Aaron Goldhammer (1:46)

It's great to be here. I know that you're very picky about who you work with and that I'm on a very short list which is the only reason that I say yes to working the show when I'm asked. But I wanted to bring, I wanted to bring something up with you because Myron not only is a college basketball expert, Matt, but yeah, he is excelling in the celebrity bracket right now on the ES.

Matt Jones (2:07)

He's doing amazing challenge.

Aaron Goldhammer (2:09)

Yeah.

Matt Jones (2:09)

And he's like at 98, 99.8 percentile. So.

Aaron Goldhammer (2:13)

Okay. And it's him. And Billis and Dicky V are like the three people in the celebrity bracket rankings. And if you scroll about five miles down the celebrity bracket, you'll see me stuck in between a couple of NFL analysts who doesn't know what we're talking about.

Matt Jones (2:28)

What can I tell you what's worse? Can I tell you what's worse? You can't find me because they didn't have me listed.

Matt Myron (2:33)

Well, they don't have me listed as an ESPN employee. This is the respect level I get at this company. I get an email from my boss,

Matt Jones (2:40)

I get an email from Evan that

Matt Myron (2:42)

says we have to do this bracket celebrity challenge.

Matt Jones (2:46)

And all the ESPN TV hosts and all the radio hosts are doing it. Will you fill it out?

Matt Myron (2:52)

I've got a million things to do

Matt Jones (2:53)

the week of the NCAA tournament with my Kentucky stuff.

Matt Myron (2:56)

But I take the time. I fill out the stupid bracket. I pick high to beat Wisconsin.

Matt Jones (3:01)

Like, I do all this.

Matt Myron (3:02)

Then I go to the celebrity bracket challenge to see where I am. And I'm not even listed. I'm not even listed. I'm not even listed as an employee. I am listed along with Yukon fan in your i37. That's where they have me, right? So I. I don't know how I'm doing.

Aaron Goldhammer (3:19)

What hap. What happened?

Matt Myron (3:21)

Why are you.

Aaron Goldhammer (3:21)

You're. You've been an ESPN employee for a decade.

Matt Myron (3:24)

But here's the interesting thing. No one at ESPN knows I work there.

Matt Jones (3:28)

No one.

Matt Myron (3:28)

There's no one in that building who even contem that there's someone named Matt Jones here. They see it and they go, oh, yeah, you were that guy with the good combine with the Jacksonville Jaguars. No one thinks I work in this building. And I understand that and I've accepted it. I've only been here eight years. How in the world could I be in the bracket challenge?

Matt Jones (3:46)

I get it. That's the way it works.

Matt Myron (3:48)

And now they're saying you got to use an ESPN email account.

Matt Jones (3:51)

Here's something interesting, Aaron.

Matt Myron (3:53)

I've never been given an ESPN email account. I don't even know how to log

Matt Jones (3:57)

into the ESPN email. So I will never be in the bracket challenge.

Aaron Goldhammer (4:00)

I got an ESPN email account for one reason. How do you.

Tom Crean (4:04)

1.

Matt Myron (4:04)

I've been here longer than you.

Aaron Goldhammer (4:06)

Don't attack me. I got one because I asked for one. Because when you get an ESPN email account, it gives you access to be able to email anybody the ESPN that you want.

Matt Myron (4:17)

But I can't. I don't even know how to get in the System. And I have asked over and over. See, you're just reaching a sore spot here, Aaron.

Matt Jones (4:23)

You're gonna go down my right at Disney too, right?

Matt Myron (4:25)

Aaron, I. I've never been to Disney. I've never done any of the things that you can do for free.

Aaron Goldhammer (4:31)

You get to the front of the line, you get to. I can before anybody else.

Matt Myron (4:36)

But I can't even get into the system. So I would like to be. I would like to have an ESPN account. I've been wondering why when I write from my Hotmail account, it's harder for me to get credentials. It's because you all will not give me an ESPN account.

Aaron Goldhammer (4:49)

Oh, Josiah. And all. How about all the other discounts we get to at the Nike store and all?

Matt Jones (4:56)

So many discounts.

Matt Myron (4:57)

You get discounts at the Nike store.

Aaron Goldhammer (4:59)

It's like 35% off. It's amazing.

Matt Myron (5:02)

Unbelievable. I've been at this company for eight years. I've been getting up every Sunday morning earlier than Charles Coral to come do this show, and no one even gives me an ESPN account.

Aaron Goldhammer (5:13)

You have the most generic name also, so I know. Is there a Matt Jones at espn?

Matt Myron (5:20)

Sure.

Aaron Goldhammer (5:20)

There's no one knows at every company.

Matt Myron (5:22)

Here's what happens at every sporting event

Matt Jones (5:24)

I go to, including I'm at the East Regional right now in D.C. i

Matt Myron (5:29)

walk in, they sit all the ESPN

Matt Jones (5:31)

neck people next to each other.

Matt Myron (5:33)

Every time I sit down, I introduce

Matt Jones (5:35)

myself to someone and they go, who do you work for?

Matt Myron (5:38)

And I go, well, I do work for espn.

Matt Jones (5:40)

And they go, really?

Matt Myron (5:41)

That's how every conversation occurs.

