SleepHawk Worldwide
SleepHawk Worldwide
Carolina Controversy—Did The Heels Earn Their Way Into The NCAA Tournament?
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After a third loss to Duke knocked UNC out of the ACC Tournament, many where shocked that the Tar Heels were the last team invited to the Big Dance. Brandon Staton and Tyler Hansbrough breakdown how it went down, and analyze the Heels' path forward in the NCAA Tournament. Plus, we look at some dark horses, upset alerts and pick Final Four and Tournament Champions.
Welcome to Sleepwalk Worldwide
Speaker 1and now the sleepwalk worldwide podcast . Here are your hosts , brandon staten and tyler . What's up everybody . Welcome to sleep to Sleepwalk Worldwide Podcast . We sound like we're in the garage here , because in a geek squad we ain't , but here we are . We're all in one place , we're in , we're in a tournament , we're in the nest . We haven't been in there in a while and we got our old friend back here , brian Rosenthal . So I got a lot to get into guys . But we're going to talk about tournament . We're going to talk about how Carolina got there . We're going to talk about Jalen Withers . We're going to talk about Bubba Cunningham . We're going to talk about upsets . We're going to talk about Duke . We're going to talk about everything , everything . March Madness is probably the favorite episode of the year . Well , we think March Madness is probably the favorite episode of the year . Welcome to the show . What do you ?
Carolina's Controversial Tournament Bid
Speaker 2think Big Hall Sleep . First of all , it's great to be back in the nest . St Patrick's Day Got all about that Got my green .
Speaker 2I brought my green shoes . I was asleep . It's a rare day that Rosenthal's dressed up . He's got the turtleneck . You know I'm a big tournament guy too , but it's Kortis maybe no . I mean , you know what . We're all excited . You know everyone thought maybe we weren't going to get in , including myself , but you know what , here we are . A lot of , a lot of a lot of fans are really excited . It's good to hear and also it's kind of reversed my motivation or kind of like giving me a little bit of life , because you know I didn't realize how many people would be this excited to be , you know , one of the first four teams in the last four last literally yeah the last the
Speaker 1last like everybody's either excited or they're absolutely pissed um . Got a ton of that to get into , brian . Thanks for joining us , man . Um , you know , I don't even know where to start .
Speaker 3It's like the whole thing .
Speaker 1So , because I had my story already written out and all I was like you know what ? We're going to be the last four in or the last , we're going to be the first four out . And what did tyler say ? All year long we kept digging ourselves holes that we couldn't get out of . We did it against Duke , we did it against everybody and I'm going to get into this , but I was like the story's already written . We just missed the tournament because we dug ourselves a hole that we couldn't get out of and I'll be damned if they didn't make it in and ruin my whole thing .
Speaker 1So anyway , were you a State guy or Duke ?
Speaker 3guy State . I mean if clearly we're not going to talk about state .
Speaker 1this year it's a house divided .
Speaker 3I'm part of a house divided here in my own home , you know . Going back to Carolina , I live in Chapel Hill , excited for my friends . I think the brand of Carolina is a big deal to have in this NCAA tournament . I think if you look at what have you done for me lately , carolina's record clearly since Valentine's Day is one of the best of all the bubble teams . So obviously deeper dive coming up here on the pod of why Carolina should be in the tournament . But they have a path , they have a great path here . It's going to be very exciting .
Speaker 1Yeah , a lot of people think we can get a couple Ws . I'm going to be honest , dude . I'm in that age where the bracket just starts to stress me out , you know .
Speaker 1I get there sit there and I don't even really maybe do a bracket challenge anymore . I mean I'll fill one out , but then take it to Vegas , do the opposite . You'd probably leave a winner . All right , let's start where everybody started Carolina , last team in the tournament . A lot of people up in arms . I mean this is on every podcast . This is on Pat McAfee , stephen A Talking about his abomination of . I used to like Stephen A , but he done ran afoul of LeBron and now he's run afoul of my boys . So you know what ran a foul on LeBron and now he's run a foul on my boys . We've turned over a new leaf in terms of our language rating here on SleepHawk Worldwide , but y'all know what I'm thinking about . Stephen A had nothing to do with that guy
Breaking Down Withers' Lane Violation
Speaker 1Heels are in Period , how they got there , whatever .
Speaker 1But Big Hawk , what are your thoughts ? Did they deserve to get in ? The big two are what ? West Virginia and Indiana ? I know you know the breakdown , I'm just you know .
Speaker 2Well , sleep . First of all I'll give you guys my thought . I think the media had kind of built a narrative that UNC didn't deserve to be into the tournament . I felt like a lot of people just kind of they kept building that narrative and even myself I bought into it . I was like , yeah , we don't have the quad one wins to really justify a good resume to get into the tournament , really justify a good resume to get into the tournament . But then when I would look and sort the data and look into it and a lot of the metrics that the NCAA selection committee uses , I'd always say to myself we're above these bubble teams . Like , believe it or not , we're in a better position . If you were to ask me of all the bubble teams and you just didn't put a name and you put down the breakdown of what the selection committee said , their basing resumes and what they value , if you didn't put UNC's name beside what we did compared to those other bubbles teams , you would pick UNC's resume over the other bubble teams .
Speaker 2And from what I understood , the committee used basically seven metrics to kind of decide and figure out who's going to get into the tournament and when it's all said and done and you look at those metrics , unc was first and fourth and second . The other twos and the quad ones weren't quite there , but to me they were . You know they were ahead in a lot of these metrics that the committee uses . You know you look at the net rankings . Ok , you've got Indiana 54 . Then you have , you know . Let me pull up ours .
