Ranking CBB Top 5, Miami RedHawks IN or OUT?, Big East Sinking | Others Receiving Votes

All right, Bongiorno, I am back from Italy.

Others receiving votes, we got the uh band pretty much back together here, myself, Pat 40 joined by Brian Fisher and Kevin Sweeney.

I'm sure you all have checked the calendar.

You know, it's March.

That means we're gonna talk a lot of basketball.

One of the best months of the year.

Tournament basketball starts today, Monday, March 2nd, and it ain't stopping till sometime in April.

So, uh, this is gonna be a really fun few weeks.

It always is.

Uh, we're going to get in touch with March Madness here.

I want to lead off with a little bit of madness, a little anger, guys.

Uh, Saturday night in the Odome in Gainesville.

Florida beating the absolute brakes out of, off of Arkansas, and in the middle of that, John Calipari and Todd Golden looked like they're ready to throw down.

They were screaming at each other, f-bombing each other.

Both got teed up.

Uh, there was some hold me back, hold me back stuff, but I wanted to see him go at it personally.

I thought that would have been enjoyable.

John Calipari, uh, As one of history's most famous coach confrontations, when John Cheney from Temple went in and threatened to kill him after a game when uh Cal was at UMass back in the 90s.

Uh people got in between them then, or that really might have been an episode of coach on coach violence.

Uh, we've had some other dust-ups.

Rick Pitino once went nose to chest with John Thompson in the Big 10 days.

Uh, but I'm, I'm curious, it would have been interesting if these two had actually gotten to go at it.

Golden in his 30s, Cal in his 60s, I don't know whether it would have been a fair fight.

But if we could have two coaches enter the octagon, guys, if you could pick your coach fight, it's easier maybe in football, but in basketball, who would you want to see duke it out, Brian.

Well, I love, you know, you, you're almost straight off the plane and a couple of days removed from Italy and you're like, right, right into coach fights immediately jumping into the, the podcast.

Uh, you know, this one was an interesting one.

I, I was kind of thinking like, you know, who's kind of like, uh, you know, got the look of a fighter, you know, like maybe TJ Etzelberger at Iowa State, uh, you know, he's he's got that neck too that you would think of, of being a fighter.

I was kind of thinking maybe we've probably seen.

This, uh, before, uh, at least, uh, their dad has, uh, you know, like Dan versus Bobby Hurley, you know, kind of get the brothers fighting, you know, that could be, uh, a bit of an interesting one.

And, and really the one thing that came to mind too, uh, as soon as you sent this question over was, uh, Kevin Willard had some, uh, let's just say, uh, choice comments about his time working for Rick Pitino.

So maybe those two, going against each other were, were a good one.

But the one that I came up with, Was, uh, was Nate Oates since, uh, I, I don't think the coaching community necessarily, is all in on Nate Oates after the Charles Bettiaco thing and everything that he, he pulled, although they can probably, uh, understand where he's coming from on that.

Uh, but him versus Frank Martin.

I, I think Frank Martin can take just about anybody, uh, out there, just, uh, give, given what, uh, his background and, uh, what, what he brings to the table.

So I'm gonna go Nate Oates versus Frank Martin.

I'd pay for that.

I'd pay the pay per view, uh, bring it on.

Yeah, I, I love, I love any Frank Martin fight , and I will be, I will be backing Frank in, in that, in that war, even as he gets up there in age.

Um, I, I do just appreciate generally some of these younger coaches walking into the, the hornet's nest and not being afraid to, to, to scrum it up, right?

I, I remember when, when Todd Golden got the job at Florida, I think that was the real question, was like, man, like, Calipari, Rick Barnes, Bruce Pearl, like, Is this guy ready to, like, swim with the sharks, and I think one of the reasons he has been successful is that he uh is not running from the smoke in any sense, um, and I think, obviously it helps to have the national championship now in your pocket, but even from year one, I've always felt like Todd was, was not running from the fight, and I think someone who's maybe similarly situated right now is Dusty May at Michigan, uh, who you wouldn't think of as a fighter and probably wouldn't consider himself one, but.

The sense I've gotten is that, uh, perhaps the coaches in the Big 10 are maybe not so pleased with, with Dusty and, uh, and especially some of the old guard.

Um, we saw the Tom Izzo comments uh after uh Dusty called out Jeremy Fears.

Obviously, Dusty has been, let's call it an aggressive roster builder, um, which some people have not enjoyed, so, I mean, The Michigan, Michigan State rivalry is good enough as it is, but if we could get uh a couple of short guys and and Dusty and and Izzo face to face, I, I would certainly take that either this year or down the road.

That would be something.

Now that would be, that would also be a major age differential fight, but I would not put anything past a yooper hard ass like Tom Izzo.

I mean, age 70, you'd be like, come on, come on, let's go.

I don't know, I, I love it.

Um.

I've got a few suggestions.

You get, some of you, you read my mind a little bit there.

Uh, Brian, uh, sons out, guns out fight between TJ Otzelberger and Damon Stoudemire, two yoked up dudes that wear the schmedium shirts on the sideline.

Stoudemire needs a win of some kind.

Maybe he could take down Otzelberger there.

Uh, Dan Hurley versus anybody and everybody.

Uh, if it's Bobby, that's fine, but I think he'd be ready to go with anyone.

Uh, Mark Madsen versus Dwayne Stevens.

I gotta look at Dwayne Stevens for the first time in a while, uh, when I was watching Miami against Western Michigan.

Those are big guys, big guys, you know, Madson was an NBA power forward, yeah, and that Madsen played like a wild man.

Just give me somebody to run into, so he would fit there, um, excuse me, but I.

I really would like to see the LA bantamweight matchup.

Mick Cronin versus Eric Musselman, both, you know, checking in at about 145 pounds, but fists of fury, I guarantee it, plenty of, of general fury there .

Musselman used to take off his shirt when they won games at Arkansas, so I think there would be a lot of bravado there, a lot of surliness.

So, uh, just some, some potential, uh, some March daydreaming there, cause, you know, we could always use a good coach fight, right?

Let's, uh, let's bring that on.

Um, one more, uh, fighting topic I want to hit before we get to a, a main topic here.

The Miami, Ohio Red Hawks are creating fights all over the place on social media, among the punditocracy, uh, people who put together brackets, they're 29-0.

Their resume is not stout.

But they're 29-0, and if they don't win the MAC championship, there's a lot of discussion whether they should get an at-large bid.

Bruce Pearl, certainly a neutral observer , uh, his son Steven at Auburn on the bubble, says no, they don't belong in the tournament at large.

Uh, Kevin, you do our bracket watch for us.

They're playing Toledo Tuesday, and they're playing Ohio, two pretty good MAC teams.

If they lose one of those, or they must win in the MAC tournament to get in the field.

I don't think they must win, but I think they would probably feel better if they could at least get to a championship game against Akron, because if you do that, it wouldn't be a bad loss.

Akron is a very good team, um, Akron is, you know.

We, we talk about, like, Cinderella potential and who are like, like Akron is, is flying so under the radar because of the Miami story.

They're really, really good too, they're, I think, 57th in the net.

So, um, yeah, look, with where they stand right now, Miami's quote unquote resume metrics are really strong.

