Andy & Ari On3 - Kalen DeBoer knows CHAMPIONSHIPS are the standard at Alabama | The Final Four is set!

Episode Date: April 1, 2024

Want to watch the Final Four without cable? Prime Video has you covered. Watch every game live, on your phone, on your laptop, or relax and watch at home on Prime Video, with a subscription. Prime Video gives you choices to add on channels like Paramount Plus and Max, both featuring March Madness tournament games, all in one place. It’s March, it’s Madness, stream it all on Prime Video.Learn more now…https://www.amazon.com/gp/video/storefront/ref=atv_hm_spo_c_rEmqNT_6_2?contentType=tournament&contentId=amzn1.dv.icid.64a44c0e-3ac7-4b14-ad4d-c2a438001f2c&jic=8%7CEgNhbGw%3DThank you to Gametime for sponsoring today's episode! Did your team qualify for the Final Four this weekend? Want to head to Arizona for the games? Gametime has the tickets you want. Download the Gametime App and enter code: STAPLES for $20 off your first purchase, terms apply. Last Minute Tickets, Lowest Prices, Guaranteed.(0:00-8:50) Intro - Final Four is SET!(8:51-28:18) Kalen DeBoer joins the show(28:19-32:38) Kalen DeBoer Wrap Up(32:39-35:15) Women's Basketball: LSU vs Iowa tonight(35:16-37:30) Final Four is set and James Fletcher III joins(37:31-44:12) NC State vs Purdue Conversation(44:13-53:57) Alabama vs UConn(53:58-59:54) Wrapping Up with James Fletcher(59:55-1:03:13) ConclusionHUGE GUEST ALERT: Andy visited with new Alabama football coach Kalen DeBoer in Tuscaloosa, and DeBoer explained how he plans to attack replacing the GOAT Nick Saban. DeBoer talked about the unique challenge of taking over an ultra-successful program rather than one that changed coaches because things weren’t working.DeBoer discussed how he wants the offense to look, and he went over the learning curve for quarterback Jalen Milroe and the rest of Alabama’s signal-callers. DeBoer also went in-depth on how important it was to get recruits to Tuscaloosa this spring so they could see for themselves that while the coaching staff is new, the standard at Alabama hasn’t changed.Next, Andy and On3’s James Fletcher III break down the Elite Eight games and look forward to the Final Four. Is the matchup of N.C. State’s D.J. Burns Jr. and Purdue’s Zach Edey the most fun clash we’ve seen in the post in a Final Four game this century? Can Alabama and its rotating cast of stars be the team that finally challenges UConn in a tournament game? Or will the Huskies keep rolling into the national title game?Subscribe to On3! ⬇️ youtube.com/on3sports/?sub_confirmati...Welcome to On3 | The best of college football and recruiting https://www.on3.com/Listen to Andy Staples On3 on podcast!Spotify 🎧 : https://open.spotify.com/show/5AhQ4d2m5TQu5Q2vkwtxjt?si=d9016221aa2a4427Apple🍎:https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/andy-staples-on3/id1695325427Follow Andy Staples on Twitter: https://twitter.com/Andy_StaplesFollow Andy Staples on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/andy_staplesFollow us on Twitter https://twitter.com/on3sportsFollow us on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/on3/Like/Follow us on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/On3Sports/

Welcome to Andy Staples on three. Happy Monday. It's a very happy Monday if your team is in the final four. And that includes the Alabama Crimson Tide. So we've got a few Alabama fans watching right now because we've got Kayla DeBoer on the show. The man replacing the GOAT, that's right. But Nate Oates right now, I don't know.

Nate Oates might be the most popular coach on Alabama's campus this very moment because they are headed to the Final Four. They beat Clemson in the Elite Eight. They're going to go play UConn. We'll see if Alabama is the team that can possibly slow down UConn. I'm not sure that team exists, but it's possible. We thought maybe, maybe that UConn would get challenged. Maybe.

And that happened for a half in the Elite Eight. And then the Huskies just obliterated Illinois in the second half. And then, of course, on the other side of the bracket, you've got what might be the most fun big man matchup in the last 25 years. DJ Burns Jr. versus Zach Eadie. Now I realize there are other big men at NC State. They're going to have to help handle Zach Eadie, but the fun part is going to be DJ Burns and Zach Eadie going at it in the paint in the final four. NC State obviously is your darling team, an 11 seed, which by the way, I see this argument going both ways about NC State's success, maybe proving the point of the folks who said, oh, more power conference teams need to get in.

But actually, I think it proves it the other way. NC State would not be here had they not won their conference tournament. So the auto bid system worked in this particular case. They wouldn't be here if they had won their conference tournament. It took a magical run, and now they're here. And that's probably how it should go. That's probably the best way to handle it. So this is going to be a fun Final Four. I know the Alabama folks, you're here, you're waiting for Kalen and Boer. But yeah, let's give some flowers to your basketball team and to NC State, UConn, and Purdue. This may just be the UConn Invitational again this year. We shall see. but it's been a

fun tournament so far, and I can't wait for the last three games. And how do you watch those last games? Even if you don't have cable, Prime Video has you covered. Watch every game live on your phone, on your laptop, or on TV on Prime Video. You add on a subscription within Prime Video. So in this case, it would be Max because TBS will have the final four. So all of it would be contained in Prime Video. One password, one app. Very easy. Very, very easy.

Plus, you get the new Fallout shows coming out. You got the new Roadhouse. So click the link in the show description if you're watching on YouTube or if you're listening on podcast. It's in the show description on your podcast app. It'll help you get signed up. It'll tell you all you need to do. Go to Amazon Prime. Get signed up.

Add on that Mac subscription and you are watching the Final Four. Also, thank you to GameTime for sponsoring today's episode. If your team just made the final four and you've decided you'd like to go to Phoenix to watch your team play in the final four, well, guess what? You can do that through GameTime. Download that GameTime app, use the code STAPLES for $20 off your first purchase, and you can get tickets to the final four. You can be watching on Saturday, or if you just want to wait and see if your team makes the championship game,

yeah, you can just buy the Monday session, the national championship. Those big arenas, there's a lot of seats. You want to watch your team play for a national title? You can get them. Game time has what you need. And as you're looking at the game time app, it'll show you exactly where you'd be sitting. Now, obviously State Farm Stadium normally set up for football.

