Latest / Podcast on the Brink / POTB 570: Looking ahead to the 2026-27 Big Ten basketball season with Dylan Burkhardt (part two)

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POTB 570: Looking ahead to the 2026-27 Big Ten basketball season with Dylan Burkhardt (part two) · Podcast on the Brink

0:17
Speaker 1: Welcome back to a new episode of Podcast on the Brink.
0:20
Speaker 1: Our good friend Dylan burkheartum hoops dot com has been
0:24
Speaker 1: kind enough to join us for a striking straight week.
0:27
Speaker 2: We are two.
0:29
Speaker 1: I guess the more entertaining, more fun to talk about
0:33
Speaker 1: part of this series. We worked our way through the
0:35
Speaker 1: bottom part of the Big Ten last week, the bottom
0:39
Speaker 1: nine teams. Actually it wasn't that bad. We made it fun.
0:41
Speaker 1: We talked a variety of different things. So if you
0:44
Speaker 1: miss that episode, go back and listen to it. I
0:46
Speaker 1: promise we made Maryland basketball and Penn State basketball somewhat
0:50
Speaker 1: fun to talk about.
0:51
Speaker 2: So we did that. Dylan, welcome back.
0:53
Speaker 1: I know you're a little bit more excited to talk
0:56
Speaker 1: the top half of the league this week.
0:57
Speaker 2: How you doing today? I'm doing good. I feel like
1:00
Speaker 2: we've jumped into the future. We're back for the next week.
1:03
Speaker 2: We are perfect.
1:06
Speaker 1: So recapping how we're doing this, we looked at the
1:10
Speaker 1: Bart Torvik rankings preseason projections. Bart has those on his
1:15
Speaker 1: site Bart Torvick dot com. We looked at the bottom
1:18
Speaker 1: nine projected teams of the Big Ten last week. Now
1:22
Speaker 1: we're to the top nine, which most of these teams
1:24
Speaker 1: if you're looking at any of the preseason top twenty
1:26
Speaker 1: fives for next year, or you're looking at Jill Nardi's
1:29
Speaker 1: early bracketology, which he does update frequently.
1:32
Speaker 2: More work for Joe. By the way, this year eight
1:34
Speaker 2: more at.
1:34
Speaker 1: Large teams cannot wait next spring for all the bracketology
1:38
Speaker 1: takes on how bad the bubble is, because that's all
1:40
Speaker 1: we've heard for the last what ten to fifteen years
1:43
Speaker 1: of how bad the bubble is. It's going to be
1:45
Speaker 1: even worse now with eight more teams. But we're here
1:48
Speaker 1: for more basketball, I guess. But the top nine, we're
1:53
Speaker 1: just going to start reverse order with these teams in
1:57
Speaker 1: the first team on the list. USC Trojans a bit
2:02
Speaker 1: of a disaster last year. The Chad Baker Mazzara experiment
2:06
Speaker 1: kind of exploded late in the year. Elijah Renas was
2:10
Speaker 1: hurt and then came back and was fun towards the
2:13
Speaker 1: end of the year. Maybe my opinion on them was
2:16
Speaker 1: a little bit skewed because they did beat Indiana out
2:18
Speaker 1: there and looked somewhat competent.
2:20
Speaker 2: That was the game.
2:20
Speaker 1: Baker Mazzar actually got hurt, but they just completely imploded.
2:25
Speaker 1: They were I think they won Malley and then were
2:28
Speaker 1: ranked at one point and then by the end of
2:30
Speaker 1: the year they were just really bad, finished eighteen and fourteen.
2:33
Speaker 1: But the roster's intriguing to meet. Rodney Rice was another
2:36
Speaker 1: guy they had last year. He was hurt, but he's back.
2:38
Speaker 1: Jacob Kofi went to the G League combine played so
2:43
Speaker 1: well that he got invited to the regular combine. So
2:46
Speaker 1: he's a guy that obviously has some tools, can do
2:48
Speaker 1: some things. He impressed me last year. Elijah Renas back,
2:51
Speaker 1: but then when you look at what they brought in,
2:53
Speaker 1: I think that's when you kind of get a little
2:55
Speaker 1: bit excited if you're a USC basketball fan.
2:57
Speaker 2: Eric Riby.
2:58
Speaker 1: They brought in from Yukon the Rattles Twins, who are
3:01
Speaker 1: orderline five star kids. I think most top twenty five
3:04
Speaker 1: ranking for both of those guys, and then Christian Collins.
3:07
Speaker 1: They got some pieces here we've seen before. Eric Musselman.
3:12
Speaker 1: When you get him some talent, he can do some things,
3:15
Speaker 1: win some games in the NCAA tournament. I think this
3:19
Speaker 1: should be a much improved USC team over the last
3:22
Speaker 1: two years. How much better they are, I guess remains
3:26
Speaker 1: to be seen. We'll see how all these pieces fit together.
3:28
Speaker 1: But I think they actually have a chance to be
3:31
Speaker 1: better than ninth, than the Big ten if things break
3:33
Speaker 1: their way. Would you agree with that?
3:34
Speaker 2: Yeah? And I think you missed kJ Lewis from Georgetown.
3:37
Speaker 2: Sorry sorry, sorry kJ? So like they have this is
3:41
Speaker 2: the thing. Who could have seen Eric Musselman and Chad
3:45
Speaker 2: Baker Mazara going from eighteen and six to eighteen and
3:48
Speaker 2: fourteen like everyone And that's kind of how these Must
3:52
Speaker 2: seasons have been at the same time, Like, this team
3:57
Speaker 2: has more than enough talent to be good. I don't
4:01
Speaker 2: know how you keep probably there's got to be like
4:05
Speaker 2: nine guys on this team that think they're gonna play
4:07
Speaker 2: real roles. Can you keep all those guys happy? Must
4:11
Speaker 2: isn't really a keep everyone happy kind of guy in
4:14
Speaker 2: a vacuum. I like a lot of the pieces, But
4:16
Speaker 2: how does Elijah Renis work with Rodney Rice getting shots?
4:20
Speaker 2: How does Jacob Kofe play ahead of the rat Lift twins?
4:24
Speaker 2: Or like, how does all this shake out? I have
4:26
Speaker 2: a lot of questions, and I feel like with Muscleman,
4:31
Speaker 2: you're either gonna solve it beautifully or it'll just kind
4:36
Speaker 2: of completely explode. Right. It's kind of one of those
4:38
Speaker 2: science experiments where the whole building could go up in
4:41
Speaker 2: flames at any given point. And that's just sort of
4:43
Speaker 2: how Muscleman seasons are. But I think this team could,
4:47
Speaker 2: really it has to be better because I think he's
4:50
Speaker 2: too good of a coach, Like for whatever you can
4:52
Speaker 2: make fun of Musselman, like, he did have some real
4:55
Speaker 2: success at Arkansas, and this feels as close to like
4:57
Speaker 2: one of those Arkansas teams as I can think of.
5:01
Speaker 2: They have a lot of positional size, they have a
5:04
Speaker 2: lot of switchability. They have guys who are gonna like
5:07
Speaker 2: the playmaking in spades, really like Arenas and Rice. If
5:12
Speaker 2: they're healthy, that's like a really dynamic combo. So to me,
5:15
Speaker 2: it should be good. They're big, terrible in the back court.
5:19
Speaker 2: They're big.
5:20
Speaker 1: They got six four, sixty five sixty six. Here here's
5:23
Speaker 1: my question for you, and here's my question I think
5:25
Speaker 1: if I'm Musclming, is how do I keep the front
5:27
Speaker 1: court guys happy? Because I'm looking at you. Our friend
5:31
Speaker 1: Jim Root, who maintains his he has a roster list
5:36
Speaker 1: that he updates to all college basketball. I think you
5:39
Speaker 1: pay twenty five bucks or something for access to it.
5:42
Speaker 1: But happily ven Mill him the money every year because
5:44
Speaker 1: he keeps tracking all these rosters. I'm looking at his
5:46
Speaker 1: depth chart for USC, so he's got Rodney Rice kJ
5:49
Speaker 1: Lewis Arenas starting KOFE at the four, and then Eric
5:53
Speaker 1: Roby at the five. He's got the rattle of Twins
5:56
Speaker 1: and Christian Collins coming off the bench. Is I mean,
5:59
Speaker 1: those guys are right top twenty five players. They're gonna
6:02
Speaker 1: expect minutes. So he's there's at least eight guys right
6:05
Speaker 1: there that you're gonna have to keep happy. But I
6:07
Speaker 1: do think it the front court situation. You know, a
6:11
Speaker 1: lot of teams in the Big ten probably look at
6:13
Speaker 1: their front court and say, we don't have enough. I
6:15
Speaker 1: don't think that's gonna be the case at US See.
6:16
Speaker 1: I think they feel probably feel pretty good about the
6:19
Speaker 1: depth that they have and the talent they have. So
6:21
Speaker 1: I'm excited to see how it all fits together. I
6:23
Speaker 1: mean must even going back before Arkansas, he hit some
6:26
Speaker 1: teams at Nevada that were good too. I think he
6:28
Speaker 1: made a run to the Elite eight at one point.
6:31
Speaker 1: So we'll see how it works out. But they're a
6:34
Speaker 1: team I think is going to be more fun to watch.
