getting dropped off to the process of arriving to getting through security to getting to your gate. It's bigger than like, like Augusta Augustus Airport in Georgia. Obviously it's a tiny ass airport, but that's so tiny I almost feel like that's an exception to the rule. Charlottesville is getting a relatively consistent amount of of planes coming in and out on a daily basis. So Charlottesville is my favorite. But my favorite big city airport is Minneapolis. And like GP if I'm checking a bag and I don't check often, but if I check a bag I want to be the last one on the plane. I, I don't like to go sit on the plane. There are people that are like get me on, dude. I don't want to go sit. And then go sit another 40 minutes before we take off. I will, I will ask how many people still have to board and so I typically like to be the very last one. Just stroll on down the jetway, walk to my seat, sit down. Hopefully we're wheels up within 15 minutes of that.
- [88:01]
Gary Parrish
Yeah, I've also got Hartsful on here. Not my favorite, but I just think it gets a beating because it's so big and everybody has to go through there and connect. But yeah, it's pretty efficient. Like they get. It's pretty easy to figure out where you're. I've been lost in airports before and you should never get lost at Hartsville. It's pretty self explanatory. So I spent a million connections through there. I was there as recently as this past weekend. I know it's huge, but I don't mind. Seems to work as well as it could work. Do the final four and one.
- [88:35]
Matt Norlander
No, I have correspondence. Okay. I wanted in and out in six minutes. You went 10 minutes on that yourself but I know you said you could do two hours on airport stuff.
- [88:42]
Gary Parrish
I will.
- [88:43]
Matt Norlander
These are not questions. This is just email correspondence that we get regularly. Okay. Dominic from Philadelphia just wanted to check in and say never nervous. Purvis is now coaching inner city kids in Camden, New Jersey. Before I went blind, I worked for many years at a rental car agency and he would rent passenger vans from me to take them to games. Great guy. So how about that. We wonder where he was and and there you go. Purvis Ellison working with inner city kids in Camden, New Jersey. That's pretty good stuff.
- [89:10]
Gary Parrish
Yeah, and I wonder if there's a Milt Wagner connection there or something, because obviously.
- [89:17]
Matt Norlander
Yeah, yeah, yeah, that's a good point. I'll keep it moving here. We got a handful of notes and support for Nada. I want to acknowledge that on this part of the show, one of them came from Steve in Newport News, Virginia. Please pass along the fans love and support to Nada. We're bummed to hear about him leaving the show and I'm sure it's a tough time for him. I've been listening to the POD for at least a dozen years, starting back when Norlander was hosting and had G.P. goodman and Borzello on. The show has grown so much and become even more awesome through the years and especially over the past four years. I'm sure Nada helped take it a bunch of stuff off your plates and make the show better in many ways that most of us listeners wouldn't understand, he added. P.S. if GP thinks that buildings are people, then he has to start identifying each building as one of us or one of them. What do you think about that?
- [90:00]
Gary Parrish
Name the building. I'll tell you whether it's us or them.
- [90:03]
Matt Norlander
Okay, fair enough. He also said Norlander go Bears. I occasionally also get questions why I'm a Bears fan, living in Connecticut with Vermont ties, parents born and raised in Chicago, appropriately brainwashed plenty early and it's about as simple as that. Yeah, my mom is is what is the person responsible for making me who I am and giving me the Bears fandom. But I get that every so often. Reader Chris sent in a screenshot that I didn't share with Debo so it showed that his YouTube Wrapped had him as a top 1% viewer this year. He just wanted to send along a thank you for all the content. He said he's been consuming our show for several years at this point. He said there's always more of us, but I identify as a supporter of Brandon Davies. All love to you and the whole team. I bring this up not just because it's a note of support, which I appreciate. Two things. One, we actually do get a semi regular inventory of of listeners that say they are they are them and then they still stick with the show. And the name of the reader that sent this in is Chris Walker, but I don't think he's that Chris Walker.
