Fantasy Football Today - Jon Rothstein reacts to & picks every game in 2026 NCAA Tournament Bracket!
Episode Date: March 16, 2026Follow Inside College Basketball Now on Apple or Spotify Jon Rothstein breaks down his bracket. To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/pri...vacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices
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Let's put the women and children of bed and go look.
Looking for dinner, John Rothstein here on Inside College Basketball Now, a special selection Sunday edition of the only college basketball podcast coming to you 52 weeks out of the calendar year.
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this show what we hope it will become. But this is obviously a different type of show. This is a show
where there are no scripts needed. This is a show where we can get into the guts of the greatest
day of the year of the college basketball calendar. It is a day that no other sport has. It is
our day. It is Selection Sunday. And there are sometimes I get the reaction to the bracket
and you feel volatile.
You feel opinionated.
You feel like there are things that happen that you just can't fathom.
Tonight is not one of those nights.
The 68 teams that I had projected to be in the NCAA tournament on Sunday morning
are the same 68 teams that wound up in the NCAA tournament on Sunday night at 6 o'clock.
And I think the committee did an outstanding job putting the bracket together in terms of rewarding
the 68 best teams that deserve to be in the field.
Now, I will say this, there was a couple of things from a seating perspective.
I was a little surprised at.
I was shocked that St. Louis got a nine seed after finishing the regular season 8 and 8.
I was also a little surprised that St. Johns did not work its way to the four line.
We'll get into all that and more in time here.
But I am obviously really overall, very pleased with the way the bracket came out for the
2026 NCAA tournament. I know some people felt that Vanderbilt should have been better than five.
We are splitting Adams at that point. You are completely splitting Adams. I think the committee
did an outstanding job putting this bracket together. I think now we have an NCAA tournament
that has all sorts of storylines. And I also want to be in a situation where I am connecting
with you. And I want you to leave a comment in the chat. I want to hear from you about your thoughts
on the draw for the NCAA tournament, the bracket for the NCAA tournament. The bracket for the NCAA
tournament. I'm going to get to all that later in the show here on Inside College Basketball
now. But first, of course, I have to go through the bracket and give you my picks and breakdown
for the greatest event that there is in sports. Now, before we dive in to the scenario where I get
into the bracket names, and if you guys are seeing somebody behind me, that's Brent Stover. He is not
on Twitter, but I am using his dressing room for this show tonight because, you know,
It's nice that you have reciprocation and a friendship once in a while, and this is the one night of year that Brent's going to come through and let me use his dressing room.
Get a little chuckle out of him there, but I am going to go through the regions.
If you're looking at your bracket right now from left down to right throughout this show, and I'm going to start with the region names.
The East region in the top left portion of your bracket, I have named the region of Blue Bloods because of the brand name programs that you have in this region.
Duke, Ohio State, Rick Petino and St. John's, Kansas with Bill Self, Louisville, Michigan State, UCLA, and Yukon.
And I was going over the dynamics right now about the brands in this region.
Think about this. John Shire, Rick Petino, Bill Self, Tom Izzo, Mick Cronin, Dan Hurley.
Six of the 16 coaches that are in the East region have all advanced to the final four.
and four of those coaches, Rick Petino, Bill Self, Tom Izzo, and Dan Hurley have won a national championship.
Hence, the region of Blue Bloods.
So we will go to the top portion right now of this region, and I am going to give you how I think things are going to shake out.
Duke against Sienna in the round of 64, Duke against Jerry McNamara, taking Sienna to the NCAA tournament for the first time since his arrival, first appearance for the Saints, since.
2010, Duke against McNamara, obviously I got the Blue Devils moving on there. Ohio State
TCU, everybody seems now to be going for TCU, excuse me, going for Ohio State in this game.
I'm a big TCU guy. I believe in TCU in this game. I don't think people have truly, truly
been in the situation where they have watched TCU as much as the college basketball junkie.
Jamie Dixon a couple years ago scared Arizona to depth to death in 2022 and would have went to the sweet 16 if obviously Ben Matherin did not make that three from just, you know, behind the three point line in San Diego in that game in 2022.
I like TCU to beat Ohio State.
Names to watch right now for the basketball fan to be in a situation to monitor TCU.
You have obviously a guy David Punch who's a burgeoning star.