6:38
Speaker 2: It has to hit this like if it doesn't hit
6:40
Speaker 2: this year, I think the project's in trouble. And I
6:43
Speaker 2: think that, like I think the upside is huge like
6:46
Speaker 2: double By or what I guess, triple By type team
6:49
Speaker 2: if things fall the right way, And I don't know
6:52
Speaker 2: if they have maybe the like they have a lot
6:55
Speaker 2: of bodies in the front court. Do they have maybe
6:57
Speaker 2: the teeth or the toughness that some other teams might
7:01
Speaker 2: want to get out of their front court pieces. Maybe not,
7:04
Speaker 2: but they have talent, and they have length, they have athleticism.
7:06
Speaker 2: I think they could be good. I really kJ Lewis
7:09
Speaker 2: I think could be a real piece just with his
7:11
Speaker 2: kind of size, strength, toughness in the perimeter. They have
7:14
Speaker 2: stuff that they haven't really had to work with in
7:17
Speaker 2: the past under Musk.
7:19
Speaker 1: I do wonder if there's enough shots though in the
7:20
Speaker 1: back court too, because you look at the points per
7:23
Speaker 1: game Rice average twenty when he was in there. Lewis
7:27
Speaker 1: fourteen point nine, Arenas fourteen point one. Arenas is a
7:30
Speaker 1: guy that he's looking to get to the league after
7:32
Speaker 1: this year, so he's gonna want his touches and his shots.
7:35
Speaker 1: So again, you'd much rather be talented and have these
7:39
Speaker 1: questions to answer than not so Must. It's up to
7:43
Speaker 1: him to figure it out. He's a guy that's sparked
7:44
Speaker 1: with NBA guys too, So hopefully for his sake, oh
7:48
Speaker 1: for the sake of USC basketball fans, that he can
7:51
Speaker 1: get that figured out and he'll.
7:53
Speaker 2: Be fun to have happy, like a super talented Must.
7:56
Speaker 2: Like I would like to see a MUST team that
7:57
Speaker 2: actually can compete, Like some of those Arkansas teams are
8:01
Speaker 2: really fun, and I just feel like they haven't got
8:02
Speaker 2: close to that. Yeah, so I'm excited.
8:05
Speaker 1: He has a little bit of a swagger about him too,
8:07
Speaker 1: Like when his team's good, it's annoying I think for
8:11
Speaker 1: most people if you're not throwing their team. But you know,
8:14
Speaker 1: I remember when he I think it was like during
8:15
Speaker 1: the It might have been during the COVID tournament where they.
8:19
Speaker 2: Made a run. I think he like took his off
8:22
Speaker 2: on the scores table. Yeah he did that. So all right,
8:25
Speaker 2: moving on? Is one more thing? Lost the last eight
8:29
Speaker 2: games last year and then the year before they finished
8:31
Speaker 2: two and eight in the regular season. Uh So getting
8:35
Speaker 2: through a year on the mouth buzz has been difficult.
8:38
Speaker 2: Been injuries, there's been all sorts of stuff. So like
8:41
Speaker 2: he he might wear thin on people over time. So
8:43
Speaker 2: I'm just.
8:43
Speaker 1: Wondering too with those freshmen, right if things start going bad,
8:47
Speaker 1: those guys have been promised that they're going to be
8:49
Speaker 1: like part of this, and all of a sudden, Ribby
8:52
Speaker 1: and especially the Bigs Ribby and Kofi are playing thirty
8:55
Speaker 1: minutes a game and the Rattlest Twins are playing ten.
8:58
Speaker 2: What are there? You know?
8:59
Speaker 1: I don't know the back on the situation, but if
9:01
Speaker 1: those guys aren't playing there, they're going to be already
9:04
Speaker 1: talking to their next school by Christmas break. So we'll
9:08
Speaker 1: see Perdue next on the list. Weird to see them
9:12
Speaker 1: pick this low, but also weird to see them without Brayden, Smith, Fletcher, Lawyer,
9:17
Speaker 1: Trey Kauffman, Rinn. They retained everybody I believe. I think
9:23
Speaker 1: that one of Ucla. I also think retained everybody that
9:27
Speaker 1: actually had eligibility. Ucla had a guy a couple of
9:29
Speaker 1: guys that entered the portal well without eligibility, so I
9:32
Speaker 1: don't really count that for anything, but Perdue and Ucla
9:35
Speaker 1: I think the only two schools did not lose anybody
9:38
Speaker 1: with eligibility remaining to the portal. They added the Princeton transfer,
9:42
Speaker 1: which that happened, I think like in February or January.
9:46
Speaker 1: But he'll be on the team next year. Yeah, Cayden Pierce.
9:51
Speaker 1: I don't ever count out Matt Paynter. I think they're
9:54
Speaker 1: a tournament team. I just wonder there's got to be
9:57
Speaker 1: some type of step back. I just don't know how
9:59
Speaker 1: big the step back is. And there's a lot of
10:02
Speaker 1: guys who are gonna be asked to be to do
10:04
Speaker 1: a lot more than they've ever done before.
10:06
Speaker 2: Yeah, And it's funny because Purdue could take a step back,
10:13
Speaker 2: but I almost feel like they're having a more successful
10:15
Speaker 2: season because they've been chasing these sort of top level
10:20
Speaker 2: expectations the last two years, and now the expectations are
10:23
Speaker 2: gonna be reset. It's gonna kind of be a retooling
10:26
Speaker 2: year and they're not gonna be Big ten title or bust.
10:29
Speaker 2: They're not gonna be like, we have to make the
10:31
Speaker 2: final four. And it did feel like that pressure war
10:35
Speaker 2: on them a bit over the last two years. This
10:37
Speaker 2: is a completely different team. The Braden Smith's like, it's
10:41
Speaker 2: just gonna have to look a lot different and sometimes
10:44
Speaker 2: that can be freeing and it won't mean that produe
10:48
Speaker 2: is all a sudden gonna be a contender, but I
10:50
Speaker 2: think it'll be an interesting team to watch. Obviously, you
10:52
Speaker 2: have to trust Painters development. Dane Jacobson, to me, is
10:57
Speaker 2: a huge swing piece. He really seemed to struggle last
11:00
Speaker 2: year in the Big Ten, and I think there's obviously
11:03
Speaker 2: a lot of potential there USA basketball, Like he has
11:07
Speaker 2: a real size I think you could see. To me,
11:12
Speaker 2: I think there's a chance that he's a lot better
11:14
Speaker 2: in a system where he's not trying to play next
11:18
Speaker 2: to a big like TKR. Right Like everything Perdue did
11:21
Speaker 2: last year was kind of built around guys like TKR
11:24
Speaker 2: and Clough, and Jacobson had to figure out how to
11:26
Speaker 2: fit in. I think the hope has got to be
11:28
Speaker 2: that you build a system around Jacobson and he can
11:32
Speaker 2: kind of get a lot more comfortable and have more
11:34
Speaker 2: of a breakout. You maybe go back to playing in
11:37
Speaker 2: ways that suit him in a way that you couldn't
11:38
Speaker 2: do last year just because you had better bigs on
11:40
Speaker 2: the team. But it's still a big leap, and obviously
11:44
Speaker 2: they've been so good the last couple of years, despite
11:46
Speaker 2: the fact that I think both probably go down as
11:49
Speaker 2: it's like underachievements based on expectations, but I'm excited to
11:53
Speaker 2: see some of the young guys. They have some young
11:55
Speaker 2: guards that I think are well thought of. I've never
11:59
Speaker 2: been a huge Omer Meyer fan. He doesn't get to
12:02
Speaker 2: the ram quite enough for me. It takes a lot
12:04
Speaker 2: of pull up jumpers. But still a guy that I
12:06
Speaker 2: think you're gonna see grow like he's gonna be a
12:10
Speaker 2: breakout guy just because of his role in his stats.
12:13
Speaker 2: So I'm curious to see how it all works. I
12:16
Speaker 2: think people will probably overcorrect on the idea that the
12:20
Speaker 2: last two teams quote unquote underachieved. That being said middle
12:24
Speaker 2: of the pack in the Big Tens feels about right.
12:27
Speaker 1: They kind of reminded me last year of I don't
12:32
Speaker 1: want to obviously this team is not the same comparison,
12:35
Speaker 1: but from an Indiana team that I remember. This team
12:38
Speaker 1: actually won the Big Ten that year but flamed out
12:43
Speaker 1: in the tournament against Syracuse. The reason the old EPO
12:47
Speaker 1: Zeller team the comparison I draw is there was so
12:50
Speaker 1: much pressure on that season. Indiana was right preseason number one.
12:53
Speaker 1: Every time they lost the game, the sky was falling.
12:56
Speaker 1: They got in the tournament against a bad matchup and lost,
12:58
Speaker 1: and everyone kind of looked at it negatively.
13:00
Speaker 2: Negatively, they actually actually.
13:02
Speaker 1: Had a good season that year Indiana, and I think
13:04
Speaker 1: Purdue actually had a good season last year, but relative
13:07
Speaker 1: to expectations, it felt like a letdown. So that's kind
13:10
Speaker 1: of what last year for Purdue reminded me of, Like
13:13
Speaker 1: from a IU comparison, just watching a team. I do
13:16
Speaker 1: think you make a great point that it's going to
13:19
Speaker 1: be there's not going to be the same pressure, and
13:22
Speaker 1: I think that is a key because no one is
13:24
Speaker 1: going to expect Purdue next next year to compete for
13:27
Speaker 1: the Big Ten title. Everyone's talking about Michigan and Illinois
13:29
Speaker 1: and Michigan State. I'm not saying they can win the
13:32
Speaker 1: Big Ten, but I also think it's going to be
13:34
Speaker 1: freeing for a lot of those guys to be able
13:36
Speaker 1: to come into a season without the expectations and be
13:40
Speaker 1: able to just play freely. And if they finished six
13:43
Speaker 1: or seventh in the Big Ten make the tournament, I
13:45
Speaker 1: think that's a great season for them. So that's kind
13:47
Speaker 1: of where I come down on Purdue. They're going to
13:50
Speaker 1: be a solid team. I'm not sure I would consider
13:55
Speaker 1: them a contender for the Big Ten.
