Latest / The Sean O'Connell Show / Rocco Miller on men's bracketology as we close in on Big 12 tournament week, Projected seeding for Utah St and BYU + more

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Rocco Miller on men's bracketology as we close in on Big 12 tournament week, Projected seeding for Utah St and BYU + more · The Sean O'Connell Show

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  Speaker 1: That's me in the corner. That's me stuck.
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  Speaker 2: He's not Sean O'Connell show, you were home of the
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  Speaker 2: best inside of your hutes. Let's get back to oc
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  Speaker 2: from the Murdoch Chevrolet Studio of ESPN seven hundred and
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  Speaker 2: ninety one.
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  Speaker 3: Af am, bye.
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  Speaker 4: Said, I haven't said.
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  Speaker 5: I thought that I heard snappy.
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  Speaker 1: All right.
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  Speaker 3: Time to talk a little bracketology.
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  Speaker 5: Rocco Miller from the Bracketeer joins us to project the
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  Speaker 5: upcoming NCAA tournament and maybe some outcomes before we get there,
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  Speaker 5: especially in this Big twelve conference.
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  Speaker 3: Rock O Miller, Welcome to the Sean O'Connell Show. How
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  Speaker 3: are you, sir?
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  Speaker 5: Heay?
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  Speaker 1: Do it well, Sean, I'm assuming this is you right, Sean.
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  Speaker 3: Yes, that's me. How are you all right?
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  Speaker 1: Great to be out with you. It's been a in
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  Speaker 1: the works for a little while, and it's a great Monday.
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  Speaker 1: We get the Horizon League tournament tonight.
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  Speaker 4: So our fortnite begins today fourteen days of championship week
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  Speaker 4: and obviously in the bigger league's a crucial final week
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  Speaker 4: to see where the league play finishes up.
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  Speaker 1: We get our brackets at the end of the week
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  Speaker 1: for those leagues, So just excitement all over the place.
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  Speaker 5: Well, you might be aware that we're the home of
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  Speaker 5: the Utes and there's not going to be any postseason
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  Speaker 5: love happening for our beloved running Utes, although we're confident
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  Speaker 5: that that rebuild will be heading in the right direction
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  Speaker 5: sooner than later under the program legend Alex Jensen. But
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  Speaker 5: still fascinated with everything going on in the Big Twelve,
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  Speaker 5: and we've seen a couple of times this year I
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  Speaker 5: think kind of the top team shuffle around, right, it's
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  Speaker 5: been Arizona a lot of the year. Iowa State made
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  Speaker 5: their case, Houston made their case, Texas Tech. Maybe under
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  Speaker 5: that conversation for a brief period, are the Arizona Wildcats
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  Speaker 5: a clear number one in the Big Twelve conference their
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  Speaker 5: top of the standings?
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  Speaker 3: Are they significantly better than everyone else?
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, that's a great question because I think you look
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  Speaker 1: at the week they had where they slipped up twice
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  Speaker 1: in a row, and it's just hard to be convicted
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  Speaker 1: in that. You know, Texas Tech, of course had a
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  Speaker 1: full roster at the time. I don't know if that
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  Speaker 1: even matters because they've been pretty darn awesome, even with
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  Speaker 1: JT topping on the shelf, and they came in and
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  Speaker 1: got the toughest win in the conference. But it's proven
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  Speaker 1: to be the toughest win in the conference, which is
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  Speaker 1: winning in Tucson. They're the only team to do it,
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  Speaker 1: doing it in overtime, and they slipped up at Kansas,
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  Speaker 1: which you know, on a Monday, I think Kansas beats
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  Speaker 1: everybody on Monday is at home. But Arizona clearly the
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  Speaker 1: best resume. They've earned the number one spot. But when
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  Speaker 1: you get to the Big twelve tournament, and even as
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  Speaker 1: we you know, we approach a big game tonight Iowa
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  Speaker 1: State coming off of a loss, you should see the
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  Speaker 1: best effort from the Cyclones. It's a short turnaround. So
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  Speaker 1: at vantage Arizona still, but I think i the States
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  Speaker 1: should be hungry. It should be interesting. But if they
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  Speaker 1: get that, they'll lock up the number one spot. And
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  Speaker 1: of course, from a bracketology standpoint, Arizona's earned that. Throughout
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  Speaker 1: the year. They had a thirteen to no non conference
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  Speaker 1: schedule that improved that. That was just impressive across the board,
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  Speaker 1: winning at Yukon, beating Florida on opening night, going to
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  Speaker 1: Alabama and beating Alabama by over twenty I mean so
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  Speaker 1: you did the merits belong to the Wildcats. But I
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  Speaker 1: think you know you asked me. On a basketball level,
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  Speaker 1: I think there's the opportunities to compete with the Wildcats
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  Speaker 1: and outlast them like Texas Tech did. If you have
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  Speaker 1: a deep team, Are.
