Locked On ACC - Daily College Football & Basketball Podcast - Bracket Breakdown Special: Everything you need for the NCAA Tournament
Episode Date: March 18, 2024Will UConn, Houston, Purdue and North Carolina hold true to their number one seed in the NCAA Tournament? Can Iowa State, Tennessee, Marquette or Arizona break into the Final Four? Cinderellas, upsets..., betting favorites and those 5/12 matchups. Locked On College Basketball hosts, Andy Patton and Isaac Schade join Tenitra Batiste to help walk you through your bracket step by step to help you win your pool. Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors! Manscaped Get 20% Off and Free Shipping with the code LOCKEDON at Manscaped.com. Bettor Together Download the Bettor Together DFS app now from the app store, and sign-up using promocode LOCKEDON for a chance to win your share of over $1,000 in cash prizes. Amazon Fire TV Fire TV recently created Fire TV Channels to deliver a constant supply of the latest videos from your favorite sports brands, all for free. That includes all of us at Locked On and most of the big pro leagues and college conferences as well. To Learn More, visit www.amazon.com/LockedOnFireTV Nissan Our friends at Nissan have a lineup of SUV’s with the capabilities to take your adventure to the next level. Take the Nissan Rogue, Nissan Pathfinder, or Nissan Armada and go find your next big adventure. Shop NissanUSA.com. LinkedIn These days every new potential hire can feel like a high stakes wager for your small business. That’s why LinkedIn Jobs helps find the right people for your team, faster and for free. Post your job for free at LinkedIn.com/lockedoncollege. Terms and conditions apply. Gametime Download the Gametime app, create an account, and use code LOCKEDON for $20 off your first purchase. FanDuel New customers, join today and you’ll get TWO HUNDRED DOLLARS in BONUS BETS if your first bet of FIVE DOLLARS or more wins. Visit FanDuel.com/LOCKEDON to get started. eBay Motors With all the parts you need at the prices you want, it’s easy to turn your car into the MVP and bring home that win. Keep your ride-or-die alive at EbayMotors.com. Eligible items only. Exclusions apply. eBay Guaranteed Fit only available to US customers. FANDUEL DISCLAIMER: 21+ in select states. First online real money wager only. Bonus issued as nonwithdrawable free bets that expires in 14 days. Restrictions apply. See terms at sportsbook.fanduel.com. Gambling Problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER or visit FanDuel.com/RG (CO, IA, MD, MI, NJ, PA, IL, VA, WV), 1-800-NEXT-STEP or text NEXTSTEP to 53342 (AZ), 1-888-789-7777 or visit ccpg.org/chat (CT), 1-800-9-WITH-IT (IN), 1-800-522-4700 (WY, KS) or visit ksgamblinghelp.com (KS), 1-877-770-STOP (LA), 1-877-8-HOPENY or text HOPENY (467369) (NY), TN REDLINE 1-800-889-9789 (TN) Join the Locked On College Basketball Discord: https://discord.gg/bsKxDp8Qqb Follow & Subscribe on all Podcast platforms… 🎧 https://link.chtbl.com/LOCBB?sid=YouTube Locked On College Conferences, HBCU, Basketball & More 🎧 https://linktr.ee/LockedOnCollege #CollegeBasketball #MarchMadness #NCAABasketball #NCAATournament #NCAA #CollegeHoops Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.
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Locked-on Podcast Network presents the 2024 NCAA bracket breakdown.
Presented by Nissan.
Welcome into the 2024 Locked-on bracket breakdown.
I'm your host, Teneitra Batiste, alongside me and our co-host of Lockdown College Basketball, Andy Patton and Isaac Shade.
We aren't here just to break down favorites and upsets, although there will be a lot of that.
We're also here to walk you step by step through filling out a winning bracket for your office
or friend pool.
We'll have local insight from across the field of 68,
as well as gambling advice from our locked on bets insider.
So break out your pencils and paper brackets.
It's time for some madness.
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Now let's get to it.
Let's get to the bracket starting with the left side.
Okay, guys, real talk.
We've seen it twice,
and I sure ain't going to bet on it that we're going to see it again this year.
But for kicks and giggles, Isaac, for kicks and giggles, Andy,
we'll actually talk about it.
The one seed is Yukon over in the east bracket.
The 16 seed is Stetson.
And let's go ahead and talk about that eight and nine seat as well,
Florida Atlantic being in that eight spot.
and nine with Northwestern.
