← Eye On College Basketball
Eye On College Basketball
Who’s most trustworthy two weeks in? A toss-up, but: Houston, UConn, Zona, Michigan + Gonzaga all won while not at their best
01:20:17
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- [00:00]
Gary Parrish
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- [02:38]
Matt Norlander
Foreign.
- [02:46]
Gary Parrish
I am Gary Parrish 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, be Brandon Davies. Smash that like button. If you're one of us, let the world know in the chat and in the comments. And if you haven't already subscribed to the CBS Sports ion College Basketball podcast, please go do that wherever you subscribe to podcasts like Apple or Spotify. Let's get into it. Fun game on Sunday down in Birmingham, Alabama, the childhood home of Courtney Cox, Walton Goggins and of course Gucci Mane. Final score Houston 73, Auburn 72 Kelvin Sampson's Cougars, the top ranked team in the AP poll. They actually needed three stops in the final 15 seconds to secure the win with both of their starting bigs on the bench after having fouled fouled out. No problem. Kingston Flemings blocked one, then Khalifa Sacco blocked one and then a final second inbounds pass just kind of a lob at the rim was broken up with contact but no whistle at the buzzer. Game over. So Houston holds on to win it. The cougars are 4 0. Norlander, good to see you on this Sunday evening. Better late than never. What did you make of what you saw from Houston?
- [03:58]
Matt Norlander
Auburn, nice to see you on the Sunday evening as well. And as I think alluded to for our live audience here, we're going a little later than desired, but we're going to make sure that we know the result of this Florida game before the end of the show. We'll get to the Gators and we'll discover this in real time. I like starting on the Houston Auburn game. There's actually some good stuff over the weekend, including stuff from Saturday night, what happened in Boston, Friday night, what happened in la, and plenty more. But the urgency of this game and the competitive of this of this game, Houston being the number one team. Will it stay the number one team? Well, we'll see in terms of official AP poll purposes when that refreshes on Monday. Purdue did get past Akron without too much of a resistance on Sunday night. Matt Painter, congrats on number 500 as this game Played out in Birmingham. The thought that I kept drifting back to is this is where Kelvin Sampson and his team is just most comfortable. They don't necessarily seek out single possession victories, but damn if they are fine when they get there. They, they have a certain composure about them. And I say this while acknowledging this was for Houston standards, a C plus performance overall. You mentioned the foul outs. You know, Joseph Tugler didn't have himself a great game. Emmanuel Sharp had some, some solid moments there, but he wasn't an absolute standout either. And Houston was able to hold on despite. There's a lot of directions to go here, Parrish, but Keyshawn hall landing awkwardly. It seemed to be a foot injury with about 415 to go. There was a 68, 64 Houston lead when that happened. If Keyshawn hall is on the floor and able to be at his best self for the final four minutes, Auburn may well win the game. And we're talking about a single possession outcome. A no call on the final play, corner inbound, tricky spot, one second to go. I didn't have an issue with it. Frankly. Keyshawn Murphy couldn't quite corral a tough pass. I actually thought Kingston Flemings might have gotten a little, little touch in there before the ball went in the air, but I, the bump to me was, was kind of negligent. Obviously, if you're an Auburn fan, you're not happy. We saw Stephen Pearl. We saw Stephen Pearl go onto the court. I wondered if we would see Bruce Pearl go on. Well, he was in the stands and that was, by the way, Paris. That wasn't a surprise to see Bruce there again. Bruce still lives in Auburn. He's obviously now doing television work for, for TNT in addition to CBS now. But just to see him there. I don't know how much of the game you're watching like minute by minute, but there were a couple of shots of Bruce in, in the stands and I think there might have been one shared on social media where he's just, he's maybe 15 rows up and he is yelling and it was, it was weird to see that because it's like, oh, right. I'm just. He should be on the sideline right now. It was sweating and drenched through a suit, but instead he's like cheering on his, his son doing this. An unexpected amusing moment there. Good, good effort out of Auburn. I thought Kingston Flemings was awesome. I got more, but I'll toss it back to you. You're just your thoughts on the game and the scene that played out And Houston getting really pushed to the edge by, by the Tigers there on Sunday.
- [06:57]
Gary Parrish
Well, you know, first, sometimes when coaches retire, they kind of disappear. Right, right. And that's just never going to be the case with Bruce, particularly at Auburn under these circumstances. I mean, that's his son. That's his son coaching the team, running the program, and he's going to live and die with it. I bet you it's almost easier. I bet if you ask Bruce what's easier for you, coaching.
- [07:20]
Matt Norlander
Oh, yeah, yeah.
- [07:21]
Gary Parrish
Or watching your son go through what he went through. Coaching is way easier than having to.
- [07:26]
Matt Norlander
Watch the way that Priscilla said on the broadcast. He said it's like when you're coaching, you are just in charge of like flying the plane. Like, there's just so much going on that you can't think about that other stuff. And then when you're done coaching and you're watching, like everything, you're just so invested when it's your own son. So to that point, for sure, even talked about that directly. I'm sure Bruce lost three pounds by just watching this game.
- [07:46]
Gary Parrish
Yeah. So he's going to be there. I mean, I don't, I don't know that we'll see many Auburn home games that Bruce isn't somewhere in the building. Unless, of course, he is working in a studio somewhere or on a game somewhere. As for the final, I, I just, I thought the final 15 seconds were just perfect from a Houston perspective, like you said, they had not played well, not to their standard. Jojo Tugler has fouled out. Chris Scenic has fouled out. They have to play the final 155 without both of their starting bigs. Scenic went out with 322 left. Tugler went out with 155. Scenic went out after 26 minutes. Tugler fouled out in only 22 minutes. Remember, you know, he also fouled out of the national championship game, like in 16 minutes. And so that's a real thing for him. He is awesome, like the, you know, our preseason national defensive player of the year. But he is only on the court for about half the game. And that's not just this season. That's over the past two years. So thank God you got a Khalifa Sacco. And so this is, this is my point. You need, you're on the road, hostile environment. I know Birmingham is not Auburn, but still hostile environment. You're on the road. You, you need. What we find out is you need three stops to get this win. We don't know that. With 15 seconds left obviously. And you look at the guys who made the place, and they weren't even guys who were wearing Houston uniforms last year. It's like something happens. And I know this isn't true, but you'll get the point. It's like you just put on that uniform and you become a Kelvin Sampson basketball player. I know that's not how it works, but that's what it feels like. Like, there's Kingston Flemings. Yeah, top 20 freshmen in the country, but we live in a world where top 20 freshmen in the country aren't necessarily supposed to be doing what he's doing. He gets 22.7 assists, five rebounds. He's now averaging 17.3 points per game. And then he gets the big block in the final 15 seconds on Peterford. So he's, he's, he's, he's making plays on both ends of the court. That's a Houston Cougar. Then the next Peterford drive, he gets in there and it's Saco who gets the block. Just, hey, hey. Both our bigs are fouled out. Can you go make a play for us? You're 6, 11. Go make a play. He goes, makes plays. And then, of course, they break up the. The lob at the rim at the buzzer. They have been top five and adjusted defensive efficiency in each of the past five years. Number one last year, and as I was sort of working on the top 25 and one for in the morning, I sort of settled in on this. Like, if you need multiple stops in the final seconds to win a game, the. About the best thing you can have working for you is five dudes in Houston jerseys. That, that, that, that's the best. That's going to give you the best shot to get done what you're trying to get done. And they got it done. Whether they'll remain number one in the AP Polo Monday, who knows? I. I've had Purdue number one since St. John's lost. I will have Purdue again, number one for, like, the ninth or tenth straight day in the top 25 and one on Monday morning. We'll see what AP voters do later in the day.
