Fantasy Football Today - 🏀✏️NCAA Tournament preview/mega-pod spectacular: Gary Parrish and Matt Norlander pick every March Madness game and reveal their brackets!

Episode Date: March 19, 2025

Sign up for our Bracket Challenge Ladies and Gentlemen. We made it. The all-encompassing NCAA Tournament preview that will take you from Dayton all the way to San Antonio. Gary Parrish and Matt Norlander guide you through all 67 games and gives you an idea of the team that can win it all! 07:00 - South Region Breakdown 14:40 - Stay Or Hit Presented by Chumba Casino 19:00 - West Region Breakdown Eye on College Basketball is available for free on the Audacy app as well as Apple Podcasts, Spotify and wherever else you listen to podcasts.  Follow our team: @EyeonCBBPodcast @GaryParrishCBS @MattNorlander @Kyle_Boone @DavidWCobb @NataTheScribe Visit the betting arena on CBSSports.com for all the latest in sportsbook reviews and sportsbook promos for betting on college basketball. You can listen to us on your smart speakers! Simply say, "Alexa, play the latest episode of the Eye on College Basketball podcast," or "Hey, Google, play the latest episode of the Eye on College Basketball podcast." Email the show for any reason whatsoever: [e-mail] Visit Eye on College Basketball's YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCeFb_xyBgOekQPZYC7Ijilw For more college hoops coverage, visit https://www.cbssports.com/college-basketball/ To hear more from the CBS Sports Podcast Network, visit https://www.cbssports.com/podcasts/ To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

This is one of my favorite shows of the entire year just as much as the selection Sunday show and why because GP and I are doing our annual NCAA tournament Bracket picks extravaganza We will reveal to you every single pick of every single game in each of our NCAA tournament forecasts And they might just go really really wrong or Really really right we want you to play along with us So go to the description of this episode on YouTube below. Or if you're listening, you don't see what I'm doing, go to the description there,

cbssports.com slash ion. That's E-Y-E-O-N. We've got our annual podcast, Bracket Games. Winners get a free year's worth of subscription to Paramount Plus. You'll get some shout outs on the show. And I'm trying to cook up an extra thing or two that I can give to some of our top winners. So register now. Get in there. Deadline is Thursday. We want to see how you do. Best time of the year. Now let's get to the show so you can either love or hate our picks. Let's have it. This episode of I Own College Basketball is presented by Travis Matthew, apparel design for confidence and comfort. No matter where the day takes you. The truth is no one does it alone.

And why would you want to? We all need someone to make us believe hashtag. You got this. Hey there! Guess who? Guess who again? It's me, Gary Parrish! Welcome back to the Iron College Basketball Podcast where we sometimes discuss camel fighting, Dodo birds, Leaky Black.

Matt Norlander is here with me. If you're watching on YouTube, you know what to do to that like button. Shouts to Brandon Davies. If you haven't yet subscribed to the CBS Sports College basketball YouTube channel, I'll be honest. I don't even care. I don't even, don't subscribe. You know what?

Don't subscribe at this point. I don't care. All right. Let's get into it. This is what I'm told is our annual mega preview where we pick every single game in the bracket. Is that right, Norlander? Explain to me what we're supposed to be doing here

before we get started. First of all, this is classic. This is classic Parrish right now. Yes, that is what we're doing. Every year we do it. Now the timing of this pod changes. And yes, this is a double pod Tuesday. I'm almost positive that if you're listening in on audio on your

phone, you got our Tuesday CBS Sports Network show and then a couple hours later, yes, this is two pods the same day. But this one, by the way, hello and to everyone that is listening to this show for the first time, maybe ever do subscribe to the podcast and on YouTube because this is no need to feed across the network across tired the Facebook page. Please find us. No, don't subscribe.

I'm tired of asking, all right? I've been asking three times a week since the beginning of the season, every season for years. And if you're not subscribed. No better time than now. Let's just mix up the script. Let's, how about we get some new language at the start of that show.

And we just don't have this, we don't have the ask anymore. I say we change it up and we make it happen. Yes, we are going to pick. Parrish and I are gonna give you this gorgeous, gorgeous, We don't have the ask anymore. I say we change it up and we make it happen. Yes, we are going to pick. Parrish and I are gonna give you this gorgeous, gorgeous, gorgeous bracket. Clean, this one's clean. I got mine here.

Not too fast, not gonna go away. Mine's done. I also brought my nine-year-old son, so we're not gonna go through it, but he did this last night. He did this. He didn't even tell me he was doing it. He's got some bold, zesty, spicy picks.

I posted it to Twitter. A bunch of mutants and cretins and a-holes are insulting my son's intelligence to no surprise whatsoever. People get a life, okay? A kid is sliced in the bracket and you got to go after him. It's your absolute loser energy. Get over yourself. A lot of people that understood the bit and what I was trying to do there. I appreciate you. I'll reveal a couple of my nine-year-old spicier picks before the end of the show. In fairness, how smart is your son on a scale of one to ten? He's pretty damn smart actually. He's ahead where I was. I'll tell you that. That is a guarantee. Guarantee. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. My my oldest, my oldest definitely ahead of where I was. My little guys, I don't know about them so much. I don't know. But I do love that there's a world out

there of people who can't wait to criticize your son's break. I know it's absolutely ridiculous. Of course, this is on Twitter. I posted the blue sky nothing but good vibes there. On that's on that side. They support this. In all seriousness, on the father-son stuff, does it ever make you proud? You said it did, so I'm gonna take it to your word. But expand on that. The first time you walk in on one, because I have examples of this. The first time you walk in and see one of your children experiencing something on their own that you introduce to them that you care about this and you want it to matter to them. And you can force it on them all the time.

Like I can always tell my kids, hey, come up here and watch this Mets game with me. But I love when I walk in the room and they've got it on. They turned it on themselves. I didn't even have to do it. Or like I walk in the room and, you know, my little guy is listening to an album that I also appreciate. Like he put that on, he decided to put that on Spotify.

I love when I see them enjoying things on their own that I just really yearned for them to enjoy. And I bet your son filling out a bracket by himself is one of those moments. Yeah, it's really cool. So we can get to the picture in a second. But the basic story behind this one is I brought some printouts home from after we did our selection Sunday show at HQ and I just put, I put one on the kitchen table.

So Sunday night going into Monday. And then I just, you might be able to identify this. I haven't been able to hang out with my children all that much lately. So I saw him a little bit yesterday, but then when he must have done it last night, but I didn't see it. And then I woke up this morning and I we never talked about it. Whatever. He just he had just filled it out. He had filled it out in full. And it's really, really cool. The other that's my older one, my younger one. If you want to your point right now, he's wearing the Cassius Winston headband that Michigan State sent me the year they were, you know, campaigning for Cassius Winston to be player of the year. That was the COVID year. And right before I came up to do the podcast, he said, Dad, how many teams play tonight?

38? I was like, it's actually just four, but yeah, what time does the game start? It's about 6.30 or so. We'll get it going there. So it is really cool to that point, like, you know, both some huge Beatles fans. I didn't, you know, that we all are playing music. So yeah, it's awesome. Super rewarding as a dad. I'd actually, if I had the time, I that point, like, you know, both some huge Beatles fans, I didn't, you know, that we already are playing music.

So yeah, it's, it's awesome. Super rewarding as a dad. I'd actually, if I had the time, I'd love what I used to have. I still have what I used to do. I used to take these big poster boards. I loved the tournament so much in high school and middle school. I would, I would draw out the entire bracket ruler had the exact measurements and I've long wanted to do that with them.

But, um, the time, man, it's just early March. I just, I literally would need like three hours uninterrupted to do that and haven't had the chance to do it, but maybe next year. I, I like, you no longer really know my children, but back when I did and I played on, I played on meeting them again soon, but in all seriousness, a few weeks ago, we had this moment, my little guy came to me, similar thing, he had his iPad and he said, Hey dad, did you know that Kendrick played peekaboo at the Super Bowl for XXX tentacion? And I said, hold up,

hold up. And so I don't even know like, and then we talked about it. But I loved that he was that's what he was doing on YouTube is looking at breakdowns of Kendrick Lamar Super Bowl halftime show. Like that's what I've been doing on YouTube. That's what I do when I have free time. And so I- Let's hope that the comparison stopped there

because we don't need to go down that Big Bang challenge road, okay? So I love that he wanted to bring that conversation with me. When your kids start to automatically pick up on the things that you also care about, that's like a, that's a sweet part of a fatherhood. So So I'm glad you got to I'm glad you got to have that moment. Even if your son's bracket probably does stink. I actually think he's going to be just he's going to destroy both of us. We'll we'll keep track of this. I think he's going to be both. I'm not even this isn't tongue in cheek.