So it's the photos you're looking at look like a football stadium, but you can imagine where the basketball court will be in the middle. And you can imagine your team maybe in the middle cutting down nets and you could be there in person with GameTime. So download the GameTime app. Use the code STAPLES for $20 off your first purchase. Or if you really want to get deep into GameTime, maybe you're looking for some Georgia-Alabama football tickets for this fall. Oh, yeah. Yeah, the Bulldogs are coming to Tuscaloosa. This is going to be an incredible football season.

It's going to be a strange football season because the goat's not there. The goat is retired. Nick Saban is not running the show at Alabama anymore. It is Kalen DeBoer now. And I spent a few days in Tuscaloosa last week, caught up with Kalen DeBoer. It's different. It's different. But here's the thing,

and I'm writing a column that you can read it on three right after the show ends. The thing about this, we can't say any of the usual new coach cliches. We can't say, well, now they're doing this. Now they're playing music at practice and that's going to help. Everything Nick Saban did worked. So you can't be like, well, this is different now, so it's going to work better. It's hard to be better than Nick Saban. So that's the challenge for Kalen DeBoer. That's the hard part. That's the part you don't know how that's going to go.

And we can't say, well, it's definitely going to be worse because Kalen DeBoer has won a lot of games. He only lost three games at Washington. He only lost three games. His first stint as a head coach, he was the University of Sioux Falls as a 29-year-old head coach. He took over in 2005. He lost three games in five years. This guy wins a lot. And I think it's going to be a very interesting scenario to watch him replace the guy who was more successful than anybody of this era. Now, there are guys that are playing very well,

coaching very well right now. Kirby Smart has taken over for Nick Saban at the top of the sport. Kirby Smart obviously learned a lot under Nick Saban, but has evolved, created his own program, created his own thing at Georgia, and now he's at the top of the sport. But can Kalen DeBoer get Alabama to that point again? Can Kalen DeBoer have Alabama there every

year, year in, year out like Nick Saban did? It's certainly possible. And you look around at the roster that's left behind by Nick Saban, it is still stacked. Justice Haynes is about to be a star. Deontay Lawson, you feel like he's kind of a throwback to the Dante Hightower days. Some of the freshmen they got, the corners they have that have just come in look like they were created in a lab. They have dudes still at Alabama. We've all followed the Caden Proctor story, obviously. He starts every game at left tackle as a true freshman. He goes to Iowa.

He's coming back, he says. Obviously, Caden DeBoer can't talk about that right now, but it certainly sounds like the folks at Alabama prepared to have Caden Proctor back at left tackle this year. So all the stuff we were worrying about at the beginning with the guys going in the transfer portal, obviously Caden Proctor and Caleb Downs were the two headliners. One of those is going to be back.

The rest of the roster seems pretty much intact. We'll see what happens after spring practice. We'll see if teams from other conferences try to pick off good players from Alabama or if Alabama tries to fill a couple holes with guys from the portal. But it certainly seems like that roster is ready to compete right now. Kalen Abor stepped into a pretty good situation, even though it feels from the outside like an impossible situation, because how can you be better than the goat? Well, you don't try to be better than the goat. That's the thing. You try to be who you are. And I think the conversation with Kalen Moore really shows you that this is a guy who knows who he is as a coach, understands what his job is now and just really is ready for this.

So without further ado, here is Kalen DeBoer. Joined now by Kalen DeBoer, the new head coach at the University of Alabama. And does it still sound strange? Does it sound different or are you used to it by now? I think I'm getting used to it. It's been good now. We're a few months in, but it's been awesome, and it's a privilege and honor certainly to be the coach.

Well, that's what we were talking before we started recording about the sun down here. You got a question at your press conference after the scrimmage where you had a little sunburn. Somebody thought you'd taken a helmet off of there. Are we going to have to go to the Nick Saban giant hat or like a bucket hat kind of situation? the hat. You and I are pretty pale. So like I've lived in the sun my entire life. So yeah,

I don't know if I can pull that off like coach did. And you know, the hat thing has been certainly a tradition here. So I've gone with the traditional baseball cap, but I get what you're saying. You look good in the baseball cap. It's a good look for you. Well, and the sec needs more baseball cap but i get what you're saying you look good in the baseball cap it's it's a good look for you well and and the sec needs more baseball cap guys so everybody wanted to be steve spurrier and started wearing visors so you you've got to chart your own path here yeah that's definitely not me that would you see what you're looking for there so i'd i've never been able to i i don't know how coach spurrier ever made advisor look cool so i i god bless kirby

smart and the rest of them uh But I was thinking about this. So you've actually done something like this before. So when you replaced your old college coach, Bob Young, at the University of Sioux Falls, he was 47 and five the previous four years. So you have you have taken over a program that's been dominant before? What What is that like, like from when it happened there and obviously what the first few months have been like here? Yeah, that was a special situation just because it was my alma mater. And so I felt like I was a part of building it that way. But I think what I did see

is we were a two and 10 team when I first went in there as a student athlete myself and seeing what a culture look like that, uh, you know, has a two and 10 record versus a national championship type caliber record and a 47 and five, as you said, um, it gave me, you know, an understanding, but, uh, you just, again, I think that's probably where I learned just, you gotta be who you are. And, you know, I think that translated even, you know, going to Fresno State where a great coach, Jeff Tedford. Yeah. And the many coaches, Pat Hill, Jim Sweeney, you know, some of those coaches that laid a foundation there. You know, a lot of pride and tradition in that program as well, just like you'd have here at Alabama.

