Latest / OneLegUpAlex Sports / Terminello's Take on March Madness 2024 As We Begin Round of 64 3-21-24

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Terminello's Take on March Madness 2024 As We Begin Round of 64 3-21-24 · OneLegUpAlex Sports

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Here's your host, Alex Dearren. Well, as you know, Garrett is
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on the go, so why not have Terminello's take on the go. I'm
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on the train about to get my literal ticket punched in March. But lou,
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wow, what a week so far. Thanks for joining us, Alex,
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thanks for having me your first take on the regional brackets. I mean,
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were you disappointed at all? Well, I knew based on the craziness
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of the conference tournaments, the results, the upsets, what happened last week,
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you know, with New Mexico, when North Carolina State pulling off the
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upset and winning the ACC tournament, Duquine getting in, They wouldn't have gotten
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in if they didn't win the tournament. That cost somebody a spot. Texas
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A and M getting to the semi finals of the Southeast Conference, Alabama Birmingham
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winning their Conference USA championship, Drake winning the Missouri Valley. All those successes
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pushed a lot of those teams that we thought were going to be in out,
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including Seaton Hall, Oklahoma, Saint John's Pitt. So yeah, I
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was surprised the way the week went. I knew that it would be a
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very tough job for the committee to pare down to the sixty eight teams,
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and remember thirty two automatic bigs. So then let me ask you this.
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Obviously we've talked about it during it. There's a train right there. We've
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talked about this before for football, So people forget this is applying to basketball.
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All this re expansion and expansion and changing in realignment. Does that even
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complicate things next year for March Madness or I really don't think so, because
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we've never seen anything like we saw this year. You know, I don't
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think that it plays into next year, not at all. I really don't.
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You know, obviously, three Big East teams only you know some controversy
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there was six Mountain West teams in, but a lot of the bracketologists going
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into the tournament conference tournaments had six Mountain West teams in. Yes, they
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did have four or five. Some had six Big East teams. Some had
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both Providence, Seaton Hall and Saint John's in. But the way the way
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it played out, it just didn't work out the way. The thing that
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surprised me when I looked at the board as the teams are being announced,
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and I think we talked about this softfair on Sunday night when I saw the
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name of the Virginia Cavaliers come up, that surprised me. They finished the
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season poorly, and obviously in last night's first four they were absolutely thoroughly embarrassed
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with their performance against Colorado State, losing sixty seven to forty two. They're
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always offensively challenged in the coach Tony Bennett's system, and they went fifty nine
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minutes of real time clock time without without scoring and which is without scoring a
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field goal, which is amazing, about seventeen and a half minutes of basketball
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time. They shouldn't have been in. That's the only one that should have
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been in. And when you look at the NCAA first bore out, the
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official first boor out, Oklahoma was the first first first or out and Sycamore
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was the second team. So that really really is frustrating for fans of Sycamore
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University, that's for sure, and you know that's the way it goes,
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and it's just very, very frustrating. But again, the committee, the
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committee had a tough I think one of the toughest years that they've ever had
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to look at as far as selecting teams. Indiana State Alex number twenty eight
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in the net. And I don't even know how they formed the net anymore.
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What the algorithm algorithms are? You know what the what the formula is.
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It's just crazy. But no team were twenty eight? No, it
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might be NCAAI. Why not right? Yes? Why not is right?
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And I'm seriously now I got flack on Twitter for standing by what Brendan Tierney
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said and others said about Saint John's rejecting NIT. Do you feel like it
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was childish for them to do that or was it the other in there?
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Right? Of course? But what did that show to you that they rejected
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the n While the NIT is not a major tournament anymore, it was when
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I was young. Remember when I used to go to many n games.
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There was only twenty four teams that went to the NCAA tournament and sixteen teams
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went to the niit and they all was games will play at Madison Square Garden.
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So you would have remember only one team per conference made the NCAA.
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So you all these that large teams that we see now, they would be
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playing at the garden if there was nineteen seventy, so you you would see
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these two seeds, these teams that didn't win that conference at MSG, so
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the NIT was tremendous tournament. Look, I'm not going to kill Saint John's
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for not going. I think Saint John's really my opinion, I really don't
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even went their five game, six game winning streak at the end and their
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credible performance against the Saint John's. I don't think they did enough all season
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to get into the NCAAA. They really only beat Creighton at the you know,
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at the end of the year, but Seton Hall beat Yukon, Seaton
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Hall beat Marquette, Seton Hall lost a triple overtime game to to Creighton.
