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- [00:01]
Tom Cream
5:00am I'm up with a crisp Celsius energy drink running 12 miles today. Grab a green juice, quick change and head to work. Meetings, workshops One more Celsius. No slowing down. Working late but obviously still meeting the girls for a little dancing. Celsius Live Fit.
- [00:17]
Commercial Announcer
Go grab a cold refreshing Celsius at
- [00:20]
Tom Cream
your local retailer or locate now@celsius.com
- [00:26]
Matt Jones
the Arizona Wildcats.
- [00:28]
Tom Cream
They win the Big 12 tournament championship. NBC Retrievers dancing on a March Madness.
- [00:36]
Matt Jones
This is a victory for St. John's and the pandas are going dancing. Our nation, the 2026 conference USA champions and Hawaii is on to the NCAA Tournament.
- [00:53]
Tom Cream
NDSU is your regular season and postseason champions of the Summit League Shark Nation. Put your fins up.
- [01:02]
Matt Jones
LIU has won the and the Wright State Raiders are your 2026 Horizon League tournament champions. The Hawkster prime heading to the NCAA Tournament. They are CAA Conference Tournament champion.
- [01:18]
Tom Cream
Sienna back where it belongs and the Saints are marching into the madness.
- [01:25]
Matt Jones
CBU succeed the Last Dance for Me
- [01:32]
Tom Cream
Let the games begin.
- [01:34]
Matt Jones
This is the Men's Bracketology Selection show
- [01:37]
Tom Cream
on ESPN Radio and on the ESPN app. Let the games begin.
- [01:49]
Matt Jones
It is that time again. It is College Basketball Selection Sunday and this is the NCA Men's College Basketball Selection Special presented by Marriott Bonvoy. I am Matt Jones. Myron Metcalf and Tom Crean are with me. This is your first year with this. Tom. Thank you very much for joining.
- [02:08]
Tom Cream
Thanks for having me. I always listen to it and so it's great to be a part of this.
- [02:11]
Matt Jones
Well, it is wonderful to have you and Myron. I'm going to go ahead and get started because the brackets are coming out and I'm going to read you. We have most of our first region so I'm going to go ahead and go through it for the listeners right now. The one seed in the East Region is the Duke Blue Devils. Duke will be the number one overall seed. They will play in Greenville, South Carolina. They draw the 16 seed Sienna. Duke in Sienna going to Sienna one surprises to get in the tournament. They draw Duke the 89 in that same region. Ohio State is the 8 and TCU is the 9. Ohio State and TCU so that that is the little Duke sub pot. The five is St. John's Rick Patino wins the Big east ho. I think they hoped would get a four. They end up getting a five. They will play Northern Iowa in kind of a dangerous first game and then the four seed is Kansas who will play Cal Baptist. That is the top half of the East Region Myron, I'll just go ahead and get started. Duke, sienna, Ohio State, TCU, St. John's Northern Iowa, Kansas, Cal Baptist. What sticks out to you about that section of the bracket?
- [03:21]
Myron Metcalf
Well, I think if Rick. Rick Patino. You're not gonna be excited about having to go through Duke. I'd say that's a dangerous first round matchup.
- [03:27]
Tom Cream
Coach.
- [03:27]
Myron Metcalf
With Cal Baptist, Dominic Daniels, number five in the country and score and can put up big numbers. If Kansas isn't on his P's and Q's, they could get bounced early.
- [03:34]
Tom Cream
Yeah, absolutely. And. But. But I'm excited to see what Kansas is all about inside of this tournament. You did that feature on Darren Peterson. He's playing better. The improvement of guys like Melbourne Council, junior Trey White, Florida Dunga, those guys have gotten better all year. But that team, if they've got a healthy Darren Peterson and that ball is moving and they're locked in because obviously there's times they're not. They are dangerous for anybody.
- [03:58]
Matt Jones
I'm looking here we go to the bottom half the bracket in Buffalo. These first two games are. The first round will be Louisville. The seed gets a six for Pat Kelsey and Louisville. They will play South Florida, a very dangerous 11 that won their conference tournament today. Michigan State is the 3 seed. Tom is on the group that might be the strongest three seed. Play the 14 seeded North Dakota State. Then the seven is UCLA. They're playing in Philadelphia against Central Florida, about as far away as two schools can be from each other. And then the two seed is Yukon and they will be against the 15 seed, Furman. So in the east, the one is Duke, the two is Yukon, three is Michigan State, four is Saint or, four is Kansas, five St. John's and six Louisville. I'm not going to see the other brackets yet, Tom, but that's the hardest one, man.
- [04:53]
Tom Cream
I mean, the tournament is way better than I thought it might be. When you start to see it unveiled, if that is a bracket right there, that's incredible.
- [05:02]
Matt Jones
Duke is the best one seed.
- [05:04]
Myron Metcalf
Yeah.
- [05:05]
Matt Jones
UConn is the best two seed and Michigan State's probably the best three seed if you're looking at it, or at least very close to the top. And St. John's is a five. I mean, that East Region. Yeah, that is stacked.
- [05:17]
Myron Metcalf
I mean, John Shire is throwing stuff around the room right now, trying to figure out how he got this set up to try to chase his first championship going up against UConn and St. John's that is a gauntlet to try to get to the championship.
- [05:28]
Matt Jones
Tom. I really can't get over that. I mean, you know, I know they. I'll be interested to see when they released all of the seeds to see how it went, but you have to think the 41 seeds are going to be Duke, Michigan, Arizona, Florida. If so, Yukon is next. If Duke is the overall number one, they must have gotten the best number two. Or it may be that the NCAA selection committee just didn't value the big east with St. John's also getting a five.
