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Illinois Advances to Final Four Over Iowa | Inside March Madness · Bleacher Report

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  Speaker 1: Iowa and Illinois. They had been battling in the Big
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  Speaker 1: Ten for decades, but never on a stage like this.
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  Speaker 2: Clark, not on this stage. And this guy Newbie Keaton Woggler,
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  Speaker 2: he had a game out twenty five three of them
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  Speaker 2: right there. But this guy Bennett starts the scene. It
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  Speaker 2: from Iowa was terrific as well. He had twenty four,
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  Speaker 2: knocked down several threes, But down the stretch it was Woggler.
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  Speaker 2: It was Stoyakovitch who came in. Was seventeen off the
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  Speaker 2: bench in the Alina heading just two hours down the
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  Speaker 2: road from Champagne, Illinois to Indianapolis, Indiana, next weekend.
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  Speaker 1: And there it is right there, Illinois moving on Iowa
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  Speaker 1: going home and following the lost Marsha Hottie spoke with
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  Speaker 1: Iowa head coach in Iowa native coach k.
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  Speaker 3: Mccollor, coach, what a year for Iowa basketball didn't end
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  Speaker 3: the way you wanted?
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  Speaker 1: What will you take away.
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  Speaker 3: From this group? Yeah, I mean they set the foundation
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  Speaker 3: for hopefully what's to come.
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  Speaker 1: You know.
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  Speaker 3: Obviously at the end of the day, we still wanted
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  Speaker 3: to win. I felt like we could have. So as
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  Speaker 3: a coach, you're just sitting there thinking about all that,
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  Speaker 3: but you know, they certainly sacrificed a lot to lay
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  Speaker 3: a foundation that I think will hopefully sustain itself and
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  Speaker 3: hopefully get us past this point.
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  Speaker 4: I saw your mom on the edge on every possession.
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  Speaker 2: Coaching at this level takes a support system.
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  Speaker 5: What can you say about yours coach?
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean my wife and kids. It's it's really
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  Speaker 3: hard on them, you know, you know, those those in particular,
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  Speaker 3: just because they they have to be at all these
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  Speaker 3: things and it's just really stressful. And then we move
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  Speaker 3: twice and so yeah, I mean I've got the best,
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  Speaker 3: the best and best kids, best players, and best staff,
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  Speaker 3: and it's it's it's been a good year.
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  Speaker 2: What can you say about Bennett and your time together
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  Speaker 2: from D two on?
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean it's been quite the journey. You know,
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  Speaker 3: you start as a junior in high school and starting
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  Speaker 3: to build a relationship, and then you know, you get
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  Speaker 3: to his freshman year, sophomore year, and now all of
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  Speaker 3: a sudden, you're in the leade eight, playing for the
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  Speaker 3: final four. I guess you know, now it's probably tough
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  Speaker 3: to to overthink it, but you know, it's been special,
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  Speaker 3: it's been fun, it's been a fun run. I'll certainly
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  Speaker 3: miss them. It doesn't feel like it's ending though. It
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  Speaker 3: feels like I'm getting ready for the next game.
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  Speaker 4: So thanks for the time.
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  Speaker 3: Thank you.
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  Speaker 1: Tough loss, especially for a guy who's from Iowa coach.
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  Speaker 4: You know, Ben McCollum. Bennett starts D two Mid major,
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  Speaker 4: high major, Elite eight. Don't tell me this isn't the
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  Speaker 4: greatest country in the world, and this is not the
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  Speaker 4: lend of opportunity for everyone. That's not where you start,
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  Speaker 4: it's where you're finished. Just be great where you are,
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  Speaker 4: and great things can happen for you.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, they had a special year and Bennett starts right
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  Speaker 2: in the middle of it, and Ben McCollum steps into
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  Speaker 2: that new position at Iowa and gets to the Elite eight.
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  Speaker 2: I mean, it's a great, great run in that program.
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  Speaker 2: Those guys have later foundation, and I think it's going
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  Speaker 2: to continue to be built upon and have success going forward.
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  Speaker 4: There's a lot of really proud Hawkeys, right, Yeah.
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  Speaker 5: Yeah, a lot of proud Hawkys.
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  Speaker 6: And I'm going to be interested to see if Illinois
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  Speaker 6: changes their gear in the four meaning I thought they
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  Speaker 6: played a style very similar to Iowa. Made them play
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  Speaker 6: their style and so in the final four and to
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  Speaker 6: get in advance and to win it. Now the best
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  Speaker 6: four teams in the country. At times you have to
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  Speaker 6: impose your style on them and say no, we're going
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  Speaker 6: to play this way. And so Illinois did a great
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  Speaker 6: job of holding them off getting down. But I thought
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  Speaker 6: that they could play faster. I think that they could
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  Speaker 6: play a little bit more freer offensively and that I
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  Speaker 6: think they're better when they do that, and we have
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  Speaker 6: to see if they're going to do that in the
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  Speaker 6: next round. Yeah, they got a terrific Illinois got a
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  Speaker 6: terrific team.
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  Speaker 5: I think Illinois and I will stay with my two teams.
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  Speaker 5: I will stayed unfortunately have the injury, but man, I'm
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  Speaker 5: curious to watch that game tomorrow and see who they're
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  Speaker 5: going to play, because that's going to be a terrific
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  Speaker 5: game because you got Duke. I think they got tremendous talent.
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  Speaker 5: But I think coach Hurley is one of the best
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  Speaker 5: coaches no district, the koch shar I think there's some
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  Speaker 5: coaches that don't have to have the best team that
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  Speaker 5: can steal games. I think Patinos like that. I think
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  Speaker 5: Kalipara is like that. I think Izo's like that. I
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  Speaker 5: think Duke got a better team, but I think because
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  Speaker 5: coach Hurley is one of the best in game coaches,
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  Speaker 5: I think that's going to be a fascinating game to watch.