So, had to be who I was, you know, Chris Peterson. Yeah. And, you know, others as well as don james at washington um you know chris peterson peterson you know just a few years before that had done an amazing job at washington so again this one you know coach saban um is the best of the best yeah you know and so you know uh you know but you just come back to what are the main things that you really stand for. And, you know, I think a lot of the similarities, the core values, all that, they are the same in championship programs. You know, the environment, whether you want to call it family, whether you want to call it the brotherhood, the chemistry that exists and how that's formed the accountability the toughness that exists to

play the game mental and physically i think those are still some of the similarities that you find no matter where you're well and i was reading up on on bob young and and the way he built his program and what you guys said about him when he passed last year and it sounded like the the principles core values are almost identical to what nick Saban, Don James, which obviously is where he got that from. But it seems like it is pretty universal. Yeah, I feel, I feel that way. I mean, it's again, kind of what I just said earlier, just how you, you see it done. And, and again, when you've been at a two and 10 and you saw what that culture looked like and what, or not two and 10 is two and eight and what a 14 and culture looked like and what, uh, or not two and 10 is two and

eight and, um, what a 14 and O looks like, um, and how you got there, um, and understanding the love and patience and, uh, you know, the work, the work is the work. There's no shortcuts to getting to that success level that you want to be at. How do you evaluate a culture when you take over a program? What, what are those first few months like in terms of getting to know where the players are at and if they fit what you're trying to do? Yeah, the, the first couple of weeks and there's different reasons for it, you know, are always about just really one-on-one meetings, team meetings, unit meetings. You know, every time it's been different. And especially when you look at the last couple of jobs, it's been usually a December hire.

Yeah. You know, when I got to watch that, that, that 30, 60, 90 day plan that you have gets thrown out the window and it's a different plan when you come in the middle of January. And the rules keep changing on you. Like the rules were different when you took over at Fresno than when you took over at Washington than when you took over here. Yeah, that's true. So that part, I imagine, is as tough because you basically have to re-recruit the entire roster as well as I mean, you had to jump in and finish off a recruiting class. Yeah. And in those conversations, you find out where guys are at individually and you get a pretty good vibe vibe and feel of, you know, where they're at and the key guys that are important to the success

and keeping it moving forward. And we just have so many great players in this program that believe in Alabama. And, again, this can go back to Coach Saban. I mean, he built a place that it ends up being bigger than one person. Right. And that's just, you know, what Alabama football stands for. And I think our guys believe in, you know, this place.

They certainly were recruited to different staff and a different head coach, but they truly believe in this place as well. And how much of it is them gelling with one another and wanting to play together? Yeah. And, you know know them falling short a year ago and that was kind of a connection piece i i would like to think it was anyway where i felt um you know us being able to understand that we both didn't reach the goals that we had and we were at different places uh but you know call it a chip on your shoulder i've done that before um call what you want but i think it was a way to where we connected and, and, uh, those little, those little pieces, um, have helped us, I think as a staff and player relationship, uh, really come together here quickly.

I always laugh when people say, Oh, this person doesn't know how to recruit this area or that. I feel like if you are a winner, if you know how to make a winning program, you can kind of recognize those sort of people. But I found it interesting when you got here, immediately you land Ryan Williams in that 24 class. You've got a hundred recruits on campus the first week of spring practice to show them the program. How eager were you to show the people here what this place looks like? Yeah, I don't think it's about proving any one or any, you know, group of people wrong or right. Um, I think it was just really, you know, that that's the, the lifeblood of what needs to happen for you to be successful is the

recruiting needs to be on point. And, um, I mean, that's what you're talking about is huge tribute to the staff. And I knew that, uh, go-getters, people who were great recruiters, understood what it took. And then also some that had familiarity with the region, with the conference, our university. And I feel like we've really nailed it on the head with who we've brought in, whether it's the recruiting staff, the coaching staff, other support staff. And they've just been awesome. They've done a great job, like you said, getting the message out there and we're getting people to campus and we want them to feel what this place is all about and continue to see that the tradition will continue.

Well, and Courtney Morgan, who you brought in to work in your recruiting department, he's been at Michigan, pretty well known that he helped discover some really good players there, but worked with you at Washington. He's from California. Yeah. How do you know when somebody's just good at finding talent? Yeah. You know, and I had a chance, I mean, I think the biggest thing I worked with him, you know, worked with him at Fresno for a year and it was probably one of the toughest years, right? You could argue, I mean, it is the toughest year of coaching in 2020 when, uh, you know, you're recruiting, uh, but he was so creative in finding ways and, uh, never say die mentality and this, those types of things. We gelled, we spent a lot of time together, uh, you know, during those

months and, you know, getting a chance to get him back to Washington was critical for our success there, uh, and helping, you know, realize the goals and, and, goals and the accomplishments we had last season and about two years there. And it's just, I love what Courtney is as far as a recruiter, but I love what he is even more when it comes to being a person. And I think people really see the quality of human he is and just understanding that he's genuine. And it's just a blast working with him each and every day.

So I ran into your defensive coordinator, Kane Womack. And so you guys worked together at Indiana. He was the DC, you were the OC. And I said, well, how did you guys wind up hiring Kalen? He said, Tom Allen, who was a head coach at the time, basically assigned him to watch a bunch of offenses and figure out which one would drive him the most crazy. And yours was the one that would drive him the most crazy so when when you get this call from from indiana what what did

you think well this is where i understood how good of a recruiter kane is because right he said he recruited he recruited the heck out of me and uh that time and we really grew a strong relationship before i even accepted that opportunity to go there and then working with him, um, and just how compatible he was and how team first oriented he was. But yet, you know, he was all about making sure he had a good defense on the football field, uh, and his way of bringing a staff together, bringing players together. Um, you know, that just was a special year that, you know, everything happens for a reason. And now being here, it's really cool to understand the reasons why that was so pivotal, whether it's, you know, other coaches like Nick Sheridan, who's on our staff as well. You know, our coordinator, you know, got a chance to coach Michael Penix that year.

But, you know, the opportunity even to recruit some, you know, during that one year down in this part of the country. Oh, Tom Allen was a big proponent of recruiting this part of the country. So there's a lot of great things that came from that. And the experience there was awesome. But Kane Womack has done a great job. And I knew that he'd be doing what he's doing right now, bringing a staff together, getting the players to buy in. And he's obviously a great defense coordinator, a great mind. He said he got a call from you when Greg Byrne gave you a call

and you called Kane and said, okay, all right, if you can help get me up to speed on college football in the state of Alabama, I would appreciate that. Yeah, I did. And knowing Kane, he was all about the place where he was the head coach there at South Alabama. Um, it was just more of the trust I had in him, uh, in understanding, you know, really, you know, Hey, is this, is this a fit for me? Uh, things like that. And, uh, just hearing, you know, the scoop that he had and, and the insight he had to

help me understand everything about this job. And, you know, from afar, you know, I knew and understand what Alabama football is all about, but just the details, because he's been in this part of the country and part of it so long, whether it's himself or his dad, who was a long time coach here and coordinator in the SEC as well. So when Greg is talking to you about the job, does he ask you, are you sure you want to do this? Does he lay out the expectations? And it would seem like it's pretty self-explanatory what the expectations in Alabama are. But I'm curious what the actual conversation is like. I don't know if he put it in those words, but I think he's trying to figure that out.

