Top 25 CBB Stories of the Past 25 Years, Ep. 1: Jay Wright’s retirement, Stephen Curry shoots Davidson into the Elite Eight

Summary

Podcast Summary: Eye On College Basketball – Top 25 CBB Stories of the Past 25 Years, Ep. 1

Release Date: June 3, 2025

In the inaugural episode of the "Top 25 CBB Stories of the Past 25 Years" series, CBS Sports’ Gary Parrish and Matt Norlander delve into the most impactful and memorable moments that have shaped men's college basketball since the turn of the millennium. This episode focuses on stories ranked from 25 to 21, providing a comprehensive analysis of each event's significance, legacy, and lasting impact on the sport.

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Introduction to the Top 25 Series

Gary Parrish kicks off the episode with enthusiasm about launching a new offseason series that chronicles the top 25 college basketball stories over the past quarter-century. He humorously notes, “Surprise surprise, we are launching an offseason series that can more or less be described as the top 25 college basketball stories of the past 25 years” ([04:00]).

Matt Norlander emphasizes the collaborative yet distinct nature of the list, stating, “This is Matt Norlander's list. I have nothing to do with the list” ([02:53]). The hosts agree to maintain individual perspectives, ensuring diverse viewpoints throughout the series.

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Story #25: Conference Realignment (Early 2000s)

Date: Early 2000s

Matt Norlander identifies conference realignment as the 25th story, highlighting the pivotal moves of Miami and Virginia Tech from the Big East to the ACC in 2004. He explains, “Those moves ultimately laid the groundwork that would induce widespread conference realignment years later” ([22:51]).

Gary Parrish reflects on his experience covering these changes, recalling, “we’re so used to conference realignment that it's just like, well, of course people are moving around, but that first one was like, whoa, what is happening” ([27:21]). He underscores the long-term implications of these shifts, noting their role in destabilizing traditional power conferences and paving the way for future migrations.

Notable Quote:

Matt Norlander: “This one is particularly significant because it was Miami and Virginia, and this was done for football reasons. But the effect on the Big East, you know, one of the proudest basketball conferences, quite, quite clear.” ([22:51])

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Story #24: Jay Wright’s Retirement (April 20, 2022)

Date: April 20, 2022

The retirement of Villanova’s legendary coach Jay Wright ranks as the 24th story. Matt Norlander describes Wright's departure as “the most shocking” retirement in college basketball, emphasizing his impressive tenure: “Jay Wright retired and he does so at 60 years old after 21 years at Villanova. He made four Final Fours, had just taken Villanova to the Final Four earlier that month” ([31:08]).

Gary Parrish adds depth to the discussion by questioning the early departure of a successful coach: “It shouldn't be surprising anytime a multi-millionaire who is 60 retires. Right? But Jay was in a profession where men were routinely coaching into their 70s and he just checked none of the normal boxes for it” ([33:01]).

The hosts also touch upon the subtle hints Wright may have dropped before his official announcement, with Matt referencing a “peacock” clip that hinted at his impending retirement ([35:13]).

Notable Quote:

Matt Norlander: “Jay Wright was six and behind. Big deal. I mean he had been there forever, but he was in his 70s there. Bob Knight retiring, also a very, very big deal. But there was a denouement in his career.” ([33:08])

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Story #23: NCAA Tournament Expansion Debate (April 2010)

Date: April 1, 2010

Matt Norlander recounts the controversial April Fools' Day announcement in 2010 when the NCAA flirted with expanding the men's basketball tournament to 96 teams. He reads an excerpt from an AP story, capturing the initial excitement: “The NCAA appears to be on the verge of expanding the men's basketball tournament to 96 teams” ([45:39]).

However, the plan faced severe backlash, leading to a modest expansion to 68 teams within two weeks. Matt shares his personal connection, mentioning his role at Yahoo and later CBS Sports, and how he followed the intense discussions and pushback surrounding the proposal.

Gary Parrish, reflecting on the event, expresses skepticism about eventual expansion: “If you live to be 70, you will not die in a year with a 68 team NCAA tournament… I do not think it’s going to kill anything and I don’t think it’s going to ruin anything” ([47:38]).

Notable Quote:

Matt Norlander: “There was a whole bunch of that stuff. There were questions about him. But he was the face of that for a minute.” ([64:20])

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Story #22: St. Peter’s Historic Elite Eight Run (March 2022)

Date: March 2022

St. Peter’s University made history as the first 15-seed to reach the Elite Eight in the NCAA tournament. Matt Norlander underscores the rarity of this achievement, noting, “It took almost 40 years in the expanded tournament era to get a 15 to win three games” ([55:39]).

Gary Parrish reminisces about the moment, sharing the excitement and disbelief he felt while covering the event: “They beat Kentucky in overtime, 85-79. That's one that has real significance” ([58:36]). The hosts discuss the broader implications for mid-major programs, celebrating St. Peter’s as a symbol of the tournament’s unpredictability and magic.

Notable Quote:

Matt Norlander: “They ended up finishing 102nd at Ken Palm. They were only 19 and 11 entering the NCAA tournament. And it’s really been not so great stuff since then. Combined record in the subsequent three years to the elite eight run, 45 and 48 average.” ([59:21])

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Story #21: Stephen Curry’s Davidson Elite Eight Run (March 2008)

Date: March 2008

Stephen Curry’s remarkable performance leading Davidson College to the Elite Eight in 2008 clinches the 21st spot. Matt Norlander highlights Curry’s ascent from an under-the-radar player to a national sensation: “Before this happened, Steph Curry was not Steph Curry. He was Dale Curry's kid at Davidson” ([62:55]).

Gary Parrish shares memories of witnessing Curry’s impact firsthand, recalling games where Curry’s scoring prowess turned heads and changed perceptions: “He scored 128 points in that 2008 tournament. That’s 32 points per game, made 23 three-pointers” ([66:52]).

The hosts emphasize Curry’s long-term legacy, recognizing his transformation into one of the greatest shooters in NBA history and how his college feats were foundational to his later success. They discuss the broader narrative of his underdog story and its inspiration for future players.

Notable Quote:

Gary Parrish: “If Steph Curry was the best one here… he is quite literally the greatest shooter has ever lived and I believe will go down in history as one of the greatest basketball players the planet has ever seen” ([65:26])

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Conclusion and Wrap-Up

As the episode wraps up, Matt and Gary reflect on the depth and diversity of the stories covered, teasing future episodes that will delve deeper into memorable moments from ranks 20 to 16. They encourage listeners to engage via social media and share their thoughts on the rankings.

Notable Quote:

Matt Norlander: “We might not now, 'Hey, listen, particularly coming off the 2025 tournament where we were void of any Cinderella's. If you tell me we get a 15 next year that breaks down through the Elite Eight, that would be incredible.” ([59:43])

The hosts express excitement about the journey ahead, promising more insightful and engaging discussions on the most significant events in college basketball over the past 25 years.

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Key Takeaways:

• Conference Realignment set the stage for future shifts in college athletics, radically altering traditional power structures.
• Jay Wright’s Retirement marked the end of an era for Villanova, highlighting the evolving landscape of coaching careers in college basketball.
• The NCAA Tournament Expansion Debate revealed the complexities of balancing tradition with growth, impacting tournament logistics and finances.
• St. Peter’s Elite Eight Run showcased the magic of March Madness, demonstrating that underdogs can achieve historic feats.
• Stephen Curry’s Davidson Run not only elevated Curry's career but also reinforced the impact of standout performances in the NCAA tournament.

This episode offers a rich exploration of these pivotal moments, blending expert analysis with personal anecdotes to celebrate the history and future of college basketball.

Transcript

[Gary Parrish]

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[Matt Norlander]

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[Gary Parrish]

Gary Parish welcome back CBS Sports. I own College basketball podcast where we sometimes discuss camel fighting, dodo birds and leaky black. Matt Norlander is here with me. If you're watching on YouTube, you know what to do to the like button shouts to Brandon Davies if you haven't yet subscribed, subscribe to the CBS Sports college basketball YouTube channel. It would be awesome if you did that while you're here. Let's get into it today. Surprise surprise, we are launching an offseason series that can more or less be described as the top 25 college basketball stories of the past 25 years. Number one is obviously Devin Downey getting 30 points, five rebounds, three assists and spoiler alert and two steals at a 6862 victory over Top Rank Kentucky. That was back on January 26, 2010. That's number one. That goes without saying, but what else is on the list? That's what. We're going to spend five episodes total telling you we're going to count it down from 25 to 1. So today we're doing number 25, number 24, number 23, number 22, and number 21. And just so there's no confusion, just so you know where to direct your hate.

[Matt Norlander]

Right here, baby.