- [91:06]
Gary Parrish
I'm. Listen, I don't want to speak out of school. I'm pretty.
- [91:11]
Matt Norlander
I'm pretty certain it's not that Chris Walker. I'm.
- [91:15]
Gary Parrish
I. I don't know who wrote the email, but I'm pretty certain the Chris Walker I know is a us.
- [91:23]
Matt Norlander
I would agree with you. Just a few more here. Just a few more.
- [91:26]
Gary Parrish
I'd be shocked to find out.
- [91:27]
Matt Norlander
I know, I know, but I. I did a triple take. I was like, chris Walker. What? Joe. And Cincinnati's entire email from a couple weeks back was just seven words. He's from Cincinnati. He's a Bearcats fan. It says, we are in a hell. Please help. Not, we are in hell. We are in a hell. Please help. Things haven't gotten better for the Bearcats since then. The ones that honestly, like, the ones that give me as much joy as anything is just these. They just feel like they're sent off in a burst of anger or glee, and they just get shot off. And I.
- [91:54]
Gary Parrish
And, you know, you remember, it was back in the off season, we. I think we did a mailbag episode, and one of the questions was like, all right, guys, it's time to talk about.
- [92:02]
Matt Norlander
Yes, I'm paraphrase this. But it was something like, like, okay, everyone knows the dealer. It's time to talk Cincinnati basketball. Yeah.
- [92:12]
Gary Parrish
Like, hey, yeah, you guys have been putting it off long enough. All right, it's time to address the West Miller.
- [92:16]
Matt Norlander
It was. It was. Yes, it was like, it's time to address Wes Miller. And the. And the email was sent on, like, September 7th.
- [92:21]
Gary Parrish
Yeah, it's just, man, Wes is obviously a good basketball coach. And. And, like, it's. It's always important to remember this. I don't guess this is always true. In fact, I know it's not always true, but it is often true. You can't even get the Cincinnati job unless you're good. You know what I'm saying? Like, you have to have been good to even get into that conversation. And then these things are difficult, man. These leagues are bigger than ever. These leagues are more challenging than ever. And it. There are. You see it on the football side all the time. It's like, you know, my old buddy Mike Norvell, who did amazing things at Memphis and then was the national coach of the year at Florida State, and then it just starts to turn on them, and it's hard to figure out how to get it straightened back up and on the right. It's just these guys are making a lot of money to do a very difficult job and we joke all the time. I was raised on the metro and that was mostly Memphis Louisville when I was early, like young but it turned into Memphis Cincinnati. So I'm very familiar with this program in many ways. I grew up with this program as well. And so it's I don't like to see it like this. Those were my childhood rivals, but I always respected them and appreciate them and understand how much they mean to those, to those fan bases in schools. I am somebody who was raised appreciating Cincinnati and Louisville and I'd like both of those programs to be nationally relevant the way they should be.
- [93:43]
Matt Norlander
I hear you, Benjamin. Michael sent us a correspondence in November. He said, guys, I just love the show. Been listening since 2018. The camel fighting Campbell Fighting Camels football team is staying in the same hotels we are in Baltimore. And they're all matching wearing, they're all wearing matching camel sweaters, which is a hell of a visual. He says there are more of us than there are of them. We got this email in Dear Matthew, Matthew and Gerald, don't ask me why. Hearing y' all talk about being quote in your scripture is like watching a 32 year old middle school history teacher referencing the 67 meme blessings Father Marcus Mark Perkins, APA-D E U S and he also signs it as one of them. So we've heard from a man of the clothes who is, let's just say, maybe joyfully offended by your use in reference to being in your scripture. He says you're a little bit cringe with it.
- [94:37]
Gary Parrish
Basically I was trying to get you in your scripture. Specifically, I was trying to encourage you. I was trying to bring you closer to where I think you need to be.
- [94:46]
Matt Norlander
I don't know what to tell you. All right. And then I referenced this many weeks ago. Here's what Luke wrote. Okay. Just hear it out entirely.