Speaker 1You kept doing that all year , that's . You know we were consistently like in 30s or 40s , yeah , and I was always surprised because to me it's like look to me the net ranking is who does 68 best teams ? And of course you know you got some of these small conferences that are getting in . So I feel like what the net ranking is supposed to be . It is kind of like track me who's the best individual player that wasn't a conference champion , and then there's your ins and there's your outs . Let me say this about Carolina .
Speaker 3I mean they held serve against all the bad teams . Yeah , they beat them . They suffered one bad loss at the buzzer at home against the Cardinals , stanford . That is a case you cannot make for IU and West Virginia . So I look at Caroline and I say to myself yes , this argument that has been displayed over the last several weeks about the lack of quad , one wins . It's hard to argue that . There's no doubt you can't argue that 1-12 . But the bad losses are not there . They took care of business in the ACC , dominating the bottom feeders . And again I go back to Indiana Losses some bad Big Ten teams . West Virginia losses some bad Big 12 teams .
Speaker 3What have you done for me lately ? Carolina has answered the call . Cu losing first round . Excuse me , west Virginia losing first round to CU was a very bad loss . The number 16 seed in the Big 12 tournament was Colorado . So listen , I don't have a dog in the fight , but I do believe Carolina should be in this tournament and I'm not going to make a massive argument for them . But I have no problem seeing them in data tomorrow night .
Speaker 2Yeah , sleep , and you know I'll build off that .
Speaker 2You think Rosenthal's a tariff , the way he just laid out the argument , you know . So jump on board for the tournament . Hey , you know I'll say this Sleep . You know , I think I have our net rankings here , but if you were to look at basically our last 10 games , we're 8-2 . And we've lost twice to Duke , which , you can make an argument , is the best team in the country right now . Now , obviously , in the ACC tournament , without Cooper Flagg a lot of Tar Heel fans out there we thought this is our chance . This is going to be our big win . We're going to run to the selection committee with this big dub . We're going to put ourselves in conference championship position . We didn't do that , but it was . It was our chance .
Speaker 2We damn near did it . That's true Of all the bubble teams . If you look at their last ten games , we by far had the best record . I think even some of them were 5-5 , you know , not great records , kind of limping into the term . And also you look at a team like Indiana . They had some massive , like big-time blowouts , inouts , like almost 30-point blowouts , and Indiana's a team that has no-showed on a lot of big stages . You never know what you're really going to get with them . They've been very inconsistent . I'm not saying that Tar .
Speaker 1Heels showed up . They beat the Daylights out of us a couple years ago and that was a big game . But you're right . Other than that , I feel absolutely with you .
Speaker 3A no-show game against an ACC team was Louisville . I think Indiana went into that game , maybe a four-and-a-half , five-and-a-half point favor , maybe even a little bit higher , and they got beat down against Louisville . I think Indiana to me is less of a compelling argument than West Virginia .
Speaker 1And I was trying to pull this up quickly , but ESPN literally got so many things on their website that I'll never find . But we kept saying that all year , right , which was , hey , look , let's face it , man , for a big portion of the year we were just looking for silver linings as Carolina fans , and one of those silver linings was is like hey , I can't . Who are the close losses ? I mean , we played a lot of Kansas lost to one at Florence .
Speaker 3Florida and Charlotte Yep Florida when that game was in in the spectrum , Wasn't ?
Speaker 1that the one we won .
Speaker 3Lost to Florida .
Speaker 1Lost , lost . We had a five second trap there , you know , and look , here's the other thing , and I know this doesn't technically matter , but we beat Memphis in that , you know , in that exhibition and it's funny because when that happened .
Speaker 1I asked Tyler . I was like , does that matter ? Like maybe . So that question kind of is in the back of my mind because , dude , they did beat Memphis and it's an exhibition . I get it Fine . And this is the other thing . I think it was with West Virginia . A lot of their big wins came so early in the season . And that's just to me . It's like when do you want a team to be good ? You want to be good in the beginning . I mean , because Carolina over the last what five or six years has been plenty of times we were great , you know , early in the season and it did not end well . So I don't know , I get it 100% .
Speaker 3But let's come back to that .
Speaker 1Let's talk more about Duke game , because that's the other big storyline . Buried here is Jalen Withers . You know the lane violation . I think a younger me would have been like heated that they even made that call . But then I watched the replay . I'm like it's hard not to make that one . Everybody's just pointing at him . What do you think of that ? Yeah , play . And I don't know . Like , how do you even , how do you even piece that together ?
Speaker 2I'll start just from because I've been involved with so many basketball games . And first of all ,
Bubba Cunningham Selection Committee Controversy
Speaker 2um , I want to say I respect Jalen Withers going to the media afterwards , answering the media's questions and not just putting his clothes on right now locker room . Okay , he owned it and went to the media's questions and not just putting his clothes on right now in the locker room . He owned it and went to the media . Obviously he felt bad about it . Hopefully this will motivate him and make him more focused for the tournament because let's just say , he started that ACC tournament . He hit seven threes and there's been some games where we kind of had to check our eyesight to make sure , hey , that's Jim and Withers making those . He started to play , you know , he's found his confidence , found his rhythm , but then he always has kind of like those little setbacks or those moments that like we've kind of seen those flashes and it happened on the biggest stage . We've kind of seen those slashes and it happened on the biggest stage , and I know what . In my opinion I'm not looking at what he said , just playing the games I felt like he was trying to get the Duke players to jump in the lane to get them called for a violation . And the problem with that is you know you really only do that if you know you're the team on the defensive end of that . You know you don't do it to your own guy at the free throw line because it messes him up and also no one's really talking about Lubin made the free throw . Yeah , exactly , you know would have sent it possibly into overtime giving us a shot .