Malik Edmonds is another, excuse me, Xavier Edmonds is another guy to really keep an eye on.
Edmonds is a player that, again, has stepped into an expanded role.
After CCU lost the starting center, Malik's season.
Edmonds and Pne are guys who I think could become household names by next weekend.
Both have gotten better and better and better as the same.
season have gone along. So Xavier
Edmonds and David Punch, obviously two guys
you want to monitor. Also like the steadiness
of their guards with Brock Harding and Jaden
Pierre. St. John's Northern Iowa, I'm taking
St. John's. Kansas, Cal Baptist.
I'm going to take Kansas. So we got
the 5-4 matchup there with the
seeds holding. Then you go to the bottom portion
of your bracket. Louisville, South
Florida. We still do not have
an official word on Mikel Brown status
for the round of 64. I'm taking the Cardinals.
And I'm obviously going to take Michigan State
over North Dakota State. UCLA
UCF. Now, UCLA had a major win the other night in the Big Ten tournament against Michigan State.
Tyler Bilito missed about the final 25 minutes of that game.
Texting with Mick Crone on the last couple of days, he obviously 100% expects Bilito to be ready for Friday in Philadelphia.
He obviously also expects Donovan Dent to be ready to play.
So I've got UCLA beating UCF.
I have Yukon beating Furman.
But here's one thing we've got to keep in mind, and this is just a fact of life.
UCLA has been the one big 10 team that's been able to survive outside the Pacific time zone,
but the Bruins have not been great coming east the last couple of years.
UCLA just flew this morning, which we're taping this on Sunday.
UCLA flew from Chicago to Los Angeles and then is going to have to fly from L.A. to Philadelphia.
This is very similar to what happened last year after the Big Ten tournament.
UCLA flew back to Southern California and then had to fly to Lexington to play Utah State and then play Tennessee.
So UCLA is going to be again on Eastern Standard Time, but if you don't want to obviously deal with that,
then you've got to win more games and you've got a better seed.
Going to the top portion right now of your bracket, I think a lot of people are overlooking the potential of TCU pushing Duke.
I think TCU is a very, very difficult game for Duke in the round of 32.
I'm a huge fan of Jamie Dixon's team.
I will have Duke advancing, but I think that game could be tricky for the Blue Devils.
And I am going to take St. John's to beat Kansas.
Keep in mind right here in terms of Nuggets Go, Bill Self and Rick Petino,
two of the only three coaches right now that are active that have won multiple national championships.
This is the first time, the first time that Bill Self and Rick Petino have coached head-to-head as Power Conference Head.
coaches. They have only played one time, one time together against each other. It was when Kansas
played Iona a couple years ago when Rick Patino was the head coach at Iona in an early season
tournament in Orlando. It's over again, getting everything hung up. We got another big show Monday,
but kudos to Brent Stover. He just said, we sleep in March. You want to jump on?
We do indeed. Sleep in March. All right. Kudos to you for your great job on the bridge show on
CBS. We're all big, we're all big fans over here. He's not on Twitter. So,
St. John's and Kansas, an interesting game. I'm going to go with Rick Petino in this game. Kansas
has been too mercurial. And then the bottom part, I'm taking Michigan State over Louisville.
UCLA and Yukon is an interesting game. UCLA's played great basketball or better basketball the last couple of weeks.
But UCLA's Achilles, he and in the middle, I think Taras Reed is in position to have a field day against UCLA's front line.
the game's also going to be in a pro-U-Conn crowd.
I'm going to take Yukon to win that game,
and then I'm going to take, in this region, the two Big East teams.
I'm going to take St. John's to bust up this region over Duke,
and I'm going to take Yukon to beat Michigan State.
These two teams actually played in a charity exhibition game early in the season.
And that sets up something that, to me,
is something we've talked about for, or I've talked about, for months right now.
Now, when we were doing content and we were making shows last summer, I got into detail about
how the burgeoning rivalry in college basketball was St. Johnson-U-Con.
You had Rick Petino, you had Dan Hurley, you had Dan Hurley, and you at Rick Petino.
If we see phase four in Washington, D.C., it's going to be much bigger than a Big East
Tournament title game.
It's going to be much bigger than a Big East regular season title on the line, which it was,
obviously, you know, the last couple of weeks when they were both going head to head for it,
it would be for a birth in the final four, and it would be in our nation's capital.
