1-on-1 with DP – 93.7 The Ticket KNTK - Should NCAA Tournament results play heavy into final rankings: April 9th, 2026, 11:25am

Episode Date: April 9, 2026

Postseason rankings, how they should be given. Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

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Please play responsibly. If you have questions or concerns about your gambling or someone close to you, please contact Connects Ontario at 1866-531. 260 to speak to an advisor, free of charge. BetMGEM operates pursuant to an operating agreement with Eye Gaming, Ontario. We are back here on one-on-one on 93-7, the ticket, Dick Bockevin in here with you, along with Austin Oerman. Again, DP will be back sometime. Hopefully next week as he recovers from surgery.

plenty going on in the sports world here for Nebraska. At times we would have Nebraska women's tennis coast, Hermann Del Magro, coming in. So I did at least want to update you because Nebraska beat Creighton on the tennis court. How about that? That's always a good thing to update. Nebraska women's tennis now 14 and six. That's right. All right, 45th now in the country, defeating Creighton 5-0 on Wednesday.

The Oscar's last home match, last home match will be Saturday versus Iowa. So they're going on the back-to-back most hated rivals, I think, for Nebraska at this point. Of course, I can go all the way to the back to the Big 8 and Big 12. I have people argue with me. But as of the modern day, I think Creighton in Iowa are that. So your last chance, again, if you haven't been, it is very, very cool, a new experience for you. And it's free. And it's family-friendly.

You can take your family out there. So maybe to make a plan 1 p.m. this Saturday against Iowa. Then they'll have a road trip to Wisconsin in Minnesota next weekend. And that will wrap up the regular season. So the Big Ten championships will be April 23rd through the 26th from Columbus, Ohio. On the midside quickly, they're now 10 and 10 in ranked 58th. Has a weekend series this week, Friday and Sunday with Purdue in Indiana. Those games will be on the road.

so unless you're, unless you're making a trip out to Indiana. You know, I might want to wait until they come back next week, which is I'm pretty excited. The next week will be Penn State and Ohio State. So Ohio State, one of the best in the sport to do it. So you'll have a chance to see them again for free up close. They're at the Sidon Hazel Tennis Center. Big Ten championships for them will be in California later this month as well. So just a quick update there.

Austin, I did want to get into this. And I don't, again, I don't know how much final rankings, matter to people. I think they would matter more if Nebraska was ranked number one in them all the time. Well, Nebraska, quite honestly, if Nebraska was ranked lower. Nebraska did what they needed to do, went into

the tournament ranked 15th and finished 14th in the polls, so we're all happy about it. Had they lost in the first round, it would be held at least from what I can tell, from the rest of the polls held considerably against them. And despite a year where they

were in the top five and top 15, for most of the year, a quick tournament lost, would have probably dragged them back down to the 20s or so. First of all, let me say, ask you this, would you be okay with that? Would that make sense? No, I mean, I'm not necessarily tied to the concept of anchoring, where just because the team was 17th last week and they lost to,

you know, team number 25 of those two teams, you know, will be ranked back to back at like 21 and 22 or whatever next week, right? I mean, I think we do need some wiggle room to get creative. But I think if Nebraska would have been upset by Troy, would have been a big black eye in the season, would have obviously hurt in a lot of other ways that I think view me and plenty of other Husker sphere people are happy we don't have to worry about.

But I don't think one lost, one game can invalidate everything. It would have felt like it at the time. It would have been searching for silver linings. But as Nebraska would have dropped from, what, 11? in the first AP poll or the final AP poll the regular season or 13th, wherever they were, all the way into the 20s or beyond, that would have been a shame. That would have been a crime. Now, and it could have happened too.

So Virginia dropped eight spots. They finished 30 and six. They dropped eight spots. And so I could play this out too, is that maybe Nebraska does beat Troy and lose to Vanderbilt. Maybe not on the last second shot, but let's say seven points because that's what Virginia lost by. So Virginia at 30 and six, and you're more of the ACC guys. Now you can try to tell me if I'm wrong here.