- [10:56]
Matt Norlander
Yeah, I wouldn't be surprised. The result. It's kind of a toss up here. We've got a good array of teams that just, you know, they look good right now. And we've got even a poll question about. Frankly, I wish we had a poll question. We could fit eight teams in. But it's about, what team do you trust most at the moment. We'll get to That a little bit later in the show. I love the point you made about the guys that stepped up and made plays that weren't even on this roster a season ago. I completely agree. This game obviously coincided with with my bears getting to 7:3. So I had this for the first half of this game. I had it on the secondary screen, wasn't dialed into the commentary but was was tracking as Chicago somehow again pulled out a win. I don't know how it's happening. Not going to complain. Cairo Santos, thank you very much. Then when that game ended was all in and watching watching this one with with my boys, including my now 10 year old reference on the previous podcast. That is a, that is a wild thing and we as we were watching this it was, it was as engaging as the Bears game that I was just so heavily emotionally invested in all of 30 minutes prior. Kingston Flemings is yes folks, yet another scenic had a good game as well. He fouled out but he had what, 18 points and just it showed well for himself in a high profile game against a ranked team in an environment that was as close to a true road as you could possibly ask for. But Flemings 22 points, 8 of 13 from the field he can absolutely zip all over the court. He is going to provide Houston with the kind of change of pace that's going to be so crucial. You know, I had Houston preseason number one in my rankings and part of it was a big part of it was coaching staff hasn't changed over the culture there. You've got three key pieces on a team that made the national championship game back, but it's the highest ranked team, highest ranked freshman class by far that Kelvin Sampson has ever had number two in the country, Duke is number one. And CNAC's growth, which I didn't even I didn't expect Scenact in November to be a guy of like real impact. He's going to grow there. I thought Flemings was going to be the guy who just by nature of how he can handle the ball, how he can get all across the floor was going to be impactful. We saw that here today and that's a really encouraging sign. In fact there's kind of a theme and a thread through a lot of the results that we're going to talk about on today's pod where you've got a lot of teams that are not just ranked, a lot of teams that are even in that final Four conversation won this weekend despite putting on uneven performances. And I think that Houston put on an uneven performance to get the win. You take it every single time. No doubt about it. But it's, it's more of the same. You're a Houston fan. You've become accustomed to this for the most part. They don't win every time, but they win almost every time. They, they thrive in the chaos. Houston's now 9 and 1 and it's past 10 games against ranked teams. The only loss, yes, of course, against Florida in the national championship game. Meanwhile, Auburn is 1 in 14 now all time when it plays the number one team in the AP poll. Only victory. If you're curious, it's got referenced a few times last season because of how good Auburn was. The only one came in 88 against Kentucky. Just a quick one more note for me on Keyshawn Hall. He has, he has been Auburn's best player. That's not arguable through the first two weeks of the season. He's a double double machine statistically in terms of points and rebounds. There's really only like five guys that are in his category right now, camera boozer being one of them. Hopefully his injury is not too, too serious. Hopefully it's just one of those things where it just was an awkward fall. He'll be good to go. He obviously like he did gut it out in terms of he took the free throws after he got hurt to make because if you take the, if you take him out of the game then the opposing team gets to pick who's going to take the foul shot. Obviously Calvin Sampson would have taken the worst foul shooter. Who knows what happened there. But hall took them, made both of them, kept Auburn within within close range with about 4 and change to go there. But we were just robbed a little bit there down the stretch of not having him on the floor. If he had been on the floor, I really think their chances of winning would have, would have gone up. I still need to see more from Tahad Pettiford. I'm not breaking news to Auburn fans if you haven't been dialed in on Auburn. I alluded to this on the Friday show. Pettiford just has not, he hasn't hit yet this season the way that I thought he would now. He had 15 points on Sunday but just one assist. Paris deals parablocks was on the floor for 32 minutes overall was 5 of 14 from the field. He's just been, he's been good but he has not been what I think he can should be. And I thought that he was going to be. He was, he was the last player that I put on my third team preseason All America ballot. Because my thinking was he would be Auburn's most valuable player. He would be a scoring machine. He would be responsible for keeping Auburn firmly in the NW tournament conversation and just racking up a ton of usage. Well, that's going to probably be a miss on my end because if Keyshawn hall can stay healthy the way that Stephen Pearl and that staff are deploying him and just how reliable he is, this guy who led the Big 12 in scoring last season while playing at UCF in total obscurity, super impressed with him. For Auburn's sake and frankly for the sc, for college basketball sake, I hope that, that Hall's. Whatever he suffered there isn't a long term thing because he is, he is good enough. And if Pettifer puts it together, Parrish that duo and they got some other guys. But it's going to be those two. Primarily. They, they can be good enough and dynamic enough and they change a pace like your scout your prep on them. That can be difficult enough where Auburn can, can stay in that top 25 conversation more weeks than not this season. But we wait on more in terms of hall south in the days to come.
- [16:07]
Gary Parrish
Yeah, with Pettiford, I mean, this is sort of the question about him. Like he's a little guard and he, you know, again, this is Houston. So perhaps this isn't a problem against anybody other than the. What has consistently been the best or one of the best defensive teams in the country. But he got a shot blocked twice in the final 15 seconds like that. That's a, that's a problem. Back to Flemings real quick. Just you remember back in the off season, it's like they get, they get Milo Suzanne back and then. Is that Pop Isaacs then Pops? Yes, at that point.
- [16:52]
Matt Norlander
Basically a sign and trade.
- [16:54]
Gary Parrish
Yeah.
- [16:54]
Matt Norlander
And it was like, because they weren't gonna have both of them on the team.
- [16:57]
Gary Parrish
And I think it was reasonable to wonder like, are you sure you don't need Pop Isaacs? Like, you know, but I guess not if you've got Kingston Flemings, because he's been terrific. This was sort of his, his breakout game because it was, it was Houston's first game against a real opponent and it was on a big stage and all of that. But he's been, he's been good. I mean that first game I think was held in single digits, but after that he's been pretty big consistently, so he's been fabulous. Add him to the list of, of great freshmen in this historically great freshman class. Next up for Houston, they get Rider on Thursday. Then it's off to Las Vegas Players ERA Festival. Houston, Syracuse next Monday, Houston, Tennessee next Tuesday. Next up for Auburn, Wednesday against Jackson State. Then they go to Las Vegas Players ERA Festival. It is Auburn, Oregon next Monday, Auburn, Michigan, next Tuesday. I've got it right. You'll be there, right?
- [17:53]
Matt Norlander
I will be there. And yeah, I gotta figure out soon here just, there's just so many games in two different buildings. I gotta figure out the schedule. But what's the second Auburn game?
- [18:04]
Gary Parrish
Auburn, Michigan, Auburn, Michigan, Auburn, Oregon, Monday, Auburn, Michigan next Tuesday.
- [18:08]
Matt Norlander
And then you said it was Houston, Tennessee. So hopefully those games, I would not think that they were, hopefully those aren't back to back. I'd like to be there in person. But yeah, I'll be there. I'll be, I'll be flying to Vegas next weekend and I'll be on the ground there looking to forward, forward to taking in, taking in those two and 16 other teams. It'll be a loaded event.
- [18:24]
Gary Parrish
All right, let's keep it moving. Next up, we'll turn our attention to UConn BYU. Nice victory for Dan Hurley's Huskies. We'll dive in next. First though, let's get a word from our partners.
- [18:35]
Matt Norlander
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- [20:43]
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- [21:47]
Gary Parrish
Final score number three UConn 86 number seven BYU 84. That was at TD Garden in Boston. AJ debons of the fabulous freshman. He got 25 points 21 in the second half for the Cougars and showed why he's a candidate to be the first pick of the 2026 NBA Draft. But it was not enough. You kind of held on and I mean really held on for a two point win to remain undefeated. Norlander, you wrote about it late Saturday. For people who didn't see the game, I think that final score is misleading because it never felt like that that final score implies. Man, BYU is right there. It never felt like they were going to win the game. Even at the buzzer it was a two, a meaningless two pointer that created the two point difference. But Yukon was up 20. And though BYU made a run largely because of Debonsa, I. I know they got it to three at one point but never felt like, oh man, Yukon's really gonna blow this. Did it, did it to you?
- [22:49]
Matt Norlander
No, but it got. I perked up with about five minutes to go. First half, first half it was all Yukon. Debancer looks like he was pedestrian. Maybe it was nerves, maybe it wasn't. This was obviously build and this game was booked to be. The bands of Homecoming grew up 25 minutes away. Alex Caravan, also from the greater Boston area, did well for himself at 21 points and played just fine. I think that part of it got overshadowed but the game was obviously, you know, the banta goes to byu. He wants to have one game while he's in college, back on his, you know, home turf, so to speak. He gets that they aren't able to get the win. And in the first 20 minutes UConn was far superior. They looked more ready, more the, the tactics, the tacticianship, I don't even think that's a word. But just Yukon's overall approach to the first half far outpaced byu. BYU was out of sorts. The pants had four points. They weren't able to get a ton. As expected, BYU was shorthanded and, and it soon became more shorthanded than it even expected. We did have canard Davis travel with the team, didn't play. Kevin Young didn't really divulge too much in the post game. Just said it was a violation of team rules. We all know what he's doing. You know what the team rules were. We're just again waiting for more details on what exactly happened with Davis on campus last week. And then Cavequeda.
- [24:12]
Gary Parrish
Yeah.
- [24:13]
Matt Norlander
In a play that didn't have a foul called Silas Demery, who we are very much going to get to in just a second here, he bangs into him and Kate is a big dude and he was on the floor for about two and a half minutes. Maybe he stands up, he's woozy, he needs to be helped off. As they were bringing him off the floor. I was like, and again, I'm not the doctor on this podcast. That's the guy the other screen. But I was like, this feels like a concussion, the way he's walking, how long it took him to get up. I doubt he's going to return. He didn't return. So. Credit to BYU for coming back with down two of its five starters. The banter goes off in the second half. He's had probably four or five plays where it's like, okay, when he gets drafted wherever it is, 1, 2, 3 or 4. Next June, we're probably going to see all of these plays in the, in the, in the month leading up to that as part of the highlight reel. And it was good. I thought it was a good sign for him and for BYU that he actually really just tapped into something the second half. And I'm not going to say he went takeover mode because I think it was just shy of that. But he did pop, I mean, 21 points. It was because of him that they even made it interesting. Richie Saunders had some moments, but he didn't hit a three. That was an issue. Rob Wright iii, ball in his hands, chance to tie the game. It's a turnover that 12 seconds to go.
- [25:28]
Gary Parrish
He.
- [25:28]
Matt Norlander
He coughs it up, dribbling between his legs in theory. GP on that possession, BYU tied it or taken the lead and then they didn't. And then Yukon hit the two free throws and there we go. And then Yukon. Yukon wins. But for the primary takeaway on my column, as after the debance and stuff, was, was Demery. You feel free to talk up any other angle you want, but to me, Demery, and part of this is informed by having Talked to the UConn staff in the off season and knowing what kind of player he was, they just did not have someone like him last season. His size, his defense, his athletic ability, his leadership. He's not the reason UConn won, because again, UConn led essentially wire to wire almost for this game. And he had a couple of buckets. He had a short little one with three and change to go maybe. And that was. That put Yukon up 7 when BYU was surging. And then with like a minute and a half to go, he hit just this delicate little 12 foot fade away near the, near the baseline. Sinks it in again in a moment where like the building is buzzing. You probably got 80 Yukon backers in there. And Demery steps up big. Yukon's got a lot of guys that can do a lot of different stuff. Him, Terrace Reed, who also had really good moments in the second half and caravan, they all finished with 21 solo ball. Didn't have a good game, but you've got enough here. Where my main takeaway was okay, a lot of the stuff that we were talking about heading into the season that's now coming to fruition. Again, we are super early and I'm going to see the Huskies in person in another big time matchup in just a few days when they host Arizona on Wednesday. But at least for this game, when you had a team with the potential number one pick really making a surge with really good offensive capability, Yukon held on, really steadied itself. And you got a little bit like you got a little bit here from Jalen Stewart, you got a little bit here from Jaden Ross. Impressive stuff overall from Yukon. And ultimately, although the game wasn't close for the first GP65 of it, it actually did get interesting down the stretch. And I found myself entertained by by far the best game of Saturday.