- [94:55]
Gary Parrish
Okay.
- [94:56]
Matt Norlander
Luke writes, GP does not have to get mad at voters. If there's a different player of the year than a freshman of the Year in the Big 12, it could make mathematical sense. Here's how it would happen. Just say there are 10 voters. Four go for Darren Peterson, three go for Aaron AJ DeBonsa, and three go for JT Toppin for player of the Year. Okay? That happens. Darren Peterson is the player of the year now for Freshman of the year. J.T. toppin is not eligible for that Award. So say the three voters that voted for Toppin think that Debancer is better than Peterson. That means the 10 votes for freshman of the Year would look like this six for the Bantza for Peterson. That makes the bands of the Freshman of the Year. It's not weird or nonsensical GP it's just math.
- [95:36]
Gary Parrish
I understand the math. I get that. It will not stop me from calling it stupid if it happens. All right? I understand the math. I'll even acknowledge the math up front and I'll still say it's stupid. Then you got to figure out a way to do. You got to. Then you honestly like I mean this. I don't. I don't know the solution yet. But if there is a way to vote where the exact same people who vote Darren Peterson Conference Player of the Year also vote in Freshman of the Year and the exact same people who vote AJ DebonSA Conference Player of the Year also vote him Freshman of the Year, that those results could, could, could end up different. I get it. I would just say if it is. If it is possible for a math problem to lead to us being in a situation where our Player of the Year is a freshman and our Freshman of the Year is a different freshman, then we've got to figure out a different way to vote on this because that's going to look stupid. I don't want GP Con is stupid.
- [96:34]
Matt Norlander
We. And we may get to. We'll see what Peterson does. But depends on may have us avoid that altogether.
- [96:40]
Gary Parrish
I want to be clear. I want to be clear for Big 12 fans and into the father. If, If I have to call Big 12 voters stupid and the Big 12 awards stupid come March, I will do it without hesitation. But what then I will also do is get into my scripture and try to find the ability to forgive them for what they have done. So I will hold them accountable and call them names. But then I'll get into the scripture.
- [97:17]
Matt Norlander
And I'll try to forgive last one. And then we'll go to the final 401. Yes, we do have a final four one. Strap in for that. Melanie and Ann Arbor wrote about a month ago. I just wanted to say that the I'm a Sun Devil drop at the end of Friday's POD made me laugh so hard. I love the POD so much and I'm so happy it's finally college basketball season again. Thanks for bringing me joy every week and happy birthday to your sons. I only highlight this because I want. I think I've said this on the show before, but I, I, I genuinely mean this. I don't know how much it was or wasn't reflected in today's email back. We get a lot of correspondence from women and I am proud of the fact that we are.
- [97:56]
Gary Parrish
I get none from women. I want the record to reflect I get no correspondence from women. I am not corresponding with any women.
- [98:03]
Matt Norlander
Stop, Stop. I am.
- [98:05]
Gary Parrish
Speak for yourself.
- [98:08]
Matt Norlander
I think is as high or not higher than just about any show in the general genre. I think that reflects well on the pod. I guess I'll take all of the credit for it, I suppose. I don't know. Paris doesn't want anything to do with this suddenly, but continue to email and we, we get so much correspondence from the, from the fairer sex, if you will, that I am. I'm contemplating an off season mailbag with, with nothing but lady listeners. So keep that in mind. If you got questions, send them along. Appreciate all the notes. There were more questions that we couldn't squeeze this episode from, from, from a number of people, plenty of them women. So I wanted to give.
- [98:41]
Gary Parrish
Watch yourself some love. This sounds, it sounds like, it sounds like something Sharon Moore might think of. Nope, it sounds.
- [98:48]
Matt Norlander
No worries about that on, on this show.
- [98:50]
Gary Parrish
I bet Shero Moore was probably sitting around one week of Christmas one time. Like, you know what? Maybe if I just took questions from nothing but women, that'd be a neat little thing to do. See how that ended up.