[Gary Parrish]

This is Matt Norlander's list. I have nothing to do with the list.

[Matt Norlander]

That's correct.

[Gary Parrish]

I was not consulted.

[Matt Norlander]

No, you were not.

[Gary Parrish]

I was not asked for my thoughts in any way whatsoever. I am really just here to get some words from our partners every once in a while.

[Matt Norlander]

It's much more than that. And in fact, in all honesty, as we get ready to do this first episode, obviously 25 through 21 has been decided. And I'm, I mean, at this point, anything that would have made the list has been cut. So I think the 25 items are not up for debate. However, if you want to, if you want to hash out the order of some stuff hereafter, I'm more than welcome. You're welcome to do that, but I feel like for podcast content, it works better if I just decide the list and then you vehemently disagree me with me on some of these. I think that's just, I think that's better than collaboration.

[Gary Parrish]

Okay. As I was prepping for this, I realized, and then I didn't want to mess. This is your baby. I didn't want to mess with the structure of it. But I realized it will be hard for me to complain in real time because I don't know what, what else is on the list and where we're going with this thing. So it's not like I can say, how could you have that number 23? Because 23 might be perfect. I don't know what else is on this list.

[Matt Norlander]

Correct.

[Gary Parrish]

I, I, I don't know anything about what we're doing over these five episodes. All right. But, but, but it's the top 25 college basketball stories of the past 25 years, according to Matt Norlander with, with random thoughts from Gary Parrish. That's how we're going to describe this thing. We will drop these episodes in regularly, but not necessarily weekly. We'll get them to you when we get them to you. We'll never make, make you wait too terribly long, and hopefully it'll be fun. I'm having fun already. I hope you're having fun.

[Matt Norlander]

I'm having fun. And yes, listen, inevitably, like you do something like this, it's going to cost. Well, I'm ready for it. Whatever. Bring it on. I'm going to. Before we even get to number 25, I'm going to give you some of the last cuts here. And, man, there's been a whole hell of a lot that's happened in the past 25 years. And this is just, this is just men's college basketball. But I will put this out in front right away. I think it is unavoidable that there's going to be, I think I, I think I put in, under, under consideration every story that should have been reasonably examined to be on the top 25 list. And my cuts, I've got like almost 10 here that didn't make the cut. But I think there's going to be one or two that I don't mention either on this episode. I'll have a few other goodies for you on our, on our Next one that's 20 to 16, so I'm aware of that and I want to hear from you on, on all this stuff. So feel free to find us social media. You can find the podcast ioncb podcast on, on Twitter, all that good stuff. With that in mind, here, let's go with some honorable mention stuff. Okay, I am starting, and I want to say this up front. I'm starting with the 2000, 2001 season. Okay. So with that in mind, I think there was one story and this, frankly, this was a right way to get one more story on the list and then I can just mention this one. It doesn't have to technically be on the list, but I think what I'm about to mention quite clearly would be on the list. If you went strictly since January 1, 2000 would have been the I. But I, for season purposes, I started with the October, November of 2000 and then moved it on. Bob Knight was fired in September of 2000. Bob Knight being fired from Indiana, I think objectively is one of the 25 biggest stories in men's college basketball since we flipped the calendar. But it did happen before they started practicing that season and all that. And, and then, and the events which led to his firing actually happened months before that. So before I reel off all the other honorable mentioned gp, I did want to at least address that one first because I think considering his standing where college basketball was then and there, you could make the case that Bob Knight getting fired from Indiana would be somewhere in the top 15.

[Gary Parrish]

It would be definitely on the list. Which means right off the bat, we're operating with a Flawed list. It's flawed list right from the jump.

[Matt Norlander]

Thanks, man.

[Gary Parrish]

Congratulations for put together a flawed list right from the jump. I. In all seriousness, let me start by saying I don't care, but let me add, I do think Bob Knight's firing should be a part of the conversation we're having.

[Matt Norlander]

Okay. Then we'll make it a top 25 and one.

[Gary Parrish]

Okay. Okay.

[Matt Norlander]

For your purposes. There we go.

[Gary Parrish]

Okay. Perfect.

[Matt Norlander]

Huge deal. Now, a lot of the stuff that led to it was, you know, Bob, go back and read up on it. The information is not hard to find, but a lot of that was end of the last century. Then, you know, he gets put on double secret probation. Not so secret zero tolerance policy. And then inevitably, he was believed to have violated it multiple times. And then just a random student says, hey, Knight, what's up? Knight puts his hands on the students. That happens, I think in June of 2000. He eventually gets fired. There are protests on campus. I mean, this, like, leads to national news. It was a very, very big story.

[Gary Parrish]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. And it just was evidence. I don't guess we needed more evidence, but just evidence that Bob Knight quite literally could not help himself because, like, they did everything they could to keep him. Nobody ever wanted to fire Bob Knight. And it was like, yo, man, just please, just stop. And he could not help himself. And I, on some level, unfortunately. And sadly, that is. That's. That's the story of a big part of his life he could not get out of his own way. In addition to being a brilliant basketball coach, um, he. He. He made his life more complicated than it needed to be and his legacy more complicated than it needed to be.

[Matt Norlander]

With, without a doubt. So, you know, for unofficial purposes, this is a top 25. And 1. The. The thumbnails are not changing, though. Okay, 25. And. And so that was. That was. That was my toughest decision. Like, do I want to include. There's just. There were so many stories. And I said, you know what? I'll just start with the 2000, 2001 season and move it all along. But if you want to include it unofficially, when this article eventually publishes, maybe we make it a top 20 that gets put on the list as well. Other close cuts. My last cut. My last cut was what just happened this past season. The SEC completes maybe inarguably, the greatest single season in the history of men's College basketball. Gets 14 bids to the NCAA tournament as a member of its conference. When the national championship has a record setting seven teams into the Sweet 16. All that stuff. So that was not. I'll just run down them all and you tell me what you think. These are not on the list. These were the final cuts. Kevin Durant in general. Now the thing that's, that was the second cut. Kevin Durant was unlike any freshman we had ever seen before in college basketball. He won freshman of the year, national player of the year. That had never happened until Durant got to college. The thing that frankly held it back was Texas. For all of Durant's Brilliance, Texas, with a 4C didn't even make the sweet 16. And he didn't have a chance to extend his story deep into March, which muted it just a little bit. But he was, he was the close second cut. And then these other ones are. Any order you want to pick. John Calipari leaves Kentucky for Arkansas was under consideration. The first Rick Patino sex scandal in 2009 with the extortion attempt, that was under consideration. The Bernie Fine scandal at Syracuse was under. That was a big time story for a, for a short period of time that was under consideration to make the list. Zach Edie winning back to back national player of the year, doing, being the first player to do that in more than four decades. And then getting Purdue to the title game as a, as an attachment to that was also under consideration. Just missed the list. And then two more. Chris Beard being arrested and eventually fired from Texas and then one more that I don't. It wasn't under real consideration to make the list. Like, it wasn't for second or third cut, but it was a, a deserved out and out scandal when it happened. And as I thought more about building this list Parish, I thought, like, what if this happened in like 2022 or 2025. Larry Eustachi @ Iowa State at a frat party at the University of Missouri. Oh, by the way, and everything that attached to that and him losing his job with all of that, that was a, that was a just a wild, I mean college athletics has provided some just insanely wild stories over the years. That was a big one as well. So those were the closest cuts. And I do want to say the, the list that I have compiled is not just how big the stories were in real time when they happened with some of these. It's also how long was the tail? What impact did it have in the years to come, if at any. But I wanted to both look at it, how much it meant in real time when it happened, however recent or not. Some of these go back to the early 2000s and okay, how much does the story mean all these years later in 2025? So of the ones that didn't make the list, which one do you think was the best case to be the biggest story?

[Gary Parrish]

You know what, as I'm listening, I, I do know numbers 25, 24, 23, 22 and 21. And as I'm comparing the honorable mention that you just mentioned to those, honestly, it's not obvious to me that you got to have one of them and take one of these out. Edie winning back to back national players of the Year. That's a, That's a big story. But it doesn't, it doesn't seem crazy to omit it.

[Matt Norlander]

It was on my first draft. It was number 25 on the first draft that I assembled.

[Gary Parrish]

Yeah, KD's fresh was just. It popped. And we realized pretty quickly we were watching something unusual here, but it didn't have the March success that we typically attach to college basketball legendary stories. And so I can understand leaving that off, but, man, if you live through it, I mean, he was a monster. And then Michael Beasley came in the next year and like, broke a lot of his Big 12 records. Beasley just did it differently. So it wasn't as like Beasley was just all around the rim. Not all around the rim, but it was just like rebounds and points and just like, you look up and he's got 34 and 15 type stuff and where KD was just at his size doing things from all over the court that you just don't see college players do, or at least you certainly didn't see him at that time. So that was amazing. But it's, it's not. I don't. It doesn't feel like an obvious mistake to leave. To leave that. Any of those. That or any of the other ones off of the list. So far, I got no, no real, no real complaints.