- [27:20]
Gary Parrish
Yeah, I mean debons they got going and that's what you're. I mean that's what you're there for, right? Maybe not if you're a UConn fan, but if you're a casual turning into, tuning into a college basketball game on a Saturday night and you've heard about, I mean, you know, it's dan Hurley, it's UConn, it's blue blood program and then it's hey, I heard this guy could be the number one pick in the draft. Let's, let's check this out. And he delivered in the second half. He was awesome. And I thought Dan was appropriately, very complimentary of him. After the game. The cableda stuff was. That was rough. I know you said no foul was called. I don't know that there should have been. It was kind of like a loose ball situation. Just.
- [27:55]
Matt Norlander
I feel like that should have been a foul.
- [27:57]
Gary Parrish
I mean, debris went in there hard.
- [28:01]
Matt Norlander
Felt like it should have been a foul. He got, he got him pretty hard. Now I know they were both going for it and sometimes you got a loose ball and it's like play on this. This one was like he was, he was down. And yeah, that might have well been the difference. I don't know if he plays the game if they win or not, but not having him a major factor and set them back even further in the first.
- [28:18]
Gary Parrish
I mean he goes out with nine minutes to go in the first half, which means as you touched on BYU basically played the last 31 minutes of the game. Down two starters.
- [28:26]
Matt Norlander
Yeah, two.
- [28:26]
Gary Parrish
Two presumed starters.
- [28:28]
Matt Norlander
26:12 when he got knocked out.
- [28:31]
Gary Parrish
Yeah.
- [28:31]
Matt Norlander
That was the score when he actually left the game. Yeah.
- [28:33]
Gary Parrish
And so I, I think you described it accurately. I'm not. I am a doctor, but I'm not going to play one from north Mississippi about a young man who was injured in Massachusetts. So I. I'll. I'll wait for the official diagnosis.
- [28:52]
Matt Norlander
But.
- [28:52]
Gary Parrish
But you said he looked woozy when he got up, and I saw that, too. It didn't look good. It didn't look good. It. I was a little bit surprised. Brian Dabon Jackson dart did go to check on him.
- [29:05]
Matt Norlander
Okay.
- [29:09]
Gary Parrish
If you want to mix.
- [29:10]
Matt Norlander
Sends in a phone call if you.
- [29:12]
Gary Parrish
Want to mix some sports. So we'll see what. What's, you know, what. The update. It was him, but it didn't look good. And that. That's. That makes everything an uphill climb. I mean, you're already down big and now your big is out. That's. That's tough with Demery. He was great, and I thought it was interesting that he was great because I don't have the quote right in front of me, but there was an interesting quote from Dan about him last week where he said something along the lines of he's got a contentious relationship with him or something. I don't know the. I don't recall the word exactly, but it was like, you know, it's a push and pull type thing. We're battling a little bit right now.
- [29:48]
Matt Norlander
Yes. I think that's for Hurley. That's a good thing, though. Like, he wants that. As long as Demery wants it, too. I think. I think that's. He is looking for that, and I think he doesn't say that public. This is my speculation. I haven't talked to Dan about it. My speculation is he doesn't say that publicly if he doesn't know Demery can't handle it privately. There you go.
- [30:03]
Gary Parrish
There you go. So he was terrific. Caravan and reed also got 21. So just in those three players, it's a 6, 63 points. And remember. Yeah, I know there's probably a Yukon fan out there. Hey, we are shorthanded, too, you know, we're not healthy. Correct.
- [30:20]
Matt Norlander
But they haven't had to make that adjustment yet. Like Braylon Mullins. Right. Yeah, he's. He still hasn't returned, but I, I get that. That's.
- [30:26]
Gary Parrish
That's.
- [30:27]
Matt Norlander
That's all fair and good, but you, if anything, be more encouraged by it because you held BYU without an assist for the first 17 minutes and 45 seconds of the game and BYU didn't even hit a three pointer period until there was a minute five to go on the clock in the first half. So I know you were shorthanded, but I'd be even more encouraged by the fact that we're still not at full strength and you saw what we could do against, you know, top 10, top 15 opponents.
- [30:48]
Gary Parrish
Right. I guess that's my larger point is that UConn looks awesome and they're not whole and it's early. So I mean I, if you saw the post game interview Dan did with Raph, you know, he seems to, he, he seems to really like this team and what he believes this team can become. Now I know he, you know, had similar thoughts and statements heading into last season and we know how that went. But when, when I, when I listen to him talk, I hear a man that, that feels pretty good about where, where things are at right now and is confident about where they can head. I think the, the quote he gave Raf was something along the lines of I think this team is going to be good enough to compete for the things we like to compete for at UConn. And he said it with a slight smiles and smirk perhaps. And you know, I understand why they look, they look the part they, I don't know if they'll win a third national championship in a four year span, but they clearly look like one of the handful of teams that has the goods to do it.
- [31:53]
Matt Norlander
Yeah, for sure. And we're getting a lot of, a lot of interesting, just gameplay, not necessarily results. UConn hasn't lost yet or you know, they've been, they've been playing well and it's kind of reinforced my, my thinking and many others GP included that this team should be, you know, in that top five conversation. Overall, BYU enabled UConn to shoot 57 from the floor. Now overall, a lot of this is Kate is doing. You know, BYU's also played two by games so again we're just way too early to really glean too much. I need at least three or four more games worth of sample size but defensively they do seem improved. It didn't come to bear on, on Saturday night, unfortunately for BYU, which by the way was in a top 10 game for the first time since the 2011 Mountain west championship game. BYU was also on the losing end of that. That was San Diego State. That was the Jimmer year. BYU is a three seed. That was a double digit deficit that they wound up on the wrong end of. Here they wind up being just two points shy. And that's for UConn 1 stat. They're 2410 against ranked competition since the start of the 2223 season. It's more wins and a better winning clip than any team in the sport with at least 10 games against ranked teams in the in that span. That's obviously no huge surprise when you factor in the two NCAA tournament runs. But yeah, I think your big picture takeaway on Yukon is they got a good push. We see a lot of encouragement and reasons why last season should be considered the aberration and this season should be different. But as I led my column with late on Saturday night, Dan Hurley opted in to the obstacles after having an up and down season a season ago. It would have been understandable if Yukon simply had a pretty good non conference schedule, but one that was, you know, obviously outside of the top five toughest during top 10. Toughest. That's not what this is. Yukon might have the toughest non conference schedule and if it's not the toughest, it's going to be in that top five conversation. And that's obviously an indication on just Hurley's mindset and approach, but also the talent that he knows he has on this team. And you're one down, five to go over the next 27 days. By the way. Next up will be Arizona on Wednesday. We'll just, you know, we'll get to that. We'll get to that one on our Wednesday show. But we got another biggie coming to stores on Wednesday night and I can't.
- [34:01]
Gary Parrish
Wait for that one. Yeah, that'll be a gample. Yukon, Arizona on Wednesday. Next up for byu, it's a game with Wisconsin in Salt Lake City. That'll come on Friday. Hey, you want to do the weekend whip around next?
- [34:14]
Matt Norlander
Let's whip it around, baby.
- [34:15]
Gary Parrish
Hey, watch yourself.
- [34:18]
Matt Norlander
Let's whip it around.
- [34:19]
Gary Parrish
Let's go watch yourself. I'm going to need a word from our partners. Guys, by now you've heard me talk about Collars and company, makers of the dress collar polo. They've already sold over a million of these amazing shirts. Well, Collars and Co just came out with the new Maverick Performance blazer. This blazer is sharp and wrinkle resistant so you can travel anywhere with it. Just throw it in your bag and it will remain wrinkle free. It even comes with security zip pockets, a sunglasses loop and an optional pocket square. So visit Collars and and use code tiki for 20% off@collarsandco.com avoiding your unfinished home projects because you're not sure where to start. Thumbtack knows homes, so you don't have to don't know the difference between matte paint finish and satin or what that clunking sound from your dryer is. With thumbtack, you don't have to be a home pro. You just have to hire one. You can hire top rated pros, see price estimates and read reviews all on the app. Download today. All right, Norlander, we've talked to Houston, Auburn, we have talked UConn, BYU. Now it's time for the weekend whip around. Let's whip it around. Let's whip it around a little bit. Let's whip it around a little bit.
- [35:31]
Matt Norlander
You have to start with LA Friday night. A lot to get to. But this is clearly if the first two are the two most notable results. Arizona 65, UCLA 60. Excuse me. Arizona 69. Nice. UCLA 65. In a game, you know, played in the spirit of Bill Walton, which I love to see.
- [35:50]
Gary Parrish
Kareem was there.
- [35:52]
Matt Norlander
Kareem was there. Kareem's on the broadcast.
- [35:54]
Gary Parrish
That was great. I just like hearing from Kareem.
