Latest / Podcast on the Brink / POTB 569: Looking ahead to the 2026-27 Big Ten basketball season with Dylan Burkhardt (part one)

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POTB 569: Looking ahead to the 2026-27 Big Ten basketball season with Dylan Burkhardt (part one) · Podcast on the Brink

0:17
Speaker 1: Welcome back to a new episode of Podcast on the Brink.
0:22
Speaker 1: Always good to talk college basketball in early June. That's
0:26
Speaker 1: where we are. That's what we do all year round
0:29
Speaker 1: on a podcast on the Brink. And this is actually
0:32
Speaker 1: gonna be the first of a two part series. I
0:37
Speaker 1: guess two episodes, one this week and one next. We're
0:40
Speaker 1: gonna have our good friend Dylan Burkehard of You and Hoops.
0:43
Speaker 1: We're kind of gonna have to go through the Big
0:45
Speaker 1: Ten and talk about each of the teams. We're gonna
0:48
Speaker 1: start from the bottom up and looking at the current
0:53
Speaker 1: projections over on bart Torvik. We're just gonna go team
0:55
Speaker 1: by team and give some thoughts on each team. Dylan,
0:59
Speaker 1: I figure is one of the best resources anywhere to
1:02
Speaker 1: do that with us, and it should be a fun
1:04
Speaker 1: conversation before we get to Dylan. As always, if you
1:07
Speaker 1: enjoy the show, please leave us a rating and review
1:08
Speaker 1: over on Apple Podcasts Spotify. If you're watching on YouTube,
1:11
Speaker 1: like the video, subscribe to the channel. I appreciate the
1:14
Speaker 1: support there. Dylan, have you recovered from the whirlwind travel
1:19
Speaker 1: of the NCAA Tournament. I think I reached out to
1:23
Speaker 1: you right after Michigan won it all was happy for
1:27
Speaker 1: not only the Big Ten, but first person I thought
1:28
Speaker 1: of when they won was you, because you know, we've
1:30
Speaker 1: been friends for so long. We kind of started our
1:33
Speaker 1: websites in a similar time frame. It was interesting that
1:37
Speaker 1: this year I was first sure I covered football and
1:41
Speaker 1: IU won football national championship and the Michigan wins a
1:44
Speaker 1: basketball championship. I don't think if you asked either of
1:47
Speaker 1: us back in two thousand and seven or whatever it
1:50
Speaker 1: was we started it that Michigan would win a basketball
1:54
Speaker 1: championship before Indiana and then Indiana football wins the national championship.
1:57
Speaker 1: Kind of a weird thing, but good to see the
1:59
Speaker 1: titles back the Big Ten. Good to see Dustin May
2:02
Speaker 1: and Michigan cut down the nets. So what was that
2:04
Speaker 1: just experience? Like for you getting a chance to I
2:07
Speaker 1: know you've been there a couple times as the championship
2:09
Speaker 1: game came up short, but have a chance to cover
2:11
Speaker 1: a national championship had to be special.
2:13
Speaker 2: Yeah. It was definitely a fun ride, and in a
2:16
Speaker 2: lot of ways I think it was different than maybe
2:19
Speaker 2: other times, like I've covered Michigan twenty thirteen to the
2:21
Speaker 2: Final four twenty eighteen, those were very much runs sort
2:27
Speaker 2: of like, uh, there's a surprise there, Like it wasn't
2:29
Speaker 2: like Michigan was supposed to be there all along. But
2:32
Speaker 2: this season was a lot different where I think since
2:35
Speaker 2: Thanksgiving it was like Michigan should be in Indianapolis, and
2:39
Speaker 2: that was the way they carried themselves. That was kind
2:41
Speaker 2: of the fan expectations. So each step of the way
2:44
Speaker 2: was very i don't want to say like methodical, but
2:48
Speaker 2: business like, and it wasn't really like a huge celebration
2:50
Speaker 2: or anything really maybe up until making the Final four,
2:53
Speaker 2: but that perspective really changed and it was Okay, this
2:57
Speaker 2: is a team that's going to Indianapolis knowing it can
3:00
Speaker 2: win a championship, thinking it can win a championship, not
3:03
Speaker 2: just happy to be there. And that was obvious really
3:05
Speaker 2: from the start, and I think that's a credit to
3:07
Speaker 2: how good that team was, and they really came through
3:10
Speaker 2: on the biggest stage. I think that Arizona game was
3:12
Speaker 2: probably what we'll be remembered as kind of the moment
3:16
Speaker 2: where that was the two teams that everyone talked about
3:18
Speaker 2: all year in Michigan just controlled that game from the
3:21
Speaker 2: jump really, So yeah, it was awesome. It's a whirlwind,
3:26
Speaker 2: a lot of travel was not that bad. A lot
3:28
Speaker 2: of drivable distances, which was easier than some other times.
3:32
Speaker 2: I've kind of covered one of these runs, but a
3:35
Speaker 2: lot of fun And I don't know what there is
3:38
Speaker 2: to talk about in the offseason in the Big Ten
3:39
Speaker 2: now that the league has actually won a title for
3:41
Speaker 2: the first time in a couple decades.
3:44
Speaker 1: I've mentioned that the last couple of weeks, but I
3:46
Speaker 1: had to course on and then Tyler last week. It
3:48
Speaker 1: was kind of like every year I would ask people, like,
3:51
Speaker 1: what's wrong with the Big Ten? Why aren't they winning?
3:53
Speaker 1: And it just turns out, I think they've had a
3:56
Speaker 1: lot of good teams over a long period of time,
3:58
Speaker 1: but you just kind of have to have the circumstance.
4:01
Speaker 1: One more thing, just on that run with Michigan went.
4:04
Speaker 1: I know in the preseason there was expectations, but I
4:09
Speaker 1: talked to you, I know a lot throughout the season,
4:11
Speaker 1: But was it the trip to Vegas where you really
4:14
Speaker 1: kind of saw what this team could do for the
4:18
Speaker 1: players event out there? Is that when you kind of
4:21
Speaker 1: it first came to your mind, like this could be
4:23
Speaker 1: a team that wins it all?
4:26
Speaker 2: Yeah, Because really they had sort of a slow start.
4:29
Speaker 2: They lost the exhibition game to Cincinnati. Now a Daimara
4:32
Speaker 2: and Marit Johnson didn't play in that game, but still
4:35
Speaker 2: like they didn't lose many games all season, and so
4:37
Speaker 2: they started with that loss. Then they beat Saint John's
4:40
Speaker 2: in kind of a game that was very exhibition code.
4:43
Speaker 2: It was like, I think it was very high scoring.
4:46
Speaker 2: And then they had those two early games where they
4:49
Speaker 2: looked like a team kind of like the low end
4:52
Speaker 2: of what your expectations would be. They barely beat Wake
4:54
Speaker 2: Forest in Detroit. They went to TCU and won, and
4:58
Speaker 2: that's a tough win. It's a road win first we
5:00
Speaker 2: of the season, but they didn't look anything like kind
5:02
Speaker 2: of the super team they grew into. Then they went
5:06
Speaker 2: to Vegas and it just all clicked. And I think
5:09
Speaker 2: if you as Dusty, he would hit the same thing
5:11
Speaker 2: like that's where it just happened, and they thought it
5:13
Speaker 2: could happen. They didn't know it was going to happen then,
5:15
Speaker 2: and it just all clicked into place. I think they
5:18
Speaker 2: won all those games by like one hundred and ten
5:20
Speaker 2: points total in three games, and that Gonzaga game it
5:24
Speaker 2: was just okay, this is what they are now. And
5:27
Speaker 2: then I think you kept waiting for maybe to show
5:31
Speaker 2: that there was some kind of fluke or like they
5:33
Speaker 2: weren't going to be able to keep playing like that,
5:34
Speaker 2: but really they never did. They had they were able
5:37
Speaker 2: to respond to the few losses they took, and they
5:40
Speaker 2: kind of just maintained that level for most of the
5:42
Speaker 2: year and really ran through the Big Ten in a
5:44
Speaker 2: way that I don't think even at that point I
5:47
Speaker 2: would have thought was possible. Right, Like that was what
5:49
Speaker 2: was so impressive I think about this team is the
5:52
Speaker 2: Big Ten was really good, and they cleared the field
5:55
Speaker 2: really and won it pretty much outright, like with room
5:59
Speaker 2: to spare. That doesn't happen all the time.
