Locked On ACC - Daily College Football & Basketball Podcast - ACC SQUAD - ACC Schools Can SURPRISE in March Madness Tournament

Episode Date: March 19, 2025

Duke's NCAA tournament hopes hang in the balance as Cooper Flag's injury raises questions about their championship potential. Can the Blue Devils overcome this setback, or will their dreams be dashed? Dive into the ACC basketball landscape with insights on Duke, Louisville, Clemson, and North Carolina. Isaac Shade, Kenton Gibbs, Grayson Boone, and guest Jackson Holzer dissect Duke's strategy, Louisville's controversial seeding, and Clemson's shooting prowess. They also explore North Carolina's surprising tournament inclusion and potential biases in the selection process.Join the conversation to uncover the dynamics shaping this year's tournament and see how these teams might fare. Don't miss out on this engaging analysis—tune in for expert insights and lively debate! Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

If the ankle heard around the world, Duke needs Cooper Flagger, they will not win the national championship. We need the squad. You're talking ball with the ACCC squad, sponsored by game time. From Florida State to North Carolina, from Syracuse to Miami, and from NC State to California, it's the local experts of the Locked-on Podcast Network, bringing you scoops, breakdowns, and the most comprehensive preview of the upcoming ACC weekend. Hang on, it could get loud, it could get heated, and it will definitely be fun. Squad up, you're part of the ACC Squad.

Hey there, what's up? It's Wednesday, March 19th, March Madness Eve, 2025. Welcome into the ACC Squad Show. I'm your host today, Isaac Shade, filling in as best I can for our guy Alex Donno. Joining today are the co-hosts of Lockdown Wolfpack, Kenton Gibbs, and Grayson Boone, and we got our guy Jackson Hulzer from Locked on Syracuse and the main man Jarvis Davis behind the scenes doing all that great work. Man, you are joining us at the place to get your ACC News every single day of the week. It's all part of the Locked On podcast network.

We want to thank you for making us your first watch or listen. Special shout out to all the everydayers that are here with us. Look, we got to timestamp this thing, folks, because we are recording before North Carolina plays San Diego State on Tuesday evening. in the play-in round. But of course, we're going to have to talk about Carolina's inclusion in this dance at all. We'll get to that. We'll talk Louisville being perhaps the most improperly seated team in the tournament. Clemson working to overcome Dylan Hunter's broken hand. We're going to make some picks and all that. But boys, we cannot start anywhere else than in Durham, North Carolina,

where not only does Malik Brown have his shoulder jacked up again, but obviously Cooper flag and that foot herd around the world, we got to talk about it. it. Here's the first question I want to start with. Is there any world in which you would risk putting Cooper flag on the floor on Friday against the 16th seat? Well, from whose perspective am I talking? If I'm talking from John Scheier's perspective, get your tail out there, man, get warmed up. Let's get you about a good eight minutes, eight to ten minutes, just get your little light cardio out there, put up to Tony Snail numbers, and, you know, but you just get a little put an effort and intensity out there and keep it pushing, you know, if I am him.

If I'm Cooper, hey, bro, I'm good. I'll see y'all in the round of 32. Maybe. I mean, no guarantee's there, but I might see y'all in the round of 32. You know, y'all boys be safe. It just depends on who you're looking at this from. Because, again, to me, Cooper doesn't really have a reason to come back and do anything. But as John Shire, if I'm saying, I'm the head coach, I want my team jelling by the time

we get to the Sweet 16 and we're seeing some powerhouses, then, yeah, that's, that's, That's a very different situation. You're muted down there. Grace is muted. John Shire cut my mic. Sorry. It's probably a good thing that we're not asking this question, either Virginia or Purdue, because they've had trouble in the past with the 16 seed.

I don't think Duke falls in that same category. I do believe they can get away with not playing Cooper Flag in the opening round. They have been dominant, so dominant in fact that I would be, I'd be comfortable if I were John Shire, not having to run Cooper Flag out there. risk further injury. I don't necessarily hate the idea of like a pitch count, so to speak, maybe play him five to ten minutes, see if he can wiggle it around, get it loose. But I would not force anything that doesn't need to be forced against the winner of American or Mount St. Mary's. Yeah. Jackson, it comes down to two factors for me. Number one,

to what degree is he hurt? So is he 75% healthy? Is he 90% healthy? Is he 99% Right. That matters. Is he only at 50%. And the second question really is, can he hurt the injury any worse? If he goes on the floor, obviously injuries can happen no matter what, but for this specific injury, can he make it worse by being on the floor? That being said, I think all things being equal, you probably don't want to risk him not playing just because a one seed, you know, they can lose in the round of 60. it has happened. It most likely won't happen. I like the idea of Cooper Flagg may be playing 10 minutes. Well, let's not pretend it.