Aaron Goldhammer (5:49)

That's why you're always obsessed with taking screenshots of where you are in the podcast rankings.

Matt Myron (5:53)

Because you just need to justify. I just need to justify my existence. It's the only reason.

Matt Jones (5:59)

Go ahead, Evan.

Matt Myron (6:00)

You want to break in here?

Evan (6:00)

Not only do you have an ESPN email address, but you have matthew.jones@espn.com that belongs to you. I just went into the roster system. It says Matt Jones, commentator, which is your position.

Matt Jones (6:14)

It does not say commentator.

Aaron Goldhammer (6:16)

Yes, it does.

Evan (6:16)

And you own matthew.jones@espn. So of all these people who named Matt Jones who work here want Matthew Dot Jones. No, they have to go with Matthew Dot.

Matt Jones (6:26)

That'll be.

Aaron Goldhammer (6:27)

Hold on, hold on. A matthew.x.jones@espn.com that's. That is another Matt Jones. Who is it? And there is a Matt Dot Jones. Not Matthew, but Matt Dot Jones.

Matt Jones (6:41)

They gave me Matthew. Okay. Won't give me my actual name. Well, listen, I. I'm glad I have an Email address Evan, at some point this week, let's figure out how I log in since I still don't know how to do that. Let's figure out that password and let's get the password and then maybe I will be able to actually enter the bracket.

Aaron Goldhammer (6:56)

Cal or whatever.

Matt Jones (7:01)

I did enjoy watching him. I didn't watch it enjoy his coaching performance. Friday night he did the Olay defense where he was like Arizona, what form of layup would you like on this position?

Aaron Goldhammer (7:12)

That game anyway. But you are so right.

Podcast Intro/Outro Host (7:14)

In a million years they weren't.

Matt Jones (7:16)

It was the, it was the worst

Aaron Goldhammer (7:18)

was getting his Sacramento Kings gear ready

Matt Jones (7:21)

to go by the don't ruin that kid's career like that. All right, so let's talk about the games yesterday. Thankfully for American sport, the two most boring basketball teams on earth both lost Iowa and Purdue. And Iowa, Purdue Final Four would be used instead of Ambien at most places across America. So we did get Illinois and Arizona, two teams that I actually think are very fun to watch. Arizona look like a juggernaut. Even though they were down seven at halftime, they ended up winning by 20. I picked them in the ESPN bracket challenge even though none of you will know since I'm not listed amongst any of the ESPN employees.

Aaron Goldhammer (7:58)

You're there. You're just not a select.

Matt Jones (8:00)

That's right, Aaron. To me they look, if not unstoppable, they are the, the clear favorite going into next weekend. Do you agree?

Aaron Goldhammer (8:10)

I in part judge the greatness of a team based on their margin for error, whether they can flip a switch. Okay. I thought Arizona played a terrible first half. And in this tournament, usually most of the teams, if you play a terrible half or you shoot, shoot terribly for a half, you just start packing your bags and you go home. What's amazing about them, with their depth, the number of options they have, the amount of talent they have, the speed with which they play, it just didn't matter. By about the 15 minute mark of the second half, it was obvious to me that Arizona was going to win. People have said, people who know more about college basketball than me, I guess Matt have said that the winner of an Arizona Michigan semifinal in Indianapolis next weekend will ultimately be the national champion. After watching yesterday because I thought Arizona had like C plus game and still won a regional final by double figures, I think Arizona is going to win the national champ.

Matt Jones (9:07)

They're definitely the favorite. I will just say this. I, I, I'm kind of a college basketball history buff and, and the amount of teams that go into the final Four who win all four of the games along the way by double digits is actually a small amount.

Matt Myron (9:24)

And if you were to sit there

Matt Jones (9:25)

and the best teams in the last 40 years of college basketball, a lot

Matt Myron (9:31)

of the names that will come up

Matt Jones (9:32)

will be teams that, that stat applies to 2012 Kentucky, the UNLV team many years ago, 96 Kentucky, 99 Duke. Like if you look at some of those best teams, they show up on that list. But there are Also teams like 2015 Kentucky that with 38 and 1 and

Matt Myron (9:51)

won every game by 20 and then

Matt Jones (9:53)

lost in the, in the final Four. But I sti. But Arizona is on that list and

Matt Myron (9:58)

they have a chance to be, I

Matt Jones (10:00)

think, a special, special team depending on what happens next weekend in Indianapolis.

Aaron Goldhammer (10:04)

I think though, you know, you use that 15 Kentucky team as an example. I got the sense, Matt, that they were running out of gas as they got to the Final Four.

Matt Jones (10:14)

Like they kind of weren't.

Aaron Goldhammer (10:17)

I feel the opposite. I think Arizona is playing just generally they have a better sense of who they are. They're, I think like more driven and healthier. I don't get the sense that they're like falling off at this point.

Matt Jones (10:30)

That was a year, some of those teams that was a year of pressure on Kentucky to try to go undefeated that I think Arizona obviously hasn't, hasn't had. We're going to do more takeaways from the Elite Eight. I'm going to continue to effort to get my email working. After eight years, Myron Metcalf is going to join us. He decided to go through Houston Airport today as a sacrifice to our nation and he will join us to, to, to get ready for, and to get ready for today's Elite Eight games. Next. I'm Matt Meyer.