Speaker 2It's one of the most head-scratching plays I've ever witnessed in sport and I don't like to say that . But but listen , um , it is , you can't do that . You got to be more disciplined and when I watched the game I thought to myself this is why those little things are kind of the reason why we get close enough and we don't ever get over that edge . And , um , I thought it was just , I've never seen us , I've never seen him or anybody , anybody on the team try to do that . And why would you do that ? Do that in that situation , late in the game , with everything on the line ? I just felt like like he had a little lapse there . But you know , hopefully as a team we can learn from that and we can be more disciplined going forward . But that was a massive mistake . Sleeve .
Speaker 2Yeah and I thought .
Speaker 1You know the team responded . Well , I appreciated and respected Hubert standing there with him . Well , I appreciate it and respect Hubert standing there with him . Yeah , I mean , it's like I think we were just talking before we started about Chris Webber calling timeout . You didn't have things like that . Those are heat of the moment , justifiable things . This one was just a straight up boneheaded play .
Speaker 3I like Jalen Withers .
Speaker 1I'm not saying that , it's just like what . But ? And then you realize like there's a human element you know I'm 41 years old , like so it's it's hard for me to be , like you know , critical of the kid , like it's just things that that happen in young kids playing college basketball . To your point , you know we're just not a team that can beat ourselves , and in that game I think there's a lot of Carolina haters out there that would have taken a lot of pleasure in sort of blaming that for us not making the tournament . So I'm kind of glad that it went the other way , for his sake .
Speaker 3Well , how lucky is Withers to now put that behind Because in some way it's irrelevant . They're in the tournament . Chris weber cannot put that away because his career ended that night in orleans , uh , calling the the timeout that wasn't there , which led to the , the conclusion that game . They were done on a technical foul . So I mean , listen , this kid . I feel bad for the kid and I think he has a tremendous opportunity to do something in the sense of NCAA tournament to make up for it . I've never seen anything like that before as someone who's watched basketball religiously for all my life . And I don't know , I don't know how to explain it , I don't know the , the , the technique behind , being at the free throw line and waiting for a rebound . But you know , good on , good on Withers for having another shot here and I think what we saw against Notre Dame proves to me that this kid has a lot of talent and a lot of moxie . Seven for ten from downtown in the ACC tournament .
Speaker 1Here's what I'll say . I thought the rule was and maybe it's an NBA rule and maybe I'm just making it up I thought the rule was very similar to an offside in football , where , as long as you're back outside of the lane when the ball is rolling . You're good . I was yelling at the TV . Quite frankly , if that's not the rule , it should be .
Speaker 2I think you would have players stepping in and trying to throw off the best shooter , but you do see that happen all the time in the NBA .
Speaker 1But it's less about a purposeful thing and more about just guys like I mean you watch guys that step in the lane because they're ready to run back down to the other floor . It was at first I was like how could they call that ? But then I guess I'm one of those people where , since the whole sentiment was like how could they not call it , I was like , oh okay , I guess I'm wrong .
Speaker 2Sleep . When I saw it it was an obvious call . I was like he's got to call that . They slowed it down . I was like , how could you not ?
Speaker 1It wasn't a small , it was a massive . It was enough time for dudes on the line to start pointing at him before a lumen .
Speaker 3Let go of it . Do you think it was just the lack of confidence he had in lumen ? Is that penetrating through ?
Speaker 2I thought he was trying . I thought watching the game he tried to overthink the situation and a lot of times as an athlete , you're always like just do what you've always done , but do it with effort and have confidence . But I will say this Sleep Jalen Withers . Does he deserve to be criticized ? I don't care , he's going to be criticized .
Speaker 2That's not the way it works and you know I don't . I'm not big into you know he shouldn't be . Yeah , Players I'm not big into . You know he shouldn't be . Yeah , players should be criticized . If you play at UNC , you should be . You should know that people are going to be critical of your play and your mistakes and you can't look too much into that . And you've got to be able to stay within yourself and stay focused , because that's not going to go away and I think we're not really doing him a favor if everyone thinks that we have to like hey , it's okay . No , you made a mistake . Learn from it , move on . Don't pay too much attention to what everyone else is saying , and I think that's the one segue into .
Speaker 1You know we'll get into in a second the team and the tournament , but that's the one thing about this team all year long that you know . A couple years ago I watched caleb love playing whatever it's their championship , and I I couldn't help but think , like man , I miss that guy . Like I mean he has . He has evolved . I don't know where he projects in the nba draft , but like watching him play he has so much poise , he has so much control . Like he's . He's a great player and I'm always like he's one of my favorite tar Heels man . He gave us a gift that we can never repay him for . But it made me think that , even though this team has had so many struggles , I don't understand how we get behind the way we get behind .
Speaker 3But nobody there was that whole dynamic while he was here .
Speaker 1That was weird . And the chemistry chemistry we talked about a lot like the team seemed to like each other , but the on-court chemistry wasn't there . Here it doesn't even really feel like there's no on-court chemistry . It's just like this team at time just can't make shots at all , right , um , but my point there is like , even though this happened , the team sort of rallied around him and everything and like I don't know .
Speaker 1Like if you're going into March , you got a guy like RJ Davis that he just flips the switch Like it changes everything , and you got a team that sort of seems to like not I'm almost frustrated by the fact that they don't get more pissed , but they seem just so even keel .
