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How Sweet It Is · Talkin' Tech

• 0:39
  SPEAKER_03: Welcome in everybody to the Telic and Tech Podcast, powered by the Nation Part of the Nation Podcast Network.
• 0:44
  SPEAKER_03: I'm your host, Steven Rodriguez.
• 0:45
  SPEAKER_03: My co-host Tristan McGonagall is here.
• 0:47
  SPEAKER_03: Tristan, your Texas Tech Red Raiders are in the sweet 16.
• 0:54
  SPEAKER_02: Oh, and that is a line that Texas Tech fans are getting comfortably used to.
• 1:02
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, it's wonderful.
• 1:03
  SPEAKER_03: Um really good first couple games.
• 1:07
  SPEAKER_03: You've gotten a good swing of things.
• 1:09
  SPEAKER_03: I think besides Purdue, you've probably got the best in terms of just caliber of opponent that you played so far in the NCAA tournament.
• 1:17
  SPEAKER_03: But regardless, you don't complain about winning games in the NCAA tournament.
• 1:21
  SPEAKER_03: You don't, you know, try to make excuses for level of opponent.
• 1:24
  SPEAKER_03: You've won two games, and these are two pretty solid teams that you just beat, and you are moving on to San Francisco.
• 1:30
  SPEAKER_02: Would you criticize either of these wins?
• 1:33
  SPEAKER_02: No, I'm just semi-game one a little bit.
• 1:42
  SPEAKER_03: So far, you know, we played a 14 and an 11 seed.
• 1:46
  SPEAKER_03: Uh Purdue, I think, has they played like a 12 seed and then they ended up playing McNeese in the next round that was also an upset team, just like Drake was on our end.
• 1:56
  SPEAKER_03: So I'm just saying some people are saying Texas Tech hasn't had the toughest road, which is true, but you don't complain about it.
• 2:03
  SPEAKER_03: That's why you get a three seed in the tournament so you can play these crappy teams.
• 2:06
  SPEAKER_03: Not crappy teams.
• 2:07
  SPEAKER_03: I shouldn't say that.
• 2:08
  SPEAKER_03: There's no crappy teams in the NCAA tournament, worse teams than others may have played.
• 2:14
  SPEAKER_02: And best team in Drake's proud long history, the pride of Des Moines.
• 2:19
  SPEAKER_03: They finally got one.
• 2:20
  SPEAKER_03: They fine, it was been like 55 years or 56 years since they won a game in the NCA tournament, and those dudes did it.
• 2:28
  SPEAKER_02: That's funny because like every time I think of March Madison, you know, those little like little private school teams that always are in there.
• 2:34
  SPEAKER_02: I feel like Drake is kind of in that mix.
• 2:36
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, they made it a ton recently.
• 2:38
  SPEAKER_03: They just haven't quite got one, you know.
• 2:40
  SPEAKER_03: They always lose in the first round or uh, you know, something like that.
• 2:44
  SPEAKER_03: But uh, that was a dang good team, that Drake team.
• 2:46
  SPEAKER_03: It was so uh they should have they should be really proud of how that season went.
• 2:50
  SPEAKER_03: But I don't know, man.
• 2:51
  SPEAKER_03: You want to start with Wilmington?
• 2:53
  SPEAKER_02: Of course, man.
• 2:54
  SPEAKER_02: The Seahawks, the Seahawks, whatever animal that is.
• 2:58
  SPEAKER_02: Is that a species?
• 3:00
  SPEAKER_03: You know, what is a yeah?
• 3:02
  SPEAKER_03: I mean, a sea bird.
• 3:04
  SPEAKER_03: Is it a seagull?
• 3:05
  SPEAKER_02: You you go, you, you, you do your spiel.
• 3:07
  SPEAKER_02: I'm gonna do a little research.
• 3:08
  SPEAKER_03: Okay, you do you do a little research on what a seahawk is.
• 3:11
  SPEAKER_03: Um you and see Wilmington.
• 3:14
  SPEAKER_03: We go to Wichita, play the 14th seed of the I believe the Colonial Athletic Conference, the CAA, um, Titans of college basketball.
• 3:24
  SPEAKER_03: Uh they gave us a scare.
• 3:27
  SPEAKER_03: UNC Wilmington.
• 3:28
  SPEAKER_03: Uh until probably what the last uh five minutes, we were like, okay, this is a little too close.
• 3:35
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I mean, I feel like we we got out on them pretty quickly, and then we just uh really kept let them stay around for like the entire game.
• 3:44
  SPEAKER_02: So uh until of course until we launched at the end.
• 3:47
  SPEAKER_02: But yeah, dude, I think like like we're kind of saying, you know, it's it's hard to criticize both these wins, but if you're gonna find any one where you're scratching your head a bit, it's definitely this one.
• 3:54
  SPEAKER_02: Um, you know, hitting that's you know, uh setting that NCAA March Madness record for three points attempted.
• 4:00
  SPEAKER_02: Uh you'd think that maybe we were lighting up, and then we we were, of course, but you think the score difference would be a little different.
• 4:08
  SPEAKER_03: This is such a weird game looking at this box four.
• 4:12
  SPEAKER_03: You shot 13 of 46 from three.
• 4:14
  SPEAKER_03: Kerwin Walden alone shot 20 of those, 19, I should say.
• 4:18
  SPEAKER_03: Uh, which, by the way, shout out Kerwin Walton.
• 4:22
  SPEAKER_03: My guy.
• 4:24
  SPEAKER_03: If if these two games aren't the epitome of Kerwin Walden, I don't know what is because the man went off eight for 19 from three, 27 points against Wilmington, and then oh for three, zero points against Drake.
• 4:36
  SPEAKER_03: So I listen, man, this guy deserves a lot of credit, first and foremost, because beginning of this season, he was not playing a lot.
• 4:44
  SPEAKER_03: He started and he played every game, but you know, he was usually after the first sub you weren't getting back in early in the year.
• 4:50
  SPEAKER_03: Uh, because honestly, Kerwin does one thing really well, and that's shoot threes.
• 4:55
  SPEAKER_03: Other than that, you know, he struggles at times defensively.
• 4:58
  SPEAKER_03: Um, there was there was an effort issue, I think, at the beginning of the year for him.
• 5:02
  SPEAKER_03: Uh, you know, on the little things, rebounding, stuff that you just need to do no matter who you are to play for Grant McCasslin that you need to do.
• 5:10
  SPEAKER_03: And credit to Kerwin, he's picked it up on those other things and kept the same three-point shooting that just makes him an absolute weapon for this team.
• 5:19
  SPEAKER_02: Uh, you know what?
• 5:20
  SPEAKER_02: When on on Monday on uh on uh not Monday night, on Thursday night, uh watching Kerwin on the floor, a that was like that's a senior's last run kind of game with the way he was uh trying really trying to wheeling the Texas Tech Red Raiders into a W and playing the pinnacle of his type of game that really felt like a veteran just walking in and doing what the old guys gotta do on the team.
• 5:43
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, for sure.
• 5:44
  SPEAKER_03: And you needed that because UNC Wilmington came in with a really good game plan.
• 5:48
  SPEAKER_03: It was basically don't let JT Topin beat you.
• 5:51
  SPEAKER_03: Um, you know, they were doubling him on almost every opportunity he got in the post.
• 5:55
  SPEAKER_03: They have a fairly large team.
• 5:58
  SPEAKER_03: You know, they had a Obi Ahaha in the middle there is seven foot two eighty-eight or something like that.
• 6:04
  SPEAKER_03: I mean, he was just a massive human.
• 6:06
  SPEAKER_03: And JT, you know, with being the primary big, is significantly smaller on that.
• 6:11
  SPEAKER_03: And so you're just not going to get as many looks down low in the paint.
• 6:14
  SPEAKER_03: And uh, you know, look good for JT for you know still managing a double-double in this game and and finding his other guys uh when he could.
• 6:23
  SPEAKER_03: But man, it's this team came in with a really good game plan, and we countered that with having our Kerwin Walden, uh, which really just kind of held it down on the perimeter for us.
• 6:35
  SPEAKER_03: Um, Elijah Hawkins as well, near triple-double in this game, which is crazy.
• 6:39
  SPEAKER_03: Uh, having a guy who's really about 5'9, 5'10, he's listed at I think six foot or five'11.
• 6:46
  SPEAKER_03: That man is not that tall.
• 6:48
  SPEAKER_03: He's I mean, he's right there with Grant, and Grant's not a big guy by any means.
• 6:53
  SPEAKER_03: So uh for him to grab nine rebounds, tennis 14 points, uh, and play really, really terrific defense.
• 7:00
  SPEAKER_03: Uh, this was this was Kerwin and Elijah's game.
• 7:03
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, and obviously two older players really uh did it with that uh March, you know, that that late season experience that they bring to the table.
