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That's A Fact
EP 9: March Madness Picks, The Players Championship Reacp, MM Cinderella All Time Team
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Ash and McCary give insight to march madness games and give their picks for first round. They also recap The Players Championship and talk about Cam Young and the magnitude of this for his career. Give a listen in for some fun. Happy March Madness, everyone enjoy.
Guys, welcome back to That's a Fact Sports Podcast. It has been a minute since we have met with y'all, but we are really, really excited to be back. Um, we have a very, very stacked week ahead of us. Um, looking at March Madness, we're gonna be talking about world baseball classic recap, players recap, uh, get a couple golf picks in, and then going through um our dream starting five from March Madness. Only Cinderella players, though. Um, so let's just get started with uh world baseball classic. McKerry, I'd love to hear your thoughts first. I've got a few of my own. Uh pretty tough game to watch, but um overall, uh we'll we'll be all right.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, we'll be okay. Yeah. Um definitely disappointing for probably the best lineup that could ever be assembled in baseball to not get the job done. Um the only other one that could rival it was the DR's team, I think, and we beat them. So um glad to win that game at least, but really, really, I think we underperformed the whole entire time, man. I just we should have been so much better. We we'll see, we scored 15 runs against Mexico and nine against Great Britain. Other than that, what did we score? Like four at the most? Or I mean it was just miserable at the plate. Um Paul Skeens, though, I'll be honest, that dude right there is the real deal. Uh he's a horse. He's a he's he's a he's a big fella. He's a he's a stud. He's the real deal on the diamond, and he's the real deal in this in his heart, too. Yeah, he's got some heart and talent. Yeah, that's right. Yeah. So uh, I mean, obviously really disappointed we didn't get it done, but still a really good event, and I think it's incredible for the sport of baseball team. It really is. I mean, they're doing a very good job with it right now. So I'm looking forward to the next one.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, I feel like we've seen this with the start of like the Four Nations in hockey has kind of reinvigorated this type of national pride when it comes to sports in the offseason or in the middle of the season. Um, whether it's you know, Olympic hockey, like I said, four nations, world baseball classic, the NBA has adopted this too. We're going like national uh rosters and stuff, they're all-star game. I've been really, really excited to see this. And I mean, although the US lost, I I'm obviously upset with our hitting for sure, and like only scoring two runs. I mean, after the after Bryce Harper's time for I thought it was like, oh, we got this back. It was a massive momentum shift. We were at OE's watching. I was currently, I was shaking you while you were in mid conversation because I saw it first, but uh it was it was still electric, and and I thought that was gonna be a big momentum shift. Yeah. Um, with that being said, really, really uh I'd say I would say pretty disappointing. I mean, obviously this isn't everything, but um, you know, with that being said, both of us being Braves fans, I am happy for Acunya, and this was Venezuela's first title, so that was pretty cool to see, I guess. Yeah. Um now I do say with the pitching rotation, could that have been handled better? Should we have saved skeins for the final, or do we need to use them in the quarterfinal? Or the semifinal, sorry. Or can I not really even ask that?
SPEAKER_00Well, no, you can. I don't think it's I don't think you can save him because you have to win. You gotta win in the moment. Yeah. If you don't beat the DR, you don't even get to play in the game. So you have to win in the moment. Yeah, you gotta throw skeins out there you have to. Right. The only thing I wish that uh uh DeRossa didn't have to cater to was the MLB managers or the MLB owners of the players. Oh, yeah, but then not as natural. Yeah, exactly. Yeah, yeah. Because they're they got pirates have skeins on the pitch count trying to save from injury. And um, I mean, we got all these pitching limits. Um Mason Miller's on a 20-pitch limit. It's like if they're gonna if you're gonna let them play in it, let them play their full potential, and if they get hurt, so be it. I know that's easy for me to say on the outside looking in, but yeah, um, I wish that didn't have to be the case. But in the rotation wise, like you got it. You have to win in a moment. Yeah. I do wish we'd have seen Scuball or Scoobal, Tariq Scuball, yeah, uh a little bit more. Yeah. Because he's he's a stud. One of the best league. Arguably right behind Skeens. Yeah. Um, but I don't know. They had a weird, the Tigers had a weird. That's what I'm saying.
