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Jon Rothstein (18:26)

All right, Jon Rothstein, back here on Inside College Basketball. Now, going to the top right portion of your bracket right now. This is the west region, which I have named the region of four Floor Generals. That's because there's incredible, incredible guard play in this region. Arizona with Jaden Bradley. Utah State with Mason Falls. Lev obviously Wisconsin with Nick Boyd and John Blackwell. Darius Acuff at Arkansas. BYU has Rob Wright, Miami's got Trey Donaldson, and Purdue, of course, has Braden Smith. So we're gonna go right now with the region of Floor generals. We're gonna look top right. We're gonna start with Arizona, the number one seed in the West Region over liu. I am going to take Kevin Willard and Villanova to beat Utah State. Wisconsin over High Point, Arkansas over Hawaii. That is a real, real fascinating matchup in that 5, 4. We'll get to that in a second. Give me BYU over Texas. Texas plays NC State in the first four. Give me Gonzaga over Kennesaw. And I'm going to take Miami, who is playing this game, okay, in St. Louis against Missouri. I went over the mileage. It is over a thousand miles for Miami to get to this arena in St. Louis. It is just over a hundred miles for the Tigers to get there. This is going to be a very pro Missouri crowd later in the week in St. Louis, which is where I am going with Spiro Dietis and Jim Spinarkle. Can't wait for that. And I'm taking Purdue to be Queens. So as we look now at the matchups that we have in the round of 32, I've got Arizona over Villanova. I am going to take also Wisconsin over Arkansas. I think a little bit too much up front for Wisconsin, especially if we can get Nolan Winter back, which we're waiting to hear. Then I'm going to take Gonzaga over BYU and Purdue over Miami. I've got Purdue beating Gonzaga and I beating Wisconsin. So the Boilers were going to Arizona. Purdue. Look, it makes so much sense to be all in on Arizona. They've been a wrecking machine. They're going to be playing in San Jose, which is going to be a very, very pro Arizona crowd. But I'm a sentimental person. I'm somebody who loves great plays, great books, great storylines. And I firmly believe that Purdue, and I don't want to say Purdue was waiting till the start of the Big Ten tournament. To start the season. But this nucleus knew what was at stake in terms of the situation and when things really obviously were going to be put into play at the highest level. And what do I mean by that? When I started in this business, UConn in 2004 was the number one team. Ben Gordon to the league. Brown, Charlie Villanueva, Emeka Okafor. That team really didn't turn it on till the Big east tournament that year and start playing like a national champion. The defending national champion Florida Gators after Billy Donovan won it in 2006. I know that they were a 1 seed in the 2007 NCAA tournament, but they did not, you know, really get into a situation where they were playing like a team that was going to go back to back until later in the year. I see the same thing in Purdue. Purdue. Purdue's freshman Smith lawyer Kaufman Wren went through everything in their college careers. It started as freshmen when they won a Big Ten regular season title, a Big Ten tournament title, and then we're at the wrong end of the worst upset in the history of the NCAA tournament against Fairleigh Dickinson. The sophomore year was the great redemption tour. Beating Tennessee to go to the final Four, going all the way to the final Four, and then losing the UConn in the national championship game last year. Then they went to the