Speaker 1So it'll be really interesting to see how they bounce back . So we'll get into their play in the tournament . But I think before we even you know sort of preview the San Diego state game , we have to talk about the chatter about Bubba Cunningham and how you know . You know he's head of the committee , he's Athletics Director at Carolina . There's financial . People are pointing at everything how much money he gets paid if Carolina gets in . I'm sure he's super worried about that . But money's money , you know . And there was . It was so like I just thought it was amazing that right there on CBS they were ready , with Bubba Cunningham and that other guy , to just walk them out there and explain things and I thought that said something . It was just , like you know , pretty interesting that they were that ready .
Speaker 1It's almost like , hey , here's the deal , we're going to let Carolina in and then Bubba , you and this guy , you need to go do damage control
San Diego State Tournament Matchup Preview
Speaker 1, right ? I don't know , what did you think of ?
Speaker 2that , tyler , I'll say this Just Bubba . I don't think Bubba's not the person to influence anybody Knowing him and going off of you know the interactions that I've had and what I think about I don't think that . I think he's too much of a rule book person to actually do something like that . Me myself , if I was Bubba , would I Absolutely . Also , I will say that's the type of AD I want at my university .
Speaker 2I want somebody in there and you know Bubba's taking some criticism . But if I were to find out Bubba did have an influence , oh , respect , yeah , but I do not think he did and I don't think he would do anything to jeopardize being part of the selection committee , because I think if something you know , something like that , will haunt you for the rest of all year round .
Speaker 1And it also requires complacency from everybody else whose other conferences are represented and all that sort of stuff . What do you think I mean in this day ?
Speaker 3and age of leakage in social media , it would have already been figured out that Bubba rigged this situation . I think his integrity and , as Tyler alluded to , there's no way he's jeopardizing his space on the NCAA committee as the chair that's a very prestigious honor and , of course , being the AD of Carolina just to see Carolina find its way today in Ohio . There's no way . I'm not a conspiracy theory guy . I think that the committee voted Carolina in fair and square . There's nothing more to it .
Speaker 2Sleep it . I want to say I hope that West Virginia does find a way to take the NCAA to court and investigate why they did that . That would be the most interesting process . The government absolutely , and I love a good conspiracy theory .
Speaker 1That would be the most interesting process , absolutely yeah , and I love a good conspiracy theory ?
Speaker 1Yeah , there's a lot of good ones . Did we land on the moon ? I wasn't there . Did Bubba Cunningham have an influence ? I wasn't there . But here's the thing I've met Bubba Cunningham . In passing , he wouldn't know me from apple butter , but he is the type of guy that fits Carolina . You meet him , he says hello , he's nice , he's not this . Oh , I'm above the fray because of who I am , I think the world of him , from the view I have , which is as a fan , I think he's been great for the university , the Bill Belichick hire , you know whoever gets the credit for that . I got no idea , but I mean you're the AD .
Speaker 3So you got to take the credit , you know what I mean .
Speaker 1And ultimately , you know , I think , that time and time again he's , you know , just carried himself in the school with a really good reputation , and good on him , Because the other thing you don't want is an AD that's going to say hey look , guys , this is going to look bad . You know , I understand Not our best year you know he could have easily done that too , you know , and say , hey look , there's an argument good one to be made that we shouldn't be here .
Speaker 2So you know , it could have gone the other way . I'm going to ask a question . Bubba removed himself when UNC was being discussed . Did you remove yourself when the other Bubba teams were being discussed because I know I was . I'm here .
Speaker 1You didn't really impress me that much the whole thing is so dumb anyway because they expand it from 64 to 68 to prevent this problem . They're talking about taking it from 64 to 8 , to whatever 8 . You're just always going to have problems .
Speaker 2We can't let everybody in and the committee did say that if Memphis didn't win their conference tournament , if they would have lost to UAB , we would not be in the tournament .
Speaker 1Yeah , that's 100% right . Yeah , and we were talking about this before . You covered it all . I lost track of all the stars that had to align but , they did , and if some of these teams had won , we wouldn't be there .
Speaker 3I think Bubba's concern right now is not whether or not Carolina is going to underachieve in football once again , but to get better at pickleball , because there's a strong room in Chapel Hill . He's just not .
Speaker 2He's a solid pickleball player , you think so . I wouldn't throw him in the ring with you A couple other guys , some of the other elites that we have . How do I get started ?
Speaker 1You got a long path man .
Speaker 2Huh , you got a long path . You're a journeyman .
Speaker 1Yeah , listen , buddy , I'm in you ready . You're lucky that this , that we've changed our tune , man , on this language here . Dude , don't sleep , I lose 40 pounds .
Speaker 3The NCAA tournament means nothing as far as getting heated compared to Pickleball . I mean , should I go ?
Speaker 1out there and win the North Hills Club Championship . First of all , that ain't happening .
Speaker 3You don't think it'll happen , you don't think ?
Speaker 1All right , plus 2,000 . Plus 2,000 . Plus 2,000 . I can't win it this year , like give me some time Plus 2,000 , 2026 .
Speaker 2Go yeah , and with it it takes a long time . There's going to be some young tennis guys involved .
Speaker 1No , I'm 41 . Is there no age group ?
Speaker 3I guess you know , I mean , that's my problem , I'm old .
Speaker 2Don't judge a book by its cover Shit .
Speaker 1We can laugh . Sorry Um I got to get in it , man , I got to get in it . Anyway , I don't want to sidetrack .
Speaker 2It's a dick thing . It's a dick thing .
Speaker 1Yeah , what else were we going to talk about ?
Speaker 3Sorry to sidetrack that . Everyone so turn .
Speaker 1Don't forget to preview the game . Yeah , we got to win to get in , yeah sort of thing . San Diego State . I know Kawhi Leonard went there . He did . I'm pretty sure LaDainian Tomlinson went there .