He's got some he's got some spiciness here that I couldn't dare. He's at Troy over Kentucky. Like I can't even go down that road, but we'll see. Let's pick some games here. Let's dive into what region and I think what we should do here, GP, is we'll go region by region. So we'll pick every single outcome up to the final four in the South and all around the board as opposed to, okay, here are all the first round games.

I think it's easier for the listener experience to go region by region. You want to go first? Sure. Why not? I just did. Just did this. CBS Sports Network 30 minutes ago. Did you? Yes, I wish we could just take that replay it here and get on with our day.

Here we are. Obviously, I've got Auburn as the one seed. I've got Alabama State winning later tonight. We talked about this earlier on CBS Sports Network. Tony Madlock is the Alabama State head coach, 55 years old. He was in his 50s before he became a Division 1 head coach. He's sort of been locked into that label of lifetime assistant, perhaps, and yet he gets an opportunity. And now he's got Alabama State in the tournament. His son is his third leading score. Just could be happier for Tony A to finally get the shot he deserved and B to be taken advantage of it. Either way, even if they win, they're a million point underdog to Auburn. I'm gonna take Auburn to not become the latest one seed to lose to a 16.

I've got Louisville over Creighton, comparable teams. I think Louisville was under seeded, but will benefit from playing in Rupp Arena. I'll take Louisville over Creighton. Michigan over UC San Diego. I just think that's interesting. Big Ten tournament champ, literally the last team we saw play before the selection show, cut down nets, all that stuff, is in a game with the school that most people don't even know exists. And they're only like two and a half three point favorite little bitty line. But I do think Michigan gets by there. I've got Texas A&M over Yale, then I guess we keep going down. I've got Ole Miss over San Diego State, North Carolina winner.

I've got Iowa State even without Keishon Gilbert getting past Lipskin. Marquette over New Mexico, but I don't love that one. That's just if I'm being honest, my little homie from Memphis, KM Jones. I'm being honest, my little homie from Memphis, Cam Jones, I'm picking with my heart there, but New Mexico has been good all season. Donovan Dent's incredible. Michigan State, I've got advancing

two face Marquette in the second round. I've got Auburn over Louisville, but I hate that Auburn even has to play that game. That's a mistake by the committee. You shouldn't be asking the number one overall seed to play a quality team that's under seeded 70 minutes from its campus. But that's what Auburn has to do. I think the Tigers are good enough to get past it. But they should not be in this game. I've got Michigan past A&M, Ole Miss over Iowa State, Michigan State over Marquette. Then we get to the sweet 16. I've got Auburn over Michigan. I took Ole Miss over Michigan state.

That would be a cut upset. Um, Chris Beard, second year at Texas tech resulted in a deep bracket run, got eliminated only by the eventual national champion Villanova. This could be something similar. I've got Auburn beating Ole Miss in the elite eight to go to the final floor. Um, okay. Uh, so what is your, just for our listeners keeping track at home and not watching on the old YouTube, what is your biggest upset in the South? Biggest upset in the South? Now you're just asking pop questions.

Well, it's your bracket. That felt very chalky. Yeah, I don't think I picked a single first round upset. Okay, so no surprise there. Do you have anything notable in that Sweet 16? Well, I mean, I've got Ole Miss over Michigan State. That's an upset. There you go. Okay, so that would be it.

That's your biggest upset. Yeah, beard over Thomas. It's an old one. Okay, I'll run through mine here. In the south, you've got Auburn obviously moving along. I've got Louisville Creighton reminder. That's the first game on Thursday, CBS 1215. I'm going to go with the Jays. She asked to nada for doing this in real time on the on the video version here filling in for audience is pretty cool. I'm going UC San Diego over Michigan. I'm going to take the Tritons. You forking heard me right. I think that because they've got a really good defense that turns teams over and the Tritons don't turn themselves over.

This is top 40 team. I don't know what this team is going to do with Vlad Golden. I don't know how it handles them, let alone Danny Wolf, but really the way that Golden operates in that offense, that is going to be a problem. But UC San Diego, here we go. I'm going to give this a go. You know there's no chance at hell Parrish was going to try a problem. But they, but UC San Diego, here we go. I'm going to give this a go. You know, there's no chance at hell. Parrish was going to try and say this dude's name on the podcast, but I got it down. They got a guard, six, six senior on a Waniwa,

Tate Jones. He is going to be, Michigan has a good back court. On a Waniwa, Tate Jones will be the best guard on the floor in this game. I think he's going to have. I hope that don't show up in a shot sheet on, on, I don't mean that. The shot sheet. You're in trouble. Oh, buddy. You, you get handed those shots. She's long enough. There ain't nothing you can talk around.

All right. There we go. Ony oney. I want to take Jones. This is a trendy 12 over five. I'm, I'm going to take the Tritons. Not only that, go ahead and move along the Bulldogs in that lower. Yeah, there you go. Yeah, I'm not a

Yale over UC Sandy. Yale over Texas A&M. Texas A&M can't shoot. It's the only top four seed that did not win a conference tournament game in this year's tournament and James Jones has done this twice before. I'm gonna take them again. Give me a, give me Yale. Moving on down. I am okay. So this is, here's the problem with doing this right now. I'm taking San Diego State to be Ole Miss

if San Diego State beats Carolina. If Carolina wins, I will take Ole Miss. But for the purposes here and now, I am having the Aztecs, we almost, I think every year except one, a first four team has made it mentally to the second round. I will have the Aztecs doing that. If it's Carolina, I will take Ole Miss in that situation.

I've got Iowa State over Lipscomb. I know Cyclones fans are shocked to discover that. Give me an awesome battle with Cam Jones and Donovan Dent. I will take the Lobos. I will take Richard Pitino and New Mexico to get that done. And then I've got Michigan State moving along. Scoop on back up here. I will have Auburn over Creighton.

And I took Creighton to beat Louisville in a de facto road game. The Jays were not given any favors, but I've got Auburn moving along and not having to play Louisville in that situation. And then I will go, you fucking heard me right, Tritons over Yale in the first year of this program's eligibility to make the NCAA tournament. I got them into the Sweet 16 and being one of the two or three biggest stories of the entire tournament by the time we get to Sunday night. Bottom half, Iowa

State over San Diego State. They don't have Keyshawn Gilbert. I'm going to take Iowa State to the Sweet 16 regardless of opponent. And then I'll have Michigan State over New Mexico Give me Auburn nada to get into the elite eight and beat UC San Diego I will take Michigan State to get past Iowa State and get to the elite eight and then I will have Auburn making the final four by the way Auburn, North Carolina, Iowa State and Who am I missing here Auburn making the final four, by the way, Auburn, North Carolina, Iowa State, and who am I missing here? Auburn, North Carolina, Iowa State, Michigan State. They were all in, they were all in Maui.

This is the Maui bracket. All those teams were out there. I saw them earlier this year. Give me the Tigers to emerge from the South. What are we thinking on the West? All right. Well, hey, first off, you think this, you think this, you think this outfit pays for itself? No.

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the number one seed in the South Regional in your mind. I'll name two teams. You tell me which is the bigger threat to Auburn in the South region. Yeah. Our starting place is Louisville. Yes. You want to stay on Louisville or hit and get Creighton? See, I am. Okay. All right. I'm going to.

I'll stay. Now I picked Creighton, but if you're asking me if either of those teams play them, I think Louisville is the bigger threat because they're gonna have the home, they're gonna have the home court advantage. Okay well that's not gonna get confusing for anybody. Do you want to, do you want to stay on Louisville? Or do you want to hit and get Ole Miss? I suggest you hit sir. I actually pump fake there, but I would, I think I would take, I think I'd take Mississippi, but it's close.

It's close. Do you know how aggravated people get that you won't say Ole Miss? I do say Ole Miss and Chris Walker in studio last night also said Mississippi. Did he really? He did. Yes. That's it. But I need an Ole Miss. You're trying to put a D on there.

I've never tried to put a D on Ole Miss. I hear a D. Ole Miss. Does that help you? Ole Miss? Yes, Ole Miss. That's what I want you to do. You should call them Ole Miss.

Do you want to stay on Ole Miss? Yes. Do you want to stay on Mississippi? There we go. The University of Mississippi. Do you want to stay with the SIP? Or do you want to hit and get Michigan? I suggest you hit, sir.

