Latest / The Favorites Sports Betting Podcast / The Buffet with Chad and Scooch, Episode 24 - Featuring Stuckey and Bryan Mears

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The Buffet with Chad and Scooch, Episode 24 - Featuring Stuckey and Bryan Mears · The Favorites Sports Betting Podcast

0:02
Speaker 1: Coming to you from fabulous Las Vegas. The right side
0:07
Speaker 1: is the winning side. The late move is the correct move.
0:10
Speaker 1: Sports betting capital of the world. We all know when
0:14
Speaker 1: a sharp like me weighs in the lines move, it's
0:17
Speaker 1: a party for your ears. This is the Buffet with
0:26
Speaker 1: Chad and Scooch. I want to buy that guy at buffet. Hello,
0:33
Speaker 1: Welcome to the Buffet with Chad and Scooch, brought to
0:37
Speaker 1: you by the Action Network. It is time for our
0:41
Speaker 1: n C double a Tournament March Madness podcast UM. Joining
0:47
Speaker 1: me today because Scooch is unavailable, are two of our
0:52
Speaker 1: Action Network analysts who have put up some ridiculously good
0:55
Speaker 1: stories in the past twenty four hours. The two biggest
0:58
Speaker 1: days in the history of the Action Network the sixty
1:01
Speaker 1: days that we've been launched as a company UM providing content.
1:06
Speaker 1: The two biggest days have been the past two days
1:08
Speaker 1: on the phone with me Stucky needs only one Name
1:13
Speaker 1: and Brian Mears at Brian Underscore mirrors at Stucky two Uh.
1:19
Speaker 1: Some of the biggest stories we've done in the last
1:21
Speaker 1: forty hours have come from these two guys analyzing everything
1:24
Speaker 1: there is about March Madness and what's happening in the tournament. Mirrors,
1:27
Speaker 1: I want to start with you. Stuck will get to
1:29
Speaker 1: you in a second, UM, but Mirrors, I want to
1:31
Speaker 1: start with you. You did two incredibly smart stories that
1:35
Speaker 1: I have been repeating over and over on radio shows
1:38
Speaker 1: for the past twenty four hours. The first one I
1:40
Speaker 1: want to talk about the overseated underseated story. It's a
1:46
Speaker 1: great concept which teams in the tournament are overseated and
1:49
Speaker 1: which teams in the tournament are underseated based on a
1:52
Speaker 1: variety of analytics. Break it down for me, Tell me
1:55
Speaker 1: how you came up with this. Yeah, So, I mean
1:58
Speaker 1: we have great UH advanced at seeing a We have
2:00
Speaker 1: like Ken Palm's adjusted efficiency margins, So we can take
2:04
Speaker 1: a stat like that, which is very sharp, but a
2:07
Speaker 1: lot of people use it for their power ratings to
2:10
Speaker 1: actually project UH their spreads. So obviously a very good stats.
2:14
Speaker 1: So we can use that to project like what the
2:16
Speaker 1: team should be seated, and then we can look at
2:19
Speaker 1: what the UH committee actually seated a team. Just look
2:22
Speaker 1: at the difference. So UM as far as teams that
2:25
Speaker 1: were overseated. UM, we have some of the big names
2:28
Speaker 1: like Kansas, who Kim Palm would have about a three
2:32
Speaker 1: seed and obviously there are a number one seed Um
2:34
Speaker 1: Arizona actually is a seems to be a little overseated.
2:37
Speaker 1: That one is particularly interesting. Kimpom doesn't seem to be
2:40
Speaker 1: too excited about the pack twelve UM, so that that
2:44
Speaker 1: one's particularly interesting for me. UM. And then Xavier is
2:48
Speaker 1: actually projected as a four seed via kim Pom, and
2:51
Speaker 1: they're obviously a number one seeds, So we have to
2:55
Speaker 1: number one seeds in Xavier in Kansas that seemed to
2:58
Speaker 1: be historically not very good number one seed. So I
3:01
Speaker 1: think that is going to make this term of very interesting. Alright,
3:04
Speaker 1: so stucky when you hear this um from an overseated perspective,
3:09
Speaker 1: and don't forget, I want to get to the underseated
3:12
Speaker 1: perspective as well, from an advancement and from betting Um
3:19
Speaker 1: Canvas and Xavier. Do you buy the theory that they're
3:22
Speaker 1: overseated and that that will have an impact on how
3:24
Speaker 1: far they advance and what the value is on them
3:27
Speaker 1: for Betters? Yeah, I mean to that there too. Obviously
3:31
Speaker 1: the to me at least the overrated to the most
3:34
Speaker 1: overrated one seeds I've seen in quite some time. And
3:38
Speaker 1: you know, in the case of Xavier if you project ahead,
3:41
Speaker 1: because I think that what Brian will get to is
3:44
Speaker 1: about Gonzaga UM being underseated. I mean, if if both
3:48
Speaker 1: of those teams hold to the Sweet sixteen, Gonzaga will
3:51
Speaker 1: meet Xavier. Gonzaga, according to most power ratings in mine,
3:54
Speaker 1: would be a favorite, maybe a two to three point
3:56
Speaker 1: favorite on a neutral court against Xavier. And that's the
4:00
Speaker 1: war verse one. So I think that there's from a
4:02
Speaker 1: futurest perspective, in the West, there's a lot of value
4:05
Speaker 1: on Gonzaga, who I really like, and they're trending up
4:08
Speaker 1: and you know they have that. I think the West
4:10
Speaker 1: is the most gettable bracket because North Carolina, sorry Brian,
4:15
Speaker 1: UM is gettable. I mean their defense will allow teams,
4:18
Speaker 1: you know, they they're the worst three point shooting defense
4:21
Speaker 1: in the entire tournament with their sagging defense. So with
4:24
Speaker 1: that one to combo, I mean, I think Gonzaga can
4:27
Speaker 1: make a run. And then on the other side, I mean,
4:30
Speaker 1: I think that the Midwest will be decided with the
4:33
Speaker 1: winner of Michigan State in Duke. But having said that, Kansas,
4:38
Speaker 1: which I think is more of a two or three
4:40
Speaker 1: is Brian alluded to, and Penn is actually more of
4:44
Speaker 1: a fourteen or fifteen. This is the highest potential I've
4:47
Speaker 1: ever seen for a sixteen one upset, but it's because
4:50
Speaker 1: it's not really a sixteen verse one. It's really like
4:52
Speaker 1: a two fift three fourteen. Hence the line is only
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Speaker 1: four team, which is the lowest one verse sixteen lines
4:59
Speaker 1: in the last thirteen seasons. I well, I want to
5:03
Speaker 1: get to I do want to get to bracket by bracket,
5:06
Speaker 1: We're gonna we're gonna go over what are the leverage
5:10
Speaker 1: plays and the choices that you think people should be
5:12
Speaker 1: making in the first two rounds. Uh, that are the
5:16
Speaker 1: opportunities to score a lot of points just from the brackets,
5:20
Speaker 1: not from actual betting, but just if you're making bracket choices.