I probably am going to get a thumbs up from both you, Andy and you, Isaac,
about that 1 and 16 and Yukon moving on.
But just to make sure, tell me your thoughts on the 1N 16 as well as the 8 and 9.
Let's put a number on it, Tnitra.
One seeds are 150 and 2 all time against 16.
So yeah, big thumbs up.
Yep, 100%.
UCon is going to advance here.
Shout out to Stetson for being in the big dance.
It's been a long time since they're here.
but yeah, they're not going to get much of a chance here.
Yeah, Andy, I got to agree with you guys on that as well.
Andy, what about FAU?
You see them advancing or are you giving that nod to Northwestern?
You know, I love boo-booy at Northwestern, really talented guard.
I like veteran guard play, but FAUs got a lot of it as well.
John L. Davis, Elijah Martin, Dusty May, fantastic coach.
To me, give me FAU sets up a nice matchup between two teams that were in the final four last year
between Yukon and FAU in that round of 32.
Absolutely.
Same for me, Tenitra.
I love the experience of FAU.
Elijah Martin, whom Andy mentioned,
is one of my favorite athletes in the tournament.
Is this Dusty May's last ride in Boca Raton?
We're going to find out.
But I love getting two of these final four teams
from last year, squaring off in round two.
All right.
So if we're picking Florida Atlantic, Isaac,
to come out of that eight, nine game.
And we obviously all agree it'll be Yukon coming out of that as well.
But do we see an eight possibly upsetting
a one. We do see a possibility of it. Again, because FAU has that experience from last year,
because everyone came back. Dusty May did a great job keeping this team together. But,
Tenitra, Yukon is the number one overall seed for a reason. These dudes are for real. Tristan
Newton, Donovan Klingin, Alex Caravan, Cam Spencer, and on and on, Yukon's moving on to the
Sweet 16. And Andy, as much as we like the veteran presence that FAU has, like Isaac said, we can't
take away the fact that Yukon has by far been the most consistent team across college basketball this
season. They're too deep. They're too talented. I love FAU. I think they're going to put up a heck of a fight,
but yeah, it's going to be the Huskies in this one. So hey, I'm going to go ahead and do a cheat code,
and I'm going to go ahead and put my Yukon in because you guys said so. And I'm going to put my
FAU in because you guys said so. But then I'm also going to put my Yukon in again because guess what?
You guys told me to do it. So I'm doing my bracket, and I'm going to definitely come back and circle back.
If they're busted, it's on you guys.
We'll take all that blame, Tanisha.
Bring it on.
Bring it.
All right.
So let's make a little jump down the bracket.
And we're going to talk about kind of that other, that next space where it always gets tricky.
You're 512 and your 4 and 13.
So from 512, Andy, we got San Diego State.
And then we've got UAB in that 12 spot.
We also have Auburn in at number four over in that east bracket in Yale at 13.
Where do you kind of see that playing out as far as the.
5, 12, and then as far as the 4 and 13.
Tonitra, I typically have quite a few 12-5 upsets or 13-4 upsets, and I got a handful here in
this bracket, but I don't have any here.
I think San Diego State and Auburn are both going to advance.
San Diego State only finished fifth in the Mountain West, which is a little surprising,
especially since they earned far and away the best seed in March Madness here.
But UAB barely snuck into the tournament.
No disrespect to them, but I just don't see them being able to hang with a team that went
all the way to the final four last year.
at Auburn, very deep team, very talented team.
Janii Brom has been playing some just excellent basketball as of late.
And while I think Yale is a quality team, they played some good teams in the non-conference,
got some nice wins and managed to beat a Princeton team or get past a Princeton team in the Ivy League tournament.
And I think they're a solid squad.
But yeah, give me Auburn and San Diego State both advancing here.
I think the only time in this bracket that I have both the four and the five advancing.
Ah, interesting.
How about you to Isaac?
Interestingly, I am right in line with Andy on this.
one.
Props to UAB, as he said, for getting here and doing that knocking off or, you know,
South Florida doesn't win the AACs.
We have a bid thief situation there, but San Diego State behind Jaden Ladee, who is one of
my favorite players in the entire nation, a big dude and absolute stud.
San Diego State, a third, a third final four competitor from last season who was in the
top half of this east bracket moves on where they will face the Auburn Tigers.
Bruce Pearl's team is rolling.