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Podcast Intro/Outro Host (12:18)

Matt and Myron the podcast Matt Myron's

Matt Jones (12:21)

presented by Progressive Insurance. Your home and auto save when you bundle and get a'@progressive.com we are now going to be joined on the phone, I believe from the Houston airport. No, he's not ready yet by Myron Metcalf. I guess he is going through security, but he will be getting us ready for the games today. Aaron, before we bring him on, as they pat him down in the, in the extra security line, what did you, when you were watching Illinois, Brad Underwood has taken a very unique approach, which is, I think he's create, he's, he does all his recruiting from the Balkans and they are working. He is probably the best international recruiter in college basketball. And if he's not, Arizona's coach, Tommy Lloyd is. I think yesterday you saw that college basketball, the guys who understand how to use the European system and get players to America are having quite a bit of success.

Aaron Goldhammer (13:14)

Who was the last American guy to win the NBA mvp? It was like a decade ago. We haven't even seen it because Jokic and Giannis and obviously Shay is from Canada.

Matt Jones (13:23)

You're not gonna count. Shay doesn't get to count. From Canada. You don't, you don't.

Aaron Goldhammer (13:26)

You know, he's not American, he's from Canada.

Matt Jones (13:28)

I know, but I mean, he basically

Matt Myron (13:30)

usa, but he spent his whole life

Matt Jones (13:33)

pretty much playing in American teams. That's still not enough.

Aaron Goldhammer (13:36)

So. No, I mean, it doesn't support the point that I'm trying to make.

Matt Jones (13:40)

Okay, fair enough, fair enough.

Aaron Goldhammer (13:42)

Internationally, if you don't, if you're, if you're just recruiting the top ten American high school players, you're missing out. Clearly, Brad Underwood has found an inefficiency and he's capitalizing on it.

Matt Jones (13:52)

It is. And I love that he embraces it. You know, I love that he dresses in the, in the jogging suits and the hat to sort of be a Balkan coach, which I like. I think what it does show you is college basketball is becoming now it's

Matt Myron (14:10)

not the second best league in the world yet.

Matt Jones (14:13)

But we're getting there because these best

Matt Myron (14:15)

European guys are starting to realize there's more money in college basketball. So come on over here and play. And I think that that pace is

Matt Jones (14:22)

only going to quicken over the next couple years. Now, Myron Metcalf is with us. You got through security at Bush Airport in Houston.

Matt Myron (14:30)

Was it as big a nightmare as

Matt Jones (14:31)

I see in the news media?

Myron Metcalf (14:35)

First I thought I was gonna be hold for 15 minutes. So thank you for having me on the show. I appreciate that. Yeah, it was. It was wild. It was wild. 90 minutes or so. Some people are saying two hours. But there's a lot of lines you got to go to, like, nine lines to actually get through security. And I saw some people break a little bit. You know, a couple people were. You can see that they were. They were about to jump out of line. But

Matt Myron (15:02)

do you have pre check?

Myron Metcalf (15:04)

None of that's open. I have everything. I have it all.

Matt Myron (15:08)

That's not. None of it's open.

Myron Metcalf (15:10)

Nothing's open. There's no clear. No pre check. So everybody's in the same line. Your status does not matter, and that's the issue.

Matt Jones (15:20)

Well, yeah, then I'm not going to Houston. All right, so let's. Let's talk about what you saw in Houston.

Matt Myron (15:25)

Do you agree with me that with

Matt Jones (15:27)

the Illinois and Arizona wins yesterday, Myron, that kind of. It's.

Matt Myron (15:30)

It's a message to college basketball.

Matt Jones (15:33)

Hey, you need to get with this European thing and get with this bringing international players in modern college basketball.

Myron Metcalf (15:41)

Not necessarily. I mean, I would say only if you're good at it. Right. And I think Illinois and Arizona are particularly good at it. Tommy Lloyd had that experience going back to Gonzaga. Obviously, it's something that Brad Underwood is specialized in. So I think when people say Europe, they think that there's like a school full of yokages and you can just go and go to that school and there's four dudes waiting to be future NBA stars. And you know this, Matt. It's not that easy at all going international. Like, a lot of this is luck. So I think if that's your specialty, great. I think more than anything, it says you got to be really, really good at roster construction today. Like, you got to just know who

Tom Crean (16:21)

fits on your team.

Myron Metcalf (16:22)

You got to know who to sign, who to pay. And I think those are the teams that are shining right now.

Aaron Goldhammer (16:28)

Myron, you had sort of an interesting game. I thought yesterday the most interesting part of it was the buzzer that wouldn't stop buzzing. So do you have a sense of exactly what happened and who is at fault.

Myron Metcalf (16:42)

Well, there was a scramble. I don't know if they saw it on tv, right? All of a sudden, the bus is going off. We assume it's just gonna stop. It doesn't stop. And then next, you know, there are dudes with walkie talkies looking like FBI guys running around the court. So now there's walkie talkie dudes, there's engineer guys, electricians. There's five dudes behind me who are just regular dads who are like, I can fix it. You know?