• 7:11
  SPEAKER_02: So uh just just a great performance from both of them, and and just what you want to see out of your vets at the end of the day.
• 7:18
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, absolutely.
• 7:19
  SPEAKER_03: Um, they definitely had some guys, you know, play pretty well for them.
• 7:22
  SPEAKER_03: Nolan Hodge off the bench with 18 points.
• 7:24
  SPEAKER_03: Uh Bo Montgomery had a solid game as well.
• 7:26
  SPEAKER_03: I think those are kind of those guys' last rides.
• 7:28
  SPEAKER_03: I think this was their last year of eligibility.
• 7:30
  SPEAKER_03: Um, another plus for Elijah Hawkins.
• 7:34
  SPEAKER_03: Donovan Newby's their best player, point the point guard for Wilmington.
• 7:38
  SPEAKER_03: And two for 10 from the floor, eight points.
• 7:40
  SPEAKER_03: And that was all credit to Elijah Hawkins and his defense.
• 7:43
  SPEAKER_03: He he has been pestering these point guards like crazy.
• 7:47
  SPEAKER_03: Uh, you know, the the guy for Drake had a had a pretty good performance, but you could tell these guys are just getting bothered by Elijah and his effort um on the defensive side of the floor.
• 7:56
  SPEAKER_03: So I need to mention that.
• 7:59
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, um, and you know, while while hold on, we have well while we're talking about Elijah, my bad.
• 8:04
  SPEAKER_02: So I will say one of the funniest bits on Twitter, I know you've commented on this, was that gopher guy.
• 8:11
  SPEAKER_03: Oh yeah, gopher crew.
• 8:13
  SPEAKER_03: Gopher crew.
• 8:15
  SPEAKER_02: Um, I I hope I didn't show my behind of saying has Minnesota made March Madness lately.
• 8:22
  SPEAKER_03: I don't they haven't made it in, they haven't made it in a while.
• 8:25
  SPEAKER_02: I don't think I was like, well, you know, you got uh uh Kerwin and Elijah with that March Madness experience, and as soon as that came up, I was like, hang on, I don't think Minnesota has that experience, but it's still it's it's still really funny uh that you know it was like the whole money over wins, and uh just that's like a uh every time Elijah has a good game all season, they've been coming back to him every single time.
• 8:49
  SPEAKER_02: That poor burner on Twitter.
• 8:51
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, that guy uh is not having a good time, and credit to him, he hasn't deleted the tweet or anything yet.
• 8:58
  SPEAKER_03: So you always gotta respect that.
• 9:00
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, absolutely.
• 9:01
  SPEAKER_03: You get a bad take, you just gotta accept it, bro.
• 9:03
  SPEAKER_03: I mean, like with the bad take.
• 9:04
  SPEAKER_03: And with how crazy our fan base is on X is uh he's gonna hear it every time he's gonna hear it through the rest of our time with Elijah Hawkins.
• 9:13
  SPEAKER_03: But Minnesota not made the NCAA tournament since 2019.
• 9:18
  SPEAKER_02: Okay, so yeah, Hawkins would not have been on that then.
• 9:21
  SPEAKER_02: Unless he got some COVID years.
• 9:23
  SPEAKER_03: Hawkins was uh somewhere before that that he actually did make the tournament.
• 9:27
  SPEAKER_03: Um I can't remember off the top of my head right now.
• 9:30
  SPEAKER_03: All right, so my take stance.
• 9:32
  SPEAKER_03: Yes, no, he uh gopher crew is having a tough time, but hey, they just got the Colorado State head coach, and uh he did a pretty pretty good job this year.
• 9:40
  SPEAKER_03: So maybe they're maybe they're changing something over there.
• 9:43
  SPEAKER_02: Steven, were you were you all at all nervous during this game?
• 9:46
  SPEAKER_03: I was I was more nervous in this game than I was the Drake game.
• 9:49
  SPEAKER_02: Um we played better against Drake, I think, flat out.
• 9:53
  SPEAKER_03: Like just oh yeah, no, absolutely.
• 9:54
  SPEAKER_03: We I mean, you know, when you have dominant performances from JT and Darien, you're gonna win a lot of your games.
• 9:59
  SPEAKER_03: Um, but no, I uh Wilmington was just they were feisty, man, and they kept matching shot for shot, and nobody else outside of Kerwin was really making outside shots.
• 10:10
  SPEAKER_03: Um, you know, JT couldn't really get his, he wasn't getting to the line.
• 10:13
  SPEAKER_03: Darien didn't have a phenomenal first game.
• 10:15
  SPEAKER_03: He didn't get a lot from Overton.
• 10:17
  SPEAKER_03: Anderson shot two for nine uh in the Wilmington game, which uh we later learned that he was kind of dealing with a little bit of sickness himself, so that could be the cause of that.
• 10:26
  SPEAKER_03: But um, yeah, I uh I was just nervous that we weren't making our shots and we were relying on Kerwin just to throw them up, you know.
• 10:34
  SPEAKER_03: And thank God he made eight of them because uh he was pretty much all your outside shooting.
• 10:39
  SPEAKER_03: Um, yeah, Elijah made a few, but even he was three for 12 from three, you know, like it just shots weren't falling, and uh, it's always scary.
• 10:48
  SPEAKER_03: But right, this team, and this is a this is a theme that we'll probably get to for uh the majority of this pod, is just this team continues to find different ways to win.
• 10:57
  SPEAKER_03: They're just a chameleon of a team that offensively has so many different ways they can attack you and so many different ways they can win a basketball game.
• 11:06
  SPEAKER_03: And that's a credit to the players, obviously, and then the coaching staff for understanding your opponent, game planning for your opponent, and realizing uh and adjusting to how they're playing during the midst of the game.
• 11:19
  SPEAKER_03: So um, yeah, I I was I was definitely scared, but then probably with like you know six, seven minutes left whenever we got up, you know, seven or eight, I was like, they're not gonna blow this one.
• 11:28
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, man, not enough could be said about Walton in this game, like just dwarfing all of his other teammates' points, doubling pretty much all of them.
• 11:36
  SPEAKER_02: Um, and I like I like how you're saying uh chameleon.
• 11:39
  SPEAKER_02: I think that really shows that uh this team is flexible.
• 11:42
  SPEAKER_02: Like you're you don't have to be married to one style of play offensively to win a game.
• 11:48
  SPEAKER_02: Um and that I think that really shows uh that that really goes far because you can use different weapons for different opponents.
• 11:54
  SPEAKER_02: And that's just that's good in any uh any sort of uh uh you versus me sort of situation.
• 12:01
  SPEAKER_02: If you're if you're if you're flexible, you can probably take on Danger in anybody.
• 12:04
  SPEAKER_02: So that's just that's just a really good sign moving into here in the the thick of March here.
• 12:10
  SPEAKER_03: For sure, for sure.
• 12:11
  SPEAKER_03: And we saw that with our second game in the round of 32.
• 12:14
  SPEAKER_02: Hold on, hang on.
• 12:15
  SPEAKER_02: Okay, before we move on from Willington, uh a Seahawk is a coacile term.
• 12:22
  SPEAKER_02: There's no such thing as a real sea hawk.
• 12:25
  SPEAKER_02: Like it's not a species, it's just a nickname uh for the osprey.
• 12:30
  SPEAKER_02: Oh, you know, the bird, the osprey.
• 12:34
  SPEAKER_02: Okay.
• 12:35
  SPEAKER_03: Well, that's that's the kind of analysis that you come for the talking tech pod to uh to figure out what uh sea hawk and what a sea hawk actually is.
• 12:44
  SPEAKER_02: So I've always wondered that.
• 12:45
  SPEAKER_02: Have you not?
• 12:46
  SPEAKER_02: I'm sure the listeners do too.
• 12:51
  SPEAKER_03: Talking hawks.
• 12:53
  SPEAKER_02: Talking hawks.
• 12:56
  SPEAKER_03: We've been talking hawks over here.
• 12:57
  SPEAKER_03: Uh we're having a good time.
• 12:58
  SPEAKER_02: And ospreys do live in North Carolina.
• 13:00
  SPEAKER_02: I had to check that out.
• 13:01
  SPEAKER_02: Apparently they got some live cams.
• 13:02
  SPEAKER_02: You can turn, you can Google live cams of ospreys in North Carolina right now.
• 13:06
  SPEAKER_03: I don't think I'm gonna do that.
• 13:08
  SPEAKER_03: I I have no I have no design.
• 13:09
  SPEAKER_03: Maybe that wasn't directed at you.
• 13:10
  SPEAKER_02: Maybe other people want to do it.
• 13:12
  SPEAKER_03: Okay.
• 13:13
  SPEAKER_03: Well, for all of our bird enthusiasts, our osprey enthusiasts and all of our bird watches.