- [35:56]
Matt Norlander
So do I. And, and I honestly like we can get into the game. But on that note, I love hearing from Kareem. He's written about, talked about Bill so much. Again, these are, Kareem is the best college player ever and Bill Walton is top five at worst. And you can, frankly, you can make the argument that Walton's top three, it's not that hard to get there. They, you know, back to back with each other, never played with each other and they defined the greatest dynasty in the history of men's college basketball. And to hear Kareem, I love it. But Kareem, I, as he was talking about Bill and he's gotten some of this. But there, there can never be too much praise of Lu Alcindor's days in college and Kareem Abdul Jabbar and what he did at the NBA level and his overall basketball career even dating into high school. Our buddy Seth Davis has said this before. Others have as well. If you're going to judge the best basketball career ever and you take high school, college and pro into account, Kareem Abdul Jabbar, probably the winner, frankly.
- [36:56]
Gary Parrish
And it is, I don't mean to interrupt. It is insulting that he is not a more prominent part of the goat conversation. We tend to limit that to Michael and LeBron. Yeah, but Kareem belongs in that. You go look at his accolades and it's, it's ridiculous. He's, he had an incredible career at the high school level, college level, at the professional level. If we're going to have goat conversations, it should be a three person conversation and Kareem should be a part of.
- [37:27]
Matt Norlander
It, without a doubt. And my favorite, I've mentioned this on the show previously, but my favorite random Kareem Abdul Jabbar. Fact is he was a writer for a brief time on the show Veronica Mars, which I just absolutely love. Underrated show, by the way.
- [37:40]
Gary Parrish
Also, he, he for a while wrote columns. You just like, very talented writer. Like, as someone who reads columns every day and has written them for years, like, I know who's good and who's bad and he's good. Like, I would hire, I would hire Kareem Abdul Jabbar to write for me if I, if I were in a position to do those types of things.
- [38:00]
Matt Norlander
Imagine Korea told Jabar, just sitting down, marching over the computer, doing a top 25 one every day, being like, all right, G.P.
- [38:08]
Gary Parrish
I'M gonna get this to you in 45 minutes. I'm like, all right, Kareem, just, just, just, just drop it in slack when you're done. What if I told Kareem to drop a column in slack?
- [38:18]
Matt Norlander
Kareem Jabbar and slack, please. No, the man is above all of that. He deserves more conversation. He is done plenty of talking and has been willing and wanting to about Walton and we'll do our small little part here on the show. More love on Kareem while he's still around and with us. That's. That was one of my takeaways as I was watching the game. As for the game, co opeat subpar and it didn't matter. One of my biggest takeaways, he had seven points, four boards, six turnovers, four fouls. Wasn't a deal. Arizona won anyway. Arizona shot 60 from the field in the second half and was able to, to overcome a really good fight. UCLA played the game mostly on its terms. Arizona still found a way to win. I love that sign. This is a team that I picked, you know, preseason to make the Final Four. Had him in my, had him in my top 10. And right now they're making me look just a. Okay. They've got two wins over power conference opponents and not just that ranked ones. You had Florida to start the season and now UCLA. Both teams in the top 15 at the time of those games. Zona had a 20 to 8 scoring run in the final seven minutes to kind of turn off, not entirely turn off. UCLA's water. But if you were watching how the game was playing out late, Arizona was in control. And Anthony Del Orso, he had 20 points off the bench, five three pointers. He kind of was. He had. His threes were coming, you know, sporadically throughout the game, and they were all in big spots. And then Jaden Bradley has. He has what you want. He has experience, athleticism, good instincts. And now this is two big games where I've seen him show up late and make big buckets. He did it again against ucla. Credit to Tommy Lloyd's team for. For getting that done on the UCLA. And Tyler Billido, 19 points. Eric Daly, 13 points and five boards. Donovan Dent, he. He had eight assists. He had 11 points. He has not yet been. And just give it a little more time. Not everyone's gonna pop right away. He hasn't been bad. He just hasn't been. You know, he hasn't been one of the 10 best players in the sport right away. And we both picked him as our preseason transfer of the year, thinking that he would be the most impactful new face in a new place. But competitive game, going to repeat what plenty of people said because we need to hammer this home. These teams need to play every year. It's the West Coast. You don't have as many teams that are prominent out there. They're no longer in the same conference. That's still super weird. It's weird as hell to me that UCL and Arizona don't share a roof under the same league, but in shy of that every year, and they're going to play again next year if we can get to a rotation where it's home, home neutral, you know, one in Tucson, one in Westwood, and then make it Vegas or make it Phoenix or make it la, whatever. It seems like Tommy and Mick are very much in on this idea. I hope they don't lose momentum on that because there are just certain. There are certain schools where it feels bigger. Arizona, ucla. That is absolutely the case. And hopefully in perpetuity, we get this game because obviously it will only be once a year moving forward in the regular season now that they're no longer in the same.
- [41:03]
Gary Parrish
Sometimes schools or athletic departments or even coaches get weird about conference changes. Like, I remember, not weird. Maybe that's the wrong word. But I remember, I guess it was when Texas left the Big 12 for the SEC and people would ask Bill Self, like, are you going to continue the Texas series? Because that was a great series for years. And he was like, we were happy to play them. They wanted to Go be in somebody else's league so they can go do that. You know, he was like, no, we're not. I don't know that he said no, but it was like they, they made their choice. You know, they can go. Obviously this whole PAC12.
- [41:39]
Matt Norlander
Thing.
- [41:41]
Gary Parrish
You know, fell apart in the way that it fell apart. And I like the idea that Mick and Tommy are continuing this series. And I hope that, just to echo what you said, I hope they play every year. Arizona and UCLA should be playing basketball. Yeah, Vegas is fine, but, you know, leave it up to me. Let's put it in Tucson. Let's put it at Paulie. I, I like being on the campuses, but, but, but we should be able to turn on the television at least once a season and be like, okay, Arizona, UCLA is playing. This is good. Del Orso was terrific. Interesting story here. He started 28 games last season and now he's coming off the bench playing behind two freshmen. Early candidate for sixth man of the year. He's averaging 13 and a half points, 45% from three for an Arizona team that I've got fifth in the top 25 and one. I know we will talk Arizona Yukon on Wednesday's pod.
- [42:35]
Matt Norlander
Yeah.
- [42:35]
Gary Parrish
But let's go ahead and just real quick question. Yep, Arizona wins that one.
- [42:43]
Matt Norlander
You're putting them at number one in the top 25.
- [42:45]
Gary Parrish
I mean, at some point you just have to go, they got two wins over top preseason, top five teams, three wins over top 15 teams. I'm just going to respect the resume. Arizona straight to number one if they win on Wednesday night.
- [42:55]
Matt Norlander
Correct. If they win in Gampel, it's in gamble. It's not even hard. They win in gamble. You have to jump them. I think they will have by far again, two and a half weeks worth of games. There won't even be someone close that will have the resume that will match them again. They got to win the game. We'll see. It's gonna be tough, but they do it. Yeah, they should be number one.
- [43:13]
Gary Parrish
I, I think, I think I'd have a hard time arguing with you. Like, and I'm not somebody who likes to move number one teams down without losing, but I, if you were ever going to do it, it, it might be Thursday morning. If Arizona is coming off of a win, coming off of a win at UConn elsewhere on Friday. Let's just stick with Friday for a second. Number 19. Gonzaga 77, Arizona State 65. It's a road win over a power conference opponent. Those are good to collect in November. Arizona State cut it to five in the second half. Never got closer than that. Graham AK 20 points, nine rebounds, 12 of 15 from the free throw line. I don't know what else there is to say about it other than another nice road win for the Zachs.
- [43:55]
Matt Norlander
Yeah, no, we can, we can keep it. We can keep it moving. I will also see Gonzaga. That's another team that's going to players era. They play Monday, next Monday against Alabama. I will 100% be in the building to see that game. To see the Zags Friday night. The other game that I had my eye on, Michigan beating TCU 67, 63. Yet another team, you know, I had them. I was pretty high. I had what number four preseason overall, they haven't really found themselves yet and that's totally understandable. The own wins over Wake and tcu, two teams I don't expect to be in the NCAA tournament. But those were both wins, not in Michigan's own building. And the TCU win was on the road. They won the game because of Merez Johnson Jr. And Yaxel Lindenberg. Those two won the game. Michigan had 22 turnovers. It was sloppy. Turnovers were also a bugaboo for the Wolverines last season. I know Dusty and that coaching staff are extremely aware of this. See if they can curb plenty of that. Elliot Cadeau had a couple of turnovers where it's like, man, you want to transfer, leave Carolina, go to Michigan and be a guy who's going to be a big time player on a team that's going to contend for a Big Ten championship, get a 1, 2, 3 seed. You got to work that stuff out of your system. We'll see if he can do it or not. It is a good sign that Michigan was able to put up again a subpar performance and get the win just their third game of the season. But TCU, you know, you're not projected to be a top 10 team in the Big 12. You get Michigan in your building, you're leading for plenty of it and you just toss it away. Didn't have a good shooting. I had a couple of bad shots overall, you have to take advantage of those opportunities. They didn't. This is a classic example. Sometimes when, when you're a good team and you don't play well and things are, you know, many reasons, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10 reasons are going against you, why you lose the game, you win it anyway. If you're not a good team. Usually can't overcome that stuff. A prime example there, Friday night In.
- [45:44]
Gary Parrish
Fort Worth, the turnovers were the story. I mean, they had two transfers get double doubles. Yaxo had 14 and 10, while Johnson 10 and 12. But 22 turnovers is a lot, and it has been a story for that program for the past couple of years. Their turnover rate right now is 20.1, which ranks 268th nationally according to bartorvic.com Elliot Kadung. Kado is averaging a career worst four turns per game and three other Michigan players are averaging at least two turns per game. So gotta get that control. You don't even want to know where Michigan is? If I remove preseason bias and sort data. You don't even want to know. I don't even want to tell.