They're 34th in total, uh, resume average, um, you know, they have a 32 in the wins above bubble that everybody's, uh, gung ho about these days.

Even if they lost twice, I would imagine that Akron, or excuse me, that Miami's wins above bubble would probably be in the mid-40s, and that would put them probably headed to Dayton in the first four.

So, um, I think.

I think it's an instance where both people are technically right, right?

Like Bruce Pearl's argument at its core was Miami is not one of the best teams in the country, and analytically, like, that's correct, right?

Like you, you go back and you look at like, um, Murray State, when Murray State went, uh, it was a one loss team entering the NCAA tournament.

Murray State had like real wins, and I think it was top 40 in, in most of the like, predictive analytics.

The, the predictives were pretty confident this is a good team.

Miami is sort of like your standard 1213 seed profile, they just happen to win all the games.

Unfortunately, like, winning all the games is a pretty key part of this process, right?

Like, if we wanted to just build a preseason, we, we just wanted to put in the predictive metrics and say, hey, well, Ken Palm says Auburn's really good, even though they lose every time they play, great, right?

Like that, like that, that wouldn't be a very fun tournament for me to watch, I don't think it'd be a lot a lot of fun for others.

So, I do think Miami has earned their at-large bid, even if they are probably not an at-large caliber team, um.

And I think that that to me is probably where the argument ends, but at the same time, you know, lose 2 games this week, one bad week, and all of a sudden things get real dicey for the Red Hawks.

Well, aren't we all prepared for this to be some sort of test case about, uh, tournament expansion and, uh, oh, here, you know, you, you leave out Miami of Ohio, you know, in a, in a couple of weeks on Selection Sunday, and then, oh, there's the ammunition for everybody that wants to expand the tournament, even though it is a terrible idea.

You know, frankly, I mean, this is kind of going back with, with, with the Red Hawks in, in particular, kind of going back to our conversation with Travis Steele last week.

This is a veteran team.

This is a team you don't wanna see in that tournament kind of setting, because you know, they've, they've played together.

They know in those crunch time situations, uh, you know, when, when, when that clock is counting down in, in, in the tournament, and you kind of got the crowd on, probably gonna be, you know, uh, uh, the adopted team of, of everybody, all the non-neutrals that end up in, in whatever subregional they're at.

Everybody's gonna be rooting for Miami, Ohio, right?

Yeah, and so that if, if you're an opposing coach, of course, you don't want to see this team.

You know, veteran guards, guys that know how to win, pull out games like they did, uh, you know, the other night to remain undefeated, like that, that's the team you don't want to see, even if they are a 12 or 13 seed or or even further down, uh, on the bubble.

So, to, to me, this is a, a, a case of maybe some of the coaches out there are saying, hey, get them out of the tournament or at least send them.

Them to Dayton, you know, worst case, you know, we, we don't want to play them in, in one of those opening rounds, especially given how, um, you know, a lot of these, these teams that, uh, might be on the, you know, on the, on the opposing sidelines, probably playing a couple of freshmen, probably haven't had that experience necessarily of March Madness and those bright lights.

So, um, you know, I, I, I can understand, you know, from that standpoint, coaches saying, hey, I, I, I, I don't want this, this team in the tournament if they lose a game.

But I, I think they're, They're a great story, and, and, and they've earned it, you know, like, like Kevin, you were saying, I mean, the, the winning all the games and, and even dropping one or two here down the stretch .

I, I mean, it doesn't take away from, from the way that they've won games.

And yes, you could , you could slice and dice the competition and the resume and all that, but I, I think this is a team that has earned that bid to the tournament, uh, regardless of what happens, uh , they're, they're in Cleveland for the MAC tournament or, uh, down the stretch here here in the regular season.

It, it just strikes me, sorry, Pat, it just strikes me that like, for the good of the enterprise, Miami, by winning all the games, needs to be in the tournament, because what message are we sending if not, right?

I think it already feels as though college basketball for most of Division One is a series of exhibitions until uh you get to the conference tournament, right?

That becomes entirely true for 275 out of 365, if you say, who cares, Miami, you went 30 and 1, you don't get to make the NCAA.

Like, like, at some point, that would be the message.

It does not matter how many games you win, if you are not in a power conference or you are not at least in a.

Uh, elite mid-major league, right?

You know, the A-10, which has become largely a one bid league in many many seasons, the Mountain West, which is struggling this year to, to get over the hump, uh, the WCC which will get, you know, 2, maybe 3, but that includes Gonzaga, who's its own sort of entity, like, They've already been essentially boxed out of the mix.

If this isn't enough, then nothing will ever be enough.

And so at that point, what, what, what, what's even the point?

Like, let's, let's skip, let's skip over the games, and let's play the conference tournament that everybody seems to love, that makes the conference office a little bit of money, and that's that, like, I, I, I just think it's important for, for, for the state of the sport, um, that winning be rewarded.

If Miami ends up sitting there 30 and 2 or 30 and whatever, and doesn't get in, I'll lead the riot, right?

I will, I will drive up I-65 to Indy and lead the flipping riot, because to your point, winning has to matter.

And that has to be a major metric, and I don't care about the other metrics.

If you're 29-0 right now, you're doing a lot of things right.

Coaches talk all the time.

It's hard, it's hard.

Winning's hard.

And then what do they say next ?

Winning on the road is the hardest thing.

Miami is 13-0 on the road.

Auburn's 2-7, Indiana's 3-7, SMU's 3-7, Iowa's 3-7 on the road.

If those teams get in ahead of Miami, I'm going to be really displeased.

To your point, yes, this is, the sport is supposed to reward doing what Miami has done.

Secondarily, Their schedule is not good.

The non-conference schedule is not good.

Guess what?

It's really hard to schedule non-conference right now for mid-major teams.

It is very difficult.

For the most part, it's, you're not gonna get games from high majors, you're sure as heck not gonna get them on your home court.

You're probably not gonna get them on a neutral court cause they wanna play other big-time opponents.

And so we've seen this general box out, I think of a lot of the mid-majors from even getting a chance to play.

Power conference opponents.

If you look, they just, there's fewer and fewer games between those A-10 teams, and MAC and Missouri Valley, and so on and so forth against the power conference teams.

They don't get the chances to beat them.

Whereas, you know, the, the SEC and Big 10 and Big 12, and ACC teams get chance after chance after chance after chance to lose and lose and lose and lose, and still be able to make the tournament.

So, yeah , they have some good wins, but they have a lot of losses, they get a lot of chances.

The MC, you don't get those chances.

And so, they're playing right now with a lot of weight, I think, on their shoulders at Miami.

I mean, that, that looked like a team that was feeling it at Western Michigan Friday night.

And the fact that they won with starting guard Luke Skaljak out with a hand-wrist injury.

And their best player, Peter Suter, fouling out, and they're down 9 in the second half, and they came back and won.

I don't care what Western Michigan's record is.

You take any coach in any league, and you win a road game in those circumstances without two of your guards, when you're behind by 9 points in the second half, you're gonna walk out and say that is a great win.

So, I don't want to hear people saying, oh, you barely beat a terrible team.

I watched the game.

The fact they won was impressive.