- [99:04]
Matt Norlander
Final form one time.
- [99:05]
Gary Parrish
I hope so. Jesus Lord, I'm glad I got all that.
- [99:08]
Matt Norlander
You did this to yourself. I have been fairly quick on the answers. You were off in GP territory. Story time. Breaking out, breaking out the old pipe.
- [99:17]
Gary Parrish
And I was, I was doing the podcast the way I always do the podcast. I was being me. All right. After all these years. I woke up after all these years. Surprise, surprise. After. I love it when you'll get a comment like, these guys didn't even talk about the game. Buddy, we don't even hear to talk about no game. What are you talking about? They don't know.
- [99:37]
Matt Norlander
They don't get the show.
- [99:38]
Gary Parrish
They don't get the show. It'd be like they barely talked about the game. You're lucky we even mentioned the score.
- [99:42]
Matt Norlander
All right, all right. Here comes the weirdest final four in the history of this podcast, by the way.
- [99:49]
Gary Parrish
Yeah, so I woke up today and decided to be me. All right, the real error in judgment here is loading this up with 18 questions. You knew how long it was going.
- [99:58]
Matt Norlander
To take, but I know we're not going to have Another mailbag episode till the offseason. I had to squeeze. And by the way, peek behind the curtain. I think we cut four more that I had on the dock. It was downright necessary to do. So. Let's pick some games.
- [100:10]
Gary Parrish
You're going to laugh at this or either cringe at this, bro. I've got 300 words on the CAA.
- [100:16]
Matt Norlander
Oh, my God.
- [100:17]
Gary Parrish
I've got a Hofstra, Wilmington, Towson breakdown. The whole thing we didn't even get to. Buddy, I was cooking last night.
- [100:24]
Matt Norlander
We did have a question about William and Mary that we wound up cutting. They haven't yet made the tournament. Short answer, I give them a 14 chance to get there.
- [100:33]
Gary Parrish
All right. Are we ready for the final four and one.
- [100:35]
Matt Norlander
Yes.
- [100:36]
Gary Parrish
Do we need another word from our partners?
- [100:38]
Matt Norlander
Why not words from our partners? Let's just do it.
- [100:41]
Gary Parrish
Pay me one more time.
- [100:42]
Matt Norlander
Hey, let's go.
- [100:43]
Gary Parrish
This is European soccer's biggest stage. Written in the stars. What a difference she has made. The question is, can you handle it?
- [100:55]
Matt Norlander
The crowd here feels electric. Stream every match of the UEFA Women's Champions League on Paramount.
- [101:01]
Gary Parrish
Plus, if you are a fighter, Modelo is your reward. So listen close. You are strong. You are fit.
- [101:06]
Matt Norlander
Serious.
- [101:07]
Gary Parrish
You are a fighter. And every last drop of this rich, golden Modelo is yours. So raise it up high because you've earned it. Modelo, the mark of a fighter. Drink responsibly. Here in Port of McArland Ports, Chicago, Illinois. It's a final four and one. Presented by FanDuel Sportsbook. Make every moment more. Hey, Debo, you want to turn your mic on? Tell me how. Tell me how good I am at this. Oh, God. You were 2 and 3 last week. Lower your voice a little bit, if you don't mind. You want me to tell you Matt's record? Could you do it, like, in a whisper?
- [101:40]
Matt Norlander
Matt Norlander was one in four and final Four and one last week.
- [101:43]
Gary Parrish
Okay, yeah.
- [101:44]
Matt Norlander
That wasn't good. I made some mistakes.
- [101:47]
Gary Parrish
So I'm still winning. Is that what we're trying? Is that. Am I still winning? You are insurmountable. It's an insurmountable lead.
- [101:59]
Matt Norlander
No, I'm not surmounting anything with this slate of games right now.
- [102:02]
Gary Parrish
Game one, Saturday. No, 2pm Eastern.
- [102:06]
Matt Norlander
You're already wrong.