- [46:33]
Matt Norlander
I mean, I don't. Let me get through, Let us get through, player. Let get, let us get to the Friday after Thanksgiving and then we'll start talking about filtering through and sorting all the data. Okay.
- [46:43]
Gary Parrish
I'm just saying it's, it's not great.
- [46:47]
Matt Norlander
I, I, I'm sure that's the case, but it's 28th.
- [46:49]
Gary Parrish
It's 28th. It's not as bad as I'm implying.
- [46:52]
Matt Norlander
Ucla is like 113th or whatever. So that's, that's a little bit better there.
- [46:58]
Gary Parrish
I don't think you're, I don't think you're. There's two things I've noticed about you lately, okay. One, you're not sorting your data enough.
- [47:05]
Matt Norlander
Not to donate to yet.
- [47:07]
Gary Parrish
And two, you're not in your scripture.
- [47:12]
Matt Norlander
I'm not?
- [47:12]
Gary Parrish
No, no, I can tell. It shows. It shows.
- [47:16]
Matt Norlander
I'm comfortable with that. By the way, the poll question to start the show was, which of these four teams do you trust the most yet? Purdue, Yukon, Houston, Duke, Purdue winning that poll with 42 according to our live audience. UConn 24, Houston 22, and then Duke 11. I didn't put Arizona in the poll or Josh technically put up the poll. Appreciate you Josh on that because Arizona is the most trustworthy team so far. It has the best wins. But obviously Arizona getting plenty of respect there. But Purdue, Real quick before we continue on, Purdue, Yukon, Houston, Duke. Who do you trust the most right now of those four?
- [47:53]
Gary Parrish
I'll go with Purdue since I have Purdue number one in the top 25 and one. But, but if you would allow me to say two, I would say Purdue in Houston just because like of the coaches of the pros, just everything about them, like the, the single elimination tournament at the end of this thing can lead to all sorts of wacky results as you know, but. But that acknowledged. I trust those programs. I. I feel like, despite how things can get weird sometimes, like, those are. It's. We're not going to be in March talking about what's going on with Purdue, what's going on with Houston. They're going to be top 10 all year. Part of the conversation all season. I'd be shocked if that's not true.
- [48:32]
Matt Norlander
All right, let's keep it moving. A couple of. I don't know if we call them homecoming games, but a couple of coaches going back to their old stomping grounds and both get the wins in road environments. I did not have this gp. One on Saturday, one on Sunday. Full transparency. I was on. Was on babysitting duty. My brother lives about, you know, 15, 20 minutes from me. Had to go to a wedding. And so he's got three boys, all under six and under. And so wife helped out for the first half and then took our kids home. Point is, it was time to get those kids out of the house into the nearby park and playground. So the Maryland Marquette game, I saw almost none of it. Maryland gets the win there. So I can speak to the. To the result, the outcome. I checked in on some of the stuff and notes afterward, but I was actually very intrigued on that game. And when you've got the kids just going nuts in the house, it's like, we got to get out of the house. Let's go play some Wiffle ball, get it done. Had to make the sacrifice there to make sure that everything was all in place for Saturday Night with UConn BYU. So we can start there. I know Chase Ross had himself a nice game with 31, but it wasn't enough. And I know that Marquette, you know, just gave up way too many opportunities. And the thing that I didn't see from this game, but I obviously heard about and apparently I don't want to see, is Pharrell Payne took a really, really bad spot. I didn't see it. I know it was bad. And obviously very bad news for Maryland because he could actually be the team's best player. Floor zeros gp it.
- [50:03]
Gary Parrish
I did not see it live. Went and did the Twitter search for it and was like, it's one of those that when you see it, it makes you make a sound. You know that kind of injury where it makes you make a sound, it'll make you make a sound. It's. That was not nice to see, but it was nice to see Buzz back in Milwaukee, even if it was a different arena. And he got I, I think it was a mixed reaction.
- [50:28]
Matt Norlander
Okay.
- [50:28]
Gary Parrish
You could, you could reasonably describe it as a mixed reaction, which I don't. It's fine. I mean, he did leave you for Virginia Tech. I mean, I get it.
- [50:38]
Matt Norlander
He did. I mean, on some level so far in the past, but I know happening and we don't really. This doesn't need to be a five minute offshoot, but when that whole thing was like going down, it was kind of like, what the hell is Buzz Williams doing? And this is, that's kind of been, you know, that's just his mo. He goes, he's, he's there for a place five, six, seven seasons, change of scenery. And that's just how he's, he's, he's handled his career. So getting a little bit of a mixed reaction doesn't surprise me. I think on the Friday show I said I didn't think he'd be outright booed and it would be mostly warm. But I, I understand that there were some, some jeers as well as.
- [51:07]
Gary Parrish
Yeah, I get that. But it, it, looking back on it, it makes no sense whatsoever on a surface level for a successful Marquette coach to take over a bad Virginia Tech program. But if you know Buzz at all, and you ever talk to Buzz at all, it makes sense with the way he approaches life. It made sense to him and he can explain it to you. If he, if he is interested in explaining to you, he can explain it to you and make it make a lot of sense. Even if, if, if on a surface level it was A, confusing and B, not the type of thing a lot of other coaches would have done. There aren't a lot of coaches who would have left Marquette after all that success, still in a good place and take a job like that. But, but Buzz is maybe the one guy who would. But, but the mixed reaction, I guess, was not surprising. Then Josh Passer comes back to Memphis on Sunday for his homecoming game. He, of course, coached the Tigers for seven seasons and he got a really nice reception. It was kind and sweet and he smiled and, and like, you know, acknowledged the crowd and you know, his wife was there and his father was there and his kids were there and I just thought it was the sweetest. It was really, really nice to see because like I've said before, he did a better job taking over that program after John Calipari than I think Memphis fans realized in real time because you were just used to winning every game and going to the Elite Eight. And you know, it was like, we.
- [52:37]
Matt Norlander
Win every game and go to the.
- [52:38]
Gary Parrish
Elite Eight every year. What is this? He, you know, he. He won two conference championships regular season, eight conference tournament championship. Can. You know, went to the NCAA tournament more times than not. And like, remember when he got this job, he's 31 years old.
- [52:54]
Matt Norlander
Yeah.
- [52:54]
Gary Parrish
Replacing John Calipari. And if you go look at his NCAA tournament losses at Memphis, do you know who knocked him out of the tournament? I think this is right. Tom Izzo, Tony Bennett, Rick Majeris, Sean Miller. I mean, he ran into monsters as a young head coach. I mean, majoris is Owen Bennett. I mean, what are we doing? So I. I think given everything that's happened since Josh left, the Tubby Smith years being a disaster, the Penny Hardaway years being a roller coaster.
- [53:25]
Matt Norlander
Yep.
- [53:26]
Gary Parrish
Memphians have a better appreciation for the impossible job. Josh took over. And you were never going to be able to. To meet the standards that John Calipari set. But with the benefit of hindsight, it's clear he did better. Better than people realize. And this is true. He is the most successful Memphis coach since John Calipari still to this day.
- [53:50]
Matt Norlander
Stop disrespecting me, bro.
- [53:53]
Gary Parrish
Point taken.
- [53:53]
Matt Norlander
Penny, bro.
- [53:54]
Gary Parrish
I don't mean it. I don't mean it that way, Penny, you know I don't mean it that way. But it is just. It is just true. Now to the game.
- [54:01]
Matt Norlander
Oh, okay. This is or is all yours. Because this is a disaster for Memphis. And I know again, three games into the season, you couldn't pull it off on the road against Ole Miss. Completely understandable. You have a UNLV team come into your building. That is bottom half. Mountain west has losses at home to ut, Martin and Montana. Credit to Montana, probably the best team in the Big Sky. It's not a bad team. But for that level, like, you do not lose. You shouldn't. If you're UNLV, you shouldn't be losing to Montana. Nine out of 10 times you're one of a pass or whatever, they take the loss, then they go in. And it is no nonsense. It is no nonsense. Running Memphis out of their own building.
- [54:34]
Gary Parrish
Yeah.
- [54:34]
Matt Norlander
And it just, you know, I know Paris on. On some level, this is just, you know, load them up and let's go. Because you got. You talk about them all the time, but this program, it's just. It's never not something. It really is. It's just never not something. With the Memphis Tigers in off seasons, during the season, unnecessary losses. You've got Purdue, by the way, coming up next on Thursday down at Baja Mar. Good Luck with that. There is a reasonable scenario in which Memphis is going to be a 1 in 4 program and its NCAA tournament hopes are kaput. Except for the fact if you can win the automatic bet in the American really bad just turn of events. I guess it'd be one thing if UNLV like eked out a win and it was a crazy game and the vibes were just, you know, pastors in the building. Weird stuff happens that that's not what this was. It was we're gonna kick your butt and, and take names, hop on the jet back home with the W. I was, I was dumbfounded how Memphis lived down to its reputation just in terms of metrics. They haven't been seen. I, I had them top 40 going the season. That was on me. I was wrong. And now they are, they're playing way from behind and they need to overcome this. They still have a lot of more opportunities in the non conference but right now we're at a point where again we are early. So I'll allow for some chance that they can actually figure this out and Penny can get some wins. But if he doesn't, this goes super sideways super fast. And you and I are talking on this podcast a month from now about a Memphis team that has twice as many losses as it does wins. And suddenly if someone asked in the chat, is Penny on the hot seat? If it is going to be that kind of season, unquestionably, and there's going to be some big questions in that town, floor is yours.