Tom Crean (17:03)

So there was a lot of people.

Myron Metcalf (17:05)

A lot of people were trying to offer solutions, and it was a little bit chaotic. And then someone obviously pulled the plug, whatever that means. But then the lights went out in half of the arena and the scoreboard turned off. So it was like, oops, you know, we didn't mean to do that. And by the end of it all, there was just a dude at the table with an air horn who was blowing the air horn whenever we had to restart the game. So I've never seen anything like it.

Matt Jones (17:32)

All right, I gotta ask you something, Myron. I was go. When. When I thought you were gonna be on here today before you skipped out. I was gonna talk to you about this extensively, but Gino Auriemma complained yesterday, and we're gonna. We're gonna deal with this more later about a variety of things about the tournament. But one of the things he mentioned are the bouncy balls.

Matt Myron (17:51)

Aaron, do you know about the bouncy balls? Do you know what I'm talking about?

Aaron Goldhammer (17:54)

I do.

Matt Myron (17:55)

So I was at the tournament, the

Matt Jones (17:57)

first and second round in St. Louis.

Matt Myron (17:58)

And for people who don't know, for some reason that no one understands, at the NCAA tournament, they bring out new

Matt Jones (18:03)

balls, these Wilson OVO balls that they don't use during the regular season.

Matt Myron (18:08)

And they bounce. They're like flubber. Do you remember flubber when it would, like, bounce high in the air? You dribble them and you dribble them and they go over your head. And I went around before a game and used it, and it's crazy how

Matt Jones (18:21)

different it feels than a normal basketball.

Matt Myron (18:24)

I think it has to make a difference. You have talked to coaches. You've been around it. Do you think these NCAA tournament bouncy

Matt Jones (18:32)

balls are an issue?

Myron Metcalf (18:36)

I. I think they're an issue, but not just in the tournament. I think it's the fact that you don't have a standard ball. That's what coaches talk about, right? People don't understand the rule. The home team in any Division 1 game selects the ball for the game. So, you know, there are stories of, you know, teams rolling out under inflated balls. Auburn played a buck. Like, you have no control as an away team in terms of the balls being used. So, you know, you've got 10 different basketballs floating around, college basketball, and now you whip out the new ones, which is part of a marketing deal for the NCAA tournament. And, you know, this. Any tweak at this level can make a difference. Like, anything that's unfamiliar can. Can make a difference. Now, I don't know if a team that loses by 20 can complain about the inflated basketballs, but I do think, overall, we need a standard basketball. And I think that, to me, is what this issue is highlighted.

Aaron Goldhammer (19:31)

I mean, Myron, I think we need a standard a lot of things, but isn't this where a commissioner of college sports would step in and negotiate one deal for every conference?

Myron Metcalf (19:43)

Maybe. You know, I mean, you know, it's. It's weird because I don't think people understand, like, you know, back in the day of Wisconsin, Bo Ryan had this deal, this marketing deal with this, like, you know, no one had ever heard of this basketball company, and only she would use this basketball a little out of Wisconsin.

Matt Myron (20:03)

Sounds like a tennis ball.

Matt Jones (20:04)

It was like a completely different sport.

Myron Metcalf (20:07)

Like, you. You couldn't even get it outside of Wisconsin. So you show up to the Badgers, and all of a sudden you're playing with the ball that no one's ever heard of. We just need a standard. Someone needs to make that happen.

Matt Jones (20:18)

All right, so we go into the games today. I think Michigan should be a huge favorite against Tennessee, and I'm. I'm picking Duke as well. Who do you like this afternoon?

Myron Metcalf (20:28)

I like Michigan. I think they're, you know, right behind Arizona. Really tough. I'm torn on Duke and UConn. I'm going with Duke because I think Cam booze is the difference in a close game, but nothing will surprise me.

Matt Jones (20:39)

Cam boozer, by the way, at the end of games, he just, like, lowers his shoulder and tries to run over a person.

Matt Myron (20:46)

I want one person, Myron, to take a charge. One I'm sending, like my grandfather, but just one time.

Matt Jones (20:52)

Do it.

Myron Metcalf (20:54)

Yeah, get that concussion. What's gonna happen to you if you try to. He's a big dude, man. You don't want to stand in front of him.

Matt Jones (20:59)

He is a big dude. Well, thank you for getting through the airport.

Matt Myron (21:02)

Thank you for your service.

Matt Jones (21:03)

We'll see you later, Tom.

Matt Myron (21:04)

Crean is next. He will join us right here on Matt Myron on ESPN Radio.

Matt Jones (21:09)

In the ESPN app,

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Matt Myron (21:54)

How did I not know Rack has Adidas?

Aaron Goldhammer (21:56)

Because there's always something new.

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Podcast Intro/Outro Host (22:13)

Matt and Myron

Matt Jones (22:14)

the Podcast It's Matt and Myron on ESPN Radio presented by Progressive Insurance.

Matt Myron (22:21)

Protect your home and auto save when you bundle.

Matt Jones (22:23)

Get a@progressive.com Tom Cream, ESPN analyst He's doing the radio for Westwood One for the NCAA tournament today. He's in Washington, D.C. tom might even be in the same hotel I'm in.