- [05:53]
Tom Cream
Yeah, I don't get the St. John's at five, and I'm sure everyone was predicting that. And that's what makes it even worse, because they're better than that. You know, I wasn't quite sure Michigan State would end up on a two line like Joel and already had them. Yeah, so the three kind of makes sense there, but that is incredible. I mean, that is an absolutely incredible run there and in St. John's what you have with that team. And so, I mean, we're going to go into this later, but if Duke plays tcu, which I think could beat Ohio State, that is no gimme. TCU is way better in the Big 12 than people think. I mean, they've got forwards, they've got physicality, they've got bigs that can attack the rim, they're defensively good. Jamie Dixon's a fantastic coach. Like, it's going to be hard from Duke for Duke, right out of the chute.
- [06:35]
Myron Metcalf
TCU beat Florida early in the season, but Ohio State's playing the best basketball the season right now. Bruce Thorne and company, they look pretty good. Nothing is easy.
- [06:43]
Matt Jones
Let me give you a couple other. So. So you got the TCU game. Look at the bottom half of that. Again, let's assume there are no upsets. St. John's Kansas in the second round. Darren Peterson and whatever that situation ends up against the Big east champion. You've spent a lot of time with the Kansas team. That's a. I mean, that's a. That's a battle that you might have thought was going to be in the Final Four at the beginning of the season.
- [07:05]
Myron Metcalf
Yeah, I mean, and Tom said it depends on, like, how they come together. If they're all on the same page, that team can beat anybody in America. Darren Peterson is most effortless scorer I've seen at this level since Kevin Durant. But we've also seen moments where they're just not all on the same page and they can lose to anybody. We saw that against Cincinnati. So how Kansas shows up mentally is going to determine. I Think how they approach.
- [07:26]
Matt Jones
And then in Buffalo, you could end up with the second round time of Louisville and Michigan State. You know, Mikel Brown, you get him in any given game scenario can be very dangerous.
- [07:37]
Tom Cream
I'd hate to be making my bracket betting on Michael Brown Jr. Being in that game. I really would. I mean, it's just. It's been too.
- [07:44]
Matt Jones
How do you even know what to do with him?
- [07:47]
Tom Cream
I think. I think the people on the outside, I think the family, obviously, they've got the training staff there, but I don't think there's any question. There's outside factors in determining if he's going to play or not. Michigan State is hard to deal with when you're not used to dealing with that physicality.
- [08:03]
Matt Jones
Yes.
- [08:04]
Tom Cream
And it's almost like St. John's and UConn are used to playing each other. UConn had a real problem with how St. John's takes their individual space away, how physical they are. Well, that's how Michigan State plays. And Louisville does not like that.
- [08:17]
Matt Jones
No, they do not.
- [08:18]
Tom Cream
I don't care If Mikel Brown Jr. Is in there or not. No, they don't like that. Their most physical player is Ryan Conwell, you know, who's an outstanding guy. But the rest of those guys, they're not. They need Pat Kelsey's actions and movement and the break, and they need that spacing. That's a tough, tough matchup for Louisville. And if I'm Michigan State, I'm feeling okay about my bracket. I know we got to play well, but I'm feeling okay about the matchups.
- [08:41]
Matt Jones
Myron, let me ask you real quick before we move to the next region, any of those games stick out and you go, ooh, that could be an upset.
- [08:47]
Myron Metcalf
Well, I mean, point of Kansas, Cal Baptist Dominic Daniels has dropped 47 points in recent weeks. Like, if you want to talk about one of those tournament games where a guy just goes off and you can't stop them, that could be the game.
- [08:57]
Matt Jones
All right. We are now going to go to the West Region. Arizona will be the 1 seed in the West. I know, Tom, you've watched Arizona quite a bit this year. That team, probably a lot of listeners on the east coast don't get to see them play a lot, but to me, they are as complete as any team in the field.
- [09:14]
Tom Cream
I think. I think they're the best team. You do? I've thought that all along, and I thought Florida was the second best team, and I felt that all along, but I don't have a vote. Like, none of Us do. Arizona is the most complete. They're the closest to what Florida was a year ago on having 8 legit high major starters on their team. You know they start five but they got three other guys could easily start. For a lot of teams they've got two of the best freshmen in the country. Braden Burrys will probably hear his name called in single digits and the lottery and co op won't be much past him. As freshmen they have the player of the year in the league and Jaden Bradley who's just done a phenomenal job becoming a better leader, a better shooter, definitely from the three point land. But his team has got unbelievable confidence playing with him. They rebound, they score in the paint. The thing they don't do, like here's a great example. In the last seven games they've gotten 22% of their points from the three point line, 24% of their points from the foul line. Now that's something. When people are filling out their bracket, pay attention because they need the foul line to be successful and most teams are going to follow them because of the way they play with shooting like that. They've got to make sure that their offensive rebounding is at an extremely high level throughout this tournament.
- [10:24]
Matt Jones
The one seed Arizona. They will play 16, Long island coached by Rod Strickland. Three wins three years ago. He has advanced the team. Now they will be playing Arizona. The eight in that bracket is Villanova. Villanova ends up drawing Utah State who wins their conference championship in a thrilling game. Villena, Utah State. That's a great 8 9. Then you end up at the five seat in the bracket is Wisconsin. Wisconsin will be playing against High Point, maybe the best campus to actually go to college in as a student in America. The four seed there is Arkansas. Arkansas will open gets Hawaii. Arkansas wins the SEC tournament today. John Cal Perry, first coach to win the SEC tournament with two different teams. You can't help but look at that Myron and say ooh, an Arizona, Arkansas Sweet 16 game could be very tasty if it got to that point.
- [11:13]
Myron Metcalf
Sign me up for that right away. I mean you look at John Wall, Derrick Rose, dear and Fox. When Cal has elite point guards he goes far in the NCAA tournament.