13:59
Speaker 2: Yeah, And the thing with Purdue is say they finished
14:02
Speaker 2: six or seven, they're gonna bring just about everyone back
14:06
Speaker 2: the following year, right, I think only Kyden Pierce is
14:08
Speaker 2: the only one year guy. So they are in a
14:10
Speaker 2: position to have a building block type of season and
14:14
Speaker 2: make it count for something. So that's something to remember
14:17
Speaker 2: with this group too, is it's not just a young group.
14:19
Speaker 2: It's a group that can grow into more. Who's their
14:22
Speaker 2: best player? That's that's such a Colleen Dollar question. I
14:29
Speaker 2: think Cox and Harris you like as like reliable guys.
14:33
Speaker 2: I don't really see either of them scaling up to
14:36
Speaker 2: maybe like leading scorer or highest usage guy. I think
14:39
Speaker 2: I think Jacobson defensively needs to be that anchor. And
14:42
Speaker 2: then I think you probably look at Meyer as the
14:45
Speaker 2: guy who needs to kind of take a big leap.
14:49
Speaker 2: I think this. I think people like the what's the
14:52
Speaker 2: freshman guard rdle I think he thought of well like
14:55
Speaker 2: I think he could be another surprise, like you have
14:57
Speaker 2: to trust some of the painters. I think development and
15:01
Speaker 2: kind of just his eye for talent because he knows
15:04
Speaker 2: how people fit in his system.
15:06
Speaker 1: Up next on the list Indiana, just one spot ahead
15:09
Speaker 1: of Purdue. I think everybody knows where I kind of
15:12
Speaker 1: stand on this team. They're actually on this projection seventh
15:14
Speaker 1: and the Big ten. I haven't done my early projection, Jeff,
15:19
Speaker 1: but this is probably right around where I would have
15:21
Speaker 1: them based on everything I've seen so far. And I
15:24
Speaker 1: know everyone will probably say I'm too low, but I
15:27
Speaker 1: picked them tenth last year, and that's exactly where they finished.
15:31
Speaker 2: Everyone does.
15:31
Speaker 1: I don't know that everyone wants to hear me talk
15:33
Speaker 1: about Indiana because they kind of know where I stand
15:36
Speaker 1: on this. Dylan, what do you think about I don't
15:40
Speaker 1: want to talk about last year because I think everyone
15:42
Speaker 1: knows what happened last year.
15:43
Speaker 2: Do you let me ask you this.
15:45
Speaker 1: Way, do you think the collection of talent and the
15:50
Speaker 1: way they went about putting it together this roster of
15:53
Speaker 1: the players they targeted is smarter than what they did
15:56
Speaker 1: a season ago.
15:57
Speaker 2: It's definitely a step in the right track. I would
16:00
Speaker 2: say to me. It all kind of comes down to
16:04
Speaker 2: Marcus Burton. I think you look at injured guys like
16:09
Speaker 2: him have been some of the maybe biggest home runs
16:11
Speaker 2: in the portal. If you look at maybe like some
16:14
Speaker 2: of the best value or kind of breakout stars that
16:16
Speaker 2: people have missed out on, and I think he certainly
16:19
Speaker 2: has the capability of being one of the better guards
16:21
Speaker 2: in the Big ten. I don't think you would say
16:25
Speaker 2: for sure he's going to be that, but if he's
16:27
Speaker 2: a hit, I think that's a huge win. I'm a
16:29
Speaker 2: big Bryce Lindsay fan. I'm a little less convinced in
16:33
Speaker 2: the bigs. But you look across the league and there
16:36
Speaker 2: are a lot of bigs who bigs are so expensive
16:39
Speaker 2: that a lot of teams are taking gambles. Right, You're
16:42
Speaker 2: almost have the grade on the scale where I don't know,
16:44
Speaker 2: like every big. It's not like there's obvious guys who
16:47
Speaker 2: are gonna be all American bigs all across the league.
16:50
Speaker 2: It's like people are taking guys they can get and
16:53
Speaker 2: they're gonna kind of make do right. I think as
16:56
Speaker 2: far as business in the portal and getting your bigs early,
16:58
Speaker 2: like Indian did a great job. I have a hard
17:01
Speaker 2: time arguing with the process of building this roster, and
17:04
Speaker 2: I think last year you could probably pick a lot
17:07
Speaker 2: of problems with the process or at least just realities
17:11
Speaker 2: of the situation. So I think it should be a
17:13
Speaker 2: better roster. They have like actual high major players on
17:17
Speaker 2: the roster that have been proven that's a step in
17:18
Speaker 2: the right direction. I think Darren Harris could be good,
17:23
Speaker 2: like they have just upside bets. There's a lot there
17:25
Speaker 2: for me. I don't know that there's a locked in
17:31
Speaker 2: floor because of maybe some of the uncertainty with Burton,
17:35
Speaker 2: So that's maybe my question is what does this really
17:38
Speaker 2: look like? And if Burton is like all Big Ten
17:42
Speaker 2: second team guy, I think this could be a really
17:44
Speaker 2: good team. What if he's not, though, and is the
17:48
Speaker 2: what is it? What does a Devis team look like?
17:51
Speaker 2: It's still maybe my question in the Big Ten because
17:53
Speaker 2: last year's team just wasn't tough enough maybe, and to
18:00
Speaker 2: be fair to him, I think his teams have been
18:03
Speaker 2: tougher and more defensive minded than that. So I'm curious
18:05
Speaker 2: just like if he can kind of build more of
18:07
Speaker 2: an identity because I don't think last year's team really
18:10
Speaker 2: showed me like how his teams are going to play
18:12
Speaker 2: every year, And that's my question that needs answering.
18:16
Speaker 1: With this roster, I would say, yeah, I think Charelle
18:19
Speaker 1: two's pretty pivotal based on what they I don't know
18:24
Speaker 1: exactly what they spent on him, but he seemed like
18:26
Speaker 1: he was obviously one of the bigger fish in the
18:28
Speaker 1: whole portal based on the schools that were involved with him,
18:30
Speaker 1: So he's running out to play well. Is obviously a
18:32
Speaker 1: former McDonald's All American. I think part of the reason
18:36
Speaker 1: they got the SMU big is because from.
18:39
Speaker 2: What I can gather, and I've not had anyone.
18:42
Speaker 1: Tell me this specifically, but I looked at a lot
18:44
Speaker 1: of box scores Alabama and how they used him last year.
18:48
Speaker 1: I don't think he necessarily wanted to be like the
18:51
Speaker 1: primary big at all times. I think he wants to
18:53
Speaker 1: be able to play a little bit more out on
18:54
Speaker 1: the floor. Maybe that's partly because he has aspirations to
18:58
Speaker 1: play at the next level and he thinks he has
18:59
Speaker 1: to be able to show that, or maybe he just
19:01
Speaker 1: doesn't want to be playing exclusively the five. But I
19:07
Speaker 1: think that combo is going to take some tinkering to
19:11
Speaker 1: figure out how it works together for sure. I mean,
19:14
Speaker 1: Derees has talked pretty confidently about how the two fit together.
19:17
Speaker 1: He seems to think they can coexist. I'm interested to
19:19
Speaker 1: actually see it in motion, but I mean, the ball
19:22
Speaker 1: is gonna be in Burton's hands. I think they're gonna
19:24
Speaker 1: play it put him in a Ton of ball screens.
19:26
Speaker 1: He had a ton of good games last year before
19:28
Speaker 1: he got hurt. Obviously, the two years before that he
19:31
Speaker 1: was really productive at Notre Dame. I'm curious to see
19:34
Speaker 1: maybe his assist numbers grow up a little bit as well,
19:36
Speaker 1: if he has some other guys around him that can
19:38
Speaker 1: help him. He didn't have that so much at all
19:40
Speaker 1: times in Notre Dame. So there's a lot of question marks,
19:43
Speaker 1: but I think they're really starting at a better position.
19:48
Speaker 1: You know, you mentioned last season there was just too
19:50
Speaker 1: many places where they were below average at certain positions.
19:55
Speaker 2: It just wasn't good enough.
19:56
Speaker 1: So I'm not going to rehash that, but don't want
19:58
Speaker 1: to spend all too much amount of time on Indiana,
20:01
Speaker 1: but we'll go ahead.
20:02
Speaker 2: If you have one more thought, Yeah, well, the two
20:05
Speaker 2: bigs playing together. I think what Michigan todtas last year
20:08
Speaker 2: is the only way to recruit a really good backup
20:11
Speaker 2: big is to start him as your power forward. Because
20:14
Speaker 2: no one wants to come in and be a backup,
20:16
Speaker 2: and no one wants to build a team without a
20:17
Speaker 2: backup big, So you kind of have to go two
20:20
Speaker 2: bigs at least to get that in there. And like Morez,
20:23
Speaker 2: and I played together last year, but they also played
20:25
Speaker 2: all the minutes at the five, right, So I think
20:28
Speaker 2: that is kind of one of those deals where you
20:30
Speaker 2: almost have to play that way because how else are
20:32
Speaker 2: you going to get. No one wants to sign to
20:34
Speaker 2: your school to say, oh, even if you pay me, Like,
20:36
Speaker 2: I don't want to be just a backup. And I
20:39
Speaker 2: think that teams have proven that you can play bigger
20:43
Speaker 2: and like Cherell shoots, I think that can work. I'm
20:46
Speaker 2: intrigued to see how it works. Not convinced that it'll
20:50
Speaker 2: be a home run, but I'm intrigued. Yeah.