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Seaton Hall played two games without their best player and lost to another bubble team,
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Providence, when Kadari Richmond was heart Setenhall beat Saint John's twice. Saint
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John's was outscored twenty eight to nothing against Seaton Hall at Prudential Center, and
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they blew a nineteen point lead at Ubs. I think see, I don't
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think Saint John's is any kick coming they were. They weren't even the first
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four out on the n c A official nca A first four out. I
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don't know where they ended up now. Should they have played the n I
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T. I mean, uh, Coach Betino's talking about New York basketball and
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all this kind of stuff. And I understand why they don't want to play.
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They disappointed. But anytime you have a chance to play, I think,
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I think you should play. But I'm not. I'm like I said,
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I'm not going to kill him for that. No, I know it's
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Uh, it's touching because you want more exposure as a program and for recruiting
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purposes. Can't the n I T still be used as popular recruiting, especially
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with this portal even more every year? One hundred percent correct? And uh,
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you know it shows pride in the program, pride that you want to
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that you want to win, that you want to play, that you have
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pride and putting that uniform on and playing another game. And uh, but
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you said something about the portal, and now you now we're jumping to something
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else. There's over five there's over five hundred and fifty players who have entered
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the portal that opened up on Monday. How could the NCAAA. How could
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the NCAAA allow the week of their biggest three weeks, the first week of
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their biggest tournament, after day after selection Sunday allow the portal to open up.
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What a joke. I mean, this portal is is just out of
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control. The Nils out of control. It take it takes a little bit
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of the luster out of the college game. Yes, lou don't you know
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they can get millions of dollars now they're even professional. I mean, this
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is that's what it feels like. Anyway, It's well, as coach Patino
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said before the season began, I'm coaching professionals. That's why when people were
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ripping him for tearing into his players after they blew that nineteen point lead to
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Saint John's, I everybody was him. I didn't I knew where he was
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coming from, and they responded. They played six games, their body chemistry
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was different. They were a totally different team, and like I said,
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they gave more than a credible performance against the Yukon Huskies. The idea that
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these coaches are too tough on the players, well, they're getting paid to
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play. They should play the game right, right, I mean, to
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blow in nineteen point lead and get paid to do it makes it even worse
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at the college level. Alex, You're one hundred percent correct. And if
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these guys can't take a little criticism, then they might as well just turn
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in their uniforms. And they responded to the criticism. Can you respond to
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the criticism? I think the biggest story of the week is Long Beach State
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take coach. Can you give us a little bit of what happened there?
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He got fired, but he wins the conference. I mean, can you
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imagine a crazier March Madness story than that? That is a crazy story.
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And coach Munson has had a very good career. He was a successful coach
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at Minnesota. He got fired and I believe in two thousand and five,
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two thousand and six, and for the last seventeen years he's been the coach
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at Long Beach State. They finished their season poorly, they lost their last
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five games in a row. They won, they won the conference Tournament of
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the Big West and made the automatic bid and he got fired and the last
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week of the season. And now he's going to the NCAA first round.
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So that that is that's a wild story. Alex. He's only sixty two
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years old. You'll probably get another job if he wants it, and so
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you know that they're going to rehire him. That's my question is that they're
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going to rehire him after the season. Well, I'm sure they've made their
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mind that they're probably not going to rehire him. But it's a good story.
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And like I said, he's been a long time coach and he's been
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a successful coach. I think I think he was coached here more than one
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time in the Big West, so that you know, that shows you,
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like I said, he was a good coach at University of Minnesota. You
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know. So this is just one of those things that it's just it's interesting.
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They're not gonna I mean, unless they go on one of these miracle
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runs that we see in the NCAA every once in a while. He is
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I don't believe he's going to get rehired. But again, they're and they're
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playing They're playing Arizona, which is going to be a very very tough out
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in this tournament. Arizona can get to the to the final four weekend.