[Matt Norlander]

Those are the closest. I have more. Here are the other ones that just under consideration, but weren't as close. Cooper Flag as a story. You know, we. In January, we talked about like, he hasn't quite popped yet. And, and overall big picture, you know, we did also. If you haven't listened to this, go back and find it. We did a pod. I did the top 25 biggest stars in college basketball back. It's 2025. Folks like, you know, this is the only year we're gonna have the opportunity to do this. Cooper Flag, I think would have. Was rightfully under consideration, didn't make the list. 41 seeds in 2008, frankly, 41 seeds making it finally in 2025 reduced that impact just a little bit. The only time it ever happened obviously and that was a pretty big Final Four. Bruce Pearl being fired at Tennessee for lying to the NCAA about having a barbecue with Aaron Craft. Kelvin Sampson resigned Slash fired at Indiana after violating rules. Got a 5 year show cause that's coming off of some of the stuff at Oklahoma. One that will not be on the list that you might be expecting. Conference realignment kills the Pac 12 and leads to a Power 5 in college basketball. There will be conference realignment st on this episode, but that one I decided to omit from the list. Coach K Passing Bob Knight's all time win record was a pretty big damn deal at the time. When it happened, what, 14 years ago I considered that St. Joe's undefeated regular season Jimmermania at BYU Grayson Allen tripping people Rick Patino makes St. John's relevant for the first time in 25 years was a pretty big story, but it didn't make the list. Scandals along the lines of guys losing their jobs. Greg Marshall remember the Mike Rice stuff as it happened when the Final Four was going on at Rutgers. Those were notable games on aircraft carriers. Shabazz Napier says players are going hungry at the 2014 final board. That makes national news when he does that. And then just one that is not on the list and wasn't really under consideration. But oh by the way, in 2018 the NCAA like finally killed the RPI after years of people lobbying for to do it. Swapped it for the net. That has, you know, significant impact on the sport every year since. So those were the other ones that that I looked into but none of ones that we've talked about so far are going to be on this list.

[Gary Parrish]

Yeah, that I'm okay with every one of those being left off of of the list based on nothing more than what I've seen at 25, 24, 23, 22 and 21. It's debatable obviously, but I don't think it's crazy to leave any of them.

[Matt Norlander]

Off before we get to the list. What's the most of everything I have mentioned in retrospect, what's the most, I don't know, surreal of all of them because I thought to me and part of this was just having to write about it so much frankly, we podcasted about a ton like the Grayson Allen stuff throughout his Duke. It wasn't one or two incidents. Like there were probably about five times in his career and I'm not saying there were five tripping Incidents. There were five incidents in games where it just became a thing. Where is something going to happen? It did happen. Okay, now we need three stories on this in the next two hours. Like, that kind of stuff. It just. That one. And there's a lot of surreal stuff, like the Rick Matino stuff, just all timer. But the Grayson Allen stuff, I would define as maybe the most surreal of any of the ones I listed.

[Gary Parrish]

I mean, the Patino stuff was just so messy and so ugly. And, you know, I, I. Everybody had jokes for it, and I guess I made them as well. But I remember having a moment where I was like, man, this isn't fun. Like, like, yeah, this is a wrecked family. And, like, you know, I, you know, I knew Richard well, and I was like, you know, I was friendly with Richard. Like, you know, we'd have lunch together and stuff. And then I just realized, like, what if he's turning? Like, he hops on Twitter? And there I am just, you know, popping off jokes about his dad. Not to mention, like, I've known Rick for a long time, and I like Rick a lot as well. And it just. I had a moment where that stopped being funny. I know everybody still made jokes, but I was like, this is.

[Matt Norlander]

I don't know if any coaches, basketball coach been on the receiving end of more jokes. And then Patino, just generally speaking.

[Gary Parrish]

Yeah, I just, I remember. And maybe this is just with growing older or some level of maturity. I don't know. I don't need an award for it. I just remember making a decision to stop joking about that, because it. What it really was was a bunch of people's lives getting flipped in a bad situation. Just bad, uncomfortable, awkward stuff played out in a very public way. You know, people all over America have marriage problems and issues and whatever, and it usually happens, you know, outside of newspaper headlines. And this was a. An embarrassing situation that played out very publicly. And I know I made jokes, but I remember subsequently going, this is not that funny. And I'm not. I'm not gonna scold people for getting their jokes off, but I'm. I'm gonna stop participating in that. So that was obviously surreal. The Larry Stacy stuff, I'd frankly forgotten about it.

[Matt Norlander]

Part of why I want to do this for our audience as well, like, because I also. We have a decent portion of. Our audience is, like, 25 and younger. And so some of you watching or listening have no, I like the Eustachi story is, again, there's also a real level of, like, concern and sadness to it, but also just Wild. Like, truly, like college coach coaches a game. And that night is. Is chugging beers at a. At a frat party in Missouri. Just. And it wasn't just that, but that was the primary event. Sheepy. And yes. The fact that you say, like, I had forgotten about it. Kind of like, why I want to do this. Like, when I was even doing this, I was like, man, the. Bernie Fine stuff. Like, I had. I'd have forgotten about it, but I went to Syracuse specifically to go watch a Syracuse game. And then Andy Katz and I, you know, as the national media members that were, I think, primarily, like, it was on us to kind of, you know, go after Bayheim and that whole thing, you know. So, anyway, to your point, yeah, some of this stuff is just to kind of jog the memory and think about just how many wild things have happened in the sport in the past 25 years.

[Gary Parrish]

And, yeah, that way, in the Eustachia stuff would play out. What year was it again? What was. What year was Eustachian?

[Matt Norlander]

I want to say Eustachi was 2007, but I'm gonna check right now. I don't.

[Gary Parrish]

I think that feels earlier than that.

[Matt Norlander]

Oh, so maybe like, 04.

[Gary Parrish]

It feels early. Early, because I. I just. I didn't know Larry when this happened.

[Matt Norlander]

Were you at. Do you think you were at CBS 2003?

[Gary Parrish]

That's right, 2003.

[Matt Norlander]

Yeah.

[Gary Parrish]

That's the way I remember it. Because I didn't know Larry when this incident happened. But he subsequently got the Southern Miss job. Was it the Southern Miss job?

[Matt Norlander]

Yeah, I think. Yes. And then he went to Colorado State. I believe that was.

[Gary Parrish]

Okay. So he was in. I was the Memphis beat writer and I guess the Conference usa, and he. He was in the same league. And I got to know him as the Memphis beat writer because he was in the league and, you know, found him to be funny. And like, I liked. I like Larry. I haven't talked to Larry in years, but when I was around them and had conversations with them, I really liked them. And that story is just bananas. I mean, just like, if. Imagine that playing out in this world of social media.

[Matt Norlander]

Oh, my. Yeah.

[Gary Parrish]

I mean, it probably would never happen, or. I don't want to say never. Never say never. But it probably wouldn't happen in 2025 because a coach would be like, I cannot be in this situation with all these iPhones pointed at me. Right. But, you know, back then, you weren't. You weren't really at risk of somebody pointing a phone at you and taking a picture and so yeah, it was just. Although I do, if I remember correctly, there were pictures from that night, correct?

[Matt Norlander]

Yes. Des Moines Register ran the photos to accompany a story that appear. I'm going to read real quick. This is an AP story from, from 2003. Man. Iowa State basketball coach Larry Stacy said drinking was a factor in his behavior at a student party in Missouri where he was photographed holding a beer and kissing female students on the cheek. Story continues further down. Stacy was photographed at a party in Columbia at a Columbia, Missouri apartment during the early morning hours of January 22 after the cyclones lost to Missouri. And there's just more from there. But yes, it. Man, oh man, just like, just a wild, wild story.

[Gary Parrish]

And would have been even wilder had it happened in this age of, of media and credit.

[Matt Norlander]

Su and keep going. But Eustace, like, atoned for it. Like he, you know, as you said, like you didn't know him then, but you've known it like obviously an event in his life that he doesn't want to be primarily remembered for and was thankfully, unfortunately able to adjust his life. And he got head coaching jobs again and was able to continue on. And this didn't, you know, ruin his career.

[Gary Parrish]

All right, let's get to the list. I feel like you've put it off long enough.