- [11:21]
Matt Jones
All right, then you get down to the the 6 seed BYU, BYU. AJ DeBonso will be joining us a little bit later in the show. He will be on with us. They are the six seed playing in Portland and we have our first bubble teams that I think we can say Texas and NC State will play in the play in game. Texas and NC State. That means Texas is in. Tom, they were kind of one of the last teams. Did you think Texas deserved it?
- [11:48]
Tom Cream
Yeah, I thought and I thought, I thought there was a great chance it ended up in Dayton. I did not think NC State would end up.
- [11:54]
Matt Jones
I didn't either. That's a little surprise. They were projected as a 10 seed in a lot of brackets.
- [11:58]
Tom Cream
Absolutely. And that so that those are two teams that that can sometimes be offensively challenged. The bottom line is Texas can really rebound the ball. They can get to the paint, they score a ton of points inside the two point line. But there's no question that NC State has got guys and Darian Williams and Trey Holloman who went to the Elite Eight last year with Michigan State before they lost to Auburn. Paul McNeil, who's an outstanding shooter. Matt Abel a freshman. There's numerous guys. That is a really, really tough game for both those teams to open up with in Dayton.
- [12:30]
Matt Jones
So BYU is the sixth. The Dayton will have Texas and NC State. The three seed in that bracket is Gonzaga. They will open up in Portland, probably have a little bit of a home field home crowd advantage. They will play against Kennesaw State, the seventh seed in games. It'll be in St. Louis is Miami and they play against Missouri. And then the 2 seed is Purdue who will play against the 15 seed queen. So in the west, Arizona is the 1, Purdue the 2, Gonzaga the 3, Arkansas the 4. A very solid bracket there as well. We've seen a lot of the good teams have already gone and we still have half of the bracket to go. The NCAA Men's College Basketball Selection Span special is presented by Marriott Bonvoy. If you're traveling for game day, make Marriott Bonvoy your home base for pregame moments and post game stories. Marriott Bonvoy where game day checks in. We will have the other two brackets and then a whole lot of analysis that's coming up next here on the College Basketball Selection special on ESPN Radio.
- [13:35]
Myron Metcalf
Matt and Myron the Podcast.
- [13:43]
Matt Jones
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- [14:48]
Tom Cream
One
- [14:48]
Matt Jones
of the great things about doing the men's college basketball Selection special here on ESPN Radio, presented by Marriott Bonvoy is during the breaks getting to talk to these two college basketball experts, Meyer Metcalf and Tom Cream, because they're seeing things in the bracket. Let's give a couple of the conversations that we were having off the air on you, Tom. Look at that. Louisville, South Florida is a dangerous game for the Cardinals.
- [15:11]
Tom Cream
Absolutely. South Florida to me, and I live an hour from there. But at the same time, I've had their I had a game about a month ago and their speed is incredible. They can play different ways. Everybody sees the threes because Brian Hodson came from the Nate Oates school of Coaching. He's certainly his own coach. But it's the defense, it's the running in transition, it's the getting to layups. They are one of the best teams and this is something for people to watch when they're filling out the brackets. They do an incredible job of driving inside the elbows where it is so hard to create help. And they're not driving on the side where you can load your help up. They get inside those elbows, they get to the basket, they make kickouts. They have one of the best three or two of the best three point shooters going in. Wes Enos Jr. And Joseph Pinion. They got the player of the year in that league, Isaiah Nelson. They've got an incredible jet guard that my friend who passed away, Amir Abdul Rahim, brought to that program. C.J. brown is as good an elbow driver as there is in the game in college basketball. Now he's not the best shooter, but he's the best driver. That will cause a problem for Louisville. Louisville is not an overly physical team. South Florida is.
- [16:17]
Matt Jones
Tom did all that off the top of his head. He didn't look at one note to get that entire South Florida roster. You, you were saying you look at the bottom half, the West. AJ debona has a bracket that if he wanted to kind of take off. He could coach.
- [16:30]
Myron Metcalf
You don't have that on your scout team, right?
- [16:34]
Tom Cream
No. Nobody can duplicate. It's not only because of the length in the athleticism. You can't duplicate the release of a shot, you know, with how easy it is. He can shoot over smaller guys, obviously bigger guys because of the elevation and where he releases his shot. I mean, he is so NBA ready for the pull up. I think he's regressed a little bit defensively in the last month and a half. I think they're holding.
- [16:55]
Myron Metcalf
But he can do it though. But he can play it.
- [16:57]
Tom Cream
It's not even close.
- [16:58]
Myron Metcalf
Yeah.
- [16:58]
Tom Cream
And the best freshman defender is in the country. It's not even close.
- [17:01]
Matt Jones
That BYU Gonzaga game could be.
- [17:04]
Tom Cream
Oh, yeah.
- [17:05]
Matt Jones
Rematch of the last couple of years of the wcc. All right, let's go now to the Midwest. The brackets are starting to be announced.
- [17:13]
Tom Cream
These.
- [17:13]
Matt Jones
The one seed is Michigan. They are the number one seed. They will play in Buffalo against the winner of Maryland, Baltimore county and Howard umbc. One of the biggest upsets in the history of the tournament. They are back in again. The eight seed in that bracket is Georgia. The Georgia Bulldogs will play against the nine seed. My guy Robbie Avila in St. Louis will play an SEC team. Georgia and St. Louis. The five seed is Texas Tech. Texas Tech will go up against Akron. Akron is the win. The 12 seed and the winner of the Mac. Akron's made it. We still yet don't know about Miami of Ohio. They are not yet in the bracket. We don't know yet. Alabama will be the 4 seed there. Nate Oats his team occasionally disappointing this year, but they're four against the Hofstra. Pride returning the tournament with Steve Claxton actually get a good seed there with the 13. You look at that, Myron. The one is Michigan. Alabama the four. Texas Tech the five. Robbie Avila versus Georgia. I'm really actually excited to watch that one.
