Andy & Ari On3 - The SEC dominance argument INVADES the NCAA basketball tournament

Episode Date: March 17, 2025

Hosting a party for the big game? Are you about to have a house full of hungry people with painted faces looking to you for food? Have no fear, nothing saves a party from hunger like the Burger Box from Whataburger. It comes with 10 single or double patties (with or without cheese), all the fixings (like lettuce and tomatoes — which you can customize) and sauces. Perfect for whenever, whatever, whoever. Order online from April 4-7 and earn double reward points. Thank you to Gametime for sponsoring today's episode! Planning your college football travel for this season? Gametime has tickets to every game. (And every concert and comedy show.) Download the Gametime App and enter code: STAPLES for $20 off your first purchase, terms apply. Last Minute Tickets, Lowest Prices, Guaranteed. (0:00-1:25) PaniniAmerica.net(1:26-3:21) Intro: We have a Bracket!(3:22-7:40) Diving Into the Bracket(7:41-9:51) Ari Sees Cam Newton(9:52-13:49) Basketball Players as Football Players(13:50-19:49) Any Lower Seeded Favorites?(19:50-21:17) Gametime(21:18-26:21) McNeese State Manager, Characters of College Sports(26:22-30:49) Last Four In: UNC Discussion(30:50-39:17) First Four Games(39:18-40:57) Whataburger(40:58-48:24) Ari's Weekend In Dallas(48:25-57:23) 5 Star 2026 QB Ryder Lyons Joins the Show(57:24-1:00:02) Conclusion Cue the theme music! March Madness is HERE and we break down the biggest highlights and storylines of the field! Are there any lower seeds favored by Vegas? How did North Carolina get in? Also, Andy gives his thoughts on the First Four games in Dayton, Ohio. Later, Ari revisits his big weekend in Dallas. Tasked to do an interview solo, Ryder Lyons joins the show from Dallas from the OT 7-on-7 this past weekend. Watch us on YouTube! https://youtube.com/live/JjwqI4ZafIo Hosts: Andy Staples, Ari WassermanProducer: River Bailey 

This show is brought to you by Panini America, makers of the most collectible sports cards on the planet. Ari, Friday I was tweeting about a Panini card that I'd pulled actually a few months ago and I found it and it's a Cooper Cup autograph from the Luminance product and I was like, oh, where's Cooper Cup gonna wind up? As I tweeted it, he must have said yes to the Seahawks.

So I'm very excited about what Cooper Cup product I'm gonna get with the Seahawks and I told Panini this like only the throwback uniforms none of this neon green stuff yeah you know that's true for every every NFL team 90s uniforms over current you know whenever you can get a rookie autograph, it's really really gratifying. But when you can get the autograph of a player who is a proven Super Bowl champion, he was the MVP of the Super Bowl

too, wasn't he? If I recall correctly. Triple crown winner that year in receiving, you know catches receiving yards receiving touchdowns. Yeah, so any piece of memorabilia of a person who played an instrumental part in the team capturing the Super Bowl, I think is always a good position to be in. So that's a beautiful card. I don't remember what it's numbered to, but I think it's a short print. Good work pulling that, Andy. You're him.

Doing my best here, but if you want to start your own Panini collection, go to PaniniAmerica.net and get yours started today. Welcome to Andy and Ariane 3. We have a bracket for the most exciting event in American sports, the best event in American sports. I say this as someone who loves college football more than anything, who thinks football in general is the superior sport to all other sports. That said, the NCAA basketball tournament is the best event in American sports,

specifically this coming weekend. Yeah, this is one of my favorite weekends of the year, just because it's just the best event to watch, you know and the reason why is because It's really the only event where you kind of go into it knowing a major upsets gonna happen like what happens every year Right, like you're we always talk about like well, what if things go? You know by the chalk results and that happened basically in the football tournament this year, right?

Like all the teams who were supposed to win one, I mean, Arizona State almost threw us for a loop there in the football tournament, but it was basically chalk all the way through. And then in college basketball, it's weird if there aren't crazy brain melting upsets. So like that is the fun of it because there's no such thing as a bad game.

Even bad matchups turn into great games. And there's nothing like it in sports. And I think that, you know, a large reason for that too is because of the type of sport that it is. But yes, electric, I'll be in Vegas. Can't wait. You're out from the keys. Look at this guy.

Look at this sun kissed beautiful skin. He's got here There's Atlantic Ocean behind me You can't see it because it's dark But when we when we do shows and we record during the day this week You will see it is a it is a hell of a view are you hell of the Rayburns aren't bad people They just did one bad thing. Okay Exactly right bloodline is a hell of a show. Filmed about a mile from where I'm sitting right now. But all right, let's talk NCAA tournament. We have a bracket, 68

teams, 14 of them are from the SEC. It's a new record for the number of teams from one league. Are you ready to have the same arguments that everybody has in football. Like, because this is, we know how this is going to go. Either a bunch of SEC teams are going to advance, and the SEC people are going to crow and be like, ah, it's just like football. We're absolutely dominant. We're destroying everybody. Or a bunch of SEC teams will get upset.

They won't have that many teams in the second weekend. And everybody else will be like, see, you're overrated, just like in football. You always say you're the best, but the results on the, on the court and the field prove differently. It is the same argument. And I am here for it Ari, because I kind of like having it in basketball. Well, I, I, uh, I was watching the selection show.

I had no idea what was going on, but I did notice the secness of it all. Um, and the question I have for you is like in basketball, don't the non-conference games, they're pretty encompassing, right? Like they play a lot of each other and a lot of other teams. So like the supremacy thing in football always feels a little bit more of a mystery

because you might have a sample game or two, you know, of cross-conference games. But in basketball, there's like two months of non-conference games that you can kind of gauge for. And I know a lot of them are. You don't have to wonder what if one of the good SEC teams went and played Duke at Cameron indoor stadium. One did, it was Auburn.

Like there are a lot more data points in this thing. And so, Kim Pomeroy had a really good blog post about this earlier this month. So basically, the SEC's non-conference performance is the second most dominant in the history of the sport. The 1997 ACC was the only one that was more dominant. But the crazy thing about the 1997 ACC one, so six of the nine ACC teams made the tournament that year.