I would take Michigan in that situation. I think Michigan is a bigger threat to Auburn than Ole Miss. Do you want to stay? Now that we've got Ole Miss out of the way. Yeah. Do you want to stay on Michigan or do you want to hit and get Iowa State? I'll stay. I'll stay. Iowa State doesn't have Keyshawn Gilbert. I heard about that. Yeah. No Keyshawn Gilbert. That's a problem. Sorry. Okay. Okay. This is an Iowa State team that was up 17 to auburn earlier this season in maui couldn't hold on quichon gilbert

Was available in that game and not only was he available his parents were in the building I know because the night before I had dinner next to him and that I met the gilbert's great people great people But not available. So again I'll stay on mission. All right, all right. We got rivals here. Oh, this is, oh, this has turned out nicely. Someone's pointing out in the chat that I've hit on two teams that I have losing earlier.

Yes, yes. I noticed that myself and I'm not even really paying attention. That's different framing. As somebody who talks with nuance, just trust me when I tell you, it doesn't work. Nope, doesn't matter. You can explain exactly what you're doing and I will actually understand the point you're making because I'm listening to you and I understand what you're doing. Just trust me that everybody else has come a long way then.

So that everybody just going to call you an idiot, all right? I know you start trying to get nuance on a podcast, it does not work. I've tried it so many times, it does not work. You just gotta, you either, you gotta scream one thing really loudly or another thing really loudly. But if you try to get nuance, people get lost.

You ready for this? This is gonna work out nicely. Do you wanna stay on Michigan? Or do you wanna hit stay on Michigan? Or do you want to hit and get Michigan State? I suggest you hit, sir. I would take Michigan State at this point. Three weeks ago, I probably would have given you the Wolverines in this situation, but not just because of the two seed, but everything Michigan State does with the exception of shooting the long ball. I would give them, there's a reason that the

two, they're the biggest threat to Auburn in this region. So the selection committee and Norlander agree the biggest threat to Auburn in the South, it should be Michigan State. Let's go to the West Regional now. That's where Florida is the number one seed. You want me to run you through it? Oh, I've got it all figured out.

I know exactly how this is gonna go. Let me tell you. Okay, I got Florida winning his first round game over Norfolk State, should be no problem there. We will get Florida, Yukon in the round of 32 after Yukon knocks out Oklahoma. I've got Memphis beating Colorado State. I hate the Tyrese Hunter situation, but I don't know if you know, I live in Tennessee, Memphis area, specifically. I'm aware. Not Colorado. I don't gain anything from picking against the Tigers and having to walk around this

place. So I will take Penny Hardaway's five seed to get past Colorado State. I don't expect Tyrese Hunter to be available for that game. We'll see. Maryland. I've got getting past Grand Canyon Drake over Missouri. This would be an upset. Does that surprise you?

I mean, nothing. None of this should surprise you. That's a stupid way to ask it. It surprises me. I don't even know what you asked me. What is it? Well, like it shouldn't surprise you because you could just be like, well, no Drake's, you know, here in the predictive metrics and Missouri's here in the predictive metrics.

So it doesn't surprise me. Missouri has a six and a half point favorite over Drake seemed like a big number to me. I'd agree. That's a little big to me. I would, I would have guessed it at like four and a half or so. Yeah, a little bit. I don't like that. I'm not supposed to play in that game wasn't

available in the SEC tournament. Think he's going to return for the Tigers. Missouri has lost four of five great season for Dennis Gates, obviously, but they have lost four or five. And I wouldn't if I were Missouri, want to lay six and a half to a team that's won 30 games in multiple power conference programs are trying to hire their coach, probably. I've got Drake over Missouri, Texas tech advancing.

I've got Kansas over Arkansas in the John Calipari, Bill self-matchup and in Rick Patino St. John's into the round of 30 Sue. So I've got Florida, Yukon. I'm going to take Florida to get past Yukon. The dream of going back to back to back for the Huskies, I think ends right there. I took Memphis over Maryland. This is before it became increasingly clear that Tyrese Hunter is probably not gonna play. I'm not somebody who changes my bracket. I'm locked into it. I'll take Memphis to get to the Sweet 16 for the first time since 2009. Texas Tech over Drake. St. John's over Kansas, Florida over Memphis in the Sweet 16 to

get to the Elite 8. I've got St. John's over Texas Tech and then I got St. John's in Florida in the Elite 8 and I took the Red Storm, the Big East outright champs, Big East tournament champs. I've got Rick Pitino in San Antonio at the age of 72 with a Final Four team from the Big East. Reinforce that. Why St. John's? Beyond Rick Pitino, that's the biggest factor, obviously. of 72 with a final four team from the Big East. Reinforce that. Why St. John's? Beyond Rick Pitino, that's the biggest factor, obviously. You don't have Michigan State going.

They have to face Auburn. That's a better team. Michigan State's bad from three. St. John's is bad from three. St. John's is the number one defense in the country. Michigan State's one of the best teams. So why not MSU, but why St. John's instead? Because you could make the case that St. John's actually has the tougher one seed to face, given the state of both teams

right now, I think St. John's has the better best player in RJ Lewis might have this better second best player in Kadi Richmond, excellent defensively just wins outright big East champions, big East tournament champions, all-time great coach, barely lost. And when they did, barely. Like just nobody ran them off the court all your life. There is nothing we've seen at any point this season that suggests a game is going to get away from St. John's. Games don't get away from them.

I don't love the lack of three-point shooting. That has been an issue all season long, but it is not an issue that has prevented them from being a 30-win team on selection Sunday. 30 and 4, the 4 losses by a total of 7 points with one of the greatest coaches of all time and the reigning Big East player of the year and Big East tournament most outstanding player. Like number one defense in America. I wish they shot it better from three. I think they can still win a national championship.

Not doing it. All right. Fair enough. Um, by the way, it's tradition for you to give you the tip times and channels here. I let you down in the, in the South. I won't let you down moving forward here in the West Florida Norfolk state. That is a Friday game, 650 TNT. I've got Florida winning. Obviously UConn, Oklahoma is going to follow that in Raleigh it's TNT game approximately 925 I'm

going UConn in this spot hard for me to see a Dan Hurley coach team even the one that's been up and down you know Oklahoma was a bubble team like a minute and a half ago and it seems on the 9 line now another it's it's not a creatures but I surprising to me that a team that, you know, among other things, they win six and 12 conference records and isn't obviously a criterion there, but surprising. I will go with UConn. Jeremiah Fierzo for Oklahoma, if you're not familiar, is an absolute bucket that has fun potential. In Seattle, it will be two Eastern, Memphis and Colorado State getting it going. That game being on Friday on TBS.

I'm going to go Rams because of no Hunter. Nick Clifford has been on one. I think he's averaging. I did the numbers in studio over the weekend. I want to say he's at like almost 26 points, eight boards, five assists over his past like six game. He's just been, he's been incredible. Maybe even like the past eight or nine games.

That's I'm taking both 12 over fives here. One, I think it's going to happen. But two, one of these two trendy ones has got to hit, right? So I will go with Nico Medved to continue. That'll be 11 straight wins if CSU gets it done in Seattle. And then also in Seattle after that game on TBS around 435, that's going to be Maryland against Grand Canyon. Maryland is in the West.

So Maryland has to fly to Seattle. If it gets to the Sweet 16, it has to come back East and then fly again out to San Francisco. And this was a four seat. It's just not great, but this is what's going to happen when you have a West where most seasons you're not going to have four teams, Mountain West time zone and further to the left that qualify. So usually there's going to be at least one, if not two teams that unfortunately get shoehorned in there.

And the travel is the travel, but I'm surprised. That's why I'm surprised they shipped the Terps all the way out to Seattle. Well, let me ask you a question real quick. That's a Friday game, correct? That is a Friday game, yes. So then they play against Sunday. I mean, at that point, you don't even, you don't come back. You stay out game, correct? That is a Friday game. Yes. So then they play against Sunday. I mean, at that point you don't even, you don't come back.