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  Speaker 5: There any deficiencies on this roster that give you pause?
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  Speaker 5: I mean, they are going to be a number one seed,
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  Speaker 5: but then make you look at them with the weather
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  Speaker 5: eye and say, ah, well, tournament teams you kind of
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  Speaker 5: need this and they don't have it.
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  Speaker 3: Is there anything?
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  Speaker 5: Is there any chink in the armor for Arizona that
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  Speaker 5: concerns you at this point?
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  Speaker 1: Nothing specifically, I think historically with Tommy Lloyd because I've
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  Speaker 1: studied him for years. You know, he was at Gonzaga
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  Speaker 1: for twenty years and then of course gets the head job,
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  Speaker 1: and I covered the Pac twelve puls as you guys
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  Speaker 1: know as the running youth station. You know, when he
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  Speaker 1: gets to the tournament, he was seeing teams being able
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  Speaker 1: to slow down transition and that rim to rim style
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  Speaker 1: that they've always had, that relentless attack. You know what
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  Speaker 1: we saw work early this year in the Alabama game.
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  Speaker 1: They put up ninety six in Alabama. Could not slow
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  Speaker 1: them down. They just they freight train a lot of
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  Speaker 1: teams and that's got Tommy to twenty to twenty five
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  Speaker 1: wins every year. And now they've got to figure out
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  Speaker 1: the physicality part of it, and I think they've done
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  Speaker 1: that with this roster, whether you look at toovi Awaka
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  Speaker 1: or of course CoA Pete who's back healthy. Now, I
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  Speaker 1: think they've figured out a lot of the physicality pieces,
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  Speaker 1: but you still want to see it when we get
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  Speaker 1: deep in March. Like I think this team's way too
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  Speaker 1: good to lose in the first week of the tournament,
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  Speaker 1: so they're almost like a hue in for the sweet sixteen.
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  Speaker 1: But I think once we get to that round and beyond,
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  Speaker 1: the pressure will be on because I think under Tommy
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  Speaker 1: they haven't got past this week sixteen, and a lot
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  Speaker 1: of that's just due to teams being very if they
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  Speaker 1: run into the wrong matchup, being able to deny that transition,
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  Speaker 1: make them set up their half court for forty minutes
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  Speaker 1: and then really execute in the half court. But with
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  Speaker 1: guys like brayden Bury's and Bradley, they've been able to
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  Speaker 1: manage some of those tests throughout the year, and that's
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  Speaker 1: what's impressed me the most, so I do think they
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  Speaker 1: are Final Four caliber, but I still want to see
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  Speaker 1: it because I think it will make Arizona fans nervous
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  Speaker 1: when they're in a dogfight like that within the bright lights.
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  Speaker 5: This next question, you're going to be able to tell
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  Speaker 5: him more of a football guy, because it's definitely it's
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  Speaker 5: definitely a conversation we have at the end of college
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  Speaker 5: football season whether you judge teams.
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  Speaker 3: More on their quality wins or their weird losses. They're
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  Speaker 3: bad losses, they're questionable losses.
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  Speaker 5: I'm thinking specifically about Iowa State because at their very best,
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  Speaker 5: I think they can beat anybody, but they've also shown
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  Speaker 5: us that they can not look great against Cincinnati, TCU,
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  Speaker 5: against the BYU team that I will get to here
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  Speaker 5: in a second that I have a hard time explaining. So,
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  Speaker 5: especially this time of year, is it the big wins
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  Speaker 5: or the bad losses that tell you more about a team?