Only four of them are four of them were gone by the end of the first weekend. Only two of them made it out of the first weekend. Only one of those teams made it to the final four and North Carolina lost in the semi. So didn't, didn't get a national champion at it now. 2011 big East, which had 11 teams in, I believe that one produced a national champion in Yukon. Auburn's the squad this year, huh? Hey, can I tell you something Andy?

Auburn is A squad this year. There's another SEC team that got a one seed that resides in the same town as me. Yeah, what a wild season for them too. And River sent us a college basketball play on Friday night and he goes, hey guys, just want you to know that I'm on the Kentucky money line. It was the first time he sent me a play all year. So I tailed it and tailed it for a pretty good amount and I didn't take the money line because I thought he was a psychopath. I took the nine.

He goes, yeah, they're probably gonna win. They traveled deep to Nashville. I was like, the final score was like 91 to 65. Come on, River. Come on. Yeah, just because they had a bunch of fans there doesn't mean they were gonna win the game. No, I should have known better.

But Alabama looked really good. And I did catch some basketball this week and I'm super excited to kind of dive into this and see. But like, I just mean Lord I didn't Yeah, Florida was really really good That I am Excited about too. It's just to really see like in terms of conference dominance

If this actually like thing for the SEC and then also to are the SEC football fans being as insufferable about this as they are in football? Like are they really? I don't think they are because I think they're a little humbled from football. Are they? Okay, Brad and Macon's not, your guy on Finebomb. He's definitely not because he was DMing me the other day about, oh, Ari's going on Finebomb again,

another little tenor. So perhaps they've not been humbled. DMing me the other day about, oh, Ari's going on Fine Mom again, another little tenor. So Perhaps perhaps they've not been humbled. The spot was about quarterback battles across the country and like two of the biggest talking points were Alabama and Georgia. God I'm okay being a little I just want to be a little something. I've never been a little anything in my life So it feels good. Andy, on a side note, I went to the OT seven on Saturday, as you know.

Yes, and Cam Newton has a seven on seven team that he coaches. And I stood next to him yesterday. It was the first time I had ever been that close to him. And the first time I've basically seen him in person. Yes. What happened there? He is a unit. Like how could anybody like you want to talk about why he's the best college football player on Earth? Like his legs are tree. Yes, I mean he was an NFL defensive end playing quarterback who was as fast as an NFL wide receiver. It was not fair. It's like there are certain people you meet and you just cannot believe they exist. Cam Newton's one of them. Vince Young is one of them. Eddie George is one of them.

Like these are people you if you meet them in person, you're like, how did any human being ever tackle you ever? No, I think Cam Newton is the most imposing athlete I've ever seen in my life. And I've stood next to LeBron. It was the combination of height and thickness, but also knowing how fast and strong he is. Those are things that I knew. I had no idea how large of a human being that was. And I know that he's getting up in age and maybe he's not as... He's that big in college. Slim. Yeah, I will never forget walking behind him after the SEC Championship game in 2010 and

just thinking, good lord, this is... I cannot believe this human being plays quarterback. You know, we're around athletes every day. You know, I mean, we see it all the time. And I will tell you that I was in awe of it. Like I don't even think that I'm being hyperbolic here. I was like that is unbelievable. His calf muscles are the size of my thighs. I've got pretty big thighs. It's funny though because this actually brings me back to the NCAA basketball tournament

because one of the things like my favorite thing to do when I would cover the tournament rounds every year for Sports Illustrated was like, you know, there's all these players that you don't get to see much during the season that play for these teams, you don't get to see much. And like, my thing was, there's always one in every site where you're like, oh my God, why does this person not play football? And I remember Jay Crowder from Marquette going,

this is the perfect tight end. What is he doing playing basketball? Well, of course, he's in the NBA for a long time. He made a good choice. But another one of those guys. And one of those guys was imposing NBA players too. He was a pretty fierce defender who would get in people's grills pretty good.

Oh, yeah. Another guy that I remember saying the same thing about was VCU's Mo Ali and how does this do not play football well guess he plays for the Colts now yeah I mean basketball players are the ones who are 6'6 and thick fast big and strong and athletic you know and I do kind of feel like a lot of times when you see a pro football player or a pro basketball player, they probably, if they would have dedicated themselves to the other sport would have been a pro in the other sport

if that's what they trained on. I think that there's a lot of parallels between just the athleticism level that you see in basketball players and football players. Just they fell in love with one of the games. It was DJ Burns last year. It was DJ Burns from NC State last year. We're like, how does Dave Dornanot at least try this guy at offensive tackle? Because his feet are amazing and he's 300 pounds.

Wasn't there some thought that Travis Hunter was going to play basketball in college too? Am I making that up? I think you're making that up. I think he would have been really tired. Although I'm sure he's very good at basketball because he's probably very good at every sport he tries. There was a really, really good five star player who I thought was going to walk on or be

a part of the basketball team. LSU had a tight end who was playing with the basketball team this year. Now he cut it short as the season went on. LSU wasn't very good at basketball. They were one of the two SEC teams that did not make the NCAA tournament. But you do see it every once in a while.

So our producer says, there are videos of Travis Hunter dunking online. I don't doubt this. I don't doubt he's great at everything. Did he even play high school basketball? Or am I just completely off the reservation on this one? I think he probably did. I believe he did play high school basketball or am I just completely off the reservation on this one? I think he probably I think he did. I believe he did play high school basketball. So But yeah, I mean this is gonna be a fun fun week fun weekend

You've you're gonna be in Vegas, which I've never been in Vegas for the first week in the NCAA tournament I've got a I got to correct that one of these years now for the first week in the NCAA tournament. I've got to correct that one of these years. Now, unfortunately, it usually coincides with my kid's spring break, so that's going to be tough. But maybe when they're out of high school, you and I are in Vegas for the first weekend of the tournament. I go every year.