• 13:18
  SPEAKER_03: All of our hawkers.
• 13:20
  SPEAKER_03: Okay.
• 13:20
  SPEAKER_03: Let's move on.
• 13:21
  SPEAKER_02: Let's let's hawk to them.
• 13:23
  SPEAKER_03: Oh my god.
• 13:26
  SPEAKER_02: So many people just turn off the podcast right there.
• 13:28
  SPEAKER_03: I want to cut that out of the podcast.
• 13:30
  SPEAKER_03: Um I'm probably gonna leave it in.
• 13:33
  SPEAKER_02: Um she's a witness protection right now.
• 13:35
  SPEAKER_03: So yeah, yeah.
• 13:37
  SPEAKER_03: Okay, wait, wait ago.
• 13:38
  SPEAKER_03: Uh, 180 of a basketball game from the Wilmington game against the Drake Bulldogs.
• 13:45
  SPEAKER_03: And I think the headline here, first and foremost, was uh the coaching matchup.
• 13:50
  SPEAKER_03: Great McCastlen versus Ben McCollum, two guys that know each other really well, have known each other for a long time, are really good friends, they're fishing buddies, uh, and they're ultimately just really two really, really good basketball coaches, really smart guys that know and you know mold their play style around their team.
• 14:11
  SPEAKER_03: They don't have a certain play style per se.
• 14:14
  SPEAKER_03: You know, some of those coaches they play one way, and you know, you're gonna get guys to learn to play that way.
• 14:19
  SPEAKER_03: These guys are looking at strength of their teams, what you know, where's your best attack, where's your best defense?
• 14:26
  SPEAKER_03: That's how we're gonna play, and catering towards the matchup itself.
• 14:30
  SPEAKER_03: But uh, two phenomenal coaches, and you really saw that in this one.
• 14:34
  SPEAKER_03: Obviously, Grant came out victorious.
• 14:36
  SPEAKER_03: I think that had a lot to do with just the straight up talent on Texas Tech's team in this one.
• 14:41
  SPEAKER_02: Grant had a better fish.
• 14:42
  SPEAKER_03: He did.
• 14:43
  SPEAKER_02: Grant's fish was better.
• 14:45
  SPEAKER_03: I think it was.
• 14:46
  SPEAKER_03: I they showed a picture of both of us.
• 14:47
  SPEAKER_03: Trouts, right?
• 14:48
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, yeah, it was trout.
• 14:50
  SPEAKER_03: I think it was up in Wyoming.
• 14:53
  SPEAKER_02: Again, some rainbow trout up in here.
• 14:55
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, you know, talking trout?
• 14:57
  SPEAKER_03: No, we're not doing that.
• 14:58
  SPEAKER_03: We already talked too much for not making this a bit.
• 15:03
  SPEAKER_03: This one, this game was not Kirkwood Walden's game.
• 15:07
  SPEAKER_03: Zero points, oh for three from the field.
• 15:09
  SPEAKER_03: JT Toppin and Darion Williams master class in this game against Drake.
• 15:15
  SPEAKER_03: Those dudes were unstoppable.
• 15:18
  SPEAKER_03: Nobody could do anything to either of them.
• 15:21
  SPEAKER_03: Darien Williams, that might have been the best game I've seen him play as a Red Raider.
• 15:25
  SPEAKER_03: Maybe besides the game against Kansas last year, where he just, I think he went 13 of 13 from the field, had 30 points, just phenomenal.
• 15:32
  SPEAKER_03: This one, 28 points, six rebounds, five assists, 11 of 18 from the field, five of five from the free throw line.
• 15:38
  SPEAKER_03: Um went out for a short time in the second half, uh, ran back to the locker room, came back uh and played like the same old Darien.
• 15:47
  SPEAKER_03: Um, this was what you needed because this Drake team is not big.
• 15:51
  SPEAKER_03: They don't have the forwards and the bigs to compete with JT Toppin and Darien Williams.
• 15:55
  SPEAKER_03: And the game plan was give it to those guys and let them do work.
• 15:58
  SPEAKER_03: And they did, and they were fantastic.
• 16:01
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, dude, absolutely.
• 16:02
  SPEAKER_02: It really was the tail of them down in the paint because, dude, that's the only place we were scoring.
• 16:07
  SPEAKER_02: And the reason why is because that's where Drake was just leaving the door wide open the entire game.
• 16:12
  SPEAKER_02: Uh, the amount of time in this game, I said, what a pass over and over again, down to down low, uh, was a phenomenal thing to watch.
• 16:20
  SPEAKER_02: It was just very fluid basketball, very fun basketball.
• 16:23
  SPEAKER_02: You know, we've been so this season we've been quite used to seeing us launch them from the from the beyond the arc, but just watch the dominance, just full physical uh bullying down there that you're able to do against a smaller, less talented team in Drake.
• 16:37
  SPEAKER_02: It was great to watch.
• 16:38
  SPEAKER_02: You know, obviously, we're not advocates of picking on smaller people on this podcast, but that's that's what Tex Tech went out and did against the Drake Bulldogs.
• 16:47
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, absolutely.
• 16:48
  SPEAKER_03: Um, shout out Bennett Sturz because that dude was awesome, number 14 for Drake.
• 16:53
  SPEAKER_03: Uh, he's gonna follow Ben McCollum to Iowa.
• 16:56
  SPEAKER_03: Um, played all 40 minutes this game, 21 points, nine and 19 from the field, eight assists, and was still pestered by Elijah Hawkins all game.
• 17:04
  SPEAKER_03: Uh Hawk did such a good job.
• 17:06
  SPEAKER_03: This guy's just really, really good.
• 17:07
  SPEAKER_03: And honestly, he has, I think, seven inches on Elijah Hawkins.
• 17:12
  SPEAKER_03: So uh, you know, Elijah tried his best on him, but uh he's he's just a really, really good player, and we knew that going in.
• 17:19
  SPEAKER_03: But um again, this Drake team, I have a lot of respect for them and uh and who Ben McCollum is.
• 17:24
  SPEAKER_03: I think he's gonna get Iowa on the right track now.
• 17:26
  SPEAKER_03: Uh, but yeah, this was this was just a matchup nightmare for them in terms of JT Topin and Darien Williams.
• 17:33
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, I that's just awesome.
• 17:35
  SPEAKER_02: This shows the we know what the caliber that our program is at at this point, where we're able to consistently outclass these other teams um day in and day out, where you don't necessarily need to worry about it too much whether or not you got the weapons to get get it done across these uh the best teams out of these lower leagues.
• 17:53
  SPEAKER_02: You got them.
• 17:54
  SPEAKER_02: So you just gotta put that game plan together.
• 17:56
  SPEAKER_02: And thankfully, I think we feel like we're at a position here.
• 17:58
  SPEAKER_02: We don't really necessarily need to worry about that anymore.
• 18:00
  SPEAKER_02: We just gotta worry about the game plan, which is a great thing.
• 18:03
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, absolutely.
• 18:04
  SPEAKER_03: So Texas Tech takes care of business in Wichita.
• 18:08
  SPEAKER_03: They move on to the Sweet 16 on the West Coast, San Francisco.
• 18:14
  SPEAKER_02: I gotta say, uh, I am I after watching that first uh Missouri Drake game, I am happy that Drake knocked Missouri out.
• 18:21
  SPEAKER_02: Looks like there was a good amount of Tiger fans in that arena.
• 18:23
  SPEAKER_03: Oh yeah, for sure, for sure.
• 18:24
  SPEAKER_03: Definitely had a good show in of Texas Tech fans in Wichita.
• 18:27
  SPEAKER_03: Um, you know, San Fran.
• 18:29
  SPEAKER_03: The good news is all these teams are far away from San Francisco.
• 18:33
  SPEAKER_03: All of them.
• 18:34
  SPEAKER_03: You have Florida, you have Arkansas, you have us, and you have Maryland.
• 18:40
  SPEAKER_03: We're actually the closest.
• 18:42
  SPEAKER_03: Geographically, we are we have the home court advantage in San Francisco.
• 18:47
  SPEAKER_02: All the other teams are like, how is this fair?
• 18:49
  SPEAKER_02: This is a Texas Tech home game.
• 18:51
  SPEAKER_03: Florida's gotta be like, seriously, we got a one scene and we have to play in San Francisco literally across the country.
• 18:58
  SPEAKER_02: I like you know, pretty much you can put everybody pretty much list any single team in the country and they'd be like, What's San Francisco?
• 19:06
  SPEAKER_02: Because there's no one, there's no one in San Francisco that's in dancing in March consistently, like near San Francisco.
• 19:14
  SPEAKER_02: That is a sports desert when it comes to college.
• 19:17
  SPEAKER_02: Stanford and Cal are not come are not gonna get up there and go nuts in March.