5:23
Speaker 1: But Brian Andantas Xavier, they continue to pop up and
5:27
Speaker 1: you sort of your overseated conversation. Let's talk underseated and
5:30
Speaker 1: tell me who popped in that part of the conversation. Yeah,
5:34
Speaker 1: Stucky nail thin Gonzag is definitely one that pops Kim
5:37
Speaker 1: Palm would have them about a two seed in their
5:39
Speaker 1: four seeds. So not only is Xavier overseated, but they
5:44
Speaker 1: also get the strongest four seed um and they would
5:47
Speaker 1: have to play them obviously to get to the leader
5:49
Speaker 1: or the final four. UM, so that one is definitely
5:52
Speaker 1: standing out, and Stucky's riot. I think that um that
5:56
Speaker 1: Xavier would actually be a dog to all all of
5:59
Speaker 1: the were teams in their region Gonzaga, North Carolina and Michigan. Uh,
6:03
Speaker 1: and like was, I think Kansas would be a dog
6:05
Speaker 1: to do Commission and States. So it's just unique bracket
6:08
Speaker 1: in that we have to number one seeds and they
6:10
Speaker 1: would be a Vegas dog to a bunch of their teams. Um.
6:14
Speaker 1: Other ones that are um standing out just a little bit. Um,
6:18
Speaker 1: you have Butler, who I think is um much better
6:22
Speaker 1: than a typical Tennessee Kimpalm would have them about a
6:24
Speaker 1: six or seven. Davidson seems to be a pretty solid
6:28
Speaker 1: twelve seed, so they could definitely give Kentucky run for
6:31
Speaker 1: their money. Um, those are sort of the one standing up.
6:34
Speaker 1: But it's definitely Gonzaga. Um, Xavier just got a bad
6:38
Speaker 1: role right there. Why do you guys, why are you
6:41
Speaker 1: so high in Butler? What is Butler doing so well
6:43
Speaker 1: that makes them better than their seed? What do you think? Well,
6:48
Speaker 1: I mean they have a first of all, they have
6:51
Speaker 1: just pedigree their program but they have a really good
6:53
Speaker 1: player and point guard defender at the top in Kamar Baldwin.
6:57
Speaker 1: So they have talent um, you know, and they've shown
7:00
Speaker 1: flashes throughout the year. But then you know, they have
7:02
Speaker 1: some size in the middle. Their defense is lacking, but
7:05
Speaker 1: they can score with anybody, um, you know, and I
7:08
Speaker 1: don't think that they're necessarily a threat to get to
7:11
Speaker 1: the final four, um, but you know, they can make
7:14
Speaker 1: some noise and advance around or two for sure. I
7:17
Speaker 1: kind of agree that they're that they're under sated, I mean,
7:21
Speaker 1: but not by much. I mean I have them probably
7:24
Speaker 1: around you know, a seven or an eight seed as
7:27
Speaker 1: compared to the ten, So their potential is still in
7:30
Speaker 1: that you know, seven to ten seed range um. But
7:34
Speaker 1: from a pure seeding perspective, I do think that they're
7:36
Speaker 1: a little underseated and they have a lot of offensive
7:39
Speaker 1: talent and potential. What's gonna hold them back is their defense.
7:41
Speaker 1: Outside of bald one, Yeah, they do profile and seem
7:45
Speaker 1: oh sorry, and they do profile as a team that
7:47
Speaker 1: does well. I mean, they have a solid offense, they've
7:49
Speaker 1: never turned the ball over, and they clean up the
7:51
Speaker 1: defensive glass. So when you're looking like there there seems
7:54
Speaker 1: to be statistics that like correlate to just like being
7:56
Speaker 1: a well coached team. Um, I know that's probably a cliche,
8:00
Speaker 1: but like not throwing the ball over cleaning up the glass,
8:02
Speaker 1: just protecting the ball and getting good shots. I mean
8:05
Speaker 1: that that goes a long way in March, and you
8:07
Speaker 1: don't see those metrics out of a Tennessee that often. Well,
8:11
Speaker 1: I know we're bouncing around bracket to bracket here and
8:13
Speaker 1: I promised for everybody that we're gonna get focused and
8:15
Speaker 1: we're gonna go through sort of the upset you should
8:17
Speaker 1: choose and who you guys think will be in the
8:18
Speaker 1: final four. But I want to stay on this overseated
8:22
Speaker 1: underseated threat for one second because in um Xavier bracket
8:26
Speaker 1: in the West, where there number one, we talked about
8:29
Speaker 1: gonzagas sort of being a team that you know, could
8:33
Speaker 1: easily emerge from going into the final four from that
8:36
Speaker 1: bracket based on sort of the metrics that we're looking at.
8:40
Speaker 1: We did not talk about the Midwest and the fact
8:42
Speaker 1: that Michigan State and Duke you mentioned it a little
8:44
Speaker 1: bit that you think stuck they're gonna come out of this.
8:48
Speaker 1: Why did this Why do you think the committee undervalued
8:51
Speaker 1: Michigan State so much. What happened because to me, they're
8:53
Speaker 1: probably the strongest team in this particular bracket. Yeah, I mean,
8:57
Speaker 1: I think what the Committee does is they fall in
9:00
Speaker 1: love with and it's really frustrating from an os preect.
9:03
Speaker 1: I mean, all year, the the two of the odds
9:06
Speaker 1: on favorites to win the national title, and they're still
9:09
Speaker 1: right up there are Duke in Michigan State and you know,
9:11
Speaker 1: to play each other in the Sweet sixteam. But they
9:13
Speaker 1: fall in love with these potential match these blockbuster matchups
9:16
Speaker 1: in the second and third round instead of spreading these
9:20
Speaker 1: teams out and then potentially meeting in you know, the
9:22
Speaker 1: Elite eight or the Final four. The same thing you
9:24
Speaker 1: can be said about Kentucky Arizona. I mean, in Kentucky
9:29
Speaker 1: they win the SEC, they're playing really well, and now
9:32
Speaker 1: in order just to get to the Elite eight, they
9:34
Speaker 1: have to beat a solid David's A team, then Arizona
9:38
Speaker 1: and then Virginia. I mean that sounds like it's an
9:40
Speaker 1: Elite eight, Final four and championship game. Um. So you know,
9:44
Speaker 1: I think that they fall in love with setting up
9:46
Speaker 1: these blockbuster matchups and because of that, you have these
9:49
Speaker 1: one seeds that have significantly easier paths than others. I mean,
9:54
Speaker 1: think about Kansas has Duke get in Michigan State, two
9:57
Speaker 1: of the favorites to win the tournament in their side
9:59
Speaker 1: of the Brackett. Then you look at Villanova's path and
10:02
Speaker 1: you know, I mean, it looks like their biggest test
10:04
Speaker 1: will come in the Elite eight against Purdue UM. So
10:08
Speaker 1: you know, it's it's it's fun because we'll get to
10:10
Speaker 1: see Duke Michigan State in the sweet sixth team, but
10:12
Speaker 1: it's also frustrating from a futures perspective, and I don't
10:16
Speaker 1: I do think it opens things up for a team
10:17
Speaker 1: like Gonzaga to one ish well. Also, you know you
10:21
Speaker 1: mentioned a Brackett. Virginia's the consensus number one overall team.