So whenever we have marital spouts or fights or whatever, I always remind myself that I have a wife who looks forward to and plans a trip to go watch the tournament and she doesn't watch the games much. I mean a few of them but we go with two other couples and the women go shopping and the men just get to sit in the sportsbook all day but it's her idea and her planning. It's a pretty great situation. You toss on a massage and the best thing about watching the games in Vegas is that they start up at 8 a.m. and 9 a.m. So it's like all day and it's like you don't have to wait for it.

In the offseason we'll talk about what the best time zone for sports is but I do think that Pacific has a Has a Distinct advantage over the other ones. Yeah. Yeah. I mean some people think that Central is the best time zone. I think that I think that Saturday mornings the wait for the games that starts brutal. Well, speaking of Vegas, let me throw two things out, two games out there right now. Because I asked Producer River to look this up

before we started, because I'm always fascinated by these. And I'm actually surprised. There's only two of these right now. Now, the Lions could adjust as the week goes on. But right now, the only lower seed that is favored against a higher seed you have Baylor is a one and a half point favorite over Mississippi State. That's an eight nine game. Like it's not really that different. But you do have a 12 five game where the 12 is a two and a half point favorite. So Colorado

State opened as a two and a half point favorite. So Colorado State opened as a two and a half point favorite against Memphis. So just throwing those out there, because I'm always fascinated by those games, because look, we are idiots who spend most of our time covering college football. By the time we get to dive into college basketball, they're well into conference play.

The people who set the line are watching college basketball all season long. Like they are very well acquainted with these teams. And so to see that opening line, you go, huh, because that's not the 12, five game I would have picked just looking at the bracket as the, as the one that would be a seed upset. Now Vegas doesn't think it'd be an upset at all. The one I thought would be a seed upset is McNeese Clemson. McNeese is the 12 seed, Clemson's a five seed.

It always feels like Clemson underperforms in these things. And then McNeese is coached by Will Wade, who everybody knows when he was coached at LSU, get caught on the FBI wiretap about making a strong ass offer. Well, he's resurrected his career at McNeese. He's got them in the tournament for second year row. So that's the stuff I love. Like I love that we're going to

relitigate that. And then when we'll wait loses when McNeese loses, we'll wait is going to get hired by some power conference program like it might be NC State. We'll see what happens. College basketball is like the king of coaching rehab too, right? Like you- Yes. Because there are so many jobs you can take

that are out of the spotlight for most of the year. And then once you find some success like at a place like McNeese and go to the tournament a few years in a row, all of a sudden, what you got fired for from the last job becomes less important as what you've done at the other. I mean, isn't Rick Pitino like the king of this? Like, yes, he is.

Yes. I mean, so he, well, look, he left Kentucky to go coach in the NBA. So that wasn't, you know, in shame. He comes back at Louisville and obviously pissed off the Kentucky people, but he did get fired at Louisville over an NCAA scandal. He comes back at Iona.

Now he's at St. John's. St. John's is a two seed. You're exactly right about this. And you know, it's interesting. So if things shake out, we mentioned Will Wade, if Will Wade's team were to win two games and then Kelvin Sampson's Houston team, which is a number one seed, if they were to win two games, Will Wade and Kelvin Sampson would be playing and it would be a match up of two guys who got fired for things that were against the rules based on the NCAA rules at the time.

Calvin Sampson in Indiana for text messages will Wade at LSU for strong offers and then came back to the sport when the things that they were fired over were OK. Which I find utterly fascinating. Yeah, it doesn't quite work that way in football because there aren't as many jobs. Yeah, right, and also too, when somebody wins like in college basketball, when you go to a smaller school and then you go on a crazy run, you're doing it at this on the same platform that you would have otherwise

been on had you never left like in college football. A lot of times there have been revival stories, but if you're at a small school. Like even like what Rich Rod did, like there was only a certain level that he could have taken Jacksonville State for the entire country to be aware.

I think probably 85% of college football fans, but the ones who freeze is the only one I can think of. That that did that he got fired at Ole Miss amid scandal. He went to Liberty. He won. That's not true. Bobby Patrino did it to Bobby Patrino went back to to Western Kentucky and then went back to Louisville. So it has happened there, but it's interesting that the not as a head coach. Yeah, no, he did. He, he went back to Louisville as the head coach, Petrino did. Now he went back to Arkansas as the, as the O. C. Oh, oh, oh yeah. Right. Right. But the Hugh Friesman is interesting because that's what Auburn did with Bruce Pearl. Bruce Pearl fired by Tennessee and, and you know, a lot of Tennessee fans say they never

should have fired him, but he had an NCAA issue and now Bruce Pearl did not have to go coach at a small school. He just happened to be great on TV and everybody remembered how good he was coaching Tennessee and they're like yeah, we'll take you and of

course he's got his team is one seat. Yeah, I mean Dan Wetzel, the great Dan Wetzel, wrote a column that Rick Patino is probably the best college basketball coach of all time. And nobody will ever talk about it because of the scandal stuff. But when you actually think about the success

that he's had at every place that he's gone, there's nobody like him, right? And I know that national championships like John Wooden and stuff one more, but it is kind of funny how scandal or one bad stop or even one mistake can derail the entire conversation of like where you belong on the Pantheon of greats and call it like

I think the 38 to one to win the tournament. It's like I would take 38 to one to have St. John's is a good team, a good team coached by a legend, make it to the final four. That could happen. And St. John's was like a legit basketball power when we were growing up, weren't they? They were. Lucarno Seca. Absolutely. They were. They were awesome. So I'm glad you mentioned St. John's. So St. John's is playing in Providence this weekend. There's another game in the first round in Providence

that is fascinating. If you would like to see John Calipari against Bill Self with the winner likely going on to play Rick Pitino, who's back in Providence. Remember Rick Pitino fire, you know, rocketed the super stardom as the Providence coach Down with the game time app now use the code staples get $20 off your first purchase terms apply But you can go to game time you can get tickets in Providence right now those tickets by the way

Not easy to get not easy to get because you have Kansas fans Arkansas fans You've got st. John's fans You got some people that are pretty excited about this set of games that they've got going on there, but that is a that is a really interesting matchup that the Bill Self versus John Calipari and the winner is likely going to have to play against Rick Patino, which that's awesome, but you can use game time for any of the NCAA tournament sites. So whether you're going to Providence, to Raleigh, to Lexington, to Milwaukee, you name it, they got it. Download the code,

now, excuse me, download the app, use the code staples, get $20 off your first purchase, hit the GT picks button. When you pick your event, hit GT picks. That gives you the best deals relative to the market. That's what I used when I got my daughter and wife Taylor Swift tickets, and it certainly helped. Got them great tickets, got me a better deal. Use that GTPix function, it's awesome. So download Game Time, staples,

$20 off your first purchase, terms apply. How about that? Bill Self against John Calipari in a 7-10 game. If I'd have told you that 10 years ago, you'd have had me committed. Bill Self and John Calipari will face off in a 7-10 game. If you would have told me the schools maybe. Well, I mean, Bill Self is still at Kansas, but yeah. The Calipari Arkansas thing would have shocked you.