If this is the right fit, right? I mean, I think he's trying to figure that out if this is the right fit. Right. I mean, I think that's really what it comes down to the right timing, the right fit, both ways, you know, and you know, as much as you might want someone to be the right fit for you, your university, you're also just trying to figure out because, you know, you only get one chance at this, you know, and you want to do it right the first time. And so it hasn't been done for 17 years here. And, you know, it's a big, a big move. So I didn't really think, I don't really think the question was asked that way, but I think just a lot of conversation that helps you understand each other.

It just jumped out at me how great of a pro Greg was, how much he just loved this place. You know, there's no, I mean, it's very well documented the opportunities that have come his way. And he's very highly sought after, but he just loves Alabama and has done an awesome job leading, not just, you know, the football program and the athletic, but the whole athletic department as a whole. And you look at all the accomplishments that are happening and his leadership is just paramount to that success. And so now you are into the actual football part. You're in the spring practice. You've had a scrimmage now and gotten a chance to see what everybody can do. How, how long does

it take to, to really master, understand this offense? Well, I think there's, there's levels to it, right? I think there's there's levels to it right i think there's just the concepts and you know the formations and things like that and then i think it's really um a lot of the window dressing and adjustments and tangents you can kind of go off on uh to disguise uh but also uh highlight your personnel uh and so uh you right now we're just really trying to get the base installed and understood so that these guys can go into the summer and just really execute with high efficiency at a high level

the things that are just really the core fundamentals to our system and our offense. And so they did a good job in scrimmage one yesterday. The guys really just think exactly did that. I thought Coach Sheridan and the staff, you know, kept it pretty simple, let them play ball, you know, took a step forward. And that's what you want to be doing each and every practice. As we go through the rest of spring, going into the summer,

we'll continue to go off on those tangents that you can. And, you know, it's just a process it's and, and they'll, they'll continue to adjust to our personnel. Our personnel is different from universities in place to place, you know? So, uh, I think they're pro they're talking about that and we're talking, discussing that, uh, whether it's quarterback, old line running backs, um, it's different and we got to make sure we're doing a good job of using the system and the adjustments we talk about and we know are within to be able to work with the guys and highlight them. When you got to Washington, you brought in Michael who had played in your offense before, uh, Jalen Monroe hasn't Ty Simpson hasn't Dylan Lonergan hasn't,

uh, Austin Mack has, he comes, how do you evaluate those guys? How do you, how do you split up the reps enough to, to figure out who, you know, if you're giving everybody a fair shot? Yeah, no, that's a really good question. I think what you said certainly is true. I mean, you can see an Austin Mac is more comfortable and that helped Michael Pennix hit the ground running. No question about it. You know, but these guys, I mean, we understand that they're comprehending a lot of things and you know, you can see it in mean, we understand that they're comprehending a lot of things. And, you know, you can see it in the fundamental things. You can see it just when we really break it down to where there are no reads and how well they throw the ball and the accuracy.

And, you know, try to put the things on their plate that are going to the things that we need to coach them up on. But try not to make it to where they're thinking too much and uh we give you know we gave even the scrimmage you know guys some reps with the ones just to make sure that there was enough reps to go around we went mostly ones and twos and there were some threes work there as well and when you have four quarterbacks you gotta let each quarterback kind of work with each group and so uh you know we mixed it up some for that very reason. How much fun is it just as a tactician when you come in and you see that you've got a Justice Haynes or on the other side of the ball, you've got some of these absolute aliens that you have on defense? How much fun do you have dreaming up things for them to do? Yeah, well, there's that fine line, right?

It's making sure you can let them play fast. All things we just talked about a quarterback doing the same thing with those positions but also using you know all the tactics and the schemes and the the pieces to disguise and give you that one even one more step to help them you, get home on defense, maybe get into the quarterback or just angles and leverage, you know, in pass and run game. But, you know, these guys are definitely great players, great athletes. And so it's fun seeing them do their thing. And we're going to have, you know, a lot of fun this fall, you know, utilizing the talents and skills. Before I let you go, I got to ask, the GOAT still has an office here. Coach Saban's still around somewhat.

How much of a sounding board will you use him as? Yeah, I think it's been kind of periods in time. And early on, there was a lot. And then there's no back and forth. He's certainly had a chance to be with some of our staff here and there um I know people are well aware that uh Kane and the defensive have uh utilized his thoughts and just understanding a few things and trying to help with that transition you know uh some of the transition of helping our guys understand certain things might be just even translation of hey you called it this this is what

we call it so boom this the light switch goes on you know, I know it goes much more in depth on what he can help us with and, and we can, you know, bounce things off of him and he's, he wants this program to be great. There's, there's no doubt about it, but you know you know, when, when those times come, I know that we can certainly pick up the phone and give him a holler and we want him to, to always feel a part of this because, you know, a lot of these guys came to this program because of him. And so there's some special players, special athletes here. And, you know, that connection, I want that to always exist. And, you know, that's been pretty special up to this point. How much weight do you feel to keep it this special? As far as the tradition?

Everything. Yeah. I mean, that's, that's the cool thing about coming here though. And if you think of it that way, it probably can be overwhelming, overbearing. I just, I just think it's, it's about one thing. It's coming in and being the best you can be, whether it's bringing your attitude, your energy, your effort. And that's all I ask of our guys. And that's all I'm going to ask of our staff. And I, you know, in return, I think that's really hope all they can ask of me. And, you know, when we bring our best attitude, energy and effort every day, and we surround

ourselves with really smart people, experts that have low ego, I think we'll continue to, the results will take care of itself. And we'll, you know, that's been kind of the formula for success wherever I've been. And you know, that's, I think, again, common, I think in all successful and winning programs. And that's what we'll attempt to do. That's what we'll work to do. Good luck in that heat in the summer. Not South Dakota, not Seattle. Very different. No, it's not.