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Can we talk about the five and twelve matchups? Because I was a little
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disgusted that on air, as your school is, as the school's being announced
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selected, one of the commentators goes, Althoy'll be knocked out. I mean,
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what kind of comment is that? Yeah, Well, that was Seth
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Davis and obviously traditionally the twelve. There's always been an upset most years in
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the twelve five games. I think maybe just one or two years in the
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last fifteen that a twelve hasn't beaten a five. And yes, I mean
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I would not rush to judgment as soon as the teams are put up on
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the board, Well, a twelve is going to be the five, the
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twelve is going to be the five. Now looking at the twelve five games
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here, let's see, let's go to the first twelve five game that we
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see on the board. Here. You got Grand Canyon, a very good
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team playing Saint Mary's is a very good team. There are five. I
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can't I'm not going to be against Saint Mary's on that one, But that
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would be a twelve five team and it would game, and it wouldn't be
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that big of an upset if Grand Canyon won. He got UAB in San
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Diego State. San Diego State, which lost to Yukon in the NCAA Championship
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game last year. They're not as good as they were last year. I
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can't I can't see I can't see UAB UAB beating San Diego State on the
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other side of the bracket. You got. Oh, this is the one
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that says Davids said is going to happen. James Madison is going to be
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Wisconsin again. I'm gonna be honest with you, Tall Transparency. I've seen
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Wisconsin play and they've been up and down. There was they lost four or
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five games in a row in February, in the late January, early February,
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so you know they've been up and down. I've Tall transparency. Like
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I said, I haven't seen James Madison play one second this year, so
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I can't come on that. I just do you somehow know about McNeice.
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I don't know how you know about McNeice because everybody in the world found out
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there was a college named McNeice on Sunday night. Well, I was watching.
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I was watching that tournament and they have a very athletic team and a
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lot of people like them, and the team with live bodies, and so
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they'll be an interesting watch. And yeah, McNeice is an interesting watch.
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Now another upset that might happen. I haven't seen this team play, but
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everybody is like on Samford not to be confused with Stanford Samford. Sam Their
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thirteen seed and they're playing Kansas. Kansas's star god, Kevin McCullough junior,
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is out for the tournament and Hunter Dickinson, a transfer from Michigan, has
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been banged up. So a lot of people are turning on on Kansas,
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which has had an inconsistent year. Obviously, they're a perennial power house in
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college basketball, so a lot of people are are hooking there. Vets on
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Sanford, I don't know, that's just another game, another game to look
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at. Well, there's no doubt that they'll sulf have somehow struggled in the
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tournament sometimes, isn't that a factor with this Yes he has struggle. Now
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he's won two championships, but there's other years where you know they have they
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have fallen short when you didn't think they should fall short. But this year
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they're banged up. This year that they are that they're legitimately banged up,
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and losing Kevin mccullis junior for the tournament is a huge, huge blow.
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By the way, for the listeners, we're going a little rapid fire.
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That's just because there's so much to cover. And speaking of bangeda local hero
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now Wagner Seahawks played in one with seven guys in the first four. Now,
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Lou you probably know him because you've been around Seat Hall forever. Donald
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Copeland goes in there, changes the program up. I mean, he's there's
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some Seaton Hall influence in that in that locker room there. Well, yeah,
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I mean he played for Seaton Hall and he was an assistant coach for
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six years at Seaton Hall. And he's he's at done a good jump for
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Wagner this year. And ironically there's a point guard who's who starred at Wagner
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who is the NCAA championship coach now has a chance to win it again in
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who was a former Seaton Hall point guard in Danny Hurley. But Wagner's done
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a nice job. They rallied at the end of the season. They pulled
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a big upset in the tournament and they won the nc tournament. They played
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with seven players last night. They slowed the ball down because they they only
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have seven players. They can't get you know, they can't get into a
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high scoring game where the floor is open and you can get into foul trouble.
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So they have to play a very you know, a very controlled game
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and tomorrow at two forty five when they play number one seed North Carolina alex
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It's it's a miracle if they could, if they can hang with these North
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Carolina tar Hills. They're nineteen and a half point well remember though, I
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mean obviously UNC is number one now, but they did not start out that
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well and they picked it up. I mean, maybe you can analyze why
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they had a downspouder to start the year and then picked it back up.