- [56:12]
Gary Parrish
They scheduled aggressively once again to try to build an at large resume given that there is nothing in the American that provides you with quality victories. And they looked, and have looked wildly ill equipped to handle the schedule. You know, they got Purdue and then after that either Wake Forest, Texas Tech, elsewhere on the schedule. They have a four game stretch coming up where it is, Louisville, Baylor, Vanderbilt and Mississippi State. If you just go to Kenpom right now and you look at their 12 game non league schedule, one of the games still has to be put on there because it'll be Texas Tech or Wake Forest. But just know that Texas Tech and Wake Forest are both rated ahead of Memphis.
- [57:02]
Matt Norlander
They'll be rejected to win no matter what.
- [57:03]
Gary Parrish
Okay, what do you think? 12 games, just King Palm projections. 12 non league games. What should Memphis if, if Memphis wins the game, Kinpom says you'll win.
- [57:12]
Matt Norlander
Lose the game.
- [57:13]
Gary Parrish
King Palm says you'll lose. What is it going to be? 12 games?
- [57:15]
Matt Norlander
I'll say five and seven, three and nine. Oh my God.
- [57:19]
Gary Parrish
I mean, buddy.
- [57:23]
Matt Norlander
Three and nine. Three and nine. I. I don't want to say can't happen. It obviously can, but that is.
- [57:31]
Gary Parrish
It would be 3 and 8 going into conference play with a February non league game at Utah State still on your schedule. That you would be at Utah State. Yeah.
- [57:41]
Matt Norlander
And that, that's not going to be an easy.
- [57:42]
Gary Parrish
I mean this could get really bad. Really bad.
- [57:45]
Matt Norlander
Or they can figure out a way to fix it and it gets. And you. And you salvage it. I'll allow for that.
- [57:49]
Gary Parrish
But I will tell you, I have personally seen you show up on this.
- [57:53]
Matt Norlander
Game on this Sunday. Passer comes into your building and you win with conviction. That's what you need to get done. And they failed the test miserably.
- [57:59]
Gary Parrish
Yeah. And so now a two game losing streak with Purdue on deck. I mean there's. We'll see. But Memphis has shown very little to make you think that that can be competitive and this thing could go sideways. You know this. They're one of I think 11 teams with a totally new roster. Not one returning player, not one person who played one minute last season. And these are the teams that can blow up on you. And it looks like he might have got caught with a team that is not built for this schedule. And I was gonna say things can get real ugly because they can. But I can just tell you as somebody who's been here my whole life, it's different now. Like even the building looks different now.
- [58:44]
Matt Norlander
Right, right, right. Yeah. Different from when. Even when Passner was in his final.
- [58:48]
Gary Parrish
Oh, yes, yes. I mean the, the season ticket sales have dwindled. Actual butts and seats. It looks nothing like it used to look. And if the team is then also bad, like here's the other thing I hear from friends all the time gp I don't even know who this on the team. I don't know the players. I don't know any of these people. There's a real disconnect. Even Penny has talked about this. And the hope was that they win some games to get people re engaged in reality, this is this. The Grizzlies are struggling. Tiger football team was supposed to go to the College Football Playoff. They now lost two straight. It's rough down here. It's rough down here, man. We're sad. We're sad as.
- [59:32]
Matt Norlander
Jesus. It's tough scenes, buddy.
- [59:36]
Gary Parrish
It's tough down here, man.
- [59:37]
Matt Norlander
Keep your chin up there. We'll get to the Florida's working its way to a victory, but we'll save that for the very last result. A Few more to tour around on the weekend. Georgetown beat Clemson 79.74. Career high 26 from K.J. lewis. Malik Mack had 16 points and 7 rebounds. Georgetown, it was actually, you know, felt like a little bit of a toss up game. And then Georgetown was just the smarter team, the tougher team. Down the stretch they get the win. And if you're George, if you're a Georgetown fan, we're early but man you.
- [60:03]
Gary Parrish
Gotta enjoy it, enjoy it.
- [60:05]
Matt Norlander
You've got to enjoy this because right now I have a buddy who went to Georgetown as an alum and right now there's, there's like right now it's, it's, there's some hope. You beat Maryland on its own floor and you beat Clemson. That could we be one of the four best teams in the Big East. And if we're one of the four best teams in the Big east, that means we should go to the NCAA tournament, right? We'll see on that. We'll save the biggies conversation, give it another week's worth of games. The league's got to do some more overall. But I put this out on Twitter on Saturday. Where Georgetown is right now is a spot that the program hasn't been in for well over a decade. And specifically what I am referring to is that it has won two games in the non conference play against high major opponents. Four games into the season there have been 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 seven of the previous eight seasons. Parish, Georgetown did not even win two games against high major teams in non conference play period. They didn't win two of them. They already have two of them now. The only time they did in the past seven, eight seasons was in the 2019-2020 season. They didn't win one high major game period in the non con in 2122 or appear or period for the entire schedule there. But year ago it took them to the 11th game to get their second high major non con one or second high major win two years ago game 15, the year before that in 2020. Game 28, 21, 22. It never came. 20, 21, 12th game, year before that game eight, year before that game 14, 16, 11 game seven, game 11, game 12. You are in a very nice spot early. The offense is not going to be pretty. Georgetown's not going to be beating teams 91 to 83. That's just not going to be what the case is most nights. But at least you've got some real confidence. We don't have to linger too long on this result. But when you do something that is going against what you've done for a decade plus, it's worth acknowledging there and the Hoyas doing good for themselves. Ed Cooley might really be a move for a shaker in year three.
- [61:57]
Gary Parrish
I keep getting, I keep getting tweets from Georgetown fans or they want to rank, don't they? Oh, man, they want them in the top 25. Slow down. All right?
- [62:07]
Matt Norlander
Yeah, slow down.
- [62:08]
Gary Parrish
You have yet to beat a team that is in the top 25 and 1. Not saying that's what it takes. I'm just saying you hadn't done that yet. But, but I'm excited for you. You know me, I'm always talking about stuff like this. I'm a child of the 80s, born in the late 70s, raised, fell in love with college basketball in the 80s. Georgetown was a big brand. UNLV was a big brand. I, I would love for those programs to be relevant. And if Ed has gotten Georgetown to that place in this season, then that's, that's awesome stuff. I, I, I'm paying attention. Georgetown fans. You're on my radar. We're just not there yet.
- [62:42]
Matt Norlander
Couple more. Nebraska beat Oklahoma 105.99. This is, this is very much a, that one's on me. I was wrong. I turned the game off. Oklahoma was in control late and then they blew it. They blew a 16 point deficit. Nebraska overcame it. Good job by Fred Hoiberg. Price Sanford, career high 28 points. Might be a, might be a dude there. Nebraska has won its last eight games. Nebraska has the longest win streak in men's Division 1 college basketball because they.
- [63:10]
Gary Parrish
Won that Las Vegas thing.
- [63:11]
Matt Norlander
They are your reigning crown champions, which I, I heard a rumor that they're gonna hang a banner. Maybe they already did hang a banner for winning the crown in Pinnacle Bank. I'd advise against that. You just don't need a reason for folks to, to give you reasons to.
- [63:27]
Gary Parrish
Yeah, yeah, that, yeah. By the way, that is exactly right. That's it. That is exactly the conversation that should take place. And this is like a good lesson for I am blown away by billion dollar companies and big entities that make these decisions where if you'd have just thought it through, you could have been like, like, ah, I could have seen this coming. So here's, here's exactly the thing. This is the conversation happened in Nebraska. Hey, we're thinking about, you know, we won that tournament in Vegas last year, right? The tournament that you only get to go to if you're not good enough to play in the ncaa. Tournament, Right, that one. Okay, I guess we were there. Might as well win it. But what are you asking me? Thinking about hanging a banner? A banner for the crown. Is that what we called that thing? Yeah, the tournament that you only are invited to if you're not good enough to play in the NCAA tournament. That's right. We're going to celebrate that with a banner. That's what I would like to do. Okay, let's hang it. What do you think happens when as soon as we hang it, somebody takes a picture of it? Right. Then what happens? It goes on social media. Right. Then what happens? People make fun of it. We get laughed at. People goof on us. Okay, then let's just skip that good conversation. I don't know why more people don't have those conversations. What's going to happen when people react to this thing we're thinking about doing? We will get made fun of. Are we going to be comfortable with that or will we bow to the pressure? We'll probably be uncomfortable and eventually take it down because it'll look, we'll feel stupid. All right, then let's just not put it up and skip all that. We just talked it through. I don't know why more people don't approach things like that.
- [64:59]
Matt Norlander
They should put up a you don't just walk into Pinnacle bank banner before.
- [65:02]
Gary Parrish
That's right. That is actually a worthy banner. Like a big banner. Like the. The Pay heed Kut.
- [65:09]
Matt Norlander
Yes, That's. That's what Nebraska. In fact, we've got a few. We've got a few folks who follow us. That can be.
- [65:14]
Gary Parrish
Okay, Nebraska, now we.
- [65:16]
Matt Norlander
With Photoshop.
- [65:17]
Gary Parrish
I need. I need.
- [65:18]
Matt Norlander
You don't just walk into Pinnacle bank arena banner photoshopped somewhere inside that building. Because, by the way, as always, remains my take on this podcast. You actually do, and many teams have. But this guy over here believes that you don't just walk into Pinnacle Bank. I. I'm telling you, don't.
- [65:33]
Gary Parrish
I'm telling you, you don't. I'm telling you, you don't. That's a great banner. That's something that should happen. Huge banner right above, like the main entrance into Pinnacle Bank. You walk into Pinnacle bank for the first time and the first thing you see, huge banner. And it says, you don't just walk into Pinnacle bank, period. That's all it says. You don't just walk into Pinnacle Bank. You don't even have to do the little M. Dash. Gary Parrish, CBS Sports. I don't even need credit.
- [66:02]
Matt Norlander
He doesn't want the royalties. He doesn't want any of it. Just get it up there.