10:27
Speaker 1: They've got Arizona, They've got Kentucky. Also, by the way,
10:32
Speaker 1: no one has mentioned Cincinnati, which is a team I
10:36
Speaker 1: think you can go to the final four. Like that
10:38
Speaker 1: is a brutal, brutal bracket. Four of the top nine
10:43
Speaker 1: favorites to win it all. You look at the nine
10:45
Speaker 1: biggest favorites to win the tournament, four of them are
10:47
Speaker 1: in are in that region. How is that right, go ahead.
10:52
Speaker 1: Oh no, I was gonna Cincinnati's the Jacksonville Jaguars of
10:55
Speaker 1: this tournament. So I'm not surprised that you're in love
10:57
Speaker 1: with them, Chad. I was gonna say, that's why love
11:00
Speaker 1: them so much, Like they are so good defensively, historically
11:03
Speaker 1: good defensively. Um, I can't get them out of my head.
11:07
Speaker 1: They're like, you know, I can't quit them. This, this
11:09
Speaker 1: Cincinnati team. I just love them right now. I think
11:12
Speaker 1: they're fantastic. Um. All right, So that's overseated. That's underseated.
11:17
Speaker 1: I promise, UH. I've got Stucky, I've got Brian Mears.
11:20
Speaker 1: They did some of the best stories we've done UH
11:23
Speaker 1: in the past forty eight hours on Action Network dot Com.
11:26
Speaker 1: Um Our two biggest days in UH company history are
11:32
Speaker 1: brief but illustrious sixty day history so far Stuck. You
11:37
Speaker 1: did a story about the top five stats you are
11:40
Speaker 1: thinking about as it relates to the tournament. Marry some
11:44
Speaker 1: of these stats to the conversation we've been having. How
11:46
Speaker 1: are some of the teams that we're talking about or
11:49
Speaker 1: haven't mentioned yet playing well as it as it relates
11:53
Speaker 1: to the status you've written about. Yeah, I mean some
11:55
Speaker 1: of the things that I really like to look at
11:58
Speaker 1: our you know, the you have such quick turnarounds in
12:01
Speaker 1: the tournament. I mean even the bracket comes out on
12:02
Speaker 1: Sunday and you're playing Thursday or Friday, especially for the
12:05
Speaker 1: playing teams. But then once you win that game on
12:07
Speaker 1: Thursday or Friday, you're playing two days later. So a
12:11
Speaker 1: lot of it, what it comes down to is coaching
12:14
Speaker 1: in scheme. So if you run a unique offense or
12:17
Speaker 1: defensive scheme that not a lot of teams play because
12:20
Speaker 1: you're normally not going to play a team in your conference.
12:23
Speaker 1: You know, you could sneak up on people and having
12:25
Speaker 1: in hurt advantage. So coaches that can really you know,
12:29
Speaker 1: call up with a quick game plan you know in
12:32
Speaker 1: our master planners so to speak, in one or two days,
12:34
Speaker 1: and teams with a unique scheme like a unique zone.
12:37
Speaker 1: I mean you've seen in the past bail Or make
12:39
Speaker 1: a few Elite eight runs because of their unique zone. Um,
12:43
Speaker 1: you know, Syracuse makes some runs because teams aren't used
12:45
Speaker 1: to seeing it, so it's hard to prep for on
12:48
Speaker 1: a day or two basis. And then coaches that are
12:50
Speaker 1: you know, really good planners too that you can look
12:54
Speaker 1: at our John Belon and Chris mac those are the
12:56
Speaker 1: only two coaches actually since two thousand five that have
13:00
Speaker 1: at least their games in the tournament minimum of ten games. Um.
13:04
Speaker 1: So those are things that I look at, and then
13:05
Speaker 1: it comes to the games are normally gonna be tight.
13:08
Speaker 1: So looking at free throws is huge because you know,
13:10
Speaker 1: a bad free throw shooting team, especially a higher seed,
13:13
Speaker 1: it could end up costing them and sending them home
13:15
Speaker 1: if they can't hit their free throws down the stretch.
13:17
Speaker 1: So you know, those are some of the stats that
13:20
Speaker 1: I look at, in addition to like rebounding and three
13:22
Speaker 1: point shooting, which you can marry with some of the
13:24
Speaker 1: schemes that teams play for certain matchups, and then projecting
13:28
Speaker 1: matchups as well down the line. All Right, So if
13:31
Speaker 1: I'm talking about free throws, who were the teams that
13:33
Speaker 1: I need to be most worried about. Well, for one,
13:36
Speaker 1: the team that there's a couple of things that I
13:38
Speaker 1: would worry about with Michigan, and there there's a lot
13:41
Speaker 1: of things to like about Michigan because you know, their
13:43
Speaker 1: coach and beeline success in the tournament format. We've seen
13:46
Speaker 1: that in the Big Ten tournament the last two years
13:47
Speaker 1: and in prior and c A tournaments, but one they
13:51
Speaker 1: don't shoot free throw as well, so that's something to
13:53
Speaker 1: keep in mind, not only for them advancing, but just
13:56
Speaker 1: laying points with them. So they're laying eleven, eleven and
13:59
Speaker 1: a against montan in the first round, so you know,
14:02
Speaker 1: if they're not hitting free throws at the end, that
14:03
Speaker 1: could cost them a cover. So that's something to keep
14:05
Speaker 1: in mind. I mean, they are the third worst free
14:08
Speaker 1: throw shooting team in the entire tournament. They shoot free
14:11
Speaker 1: there's about under sixty six, so that's something to keep
14:14
Speaker 1: in mind. Um And additionally with Michigan, and I'm concerned
14:18
Speaker 1: about this with all of the Big Ten teams outside
14:21
Speaker 1: of Purdue, who basically is playing a sixteen seed that
14:24
Speaker 1: got seated as a fifteen, is this long layoff so
14:28
Speaker 1: you know, they're the major conference teams aren't used to
14:30
Speaker 1: playing the conference tournament ten days ago before they play.
14:34
Speaker 1: But because the Big Ten tournament played was at MSG
14:37
Speaker 1: this year, it was played a week before it normally is.
14:40
Speaker 1: And by the time Michigan takes the Cord Ohio State,
14:42
Speaker 1: They're gonna have ten eleven days off in between games,
14:45
Speaker 1: which I think hurts Michigan because they were rolling. So
14:48
Speaker 1: if they come out and they're a little flat, rusty,
14:52
Speaker 1: missing shots, and all of a sudden, you give life
14:54
Speaker 1: to this other team, I think, you know, potentially you
14:57
Speaker 1: could see a Big ten team get picked off because
14:59
Speaker 1: of that. Uh, even if as unlikely as it looks.
15:02
Speaker 1: And you know, maybe there's a fourteen seed that's lurking
15:05
Speaker 1: out there, UM that can take advantage because the four
15:08
Speaker 1: teen seed has won a game and four of the
15:10
Speaker 1: last five tournaments, and now there's a couple of four
15:13
Speaker 1: teens that are playing Big ten teams this year, and
15:14
Speaker 1: I think that layoff could come into play. We're gonna
15:19
Speaker 1: definitely get to the four teen seeds and the twelve
15:22
Speaker 1: seeds and the eleven seeds. UM. That is going to
15:25
Speaker 1: be the exciting and scintillating the last half of the podcast.