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, well, I think it's an interesting question because from
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  Speaker 1: a bracket voting perspective, when we're trying to order the
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  Speaker 1: seed list, you know, and we're comparing teams, So I
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  Speaker 1: always say it's getting compared to Houston, who they beat
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  Speaker 1: at home. But like, it's very debatable who is better,
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  Speaker 1: and you're looking at the evaluation of all the results
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  Speaker 1: and that's all you can really go off of. For
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  Speaker 1: seeding teams, you typically lean towards the top end of
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  Speaker 1: the resume, and this selection committee's already shown that with
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  Speaker 1: their inclusion of Iowa State as a one seed on
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  Speaker 1: the bracket preview show two saturdays ago. They quickly threw
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  Speaker 1: that one seat in the garbage when they went to
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  Speaker 1: Provo about eight hours later and lost by ten to
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  Speaker 1: a Richie Saunders list Cougar's team. But the point of
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  Speaker 1: the matter was I always stated a big reason why
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  Speaker 1: they got that spot from the actual committee is because
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  Speaker 1: they had better non conference results and that big road
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  Speaker 1: win at Purdue at the start of the year that
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  Speaker 1: Houston really couldn't match from a resume standpoint, and I
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  Speaker 1: think that outweighed their loss at Cincinnati because the way
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  Speaker 1: I was looking at it at that time was, Okay,
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  Speaker 1: Houston's gone to Cincinnati and they handled the Bearcats, no problem.
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  Speaker 1: Iowa State went there and they ran into all sorts
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  Speaker 1: of problems, and the Bearcats, you know, basically wired to
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  Speaker 1: wire beat the Cyclones much like the same type of
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  Speaker 1: game BYU add against the Cyclones, So it all matters.
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  Speaker 1: But I do think if it's close enough, the committee's
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  Speaker 1: going to lean towards what you've actually proven you can
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  Speaker 1: do at the very top of your resume, whether that's
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  Speaker 1: a huge road win or a collection of big home wins,
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  Speaker 1: and Iowa say it's got a nice little mix of both.
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  Speaker 5: But again, they're the light.
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  Speaker 1: The losses can't pile up too high, so there's a
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  Speaker 1: balancing act to it all. Like the bad outwaigh the
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  Speaker 1: good is the good outwigh the bad, and you basically
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  Speaker 1: just compare teams all the way down the board that way.
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  Speaker 1: I would say from a future basketball perspective, I would
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  Speaker 1: be more concerned about in Iowa State. You know, they've
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  Speaker 1: they've had this same type of season under tj Otsolberger.
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  Speaker 1: I think for his field, like the last five years.
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  Speaker 1: It's maybe it's only three or four, but where they
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  Speaker 1: have just dominant November and December is where they look
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  Speaker 1: like the best team in the country and they're totally
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  Speaker 1: destroying everybody, much like they did to Purdue. Then they
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  Speaker 1: get into the grind of conference play, and when you're
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  Speaker 1: in conference play, this isn't just the Big twelve in
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  Speaker 1: all thirty one leagues at all levels to college basketball,
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  Speaker 1: the scouting reports get a lot more dialed in and
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  Speaker 1: take away some of your best options and what then
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  Speaker 1: it becomes like, what's your third option? What's your fourth option?
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  Speaker 1: Is that still a strong way to execute? And I think,
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  Speaker 1: you know, Cincinnati's got one of the best defenses in
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  Speaker 1: the country, even though they have a bad record and
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  Speaker 1: they probably won't make the tournament. And when that was
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  Speaker 1: a game that really concerned me because I feel like
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  Speaker 1: other teams who play even better defense could give I
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  Speaker 1: always state a lot of trouble and and BYU is
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  Speaker 1: not known for terrific defense. It's solid, but it's not
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  Speaker 1: anything's elite. And they also got Iowa State out of
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  Speaker 1: their comfort zone as well. So I think from a
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  Speaker 1: projection standpoint, I have a very difficult time in envisioning
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  Speaker 1: I always state getting to the final four because of
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  Speaker 1: some of those characteristics.
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  Speaker 5: Rock Omiller Bracketologists from the Bracketeer dot Org is our
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  Speaker 5: guest here on the Sean O'Connell show. Right now, All right,
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  Speaker 5: there's a lot of people that listen to this show
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  Speaker 5: that probably at least hate watched the BYU Cougars, and
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  Speaker 5: they were at the beginning of this season, they were
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  Speaker 5: one of the more fascinating rosters in college basketball. They
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  Speaker 5: still are very interesting, although you already mentioned they are
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  Speaker 5: Richie Saunders less and he makes them a lot better,
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  Speaker 5: and you know they're I talked about the head scratching
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  Speaker 5: losses for Iowa State, Bou's got even more. They've fallen
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  Speaker 5: out of the rankings and they were a team that
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  Speaker 5: many people thought we was Elite eight or bust. And
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  Speaker 5: now I have a hard time seeing anything better than
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  Speaker 5: a sweet sixteen team.