Speaker 3No , he went to TCU , yep .
Speaker 1Who was it that went there back in the day ? I'm going to recall Marshall Falk , marshall Falk , that's right , that's right , marshall Falk , marshall .
Speaker 3Falk , marshall Falk . He's a good player Coach at Colorado now , I believe , running backs coach .
Speaker 1I haven't heard about that . That's crazy Brompton Unbelievable . Hard to believe he didn't take the Dallas job Okay , so they were pretty good a couple years , weren't they an older ?
Speaker 3team a couple years ago , national championship appearance .
Speaker 2That's right . Yeah , yeah , yeah , Mensah and Johnson frontcourt both playing in the NBA .
Speaker 3Not the same team this year , a lot smaller . Great matchup for Carolina . The books have Carolina as a three-and-a-half point favorite . I mean it's going to be very Listen to your point . If Carolina turns it over early , starts off slow , they're going to be in trouble .
Speaker 3San Diego State's a good team . It's not a bad conference . The Mountain West top five is probably comparable somewhat comparable to the ACC . Obviously , clemson and Duke are going to be vastly better than New Mexico and Louisville as well . But listen , they bowed out early in their conference tournament , lost to Boise , but this is a team that beat Houston , the number four team in the country . This is a team that took care of business against Creighton this year . I think it's a good matchup for Carolina and I do think Carolina is going to win this game . But you know , I think San Diego State is a team that is not going to hurt Carolina as many teams
Potential March Madness Upsets
Speaker 3have we seen all year , with a big team , a big frontcourt . So in my opinion , this is the right play . Take Carolina . So you know , there , this is the right play , take Carolina .
Speaker 2So you know , there's a few things that Carolina has working for them . First of all , we cannot complain about who we're playing , or you know what the situation ? Listen , we're in the tournament . We're not going to start . No , this ain't the time We've got to turn quick turnaround . Listen , we play Tuesday . If we win Tuesdayuesday , we don't play again until friday . That's a that's a good break . Yeah , I mean , that's a great setup for us , uh , so we really can't complain about that .
Speaker 2Um , I will say the most concerning thing is I always think that teams that do well in the tournament are teams that can win in dirty games , and what I mean by that is they have an ability to take . You know what they do on the road . Like he harmed those defense . They lock teams down . They really get after you . Uh , they hold teams to uh , 60 points , um , but , with that said , they're not a big team . They're not a good rebounding team , which we struggle with . We struggle against big rebounding teams and when you look at it , the other thing that we have going our way is their big man , the seven footer lagoon . Guaff , if I said that wrong , I think you nailed it . Just ignore it .
Speaker 1Doing his own thing . Yeah , who is ?
Speaker 2the Mountain West player of the year , has been out the last five games and is probably not going to be at full strength or maybe playing limited minutes in this game . So I think that's good . But also I always say I think the time change may have something to do with this and the fact that they had to travel all the way from San Diego to Dayton is going to make a difference . But I've said this all year Listen , we can evaluate the other team and look at who we're playing and how we match up . If we start the game with careless turnovers , lack of effort and sleepwalk our way through tip , we should not , we can't do that . We've been our own worst enemy . We've got to show up from the start . We got to take care of the ball and we got to know that San Diego State plays dirty , they're going to get after you defensively and they're going to be physical . Plays dirty . They're going to get after you defensively and they're going to be physical . And we've got to go there with the mindset okay , that's how they play , Okay , we're going to bring it from start to finish and we're going to get this dub and we're going to prove a lot of people wrong and you know we win this game .
Speaker 2We play Friday , I think at 2-something , against Ole Miss , which Ole Miss doesn't have a big name . Now , chris Spear does a great job . Guys , we could win two games in the tournament and all this talk about whether we should be in or not , and all this controversy . We could end it right there and have the last laugh . But yeah , that's what I'm excited about Sleep . We'll see .
Speaker 1I think we got a path , man . I think it's crazy , but it could happen Stranger things have happened for sure . But you got to win them . You got to win the ones that are in front of you . Tournament wide here , let's . Let's spend some time thinking about who are who are . Who are who thinking about who are upsets . I mean , what are we looking for in this tournament ? So one , I do think . Let me just say this . So everybody would call us homers because we said Carolina should have gotten in . I think until about maybe a week ago I would have said Auburn all day long number one seed . It's awful hard for me to say Duke should be number one seed man . I mean , they're scary good , it's funny because I'm watching all these and everybody's got them in the Final Four .
Speaker 3But nobody's got them winning really which kind of bothers me ?
Speaker 1because I wish everybody would chalk them up . That way I just feel like there's a chance . But what matchups , big Hawk , are you looking forward to ? And maybe , like Seth Davis man , I was in a group chat yesterday . I think he picked every damn under-seeded team to win so that he could just come in and when three or four upsets happen , you just say he called it . But what are some legitimate favorites that are in trouble ?
Speaker 2Yeah , so what I'm looking at here , some interesting matchups that I see Kansas-Arkansas . To me those are both teams that had high expectations , Very good coaches Bill Self , John Calipari , both primetime guys going at it in the first round and those are both teams that I kind of felt like preseason and season-wide . I mean , I felt like they had the talent . They just didn't all click and they weren't peaking or playing well . That's going to be an interesting matchup and if the stars do align , St John's takes care of business , which more than likely they will . I think Kansas is going to advance . I think Kansas is going to beat St John's and also my dark horse , and I know that I'm getting a little ahead here . I just want to preview this Missouri-Kansas huge rivals . People forget how big of a little ahead here . I just want to preview this Missouri-Kansas huge rivals . People forget how big of a rivalry that is . I grew up in Missouri . It's massive . They haven't had , you know , since Missouri switched conferences and all this new , they haven't had some games , rivalries getting back together . This would be a massive moment and that would be a massive stage to have that game . I'm looking at that one . The other one I'm looking at is Sleep Dog . You mentioned it and I love this setup . I love this possibility Duke advancing Arizona advancing Caleb Love , Every Tar Heel , Caleb Love .