SPEAKER_01They gotta they gotta lay off. Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, so I don't know. Unfortunate there, but I I don't think I think DeRosa did as good as he could have done with what he had.
SPEAKER_01Right. Really. That makes sense. Um, okay, moving on to the players recap. Uh, what'd you think about that one?
SPEAKER_00Man, I'll tell you what, I sat on that couch right over there and I watched every single shot from Thursday after Thursday morning to Sunday afternoon. Yeah. Um, it was it was electric. It was one of the better golf tournaments I've ever watched, starting to finish in a while. Um Cam Young, man. He's a stud, man.
SPEAKER_01I'm excited for him. I'm really happy for him.
SPEAKER_00He's yeah, that that's big for his career. Um, he's gonna take off, I got a feeling. Now that he's we've always seen the talent there with his golf swing and his game potential, but now that he's kind of got the putter rolling, him and his cadier got dialed that in. And um I think especially I really think this is what I think happened to him. The rider cup was huge for it. Massive momentum.
SPEAKER_01He got played in his home course too, or being a regular player at Bethlehem.
SPEAKER_00Home course, where he's from. He played unbelievable, one of the only Americans that played good. Yeah. Um he just had that confidence and momentum going. And I said it after it, I was like, this is gonna be huge for his career. It will. And then winning this players, I think he's just gonna it's like the monkeys off his back now, and I think he's gonna be rolling. Yeah. Um he we everybody's been saying how he should win more, and I think now that it's happened one big time, it's gonna just keep continuing.
SPEAKER_01So it will. Really, really excited for him and uh and happy for him. Um, we saw him start to play. I mean, I think he when what was his debut on tour? Three, four years ago?
SPEAKER_00I I think his rookie year was 21. That sounds right. 21 years. Yeah, it was about five years ago. He was he was coming down the stretch with JT at the PGA when JT won at um I can't remember the course. It was him, Cam Young, and Zala Torres. That's what it was.
SPEAKER_01And um Cam Young and Zala Torres college uh teammates. Yeah. Yeah. At Wake Forest. That's crazy. But I remember seeing him pop up like that. I was like, oh, I'm I'm a big fan of him, love his swing, very smooth swing. Oh my gosh. Uh great dude, and have been rooting for him since. So seeing all of it come together and for him be the dub was really cool. Yeah, it was awesome. Now, if you're Oberg, you can't be sleeping that much after that that loss.
SPEAKER_00That was that was one of the brutal or one of the more brutal things I've seen in a while. Yeah. Um I thought I thought he had a chance to lose. We'll see. He went into the day down or up three, but really up five over anybody with some, or four with anybody over some real experience, because uh Thor Jordan, real young dude. I didn't think he had much of a chance to catch him. But I mean he was up three making the turn. So 13 under, nice guy's 10, and you're got nine holes to play. I was like, no way he loses this. He was looking in total control. I was like, this is over, basically. Yeah. And then he gets to 11, par five, middle of the fairway, and swipes one way right in the water. I mean, it landed way in the middle of the water, wasn't even close. And I'm like, okay, well, he made bogey, big deal, not great, go on. Goes to 12, they have the T moved up, drivable. There's a lake on the left, and he duck hooks one in the middle of that lake, too. And I'm like, what are we doing? Lake magnet. Yeah. I mean, and on 12, all he had to do was hit iron wedge to the green with a two-shot lead, and probably makes birdie and goes on. Like, I don't know. I think he just got a little uh a little ahead of himself and made some bad mistakes. But obviously, that's he's young too, and one of the first times he's ever been in that position at that big of an event. So it just comes with it for sure. Oh, he's still a stud. I'm not too worried about him, but you hate you hate to see that for sure.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. Um, okay. This week, big week of the first uh first round of March Madness uh coming up. So the way we're gonna do this is I'm gonna give my picks for the east and the south, and then McCarey will give his for the Midwest and West. Uh, but we're only gonna do the let's only do uh first round. You wanna do that?