Play 10 minutes. Get your conditioning okay. And if Duke is up by 30, then take him out. Don't play him for the rest of the game. Let's not pretend like this team hasn't just done something already without him. They just won the ACC tournament without Cooper Flag. And Purdue was a one seed and Virginia was a one seed. And they lost the 16 seed.

I mean, Purdue lost a fairly Dickinson who shouldn't have even been in the tournament. But here's the thing. That's twice in the entire history of one versus 60. That's like saying, I'm never going to fly again because that one plane fell out of however. You know what I'm saying? Like I get it. I hear you, G. I hear you, Jackson, right?

But I just can't get on. Here's the thing that I like as well. Duke has managed the relation of information really well on this thing. It is not a situation like Kenyon Martin and Cincinnati those years ago where he was hurt in the conference tournament. They told everybody what was up. And the committee dropped Cincinnati to a two seed. They lose the two lane in the second round and they're going home. We don't know if this is high ankle.

We don't know if it's low ankle. We don't know where because Duke has wisely controlled the flow of information out. And so now we're not sure. So the good thing is too, if they hold them until Sunday, because it is Friday, Sunday instead of Thursday, Saturday, that's a win as well. If they wait until Sunday, that's a full 10 days since he came down on that thing. Next question. Without Cooper Flag, without Malik Brown, assuming we don't see him either, who's got to step up for this Duke team if they want to go as far as they can? Oh, free to nipple. It's kind of nipple time, baby. He's got to do some great things in order for this team to be something

special. I mean, realistically, who else are you looking at? You will want to say, well, Proctor's got all the experience and, you know, experienced guards tend to make magic happen and mark, stop it. You've got a lottery pick on this team that's not named Cooper Flagg. That lottery pick needs to let it fly, needs to do his best pistol p. Impression because guess what? At the end of the day, this Duke offense has been one all year that relies very heavily on stars being stars. Not to say that John Shire doesn't have a plan, doesn't have an all-pens. defensive sentence because he does. But if you watch them play, a large part of their offense is, you know what, we got to let this star be a star. We're going to put this star in position to get

an open shot. We're going to put this star in position where he is against a much smaller match or whatever the case may be. So who's the next up offensive? Who do you think has the most efficient and effective offensive package that you can scheme up for on Duke? I would say it's Knieppled by a mile and that's where they're going to miss the most. Although Cooper Flag does a little bit of everything, I think that the area where they don't have anybody who can do what he does in the greatest volume is score. I think the trio of Sion James, Tyrese Proctor, and Concanipple, that should be enough in the first round. I think maybe when you face the winner of Mississippi State and Baylor, maybe the conversation changes there. But I really don't think they have much to worry about if they don't have Cooper Flag at all.

I'll also say this real quickly. I think the optics on Cooper Flag have been good in that he wasn't on crutches. He wasn't in a wheelchair outside of him getting wheeled off of the court. She was just able to hobble around on one, you know, one and a half feet there. If I'm a Duke fan, I find solace in the fact that it didn't look like horrible. I think I'd be comfortable there. I think you guys mention all the names that need to be mentioned here as far as who needs to step up storing wise. But can we get to the reality here?

And that's, you know, let's say how far can Duke go without Cooper Flagg? That's a great question. How far can they go? I mean, I think. they can get to the elite eight without them. They're not going to win a national championship if he's not on the floor, period. Like, it's just not going to happen. And you know what's funny?

You know who's in the path along the way to the elite eight? Let's say Baylor wins their first game. That's the second round matchup. Who is Baylor's backup point guard? Jeremy Roach. You might have that in the second round. There we go. You know who might be waiting in the Sweet 16, Arizona and Caleb Love?

I mean, we've got all. It's a good intrigue there. And then we might get back to Duke and Alabama in that potential elite eight matchup that you guys are talking about. They've got a big injury of their own potentially with Grant and Nelson. We've got to watch out for his knee. But man, this thing is rife with storylines. But back to Jackson's question. So where are we all at with that?