• 19:22
  SPEAKER_03: Are you are you talking about Atlantic Coast legends, Cal in Stanford?
• 19:27
  SPEAKER_02: Atlantic Coast Conference, the Atlantic Coast Conference.
• 19:30
  SPEAKER_02: The pride of the West in that conference.
• 19:33
  SPEAKER_03: Not the Pacific, the Atlantic.
• 19:37
  SPEAKER_02: Seriously, I think maybe the closest big name is Gonzaga.
• 19:40
  SPEAKER_02: In no way, that's a short drive.
• 19:42
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, I mean Oregon, you know.
• 19:45
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, okay.
• 19:46
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, you know, that's that's semi, and then UCLA USC aren't like real far, but you know, not close.
• 19:53
  SPEAKER_03: Only UCLA made it to the tournament this year.
• 19:55
  SPEAKER_03: But um, yeah, it was I think we're getting we're getting pretty lucky.
• 19:59
  SPEAKER_03: I mean, I think we're gonna have a good amount of uh a good amount of Red Raider fans out there in San Francisco.
• 20:04
  SPEAKER_03: I believe we also went to San Francisco in the 2019 run during the Sweet 16 and Elite Eight.
• 20:11
  SPEAKER_03: So good vibes going on for your Texas Tech Red Raiders in this one.
• 20:16
  SPEAKER_03: Um, we're playing the pigs again, dude.
• 20:19
  SPEAKER_02: Dude, what the hell is with us with the pigs in the postseason?
• 20:21
  SPEAKER_03: The pigs are I'm sick of tired of it.
• 20:24
  SPEAKER_03: I'm tired of higher than these pigs.
• 20:25
  SPEAKER_03: I don't want to play the pigs.
• 20:27
  SPEAKER_02: Um the networks with the numbies.
• 20:30
  SPEAKER_03: I guess of all the teams, I guess of all the teams that made the Sweet 16, you're pretty happy to get the 10 seed.
• 20:36
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 20:36
  SPEAKER_03: Um but uh I I'm actually seed.
• 20:39
  SPEAKER_03: Uh yeah, I'm actually a little afraid of this game.
• 20:42
  SPEAKER_03: Um looking at Arkansas, they're big.
• 20:46
  SPEAKER_03: They're really big.
• 20:47
  SPEAKER_03: Uh they have two guys, uh Adu and Ivasich, that uh Ivasic, I think, is 7'2, Adu is 6'11, just massive, shot blocking athletic bigs.
• 21:00
  SPEAKER_03: And JT usually doesn't have a great time with that.
• 21:03
  SPEAKER_03: He's about you know six, eight, six, nine on a good day.
• 21:06
  SPEAKER_03: Um, and as good as he is, and we've seen him, you know, have good games against a Hunter Dickinson, against you know, some of these other large humans that we play in the Big 12, but um to have two that are constantly going to be in the game, uh protecting the rim, uh, it scares me.
• 21:21
  SPEAKER_03: And then behind them, they have a Trayvon Brazil who is might be the most athletic forward in all college basketball.
• 21:29
  SPEAKER_03: That dude can jump out of the building and he's about 6'9, and he's another rim protector.
• 21:35
  SPEAKER_03: Um, so that piece of it really, really gives me the heebie jeebies going into this one.
• 21:41
  SPEAKER_02: How did this team have a losing record in the SEC?
• 21:44
  SPEAKER_03: Well, you know, I think people have been asking that question all year because you look at that team on paper and you're like, okay, Sean L.
• 21:51
  SPEAKER_03: Davis, who has made a final four with Lord Atlantic, has been in the NCAA tournament pretty much every year of his career, is a senior.
• 21:59
  SPEAKER_03: Um Carter Knox and DJ Wagner, who are two really, really highly touted freshmen that came from uh the Kentucky recruitment with Cal over to Arkansas.
• 22:09
  SPEAKER_03: Um, and then you have you know pretty key transfers that play to big schools like Adu, like um Boogie Fland, like ADU Tierro, if he plays in this one.
• 22:20
  SPEAKER_03: Um, they just have a really, really talented group here that has not been able to consistently put it together and have either mentally not been there for these games, or uh they just don't know how to really play together.
• 22:34
  SPEAKER_03: And and you know, you can what scares me is that they've won two tournament games now.
• 22:38
  SPEAKER_03: They kind of got uh, you know, they're feeling themselves a little bit, and there's just so much talent on this team.
• 22:43
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, it's just funny.
• 22:44
  SPEAKER_02: You look at the uh the records here, you go like 12th in the SEC, second in the big versus second in the Big 12.
• 22:49
  SPEAKER_02: You go like you take that all day normally, you know.
• 22:52
  SPEAKER_02: Um, but it's just you see so many of these other SEC teams that have washed out that finished better than them, and obviously worse.
• 22:57
  SPEAKER_02: All the ones that finish worse are out, never should have been there in the first place.
• 23:00
  SPEAKER_02: Um, but uh yeah, you know, that's that's that's obviously a uh a warrior.
• 23:06
  SPEAKER_02: And but I mean, dude, we we are in the Sweet 16.
• 23:08
  SPEAKER_02: At this point, I don't know how it'd be possible to be playing a team that didn't concern you.
• 23:12
  SPEAKER_02: You know what I mean?
• 23:13
  SPEAKER_02: No doubt.
• 23:14
  SPEAKER_02: We're getting to the best teams in the country, or at least are playing the best at this moment.
• 23:18
  SPEAKER_03: For sure, for sure.
• 23:20
  SPEAKER_03: Am I looking at that Arkansas St.
• 23:21
  SPEAKER_03: Johns game and saying, I might have rather played St.
• 23:24
  SPEAKER_03: John's?
• 23:24
  SPEAKER_03: Uh, but that just might be an effect of seeing Arkansas beat them.
• 23:28
  SPEAKER_03: And uh St.
• 23:29
  SPEAKER_03: John's, you know, we've seen their uh shooting woes all season, and that's ultimately what did them in.
• 23:34
  SPEAKER_03: Uh, but that's a glaring issue for them, you know.
• 23:37
  SPEAKER_03: There's no real glaring issue per se on this Arkansas team.
• 23:41
  SPEAKER_03: They're kind of talented all around and they have a lot of athleticism and they're pretty deep, you know.
• 23:47
  SPEAKER_03: Um you you just have a lot of talent, and that frightens the heck out of me.
• 23:52
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, I'm surprised you haven't brought up the uh most you know key five buzzy point about Arkansas here.
• 24:02
  SPEAKER_03: What's that?
• 24:03
  SPEAKER_02: Their head coach.
• 24:04
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, Cal, he's back.
• 24:06
  SPEAKER_03: Sweet 16.
• 24:07
  SPEAKER_03: Um he's definitely, I think, you know, I I've never been the biggest Cal fan.
• 24:13
  SPEAKER_03: I think he's you know, he's one of those coaches that is just it's it's about him, you know.
• 24:20
  SPEAKER_03: And he's kind of throughout his career, he's been the underdog, and then he was at Kentucky for so long and really kind of gained that um, you know, you we should be expecting you to win every year.
• 24:32
  SPEAKER_03: Um, you know, why are you underachieving in the tournament, especially the last several years?
• 24:36
  SPEAKER_03: And that's what led to uh him and Kentucky parting ways and that whole mess.
• 24:40
  SPEAKER_03: So I think this move to Arkansas has kind of reinvigorated him, which is scary uh for a Hall of Fame level head coach like him.
• 24:47
  SPEAKER_03: But um, yeah, man, I it's gonna come down to these players and and whether they can play together and stay with it mentally.
• 24:54
  SPEAKER_03: I'm not worried about Texas Tech with doing that.
• 24:56
  SPEAKER_03: I think Grand has this team in a really, really good spot.
• 24:59
  SPEAKER_03: It's just, you know, when you have this amount of five-star kids and guys that have been at these big programs for a long time, you start you really have to balance egos.
• 25:08
  SPEAKER_03: And Arkansas has not done a great job of balancing egos this year.
• 25:11
  SPEAKER_03: Um, so you just hope you know these two wins in the tournament haven't like, you know, been a come together moment for these guys, and now they're all gonna start playing and make this run together.
• 25:21
  SPEAKER_03: But um, yeah, I I you know, I I think this team on paper is a lot more scary than this team on the floor.
• 25:28
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, and that's uh that that's that's uh that's obviously calming to hear.
• 25:32
  SPEAKER_02: Um, what what brings me peace or brings me confidence about facing Coach Cal here is that Grand McCaslin has beaten coaches that are better than him.
• 25:43
  SPEAKER_02: You know, like he ever in the Big 12, he faces guys that are near his level quite often.
• 25:48
  SPEAKER_02: Or better, I mean, because uh obviously you have Bill Self and uh uh Scott Drew, you know, and it's just like you are he's he's out there beating those teams.