6:02
Speaker 1: Yeah, and really, I mean the first loss they took,
6:05
Speaker 1: that Wisconsin loss at home in the season, that was
6:07
Speaker 1: kind of some crazy things had to happen for that
6:11
Speaker 1: game to go against them. So they were so dominant
6:13
Speaker 1: all season. It was a lot of fun to watch.
6:15
Speaker 1: You did a great job with the coverage at UM
6:17
Speaker 1: Hoops and the podcast and everything, so kudos for that.
6:21
Speaker 2: Appreciate it.
6:22
Speaker 1: Going to get into maybe a little less exciting in
6:25
Speaker 1: terms of quality of team here to start this off,
6:27
Speaker 1: but there are eighteen Big Ten teams and I did
6:29
Speaker 1: want to talk to you just kind of a little
6:32
Speaker 1: bit about every team. I don't know how much time
6:35
Speaker 1: exactly we'll spend on each team, but for those kind
6:39
Speaker 1: of looking to visualize how this is going to be
6:41
Speaker 1: laid out, I just pulled up the Bart Torvik projections
6:45
Speaker 1: for next season. They're not perfect. I think Bart would
6:48
Speaker 1: be the first person to tell you that there's some
6:50
Speaker 1: of the projections. I think some of the rosters are
6:52
Speaker 1: probably still a little bit in flux, and he's that's
6:55
Speaker 1: a pretty tedious process to maintain all of the players
6:58
Speaker 1: that are coming in and lee for projections. But he
7:01
Speaker 1: does have, to his credit, some early projections on national rankings.
7:06
Speaker 1: So I've kind of sorted these in reverse order from
7:08
Speaker 1: the Big Ten. The first team that's up there no
7:12
Speaker 1: surprise really to anybody Penn State and their season last year.
7:16
Speaker 1: They went from a team that was I thought entertaining
7:21
Speaker 1: the first couple of years of the micros era with
7:23
Speaker 1: Ace bald When and some of the other guys they had.
7:25
Speaker 1: They were tough out at times. I know you're making
7:29
Speaker 1: a little bit of a face there, but they were
7:31
Speaker 1: a little bit more formidable. Is it fair to say
7:34
Speaker 1: that the first couple of years. Last year it felt
7:36
Speaker 1: like they went the international route but didn't get anywhere
7:40
Speaker 1: near the caliber of player that they needed to contend
7:45
Speaker 1: and it was just a disaster last season. So it's
7:46
Speaker 1: no surprise to see them right now as we record
7:50
Speaker 1: this one hundred and eight than in Torvik, which is
7:52
Speaker 1: thirty spots lower than the next highest team, which is Minnesota.
7:55
Speaker 1: Not a ton there to be optimistic about. They lose
8:00
Speaker 1: Freddie Dillon, who's, you know, a solid scorer. I don't
8:04
Speaker 1: think a starter on like a really good Big ten team,
8:06
Speaker 1: but a piece. He's going to Georgia. They lost Cayden
8:09
Speaker 1: Mingo to Baylor. What they bring back is not much.
8:14
Speaker 1: And what they have coming in and you look at
8:17
Speaker 1: the where these guys are coming from Central Connecticut, Miami
8:20
Speaker 1: of Ohio, Davidson, Buffalo, Alabama, Huntsville, which is I believe
8:24
Speaker 1: is a D two school, and they have some other
8:26
Speaker 1: I think a one international kid, maybe actually a couple
8:30
Speaker 1: of international kids. I think that they lost the only
8:32
Speaker 1: high school kid they came in. Is this a Mike
8:34
Speaker 1: Rhodes hot seat situation or is this just a circumstance
8:39
Speaker 1: of a school that's not serious about basketball?
8:42
Speaker 2: How much money did they just spend in the football
8:44
Speaker 2: coaching change? What was that buyout for James Frank, Like,
8:49
Speaker 2: I don't know what you're gonna do in this current
8:52
Speaker 2: climate to make Penn State basketball successful like they used
8:56
Speaker 2: to be away. Maybe you really really go hard on
9:00
Speaker 2: certain high school relationships and you kind of create this.
9:04
Speaker 1: Like Lamar Stevens and Tony Karr a kind of going
9:06
Speaker 1: after the Philly kids.
9:07
Speaker 2: They did that, And I don't know what micro Rood's done, Like,
9:11
Speaker 2: you can't blame him, really, I don't think. But I
9:15
Speaker 2: don't really know how you can really compete when teams
9:18
Speaker 2: are spending fifteen to twenty million on basketball rosters and
9:23
Speaker 2: I had no idea, but I can't imagine the ten
9:25
Speaker 2: Saint rosters anything close to the range that the top
9:29
Speaker 2: end to twelve fifteen teams in the Big Ten are
9:32
Speaker 2: spending on their rosters. So I don't know. They were
9:36
Speaker 2: terrible defensively last year. They just don't have enough good players.
9:40
Speaker 2: I don't think. I don't know how you can, like,
9:42
Speaker 2: what's the up what's the ceiling for what Penn State
9:44
Speaker 2: basketball can be in college basketball? Where you need a
9:48
Speaker 2: roster that costs over ten million dollars to be relevant.
9:51
Speaker 2: I don't know.
9:51
Speaker 1: Yeah, I think one of the things that kind of
9:54
Speaker 1: just popped in my head thinking about this situation maybe
9:57
Speaker 1: a couple others in the Big ten, is does do
10:01
Speaker 1: these schools kind of rethink how they evaluate coaches now
10:04
Speaker 1: moving forward? Because you realistically, I'm not sure at a
10:08
Speaker 1: place like Penn State, Northwestern maybe another situation like this,
10:15
Speaker 1: potentially Rutgers, I don't know. I know they did spend
10:17
Speaker 1: some money a couple of years ago on Dylan Harper
10:19
Speaker 1: and Ace Bailey, but had nothing to show for that.
10:21
Speaker 1: But if you're not going to spend the resources, I
10:24
Speaker 1: don't know exactly what changing the coach is going to
10:29
Speaker 1: do long term. Maybe you get a coach that can
10:33
Speaker 1: maybe outperform expectations, but what does that really look like
10:36
Speaker 1: At Penn State? I mean, if Mike Roads had a
10:38
Speaker 1: really good year next year, I mean they're fourteenth in
10:40
Speaker 1: the Big tenth. I mean that realistically, that's probably like
10:43
Speaker 1: the ceiling for what they could do. It's not a
10:45
Speaker 1: situation where we had like with Nebraska last year, where
10:48
Speaker 1: they I think were picked fourteenth or fifteenth and get
10:51
Speaker 1: to the Sweet sixteen. I just don't think that's realistic
10:53
Speaker 1: with this roster. So not a ton to add on
10:56
Speaker 1: to what you said there on Penn State. I just
10:57
Speaker 1: think it's kind of a situation that's there's really nothing
11:05
Speaker 1: that can be built there unless they're willing to spend money.