20:53
Speaker 1: Next on the list, UCLA. Nck Cronin seems unhappy at
20:58
Speaker 1: all times, but some how retained most of his team,
21:02
Speaker 1: brought in some solid transfer portal additions. So who's Trent
21:10
Speaker 1: Perry's back, Daily Junior's back, Xavior Booker is back. They
21:17
Speaker 1: obviously lose Donovan Dent, Tyler Bilodeo. Don't know a ton
21:21
Speaker 1: about their incoming players. You may be able to speak
21:23
Speaker 1: a little bit better to them than I can, but
21:25
Speaker 1: they're picked six in the Big Ten according to Bart
21:29
Speaker 1: and they're twenty first in his national rankings. Any thoughts
21:34
Speaker 1: on UCLA? I mean, Mick obviously not everyone's as unhappy
21:39
Speaker 1: there with things if they were able to retain everyone
21:43
Speaker 1: that they wanted to keep from this roster. So it
21:46
Speaker 1: actually feels like UCLA is in a pretty healthy spot
21:49
Speaker 1: just in terms of their program being able to retain
21:52
Speaker 1: develop a little bit. But I mean you're shaking your
21:55
Speaker 1: head there a little bit. Maybe you disagree, but I
21:57
Speaker 1: mean I go back and forth. I really like Trent.
22:01
Speaker 2: He's good. He gets like a mid season breakout last year.
22:05
Speaker 2: I think he'll be a guy that you have to
22:07
Speaker 2: really consider pretty high up when we do like are
22:09
Speaker 2: all Big ten, top whatever players list things like that.
22:13
Speaker 2: Eric Dailey Junior is a guy I've been I've loved
22:16
Speaker 2: since he was a recruit, and it's never really like
22:19
Speaker 2: come together on the floor. He's very good, it just
22:23
Speaker 2: feels like he's never as dominant or consistent or in
22:27
Speaker 2: the right role as maybe you would hope. And you
22:30
Speaker 2: look at this roster and I don't really think he's
22:33
Speaker 2: gonna find that right role as a senior either. I
22:36
Speaker 2: don't really know what the lineup will look like. They
22:38
Speaker 2: don't really have a true big I'm not a Xavier
22:41
Speaker 2: Booker guy, the kid from Auburn is more of like
22:45
Speaker 2: a forward.
22:47
Speaker 1: So I think they got Jalen Peddy from Texas Tech
22:51
Speaker 1: and they got Xavier Robinson from Butler, So I think
22:53
Speaker 1: they're probably going to try to figure out which one
22:55
Speaker 1: of those is the better fit next to Trent Perry.
22:57
Speaker 2: Does that feel right? Yeah? In the backcourt, I think
23:00
Speaker 2: probably petty. But it just feels like not a big enough,
23:04
Speaker 2: tough enough team. I don't know. I think I felt
23:09
Speaker 2: like that was the case last year though. I mean, yeah,
23:11
Speaker 2: but at least Billie Oh could put the ball in
23:13
Speaker 2: the basket. Like, I do think that part of their
23:15
Speaker 2: problem was that last year's team didn't really fit right,
23:19
Speaker 2: Like I think billot Oh was more of a five
23:21
Speaker 2: that had to play the four because they wanted to
23:24
Speaker 2: do all these different things. Now they just don't have
23:27
Speaker 2: billid Oh. But I don't know, like what does this
23:29
Speaker 2: look like in terms of competing team. It has to
23:33
Speaker 2: be like Trent Perry just becomes an absolute stut, I
23:36
Speaker 2: would say, and maybe Eric Day kind of finds his way.
23:41
Speaker 2: But it feels like they've never been as good defensively
23:44
Speaker 2: as Cronin wants, and Cronin never can really go all
23:47
Speaker 2: in on being an offensive team because he wants to
23:49
Speaker 2: be good on defense. So to me, it just feels
23:52
Speaker 2: like a program kind of an identity crisis. I think
23:54
Speaker 2: him constantly complaining about the travel probably actually makes it worse.
23:58
Speaker 2: Like I don't know, I'm just.
24:01
Speaker 1: I wonder how much of that is like theatrics, because
24:06
Speaker 1: if everyone didn't like it and was worn down by
24:09
Speaker 1: his complaining, wouldn't they just leave?
24:12
Speaker 2: Well did, and he's well, I mean Adam did.
24:16
Speaker 1: But other than that, I mean, I feel like, I
24:18
Speaker 1: mean Eric Daily Trip Perry, those guys would have been
24:22
Speaker 1: highly coveted portal guys.
24:23
Speaker 2: They stuck around.
24:24
Speaker 1: I mean, I think for them to meet this expectation,
24:28
Speaker 1: Petty or Robinson has to be solid good and then
24:31
Speaker 1: one of the backup big guys, let's see Brandon Williams,
24:34
Speaker 1: who's coming back, the guy from Mississippi State, the transferred
24:38
Speaker 1: Mkura or is it Jovid Jovich from Auburn. One of
24:42
Speaker 1: those guys has to be serviceable good. But those are
24:46
Speaker 1: who knows who they are?
24:47
Speaker 2: In the top half of the league. Would you like?
24:49
Speaker 2: Their bigs don't really stack up. You can talk about
24:52
Speaker 2: questions with any good Yeah, Okay, I mean I'm not,
24:57
Speaker 2: I don't. I think six is probably higher than I'll
24:59
Speaker 2: pick them, But yeah, I think, I mean, I wouldn't
25:03
Speaker 2: pick them six, would you? It feels high. I feel
25:06
Speaker 2: like there's things like to have them what they're ten
25:10
Speaker 2: spots ahead of USC on Torvick.
25:13
Speaker 1: And they're head of purdueing Indiana too, So I don't know,
25:16
Speaker 1: I think I'd probably haven't boiled USC, but I.
25:18
Speaker 2: Feel like they maybe going and group with like Maryland
25:22
Speaker 2: and Iowa in a tier that's fair.
25:26
Speaker 1: So now we're to the top five and that's this
25:30
Speaker 1: is the next he Well, I don't know if we're
25:32
Speaker 1: putting these in tiers because we're not, but I think
25:34
Speaker 1: the top tier we all know is Illinois, Michigan, Michigan State.
25:37
Speaker 1: So the two teams we still have left to talk
25:38
Speaker 1: about before we get to those three, so Ohio State
25:41
Speaker 1: and Nebraska. Ohio State is going to be solid again
25:46
Speaker 1: potentially good John Mobley's back, Maury Bynham they retained. It's
25:50
Speaker 1: like they pretty much had to make the decision do
25:54
Speaker 1: we want Amuri Bynham.
25:55
Speaker 2: To do you want Devin Royal?
25:56
Speaker 1: And they chose wisely with a Maury Bynam and and right, well,
26:00
Speaker 1: I mean, yeah, they had to go, had to pick
26:03
Speaker 1: one of them. I feel like so bright Bruce Thorton's gone.
26:07
Speaker 1: They're portal editions. I don't know that justin Pippen they
26:11
Speaker 1: brought in, Uh is he gonna?
26:13
Speaker 2: Yeah? I think.
26:16
Speaker 1: Mobley him and Mobley starting, And they bring in Anthony Thompson,
26:20
Speaker 1: who's maybe the highest ranked recruit coming into the Big Ten.
26:24
Speaker 1: Well the kid they go into Michigan and a couple
26:26
Speaker 1: of the rankings maybe higher. But so they they have
26:32
Speaker 1: a pretty solid front court situation, I would say, and
26:36
Speaker 1: a good back court. Again, they're I just don't know
26:41
Speaker 1: how to account for Bruce Thorton being gone because he's
26:46
Speaker 1: so integral to what they did and there's obviously going
26:49
Speaker 1: to be a falloff, But does buying them take a
26:51
Speaker 1: huge step forward? Is Anthony Thompson as good as everyone
26:54
Speaker 1: thinks he's gonna. They brought in Curtis Gibbons too from Memphis.
26:57
Speaker 1: I guess he's going to be a backup of some kind.
26:59
Speaker 1: That's kind of weird when they Yellovich from Kentucky who started.
27:04
Speaker 1: I don't know anything about the kid from the kne
27:06
Speaker 1: that they brought in, but they've got some pieces I
27:11
Speaker 1: don't know this is another one that feels a little
27:15
Speaker 1: high to me, but maybe I'm maybe I'm over rating
27:20
Speaker 1: the loss of Bruce th Wharton.
27:23
Speaker 2: I love Anthony Thompson, and I think I'm buying him.
27:26
Speaker 2: Probably is one of the most obvious breakout guys in
27:29
Speaker 2: down the league. He could be all big ten guy,
27:33
Speaker 2: So that like that three four combo is very dynamic,
27:38
Speaker 2: and like Justin Pippen had a really good year last
27:42
Speaker 2: year at Cal after having kind of a rough freshman
27:45
Speaker 2: year at Michigan, and then Mobiley can can really score it.
27:48
Speaker 2: So the question is like what is Diebler as a coach,
27:53
Speaker 2: and that's probably an open question. I like the roster though,
27:59
Speaker 2: I think there's potential here. Thornton was obviously really good,
28:03
Speaker 2: but I think they could be better defensively this year.