• 25:55
  SPEAKER_02: And so I don't I don't worry about us not having a coach that's up to that level cognitively, you know, like he's gonna be able to game play in something that that pops Arkansas in the mouth.
• 26:08
  SPEAKER_02: Like it's this will not be an easy game for them either.
• 26:10
  SPEAKER_02: And we're the better team.
• 26:11
  SPEAKER_02: We're on paper, we're the better team, you know, in the record-wise, we're the better team.
• 26:14
  SPEAKER_02: Everything points to us being the better team.
• 26:16
  SPEAKER_02: We just gotta get out there and show it that night.
• 26:18
  SPEAKER_03: Well, and what uh you know, a pretty big issue that Arkansas struggles with is uh defending the three.
• 26:23
  SPEAKER_03: They're not very good at it, and Texas Tech uh can be very good at it.
• 26:27
  SPEAKER_03: We like that.
• 26:28
  SPEAKER_03: Obviously, you've seen them this year.
• 26:30
  SPEAKER_03: Um, obviously, Chance McMillan is going to be a big uh key factor here for Texas Tech.
• 26:35
  SPEAKER_03: It looks like he's trending upwards um to play.
• 26:39
  SPEAKER_03: I think it was Chris Level that said on lockdown Texas Tech that he's uh he'd be surprised if Chance doesn't suit up for the Arkansas game and beyond.
• 26:47
  SPEAKER_03: Um, dealing with uh an ab injury and uh something that uh you know kept him out of two NCA tournament games, which had to be, you know, pretty serious because I think Chance wants to be out there uh really, really badly.
• 27:00
  SPEAKER_03: And for him to sit out both of the first two games, you know, it's obviously concerning.
• 27:04
  SPEAKER_03: But um, I think this extra five days of travel in between is going to be really good.
• 27:08
  SPEAKER_03: And uh hopefully, you know, he'll he'll be able to go and and play even 20 minutes would be a real plus for this team.
• 27:17
  SPEAKER_02: Do you feel comfortable playing him after this time off and not being on the floor in this heat?
• 27:24
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, I mean it's only realistically been two weeks uh since he's you know played a basketball game.
• 27:30
  SPEAKER_03: So that's madness.
• 27:31
  SPEAKER_03: No, absolutely the intensity is different, but uh you know, he's been with this team the entire time.
• 27:36
  SPEAKER_03: It's not like he hasn't felt you know the energy and and everything from the tournament.
• 27:41
  SPEAKER_03: So uh I don't have any concerns about chance uh you know stepping on after after a couple weeks' absence.
• 27:47
  SPEAKER_03: But um, I I'm you know, I'm obviously I'm concerned about the injury and how that's gonna affect maybe potentially his shooting or his play, but I don't think mentally, you know, I'm not worried about him even a little bit.
• 27:58
  SPEAKER_02: No, yeah.
• 27:58
  SPEAKER_02: I mean that that's I'm with you.
• 28:00
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, I think I think all of Red Raider Nation would be just really excited to see him back out there, and it probably juiced the team up too, to have him back out.
• 28:06
  SPEAKER_03: For sure.
• 28:06
  SPEAKER_03: And hey, maybe it boosts up a guy like Christian Anderson, too, that maybe was, you know, he was put into the starting position because of chance being out, and now he can kind of come off the bench and play the role that he's been playing all season um as kind of a fireball.
• 28:20
  SPEAKER_03: And and again, this extra five days is gonna kind of help him hopefully get over whatever illness he was dealing with as well, and maybe shoot a little better because those first two games, uh it was a couple tough nights for him.
• 28:31
  SPEAKER_03: But credit to him, though, because he played 37 minutes in each game.
• 28:34
  SPEAKER_03: Uh for him to play that amount of minutes as a true freshman, and he did hit some key shots and uh in both games, I think they were both down the stretch.
• 28:43
  SPEAKER_03: Corner three, and then he hit uh one off the dribble off the pick and roll, uh, and then get a nice and one on the other end as well.
• 28:49
  SPEAKER_03: But um, he's he's a dog, dude.
• 28:51
  SPEAKER_03: He's not afraid of the moment.
• 28:52
  SPEAKER_03: Um yeah, like that dude is not phased, even a little bit from from the moment and what we're playing for right now.
• 29:00
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, buy stock now.
• 29:01
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, you know, this is not the last tournament with uh C4 in the in March Madison Tex Tech.
• 29:06
  SPEAKER_03: No, for sure.
• 29:07
  SPEAKER_03: Um, last thing I'll say on Arkansas, I I think you can attack them.
• 29:11
  SPEAKER_03: They they tend to settle for jumpers, especially a guy like DJ Wagner hasn't shot very well from three, but he tends to shoot a lot of them.
• 29:19
  SPEAKER_03: Um, so you hope that they're ready to settle because uh, you know, you may have to play Fetty just based on the matchup and based on how big this team is.
• 29:31
  SPEAKER_03: So um we've seen Fetty get in foul trouble, and we just hope that they kind of stick to their shots and uh you know settle for those down low instead of trying to feed the paint and tiring down JT and Fetty or maybe getting us in foul trouble.
• 29:43
  SPEAKER_03: But um, yeah, this is this is gonna be a heck of a game, it's gonna be a close game.
• 29:47
  SPEAKER_03: Like, I don't foresee a blowout either way.
• 29:50
  SPEAKER_03: Um, and I and I think it's gonna come down to the wire and probably give us both a heart effect.
• 29:54
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, yeah, man, probably.
• 29:56
  SPEAKER_02: And the good news is, I mean, whenever we compare the season stats up against each other, Texas Tech wins in every single category.
• 30:01
  SPEAKER_02: So I I feel pretty good, man.
• 30:02
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, for sure.
• 30:04
  SPEAKER_03: Um, all right, man.
• 30:05
  SPEAKER_03: Well, I mean, earlier to my point, you know, this tournament has kind of shaken out well for Texas Tech in terms of opponent, because we're matched up first against a 14 seed, then we get an 11 seed who upset Missouri in the first round.
• 30:21
  SPEAKER_03: Now we're getting a 10 seed in Arkansas that upset the two seed in our region, St.
• 30:26
  SPEAKER_03: John's.
• 30:27
  SPEAKER_03: And you if you can call it an upset, they beat Kansas as well, who was a higher seed.
• 30:31
  SPEAKER_03: Um, sometimes it just works out that way, man.
• 30:34
  SPEAKER_03: And you don't complain about it, and you're you're pretty happy with it.
• 30:37
  SPEAKER_03: No matter what, if you get past Arkansas, you're playing either Florida or Maryland, and that's a one or a four, and both those teams are damn good.
• 30:43
  SPEAKER_03: So at this point, man, it's you're gonna play good teams.
• 30:48
  SPEAKER_02: It's like it's the point or something.
• 30:50
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, right.
• 30:51
  SPEAKER_02: See who's the best.
• 30:54
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, well, no, around here we say toughest team wins.
• 30:57
  SPEAKER_03: There you go.
• 30:58
  SPEAKER_03: There you go.
• 30:58
  SPEAKER_03: Paid advertising from Graham McCastlin.
• 31:00
  SPEAKER_02: You like that one?
• 31:01
  SPEAKER_02: Love it.
• 31:02
  SPEAKER_02: Buy Graham Castle merch now.
• 31:04
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, for real.
• 31:05
  SPEAKER_03: Um all right, man.
• 31:07
  SPEAKER_03: This program, I just wanted to talk about kind of the overall look at where we are at at Texas Tech in their basketball.
• 31:14
  SPEAKER_03: Um four sweet 16s in the last seven tournaments.
• 31:19
  SPEAKER_03: Um, you made it four times since 2018.
• 31:23
  SPEAKER_03: Three different head coaches, and one of those head coaches was Mark Adams, and you went to the Sweet 16.
• 31:29
  SPEAKER_02: Why'd you say it like that?
• 31:32
  SPEAKER_03: I'm sorry.
• 31:32
  SPEAKER_03: Is Mark Adams a head coach anywhere else?
• 31:36
  SPEAKER_03: Is has Mark Adams shown that he's a good head coach?
• 31:41
  SPEAKER_02: Also, like one of them is really doing that.
• 31:44
  SPEAKER_02: One of them's Mark Adams.
• 31:45
  SPEAKER_03: I can't I can't say Chris Beard because you know he's he's doing well at Ole Miss, and I as much of a piece of shit he is as a person, uh, he's he's a good basketball coach.
• 31:56
  SPEAKER_03: Mark Adams, Mark Adams hasn't done anything with anybody outside of that one year, the 22 team, and that was a lot of seniors, and I give more way more credit to the players than I do him.
• 32:06
  SPEAKER_03: Um what does this say about Texas Tech and where we are as a basketball program and what we can accomplish here, dude?