So , Uh, I think the Miami of Ohio debate will continue.

Again, they play Toledo on Tuesday at home, then they play at Ohio on Friday, and then it is on to action, and this will be one of the most watched MAC tournaments I think we've, uh, probably ever had.

So, uh, we'll keep an eye on that, but now let's, all right, let's talk about the top of the food chain, guys.

Uh, it was a flex weekend for a lot of the teams that we already thought were good and now look maybe even better, like they're separating from the pack.

I've got 5 teams that are ahead of everyone else right now, uh, which I like, and I'll explain why.

And then you guys can tell me what you think and what we're gonna do, we're gonna rank them.

Everybody's gonna do their own top 5 with these, or if you've got somebody else you think is better and should be in the top 5, fire away.

But the 5, Duke, 27 to 2, number one in Ken Palm, number one in the polls, destroyed Virginia.

We've got an ACC team.

Michigan, 27 to 2, number 2 in the Ken Palm, number 3 in the polls, blew out Illinois on the road.

We've got a Big 10 team.

Arizona, 27-2, number 3 in Ken Palm in the polls, beat down Kansas.

We've got a Big 12 team.

Florida, 23-6, coming on like a freight train, as I mentioned, destroyed.

Arkansas, beat them by 34 points.

John Calipari's worst SEC loss.

We've got an SEC team.

And Connecticut, 27-3, number 10 in Ken Palm, and number 6 in the polls.

By the way, these polls are as of Monday morning, they'll change later today.

Uh, coming off a close shave against Seton Hall, but before that, they destroyed Saint John's.

We've got regional diversity.

We have conference diversity, we have big names.

I think this is awesome.

For the game.

I think this is gonna be really great in terms of high interest, uh, going into March or into the postseason here.

But for right now, guys, uh, tell me how you would rank these five.

Kevin, go ahead.

Yeah, 1, I think you're right, um, that, that it's a great group.

I think it's also, those are the 5.

I, I think, you know, the Iowa State, the Houston's, the Illinois that have hung around this conversation have started to separate themselves, maybe in a, in a negative way, and or these 5 have just been so good.

Um, I would, I would take Michigan number 1.

I, I know that that's, you know, skewing the head to head results with Duke and Duke has been unbelievably impressive.

I still think the best version of Michigan, uh, is the best team in the country, and one of the better teams we have seen, uh, over the last several years, just in terms of, you know, the way they, like, like, there's no team I think of that's better at stepping on your throat than Michigan.

Like, it goes, when it goes, it goes really fast, and you don't have a whole lot of control of it.

Um, the size, the physicality, the rim protection with, with Mara, uh, I would take them over Duke, but it's very close, those would be my, my top two.

Number 3, I have, I have Florida over Arizona right now.

Florida, Arizona 3-4, um, man, has Florida turned a corner, right?

And and you knew, like, if their guards could get going at all, it would be really scary because of the size, but it's not just that Boogie Flann's playing well and Xavion Lee's playing well, and that the bench has given them something.

Alex Condon, the last 3 weeks, has been.

Absolutely phenomenal, right?

And he's the one who bore the, you know, brunt of the expectation.

He was the preseason first team All-American from Florida, and I, I always felt like whoever got the label in the preseason for Florida was going to Um, maybe struggle to deal with that because the other guys are so good too, um, and Condon has just turned a corner to where, man, like, you have him flying around and playing great, uh, offensively, like he's, he's, he's elevated, and then Haw is phenomenal and Chinelu, you could argue should be the SEC Player of the Year because he's so good defensively and on the glass, so.

They just have a lot of ways to beat you.

They punked Arkansas out, uh, that was very impressive to me.

I would take them just ahead of Arizona, who I think is, is phenomenal.

I just, I, I, I think I, I, I think they're a little more overwhelming at the moment, and, and then UConn is still UConn, right?

I think they're tough to.

Deal with in a tournament setting because of the way that they play offense, they're hard to prepare for.

Um, it does feel like they don't maybe have the killer instinct that they had, um, in their championship runs.

Uh, they have played with their food in Big East play more often than I would like, but, um, still a really good team and, and we saw what it looks like when they are really good, uh, against Saint John's earlier in the week.

Uh, yeah, I'm gonna go reverse order here just to kind of combat, uh, some of, some of Kevin's talking points cause we do, uh, diversify, uh, the, the opinion just a little bit.

And speaking of the, of the Huskies, you're, you're right, the, the playing with the food thing is, is the thing that kind of gets me and says there's, there's an ultimate ceiling, you know, with this team, and I, you know, I, I give, we'll give credit, you know, that they've, they've got a coach who obviously knows how to, you know, kind of massage these tournament runs and, and, and get deep into the tournament and knows that kind of rhythm that you're gonna see in March and Uh, you know, that, that is definitely a factor in them.

And, and they can, when they are, they're hot, they, they, I think they can shoot the lights out and, uh, pose a lot of difficult matchup problems, just the, the way they can, uh, have a guy go off that, you know, you, you're not even expecting at times, sometimes for, you know, 1520 points.

Um, but I, I'm just, I, I'm curious about the focus.

And, and maybe that's just the state of the Big East nowadays, you know, we'll certainly see as they get into March, new opponents.

Um, you know, you definitely saw a difference between how they were playing early in the year in the non-conference compared to what they've done in the Big East play.

It just seems like, you know, they, they're almost waiting for March.

So I don't know if that's, that's a good thing, if, if they can't kind of flip that switch.

But, uh, you know, I, I do give Hurley and company, you know, a lot of credit in terms of how they've built this roster, how they can play a couple of different styles.

And I think this, this is a dangerous team, but I, I'm just not sure they're, they're really truly, That upper tier kind of elite teams compared to the other 4 at least.

And, and I, I would have Florida at, at 4.

I, I think maybe it's just, uh, they are hitting, hitting their stride at the right time, but I, I think certainly early in the season, you know, maybe it's the outside shooting, you know, when, when, if, you know, that, that is gonna be the game plan, you know, certainly, certainly against the Gators is, is, you know, force them.

Um, I, I would imagine, you know, during the tournament, they're, they're gonna get a lot of different zone looks, you know, I'm sure, uh, to kind of see what, what they can do, um, hopefully kind of slow them down a little bit.

I, I'm gonna be very curious to see, um, you know, Todd Golden has, has had all the answers certainly last year.

And I think there's going to be kind of, you know, he talked, you know, early, uh, last season about, uh, talking to Billy Donovan about defending the title and, and how this team is going to be hungry to do that.

I, I think that is in their favor.

I, I'm just kind of going to be curious, you know, if that outside shot.

Uh, it doesn't start falling like it's been, been the last couple of weeks if they can kind of get over the hump against one of those other elite teams.

But I, I think they are looking pretty good depending on kind of the matchups, uh, to get there to Indianapolis.

I'm gonna have Duke at number 3.

I, I understand all the metrics.

I understand all the, all the, the focus on, on the Blue Devils, and it's been a terrific job for, for John Shire after what happened last season, after what he lost last season, and, and probably two, of the favorites in the NBA Rookie of the Year to, to regroup.

With this group.

Um, you know, certainly Boozer is, is running away with, uh, Player of the Year.