That's what I'm picking to happen.
And I'm taking the carpenter, who is 13 and 1 in the last three NCAA tournaments,
to take Yukon to the final four out of the region of Blue Blood.
So you just have right there my East Region breakdown.
I'm going to get to the four Final Four teams when we go through all the brackets.
Now we're in the South region.
Bottom left on your bracket.
And the number one seat is the defending national champion Florida Gators.
And I have named this region the region of pressure.
And for good reason.
This is the region of pressure because there's major pressure on a lot of the programs in this region.
There's pressure on Florida after earning a number one seed in the NCAA tournament for the first time in program history to go back to back because they're good enough to go back to back.
There's pressure on Nebraska who has tied the program record for wins under Fred Hoyberg, my national coach of the year, to win an NCAA tournament game for the first time ever.
And if you go to the bottom part of this bracket right now, there's pressure on North Carolina to win a game or two without Caleb Wilson.
There's pressure on Illinois, who in my opinion has what feels like a nice path to the Sweet 16 to get back to.
to the second weekend of the NCAA tournament.
And there's pressure on Houston, who to me should cruise to the Sweet 16 to put itself
in position to be in position to go to another final four by winning its first two games
and then playing Sweet 16 and Elite 8 games at the Toyota Center in Houston.
So this is the region of pressure.
Let me go through my picks down the line just like we did in the top right.
We go to the top right now.
I'm obviously taking Florida to beat the 16.
like Clemson to beat Iowa. Bennett starts to me is the most important player to his team,
or as any player in college basketball, but he's like Tom Hanks and Castaway. He's on an island
by himself. I'm taking Clemson. Vanderbilt over McNeice. I'm going with Vanderbilt.
The 413 game, I said it. I opened my big fat mouth. I said that if we got to a situation,
where Nebraska would win an NCAA tournament game for the first time in program history,
I would go to Lincoln, put my credit card down for an hour, and I would be in a situation
where I would give Nebraska fans an hour to drink and eat on me.
I would throw a happy hour for Nebraska fans in Lincoln.
That's not happening, because I'm taking Troy to pull the upset.
You're looking for a name right now to monitor on Troy, put in bold print Thomas Dowd,
the Dennis Rodman of the Sunbelt, had 25 and 19 in a win this year against San Diego State.
I am taking Troy to upset Nebraska, and Nebraska, unfortunately, for their sake, will not be in a situation
where it's obviously going to win.
and it will be Clemson,
and then I'm going to take Vanderbilt to beat Troy.
So that means that we have a scenario
where then Florida will play Vanderbilt in the Sweet 16.
That's a rematch of the SEC tournament semifinals,
which Vanderbilt won.
And I've got Florida beating Vanderbilt
and getting to a regional final under Todd Golden.
Bottom party bracket.
I've got North Carolina beating VCU.
I think that'll be a really competitive game.
I've got Illinois beating Penn and T.J.
Power, who had 44 and 14 on Sunday against Yale in the Ivy League tournament title game.
St. Mary's over A&M, give me Randy Bennett, and then give me Houston over Idaho, big.
So I'm going to take Illinois to beat Carolina.
I'm going to take St. Mary's to beat, excuse me, I'm going to take Houston to beat St.
Mary's.
So I've Houston in the Toyota Center.
I've got Houston over Illinois.
and then in the South Regional Final, in a rematch of last year's National Championship,
a game that will give Houston a major home court advantage and geographic advantage.
In a revenge game, almost 365 days later, it's probably 358 days later,
I am going to take Houston to come out of the South region and go to a Final Four for the third time under Kelvin Samson.
So there you have it. Those are my picks for the East region, which is going to be Yukon, the region of Blue Bloods, the South region, the region of pressure. It's going to be Houston. So on the left side, I've got Hugh Con and Houston going to the Final Four. What are my other two picks? We'll check in with those when we return. John Rothstein, here at Inside College Basketball now.
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All right, John Rothstein back here on Inside College Basketball now.