But at 30 and 6, dropped eight spots in the poll from top 10 going into the NCAA tournament. They won their first round game by 10 against Wright State. Excuse me, nine against Wright State, lost to Tennessee by seven. Okay, a bit of an upset, but still a pretty good team,

Tennessee for what is worth. Evenly match game back and forth. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, close game. They dropped eight spots, part of it because you've got to make room for other teams that are shooting up the polls.

But I mean, but, But here's my issue with it, is that, I mean, did Alabama deserve derives two spots? Okay, fine. Iowa going from unranked to 15th? 15th of the nation. Bet MGM is an official sports betting partner of the National Hockey League and has everything for the action on the ice.

Hockey fans in Canada can place live bets, create same game parlayes, take player props on their favorite skaters, and bet on the 2026 Stanley Cup champion, including if that team will be from Canada or the USA. BetMGM also has original bets, which are hockey markets you can't find anywhere else. And it's not just about what you can do on Game Day. The BetMGM app has improved its lineup this season to include instant withdrawals, data insights,

and a brand new rewards hub. Download the BetMGM app today and enjoy the NHL like never before. Betmgm.com for terms and conditions. 19 plus to wager, Ontario only. Please play responsibly. If you have questions or concerns about your gambling or someone close to you, please contact Connects Ontario at 1866-531-260. To speak to an advisor, free of charge.

BetMGM operates pursuant to an operating agreement with Eye Gaming Ontario. Maybe they were the 15th best team that week. But to look at Iowa's fine, good, not great regular season, to then put enough stock into four games to put them number 15 in the country? Yeah. Maybe you can make the argument that Iowa was the 15th best team in the NCAA tournament.

They got a little hot and played over their skis. But holy cow, that moving Iowa up to number 15 from unranked, even if they were close, that's a bit rich for my blood. Moving Tennessee, middle of the road, fine to good SEC. team up 11 spots because they beat Virginia, who is a good team that I think deserved their seed. Tennessee got a lot better as the year went on for them to jump 11 spots. That's crazy to me. To drop Florida five spots for losing a tight back and forth game to Iowa, that seems crazy to me. I mean, to move Illinois up eight spots. Illinois was such a riser and a faller,

or depending on the time of the year. That's kind of crazy. to me. To move Yukon up five spots, I mean, you give them the number two spot because they finished in the national championship game. But was Yukon really the number two team in college basketball all year? No, certainly top 10. But if we're just going to give spots to the final four, you know, why is Duke still ranked ahead of Arizona? Or not ranked head of Illinois. Well, Illinois made the final four by that logic. They have to be number four because Yukon made number two by finishing is runner up. Well, then Iowa made the elite eight. So why aren't they in the top eight?

There's just no logic and consistency with how we apply these filters. It's convenient for when we say, no, the regular season mattered enough that, you know, Duke only gets to drop three spots despite choking in the elite eight. But hey, the postseason matters enough that this Iowa team that finished in the middle of the pack in the Big Ten,

they all of a sudden get to jump 10 spots over the course of four games. Virginia, your number two in the ACC all year. Hey, they really sucked. They lost to an SEC team that has an NBA projected NBA lottery pick. They really need to drop for winning, you know, top, top 10 most games in the country this year. Where is the consistency? There is no consistency.

And that's why, again, I don't know how many people care too much. I think they would care if it happened to Nebraska. But, you know, those exact points, I mean, Iowa is not a top 15 team this year. They were an elite eight team. And if you want to, what do you view it as those are the best eight teams in the country, fine. But in reality, those are the best. best eight teams of the tournament. And maybe that should impact heavily of what's going on in the

final polls. But in my mind, when you do polls and especially you put all the numbers there, you got every, you know, the whole record is supposed to be in totality. Iowa was not a top 15 team this year. Again, a top eight team in that tournament. But this is the problem I have with your single elimination tournaments. If you're going to skew it so much, what if they had gotten a different draw? What if they went anywhere else and didn't have a chance to play? Florida. Tennessee did not deserve to jump Nebraska in the rankings. I feel like it's 1998 again. But here we are. Right. Tennessee was not so good throughout the course of the season and then making it one round further than Nebraska did not to me precipitate

any 11 spot jump ahead of the Huskers. Arkansas, Nebraska, Michigan State, St. John's, Virginia, Gonzaga, Vandy, all in the same neighborhood. Iowa, okay, clearly they're a top 25. team. But to jump over Virginia, number two finisher in a power conference that pushed the number one team in that conference, to jump Vandy that was the talk of college basketball alongside Nebraska and Arizona for a while, even though, yeah, Vanity lost in the round of 32, we're just invalidating the fact that Vandy lost to a team making history. All of a sudden, though those are the ones I think I have the biggest gripe with. Kansas, okay, makes sense. Texas Tech, okay, makes a little bit of sense. Texas jumps.