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You know, it's really it is really strange that they they struggled last year
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and they got off to a soso start this year. They just put it
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together and Youbert Davis has done a terrific job. They have a great senior
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point guard in R. J. Davis who hits forty of his three point
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shots. Harrison Ingram Junior, who's a transfer. They got him in the
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portal and he's been another player from him. And they have the twenty five
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year old kid from Notre Dame Matt May, who had a big game in
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the when they played Duke a couple of weeks ago. They have a very
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good team. They can go they can go far. There's a lot of
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good there's a lot of good teams out there. But again, Wagon's gonna
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need a miracle. I said, anything we know can happen in the NCAAA
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tournament. I just can't see this happening. And Wagon's gotta keep the game
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and around fifty to even have a chance. And I don't know if they
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if they can do it, and they might get into foul trouble tomorrow and
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with only seven guys, that's that will be a death now. Uh,
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you know, going in, going into the tournament, Alex, there's no
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team better than the University of Connecticut. The defending champions have great chemistry on
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the court, and they have the best coach in college basketball and Danny Hurley.
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Right now, I can't remember the last time where I've seen chemistry on
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the court and with their coach, it's a it's a very strange, unique
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coach player chemistry dynamic. Now, anybody can win one game in the NCAA
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Tournament, We've seen that a thousand times. But if this was any kind
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of series, two out of three, three out of five, nobody's being
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University of Connecticut. Nobody. They're a deep team. They can beat you
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any which way. They have stars getting uh, Cam Spencer from Rutgers in
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the transfer portal. The kid has been remarkable Tristan Newton. I mean he's
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an efficient playmaker, he can guard, he can score. Stephen Castle,
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you know, as good a freshman as you can want on a championship team.
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On the returning championship team, Alex, they got they got it all,
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Donovan Klingen, Alex Caravan, a power forward who gets lost in the
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shuffle. They got NBA guys, and they got a coach who's driven.
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Yeah, sometimes he gets out of control, but he's driven. You are
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a history guy, Louis. Last time a team went back to back when
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when was that? It was Flora with with Billy Donovan and uh Jani Noah
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in two thousand and six, two thousand and seven. This could have Yukon
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definitely definitely could match that for sure. I mean there's no gonna But you
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know it's funny. I feel like the pressures not on them in the sense
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if they're not being talked about as much as what will do do? And
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I mean maybe you can disagree on that, but Produce seems like they have
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the most pressure of all these teams because of their failures the year at number
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one well again, Purdue right now is pretty happy that they're not playing a
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New Jersey mid majors. The last two years they've been knocked out by a
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fifteen seeded team. Two years ago in Saint Peter's and last year there aren't
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that back at that in that same region. I think Saint Peter's in that
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region aren't Yes they are, they are, but Saint Peter's has a toll
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task to get by Tennessee. But they are, they are in the same
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region. But yes, Purdue doesn't want to play New Jersey mid major.
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That's for sure. Getting knocked out, like I said, by Saint Peter's
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two years ago and by FDU last year, only the second sixteen seed to
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be the one seed in the history of the tournament. They have it all.
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They have a great roster. But is Matt Painter gonna come through as
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a coach? A lot of pressure on Matt Painter. They have the you
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know, they have great players right throughout. They got a balanced roster.
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We'll see. I don't think, I don't think. I don't think that
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they're gonna win the tournament. I mean, I'll just throw the teams and
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you know, I'm not big on predictions. Yukon is the clear I like
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Kentucky, they might be too young because another thing got taken to consideration,
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what the matchups are the course of all these extra years that these guys got.
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There are some teams that have twenty three to twenty four year old guys,
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twenty five year old guys like North Carolina ads in the may Kid,
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and you have other teams that might be dominated by eighteen and nineteen year old
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guys. That makes a difference, the difference between maturing mentally and physically when
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you're nineteen years old and you're twenty three to twenty four years old. That's
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a big gap. So you got to watch that as you're looking at these
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matchups. Houston plays great defense. They're one seed. Kelvin Sampson's an excellent
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coach, but they go through these offensive droughts like they did against Iowa State,
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who embarrassed them in the Big twelve championship game. And look out for
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Iowa State. Iowa State has a very, very formidable team. There were
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two seed and that yeh that that could be a roadblock for for Connecticut in
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that in that region. But Connecticut is going to play this week at at
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Brooklyn, so there will be a lot of Connecticut fans there. Probably half
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the building will be for Connecticut and then the Eastern Regionals at Boston. Uh
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that I was gonna say Boston Garden at tv UH Center in Boston. So,
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uh, it's it's laid out for It's laid out for Yukon. In
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my opinion, to get to the final four. I was moving back to
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the Big East the biggest thing they could do for that program. I feel
24:53
like it's energized them again, Alex if they if they were if they were
24:59
still in the American Athletic Conference, they weren't the one that they want to
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have won the championship last year and they wouldn't be going to repeat this year.