Going to the top right portion of your bracket right now. This is the West Street.
region, which I have named the region of floor generals. That's because there's incredible,
incredible guard play in this region. Arizona with Jaden Bradley, Utah State with Mason Fallslev,
obviously Wisconsin with Nick Boyd and John Blackwell, Darius Acuff at Arkansas, BYU has Rob Wright,
Miami's got Trey Donaldson, and Purdue, of course, has Braden Smith. So we're going to go right now
with the region of floor generals. We're going to look top right. We're going to
to start with Arizona, the number one seed in the West region over LIU. I am going to take Kevin
Willard and Villanova to beat Utah State, Wisconsin over High Point, Arkansas over Hawaii. That is a
real, real fascinating matchup in that 5-4. We'll get to that in a second. Give me BYU over Texas.
Texas plays NC State in the first four. Give me Gonzaga over Kennesaw, and I'm going to take
Miami who is playing this game, okay, in St. Louis against Missouri. I went over the mileage. It is over
a thousand miles for Miami to get to this arena in St. Louis. It is just over 100 miles for the Tigers
to get there. This is going to be a very pro-Missory crowd later in the week in St. Louis,
which is where I am going with Speerodot and Jim Spinnarkle. Can't wait for that. And I'm taking
Purdue to be Queens. So as we look now at the matchups that we
have in the round of 32. I've got Arizona over Villanova. I am going to take also Wisconsin
over Arkansas. I think a little bit too much up front for Wisconsin, especially if we can get
Nolan Winterback, which we're waiting to hear. Then I'm going to take Gonzaga over BYU and
Purdue over Miami. I've got Purdue beating Gonzaga, and I've Arizona beating Wisconsin. So,
the boilers. We're going to advance to Arizona, Purdue. Look, it makes so much sense to be all in
Arizona. They've been a wrecking machine. They're going to be playing in San Jose, which is going to
be a very, very pro-Arizona crowd. But I'm a sentimental person. I'm somebody who loves great
plays, great books, great storylines. And I firmly believe that Purdue, and I don't want to say
Purdue was waiting until the start of the Big Ten tournament to start the season. But this nucleus
knew what was at stake in terms of the situation and when things really obviously were going to be
put into play at the highest level. And what do I mean by that? When I started in this business,
Yukon in 2004 was the number one team. Ben Gordon to Leak Brown, Charlie Villanueva,
Omeca Omecafore. That team really didn't turn it on until the Big East tournament that year and
start playing like a national champion. The defending national champion, Florida Gators,
after Billy Donovan won it in 2006, I know that there were a one-state.
seat in the 2007 NCAA tournament, but they did not, you know, really get into a situation
where they were playing like a team that was going to go back to back until later in the
year. I see the same thing in Purdue. Purdue's freshman, Smith, lawyer, Kaufman-Renn,
went through everything in their college careers. It started as freshmen when they won a Big
10 regular season title, a big 10 tournament title, and then we're at the wrong end of the
worst upset in the history of the NCAA tournament against Fairley Dickinson. The sophomore year was
the Great Redemption Tour, beating Tennessee to go to the Final Four, going all the way to
the final four, and then losing the Yukon in the national championship game. Last year, then they went
to the Sweet 16 and lost a heartbreaker to Purdue. So they're made for all seasons. I'm taking Purdue
out of the region of floor generals,
and I'm taking Braden Smith to get Purdue to the final four
for the second time in three years.
Now we go to the bottom right portion, the Midwest region,
the region of innovation.
Because I look at the coaches in this conference,
and I look at the way they've adapted to the modern era of college basketball.
Dusty May has been as good, a roster composition guy as there is in the sport.
St. Louis and Josh Shirts have obviously had a great
style of play in the Atlantic 10.
Nate Oates in Alabama, obviously, you know, a innovative offense that takes a lot of
threes, very forward-thinking.
And you could say the same thing about Ryan Odom at Virginia being innovative roster
composition, putting together a roster.
We have to remember, then year one, he has Virginia as a three-seat in the NCAA tournament.
So this is the region of innovation.
I'm going to go right now with my picks starting at the top.
Obviously, Michigan advances.
I'm going to take Georgia to beat St.
O'Lewis. So Mike White gets Georgia to the round of 32, another NCAA tournament appearance from
Mike White, who has quietly done a great job after losing Silas Demri Jr. to Yukon and then
losing, obviously, A. Sanul to the NBA. I'm going to take Akron and John Gross to upset Texas.