Matt Myron (22:36)

Tom Duke Yukon today doesn't get much

Matt Jones (22:40)

better than that for an elite A, does it?

Tom Crean (22:43)

No, it'll be a great game. I mean, you put it all together. I mean you the tradition, the names, the fact that they're two of the highest rated teams year in and year out. But the bottom line is they're both so efficient and what they do and I think it's going to be a great game. I mean, I'd be shocked if this didn't come down to the very end.

Aaron Goldhammer (23:02)

Tom for about 30 minutes I thought Duke might lose to Sienna. Did that first round game oddly help them in certain ways?

Tom Crean (23:13)

Probably, because every experience does. I think it showed you that you cannot be where you need to be and you better not let that happen again is one part. But at the same time it showed you how important every possession is, no matter who you're playing. Because Siena was getting things. I think in the long run it helped them get better defensively, it helped them clean up a lot of things in the middle of the floor defensively, that they were able, that they got exposed on a bit. But it also showed what happens when they just have a collective spirit again. And, and there's no doubt that, that Siena was getting what they wanted, but they turned it on. They figured it out and they did it in a Duke way. They didn't put him on the foul line a lot. They, they got to the rim, they got to the foul line themselves and they had to overcome some play that was, I don't want to say it was uncharacteristic, but they realized again that no matter who you're playing, people are coming after you. They're coming after you physically, they're going at you, and they're going to make things tough.

Matt Jones (24:14)

I, you know, I hate Duke, but nevertheless, I do respect when I, when I watch.

Tom Crean (24:20)

You're here watching the game.

Matt Jones (24:21)

Yeah, but it's a hate, it's hate watching. I go.

Matt Myron (24:25)

I mean, for me, Duke exists to

Matt Jones (24:28)

be the evil empire for me to dislike. It's been that way since 1992.

Matt Myron (24:32)

But what I think is interesting about this Duke team is we hear people

Matt Jones (24:36)

say, I've heard a bunch of people

Matt Myron (24:38)

say, including talking to media down here,

Matt Jones (24:40)

the winner of Michigan, Arizona, if they play in the Final Four, that's who win the national championship.

Matt Myron (24:45)

And I look at this Duke team

Matt Jones (24:46)

and say, you know, everyone focuses on Boozer and understandably.

Matt Myron (24:51)

But when Isaiah Evans plays like he

Matt Jones (24:54)

did against St. John's to me, he was the in that game. And when Caleb Foster now has given him something, as he did in the second half of that game, I think

Matt Myron (25:03)

a complete Duke team has a chance

Matt Jones (25:05)

to win the whole thing. Do you disagree?

Tom Crean (25:09)

Oh, yeah. I think anybody coming out of here can. I think once you get into next week, again, everybody has size, everybody has things that they're really, really good at. And for the most part, if even their weaknesses, they have ways to negate them. Right. Because they can defend, they can rebound. Duke is phenomenal at getting to the foul line. They've already, let's say it's Duke. I mean, they've already played Michigan and showed how you beat them. It's not just winning the game, it's attacking them where you go at their bodies. You put a lot of pressure on their bigs. You make their bigs guard at the rim by going at their bodies or you pull them out away from the basket. It's just you have to have, and I think Arizona showing this, I think Illinois showing this. With you look at the second halves, you've got to have incredible endurance. You've got to have the right kind of bench, that there's not going to be a huge drop off when you come back. There's length there's size, there's physicality in all these teams. And if you have that and you have a way to find ways to make shots, whether it's get foul, go to the foul line, whether it's get second chance points, whether it's create some turnovers and get out and go like here's a great example with, with UConn today, Dan Boozer is only averaging a little over two turnovers a game. Well, he's got 13 in three games. Like, if they get up and they get after him and they put a lot of pressure on him, those things could turn into basket. So anything can happen literally inside of these games, as long as you have that size and that length and the depth of the bench over the period of the time of the game.

Aaron Goldhammer (26:47)

Coach, everybody dreams of going to the Final Four, growing up, going into a regional final. As a coach, is there anything you do or say differently?

Tom Crean (26:58)

No. What did you say to get Dwyane

Matt Jones (27:00)

Wade to have a triple double against my team in 2003? That's what I want to know.

Tom Crean (27:05)

Well, he had a bad. He had a bad start. If you remember in that game, we were down early inside of that game. And that's a great point because that's what this is. It's almost like we had to have a Dwyane Wade timeout, right? Like we had to get him locked back in because he, I wouldn't say he was nervous, but he was anxious. And when you're anxious, a lot of things can go wrong. And the other team can come out in the first four or five minutes of the game, sometimes earlier. It's dictated how the game is going to be officiated. I mean, sitting at courtside the other night, I mean, you could see inside the first three minutes how the St. John's Duke game was going to be officiated. And there was going to be a lot of physicality, especially in the lane. So I think that's the biggest thing you have to do. You have to. There's. Whether it's in the practice between the film sessions. You've got to get their attention immediately on not only what you need to do and how you're going to guard things, but how they can beat you. And you have to get a tinge of. I don't want to say it's fear, but it probably is. It's a healthy fear that, okay, this is great, we just had all this unbelievable feeling to get to this game, but if we don't lock in and take away this and this and if we don't do this and that, we're not going to win this game. And so you got, you, you, you kind of just recenter refocus and in the game you've got to continue to do that too. Especially when you see how the game is going to be officiated and it may be a little different than what you, what you thought it was going to be.