11:08
Speaker 2: Yeah, And I would almost think you have to think
11:11
Speaker 2: about new ways to even hire coaches, right, Like do
11:14
Speaker 2: you hire lower level coaches that run some kind of
11:17
Speaker 2: scheme or system or have experience recruiting D two's, Like
11:21
Speaker 2: I don't know. For all we know, they could have
11:22
Speaker 2: got some D two or international guy that's better than
11:26
Speaker 2: we all think and they could be good, Like I like,
11:28
Speaker 2: that's you have to kind of come up with alternate
11:30
Speaker 2: roots to I think being competitive, where the whole idea
11:33
Speaker 2: of just like maybe I can just find my guy
11:36
Speaker 2: in the high school ranks, recruit him for three years
11:39
Speaker 2: in high school, he comes in and has a four
11:41
Speaker 2: year career and gets the program back on track, Like
11:43
Speaker 2: I don't know if that route to building kind of
11:46
Speaker 2: one of these programs is as viable as it was
11:49
Speaker 2: ten fifteen years ago. And they bring Mingo in like
11:53
Speaker 2: that's that should be a huge win, right, And he
11:56
Speaker 2: comes in, he's pretty good as a freshman. Now, I
11:58
Speaker 2: just gone, like, what do you do? Like? You do
12:00
Speaker 2: that again every year? You can't. You're not getting anything
12:03
Speaker 2: out of having the freshman year. You want the sophomore, junior,
12:06
Speaker 2: senior year. And it's just I don't know what the
12:09
Speaker 2: path is. You got to really get lucky. I guess
12:11
Speaker 2: on a big transfer hit something like that.
12:14
Speaker 1: Yeah, and they even if they do, they're not going
12:17
Speaker 1: to be able to retain that player.
12:18
Speaker 2: Right.
12:18
Speaker 1: Kind of the same thing with Mingo. If they were
12:20
Speaker 1: able to recruit a freshman that was really good, Let's
12:23
Speaker 1: say they got someone that was, you know, an all
12:26
Speaker 1: Big ten type player, They're not going to stay at
12:28
Speaker 1: Penn State for the money they can pay when they
12:31
Speaker 1: can go somewhere else and get more money. So you
12:33
Speaker 1: have to do that repeatedly, and I just don't think
12:35
Speaker 1: that's a sustainable model for buildings success. So I'll be
12:38
Speaker 1: interested to see kind of what the dialogue is and
12:41
Speaker 1: what they talk about like around that program this season
12:44
Speaker 1: if it goes poorly again, because I don't know if
12:46
Speaker 1: changing coaches is really going to yield any different results.
12:50
Speaker 1: The next group of teams here that are kind of
12:52
Speaker 1: bunched up and according to bart his early projections. Minnesota
12:56
Speaker 1: surprised me a little bit. Second from the bottom Rutgers, Northwestern, Washington,
13:01
Speaker 1: and then we have kind of another sizeable gap before
13:03
Speaker 1: we get to Wisconsin. So I kind of want to
13:05
Speaker 1: go through these teams a little bit on each one.
13:07
Speaker 1: Minnesota I thought last year was competitive, competent. You know,
13:12
Speaker 1: they obviously went to the Crown, which they played in,
13:17
Speaker 1: which was surprising to me given the lack of depth
13:21
Speaker 1: that they had on their team. I think at the
13:22
Speaker 1: end of the season they were playing like six or
13:24
Speaker 1: seven guys. I'm like, why do you guys want to
13:25
Speaker 1: go play more games? I'm sure there was an nil
13:27
Speaker 1: component to that, but you know, Kate Tyson was fun
13:31
Speaker 1: to watch. They had some they had some good, solid wins.
13:34
Speaker 1: They were a competent team. Rutgers can't really say the
13:37
Speaker 1: same for them. Not much really to write home about there,
13:41
Speaker 1: just they also just lost a ton in the portal
13:44
Speaker 1: this year, so it's kind of starting over again for them.
13:46
Speaker 1: Northwestern Indiana fans don't want here, so Northwestern wasn't very
13:50
Speaker 1: good last year. They did beat Indiana twice, but it
13:52
Speaker 1: was Nick Martinelli and then Jake West had some moments
13:55
Speaker 1: there at the end of the season. I think they
13:57
Speaker 1: bring him back, but overall, not really a team that competed.
14:01
Speaker 1: And then in terms of the talent of those groups,
14:04
Speaker 1: I think Washington by far had the most talent of
14:07
Speaker 1: those four teams with Steinbach who's off to the NBA,
14:09
Speaker 1: Bryce and Tucker inexplicably left his name in the NBA
14:14
Speaker 1: draft after barely even seeing the court last year at Washington.
14:18
Speaker 1: That's a weird one. Who knows, Maybe he'll come back
14:21
Speaker 1: in what two or three years after he's not drafted
14:24
Speaker 1: and plays in the G League. He'll he'll be, he'll
14:26
Speaker 1: be in addition to the twenty eight to twenty nine
14:28
Speaker 1: roster somewhere. But any of these first of all, any
14:32
Speaker 1: of these teams have a chance to make the tournament
14:37
Speaker 1: next year of those four.
14:39
Speaker 2: So I'm a big Nico medved fan, and I think
14:44
Speaker 2: that they're probably one of the closer teams to breaking
14:47
Speaker 2: through in this group. Kayane Evans comes from UNC He
14:51
Speaker 2: played for medved In at Colorado State. They bring back Dirk,
14:55
Speaker 2: and they bring back Crocker Johnson, like Winters, Grady transfer
14:59
Speaker 2: her miss really good shooter, top one hundred prospect, like
15:03
Speaker 2: that's the kind of transferget I think you want to
15:05
Speaker 2: get when you're building a team like Minnesota. He couldn't
15:08
Speaker 2: play for Michigan last year, but Michigan had nine deep
15:10
Speaker 2: and one of the best teams in the country. So
15:12
Speaker 2: I think they're close there. I really do, And I
15:15
Speaker 2: just I think he has a really high floor for
15:19
Speaker 2: what that team can be offensively, just because of his system,
15:23
Speaker 2: and if they can get a little healthier, like they
15:25
Speaker 2: were hard out last year, despite the fact that by
15:28
Speaker 2: the end of the year they're playing with like five
15:29
Speaker 2: and a half guys. So I'm buying Minnesota. They don't
15:32
Speaker 2: have crazy money, they don't have like this huge budget,
15:35
Speaker 2: but I think he is a coach that can win
15:37
Speaker 2: in kind of this format, win more with less. I
15:41
Speaker 2: just trust that. And I don't know that they'll make
15:43
Speaker 2: the tournament this year, but I think they can play
15:45
Speaker 2: their way kind of into the picture. Right. They play
15:48
Speaker 2: a unique style, they're a hard, hard team to guard,
15:53
Speaker 2: and it's a year two where I think he's building
15:55
Speaker 2: something right like some of these programs I think don't
15:58
Speaker 2: have maybe the momentum not necessarily building into something, and
16:01
Speaker 2: it feels like the oxygen is coming out of the balloon.
16:05
Speaker 2: I think that's the opposite from Minnesota. Like I think
16:07
Speaker 2: this is on the come up. You're gonna see what
16:10
Speaker 2: Nico Medvet can build Minnesota into over the next two
16:13
Speaker 2: or three years, and that's gonna kind of determine everything.
16:15
Speaker 2: And I think you showed more than a nothing year one,
16:18
Speaker 2: then I'll be like, Yeah, this team can be competitive
16:21
Speaker 2: hub around five hundred and makes something happen.