28:07
Speaker 2: And you still have Mobiley, who I think showed that
28:10
Speaker 2: he can shoulder a lot of offensive usage. Pippin is
28:16
Speaker 2: another guy who was probably overused at Cow, but he
28:19
Speaker 2: can play at this level. Like, I like their roster
28:22
Speaker 2: more than I probably expected to for a team without Thornton,
28:27
Speaker 2: So I'm intrigued. I don't know who's their center. Is it?
28:30
Speaker 2: Is it the kid that sat out last year from Baylor. Yeah,
28:33
Speaker 2: I believe that's probably most likely. I could see them
28:37
Speaker 2: going small, even with the like Thompson is a beast
28:40
Speaker 2: defensively really long, so because you don't want him, you
28:43
Speaker 2: don't want him guarding Thompson in the four or five,
28:46
Speaker 2: and just go small and spread it out. I don't know.
28:49
Speaker 2: They have some potential there. Yeah, because they have the
28:53
Speaker 2: kid back in Govin is the Croatian big guy who
28:59
Speaker 2: played here. Tea your deep or comment.
29:01
Speaker 1: Though that might actually be why I'm hedging on them
29:04
Speaker 1: being this. I'm just not convinced he's that good of
29:07
Speaker 1: a coach. So no, maybe some dudes in there.
29:10
Speaker 2: We'll see. They made the tournament last year. Yeah, does
29:14
Speaker 2: fifth feel rich? Yeah? Like, here's the thing. You're picking
29:17
Speaker 2: him ahead of a guy like Matt Painter, even if
29:20
Speaker 2: the roster is way more talented. I think there could
29:23
Speaker 2: be a two needs.
29:24
Speaker 1: To be a lot better for him to be better
29:26
Speaker 1: than a Matt Painter. Tam exactly that the Projections must
29:31
Speaker 1: think that their team is like I haven't clicked in
29:34
Speaker 1: to see what the production looks like. Let me actually
29:35
Speaker 1: look at this. I'm just curious. So he's got yeah,
29:39
Speaker 1: mobiley buying them. Thompson's their top three players than Pippin.
29:44
Speaker 1: That makes sense, So okay, I.
29:46
Speaker 2: Don't really like Thompson. I think he could be a stud, so.
29:50
Speaker 1: Like top ten pick in the next draft type stud. Okay, Yeah,
29:54
Speaker 1: Indiana was in on him, but I think Ohio State
29:57
Speaker 1: wanted him more in terms of the commitment and which
30:01
Speaker 1: I get from like a freshman. He's his kid, stay
30:03
Speaker 1: at home, so I don't think Indiana was willing to
30:06
Speaker 1: go to the same number with the money for a freshman.
30:09
Speaker 1: So we'll see how it works out. It'll be interesting
30:11
Speaker 1: to see how he plays. Nebraska the next team getting
30:16
Speaker 1: obviously a little bit of a bump from last year,
30:18
Speaker 1: but they do bring back Price Sandford, who it's gonna
30:22
Speaker 1: be in the mix.
30:23
Speaker 2: For preseason Big Ten Player of the Year. Mate.
30:26
Speaker 1: I don't know if i'd call him a Big Ten
30:29
Speaker 1: first team He's back. Braden Frager, one of the best
30:32
Speaker 1: freshmen in the league last year, was really fun player
30:34
Speaker 1: to watch.
30:35
Speaker 2: He's back.
30:36
Speaker 1: Connor season is moving off Instagram and onto the court,
30:40
Speaker 1: hopefully for his sake. He's actually a pretty fun guy
30:43
Speaker 1: to follow there on social media, but it was like
30:45
Speaker 1: almost every day he was was weird. My son like
30:48
Speaker 1: followed him on Instagram, was like showing me all the
30:50
Speaker 1: stuff he was doing. It was like, oh, I was
30:52
Speaker 1: always yeah, yeah, It's like, aren't you on the team still?
30:57
Speaker 1: But he was more of a you know, Instagram guy.
31:00
Speaker 1: But they lose JaMarcus Lawrence, who I thought was underrated
31:04
Speaker 1: what he did there. He was solid player for them.
31:07
Speaker 1: Sam Hoiberg did everything, Uh coach his son obviously made
31:11
Speaker 1: all the little plays, made the winning plays and rink
31:13
Speaker 1: masts who was terrific for them last year. So what
31:16
Speaker 1: they brought in guys from lower levels for the most
31:22
Speaker 1: part to fill some of these holes.
31:23
Speaker 2: A key from Boston College for me, he can really
31:29
Speaker 2: or I don't know how you say his name, but
31:30
Speaker 2: he can really shoot it. Yeah. They guy that I
31:34
Speaker 2: think a kid from San Diego State, right uh uh
31:41
Speaker 2: de Gourville.
31:42
Speaker 1: Yes, they brought him into I'm just trying to look
31:46
Speaker 1: here to see who the projected lineup is and it's
31:53
Speaker 1: kid from Utah. He Jim Root has a kid from
31:58
Speaker 1: Utah Valley starting at guard with Frager, Sandford, Ormey and
32:03
Speaker 1: Capki in the starting line up, and that he's got
32:05
Speaker 1: Oh I forgot. They have Kal Jacobson back to you.
32:07
Speaker 1: He made some big place for them last year. He's
32:09
Speaker 1: the experienced guy that can do some things. Yeah, I mean,
32:15
Speaker 1: I mean, I know this. I think Hoiburg is a
32:17
Speaker 1: good coach. I think he's gonna have them playing a
32:20
Speaker 1: fun and exciting style of play. I mean, obviously it
32:23
Speaker 1: was a I think he was the guy that people
32:26
Speaker 1: I think at one point didn't he even take like
32:27
Speaker 1: a pay cut or something or like.
32:33
Speaker 2: Thought it was like is this you talk about? Like
32:35
Speaker 2: is the Danny Sprinkle thing gonna work out? Like?
32:37
Speaker 1: There were similar vibes at Nebraska early on with Fred Hoibergers,
32:40
Speaker 1: like is this going to work out? And they stuck
32:42
Speaker 1: with him and they were rewarded in a big way.
32:44
Speaker 1: Last year. They had a good they had a fun
32:47
Speaker 1: team to watch. They weren't picked high. They exceeded expectations.
32:50
Speaker 1: Probably Sandford was terrific. So I got no problem with
32:53
Speaker 1: them being picked this high. But I mean mass Toyberg
32:57
Speaker 1: and Lawrence being gone, that's not thing.
33:01
Speaker 2: Yeah, And and really they had it going in twenty
33:05
Speaker 2: twenty four and then Mask gets hurt and they kind
33:08
Speaker 2: of have that step back in twenty five. So this
33:10
Speaker 2: year was coming to me when you compare them to
33:13
Speaker 2: some of the other teams, Like, I just know how
33:15
Speaker 2: they're gonna play now, and I think they've established that
33:17
Speaker 2: style of play. I think building that system around Sanford
33:22
Speaker 2: and Frager is going to be really really effective. And
33:24
Speaker 2: I think they that's talking about wing combos. I think
33:28
Speaker 2: we talked about that with a high of State, Like
33:29
Speaker 2: that's a really good wing combo. Offensively, they're gonna be awesome,
33:33
Speaker 2: and I do think Hoiberg will be a loss defensively,
33:37
Speaker 2: but I trust where this program is to kind of
33:43
Speaker 2: establish and play their way. Like it's a difference between
33:46
Speaker 2: Indiana and Nebraska, right Like maybe on paper you might
33:49
Speaker 2: like some of Indiana's piece is better, but I think
33:52
Speaker 2: I know how this is all gonna fit for Hoiburg
33:55
Speaker 2: this year, and I have more faith in him to
33:58
Speaker 2: like figure out how to make it work into a
33:59
Speaker 2: win Big ten team. I don't think they're gonna be
34:01
Speaker 2: as good as last year, but they're they're gonna be
34:05
Speaker 2: good and they can flight out fill it up with Sanford.
34:09
Speaker 2: They run good stuff. They kind of know how to
34:10
Speaker 2: spread the floor, and I think the pieces they brought
34:12
Speaker 2: in fit that similar vibe of how they're gonna play,
34:16
Speaker 2: and it's not like a lot of those guys that
34:20
Speaker 2: they're losing. It's not like they were like these super
34:22
Speaker 2: highly touted guys when they came in either. They've been similar,
34:25
Speaker 2: similar mold to a lot of these kind of mid
34:27
Speaker 2: major plus players that come over, fit in the system
34:30
Speaker 2: and really make it work. So I get where they're
34:34
Speaker 2: picked right now, I would.
34:35
Speaker 1: Say they feel like a team that's definitely gonna be
34:37
Speaker 1: in the tournament.
34:38
Speaker 2: I mean there.
34:39
Speaker 1: To me, there's no doubt about that. I feel they
34:42
Speaker 1: got a chance to do some damage there. So moving
34:45
Speaker 1: on to the top three, depending on what you look
34:48
Speaker 1: at in this particular scenario. I think I've seen some
34:51
Speaker 1: top twenty five's early that have different order of this.
34:54
Speaker 1: But third in the Big ten according to Torvik Michigan State,
35:02
Speaker 1: that to me feels about right based on what they.
35:08
Speaker 2: What they lost, and what they brought in. What they
35:09
Speaker 2: lost wasn't a lot. Just to guard.