Matt Jones (28:33)

There we're talking, it's Matt Myron here on ESPN Radio talking to Tom Crane. Aaron, there are only two teams that have been to the Elite Eight in back in the last three years in a row. One is Duke, but a lot of

Matt Myron (28:45)

people would never guess that.

Matt Jones (28:46)

The other is Tennessee.

Matt Myron (28:48)

Tennessee is on three straight Elite Eights but Rick Barnes has never made a Final four in his entire career and he gets a lot of criticism for that. But Tom, I am, I think Rick

Matt Jones (28:58)

Barnes has to be actually one of the most underrated coaches.

Matt Myron (29:02)

Three straight Elite Eights at Tennessee when they had only made four in history

Matt Jones (29:06)

before, before he got there.

Matt Myron (29:08)

Tom, isn't that just sort of an

Matt Jones (29:10)

amazing accomplishment at that school?

Tom Crean (29:13)

Yeah, absolutely. And, and he did go to one with Texas and they were in the same one that we were in in 2003. But you're right, he's been so close at Tennessee and I think he's done a great job. He's got different guard play every year. He figures out there's no question they're going to be an inside oriented team. They're going to pound you on the glass. They leave the country. I think it is an offensive rebound percentage. So they're always going to be really good there. And I think it's just been situations where they've gotten into that elite game and it wasn't that they weren't as talented. They just had a longer lull or they had some longer droughts than the other team had. I think today with that game, I think they will attack Michigan. I think native will be a hard matchup for that team. The one thing that you've got to be able to do against Michigan, if you don't have a big that can stretch the four floor and, and make threes or if you don't run your pick and roll game higher where your guards can really get in and attack the bigs well, then you've got to go at the big men. Like you literally got to go at them the way Purdue did in the Big Ten final or the Big Ten tournament championship final. And I think they can do that. This thing is going to Come down to to me who's going to make the best decisions if it's close at the end of the game, not only with scoring but the guard play of Tennessee has got to be as good as it's ever been all year when it comes to how the decisions that you make, the passes that you make, not turning it over, reading the defense. Because if you overdo it and you start trying to drive in on those bigs late in the game and try to manufacture a shot, that's not going to happen. It's just not going to happen. And against good teams, against great teams, you have to be able to continue to stay with what will get you the best look at the end of the game or foul without trying to reinvent the wheel and do things that you can't do against those teams. I think that's going to be huge for Tennessee today. I think Gillespie is going to be the, he's an X factor every night. I think he's going to be a huge X factor at the end of the game if this thing's close.

Matt Jones (31:18)

Got a real quick question to get you out here. I you've mentioned about every team we've talked about, the key being the bigs.

Matt Myron (31:26)

We had this period of time where leading from the NBA there was this

Matt Jones (31:29)

idea of five out, everybody be able to shoot threes.

Matt Myron (31:32)

I was looking at the seating for

Matt Jones (31:34)

the NCAA tournament and of the eight

Matt Myron (31:36)

teams left in the Elite Eight, seven of the eight were seven of the

Matt Jones (31:40)

11 tallest teams in the NCAA tournament.

Matt Myron (31:43)

Is size now? Has the NBA or college basketball almost gone back to what we thought it

Matt Jones (31:48)

was years ago that size matters?

Tom Crean (31:52)

Well, absolutely. But you still got to have great guard play. I mean we didn't even talk much about Caleb Foster. He when he came back in in the second half that whole game changed because they got into the middle of the floor and and ran higher. Pick and roll. It was Boozer and Foster playing out of it. So you've got to have really good guard play. I mean there's no doubt about that because that's where so much of the decisions come. But, but, but again it's the length. I mean let's look at Purdue last night. They were 8:17 at the rim in that game against Purdue and they're a very good inside team. So they started settling for more non paint twos all of a sudden in that game. Now they're 415 in that game from non paint twos. That's not a great way to win. Where Arizona at the other end was 1726 at the rim. So they got all that length and size, but they don't win that game without the way Braden Burry's is played. And they don't win games all year. Braden Burry's going into last night and the high major games. 28 high major games. He was a plus 333. That's unbelievable for a freshman. And some of the best freshmen in the country have those types of numbers this year. So yes, you got to have length, yes, you've got to have size, yes, you've got to have rim protection, more so even than rim scoring. But if you don't have guards that can make decisions and make plays and make big shots and make the right play at the right time, you can't win at all.

Matt Jones (33:14)

Tom Crane, ESPN analyst. He'll be on the call for Duke and UConn this afternoon at 5:00 o' clock on the east Regional. Thank you very thank you very much for your time.

Tom Crean (33:23)

Good. I'll see you around here. Matt. Somewhere here in this

Matt Jones (33:28)

sounds good.

Matt Myron (33:29)

Aaron Goldhammer and Matt Jones, we're going

Matt Jones (33:32)

to talk a little Tiger Woods. Sad day for Tiger woods fans on Friday. What's next?