16:23
Speaker 1: Yeah you did. I don't think you mentioned awesome either.
16:25
Speaker 1: I liked him last year. I think he had a
16:27
Speaker 1: pretty good year. The other thing I'll say about this
16:29
Speaker 1: group who they bring in Now, I'm not saying any
16:31
Speaker 1: of these guys were productive necessarily are big time producers
16:35
Speaker 1: at the high major level, But compare this to Penn State,
16:38
Speaker 1: where you're bringing in guys from lower level of D
16:40
Speaker 1: one and a D two player bringing in two players
16:44
Speaker 1: from Michigan obviously, as you kind of mentioned the circumstances there,
16:46
Speaker 1: but who knows, Maybe they get something out of Grady.
16:50
Speaker 1: I'm not sure as much I.
16:51
Speaker 2: Think Grady guys.
16:52
Speaker 1: Yeah, the bringing in a guy from Texas Tech. You
16:55
Speaker 1: mentioned Kyan Evans North Carolina and then someone from Villanova,
16:58
Speaker 1: so least guys that have been around big time college
17:01
Speaker 1: basketball practice against so I feel a little bit better
17:05
Speaker 1: about them. I don't feel nearly as good about the
17:09
Speaker 1: other teams we mentioned. Kind of the same reason behind that.
17:13
Speaker 1: With Northwestern, they lose Nick Martinelli and then you just
17:16
Speaker 1: kind of go through the guys they brought in and
17:18
Speaker 1: it's it's not even mid major All Stars, it's it's
17:22
Speaker 1: a lot of low major players. And Chris Collins, he's
17:27
Speaker 1: done some things there, obviously making the tournament. No other
17:29
Speaker 1: coach has done that. I don't know that they spend
17:32
Speaker 1: nearly enough to feel a competitive roster. Rutgers kind of
17:37
Speaker 1: the same thing. It felt like they kind of went
17:38
Speaker 1: all in a couple of years ago with with Harper
17:42
Speaker 1: and Bailey, took a step back. Well did they even
17:45
Speaker 1: necessarily take a step back? Last year? I think they
17:47
Speaker 1: were kind of the same thing, maybe a little worse. Lose,
17:51
Speaker 1: lose a ton of players to the portal, bring in
17:56
Speaker 1: a bunch of guys from lower levels or lower usage
18:00
Speaker 1: guys in the high major level. I think they bring
18:02
Speaker 1: back Tarik Francis, who was fun at the times last year.
18:05
Speaker 1: He's a competent player. Jamichael Davis is another guy who's
18:09
Speaker 1: got some experience there at play, but no one really
18:12
Speaker 1: on that roster that you look at and say that
18:14
Speaker 1: they would start for a good Big Ten team. And
18:16
Speaker 1: then Washington, you know, I don't know, Like I was
18:19
Speaker 1: high on Sprinkle when they made that higher and I
18:21
Speaker 1: thought they had a chance to be relatively successful. But
18:26
Speaker 1: it kind of feels like a make or break year
18:28
Speaker 1: for them coming into the season. They bring back Wesley Yates,
18:31
Speaker 1: who I think has got to be much better. He
18:32
Speaker 1: was had some health problems last year. The Desmond Claude
18:35
Speaker 1: thing last year went terribly. Bryce and Tucker we mentioned
18:39
Speaker 1: never really got off the gun. What's that They bring
18:42
Speaker 1: in Watts from Texas Tech, who's a good player, Like yeah, yeah,
18:46
Speaker 1: So to.
18:46
Speaker 2: Me, Washington, like if you just were to put a
18:50
Speaker 2: value on their roster from how quote unquote good their
18:53
Speaker 2: players should be, they should be above this group. But
18:58
Speaker 2: they the last two years have told is like, you
19:00
Speaker 2: can't just do that because I think they've underwhelmed both years.
19:03
Speaker 2: And then I think Rutgers in Northwestern are kind of opposite,
19:06
Speaker 2: Like I trust Chris Collins and Steve Pichel too. They
19:11
Speaker 2: know what it takes to grind their way to eight
19:13
Speaker 2: Big Ten wins in a way that we haven't seen
19:17
Speaker 2: yet from Sprinkle at Washington, and I think they have
19:21
Speaker 2: enough continuity that you could maybe see a bit of it, right.
19:23
Speaker 2: I think Jake West showed some things last year. They
19:27
Speaker 2: played him a lot like he's going to grow into
19:30
Speaker 2: maybe like the next Chris Collins guard there and I
19:32
Speaker 2: think you can kind of see that. And it's not
19:33
Speaker 2: going to be easy all the time, but they have
19:36
Speaker 2: a track record there where they've created a bit of
19:39
Speaker 2: development and I trust that with Collins, same way with Rutgers,
19:43
Speaker 2: like they bring a few guys back. I don't know.
19:45
Speaker 2: I think they can be Well, they went six and
19:48
Speaker 2: fourteen last year. Could they go to win seven or
19:50
Speaker 2: eight Big Ten games this year? I could see that.
19:52
Speaker 2: I think they look a little better. But Washington for me,
19:55
Speaker 2: is a big one. Like Sprinkle on paper, seemed like
19:57
Speaker 2: a great coach when he came in. Obviously it's hard
20:01
Speaker 2: to coach these West Coast teams in the Big Ten,
20:05
Speaker 2: but like the roster, Yeah, can you make the tournament
20:08
Speaker 2: with these guys? I think you should be able to.
20:10
Speaker 2: But I don't really trust trust in what that project
20:15
Speaker 2: is right now, and it's at the point where how
20:17
Speaker 2: long does it go and what does it look like
20:18
Speaker 2: moving forward? I don't know how you pivot out of that.
20:22
Speaker 1: Yeah, do you think that situation or Rutgers could be
20:27
Speaker 1: one that we're having a coaching search conversation? Like with
20:30
Speaker 1: Rutgers kind of go back to the same thing that
20:33
Speaker 1: we talked about with Penn State. What are the resources.
20:37
Speaker 1: I feel like Washington at least has some money that
20:40
Speaker 1: you know, they got Steinbach and they had Yates, and
20:44
Speaker 1: it feels like they at least spent something. And this
20:46
Speaker 1: roster too, I mean they brought in some decent transfers.
20:48
Speaker 1: Another guy we didn't mention it, don't think Ryan Beasley
20:50
Speaker 1: from San Francisco. I think is going to be their
20:52
Speaker 1: point guard. He should be a fun, exciting player to watch.
20:55
Speaker 1: And we mentioned I think Yates. I mean we had
20:58
Speaker 1: him pretty ranked pretty highly coming into the year. Last year,
21:00
Speaker 1: he just didn't really get going and had a tough year.
21:03
Speaker 1: But I think if he like bounces back it has
21:06
Speaker 1: a really good year, you could see them have a
21:07
Speaker 1: winning record. So I think there's probably more pressure on
21:13
Speaker 1: Sprinkle if I'm being honest here between him and like
21:16
Speaker 1: if you're comparing it to the Northwestern situation or the
21:19
Speaker 1: Rutger situation. I think this is kind of more of
21:21
Speaker 1: a make or break year for Sprinkle than is those
21:24
Speaker 1: two guys, because the other two guys have already made
21:26
Speaker 1: the tournament, and who knows what the long. I think
21:29
Speaker 1: Pikeel's got a prohibitive buyout, so who knows how long
21:32
Speaker 1: he's going to stick around there. But none of these
21:34
Speaker 1: are great situations. But if I'm looking at the three
21:37
Speaker 1: and saying who has the most pressure to do something,
21:39
Speaker 1: I think it's Washington by far.