35:14
Speaker 1: I never tried to say his last name, Divine is
35:16
Speaker 1: his first name. He came from Miami, played last year,
35:21
Speaker 1: got hurt right towards the end of the season.
35:24
Speaker 2: Now he is at what l s U. I think
35:27
Speaker 2: LSU they needed at like the last minute, last minute.
35:31
Speaker 1: Yeah, so they lost him, brought in the big man,
35:34
Speaker 1: Anton Bonki thinks from Charlotte seven foot two guys, brought
35:39
Speaker 1: him Cooper and Coohler, which is big. Yes, they lost those,
35:44
Speaker 1: but everyone's okay. So preseason big Ti the player of
35:48
Speaker 1: the year. This might be the guy, right, Jeremy Fierce.
35:53
Speaker 1: But they also bring back some guys. I mean, Cohen
35:55
Speaker 1: Carr was really good last year. I thought twelve points
35:58
Speaker 1: a game five and I'm not I'm not going You're
36:01
Speaker 1: not You're not on Colin Car not a Coling Car guy.
36:04
Speaker 1: Do you like Do you like Jordan Scott? I thought
36:06
Speaker 1: he did some nice things as a freshman.
36:08
Speaker 2: Yeah. So here's my thing with Michigan State. There's no
36:11
Speaker 2: way this team is bad. Like, they're the highest floor
36:14
Speaker 2: team in the country. You could put Jeremy Fears out
36:17
Speaker 2: there with four people and I think they would be
36:19
Speaker 2: a really good team. A team in the country gotta
36:23
Speaker 2: be one of them. Like, I just think, like Tom
36:25
Speaker 2: Izzo and Jeremy Fears are not going to be a
36:27
Speaker 2: bad team. There's two more years of this, right of
36:30
Speaker 2: Jeremy Fears. Potentially OVI stayed in the NBA draft for
36:34
Speaker 2: the last second, so we'll see about that. But so
36:36
Speaker 2: to me, and they have probably ten guys that could
36:39
Speaker 2: play right they have if you look through just like
36:42
Speaker 2: pure roster talent. They have ten top one hundred players
36:45
Speaker 2: who are probably expecting to play minutes right Caleb Blenn
36:49
Speaker 2: comes back from his injury. Jervis is a really good freshman.
36:52
Speaker 2: Medlock is like the backup point guard, the point guard
36:55
Speaker 2: of the future. Ethan Taylor is on team USA U
36:58
Speaker 2: eighteens right now. Kur Tang played minutes last year, so
37:02
Speaker 2: this team's ridiculously deep. I don't think they have the
37:05
Speaker 2: same physicality and toughness in the front court. That's a
37:10
Speaker 2: huge loss. Like Cooper and Cohl are really set that
37:13
Speaker 2: edge for them and they are both good in their roles,
37:17
Speaker 2: but there's just so much here now. My problem is
37:20
Speaker 2: more with the ceiling. Con Card to me, is just
37:24
Speaker 2: sort of not having his ability to shoot the ball
37:29
Speaker 2: just limits the ceiling of the team. I almost wish
37:32
Speaker 2: they would just kind of move on to some of
37:34
Speaker 2: the young guys, but it's just sort of this. It's
37:36
Speaker 2: just a tricky thing where he's obviously good enough to
37:38
Speaker 2: play big minutes. I don't know what he looks like
37:42
Speaker 2: scaling up into a bigger role. Because they couldn't quite
37:45
Speaker 2: figure that out. He's going to be more likely to
37:47
Speaker 2: play the three because of what they have at the four.
37:50
Speaker 2: I think really he's kind of an undersize four. So
37:52
Speaker 2: to me, that's the thing. Where does this team have
37:55
Speaker 2: enough shooting to be elite? No? But I think they're
37:59
Speaker 2: going to be really good, and they're going to be
38:00
Speaker 2: good defensively just because tom Izzo is not going to
38:03
Speaker 2: let them be anything else. Right, Like, you give Tomzo
38:06
Speaker 2: ten guys, He's going to find the five that will
38:08
Speaker 2: play defense. And Fears is just really really good despite
38:12
Speaker 2: some of his antics and whatever else. Yeah, that's fair.
38:16
Speaker 2: I don't Yeah, I think you're right on the floor.
38:19
Speaker 1: I don't think they have the ceiling of Michigan and Illinois,
38:22
Speaker 1: but they certainly have a high flour and Fears is
38:26
Speaker 1: a huge part of that. And Wyke him or not,
38:29
Speaker 1: he has some antics during the season, but him coming
38:31
Speaker 1: back is good for a college basketball in general. It's
38:34
Speaker 1: good for the Big Ten to have good players, good teams.
38:37
Speaker 1: He'll be He'll be the villain, There's no make no
38:40
Speaker 1: mistake about it. He'll be the villain in the Big Ten.
38:41
Speaker 1: I think he'll embrace it. I think he embraced it
38:44
Speaker 1: at times last year, and Isoel will embrace it too.
38:47
Speaker 1: So it'll be I don't know how long it'll take,
38:49
Speaker 1: but there'll be a clip surface on social media, you know,
38:54
Speaker 1: a hip check or a foot that was somewhere, and
38:56
Speaker 1: we'll be back on Jeremie Fear's watch.
38:59
Speaker 2: Early in the next season.
39:00
Speaker 1: But he was I mean, you know, I thought last season,
39:03
Speaker 1: at at one point, because I'm voting in the postseason
39:05
Speaker 1: wards now for the Big Ten, I thought after some
39:08
Speaker 1: of that stuff happened, I was like, is this gonna
39:09
Speaker 1: prevent me from voting him first team All Big Ten.
39:11
Speaker 1: By the end of the season, I was like, this
39:13
Speaker 1: guy's so good, I can't justify not putting him first
39:16
Speaker 1: team All Big Ten. That's how good a player he was.
39:19
Speaker 1: To average nine nearly nine and a half assists fifteen
39:22
Speaker 1: a game.
39:23
Speaker 2: He was good. I mean.
39:24
Speaker 1: The only thing, the only knock on him, really if
39:26
Speaker 1: he shot three a little bit higher percentage, he'd be
39:30
Speaker 1: just about as good as you can be for a
39:32
Speaker 1: college point guard. So really good player.
39:34
Speaker 2: He'll shoot more threes this year, probably, Yeah, for sure
39:37
Speaker 2: him as a shooter, but they I think some of
39:39
Speaker 2: the pop they get made like from Jervis. That's the
39:42
Speaker 2: guy I'm looking at. The freshman if like they really
39:45
Speaker 2: lacked a kind of dynamic two yard last year, and
39:47
Speaker 2: if he can be a real scorer off the bench,
39:49
Speaker 2: that could give them a different level offensively. It's just
39:53
Speaker 2: whether they can be as good in the frontcourt defensively.
39:57
Speaker 1: Gotcha all right? On to the top two. Defending champs
40:01
Speaker 1: Michigan obviously a lot to replace. What top three top
40:08
Speaker 1: fifteen picks, potentially top twenty.
40:10
Speaker 2: It's looking like it could be three top fifteen picks.
40:13
Speaker 1: Okay, Linda Borg gone, Moreas Johnson gone to Amara gone,
40:20
Speaker 1: Elliott caddoll back, Trey McKinney number one, maybe big ten
40:25
Speaker 1: breakout candidate on the list. Potentially coming up Brandon McCoy freshman,
40:32
Speaker 1: highly acclaimed, coming in JP Astrella who Indiana wanted. I
40:36
Speaker 1: think from the portal from Tennessee. He's coming in the
40:40
Speaker 1: seven foot two Mustafa is it theam.
40:45
Speaker 2: Chom? Okay, there we go, I've said it wrong. Chom.
40:49
Speaker 2: He is a giant guy, seven foot two. He's from
40:54
Speaker 2: since Cincinnati.
40:56
Speaker 1: He will be in the starting lineup I presume l J.
41:00
Speaker 1: Casen's out for the year torn ACL. They got some
41:03
Speaker 1: good freshman I mean, I don't They're not gonna be
41:09
Speaker 1: as good as last year. Let's just get that out
41:10
Speaker 1: of the way first, because there's there were just one
41:13
Speaker 1: of the better teams that we've seen in recent memory
41:16
Speaker 1: and college basketball just in terms of dominance. But they're
41:18
Speaker 1: gonna be a Final Four contender again. I feel like,
41:20
Speaker 1: on paper, is that crazy to think. I don't think
41:24
Speaker 1: that's crazy to think.
41:25
Speaker 2: I think having Elliot Cado to build around is a
41:29
Speaker 2: huge win. I think he was really good all of
41:33
Speaker 2: last year, but then he hit another level after l J.