• 32:16
  SPEAKER_02: That's as we have arrived.
• 32:17
  SPEAKER_02: Like we have finally submitted our high caliber in this sport, you know, and it's consistent.
• 32:26
  SPEAKER_02: Like that's the difference between uh like our our abilities in football and baseball lately.
• 32:31
  SPEAKER_02: It's it's just it wasn't baseball for a while, but that's a different story.
• 32:34
  SPEAKER_02: Um, it's just the consistency at such a high level has been incredible.
• 32:40
  SPEAKER_02: And obviously, we uh our donors are just building the building up all this all the support anybody needs around them through facilities in I.
• 32:55
  SPEAKER_02: Um you just can't say enough about the behind-the-scenes stuff you don't get to see that makes all this work.
• 33:00
  SPEAKER_02: And tech stech, it's it's world-class at this point, man.
• 33:03
  SPEAKER_02: And we are this we might be snipping our own farts here, but dude, I really think that tech stech is one of the best jobs in the country at this point.
• 33:12
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, I mean, it's hard to disagree with the tournament success, with the NIL, with all of the um everything that you're given at this job.
• 33:24
  SPEAKER_03: Uh, you have donors out the wazoo, you have an insane practice facility, you have um alumni that care about keeping this that you have the home court advantage that the people of Lubbock and the USA provide.
• 33:39
  SPEAKER_03: Um, and you play in one of the best conferences in the country.
• 33:42
  SPEAKER_03: So it's it's just a testament, and people are starting to get it.
• 33:46
  SPEAKER_03: You're starting to get love from national media that um they're saying, yep, Texas Tech, duh, they're here again, and they're real good, and they could go all the way.
• 33:54
  SPEAKER_03: And you just love seeing that.
• 33:55
  SPEAKER_03: And it's a it's a testament all the way to Tubby Smith of who started kind of this uh era of change in Texas Tech basketball.
• 34:03
  SPEAKER_03: Um, and then there were a couple guys in between, and now with Grant McCasslin, um, you're really in a good position to be very, very successful in the future and make runs every single year.
• 34:14
  SPEAKER_03: This is starting to become, you know, you should expect a Sweet 16 at Texas Tech.
• 34:18
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, absolutely.
• 34:19
  SPEAKER_02: That that's that's a really good way to put it, is like we we now expect this level of achievement every single season.
• 34:26
  SPEAKER_02: Um and not that it's just like it's a Big 12 or bus or Natty or bust, but you are clearly you have you have to reach this rung in order for us to go, man, that was a fun season, or and not not say, wow, we really left a lot on the table there.
• 34:40
  SPEAKER_02: Um I think like a really great phrase to use for what's happened in the past 10 years is vibe shift.
• 34:48
  SPEAKER_02: Like you, whenever you and I first started in school, I'm sure many tech fans prior to like 2015 or 2016, whatever you want to say, um you would say, like, going to basketball games is fun, but we don't expect anything.
• 35:02
  SPEAKER_02: You know, we're just looking for a good time.
• 35:03
  SPEAKER_02: We're just looking for the best.
• 35:04
  SPEAKER_03: We're just hoping for one home court storm every year.
• 35:08
  SPEAKER_03: That's what we're hoping for.
• 35:09
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, just be you know, play the spoiler, you know, just just be kind of rowdy.
• 35:12
  SPEAKER_02: You're not and you're not gonna fill the arena, but whatever, you're gonna have a good time with it.
• 35:16
  SPEAKER_02: Uh, but now it's like that's kind of the show on campus now.
• 35:20
  SPEAKER_02: You know, like that's it's you know, football obviously is is a spectacle and we still show out for that.
• 35:25
  SPEAKER_02: It's just the the results aren't there yet.
• 35:27
  SPEAKER_02: But with with basketball, it's like, well, here's the pedigree.
• 35:31
  SPEAKER_02: You want to see a winning program, here it is.
• 35:33
  SPEAKER_02: And that's Tex Tech basketball now.
• 35:35
  SPEAKER_02: Like that trophy room is real now.
• 35:37
  SPEAKER_02: So those banners are real.
• 35:39
  SPEAKER_02: So it's not we're not hanging uh NIL 2003 up in the up in the rafters anymore, man.
• 35:46
  SPEAKER_02: We don't it's it's uh it's Elite Eight, it's it's final four now.
• 35:50
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, it's just a testament to all the people that we have putting and investing into this program.
• 35:56
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, man.
• 35:56
  SPEAKER_02: And speaking of people, obviously in college sports, there's none more important than the head coach.
• 36:02
  SPEAKER_02: And we have a great win in Grant McCastlin.
• 36:05
  SPEAKER_02: Um, and I just wanted to get your thoughts.
• 36:06
  SPEAKER_02: He just reached 50 wins.
• 36:08
  SPEAKER_02: What was it, 50 wins?
• 36:09
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, it was the fastest of 50.
• 36:11
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, faster than any other uh head coach at TechStech in our history, um, along with just his his career record, and it's just it's it's spectacular, and his record at Tex Tech is the is is the best of them all.
• 36:24
  SPEAKER_02: But do you think that right now we this is this is this just sunshine, or do you think we have the best coach we've ever had in program history?
• 36:33
  SPEAKER_03: Um, I'm not gonna say that yet.
• 36:35
  SPEAKER_03: This is he's done incredible at Texas Tech.
• 36:38
  SPEAKER_03: He's done incredible everywhere he's gone.
• 36:39
  SPEAKER_03: He's won at every single stop that he's been at as a head coach.
• 36:42
  SPEAKER_03: He's everything you want in head coach.
• 36:44
  SPEAKER_03: He's uh first off, a good person.
• 36:47
  SPEAKER_03: We've had people that are not so good people that have led this program and uh done great things on the court, uh, but not necessarily, as we found out later, the people that you want to be the face of your program.
• 36:59
  SPEAKER_03: You want Grant McCasslin to be the face of your program.
• 37:02
  SPEAKER_03: You you look at him, the way he talks, the way he uh loves his team and his players, the way that he treats his staff, the way that he treats the fans.
• 37:11
  SPEAKER_03: He is the whole package.
• 37:13
  SPEAKER_03: He's exactly what you want in a head coach.
• 37:15
  SPEAKER_03: And now in year two, am I about to say he's the best coach in program history?
• 37:20
  SPEAKER_03: No.
• 37:21
  SPEAKER_03: But we have a real opportunity here to make a final four in year two as the head coach.
• 37:26
  SPEAKER_03: We've already made a sweet 16 in year two.
• 37:28
  SPEAKER_03: That's insane.
• 37:30
  SPEAKER_03: That's but a lot of that is the testament to what the previous people have built up.
• 37:34
  SPEAKER_03: As much as we don't want to, you know, believe that and give credit to, it is a testament to that and the success that we've seen in the previous years to be able to have a you know a coaching change and still, you know, remain competitive very quickly.
• 37:47
  SPEAKER_03: So I love Graham McCastlin.
• 37:50
  SPEAKER_03: I love everything that he's about, and most importantly, the person that he is, the family guy that he is, and the the coach that he is, uh, because he treats everybody the right way um and does it the right way.
• 38:01
  SPEAKER_03: So from that perspective, you know, I I would like to answer yes to your question, but um, you know, we'll see.
• 38:07
  SPEAKER_03: We'll see.
• 38:08
  SPEAKER_03: And we'll see how far we go in this tournament.
• 38:09
  SPEAKER_02: Dude, like I said, I mean, that can that can literally that I know I know that's that's probably maybe reaching right now.
• 38:15
  SPEAKER_02: Um, I mean, his record says otherwise if you want to just go purely numbers, but um uh but he could he could literally become the greatest coach in our program history this year, like like in this tournament by doing one.
• 38:27
  SPEAKER_03: 100.
• 38:27
  SPEAKER_03: If he wins a national championship, yeah, if he wins a national championship, we're having a different conversation here, but it's it's done.
• 38:34
  SPEAKER_03: But yeah, man.
• 38:35
  SPEAKER_03: I mean, I I think we don't I don't I don't think we need to have those conversations right now.
• 38:39
  SPEAKER_03: I think we just need to realize what we have and how lucky we are to have him leading the way.
• 38:44
  SPEAKER_03: Um, and you know, just to put you on the spot.
• 38:49
  SPEAKER_03: Hey man, I'm a I'm a huge Grandma Castlin fan.
• 38:52
  SPEAKER_03: Um, I and it's and I think it's hard for a lot of Texas Tech fans not to like you know be hyped about our coach and everything, but just the way we've been spurned recently, um, with two guys that we also believed in very much and thought we're gonna be here for a long time and be, you know, the next best head coach here.
• 39:11
  SPEAKER_03: We'll see.
• 39:12
  SPEAKER_03: Uh okay, yeah, we'll see.