15:29
Speaker 1: That's how we're gonna keep people motivated to to keep listening, UM,
15:33
Speaker 1: because then I want to connect what you're talking about
15:36
Speaker 1: with the stats. Who are the teams that, based on
15:39
Speaker 1: the stats that you like, have the best mix of
15:44
Speaker 1: all of them that you're leg Oh, this feels like
15:48
Speaker 1: a no brainer. And I didn't even recognize this team
15:50
Speaker 1: sort of had had fingers in each one of these stats. Yeah,
15:56
Speaker 1: I mean, I think if you look at a lot
15:57
Speaker 1: of the advanced stats, the clear number one team in
16:01
Speaker 1: the country that doesn't really have a weakness is Villanova.
16:04
Speaker 1: I mean, even if they come up across the zone,
16:07
Speaker 1: they're the best zone offense in the entire country. So
16:11
Speaker 1: from an efficiency standpoint, they rank number one. So even
16:13
Speaker 1: if they come up against an odd zone or an
16:15
Speaker 1: odd scheme, you know, they're built to take advantage of
16:18
Speaker 1: a zone. If you try and trap them or press them,
16:22
Speaker 1: that's not gonna work either. So that team is really
16:25
Speaker 1: fit to, you know, go up against any team, no
16:28
Speaker 1: matter what the scheme or how they play is. So
16:31
Speaker 1: they really jump off the page. So does Michigan State
16:34
Speaker 1: outside of one key area, and that's turnovers. So you know,
16:38
Speaker 1: they are one of the worst teams in the tournament
16:40
Speaker 1: and turning the ball over. It's really when they run
16:42
Speaker 1: into trouble. It's when they're turning the ball over. So
16:45
Speaker 1: if they run into a team that's going to press
16:47
Speaker 1: them or pressure the ball, and if you look at
16:49
Speaker 1: their path, they're not really gonna They don't really see
16:52
Speaker 1: many teams that do that, even Duke Um but that's
16:55
Speaker 1: when they could run into trouble if they have a press.
16:57
Speaker 1: But outside of that that Michigan State, it also looks
17:00
Speaker 1: really strong. And then a lot of the top teams
17:03
Speaker 1: obviously Virginia, but a lot of the top teams are
17:05
Speaker 1: either really strong offensively or just defensively, but don't have
17:09
Speaker 1: both teams that two of the teams that do, or
17:11
Speaker 1: Michigan State Nova that jump off, which are actually in
17:14
Speaker 1: both in my final four. Alright, so you've mentioned the
17:18
Speaker 1: key word a couple of times, and that is path
17:21
Speaker 1: that is so key to as much as talent, as
17:25
Speaker 1: much as systems, as much as sort of the stats
17:29
Speaker 1: that you're talking about. You know, Virginia has got a
17:32
Speaker 1: brutal path potentially like Kansas has a brutal path potentially mirrors.
17:38
Speaker 1: You wrote a story about the easiest path and the
17:41
Speaker 1: hardest paths for each one of the top four seeds
17:46
Speaker 1: in the brackets. Give me a breakdown. Yeah, so it's
17:51
Speaker 1: it's it's interesting. I think that Villanova has the easiest,
17:56
Speaker 1: easiest path um coming out of the East, which I
18:01
Speaker 1: think it's fair. Virginia's path is um, it's tough. I
18:04
Speaker 1: think it really just depends on what you think of
18:06
Speaker 1: Arizona because you know, people look at this Arizona team
18:10
Speaker 1: and think that they are really good. They've box has
18:13
Speaker 1: been playing really well running through the Pack twelve conference,
18:16
Speaker 1: but UM, kim Palm, some of advanced analytics are not
18:20
Speaker 1: quite as high. UM. So obviously is that that comes
18:24
Speaker 1: to the caveat of like DeAndre Ayton can obviously take
18:26
Speaker 1: over just about any game. He definitely gives Virginia some
18:29
Speaker 1: problems just with his athleticism downlow. So that's gonna be
18:32
Speaker 1: an absolutely fascinating matchup. So I think that you're the
18:34
Speaker 1: path discussion with Virginia comes down to what you think
18:38
Speaker 1: of Arizona. UM. And then after that, obviously I'm pretty
18:42
Speaker 1: high on Cincinnati, So that would be a really tough matchup,
18:47
Speaker 1: very very similar teams too, of the best defenses that
18:49
Speaker 1: we've seen in quite a long time. UH. And then
18:53
Speaker 1: sort of going down Xavier, UM has a pretty tough path,
18:58
Speaker 1: notably just because of that in Zaga game. UM. You know,
19:02
Speaker 1: since Gonzaga is one of the most underseated teams, UH,
19:05
Speaker 1: there's an inefficiency there. So obviously playing them before they
19:07
Speaker 1: even get to the delete A is problematic for them.
19:11
Speaker 1: And then I have Kansas is the toughest path. Um,
19:14
Speaker 1: it's made a little bit easier, but they don't have
19:16
Speaker 1: to face Duke and Michigan State, but they're gonna have
19:19
Speaker 1: to take one of them, and I think that they
19:21
Speaker 1: would be be dogs to those and I would definitely
19:25
Speaker 1: take Dukero Michigan State over Kansas very easily. It's like,
19:30
Speaker 1: how are any of us going to fill out our
19:33
Speaker 1: Action network company brackets? We're all gonna have the same teams,
19:38
Speaker 1: like most companies have these problems where everyone fills out
19:41
Speaker 1: only favorites because nobody knows anything. Like we're all gonna
19:45
Speaker 1: be filling out Butler and Gonzaga and uh, you know,
19:49
Speaker 1: maybe Murray State and Cincinnati. Like we're gonna have the
19:54
Speaker 1: most analytically driven brackets. Nobody's gonna win anything. We're all
19:58
Speaker 1: gonna be tied. Well, it'll come down. I mean, most
20:01
Speaker 1: bracket contests come down to who picking the winner and
20:05
Speaker 1: then the final four. So that's where I think we're
20:07
Speaker 1: going to have a lot of differences. And it really
20:10
Speaker 1: starts with that. If you don't pick the winner, you're
20:11
Speaker 1: pretty much not gonna win. You gotta get three of
20:13
Speaker 1: the four final four. So while there should be, you know,
20:17
Speaker 1: some parallels in our brackets as far as the round one,
20:21
Speaker 1: round two upsets and who's getting to the Elite eight.
20:24
Speaker 1: I think you'll see some differentiation late in the bracket,
20:28
Speaker 1: which is when you know most contests are decided anyway.
20:31
Speaker 1: You can lose it earlier, but you can't win it.
20:34
Speaker 1: We're gonna get to the final four. But before we
20:36
Speaker 1: do that, what I want to do is I want
20:38
Speaker 1: to go through each bracket and each region, and I
20:43
Speaker 1: want you guys in the first round to give me
20:46
Speaker 1: in each region sort of the bracket buster slash, the
20:50
Speaker 1: bracket leverage play. UM. If you are someone, it's either
20:55
Speaker 1: the team you think will bust somebody's bracket, or if
20:58
Speaker 1: you're smart, it's a team you're using for levers to
21:00
Speaker 1: start to get some points in the early rounds. UM,
21:03
Speaker 1: and I want you to do for the first and
21:05
Speaker 1: second round because I want you to project UH into
21:08
Speaker 1: the second round. So UH, Mirrors, let's start with you
21:10
Speaker 1: in the East, UM, looking at the brackets. I hope
21:13
Speaker 1: you have them in front of you. UH. Out of
21:16
Speaker 1: all the matchups, we're looking at Villanova versus you know,
21:19
Speaker 1: l y U and UH Radford and the play playing game.