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And I'm not even sure if coach Earley would still be there. I
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don't even know, if you want to know the truth, I don't even
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know why the Big East let it back in. Yes, it was good
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for the Big East to let a prestigious program like Connecticut back into the conference,
25:25
but Connecticut benefited more by coming to the Big East than the Big East
25:30
bringing in Connecticut. Connecticut benefited more with the ACC now expanding, right,
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do you see every Syracuse wind about out. I know we're seeing Clemson bow
25:47
out of the ACC. Could more teams follow? Well, Connecticut wants to,
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I mean, Clemson wants to investigate go into another conference, but the
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the IT fees to come out of the ACC a pretty ironclad. And you've
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got to stay to twenty thirty six to get your TV money. Now.
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I don't know how the judges are going to look at that. Florida State
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has already done the same as Clemson did the other day. I don't know
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what's going to happen to the ACC. But Syracuse will not be back in
26:25
the Big East, that's for sure, because a foot the Big East doesn't
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want to get back into the football business. I don't believe. Yes,
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they made an exception with with Yukon, but you know that that that's that's
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a rarity. They're not They're not going back to where they were, where
26:44
they were a football and basketball conference. But Lou and I know we're going
26:48
on history lane right here. Those are the best years for the Big East
26:52
football championships. You had excitement around the conference for both seasons. I mean,
26:59
can you agree with yeah, you know, let's look at basketball Syracuse.
27:02
First, Yukon the Classic at the Garden. You weren't there for that,
27:04
were you? You mean the six over? Was that the six overtime?
27:07
Yes, I watched it. I wasn't there. I was not there
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for that. But I think I don't I don't think, uh yeah,
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those those are great days. But I mean last week I didn't think that
27:22
was that something was lacking watching the Big East Tournament, I didn't think it
27:29
was lacking. Well before Yukon returned to the conference, when you had Villanova,
27:33
and uh during when Seaton Hall beat Villanova for the in the championship game
27:40
with Isaiah Whitehead. You know, I mean, you might want to reminisce
27:45
on that, but I think I think the Big East it's fine just being
27:48
a basketball conference. The other thing is you got a public you got a
27:52
state school like Yukon, and the rest of the teams, the rest of
27:56
the universities and college is in the Big East are private. That gives you
28:02
kind of huge advantage. Well, let me ask you about this, because
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you know, the Big East has issued a statement on this. I mean,
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look, only three teams going is a disappointment, and I think val
28:17
Ackerman was very, very diplomatic in his response, But you were surprised the
28:22
biggest commissioner actually issued a response. I was, I was surprised. I
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just figured, Okay, you know, you take the high road. One
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of those years, that probably not going to happen again for a while.
28:33
You're not going to see that many kind of upsets. But again, you
28:37
might see those kind of upsets because there's so much parity in college basketball and
28:41
there's so much changeable rosters from year to year. You're recruiting every year.
28:47
Now you're not going to have a player for three years, four years,
28:52
two years, so it's different. I was. I think she made she
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made the statement because you know, she just had to because obviously there was
29:06
a lot of up people. But I don't think she's she's she was looking
29:10
to to start any kind of controversy. She made the statement. She probably
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will not make any further statements on what happened. Well, an interesting thing
29:21
for me is she wasn't really pointing fingers at the NCAA in the sense of
29:25
I guess she was a lot, but she was more saying, we're going
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to restructure the schedule. Now you know the schedule you follow these teams schedules.