• 39:14
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 39:14
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, again, like we keep you we keep saying testament uh to this program over and over again, but like just to take two slugs um with the head coaches.
• 39:24
  SPEAKER_02: One was more gutting than the other, but just that is two fumbles the program has like falls down that many steps, and you're immediately back at the top of the staircase.
• 39:35
  SPEAKER_02: Immediately.
• 39:36
  SPEAKER_02: That is both a that's also that's both to the to the program and how solid it is, how it does not break, it's not fragile, it wasn't built on one man or two men.
• 39:46
  SPEAKER_02: It's it's now its own entity that coaches can come into and take pilot of.
• 39:52
  SPEAKER_02: But you still need a good pilot to drive this machine that's clearly very stable.
• 39:56
  SPEAKER_02: And we just we have a very good pilot, and I'm really excited to see the journey uh here on the next hopefully few more games.
• 40:03
  SPEAKER_03: 100.
• 40:04
  SPEAKER_03: 100.
• 40:04
  SPEAKER_03: We'll see.
• 40:05
  SPEAKER_03: Sweet 16.
• 40:06
  SPEAKER_03: Uh late tip.
• 40:08
  SPEAKER_03: We have another after 9 p.m.
• 40:10
  SPEAKER_03: tip off in San Francisco.
• 40:12
  SPEAKER_03: In San Francisco this Thursday.
• 40:16
  SPEAKER_03: Uh, we get Kevin Harlan on the call, and you know me, big Harlan fan.
• 40:20
  SPEAKER_03: Everybody's a big Kevin Harlan fan.
• 40:22
  SPEAKER_03: He he dude, he like elevates the game in a way that other guys don't.
• 40:26
  SPEAKER_03: He's just like his energy and his tenacity as an announcer, just like the calls, you love it.
• 40:32
  SPEAKER_03: Um, so I'm thrilled that we got Kevin Harlan.
• 40:35
  SPEAKER_03: Not thrilled that it's an after 9 p.m.
• 40:36
  SPEAKER_03: tip-off on a Thursday, but hopefully that's gonna be good for us and we continue to play into Saturday.
• 40:44
  SPEAKER_03: Um, but we'll see.
• 40:45
  SPEAKER_03: We'll see.
• 40:46
  SPEAKER_02: Dance happy time into Friday sleepily.
• 40:49
  SPEAKER_03: Yes, please.
• 40:51
  SPEAKER_03: Um, all right, man.
• 40:52
  SPEAKER_03: I just want to talk about overall performances from the conferences uh to end her off here before we get into Song of the Week.
• 40:58
  SPEAKER_03: So the SEC gets seven teams in the Sweet 16.
• 41:01
  SPEAKER_03: It's a record.
• 41:02
  SPEAKER_03: They had 14 teams to start.
• 41:04
  SPEAKER_03: Um, you know, you could talk about overall records for what these conferences are doing in this tournament.
• 41:09
  SPEAKER_03: Uh the Big 12 has four, the Big Ten has four, and then the ACC comes in there with Duke uh to finish it off.
• 41:16
  SPEAKER_03: But this is the lowest amount of representation conference-wise that we've had in the Sweet 16.
• 41:23
  SPEAKER_03: Um, do you think that's an overall testament to what NIL is doing to the game?
• 41:27
  SPEAKER_03: Do you think this is just an outlier?
• 41:29
  SPEAKER_03: What are kind of your thoughts there, just seeing four conferences represented in the Sweet 16?
• 41:34
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, I think it's a bit of an outlier, uh, because the whole the whole um, I'm not just trying to sound like a hater here, like the whole seven teams of the of the SEC in the uh Suite 16.
• 41:42
  SPEAKER_02: A lot of that is just straight numbers.
• 41:45
  SPEAKER_02: Like just straight, you know, you just sit there and roll the dice with that many in this in that many teams in the tournament, it's gonna end up like coming out.
• 41:53
  SPEAKER_02: That's it was about a 500 record all in all for the SEC in into the uh in the tournament.
• 41:58
  SPEAKER_02: But um, like you're saying, it's uh it's all power conferences.
• 42:02
  SPEAKER_02: I think a lot of that has to do with the sheer amount of uh teams that you're just getting shoved into, they shoved in there from the power four, um, along with uh you know a bit of a mix that perhaps power is sort of conglomerating towards the top.
• 42:15
  SPEAKER_02: And that's it that I think that's unmistakable and inevitable that that is indeed going to occur.
• 42:20
  SPEAKER_02: And perhaps the the window for the Cinderella is perhaps shrinking a bit.
• 42:25
  SPEAKER_02: But it really wasn't all that long ago that we were talking about San Diego State and uh St.
• 42:31
  SPEAKER_02: Peter's and uh all these other little guys really popping up and and and you know making what more uh making everybody excited about March in the way that we know and love it.
• 42:41
  SPEAKER_02: I really do think that all in all, this is an outlier of a year, but perhaps maybe that Cinderella doesn't come around quite as much as we think anymore.
• 42:50
  SPEAKER_02: But remember, perhaps a lot the maybe something that we might be overlooking is first of all, these little teams have to really pop for some of their players to get noticed in the first place.
• 42:59
  SPEAKER_02: So they could have a run with these really good players and perhaps they transfer out of it after that, but the run still exists nonetheless, you know what I mean?
• 43:06
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, yeah.
• 43:08
  SPEAKER_03: No, I think that's I think that's fair.
• 43:10
  SPEAKER_03: Um we definitely saw teams from the SEC that didn't belong in this tournament in the first place in Texas.
• 43:16
  SPEAKER_03: What were those teams?
• 43:18
  SPEAKER_03: Uh that would be the Texas Longhorns, that would be the Georgia Bulldogs, that would be the Oklahoma Sooners.
• 43:23
  SPEAKER_03: Um you can't say Mizoo, they just got upset.
• 43:25
  SPEAKER_03: I mean, they deserve to be there.
• 43:27
  SPEAKER_03: I mean, dude, Arkansas if they lost in the first round of the SEC tournament, they wouldn't have been in this tournament.
• 43:35
  SPEAKER_03: And that's crazy to say because now they're the Sweet 16 and we play them next round.
• 43:40
  SPEAKER_03: But I you know, I I said this last week when we were talking about this, but sometimes there's a narrative that starts at the beginning of the year and rides through, and people, the national media hangs on to it, which uh you know you can talk about resumes and everything that the selection committee thinks about, but ultimately.
• 44:00
  SPEAKER_03: These narratives matter.
• 44:01
  SPEAKER_03: And that's why they got 14 out of 16 teams in the tournament.
• 44:06
  SPEAKER_03: And credit to a lot of those teams.
• 44:09
  SPEAKER_03: A lot of those teams are very good.
• 44:10
  SPEAKER_03: We're not trying to say that a lot of those teams aren't very good.
• 44:13
  SPEAKER_03: We're trying to say that the bottom to middling teams that still made the tournament did not belong in the tournament in the first place.
• 44:21
  SPEAKER_03: And that was the argument I think that some people still aren't kind of understanding there.
• 44:25
  SPEAKER_03: The SEC's the best golfers in the country, clearly, this year.
• 44:29
  SPEAKER_03: They're extremely good.
• 44:30
  SPEAKER_03: Auburn is fantastic.
• 44:32
  SPEAKER_03: Tennessee is fantastic.
• 44:33
  SPEAKER_03: Florida's fantastic.
• 44:34
  SPEAKER_03: You know, Alabama's really good, which is unfair, by the way.
• 44:39
  SPEAKER_03: You cannot have that caliber of football and basketball program.
• 44:42
  SPEAKER_03: You can say the same thing about Florida, though.
• 44:43
  SPEAKER_03: Uh, they haven't had the football program as of late, but for them to be good in both sports is just not fair.
• 44:49
  SPEAKER_03: Um, but you know, it was good to see the AGs go down.
• 44:54
  SPEAKER_03: It's good to see Mizu go down.
• 44:56
  SPEAKER_03: It's just, you know, I think I think all of us in the Big 12 are kind of rooting against the SEC in a little bit because um, you know, especially with the conference realignment stuff, the Big 12 teams have kind of stuck together as you know, we're gonna stay strong with each other.
• 45:12
  SPEAKER_03: And um, you know, with the S we've always been kind of the basketball conference, and now the SEC is kind of you know poaching in our territory.
• 45:19
  SPEAKER_03: But um, yeah, I you know, I I think there's a lot of good teams in the SEC this year, but they were still kind of overrated as a conference.
• 45:28
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I mean the the Big 12 still had the best record uh conference-wise in the tournament.
• 45:32
  SPEAKER_02: Like it's the Big 12 is still you know reigning champion whenever it comes to ratios rather than uh just flat out numbers right now.
• 45:39
  SPEAKER_02: So um I that that's a good point.