We've got to give it a run. We're here. We're here for the long haul. No more two-a-days. It'll be fine. Thanks, Coach. It's all good. Thank you. Roll Tide. He squeezed that roll Tide in there so well. We were joking about that after the interview ended, you know, it's, it's hard sometimes because a lot of the coaches you, you you're kind of required to do the school saying, or you're not required,

but it's just something that, that a lot of coaches want to do to kind of brand themselves. And so like PJ flex got to say sky you ma or Jonathan Smith, who just took over at Michigan state's got to say, go green. And then hope somebody says go white right after that. You got to say fire up chips. If you're at Central Michigan, I can't remember just saying roll tide. It does.

It does kind of roll off the tongue. It's pretty easy. So, you know, Steve Sarkeesian can say hook them. The roll tide part is really good. I am loving in the chat. You guys are arguing back and forth. We've got some Texas fans and some Alabama fans arguing. Texas fans, remember who beat you in the playoffs.

It was Kalen DeBoer and Washington. It's funny because it is the argument you've got. Texas fans said, well, we went to Alabama, went to Suscaloosa and won last year. We got scoreboard. And the Alabama fans are like, yeah, but our coach beat you the last time you guys played. So just adding another layer of things. And oh, by the way, you're in the same conference now. It's going to be a lot of fun seeing those two fan bases go at it over and over and over again.

Glenn Van Zandt in the chat. I love this hire. If you listen to Kalen DeBoer talk, you have a lot of confidence that he's going to get this done right. And if you look at his history, he's won everywhere he's been. You know, I realize people look at the idea of coaching at the University of Sioux Falls. It's not the same level as Alabama for sure. But the success he had there was incredible. And he was taking over for his own college coach, Bob Young, who was wildly successful there.

So he's done this before where he's taken over a program where the expectations were, frankly, outlandish. Obviously, it's a different level. But you look at Fresno State, you look at Washington, he took over both of those programs, immediately made them better. Alabama, like I said before, it's hard to make it better because it was already great. But he can sustain it. He can keep it going.

You heard him at the end. And we're here for the long haul. Get used to that sunshine. It's going to be so much fun to watch. This is so fascinating because a lot of people don't want that. Don't want that smoke. They don't want to be the guy after the guy. It's really hard to be the guy after the guy. It's really hard to be the guy after the guy.

And so Kalen DeBoer has already done that on a much smaller scale early in his career. So he's been the guy after the guy. He understands the dynamics of that. And now he just has to do it on the biggest stage, with the biggest stakes, with everyone watching. But he seems very secure in what he's doing. And remember our conversation last week with Lance Leipold, who had won a bunch of national titles in Division III. And Lance Leipold will tell you that a lot of the CEO aspects are similar. So like when Kalen DeBoer took over at Fresno State, it was very different than Sioux Falls. Washington was different than Sioux Falls, Alabama different. But a lot of the

dynamics are the same. You're still a CEO. You're still managing people. You still have a big roster. So he got that part down early, which I find really interesting. And I talked about this with Lance. If you're an AD looking to make hires, there is something to that. There is something, and Lance mentioned this and Kayla mentioned this, like Brian Kelly, before he started at Central Michigan and Cincinnati, won a bunch of games at Grand Valley State. Like there's something to kind of establishing who you are as a CEO, maybe without as many people watching. And then when you do get onto the bigger stages, you've got it figured out. We'll see. But it's going to be awesome to watch.

You know what's going to be awesome to watch? The rematch of last year's women's college basketball national title game. That's happening tonight. Iowa and LSU. This is going to be a fun one. This might be, if you like to play the guess the ratings game, this might be the highest rated NCAA tournament basketball game so far. We'll find out. We'll see how it compares to the Elite Eight games in the men's tournament and to the final four games that are coming up in the men's tournament. But this one was a blast last year. So you've got LSU defending

national champion. You've got Iowa with Kaitlyn Clark. LSU made Kaitlyn Clark fight for every single shot in that national title game last year. Will Iowa have a slightly different game plan? Will LSU continue to do what worked? It's going to be fascinating to watch. And oh, by the way, for either one of them, South Carolina's sitting out there looming. And South Carolina wants revenge on Iowa for knocking the Gamecocks out of the NCAA tournament last year.

And the last time South Carolina and LSU played, it ended in a fight. So this is going to be an absolute bloodbath. It's going to be so much fun. So we'll talk about that tomorrow after the game, because I'm sure people will have opinions on Kaitlin Clark, on Angel Reese, on Kim Mulkey. And yeah, I read Kit Babb's story in the Washington Post on Kim Mulkey. Not a hit piece, not a hit piece. Pretty good profile of someone who's complicated. I don't know how to break this to you guys, but a lot of successful coaches hold grudges and are not the most pleasant people to be

around all the time. So I don't think that really was earth shattering. I don't think it was a hit piece on Kim Mulkey. I think people kind of knew she can be a little abrasive, that she holds grudges. Did it go into some personal stuff? Yes, but nothing Kim Mulkey hadn't written about in her own book. So yeah, she can get her lawyers on that one, but I don't think they're going to be very successful finding a case. In fact, made her look like a pretty damn good coach, which is what she is. We'll find out if she's going to be trying for national title, consecutive national title number two.

She's already got quite a few in the trophy case, but can they get past Iowa again and then continue the hunt for a national title? Or will Kaitlyn Clark head to the final four? We'll find out tonight. The men's final four is set though. And we bring in James Fletcher III on three's resident bracketologist. The bracket has gotten very small,

but hey, these, three of these teams are, if you went around your office when the bracket got set, you would have found a bunch of them in the final four. A lot of people would have had UConn. Well, everybody had UConn. A lot of people would have had Purdue and Alabama. NC State, though, nobody had, James. Nobody had the Wolfpack.