Speaker 2I would love to see that again , Smoke Duke , if they get together . I Tar Heel Dude , Caleb Love , I would love to see that again . Smoke a Duke , if they get together . I'm telling you he's one of those Caleb's , one of those guys . You got to love him . You know same reasons you hate him as reasons you love him . He can give you 40 . He can give you 40 .
Speaker 3But he may take 80 shots , but he'll do it .
Speaker 2He'll do it If he catches fire . I'm looking at that , yeah , so those are my most intriguing games and the way things could kind of break down . I'll just pass it over to Brian right after this .
Speaker 2Yeah , br Rosenthal , who's my dark horse . I actually think Missouri could be a little bit of a dark horse . They've had some big-time wins . Dennis Cates has done a great job , mark Mitchell , who a lot of Tar Heel fans will know , transferred from Duke . They're a big team . They have guys who embrace their role . The base kid can get hot Multiple scoring threats but they don't rely so much on shooting and they have some bigs that come up that will mix it up . They're kind of my dark horse .
Speaker 2You know , I'll be interested to see how Duke does , because I know everyone's saying flags back , keeper flags . If he's at 100% which I hope he is because he's such a talent , we're not going to see him in the tournament again because he'll be in the NBA . That's going to be interesting to me to see that situation . And also Duke so young , they're kind of debunked by you can't win with young guys . Shire's done a great job . He's done it with freshmen all year . But when you do look at some of their losses which there's not many it's always been late-game situations and trying to get a bucket at the end of the game . They didn't come up with those and that's how they lost . They almost coughed up to four yeah .
Speaker 2And also my concern is they weren't tested that much in ACC because it was such a down year . You know what are they going to do when they get really tested on that stage again . That's going to be interesting . Since you asked it , I guess I'll just cover it all . Who's my biggest upset If Alabama doesn't have Grant Nelson ? I'm not too happy about that . That's your team , yeah .
Speaker 3Listen .
Speaker 2Alabama's been my number one pick , since I saw them in the Smith Center .
Speaker 3I think they're very good .
Speaker 2They look good . Yeah , and I really hope they do it , because it actually makes me look good as well . So here's my upset . I think Iowa State's going to lose early . They're without one of their best players .
Speaker 2And also their road record wasn't all that great . They have a great home winning record , but they didn't take the show on the road too much . They're my main concern . I'm concerned about them without one of their best guards . Yeah , so that would be kind of my upset . I'm concerned about them without one of their best guards , yeah , so that that would be kind of my upset . I also like , yeah , we'll , we'll get into my final four later . If I'll pass over to you , what are you ?
Speaker 3looking forward to . I'll tell you what if Iowa state loses early , that means it could be the UNC .
Speaker 3So we have that Tar Heels to advance to the sweet Listen , zubi Echefor St John's versus his team , kansas the team that he played for last year would be a fascinating matchup . I love St John's . Lewis Jr is incredible as a Big East Player of the Year Well-deserved Kansas-Arkansas you mentioned it by far to me the most intriguing matchup right now . Two coaches I mean that's incredible . Two coaches battled it out for the 2008 National Championship , ku versus Memphis . I love that matchup . I'm leaning Kansas just smarter but yet underachieving . They are the smarter team . They are a little bit deeper than Arkansas . Give me KU over Arkansas and Louisville-Craden . That game played in the bluegrass state . I mean what an awful bracket for both of those teams to not only play each other . And then , who awaits Auburn ? I mean that is just a devastating draw for Louisville versus Creighton . I think the horses for Louisville . They really proved to me . I mean Chucky Hepburn . Can you imagine if Wisconsin still had Chucky Hepburn how good Wisconsin would be this year ? They're already on the three line without him , giving Louisville a de facto home game against Creighton . But Cole Brenner is possibly the best player on the court when Louisville matches up against Creighton . But I trust Chucky and I trust the guard play of Louisville to get through against Creighton . That is a fascinating matchup .
Speaker 3To me Upset , I think it's got to be the experienced backcourt of the Yale Bulldogs to take care of business and be the Texas A&M team that is so hit or miss , a team that can beat Auburn by what a dozen or so in College Station and just crap the bed against the teams like LSU and other not so great teams but average teams in the SEC . I'm not going to throw a ton of money on the Yale money line but believe me , I think that there's value there . Yale did it last year as a 13 seed against another SEC team when they beat Auburn , when Auburn was a four seed last year . So that to me is probably a team that I think has the best chance . I'm not sold on , as you mentioned Drake , a darling as an 11 seed to beat Mizzou . They didn't beat anybody this year , drake . I mean their best win was on a neutral against Vanderbilt . They beat FAU , who's not in the tournament . I think Bates is the difference maker there . Give me Mizzou to get through there .
Speaker 3But I do have Texas Tech in the bottom half of the West region , which I think is the toughest region . That is a gauntlet for every team that's competing . Last matchup , sleep that I'm excited to see right here , about five miles from where we sit , is going to be UConn-Oklahoma . That is a hell of a matchup . I'll tell you what Florida has it coming for them , because I don't care who they play , whether it's in the second round or the third round , it is just going to be a gauntlet to get through the West . A team from Florida that probably is the best team in the country the way they've been playing over the last week is shipped out to San Francisco . That's not fair , real quick .