[Matt Norlander]

I have. I haven't. Well, but before we get to we're 19 minutes. I knew this was gonna happen. This was a long honorable mention. But I had to mention the stories that weren't going to be on the list. Okay. Nada. You know what, though? I think it's partners time. We're gonna take a break, go to our partners, and then we'll get to number 25 on the list. Let's go. Optimize your nutrition this year with Factor America's number one ready to eat meal service. Factor's fresh never frozen meals are dietitian approved. Ready to eat in just two minutes. Choose from 40 weekly options across eight dietary preferences like calorie smart, protein plus, and keto. Eat [e-mail] Listen50 and use code Listen50 for 50% off plus free shipping on your first box. FactorMeals.com Listen50 Code Listen50 Tired of the.

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[Gary Parrish]

College basketball stories of the past 25 years, with exception of the time Bob Knight was fired at Indiana. Let's go.

[Matt Norlander]

Okay, the first one. This goes back to the early 2000s. I think you could. I think this has to be on the list. You can make a case it should be higher as you can with many of these stories. Conference realignment, the first earthquake. Miami and Virginia Tech bail on the Big east for the ACC in 2004, and then Boston College follows the next year. That's when they officially did it. They obviously voted to do it in the year before that. Those moves ultimately laid the groundwork that would induce widespread conference realignment years later. Obviously, with everything that happened 2010, 2012, 2013, and then even further on down the road. This is why I didn't have the PAC12 dissolving, even though that was a huge story in and of itself. And to be clear, realignment has always been a thing that has happened with regularity in college sports for basically almost 100 years. One move ripples to another which affects another. It's, you know, it's like continental drift. But this one is particularly significant because it was Miami and Virginia, and this was done for, let me be clear, it was done for football reasons. But the effect on the Big east, you know, one of the proudest basketball conferences, quite, quite clear. I've got a story here. GP from the New York Times. On June 30, 2003, when Miami and Virginia Tech left, it's, it reads, the addition of Miami and Virginia Tech could transform the acc, best known for its top programs in basketball, into a football powerhouse. End quote. Well, that didn't, that didn't quite happen. The Big east, if you've forgotten, tried to sue to block the action. That failed. Then commissioner Mike Trangisi, who's considered one of the better commissioners in the history of college athletics, he said at the time, quote, we've been through this for two months, and I think those of us that are involved have had enough of it. I think the public is disgusted with all of us, to be honest. With you. We're educational groups and we're held to a higher standard than most people. And I think people have looked at us in a not very good way and that includes me. End quote. AP had a story on how about this. This is kind of forgotten a little bit after the fact, but initially the ACC wanted to bring in Miami, Syracuse in Boston College and then Virginia Tech was pressured to allow our Virginia. The University of Virginia was pressured to allow Virginia Tech to come aboard. So the intentional order was not the eventual order. Boston College actually voted against Miami and Virginia Tech initially. And then oh by the way, October of 2003. So like three and a half months later Boston College follows suit. It does. So to get the ACC to 12 teams which it needed to get to in order to have a conference football championship game, that was the threshold then. Not every league was having a championship game back in 2003. And yeah, in the years that followed GP BC leaves, then the Big east mutilates Conference USA by bringing on Cincinnati, DePaul, Louisville, Marquette, South Florida. That turns the Big east into a 16 team league for a little bit. The largest in history at that point. That helps the Biggie set a record that was only broken this year by getting 11 bids in 2011. Yeah, just very, very big decisions that no one could have possibly predicted would be omens for what was coming with the Big Ten and the SEC and, and all, all the splintering effectively less than a decade later and then and then into the late 2000 and tens. BC has been worse because of it. I think it's the biggest loser of any power conference team that has ever switched high major to high major in the past 25 years. I don't think it's close. They don't have anything to show for it in football and men's or women's basketball for the most part. Meantime, Miami and Virginia Tech have had huge down periods. Miami has not won an ACC championship in football since it switched. That's incredible. Virginia Tech has four. But they all came in the ensuing like four or five seasons afterward. Your thoughts on what happened here? Number 25 on the list.

[Gary Parrish]

Because of my age I guess I, I have going most of these stories I'm going to have lived through like as a, in my career and covered a lot of them and this one is one of those again. I was Memphis beat writer at the Commercial Appeal and actually got sent to Florida Biggie spring readings while all of this was going on to do on the ground reporting about the possibility of Memphis maybe receiving a Big east invitation, because that was at least speculated about at the time. It didn't happen. Then ultimately, Memphis did get a Big east invitation. What? Memphis was technically a member of the Big east for a minute, and then it split. And the basketball. Only schools wanted to do basketball, wanted to do their own thing, and it.

[Matt Norlander]

Wasn'T Boise State in the biggies for a minute. I think all this happened.

[Gary Parrish]

Yeah. Like, there was a time where you could walk in the Memphis basketball facility and it would. The Big east logo was in there, but they never actually played in the Big East. So I was down there in Florida while, you know, watching the Big east take this hit and I. I wanna. I wanna. It was just. I remember it now. We're so used to conference realignment that it's just like, well, of course people are moving around, but that first one was like, whoa, what is happening? And I was just scrolling through earlier, like, looking at league standings just at the power conferences. Yeah, basically everybody has changed leagues in the past 25 years. That's an exaggeration. But like, here's a list. I'm sure I'm missing a lot, but here's a list. Louisville, smu, Stanford, Syracuse, Cal, Boston College, Miami, Virginia Tech, Houston, byu, Arizona, West Virginia, tcu, Utah, Cincinnati, ucf, Arizona State, Colorado, Creighton, Yukon, Butler, Maryland, ucla, Oregon, Rutgers, usc, Nebraska, Washington, Texas A and M, Missouri, Oklahoma, Texas. And that's just at the power conference level, man.

[Matt Norlander]

And although there was movement, like, you know, the Big Eight going to the Big 12 in the 90s, like, that also affected as well. This, this what happened here, early 2003 really did, as I said before, like, it just. It set the groundwork because it. There were moves explicitly made because of football and what more money could away with that. And a lot of that stuff wasn't realized to a larger extent and a more fracturing extent until, you know, 2011, 2012, 2013. But yeah, man, this is. I think this is the one story I have on the entire top 25, I think that has the most impact, that doesn't quite get its recognition. And some of that. Maybe it's the passage of time. We're almost going back full 25 years at this point, but Miami and Virginia Tech and then Boston College on its train was, you know, a couple hours behind, so to speak, those decisions to do that to the. I mean, it leads to the Big east not even having football and it leads to the splinter of the Catholic seven and all that kind of stuff. We'll get to that later on the list. On a different show. But. But yeah, that was a. That was a biggie. You want to go to number 24?

[Gary Parrish]

I can't wait.

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[Matt Norlander]

Okay, now number 24 while you can make the case for plenty of notable retirements, I wasn't going to have multiple retirements on a list like this. I picked the one that to me is the most shocking. April 20, 2022 Jay Wright retires and he does so at 60 years old after 21 years at Villanova. He made four Final Fours, had just taken Villanova to the Final Four earlier that month brought Nova to the tournament in 16 of his final 17 seasons, won 642 games. Obviously a Hall of Fame coach at the time of his retirement. A two time Nation Coach of the Year, six time Big East Coach of the Year. His was the most shocking. Tony Bennett was also pretty surprising, but right preceded it. And so I I'd never say never, but it is hard for me to foresee a basketball coach retiring at a moment that comes with more shock than the way Jay Wright did. Now Jay Wright came after Coach K retired like he had the he had the announcement and that was big news. But he was getting older. Roy Williams retiring on April Fool's Day in 2021, also a very, very big deal. We were covering the tournament in the bubble when that happened. Gp and for about seven minutes everyone was like, is this an April Fool's Day joke? Like that was a big one as well. But Roy Williams had had some health problems and was getting up there. Jay Wright was six and behind. Big deal. I mean he had been there forever, but he was in his 70s there. Bob Knight retiring, also a very, very big deal. But there was a denouement in his career. To me, no retirement carried larger shock value than Jay Wright because it also represented the era that we were fully in with nil and the transfer portal and how I think this retirement just represents on a symbolic level, more of where we are and how coaches will handle their careers and getting out early. And there won't be many guys if they're capable of coaching past 70. I just think that's going to become more and more rare. Patina, obviously an exception to the rule. Your thoughts on number 24?

[Gary Parrish]

It shouldn't be surprising anytime a multi millionaire who is 60 retires. Right? I mean like, why not?

[Matt Norlander]

Yeah, broadly speaking.

[Gary Parrish]

Yeah, broadly speaking. But Jay was in a profession where men were routinely at the time coaching into their 70s and he just checked none of the normal boxes for it might be time to hang it up. Yeah, he was 60, but like I was gonna say, I don't think I'll look that good at 60, but I don't look that good at 48. All right. I didn't look that good at 38. I have never looked as good as Jay Wright. All right. At, at and I mean 60 plus Jay Wright. I would have traded my physical appearance for 60 year old Jay Wright at any point in my life. All right, okay.