- [18:18]
Myron Metcalf
Yeah. I mean, it depends on which St. Louis shows up, right? I think the last couple of weeks they just haven't looked like a great team. They almost look fatigued. Is Robbie Avila 100%. But if it's the team that started 24 and one coach, I mean, they could take on anybody I think in the country. But I felt like in the tournament when you played physical with them, they didn't like that as much. And they're going to face some really fatal physical teams.
- [18:39]
Tom Cream
George Mason popped them late in the year. They've lost to Dayton. They've got to regroup and find that Again, because they have not been that team for the last couple of weeks. But all the distractions are over now, right? Okay. You're in the tournament. Coach Schur says he's staying, so there's no more. He's going to go to one of these 15 schools. All right, so now you've got that. You've got a really good team. You got Trey Green, who's had a fantastic year coming over from Xavier, to go with Robbie, like, and Kellen Thames is fantastic. So, like, they're the real deal when they really show up. But Georgia can score in bunches. They could score fast. They're one of the leading scorers in the country. They may not have the inside play that can dominate you, but they've got the guard and the speed play that can really hurt you.
- [19:18]
Matt Jones
All right, we have some big news actually coming in. Philadelph. The three seed is Tennessee, or, excuse me, the six seed is Tennessee. They will play. The winner of Miami of Ohio makes the tournament. We'll play SMU in the first four. What do you make of that? Miami of Ohio gets in.
- [19:37]
Myron Metcalf
You know, I think that's what the first four was designed for.
- [19:40]
Tom Cream
Right.
- [19:40]
Myron Metcalf
It kind of ends the controversy. Miami of Ohio is in, but they still have. Have to kind of win their way in. But now you got to go through that SMU team that has Boopy Miller and everything that they bring to the table. B.J. edwards coming back. That SMU team is tough.
- [19:53]
Tom Cream
Yeah. And I think the only way Miami was truly in was to be the automatic qualifier. And I think even if they've got to the championship game and lost, they could have ended up in Dayton. But the fact that. The fact that they lost to UMass the way that they did, I was thinking Dayton from that point on, I started the week thinking, okay, man, they've got. They're going to be in. But like, they gotta.
- [20:12]
Myron Metcalf
They gotta prove it.
- [20:12]
Tom Cream
They gotta. They're gonna. They gotta do this. But that's not a bad matchup for them with SMU. SMU's got a lot of speed in the backcourt. They've got some physicality, but Miami can really shoot the ball.
- [20:22]
Matt Jones
America is rooting for Miami. No offense to smu, but I think that's everybody's what everyone's going to be rooting for. The three seed in the Midwest is Virginia. Virginia had a great end and close of the year, they will play right state. Then you go down to the seven. The Kentucky Wildcats team, I know a little something about, they draw Santa Clara Kentucky will play Santa Clara in the first round and then I was State will get Tennessee State whose coach Nolan Smith will join us a little bit later. So you have the the 6 seed Tennessee 3, Virginia 7, Kentucky 2 Iowa State. Myron, I could speak just a second on both Kentucky and Tennessee. Those are both teams that if you're Virginia at the three or I would say at the two, you probably don't love seeing those teams because at their best they can be very good, but they also can be very bad. So I mean that's kind of a 67 if I'm a 2 or 3, I don't know that I love seeing those teams.
- [21:21]
Myron Metcalf
Yeah, I mean, you know, player for player, Kentucky's gonna have the personnel to beat you. Same with Tennessee. Nate Amen has looked incredible when healthy. At the same time, Santa Clara is the most efficient offense in the wcc. They could Kentucky could go.
- [21:34]
Matt Jones
I mean Santa Clara will have a shot in that one for sure.
- [21:37]
Myron Metcalf
Nothing easy. Watch out for Tennessee State. They forced turnovers like few teams in the country. They'll be tough.
- [21:41]
Matt Jones
All right, we have one more bracket to go. We will still be able to get you. I guess we still have the south to still come. Most of the bracket is there. Big story Miami of Ohio in for the other two teams from the SEC sitting there watching Oklahoma and Auburn. Things don't look good at this moment. It's the NCAA Men's College basketball selection special presented by Marriott Bonvoy right here on ESPN Radio.
- [22:08]
Myron Metcalf
Matt and Myron the Podcast.
- [22:24]
Tom Cream
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Myron Metcalf
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Tom Cream
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Tom Cream
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Tom Cream
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- [23:00]
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- [23:34]
Matt Jones
is the NCAA men's college basketball selection special on ESPN Radio presented by Marriott Bonvoy. We are enjoying the brackets coming out. We have one more region to go and then a lot of discussion to take place over the next few next couple of hours. The selection special is brought to you by Progressive Insurance. Protect your home and auto save. When you bundle, get a'@progressive.com all right, I'm going to go through here. In the south the one seed is Florida upset yesterday in the SEC tournament. In the semifinals they will play the winner of Prairie View A and M and Lehigh will be a first first two game on Tuesday or Wednesday in Dayton. The eight seed is Clemson. They will play the nine seed Iowa. Iowa out of the Big Ten that eight nine matchup. That's a good Clemson, Iowa, Vanderbilt surprisingly a five prob. Most most people thought would be higher than that. And they draw Myron arguably the hardest mid major McNeese at the 12.
- [24:36]
Tom Cream
Vandy and McIntyre ridiculous. For Vanderbilt only get a 5. That is ridiculous.