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  Speaker 1: Hey, listen, this is why I love sports.
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  Speaker 6: Coach.
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  Speaker 1: I have two sons that just hit the portal, excited
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  Speaker 1: about their future, but uncertain about it as well. I'm
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  Speaker 1: gonna repeat exactly what you said, be great where you are,
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  Speaker 1: and great things will happen to you. I appreciate that,
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  Speaker 1: saving that all right time for the lily relentless pursuit.
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  Speaker 1: So what does Illinois need to do to get better
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  Speaker 1: at something before they face either Duke or Yukon in Innneapolis.
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  Speaker 2: I think they play the game they played, maybe increase
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  Speaker 2: the pace, but they're excellent rebounding the ball. They get
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  Speaker 2: great contributions from the bench. Their solid defensively is where
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  Speaker 2: they've made the biggest jump since late in the season
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  Speaker 2: to now, and they showed that against Iowan that second half.
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  Speaker 2: But rebounding has been the strength of this team. What
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  Speaker 2: Stoyakovich does getting down heel and they can still knock
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  Speaker 2: down threes. They are good three point shooting teams. So
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  Speaker 2: I say you stay true to your identity and just
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  Speaker 2: do it a little better. Maybe you have to adjust
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  Speaker 2: the pace of it, but by and large, you stay
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  Speaker 2: true to who you are and force your will with
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  Speaker 2: that physicality and size up front.
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  Speaker 4: A defense and rebounding win championships. And that's something you
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  Speaker 4: can control. And that's in an area that they're really
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  Speaker 4: stepped up in. I think both Yukon and Duke is
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  Speaker 4: gonna put a little bit more pressure on them. I
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  Speaker 4: would bother them with ball pressure, got them to handle
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  Speaker 4: the ball out away. You know who is Illinois's point guard?
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  Speaker 4: Really who's gonna set things up for them? And tonight
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  Speaker 4: they did only shoot three for seventeen from three, and
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  Speaker 4: so while those big guys out there on the perimeter,
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  Speaker 4: it would really help them. What do they gotta do better,
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  Speaker 4: Maybe make a few more shots from the perimeter.
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  Speaker 6: You know, I've never been to a Final four in
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  Speaker 6: terms of a player, right, but I could equate it
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  Speaker 6: to maybe an NBA championship game. Close out games, And
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  Speaker 6: there's such a supreme confidence when you've made get to
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  Speaker 6: the Final four that all the perils of the past
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  Speaker 6: are gone. You're saying, forty eight hours from now, we're
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  Speaker 6: gonna live in mortality. Everyone's gonna talk about us for
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  Speaker 6: the rest of their life, and we're going to be
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  Speaker 6: known as the Illinois team that everyone would be talking
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  Speaker 6: about for the rest of your life. So they're walking
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  Speaker 6: in on Saturday night, it doesn't matter what happened before.
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  Speaker 6: It's like right now, right here, and we can get
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  Speaker 6: it done. So there's a belief for all these four
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  Speaker 6: teams going in that it's going to be a delusion
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  Speaker 6: of grandeur because of what they've already done, not thinking
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  Speaker 6: anyone is better than them.
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  Speaker 5: I think number one Bruce hit on the head. They
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  Speaker 5: really struggled the first half with the pressure, especially the
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  Speaker 5: first five to seven minutes of the game. Can they
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  Speaker 5: handle the pressure. But I'm gonna tell you what, whoever
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  Speaker 5: they play, their size is gonna bother either team. They're
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  Speaker 5: big team, so they're gonna bother either one one of
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  Speaker 5: those teams. You're going to handle them in the paint
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  Speaker 5: on the offensive glass. But the first problem they got
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  Speaker 5: they got to handle the defensive pressure because they really
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  Speaker 5: came out and was on their heels the first half
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  Speaker 5: of the game and the team.
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  Speaker 6: Do you think some of that was nerves about going
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  Speaker 6: to the fight. You know Ago, no, not going to
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  Speaker 6: a final four, but being blessed to be in three
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  Speaker 6: final eight game. No, you're like that first half, you're like,
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  Speaker 6: I don't want to be the one. You know, some
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  Speaker 6: guys are thinking like I don't want to be the
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  Speaker 6: one that makes it my fault that we didn't get
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  Speaker 6: to the final four.
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  Speaker 5: Then you relax. I thought the second half, I thought
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  Speaker 5: the coach made an adjustment. He started running his offense
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  Speaker 5: through the other kid, the freshman. I thought, I can't
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  Speaker 5: think of his name. I thought that was the judgment
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  Speaker 5: because you go back and look, especially when the game
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  Speaker 5: was on the line, he was really playing the point
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  Speaker 5: because when they started out, they were going with their
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  Speaker 5: normal point guard and he could not handle the pressure.
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  Speaker 5: He was turning it over. And they could say they
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  Speaker 5: got that's bicker system for Wakloh. Yeah, googree. But Sam,
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  Speaker 5: but he whoever they played, start at the point, and
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  Speaker 5: that's he's got to handlet the ball.
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  Speaker 2: But most of those guys start it's a matter of
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  Speaker 2: who's offense.
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  Speaker 4: I think the part of the other thing two is
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  Speaker 4: they just got done beaten Houston. They just got done
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  Speaker 4: beaten Houston at Houston and all of a sudden, they
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  Speaker 4: got They got the nine seed Iowa, a team that
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  Speaker 4: they've beaten ten out of the less eleven times they
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  Speaker 4: played him historically. I think maybe they might have just
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  Speaker 4: looked past Iowa just a little bit, or maybe why
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  Speaker 4: they got off to a slow start,