How far can they go keeping in mind that it seems like Malik Brown? I think Malik Brown's situation is worse than Cooper's. I don't think we're going to see Malik Brown. Yeah, I don't think we're going to see Malik Brown. But I think they have enough to win a chance. membership with Millie Brown. If everything from around the 32 forward goes well in terms of help, I really and truly do. Don't get me wrong, the defensive side of the ball is important. One of the most underrated parts of Cooper Flags game, the way that he uses his length as a help side

defender. That is something that really we don't see often out of guards and wings like him. It's not something that's like an everyday thing from a guy who can also fill it up the way he does. So he can cover up a little bit there. And Model Watch has been getting better and better as the year goes on. as a rent protector. So again, it's not a situation that I'm looking at where it's like it's untenable. However, if you see Cooper Flagg go down again, right? And he decides, man, I tweaked it, stepped on the wrong again. I'm good.

I'm going to be the number one pick. I've got a lot of money to go make. I'll pass. I don't see this team getting past the elite A. I really and truly don't see that happening. I think the elite A is probably the same doorstep. So I agree with Kenton. My question is, who do you think?

is the biggest threat to Duke in this region with or without Cooper flag is it Alabama is it bYU is it Baylor perhaps in the route of 32 what are we thinking i think it's Bamma i think Arizona and bam are like neck and neck but i probably go to Arizona as a one beat i'm with you yep absolutely i mean biu you have to your great point jb biu's been playing really good basketball lately you're hot baler does have some stuff i mean they've got omir who played against duke a lot They've got Roach, who, again, literally started for this team and is now somehow a backup at Baylor. That's bananas to me. They've got Rob Wright as their starting guard.

So we'll watch all of that. But Alabama, just with, I'm with you there with all the pace and stuff, they do play. Man, I mean, that's the number one scoring offense in the entire nation, number one in adjusted tempo, crazy stuff. Let's assume. And the only way to be the Duke, the only way to beat the team with length like Duke, you got to run them off the floor. So that's obviously why Alabama is going to be your toughest match. because you cannot play twin towers. You cannot play multiple bigs against the squad like Alabama and think you're all right.

Again, they'll run you out to gym quickly. Yeah. So let's assume Cooper Flagg's good, which I think he's going to be from everything we've heard from John Shire. Didn't they already say like they think he's going to be back for the round of 64? Or were they just playing politics for trying to get a one seat directly? Yes, exactly. All of that is probably a yes, Jackson, if we're being honest. How far do you like, let's make a pick on Duke.

where do they do they win the whole thing or do they lose and if so where so where so i picked him to win the national championship i'm going to assume that cooper flag is healthy and if he's not healthy their ceiling is the elite eight i don't get them see they're just not i don't see it how can they go to the final four without the best player maybe in college basketball because everyone behind him they're all really good but so's everyone else yeah yeah yeah kage G, great, what you got? I think sealing with Cooper's Final Four, sealing without is elite eight.

Okay. I think Barnes and Boys are, this is their year. I really do feel like this is Tennessee's year. Oh, Rocky Top is going to get it done. And I think that if Duke meets them in the final four, that team is too deep. And you know the thing that's always weird about Tennessee

that nobody ever tracks? Why the hell do they have so many lefties? Why do they always have multiple lefties that are just so unorthodox and throw you off your game. So I think that they're sealing Final Four with them healthy without round of 32. They could lose them. I've got him healthy. I've got them losing to Auburn in the national championship,

a rematch from the ACC SEC SEC earlier this season. I'm with you guys, though, without Cooper Flag. They fall to Bama in the Elite Aid. That's where I'm at. All right. We got to talk about Louisville, who criminally has been given an eight seed. What a turnaround this year for Pat Kelsey. And can Clemson knock off McNeese, even without Dylan Hunter,

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That'll be 12.15 p.m. on CBS. The winner takes on the Auburn Tigers. And then as for Clemson, they are the five seed in the Midwest region, taking on 12 seed McNeese and Will Wade. That game is going to be also March 20th at 315 Eastern on True TV. If you can somehow find that on your dial. Fellas, let's start with Louisville. What an absolute bonkers turnaround in year one under Pat Hills. I mean, A, we got to celebrate that. But B, in the same breath, I want to hold the tournament selection committee accountable for their gross misplacement of Louisville in this bracket. Where are we at?