- [24:41]
Myron Metcalf
Well and not only just to get a five. You got to be furious that they're putting you against McNeese. Absolutely one of the best bit majors in the field. Maybe better than last year's McNeese team that won a game in the tournament.
- [24:50]
Matt Jones
That's, I mean that is a very dangerous game for a Vandy team that made the finals of the SEC tournament but seemingly not rewarded the three seed in that or excuse me, the four seed in that region is Nebraska. They will play against Troy. Nebraska the 4, Troy the 13. Then you go to the bottom half, North Carolina. North Carolina will be the 6 even though they lost Caleb Wilson. They played 11 seated VCU. Tom, do you, you give VCU any shot?
- [25:18]
Tom Cream
Absolutely, absolutely. They play a fast pace, they press you, they get up into you and to me without Caleb Wilson they don't have nearly the inside play. Henry Vassar is guardable. I think he's really hard to deal with when he's touching it all the time. But outside of Seth Trimble who's a, who's a good two way guard, those VCU guards will climb up into North Carolina's guards and that could be a problem because they've got good length, they can switch a lot. There's a lot of different things. Phil Martelli Jr. And his brother Jimmy have done a fantastic job with that
- [25:48]
Matt Jones
team three seed is Illinois. Illinois will play the 14 seed pin who upset Yale today in an exciting game. Penn in Illinois will play that game is in Greenville, South Carolina. The seven seed is Saint is Saint Mary's. They ended up playing the seven seed Saint Mary's will play Texas A&M a ten seed little low for Texas.
- [26:10]
Tom Cream
What are they doing to the sec?
- [26:11]
Matt Jones
It really doesn't seem like they're very valued valuing. They really are crazy.
- [26:15]
Tom Cream
Let me do the last one.
- [26:16]
Matt Jones
Houston is a two and they play Idaho the 15. But you do look at these SEC seeds I do want to go through them here because they have been a lot lower Myron. The fives Vanderbilt of five Texas A&M a ten. Missouri is a ten. Kind of a surprise. Tennessee underseated at a six maybe. I mean a little surprising, isn't it?
- [26:36]
Myron Metcalf
Well not even just lower than expected seeds but these opening round prove it. Games like if you're vandy and you see mcne you gotta be looking at the committee and going what do we do to you that you just got your team to the SEC tournament championship and now you gotta play maybe the best team among the double digit seeds. I would be furious if I was van in that position.
- [26:54]
Matt Jones
Why do you think? It does look to me like a couple things stick out to me about the bracket as a whole time. It sounds seems like the conference championships helped some teams maybe got Arkansas up to a A4 but didn't. I mean St. John's only A5. They didn't seem to value the Big east. And then it does seem that a couple of conferences, specifically the SEC and Big east seated lower maybe than we would have thought going in Absolute.
- [27:17]
Tom Cream
Absolutely. And you knew the Big east would likely get three. I thought all along and I think talking to Kevin Keats who was my partner all week long and is close with Rick Pitino, I think he felt that the St. John's group felt they were going to get a fifth seed. And I said there's no way. I said not after the way they played. They got to be higher than that. But I do think there's some of that. But the Vanderbilt one, the Texas A&M one, I mean if I was just looking at a blind resume I'd say wait, a and M. St. Mary's that's a flip.
- [27:44]
Matt Jones
Yeah. Actually when I wrote it down I thought I'd written it wrong because I would have assumed A And M was a seven in St. Mary's attempt.
- [27:50]
Tom Cream
Yeah, I don't, I don't get all that. I mean those are the. Who knows what. What all the quantifying statistics are and metrics are inside of those rooms. But that doesn't make a lot of sense in Oklahoma. Not only did Auburn not get. Oklahoma's not.
- [28:05]
Matt Jones
Let's talk about that. The two. The two teams that are, I think the big first cuts on the bubble, both out of the SEC, Oklahoma and Auburn. Auburn was 17 and 16. I thought they were a reach. But Oklahoma, I would guess we'll see what the selection committee chair. I would guess they're the first team out get. You know, they played. Got to the. Excuse me. Got to the round of eight, the quarterfinals in the sec. Played Arkansas well throughout the game. Were not able to get it. Surprised Oklahoma is not in.
- [28:36]
Myron Metcalf
Yeah, I mean they turned it around, you know, and I think a lot of teams who've made the cut finish strong, which is what you want to do when you're trying to make a push for a birth. And I think Oklahoma did that. Auburn is in a different spot. You've got to win against the teams you're playing. You can't just say we have a great schedule if you're not winning enough games. So I think Oklahoma, Auburn are two different.
- [28:54]
Tom Cream
I really thought they'd get to Dayton and I. Joe argued with that all week. I thought Auburn would find a way into Dayton because of the wins that they had. Obviously they had the losses. Right. One at Florida and you're. And you let a team in in Miami that didn't play one Q1.
- [29:06]
Matt Jones
So what would you have Tom on that? I mean, if you're on the selection committee and you look at a 31 and 1 Miami team and a 17 and 16 Auburn team and let's just say those are the two teams. Who is Tom Cream letting in at
- [29:20]
Tom Cream
Miami or who Auburn. Oh, I'd put them both in. I would take out. I would take SMU up. I did not think SMU would make it at the end, but I also didn't see NC State as a. As a Dayton team.
- [29:32]
Myron Metcalf
First four. Yeah.
- [29:33]
Tom Cream
Yes, first four. But here's like Miami. I'm sure this committee looked at the fact. Okay, yeah, you couldn't get those games. But you also didn't play in any of the MTE's, any of the November December tournaments where you can play and
- [29:45]
Matt Jones
you think they would have been able to play in those?