41:36
Speaker 2: Cason tore his ACL with his consistency and he was
41:39
Speaker 2: just awesome in the NCAA Tournament. And having that as
41:43
Speaker 2: a senior point guard, like he's one of the more
41:45
Speaker 2: gifted passers really that I remember watching, Like he makes
41:49
Speaker 2: some incredible plays with the ball, and that's just like
41:54
Speaker 2: having a second year point guard with that sort of
41:57
Speaker 2: playmaking ability is just a great luxury for everyone else
42:00
Speaker 2: to kind of figure things out along the way. But
42:03
Speaker 2: it's definitely not as deep of a roster as last year,
42:06
Speaker 2: not his experienced of a roster as last year, so
42:10
Speaker 2: you're gonna have to There's gonna be some growing pains,
42:12
Speaker 2: you would think, like Estrella and Chim I think are
42:15
Speaker 2: two of the better interior like big guy gets in
42:19
Speaker 2: the conference. But I don't think either guy is as
42:21
Speaker 2: good as what Michigan is losing in the front court. Right,
42:24
Speaker 2: So that's part of it. I think McCoy is a
42:27
Speaker 2: big swing factor. He is extremely athletic, just like a
42:32
Speaker 2: ridiculous dunker and athlete, not a great shooter. I think
42:36
Speaker 2: it sets up well for him to play a role
42:39
Speaker 2: on this team with some of his playmaking and passing
42:41
Speaker 2: and like just like the playmaking passing around him, I
42:45
Speaker 2: think fits in for him to be this sort of
42:47
Speaker 2: like Swiss army knife defensive piece. But there's like it
42:51
Speaker 2: feels like maybe you're one kind of star player short
42:55
Speaker 2: like you would love to have one more guy you
42:56
Speaker 2: can really trust, And it feels like a team that's
43:00
Speaker 2: going to be very based on the backcourt. Right. McKenney
43:02
Speaker 2: probably leads the team in scoring, Geo probably leads the
43:05
Speaker 2: team in like pick and roll possessions and assists, and
43:08
Speaker 2: then you've got to figure out what Estrella and Chom
43:11
Speaker 2: build into in that front court, which I think is
43:14
Speaker 2: to be determined right now.
43:16
Speaker 1: So is that, uh a reference to what could have
43:22
Speaker 1: been with Duke Harris when you say the one guy way,
43:25
Speaker 1: is that kind of what you thought that might have been?
43:28
Speaker 2: He certainly could have been. Like Juke Carris is really good.
43:32
Speaker 2: It just feels like.
43:33
Speaker 1: Like what like if if they're missing a player, what
43:36
Speaker 1: like what is the role and what is the position
43:40
Speaker 1: for that player that they need that they don't have?
43:43
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think it could Like Duke Carris, you would
43:45
Speaker 2: fit in perfectly right. You put him on the wing,
43:47
Speaker 2: you bring the McCoy off the bench, and you have
43:49
Speaker 2: kind of that sixth man. It's more to me just
43:52
Speaker 2: that a numbers game where Michigan played nine guys last
43:55
Speaker 2: year and they're all good enough to play more minutes in.
44:00
Speaker 2: This roster has a lot of young guys. Quinn Costello
44:02
Speaker 2: is a top forty freshman. Joseph Hartman is a top
44:05
Speaker 2: one hundred guy. Ricky Lybird is a red shirt freshman
44:09
Speaker 2: that they're really high on. Oscar Goodman is a sophomore
44:13
Speaker 2: who is still yelling and kind of an interesting forward
44:16
Speaker 2: piece from New Zealand. But like none of those guys
44:18
Speaker 2: are proven Big ten players, right Like. Replacing Roddy Gale
44:23
Speaker 2: Namari Burnette with guys like that is a difference, right Like.
44:26
Speaker 2: That was one of the things that made Michigan so
44:28
Speaker 2: good is they had veteran guys playing some of those roles,
44:32
Speaker 2: and there's just not like nine surefire impact Big ten
44:35
Speaker 2: players on this team in the way that last year had.
44:39
Speaker 1: Last team on the list at the top in this projection,
44:44
Speaker 1: i've seen him pick I think second. I don't know
44:46
Speaker 1: if they've been picked as low as third, but they're
44:49
Speaker 1: in the top. I looked at a bunch of preseason
44:51
Speaker 1: top twenty five today and they're in the top five,
44:53
Speaker 1: and most of them it's Illinois. Soyakovic back, Mirkovich, who
44:57
Speaker 1: I loved last season. He's back. The Avisi wins, they're back.
45:01
Speaker 1: They had the transfer from Providence Stefan Vox. I think
45:05
Speaker 1: box Okay got that one right. Quentin Coleman, the freshman
45:09
Speaker 1: who I believe kept me if I'm wrong, signed with
45:12
Speaker 1: was that wake Forest originally Yep, and then all of
45:17
Speaker 1: a sudden's in Illinois and now I've seen him like
45:19
Speaker 1: in the top twenty five of a lot of the rankings,
45:21
Speaker 1: so he clearly had a great senior season moved up
45:23
Speaker 1: the rankings. Maybe he's coming in too obviously play. I
45:28
Speaker 1: don't want to say he's going to be Keaton Woggler,
45:30
Speaker 1: but he's gonna probably pitch pitched on the roll he's
45:35
Speaker 1: coming in. So they lose Woggler, they lose Humrick House,
45:38
Speaker 1: and they lose Kylon Boswell from a Final four team.
45:42
Speaker 1: But they've got They've got a good mix of pieces here.
45:46
Speaker 1: Brad Underwood has figured out the obviously, the international recruiting, well,
45:51
Speaker 1: he's he's hit more often than not with the guys
45:56
Speaker 1: that he's been able to land there. I will say
45:59
Speaker 1: they brought into guys last year that really Petrovitch was
46:02
Speaker 1: a guy a year ago at this time we were
46:03
Speaker 1: probably talking.
46:04
Speaker 2: About and he did nothing.
46:06
Speaker 1: Him and the other guy. I track all the transfers.
46:10
Speaker 1: They're like to Tony, I don't know what his last
46:13
Speaker 1: name is, it's b I L I C. Him and
46:15
Speaker 1: Petrovitch were on their team last year and transferred and
46:20
Speaker 1: I've not seen them aside anywhere else. So Petrovitch must
46:22
Speaker 1: be either heading back overseas or just not picked up
46:26
Speaker 1: at this point. But anyway, a bit of a sidebar there,
46:31
Speaker 1: but Illinois, Do you agree with him as the preseason
46:36
Speaker 1: pick right now or are you going a different direction?
46:38
Speaker 1: Would you be more inclined to pick Michigan State or
46:40
Speaker 1: Michigan or do you have no problem with Illinois being
46:43
Speaker 1: picked at the top right now.
46:45
Speaker 2: I don't know that I have a preseason pick, but
46:48
Speaker 2: I don't think you like they're a reasonable pick. I
46:51
Speaker 2: think you can say without a doubt, like I don't
46:52
Speaker 2: think it's they've returned, Like they have such a unique
46:56
Speaker 2: style of play with the way they offensive rebound and
46:58
Speaker 2: the way they just let their guards go to work.
47:01
Speaker 2: And I think they brought in two guards who are
47:03
Speaker 2: going to go to work and the perimeter. And then
47:05
Speaker 2: I think Markovic, Like he's one of the most intriguing players.
47:09
Speaker 2: And you talk about breakout guys, he played probably two
47:11
Speaker 2: big a role to be a breakout guy. But he's awesome.
47:14
Speaker 2: Love watching him play, and you know they're going to
47:16
Speaker 2: be great an offensive Glass Coleman is with Team USA
47:20
Speaker 2: down in Mexico right now. I think he led them
47:22
Speaker 2: in scoring in their first game in the U eight teams.
47:26
Speaker 2: I worry, like the size is great. I still think
47:29
Speaker 2: that last year's team maybe didn't have They weren't as
47:33
Speaker 2: good defensively as maybe you wanted, And I don't really
47:38
Speaker 2: think that changes with what they brought in. I think
47:42
Speaker 2: the Providence is not great defensively, You're gonna probably start
47:45
Speaker 2: another freshman guard. So is it a team that's like
47:49
Speaker 2: top ten in offensive and defense? Maybe not. But I
47:52
Speaker 2: think offensively they should be one of the best in
47:57
Speaker 2: the country easily. Like there's just too much talent and
48:00
Speaker 2: like a very distinct style of play, shoot a lot
48:02
Speaker 2: of threes. They're gonna be a problem. I think offensively,
48:06
Speaker 2: I don't that might be enough, right, I don't even
48:08
Speaker 2: if you're okay on defense, like they're gonna put up
48:10
Speaker 2: a lot of points. I think they have a great
48:12
Speaker 2: way to play, but like their guards were really really
48:15
Speaker 2: good last year. And even if Coleman is awesome, he
48:18
Speaker 2: might not be Keaton Woggler and Kylon Boswell like was
48:22
Speaker 2: a anchor for that team in terms of mentality. I
48:25
Speaker 2: think in a way.
48:26
Speaker 1: He's a good defensive player. That's a big I mean,
48:28
Speaker 1: if Vox is coming in, that's a big drop off.
48:32
Speaker 2: Yeah, And maybe Coleman is better defensively like Woggler, wasn't
48:35
Speaker 2: great defensively, so I think they'll be easily a top
48:41
Speaker 2: five team in the country. I how it all shakes out,
48:43
Speaker 2: probably hingeless maybe on that defense, but it's hard to
48:47
Speaker 2: argue with their system, with their talent and think they
48:51
Speaker 2: have they checked the right boxes.
48:52
Speaker 1: Yeah, the projection I saw had Vox Coleman, Stoyakovic, Markovic
48:58
Speaker 1: and then Thomas Love and then Jake Davis and Zavanimi
49:03
Speaker 1: are coming as the first year off the bench.
49:05
Speaker 2: That's pretty good.
49:06
Speaker 1: Seven gotta find maybe another guy or two that can
49:09
Speaker 1: you feel good about. They got some freshmen coming in.
49:12
Speaker 1: I think Jake Davis too. We didn't mention him. Good
49:14
Speaker 1: role player, knows what he's supposed to do, makes a
49:17
Speaker 1: three pointer, he can give you what he played twenty
49:20
Speaker 1: minutes a game last year. I think he can if
49:22
Speaker 1: he can shoot forty percent from threes. He experienced comes back.