That's the only thing you want to hold them accountable for? I'm glad you specified only Louisville there. Good catch. Oh, oh, we're, there's, there's more. No, no, no, which is that's good. But no, no, in all seriousness, in all seriousness, the underseeding of Louisville is downright criminal. That is the miscarriage of justice,

as people have called another thing that has happened here in this tournament. Jackson bought up a very interesting stat the other day on Locked on ACC, talking about where the last five teams that were ranked exactly number 10, which I believe Louisville was coming into the tournament. All of those teams at worst, the lowest any of them had been was a what, four or five C. So the stat was, I think it was over the past 10 years. The team that was ranked 13th, exactly 13th, heading into selection Sunday. we're not talking about how they were then ranked 10th after selection Sunday in the AP poll

no team got worse than a five seed in the NCAA tournament no worse than a five most of them got like a three or a higher seat it makes no sense I understand the AP poll is completely different sure it's different it's different people I get it how now an eight seed is the equivalent of being like 30 in the nation, but you have the eight people saying they're 13th. Something's wrong here. And look, now in the new poll, they are 10th in the nation. The nine teams ahead of them are the four one seeds, the four two seeds, and a three. That's what's ahead of them.

I'm not asking for perfection here. I'm not asking for a perfect correlate for, you know, you're number three in the country. You've got to be a one seed or something like that. I'm not asking for that. What we're asking for is, hey, if this team is ranked 13, or then 10 in the country. How the heck do they get an 8C? That makes no sense.

Yeah, exactly what Isaac said. I heard that they contract. You got to do the 8C. Go talk to them. Go talk to them. What Isaac just said is the tweet I have in front of me. One through four, all one seeds. Five through eight, all two seeds.

Number nine in the AP poll is a three seed. Louisville's 10 and is an eight seed. And then number 11 is also a three seed. I know three is like half of an eight. if you're just looking at it real quick on the keyboard, I don't know how you messed that up. I have no idea how Louisville gets to the conference championship game and is an eight seed.

Clemson is seated higher than Louisville. Louisville beat Clemson twice this year. Hello, what are we doing? Hold on. Go ahead. They're penalizing Louisville for being in the ACC, but they're giving Clemson a five seed, and then they're taking North Carolina.

And Duke's a one. And Duke is a one, hold on a minute. Here's the other side of the issue with stuff like this. This doesn't just penalize Louisville. This penalizes Creighton. This penalizes whoever. Like if Auburn should have to play Louisville. Number one overall.

They got screwed. So if Auburn faces Louisville instead of playing an eight seed, they're really playing a four or a five in their second round match. Like that's the other part of the issue. Somebody on this committee has been dabbling in some nefarious endeavors, because turning a four into a nine is not a good thing. That's not a good thing for regular people. If you understood that, you didn't understand that.

But in all seriousness, this is one of the worst seedings that I've seen here. And again, for everybody outraged about UNC getting in, this was the actual crime. This was the actual thing that everybody should be standing and screaming and shouting. Oh, there's no way this can happen. Because again, me, Donno, Isaac, Jackson, Jay, Dalton, Grayson, everybody have been, win your damn games.

We have said that for forever. If you win your damn games, we don't care if you're on the bubble and you're left off. You know why? Because if you're on the bubble, you didn't win your damn games, not did you?

We don't care if you're, oh, we almost got into the college football playoff, but we're in the rolling. Win your damn games. You know what Louisville did? How many conference losses did they have? Two. One of them being to a one seat.

Well, what more do you want from them? Beating team. out in front of them. Everybody talks about UNC didn't beat the field. Two wins against the field. One of them is against American. Louisville has how many wins against the field? Multiple of them coming against your precious five seats. What are we doing here? What do we do? It's a travesty. It's a shame. And what was done to Louisville to me is the actual greatest crime of this tournament. All right. So the way you turn this around is you go out and you beat Creighton and then shock the world and kill Bruce Pearl and Auburn. Let's flip to the other side of the bracket to Clemson.

I feel like because McNeese is such a strong team, because Will Wade is such a good coach who's going to be back at the Power 5 level next year, that everyone is assuming, like, because you pick a 12 over 5, you should go with McNeese over Clemson. Fellas, I need to know why people are wrong about that, and they should, despite Dylan Hunter's broken hand injury, why they should still be taking the Clemson Tigers. With all the respect to Dylan Hunter, is he the better of the Hunter brothers?