- [102:07]
Gary Parrish
What happened?
- [102:08]
Matt Norlander
These games that you have picked are all on Sunday. These games are not happening on Saturday.
- [102:14]
Gary Parrish
Update. Game one, Sunday, 2pm Eastern. Winthrop @ Texas Tech, inside Bob Knight Arena. I decided to give it to Bob Knight. Why.
- [102:27]
Matt Norlander
Not? It's up to.
- [102:28]
Gary Parrish
You. You can watch it on TNT. Kim Palm has it Texas Tech.
- [102:34]
Matt Norlander
-16 if you're wondering why we are.
- [102:38]
Gary Parrish
Doing.
- [102:38]
Matt Norlander
This, Friday's are final four and one shows and this is the way the calendar fell this year and we are barren with games this weekend. We'll be back to normal on our next final four in one show obviously but but in absence of that we have slim pickings and get to highlight a bunch of mid majors that normally would never make this segment. Winthrop at Texas tech. You said -16. Mark Prosser's winter program is 8 and 6 this season. He is in his fifth season there, was considered a very strong hire when he got the job and has done a solid enough job in the realm of the Big South. Winthrop is not considered the best team. That is High Point for sure. High Point will almost definitely wind up being the one seed but we'll see if they can make some magic happen when it gets to March. This isn't March. After what I just saw Texas Tech do you always got to be a little bit careful around this time. Like coming back from break. Will Texas Tech be sharp? Will it have seven players that are healthy? That being said, give me the Red Raiders minus.
- [103:40]
Gary Parrish
60. Oh, it's a tricky spot coming off a big win over Duke. Stuck in between your conference opener against Oklahoma State three days after Christmas. Price you got some stuffing in your stomach or something? Numbers too big. Give me Winthrop plus the 16. Game 2 Sunday, 2pm Eastern Louisiana Monroe at Kansas State inside Jacob Pulling Arena. You can watch it on ESPN plus Kim Palm's got it. Kansas State minus 30. Let's see how much you believe in.
- [104:16]
Matt Norlander
Monroe. The Warhawks. If your life was on the line and I told you the name the coach at Louisiana Monroe, you'd be no longer with.
- [104:25]
Gary Parrish
Us. I'd say Mark.
- [104:27]
Matt Norlander
Prosser. That's the wrong team. Phil Cunningham of.
- [104:33]
Gary Parrish
Course. Come.
- [104:33]
Matt Norlander
On. This team has one win over a Division 1 opponent this season and the win is against the worst team in the Sport, Mississippi Valley State365 at Ken Palm. That's who Monroe is defeated. That's why the line is.
- [104:48]
Gary Parrish
30.
- [104:49]
Matt Norlander
30. Kansas State has been disappointing. I'm I'm gonna say they get it done. I'm gonna say they hit the number. Jerome Tank's not messing around. They damn well better not be. If this thing is within 22 points, Kansas State fold the program. Wildcats ema they get it.
- [105:08]
Gary Parrish
Done. 30 is 30. PJ Haggard. PJ Haggard is going to get this covered and he's been.
- [105:17]
Matt Norlander
Great. He.
- [105:18]
Gary Parrish
Has. But they've still Got a little bit of a climb to do to get back in serious NCAA tournament conversations. It'd be a real shame if he ruined my alma mater and didn't get anything done at Kansas State. Like, if you're gonna ruin my alma mater, at least win with Jerome.
- [105:37]
Matt Norlander
Pang. All.
- [105:38]
Gary Parrish
Right. If you're going to ruin my alma mater, at least help Brent Stover's alma mater. All right, I'm laying the 30. We're both on. Kansas State big this weekend. Game three Sunday, 7pm Eastern. St. Mary's are you sure these are all.
- [105:55]
Matt Norlander
Sunday? Positive. There's only one Division 1 game happening Saturday. I don't know what I was looking at, son. Stanford. Find it. If you've got quite literally nothing else to live for on Saturday, everything I'd rather not live.