[Matt Norlander]

Even at seven, even at seven, I.

[Gary Parrish]

Would have just been like, take my seven year old body and make me 60 year old Jay Wright, please. All right. What I mean is he's like, he feels I don't, you know, I'm not as a doctor visits, but he, he comes across like a young 60. He was obviously still at the tip top of the sport, always making the NCAA tournament, always having top 25 teams, always advancing more often than not. He'd won multiple national championships. He was just in the final four and we don't have to relive it. Jay's told the story a million times, but just decided it's time to, it's time to do something else or at least not this. And so yeah, it was shocking. I would of the past 25 years. And I don't mean to screw up your list. I don't know if this is on it, but the only coaching decision that would surprise me more, it wasn't a retirement.

[Matt Norlander]

I know what you're gonna say.

[Gary Parrish]

Brad Stevens to the Celtics, right? That was shocking. Is that on the list?

[Matt Norlander]

I'm not going to spoiler the list. Okay. But obviously that was. Brad Stevens going to Celtics was more shocking than Jay Wright retiring, that's for sure. Yes, that was a more shocking development there by the way, when Wright was at. So this is now has got a quick 8 second clip here that he's gonna play. In fact, just play right now. Nada. And then we'll talk about real quick before going to number 23, let's go.

[Hoops Weiss]

Down front to hoops.

[Gary Parrish]

Jay, how are you? Hoops is in the house.

[Matt Norlander]

Get to stay.

[Gary Parrish]

David McCoy Cormac tonight.

[Matt Norlander]

All right, replay that on your pod or on your YouTube as you watch Jay. Right, so that's Hoops Weiss, who has covered college basketball forever. Legend, industry legend, love hoops. And whenever hoops wanted to ask you a question, no matter the venue, Jay Wright, I don't know when it started, but he did it for years and years and years. Hoops is in the house. And on that clip, this is after Villanova loses in the Final Four. He says hoops in the house. I get to say it one last time. This is two and a half, three weeks before Jay Wright. Actually publicly, it's known he's retiring. And whether he did it consciously or subconsciously like he did Tip, it was just a wild Easter egg after the fact that he said that he might have meant it in the there and then, like, okay, our season's over. But I think on some sub, some subconscious level he was aware of it. In fact, last thing for me on this, I think it was Dana, Dana o' Neill, it wasn't after the loss. It was media availability. On that Thursday or Friday before the national semi. She had asked him, I think about Roy Williams having retired and Shashevsky, because I've talked to Jay about this since. Maybe paraphrase a question, that wasn't it whatsoever. But she basically was like, when you see all these coaches and you think about your end, like what comes to mind? I remember Jay telling me after the fact he thought, he thought he was found because no one knew. Like it was him and his wife and I think his AD and his press. I think there were at the time the Final four game happened, I think those were the only four People that truly knew that he was going to retire at that point. And so he gets this question. He's on the deus. He's. He's just thinking like, who found out who, who leaked this? Who knows? Like, is this going to come out before we coach. Before it got a coach in this game? So he was all like nervous and flushed. Turns out it was just an innocent question. Didn't know. But it is interesting after the fact to see that, that he let that. And no one even. And why would you. But no one caught on to it in real time as that happened.

[Gary Parrish]

But I'm looking back on it, it is a thing that happened that. Yeah, you know, like you sort of. What are these movies where they give you, they give you the whole thing at the end and if you go back and re. Watch it, you can sort of see it coming.

[Matt Norlander]

A stinger or something or I don't.

[Gary Parrish]

Know, six senses like that. I guess the usual suspects is like that. I guess you wouldn't have picked up on that Jay Wright moment in the moment, but with the benefit of hindsight, knowing what was coming or knowing what came next, you can look back at it and go, oh man, that was clearly in his head somewhere. I say I was shocked by the decision. It doesn't mean I don't understand it. Like, on a very basic level, if you ever in life get to a point where you're not enjoying getting up and going to work every day the way you've enjoyed it previously, and you don't need the money that comes with the job, you should walk away. You absolutely should. This is what Jay did. On a very basic level, that's what Jay did. I don't enjoy doing this job and what it requires from me anymore. I have enough money that I don't need to do this job anymore. I'm not going to do this job anymore. That's Jay's. That's where Jay got. That's where Woj got. And in, in that sense, it makes total sense to me. It is interesting. We're talking about this today.

[Matt Norlander]

I know, I know because his name's.

[Gary Parrish]

Back in the news.

[Matt Norlander]

I was gonna bring it up if you didn't. And I guess, you know, like old takes exposed me. There is no chance Jay Wright coaches the Knicks like as we do. So if anyone is getting to this two years later. Oh, there's a cool podcast on the biggest stories. Let me go Find this. It's June 3rd, 2025. At 4:00, clock in the afternoon, I actually even went back and read my J. Wright newser when he retired. Like, and I do remember having conversations like he's not coaching, that he's not going to coach the Knicks. He's not. We are so thankful and appreciative to have him as a lead analyst at CBS Sports and on, on the tournament with Turner and all that and WBD and all that good stuff. He doesn't need it. And he's not going to go. I know, I know. His name is going to get invoked. It's, it's amazing we could do this one more time and we'll get to Dan Hurley at some point before the series is over. And now we got the Dan Hurley stuff out there and, and all that because we're a year move from the Lakers and all that. So the timing is amazing that we are doing this pod episode GP all of an hour removed from the news breaking that Tom Thibodeau has been fired by the Knicks after getting him to the Eastern Conference finals for the first time in 25 years. The NBA is wild old takes exposed.

[Gary Parrish]

Make sure if we ever get to this point, it is Norlander who said there's, quote, no chance Jay Wright's not.

[Matt Norlander]

Going to coach the Knicks. No chance. And when I prove to be right, then what do I get? Nothing.

[Gary Parrish]

No, you get nothing.

[Matt Norlander]

Yeah.

[Gary Parrish]

This only matters if you're wrong. Okay. This only matters if you're wrong. Unless you want to. In all seriousness, sources have told CBS Sports Jay Wright has no interest in the New York Knicks opening. Knock it out, Norlander.

[Matt Norlander]

If you want to do it in real time. Since you've already tweeted. Yeah, that's.

[Gary Parrish]

Since you've already made career choices for Jay Wright, go ahead and get it out there. Come on.

[Matt Norlander]

I will say this. I mean, and Jay, right, has also said it publicly like he is. He has publicly stated plenty of times before he has no desire to go to the NBA level. So I'm going off of that. Could it have changed? Did he wake up this morning and.

[Gary Parrish]

Say, you know what?

[Matt Norlander]

Maybe I give up this incredible gig I have talking on television to go into the grind of coaching an NBA team for 90 plus games?

[Gary Parrish]

I, I, everything you're saying is true. I would just stop short of no chance because at some point, what happens if somebody here's five years, $75 million to coach guys you've won national championships with and live in New York City and let's go like, like that. I don't care how happy you are, you got to at least think about that. And on, like, at least think. And you might think about it for two seconds and say, no way, I don't want any part of that. But I think you gotta think about it, don't you?

[Matt Norlander]

Yeah, sure. I mean, if someone offers you that much money, yeah, sure. Of course. You need to think about it. The Dan Hurley piece seems slightly, I guess, slightly more realistic, but who the hell knows with the way this stuff works? Like, you know, the Knicks management might have their guy in mind. And being who some sitting head coach in the NBA might, Might even be the lead leader in the club.

[Gary Parrish]

Yeah, I would just stop short of no chance because, man, you can, you can think you don't want to do something, and then somebody says, here it is. This is what it. This is what it involves. You want to coach all these young men that you have great experiences with and make a bazillion dollars and maybe if you can hang that banner, become the king of New York City, like, God, you know, I. I would just stop short of no chance.

[Matt Norlander]

Because even if that's not how you make the podcast magic happen, you know.

[Gary Parrish]

That even, even if I didn't want. Thought I didn't want to do it, if somebody put that in front of me, I'd be like, let me think, let me look at this. The flip side of it is interesting as well. Can you imagine a Final Four coach getting fired?

[Matt Norlander]

I know that's like Kevin Keats was getting fired shop short of it, because it's not like he did get fired a year later, but let's just say like elite, because, you know, the, the. But I know what you're saying, but even like in a coach that makes the elite Eight and gets fired, I don't. Have we ever even seen that same year? I doubt it. A guy makes the Elite Eight and gets fired. Now, maybe when the tournament was 15, 16 teams large, maybe it happened back then, but in the past, like 50 years, I severely doubt it.