49:25
Speaker 1: So yeah, I like them. I think it's gonna be
49:28
Speaker 1: I like these seasons where we enter the year with
49:32
Speaker 1: big ten teams that I feel like can make the
49:33
Speaker 1: Final four, because that's just more chances to get another
49:36
Speaker 1: national championship. It would be you know, let's start a streak.
49:39
Speaker 1: I mean three straight Big Ten football championships. Let's get
49:42
Speaker 1: three straight Big Ten basketball championships. Let's, you know, continue
49:46
Speaker 1: the dominance. But any other big a big picture, Big
49:50
Speaker 1: Ten thoughts or anything else on Ellen all you want
49:51
Speaker 1: to add, Dylan.
49:52
Speaker 2: Here's a question for you. How many teams, if you
49:55
Speaker 2: look at it right now, get first place votes in
49:58
Speaker 2: the preseason poll? Three? Like you think? Three? So Michigan, Illinois,
50:05
Speaker 2: Michigan State. Yeah, people will definitely pick them.
50:08
Speaker 1: Definitely, people will definitely pick Illinois Michigan, and there'll.
50:12
Speaker 2: Be people picking Michigan State too. But I think it
50:16
Speaker 2: actually could be pretty.
50:19
Speaker 1: I feel like a lot of years, like an unofficial poll,
50:22
Speaker 1: it's a pretty clear cut. Like the last couple of years,
50:24
Speaker 1: definitely was with Purdue. I think a couple of people
50:27
Speaker 1: picked Michigan. Did you pick Michigan this last year? I
50:29
Speaker 1: really wanted to pick them, but I didn't. I always
50:32
Speaker 1: get worried because the ballots get released, I think, and
50:34
Speaker 1: sometimes and then it's like, oh, you didn't pick Purdue.
50:37
Speaker 1: You're in Indiana, got you're hating on Purdue. So I
50:39
Speaker 1: picked Purdue was the safe pick.
50:40
Speaker 2: Last year. I wanted to pick Michigan, but I picked Purdue.
50:43
Speaker 2: It looks like three people last year picked Michigan, but
50:48
Speaker 2: it was only two teams had votes, so Pretty had
50:52
Speaker 2: twenty five votes in Michigan had three. I think it's
50:55
Speaker 2: do you think there's gonna be more than three? No,
50:59
Speaker 2: I think I could see though. I don't know if
51:01
Speaker 2: Michigan State will get picks, but Michigan State's always a
51:03
Speaker 2: team that does get picks like that, so Michigan State
51:06
Speaker 2: will get at least one pick. Okay, there will be.
51:09
Speaker 1: Someone in the poll that only looks at uh, some
51:13
Speaker 1: list where Jeremy Fears is preseason All American. They're they're
51:17
Speaker 1: covering football off all and they need to put their
51:19
Speaker 1: ballot at the last minute, and they'll say or they'll
51:23
Speaker 1: look at they'll look at these rankings and say, oh,
51:25
Speaker 1: I'm gonna pick Michigan State because A is O. But
51:28
Speaker 1: now I think all. I think three get I think
51:30
Speaker 1: three get it. I mean, I don't think you'd be
51:33
Speaker 1: crazy to pick Michigan State. I mean, I'm not saying
51:35
Speaker 1: they're gonna win, but I don't think it's outlandish. But
51:38
Speaker 1: it's not like they're projected to finish what twentieth and
51:41
Speaker 1: Torbik and all of a sudden, you're saying they're gonna
51:43
Speaker 1: outperform two top five teams. I mean they're there top ten.
51:46
Speaker 1: I think I looked at some more preseason, Like I said,
51:49
Speaker 1: top twenty five is today there are eight than most
51:51
Speaker 1: of them, So obviously Illinois Michigan in front of them.
51:54
Speaker 1: I think there's a sizeable gap after those three to
51:59
Speaker 1: the rest of them the pack.
52:01
Speaker 2: Yeah. I the question is is the gap big enough
52:04
Speaker 2: that in the season, Like, do you think there's no
52:07
Speaker 2: way there's a dark horse, because there's a dark horse
52:09
Speaker 2: in this kind of thing way more. I think then
52:12
Speaker 2: we think like could like use USC. Yeah, would they
52:17
Speaker 2: get a pick right? That's maybe? Yeah, maybe maybe someone
52:22
Speaker 2: from the west coastal USC Nebraska. Like I don't know,
52:27
Speaker 2: So that's what I'm curious. No, I know, but they're
52:30
Speaker 2: gonna have to Who knows, someone could pick Purdue. It
52:34
Speaker 2: could pick Purdue. That'd be an interesting pick. I don't
52:39
Speaker 2: know it it'll be interesting because I feel like we
52:43
Speaker 2: just got like the kind of final rosters and then
52:45
Speaker 2: everything sort of stirs and may Nates will have like
52:48
Speaker 2: there will be some fever stuff, there will be some
52:51
Speaker 2: overseas tours, and I think our our perspective will change
52:54
Speaker 2: a little bit, and maybe the picks change a little bit.
52:57
Speaker 2: But I don't know last thing, last thing for you
52:59
Speaker 2: in the world. Up up, which team?
53:02
Speaker 1: Okay, there's more spots now for the tournament, But who
53:05
Speaker 1: are your Big Ten teams that you're discarding right now
53:08
Speaker 1: as not having.
53:09
Speaker 2: A chance to make the tournament. I'll give you a
53:10
Speaker 2: mind you can give yours. Penn State, Okay, hold on,
53:20
Speaker 2: MA get my list up here, Rutgers, Northwestern, that's like
53:31
Speaker 2: for sure not making it, no chance? Yeah you said,
53:35
Speaker 2: Penn State, Rutgers, Northwestern. I think that's the list three.
53:39
Speaker 2: I think everyone else has a chance to make a tournament.
53:43
Speaker 2: I haven't like done the math, but yeah, I think
53:45
Speaker 2: so Washington is on that edge. I think I think
53:49
Speaker 2: Penn State and Rutgers for sure. Probably yeah. Yeah.
53:54
Speaker 1: It'd be hard to talk me into Northwestern because it's
53:56
Speaker 1: Jake West and a bunch of guys that aren't even
54:00
Speaker 1: really been major all stars. So yeah, yeah, probably that's
54:08
Speaker 1: probably a good list. So maybe that's an argument to
54:13
Speaker 1: change the Big Ten Tournament back to fifteen teams if
54:15
Speaker 1: we can already eliminate those three don't show up in
54:18
Speaker 1: wherever the tournament is. Next, you is an Indian again? Again,
54:22
Speaker 1: I think it is Indian. Then Vegas, Vegas Next. Here's
54:26
Speaker 1: the better question. What team that we talked about on
54:29
Speaker 1: this podcast misses the NCIA tournament?
54:34
Speaker 2: Of those fifth th nine the good the quote unquote
54:39
Speaker 2: good teams.
54:42
Speaker 1: Okay, for the record, I don't think any of them
54:44
Speaker 1: are missing. But if I had to pick one, kim
54:49
Speaker 1: me U C l.
54:49
Speaker 2: A, Yeah, it's gotta be. There's three candidates. I think
54:53
Speaker 2: they're UCLA, Ohio State, or Indiana. I'd probably say Indiana.
54:59
Speaker 2: Of that mix, Okay, you'd be going with recent history,
55:04
Speaker 2: so that's fair, but maybe maybe over a team.
55:11
Speaker 1: We've reached the point of the podcast where Dylan's dog
55:13
Speaker 1: is entered the room wondering where he is. So I
55:15
Speaker 1: think that's a sure sign to wrap it up. If
55:18
Speaker 1: you're watching on YouTube, you get to see the dog
55:20
Speaker 1: lay down in the bed the background there stuff. Yeah,
55:22
Speaker 1: she's she was respectful though she came in quietly, didn't
55:28
Speaker 1: announce their presence. So thank you for that, Luna, thank
55:30
Speaker 1: you for Dylan. Thank you to Dylan for taking time
55:33
Speaker 1: these past two weeks for these podcasts. Always fun. I
55:36
Speaker 1: know people who are longing for some basketball conversation in
55:41
Speaker 1: June will really enjoy these episodes because, let's face it,
55:46
Speaker 1: not everybody knows what's going on with these Big Ten
55:49
Speaker 1: rosters anymore because there's so much turnover. It's helpful for
55:52
Speaker 1: us too, because before you know what, Dylan, we'll be
55:55
Speaker 1: talking about our top forty list.
55:57
Speaker 2: Oh God, for.
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Speaker 1: I didn't even go back to see how we did
56:03
Speaker 1: last year. I'm sure I don't think we left the
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Speaker 1: Big Ten Player of the Year off the list that
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Speaker 1: we know. We got that one right? Are close do it?
56:11
Speaker 1: Sure we picked Braden Smith first, but I think that
56:14
Speaker 1: was a logical pick. But anyway, thanks again Dylan for
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Speaker 1: the time. Really appreciate it as always, and we'll talk
56:19
Speaker 1: to you again soon.
56:20
Speaker 2: Thanks for having me on.
56:22
Speaker 1: Thanks every buddy as always for listening to Podcasts on
56:24
Speaker 1: the Brink. If you enjoy the show, please leave us
56:26
Speaker 1: to rating and review over on Apple Podcasts or Spotify.
56:28
Speaker 1: For watching on YouTube, like the video, subscribe to the
56:31
Speaker 1: channel and we'll be back soon with another episode of
56:33
Speaker 1: Podcast on the Brink.