They just won the SEC tournament championship on Sunday, right, leading just earlier
on Sunday afternoon leading up to the selection show.
Great stuff there.
Again, great for Yale, getting past Princeton, and then beating Brown on a buzzer
beter to win the Ivy League championship.
So, you know, for all of these schools, it's just an honor to be here.
But Auburn is going to take this one and play San Diego State in the second round.
I like it. I like it. So it's Auburn and San Diego State in the second round for Isaac. You two, Andy?
Yep, yep, me too as well. And I think I'm going to take San Diego State to advance here.
Ah, okay. To me, it's going to be a Geni versus Jadon matchup. Lade and Brougham and how that kind of shakes out in the front court for those two teams.
Auburn, I think, has a lot of depth. But San Diego State has been here before. A lot of guys back from a team that went all the way to the final four.
Brian Dutcher is a phenomenal coach. I think the matchup between him and Bruce Pearl is going to be a fun.
chess match on the sidelines, but give me the Aztecs being able to advance here.
Oh, Andy, this is where you're so stinking wrong.
Auburn, moving on past the Aztecs.
They can't make it back to the final four this year.
Auburn's rolling on.
You talked about how great Janai Broome's playing, and then you poop-pood it with Jaden
Ladis.
Nah, Janai Broome, Jalen Williams, the tigers are rolling on where they will face Yukon.
I know we're not getting there yet, but man, what a fun.
match up, that'll be definitely Auburn and not as Texas, San Diego State.
Interesting. So we finally have some shots fired on our bracket breakdown. I love it.
I absolutely love it. So it's interesting because this is always kind of where things start to
separate and where you kind of get those upsets, right? So speaking of that 5 and 12 upset for advice
on betting those 512 upsets here is our locked on bets insider. This is Lee Sterling with Paramount
Sports. You're locked on bets inside.
everyone loves to watch them bet the number five and 12 seed games. Why? The number 12 seeds have gone
53 and 99, almost 35 percent since the field was expanded to 64 teams in 1985. My top two
number 12 seeds to win straight up this year, James Madison. Moneyline plus 175 versus Wisconsin.
I think Wisconsin's energy is going to be sapped up after playing Purdue and also Illinois. And the last
two games, four games straight here. The Duke's 31 and 3. The average almost 85 points per game.
And Grand Canyon money line also plus 175 Bryce Drew's team. Third appearance here in 21 and 23.
I expect them to perform better and get at least to the second or third round. There are top 50 scoring
defense and offense here. Take a money line. For more insight in game selections, make sure to follow
me on social media at Paramount Sports and check out Paramountsports.com.
So guys, let's go down the rest of this east bracket and let me see where you kind of land
there as well.
Another one that oftentimes is an upset special is the 6-11.
You got BYU and Duquesne that are going to be dukeing it out, no pun intended.
Andy, which one of those teams are going to come out of that matchup?
And then, of course, we got the fighting Alinai, number three, Illinois at number 14 against
number 14 more head state who ends up moving on from that dupe out that matchup i'm just i'm really
chocked so far on this bracket i got i got both b yu and illinois advancing here dukane kind of like
uab they snuck into the tournament by winning they stealing a bid i think they're a good team they
were one of the better teams in the a 10 at the early part of the season they sort of struggled down
the stretch carried some momentum in here but i think b yu is a bit underseated as a six seat i think
they're going to roll here illinois playing some really good basketball
as of late. Really nice run through that Big Ten tournament.
Morehead State, I don't think, is going to be able to hold much of a chance here against Illinois.
And I got another chalk matchup here at three versus six in the second round.
Yeah, I think it was such a crazy weekend and such a crazy championship week that Illinois,
Wisconsin game was one of the few I actually got to watch.
And I was pretty impressed by what Illinois was able to do.
Oh, that's right.
Terran Shannon Jr. scored a career high 40 points this weekend in one of the big 10 games.
Great stuff.
They're rolling.
He along with Market.
to mask is just such a dynamic one-two punch for the Alina. Yes, I have them over more head state as well.
And in that first game, BYU as well. Now, something to keep in mind with BYU, there is a lot of
potential back and forth for them because they rely so heavily on the three-point shot.
When it's going down, it looks good for Mark Pope's team. When it's not, things can be a little bit
different, especially when they're not playing at that elevation like they do at Provo.