And , and his, his ability, you know, I, I think to, to be able to, all right, let's just go to him for a couple of touches, you know, just if, if there's a, a scoreless run that the Blue Devils are on, you know, you go 2 or 3 minutes without, uh, scoring, you can just dump it down into him.

He, he can get a load.

He's splitting double teams and making it look effortless.

That, that's going to be a huge asset in, in March, but I'm just not sure in terms of the kind of, Playmakers around him.

You know, if, if you're throwing double, triple teams, can, can those other guys hit the outside shot?

So I think that's maybe capping Duke's ceiling ceiling a little bit.

I still think they can win it all, but, uh, I think if you're comparing them to the other teams, I think Arizona, the way that they, you know, you got Crievus at the rim, you got, uh, you know, so many guys that you can throw out on the, on the perimeter, uh, they, they can match up so many different ways with you.

I think Tommy Lloyd has understood this team better than, than some of the previous additions that he's had there, uh, In Tucson.

And I, I think playing in the Big 12, you know, where you're going to go up against different styles.

You're gonna play against, you know, Houston, you're gonna go up against Iowa State, you're gonna go up against Kansas and try to defend Peterson.

You're, you're gonna be exposed to, I think, a lot of different things that I think can translate better in March for this Arizona team.

And then I'll, I'll have Michigan number 1.

I think we'll, we'll see certainly with, um, you know, losing LJ, uh, Cason with, with the ACL injury, see how that affects the rotation, uh, moving forward.

But I think Michigan, um, you know, the, the way they do kind of go for that kill shot, you know, I, I think that is special.

I think they are kind of the favorite going into March Madness.

I think they're going to be well prepared coming out of the Big 10.

And, you know, frankly, this is, this is kind of just shaping up to be the year of the Big 10, right?

You know, in terms of everything that's going on around that conference, uh, to get over that hump for the first time since, since Michigan State, uh, back in 2000, you know, that, that Final Four was in Indianapolis.

It's in Indianapolis this year.

Again, maybe things are just Kind of lining up for, for Michigan.

I think having the, the, the veteran coach in, in Dusty May who knows how to get to, get to the Final Four, having the guys that are hungry, having the guys that are just tough, tough matchups, you know, going against Mara.

I mean, that's, that's somebody that, uh, you know, for, for those first couple of rounds, nobody's going to be able to defend him as long as he stays out of foul trouble.

So, I, I still think Michigan's the favorite, but, uh, it's a very compelling year because there is, you know, really, you can make the case for, for all five of these teams, uh, cutting down the nets there in Indy.

You can absolutely make the case for all 5, I think.

Um, unfortunately, my ranking is exactly like Kevin's.

I got Michigan 1.

Um, Duke 2, Florida 3, Arizona 4, UConn 5.

I'm, I even have Florida pushing on Duke a little bit there.

Maybe I was a little too smitten by what I saw from them Saturday night , but Knowing what I know about how they did last year, and, and, you know, that once you get a coach who has that full confidence in how, in how to handle a tournament, um, that, that impresses me.

The other cool thing about this group, other than 5 different conferences represented in 5 different regions of the country, Well this is the next generation of great coaches, right?

I mean, think of all of the hand-wringing that went on with, oh my God , we've lost Jay Wright, we've lost Kay, we've lost Roy, we've lost Boeheim.

They're all great coaches.

I take nothing away from them.

But there was almost this feeling like, we don't have a next generation coming along.

Oh yes, we do.

Yes, we do.

The game's in great hands.

None of these guys, they're all under 55 years old, Shire and Golden in their 30s.

Hurley and Lloyd in their 50s, Dusty May in his late 40s, they're in their primes right now.

So, uh, I think that is another healthy sign for where this thing is going.

Um, you know, there's gonna be some upsets.

One, obviously, look, 5 teams, they can't all make the Final Four.

Probably 4 of them can't make the Final Four.

There's gonna be some stuff that's going to happen.

We won't be able to really even conjecture on that until we see brackets, but Uh, I am just very excited about the stretch run in the sport and this many compelling, really good teams representing this many parts of the country.

So, uh, looking forward to seeing how this plays out.

Uh, one, a, uh, negative, uh, element to what's going on this season.

I wrote about this in the 40 minutes this week.

Uh, the Big East is sinking when a lot of people thought it was going to soar.

Uh, the Big East right now is a three-bid league, and I don't see that changing unless somebody else wins the conference tournament other than UConn, Saint John's, or Villanova.

So, this really is actually, so that'll be tie their fewest number of NCAA bids ever, uh, outside of UConn, meh, uh, Saint John's has been a bit of a disappointment.

Villanova's probably done a little better than expected, but that's it, and then everybody else does not matter.

So, I wanna go back last summer and even the summer before that, 2024.

Uh, to all of the people that were absolutely losing their minds, saying the Big East was going to have an unfair advantage.

Because of House versus NCAA revenue sharing, uh, quotes, there was a great quote from Nate Oates, you know, this is, this is a problem.

This is gonna be unfair.

First of all, you, everybody gets to spend their money the way they want, right?

Uh, but secondly, his point was that if everybody has 20.5 million, and the Big East doesn't have to spend any on football, they can spend it all on basketball, while, we're spending most of our money on football at our schools.

The problem there being this was never going to stop at 20.5 million.

We're up to 40 million, 50 million, and schools that care even a little bit about basketball are going to fund their basketball.

And the basketball schools, the other part that people just never really computed, they don't all have 20 million sitting around.

Xavier doesn't have 20 million.

Butler doesn't have 20 million.

Marquette doesn't have 20 million.

They may have half of that.

And so if you're spending 10% of your 40 million or 45 million, let's say, on um On basketball at an SEC school, and you're spending 90% of your 10 million at a Big East school, guess what, it's about the same.

The other element here is that some Big East schools have invested poorly, right?

Saint John's roster has not performed.

Providence's roster has not performed.

So I, I just, I find it humorous that the, as, as is so often the case in college sports, there was a subset of people screaming from the, from the highest uh uh.

Yard arms, my God, this is unfair.

Somebody's gonna get an advantage, and it isn't true.

Now, is it gonna change?

Kevin, you tell me, is it, is the Big East eventually going to get it together and dominate college basketball?

I don't think it's gonna dominate.

I mean, look.

I, I, I was a little surprised, as I've talked to more coaches around the country, about what is, what, what schools are preparing to spend this spring.

I think there was a feeling that last year was a gold rush, and this is the last chance we can front load all this cash ahead of the settlement, um.

And, you know, you, you, you would call coaches in the fall, and they'd be like, man, it's so unsustainable that we just spent $12 million on a roster.

Next year it's gonna have to come back to the pack.

And so I think you could sort of spin this narrative, man, like, if these Big East schools are, are ready to spend , they don't have to deal with the cap, they don't have to navigate the CSC, all right, maybe long term, the Big East can can take advantage of this.

Meanwhile, I get phone calls every day of like, Yeah, Rutgers is ready to spend $8 to $10 million on a basketball roster.

South Carolina is ready to spend close to $10 million on a basketball roster.

No one is ready to lose the arms race, and quite frankly, the Big East doesn't have the arms.

If they want to spend $10 million.