[Gary Parrish]

Think about these two things. Kevin Keats was getting fired and only didn't get fired because he made the Final Four. Yeah, okay. Tom Thibodeau made the Final Four and has done all this other stuff that like nobody's done in New York in a quarter century type stuff and gone. And I'm not even saying it's a wrong decision. I'm just saying that's how different the professions are in the NBA. They will get anybody at any time. And college just really isn't even like, Isn't. Isn't quite like that.

[Matt Norlander]

Yeah, no, it's it's, it's, it's, it's wild. But it's the NBA, so I guess nothing is too shocking, surprising. Let's move to number 23. This is April of 2010. After the NCAA flirts for months publicly with expanding to 96 teams, it receives severe pushback and ultimately decides to go from 65 to 68. I'm going to read you the AP story from April 1st of 2010. This is April 1st. They have not decided to go to 68 at this point. Here's a Here's a quick bit of it. The NCAA appears to be on the verge of expanding the men's basketball tournament to 96 teams. Insisting that nothing has been decided, NCAA vice president Greg Shaheen nonetheless outlined a detailed plan Thursday that included the logistics and timing of a 96 team tournament, how much time the players, how much time off the players would have, and even revenue distribution. Shaheen said the N stability looked at keeping the current 65 team model and expanding to 68 or 80 teams, but decided the bigger bracket was the bet fist fit logistically and financially. It will be played during the same time frame as the current three week tournament and include first round buys for 32 teams. Although the plan still needs to be Approved by the D1 Men's Basketball Committee and passed on to the board of Directors, most of the details already seem to be in place. The 9016 tournament would likely envelop the 32 Team NIT, though Shaheen said no decision has been made the new format. So anyway it's so this is. This is April one, right around the final four in 2010. So go back. This is the Final Four. That includes Butler losing to Duke in the title game. Stick around. That'll be on a future episode. All good stuff, mild spoilers. Obviously they ultimately though in a span of two weeks decide instead to merely go from 65 to 68. Now you at the time were at CBS. I remember reading your coverage about this. I was hired at CBS later that later that year in 2010. So I wasn't on board just yet. But I do. I was right. I was writing for Yahoo. I had my own independent site, College Hoops Journal, stringing for Fox Sports. I remember following this intensely. I remember wanting to get on the conference call about this and not being able to get the code to do so. And I do remember the the backlash being like extremely wide, like pretty much the level that it is now. And it's interesting that we're talking about this now because Charlie Baker just a few days ago came out and said, you know, yeah, we're still trying to get to the 72 or, or 76 and, and we'll see if that can happen and decisions on that, yada yada. But to me, this is number 23. It was a very, very big deal at the time. Obviously there was a connected thread to where and where we have been frankly over the past three, four years with expansion talk there. What do you remember about it at the time and thoughts on 65 to 68 in 2010?

[Gary Parrish]

I don't remember much about it at the time, really. I believe I have always been against expansion. I believe that's true, like in the sense that if you ask my opinion on it, I will say it's unnecessary. And I still hold that opinion. It is unnecessary. I never believed we needed to go from 64 to 68. I do not believe we need to go from 68 to 72 or any other number. If it were strict, strictly up to me and nothing else mattered, including television, inventory revenue, I'm just what's the best product I can present? I would have a 64 team tournament. It fits so perfectly on one sheet of paper. Let's fill out the brackets like we did when we were, you know. Okay, so that is, that is my opinion. You don't need to ask me to get on board with your anti expansion campaign. I'm already on board. I don't want it either. That said, this is where I split with people. It feels inevitable. So what are we yelling about? You know, it's like waking up every day and saying I'm. I never want to die. Well, you are eventually. All right, so I don't maybe skip that part of your day every day.

[Matt Norlander]

It feels inevitable and it might happen. I'm just telling you I have consist consistently heard from sources at the NCAA level who have insisted some of this is on the record. By the way, Dan Gavin on this damn podcast who say that it is not indeed inevitable because they don't have the money to even. To break even. And so if they expand, then these conferences will have to agree to pay less money to their teams by making the tournament. That's why it keeps getting. I'm not saying it won't happen. If you made me pick, I'll pick that they do it. I wish they wouldn't, but people continuously GP come back to me and say, hey, listen, if this happens, barring some panacea where you have sponsorships that are going to cover all of these costs like the schools and the presidents and the athletic directors are going to have to agree to take less money by winning in the NCAA tournament if we do this. And so that is why people push back on it being inevitable. Continue.

[Gary Parrish]

If you live to be 70, you will not die in a year with a 68 team NCAA tournament. That's what I'm telling you. That's what I mean by inevitable. It will eventually increase. Maybe not tomorrow, but eventually we will. My grandkids, if I ever have them, will not watch a 68 team men's basketball tournament. So I don't like that. I would go back to 64 before I go up to 72. But it does feel like we can keep screaming about it. It's not going to matter. Eventually it'll get to that point where I split with the anti expansion crown is I don't think it's going to kill anything and I don't think it's going to ruin anything. And what I base that opinion on is that postseason expansion, what has it killed? Did it kill Major League Baseball?

[Matt Norlander]

I wouldn't say it kills. I think it can degrade. I think there's a difference.

[Gary Parrish]

But people like to use words like kill and ruin. It's gonna kill the sport, kill the regular season, ruin college basketball. Big words. I don't think any of that's true. And if you do, tell me why did playoff expansion kill the NFL, ruin the regular season? Buddy, have you seen the television numbers on it?

[Matt Norlander]

Yeah, well, yeah, I hear you. The NFL is the one exception to every rule because it doesn't.

[Gary Parrish]

Okay, let's do NBA playoffs. Has it killed anything, the expansion of it?

[Matt Norlander]

No. Yes.

[Gary Parrish]

Let's do Major League Baseball playoffs. Let's do the World Cup.

[Matt Norlander]

I think you'll find baseball people that say that the playoff model now is, is not a superior product to the sport versus what was there, 20 and find people that definitely are not as on board.

[Gary Parrish]

You know how many times I am able to watch meaningful baseball games deep into the calendar because of the presence of wild cards? That if there were no wild cards the Met season would be over in July or June.

[Matt Norlander]

How are the Mets doing right now by the way?

[Gary Parrish]

Let's just beat the Dodgers late last night in extra innings.

[Matt Norlander]

There we go. Playoff started today with the Mets being.

[Gary Parrish]

Yes. What are you talking about?

[Matt Norlander]

I'm just checking. Just fine. I'm not concerned. Number two, that's in June. Okay.

[Gary Parrish]

They're number two in Matt Snyder's CBS Sports MLB power range.

[Matt Norlander]

And you need to tweet at him and call him a penis. If they're not number one. And just.

[Gary Parrish]

It is funny because I go to his power rankings and I look at him and I go, oh, that's nice. Tiger'1 Mets, too. I like this, but if the Mets would have been ninth, it would have never even occurred to me to tweet him. I. I am attacked about rankings every day of my life, and yet I also look at other people's rankings, and I don't even. I. It. It stirs no emotion in me. I don't feel like. Like I just got a tweet from somebody earlier, and it's like, bill Parrish has got Kentucky outside of the top 10 again, just like always. I'm like, what are you talking about? Just like always? What does that even mean? Or some guy's like, as much as you hate it, you're gonna have to get NC State in there at some point. I'm like, what are you. As much as I hate it? What are you talking about, you weirdos? I mean, I love. I. I am appreciative that there are people out there who get angry about college basketball rankings. Like, I need those people.

[Matt Norlander]

Right? Yes, Absolutely.

[Gary Parrish]

I need. But just know this, buddy. I think you're insane if you are fired up in early June about college basketball rings. I think you're a crazy person, but I appreciate you, but I think you're bananas. Here's what I'm trying to tell you. I believe expansion will happen. I do not want it. I do not think it'll ruin or kill anything, because the history of sports playoff expansion doesn't tend to ruin or kill anything. It's just something that. That happens, and we adjust and everything is mostly fine. I'm. I am. I have. I do not have the big concerns other people have.

[Matt Norlander]

You really don't remember much about covering it back in 2010, though?

[Gary Parrish]

No.

[Matt Norlander]

Wow. I definitely, like, this Was you covering this. I read your stuff before this, but this was. And not even knowing that I would eventually wind up. Up being your colleague, you know, five, six months later. Yeah, you wrote about a lot, and that's typical. I remember more about what you did than you did.

[Gary Parrish]

I will. I will meet. I will. I meet people sometimes, like on a golf course or wherever, and they'll be like, do you remember my. You like, where you really find it to be true, where people remember things. It'll be when you covered high school sports people, because those are the things people cut out, frame, and keep. So I, like. I met a man on a golf.

[Matt Norlander]

Course a couple years ago.