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  Speaker 3: If that.
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  Speaker 5: What do you think of BYU, Who's got one of
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  Speaker 5: the top individual players in the country, but chemistry wise,
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  Speaker 5: they haven't figured.
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  Speaker 3: It out yet.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah. I think without Richie Saunders it's a big challenge
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  Speaker 1: because he was clearly their leader, so emotionally it's a
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  Speaker 1: difference without him, hopefully for their sake. Key's around every day.
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  Speaker 1: I think he is and helping as maybe like an
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  Speaker 1: assistant coach type of guy to keep them fired up
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  Speaker 1: and motivated and know where they need to go. But
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  Speaker 1: I think the biggest thing about Saunders was he was
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  Speaker 1: elite at four spacing and force bacing is everything in
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  Speaker 1: the modern offense that coach Young runs NBA style and
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  Speaker 1: that's what was freeing them up to get open looks.
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  Speaker 1: Often it's not only Saunders himself spacing the flour to
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  Speaker 1: free himself, but the actions without the ball to kind
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  Speaker 1: of create driving lanes for a Devince. And so without
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  Speaker 1: that level of IQ on the court, without Saunders, it's
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  Speaker 1: clogging things up more and the Boss is getting more doubles.
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  Speaker 1: And I think that's just making it tough because they're
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  Speaker 1: also looking for, you know, a secondary and third scorer.
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  Speaker 1: We know scorer. We know that Robert Wright the third
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  Speaker 1: is very capable and Canard Davis is very capable, but
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  Speaker 1: there's just been a lack of someone to really really
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  Speaker 1: embrace that. And also, you know, it feels like Devanta
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  Speaker 1: needs to go for forty in these bigger games, and
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  Speaker 1: it's just probably too much to ask. The UCF game
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  Speaker 1: was absolutely stunning, you know, to see that score a halftime,
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  Speaker 1: they're down by twenty plus and the UCS the team
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  Speaker 1: not with like an elite offense, and they have fifty
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  Speaker 1: plus at the break. The game was over pretty quick.
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  Speaker 1: And that happened at the Marriott Center. One of the
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  Speaker 1: hardest places to win. I think there's lots to be
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  Speaker 1: concerned with. I think it's the stematics of the offense.
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  Speaker 1: They still have two weeks to kind of fix that,
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  Speaker 1: so I'm just kind of watching them game by game
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  Speaker 1: to see if they can find a formula that works.
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  Speaker 1: But this was just a brutal timing to get have
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  Speaker 1: Saunders go down, because again, he was the straw that
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  Speaker 1: stirred the drink for the offense, and now they're basically
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  Speaker 1: putting a lot of weight on de Bans and I
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  Speaker 1: don't know if that's going to work against the better teams.
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  Speaker 1: It clearly hasn't. The last week, West Virginia also outlasted
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  Speaker 1: them down in Morgantown, And so now that the pressure's
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  Speaker 1: on and their seed is starting to tank that I mean,
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  Speaker 1: they do still have a six seed in my bracket today,
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  Speaker 1: but by a very slim margin. They were the last
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  Speaker 1: on the six seed lines. But if they were to
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  Speaker 1: fall again this week, especially if they fell twice, they're
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  Speaker 1: probably going to be down. As crazy as it sounds,
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  Speaker 1: they're probably gonna be down to like an eight nine
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  Speaker 1: type of team, and that was unimaginable. Just a few
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  Speaker 1: weeks ago.
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  Speaker 5: We spent a lot of time on the show wondering
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  Speaker 5: what the heck is wrong with Darren Peterson, and I
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  Speaker 5: think people in Kansas were doing that even more. He's
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  Speaker 5: playing regular minutes and you know, he sometimes takes a
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  Speaker 5: lot of shots to give that team a lot of points.
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  Speaker 5: But they've also learned how to win some big games
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  Speaker 5: without him. Still, there's some inconsistency that I think you
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  Speaker 5: have to tie back into what happened with him, especially
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  Speaker 5: earlier in the season. Can Kansas get over that hump
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  Speaker 5: before we head into tournament time.