- [29:47]
Tom Cream
Oh, absolutely. There's no question. I mean, they're not going to play maybe in Maui, but they're not going to play in Vegas. But they're going to get one of those. But here's the other thing, Myron. They did not. The three non D1s were about as bad as they could be when you were bad. And you covered that like we covered that on the radio show and I'm second man, that's really bad. Like they didn't even take a D2. So. But you can't argue with the fact they had 28 Division 1 wins. You can't argue with the fact that I'm always biased because I grew up in the Mac. I went to school at Central Michigan, grew up on Mount Pleasant. That's my basketball knowledge, you know, as a kid growing up inside of that. So you want to see the league do well. I thought when they lost to UMass, I thought anything less than a championship would have put them in Dayton. But I always thought they'd get at least Dayton.
- [30:34]
Matt Jones
But they also are, to be fair, Myron, the lowest Kim Pom team to ever get an at large. So to some extent the committee did have to deep, they will be the lowest net, they'll be the lowest everything to make it. So to some extent the committee did have to deviate from what they said they used to put them in.
- [30:52]
Myron Metcalf
No, no, they did. And this is why the first four matters. I mean this is the exact situation where you would put a team in their first four. Miami is in that predicament because of the metrics. Here's my thing on the scheduling. We've got to break up the monopoly that these Power 4 teams have in terms of how they schedule.
- [31:06]
Tom Cream
Good luck. Good luck. But the challenge is not happening.
- [31:09]
Myron Metcalf
But the challenge is, Tom, and you know this. Miami is in the least favorable position in college basketball. No one wants to play a mid major that can beat them anywhere. And it doesn't reward you to do that.
- [31:21]
Matt Jones
But the NCAA could fix that. They could. They could fix that. Not so much by, I mean Tom. They could reward you. The way, the way the system is set up now, you get more credit for beating the 300th ranked team than playing the 90th team. They could change the metrics to make that not true.
- [31:38]
Tom Cream
They could. But then you flip it around and I never finished this on Auburn, but okay, they had the losses. They did go win at Florida.
- [31:45]
Matt Jones
Yeah.
- [31:45]
Tom Cream
Which to me at the end of the day is the biggest win. Purdue, Iowa State, Iowa State. Going into Purdue was really big for a long time. Then Auburn going into Florida with the way they've just been so dominant other than yesterday, they did beat St. John's they did beat Arkansas. They did beat Kentucky. All four of those teams at some point in time were minimum top 10. Right. And now Kentucky wasn't in that position when they played them. That's the big thing is like, okay, then what are we going to do about the scheduling? Like, what are those teams going to do? Because would they have been better off lining up more wins and not having as much Q ones outside of the conference?
- [32:23]
Myron Metcalf
Yeah, but we can't, we can't put teams in by affiliation.
- [32:25]
Tom Cream
And to me, what do you mean by that?
- [32:26]
Myron Metcalf
At the end of the day, I think there are teams in Auburn's position that are essentially saying, look, we're part of the sec. We should be a part of the.
- [32:32]
Tom Cream
I agree with you.
- [32:33]
Myron Metcalf
I think you have to win against that schedule. And the difference between a Miami and Auburn is you have how many opportunities, if you're Auburn, to prove yourself.
- [32:42]
Matt Jones
Let me, let me go over something real quick. So now they actually have. How they have the team seated overall. Duke, we've talked about the east having Duke, Yukon, Michigan State in Kansas. If you look at how the east is set up according to the committee, Duke was the number one one seed, Yukon was the number two two seed. Michigan State was the number three, or, excuse me, number one three seat. So basically, three of the. Of the top nine teams are in the same region. That strikes me, Tom, as being a little imbalanced. I've always said they try to add the top four seeds up to the same number, but to me, the 1, 2 and 3 are actually the most important. I don't understand, Tom, why they don't do 1 versus 8, 2 versus 7, 3 versus 6. To me, that's what they should do. But they clearly did.
- [33:28]
Tom Cream
Absolutely. And if you're saying, okay, UConn is the best two, and now you put them against what?
- [33:33]
Matt Jones
They're second best two.
- [33:34]
Tom Cream
Second best two. So who's the first?
- [33:36]
Matt Jones
They have Houston.
- [33:37]
Tom Cream
Houston is. Yeah, that. That makes sense. And that means you're putting in Florida is the last one.
- [33:44]
Matt Jones
But Florida, Florida is the last one seed. And they're getting the highs, too. But then take, excuse me, take Arizona. They get Purdue. It does feel like Duke. The problem is if you're going to give Duke Myron, the number two two seed, then you can't give them the best three seed as well. They gave them both of those.
- [34:02]
Myron Metcalf
Well, and UConn is kind of to be right in terms of with Houston. Everyone knows that they were almost going to be a 1 seed maybe had they not lost in the Big East Championship. But I just think you'd be furious if you're John Shire. Like, you got to be thinking you're the top overall seed, you're the best team in the field, and they gave you the hardest road to get to a championship. The system shouldn't work against the top overall seat.
- [34:24]
Tom Cream
Well, there's three constants in life. There's a new one right now. There's death, there's taxes. And Michigan State and Duke are going to end up in the same bracket. Right?
- [34:31]
Matt Jones
They do.
- [34:32]
Tom Cream
Look at it. Look at it. It's crazy. I mean, you could.
- [34:34]
Matt Jones
Let me. Let me give you this. Think about this for a second. This could be the second round of the east region.
- [34:40]
Tom Cream
Absolutely.
- [34:41]
Matt Jones
Duke versus Ohio State. St. John, jump on that.
- [34:44]
Tom Cream
Ohio State. When. I'm just saying.
- [34:46]
Matt Jones
Let me. Let me be glamor program for a little bit. Duke vs. Ohio State, St. John's vs. Kansas, Louisville vs. Michigan State, UCLA vs. UConn. That could be your second round.