Speaker 3Colorado State I mentioned this to Tyler earlier this evening . They are a 12 seed and they are favored to win over a five seed in Memphis . I don't think I've ever seen that on a gambling ledger in the NCAA tournament where 12 is a two and a half point favor against the five . Trendy pick to take Colorado State . Give me Memphis on the flip side to win outright and Memphis possibly getting to the Sweet 16 . I would look forward to seeing Maryland versus Memphis . So that's my quick take . Big upset would be Yale over Texas A&M .
Speaker 1I like Yale , I don't follow . You guys are following us like damn analysts on here , byu follow . You guys are following us like like damn analysts on here um byu byu is interesting to me against vcu , uh you know , then they're gonna get , uh , by all intents and purposes , wisconsin .
Speaker 1I think they can take down wisconsin , you know . Then they , you know they're kind of that's the thing about the tournament right , you get a team that's good and they're ostensibly like one win away from something big , right . So if BYU beats VCU , I don't think they , you know , I don't think they can't beat Wisconsin . And now all of a sudden , like yes , alabama would be a heavy favorite , but all you got to do is kind of you got to win the games to get there , right . But you can kind of see paths where things can break a team's way .
Speaker 1I'm also really interested , given my man Big Hawk's bold predictions that Will Wade's going to take over at NC State , to see this McNeese and Clemson . That is a pretty interesting storyline for a number of reasons To me . I think Kentucky , as much as I hate to say it , I think they're under-seeded , but the two not under-seeded but , you know , kind of flying under the radar . And then like Georgia I mean Georgia was really good for a long time this season and now I'm losing them here . Gonzaga , georgia-gonzaga game , that one's going to be pretty interesting to me . I like Memphis there was one other that I was sort of looking at the .
Speaker 3Wolfpack of NC State . Not looking at that . Yeah , I've been looking at that .
Speaker 1I'm looking forward to them . Last two hours of the NIT First four out Conference tournament , first four I think they were out in the first four games of the year . But St John's to me is , you know , I think for me , like BYU is the team where I'm like they could shake people up a little bit . I think nobody's going to call Georgia like this huge Cinderella or upset story To me . I think there's two teams
Final Four Predictions and Dark Horses
Speaker 1that aren't getting a lot of credit . One is Michigan State . I just think they're Michigan State . They're kind of like you know roll your sleeves up .
Speaker 3Type team .
Speaker 1But I love Rick Pitino dude .
Speaker 1I mean , I love Rick Pitino , not I mean , how do you go in the end of the year and basically tell everybody in america you talk about oh we shouldn't put kid gloves on with jayla withers kind of making this mistake and like wasn't it this season that patino was like I don't even remember what he said , but he basically called his whole team idiots . And here they are , um , and I just think man he's been , he's got this like sort of checkered past and all this sort of stuff , but like god's a basketball guy who cares . He's like the closest thing we will ever see again and he's not this , but the closest thing I think we'll see to bob knight and you know , given the fact that he just doesn't really pull any punches and St John's it just seems like he's the perfect coach for St John's Dude . I don't know , it's crazy . I can see him going all the way . That's my long shot .
Speaker 2It's just dark horse . I don't mind that .
Speaker 1Yeah , I'm with you . Two-seed is a dark horse .
Speaker 2Yeah .
Speaker 3The compelling argument against st john's is depth and and shooting three , which they struggle with , but their defense is probably right there in the top five in this whole incident . Return and they have three players that are going to probably be uh the better three players versus most of these teams out there , um and I .
Speaker 3I love st john's . I just think they have a really tough draw . I mean they are going to likely well players versus most of these teams out there . I love St John's . I just think they have a really tough draw . I mean they are going to likely well , they are going to play KU or Arkansas and then look who's waiting , I mean Texas .
Speaker 1Tech who is ?
Speaker 3a gritty damn team man . They have played some big-time games , won some big-time games . I just think St John's and Florida both of those teams from the same region have a gauntlet to get through . If you put St John's somewhere else on this ledger , maybe I like them more , but I don't like them as much in the West .
Speaker 2Yeah , I agree . Patino to me is kind of like a mafia boss . He dresses to the nines . He comes out there and he'll cuss you out . He'll get after you . Yeah , he's Catholic Great .
Speaker 3I love him .
Speaker 2You know his argument . If he didn't leave , kentucky would be the greatest college coach ever . You know I'm with you . I think the concern with St John's is three-point shooting , but also the Richmond kid . I know about the Louise kid , everyone talks about him , but the Richmond kid can get you a bucket too . He can take people off the dribble , he's a big guard , he has skill , but he's the guy that gets you a bucket . So I like teams that have that , but they're in the toughest bracket by far . The team that no one's really talking about , which I think is in advance , is Houston .
Speaker 3Yeah , I'm with you .
Speaker 2I think Michigan State's one of those teams that's flying under the radar and also no one's really giving them a lot of credit . But Izzo , playing this style , playing winning basketball , not falling into analytics , shooting low-quality three-point shots , we're going to play defense , we're going to get layups , free throws and we're going to rebound and we're going to win . So I like teams like that in the tournament . That's a great call . I do like Houston . They're very similar , you know . I just think that they're the hardest-playing team in the country . I think that Calvin Sampson probably hasn't gotten the credit . They've been in the Big 12 for two years now , just joined the conference . He's won the regular season those two years , just won the conference tournament . I always worry about teams winning a conference tournament and then going directly to the tournament , but Houston to me , I believe in Houston , I do . I think their final four team .