The second school really that I'm talking about here. Yeah. Calipari Arkansas thing would have would have shot school really that I'm talking about here. Yeah, I know that I don't know enough about this, but like we always seem to get the storylines colliding in college basketball. I'm assuming there's a certain gamesmanship showmanship aspect to this, but like the storylines in college basketball really are the thing, right? That's what makes this so exciting. Like the McNeese state manager. I don't know if you saw him, uh, his name is a con. Have you seen this kid? He's got like a moon box around his head. He's like coming out of the tunnel with the team wrapping. I sent river a video. I don't know if he can play it or not, but I, I was laughing about this the other day. Um, if, if they could be Clemson that dude's gonna be a national celebrity

Yeah, cuz he's he could be this year's sister Jean, right? Right exactly, right? Man I covered every round of that loyal Chicago run to the to the final four That was insane like watching sister Jean become a massive celebrity overnight. And we still like we still know who she is. I'll never forget who she is. I've seen her in person too. I was at I don't remember what I was covering and what event it was at. But I don't know if they were in the same bracket area of an Ohio State tournament run

that I was covering at one point, but I did remember seeing her and it was pretty cool that she was like traveling at her age too. Like it just like was really into it. Oh yeah. She's sharp. I'm trying to think of like who are some of the legends of college football that weren't on the team but got famous for things like who was that? Like the manager at Florida State with the red beard. Was that the guy that ran onto the field with that? Yes. They called him like the tea lightning or something

where he'd go get the tea and sprint really? Yes. All right, we got the video. We got the video. Oh, he's got the video. Okay, I don't know if you've seen this guy. His name's Amir Khan. This guy is gonna be one of the most famous

people in America for at least 24 hours if McNeese beats Clemson. It's going viral of McNeese's basketball manager Amir Khan, rapping lead foes in and out word for word before a game. Boxing with E. Yeah, you get it. Oh yeah. From practice, showing him giving it his all, like taking charges, diving for the goals, and setting the tone for the team. Then came a couple of men rocking a single. I want this man to be famous.

Let's make this happen, people. Taking the charge thing's funnier than the wrapping thing. It's yeah, that's the cool stuff. It is amazing. I want you. I want this. Here's the thing too like that. I didn't say at the beginning of the show, but when you say why is the NCAA tournament the best event of the year, the reason why college basketball, I mean that football is such a awesome sport is because of all the characters that are in or around the football teams. And like when you think about how many stories and insane

things happen, it happens because of the sheer volume of games that happen every Saturday, right? And you think about lower level teams and how many characters and people are on teams that you've never heard of, like college basketball brings all of those characters, all of those people to the main stage. Yes. And that's what's great. It's like anybody could just be a manager at some basketball team in the middle of nowhere and then like be the most famous guy in America

if he does something funny. Or how about a flute player just starts crying during the game? That's all it takes. Yeah, yeah. How about a flute player just starts crying during the game? That's all it takes. Yeah, yeah. It is tremendous. I am so excited about this weekend. I'm so excited for potential upsets.

If you are one who does not wanna see the SEC pound its chest, I will give you some some solace Because they have so many teams in the tournament, you know The committee is not allowed not supposed to to set up rematches among conference teams For the first two rounds, but there are actually three potential second round SEC on SEC games because they didn't have a choice There's just too many teams. Yeah. Well, when like a quarter of the bracket is one conference, what are they going to do?

So do people when they're watching selection Sunday get really mad about snubs? Like, was there any like controversial thing that happened that everyone's all freaking out about? People got mad about North Carolina being the last at large team in because Bubba Cunningham, their AD is the chair of the selection committee. But I don't think people were that mad on West Virginia or Indiana's behalf because for the most part, the bubble teams got in this year.

There weren't a ton of upsets. Like last year, there were a lot more bid thieves in the conference tournaments. This year, there weren't really a lot of them. So most of the bubble teams got in, so it didn't feel like anybody was getting particularly hosed. Now, I will say, I don't know if you saw the CBS selection show, but they bring in Bubba Cunningham,

just like they've always brought in the committee chair to explain everything. And obviously college football has copied that every week in the late fall with those committee rankings and the committee chair comes out and talks it through. So Bubba Cunningham was not by himself this time. He was with his co-chair, Keith Gill.

Keith Gill's the commissioner of the Sunbelt Conference. And it was specifically to answer the North Carolina question because when North Carolina was announced in the bracket, and they're playing in the first four. They're playing San Diego State and Dayton. And if they win, they get to play Iowa State. But Bubba Cunningham, if you looked online, if you looked social media, oh, Bubba rigged it.

OK, the way the rules work, Bubba rigged it. Okay. The way the rules work, Bubba Cunningham wasn't even allowed in the room when they talked about North Carolina. He wasn't allowed to take any votes when they talked about North Carolina. So Keith Gill gets on TV and explains all this and actually explains that they had a contingency bracket. So the American Athletic Conference final was Sunday in the afternoon. The brackets due from the committee in the afternoon. And so they had two different brackets. They had one if UAB beat Memphis,

which would have been a bid thief situation because Memphis would get in at large. And one if Memphis won and got the automatic bid. And Keith Gill explains all this about 30 seconds faster than I just did and explicitly and clearly and it was amazing. And so I am nominating Keith Gill to be, and I realize they don't have conference commissioners on the playoff on the football committee.