sweet 16, lost the heartbreaker to Purdue. So they're made for all seasons. I'm taking Purdue out of the regional floor Generals and I'm taking Braden Smith to get Purdue to the Final Four for the second time in three years. Now we go to the bottom right portion, the Midwest region, the region of innovation. Because I look at the coaches in this conference and I look at the way they've adapted to the modern era of college basketball. Dusty May has been as good a roster composition guy as there is in the sport. St. Louis and Josh Shirts have obviously had a great style of play in the Atlantic 10. Nate Oates in Alabama, obviously, you know, a innovative offense that takes a lot of threes. Very forward thinking. And you could say the same thing about Ryan Odom at Virginia being innovative roster composition, putting together a roster. We have to remember that in year one, he has Virginia as a three seed in the NCAA tournament. So this is the region of innovation. I'm gonna go right now with my picks, starting at the top. Obviously, Michigan advances. I'm gonna take Georgia to beat St. Louis. So Mike White gets Georgia to the round of 32. Another NCAA tournament appearance for Mike White, who has quietly done a great job after losing Silas Demery Jr. To UConn and then losing obviously Asa Newell to the NBA. I'm going to take Akron and John Gross to upset Texas Tech, obviously a little bit banged up after losing JT Toppin but Tavare Johnson obviously one of the great mid major players we have in the sport, Alabama over Hofstra and then I'm gonna have a Michigan Alabama game in the sweet 16 which would be a fascinating matchup there, Michigan against Alabama. So we got Michigan moving on. Let's go to the bottom part of the bracket right now. Tennessee Virginia is a war. I am going to go this is a tough one. I'm gonna roll the I'm gonna take Rick Barnes and Tennessee over the SMU obviously Miami, Ohio and I'm going to take Tennessee to go to the sweet 16 which Kobe Gillespie, Nate Ament, Felix Akbara, I'm going to take Tennessee to turn the water off for the acc. I'm going to take Kentucky over Santa Clara and Iowa State to be Tennessee State and then I've got Iowa State Tennessee in a bloodbath in the Sweet 16 that will be first to 60 wins. I'm going to take the Cyclones there to move on and I am going to have a Iowa State Michigan regional final in Chicago, which was the same place Michigan played against Purdue today and I'm going to take Michigan to get to the Final Four. So you look right now at my Final Four. I've got three twos and a one. We've got obviously storylines all over the place. You've got UConn against Houston, you have Michigan against Purdue, which is the rematch of the Big Ten tournament title game. I am taking UConn to beat Houston to advance to the national title game for the third time in the last four years and I am going to take Purdue to win the rubber match against Michigan and I then am going to again, I'm a sentimental person. In a rematch of the 2024 national title game, I am going to take Purdue to finish the job and win a national championship at Lucas Oil Field in Indianapolis. Matt Painter has said repeatedly that this is the best chance that Purdue has to win a national championship. I said that anything less than a Final Four will be a major disappointment for Purdue. You're seeing obviously now what the path would look like for the Boilers, who if they win their first two games and I'll be with them their first two games, if they win their first two games, they are definitely going to be in a situation where they have to get out west and play these games in San Jose.