You stay out there, right? Yeah, you're probably right because I'm looking at this and this San Francisco have Thursday, Saturday. Yeah, they're not coming back home. I'm looking, hold on 27. Yeah, yeah, that is correct. Yes. San Francisco is Thursday side. They will not come back home. They're going to stay out. If they went, that's actually the way that's and I don't know if Willard's wired

like this. Some coaches get super superstitious on stuff like that and they don't want to, you know, they don't want to attempt that stuff. But you won't, but you kind of need to, you need to pack to prepare for if you make the sweet 16, even if you think you're jinxing in the process. I will have the Terps over Grand Canyon. Not a lot of buzz for Grand Canyon in the 13 over four there. Understandably so. Maryland's just, that's, Crowd5's awesome. In Wichita, these games are on Thursday. 7.35 True TV, Mizzou and Drake.

Man, they put Mizzou Drake on True TV. Drake is super duper duper trendy. And I also have the Bulldogs winning with Ben McCollum. This is one of those situations where I've just accepted my fate here. I've taken Drake. My son, by the way, has Drake in the final four. He has taken Drake to the final four. That sounds a little too OV-ho for me. Yeah, that's... Don't ask me why.

I haven't even talked... Honestly, I haven't even talked to him about it, but I said he's got some bold and zesty ones He might be OV ho you might be raising a little bit Oh, you see one see Duke one seat Auburn and 11 see Drake kind of be raising over one Could be right. You could be raising a Drake fan. You could be right. You could be the leader You could be the leader of an OV ho household. Do you want to be the leader of a OV ho household? You're not I will not and it is not happening. I will have. Do you want to be the leader of a OV ho household? I do not, I will not, and it is not happening. I will have Drake winning this game though,

ready to be wrong. Oh, and another thing with my bracket, I'm not going to change a pick. This is going to be a first for me. It's not easy for me, but I made these on Sunday night and I'm just going to accept it for the first time ever. I'm going to not change a pick. I'm just accepting it.

It is what it is. So what I'm reading to you here, you saw me say on TV, if you're watching on CBS Sports HQ. Next game in Wichita, 10-10 tip on Thursday, approximately Texas Tech versus UNCW. I will have Grant McCaslin's team moving along. If you listened or when you listened to the show from earlier today, I noted that McCaslin and Ben McCollum at Drake, they're actually super duper duper close friends. McCollum's never even coached in the tournament and now he might have to face his best friend in the second round. That's a wild plot twist. They got to win the game. So Providence, where I will be on Thursday, seven 10 CBS, Kansas versus Arkansas, self versus

Calipari. I will have Kansas winning this game. Um, I, man, oh man, just, it's such a good, it's such a good matchup because anything feels possible in this one. It really does. Anything on the table feels possible. And then the nightcap in Providence at the dunk will be St. John's Omaha on CBS round 945. I will have St. John's moving along. All right, let's keep it going here with the West.

I will have Florida over Yukon getting that done. Did these two teams, by the way, I was thinking of we were talking earlier, let me look to check this real quick. Did these two teams not meet in the 2014 Final Four? They did. It was the National Semis. I thought that was the case. So these teams met all of 11 years ago. UConn won that game, 63-53. This game will be much more high scoring than that one. I will have Maryland over Colorado State in the top half of the West. And then in the bottom, Drake versus Texas Tech. I've got Ben McCollum getting the best of Grant McCaslin.

I'm gonna take the Bulldogs to continue their winning ways and be a 32 and three team and be right there with UC San Diego. It's one of the best stories of the tournament through the first weekend. And then I will have Rick Pitino getting past Bill Self and moving along as I do this in real time. If anyone in the chat knows, feel free, feel free dropping in on this.

Has Pitino ever coached against Self? Am I missing something obvious here? Have they done it like seven times and I can't remember it? If someone in the chat can look that up, I'd be curious if Pitino and Self have actually coached against each other ever. It would just seem almost impossible for them not to have at some point, but nothing pops into my head. I know. I'm sure it's happened, but I don't remember it when it would have happened. I'm just curious if these two have ever met. We know Patino and

Calipari met 2012 Final Four. That's a Cal win. They met 96 Final Four. That's a Patino win. win. They met 96 final four. That's a patina win. They met in the sweet 16. And that was a cow win. I don't know, three or four times in the tournament. I know that self and patina period. I just, I just found something here. What do you got a Reddit thread that says today will be the first ever matchup between bill Self and Rick Patino. Boom. Okay. So it looks when it's right at the thread, it would have been Kansas. I own a game. Kansas Iona. Okay. There we go. November, November, 2021, would have been the first time Rick and Bill ever coached against each other.

Okay. So there we go. Good stuff. Real-time research. I love it on the pod. Florida versus Maryland in San Francisco. I'm going to have a one seed going down before the for the Elite Eight and this is going to be the one. This is a reminder, by the way, every year I'm in the process of doing this. I hope to finish it tonight. We always, I published this huge story of nuggets, stats, facts, trends, a whole bunch of stuff. And within that, you're going to see stuff about the win rates and loss rates of one seeds and two seeds and making the sweet 16 and the elite eight and the bracket. Dig into that. I know it's hard to do when you fill out your bracket. It is extremely unlikely that all the ones and twos are going to make the sweet 16. I think it's only happened like

two times in the past 20 plus years and a once and getting all the ones to the elite eight rarely happens. So I will have Maryland on the strength of its crab five pulling off the upset there. I'm not overly confident in it. I'm just trying to pick one. And, uh, and that was the one that frankly, I just, I thought had maybe the best chance there. Todd golden waiting to win his first game as a, as a head coach in the NCAA tournament. He's always going to get that done. How many will he get? Um, I will have St. John's over Drake. And then so that is Maryland St. John's all red, Elite Eight situation there. GP and I are in agreement. I guess we are two for two in agreement on final fours right now because you've got Auburn, I've got Auburn, you've got St. John's. I

do have Rick Pitino and St. John's moving along. I asked for GP for his reason. I'm going to give you mine as well. Part of it's the losing and the lack thereof, only seven points total with four losses. It is the defense. This team is relentless. It is also the fact that St. John's multiple times this season has faced significant deficits against good opponents in the second half and found ways to overwhelm teams, wear them down and just pull down the rope. You're coming back down to us. You're getting right there in the mud. They've done this time and time again. The tournament can be a different beast. This is Patino. He knows how to coach in this tournament. Team will be well conditioned. Zuby Ejiofor has been awesome.

I like the Johnnys to go from Providence to San Francisco to San Antonio. So we both have Auburn and St. John's in the final four coming out of the left side of the bracket. Is that right? Yes. We're back to our old ways. I just said that 47 seconds ago.

I know. I was repeating for emphasis. OK. Because you said you listened to know I was repeating for emphasis. Okay, okay. Because you said you listened to what I say on the show. I was, you must not know how to repeat for emphasis. That's also OVHO behavior on your behalf. Oh is it, okay.

Yes, a lot of, I'm learning a lot. I'm learning a lot throughout this mega preview. You want to do another Say Your Hit? Let's go. I'm all out of say or history today. Okay. Buddy, it took everything I had to come up with that on the fly.

East regional, that's where Duke is the number one. See, we'll get to that next. But first, not I don't mean to catch off guard. I don't mean to pump fake you. Let's get rich. Let's get rich. Really? You promise?

I think you could have got a sushi bite during that one. I could have. I don't have that. I don't need it. I could have. I could have done a whole piece of sushi. People were worried. They're like, was that sushi just sitting out for hours?

It wasn't. I put it. We have refrigerators at the offices in Stanford and I was good to go. But yeah, good point on you. Just some news that has come across as we've been talking because we just talked about the West Regional and Memphis and the Tyrese Hunter News. the the the the the

the the the the thinking. Yeah, doesn't sound good. Tiger is probably going to be without him. Let's go to the East Regional. That's where Duke is the number one seed. Needless to say, I've got Duke advancing out of the round of 64, regardless of who the Blue Devils play. They're waiting on a winner of a first four game. over Akron. This is where my upsets start to start to pick up VCU over BYU in the round of 64. This VCU team, yeah, comes from the A10. I get it. Not a great seed based on resume stuff. But top 30 at Ken Palm, Max Shulga was gone to Villanova, got in the transfer portal, committed to Villanova, NIL. I talked to Ryan Odom because I saw VCU at the Veterans Classic back in November and I was just sort of picking his brain about Shulga and like he was very upfront about it.