Let's start that. I'm nominating Keith Gill to be the guy who talks for the committee. Although I am excited about Mac Rhodes from Baylor this year because I think he's the best talker of any AD who's been named committee chair yet. Yeah. The transparency thing I think is big. Like I felt this was-

He said what happened. The football committee never says that. Just say what happened. That's all I ever want from the thing. And the thing that we talked about this on the phone when I was at the playoff thing. We understand that it's hard. I think fans understand that it's hard.

I think the secrecy and the inability to communicate why it was hard and what you did in the face of challenge is what makes it feel shady to people. Like you'd be like, yeah, we argued about this amongst the committee for eight straight hours and we couldn't get anywhere. It was really hard. It was an impossible decision,

but we took a vote and the committee was split eight to four or whatever. You know what I mean? And then that's how we decided it because that's the way that we got to it. Like, I don't know what the harm in that is. You know what the other problem with the committee in football too is that.

Yeah, especially if you're not naming who voted for and against, like, I think that's the concern with the football committee is there's a feeling that some angry Alabama fan or some angry Ohio State fan or whatever is gonna try to take it out on whoever voted against their team. But you don't have to say who voted against their team, just say how it went down.

I think that would be a lot better. How it went down without outing how it went down, like with specific names and stuff. But everybody's always gonna do the conspiracy theory that's rigged type crap, because that's just what it is now. But I also too, like we talk about in football, like if you're a team that was 13 or 14,

and you didn't get into the top 12, like my heart does not bleed for you. It's like, was what West Virginia, like 18 and 15 this year or something? It's like, okay, all right, do you feel bad for them? It stinks when you know, your kids who fought and you want, but like nobody on that last four or first four outs,

like, oh God, how could they not get in? They were all like 15 lost teams, weren't they? Yeah, and Indiana's essentially already fired their coach. Like, yeah, we'll see, we'll see if Rodney Terry ends up getting fired at Texas because Texas is probably only in because they beat Texas A&M in double overtime in the SEC tournament last week. Like, if Texas hadn't made it in, would Ronnie Terry be fired today? And if they get bounced in Dayton, does he get fired? Like, these are all questions that still need to be answered. Yeah.

Has anybody from the first four ever made the final four? Like, that's the answer. VCU. Yeah. Oh, they were in the first four that year. Yeah. That's cool and then UCLA had a really good run from the first four in 2021. Yeah, the the first four run thing the fact that that's

possible is what makes us so amazing. I still don't like the first four that now and we're going to get more of it because they are going to expand the tournament like I think you know, they've made it pretty clear. They're going to get more of it because they are going to expand the tournament. Like I think, you know, they, they've made it pretty clear they're going to expand the tournament 78, which 78 thing about that. Yeah. So you're going to get more, more of this. The thing I hate about the first four is I, it bothers me.

So you're looking at the first four on the, on the screen. Now, it's not the Texas Xavier game or the San Diego state, North Carolina games that bothered me. I actually think those are fun games. I don't want Alabama State to have to play St. Francis for a spot in the real tourney because they won their conference tournaments. You're supposed to be in the tournament, like the real tournament.

I know they say, well, this is the real tournament. No, it's not. It's not the real tournament. The round of 64 is the real tournament. No, it's not. It's not the real tournament. The round of 64 is the real tournament. They won their conference championship, American and Mount St. Mary's are in the same boat. They should be in the real tournament. Have the underachieving power conference teams

all play each other for spots. I'd rather watch it on TV anyway. Yeah. Yeah, if you win your conference, you're in and let the teams that lost 14 times fight to TV anyway. Yeah. Yeah. If you win your conference, you're in and let the teams that have that lost 14 times fight to get in. Yeah. The thing that's kind of bizarre about it is, is that it is technically part of the tournament, but it's not. But also too, if you end up wanting

to make a run or whatever, you are not playing in the same tournament in terms of length as the rest of the field, which has always been bizarre to me. You have to play that game, which I mean, the football tournament has an extra game for. Yeah, you have to you have to put the those teams in a position where they have to win. And I know, but like. It's not to get into the thing. Right, right, because we we recognize we don't recognize the football tournament is an 18 tournament that you have to win that game to get into tournament and you're rewarded for one less game as an advantage in it, not like fighting tooth and nail to get in.

At the last second in order to and then what do they play on like Tuesday and Monday and Tuesday or something. They play Tuesday, Wednesday. And then what happens? They got to play Wednesday for Thursday, Friday, depending on. Yeah, so that's a lot. You play Tuesday, you go to Thursday. If you play Wednesday, you go to Friday. And I'm assuming that a few of these teams that are playing here played today? Most of them did not play today, no.

North Carolina played Friday night. That was the most, Texas played Friday also. That's the most recent. So, yeah, the thing is you're doing it as a TV product, you're doing it as an entertainment product. If you want better ratings, use the teams people have heard of. Yeah.

And look at the teams that won their conference tournament. Look, here's the thing, I was Mr. Expand in the football tournament. I don't really care if they expanded to 14 or 16, but I don't want them to go past 16 because I think that would be probably the closest thing to a perfect number. Basketball had the perfect number.

64 is the perfect number for the basketball tournament. It did not need to change. It did not need to go to 68. It does not need to go to 78, but they're going to do it anyway because the power conferences want wanna get more teams in. So they can say they got more teams in the tournament. But they had the perfect number.

So let's just agree that 64 is the right number and let the conference champions be in the field of 64 and then have the other 14, when you go to 78, have the other 14 teams that are go to 78 have the other 14 teams that are playing in. Let them all be power conference teams that were underachieving mediocre. You don't have to bitch about them being left off the bubble. They get to play and we might watch it. Maybe I'm with you. I don't have any. I don't disagree at all with that. I think that's awesome. I never thought about it. So to hear you say it was cool.