• 45:42
  SPEAKER_02: So uh, but I I think I truly this is what sucks about the super conferences and the all the attention that goes up to the top.
• 45:50
  SPEAKER_02: And I'm gonna I'm gonna include that with with the with the Big 12 in that is truly if if you are not above 500 in the conference, I don't really care how good it is.
• 45:59
  SPEAKER_02: What are we doing?
• 46:00
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, what what what are we doing here?
• 46:02
  SPEAKER_02: And it's just like you you could have these little guys down um in the lower conferences having killer seasons, maybe not quite conference champion, but still deserve a shot at going to March, and it's just robbed because uh, you know, and uh UT fin or OU, which was like wasn't OU the most egregious?
• 46:22
  SPEAKER_03: No, UT was the most egregious.
• 46:23
  SPEAKER_03: They were 19 and 15 over.
• 46:25
  SPEAKER_02: That's just that's unacceptable.
• 46:27
  SPEAKER_03: That's unacceptable.
• 46:28
  SPEAKER_02: And honestly, the the committee should feel ashamed.
• 46:30
  SPEAKER_02: I'm glad Xavier exposed them uh or before they even had the chance to get into the real tournament.
• 46:36
  SPEAKER_02: Um, and I I I really hope that moving forward that the the committee, you know, takes a little more stock in records.
• 46:45
  SPEAKER_02: It's just frustrating because now that you might see some reflection from the college football playoff seep into the way March Madness operates.
• 46:53
  SPEAKER_02: Because, you know, we all understand at this point that the playoff is clearly a brand invitational.
• 46:59
  SPEAKER_02: You know, it's not so much what your record is, it's much more of the eye test, quote unquote, and uh, you know, what what brand what what the brand brought to the table if the big brand won 10 games are going to the playoffs kind of thing.
• 47:12
  SPEAKER_02: Um, and we might I just hope we're not seeing the same thing in March Madness.
• 47:15
  SPEAKER_02: You know, I obviously Norfolk State doesn't get the eyes, but come on, man.
• 47:20
  SPEAKER_02: That's what that's what rules about this.
• 47:22
  SPEAKER_02: The uh the uh the the the few the couple dozen uh thousand alumni of that school is like, let's go, baby.
• 47:28
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, come on.
• 47:30
  SPEAKER_02: Let them have a connection to the school, you know, like let them watch their their team on TV.
• 47:34
  SPEAKER_03: For sure, for sure.
• 47:35
  SPEAKER_03: Nope, totally agree.
• 47:36
  SPEAKER_03: Just thought I'd poke your brain at that last point.
• 47:39
  SPEAKER_03: But um again, Texas Tech Red Raiders, Thursday at I think 9.07 or 9 10, whatever weird tip off time.
• 47:47
  SPEAKER_03: Uh it's gonna be fun and it's gonna be a tough game, and I'm excited.
• 47:52
  SPEAKER_02: Look, I mean, as a as a as a little fan of a little old team, just a little little guy.
• 47:57
  SPEAKER_03: Little old team from lovely Texas.
• 47:59
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, just a little, a quaint, a quaint little humble guy out there on the pop plains, hoping to watch his his basketball team do okay.
• 48:09
  SPEAKER_02: But yeah, no, it's uh yeah, I just we all that's why we all love March Mandis.
• 48:14
  SPEAKER_02: But let's love it more because our team's doing good.
• 48:17
  SPEAKER_03: We continue to dance.
• 48:19
  SPEAKER_03: All right, song of the week, and then we'll end her off here.
• 48:22
  SPEAKER_03: Go ahead.
• 48:23
  SPEAKER_02: All right, Steven.
• 48:23
  SPEAKER_02: My song of the week.
• 48:24
  SPEAKER_02: I'm going with a local group.
• 48:26
  SPEAKER_02: I'm going with a small group.
• 48:27
  SPEAKER_02: I'm heading, I'm heading down to uh our little guys in the Texas country scene.
• 48:31
  SPEAKER_02: I'm going with a band, Ghosts of the Hill Country.
• 48:36
  SPEAKER_02: Ghosts of Hill Country.
• 48:37
  SPEAKER_02: Apologies, not of the Ghosts of Hill Country, and the song is Home for a Hotel.
• 48:42
  SPEAKER_02: And it's just got that southern rock mix with bluegrass with that Texas twinning in it, just a jam.
• 48:48
  SPEAKER_02: Uh, and I just obviously want to give love to the little guys.
• 48:58
  SPEAKER_08: I just go and trade our home for a hotel.
• 49:03
  SPEAKER_03: You love to see it.
• 49:04
  SPEAKER_03: You had to do that with my small band last week.
• 49:08
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, exactly.
• 49:09
  SPEAKER_03: I appreciate it though.
• 49:10
  SPEAKER_03: To continue with what my theme was last week of you know, looking forward to the next spot and what we're going to talk about hopefully next week on the podcast.
• 49:23
  SPEAKER_03: Of hey, Tristan, by the way, the Final Four is in San Antonio, Texas.
• 49:29
  SPEAKER_03: Best city in America.
• 49:31
  SPEAKER_03: Best city in America.
• 49:32
  SPEAKER_02: Wow.
• 49:32
  SPEAKER_03: Yep.
• 49:33
  SPEAKER_03: Hot tech?
• 49:34
  SPEAKER_03: No, I don't think so.
• 49:35
  SPEAKER_02: We got a San Antonio truther here.
• 49:37
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, it's like I've lived there almost my whole life.
• 49:39
  SPEAKER_03: Um I am going to do a jam from one of our favorite bands, uh, another small group, Prophets and Outlaws.
• 49:50
  SPEAKER_03: Oh! They have a song called Texas Home, and it's a really good one.
• 49:56
  SPEAKER_03: It involves all the cities of Texas, but he repeats San Antonio because that's where he fell in love with, and it's a fantastic song by a fantastic group.
• 50:06
  SPEAKER_03: My song of the week is Prophets and Outlaws, Texas Home.
• 50:13
  SPEAKER_07: Two steps to San Angelo.
• 50:18
  SPEAKER_07: I ate chicken and waffles with my friends and hews.
• 50:23
  SPEAKER_07: Kiss the girl in San Antonio.
• 50:29
  SPEAKER_02: A fabulous choice, my friend.
• 50:31
  SPEAKER_02: A favorite group of the pod.
• 50:32
  SPEAKER_02: And dude, I could really use a pick-me-up from the Red Raiders this week.
• 50:38
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, out here in the Hill Country, we just got walloped by biblical scale hail.
• 50:42
  SPEAKER_02: So unlike I've ever seen before.
• 50:44
  SPEAKER_02: My car's probably ruined.
• 50:45
  SPEAKER_02: Our house is uh the our house rental needs a new roof.
• 50:49
  SPEAKER_02: And uh shout out and love to all those out there in the hill country that also got affected by this because it was a freak of nature, a true natural disaster.
• 50:56
  SPEAKER_02: Um, so yeah, come on, Raiders, please cheer us up out here.
• 51:00
  SPEAKER_03: Absolutely sorry that that happened to you.
• 51:03
  SPEAKER_03: We're all thinking of you, man, uh, while you navigate a bunch of insurance and fun stuff.
• 51:07
  SPEAKER_03: Um but the good news is the Texas Tech Red Raiders are still playing basketball, and that will always cheer you up.
• 51:14
  SPEAKER_03: So we're gonna end it off right here.
• 51:16
  SPEAKER_03: You can follow both me and Tristan on Twitter.
• 51:18
  SPEAKER_03: Tristan's at Tristy Mick.
• 51:19
  SPEAKER_03: I'm at L underscore S underscore Rodriguez.
• 51:21
  SPEAKER_03: Pod is on Twitter at talk at Tech Pod, Songs Week playlist, Spotify, Apple Music.
• 51:26
  SPEAKER_03: We're on all the podcast platforms, man.
• 51:29
  SPEAKER_03: We appreciate all y'all listening and always Wrecom Tech.
• 51:33
  SPEAKER_05: Wreck'em Tech.
• 51:34
  SPEAKER_05: Uh wow.
• 51:35
  SPEAKER_05: First of all, uh got a lot of respect for Steven and Tristan.
• 51:40
  SPEAKER_05: Uh their program, tough guys, just uh a lot of fun.
• 51:45
  SPEAKER_06: This is wild.
• 51:46
  SPEAKER_06: When I walked in, and I knew this would be an awesome podcast.
• 51:52
  SPEAKER_06: And these guys have been tremendous.
• 51:55
  SPEAKER_06: I love you, and I can't wait for this journey.
• 51:57
  SPEAKER_06: I would like to thank uh Steven and Tristan.
• 52:00
  SPEAKER_04: This is incredible.
• 52:01
  SPEAKER_04: These guys have a passion and a love for this school.