21:23
Speaker 1: Virginia Tech, Alabama, West Virginia, Marie State, Wichita, Marshall, Florida,
21:29
Speaker 1: the Bonnies in U c. L A, Texas Tech, Uh,
21:33
Speaker 1: Stephen f Off Austin, Arkansas, Butler and Perdue Fullerton. Give
21:38
Speaker 1: me your leverage play in the first round and then
21:41
Speaker 1: in the second round for the East in the East, okay,
21:45
Speaker 1: UM my leverage play. I think that Marshall definitely gives
21:48
Speaker 1: Wichita State some issues. UM. The Shockers are not the
21:52
Speaker 1: greatest transition defense, and Marshall can definitely UM give them
21:56
Speaker 1: give them some problems there. And I think which is
21:58
Speaker 1: taught State UM is sort of an analytics darling, So
22:02
Speaker 1: maybe I'm going against myself here uh and a lot
22:04
Speaker 1: of people like them um as as a trendy four seeds.
22:09
Speaker 1: So I think that Marshall over which shot State UM
22:13
Speaker 1: to just get out of the first round, is going
22:14
Speaker 1: to potentially bust a lot of brackets. UM and then
22:18
Speaker 1: looking I had to uh the next round, UM, I
22:23
Speaker 1: think you have some interesting matchups. I think West Virginia
22:26
Speaker 1: is one of the more volatile teams in this entire tournament,
22:31
Speaker 1: just because they have this press. UH. They are one
22:34
Speaker 1: of the most foul prone teams in the tournament, so
22:38
Speaker 1: you can see them getting foul trouble. Their press is
22:40
Speaker 1: very boomer bus, so um, I think that's sort of
22:44
Speaker 1: the trend here is you have some very boomer bus teams.
22:46
Speaker 1: Alabama sort of a boomer Bus team with Colin Sexton, um,
22:50
Speaker 1: Butler's underseated texts text is very boomer Bus as well
22:53
Speaker 1: with their uh defense, um and their shooting. So you
22:57
Speaker 1: could have some some bracket busters, especially with the lower
23:00
Speaker 1: septs outside of Illanova. All right, stuck, give me your
23:03
Speaker 1: East bracket buster. Yeah, to follow, Brian said. The interesting
23:08
Speaker 1: thing with what I think hurts West Virginia is if
23:10
Speaker 1: you look at all those teams, even starting with Mary State,
23:12
Speaker 1: who was too ridiculously good guards, there's so many good
23:16
Speaker 1: guards that that can deal with their press. I mean,
23:18
Speaker 1: even if they get through to Villanova, you can't really
23:19
Speaker 1: press Nova. But Marshal Um, you know they have an
23:23
Speaker 1: outstanding point guard. Maury State has two great guards. I mean,
23:25
Speaker 1: that's just there's no one that they're they're gonna really
23:28
Speaker 1: bother with their press. I mean, there presses at a
23:30
Speaker 1: different level, but they're running into a lot of guards
23:32
Speaker 1: there um, and I think that's a safe little pod
23:35
Speaker 1: to pick an upset because I think Nova comes through
23:37
Speaker 1: their same thing with Perdue at the bottom. I actually
23:40
Speaker 1: think a team that can make noise is in the
23:42
Speaker 1: bottom of the East and you kind of get two
23:44
Speaker 1: for one and St. Bonaventure's U c l A, which
23:46
Speaker 1: is tonight. I think U c l A wins that
23:48
Speaker 1: game because they have a lot more height. But the winner.
23:50
Speaker 1: You always see one of these teams, the six eleven teams,
23:53
Speaker 1: UM make a run. And have you've seen it so
23:55
Speaker 1: many times? I mean you've seen VC. You go from
23:57
Speaker 1: this game to the final four. Um, you know, you
24:00
Speaker 1: kind of get some momentum going before and the other
24:02
Speaker 1: team's a little flat. But Florida is a gettable number
24:05
Speaker 1: six seed. They have no size, they have a very
24:07
Speaker 1: volatile game, UM, and you know U. C l A
24:10
Speaker 1: is a great point guard in holiday and they have
24:13
Speaker 1: some they have you know, seven footer and that stretch
24:16
Speaker 1: they have. They can stretch you out with size and
24:18
Speaker 1: their posts and they're kind of a matchup nightmare. Now
24:20
Speaker 1: they don't play any defense, um, but it's not like
24:23
Speaker 1: they're going to run into a Florida team that they
24:24
Speaker 1: can't beat and then, as Brian alluded to Texas Tech,
24:28
Speaker 1: you know, they're they're a volatile team as well, you know,
24:31
Speaker 1: and they're they're kind of just coming together. They're getting healthy,
24:34
Speaker 1: but they still haven't jailed. So if you're looking for
24:37
Speaker 1: kind of a shot not to ruin your final four,
24:39
Speaker 1: but I think the winner of St. Bonaventure's u c
24:42
Speaker 1: l A u c l A more so can get
24:44
Speaker 1: to the Sweet six team where they eventually would lose
24:47
Speaker 1: to Perdue. All right, let's go to the East. Uh, Mirrors,
24:52
Speaker 1: you start again. I'm sorry, I'm sorry. We're going to
24:56
Speaker 1: the South. Mirrors, you start again. Give me your racketbuster
25:01
Speaker 1: for their South bracketbuster. Yeah, I'm going loyal Chicago. UM.
25:07
Speaker 1: I think they're very interesting team, mostly just because of
25:11
Speaker 1: their offense. They have pretty dynamic point guard who I
25:17
Speaker 1: think probably could be playing at a lot of these
25:19
Speaker 1: high power conferences, Um Custer I think is his name. UM,
25:22
Speaker 1: And their offense is really really good this year they
25:25
Speaker 1: rank eighth and effective field goal percentage, which um, you know,
25:28
Speaker 1: I've been doing a lot of work on four factors.
25:31
Speaker 1: Pioneer by Dean Oliver in Affective field goal percentage is
25:35
Speaker 1: one of the most important stats that correlates the success.