- [35:00]
Myron Metcalf
It's incredible in the East.
- [35:01]
Tom Cream
Yeah. Jim Boeheim made a great comment. He said the sweet 16 is going to seem like a Final Four. That's going to seem like a Final Four. Jim. Jim spoke too soon. When you see that bracket come out
- [35:11]
Matt Jones
at the top of my head here, I think this is something like five of the top nine teams in wins in the NCAA history are going to be in the same bracket.
- [35:20]
Myron Metcalf
Well, and then you look around, if you're Michigan and you're Destiny, you got to be more excited than anybody.
- [35:25]
Matt Jones
Well, they got the easiest one.
- [35:26]
Myron Metcalf
They gave you a path.
- [35:27]
Matt Jones
Yeah.
- [35:27]
Myron Metcalf
Easier path. And that's why I think if you're shy or you got to be going, why is it going to be so.
- [35:31]
Matt Jones
Yeah, let me read you the top ones in the. In the Midwest, because I do think that's the easy one. You get Michigan 1. I was state, 2. Virginia 3. Texas Tech. Excuse me. Alabama 4, Texas Tech 5. That's Tennessee, 6. That, to me, is the 1.
- [35:46]
Tom Cream
Michigan clearly got the best sneaky one, though. It's a sneaky one. When I sit and. And write things up and we're here all week looking at all the games, the top two teams that I had breaking into the Final Four, outside of the ones are Iowa State and Virginia, which really probably the Iowa State that doesn't turn the ball over with Joshua Jefferson, the Iowa State that can finish at the rim and finish their offensive rebound chances. Right. And the. And. And they are. And the Iowa State that can set the pace defensively, which is one reason they got beat by Texas Tech at home because they couldn't set the pace against Texas Tech's defense. And and I wouldn't sleep on Texas Tech. I know they don't have J.T. toppin anymore, but Grant McCaslin is one of the best coaches in the country. He if I was ranking the top five, he's definitely in there.
- [36:31]
Matt Jones
And go ahead and go on record. I'm disagreeing with coach. Tennessee's beaten Virginia in that second round.
- [36:35]
Tom Cream
I don't think so. Well, I shouldn't say that. I got to. I got to watch. I shouldn't say I'm speaking too soon because I think if Tennessee is speaking too soon, I don't know. I don't know if you might be right. I don't know if Virginia can get into the guards of Tennessee the way you would need to.
- [36:50]
Matt Jones
It's the NCAA Men's College Basketball Selection Special here on ESPN Radio. We will go region by region. We will talk to the selection Committee chair and more here on espn.
- [37:01]
Myron Metcalf
Matt and Myron the Podcast.
- [37:15]
Tom Cream
Quick Time out. Some breakfast intel you want to know about.
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Tom Cream
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- [37:35]
Matt Jones
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Tom Cream
So you're getting something that actually fuels you.
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- [37:45]
Tom Cream
Even gluten free options. Breakfast that delivers, snack that delivers. Find Kodiak frozen waffles and flapjacks in
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- [37:55]
Tom Cream
They're the ones with the bear on the box.
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- [38:32]
Matt Jones
NCAA Men's College Basketball Selection Special ESPN Radio presented by Marriott Bonvoy, Matt Jones, Tom Cream My Metcalf I was sitting here looking at this bracket during the break and the one thing that sticks out to me is how many good teams are in college basketball. I want to break down the south real quick. Do you all agree with me that I think this is the most talented college basketball season? 15 years, 10 years.
- [38:59]
Tom Cream
Yeah.
- [39:00]
Myron Metcalf
I don't know. We've had this depth, you know, I mean, you think about the Porter guys, the older guys, the elite freshman class, it's definitely one of the best ever.
- [39:07]
Matt Jones
Tom?
- [39:09]
Tom Cream
Yes. And it's why the freshman class. Here's how good it is. The freshman class is getting talked about so much that we're not talking nearly enough about some of the other great freshmen. Great freshmen in college basketball. We don't talk nearly enough about Braylon Mullins, Killian Torre at Iowa State. We go right on down the line. I mean, and then you look at,
- [39:29]
Matt Jones
okay, maybe there's Kenny Houston, two seed in the case of Flemings, Kingston Flemings.
- [39:33]
Tom Cream
Oh, we talk about him. We probably don't talk about Chrisinac enough. And he's going to be a lottery pick. So we definitely, like, I think Kingston Fleming's at the end of the day either here. Acuff will be the first guard taken. I think a lot. No, that's. Most people would probably say that, but Braden Burries is not going to have a double digit behind his name when that pick comes. I mean, he's that good. But I also think there's such high quality older guys now that have gotten better, made the right choices on their teams. There's been some good development in some programs, maybe some not as good. I'm with you. I think you can go back as many years as you want to right now to say this is the best for overall talent and that's why there's so much parity. That's why everybody's singling out the number one seeds. But when you see these teams on a bracket, you go, whoa, they're really good too.
- [40:16]
Myron Metcalf
They're very good.
- [40:17]
Tom Cream
Yeah. So when you see it all put together, you realize it's really good.
- [40:20]
Myron Metcalf
My theory on freshman recruits is we need a six star, right? We're calling too many guys five stars. That's true.
- [40:26]
Matt Jones
I agree with that.
- [40:27]
Myron Metcalf
And I think we got a couple of six star guys and AJ DeBonta and Darius Acuff. Next level.
- [40:31]
Matt Jones
Let's go to the south region. Just overall, look at the bracket. Florida the one, Houston the two, Illinois three, Nebraska the fourth. Florida is a great team, but as they showed yesterday against Vandy, they can have flaws. The guards are inconsistent. This is a bracket minor where I could see it could this is one that could open up or it could be a Florida steamroll. Which one's more likely?