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Jon Rothstein (27:05)

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Jon Rothstein (27:19)

Let's get into the chat right now, see some of your comments, see what you want to talk about. Got obviously all this chat is bleeding right now. My God. Okay, let's look at some of these questions. This is Blake Widmer says John, how does Purdue look to you now? Well, pretty good, Blake. I just picked him to win the national championship. Now you're in a scenario where you've got Purdue as your team to win it all. That's going to be a big time, big time thing to keep an eye on moving forward. I think it's a team of destiny with the way obviously that they played. James Stuber says TCU is going to beat Ohio State and Duke. Well, look, I picked TCU to beat Ohio State and I said this on our show on CBS Sports. I don't think people have obviously watched TCU closely enough to know how good this team is and how solid this team is. Think back to Jamie Dixon's teams at the University of Pittsburgh. Solid. Don't turn it over. High percentage shots. I like TCU to beat Ohio State, setting up obviously a major, major matchup with Duke, which again is reminiscent of what we saw, okay, four years ago against Arizona in San Diego. John, what is the double digit seed you think is most likely to make the second weekend? Well, I'll say this, I think it's a golden opportunity for Jon Gross and Akron, who almost beat UCLA four years ago in 2022. Santa Clara is going to be a trendy pick here, but I don't see Santa Clara beating both Iowa State and Kentucky. Wouldn't shock me if they beat Kentucky, but I don't think they will double digit seeds right now. I'm going to go with Troy. I think Troy is a team that People need to look at just because I think Nebraska has tapered off down the stretch. I know Vanderbilt is a team obviously that is playing great, great basketball. But Scott Cross's team I think, you know, if you're looking at double digit seeds would have the best. I mean you could make a case too for the end, the NC State Texas winner who then would take a wounded BYU team on and pour them. But look, I'm going to say this. The Texas NC State winner, which I believe is going to be Tuesday night in Dayton is going to have to play that game. And I know this from working on the first four the past couple years, is going to have to play that game and then get on a plane, go cross country to Portland, deal with the time change, practice, prepare and then play. That is a lot to ask for that team to go do that. More questions here. A lot of Missouri fans talking about the idea that they can't believe they got a home game. That to me was a bad, bad deal in terms of the scenario going on. Let's see other questions here. Somebody saying Northern Iowa is your 512run of this year. Wes Washburn ain't walking through that door, buddy. But keep an eye on Leon. Right now. A lot of people talking about John Shire in the chat. See what else anybody wants to talk about. Somebody's saying Kansas or St. John's will lose early. I don't see Kansas losing the Cal Baptist. I don't see St. John's losing the Northern Iowa. Take some more questions. Arizona continues to show they're on a tier of their own. They're the number one overall seedling, not the number one overall seed. But I will say this. You know, Tommy Lloyd is one of the coaches in this tournament that is really going to be in the spotlight. And that always happens when you're a one seed. It always happens when you're, you know, at Arizona. You're always going to be hoping to get to a Final Four. Haven't been in 25 years. But things are completely aligned for Arizona to accomplish that. Arizona's one seed. Arizona's on the west coast. Arizona is playing in San Diego, in San Jose. And then Arizona also is in a situation where it's got veteran point guard play. It's got great size up front. I think. You know Arizona is going to be hard pressed to lose before the Sweet 16. But Arizona has not gotten past the Sweet 16 under Tommy Lloyd. Lost to Houston in 2022, lost to Princeton in the first round in 2023, 2024 Arizona got upset by Clemson last year, got upset by Duke, can't seem to get past the sweet 16. Think it will happen this year, but we don't know. We don't know if we're going to see obviously Arizona be in a situation where it will get by Purdue, even though the game's in San Jose to get to a Final Four. See what else we got going here. Right now, some people are talking about this Duke, St. John's game. Somebody brought Troy. A lot of Nebraska fans getting obviously in the chat right now because I picked Troy to beat Nebraska. Look, I would love to go to Nebraska and I would love to go to Lincoln and give you guys a happy hour. But I'm just giving you the facts right now. Utah State. Now this is another interesting thing, people talking about Utah State. This is the first year since 2017 that the Mountain West Conference has only had one team in the NCAA Tournament. This has been a great, great league for a long, long time and it's going to be a different league next year with the start of the new PAC12. But that is something to really, really monitor moving forward. A lot of people talking about the Purdue, Arizona situation and the potential the Elite Eight game. Take a couple more here before I put a bow on the show. Virginia, Tennessee. A lot of people obviously chiming in on the fact that, you know, the ACC is obviously not going to be well represented in my sweet 16. I'll say this, I really think when you look at this bracket, I don't see a team in the ACC having a clear path to the second weekend other than Duke. It would not shock me if the ACC only gets one team in the second weekend. I think it could get two because obviously Virginia is a really, really good team. But that Tennessee matchup is looming for Virginia in the round of 32. You've got Rick Barnes defense, you've got a veteran point guard in Jacoby Gillespie who went to a sweet 16 last year at Maryland. And you also got Nate A. Met, who's obviously one of the more talented players in the sport. Want to remind everybody that I'm going to be back with all of this dialogue and all of this topic Monday, 1:00 clock Eastern on CBS Sports Network. I will also be with you before the start of the first round on Wednesday and before I go to St. Louis. So this content is only getting started. Think of this show as your charcuterie board for March Madness. You've had the brigitte, you've had the crackers, you've had the grapes but tomorrow we give you a little bit more. I don't know if you're getting the main course, but we're going to spice up the appetizers. Want to remind you guys, as always to subscribe to Inside College Basketball now on both Apple and Spotify. Or we want to be your bible for the college basketball season and beyond. We are the only college basketball podcast coming to you 52 weeks out of the calendar year. And also want to remind you to like and subscribe to Inside College basketball now on YouTube. And also hit the hype button to give us the palpable buzz that is needed to make Inside College Basketball the elite college basketball podcast in the world. We need an army with us each and every show here on Inside College Basketball. And are you ready to be all you can be? 68 teams left, 67 games remaining. I will be back with you Monday afternoon, 1 o' clock Eastern on CBS Sports Network. This was Inside College Basketball now with John Rothstein,

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