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  Speaker 1: That's a million dollar question, Sean, because you know, I
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  Speaker 1: don't know exactly how much it's impacting. It's certainly impacting
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  Speaker 1: the team internally at some level. If you go back
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  Speaker 1: to that game they had with Oklahoma State, I think
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  Speaker 1: it was a couple of Wednesdays ago. That was the
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  Speaker 1: first time Bill self has been a professional about it
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  Speaker 1: the entire time. And I know it's an unusual situation,
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  Speaker 1: probably unprecedented to have a player of his caliber basically
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  Speaker 1: managing him his own minute. So just take himself out
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  Speaker 1: of the game. There's things are going on for you know,
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  Speaker 1: four and a half months now, and that press conference
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  Speaker 1: Bill self finally started to crack and just say, hey,
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  Speaker 1: he doesn't even know when Peterson's going to pull himself out.
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  Speaker 1: And perhaps after that moment, like you said, the last
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  Speaker 1: performance or two, if he played more much more consistently,
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  Speaker 1: maybe they had a kumbaya and hashed it out and
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  Speaker 1: and he's all in. And if that's the case, then
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  Speaker 1: sky's the limit, of course, but we just don't know
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  Speaker 1: what We don't know a big change week to week. Uh,
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  Speaker 1: you know, there's there's smaller examples of this and different
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  Speaker 1: levels of the college basketball. Nobody's a star quite the
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  Speaker 1: level of Peterson. But we saw Chad Baker Mazar for example,
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  Speaker 1: at USCUS to leave the team. It's just like you're
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  Speaker 1: leaving the team right before the final week of the season.
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  Speaker 1: It's it's it's kind of crazy with the amount of
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  Speaker 1: money that some of these guys get paid and then
• 14:53
  Speaker 1: the leverage they have over there over their teams and
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  Speaker 1: so but the thing I'll say about Kansas is when
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  Speaker 1: Peterson's not even played at all, They've been able to
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  Speaker 1: beat Arizona without him, they beat Tennessee earlier this year
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  Speaker 1: without him, and they've played they've actually played better defense
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  Speaker 1: when he's off the floor and when they're on offense
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  Speaker 1: when Peterson does play it, there's a lot of like
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  Speaker 1: standing around and watching Peterson cook, which is which is
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  Speaker 1: great because he scores a lot, but sometimes it makes
• 15:21
  Speaker 1: those guys less effective the other four players because they're
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  Speaker 1: not moving as much. The ball movement's not the ball
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  Speaker 1: not moving the same amount. So from a basketball eye,
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  Speaker 1: I kind of like their team when they don't have him,
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  Speaker 1: just because they're playing more connected and together and they're
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  Speaker 1: playing better defense. But when he is playing, of course
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  Speaker 1: they can beat the elite teams like a little bit
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  Speaker 1: more predictably. So I think they're in good hands either way.
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  Speaker 1: They just need to figure out that the internal drama,
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  Speaker 1: because I think if it's unexpected, even for themselves, that's
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  Speaker 1: certainly going to impact their performance.
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  Speaker 3: What's the ceiling for Texas Tech without topping.
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  Speaker 1: Looks like it's through the roof to me. I don't
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  Speaker 1: know about you guys, but all we know is three games,
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  Speaker 1: and the first two were two ups. Right, They beat
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  Speaker 1: Kansas State and Cincinnati, which is great, that's one thing,
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  Speaker 1: But when they go to Hilton and then the first
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  Speaker 1: team to win at Hilton and they do it the
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  Speaker 1: way they did up by sixteen and a halftime running
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  Speaker 1: away from the Cyclhones by double digits. I think they've
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  Speaker 1: done a phenomenal job of getting these seven players that
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  Speaker 1: are available. And obviously Christian Anderson's elite talent played for
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  Speaker 1: Team Germany over the summer. Lawan Wats has been an
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  Speaker 1: awesome breakout player, so is Jalen Petty. They have plenty
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  Speaker 1: of people to score the ball. But the big development
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  Speaker 1: is Luke Bumbaie, who was their elite rim protecting defender.