SPEAKER_00Uh what do we have until next week?
SPEAKER_01That's first two rounds, right? Yeah, first two. Okay, you want to do first two, and then we'll do that preview next week. Yeah. Okay. Okay. We're gonna do the first two rounds. Um but I'm gonna start with the east and the south. So starting at the top, uh, we got Duke versus Siena. Um not too worried about that one. Got Duke. Uh, don't really know much about Siena, but don't need to know much. Um Ohio State and TCU, obviously with an 8-9 matchup, that's gonna be a toss-up. TCU is a very good team. Uh have some have a lot of big wins. Ohio State, I've been noticing, has been on the combo, has had a lot of close losses. And I think that although this is a toss-up, they get it done against TCU.
SPEAKER_00Um Ohio State currently has their leading, school's leading score on the on the roster right now.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, yeah, yeah. Stud. Thornton, right?
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. Um okay, St. John's against Northern Iowa. I know it's the 512 is scary, but I still have St. John's going through. Um, and then Kansas beating Cal Baptists. I've got South Florida beating Louisville. Um with their injuries on the team, Louisville seems pretty banged up. I've got South Florida moving on. Uh, North Dakota State and Michigan State. I've got uh Michigan State winning, and then UCF beating UCLA. UCLA seems a little bit fraudulent to me. Obviously, UConn beating Furman. And then next round, uh Duke beating Ohio State, St. John's beating Kansas, Michigan State beating South Florida, and UConn beating UCF. Now, moving on to the South, I've obviously got Florida beating uh Prairie View or Lehigh. Uh, and then I've got Iowa beating Clemson on the 8-9. Um, no dis no disrespect towards Claude. Yeah, sorry Claude. Sorry, Claude. Claude's not here. Uh I was I was a good team. Um I've got Vanderbilt beating McNeese. I know another 5'12, but Tyre Tanner is a stud. Uh that's a very, very good team. They did great SCC tournament.
SPEAKER_00Duke Miles has come out of nowhere in the SC tournament.
SPEAKER_01He balled out. Yeah. So uh rooting for them, pulling for them in this game. Uh Nebraska against Troy. I've seen a lot of this stuff that I mean Nebraska's never won a tournament game. Uh Troy took USC to triple over time. They've had really close games against big schools. I've actually got Troy beating Nebraska in this game. I don't think Nebraska can get it done. Uh VCU beating North Carolina. Uh the loss of Caleb Wilson, too big, can really, really affect this team. I've got VCU winning that game. Uh Illinois beating Penn, uh, St. Mary's being AM. Uh that's gonna be a very interesting one for me, too, with that game. Uh both with AM being such a fast-paced team and then with St. Mary's being such a slow-paced team. It's gonna be a very interesting clash, but I've still got St. Mary's winning that game. And obviously Houston against Idaho, Houston winning that game. I've got Florida beating Iowa, I've got Vanderbilt beating Troy, I've got Illinois beating VCU, and then finally Houston beating St. Mary's. So that's my section. McKary, I'm gonna pass it off to you for yours. So you mean to tell me you're gonna pick St. Mary's over Bucky? I don't want to diss Bucky, but I'm saying that if they can control the pace, yeah, uh St. Mary's can win the state. If they'll if they can make AM play the slow game. Exactly. Exactly. Yeah. Then get out of the press, essentially. Yeah. Yeah.