25:37
Speaker 1: So you have loyal Chicago who is in eleven seed,
25:40
Speaker 1: and they are top ten in that very important metrics. So, um,
25:43
Speaker 1: I like them as a bracketbuster. It's not only beat Miami,
25:46
Speaker 1: but I think they can give Tennessee a run for
25:48
Speaker 1: their money as well. Alright, stock, what do you think? Yeah,
25:52
Speaker 1: I mean, I don't see many bracketbusters here, but I
25:57
Speaker 1: do potentially see Davidson beating Kentucky in the first round. Um,
26:03
Speaker 1: it's a really tough matchup for Kentucky because they're gonna
26:06
Speaker 1: Davidson's gone zone. They're gonna zone Kentucky and Kentucky can't
26:09
Speaker 1: really shoot. They have a motion offense, which can be
26:12
Speaker 1: tricky to guard, especially for all Kentucky's freshman and they're
26:15
Speaker 1: they're gonna be at a disadvantage athletically. But that's just
26:18
Speaker 1: a team you don't want to play right now. They're hot,
26:21
Speaker 1: their offense is great. They could shoot free throws if
26:24
Speaker 1: they call it tight. They're I think they're the best
26:26
Speaker 1: free throw shooting team in the tournament, where Kentucky struggles
26:29
Speaker 1: at the line. Um, So I think that's a potential
26:32
Speaker 1: twelve five upset. But having said that, I think once
26:36
Speaker 1: you get to the sweet sixteen, a lot of the
26:39
Speaker 1: chalk is is gonna hold and you're gonna see, you know,
26:41
Speaker 1: a Virginia versus Arizona since he versus Tennessee. Um. But yeah,
26:46
Speaker 1: I do actually like Louis Chicago in the first round
26:48
Speaker 1: of Miami. I think there's a a couple of potential
26:50
Speaker 1: first round double digit seed upsets in the South, but
26:54
Speaker 1: I think that their potential is their potential ceiling is
26:56
Speaker 1: really the first weekend and that's it. All right, Let's
27:01
Speaker 1: do the Midwest. Do you start? Who's your bracketbuster in
27:06
Speaker 1: the Midwest? Well, um, by twelve the twelve, I like
27:10
Speaker 1: another twelve seed here, um, because I think at the
27:13
Speaker 1: bottom half it's you're gonna see Michigan State in duke um.
27:17
Speaker 1: But on the top half do not. I mean, I'm
27:20
Speaker 1: saying it's almost on every radio station. If if Penn
27:23
Speaker 1: is a pen verse Kansas is like a fourteen verse
27:25
Speaker 1: three um. But so don't be shocked if Penn is
27:29
Speaker 1: in that game late. But my bracketbuster here is New
27:32
Speaker 1: Mexico State. I really one of my favorite first round
27:35
Speaker 1: players to catch the five against Clemson. They have really
27:38
Speaker 1: long guards in Zach Lofton and Jamario Jones that can
27:42
Speaker 1: give Clemson's smaller backcourt trouble. They have a lot of length.
27:46
Speaker 1: Clemson just isn't the same same team without Dante Grantham,
27:50
Speaker 1: and I think that they're they're gettable. And then you know,
27:54
Speaker 1: so they're missing a key player, Clemson, They've been playing
27:57
Speaker 1: without them for a while. But then the next round,
27:59
Speaker 1: if Auburn beats Charleston, Auburn has missing a couple of
28:03
Speaker 1: key players that have really hurt the complexion of their team,
28:05
Speaker 1: especially on defense. So you know, a team that can
28:08
Speaker 1: make some noise here, you know, and then if Kansas
28:11
Speaker 1: gets picked off, I think this is a you know,
28:13
Speaker 1: that top half of the Midwest you can I mean,
28:16
Speaker 1: I'm gonna go crazy with it because I think on
28:18
Speaker 1: the bottom half, the winner of Duke Michigan State gets out.
28:21
Speaker 1: So I don't think that you've necessarily ruined your final
28:24
Speaker 1: four or anything by going crazy in that top half.
28:27
Speaker 1: So I think New Mexico State can make some noise.
28:30
Speaker 1: One caveat is they are horrendous free throw shooting team,
28:34
Speaker 1: so you know that could end up biting them if
28:36
Speaker 1: they get in a close game. UM, I think that
28:40
Speaker 1: they're the worst free throw shooting team in the entire tournament. Um. Yeah,
28:44
Speaker 1: they are at sixty four point three percent. I mean,
28:46
Speaker 1: they're under sixty from the line, so that could end
28:49
Speaker 1: up biting them. But I like their length, I love
28:51
Speaker 1: their guards, and I think they can make some noise
28:54
Speaker 1: with a favorable first and second round matchup with power
28:57
Speaker 1: teams that are missing some key pieces. That's some good
29:01
Speaker 1: insight right there. Mirrors, you're gonna have to to match
29:03
Speaker 1: that in the Midwest. Yeah, I mean I think Stuck
29:06
Speaker 1: nailed it. Yeah. I think the people like to focus
29:09
Speaker 1: on that five twelve and I think New Mexico States
29:12
Speaker 1: probably the best bet for a twelve seams to take over. Um.
29:16
Speaker 1: Going back to the effective field goal percentage, which is
29:18
Speaker 1: one of the most predictive staff for success. Um. I mean,
29:21
Speaker 1: they're just dominant defensively. They're the sixth best team in
29:25
Speaker 1: UH in terms of allowing affective field goal percentage. Clemson
29:29
Speaker 1: likes to run some pick and roll. In Mexico States,
29:31
Speaker 1: pick and roll defense is very, very, very good, so
29:35
Speaker 1: I think they give Clemson a lot of problems in
29:38
Speaker 1: that does set up well for their next game in
29:40
Speaker 1: Auburn because you know Stuck mentioned they're missing a couple
29:43
Speaker 1: of their key players, So Mesicoc, I think is a
29:47
Speaker 1: very interesting Sweet six team. Pick Um. I'll give you
29:50
Speaker 1: one more though, just to be different from Stuck. Uh. Syracuse.
29:53
Speaker 1: People are giving them a lot of craft for actually
29:56
Speaker 1: getting into the tournament. I agree they didn't deserve it
29:59
Speaker 1: over um some some other more deserving team St. Mary's
30:02
Speaker 1: Notre Dame stuff like that, But um, you know, as
30:06
Speaker 1: a team that is not getting a lot of love,
30:08
Speaker 1: they could definitely be Arizona State, who's not very good,
30:11
Speaker 1: and then a Stuck mission. You know, teams that just
30:15
Speaker 1: played differently can give um, some squads some troubles when
30:19
Speaker 1: you only have a day to prepare. So Arizona State
30:21
Speaker 1: Syracuse is in this playing game and in TCU obviously
30:24
Speaker 1: not going to know who they have prepared for it.
30:26
Speaker 1: They'll try their best to prepare for both. But um,
30:28
Speaker 1: if Syracuse gets in and then they have to shift
30:31
Speaker 1: to analyze the zone defense for Syracuse, I think they
30:34
Speaker 1: could take TCU by surprise. So I agree that I'm
30:37
Speaker 1: not going to really pick that many upsets. In the
30:39
Speaker 1: Michigan State Duke Uh side of things. But you could
30:42
Speaker 1: take Syracuse over TC if you want to get a
30:45
Speaker 1: little cute, um stuck, we just gotta pick Pin over Kansas.
30:49
Speaker 1: I mean, no one's gonna pick a six over one,
30:52
Speaker 1: no guts, no glory. I mean, we would be legends
30:54
Speaker 1: if we actually predicted that. Well, I might, um, I
30:58
Speaker 1: mean I've been telling I've been telling everyone. I'll at
31:00
Speaker 1: every radio station. I God, I'm like, don't be surprised
31:02
Speaker 1: if this is the sixteen that wins, because it's not
31:04
Speaker 1: really a sixteen one. I mean, Penn is the number
31:07
Speaker 1: one three point defense in the entire tournament. That's huge
31:10
Speaker 1: against Kansas. Um, they'll slow it up. They have they
31:13
Speaker 1: they're just a very analytically smart team. They don't they
31:15
Speaker 1: take threes or two or close to is. They don't
31:18
Speaker 1: take any mid rates jumpers, you know, so they can
31:21
Speaker 1: if Candas could get tight, I mean, I can see
31:24
Speaker 1: that game being close. And there's a reason that spreads
31:26
Speaker 1: only fourteen you mentioned, So I might end up putting
31:29
Speaker 1: the sixteen. Now I've never done that in a bracket.