- [106:11]
Gary Parrish
Okay. Not only would I not watch it, if it's the only thing I had to live for, I would just say I'm calling it a day. Let's wrap this up. Okay, I had a good run, but it's probably time to go. It's probably time to leave this earth. If this is the best thing I can find to do today, that.
- [106:26]
Matt Norlander
Is your only Saturday game in Men's.
- [106:28]
Gary Parrish
Depot. If that is the only thing you can find to do on Saturday, I'm not even gonna say it. Saturday, 7:00pm Eastern. No, Sunday, 7:00pm Eastern. St. Mary's at Loyola Mary Mount. It's inside the Bo Kimble Center. You can watch it on ESPN Plus. Ooh. St. Mary's -8. We got a barn burner.
- [106:52]
Matt Norlander
Here. Got a tight.
- [106:54]
Gary Parrish
One. We got a real. We got a good one on our hands.
- [106:56]
Matt Norlander
Here. They just. St. Mary just got a genuinely good push from a solid Northern Iowa team earlier this week. They got the win. St. Mary's is 11 and 2. It is the second best rated non Gonzaga, non high major team in the country. The other is Utah State, which we talked about recently on the show. St. Mary's WCC's plays getting going with. With the quickness here this weekend. Actually. We got multiple WCC games here in the final four and one. Stan Johnson's groups, eight and four. Not a great offensive team. Wow. They're awful from the foul line.
- [107:30]
Gary Parrish
62.6. You're awful from the foul.
- [107:32]
Matt Norlander
Line. I'm actually not. I'm actually a very good free throw shooter, I'll have you.
- [107:35]
Gary Parrish
Know. You won. Have you ever won a free throw shooting competition on national television? Multiple times against former NBA.
- [107:41]
Matt Norlander
Players? That I have not done. But if I was given the opportunity to do it I.
- [107:45]
Gary Parrish
Would. I have killed Danny Granger, killed Shelvin Mack. Still ain't got Wally, but I'm. I'm gonna keep.
- [107:55]
Matt Norlander
Working. You're getting.
- [107:56]
Gary Parrish
Wally. I'm trying.
- [107:57]
Matt Norlander
To. I don't think you're getting Wally trying. You know what? Give me a mere mount to cover. Why the hell.
- [108:03]
Gary Parrish
Not? You know what? Give me Marymount to cover. Why the hell.
- [108:06]
Matt Norlander
Not? Okay, let's game.
- [108:09]
Gary Parrish
Four. Let's leave it there. Game four, Sunday, 8:00pm.
- [108:12]
Matt Norlander
Eastern. There you go. It is.
- [108:13]
Gary Parrish
Sunday. Number seven. Gonzaga at Pepperdine. Inside. This is gonna blow your mind. Greg Popovich.
- [108:22]
Matt Norlander
Arena. He went to.
- [108:26]
Gary Parrish
Pepperdine?
- [108:27]
Matt Norlander
Yes. Did he really? I did not know.
- [108:29]
Gary Parrish
That. Totally different Greg.
- [108:30]
Matt Norlander
Popovich. Oh, my.
- [108:32]
Gary Parrish
God. This guy makes wine. There's a fellow went to Pepperdine, now he makes wine. His name's Greg Popovich. I named arena after.
- [108:40]
Matt Norlander
Him. This is definitely a different Pop Pop. Famously loves his wine. This is definitely a different Greg.
- [108:44]
Gary Parrish
Popovich. There's one Greg Popovich in this world who loves wine and coaches basketball. Or at least used to. Then there's a whole nother Greg Popovich that actually makes wine, by all accounts, has nothing to do with basketball. They should meet. What do you think about.
- [108:59]
Matt Norlander
That? I think it should happen. I'm actually surprised it hasn't. But I was like, popovich. Didn't he go to, like, Air Force or something? But now it makes.