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  Speaker 1: He's actually starting to play a lot better offense. He
• 16:49
  Speaker 1: goes six for seven against Iowa State and he looks
• 16:51
  Speaker 1: great at it. I think they could keep these seven
• 16:54
  Speaker 1: guys healthy. That is the key for Texas Tech, especially Bombaye.
• 17:00
  Speaker 1: If they keep those seven guys healthy, I like their
• 17:02
  Speaker 1: chances that they're on a mission to get to the
• 17:04
  Speaker 1: Final four. In general, I think people don't realize Texas
• 17:07
  Speaker 1: Tech has two head coaches because Grant mccaston's an amazing
• 17:10
  Speaker 1: coach himself, but Jeff Linder came down from Wyoming two
• 17:14
  Speaker 1: years ago and I got to sit behind the bench
• 17:16
  Speaker 1: during the Elite eight and Sweet sixteam last year, and
• 17:19
  Speaker 1: Jeff Linder is still running a lot of the operation.
• 17:21
  Speaker 1: So they are extremely well coached. They're very accountable on
• 17:25
  Speaker 1: the floor, and I just trust those guys a lot
• 17:29
  Speaker 1: to be very prepared every time they take the court,
• 17:31
  Speaker 1: and that's exactly what you saw last Saturday. But again,
• 17:35
  Speaker 1: if they take another injury or two, it's going to
• 17:37
  Speaker 1: be a huge problem because they really have these seven
• 17:40
  Speaker 1: guys they're riding with the rest of the way.
• 17:45
  Speaker 5: I've made you labor on the big twelve here for
• 17:48
  Speaker 5: a second, but I would be remiss in the state
• 17:50
  Speaker 5: of Utah if I didn't ask about what the Utah
• 17:53
  Speaker 5: State Aggies are capable of once we get to tournament time.
• 17:56
  Speaker 5: With all the turnover player wise, with all the turnover
• 17:59
  Speaker 5: coach wise, the spectrum is still a very special place
• 18:02
  Speaker 5: and that basketball program finds a way.
• 18:06
  Speaker 3: What do you think of the Aggies.
• 18:09
  Speaker 1: It's an amazing program, for sure, But yeah, they've certainly
• 18:13
  Speaker 1: done enough to be in the field and the waves
• 18:16
  Speaker 1: they've been playing lately. I think they'll look forward to
• 18:18
  Speaker 1: getting out of the Mountain West because these Mountain West
• 18:21
  Speaker 1: coaches prepare very well for them. You know, they got
• 18:24
  Speaker 1: San Diego State finally got healthy the night that they
• 18:27
  Speaker 1: played them. So that was a tough break because San
• 18:30
  Speaker 1: Diego State was at home and really rolled them. But
• 18:34
  Speaker 1: good bounce back Free State to just be able to
• 18:36
  Speaker 1: survive Grand Canyon. That game was tied late. I'm a
• 18:39
  Speaker 1: little I'm a little worried about those last three performances.
• 18:42
  Speaker 1: Of course, they lost in Nevata before the Assets game,
• 18:44
  Speaker 1: so it's a wait and see game by game. But
• 18:47
  Speaker 1: I just think that these guys, you know, at one
• 18:50
  Speaker 1: point they're fifteen to one, and they were six and
• 18:52
  Speaker 1: oh in the conference, and I just think from that
• 18:55
  Speaker 1: point forward and a lot of and they ripped off
• 18:58
  Speaker 1: another nine in a row in the middle of the
• 19:00
  Speaker 1: league play after that. But I think for these guys,
• 19:03
  Speaker 1: they've been so looking forward to the NCAA tournament. When
• 19:06
  Speaker 1: they get there, I'm hoping they play their best ball.
• 19:08
  Speaker 1: But the Riggers in the dog days of the Mountain
• 19:10
  Speaker 1: West is really starting to get to them.
• 19:15
  Speaker 5: Gonna be fun to watch this all come together over
• 19:18
  Speaker 5: the next few weeks. Rocko Miller will be on top
• 19:20
  Speaker 5: of all of it. At the Bracketeer Roco, thanks for
• 19:23
  Speaker 5: your time today.
• 19:24
  Speaker 1: Appreciate you, sir, Yeah, anytime, guys, appreciate you having me on.
• 19:28
  Speaker 1: Thank you so much.
• 19:30
  Speaker 3: Early sign ups, by the way open right now.
• 19:32
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• 19:34
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• 19:39
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