No, I think there might be a couple Wolfpack fans who picked them there and were willing to die on that hill. But, yeah, they are the Cinderella story of this NCAA tournament. They've been on this magical run dating all the way back to the ACC tournament where everyone has pretty much picked against them. They were down against Louisville at one point in the ACC tournament. We know how their season ended with a coaching change. So for them to go through that, then they get past Virginia, they go through Duke and North Carolina, and now

this run through the NCAA tournament where they've just kind of kept going. They beat Marquette this weekend and then wrap it all up by knocking off Duke again to advance to the final four. DJ Burns has become the darling of college basketball. And I just, I talked to somebody last night. They asked me, they said, is NC state like, is this how unprecedented is this? And I said, well, it's not the craziest thing we've ever seen in college basketball, but it does really make you wonder in this era of NIL, in this era where we talk about the top teams in college basketball having so much talent up top, being able to buy players, being able to build these super teams. How does an NC State put it together this late in the season and make this kind of run? It makes you kind of really question how were they able to do this? And I'm sure there's going to be plenty of coaches trying to find that formula from Kevin Keats this offseason. Well, and it's maybe they finally put it all together.

The thing is, you look at them now and you say, how did this team not win a bunch more in ACC play the regular season? Because DJ Burns is obviously magical. And his story is so interesting. He started at Tennessee, played at Winthrop. Like, this is a COVID situation. Like, without the COVID year, DJ Burns is not continuing to play college basketball right now. So I think that's part of it because this is his second year at NC State. He did not have an instant impact at NC State.

It took kind of half a season to get going. And so there's that. But they have him, Diara, Middlebrooks. Like their big men, their collection of big men is as good as anybody in the country. Yeah. And we're seeing the impact of big men on success in college basketball, even beyond that NC State team. You look at all of the teams that made it to the Final Four,

and they use their centers in unique ways, along with their point guards. I think it's that combination of point guard and center. If you have those two pieces in college basketball, you're setting yourself up for big success. You can expand it even to the teams that we saw in the elite eight, pretty much everyone who made it deep in this NCAA tournament had a point guard with a center alongside him who could control the game and could dominate things down the stretch. But for NC state, part of what has made them so dangerous, DJ Burns kind of does both

at set points during the game with his court vision, with his ability to pass out of double teams. You really, we talked last week about whether you throw a double team at certain players or you just kind of accept that they're going to beat you. DJ Burns, that was kind of the conversation in that Elite Eight matchup against Duke. Should they throw the double team at him, or do you just let him score and not let him do the distribution stuff, except that he's going to score some two-point shots, but he's not going to get it to his teammates for three-point shots? Well, I think we learned right after Filipowski fouled out, and I realized the game was, well, it wasn't quite over yet, but there was a moment where you could tell Duke was trying to decide, are we going to double

him? And he dips that shoulder and, and, and he goes to his left and goes up and under and the whole crowd just goes insane. And you have to, that's the thing he's gotten to the point where you have to double him or he will score. And the thing is, you mentioned the two versus the three math. Somebody's going to foul him being late on the help side. So a lot of the times he's going to have a three point play anyway. So I don't know what you do. Yeah.

It's one of the most difficult things to figure out in college basketball right now. And part of it that is so difficult is that we haven't seen it for the entirety of the season. It's not like people were having to debate how to cover DJ Burns back in December or January, but he is playing so well right now. He is at the top of his game and just clicking on all cylinders. So are his teammates knocking down shots. And so you've got to make all these considerations that you didn't think you were going to have to make. It'll be interesting to see what Purdue does with him. I would assume that they probably more than any team have a case to go one-on-one with them in the paint with Zach Eadie down there and just say, okay,

you've been able to bully everyone else that you face, but can you bully this seven foot four guy who has really not been pushed around by just about anyone in college basketball this season? Well, and that's, what's so interesting about this. That's why this may be the best big man matchup in the final four in the last 25 years because neither one can overpower the other at least we don't think but it's it like will Zach Eadie's height give him the advantage or will DJ Burns push him so far away from the basket or make it where he can't catch it deep where it sort of nullifies what Zach Eady can do it's gonna I think what what's gonna happen is Zach Eady is going to be

tested as a passer and if he can pass out of dealing with the like if DJ Burns pushes him forward too far he catches then it's about how well do you pass out of this yeah I do think it will test him as, like you said, a passer and a rebounder because he's going to have to work on positioning against DJ Burns, who will just push you straight out of the lane and clear that space for him and his teammates to grab the rebound. So it'll be a challenge for Zach Eadie. We will see what he's able to do there. I think it's also going to be a challenge for Burns, who's not going to be able to rise up over his defender at any point during this game. And Edie, I think one of the advantages that he'll

have guarding Burns here is that he rarely leaves the floor. And I know that there's been a lot of talk about his foul count, but one of the reasons that he doesn't draw many fouls or commit many fouls, I should say, is because he rarely leaves the floor. He is very good at putting himself in position, getting those arms up, and then he is going to stand there. And so you don't commit as many fouls when you're not up in the air, worrying about verticality, worrying about whether you go into the player, whether he draws contact, whatever the case is, if you stand still there, you're not going to be picking up those fouls that Burns has gotten,

Filipowski in the last round, other centers before that. He's not going to face that same foul trouble. And so it'll be interesting to see what Burns does to adjust. The problem with that is if Mohamed Diarra is coming into the paint, even if you're zach edie you gotta jump because diar could get up and that that's what's so interesting about nc state is that collection of 6 10 and above that they can throw at you it's not the or 6 9 and above i guess dj is 6 9 But it's not just one guy, and it's basically three different styles.

Yeah. Yeah. Go ahead. Well, they can just throw so much at you, and they're playing off each other so well right now. That's what makes the Cincinnati State team. That's why it's been so hard to stop them. I just, I mean, I'm not going to pick against them no matter what here. I mean, I think, I'm not gonna pick against them no matter what here.

I'm, I mean, I think Purdue probably would be the pick if you were going to pick them, but I refuse to pick this game just because NC State keeps proving the wrong time after time. Well, the thing is, no matter who wins that game, you're going to get, well, depending on what happens in the other game, but you could potentially get Donovan Klingin from UConn versus one of those two guys versus Zach Eady or versus DJ Burns. And Klingin is such a, I mean, cause he is like Zach Eady, seven, four. We've talked about how he's not in the NBA yet. Why he's not in the NBA yet. Donovan Klingin is a seven, two NBA player, like fast Twitch. He's not in the NBA yet. Donovan Klingin is a 7'2 NBA player.