- [109:09]
Gary Parrish
Sense. Let me make sure our Juan Popovich is. You know, let's see how he's doing. He's gonna look that.
- [109:16]
Matt Norlander
Up. I'm gonna tell you, Ken Palm has a Gonzaga minus 26. I'm also going to tell you that Gonzaga has won 49 games in a row against Pepperdine. I think that is the second longest streak for one school against another in D1 history. If it's not the second longest, then Gonzaga has set the record in the past, like, year. It's going to get to 50. Pepperdine will not win this game. Pepperdine, which has one of the most beautiful campuses, allegedly. I've still never been there, but it's in Malibu. Five and eight this season. Not gonna be Gonzaga. Line is 26. Zags are incredible. Gonzaga wins. Braden up. By the way, I had a line in him on the court report shooting like, better than 70 in the month of December. He's been awesome interest to see if he can go off again. Give me the zags to cover. What's our Popovich.
- [110:03]
Gary Parrish
Update? Man, he's doing good. He's doing great. He. He's making about 360 cases annually of Wine. But he's running one of the 50 largest wine companies out of more than 10,000 wineries in the United States. This is serious business we're talking about. They should meet. I bet they. I bet they'd like each other. At the very least he could hand him a.
- [110:24]
Matt Norlander
Bottle. Maybe they have. For all you know they have right.
- [110:27]
Gary Parrish
Now. I'm gonna research this when we're done, but do you think Greg Popovich has ever met Greg.
- [110:31]
Matt Norlander
Popovich? It's been a long show. That might have been my favorite.
- [110:40]
Gary Parrish
Moment. I'm going to say no, but what do you.
- [110:45]
Matt Norlander
Think? I'll say no, but not with supreme.
- [110:48]
Gary Parrish
Confidence. I don't have supreme confidence either because it feels like somebody would have tried to put these two together at some.
- [110:53]
Matt Norlander
Point. Yes, that certainly feels like that should have happened. It's like when Tony Bennett met Tony.
- [110:57]
Gary Parrish
Bennett. It's exactly the same. Did they.
- [110:59]
Matt Norlander
Meet? They did meet the Tony Bennett's, I want to say, four or five, six years ago. That only happened because I know the photographer who works with DMB Charlottesville ties and was talking with him on tour last summer and he told me the whole story of how that all came together because they happen to be both in Charlottesville at the same time. And the photographer, like made sure to run down the coach, Tony Bennett to get him in the same room with the singing legend Tony Bennett. And now there's that famous photo, which is awesome. And I've actually talked to Hoops Tony Bennett about before and does really, really cool. So if we can make a Greg Popovich, Greg Popovich photo happen, that would be amazing if you could, if.
- [111:43]
Gary Parrish
You could ever get a hold of my Internet's history and yeah, don't.
- [111:48]
Matt Norlander
Don'T. But you have no desire.
- [111:50]
Gary Parrish
To. The best way I have found to, like, if you're looking for. How many conference championships has Dusty May won? How many, you know, big swap titles does Bill Self have? Wikipedia is the best place to find that stuff quickly. All right, My point is, you have no idea how many times I have unintentionally been on Tony Bennett the singer's Wikipedia page, trying to look things up. And I'm just there first and then it goes, okay, click the basketball coach. But I have, I've been on Tony Bennett the singer's Wikipedia page as much as I have basically any basketball coaches, because I just end up there.
- [112:29]
Matt Norlander
Somewhat. So obviously. So I'm right there. I'm right there with you. I took Gonzaga -26. I don't know if I got your pick, though. Who you got.
- [112:35]
Gary Parrish
Here? Yeah, I'm taking Gonzaga -26 as well. I'm not gonna pick against Mark Fuse so close to.