[Gary Parrish]

And he was like my daughter was. And she was a little, I remembered her, but she was a tennis player. And he was like, you remember this one story? And I said the best I can do is recall her is recognize her name when you say it out loud. But no, I don't remember the one story. I mean how could I possibly. But yeah, I tend to, I do things and then I move on. I don't hold, I don't hold on to the memories too much either. Either intentionally or not.

[Matt Norlander]

Fair enough.

[Gary Parrish]

This is all going to be great when I get diagnosed with you know what, okay. It'll be like, it'll be like we saw it come and the guy talked about it on the Island College basketball podcast all the time.

[Matt Norlander]

Oh boy. Well that was a biggie in 2010 and by the 96 is just absolutely asinine and thankfully thank because it is conceivable that the NCAA could have just plowed through and I'm not even kidding you when I say that if the NC like I, I don't think I would have pursued covering college basketball at the 916 tournament because the, the regular season would truly be right.

[Gary Parrish]

You would have chosen a different profession.

[Matt Norlander]

No, no, like we can keep this moving but I, I absolutely at a certain point was like, all right, I really love the NFL and I really love college basketball. Which one do I want to cover? Well there's, I love them both equally, but there's a lot fewer people covering college basketball so I can, you know, work my way in, maybe climb, climb up a little bit more quickly or easily because of that. And so that's, that was a, that was a major reason why and so I could easily see myself in like you know, 2010. They expanded 96. The regular season is irrelevant. Like I might have been like I'm just going to chase doing football instead. I, I, I, I could have been Will Brinson's right hand man instead, you know that entirely possible, a possible career change.

[Gary Parrish]

That's quite a threat.

[Matt Norlander]

I apologize to everyone that's have to endure and willingly has opt into this podcast for well over a decade at this point. Yeah, 96 teams and and you wouldn't have seen me.

[Gary Parrish]

That's hilarious to me. I do get this question sometimes and this seems like a perfect, perfectly reasonable place to answer it quickly. Sometimes I do get asked, why did you cover college basketball? Why are you a college basketball reporter? Did you play basketball as college? Was basketball your favorite sport? No and no. Basketball has never been my favorite sport and it is not Something that I played outside of, like, driveways and stuff like that in when I was a child. Here's the truth. My first job was at the commercial newspaper. I was so ambitious. I wanted the best job at that paper, period. What is the best job at this paper outside of the columnist covering Tiger basketball? That's what it was at the time. So that's. That's what I wanted. I wanted the best job, and it was a college basketball job. If my first job would have been in Austin at the Austin American Statesman, I believe I would be a college football writer because I would have wanted the best job there, and that would have been covering Texas football. I. My career is dictated by where my first job was and what I wanted from that job.

[Matt Norlander]

That's true. And you've also said before on the show that you were, like, the fifth pick to be the CBS Sports College Basketball.

[Gary Parrish]

No, no, no, no. That's not true. I was. Genuinely. When I got hired, the people who interviewed were. I want to say it was me, Mark Schlabaugh.

[Matt Norlander]

Yeah.

[Gary Parrish]

Jeff Goodman.

[Matt Norlander]

Yeah.

[Gary Parrish]

And Pete Thamel. And I believe Pete Thamel was offered the job, and he decided to stay at the New York Times. And then the job came.

[Matt Norlander]

There we go. That's what I believe.

[Gary Parrish]

That's what I believe to be true.

[Matt Norlander]

All right, number 22. Just a few years ago, March of 2022, St. Peter's Appreciate it, Pete.

[Gary Parrish]

Appreciate it.

[Matt Norlander]

St. Peter's becomes the first 15 seed to make the Elite Eight. Now, we had had 15 seeds win games before. Obviously, you know, Dunk City under consideration. That was a big deal. GP Covered it in person. Obviously. Oral Roberts made the Sweet 16 the year before in the bubble tournament. Since then, we've seen Princeton as a 15 seed make the Sweet 16. Lehigh beating Duke, Norfolk State over Missouri, Hampton and 01 beating Iowa State. That was a big. Richmond was the first 15 seed to ever win against Syracuse in 1991. I didn't even think about trivia timing you with that, GP But Peters is the big one. You win three games, you make the regional final. That's one that has real significance. We. It took what, GP it took almost 40 years in the expanded tournament era to get a 15 to win three games. We might have to wait another 30 years before we see it again. The Peacocks. Where is it? I didn't even think about it before we started the show. It also created this podcast moment in the early hours of. Of April of March of 2022.

[Gary Parrish]

Yeah, that's pretty good, man. That was pretty good. Like, I don't want to brag about myself too much. I know that never comes across well, you know, people constantly bragging about themselves. So I don't want to do that.

[Matt Norlander]

Feel like you work it in almost every show, but keep it going.

[Gary Parrish]

But that's a pretty good peacock impersonation. That's pretty good. I nailed that. I was proud of myself that night.

[Matt Norlander]

Is this, is this, is this a call for, you know, a baby bird? Is it hungry? Is this a mating call? What is this here? Sounds like a mating call to me.

[Gary Parrish]

I don't know how to distinguish between my peacock sounds. I don't know which is which. The honesty, God true is I left that studio. I got into my.

[Matt Norlander]

Oh, I remember car service as hell that night too.

[Gary Parrish]

And in the car service, I was on YouTube on my phone listening to peacock sounds and then practicing them in the car. And I even had to explain to the driver, I believe, like, yo, man, this is going to be weird. I'm telling you up front, this is going to be weird. But I gotta, I gotta practice some peacock. Peacock noises. I got a podcast to do in, in about 15 minutes. That's a fun night.

[Matt Norlander]

You wouldn't remember. I invented not being able to talk on this podcast. I don't even think you'd remember it. Maybe not. I would, I couldn't talk. I just, I, I'd hit, I hit the, I'd hit the wall. I just travel cold.

[Gary Parrish]

I did, I do have a recollection of that.

[Matt Norlander]

And so I was on that episode. And then eventually like, and my, my Wi Fi and the hotel, I just had to bail, close that out.

[Gary Parrish]

I do, I do remember that. So yeah, I didn't, I didn't realize this until I went and started looking at it last night. Do you know that, that St. Peter's team eliminated from the NCAA tournament two national players of the year?

[Matt Norlander]

Yes, I did. I'm aware.

[Gary Parrish]

I had, I had never put that.

[Matt Norlander]

Together, but yeah, now it wasn't in the same season, but.

[Gary Parrish]

Right.

[Matt Norlander]

Oscar Shebae was the national player of the year on that two seat Kentucky team.

[Gary Parrish]

Right.

[Matt Norlander]

And then that Purdue team, its best player was Jaden Ivey. But Zach Eaty was a soph.

[Gary Parrish]

That's right. So they beat Kentucky in overtime, 85, 79. Then they beat Murray State, 70, 60. Then Purdue 67, 64. Eliminated Edie there. Then they just got smacked by North Carolina in the elite eight. But they end up finishing 102nd at Kim Palm. They were only 19 and 11 entering the NCAA tournament. And it's really been not so great stuff since then. Combined record in the subsequent three years to the elite eight run, 45 and 48 average. Kim Pom finished 269.

[Matt Norlander]

So.

[Gary Parrish]

But they'll always have that. They'll always have. Yeah, they'll always have March 2022.

[Matt Norlander]

Well, I mean, we'll always have this. And also the rarity of it is why it makes a list like this because we might not now. Hey, listen, particularly coming off the 2025 tournament where we were void of. Of any Cinderellas. If you tell me we get a 15 next year that breaks down through the Elite Eight, that would be incredible.

[Gary Parrish]

So and so the face of that, I guess, outside of Shaheen, was maybe.

[Matt Norlander]

Doug Adder for sure.

[Gary Parrish]

Okay, he got it.

[Matt Norlander]

He was one of the early, you know, he got nil deals based off of that and all I want to say Taco Bell, I've forgotten it after all these. But he did, he did take advantage.

[Gary Parrish]

So then he ends up, I go down a Doug Ed.

[Matt Norlander]

He went to Brian. You don't even have to tell me. I'm aware. I remember when he transferred and the.

[Gary Parrish]

Incident with Judah Mintz. He slapped Judah Mintz and then took off running from the Syracuse players. He didn't even pretend he was tough. He just, he literally takes. It's the funniest video you haven't seen in a while. Go find that video. It's the funniest video you haven't seen in a while. He just smacks it and then takes all. Then somebody else is coming after him. He's like, oh, hell. He's running around trying to get away. It's hilarious. Shouts to the Peacocks.