29:32
Was it a particular bad non comference schedule for some of these programs or
29:36
what were you seeing there? Well, you know some of these some of
29:42
these teams don't play any teams from other conferences that could help them down the
29:49
road in their net. I mean, all of year played Baylor, They
29:53
they played Rutgers, they played Iowa, they played USC, and I mean
30:00
while USC was finished under five hundred, USC beat Arizona the last week of
30:06
the season, and Arizona is a two seed. So if Seaton Hall had
30:12
had beaten USC, that might have got them in that that that that's another
30:18
uh, your points go up, well when they put all those that formula
30:23
through the computer. Same thing with Iowa, which is a you know which
30:26
is which is an N I T but still a big ten team. Seenhall
30:32
lost all those games they lost to Baylor. Baylor is a team that can
30:34
go far in the tournament. So Seen Hall played, you know, play
30:40
its usual schedule. I forget. I mean, I think Saint John's uh,
30:45
I don't remember their their their preseason schedule as well. But yeah,
30:51
you got to do it, you got Unfortunately, that's one thing uh,
30:55
Kentucky always does, I mean they come out and they're playing Ducal like the
30:59
second game of the year. And usually John cal Powry has eight new guys
31:03
on a team and he's playing a Duke or a Kansas or Michigan State.
31:08
You gotta you gotta do that. You might lose. Uh. You gotta
31:12
play like Gonzaga plays. You know, all those teams Gonzaga and the milliare
31:18
of their conference schedule, played at Kentucky and they beat Kentucky and they went
31:26
for a bubble team. Uh uh, and they got into a five and
31:30
they got a five seat. The last couple of weeks they rose from the
31:33
from being a bubble team to being a solid tournament team. They did beat
31:40
Saint Mary's for Saint Mary's only conference loss. You gotta do that, Alex.
31:45
You can't be playing all the cupcakes of the world, as they say,
31:48
no, you can't. I always thought Kevin Willer did a good job
31:52
of scheduling at the Big Hall, and and she's, you know, just
31:56
still getting the swing of things there. They just what I thought Seahole schedule
32:00
was fine. This year I did steal it, and then, of course,
32:06
you know, I was freaking out on you. Patino's losing all of
32:07
a sudden and you're like, give it time. And I know you got
32:12
to give it time and give him some recruiting space and seeing what happens.
32:15
But you know, with Patino, he just doesn't seem interested in this whole
32:22
money game in this transfer portal, Like he just doesn't seem genuinely interested in
32:25
coaching college basketball. That's a problem. Group. Oh, I disagree.
32:30
I disagree. He he wants to coach, as he said, as much
32:36
as ever. And uh, the only guy that he brought back from from
32:43
last year, saying John Steam or Soriano, and he had ten new guys
32:49
and they got off to a good start, but then they lost Stay out
32:52
of Ten. That's what caused him the tournament. They lost Stay out of
32:54
Ten. And know he he wants to make he wants to bring Saint John's
33:05
back. This is his last coaching job. He's seventy one years old.
33:08
You know, he loves coaching. He loves coaching in the Big East.
33:13
Remember he was at the coach of Province when they went to the Final four
33:16
back in nineteen eighty seven. He did a spectacular job getting that team to
33:20
the final four. He loves coaching in the garden. You know, he's
33:29
he's all in. I just don't know why he is out about how he
33:35
doesn't enjoy coaching at Saint John's. I don't know if that's a ploy what
33:37
he says or what. Well, when they grew that nineteen point lead,
33:42
he said that wasn't enjoyable and he and that was again to get that get
33:45
that point across to his players, because then he then he went off on
33:49
his players, and he went off on the facilities. And there was a
33:52
method to his madness. If you want to be big time in the Big
33:57
East, which you know is a is a Power five conference, you know,
34:05
you can't only have your toe in the water. You gotta be you
34:09
gotta throw your whole body in and uh and swim. You can't be He
34:15
it's not get out of the Big East and join another conference that where the
34:21
pressure is not great. And Rick Patino doesn't want that. He wants Saint
34:27
John's to go to the Final four on his watch before he retires. I
34:35
think that's why he originally took the job, and I know that's why I
34:37
took the job, and I believe it him. It just is it a
34:39
little dishearten to hear in some of the other interviews I've seen him just say,
34:44
you know that the college basketball with this guy going to this college because
34:49
there's money. It just it is right. He's right, but it's a
34:53
bit depressing to know that the game has become this. I guess, yeah,
34:57
well, that's that's not on him, that's what the game has become.
35:01
It is. It's depressing for me as a long time college basketball fan.
35:07
I hate the way the game is now. Alex, how could how
35:12
many guys do we see They've been at three colleges in six years? I
35:16
mean really, well, let me ask you this. You're always about seeing
35:22
where the future of the of these you know leagues go. In the NFL,
35:25
with the possibly eighteenth game that actually might actually have happened, you're predicting
35:30
that to happen. Who had the NCAA. What radicalization do you see happening
35:34
there that we haven't already seen. I mean, they've already done a lot.