21:41
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, I think Chris Conns can probably stay
21:43
Speaker 2: in Northwestern as long as he wants.
21:45
Speaker 1: I don't know how long that is.
21:47
Speaker 2: I think Pipel I think it was kind of the
21:50
Speaker 2: same deal where he like, I don't know what you're
21:52
Speaker 2: going to get this better than Pikeel, But I worry
21:55
Speaker 2: that the momentum is just going to come so far out.
21:57
Speaker 2: But I think to move on from pike you probably
22:00
Speaker 2: have to like Crater, and last year I thought they
22:03
Speaker 2: had a real chance to creator, and they didn't like
22:05
Speaker 2: completely Crater in the way that maybe you would have thought.
22:08
Speaker 2: So to me, Sprinkle is a situation where like they
22:12
Speaker 2: should be better, and the expectation is making the tournament
22:15
Speaker 2: there in a way that maybe it isn't at the
22:17
Speaker 2: other two. But also how long was Mike Hopkins there
22:20
Speaker 2: and he made the tournament? What once so expanded tournament? Though, Uh,
22:27
Speaker 2: you gotta kind of make it if you're Washington, if
22:29
Speaker 2: you're gonna show anything, because how are you gonna if
22:33
Speaker 2: you go, oh oh for three making the tournament? How
22:36
Speaker 2: are you gonna get out of that? I think it's
22:37
Speaker 2: probably the year before, the year before you missed right
22:40
Speaker 2: where it's like, okay, now it's do or die. But
22:43
Speaker 2: very few coaches can come back from that. And honestly,
22:46
Speaker 2: in this nil climate, you've seen more programs pull the
22:50
Speaker 2: plug before that kind of year before a situation right
22:53
Speaker 2: like this, might as well just go and get a
22:55
Speaker 2: new coach and spark your fundraising money instead of kind
22:59
Speaker 2: of trying to grind through it. And that seems to
23:01
Speaker 2: be a common approach now.
23:03
Speaker 1: Yeah, so we're through the bottom five, which I think
23:05
Speaker 1: is probably going to be the consensus bottom five, although
23:08
Speaker 1: I will remind everyone that Nebraska was bottom five and
23:12
Speaker 1: most of the consensus picks last year, so I don't
23:15
Speaker 1: necessarily see though a team in that group that can
23:19
Speaker 1: do what Nebraska did last season. But again, no one
23:21
Speaker 1: would have predicted what Nebraska did last year a season
23:24
Speaker 1: ago at this time. So the next four teams that
23:26
Speaker 1: we're going to cover this episode before we get and
23:28
Speaker 1: get to the top half in the next episode, Wisconsin
23:33
Speaker 1: in Oregon, Iowa, and Maryland all kind of similarly grouped tier.
23:38
Speaker 1: Wisconsin's an interesting team to me because I just keep
23:42
Speaker 1: waiting for them to fall off and it hasn't happened.
23:46
Speaker 1: It seems like they find someone every year to whether
23:49
Speaker 1: it's you know, John Tanji a couple of years ago,
23:52
Speaker 1: Nick Boyd, this this past season. It kind of felt
23:56
Speaker 1: like every year they were able to, you know, whether
24:01
Speaker 1: the storm and continue to put results forward.
24:03
Speaker 2: Oregon I think it was the first time.
24:06
Speaker 1: I think I said this on last week's episode with
24:07
Speaker 1: Tyler we're talking a little bit about Oregon first time.
24:11
Speaker 1: Dana Altman didn't win twenty games in his whole career
24:14
Speaker 1: at Oregon, so kind of an outlier season. I think
24:16
Speaker 1: they have a chance to bounce back. Iowa lost Bennett Starts,
24:20
Speaker 1: which to me, I'm not as high as on Iowa's
24:24
Speaker 1: I guess some people are because I think that's a
24:27
Speaker 1: pretty difficult player to replace just watching them up close.
24:30
Speaker 1: He did everything for them. And then Maryland, which was
24:32
Speaker 1: a complete disaster last year. Somehow here at thirty five
24:35
Speaker 1: we can kind of try to wrap our brain around
24:37
Speaker 1: that first off with Wisconsin, just any thoughts on them.
24:41
Speaker 1: Obviously Nolan Winters back, they got some other guys that
24:45
Speaker 1: have come back, but it kind of feels like, at
24:47
Speaker 1: least on paper, they lacked that star power after losing
24:50
Speaker 1: Blackwell and Boyd.
24:53
Speaker 2: Yeah, so they have basically printed all big ten level
25:00
Speaker 2: scorers kind of with this offensive continuity ball screen where
25:04
Speaker 2: they just run a bunch of ball screens, have pick
25:05
Speaker 2: and pop bigs and really let their guards go to work.
25:10
Speaker 2: But yet Blackwell leaving is obviously a big loss, and
25:13
Speaker 2: the question is can they recreate that. I guess I
25:16
Speaker 2: don't know a lot about him, but it seems like
25:18
Speaker 2: Ohen Foxwell is going to be one of those main guys.
25:21
Speaker 2: He's a twenty two to twenty three year old Australian
25:25
Speaker 2: who's been playing in the NBL. I mean maybe I
25:29
Speaker 2: don't know, like he could be good, right, I don't
25:31
Speaker 2: have any eyes over in Australia, and how good he is,
25:34
Speaker 2: but he's an on ball guard, and on ball guards
25:36
Speaker 2: have basically produced year in and year out for Wisconsin. They
25:40
Speaker 2: kept Nolan Winter, which is huge. I've always been a
25:42
Speaker 2: big fan of him. Winter and Rapp are going to
25:45
Speaker 2: shoot a bunch of threes. They kid coming off from Amamue,
25:48
Speaker 2: Ohio can shoot like they have shooters. They're gonna spread
25:51
Speaker 2: the floor. They're going to shoot a bunch of threes.
25:53
Speaker 2: What's the defensive upside of this group? I don't really know.
25:58
Speaker 2: And man, it just feels like for Greg Guard, they've
26:02
Speaker 2: blown a lot of equity in early tournament losses. Right
26:05
Speaker 2: Like they've had these awesome, like overachieving seasons and then
26:09
Speaker 2: they just don't make it out of the second weekend
26:11
Speaker 2: or the first weekend. And now, if you're looking at
26:15
Speaker 2: a team that maybe isn't quite up to that three
26:17
Speaker 2: four five seed range they've been the last couple of years,
26:20
Speaker 2: I don't know. I feel like if they would have
26:23
Speaker 2: one run to the sweet sixteen, like maybe this run
26:26
Speaker 2: feel different. Instead it feels like a lot of points
26:28
Speaker 2: and maybe just not that kind of breakthrough you would hope.
26:32
Speaker 2: But I don't know what do you make of where
26:34
Speaker 2: this program is under guard given the lack of tournament success.
26:38
Speaker 2: I hate holding that against the coach, but it's hard
26:41
Speaker 2: to ignore on his Ken Pump page if you pull
26:44
Speaker 2: it up.
26:45
Speaker 1: Yeah. I mean the thing with them is I think
26:49
Speaker 1: he gets the benefit of the doubt until he stops
26:52
Speaker 1: consistently making the tournament because he continues to lose. Like
26:56
Speaker 1: they lost CHUCKI hepburn a few years ago and they
26:58
Speaker 1: were able to replace him with was that the Tanji
27:01
Speaker 1: year and they were just as good, if not better
27:03
Speaker 1: than the year before, And then last year getting Nick
27:06
Speaker 1: Boyd was obviously huge. So I tend to put more stock.