- [40:56]
Myron Metcalf
I'm going with the Florida steamroll. I mean, until Houston.
- [40:59]
Matt Jones
Until the Elite.
- [41:00]
Myron Metcalf
Yeah. I still think Florida has the edge in depth. Ruben Chinulou, I think is the best defensive player in the country with Floyd Badoonga. It's just gonna be a hard team to score against. And I do think Xavier Lee and Boogie Flan have figured out how to play together on some level. I just think Florida is going to overwhelm.
- [41:17]
Matt Jones
They can put up clunkers like they did yesterday.
- [41:19]
Myron Metcalf
They can, but there's so many options. Alex Condon playing better right now, I think, is why I would pick Florida.
- [41:24]
Tom Cream
They were not. They were not as locked in and you could see it with how they were with their hands. They were getting beat off the dribble. They weren't nearly as active with their hands. They. They at times will have lulls for a couple of minutes in a game. Yesterday they started the game that way and. But I think everything that they did is still very much what they can do. They. At one point late in the game, I think there's five minutes left, six minutes left. The points off turnovers were 24 to 4. Right. Like that's the game. Right. And ended up being 24 to 14. So it's misleading. But Vanderbilt is really good. They got anywhere they wanted to go. Here's the problem. And you could see this yesterday. This is a problem for Michigan. It's a problem for Duke, potentially. Florida showed this problem. When you have a pick and pop five, when you have a five man that can step out space, either space the floor and ball movement or be a pick and pop and create some space. That created a problem yesterday. Vanderbilt had three bigs go 7 for 11 from 3 yesterday. And it's already a problem for a team like Michigan because of the fact they've played Wisconsin twice. Wisconsin's made 31 threes and their bigs are darn near half of the threes. So when you have in this tournament and people are putting their brackets together, what can the five man and the opponent do? How many guys on that team can step out and shoot? That's why I look ahead into the south bracket. They're going to have to get by Nebraska at some point in my mind, Nebraska, easier said than done. I think they're going to get two wins.
- [42:48]
Matt Jones
You're going to get two.
- [42:49]
Myron Metcalf
Yeah. Defensively, I mean, I was the best defensive team in the Big Ten, but
- [42:52]
Matt Jones
if they Beat Troy. They've yet to win an NCAA tournament game.
- [42:55]
Myron Metcalf
Yeah, not this group.
- [42:57]
Tom Cream
Not these kids.
- [42:59]
Matt Jones
That's one of the most random stats of all time that you would have a power conference that. That hasn't won an NCAA tournament game. There are chances for some matchups. We mentioned the possibility of Florida, Vanderbilt, national championship, potential matchup. Sitting there in the lead eight with Florida and Houston.
- [43:14]
Myron Metcalf
Yeah, and two different versions. You know, compared to last year, I think Kingston Flemings is the most talented player that Kelvin Sampson has coached in his tenure at Houston. And that's saying a lot with all the guys he's had. I wonder how they get through the scoring droughts. Like, to me, Houston puts itself in a situation where everyone's looking at Kingston Fleming, hoping he can make something happen. I think the post presence is lacking compared to last year. I think Houston has some offensive flaws that could put them in a tough spot, but you still got to deal with the physicality and the defense of Kelvin Sampson's team. And that's never going to be easy for anyone.
- [43:43]
Tom Cream
Well, it's crazy. People saw this coming with Florida and Houston. And for our listeners that don't know, Houston is not running the site in Houston. And because if they were running the site, they wouldn't be able to play a game there. So they got out of it, which was brilliant. They give it to Rice. So Rice is the host school. And it's going to be like Houston just gets to drive across the street.
- [44:01]
Matt Jones
Okay, well, that's.
- [44:02]
Tom Cream
That will be unbelievable if they play
- [44:04]
Matt Jones
Florida point, because I. When I saw that Houston could play in Houston, I thought. I always assumed that it was literally the city. It's the school that hosts, which seems like such a ridiculous rule. Who cares whose sid is running the tournament. That is a huge advantage. If you were Florida, would you be mad that you're sitting there looking at playing Houston in Houston?
- [44:25]
Myron Metcalf
You might be a little frustrated, right. Knowing that you got to go that same time. Florida's going to travel well to Houston.
- [44:30]
Tom Cream
And here's the thing. I've said this off air. Houston does not get fouled that well. They're only for as good as they are. They're only averaging 16 free throw attempts a game on the year. That's not even inside of the Big 12. They're giving up 20 their free throw rate. For the people that are out there looking at statistics in the Tortvik rankings, they're 351 in all of the Division 1 schools. Florida gets fouled. Florida gets fouled. The offensive rebound. They get put backs get to the foul line quickly.
- [44:57]
Matt Jones
Most likely upset in that bracket.
- [44:58]
Myron Metcalf
McNeese McNeese over Vandy. Larry Johnson and McNeese are tough. Larry Johnson. The world's gonna get to know Larry Johnson.
- [45:05]
Matt Jones
And by the way, the the, the manager that had Americana's back.
- [45:08]
Myron Metcalf
I talked to him. He's back. The boombox is back.
- [45:10]
Matt Jones
He went to NC State, came back and then he came back.
- [45:13]
Tom Cream
What's he charging now for promotion and things like that? What's he getting?
- [45:16]
Myron Metcalf
He made a pretty penny last year.
- [45:18]
Matt Jones
I love went to the Portal, came back home to McNeese. More on the NCAA College Basketball Selection special here on ESPN Radio.
- [45:28]
Myron Metcalf
Matt and Myron the podcast.
- [45:35]
Commercial Announcer
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