How did we get Max Shulga back? It's not because he missed the Segal Center. It's not because he loved being agal Center. It's not because he loved being a Ram. I mean, all that stuff is true, I'm sure. But what did they actually have to do to get him back? Money. They had to go secure NIL funds and get it done. And he was very appreciative of his support system, boosters, administration, all of that, that they put him in a position. Like if you want to keep this thing as one of the the best programs in the country operating out of the power conference structure, we've got to spend money. It's going to, it comes with a cost. And they worry, but that's how they

got Max Sugar back to school. My point is he would have started at Villanova this year in the Big East had he left. And Joe Bacasa is a power conference player too. So VCU is a is a conference champion and conference tournament champion from a league that isn't under the power conference label, but they've got they're a little bit like Memphis in the sense they got power conference players playing in a non-power conference league. I like the VCU team. I've got them getting past BYU. Wisconsin over Montana. I've got Saint Mary's over Vanderbilt and Alabama over Robert Morris, whether or not Grant Nelson plays or not. Back up to the top, Duke over Mississippi State, Arizona over Oregon in a matchup of former

PAC 12 schools. I've got VCU over Wisconsin. I'm going to continue to ride the Rams. Alabama over Saint Mary's. I've got Duke A-10 Champions in the Elite Eight, and then I've got the 1C Duke Blue Devils, picking up Cooper Flags somewhere along the way, advancing to the Final Four for the first time under John Shire. I'm going to go ahead and start the show with the first question. I'm going to start with the question. I'm going to start with the question. I'm going to start with the question. I'm going to start with the question. I'm going to start with the question.

I'm going to start with the question.ancing to the final four for the first time under John Shire. I Know you take Duke not surprised by that Do you buy the notion That Duke has by far the easiest path of all the ones I feel like That's somewhat true but it kind of discounts Arizona's potential. And I like people that pick the bracket every year that you say Arizona in the tournament, they're like, yeah, the team that never makes the final four.

I understand like the Arizona reputation in March. I get that. But I think it kind of shrugs them off a little bit. People just writing Duke in the sweet 16 and I will, I will as well. I didn't know no resistance at all till the elite eight minimally. Um, you know, BYU, Bama, Wisconsin can score. I don't know. You think it's, I don't know.

I don't know. You think it's easy for Duke? I think it can be easy. I don't know that it will. I mean, I could see them getting into a, it's almost become a joke. Like when I say stuff like this, it's like, when you try to say obvious things seriously to make them sound smart, I was about to do it, but I do think this is important, even if it's obvious, like it's just a 40 minute game.

Like what would be so shocking if you looked up and Chris Jans had Duke in a fist fight 28 minutes in like you know not carrying a crazy thing about who wins the game that's why I love this tournament I root for stuff like that I want to see a one seed with seven and a half minutes to go down by two and like hell yeah dial the hell in let's see what happens here that's what I live for in the tournament so because no one's talking about that scenario it might not well happen how about this this? Yes or no? Yes or no?

Duke finishes Duke. If Duke makes it, how do I want to frame this? Yes or no? Duke wins all four games in its region by double digits. Yes or no? I will say no. I would say no. I would say no.

I would say no just because that's unusual. But by the way, we're talking about Mississippi State Duke, like Baylor could be Mississippi State and then we're just it's all right. I'm just there's nothing shocking. Keep in mind Mississippi State has been playing teams like Duke all season. It's been a minute. It's been a minute since Duke's played a team like Mississippi State. You know, um, or at least they haven't played too many teams like Mississippi State. Tough been through the wars got a

little guard and Josh Hubbard who could pop off like if I just told you Norlander, it's Sunday. Cooper flags back. There's nine minutes left in the game between Mississippi State and Duke. It's a one possession game and Josh Hubbard's got 27. Hell yeah. Give it to me.

Take it. Like none of that is crazy. Right? So I, I'll say this. I don't know if Duke has the easiest path of the one seeds because I don't know what the path is going to be, but I always think it's helpful to just flip the question around and ask it from a different angle. If you were a one seed and you could pick your like you got you could just take your one and place you in any of these regions and you can if you're Duke you can be Auburn. If you're Auburn

you can be Florida. If you're Florida you can be Houston. If you're Houston you can be Auburn. It's up to you. I think Duke would stay where it's at and I think every one of these schools would be willing to trade with Duke. Geography, not including geography, obviously. It's not including geography, sure. But like the possible pass, all of the stuff you include in that, I think Duke theoretically should, that's the most manageable to me. I got into a conversation with somebody the other day about this. When you're debating, let's just say Hubert Davis as North Carolina's coach. Cause one of the things I've said a few times is, is he one of the top 10 coaches in America? Cause if you don't think he is, you probably don't have the right coach.

Cause at North Carolina, you should have one of the best coaches in America. You're one of the best jobs in America. So somebody sort of flipped that around and put it to me like this. They said, okay, GP, let's, you answer these questions honestly. I said, all right, what's up?

Indiana jobs open right now. That's right. If North Carolina said you can have Hubert Davis, you want him, just take him. Would they hire him? Let's do this exercise with you. Okay. What do you think?

What do you think? No. Forget the- The answer is no. Virginia. No. Villanova. No.

Okay, so like now we're talking, now we're getting some answers here maybe, right? I think take that same type of approach with the question you're presenting. And I think you, it's easier to get the answer. Would, would Duke trade spots with any other one seat? Geography, geography not included in the conversation. I think Duke would say, no buddy, I'm good. I'll sit right here. I'll try to, we got 16 teams in this region. I feel like this is the one we can come out of easiest. I think Houston's got a case.

And if you were flipping on Duke, Duke would have potentially Clemson, which it's beaten Illinois, which it beat by 43. Um, I think you can make a case for the Midwest. The only thing is, do you get inside or not? But I hear the point the whole way. That's that's a some intriguing thought there. All right, I'll go East region. Not a fire up that bracket for our YouTube audience here.

Here are your games. Duke versus the winner and winner of American versus Mount St. Mary's, that is a CBS game 250 on Friday. Shouts to Chip Patterson, who will be making an appearance or two on the pod in the coming weeks as he does every year in March. We love Chip's energy. We love his knowledge.

We love his passion for college hoops. He will be on site in Raleigh to cover that pod for us for CBSsports.com. I obviously have Duke moving along. Prior to the Duke game, the first tip of Friday from Raleigh will be Mississippi State and Baylor on CBS at 12-15. I have gone Mississippi State here. I actually, I pulled the Costanz on this one.

I wanted, and I didn't do this with most of my picks, I actually wanted to take Baylor, but often the team I want to take in the eight-nine, the other one wins. So I went opposite. I'm sure a lot of people listening can identify with that. Moving down, we had to Oregon, Liberty, and Arizona versus Akron. These games are, let me just check real quick, my printer thing, my printer thing cut off here. These games are on Friday, and these games are,

these are in Seattle, that's what I thought. Okay, so these are also Seattle games. These are the late ones. So Oregon, Liberty might be the last tip of the day around 10, 10 Eastern. I'm gonna take Oregon. Liberty is, I did a thing on them earlier. Liberty might have the shortest,

tell you real quick here. I wanna inform our audience on this. Liberty has, they're the worst at something in the field. They are the worst free throw shooting team in the field. 65.4% the Liberty Flames, 28.6, excuse me, 28 and 6 overall, ranked top 70 in the metrics. Done a nice job, but I'm going to take the Ducks in this one. Jackson Shellstad leading the way, Nate Biddle as well. Give me the Ducks to win that one. Arizona versus Akron, 735 tip on True TV coming out of Seattle.

I will go Arizona here. John Gross has done, John Gross has been the coach of teams that have won in the first round of the NCAA tournament before. This is now his fourth NCAA tournament level team he has had at Akron. Really, really good coach. Akron gets up and down the floor.

This game has really, if Akron can, and it's a good shooting team, if they can hit their shots, this, this game actually has fair potential to be all right. It's 79 77 with three and a half to go kind of deal. Like they, we could have both teams hit the eighties. I will go Arizona. Ken Palm actually projected a 90 to 76 win for Arizona. I can't go I can't go that far. But but yeah, there's some there's some good potential here. Next to we scoot on down in the east. We've got BYU VCU

and Wisconsin versus Montana. These games are coming to you from Denver. BYU VCU is a 405 tip on Thursday on TNT. People in the chat have been talking Cougs here in the past couple of minutes. They're a good three-point shooting team when they shot, this is typically true of a lot of teams, but in particular with VCU, I mean, excuse me, with BYU, they really seem to hit another gear or two when the threes are falling. They do rank top 10 in two-point percentage. Yegor Demin probably going to be a top 20 NBA pick, I think. He's been, he's cooled off from what he was in the first month of the season. But Richie Saunders is really, really good. I like Kiba Kata down low for BYU. I'm in on them, generally speaking. VCU at 28 and 6. This is a very good defensive team. Ryan Odom's done a wonderful job. He's the primary candidate at Virginia at this stage. We'll see how we're and how that goes. But getting Shoga back. Yeah, I've seen a lot of split ones on this, but I'm going BYU.