SPEAKER_00Alright, well, I guess I'll go ahead and get started with the West. So obviously, we've got Arizona and Long Island. I think that's pretty given. Uh, we're gonna go Arizona. Uh Villanova, Utah State. Um, this one I'm really I'm really hung up on. Yeah. I think I'm actually gonna go Utah State. Okay. I've had I've been thinking Villanova for a while. Um I'm gonna I'm gonna take the nine-seed Utah State here. Uh Wisconsin at high point. I'm gonna go Wisconsin solely. I know it's 12-5 and I know it's shaky. I kind of had a couple other ones in your side that I'm uh gonna I'm gonna go with the 12 on your side here, but this this 12-5, I think Wisconsin is really good right now. They're playing hot. They played in a very, very strong Big Ten conference this year and competed pretty pretty strongly. So I'm gonna go Wisconsin. I think they're really good. Um Arkansas over Hawaii for obvious reasons. BYU over Texas, AJ Di Abanza, too good. I think he's gonna take them pretty deep. So got to go BYU. Uh Gonzaga over Kennesaw State. Sorry, uh Owls, pretty close to home for me, but uh you're gonna run into Mark Few, a hungry Mark Few for a big win. So uh going to go Gonzaga. I'm actually gonna take Missouri over Miami. I was looking at some notable games between the two. Uh I know the SEC is fairly weak this year. Uh ACC also not the greatest. Neither one, really, but um I've been more impressed with Missouri's uh resume. I think they've beaten Florida a time or two or once for sure. I think they maybe beat Arkansas, and they played a lot of really good teams, really tough, if not have won split games. So I'm gonna go Missouri over Miami, and then obviously Purdue over Queens. Round two, we're gonna go Arizona over Utah State. We're gonna take Arkansas over Wisconsin. Arkansas's playing too good. Darius Acuff, I mean, you can't stop that guy. And I mean, they got they got a good team, and Caliperi, I think, I think he can he can take them pretty far here. Uh actually gonna take BYU over Gonzaga. I know I just talked about Mark Phew being hungry, but I really think it's gonna come down to who's the best player in this game. And AJ Diabasa for sure. He's the best, he might be the best player in the tournament. Um, so I just think I know he's a freshman inexperienced, but I'm gonna I'm gonna take the Cougars. And then obviously Purdue over Missouri. I don't think Missouri is good enough to do that one. Um looking at the Midwest, we got Michigan over Howard. Obviously, I'm sorry to do this, but I'm gonna take St. Louis over Georgia. Um for no other reason besides, I just don't think Georgia is as good as an eight-seed. Um, and I don't I don't know. I just I don't I was I don't know anything about St. Louis, um, and I have not looked too far into it yet, but just off off the off the cuff here, I'm gonna go St. Louis. Um I'm gonna go Texas Tech over Akron. The only reason is is because I know it's another 12-5, but Texas Tech played in the Big 12 best conference this year. So they're battle-tested. I think they're well well prepared and well equipped. Uh Alabama over Hofstra. I know no Aiden Holloway, potentially no Aiden Holloway, but I don't think they'll have a problem there. Uh I'm gonna go Tennessee over for now, I'm gonna go Tennessee over Miami, Ohio, or SMU. Depending on who wins that game, I might change it. And I'm a Tennessee fan, but I've been let down by them too many times. They've lost too many games that I should not ever see them lose. If SMU wins, I might take them, but for now I'm gonna hold strong with Tennessee. I'm gonna go Virginia over Wright State. Uh oof. I actually think I'm gonna go Santa Clara over Kentucky. I don't hate that at all.