Speaker 2I'll jump into my final four since we're doing that , I'm just going to say I have Auburn playing Florida and Bama playing Houston , which is kind of chalky .
Speaker 1I was going to say literally . I mean the whole tournament just feels kind of chalky man , like it's top-heavy dude . So not to take your thunder , because you gave me the final four Auburn , alabama , florida , houston Yep who you got going after that .
Speaker 2Bama Auburn and just kind of , basically because of the big rivalry oh man , iron Bowl I just couldn't . When I saw this , I couldn't .
Speaker 1I was like I love Houston until there's an opportunity .
Speaker 2Yeah , I love Houston . I really want Houston to win it . I want them , but the situation's too big . It'd be too good of a storyline .
Speaker 1That'd be too good of a storyline . That'd be good . That'd be really really good . What about you , br ?
Speaker 3I mean I think if he doesn't do it this year as a one seed and get back to the Final Four , I would be so disappointed in Calvin Samps . I mean this is , in my opinion , by far the easiest path to get to San Antonio . I give it to Houston , tennessee , their biggest threat . They match up extremely well against Tennessee . I have Houston getting through the Midwest . I think Duke has a pretty good path too to get through the East . I'm not afraid of Wisconsin if somehow Grant Nelson is out . But if Grant Nelson is in , yes , bama's going to give Duke some problems with matching up guard play for sure . And of course even the frontcourt from Alabama can hang with the likes of Mally Wachs and Cooper Flagg . I think Bama is the toughest two seed and Duke certainly , because they're not the number one overall seed got exposed and they ended up with Bama on the two line .
Speaker 3I think Auburn gets through the south . I think Sparty will make it to the regional final and succumb to what , in my opinion , will be too much depth in Auburn compared to Michigan State . And I have Florida . You know , I think Florida's playing the best basketball with the best backcourt in the country . I think . I think it's almost by a lot . I think Florida by far has the best backcourt , a trio of guards that can play better than any other trio of guards . I have Auburn beating Florida , even though Florida has taken care of business against Auburn . I like Auburn here on a neutral and I have Houston in Texas defeating Duke in the final four and , believe me , I'm filling out multiple brackets to lose money and to cripple my checking account .
Speaker 3But this is the one I brought on to this podcast and I'm gonna have Auburn cut down the nets and I'm Bruce Pearl , one of my favorite coaches of all time . What a job he did , you know , getting Tennessee back to relevance several years ago . Now doing it at Auburn , which is a basketball school . Who would have ever thought that ? Give me Auburn over Houston Duke , as you mentioned for several weeks now on this podcast , the field is 68 , just not tested enough . I think Houston can test them in San Antonio when it's close . Are these guys ready ? Well , houston's been battle-tested a lot more in the Big 12 and in non-conference . Play Auburn over Houston . I'm not going to tell anybody to take that to the bank or to Vegas , but that's my championship prediction .
Speaker 1Give me Houston , give me Duke , give me St John's . I just think Auburn has been waffling a little too much down the stretch , like give me Michigan State there . So then you got Michigan State , st John's , then you got Houston , duke . And then it brings me to a question for you , big Hall , cooper Flagg . Is there a better freshman since Carmelo ?
Speaker 2I don't think so , because what scares me , kevin Durant , you can make Okay , I don't think I agree . I think that's one of the arguments that you could have Kenny D he had unbelievable one season , but I think Cooper Flagg this freshman year impacts the game in a lot of different categories . Kd was just an extremely electric scorer , so a lot of his play would have stood out more to the common basketball fan just watching . Because Kevin Durant is such a highlight player he can score a lot of what Cooper Flagg , what he does is so special it isn't all that noticeable unless you look at how he impacts the game across the board , and that's why I think John .
Speaker 1Shire is such a good coach with such young teams , because I mean , look , I hate Cooper Flagg because he goes to Duke but when he goes in and plays with Team USA and everybody's like this kid's good , like you know , you got to kind of listen . And the reason I ask that question is because I'm trying to come up with any reason in my mind not to pick Duke to win the championship because I hate him . But part of me picks him because I hate him damn near . If I say it's , if I say the Suns are going to come up tomorrow , y'all better , y'all better pray that y'all are going to show up at the gates and they're going to let you in , because it might not all right , but I did .
Speaker 1I really did think that to myself is like , hey , man , like from what ? Like actually , like zion was great , like there's been other great fred , but from what you actually did on the court , I'm not sure there's a better player since carmelo . And of course , carmelo , basically you know a lot of his legacy started where you know he won a national championship in syracuse . So give me Duke-St John's and the hell with Duke . Duke St John's is going to beat him . I do think that Duke is a huge contender and I think they're going to get there .
Speaker 3Ain't no way in hell , I'm picking them .
Speaker 1I think that's my story and I'll stick to it . That's just 9-53, . Boys , we got old JK's back here . Game three Nobody cares , no , I'm pumped for it . Yeah , we might just , you know , stay here and watch it until 4 in the morning . Carolina plays 9-10 . It's a late game .
Speaker 3All right guys , yeah this is late for me .
Speaker 1This is practice . This is our practice round Two nights in a row , sleep Dogs will be up past midnight . But happy for it , you got anything else .
Speaker 3I would say the greatest day in sports .
Speaker 1Anything besides that no .
Speaker 3No , that's it . That's it , I mean just enjoy it . I mean just enjoy it . I mean like just spend a lot of money betting on games and have fun , yeah absolutely Need anything else , but anything else , dude , stay safe , stay safe . Oh , we're looking for stay safe . Yeah , you want to stay safe . That's his thing .
Speaker 1Yeah , it's all in his heart . He's a chug . Yeah , it's Fauci approved .