Texas Tech, obviously, a little bit banged up after losing J.T. Thompson. But Tavari Johnson,
obviously one of the great major players we have in the sport.
Alabama over Hofstra,
and then I'm going to have a Michigan-Alabama game in the Sweet 16,
which should be a fascinating matchup there.
Michigan against Alabama.
So we got Michigan moving on.
Let's go to the bottom part of the bracket right now.
Tennessee, Virginia is a war.
I am going to go...
This is a tough one.
I'm going to roll the...
I'm going to take Rick Barnes.
and Tennessee over the SMU, obviously Miami, Ohio.
I'm going to take Tennessee to go to the Sweet 16,
with Jacoby Gillespie, Neda, Ment, Felix Akpara.
I'm going to take Tennessee to turn the water off for the ACC.
I'm going to take Kentucky over Santa Clara and Iowa State to be Tennessee State.
And then I've got Iowa State, Tennessee, and a bloodbath in the Sweet 16.
That will be first to 60 wins.
I'm going to take the cyclones there to move on.
and I am going to have a Iowa State Michigan regional final in Chicago,
which was the same place Michigan played against Purdue today.
And I'm going to take Michigan to get to the final four.
So you look right now at my final four.
I've got three twos and a one.
We've got obviously storylines all over the place.
You've got Yukon against Houston.
You have Michigan against Purdue,
which is the rematch of the Big Ten tournament title game.
I am taking Yukon to beat Houston to advance to the national title game for the third time in the last four years.
And I am going to take Purdue to win the rubber match against Michigan.
And I then am going to, again, I'm a sentimental person in a rematch of the 2024 national title game,
I am going to take Purdue to finish the job and win a national championship at Lucas Oil Field in Indianapolis.
Matt Painter has said repeatedly that this is the best chance that Purdue has to win a national championship.
I said that anything less than a Final Four will be a major disappointment for Purdue.
You're seeing obviously now what the path would look like for the boilers,
who if they win their first two games, and I'll be with them their first two games,
if they win their first two games, they are definitely going to be in a situation
where they have to get out West and play these games in San Jose.
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Let's get into the chat right now.
See some of your comments.
See what you want to talk about.
Because obviously, oh, this chat is bleeding right now.
My God.
Okay, let's look at some of these questions.
This is Blake Widmer.
He says, John, how does Purdue look to you now?
Well, pretty good, Blake.
I just picked them to win the national championship.
Now you're in a scenario where you've got Purdue as your team to win it all.
That's going to be a big time, big time thing to keep an eye on moving forward.
I think it's a team of destiny with the way.
obviously that they played.
James Stuber says TCU is going to beat Ohio State and Duke.
Well, look, I picked TCU to beat Ohio State,
and I said this on our show on CBS Board.
I don't think people have obviously watched TCU closely enough
to know how good this team is and how solid this team is.
Think back to Jamie Dixon's teams at the University of Pittsburgh.
Solid, don't turn it over, high percentage shots.
I like TCU to beat Ohio State setting up, obviously, a major, major matchup
with Duke, which again is reminiscent of what we saw, okay, four years ago against Arizona and San Diego.
John, what is the double-digit seed you think is most likely to make the second weekend?
Well, I'll say this.
I think it's a golden opportunity for John Gross and Akron, who almost beat UCLA four years ago in 2022.
Santa Clara is going to be a trendy pick here, but I don't see Santa Clara beating both Iowa State
and Kentucky wouldn't shock me if they beat Kentucky, but I don't think they will.
Double-digit seeds right now, I'm going to go with Troy.
I think Troy is a team that people need to look at, just because I think Nebraska has tapered off down the stretch.
I know Vanderbilt is a team, obviously, that is playing great, great basketball,
but Scott Cross's team, I think, you know, if you're looking at double-digit seeds would have the best.
I mean, you could make a case, too, for the NC State, Texas winner.
who then would take a wounded BYU team on in POR them.
But look, I'm going to say this.
The Texas NC State winner, which I believe is going to be Tuesday night in Dayton,
is going to have to play that game.
And I know this from working on the first four of the past couple of years,
is going to have to play that game and then get on a plane,
go cross-country to Portland, deal with the time change,
practice, prepare, and then play.
That is a lot to ask for that team to go do that.
more questions here. A lot of Missouri fans talking about the idea that they can't believe
they got a home game. That to me was a bad, bad deal in terms of the scenario going on.