31:31
Speaker 1: I don't even know if I could. I have the
31:33
Speaker 1: guts to actually right pen in there, but I think
31:35
Speaker 1: that I'm gonna have as a hedge. I'm gonna have
31:38
Speaker 1: Seaton hall In beating Kansas in the next round. But
31:42
Speaker 1: we'll see. Um. One thing that you mentioned about Syracuse,
31:45
Speaker 1: I agree. But the one thing that I'm afraid of
31:47
Speaker 1: with Syracuse is that's a team with zero depth. So
31:50
Speaker 1: they have to play tomorrow and then you know, they'll
31:53
Speaker 1: then have to travel and then there's just one day
31:55
Speaker 1: off and they play again. You know, maybe they can,
31:58
Speaker 1: you know, they can have another good effort against TCU,
32:01
Speaker 1: but then they're gonna be dead. Um, you know in
32:04
Speaker 1: the next round when they would play, you know, the
32:05
Speaker 1: winner of I don't think it would win any with
32:07
Speaker 1: Michigan State book now, but I think that could even
32:09
Speaker 1: hurt them against TCU playing that playing game of daybreak
32:13
Speaker 1: to travel because they really just don't have any depth
32:15
Speaker 1: at all. Mirrors take me through your West bracketbuster, then
32:21
Speaker 1: stuck Europ on that and then we're doing final four
32:24
Speaker 1: and championship winners. Yeah, this is one stuff. I think
32:28
Speaker 1: this is probably the chockiest bracket or a region. Um,
32:33
Speaker 1: you know, I would honestly would probably my bracket pick
32:35
Speaker 1: all of the favorites here. Um, I guess I can
32:39
Speaker 1: look ahead to to some potential UM upsets later, you know,
32:43
Speaker 1: in the second round or something. Um. Well, one thing
32:46
Speaker 1: that's really stand out to me, so if we're going
32:47
Speaker 1: to fade Xavier, I think we're gonna fade them against Gonzaga.
32:51
Speaker 1: But you know, if Missouri gets past past Florida State,
32:54
Speaker 1: Missouri has Michael Porter Jr. Who is was one of
32:58
Speaker 1: the top prospects coming in and played many minutes because
33:01
Speaker 1: he just came back a couple of games ago. Um,
33:03
Speaker 1: I think two games ago. He played twenty three minutes
33:06
Speaker 1: in the game before. But I mean this is an
33:08
Speaker 1: elite talent. Uh, they have had some time for him
33:12
Speaker 1: to practice with the starters. Uh, you know, they could
33:15
Speaker 1: put the ball in his hands and give him thirty minutes.
33:17
Speaker 1: And maybe Missouri is a much better than an eight
33:20
Speaker 1: seed with Michael Porter Junior playing, So that one's staying
33:24
Speaker 1: sending out to me, it's interesting, But I think it's
33:27
Speaker 1: gonna be pretty chalky here until we get later into
33:29
Speaker 1: the to the region with with Xavier potentially visiting get Zaga. Um,
33:35
Speaker 1: and uh, you know North Carolina could go down to
33:37
Speaker 1: Michigan for sure. Stuck. Yeah, I think it's chalky up
33:41
Speaker 1: until the sweet sixteen, and then I think you see
33:44
Speaker 1: I think you're gonna see an elite eight of the
33:46
Speaker 1: three verset four seat here. But the Missouri is a
33:49
Speaker 1: I'm surprised you didn't say Lipscomb Brian beating Caroline in
33:51
Speaker 1: the first round. Um, But the Bison's not the Bison,
33:57
Speaker 1: the Bisons of Lipscomb. So the Yeah, the interesting team
34:00
Speaker 1: you pointed out as Missouri, but also Florida State, And
34:02
Speaker 1: with Florida State is very long and deep. I mean,
34:05
Speaker 1: they can't really shoot their defenses, and but they're an
34:08
Speaker 1: interesting team. But Missouri, if you want to get crazy
34:11
Speaker 1: in your bracket. UM, as Brian alluded to, they at
34:15
Speaker 1: a full health coming into the year. They're probably a
34:17
Speaker 1: top four seed. The problem is that they're trying to
34:20
Speaker 1: assimilate Michael Porter Jr. Back In the lineup. I mean,
34:22
Speaker 1: their offense was a mess. There was no flow in
34:25
Speaker 1: the last game that they played. They lost in the
34:26
Speaker 1: conference tournament to Georgia. UM. But if they can somehow
34:31
Speaker 1: get by Florida State, you know, and then and then
34:34
Speaker 1: you know, they can figure out a way to beat Xavier,
34:36
Speaker 1: who will give Missouri can shooting. Xavier will give you
34:38
Speaker 1: a chance to shoot against them. Then all of a sudden,
34:41
Speaker 1: that's a team that becomes better and better as they
34:44
Speaker 1: move on, because you know, they're this team that needs
34:46
Speaker 1: to come together in gel but they just have so
34:48
Speaker 1: many moving pieces. I mean, Jordan Barnett, they're starting forward,
34:51
Speaker 1: is suspended against Florida States. You've got a d w
34:53
Speaker 1: I these are leading rebounder. So then they're gonna Michael
34:56
Speaker 1: Porter Jr. Coming back against Florida State trying to assimilate
35:00
Speaker 1: into the line up without Barnett, and then Barnett coming back.
35:03
Speaker 1: You know, if they win on Sunday against Xavior, So
35:05
Speaker 1: it's gonna be tough for them. But if they could
35:07
Speaker 1: find a way to put it all together and then
35:09
Speaker 1: get to the second weekend, you know, with Michael Porter Jr.
35:12
Speaker 1: Coming back, as as Brian said, he's an elite talent,
35:15
Speaker 1: they all of a sudden become a really dangerous team
35:17
Speaker 1: that just gets better with each round because they start
35:20
Speaker 1: playing with each other, and they're very unique in that sense.
35:24
Speaker 1: All right, sign for the main event, fellas. I need
35:29
Speaker 1: I need a Final four and I need a title
35:33
Speaker 1: winner from both of you. Stop you start, um, Okay,
35:38
Speaker 1: I'll start on the right side of the bracket where
35:41
Speaker 1: I'm going pretty chalky. I have Villanova in the final four,
35:44
Speaker 1: coming out of the East. I think they have the
35:46
Speaker 1: easiest path. They are the best overall team, UM from
35:50
Speaker 1: you know off when you look at offense and defense
35:53
Speaker 1: of an elite point guard. UM, they have experienced bridges
35:56
Speaker 1: as a monster. I mean, and I just look at
35:59
Speaker 1: their path do There's inbably a really tough game, need
36:02
Speaker 1: lead eight, but I think Nova gets through and gets
36:04
Speaker 1: to the final four. The Midwest Kansas could get picked
36:07
Speaker 1: off by pen but regardless, Kansas Kansas is going down
36:12
Speaker 1: to the winner of Michigan Stated Duke. I mean, those
36:15
Speaker 1: are two elite offensive rebounding teams elite top five in
36:18
Speaker 1: Kansas is three D in the country and defensive rebounding
36:22
Speaker 1: UM and Kansas is a very violatile team. They're three
36:24
Speaker 1: point reliant. You have questions with Odzi bouk health. Even
36:28
Speaker 1: if he plays, you just foul him and he can't
36:29
Speaker 1: hit free throws. But um, so I think the winner
36:33
Speaker 1: of Michigan State Duke comes out of there. I'm going
36:36
Speaker 1: I'm taking a stab with Michigan State. I know that
36:38
Speaker 1: is THO has had issues with Duke in the past.