27:10
Speaker 1: I know the tournament matters, but it also it's also
27:13
Speaker 1: pretty random, like when you're in the seed level that
27:15
Speaker 1: they've been in. I think what they lose the high
27:17
Speaker 1: point last year is like a five seed they were,
27:20
Speaker 1: they were an upset victim.
27:23
Speaker 2: They're another team.
27:25
Speaker 1: I just don't know what they what their resources are,
27:27
Speaker 1: because if John Blackwell was at Illinois or Michigan or
27:35
Speaker 1: another Big ten school spending a lot of money, they
27:37
Speaker 1: wouldn't be losing them to.
27:38
Speaker 2: Duke, right, probably any school we're going to talk about
27:42
Speaker 2: in the next episode, right, I like that doesn't.
27:44
Speaker 1: Read outside of like maybe Nebraska. I don't know what
27:48
Speaker 1: they're paying, but they seem to have more money, So
27:51
Speaker 1: I give them the benefit of that, because like in
27:53
Speaker 1: terms of being able to like recreate what you do
27:57
Speaker 1: and kind of change on the fly, Like they were
28:00
Speaker 1: a completely different style of play when Guard took over,
28:02
Speaker 1: and now they're a lot more fun to watch. I mean,
28:05
Speaker 1: I watched their games on TV. The fan base seems
28:08
Speaker 1: to be engaged. The buildings, it's like one of the
28:10
Speaker 1: better atmospheres on the road than Big Ten. So I
28:12
Speaker 1: don't necessarily think like unless that changes, anything changes with
28:15
Speaker 1: the status. Is it frustrating that they kind of have
28:18
Speaker 1: these early tournament losses, Sure, but I feel like they
28:21
Speaker 1: could do a lot worse than Greg Guard. I think
28:23
Speaker 1: he's a solid coach. I don't necessarily think he's ever
28:27
Speaker 1: going to be a guy that gets to the final
28:28
Speaker 1: four wins the national championship, but I think a Wisconsin
28:31
Speaker 1: that might be good enough to keep him there as
28:32
Speaker 1: long as he wants to be there. Plus, you know
28:34
Speaker 1: he's he's a bow Ryan disciples, So I think they
28:38
Speaker 1: would have to have a huge falloff and like miss
28:40
Speaker 1: the tournament consistently it's like for a couple of years
28:42
Speaker 1: before there's ever a conversation on his job. I mean
28:46
Speaker 1: that seem fair.
28:47
Speaker 2: Yeah, And I think you look at this team and
28:49
Speaker 2: they're gonna be picked probably like we're in the bottom
28:52
Speaker 2: half in this podcast. Like, I think they probably make
28:55
Speaker 2: the tournament just because they're going to be better offensively
28:59
Speaker 2: than you think. They have a really good offensive system. Like,
29:02
Speaker 2: I think they have a real chance to make a tournament,
29:03
Speaker 2: especially now that it's expanded. I think a lot of
29:06
Speaker 2: teams like this are most Big ten teams should be
29:09
Speaker 2: like we should at least be able to make an
29:10
Speaker 2: expanded tournament, And I think they're in that group.
29:12
Speaker 1: I mean I think when are and rap is this
29:15
Speaker 1: decent combo up front, and if the guards said they
29:17
Speaker 1: got and the wing players that can just make shots
29:20
Speaker 1: at a consistent level, I mean, they're gonna beat some
29:22
Speaker 1: teams and they're you know, they're gonna they're gonna have
29:25
Speaker 1: nights where they give up ninety five and lose, but
29:27
Speaker 1: they're also gonna have knights when they make a ton
29:29
Speaker 1: of threes and and knock somebody off at home. So
29:32
Speaker 1: I mean they had no business. They had no business
29:34
Speaker 1: winning the some of the games they lost last year
29:35
Speaker 1: and they and they won sore Oregon's a little trickier
29:40
Speaker 1: for me because they were just they just bottomed out
29:42
Speaker 1: last year, and I guess we I picked them fifth
29:46
Speaker 1: in the preseason last year, and then after the season
29:48
Speaker 1: started and I saw like how poorly they started, and
29:51
Speaker 1: I looked at like who was on the team besides Evans,
29:53
Speaker 1: Shelstad and Biddle. I was like, man, they really had
29:58
Speaker 1: a terrible roster. And I feel like, at least with
30:00
Speaker 1: this team, they have assembled some guys that at least
30:05
Speaker 1: have a chance to be solid players. Like Jasper Johnson
30:08
Speaker 1: was a highly recruited, a highly rated guy, went to Kentucky,
30:11
Speaker 1: obviously didn't play well there. Tyrone Riley, I think he
30:14
Speaker 1: went in the portal for a second straight year, finally
30:16
Speaker 1: left San Francisco, But I think he was the guy
30:18
Speaker 1: that got looks from high majors. They bring back Sean Stewart,
30:21
Speaker 1: I mean they brought in some you know, the kid
30:24
Speaker 1: from Arizona I think has a chance, like to be
30:27
Speaker 1: a talented front court player. He never really got a
30:30
Speaker 1: chance Arizona. He's like a bi low guy. Aristo. I
30:33
Speaker 1: think that's how you say.
30:35
Speaker 2: He's a nice prospect. I think they have a lot
30:38
Speaker 2: of nice like gambles. Last year's team, like you say,
30:43
Speaker 2: it was like a three man team, and the two
30:46
Speaker 2: best players in the team were hurt most of the year.
30:48
Speaker 2: It was a disaster. I was like Dana Alman just
30:52
Speaker 2: looked tired last year though, And I don't know, I'm
30:55
Speaker 2: kind of.
30:56
Speaker 1: A coach to go out like that though, right.
30:59
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think maybe, But this is a there's not
31:03
Speaker 2: many sure things on this roster, like plenty of nice gambles,
31:07
Speaker 2: but it still feels a long way from just like
31:09
Speaker 2: a bunch of wings like Taylor bow Bowen, nice player,
31:13
Speaker 2: I don't know, Pharaoh Compton like they have. They got
31:16
Speaker 2: a lot of guys. It feels like they they didn't
31:19
Speaker 2: go by like one or two stars. They went and
31:21
Speaker 2: got a bunch of mid level players and they're just
31:23
Speaker 2: gonna throw it all at the wall and see what works.
31:25
Speaker 2: I guess a better way to not get stuck with
31:28
Speaker 2: no one who can play. So that makes sense, But
31:30
Speaker 2: I don't know if they have maybe the star power
31:32
Speaker 2: that some better teams have. Really hard team to say
31:36
Speaker 2: what it's gonna look like, just because like they have
31:39
Speaker 2: so many guys that could play, and maybe I don't
31:41
Speaker 2: really know how roles will shake out with what they've got.
31:44
Speaker 1: They also have Trevor Reeves's son, which makes me feel
31:47
Speaker 1: very old as I talk about their team. So they
31:50
Speaker 1: also got a guy I think, Fred Payne from Boston College.
31:53
Speaker 1: I think average close to sixteen, which again, at Boston College,
31:56
Speaker 1: someone's got to score the points. They were so bad,
31:58
Speaker 1: But at least they have some guys that have played
32:00
Speaker 1: at the highest level, so I would put them at
32:03
Speaker 1: least a you know, a tier above the bottom five.