into the rankings, but it's at 22. Louisville, you know, stays in the rankings, but it's at 23. Wisconsin moving down six spots. Okay, but they're 24 and 11 overall. I think number 25 about makes sense for them. But holy smokes, the inconsistency and application of filters is not surprising, but still incredible. And of course, it's just a bunch of people voting. So there's no way to to get it like lined up in a way that everybody's going to see it the same. But yeah, Texas is another one I'd mention. They're 21 and 15. That's all right. a very good record. I know they went a middle run in the tournament. But they're at least in the

20s. Yeah. Because like is Iowa's record that much prettier than Texas? No, they should take the 20s. 21 and 15. Iowa's 24 and 13. They brought two and a half games better. Is that worthy of a seven spot differential? When you have a team with 30 wins and a Gonzaga power brand with 31 wins

and an SEC team with 27 wins, I'm not even so pro SEC that they, as you heard of my Tennessee argument. But holy smokes, man. Well, and then, again, I want to, you touched on it at the top is, I get it. Yukon was a couple past possessions away from winning the title, but again, to me, they're the second best team of the tournament.

They're not the second best team of the season. Well, they were a couple possessions away from not making it to the final four. Right. By that same logic. Right. And, I mean, this is a team that lost to Marquette, lost to Creighton. Got smacked by St. John's twice. Right.

Six losses on the year. You compare that to Arizona. or Duke who for a majority of the year, we're number one. And again, final four, lead eight, we understand this. This stuff happens. And Duke specifically was one of the most miraculous plays in NCAA tournament in history. I just, I, you know, so again, uh, might not matter to a lot. But to me, I've always loved the rankings, the final rankings to see from where

you go from the top front of the beginning. And I'm almost going to have to start like just taking the final rankings pre final poll, you know, before the tournament, because I think that tells you a more true story of what happened over the course of the season than these rankings that I think are very biased for a tournament result. No, I completely agree. And we can't completely discount the tournament results, right? Because the poll does come out after the tournament. It's why I like that these Coach of the Year, Player of the Year awards are regular season awards, because we admit how random March madness is.

We understand how much can go right, how much can go wrong in a single elimination format against new opponents in different areas of the country that you've probably never been to before. It's part of the fun. Sometimes March validates, sometimes March invalidates. Guess what?

Both things happen every single year. But for the AP poll, the poll of record, more so than the coaches poll, these final rankings mean something. When we talk about legacy, right? Ben McCollum's legacy in year one at Iowa was secure whether or not they finish 15th, 25th or 5th.

So I think it's unfair to Ryan Otem's legacy at Virginia that they dropped that far down for the season that they had. For a coach like Mark Few, okay, maybe a little disrespectful. Doesn't matter so much. Not really. I think Texas ending up where they did probably fair. You know, they probably should have been the number 21 team in the country all along with that talent, took them a while, or 22 team took them a while to get there.

But they did. some of them make sense. Some of them make no sense. So either it matters for legacy because we look at the AP poll for judging coaches and Hall of Fame resumes, or it doesn't matter and what's the point. Yeah. And you know,

that Iowa point too, it almost even belittles an elite eight run, the magic elite eight run they had. If you look at it in the final pool and you go, well, top 15 team made an elite eight run. That's not all that surprising. That doesn't tell you the story that was the magical run for Iowa.

Right. Exactly. Nothing added that. Yes. Amen. Yeah, so, yeah, just some frustrations with the final polls in college basketball. I'll always have my opinions on it. There's 25 spots so we can always argue a little bit here and there. Let's go ahead and take a break. We'll wrap up one-on-one. Come up next year on 93-7 the ticket.

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