Matt Myron (33:37)

Will we ever even see him play golf again?

Matt Jones (33:40)

Plus, I will continue to try to get a working email. That's next here on Matt Myron on ESPN Radio.

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Aaron Goldhammer (33:51)

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Matt Jones (33:54)

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Unknown Speaker (34:02)

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Podcast Intro/Outro Host (34:27)

Matt and Myron the Podcast

Matt Jones (34:31)

Matt Myron here on ESPN Radio. Aaron Goldhammer filling in for Myron Metcalf. I'm Matt Jones. We're presented by Progressive Insurance. By the way, you may not know this, if so, you should. ESPN is the home of MLB tv. That's right.

Matt Myron (34:45)

Every out of market game live or on demand on the ESPN app.

Matt Jones (34:50)

They have blackout and other restrictions apply.

Matt Myron (34:52)

But for more information go to espn.com

Matt Jones (34:55)

mlbtv that's an exciting new new home. You can watch hockey, you can watch baseball, you can watch professional wrestling. Tell me where all those things could happen except espn.

Aaron Goldhammer (35:08)

We are checking all, all the boxes here at espn.

Matt Jones (35:11)

Listen, those are, those are my sports. I have, I'm a red season ticket holder.

Matt Myron (35:15)

I like the Carolina Hurricanes and if necessary, I will layeth the smacketh down. So it's great.

Aaron Goldhammer (35:21)

Well, WrestleMania in a couple of weeks, right, is on ESPN, the ESPN app and the ESPN platforms for the first time I think ever, Matt. So it'll be very exciting.

Matt Jones (35:31)

Yeah, very exciting. Dan Housen is my guy now in wrestling. You should look him up.

Matt Myron (35:37)

So, you know the news, we all

Matt Jones (35:39)

woke up to news, I guess Friday was it Friday morning about Tiger woods and his accident and the driving under impairment charge.

Matt Myron (35:50)

And you know, it's interesting with Tiger

Matt Jones (35:52)

woods because he is in my opinion in my lifetime. If you were to say, okay, Matt, who are the two biggest athletes of your lifetime? You're going to say. For me, I'm going to say Michael Jordan and Tiger Woods. Woods.

Matt Myron (36:06)

And he has reached a level of

Matt Jones (36:09)

icon status that I think very few

Matt Myron (36:11)

athletes in the history of American sports have.

Matt Jones (36:14)

I mean, I think there's a, there's

Matt Myron (36:16)

a, you know, Babe Ruth, Muhammad Ali, Michael Jordan, Tiger Woods. You could make an argument that those

Matt Jones (36:22)

might be like the four biggest athletes in the history of American sports. I know that sounds like hyperbole, but I actually think it might be true.

Matt Myron (36:30)

So when you get to that level, level, you almost become Aaron, not even an athlete.

Matt Jones (36:36)

You're almost a symbol for people of things.

Matt Myron (36:38)

Like it's, it's, it's really not even about you as a person or you as an athlete. You are a symbol of something. And I would argue for people 35

Matt Jones (36:48)

to 55 years old, Tiger woods is

Matt Myron (36:52)

almost like a symbol of our youth in some ways. Like it's, it's like a symbol of greatness, of sports. That was in our era that we sort of rode along with him. I think it's all of a background to say when, I think when something

Matt Jones (37:06)

like this happens with him and we've had a few of these over the years.

Matt Myron (37:09)

Yeah, it makes people sad, I think, Aaron, because it's almost like a lost youth, a lost innocence kind of thing that, that occurs. And I think that's why a lot of times athletes would have self inflicted problems and they wouldn't get sympathy or people wouldn't want to protect them or people wouldn't go, oh, but I do think people do that with Tiger and I think it's kind of of fascinating because of the connection they feel towards him.

Aaron Goldhammer (37:34)

You know, I think the other thing I was thinking about, Matt, is that golf you know, has had stars since Tiger, obviously.

Matt Jones (37:40)

Yes.

Aaron Goldhammer (37:40)

But has not come close to replacing what Tiger would brought to the game. Okay. So everybody is excited heading into Friday about the prospect of him playing in two weeks at Augusta if he played. And now obviously that changes. But the possibility of him playing was out there and he had just returned to play in this TGL thing that ESPN broadcast the indoor golf in close to his home in Jupiter. So, you know, he was gonna be the biggest story on Thursday at Augusta at 50 years old.

Podcast Intro/Outro Host (38:12)

Matt.

Matt Jones (38:12)

Yeah.

Aaron Goldhammer (38:13)

And so I think people have trouble seeing with Tiger that he's at a different point in his life. And I think it's about time that everybody who is a fan of his let go of the notion that he's going to play the Champions Tour or that he could win another tournament or that he could win another major. Him Winning the 2019 Masters was one of the most incredible things I've ever seen in sports. But I think it's time, you know,

Matt Myron (38:38)

I can't let it go, Aaron. That's like saying. But see, I think that goes to my point. That's like saying, let's let go of our youth. Right. Like, I mean I, at some point you have to.

Aaron Goldhammer (38:50)

Do you.