Did I go to sleep overnight and Chase just disappeared into the middle of the night or something? Like, what are we? What? When everybody said, oh, Hunter's hand is hurt? I said, oh, Chase? Oh, boy, they're in trouble. They're like, Dylan. I'm like, oh, wow, what is this?

What is this nonsense? But more seriously, right? Even with Dylan Hunter's injury, do you all know how many players for Clinton played 30 or more games, or actually, I'm sorry, 25 or more games and shot 35% or better from deep? How many? Just give me a guess. Give me a guess, guys. Two.

Seven. Seven. They had seven guys, Miles Foster, Chase Hunter, Jake Hill Breeder, Victor Locking, Chauncey Wiggins, Ian Schiff, Schifflin. Call him the chef. The chef and James Zachary. So at what point do we get honest about, hey, the ACC may not be great as a conference. We do have some damn good teams. Clemson can shoot the blow out of the ball and what do we all know about Brad Brownell team?

They're going to get in the stands. They're going to defend. They're going to make it real tough on you on the offensive end of the court for you. So you combine those two things, a team with experience, a team with depth, a team where you have to step out to check a seven-footer at 20 feet, that that is a dangerous team to anybody. With all due respect to Will Wade to what he's done to McZ State,

absolutely phenomenal jump. Phenomenal turnaround in just two years. They don't have the horses in the stable to compete with Clemson. Not yet, not yet. And unfortunately for them, he may be coming to the ACC, so he won't have time to keep building there.

May. I say this is someone who totally does not need Will Wade to lose for any way, shape, or form. But I think Clemson is actually a bad matchup for McNeese. I think Jeff and Locke and I know they say March is a lot about guard play, but those two are going to wreak havoc on a relatively undersized McNeese team. I think Clemson is going to overwhelm them from the jump, and it will be Clemson early, everywhere in between and often.

And even still, they've got the guard play, right? Like they've got the balance of that with Jay Z and with Chase Hunter. And so, and Ken was talking about that experience. This is a team that went to the elite eight last year. I know PJ Hall was gone, but they got a lot of those dudes back. Jackson, anything on this before we move on. I just wanted to say something about Dylan Hunter here. So he has, he's hurt.

Okay. I'm looking at his production right now. And then there's going to be that Clemson fan that probably attacks me saying how valuable Dylan Hunter is to the Clemson Tigers. But if we're being honest with you, he's averaging five points a game this season. He shoots 31% from the three point line. I mean, if you can't beat McNeese State without Dylan Hunter, I'm sorry, then you're just not good enough. I'm sorry. So yeah, I'm going to take Clemson. Kenton and Grayson are also taking Clemson. There's

definitely no rooting interest there. Isaac, are you also taking Clemson, I'm assuming? Oh, yes. I've got Clemson going all the way to face Houston and we'll see what happens there. I don't believe, Purdue's the four here who they would face in the second round. Nah, Zach. I got Clemson the elite eight. I love it. Knocking off Houston? Yep, knocking off Houston. And they get a break in the round of 32 because one of my upsets is that height point is going to beat Purdue. Man, I love that, Jackson. All right, guys, we were joking a little bit ago that the selection committee had some questionable decision making.

We've got another Carolina blue-colored decision that we need to talk about, and we'll do that coming up in just a second. Right after I'd tell you about Monarch Money, hey, you ever check your bank account and wonder, where did all my money go? Well, between dining out, online shopping and entertainment, man, it's easy to lose track of it all. That's where Monarch Money comes in. Your personal CFO giving you full visibility and control over your finances.

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through every upset, buzzer beater, and bracket matchup. Stream it all for free on Amazon Fire TV channel. Search Bracket Breakdown to see it all for free. It's your team every day. One of those dudes was really good looking. Okay, guys, here we go. On Sunday, the expectation was that the ACC would only get three teams into the NCAA tournament and then lack of complete lack of suspense because in the first region,

it was announced that the North Carolina Tar Heels, the team, oh, by the way, of a selection committee chair, Bubba Cunningham, were in the tournament in a play-in game that happened last night. Again, we don't know the results of that game as we record this thing, fellas. Miscarriage of justice, as West Virginia has alleged, or is this the right call by the selection committee? I want to know one question and one question only. Since when did Quad One wins become the gold standard of like, hey, you can't get into the tournament if you don't have these.