32:06
Speaker 1: But again I look at the historical performance of Altman
32:11
Speaker 1: as a coach, I do think he's from x's and
32:13
Speaker 1: o's perspective, is actually a pretty good coach. I do
32:16
Speaker 1: wonder though, like the money there. I guess Dan Lanning
32:20
Speaker 1: has just taking all the money for football and said
32:22
Speaker 1: we're gonna spend it all and not give any the basketball,
32:24
Speaker 1: because I would think they would. You know, they were
32:26
Speaker 1: getting five stars there for a while out of high
32:28
Speaker 1: school and some really talented players. It doesn't seem like
32:30
Speaker 1: really from the high school ranks they've been able to
32:32
Speaker 1: do that as much and only bringing back one player
32:34
Speaker 1: is also a tough place to start. I think only
32:36
Speaker 1: Sean Stewart is the is the lone returning scholarship guy,
32:40
Speaker 1: so they're kind of starting.
32:41
Speaker 2: To like to celebrate this returning player guy.
32:44
Speaker 1: But we'll see right right, this is his what third school,
32:48
Speaker 1: so he'll be a senior, so that he'll be interesting.
32:50
Speaker 1: IOWA talk to Tyler about that. He be Ben McCollum
32:55
Speaker 1: doesn't seem too worried about losing Bennett Sturt, But if
33:00
Speaker 1: I'm Ben McCollum, I'm pretty worried about losing Bennett sert
33:03
Speaker 1: Is this a I mean, they were a kind of
33:07
Speaker 1: middle of the pack Big ten team last year, had
33:09
Speaker 1: a really good run, which credit to them for putting
33:11
Speaker 1: it all together when it mattered most. That Florida win
33:14
Speaker 1: was among the best in the NCAA tournament. Then they
33:17
Speaker 1: beat Nebraska in the sweet sixteen get to the Elite eight.
33:22
Speaker 1: Am I crazy, But losing Bennett Sertz is really gonna
33:28
Speaker 1: be tough to overcome for them because the rest of
33:30
Speaker 1: their team is basically role players. And I know they
33:32
Speaker 1: brought in a kid from Illinois State who I think
33:34
Speaker 1: that it's gonna be pretty big good. They brought it
33:35
Speaker 1: in the big man from Saint Mary's. I'm just not
33:39
Speaker 1: It's a big difference going from a guy who's probably
33:42
Speaker 1: gonna be a top twenty pick to a bunch of
33:43
Speaker 1: role players.
33:45
Speaker 2: Yeah, you say, Ben McCollums seems confident. He seems someone
33:49
Speaker 2: that is not short on self confidence, So that doesn't
33:51
Speaker 2: really surprise me. I think he's clearly a good coach.
33:55
Speaker 1: He should be. Yeah, he should be. I mean he's
33:58
Speaker 1: done well.
33:59
Speaker 2: I worry about teams that don't really impress in the
34:03
Speaker 2: regular season and then make a run in the postseason.
34:06
Speaker 2: Often it's kind of like the number one tell for
34:09
Speaker 2: a team that might underachieve the next year because they're
34:11
Speaker 2: always overvalued. So I think you certainly put Iowa in
34:15
Speaker 2: that group. Counterpoint would be despite the fact that, like
34:20
Speaker 2: they didn't win, they were just kind of ten to
34:21
Speaker 2: ten to big ten and really didn't seem to ever
34:24
Speaker 2: create a lot of momentum. Their Ken Pond numbers were
34:27
Speaker 2: very good all year, and so the computer numbers always
34:30
Speaker 2: liked them in a way that maybe they weren't appreciated
34:34
Speaker 2: for kind of the overall body of work. But I'm
34:39
Speaker 2: kind of in a wait and see, I'm intrigued by
34:41
Speaker 2: they got McKiever, the big guy coming over from Saint Mary's,
34:44
Speaker 2: and I think it's a really interesting fit. He'll fit
34:48
Speaker 2: into their slow tempo, create some opportunities to around the
34:52
Speaker 2: rim that they didn't maybe have last year. But yeah,
34:55
Speaker 2: I don't know. The entire system last year was dribble
35:00
Speaker 2: the ball and then let Bennet Starts do something. And
35:03
Speaker 2: now there's no Benn Starts and there's not really a
35:06
Speaker 2: obvious Bennett Starts replacement now. Right, McCollum's track record throughout
35:12
Speaker 2: every level he's coach dad is he's created new Bennett
35:15
Speaker 2: Sturtz's right. Benn Starts wasn't Bennet Sturts before he played
35:18
Speaker 2: for McCollum.
35:19
Speaker 1: I don't know that he's created any other top fifteen,
35:22
Speaker 1: top twenty picks, though there's a difference, I.
35:24
Speaker 2: Know, but he's he's a developer, and I have enough
35:27
Speaker 2: guys coming back that I think I'm intrigued to see
35:30
Speaker 2: what that development looks like. I'm not gonna I'm not
35:33
Speaker 2: sure where i'd pick them, but I'd be scared to
35:37
Speaker 2: pick them too low because I kind of trust him
35:39
Speaker 2: developing his players that he's had for a year plus
35:42
Speaker 2: more than maybe some other coaches who I don't think
35:44
Speaker 2: have the same track record.
35:46
Speaker 1: I feel like he's gonna be a guy that figures
35:48
Speaker 1: out a way to make the tournament, especially with eight
35:50
Speaker 1: more teams being added. Like, if I had to say
35:51
Speaker 1: right now, are they going to make the tournament, I'd
35:53
Speaker 1: put it. I'd say they're in.
35:56
Speaker 2: Yeah, and then that's probably. I mean, they only went
35:58
Speaker 2: ten to ten. If you're a decent coach and a
36:03
Speaker 2: decent team, you should be able to go eight, nine,
36:06
Speaker 2: ten wins and make the tournament. And that's probably. Like,
36:09
Speaker 2: I think there's going to be more teams that we
36:12
Speaker 2: don't think should be tournament teams in the tournament than
36:14
Speaker 2: we can really even comprehend right now, just based on
36:16
Speaker 2: how the fields expanded to the point where we might
36:19
Speaker 2: have to say, make the real tournament if you get
36:21
Speaker 2: out of the playing games or whatnot. But so I
36:24
Speaker 2: think that's right, and I think they do have players.
36:27
Speaker 2: I'm intrigued to see what they look like. So I'm
36:31
Speaker 2: excited to watch them, which is not really something you
36:33
Speaker 2: always say about how they play, but it'll be interesting.
36:37
Speaker 1: Yeah, And I think some people look at it and say, well,
36:40
Speaker 1: they lost full Garris, But I think the people that
36:43
Speaker 1: are saying not only watched him during the tournament run
36:45
Speaker 1: during the regular season was he was fine, but he
36:48
Speaker 1: wasn't like I think Louisville got him in like this,
36:51
Speaker 1: he's like this big addition, and I'm like, did you
36:53
Speaker 1: watch him during the whole season? He was you know,
36:55
Speaker 1: he had some big moments in the tournament, but it
36:57
Speaker 1: wasn't like he's probably worth like I think my column
37:00
Speaker 1: was probably fine losing him for what will was the
37:03
Speaker 1: one to pay him like he'll he's a labor place
37:05
Speaker 1: that right.
37:06
Speaker 2: The idea of bulgaris is awesome. His best moments are awesome.
37:10
Speaker 2: He wasn't that guy all the time though.
37:12
Speaker 1: Right, So, last team before we uh in this episode
37:18
Speaker 1: Maryland complete disaster last season. Some people correct me if
37:25
Speaker 1: I'm wrong. There were preseason lists last year the top
37:28
Speaker 1: one hundred players in college basketball or top one fifty
37:31
Speaker 1: that had Miles Rice in the list, Right, Is that
37:34
Speaker 1: true or not?
37:35
Speaker 2: That's a true statement.
37:36
Speaker 1: Because we had him in our top five the previous
37:39
Speaker 1: year and we were burned by that and then people
37:41
Speaker 1: actually doubled down. Those people were not us. We didn't
37:43
Speaker 1: even have him in our top forty or the audible mention.