They gotta go raise it, big time, because these schools don't make enough revenue.

Um, you know, not that the SEC and, and them are not calling their donors, of course they are, but, um, they were never going to go down without a fight.

So, uh, I do expect the Big East to continue to invest.

Um, I think Xavier will, will be closer to that 10 million mark, uh, than they were than they were this year.

Providence.

Spent big, plans to seemingly continue.

Creighton, I think, will, will invest.

Marquette has the money, uh, and it seems Shaka is ready to work the portal in some form.

So, I'm not necessarily fading, uh, the Big East into the future.

Um, and, and I think a lot of this year's struggles are, as you said, poor investments, coaches that looked good on paper , not working out, uh, etc.

etc.

but I, I, I do not think that the Big East is poised to take things over, unless there is a much stronger enforcement arm from the CFC, uh, than anyone is anticipating.

And I will say, as I call coaches and I say, hey, how much do you plan to spend?

And they say, 8 million, 10 million, 12 million, whatever, and I ask, well, how do you plan to do that?

There are often no real answers, even at schools where the football team just spent well over the cap, and would theoretically have answers.

So, um, that was OK, I suppose, in January.

It is now March.

Contracts are going out, we're, we're a month away from the portal opening, um, there is still a lot of uncertainty, but, uh, One coach referred to it that they have, quote, plenty of access to capital, which made them sound a bit like an investment guy, but either way, the, the, the investment folks are ready to, ready to spend as long as they can find a way to justify it.

Well, you know, you, you speak to the, the dichotomy between the, the external narrative, which was coming from other parts of the country, right?

You know, it was coming from the SEC and the ACC oh, how are, how are, you know, and honestly, that was kind of a call to arms, you know, to, to their own donors, to their own administrators to say, hey, they're gonna spend this, we gotta spend this.

So, um, you know, I think there was that kind of aspect of, of almost marketing, you know, from some of those external programs and then from, from the conversations I had certainly with, you know, Big East ADs and other.

Administrators in the league.

There was to the point, uh, I think Kevin, you made, like, they also had to raise that money.

Like it was not just kind of sitting there.

Oh, here's 20.5 million to spend on one roster.

Now, a lot of those Big East programs also want to spend in a couple of other sports here and there that they were, they were good at.

So there was, there was that aspect of things.

Um, but, but yeah, I don't, I don't think any Big East program necessarily was, was coming close to allotting that full 20.5 million just in revenue sharing, not even talking about some of the external NIL deals that they could, could.

Facilitate that sort of thing.

So, um, yeah, there's, there's a bit of a raising money, uh, thing in, in the Big East.

I think, you know, you're right in terms of the just the total miss, uh, on some of these coaches about, number one, what that ultimate number would be to spend on a roster, who it's spending on, you know, like the, the miss evaluations from some of these rosters in, in the Big East.

Like that was probably the, the biggest root of the problem this year in particular, you know, like, you look at some of their bench options, you know, like it doesn't even compare to what some of those SEC or ACC programs.

have been able to get, not only in terms of the evaluation, but what they're also actually paying, um, you know, in terms of getting that return on the investment .

So, um, you know, yes, maybe long term, you're, you're not necessarily shying away because you can definitely see maybe down the road, or yes, a UConn is allotting $20 million to their roster and you know what, in the SEC, yeah, you're, you're not gonna come anywhere close to that.

But, you know, there's only 5 players that take the court at the same time.

And a lot of this does come down to coaching into the development, into That roster, how, how you're managing things and, and, and getting guys on the court.

So, um, you know, there, there's a lot of factors at play.

I, I think, I think the Big East will be fine.

I think they will kind of understand things, but they were, they were kind of ill-prepared.

And I think truly, you know, you, you talked with some of their administrators, like, I, I think opening up the wallets a little bit, you know, is a little bit more difficult at some of these Big East schools because a lot of those donors, they, they want proof positive.

Like if I'm gonna spend, I mean, if I'm gonna cut the check for, you know, a million-dollar player in, in, in the Big East.

I, I want to be able to see that, all right, that, that's actually a wise, uh, donation, you know, and I don't think they really kind of had that proof, um, not only this year, but, but going back the last couple of years as NIL as the transfer portals come into, into vogue, they, they haven't had that proof positive.

So it's even more difficult to raise those dollars that go directly towards that roster.

And I think everybody's kind of coming around to some of those changes in college athletics that could, could theoretically, uh, allow the Big East to kind of take advantage of things.

Yeah, last, last point on this, I just, the other thing that intrinsically these schools, the schools that don't have football money, are just not used to lavish big swings of investment.

They're, you know, that they've not ever been wired that way, whereas if you're in the SEC Big 10 elsewhere, That's a day to day way of living.

It's like, we've got to build 19 million facilities, and they've got to all be phenomenal, and we've got to pay a shit ton for a strength coach, and a defensive coordinator, and offensive coordinator, so that kind of translates pretty easily to basketball as well.

In, in the Big East, I mean, these are, these are largely smaller Catholic or private schools that don't think that way.

They've never thought that way , uh, athletically.

And so, I think it's taking a bit of a changing of the mindset.

UConn did, but UConn is the outlier there, and UConn's also won 6 national championships or whatever, you know, in the last 26 years.

So, uh, it's just a, I think, a mindset that needs to evolve as well.

All right.

Last, uh, basketball thing here, we are gonna get to some football.

Please stay with us, people.

Um, this is, as I mentioned, at the beginning of the Little Dance week.

Uh, this is the, the mid-major tournaments.

I love this week.

They actually start Monday night.

Uh, for those that are watching the YouTube version here, and please all watch the YouTube version because apparently that's important.

Um, I'm wearing a West Coast Conference hat representing the WCC.

We'll be paying attention to all the early league action.

Uh, I've got, I've picked all of the, the little dance tournaments this week in this week's 40 yard, 40 minutes, you can check that out.

But I want you guys to give me one mid-major tournament that grabs your interest, one you're more excited about maybe than the others, Kevin.

I always love the Missouri Valley.

I'm gonna go down there for a couple of days and get a lay of the land.

It, it is very much sort of this like, still pure conference tournament, uh.

Uh, they do a great job in that, that arena of sort of grouping up the fans by school, by section, everybody buys out their section, it's a, it's a fun, rowdy atmosphere, the fans, the fans really get behind it.

And it's, it's great basketball, um , Belmont's phenomenal.

If Belmont can win this tournament, even if they don't, I think they have a, you know, maybe small chance that they're that large, but if they can get in somehow, that they're gonna be really dangerous, but Illinois State and Bradley and Murray State and UIC are all, all pretty darn good, so, uh, I always, I always look forward to the valley and, uh, you know, that, that, that Sunday CBS conference championship does feel like, in many ways, the beginning of the race to to Selection Sunday.

Absolutely.

I, I'm gonna go with the, uh, conference tournament we just kind of talked about in terms of the MAC.

I mean, you got Akron out there 15 and 1 in conference, 24-5 overall, definitely profiles very favorably in the tournament.

The whole Miami of Ohio story, I mean, everybody loves a little bit of bit of action, uh, plus it's a bit of a farewell, uh, you know, kind of for, for some of the members of the league, obviously, or the Illinois is, is leaving.