SPEAKER_01I was I've been debating that pick.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I I'm just not so I don't think Kentucky's seven seed good. Kind of my same reasoning as Georgia. Like they're not they're not that good. They have good players, but they're not playing very well. I they've beat Tennessee twice, they've uh no, Florida beat them three times. Um they won some good games, but Otega Owe, uh Aberdeen, and uh who else they got? Uh another returner from last year's team. I can't remember who I'm thinking of, but they have they have good experienced guys, but they're just not playing very well. And Mark Pope, I'm not sure. I'm not sure if he's the right guy, but we'll that's a topic for another. I don't think he is either. Yeah, he's strong. We'll talk about that later, but I don't know. And then I'm also gonna go Iowa State over Tennessee State. Um, then going back up to the top, Michigan over St. Louis. I'm gonna go Texas Tech over Alabama if they don't have Holloway. That's gonna be a big missing piece. Um I got Virginia over Tennessee, and I got Iowa State over Santa Clara. So that'll put us to the sweet 16 that we can talk about whenever we get there.
SPEAKER_01Beautiful, love it. Um, okay, moving on. We're gonna give our dream starting five from March Madness. Um we've both done some research. I've picked, I think I've picked two. Yeah, yeah, I picked the uh first two, and you picked the next three. Mine was more kind of from a Cinderella route. Uh, these low-randed players that ended up blowing, these players that nobody really knew about until March Madness. You've got a couple of great ones too, as well as guys that we uh may have heard of beforehand, but a stack starting five nonetheless. Yeah, for sure. Um, so my point guard is Steph Curry. Can't really beat that. Uh Davidson had an amazing run uh when he was on that team. Absolutely electric to watch, although we were young. Uh but seeing the clips from it um really, really hyped me up. Uh second is uh at shooting guards, CJ McCollum, uh legend at Lee High. Um stud, great NBA career. Uh I think he's still playing, right? Yeah, yes. Um Atlanta Hawks. Really?
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
SPEAKER_01He got traded to the Atlanta Hawks in the Trey Young trade. That tells you how much I know about NBA. So here you go. Um, but stud nonetheless, and then I'm gonna pass it over to you for the next three.
SPEAKER_00Okay, so I was uh I was given the small forward, power forward, and center position here, and it's kind of it was kind of tough because a lot of stack three though.
SPEAKER_01These are nice.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I pulled out a good bunch here. Um a lot of the Cinderella people we see are always a lot of times guards or shooting guards, shooting the three ball. But exactly. Um so I kind of have a couple of those. Uh with the small forward, and now I I know this isn't he's not technically a small forward, but in this hypothetical, he's playing that for our team. He's moved around a little bit, yeah. He's playing it for our team. We're gonna go Jack Golke from the 2024 Oakland team. Um, I mean, the story speaks for itself coming in, knocking down, knocking out what, three-seed Kentucky or yeah, three-seed. Yeah, yeah. Um he made 10 threes, and I think he only made maybe one, two, or maybe none. I don't even know. He didn't miss, man. Yeah, he didn't miss. So the story kind of writes itself there. I mean, what a stud. Um at power forward from the 2022 UNC team, Brady Manick. Um, I don't know if you remember this, Ash, but the eight-seeded Carolina Tar Heels uh with Caleb Love, RJ Davis, um Brady Manic, uh Armando Bacot.
SPEAKER_01Was that not leaky black as well?
SPEAKER_00In leaky black, you are correct. So that was the starting five. Just saw that clip today, actually, of that introduction. Yes. Oh my gosh, what a team.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, great team.
SPEAKER_00They come in as an eight-seed and they play the number one overall seed, I think, in the second round, Baylor, and they knock him off. Um, but that team, we'll call it. I know UNC is not really Cinderella, but as an eight seed, kind of big deal here. They made it all the way to the championship game. Um, but Brady Manic, I just remember. You put that man in the corner, it was it was knocked down every time. Oh, he didn't miss. No, he didn't miss. So I'm taking Brady Mannick, and then at the Position. I mean, this is a no-brainer. Big fella. The big fella. We're going DJ Burns Jr. Uh for NC State. Big, big dude. I mean, so entertaining off the court, too. Yeah. Oh, yeah.
SPEAKER_01Oh, it was awesome.
SPEAKER_00I mean, what a team they had, or what a run they had. I don't know about a good team, but I mean, they made it, they made it happen. So a lot a large part to him. So I think we got a pretty dang good team there. Oh.