It drives me crazy. It drives me crazy. Cause I love the basketball tournament as I've made very clear. I watched the first four and when I turn on those Dayton games, it breaks my heart every single time I see the two teams playing for the right to go

get waxed by a one seed. Let them have their moment. Don't somebody Dayton that won their conference tournament, let them go get waxed by one seed or maybe they're UMBC and they beat the one seed. Who knows? Yeah, no arguments here. Yeah, the 74 thing is interesting to me

because I already feel 78 or 78. I already feel like the regular season in college basketball is completely worthless and pointless and you're just watering it down to 14 more. It's just like I feel like you're just making the problem that exists even worse. I can fix that too. How I can fix the regular season too. And it's not changing the way it works.

It's just changing the dates. They're playing really fun games in November that nobody watches because of football, because of college football and because of the NFL. Start the season in January. I realize you've trademarked March Madness and you want to use that. OK, let it go.

You still have the best event. CBS doesn't want you to do that because they want the tournament to lead into the Masters. But have it come out of the Masters instead. You know what I'm doing right now? You're changing the college basketball season to start in January? No, I'm typing in madness madness Synonyms to see if there's one that starts with an a ah

There you go perfect April Well, they just do may bad April fool April showers Yeah, come up with something It would be a lot better. It would be better for the sport. And it would just like, because football would be ending and we'd be getting all these super exciting non-conference games that are cool. Like Auburn played Duke at Cameron indoor in November or I might've been December actually. Uh, but that is an awesome game that we were all busy talking about football. So

let's think about these things before just expanding the tournament and all that stuff. But just think about this stuff. I know you're going to expand the tournament anyway. I get it. I've dealt with the conference commissioners enough. I understand how this works. Like I know you're gonna do it. But just take the one piece of advice and let the conference champs go play in the real tournament because I'm sorry, you can add as many teams you want. The real tournament stops at 64. I'm looking this up right now.

So two one seeds played in the first in November. Each other. Yes, they're both one seeds. Yeah, yeah, Duke and Auburn in in in Durham doesn't matter who won. I mean look if they played again, it would probably be a really good game if Cooper flags playing well, it does not, it doesn't matter. Like even in college football where you kind of say like, yeah, these non-conference games don't matter as much anymore because you can lose two or three times

and maybe get in still, but it's like in basketball, it like really just does not matter. It's a glorified exhibition game. It is, but it is part of the reason the SEC has 14 teams in because the SEC did schedule, like SEC schools scheduled some really good non-conference competition and won most of those games. That's why they have 14 teams in.

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You know what I like about Whataburger? Wasn't part of the read, but I'm going to toss a bonus. Yeah, go for it. One. Spicy ketchup should be an option everywhere. And yes, what a burger has it and it's delicious. And then two, it's the only burger place that I know of that you can get toast. You know, like how other fast food restaurant like chicken places typically give you a piece of toast if you want it

with your Texas toast. Oh, yeah. Well, what a a burger Texas native. Yeah. So really happy to live in a city that has them all over the place for sure. It's a it's a hell of a burger. It's what a burger it is. That's right. Bring home that W Ari speaking of Texas in your town of Dallas. There was a very big event this past weekend involving some of the best football recruits in the country, OT7, and you were in attendance, talked to some of the guys. Who are we talking to today, Ari? Well, can I tell you what happened going into it first, or do you want to skip that part?

Yes, let's have the story and then we will talk to some of the the best players in America. Yeah. Well, I talked to three five-star quarterbacks. So, you know, the quarterbacks that I spoke with our writer lions, Jonas Williams and Dia Bell. Dia Bell is committed to Texas. Jonas, Rochchbell's son. Yes. And what a awesome conversation that was because when I was living in Phoenix, when Roger Bell was

killing it, uh, with the sons and played on some of the, the really, really, really exciting sons teams that, um, you know, kind of, I, I still think maybe it's just cause I lived there at the time, but maybe some of the most fun NBA teams in the history of the sport to watch. They didn't end up winning any championships, but they were, you know, the teams I'm talking about. Oh yeah, absolutely. And Jonas Williams has committed to USC. So we talked about that and you know, he's from Illinois and you know, the big 10 stuff

and being a five star player waiting in the wings as the program's trying to turn around he might be the next uh you know in line and then Ryder Lyons is a five-star prospect who is uh going to go on a Mormon mission and uh should be basically a 2026 kid but he'll basically be a 2027 um and he's a really electric player and that changes the math on him because he's also looking heavily at USC. That's right. But I thought that our conversation was really, really good because we talked about everything because he's got like 180,000 followers on TikTok

and he's like really kind of the poster child of the new age recruit in terms of like, he's already famous for other things. And the way he plays the game too, if you go watch his highlights, he's just like a very elusive, exciting, jaw-dropping type play kind of guy. And he's considering Michigan BYU and some other schools.

We had good conversations with him, but first. If you thought the technical difficulties were only a fixture of our show, it's not. It's just real life Ari. So I have a $2300 camera. Okay. And I use it right now. You see, you can see my individual facial hairs. It's because this camera is really nice. And a part of this camera is a plastic piece

that clips into the top of the thing that you put the microphones in when you have interviews. Andy, you know it well because you're always in charge of the equipment when we go out of town, for which I'm very thankful for. I don't know if I've communicated that to you. It gives me anxiety and I really appreciate you shouldering that burden for us.

But I was asked for the first time to take my camera off of the tripod that's been hanging in my house since the day I started on three out of the house for the first time we get to the place. I have an interview scheduled with Dia Bell in 45 minutes. I pull into the parking lot. I call our boss and as I'm walking, the piece that goes on top of the camera slides off, hits the pavement and shatters all over the place. Okay, and this is an essential piece.

I couldn't get audio into the camera without it. So I have 45 minutes, I'm in a part of Dallas I had never been to before. And frantically called River for help. He did the best he could, but it turns out that this piece cannot be purchased in stores anywhere. Not separately. You have to work with the camera. So I had to drive to a Best Buy in Dallas-St. Patrick's Day traffic at 45 minutes away in Arlington. Buy the $2,500 camera on my credit card, which is in a box packed up again over there. Take out that piece, sprint back to the field, hope that that piece worked, use all the settings that you told me to, Andy.