They're obviously going to the Mountain West in football and, and, and to the horizon and some of their other sports that you got.

New members coming in after this year.

So like, there's, you know, a bit of a kind of, kind of an interesting vibe.

I think they're around Max and I, I will also shout out the Mountain West, uh, because it's kind of the similar, uh, standpoint.

Yes, you have Utah State kind of leading the way.

Everybody looking at, uh, maybe Jarred Calhoun if you're of interest in, in terms of needing a new coach.

Uh, so there's, there's that, uh, obviously, you have New Mexico, San Diego State's on the, on the bubble as well.

Um, you know, just always an interesting time, you know, for those conference tournaments.

It's in Vegas.

Um, I, I think there's gonna be some interest just in terms of that is gonna, gonna be the last time some of these schools are all together, you know, at, at once.

Um, you know, they're in Vegas, given some are departing for the Pac-12 , um, you know, welcoming some, some other new members as well, uh, out there, first time for Grand Canyon, uh, to be there at, at Mountain West, uh, uh, conference tournament.

So I, I, I will shout out the Mountain West there, uh, not just because I have a story on the conference, uh, coming out on SI.

com later this week as well.

Please leave Utah State alone.

Let them keep a coach for more than like 10 minutes.

Jared Calhoun's a great coach, but they have been through it, man.

2021, Craig Smith, 2022 and 2020203, Ryan Odom.

2024, Danny Sprinkle.

Now year two with Jared Calhoun.

Good coaches, my gosh, the churn though.

I, I feel bad for Utah State and its fans, uh.

And I have to uh You know, have to keep starting over the way that they have.

And I, I, especially for a school that once had, as a mascot, a, uh, a bull that they painted blue, and they, they used to bring him in for basketball games until his hooves started scuffing up the court, and they had to try to fit him in boots, that didn't work out very well either.

So, you know, you gotta try harder when you're at Utah State.

But, uh, the tournament, I am excited about, kind of almost irrationally excited about at this point.

Is the Sun Belt with my favorite bracket, the, the flock of Canadian geese bracket, where it's like 14 teams spread out across like 7 days, and they, you know, they start playing, you know, 2 games at a time, and, and everybody just advances and the top 2 seeds only have to play 2 games.

And then the top 4 seeds only have to play 3 and so forth, and you, you move it on down, so it really does.

Uh, give an advantage to the regular season best teams, which is great, except for this year.

When there's a 6-way tie for 2nd place.

Which is an absolute train wreck, uh, of, of trying to figure out tiebreakers, and so it breaks down that, like, Arkansas State, which really actually may be the second best team in the league, or if you look at Ken Pomeroy, has the best Ken Pomeroy rating, finished 1 game out of 1st, but is the number 7 seed.

And so they've got to play like forever to try to get the championship game.

I think it'd be 5 games in 5 days or 6 games in 6 days.

Something ridiculous.

Uh, and then if you look at the actual, like, you, you go into the actual teams, and it, it is, uh, The the ties make sense, because they all barely beat each other.

Every game is a freaking heart attack.

Coastal Carolina, who I've settled on as the team to beat here, they, they are the number 3 seed.

This is the margins of like their last 10 games, 5 points, 4 points, 4 points, 3 in Triple OT, 4 points, 2 points, 4 points, 5 points, 1 point.

So if you wanna watch a tournament where every single game is gonna probably go down to the wire, and you're gonna see whether somebody can somehow win like 5 games in 5 days, check out the Sun Belt, it should be a lot of fun.

All right, I promise we're gonna talk about something other than basketball, so let's get to that here.

Uh, in case you haven't noticed, and I tried not to notice while I was in Italy, but it's hard because stuff keeps happening, um, the leaders of college sports are rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic again.

Uh, we had a few developments last week.

Uh, we had a white paper from a firm that was commissioned by the SEC in the Big 10 that shockingly found what those two leagues wanted it to find, that the Save Act, which would reform the way college sports, uh, revenue is paid out and broadcasting entities, uh, scheduling, etc.

And pooling broadcast meteorites would not be good for college sports.

That, of course, led to those championing the Save Act, notably Texas Tech mega booster Cody Campbell, and others from places outside the SEC in the Big 10, including the chairman of the board of trustees at Louisville, uh, assailed the white paper findings, said they're flawed.

And then, right before he decided to start a war, Donald Trump commissioned a panel to find solutions for college sports.

It'll include Tiger Woods, for reasons nobody can quite figure out.

We'll see if he gets around to having that.

The last time he was gonna have a panel, I think they, they ended up not having the panel.

So, anyway , Brian, you've been in the country, you're paying attention to this stuff.

Can you please explain the latest flare-up, and who out of these entities actually has the best interests of college sports at heart?

Uh, well, to, to answer that second question, I, I would say none of them necessarily.

Uh, I think they're all very self-interested parties involved in this, and, you know, I, I, I wrote a column a couple of weeks ago on, on SI.

com just in terms of the, the strategy has to change.

This is a failed strategy in terms of going to Washington DC which we, we could all see kind of playing out into this kind of chaos.

Obviously, there's Um, a, a war going on in the Middle East that is impacting a lot more than, than just college sports that I think everybody in Washington is gonna be focused on.

Uh, there's actually the East Regional there, uh, in DC this, this year.

So there's gonna be very interesting, um, confluence of college sports and, uh, the administration there, uh, you know, coming, coming together as one.

And, you know, going back to, you know, there is a kind of this, this push and pull between the, the SA Act.

There's, there's a couple of other acts in Congress that have been talked about, debated.

Um, but this, this, just kind of goes to reaffirm my, my initial point.

Like, nobody in college athletics can kind of agree.

What, what is it that we, we, we desperately need?

What is the bare minimum?

Why are we not all just, all right, one thing, we, we need one thing, and, and, and that has not been the case.

They, they're asking for too much in some cases, they're asking for too little in other cases, um, and, and this just kind of goes back to the entire strategy of trying to go to, to Capitol Hill, uh, which, you know, let's face it, has been pushed by NCAA.

Leadership.

It's been pushed by the conference commissioners, it's been pushed by a lot of IEDs at some point.

They've all made these trips to, to talk with their congressmen and, and senators and say, hey, we, we need this help.

And, and they always say, hey, we've, we've got some traction on this, you know, uh, we, we've had these hearings.

We, we, we, we're we're, we're gaining, uh, we're gaining ground.

But guess what, you know, it's almost midterm season.

Uh , you know, I, I think this is definitely completely off the radar.

I, I don't anticipate anything getting done, uh, necessarily in terms of what the NCAA ultimately.

He wants out of this, whether it's uh, a limited antitrust exemption, whether it's more, which, you know, Save Act, and Cody Campbell have been pushing for so they can kind of pull TV rights.

That's why this latest kerfuffle kind of came out in terms of the Big 10 and the SEC saying, hey, wait a minute, this is actually not that great of an idea, an idea where it's not really gonna play out how you think it does.

Um, you know, you can choose to believe who, who you want in terms of that, uh, that debate, but it kind of goes back to the fact that nobody really understands that, uh, they're not gonna get anything done in Washington.

DC at this point.