- [66:05]
Gary Parrish
I mean, no, I do want it bad, okay? I want the attention and the credit, all that stuff. I want it badly. I just don't want to ask for it, all right? I don't want to. I don't want to be one of those people who is like, and you need to put my name on it and give me credit. There's nothing lamer than a bunch of journalists on Twitter to ask, begging for people to give them credit. Shut up.
- [66:26]
Matt Norlander
But when. When the. When the situation calls for it, if someone beat you, the story, give them credit. That's all. You know, something to be said for that. That's all.
- [66:32]
Gary Parrish
The. The dudes who. About not getting credit are the ones who won't give credit to the other guy when they break the story.
- [66:38]
Matt Norlander
We're shifting very far afield right now. Let's keep.
- [66:41]
Gary Parrish
Right.
- [66:41]
Matt Norlander
Let's keep it inside Pinnacle Bank.
- [66:43]
Gary Parrish
So. So I. Here's what I'm saying. If I'm being honest, if you'll allow me to be honest, I would love the credit. I would love for it to say. You don't just walk into Pinnacle Bank. M Dash. All caps, Gary Parrish.
- [66:56]
Matt Norlander
First reported by Pete Thammel.
- [66:58]
Gary Parrish
First reported by Pete Thammel. No, no, no. I invented this. I invented this. Pete. Pete's gonna tell you who's gonna be the next Florida coach, all right?
- [67:08]
Matt Norlander
He's gonna tell you who's going to be the next Florida wide receivers coach.
- [67:13]
Gary Parrish
Yes.
- [67:13]
Matt Norlander
Okay.
- [67:13]
Gary Parrish
Pete's gonna tell you who's gonna be the next defensive back coach at. @ lsu. I'm here to invent slogans, all right? You don't just walk into Pinnacle Bank. All caps, Gary Parrish. That's. But I don't need it. I don't need it. I would like it, but I don't. I don't need it. But that would be. That would be an awesome sign. Wouldn't that be an awesome banner?
- [67:33]
Matt Norlander
Someone please Photoshop.
- [67:34]
Gary Parrish
At the very least, get us a Photoshop.
- [67:37]
Matt Norlander
Make it look. Make it look halfway decent. Would love to see that. A couple more results. Ohio State held on narrowly to beat Notre Dame 64, 63. Bruce shorten had 24 points. Just Ohio State projected as a tournament team. Notre Dame's on the upswing. I like their prospects this season. Get the job done. Not beautiful, but made it happen. And then historical note. Matthews arena in northeastern, opened in 1910, was the. I say was because it played its final men's D1 game. The. The Hockey team actually is officially closed, closing the building down there, but had been the oldest continuously active men's basketball arena in the Sport. Northeastern loss 85 to 74 to Vermont. This was, according to the Wikipedia page, the oldest multi purpose athletic building still in use so period in the entire country. As well as the oldest arena used for ice hockey. The original home of the Boston Bruins and the Boston Celtics. Celtics play there in the 40s and 50s. Trivia time.
- [68:35]
Gary Parrish
Okay, let's go.
- [68:38]
Matt Norlander
Unintentional connection here on this trivia time, by the way, with Matthews Arena. No more chat. I'm going to ask you to hold back, please. Okay. Or GP just don't look at the chat. What is now the oldest active arena in college basketball?
- [68:52]
Gary Parrish
The Palestra.
- [68:53]
Matt Norlander
That is incorrect. But plaster is like top four. Your hint on this is someone who has been mentioned on this very podcast, quite famously played high school games in this arena.
- [69:04]
Gary Parrish
Hinkle.
- [69:08]
Matt Norlander
It's not Hinkle. Hinkles. I also think in the top five, but it's not in the top three. Levitas at Harvard is two. And I want to say what's three? Because I think. I think Heck. Heck at Washington might be 3. Anyway, that's not the answer.
- [69:25]
Gary Parrish
Okay, yeah, one more guess.
- [69:27]
Matt Norlander
It's. It's in the eastern time zone.
- [69:29]
Gary Parrish
I got it, got it, got it. Fiser Forum.
- [69:32]
Matt Norlander
I knew that was coming. I knew that was coming. Fiser Forum.
- [69:36]
Gary Parrish
Poly Pavilion.
- [69:38]
Matt Norlander
No, no, no. Rose Hill Gymnasium. Home, the Fordham Rams has been open since 1925. A young Lou Alcindor once put up some big numbers in that building. So coincidentally enough, we talk about Cream on the show. And yes, he wants once bald the hell out there, way back in the day before traveling cross country to play for John Wooden, the second best coach in the history of ucla. The game's not over, but I'm gonna call it over. And by the way, I remember in the off season, I'm talking about Florida, Miami. I remember in the off season when the rules got tweaked for monitor reviews and coaches challenges. And the idea like we're gonna, we're gonna slow the number of stoppages in the game. And I think there's going to be some progress to that. But I know I wrote about it and I think I said it on the show. If you think that this is going to suddenly change to where we're having Division 1 games clock in at 2 minute, 2 hours flat, you are sadly mistaken because we fired this podcast up an hour after Florida and Miami tipped. It's now 10:37 Eastern. They're just at the under four second half timeout. Florida's up 75.61. Thankfully we don't have to improv on the spot here and talk about a Gators team losing. Right now we are sitting pretty to have that game covering the final four and one, you're going to have beat me this, this past weekend. But yeah, Gators should, should handle the Canes here in Jacksonville and get it done. I was hoping we'd be able to talk about a final score. That's not happening. We're not hanging around until that game's over.
- [71:05]
Gary Parrish
Before, before we wrap, just a couple of more individual performances I wanted to note since we are talking about this fabulous freshman class every episode. Cameron Boozer at Duke, 35 points and 12 rebounds in Friday's win over Indiana State. And then at Illinois, David Merkavich got 27 points, 21 rebounds in Friday's 8465 win over Colgate. Became the first Illinois player to get 20 plus points and 20 plus rebounds in the same game since John Weathers. Nick Weatherspoon, I apologize. Nick weatherspoon back in 1972. So John Weatherspoon actor I'm gonna, I'm.
- [71:47]
Matt Norlander
Googling John Weatherspoon right now. See what, see what pops up. I love this game. Actor yes. Great call. John Weatherspoon. We lost him in 2019.
- [71:56]
Gary Parrish
Damn.
- [71:58]
Matt Norlander
Made it to 77. Oh, fresh prince of Bel Air. Wayne's Brothers, Tracy Morgan. Yeah, Boondocks man. There we go.
- [72:05]
Gary Parrish
Rest in peace.
- [72:06]
Matt Norlander
Recognize the face. You're going to no context Preview yeah, this is Nick.
- [72:11]
Gary Parrish
I'm talking about Nick though. Nick. Nick had a 20 plus points, 20 plus rebound game back in 1972. I'm sure John heard about it at the very least. And nobody had done that in all the years since until David Markovich. So now Illinois, Illinois's got a great freshman too. Yeah, at least one.
- [72:28]
Matt Norlander
And he wasn't even the one that. I know.
- [72:31]
Gary Parrish
That's the thing.
- [72:32]
Matt Norlander
When you sat down with Brad, it was Waggler, right?
- [72:35]
Gary Parrish
I did not talk to him specific. I didn't ask him to rank his freshman.
- [72:38]
Matt Norlander
Well, I think, I think Underwood in this, in the preseason was talking up Keaton Wagler like a ton and, and now it's Merkavich who's actually stepped up in Illinois looking, looking pretty solid so far. Obviously got the win over Texas Tech last weekend. They will play Alabama this upcoming week. We'll preview that on the Wednesday morning show. Some, some big time matchups there. Speaking of games that are looming ahead. Let's tell the people what they need to know for Monday and then obviously we got some stuff to talk about on Tuesday before we get out of here.
- [73:03]
Gary Parrish
Okay. Monday's not great.
- [73:06]
Matt Norlander
There is one intriguing one.
- [73:07]
Gary Parrish
Well, VCU at NC State is that it's. Yeah.
- [73:11]
Matt Norlander
Now it's not Will Wade in Richmond. He has done that before. And VCU fans showed up in. And there's a. There's a great video out there because I remember, like, they're on the baseline. They're literally like, they're on the baseline and the LSU benches right there. And you got these. These VCU fans like flashing phony badges right at Will Wade. And we've. We've credited Will Wade with just kind of rolling with it and never. Never taking himself too seriously in this regard. Would love to see him get back there. But that's not that VCU is going to play at NC State. Well, way going. It's a former team is just intriguing. Generally speaking, we think NC State will win the game. But VCU, one of many a 10 teams that have, you know, fared well for themselves in the first two weeks of the season.
- [73:51]
Gary Parrish
Tulsa at Kansas State. I saw Tulsa at the Veterans Classic a couple of Fridays ago. And like, I'm not saying watch out Purdue, you know, but in the American, they look like a team good enough to compete at the top of the American, even though I believe they were picked seventh in the preseason poll. Keep an eye on that one. Tulsa at Kansas State. And then if you like in State stuff, Oregon State at Oregon special shouts Beaver Fever.
- [74:18]
Matt Norlander
Of course. Of course. If you're wondering what Beaver fever is, well, you're a newbie to the show. You gotta. You gotta get it in the knowledge.
- [74:25]
Gary Parrish
I know, but be careful Googling that one.
- [74:28]
Matt Norlander
That's correct. That's correct.
- [74:30]
Gary Parrish
Be careful.
- [74:30]
Matt Norlander
Google that thing. Honestly, it goes. It goes without saying, Beaver fever could.
- [74:35]
Gary Parrish
Take you a lot of different places, buddy.
- [74:38]
Matt Norlander
Tuesday, I'm gonna do it. Champions Classic.