SPEAKER_01I don't think they'll lose. Um, okay, real quick, moving on. We got a Valspar Championship this weekend. We probably won't be watching much of it due to March Madness.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, yeah. We got some bigger fish to fry.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, the top three odds. We got Xander Shoffley at 11-1, which I know you love. Uh Fitsi at 13-1 and Victor Hovlin at 17-1. Yeah. What do you think about that? Are they missing anybody out of the top three? Do you think Oberg could come back?
SPEAKER_00I mean, I don't know if he's playing this week. Yeah. Um the only person I think that might be in the field, I haven't even looked at the whole field, but maybe Akshay. You throw Okshay in there. Um, but I think these three are definitely the big three headline this week. Oh, JT. JT's playing this week. Yep. Um, you can't forget about him. I know he's coming off injury, but um gotta throw him in the mix always. Um, but really what I know the valve spar, it's actually on a very tough golf course at Innisbrook. But I think what we're all looking at, we got our horizon set for the second weekend in in April in Gustavo Georgia. Our eyes are pretty set on that. Yeah, we're we're definitely that's a good uh that's a good one to look forward to. I personally cannot wait. And I talk about it. It's it's the topic of a lot of conversations I'm in about the masters here at this time of year. So I don't know, this week, I don't really want Xander to win this week because it kind of lessens his opportunity or it lowers his chances at in Augusta just because the frequent wins back to back don't happen too often. But I don't know. I'll I'll go Victor. I'll take Victor. I'll like Victor.
SPEAKER_01I also uh saw Akshay in the mix there. Yeah, I don't hate that pick at all.
SPEAKER_00I don't I don't I think Akshay needs to be thrown in there. Yeah, yeah, I love it. Victor actually won last year this tournament, so he'll be defending. So I don't think he's gonna win, but I'll throw him in the he'll be in the mix on Sunday. I kind of like him. He might go back to back. He might.
SPEAKER_01Um, okay, last segment. Uh song of the week. Do you have yours? I've got a good one, I've got a pretty good one. Go ahead first. All right, so if any of y'all listen to Sturgil Simpson, he went on this little side quest uh going under Johnny Blue Skies, and they have a song on this album uh called If the Sun Never Rises Again. Now, it's very, very uh it's kind of got a little bit of yacht rock in there. The the riffs are kind of old uh rock type, but Sturgle's one of the most versatile artists out there right now, in my opinion, and uh I'm a really, really big fan of this one, so that's my pick.
SPEAKER_00Alright. I'm gonna throw a little backstory on mine. So just got back from the beach uh for spring break, and I was introduced to this song by our old buddy Claude here. Okay. Um it's a cover, it's by the Creakers. Um for those of you that may or may not know, you need to give them a look. Um, but it's a cover of an old share song. Share, you know what I mean? What a crossover from share to creakers. It's crazy. The the two versions are so different, couldn't be any different. But he played this song, and I'm like, that's the creakers singing, but I didn't know they I didn't know this song, and I thought I know knew most of their songs. So I asked him, I was like, what is this song called? He said it's Believe, and it says featuring the Creakers. So I'm like, that's weird. I didn't get it at first, but it's a cover of the share original, Believe, by the Creakers, and it is unbelievable. I have heard I have listened to it probably a hundred times in the past week and a half. That's amazing. And it I can't I can't turn it off. I love it. So that's that's my song. That might be my song of the year, but we'll go with the week right now.
SPEAKER_01That's awesome. Well, guys, we hope that y'all have a great March Madness weekend. Um let us know what y'all think in the comments when we release these clips coming out. Uh, really, really excited to be back with y'all again. Uh, I forgot to mention this in the beginning, but Claude misses y'all. He was not able to join us today, but he'll be back with us next week. Uh, hope you'll have a great weekend. Stay safe and uh have a good March Madness. Thanks, guys.