And we really haven't, there are a lot bigger issues that, uh, those folks, uh, on Capitol Hill are, are dealing with.

There's gotta be a strategy change.

And I'm gonna be very curious to see over these next couple of weeks as people are crisscrossing the country as they're seeing names and faces and, and commissioners and ADs and all that are coming together a little bit.

Um, you know, will the strategy change at some point?

And I'm gonna be very, very curious.

Uh, I'm sure we'll see Charlie Baker in Indianapolis a couple of times as well.

I is the strategy at at some point going to be understanding of, of saying this, this, this can't continue.

We, we gotta change something, um, in, in terms of what we're gonna be doing because they they're, they're not gonna get the help from, from Washington DC and I think this, this latest case of the Power two conferences kind of going against everybody else in terms of saying, hey, this is not a good idea, um, which, which the Big 12 would, would obviously want, which Cody Campbell and Texas Tech and a number of other, uh, boosters.

Out there that they're kind of on his side, uh , would, would love to get, it, it's, it's just not gonna happen.

So, uh, we, we will see moving forward what, uh, what the ultimate strategy change ends up being, but it's gonna have to happen, uh, here in the near future.

And I'm gonna be curious if, uh, all the, all these events of these last couple of weeks will kind of lead to that, uh, there in Indianapolis.

It, it just strikes me that like, We can't let perfect be the enemy of good here .

Like, if there are, if there are truly like deeply pressing problems, right?

Like every statement about an eligibility lawsuit is that like high school sports are under attack, and we, we, we can't bear the concept of, of losing access to these opportunities.

OK, let's go out and try to solve that problem.

We don't need to solve every problem.

We don't need the anti like, like, yes.

An antitrust exemption would be in some ways, the, the greatest thing that could happen to the NCAA, right?

So would some some kind of uh bargaining change in in terms of rules, like, as I, as far as I read it, like, we, we can't just decide we're collective bargaining tomorrow and next week we've, we've got a union, right?

There's a lot of work that we need to be done.

There's state laws that could be in play, etc.

etc.

right?

So, um, I, I, I understand why the big asks have been the big asks, but at some point , like, if your concern is eligibility and maintaining some semblance of college sports, let's go push that avenue.

Let's work together on that.

Let's find some common footing on a couple of these important issues, and work together either in rulemaking.

In Congress, wherever it is, and say, this is all we need right now.

Yes, we have these bigger fish we need to fry eventually.

Yes, there is this massive change potentially coming down the pipe eventually, when you talk about, um, when you talk about like 2030 and and media rights deals and things like that.

But for now, if you actually believe we are in grave peril over the next couple of years of the institution blowing up.

Then let's ask for the one thing that fixes it, or the two things that fix it, or at least put a band-aid over it, cause right now I don't view the the status quo as sustainable.

Yeah, I think you guys both make good points here, that this shotgun blast of we've got to fix everything, fixes nothing, you know, that, that this approach of, we have 7 urgent things.

Let's go get, no.

You know what, that, that doesn't work.

That's generally not how problems get solved, one thing at a time.

Um, so, And, and, and the, the complete lack of consensus is, I, I guess I should be used to it by now, but it's fatiguing, it's exhausting, you know, frankly, the, the Cody Campbell, you know, and, and the, the, the SAA people were, were really aggressive back during football season, and were, you know, the, the TV ads during every game.

Uh, and they kind of felt like they punched themselves out a little bit, but clearly, the SEC and Big 10 do not think that because they came out with this here in February because they're concerned about what the momentum may be there in those areas.

And, yes, they, they, so the suspicion is the SEC and the Big 10 wanna take, just take care of the SEC and the Big 10.

And Cody Campbell just wants to get Texas Tech into one of those two conferences.

Is there more to it than that?

Yeah, there probably is.

But the ulterior motives make everybody suspect.

Congress, as Brian, Made clear, has no real interest in this or no ability to shoot the magic bullet that's going to fix everything.

So, it just feels like we are continually spinning our wheels here, and I agree that, excuse me, with Kevin, that if we could, If we could localize like one or two things and take aim at those, and maybe see what would happen there, instead of going for the moonshot of the antitrust exemption, which guess what, is not happening anytime soon.

Or the, you know, the moonshot of collective bargaining.

So find the other things and do what we can to address those, and then let's see if we can stop everybody from screaming and crying and stabbing each other in the back for a little while.

Just a thought.

All right, last thought before the last thought.

Uh, draft Combine wrapped up Sunday in Indianapolis.

Many people ran and jumped, uh, lifted, talked, etc.

Give me one or two players who stood out, positively or negatively.

Brian, what do you got?

Well, I'm sure you jumped right back into watching combine coverage for, for hours on end as, as you got back, uh, stateside.

And, and this is my favorite time of the year and unfortunate not to go to Indianapolis, but, uh, a lot of other great crew at MMQB has a lot of great content.

I, I watched it all.

It, it is, uh, even wrote about that, that, uh, as soon as you come out of this podcast, I'm sure it'll be up on, on SI.

com, some of the takeaways, uh , from the combine.

I thought one of the big winners, uh, Sonny Stiles, the linebacker from Ohio State.

Um, obviously, you know, you know, we, we saw it with the Super Bowl run for Seattle Seahawks and, and Nicky Momori, kind of those chess pieces, you know, those type of guys.

And, uh, you know, being a former safety, but, but he's, he's physical to, to be moved up to a linebacker there at Ohio State.

I, I mean, the, the testing numbers were off the charts.

Um, you know, historic even for somebody his size to, you know, run a 446, to, to jump 43 inches, um, you know, broad jump like he did.

I, I mean, I, I think everybody was understanding that he, he was probably one of the Top linebackers available in the draft, but, uh, those testing numbers kind of reaffirm what kind of player he is.

Um, and, and that was the kind of the, the takeaway.

I mean, the, the track was super fast.

It was the fastest combine ever, um, you know, in terms of some of the groups, and you look at their 40 times, um , the, the average 40 time was, was, was best everywhere, but I, I think it was quarterback, uh, was the lone holdout and that was the 2nd fastest, uh, group of all time.

So, uh, you know, this was a testing, uh, really.

And, and, and really elevated a lot of those freaks that we saw in college football that are going to the NFL.

Um, Kenyon Siddiq had a, had a great combine as, as expected.

Uh, I think everybody understood, uh, seeing him at Oregon, he was going to test well.

His teammate Dylan, uh, Thiineman was awesome in, in terms of running what he ran in terms of 4-35.

I think Mike two Arkansas guys I would shout out to, uh, to, to get into it, uh, that probably did pretty well.

Mike Washington Jr, uh, you know, he ran a 4-33 at, at over.

220 pounds, um, you know, the tailback uh for the Razorbacks.

I think he opened some eyes.

I think everybody expected him to test pretty well, but for those NFL teams, it's one thing to say, all right, he, he's going to test well, you know, coming, coming from the scouts, coming from the college football side, but when they actually see him kind of drop those times and then that kind of causes them to reevaluate, I think it was a great combine for Mike Washington Junior.

and, you know, Taylor Green, Green, his, his quarterback.

You know, I, I don't think in terms of the, some of the, uh, passing drills and the workout.