- [74:40]
Gary Parrish
I'm gonna Google it. You talk about the Champions Classic.
- [74:44]
Matt Norlander
I'm a Google talk about. Unfortunately, we have injury issues affecting the night. It's going to get started with Kentucky against Michigan State. And the status of Jalen Lowe as we speak at this hour is just undetermined. He hurt his shoulder again. Kentucky played Friday night cruising runaway win against Eastern Illinois. The next game is Tuesday at the Garden. I'll be there on hand to see MSU Kentucky. That is a 6. Just a heads up, that is a 6. 30 eastern tip on ESPN as someone who's going to be in the building. I love it. 6:30 as opposed to 705 or 7:10? Yes please. But we don't know what Jalen Lowe status is. He's got, he got multiple opinions on what's going on with the shoulder. It's now popped out a couple of times and it is a, it's a question of he's not expected to play on Tuesday. Does he need a scope? Does he need surgery? Is this going to be a long term thing? How long is he going to be out for? We wait and see on that. Michigan State at this point is 3 0. Has the home win over Arkansas really good game on on as the undercard and then the later game we may be robbed of one of the three or four most notable head to head matchups of the non conference. You've got Duke against Kansas, that game scheduled to tip around approximately 9 Eastern on Tuesday in the Garden and while Cameron Boozer is healthy and good to go on that end Bill Self revealed on Saturday that the alleged cramp issue that Darren Peterson had been having wasn't really necessarily cramps, it was more of a strained hamstring. And his Self's exact quote was that Darren Peterson will remain out for the quote, immediate future and then quote I just don't know how long that'll be. End quote. I really would love to see Darren Peterson playing person Self comes before my wants and desires and the greater wants and desires of Kansas fans and college basketball fans. But this would be a like the matchup will be good and be buzzed about and we'll leave the show with it on Wednesday morning. But not getting Cameron Bruiser versus Darren Peterson. They don't play the same position. They mostly wouldn't guard each other. But to have those they might be the top two picks in the draft. Not getting that in the Champions Classic in the world's most famous arena would be a major downer. So unfortunately and I can't remember the last time this happened if there are any Champions Classic uber scholars out there. I just can't remember last time. This event which is obviously one of the biggest ones every single November had two specific really impactful injuries hovering over it. Every so often one team will have an issue, but two games, two different injuries, Kentucky's not the same team without Jalen Lowe and then you take Darren Peterson off of Kansas and oh boy, that's a lot different and changes just the general outlook of that game. So we wait and see on if we get any more information between now and tip time on Tuesday night. I got an answer to your question on Beaver Fever.
- [77:36]
Gary Parrish
It was Champions Classic 2020. Two teams didn't even show up.
- [77:42]
Matt Norlander
Oh, that's, that's, that's true. That was the dumbest pandemic of our lifetime. So that is true.
- [77:48]
Gary Parrish
Dude, I went to Las Vegas and two teams didn't show up.
- [77:51]
Matt Norlander
The year where Covid literally stopped the Champions Classic from being played as it should be played. That's got a one up on the fact that we don't know if Darren Peterson's gonna play Tuesday night and Jalen Lowe might be off a little bit.
- [78:00]
Gary Parrish
And if I remember right in the double header, it was one team from the first game and one team from the second game.
- [78:07]
Matt Norlander
Yeah.
- [78:08]
Gary Parrish
And so we ended up putting two teams against each other who weren't even supposed to play just to get one game out of the Champions Classic. It's good times.
- [78:16]
Matt Norlander
And then as a random aside to that, Duke is going to play at Michigan State in December. And the, and that is, that is connected to the fact that Duke and Michigan State, the Champions Classic getting canceled that year. And then Duke played. Michigan State played at Duke as a make good. And Duke's just had to fulfill the back end of that, you know, unexpected home and home. And that finally gets fulfilled in less than a month from now.
- [78:39]
Gary Parrish
So the therapy, like you just hate. I'd rather hear a lot of different things than hamstring because that's just not something you play with.
- [78:49]
Matt Norlander
You just don't like, don't want to mess with it. Word is that Peterson wants to be out there. So this is like you understanding it got top three pick like people like, oh, okay, Is it, is it load management? That's not, that's not the word emanating from Lawrence. Peterson wants to be on the floor, but they are going to make sure that he is good to go. And they don't want to have him get out there and then, damn, he tweaks it and then he's out for six weeks. They do not want that. That's why I'm a little skeptical we'll see him on the floor Tuesday. But I'd love to be wrong.
- [79:14]
Gary Parrish
I mean, I can just tell you if, if he's going to be an NBA player, if he already was one, he wouldn't play. No, no. I mean in, in the NBA, you a hamstring, you see somebody go, oh. And then they, they limp off and it's like hamstring. We'll, we'll check on you in three Weeks. Like that's the type of thing that happens there. So this stinks. You know, all the time spent thinking about what he would be at Kansas and now it gets off to this, this kind of start. Hopefully he, he gets well, gets well soon.
- [79:47]
Matt Norlander
Yep.
- [79:48]
Gary Parrish
Think that's a show.
- [79:50]
Matt Norlander
Bears are seven.
- [79:52]
Gary Parrish
I gotta tell you something.
- [79:53]
Matt Norlander
Beaver fever.
- [79:54]
Gary Parrish
Yeah.
- [79:55]
Matt Norlander
Okay.
- [79:55]
Gary Parrish
It's actually an intestinal illness. It's a real thing. You could get beaver. You could actually get beaver fever. And not, not because you became enthusiastic about the Wayne Tinkle's basketball program.
- [80:07]
Matt Norlander
Okay.
- [80:07]
Gary Parrish
It would be because you have contracted an intestinal illness caused by a microscopic parasite. That's beaver fever.
- [80:19]
Matt Norlander
Didn't need to know someone in the chat also saying it's diarrhea. So we've really run the gamut on tonight's show. Wow.
- [80:25]
Gary Parrish
Yeah, I didn't know that's what it meant to have beaver fever. I thought it was a good thing. I didn't know you were just running all over yourself. That's tough. That's tough. Shouts to Devin Downey. Shouts to Chester, S.C. shouts to Terry Teagle. He's a legend. Huck Larnell. Thank you guys once again for watching and listening to the I own College Basketball podcast. If you're not subscribed, please go subscribe anyway. Subscribe to podcasts, Apple Spotify, more of us than there are of them. That should be reflected in the comments. To do that we will take talk to you again. When will we talk to people again?
- [80:58]
Matt Norlander
Wednesday at 9:45am your boy over here is probably gonna walk in the door from the Garden. I Hope it's by 2:15am I'll pull a GP trying to squeeze a little bit of sleep in. And then 9:45am Wednesday, recap everything from Tuesday and set the table for a huge Wednesday in the sport. Actually gonna go from the garden Tuesday night. Make the drive up to storrs for Arizona versus Yukon and Gamble. But yes, Wednesday, 9:45am Please be there and continue to rate review like the show. We could use some, we could use some freshies on the reviews by the way, on Apple podcasts. I, I checked in over the weekend for the first time in literally I think a year and we could use some. Just pop five stars, nice comments. Throw it back to the five stars.
- [81:44]
Gary Parrish
Nice. Like you don't even have to really. I know sometimes people don't want to get into reviews. Be like, I don't know what to do.
- [81:49]
Matt Norlander
Right.
- [81:49]
Gary Parrish
Oh, let me help you. GP is amazing. That's fine. That one always Works. GP is hilarious. GP's muscles are so awesome.
- [81:59]
Matt Norlander
I regret bringing this up. I do have an update.
- [82:00]
Gary Parrish
I want to talk about my muscles in the comments. You could do that.
- [82:05]
Matt Norlander
I. I have. I have an update on the birthday comments.
- [82:07]
Gary Parrish
You have an update on what?
- [82:08]
Matt Norlander
On the birthday shout from last.
- [82:10]
Gary Parrish
Oh, yeah. How'd that go?
- [82:11]
Matt Norlander
I'm sure good. I don't. I don't have the. The woman's age, but the Kyle who we wish happy birthday to, he'll be 28. So safe to assume that they're good to go and.
- [82:23]
Gary Parrish
Well, you can't assume anything these days.
- [82:27]
Matt Norlander
No, I heard from both. Here's. Here's what Kyle said. I wanted to send such a big thanks for the birthday shout out on the episode earlier today as you guys called out. My girlfriend Kayla is truly the best. It was such an amazing surprise and I'm still picking my jaw up off the floor from the shock. That's some good. Some good. Girlfriend Stephanie goes. I know there was some speculation about us being high schoolers, but I'll be turning 28.
- [82:47]
Gary Parrish
Good.
- [82:47]
Matt Norlander
So, of course, Kayla and I are both strong believers that there are. Hashtag more of us. There it is.
- [82:53]
Gary Parrish
So that he. They do it. Is that what he was saying?
- [82:57]
Matt Norlander
Yes. And now we're talking about it on a national.
- [83:00]
Gary Parrish
Awesome, man.
- [83:00]
Matt Norlander
Good for you. You know what, girlfriend? She sent the email. Yes. More of us. That. That is correct.
- [83:06]
Gary Parrish
Good for you guys.
- [83:06]
Indeed Announcer
Yes.
- [83:07]
Matt Norlander
Good for you, too. I. I hope the. The. I hope the reference and just the name drop and acknowledgement on the show added to an even better birthday weekend for Kyle, man. I do, too. I really genuinely hope so, man.
- [83:19]
Gary Parrish
I do, too.
- [83:20]
Matt Norlander
And that is a show.
- [83:22]
Gary Parrish
All right, we gotta go. All right. I got things I got to do. I'll see y' all on Wednesday. Bye.
- [83:38]
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