36:40
Speaker 1: But you have the n SKS leading three point shooter
36:43
Speaker 1: and Cash's Winston, Michigan State can match them inside. Um,
36:47
Speaker 1: I mean, that'll just be a fascinating game. UM. So
36:50
Speaker 1: I'm going actually with Michigan State, and it'll be interesting
36:52
Speaker 1: to watch coach k go down playing his own, which
36:55
Speaker 1: he said that's how you can't win in the tournament
36:57
Speaker 1: playing his own. But he's had to go to his
36:58
Speaker 1: own this year. So I've Michigan State coming out of
37:01
Speaker 1: the Midwest taking on Nova and getting to the championships
37:04
Speaker 1: of Michigan State coming out of the right side of
37:06
Speaker 1: the Bractic on the South. I took a stab with
37:09
Speaker 1: Arizona coming out, so I think that I think that
37:13
Speaker 1: they would beat Kentucky and Kentucky is gonna struggle with Davidson.
37:18
Speaker 1: And I don't think that Kentucky would beat Virginia because
37:20
Speaker 1: they can't shoot. You know, Arizona has some you know
37:24
Speaker 1: a little better shooting capability. But as Brian said to
37:27
Speaker 1: DeAndre eight and he mean, he's essentially a video game player.
37:30
Speaker 1: You just turned all the settings up and he's on
37:33
Speaker 1: your TV. Um, he could take over the game. I
37:35
Speaker 1: would love to see that Virginia Arizona game. UM, so
37:39
Speaker 1: I took a stab here out of the South and
37:40
Speaker 1: have the four seed coming out, and I actually have
37:44
Speaker 1: them playing a four seed coming out of the West
37:47
Speaker 1: and Gonzaga. I think if you look at the top
37:49
Speaker 1: four seeds in every region, Zaga is one of the
37:52
Speaker 1: easiest paths to the final I mean to the final four.
37:56
Speaker 1: I mean they might be favored in every game, and
37:58
Speaker 1: there are four seed So I really like the way
38:00
Speaker 1: that they're playing. They have an easy one relatively speaking,
38:04
Speaker 1: in an easy to relatively speaking um in their side
38:07
Speaker 1: of the bracket. So I actually have Arizona and Gonzaga
38:10
Speaker 1: on the left side of the bracket, with Arizona getting
38:13
Speaker 1: to the final Michigan State as the champion. Wow, that
38:18
Speaker 1: is a great bracket. I'm giving you about sixty seconds
38:22
Speaker 1: to top that. Man, it's stuck, you stolen. I was
38:26
Speaker 1: gonna go contraining and sake Michigan State to win it
38:28
Speaker 1: as well. So I coofy run through. I think Vanilla
38:31
Speaker 1: Villan Villa Nova comes out of the East. Um. Like
38:35
Speaker 1: we mentioned, they're just really really solid team, don't have
38:37
Speaker 1: many weaknesses. UM. I like Michigan States who to beat Duke.
38:41
Speaker 1: I have a really interesting staff for DUC. I'll spit
38:44
Speaker 1: out against Carolina and a CEC championship. UNC shot forty
38:49
Speaker 1: two jumpers and only four of them were contested. UNC
38:52
Speaker 1: didn't shoot well on them, hitting only twelve of thirty five,
38:56
Speaker 1: but still one Duke. The zones just it's just not
38:59
Speaker 1: set for for March Madness. So I think they go
39:02
Speaker 1: down to Michigan State, who is the best defense as
39:05
Speaker 1: far as defending shots, which is why I think that
39:08
Speaker 1: they have a chance to win the title as well. Um,
39:10
Speaker 1: I'm Gonzaga out of the West, um, and then in
39:13
Speaker 1: the South, I'll go against Stucky. I think Virginia does
39:16
Speaker 1: be Arizona. Thing. With Arizona I am worried about. It's
39:19
Speaker 1: just some of their young guys, particularly DeAndre eight in
39:21
Speaker 1: his first March Madness. He is a dominant player, but um,
39:25
Speaker 1: you know, I hate talking about like basketball at i Q,
39:28
Speaker 1: but you know he can be turned over prone. And
39:30
Speaker 1: against Virginia, who is probably like one of the most
39:33
Speaker 1: well coached teams, just like they're just very solid at
39:36
Speaker 1: every position. Every player can defend UM and no player
39:40
Speaker 1: turns the ball over. UM. Eighton going against them, even
39:44
Speaker 1: though he has the athletic advantage, I'm afraid that they'll
39:46
Speaker 1: turn him over a little bit too much. So, um,
39:48
Speaker 1: I would have Virginia in Michigan State in the championship,
39:52
Speaker 1: and uh, we'll go with Michigan State. Why not? Wow? Alright,
39:57
Speaker 1: so my final four is uh Gonzaga, Uh, Nova since
40:05
Speaker 1: and Michigan State. Three of ours. We have three of
40:09
Speaker 1: the same. So it's all gonna for us to win it.
40:11
Speaker 1: It's all gonna come down the difference between us gonna
40:13
Speaker 1: be in the South. Yeah, it's gonna be in the
40:16
Speaker 1: title game is what it's gonna be. Um, because I
40:19
Speaker 1: actually have since the winning at all. Wow, I love it.
40:23
Speaker 1: It's Jacksonville Draguar is all over again. This is what
40:25
Speaker 1: it is. It's all over again. Uh that's kind of
40:30
Speaker 1: you know, that's where my heart is. I'm listen. I'm
40:32
Speaker 1: a defensive specialist. Back in the day, I was slapping
40:35
Speaker 1: the floor and like you could not get past me.
40:38
Speaker 1: I was very scrappy. But but but here's the thing though,
40:41
Speaker 1: but you could say Virginia too, so you but so
40:45
Speaker 1: like they're just as dominant defensively. What's telling you since
40:48
Speaker 1: over Virginia, it's not Virginia, which everyone else is picking. Okay,
40:52
Speaker 1: that's fair, that's fair. Yeah, I didn't think Virginia is
40:55
Speaker 1: probably the best defense we've ever seen. Um so it's
40:57
Speaker 1: hard to go against them for sure, even though we
40:59
Speaker 1: just all did so that'll be fun. That's true, we
41:02
Speaker 1: all just did, all right. Listen, guys, you are doing
41:05
Speaker 1: phenomenal work. You are amongst the crew this carrying the
41:09
Speaker 1: Action Network this week in our first matter of madness, uh,
41:12
Speaker 1: the Oversea of the Undersea of the easiest Path, the
41:15
Speaker 1: best stats, the bracket analysis, the betting analysis, Brian mirrors
41:19
Speaker 1: at Brian Underscore, mirrors Stucky at Stucky too. Thanks for
41:23
Speaker 1: coming on the podcast, Gas, Keep up the great work.