Uh, he, he was quite as sharp as he could have been.

Uh, but anytime you're, you're gonna jump like he did, uh, run like he did, uh, you know, run in a 4-3, um, at 6'6 with his frame, he's gonna get guys just kind of interested in, uh, maybe he's a developmental guy that I could be interested in, uh, especially kind of day 3 in that, that range, we saw Jalen Milroe go to the Seahawks a couple of years ago, kind of in that same vein .

Maybe we can use him.

Maybe we can have some packages.

Uh, I, I think the way he tested there in Indianapolis.

Uh, he turned some heads and, and he's gonna kind of get, go down that track of being one of those kind of developmental day 2, day 3 type of guys as well.

So, um, fascinating.

Always, always love the combine.

I think there were a lot of guys that stood out just because of, it was such a fast track.

We saw so many crazy jumps, um, and that kind of really, really reconfirmed that, uh, it was a great year in college football, and the talent level, uh, coming out of the college ranks nowadays is probably as high as it's ever been in terms of bigger, faster, stronger.

Uh, you're seeing that at the combine.

Yeah, I, I, I was not surprised that Taylin Green was an underwear Olympics champion.

The guy has always been a, a freak show, um, and you're right, especially in a draft class that it feels like there's a lot of uncertainty about the, the quarterbacks, especially working your way down the board.

Why not take a swing, you know, I mean, look, it hasn't worked for anybody else, but it might work for us.

Why not?

Taylin Green.

Uh, I would also highlight Cayden Proctor at Alabama.

I mean, I'm just amazed by any, uh, 350 pounder that that can can move and and run and jump like he can.

A 32 inch vertical at 352 pounds is, is quite impressive to me.

That's why they threw him passes last year, man, split him out and threw it, I mean, he is a, a true freak, um.

The guy that I wanted to, to just talk about briefly, uh, Vanderbilt tight end Eli Stowers, who, uh, had a record-breaking 45.5 inch vertical, a tight end, uh, ran a 451, I don't care whether that's, you know, that, OK, Kenyon Siddiq's faster, that's fine.

Um, he also broad jumped 11'3, but the thing to remember about Stowers, he was a quarterback until October of 2023.

He's not played three full seasons of tight end.

He's still learning the position, and you can see his body, he's still, he's still gonna have to get a little bit stronger and everything, but the physical tools, whew, 64, 235, and, you know, can, he's gonna win a lot of those contested pass routes that tight ends up , end up having to uh to run.

In the middle of Campbell Award winner too, so smart guy.

He, he can pick up that playbook quickly, right?

Absolutely.

No, he's, he's got, uh, all the intangibles, I think.

So, um, I'm excited to see what he's gonna be able to do.

He's excited to see D'Angelo Pond's, uh, vertical jump, 43.5 for, uh, the Indiana quarter cornerback.

He's small, he's 5'9, so, you know, buyer beware a little bit there, but that's one of those guys you just look at and say football player, production.

Uh, tackles, blocks, punts, that sort of thing.

I think there will be a place for him in the league.

So, um, you know, we'll see where, where, what the impact the combine ends up having on actual draft picks, and we'll discuss the draft, uh, in a couple of months when we get to, to April.

But, uh, for now, much more important story here that we're gonna end with, uh, something of national import, I would say.

The New York Post, God bless them, they, they, they've got the scoop here.

Uh, in Georgia, They found a uh Excuse me, a kids' lunch.

And unzipped it, and inside, he's got your Doritos, and I don't know, maybe some fruit or bread or something, I'm not sure, and uh a drink.

As the uh the caption says here, that is not Capri Sun.

No, it is not, it's a cutwater lemon drop martini.

So that's in the kids' uh lunchbox.

11% alcohol, that'll put some hair on your 11 year old chest or however this old this child is at school.

Uh, gentlemen, Is the uh is the parent here in trouble, or is the parent just trying to get their kids ready for real life?

Working the hard streets in Georgia , going in there to elementary school, you know, learning multiplication tables.

Diagramming sentences, whatever they do, uh, Justice Sweeney, what's your, what's your opinion here ?

Yeah, I'll, I'll, I'll, I'll give a pass because I have, uh, accidentally grabbed the wrong canned beverage, uh, once or twice.

So, uh, yeah, you, you crack it open, you think, oh, that's, that's not what you're looking for.

Uh, I, I, I, I think in, in fairness, I mean, as a kid, you walk into class with a lemon drop martini, I mean, that's pretty classy.

Like we're not, we're not, we're not slamming, you know, Keystone light here, this is big time stuff, so, um, yeah, I, I, I, I think, I think for a one time mistake, it's a, uh, it's a roll of an eye roll and a slap on the wrist for the parents, but nothing more.

Well, you know, as a, uh, designated, uh, lunch maker, you know, for, for both of my kids before they go to, uh , to school, I can definitely understand, you know, if, if you, like you're saying, Kevin, you know, grabbing the wrong thing out of the fridge, you know, but, you know, you, you snooze, you hit the snooze button a little bit too long, you're kind of scrambling a little bit in the morning.

Yeah, you, you gotta get, gotta get the kids in uniform, gotta get, you know, boots and, and everything, make sure the bag's packed, and then you, oh yeah, we need to get, we need to get a little lunch.

I, I, I can understand the scramble and, and, and that , uh, maybe leading to some confusion.

My question is, there is no way that you can confuse this can for, for, for a Capri Sun, like that's a totally different things like the, the packaging is different, uh, the, the look is different, so like, I, I'm gonna cry foul on that part, but I totally get the kind of scramble nature to throw something in.

To to the lunchbox.

It does seem like a little bit of a sad lunch.

I'm, I'm not gonna lie, I think my kids would probably reject this.

They would definitely eat the Doritos.

I'm not sure what else is in there, but, um, you know, Pat, to your, to your point, that they would walk into school, if they were old enough to understand what was actually in that can, um, you know, to say, hey, look what, look what I got, guys.

Um, I, I can definitely understand that.

I'm, I'm a little curious how this was caught, you know, like was, was the teacher walking around and just like, hey, wait a minute, you can't have that, like, I, I do want a little more details on the story though.

Always we need more details on these things because uh we don't know the full motivations here, but, uh, maybe this is why my wife did not put me in charge of school lunches.

Because uh she, she was the, the healthy lunch Nazi, and I, who knows what I would have put in there.

But, uh, yeah, you know.

OK, I think, the parent-teacher conference is gonna be a little bit of a tough one for whoever the uh parental parties here, you know, that go in and say, yeah, yeah, yeah, we put the, we put the martini in there.

But, again, may, you know, maybe this is a reflection of how bad the teachers are.

You think this, the kid needs a little something to get through the day with this teacher.

Uh, I'm not sure there.

But Anyway, we are not, uh, we're not the hanging judges here, certainly when it comes to this sort of thing.

So, uh, you get a do-over, Georgia parent, and, uh, try, try not to throw the martini in there next time.

Uh, we will try to have a better show next week.

Thank you all for listening.

Enjoy watching the basketball.

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Please check SI.

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We're gonna have just a massive ton of basketball, football, college sports content in the month ahead.

So stick with us, and, uh, thanks for listening.

We'll talk to you next week.