- [112:40]
Matt Norlander
Christmas. The and One Another WCC Sunday, 8pm Eastern on ESPN Plus. It's San Francisco against Seattle on where else but Elgin Baylor court. One of my favorite college basketball facts, and I am serious about this, is the fact that Seattle U back in the 50s wound up having one of the best players in the history of the sport. This used to happen pre nil. You just randomly like just randomly get San Francisco as well. Got legends of the game to go and play for for the Dons. But this is at Seattle Elgin BAYLOR Court. Seattle -2 is the line. Our closest on the board. Potentially close game. Chris Victor Seattle Redhawks. They're off to a damn good start here. Gp, who you.
- [113:35]
Gary Parrish
Got? I mean, I can't pick against Seattle at home. That's.
- [113:37]
Matt Norlander
Crazy. I. You don't need to tell me.
- [113:40]
Gary Parrish
Twice. Yeah, numbers too little. You can't. I mean if the number was bigger then you got to. You got to consider some things. But number this little Seattle at home, bro. Elgin Baylor played there. What are you even talking.
- [113:49]
Matt Norlander
About? Best start for the school since 66, 67. That's Post Baylor, by the way, when they started 11 and 2. So it's got a real squad. There could be top three team in the wcc. We'll see. That has been your final four and one presented by a fanduel sportsbook. Make every moment more. I think we made every moment more on this podcast, don't.
- [114:13]
Gary Parrish
You? And I had some stuff to tell you about Wilmington. I had some ca. I had the top of the CAA broken down. But I guess we'll have to get to it another day. What's the lesson today? What's the.
- [114:25]
Matt Norlander
Lesson? There are so many. I couldn't begin to guess where you're going with this. I think it's. Don't talk about being in your scripture because you're going to be super cringe if you're not actually in your.
- [114:37]
Gary Parrish
Scripture. No, I don't think that's the lesson at.
- [114:39]
Matt Norlander
All.
- [114:40]
Gary Parrish
Okay. I don't walk away with that. If the lesson is all melbo, get mailbag.
- [114:45]
Matt Norlander
Episodes. Shorter questions, smaller number of questions, shorter answers, shorter answers. I think that's the key right.
- [114:55]
Gary Parrish
There. But the key to the podcast is longer rambling. The key to the podcast.
- [115:02]
Matt Norlander
Is. Oh, you're saying moving forward, our mailbag episodes should be four questions.
- [115:07]
Gary Parrish
Deep. Yeah, I think. I think ask me two questions and let's. And Then let's do some final form one and get out of here. Yes, just ask me two questions and let me go. Ask me the airport question and then let me.
- [115:19]
Matt Norlander
Go. I can't disagree with that. This was an extra large episode. Don't say we don't love you, listeners and viewers. We love you. And guess what? Our next episode Sunday Year in Real Time. You've got plenty. We're not out. We're not at Friday right.
- [115:40]
Gary Parrish
Now. I know, but I'm pretend I'm already in my head. I'm already at Friday year in.
- [115:45]
Matt Norlander
Review 2025 coming on Sunday. If anyone listening to this on Friday or Saturday has a particular memory from the show that's not a gameson. A gameson. A gameson. A gameson. Anything that's not in the past two shows that made you laugh, cry, think any of it shouts to CBS gmail.com or just tweet at me and GP and if there's a particular particularly good memory, I'll try and factor that in. But we ain't going this long on the ear review, that's for damn.
- [116:16]
Gary Parrish
Sure. For damn sure. Shouts to Devin Downey, Chester, S.C. terry Teagle. He's a legend. Hulk Larnell thank you guys once again for watching. Listening to I own College Basketball Podcast. If you're not subscribed, please go subscribe anywhere you subscribe to podcasts, Apple, Spotify, more of us than there are of them. That should be reflected in the comments. So do it and we'll talk to you again real soon. Till then, take care. At Arizona State University, we're bringing world class education from our globally acclaimed faculty to you. Ranked number one in innovation for 11 consecutive years and number two among public universities for employability, ASU isn't just ahead of the curve, it's creating new paths to success. Earn your degree from the nation's most innovative university online. That's a degree Better. Explore more than 350 undergraduate, graduate and certificate programs at ASUonline ASU.