Wisconsin, Montana. I'm going Wisconsin without too much hesitation here. Not convinced Wisconsin should have gone on the three line. I also don't want, I haven't been able to break this down. Why is Wisconsin as a three, not in Milwaukee? It's not their building. Why are they going to Denver? I don't understand why we're doing that. Regardless, I got Bucky. They lost, you didn't hear? No. I think the official explanation from the committee was they lost Tucker DeVries in December. Ah, I didn't take that into consideration. Now it all makes sense.

Tuckered a reason jury affecting more people, more teams and people realize. That's right. Checking out to how long is the drive from Missoula to Denver? Alright, trivia time. Okay. Missoula, University of Montana Missoula, right? Yeah, it should be. If not, they should move it there.

Yeah, it's a Missoula. Just making sure. Alright, trivia time. Okay. Within, how about within two hours? Okay. How long is the drive chat? Don't give it away. How long is the drive from Missoula to Denver? Oh, that's 11 hours. I'm gonna give it to you. If you leave Missoula right now,

according to Google Maps doesn't look like traffic's too big, too big of an issue, except why you, you get around the Boulder area, it looks like there might be some construction. 13 hours, six minutes. You said 11? I said 11. I think I said 11 hours. Two hours.

I said, can you get it within two? I know. I said 11 hours, and then you cut me off. I was going to say 11 hours and seven minutes. That's not true. That's what I was going to say. You're taking 25. You're taking well you're going 90 obviously. You're going 90 East. Everyone knows that. Yeah. And you're going

down 25. I've actually, we do not do this. I drive, but I've, I've, I'll at some point in my life, especially with, I like, I just want to go driving in this part of the country. I just want to drive through Colorado, Wyoming, South Dakota, Montana, Idaho. I just want to drive it. You know, just do a little bit about West. Yeah. You would take, you want to drive it, you know, just do a little bit to the west. Yeah, you would take 93 East unless you know a shortcut. You never still meet somebody, because all my life, people, you'd be telling them, you're going somewhere like,

yeah, we're driving down to Florida, going down to the beach for a little while. And everybody would always have a shortcut. They would take pride in telling you about their shortcut. And every once in a while, I'll still meet somebody in the year 2025 and I'll be like, yeah, I guess we're gonna leave the house around so-and-so

and we'll get there around so-and-so and we'll just meet you guys there. And they'll say, well, you know, I know a shortcut. And I'm like, how do you think you're smarter than my car? Well, I'm not smarter than this. Yeah, like, you know what? You're not smarter than my iPhone, all right? I love people who still think they know things

that our phones don't know. Like they know there's- Mockin' ways these days. They know a way to get somewhere that my car doesn't know makes me laugh. Well, there's no shortcut from Missoula to Denver, I'll tell you that much. That's tough, that's a tough thing to learn.

You're driving around the big old Rockies. Okay. That's what you got to be doing there. Anyway, I've got Wisconsin over Minnesota in a three 14. Actually, as on that topic here, GP, which three 14 do you think has the best chance of being the closest game? And we still got to get to Kentucky, Troy,

which my kiddo has Troy winning. So Kentucky, Troy, Wisconsin, Montana, Iowa state, Lipscomb, Texas tech, UNCW. There's usually one three 14. That's got a little bit of tension to it. Which one do you think is the most likely to be the closest game? Iowa state Lipscomb. No Keishon Gilbert's going to do it. Yeah.

Just missing a player. They could, they can, yeah, I could just, yeah, I could see that game being closer than it you think it would be. I would say, I just wonder what that does mentally to a team when you've lost somebody who's very important to you. Like, does it feel, I don't know, I guess in a single elimination tournament, you can just be like, Hey, we got to go out and win one game for it. It feels like in a seven game series, it'd be such much more deflating. Cause it, you know, you obviously got to get more accomplished in a seven game

series than a single elimination tournament. I just wonder what that does to Iowa state. And they've been kind of, I don't know, like just, I wonder if what that does mentally to them, do they feel like, I don't know, we'll see. I won't be surprised that games close. I would only say, and I know it's a conference game, and it was weird, but like Wisconsin lost at home to Penn State, no one's talking about Montana

beating Wisconsin. That's not, they're not even talking about it in Missoula, not happening. Maybe Jeff Ament, the former Ion College basketball podcast guest, this thing. I bet he's talking about it. Big Montana fan, he'll be dialed in, by the way. All right. Final two in the East region. First round. We've got St. Mary's Vandy and we've got Bama Robert Morris. I don't think I've mentioned this on the show

yet. I've completely forgotten. Do you realize that Alabama, they're probably going to win, but they got to play a 15 seat. Robert Morris is like less than two hours away from this from Cleveland. Like, I'm not saying they're taking it over like Louisville fans, but this is a byproduct of having your best SEC teams. They all got to come from different regions and at a certain point they got to keep true to the seed. So Bama's flying up there and they're going to be... I'm less offended by that because it's a 15 and a two and it's, I say this respectfully,

but it's Robert Morris, not the University of Louisville that can fill up its own 20,000 seat arena 70 minutes away. I was way more bothered by the possibility of Auburn having to play Louisville in Lexington than Alabama having to play Robert Morris. I want to say there has, there was one. I'm not going to be able to pull it here, but I want to say that this did happen in the past. Maybe it was pre COVID.

There was either like a 15, I think it was a 15 or 14 that got like unusually close for its first round game. I can't remember if you remember dropping in the chat or dropping the YouTube comments. Well, one of the more famous, there's some famous examples of this deeper in the bracket Duke having to play South Carolina in South Carolina. Zion year? No, 2017 South Carolina went to the final four. Right. Right. That's right. There's that one. There's Memphis as a one seed having to play UCLA in California in a regional final. I was there for that one. So sometimes this stuff does happen. And I

don't want to say every time I think it's wrong because some of it's just unavoidable. That's what a committee member would tell you. You just can't plan that deep into the bracket. But I would like if I were adding bracket principles, we're never going to set up a situation where a one seat is playing a possible road game, de facto road game in the round of 32. And we're never gonna set it up where if the bracket plays two seed, when we get to the Elite Eight, the one seed will have to play a theoretical road game against the two seed. We would just avoid those things. So I'm not gonna have in that year 2006,

Memphis going to California to play an Elite Eight game against UCLA when Memphis is the one seed. I would avoid, I'm not going to have in that year 2006, Memphis going to California to play an elite eight game against UCLA when Memphis is the one seed. I would avoid just, I'm not trying to avoid everything because you can't, but there are some obvious things where just if you ever think about that and you still run into logistical challenges because for the most part they want to stay true to the seed more than the geography and so sometimes in random years you can't avoid it. I get, I would, you can change the principles and avoid it. You know what I would say?

I would rather abandon geography than have a one seed playing a road game in the Elite 8. That might force you to change a team off its seed line though. You'd be getting- I- Cause you don't know, what guarantee do they get there? I know, but I'm looking for things to avoid. I want to avoid a situation where we could like the most likely

elite eight matchup in any region. Theoretically, I understand betting markets and all that. But you'll get the point to be one versus two. I'm going to always try to avoid I'm going to always avoid a one having a two near the twos campus or in the two state. I just we're just not going to that. I know when we get there, the coach of the one seed is going to make a big deal out of it. He's going to screen this unfair. We shouldn't be playing this game here. So let's just skip that part. I would, I would violate, I would change other principles to make sure we could adhere to that one, if that

makes sense. But I agree with what you're saying. Let's just pick the damn game. I just think you're going to still run into this. I think there are too many teams, too many sites. It just, it pops its head up unexpectedly here and there. But I don't disagree with the overall premise. Well, I mean, I think, again, I don't want to belabor the point, but I think I can go back to that 2006 bracket right now and just make a couple of two seed changes

and we don't have the same problem. Yeah, fair enough. I will have St. Mary's over Vanderbilt. This is going to be wrong, folks. I have not hesitated. I saw it fair enough. I will have St. Mary's over Vanderbilt. This is gonna be wrong, folks. I have not hesitated. I saw it on the bracket. I said St. Mary's immediately, which means I'm gonna be wrong here.