And if you do have them, everything else be damned. Like the committee is not even the committee. Let me not even blame the committee. The people reacting to the committee have done me a grave disservice. And I too am joining into Drake's UMG lawsuit because I need restitution. from the media for making me defend the Tar Heels on the Sunday, the Holy Is Day, the Sabbath, when I should be resting and praising He Who Is, Was, and yet coming.

I had to sit here and defend the Tar Heels, because again, people are acting like by every single metric outside of five one win, this team was not in by a mile. Like, what are we doing here, man? Again, to sit here and get all dignified about this, to see Stephen A and Shannon Sharp, who have not talked about college basketball at all this season, talking about this.

I'm just like, what the hell are y'all doing? What are you doing? Tell me about it. Tell me what's so deserving about them that you would say, oh, they're head and shoulders above UNC that makes this make sense. Tell me about it. Tell me what Indiana has done again. I'll even let you include quad one wins,

but you got to let me include quad two and three. Tell me what they've done. That's so impressive. It's like, hey, they're irredeemably better than UNC. Again, to make me defend Tar Hills like this, you got a six cents of humor. You got a really sick sense of humor to do such a thing. I don't care. Expand on that, Jackson.

What do you mean? Indiana. West Virginia. My heart breaks. I'm so sorry. Sue, whoever you want. you didn't win enough games. You left doubt in the eyes of the committee.

That's your fault. I'm sorry. I'm sorry you're not going to be participating in March Madness this season. You know what? Next season, maybe win a few more games. With the new coach, Indiana and West Virginia. Yeah. Well, West Virginia is having a really rough few days.

Indiana, writer days are probably ahead. Yeah. Isn't that the whole point? of this, win your games, and if you can look pretty during those games, that would be nice as well. You didn't win enough. You were on the bubble. You want to know the secret to getting in the tournament? Don't be on the bubble or win your conference.

Because if you win your conference, guess what? You're automatically in. And as a Wopack fan, I can tell you, if you win it, you can do anything. You get crazy in there. You get a little crazy. You know what? It happened last year. NC State. Yeah, you're right. I don't care about Indiana and West Virginia because the reality,

yeah, quad one wins, sure. Yeah, UNC, 36 in the net, 33 in Ken Palm, Indiana, 54 in the net, 48 in Ken Palm, West Virginia, 51 in the net, 53 in Ken Palm. Okay, the predictive metrics, all there said UNC was a better team, but you want to sit here and throw quad one wins at me, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, win your damn games. All right, well, if y'all aren't going to do it, I'm going to do it. This is the National Corrupt Athletic Association, and I ride with my dog, the state governor, Patrick Morrissey, and their great state of West Virginia.

What on earth took place in this selection committee? Actually, I know what took place. Corruption, nepotism, Bubba Cunningham took place, might I add? This was ridiculous. I'll put all the metrics aside. The idea that Bubba Cunningham wasn't in the room while they're making these decisions. This reminds me of like a Michael Scott meme

where he's just standing outside the glass with his hands on the window. Come on. They're going to do right by the chair of the committee. Not to mention it's his last year in doing so. Oh, did he get bonuses? Why, yes, he did get bonuses for Carolina getting into the tournament. This is preposterous.

People are going to call me biased? I don't care. This is a miscarriage of justice to the highest degree and I demand order in my court. I demand that they win more basketball games, so they leave no doubt. Can I just say, was there somebody on the squad who specifically warned us all? Hmm, if UNC is on the bubble, they're going to get it. If they're close, they're going to get it.

If only somebody had warned us of this, if only somebody, again, I make no bones about this. Yes, I do think that brand bias definitely came into it. And of course, let's be honest about this, right? you can't big up your team while you're in it. You can't big up your team, but you know what you can do? Dirty Mac the other team. Oh, yeah. You could say the Indiana.

Oh, what do you mean? You know what? I can't say anything about North Carolina. I can't say, is Woodson even going to be there next year? Like, do they even, like, are they even inspired right now? That West Virginia team, I mean, have they done anything relevant since Huggins left? You know, Press Virginia ain't walking through that door, ladies and gentlemen. I just don't understand what we're even here for.