Let's see other questions here. Somebody's saying Northern Iowa is your 512 runner this year.
Wes Washburn ain't walking through that door, buddy, but keep an eye on Leon Bond.
right now.
A lot of people talking about John Shire in the chat.
I see what else anybody wants to talk about.
Somebody saying Kansas or St. John's will lose early.
I don't see Kansas losing to Cal Baptist.
I don't see St. John's losing in the northern Iowa.
Take some more questions.
Arizona continues to show there, and it's here.
They're only the number one overall seed.
Not the number of overall C, but I will say this.
You know, Tommy Lloyd is one of the coaches in this tournament that is really going to be in the spotlight.
That always happens when you're a one-seed.
It always happens when you're, you know, at Arizona.
You're always going to be hoping to get to a Final Four, haven't been in 25 years.
But things are completely aligned for Arizona to accomplish that.
Arizona's a one-seed.
Arizona's on the West Coast.
Arizona is playing in San Diego, in San Jose, and then,
Then Arizona also is in a situation where it's got veteran point guard play.
It's got great size up front.
I think, you know, Arizona is going to be hard pressed to lose before the Sweet 16.
But Arizona has not gotten past the Sweet 16 under Tommy Lloyd.
Lost to Houston in 2022.
Lost to Princeton in the first round in 2023.
2024, Arizona got upset by Clemson.
Last year got upset by Duke.
Can't seem to get past the Sweet.
I think it will happen this year, but we don't know.
We don't know if we're going to see, obviously, Arizona being a situation where it will get by Purdue,
even though the game's in San Jose, to get to a Final Four.
Let's see what else we got going here right now.
Some people are talking about this Duke St. John's game.
Somebody brought up Troy.
A lot of Nebraska fans getting, obviously, in the chat right now because I picked Troy to beat Nebraska.
Look, I would love to go to Nebraska, and I would love to go to Lincoln.
and give you guys a happy hour, but I'm just giving you the facts right now.
Utah State. Now, this is another interesting thing. People talking about Utah State.
This is the first year since 2017 that the Mountain West Conference has only had one team in the NCAA tournament.
This has been a great, great league for a long, long time. It's going to be a different league next year with the start of the new PAC 12.
But that is something to really, really monitor moving forward.
A lot of people talking about the Purdue-Ary.
Arizona situation and the potential of the Elite 8 game.
Take a couple more here before I put a bow on this show.
Virginia, Tennessee, a lot of people obviously chiming in on the fact that, you know,
the ACC is obviously not going to be well represented in my Sweet 16.
I'll say this.
I really think when you look at this bracket, I don't see a team in the ACC having a clear
path to the second weekend other than Duke.
It would not shock me if the ACC only gets one team in the second weekend.
I think it could get two because obviously Virginia is a really, really good team.
But that Tennessee matchup is looming for Virginia in the round of 32.
You've got Rick Barnes defense.
You've got a veteran point guard in Jacoby Gillespie who went to a Sweet 16 last year at Maryland.
And you also got Nate A. Met who's obviously one of the more talented players in the sport.
want to remind everybody that I'm going to be back with all of this dialogue and all of this topic Monday, 1 o'clock Eastern on CBS Sports Network.
I will also be with you before the start of the first round on Wednesday and before I go to St. Louis.
So this content is only getting started.
Think of this show as your charcutory board for March Madness.
You've had the prosciute, you've had the crackers, you've had the grapes, but tomorrow we give you a little bit more.
don't know if you're getting the main course, but we're going to spice up the appetizers.
Want to remind you guys, as always, to subscribe to Inside College Basketball Now on both Apple
and Spotify. We want to be your Bible for the college basketball season and beyond.
We are the only college basketball podcast coming to you 52 weeks out of the calendar year.
And also want to remind you to like and subscribe to Inside College Basketball now on YouTube
and also hit the hype button to give us the palpable buzz that is needed to make Inside
College Basketball, the elite college basketball podcast in the world. We need an army with us
each and every show here on Inside College Basketball. And are you ready to be all you can be?
68 teams left, 67 games remaining. I will be back with you Monday afternoon 1 o'clock Eastern
on CBS Sports Network. This was Inside College Basketball now with John Rothstein.