And then I'll have Bama over Robert Morris, Alabama update we talked about earlier on the show, Grant Nelson, probably not gonna play in this game, but hopefully available for the second and definitely available for the second weekend. I then have Duke beating Mississippi State. I have Arizona over Oregon. Love that Pac-12 flavor right there,

but I'll go with Zona. Not a lot of people right in Oregon, I don't feel like into the Sweet 16. It would not surprise me at all. Oregon's beaten a lot of good teams this year. I will have BYU over Bucky. I'll have Kevin Young. Although I got a number of coaches

that don't have NCAA tournament wins moving on to the second weekend. This is probably not gonna work out for your guy. I'll have Alabama over St. Mary's with some hesitation, which doesn't make sense when you see my bracket, but like St. Mary's good enough to make the second weekend people. Duke, Arizona, third time in two seasons. I will have Duke beating Arizona again.

They won out in Tucson earlier this season. And then I've got Alabama playing BYU in the Sweet 16. BYU won the battle for AJ DeBansa. This is a recruiting battle game. I've got Alabama winning the head to head here. Give me the tide moving along. I've picked Alabama with the idea that Grant Nelson is going to be pretty capable of being a go and Mark Sears doing well for himself. And then I will have, not Duke, I have

Alabama moving along to the Final Four for a second consecutive season. That's a value play as much as anything else. Duke is going to be such an overwhelming pick in your bracket pool to make the final four. And understandably so. They might cruise there. Alabama is the highest scoring team in the country, plays at a super fast pace. If it catches fire, it absolutely can beat Duke. If it is playing right, that's not a long shot whatsoever.

So I think there's actually some good value with Alabama there. And if you're seeing elsewhere with say, Arizona, maybe Wisconsin, I don't know. It's certainly conceivable, do get knocked out before the final four. And I'm taking a chance there. So right now I've got a one and two twos before we get to the final region. All right, we got the Midwest Regional coming up. We're gonna bounce through that pretty quickly. First, let's get one

more word from our partners. All right, now we're down to the Midwest Regional. That's where Houston is the number one seat. I'll run through mine real quick and then uh, we'll get on with this thing because we are working on a clock here. Houston, I've got obviously, um, advancing out of the round of 64. I love the, um, Brian Barone story at SI, uh, UE, but I think it ends in a first round loss to Calvin Samson Gonzaga over Georgia to keep that streak of sweet 16 parents is alive at least for a couple more days. I've got Clemson getting past will wait and

make me state Purdue over High Point. I'm still partially bold to maker. I think that goes without saying Illinois over the winner of Texas Xavier. I've got Kentucky past, Troy, Utah State over UCLA. That would be an upset and Tennessee getting past Wofford going back up. I do have Houston eliminating Gonzaga. That's another one where as long as we're adjusting bracket principles, I do not think you should ever put North Carolina in the field strictly because of its and I know they won't say strictly because I don't think you should point to their predictive metrics and put them in based on those, but I do think when it comes to seating, there's some leeway to maybe let you emphasize that a little more, if only to be more fair to the one seed. My point is this.

I don't love that Houston's got to play a top 10 Kenpom team in the round of 32, perhaps. I think that's unfair to Houston. You suggested something the other day that I think I could subscribe to. We're not going to use predictive metrics to put people in the field, but if we have a team that based on results lands in the eight, nine game, or like that's where we think they belong, but they have top 10 predictors, we

might just move them into the seven, 10 game, just to make sure no one seed ever stands up and says, why do we have to play a top 10 Kimpom team in the round of 32, what do we do to deserve this? Yeah, you would instead be giving it to a two seat and maybe that would be slightly less unfair but still unfair. But at least then you can tell the two seed, well, you should have been a one seed, you wouldn't have to deal with this. But you shouldn't be telling one seed you don't have to play, you gotta play 10 seat, you gotta play top 10 Kimpom teams in the round of 32.

Either way, that's probably what Houston's gotta do. I think Houston wins it, Gonzaga streak of sweet sixteen appearances ends at nine. I've got Clemson over Purdue. Purdue's just been shaky lately. I just lots of turnovers two point defensive field goal percentage. I mean they just get eat up inside the paint almost every game. I've got Clemson past Purdue, Illinois past Kentucky. The injury stuff at some point just becomes an issue for Mark Pope. I've got Tennessee over Utah State, Houston over Clemson, Tennessee over Houston.

And then I've got Houston over Tennessee in the Elite Eight, making my final four, three one seeds in a two seed, Auburn, St. John's, Duke, and Houston. I got someone in the chat saying my picks are too chalky. Dude, I've got UC San Diego, Drake into the Sweet 16. Parrish is going with that. This is the chalk master over here. That's the chalk master. That's what you are.

You're the chalk master. All right, let's go here to my picks. And then we'll scoot here in just a minute because we are on a little bit of a time crunch here. Houston SIUE, Gonzaga, and Georgia. Those games are in Wichita, Kansas. These are Thursday games. Houston, Sue Evers is a 2 PM on TBS,

and Gonzaga will follow that against Georgia, 435. I think Georgia has a better chance in this game than people realize. That's a big team. Asa Newell, the best NBA prospect on the floor. Gonzaga has got Ryan Nemahardt who leads the country in assist, Graham E.K. down low. I obviously have Houston moving along.

I'm going with Gonzaga here, but I do think that Mike White's team with Georgia is going to put up a fight. I think this is going to be of, of all the eight nines, I actually think this is going to be the closest game. Cue me. I was wrong because it's inevitable. Next two are where I will be on Thursday in Providence, Clemson versus McNeese and Purdue versus High Point. Now, I'm actually going to go to this in chronological order. So Purdue High Point is the first game from the dunk

on Thursday, 1240 on TruTV. I will go Purdue in this spot, but I do think that High Point has a chance to make this a close game. It is good scoring in the interior. We've talked about Purdue's problems there. Ultimately, I'm going with Purdue. Braden Smith, Trey Kaufman, Ren have been terrific. I'm interested to see how Purdue shows up in this tournament without Zach Edie in the lineup. Don't know if it's really the quality of a four seed, but I'll take them to beat High

Point. High Point's good, man. A couple of these teams that we're picking to lose, they're going to win parish. That's the damnedest thing. You got to try and identify them. Could well miss. I'll take Clemson beating McNeese. Will Wade's got a solid team. It's not as good as the team last year. Clemson's really good. This is the winningest season in Clemson history and it hasn't even played in the NCAA tournament. You had 27 and six for Brad Brownell's Tigers. They got a great player named Chase Hunter. I like Clemson to move along.

Bottom half of the bracket, you've got Illinois awaiting the winner of Texas versus Xavier, and you've got Kentucky versus Troy. These games are in Milwaukee. Illinois, I think Xavier is gonna beat, so again, in my bracket, I've got Xavier over Illinois. If Texas beats Xavier, I will have Illinois

into the second round. But for right now, I have Sean Miller's team moving along and getting the dub over the Illini. And if that doesn't happen, mark me now for Illinois over Texas. I've got Kentucky over Troy. Both of these games are on CBS. Kentucky's at 7-10 on Friday.

The Illinois-Texas Savior game is at 945. And then in the bottom, you've got UCLA, Utah State, Tennessee versus Wofford in the 710 and the 215 game. These games are being played. I'm bringing it up here real quick. These are the Lexington, of course, these are in Lexington. So Tennessee versus Wofford is 650 on TNT on Thursday. UCLA, Utah State, late tip 925 TNT on Thursday.

I'm gonna go Utah State over UCLA in this one. Jerrick Calhoun's done a really good job in year one with the Aggies. Top 710 Reed. Utah State got out to a 19 and two start this season. It's 26 and seven now. It can score. It's a-7 now. It can score. It's a really good scoring team.

Ian Martinez is a really solid guard. Keep an eye on him. Mason Foslev is also good. He shoots well from deep. UCLA is a bit featureless. It's good defensively. It can turn teams over, which is what its forte is. But if it does not turn you over and get out into some sort of transition opportunity,

I actually think they're pretty vulnerable. I'll have Utah State winning there. I've got Tennessee over Wofford second round. I will go Houston over Gonzaga. Primarily because I don't think that this Gonzaga team and why I think they're going to have trouble with Georgia. I just don't think it's ultra athletic. And I do like the way that Georgia is comprised and Houston and oh, by the way with Houston, I'll just say now is going to wait for when we got to our final four picks. Houston is the best three-point shooting team in the tournament. Now normally that's not the case in terms of their three-point powers, period.