37:46
Speaker 1: We didn't even discuss him. I think against Miles Rice.
37:50
Speaker 1: I don't know. He's not on a team.
37:53
Speaker 2: All right.
37:55
Speaker 1: He maybe he's holding out for an injury in like
37:58
Speaker 1: December and he can like you know how the NBA
38:00
Speaker 1: has like he has like the buyout guys the NBA,
38:04
Speaker 1: So you just wait last year. Yeah, I don't know. Again,
38:08
Speaker 1: Milas Rice actually a great kid. I hope he finds
38:12
Speaker 1: a team, but it's just weird that he's like not anywhere.
38:14
Speaker 1: And Isaiah Watts was another kid I think that came
38:16
Speaker 1: from Washington State that was decent.
38:19
Speaker 2: Judge Jackson was good. He wasn't that he's at ut
38:24
Speaker 2: s A now Yep. Not ideal.
38:26
Speaker 1: So okay, So for all pain, we think is coming back.
38:29
Speaker 1: That could be fun to watch he was. Did he
38:32
Speaker 1: get hurt in the Michigan game? Is that right?
38:34
Speaker 2: He did?
38:34
Speaker 1: For good?
38:35
Speaker 2: For good?
38:36
Speaker 1: Yep, he got hurt one time before that and then
38:37
Speaker 1: he got hurt again. That really kind of limited them.
38:42
Speaker 1: They they have some Bishop Boswell from Tennessee. I think
38:46
Speaker 1: solid player. I don't know that he's like great or anything,
38:51
Speaker 1: but he's at least a big ten level starter. You
38:54
Speaker 1: would think they brought in DJ Wagner, who played at
38:57
Speaker 1: Kentucky and Arkansas. Here's an other thing. If you could
39:03
Speaker 1: go straight from high school to the NBA, how much
39:07
Speaker 1: money do you think Wagner, Mbacco and Aaron Bradshaw, who
39:12
Speaker 1: I think all played on the same AAA team lost
39:15
Speaker 1: by actually going to college because Aaron Bradshaw is like,
39:17
Speaker 1: what on his fourth school. Now, DJ Wagner's far from
39:21
Speaker 1: the NBA, and McKenzie and Baca I think is now
39:23
Speaker 1: down in Texas. And now those guys were like all
39:25
Speaker 1: consensus top ten, top fifteen players out of high school
39:29
Speaker 1: and none of them are sniff in the NBA. So
39:31
Speaker 1: that kind of goes to show you. Like the rankings.
39:34
Speaker 2: Bradshaw's and Tennessee State with Nolan Smith, right, I think,
39:37
Speaker 2: I think cool?
39:38
Speaker 1: So who was Kentucky, Ohio, Kentucky, Ohio State, Memphis, Tennessee State, yep, Okay,
39:45
Speaker 1: all right, sorry for the distraction. Back to Maryland anything
39:49
Speaker 1: like I guess I'll ask you this question, why are
39:52
Speaker 1: they thirty fifth in bart.
39:57
Speaker 2: So anything is awesome. Like Tareel Payne I think is
40:02
Speaker 2: one of the best bigs in the conference. Probably yeah,
40:06
Speaker 2: and if he's healthy, that's a real force.
40:10
Speaker 1: Yeah.
40:10
Speaker 2: Uh the freshman Ola Ola Baba.
40:17
Speaker 1: Yeah, I forgot about it. He seems like he's gonna
40:20
Speaker 1: be good.
40:21
Speaker 2: So they have that. Personally, I'm not a fan of
40:26
Speaker 2: how Buzz teams play, but I do think Buzz has
40:32
Speaker 2: been effective at previous stops, and he is definitely a
40:37
Speaker 2: burn it down to the ground and then build your
40:41
Speaker 2: style of play coach. Like I don't think his first
40:44
Speaker 2: seasons have really been good at his previous stops, so
40:47
Speaker 2: I'm willing to say that he's not afraid to just
40:50
Speaker 2: kind of be terrible in your one and then come
40:53
Speaker 2: back better. Uh Like DJ Wagner not really my cup
40:57
Speaker 2: of tea, But at the same time, he kind of
41:01
Speaker 2: fits in the Buzz guard of who's just gonna throw
41:03
Speaker 2: shots on the rim and let guys go get it.
41:05
Speaker 2: Like I could see that the new Mexico transfer Thomas
41:10
Speaker 2: slav is good, Like they have some pieces there. I'm
41:15
Speaker 2: not crazy about it personally.
41:18
Speaker 1: I just I just saw thirty five and I'm like, Okay,
41:21
Speaker 1: for all, Paine's good, but there's no's.
41:25
Speaker 2: Probably one of the top three bigs in the conference,
41:29
Speaker 2: you think, I mean, if he's healthy, Like, if he's
41:35
Speaker 2: healthy for the whole season. I don't know what big
41:38
Speaker 2: you would take over him.
41:40
Speaker 1: I just know that I followed Maryland at least from
41:43
Speaker 1: afar a little bit last year, like reading like the
41:45
Speaker 1: fan commentary, you talk about burning them to the ground.
41:48
Speaker 1: He burned the fan support to the ground, like they
41:50
Speaker 1: wanted him gone last year. So he better, for his sake,
41:54
Speaker 1: be much better this season. I'm just I'm not. I'm
41:57
Speaker 1: not in on Okay, this is this has Mariylan is
42:02
Speaker 1: the tenth best Big Ten team. I'm not. I don't
42:04
Speaker 1: think they finished that high. Maybe I'm crazy. I'm like
42:07
Speaker 1: Bishop Boswell is fine, the want DJ Wagner's fine. I don't.
42:11
Speaker 1: I mean maybe Baba and for El Payne is a
42:16
Speaker 1: great one to punch in the front court. I just
42:18
Speaker 1: don't think the guard and the wing plays good enough.
42:20
Speaker 1: Maybe I'm wrong, but we'll see what he does twelve
42:23
Speaker 1: and twenty one. He better be a lot better or
42:25
Speaker 1: they're definitely going to be. That's a school I feel
42:28
Speaker 1: like where they at least have some type of expectation
42:33
Speaker 1: for having a competent basketball team, and they got a
42:37
Speaker 1: little taste of success under Kevin Willard there at the end.
42:39
Speaker 1: After that started out poorly, and I don't think they're
42:42
Speaker 1: gonna I don't know that they will be all that
42:45
Speaker 1: enthused with another losing season.
42:48
Speaker 2: It's been a rough, a rough go between the detersion
42:52
Speaker 2: leaving the Willard up and Willard out, then Buzz goes
42:57
Speaker 2: twelve and twenty one.
42:58
Speaker 1: Surgeon's back, by the way, he's back in the game.
43:01
Speaker 1: You know that, right, Yeah, he's at UMKC right, UMKC. Yep,
43:07
Speaker 1: all right. I think we'll leave it with that. We
43:09
Speaker 1: could say here, we're talking Maryland basketball for a lot longer,
43:11
Speaker 1: but nobody wants to hear that, So we're going to
43:12
Speaker 1: wrap up this week's episode of Podcast on the Brink
43:15
Speaker 1: with that. We'll be back with the Top half of
43:18
Speaker 1: the league. Should be a lot more fun of a
43:20
Speaker 1: conversation next week. Thanks everybody as always for listening, Thanks
43:23
Speaker 1: Dylan for hoping on the show. You'll be back again
43:27
Speaker 1: next week to talk the top half of the league.
43:29
Speaker 1: Until then, thanks everybody for listening, and we'll be back
43:32
Speaker 1: soon with another episode of Podcast on the Brink.