35:37
I mean the season now starts. Oh, besides the realignment, I
35:42
guess is there any more extension of I know the college playoff is expanding,
35:45
but do you see this tournament becoming like a two or three game series.
35:50
No, right, that cannot I don't see that. I know there's been
35:53
talk about expanding the NCAA Tournament to seventy two teams to eighty team. I
36:00
mean, as you can go back twenty years and Billy Packer, the late
36:04
Billy Packer, said every team should be in the tournament. And I think
36:07
there was like three hundred and thirty teams at playing Division one. Then I
36:12
think there's three hundred and fifty four now and he said it would only be
36:15
two more games, but everybody would be in. So, first of all,
36:20
the regular season doesn't mean anything. And I think sixty four sixty eight
36:28
like they have now or is a good number. Some people want to push
36:31
it up to seventy two. I saw coach Cali Parry, I guess yesterday
36:38
in the press conference and maybe this morning, said he doesn't he's totally against
36:44
expansion of the of the NCAA Tournament. Brett Yormark, commissioner A Big twelve,
36:53
kind of leans towards expanding the NCAAA Tournament. The coach of North Carolina
37:00
State keats he wants the tournament expanded. The other thing, Alex is I
37:09
don't know. If you need the conference tournaments anymore, I really don't if
37:13
you're going to expand it. I don't even know if you needed at sixty
37:16
eight. But if you're going to expand the NCAA tournament, do you really
37:21
need the conference tournaments? Yeah, it's a money maker. It's good for
37:24
the networks, for Fox and for ESPN and for CBS, But really do
37:32
you really need them? I mean, if you go to ninety six teams,
37:37
which some some people want to go to, do you really need conference
37:42
tournaments? No? But that would that would just send a bad message,
37:50
you know, Like everybody at the Ultimate Participation Trophy, I guess you'd say,
37:53
right that, that's right, that's that's that's right. It's a participation
38:00
trophy. Well, loud, thank you for participating your trophies in the mail,
38:06
and we will do this again as the co keep something. I know
38:14
you have some contacts that you might want to bring on now the tournament would
38:17
love to have that, but always love talking to you. Is the anything
38:21
else about this tournament you want to talk about before we wrap up? No
38:24
matter how controversial it is with the NIL or with the transfer portal, or
38:31
with the selections made by the committee that put teams in this tournament, in
38:37
the at large portion of the tournament. Come come tomorrow at twelve o'clock when
38:44
those games start, We're going to be in front of our television sets and
38:46
we're gonna be watching till twelve o'clock midnight Tomorrow and Friday and throughout the next
38:52
three weeks. There's gonna be great games. There's going to somebody's gonna make
38:57
themselves a hero. Guys that we had ever heard of, a team that
39:00
we may not never heard of. But that's what makes these three weeks fun
39:07
and exciting. But again, all I know is to beat the University of
39:12
Connecticut, somebody's going to have to make a herculean effort. And good thing
39:15
it's only a one and done because I don't think anybody in this tournament could
39:21
be Connecticut two out of three. Well, how about this. I want
39:23
to ask you this because everybody feels like they want to sneak away from work
39:28
to go to the bar. And you're not a bar guy, but did
39:31
you ever, you know, maybe play hooky a little bit to see the
39:35
first day of the tournament. Everybody does. It feels like alex as you
39:40
know me long enough, I'll never tell a lie. Yes, I was
39:45
at the first round games twice at Nasal Coliseum and I played hooky from work.
39:53
One of them was on Saint Patrick's date, and one time at the
39:58
Meadowlands and so yeah, yeah I played hooky. Well, I'll tell you.
40:06
My dad tells me the story. He went all the way to Washington,
40:08
Seattle, Washington to see the Pirates take them. I wasn't it Michigan.
40:15
Yeah, they got Michigan. I mean, how cool of a story
40:17
is that that he went all over to Seattle. Well, I also went
40:22
all the way to Seattle to see a nineteen eighty nine wins. The Pirates
40:27
got to the final four and they played it Duke in the National semifinal.