Again, I can't say anything about U.N. but I can tell you about those other schools that are on the bubble here. But again, again, UNC is not the only team with terrible metrics or with terrible quad one metrics. They got it. There are multiple teams who fit that qualification, who fit that criteria. And I hate to acknowledge this. But it has to be said if the brand weren't as big and as storied,

for whatever reason, story is a very interesting word considering reading and all that at USA. But if it wasn't a brand that story, as UNC, it wouldn't be a big deal. Because again, nobody's beating the table about Xavier. I have not seen a single person say, Xavier getting in as the biggest travesty. I haven't seen anyone cry about Texas. Nobody's right.

But here's the thing. Let's stick on Xavier, though. Let's stick on Xavier, because I've been talking about this this week. Let me take off my locked on tar heels and locked on ACC hat, put on my locked on college basketball hat. Xavier's resume is worse than North Carolina's. And they were more safely in, according to almost every bracketologist and then by the seed line.

This is a team that also only had one quad one win. And so that's equal and even. And when you look at everything else, all the rest of the resume metrics that we're looking at, Xavier's paled in comparison to North Carolinas. That's the bigger issue to me is that Xavier's in, and more comfortably so with the worst resume. And I'm not even necessarily saying Carolina should have been worked.

I'm just specifically speaking about the Xavier's side of this thing, that that is a miss as well. I also really like, I want to go back to Grayson's point, while the bylaws of the tournament committee mandate that if your team or your conference is being discussed, you have to recuse yourself. But the humanity in it, you're going to be, if there's, even if there's not direct, um, negative things, the indirect of like, well, you know, it's Bubba and we had drinks last not that whole thing that's humanity man and that factors in and my one one thing that we probably

need to talk about at some point i don't know about today is the fact that the committee is entirely made up of ades and conference commissioners and from time to time you're going to have conflict of interest like this whereas if we got independent third party people like college basketball media or others to at least be part of this it would help steer away at least from some of the issues there i wouldn't clean it all up but it would help a little bit I mean, those people have alma maters too. So why can't they get biased? I recognize.

I'm a basketball brachatologist. I should be included in this, right? There's so many of them out there. And they're getting better and better, by the way, at predicting the field. So shout out to those people. But they also went to school for the most part. So even if you do include them in the room,

I mean, one person could be from North Carolina and go to the school. So no matter what, there's always going to be some sort of bias when making these sort of selections. But also, can I let everyone in on a little secret about all these teams? I'm going to let you in a little secret, okay? North Carolina, Indiana, West Virginia, none of them are winning. They're not winning the tournament. They're not winning.

Sorry. No, they're not winning. We're going to cry about an 11 seed playing team? You're not winning. I know an 11 seed from North Carolina. That was pretty close to last year. They went to the final four. Did they win the national championship?

Let me tell you, though, before we get out of it. I just want to drop one last year. I don't force matter, though. We can't say that matter, but they didn't win. I think there's a difference between bias when it's like, oh, that's my alma mater and bias when you get a hundred grand plus. With all due respect, last time Syracuse went to the final four, did your check get heavier, Jackson? Isaac, did you don't really make any money? Isaac did you have me and Grayson were both there and we still had to go clock in our nine to fives after NC State went to that final four.

So I think it's a difference between us and an AD who gets a direct bonus that's more than of the average American households yearly salary for his team. I got one left in the chamber, so let me send it in Jerome. If Cunningham was not in the room for UNC, was he in the room for Indiana? Was he in the room for Xavier? Was he in the room for Texas? Yes. Okay. So, yeah, I rest my case.

Thank you. Yeah, you're telling me that it's corrupt. and I'm telling you, I don't care, win your damn games. All right, boys. Hey, we have had two previous play-in teams make it all the way to the final four, VCU in 2011 and UCLA in 2021. So we'll see if there's any noise there. Next week on ACC squad, we'll obviously wrap up the first weekend of the NCAA tournament.

We'll look ahead to the Sweet 16 and Elite 8. And you know what, even though our conference is dumped on, we're still more elite and we're still going to have like three final four teams and everyone's going to cry and boohoo and we'll celebrate and party. It'll be great. All right, folks, for Kenton Gibbs for Grayson Boone for Jackson Holzer. I'm Isaac Shade. This has been locked on ACCC Squad. We'll see you next week, but until then.

Peace.