[Matt Norlander]

Shouts the Peacocks. Shouts to Doug Getter. We'll wrap it up here. As usual, we went longer than we thought, but I would anticipate this is also gonna be wrong. I don't even know why I'm gonna say it on the pod, but I'm saying anyway. We don't think most of these episodes will be an hour long. However, this one is going to to hit that mark here. Number 21 on the five top stories in men's college basketball since the year 2000. March 2008. Stephen Curry's legend begins with Davidson's 2008 elite eight run. And I will also note we actually, coincidentally enough, we wound up talking about this, I want to say, back in March, for whatever reason, they also had a near final four berth. So Davidson was a 10 seed started the season. This is what I didn't realize. GP I did look this up. They started that season four and six, Davidson did, with losses to Carolina, Duke, UCLA, NC State among the most notable. But they won 22 in a row heading into that tournament. And I don't think you'd remember, but I definitely remember this. Davidson was a trendy, it was a trendy pick to beat Gonzaga in the 107 game in the first round. It did it. They won by six. It was a huge deal. This is probably the, I think this is the highest rated story that I considered. Do I put it on the list or do I don't. So everything that we've talked about in this episode at some point or another, I was like, is it on? Is it off? Everything else after top 20, I knew in some capacity it had to be on the list here. But that was a huge deal. Then national news. And in retrospect, it's become an even bigger story because Curry's a top 15 all time NBA player and the greatest shooter we've ever seen. But for again, for the folks listening to this who are like 23, 24 or younger, Curry taking Davidson and turning it into a national story, and frankly, I think it was uplifted just by like, you know, Nance and the number one CBS team was on the call and they had the really good TV time and just a lot of stuff coalesced to make that such a, such a huge, huge deal. And so, yeah, that's number, number 21. What do you remember about it? And were you there in person to cover either of those sites?

[Gary Parrish]

No, I, I do remember. It's funny, I, as we joke about, I don't remember things that I actually covered, but I remember this. And we talked about it recently. I don't know what the.

[Matt Norlander]

I think we were talking about my top 25 stars and Curry was top 10 and I think that's what we got into.

[Gary Parrish]

Okay, so for people who didn't live through it, just understand, before this happened, Steph Curry was not Steph Curry. He was Del Curry's kid at Davidson.

[Matt Norlander]

Who couldn't get a scholarship to Virginia Tech. Like there was a whole bunch of that stuff. Yes.

[Gary Parrish]

Yeah. I mean, when you mention when, when he became. If you talked about him at all, and you probably didn't, but if you did, it was just like, oh yeah, Dale Curry's son, he's at Davidson like a Goodman, major player. That's all he was. He was not an NBA prospect at all. Like, you go find every mock draft, he ain't on him anywhere at this point. In his life, he's never been considered anything other than a little guy who can shoot. And dad played the NBA. That's it. Then he goes down. He gets 40 against Gonzaga, then he gets 30 against Georgetown. Ended Roy Hibbert's college career. And we talked about this before. This is the big difference between winning one game and one and two. Because when you win two, you got all those days in between, you know, before your next game. And it's just a build up. And what I remember most about this is that I was in Charlotte for a Thursday Saturday regional final. North Carolina, Washington State, Louisville and Tennessee were there. So it's a Thursday Saturday regional. We had Friday night off. And I remember like a handful of us who were covering the Charlotte regional like as you do, got together for drinks and it was like, let's watch, let's see if the kid can do it again. And he delivered and beat Wisconsin by.

[Matt Norlander]

17 in the regional semi.

[Gary Parrish]

And he was 11 of 22 from the field, 6, 11 from 3. 33 points in 37 minutes. And to me, that's the night it happened. Because that, because you, you kind of weren't even paying attention to the Gonzaga game.

[Matt Norlander]

Whatever.

[Gary Parrish]

There's so much going on, it's like, oh yeah, Dale's kid went for 40. Like, oh, wow. But how many people were watching that from the opening tip? I don't know, but it's the number not significant relative to what was coming. And. But by the time he. They knocked off Gonzaga and Georgetown and it's like now a Big Ten team and it's Friday night in prime, it felt like, like a moment. And let's see what he does next. And oh, buddy, he did it. And I feel, I feel like that night, the Friday night of that Wisconsin game is the night the Steph Curry thing really took off. And then they play Kansas in the elites. As you know, Jason Richards has a three at the buzzer to win it. If it goes in, it wins it.

[Matt Norlander]

Yeah, ironically, not Curry shot, but. And I'd have to re watch the play. It's been a long time. I'd actually, I'd love to see what the.

[Gary Parrish]

I believe Bill Self actually collapses on the sideline or something.

[Matt Norlander]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. And then how they, how they schemed it and was it, was it supposed to be Jason that took the shot or Curry like, yeah, I, I remember in real time being like, man, Curry doesn't even get the shot anyway.

[Gary Parrish]

And so itself goes to his first Final Four after being like, if we were doing those list of best coaches tonight. Get like he was on. He was the face of that for a minute. Final Four national championship. I genuinely believe this with every ounce of whatever. If that shot goes in, college basketball is changed forever. Because if that shot goes in, Bill Self just didn't make a Final Four again. This time because he lost a Davidson. I think Oklahoma State job was open. That's his alma mater. I believe he would have left to go to Oklahoma State. Instead, he wins a national championship, they hire Travis Ford and all these years later, Bill is still at Kansas. I think that would have been his last game as Kansas's coach. If, if Richards makes that three.

[Matt Norlander]

Steph Curry did not go to the NBA after this. He returned the following season, was a first team all American. Davidson did not make the NCAA tournament. Really built up his legend. The following season is when Curry gets guarded, which, like, it basically helps build up Curry's origin story. An absolutely idiotic coaching like pathos who, if any coach could like really handle doing something, it's Patsos, like doesn't really much care. But yes, he was like openly mocked on like PTI for what he did.

[Gary Parrish]

Right. But like I, I don't know if I knew Jimmy then, but I got to know him later, worked with him a little bit. He's just a hilarious guy. Just, he's just a great character. And so you're right. Steph comes back. Remember they put him in the Jimmy V game, which was a big deal. Like Davidson and the Jimmy V. Yeah. And I was at the Garden for that game. I was there for that. And but between those two things, between the, the 2008 Elite Eight run and the 2008, 2009 season, I remember, I want to say it was LeBron James Skills Academy type thing. Akron or Cleveland, it was one, you know, the Nike thing. And all the best high school players are there. And you had camp counselors and they brought in all most of the guys who were going to be in the next draft probably. I just remember DeMar DeRozan being there. I want to say Tyreek Evans was there, maybe James Harden. But in between morning session and night session, the counselors would play pickup. And there were NBA scouts there, there. And I remember a scout. And this was still a time because even after that Elite eight run, they were like, well, yeah, but he's skinny and he's little and is he really a point guard, can even play point guard? Like there were those types of questions about him. And I remember sitting in a little gym, the counselors are playing. I'M sitting with a scout who worked in a front office then and still does today. And he just said there's nobody here better than him. And I and pointed and I'm like, who? He said, stephanie, he's the best one here. And I don't know why people don't think of him that way still in this moment, but he's the best one here. I just remember it was still not considered a consensus that this guy's going to be a, even a good NBA player. And that scout was like, that's the one. He's the one. And you'll, you'll, they'll figure it out eventually. And he is quite literally the greatest shooter has ever lived and I believe will go down in history as one of the greatest basketball players the planet's ever seen.

[Matt Norlander]

Yep, I think that's all firmed up. He scored 128 points in that 2008 tournament. That's 32 points per game, made 23 trays. Davidson went 29 and 7, finished 11th at Ken Palm that season. Really awesome run. And yeah, part of, you know, between that and St. Peter's which talked about just, you know, things that make the tournament so special and, and for these mid major runs and all that kind of stuff. So let's again, let's not, let's not tamper with a, with a really, really good thing that's 25 through 21. We will, we will continue with the list. I think we'll have it, we have it tentatively budgeted next week. We'll get to 20 through 16 and GP will learn on this journey just as you are. For the most part. He gets, he gets a heads up before we, he needs to, he needs to go down some rabbit holes and assemble all this kind of stuff. But, but it's a fun little little fun little pod project and eventually we will have a story that corresponds with this but don't want to spoil on the website before we tell you on the pod first. So with that being said, GP Go ahead. I think that's the show.

[Gary Parrish]

Shouts to Devin Downey. Shouts to Chester, South Carolina. To legend Terry Teagle, Hawk and Larnell. Thank you guys once again for watching. Listening to the Island College Basketball Podcast. If you're not subscribed, please go subscribe anyway. You subscribe to podcasts, Apple, Spotify, more of us than there are of them. That should be reflected reflected in the comments. To do that, we'll talk to you again real soon. Till then, take care of Saramount podcasts this summer. Pluto TV is exploding with thousands of free movies. Stream hits like Good Burger, Four Brothers, the Wood Paid in Full and Beverly.

[Matt Norlander]

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[Gary Parrish]

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