40:31
They were down twenty five to eight, and I said, oh my god,
40:37
and Seaton Hall just went crazy after that. They were they went down,
40:42
they were down seventeen and they won by seventeen. And then they lost
40:46
the memorable overtime game two nights later, eighty to seventy nine the Michigan,
40:52
a game that they should have won in a game that was that was a
40:54
site on a controversial call by John Clogherty on the path I saw off from
41:00
Ramel Robinson who he called a foul on and Ramel Robinson hit the two free
41:06
throws and seen all lost eighty to seventy nine. And that that was a
41:10
that was a heartbreak. And then they avenged that in a way a few
41:15
years ago on a nine time of the answer that that was really a healing
41:19
moment that went against Michigan up in Ann Arbor. Yeah it was, but
41:22
I would still have taken the April third, nineteen eighty nine win, and
41:27
I would have lost that game a couple of years ago if I could have,
41:30
I could have switched. But yeah, it could have been on that
41:32
court. I know, Louis, Well, this has been fun and always
41:37
loved going down memory lane that we went to the coliseum a couple of times.
41:43
Kentucky had won one of the regionals in NASA at the Coliseum and they
41:49
had me at front court with them with the cheer team when I was a
41:52
little kid. So I remember that very well. I took home one of
41:53
the k you know, the King and Kentucky. And then and then I
41:59
saw you counch ten years ago. I mean we're talking ten years ago in
42:01
these regionals when you knew Kevin Ollie had something special and they went all the
42:07
way to win the tournament ten years ago. So and beware of Kentucky this
42:13
year. They have a lot of talent and they if they put all together,
42:19
and they have Reed Shepherd, a fantastic freshman player. The kid is
42:22
just fantastic, and they have a deep team. I mean, if they
42:29
put it all together, they just might be too young. Now, Lou,
42:31
you know one thing before we sign out here is the Deon Sanders effect.
42:37
I mean not that that influences the you know, the committee here,
42:39
but Colorado making it what a boon for that beyond Deon Sanders, especially if
42:47
you know they're in the big tournament this week. Well, I think obviously
42:52
because of Deon Sanders notoriety, the team after they three and oh start obviously,
43:00
uh didn't make any bowl games and as we said, it's forty four
43:02
of them, so they were they would they end up five and six.
43:06
But yes, he has he had boosted the brand of the University of Colorado
43:13
athletic department and Colorado basketball playing in the first for tonight, you know,
43:20
with a late season tournament push got in. They were very very much on
43:25
the bubble of even further down. But if they win tonight, you know
43:31
they'll they'll move on. But I heard an interview with Dion the other day
43:37
and he is gung ho on moving to the Big Twelve conference next year,
43:42
and he said it's going to be tremendous for the University of Colorado in both
43:46
football and in basketball. And he just loves what they're doing in the Big
43:52
Twelve, loves the all the people in the front in the in the Big
43:58
Twelve office to commit your mark and you know we'll see. I mean,
44:04
the Big twelve is the best basketball conference in the country right now, and
44:07
they'll be adding Arizona, which is a great basketball school. Oregon has traditionally
44:14
been a tremendous basketball school. And if you get UCLA and USC back in
44:20
the Big Ten, the Pac twelve is going to help those two conferences.
44:27
So you know, you got Oregon, Washington, USC Ucla in the Big
44:34
twelve. You got Colorado and Utah and Arizona and Arizona State in the Big
44:42
twelve. So the Big Twelve and the Big Ten are going to reap the
44:45
benefits of of the demise of the Pac twelve, which to me, Alex
44:52
is sinful. There's no way the PAC twelve should have fallen apart, and
44:58
that's the fault of PAC twelve, the PAC twelfth commissioner, and it's it's
45:06
just shameful that the league that's been together for over one hundred years is no
45:09
more. We'll have to see how it all shapes up. Sixty four teams
45:14
and it all begins. It's March is becoming my second favorite month because of
45:19
NFL free agency, because of spring training coming back, because of and of
45:22
course, my first favorite month is always going to be October. You know
45:24
that, Lily, So March is up there though March. March is a
45:29
second favorite month for me. So there you go. Sounds good. I
45:32
love March, all these sports colliding at the same time. Give me more
45:37
sports. There you go. Well, lou, we got to cover a
45:42
lot more stuff next week, but for now, enjoy the round of sixty
45:45
four. We'll talk to you soon. Yes, you too, alex Thanks
45:47
for having me. Always a pleasure to talk sports with the great Alexander