I took the broken piece of the other one and copied the settings on the other side. And I made it back in time, I missed the time window, but they work with me and I got all the guides and it ended up working. And the ot seven guy was helping me who listens to our show, by the way, and I think that's part of the reason why they were so helpful in terms of helping me get those interviews back was because I think he's a fan of the show. And I kind of like knew that if I said I'm having technical difficulties that like that's not a lie. You know, like he knows and they were very

helpful. He's like I'm getting the full RE experience. Yeah, so OT7 is really cool too and I don't know how much 7-on-7 you've watched in your life Andy but it's just like really entertaining. I was at the original 7-on- seven tournaments back in the day. You were like the king of recruiting before, you know, I think when non three hired us, they thought like, these guys didn't grow up in the recruiting world. And it's like, we were born in a brother. I'm doing, you adopted the darkness. We were born in it. I guess we were like mainstream media members who like took to recruiting at

places that were hesitant to cover them at the time that we were working there. And you did all like the bus tour stuff and all that too, right? Early. Oh yeah. Me and the South Florida Express who were who were at the OT seven tournament this weekend with you. Yeah. And that's where I saw Cam Newton.

But like the most entertaining part of football, you know, it's like watching insane quarterback elusiveness and awesome throws and crazy catches. And that's like literally all seven on seven is. And like I kind of feel like I would watch it in the fall if that was the sport, because it's just an entertaining thing to watch. The kids get after it, there's five-star receivers running all over the place, and I got to talk to the three most highly touted, or three of the five most highly touted players on the field that day. And Ryder Lyons, I thought was a really introspective

conversation because we talked about Mormonism. Like I asked him like, you know, real questions about, you know, your faith and playing for BYU potentially and why you take your mission now instead of later. And, you know, what it's like to be TikTok famous before you get there. How hard is it now that you have to manage money? Like all these things that like you wanted to ask recruits that you don't really get to talk to about. And I thought that he was really, really forthcoming in that interview. And I'm going to have a story up on on three at some point on Monday with him as kind of the fixture of it. So if that's where we want to start, we can start there. But I thought it was really good. Yeah, let's start with Ryder Lyons because I'm fascinated to hear from him.

I've read about him, but this is going to be a fun one that we get to know somebody who, this may be a star in college football in a few years. And by the way, this video was brought to you, shot by and executed by yours truly. This is my film work. Okay. I did. Ari MacGyvered it.

That's the key to this job is learning heavily. But. Listen, the key to this job is knowing how to MacGyver things on the road when things go wrong. You're learning. I'm so proud of you. And I cannot wait for everybody to see you and Ryder Lyons.

Now joining the show, all world quarterback Ryder Lyons. What's this right here? What do I got here? That's me. That's me right there. So before. So like, listen. All right. I've been covering college football for now almost 20 years and like I know that the sport is more advanced and you guys are getting more famous and all this stuff is happening. This is the first time that a representative of yours

came up and said, do you want a Ryder Lyon sticker? I got three, I'm gonna give one to my daughter. What's the origin story of this? Well, she just texted me and she was like, should I print 500 of these? And I was like, heck yeah, of course Why not 5,000? This is a

It's kind of interesting because like you as an aura being who you are Being in the position that you're in all the colleges who want you and you know Like you're a pretty valuable asset to these colleges. You realize that right? Yeah, like what's it been like to be a kid? To a certain extent but also a young man who isn't just a football player, but a very valuable commodity to a bunch of Really big organizations that are making millions and millions of dollars. I mean, I'm just grateful for it all to be honest It's crazy, yeah, sometimes doesn't feel real but yeah grateful for it all to be honest. It's crazy. Sometimes it doesn't feel real, but yeah, grateful for it. I mean, I just love playing football. I love competing. So yeah.

You know, when you are in a position like this, where you want to make the best decision for your future, you want to go to the right place, you've got a brother at USC, you've got faith ties at BYU Michigan's a wonderful school all the places that you're considering yeah what's what what means the most to you? I mean there's a lot of stuff but I think a big part for me is the culture of the schools I want to go somewhere I can I want to work hard every single day I want to compete and I want to like be similar where the coaches believe in me but also push me hard. Yeah.

I think the coaches is important. And now with the transfer portal, I mean you can follow a coach, you know? So I wanna be somewhere, I mean I'm spending most of my time with this coach like seven, eight hours of the day, like I wanna be with someone who I truly believe, who I truly believe believes in me and like someone who I love to work for, you know?

Yeah, I don't know if you get asked this as much, but I'm wondering, you know, being of the LDS faith, having a tie with BYU, a program that's coming after you hard, you could be somebody that changes the trajectory of that program in a massive way because BYU, though a very good program that pushed for a playoff spot last year hasn't had a player like this come through. Yeah. Like how much of a pool is your faith and how much of a connection do you feel as somebody of that faith to lift up a program that you know you know embodies it? It's hard for sure. I mean I have a lot of I'm super familiar with it. My whole both my parents went there, My sisters went there.

So I definitely understand it all. And yeah, it is, I could, it's hard. Like I could do that and change the program. I mean, start a new wave of sort, but I also have to do what's best for me. Yeah. I have to look at everything. I'm not, I mean, I'm not just gonna make a decision

without really knowing what I want to do. Like once I commit to a school, it's really a school it's like on one hand it's like football and all the things that about football and then the other one just like bigger than football yeah you know but there's a big part for me truth is they're starting quarterbacks Jewish so you know you don't have to be LDS to go there but so let me let me ask you this like now when you're in this position and you're getting close and you have all these decisions, how do you parse through all that information?

How do you process it as a person? I mean, I pray about it. Talk to my parents, talk to my family, get input from them. And then ultimately, I just have to pick what feels right to me, what feels like the most home, where I'm going to be the most comfortable because that's when I'm the most comfortable, that's when I'm the best. So yeah. Well also too, like people in your position have always been well known and kind of famous. You're like really

famous right? Like you got like 180,000 TikTok followers, your brother's at USC dating somebody from Dancing of the Stars, is that right? Yes, that is correct. You're a business man. You're not a business man, you're a business man. How do you kind of embody that? How do you try to capitalize it? Make as much money as you can. I mean capitalize on it for sure. Look at this.