They're elite defensively again, and no one has been better from beyond the arc this season of any team in the field than Kelvin Sansom. I'll have Houston moving along. I'll take Purdue over Clemson. That to me is coin flip city, a 50-50, whatever. I will go with the Boilers. Both these teams made good runs last year. Purdue, the title again, Clemson's made the Elite Eight.

I will go with Matt Painter. I have Kentucky moving along to the second weekend. If it's Kentucky versus Illinois, I don't have Illinois in this game, but if it was, I still think I would take Kentucky. That's too funny because I've talked about this on the show. Both these teams have been, what the hell are we going to get right now? And like, how good is Lamont Butler shoulder?

Like is he, I know they feel good about it, but is this thing being held together by duct tape and shoelaces? I, I, I don't know. I'm just curious on that one. I've got Tennessee getting past Utah state and I do have Kentucky over Tennessee. Kentucky has beaten Tennessee twice. I said this earlier. Let me just fact check myself in real time, GP, because I do have Kentucky over Tennessee. Kentucky has beaten Tennessee twice. I said this earlier. Let me just fact check myself in real time, GP,

because I think that's the case. It is the case. So Kentucky beat Tennessee twice, beat them a third time. Newsflash, beat the same team three times in one season. Not as hard as people might make you think on television. So I'll have Kentucky moving along, and I will take Houston over Kentucky in the Elite 8. So my Final Four is Auburn St. John's Bama Houston.

That is two ones and two twos. What's your final four? What's your champ GP Auburn St. John's Duke Houston. I've got Auburn and Houston in the national title game. I've got Bruce Pearls Auburn Tigers as my national champion and yes, I'm aware that they've lost three or four heading into this thing. The way I've made sense of it in my head is that they didn't go on that bad stretch until everybody in the world told them you've done enough. Like we all sat there and told the team very publicly,

and I'm not like suggesting Chad Baker Mazar as like listening to the I Own College basketball podcast and it's like, well, the ball guy said we're good. So I guess we're good. Like, but it was just sort of out there. Hey, man, they've done it. 16-quadrant one wins, so far ahead of the pack. They're like a golfer with a five-shot lead.

Their own coach was saying, we're outright SEC champs. I feel like we've done enough. And I agreed with him. I don't think he was speaking at a turn. But when you hear that over and over again, I think it's easy to lose focus a little bit. And when everybody's telling you you're good until the tournament, you've locked up everything you can lock up until the tournament, I think it's easy to not be as focused as maybe everybody else is. And then you lose one game to a good team and come home and you think you'll bounce back, but you know, another good

team catches you and then it's Florida and they're playing as well as anybody. I just, I think they are capable of turning it back on. If they don't, they'll be out of this thing. Not early, keep in mind, they are literally Auburn, the only team in the country that never lost to a team outside of the top 20 in the net all season, not one. They can't even play a team like the teams that they've lost to until at least the Sweet 16.

Now, I know Louisville inside rough, 70 minutes from campus is maybe a different animal. But you look at most of the numbers, Louisville is not the type of team that beat Auburn this season. Auburn won't have to play a type of team that beat Auburn this season. Auburn won't have to play a type of team that beat Auburn this season until at least the Sweet 16. I'm going to trust that they can turn it back on and win six games. But I know they're not the favorite, even though they are the number one overall. Auburn has more wins versus the field than any team in the field. It's 19. Second place is Alabama and Tennessee.

Obviously, this is no shock to all CCC teams, but Alabama and Tennessee have 17 wins versus the field. Auburn has 19. Bama has played the most games versus teams in the field with 25. Auburn and Tennessee have played 24 piece. There are 10 teams with zero wins against the field. They're all single bid leagues. Obviously you might expect there's no one of note there. If you like that kind of stuff, again, I'll have a huge story stats nuggets. If you'd like to dive into the goodies there. You and my kiddo, by the way, agree. He's got Auburn.

He's got Auburn. He's got Auburn over Duke there. All right, we'll be idiots together. Yeah, well, there you go. I have Auburn over St. John's in the final four. Just the idea of like Bruce Pearl, Rick Pitino, Nate Oates and Kelvin Sampson. That's a very, very good, quotable final four that I've got there. No complaints whatsoever if those four coaches are behind the microphones at the dais and on the court down there in San Antonio.

I'll take Auburn over St. John's. I'm going to repeat what I said about the SEC tournament and that fell flat. I've seen Auburn play at its best. I know what this team can be. And I just, I can't shake the feeling that they are going to have a dominant push to the final four. Like personally, and this could be very wrong. I get it. Like I think Duke's going to look good in this tournament.

I don't have in the final four. I think if Auburn and Duke both make the final four, I would say Auburn's more likely to have the more impressive showing higher margin of victory. Just, I think this team's going to turn it on. We'll see though. I mean, I've been brutally wrong before. I'm ready to do it again. I will have Houston over Alabama. These teams met earlier this season. I'd love, you know what? I want this matchup to happen because I want the Auburn, sorry, sorry, Houston versus Auburn's my title game. So I have Houston over Bama in the National Semis. I want Houston-Auburn in the title game

because I want the oral history and the retelling of the plane fight that forced the Auburns to plane. This is what changed Auburn's entire season. They got into a little scuffle on the plane. They had to divert, go back, flew back, didn't bring a couple of players with them. And then they had turned into the best team in the sport for three months. Give me the Auburn

versus Houston rematch, and I have the Houston Cougars going back to Texas, getting it done, winning in San Antonio, Kelvin Sampson launching a national championship, and I'm doing it not just because of the defense, and not just because Auburn forces you, it forces you to play on its terms. It dictates the conversation when you play Houston. It is the three-point shooting, Milo Susanne, LJ Cryer, Emmanuel Sharp, all being knockdown shooters. They stay healthy, they get it done. I've got the Cougs over the Tigers in the national title game and those are our bracket picks. We actually did this fairly quickly this year.

We moved through it to relatively quickly. One quick thing, GP, the poll on today's question, we asked our live audience, who are you taking to win the title, the SEC or the field? I will give you the answer, but I want you to try and guess which side won and what the percentage split was. I would assume the field won because there's an anti-SCC

sentiment that exists. People don't like it. Yes, I think I agree with that. Yeah. Yes, I would assume the field won. I would take the SEC, but I would assume the field won. The field did win 62 to 28 percent to 38 percent, right? 62 to 38 percent. So that's actually so that's actually that's not that bad yeah I I'm taking the field literally because I have Houston but that's a bigger margin than I would have expected so we both have just to put a bow on this and then we'll move on and by move on I mean get out of here if we both have a Houston Auburn championship game that would be Kelvin Sampson Bruce Pearl have we ever had a national championshipurn championship game, that would be Kelvin Sampson, Bruce Pearl. Have we ever had a national championship game?

What up, Jared Berson? Have we ever had a national championship game between two coaches who were previously fired from power conference jobs or forced to resign? I think that's happened. You think that's happened? I don't know. Good question, I don't know.

Think about once you get fired in the history of the sport. Once you get fired from a power conference job, you don't usually get another one. Hmm. I'd have to think. I don't know. Maybe it hasn't happened. Let's look at how this is my projection. So I got is. Yeah. Did I have that right? We both have the same final. We have the same final. I have Auburn Houston. I have Auburn Houston with Auburn winning. You have Auburn Houston with Houston winning. Yep. Okay. But it could be two formally fired power conference coaches, which would be just a, I bet you that story would get that story would get written by somebody. Reminder, if you're listening, we're getting out of here, but you can join our Ion college basketball bracket pool on the CBS Sports app at CBS Sports.com The link will be in this YouTube video. It will be in this podcast description and Join you have until I think Thursday at like 1159. Don't wait on it.

You will see our picks winners get shouts Paramount plus subscriptions all that good stuff. Join up and can't wait to see how everyone kicks our asses in this because we are going to be terrible. I'm gonna be great. Everybody deserves to watch Landman. Everybody. That's right. And that's how you can do it by winning a bracket challenge and getting a subscription to Paramount Plus. Shouts to Devon Downey, shouts to Chester, South Carolina, Terry Teagle, Legend, Huck Larnel. Thank you guys once again for watching, listening to the I Own College Basketball Podcast. If you're not subscribed, please go subscribe anywhere you subscribe to podcasts, Apple,

Spotify. There's more of us than there are of them. That needs to be reflected in the comments. So to that, and we will talk to you again, probably in 45 minutes. It's not going to be that close. We are going to have podcasts for you recapping what's a tournament action. Just stay subscribed. All that good stuff.

We got you covered. Best time of the year, Sarah. Let's let that show. All right. Paramount podcasts.