Matt Myron (38:51)

Or can you just say, like, I don't think people want Tiger woods.

Matt Jones (38:54)

You're right. The 2019 Masters is historically going to be one of those like I can't believe that happened kind of things.

Aaron Goldhammer (39:02)

Right.

Matt Myron (39:02)

But is it too much to hope or ask for for him, this larger than life figure to not be involved

Matt Jones (39:11)

in rollover accidents due to impairment at the age of 50?

Matt Myron (39:15)

I mean, I, you know, that's not, I don't think that's a crazy thing

Matt Jones (39:20)

for people to hope for.

Aaron Goldhammer (39:21)

I don't think he's let go. And that's why, I don't know, his fans have let go.

Matt Myron (39:28)

That may be true.

Aaron Goldhammer (39:28)

I don't know. I don't know. I'll say it this way, Matt. I want to be able to see in 25 years 75 year old Tiger woods tee off on Thursday the way Jack and Gary Player do now. Okay. And I don't based on the behavior and in particular what happens when he gets behind the wheel of a car.

Myron Metcalf (39:50)

Are.

Aaron Goldhammer (39:51)

I'm afraid that we're never going to see that. I'm afraid that we're just never going to get there.

Matt Myron (39:55)

Well, there's clearly.

Matt Jones (39:56)

Go ahead.

Aaron Goldhammer (39:57)

Yeah. And, and rather than be so focused on whether he could play another Masters.

Matt Jones (40:03)

Yeah.

Aaron Goldhammer (40:04)

My hope for Tiger is that he's able to get the help that he needs, both physically, emotionally and mentally, so that we do get to see Tiger woods grow old. Because otherwise I'm worried that one of these accidents, he's not going to walk away so lucky. Or somebody else might not walk away so lucky.

Matt Myron (40:22)

Yeah. I mean, I've given up on the

Matt Jones (40:24)

idea of him being good at golf again, and I probably gave up on that after his last surgery.

Matt Myron (40:31)

But again, because I think he is

Matt Jones (40:34)

a symbol of something to people, I

Matt Myron (40:37)

do really root for that to continue.

Matt Jones (40:40)

And obviously you want him to be healthy, et cetera, but he is also.

Matt Myron (40:44)

It's a tough thing. My guess is, you know, he's had

Matt Jones (40:47)

a lot of pain due to the various surgeries he's had to have over the years.

Aaron Goldhammer (40:50)

No question.

Matt Myron (40:50)

A lot of his pain, however, is also self inflicted, which in some ways is also sad in a different way. Right. Like it's, it's a. You sit here and you think to

Matt Jones (40:59)

yourself, I can just say for me,

Matt Myron (41:01)

here is somebody who on paper has everything that life you hope to have.

Matt Jones (41:07)

When you're a kid dreaming, you want

Matt Myron (41:09)

to be the kid that wins Augusta, that changes the face of the sport, that becomes a world worldwide icon that has every person in the world knows who you are. And even that person can have personal issues and demons that can have a negative effect on their life. That brings them down to reality to

Matt Jones (41:36)

where in the morning they wake up and they are in a police vehicle.

Aaron Goldhammer (41:43)

Yeah.

Matt Jones (41:43)

On a random road in Florida.

Matt Myron (41:45)

Like that, to me is part of

Matt Jones (41:47)

why it's so sad.

Matt Myron (41:49)

No success you have in life can

Matt Jones (41:52)

stop human frailty from putting you in these positions.

Aaron Goldhammer (41:56)

Yeah. I mean, talk about maximizing the talent that you were given. I mean, I, I don't know that Tiger's career could have gone. I know he never got to Jack's major total. But if you'd have told somebody in 1995 or 96 that that's what you. He was going to be and what he was going to represent, but still it's not all that fulfilling.

Matt Jones (42:16)

That's him. It's not.

Matt Myron (42:17)

It's crazy to see this immaculate life

Matt Jones (42:21)

on paper can still lead to being unfulfilled. You're exactly right.

Matt Myron (42:25)

And that, I think that's also part

Matt Jones (42:27)

of why it's so sad to a lot of us is to watch that play out. Now on a different note, the NCAA tournament has games today. We're going to go through, through them, tell you who's going to win and get ready. It's Matt Myron on ESPN Radio.

Podcast Intro/Outro Host (42:41)

Thanks for listening to Matt and Myron the Podcast. You can listen to the show live every Sunday morning at 10am Eastern on ESPN radio, the ESPN app, and on Sirius XM channel 80. Matt and Myron the podcast from 30 for 30 podcasts.

Tom Crean (43:10)

Did you say someone got shot?

Matt Jones (43:12)

Brian Pata, senior defensive lineman from Miami,

Unknown Speaker (43:15)

gunned down the key to this case.

Tom Crean (43:18)

It's Brian.

Myron Metcalf (43:21)

An hour before he died, he was on the phone arguing with somebody.

Matt Myron (43:24)

This might be a hit.

Matt Jones (43:25)

You want the truth? They just want a conviction.

Tom Crean (43:27)

Being placed under arrest.

Matt Myron (43:29)

We had a killer amongst us.

Podcast Intro/Outro Host (43:30)

Murder at the U. Listen now.