Like, fast twitch. He's athletic. Watching him against Illinois, it was like watching a college player play against middle schoolers. And Illinois is a very good team. Yeah, Klingin has been the difference maker down the stretch. And talked about how it was going to be important for him to play at the top of his game for them to make a deep NCAA tournament run to have a real shot at this back-to-back title and he has done just that he has stepped up in a major way he doesn't play you know he's not a 35 minute per game kind of guy but they don't need him to be his impact in

20 to 30 minutes is one of the biggest in college basketball. He actually in the, in two of his last three games has picked up eight or more of what we call stocks, which is steals plus blocks. And it's outstanding. The impact that he has on the defensive end, and then being able to now translate that into some offensive success, getting to the rim for easy dunks, for layups, putbacks, things like that, has really cleaned up things for this UConn team and made them almost unstoppable. We saw what he did blocking Terrence Shannon at the rim. This guy is at the top of his game and and so yeah I think that you mentioned that Burns and Edie is one of the great big man matchups that we have seen this deep into the

tournament and Klingin versus Edie I think would be probably the best that we have seen in quite some time but don't want to skip past these final four games quite yet because both of those teams have have plenty to do before they get to that point. Well, and that's my question because we watched Illinois hang and San Diego state to this too, where they hung around in the first half and it looked like maybe they could make a game of it.

And you can just stepped on their throat coming out of halftime. Like it was, this was even more dramatic in the elite eight game. Like it was over within, you know, five minutes or so. And I, what is it about UConn where they kind of probe you out the first half and then slam the door? Yeah. I mean, I'm not sure exactly what it is. I would assume Dan Hurley screaming at you in the locker room has something to do with it. But yeah, I think that they just have that level of talent where when they feel challenged, when they come to the scores table and they think, okay, this is the time we have to do something,

they're able to flip the switch and do it. We see this at different levels of basketball where a team kind of turns it on when they feel like they have to. And this UConn team is good enough that they're able to do that. And they're proving it in the NCAA tournament that when they really sell out and they're all in one through five, I'm not sure there's any team that can beat them when they get it going in that way. And yeah, like you said, 30-0 run against Illinois at one point during that game. And if you're able to pull off a 30-0 run, you're going to win the basketball game. There's pretty much nothing the other team can do to combat that. And how about just one more stat on Donovan Klingin that I found very interesting.

Illinois was 0-19 on shots that he contested throughout that game. 0 for 19 when he contested the shot. That included some three-pointers too. That wasn't just at the rim either. So yeah, it's difficult to score on them. And when you can hold a team without scoring and then score 30 points yourself, yeah, you can kind of flip it in a hurry there. Well, let's talk about Alabama because Alabama is the thing standing between

UConn and the national title game. What could Alabama do maybe differently than some of these teams that have played UConn so far? Well, Alabama does have something that they do a little bit differently than the teams that UConn has had to face, and that's get up the three-point shot. They average over 30 attempts per game at times. So for them to win this game, they're going to have to knock down shots from the perimeter. You know, if they go out there and they hit 14 to 15 threes, it doesn't matter how UConn is playing on the interior, what they're doing on offense. That's a lot of points to just put on the board. And then you start rolling from there. Then you can maybe get Mark Sears to the line. You get a

little bit of something from Aaron Estrada. I think that Grant Nelson brings an interesting dynamic. Is he able to bring Klingin more towards the perimeter than he would like to be for parts of that game to open up that lane a little bit so that they can get more drive and kick threes and maybe get some of those downhill shots at the rim without having to contest or have Donovan Klingin there contesting the shot. I think Alabama brings a lot of interesting things to the table. The question will be, is it enough to overwhelm UConn or to prevent UConn from doing what we've seen them do every time so far in the tournament,

which is flip the switch, find a way to get this, get things figured out, and then just roll from there. Nate Oates versus Dan Hurley is a very, very fun coaching matchup as well. This is, it is amazing because it's, you've got your two that you expected to be here in Purdue and Connecticut. And then we talked about this Friday. If I'd have told you before the season that this Alabama team would be the one that got to the final four. How surprising would that have been to you before the season?

I'm not sure that it would have been the biggest surprise because they did have Grant Nelson, a big time transfer coming in Mark Sears back for another year. We didn't know what Ryland Griffin would be in his second season in the Crimson Tide lineup. Jaron Stevenson was kind of an unknown, a reclass guy who was coming in to play that power forward spot. So I wouldn't have thought you were crazy if you had said before the season that this Alabama team was going to make the Final Four. But really, even exiting the SEC tournament, there were a lot of questions about them defensively. They just had not put the pieces together in a way that you expect a Final Four team to do.

And then you couple that with Grant Nelson not having the consistency to that point that some had hoped for when he arrived. You had other questions about kind of the depth of that team. Latrell Reitzel dealing with injuries on and off has made that kind of a mystery of what they're going to get from the guard spot. So if you had told me entering the NCAA tournament, I would have been probably more surprised than I would have been at the start of the season based on what we had seen through the regular season when they struggled against the best teams in the country. But now the first Final Four in program history, an incredible run. They really have stepped up across the board. Grant Nelson has looked a lot more like that guy that they thought they were getting. It has translated much better for

whatever reason over the past couple of weeks. And they've also gotten a lot of contribution from those role players beside Mark Sears to carry this team through those tough moments and get them to this point. Now, I realize I'm talking to an Alabama grad, but can we handle the amount of ego that's going to be coming out of Tuscaloosa if If they were to win a basketball national title to go with these football national titles, the Nick Saban one, we just had Kalen DeBoer on the show. I imagine if you are not an Alabama fan and you just watched him talk,

you're like, Oh crap. They're going to keep winning a lot of games in football. Like it. Are you, are you guys prepared to just wash over us with superiority if you win a basketball national title? Like, I'm not sure the world is ready for that.

Yeah, I'm not sure how much I speak for the whole of the fan base, but I can tell you there will be a lot of people who are ready to victory lap over, at the very least, a couple of schools, one of which in the state and another right across the border to the north. I'm sure you can guess which two schools. You mean the team that did not beat Purdue in the Elite Eight?