Yeah, your brand, I mean my brand, my name, image like this I guess is very important. So getting it out there, posting TikToks. I mean, I love posting TikToks, I mean I love posting TikTok, I love entertaining people but I love playing football more than that. Do you feel like, it's like college decision is one thing but like also too, do you feel like you're our business and an asset and somebody that has to monetize? Like how do you balance those two things of like working out and footwork and passing and OT7 and all the things that you're doing but at same time, like knowing that there's a lot of money and it's a very lucrative business to be a social media famous person and all those things that come along

with that. I think prior prioritizing what you need to prioritize. Football comes first and then all social media comes second. That's just me. But you have to take advantage of it. Of course. But I find times where I could, like just downtime, where I can make TikToks, I guess, make videos. And then I'll just make a lot in that time period. And then I'll post them when I don't have time in the next couple of weeks.

Yeah. So talk to a few of the other five star quarterbacks here. Because there's no question that five star quarterbacks are the most valuable players. Yeah. Both from a monetary standpoint, but also on the team. But an NIL is fairly new, but people get very squirrely talking about it. They don't like talking about money, they don't like talking about what they're

being offered, they don't like talking about just that whole other world, but that's a very important world. As a five-star quarterback you're one of the top 1% athletes on the face of the earth and you should be compensated for it. Why do you think people are so bashful, so shy, so nervous to talk about money? Because if you do you get labeled as someone who's chasing money. I mean if you were to say they're offering me, which the thing is 99% of the world if you got offered $150 thousand dollars more to take this job most people are taking it Yeah, right, just so it's just but I think people don't want to talk about it because

Yeah, you get bashed online you get bashed on social media, but For me, they think that you're not focused. I guess the whole thing for me about the NIL space is It's how much they how much they believe in you. You know? Because if they're going to invest all this money into you, then they kind of… That's also a sign of trust. Yeah. Like, trust.

Like, I believe in you. Like, you're our guy. You know? So that's the biggest part for me. So who handles that for you? I have an agent. I have an agent and my mom. Yeah, and it's like having an agent and stuff like…

I don't… To be honest, I don't want to… I don't like talking money with the coaches. Yeah, it kind of makes a relationship weird a little bit. Yeah. But even then, that's kind of weird. Yeah. But I should it. Yeah, it's true. It's true. It's a it's a it's a weird space.

It's new, but my current company paid me the most. I just want everybody to know. Yeah, it's like it's a it's a weird, it's kind of weird. Yeah. It's weird. And it's like, you know, you're somebody who's in that space a little bit more than most people would be. So I think you're an interesting person. Let me ask you one more thing and I'll get you out of here.

So you can begin your game. So the LDS mission. Yeah. How important, obviously very important, is that to people of your faith? What do you plan on doing in that realm? And like, just a question from somebody who's unfamiliar and being vulnerable, like, why do it when you have to do it? Do you have to do it that year, or have you thought about doing it later in life?

You don't have to, no. And you don't even have to go at all, to be honest, but my faith is a big thing in my life, of course. Jesus Christ is my rock, so I feel like in my opinion, I've been blessed so much from my Heavenly Father. And I've got all this love from other people, all these blessings, so I think it's something for me to sacrifice. I mean, it's a big part of my life.

Arguably the biggest. I'm going into college as a five-star quarterback athlete like we were talking about. But I think just stepping all the way from that, kind giving myself to serve other people. Yeah, like not talk about myself not be about myself Just be about other people and serve other people I think that will help me a lot and I think that's a sacrifice that I have to make it How do you do football in that do you train while you're there? Yeah, you can work out in the mornings. You have like a couple days a week where you can

Train throw but most of my time work out in the mornings, you have like a couple days a week where you can train, throw, but most of my time will be focused on Jesus Christ. One last one, where are you in your decision making process? What's the last thing you have to do and when would you like to come in? I'll probably take all these OVs and unofficial visits and then I'll make a decision in July. Hey really really great talking to you man. Yeah, I appreciate you. Thank you so much.

Good luck out there. It's been really fun watching you. Thank you so much. Thank you. That is Ari and Ryder Lyons. You know how hard Ari worked to get that interview now. You know what that meant to him. It was a rough two hours, Andy. It was. I know we can joke about it now,

but I thought I was gonna blow the whole day. Like they were counting on me to be there. I thought I'm not even going to be able to do this today. I'm so proud of you. You have rough days on the job. That was a rough day. But actually turned out great because Joe, the guy who works at OT7, loyal listener, was really helpful.

They had some video people there to watch my back. I didn't have to waterboard a river with questions after I scared the crap out of him like calling him. I called him like seven times in 20 minutes just trying to figure out what I could do. He goes what you could do is you could get an iPhone stand, an iPhone wireless mics and you could plug it into your iPhone and I was like yeah yeah bud I'm gonna figure that out in four minutes like that. That actually would have been pretty easy and you would have just gone to Best Buy and bought those too but I'm glad you did it the way you did it. It looks beautiful. I'm so proud of you.

We got two more interviews that will come out later this week with astounding young quarterbacks. Ari, you did it. Thank you. You fulfilled the mission. And now I just need to buy a case for my camera. But I think I know. Yeah, OK.

No, you didn't mention that in the first in the preamble when you were explaining it. I wasn't going to say anything. But since you brought it up. Yeah. You brought your camera with no case. Of course it broke. Yeah, it should have been in a case. But I know the mechanism now and it's easy.

Like if I have to do that again, I was anxious for two months about it. And like now it's like, it's really not that difficult. Like it's a tripod, you plug two things into a thing and then hit record, it's not that hard. Like most things in life. But the camera equipment, camera stuff is really intimidating Andy.

Like there's all these buttons and options and features and it's like a camera that they probably like shoot like movies on. Like this isn't like a cheap camera. So it's like you hit the menu and like 90,000 things pop up and you know, make sure that the ISO is on this number and make sure that's like, what are you talking about? Just like, my phone just hits record. Like, why? Ari, you're all growns up. I'm so proud. We'll get to see more of Ari's handiwork later in the week and also get you ready for the NCAA tournament.

My favorite week in sports is here. Let's go.