Yeah, the team that has not made a Final Four and the one that can no longer brag that they're the only team to make a Final Four, those two. I'm sure that they would have plenty of fun with those fan bases at the very least. And all the jokes would for sure roll in. You mentioned Kalen DeBoer there about having to sacrifice Nick Saban to get this done. But finally, they would have it in the trophy cabinet there. It's crazy. And again, if you're just coming into the show and you didn't listen to the Kalen DeBoer interview, it's on demand on YouTube.

It's on demand on Twitter. You can watch the whole thing. Yeah, they're going to keep winning in football. So I'm sorry about that if you're tired of Alabama winning. But now you have to deal with Alabama being really good at basketball and really good for the foreseeable future. Because as we talked about, Nate Oates disagreed to that new contract, $12 billion buyout, very similar to the Dan Lanning situation in football at Oregon, where he's like, I like it

here. I think I can be really good here. I'm going to hang here for a while. But I do want to ask you James about the debate that we had going into the tournament. And I don't know much. I don't think it was much of a debate among those of us who watch it and love it. It's more of the people who run the sport. You had Greg Sankey talking about maybe there needs to be more power conference team, expand the tournament. Uh, the auto bids take, you know, kind of blunt the impact of that. NC State, I feel like, is the best argument for keeping things the way they are. Because NC State is a power conference school that underachieved, but then caught lightning in a bottle in its conference tournament, made that conference tournament.

The ACC tournament was must- watch television because of what NC state was doing. I don't know if you, if you, if you go into the nineties in terms of how many teams make it, I don't know if you get that anymore. Yeah, you, you, you might or might not get it at that point. Uh, but I do think unfortunately, or fortunately, depending on, uh, however you want the bracket to look greg sankey has has probably and and his his uh co-workers who who share his belief that they should expand are probably going to point to nc state as a reason to expand rather than a reason to keep the field where it is because uh if you were ever going to look at a team and say we'll see this is

why we have to expand it. What if they weren't in the field? NC State is the team to do that with as well. And your point, I agree with that it made the ACC tournament something more to see NC State trying to get into the NCAA tournament field, which they otherwise would have no chance to reach. Same thing with them running through the NCAA tournament. It means something more because we know where they were entering this discussion. When we see an eight seed or a nine seed make a run deep in the tournament, it doesn't feel the same as when an 11 or 12 seed does it. But in terms of how that counteracts the dollar amount that they can get from making that argument,

I'm going to assume that's probably what they'll, whichever side ends up with more money in their pockets is probably the one that they're going to argue on the side of because NC State is one where you can, you can use it to argue either side of the equation there. Yeah. What I think they did, the interesting thing about the money part is I think they probably blunt how much money they can make off their own conference tournaments if they do that, because you essentially do negate your conference tournament at that point. And those are like the SEC goes to Nashville. It's a big money-making event. The ACC was in DC this year and they move it around. Uh, sometimes they're in Brooklyn. Sometimes they're in Greensboro. I, I don't know that you have as many people wanting to come to that event, which is a big moneymaker too. So I, it might be six and one half dozen, the other we shall see.

But the other thing about NC state's run, I was thinking about, cause I, I covered all the, the Yukon games in that NCAA tournament where they had gone five games in five days in the big east tournament and then kimball walker just sort of blazes them through the ncaa tournament this feels different than that as well because you know i i see a lot of comparisons to that but that uconn team was the nine seed in the big east tournament that year but only because the big east was so deep yeah it was it was not they were gonna make it as an at large, probably if they won a game or two in the big East tournament, this feels different though. This feels like, and, and, and that one, it felt like there was no other dominant team. Like Yukon, this version of Yukon current version is the dominant

force. And NC state is just this plucky underdog story. Whereas by the time you got to the final four with that Kimball Walker UConn team, like, oh yeah, they're going to win. Yeah. This NC State team, I think there is still a hesitance. I'm not sure if that's the right word to use, but it's not like people have hopped on the bandwagon and are picking them to go through universally. People want to see them win because of the storyline. People want to see DJ Burns and his teammates, Diara, you mentioned, have success and keep playing. They want to watch the story play out. But I'm not sure how many people are, after each round, looking at NC State and saying,

okay, now I'm picking that team to win it all. I'm picking that team to advance to the next round when you start asking the questions about who they think should be favored. So I think that this NC State team, you're right. For whatever reason, whether it's the path that they've taken, whether it's the kind of just looking at that team versus being able to look at that UConn team, which had a little bit more star power.

Somebody who you could point to and say that's a future NBA guy who can carry them. Whatever the case is, it does have a little bit different feel than that UConn team of past years on their way to the potential national championship game. Yeah. And the road's so much harder. You got to get, you still, you would have, for them to win it, think about this, as much as they've already done, you still have to get through Zach Eady and Purdue and what appears to be an unbeatable UConn team

or the Alabama team that beat that UConn team. Like, it's just, it would be one of the more incredible runs. I don't know. In terms of going down in history, I think it would probably go down in history with the Jim Balvano, Lorenzo Charles, Derek Wittenberg, that whole team. It would be looked at as that level of of historical accomplishment because i just i mean i still think it's impossible but they may prove us wrong who know yes i mean they've proved me wrong so many times at this point that like i said i i i would

like to uh just withstand from uh picking picking them any of their games the rest of the way. Yeah. Yeah. Well, and the thing is, like, if you pick against them, you're anti-fun. Like, because who doesn't love DJ Burns? Who does not love, like, an NFL offensive tackle destroying people on the block? Like, I smile every time he gets the ball. So that's the problem.

You can't be the enemy of fun. And if you pick UConn, you are the enemy of fun. I will say, I enjoy watching UConn destroy people. There is something cathartic about it. I don't know. It's very strange. They're fun. People don't enjoy watching Purdue dominate these games,

but they seem to enjoy UConn doing it the way they do. But yeah, I mean, you talk about not wanting to pick against NC State, DJ Burns, Zach Randolph kind of – I mean, you know, if anyone wants to see the Zach Randolph guy succeed, it's the one with the picture right next to him here in the shot. Exactly, exactly. All right. Well, UConn's an 11 and a half point favorite against alabama so clearly vegas thinks uconn's rolling through this thing you know what james that's why they play the games cannot wait we'll talk

later in the week get you ready for the final four we had all kinds of fun stuff though we had caitlin to bore today if you didn't watch it get your butt back to the beginning of the show and watch it we'll talk to you tomorrow