But shouts to Duquesne, as Andy said, that A-10 was one of the wildest tournaments we had last week,
where all four of the top four seeds lost in the quarter final rounds.
But a great run for Duquesne, but it ends here.
And then we get BYU and Illinois in the second round.
Andy and I, once again, with the chalk, and we apologize.
It's okay.
It's kind of fun when you guys disagree, but it's kind of cool when you guys agree, too,
because it means that we're kind of locked in lots up in what we see.
but now here it comes and whether or not you're going to agree once again.
Are we talking Illinois, BYU, who moves on, which way we going?
I'm going with Illinois.
I think BYU is going to have a tough time defending up against Coleman Hawkins and against the guards,
like Isaac mentioned, with Damascus and Terrence Shannon Jr.
And they're too relying on a three-point shot.
I think Illinois's got enough lengths to be able to slow them down,
make life a little bit difficult for the Cougars.
I think they'll put up a good fight,
but I think Illinois has been playing good basketball as of late,
and that'll continue and push them into the sweet 16.
Yeah, I agree, Andy.
I think that the Coleman Hawkins,
Fisinae Trey matchup should be a lot of fun inside there.
But man, it's just one of those things where if you're Mark Pope,
you look at the scouting report and you're like, man,
what if we schemed against Marcus Mask and just shut him down?
Well, then here comes Shannon Jr.
scoring about 87 points on you and vice versa.
So just too much offensive firepower for Illinois.
But be advised, folks, Illinois has a.
terrible defense. They are 93rd at Ken Palm defensive efficiency. That offense elite third,
but that defense could be their undoing, but I don't think it will be yet. I've got them moving
past the Cougars. Indeed. And let's look at the final two matchups in that East Region number
seven, Washington State, number 10, Drake, and then number two, Iowa State, number 15, South Dakota
State. And you want to talk about some getting, catching fire at the right time and getting hot
at the right time. Definitely we could say that about Iowa State. But first things first, Washington State
versus Drake, who you got, Iowa State versus South Dakota State who you got? Look, I couldn't go fully chalk
for the entire bracket or the entire region here. So I like this Drake team a lot. Tucker DeVrys is
one of the best players in the country that hasn't gotten as much attention. He's sixth in the
country in scoring, really talented power forward. His dad, Darien DeVrys is the head coach at Drake.
team took out Indiana State in the Missouri Valley Conference Tournament. And Washington State's
really good. Kyle Smith is a phenomenal coach, really good X's and O's, does a lot with maybe
not as much resources. That's why he's been so successful at Wazoo. But I think it ends here. I think
Drake is a 10-7 upset. Those don't get as much attention because they're pretty close in the bracket.
But I think Drake's going to advance here and get an opportunity to take on an Iowa State team
that I fully expect to advance over South Dakota State. Yep, agreed, Andy. And the interesting
thing here is that these games are in Omaha and Washington State's traveling all the way across the
country where Drake's going to be pretty close there. And so in some ways, it's one of those
geographical bummers for the Cougars who had a shot for a while at either getting the final
Pac-12 regular season championship, but just couldn't win enough games down the stretch. I'm right with you
for everything you said about Drake. I love DeVries. He's a dynamic score. If you haven't seen him,
you need to. Here's the problem when they face Iowa State in the second
around Iowa State, by the way, who's going to beat South Dakota State.
I just saw this team in person this weekend at the T-Mobile Center in Kansas City.
They are a dominant force on defense where they're the number one team in the nation
defensively at Ken Palm.
I cannot wait to see that matchup, Andy, of Iowa State's defense against Tucker DeVries.
It could be epic.
What do you think?
Yeah, I'm with you.
I think Iowa State advances there.
They're too good.
They're too talented defensively, too long, too well coached with T.J.
Opsilberger.
I think Greg's a good team and I think they have a great chance of being in that round of 32,
but I'd be pretty surprised if they find a way to pull off an upset and get into the Sweet 16.
Yeah, and that's a great call about location because when you think about Yukon, it's like,
yeah, you're just going to travel down to Brooklyn, not a big deal.
And that's, you know, that's one of the positives and one of the pluses of being that number one seat overall.
You kind of put it in position to hopefully get you to the final four.
So that'll make for interesting, even if FAU does get there, they're talking about traveling to Brooklyn.
And then, of course, you've got the next round, as we called it here, San Diego State and Auburn will be in Spokane.
And then, of course, if it goes, BYU or Illinois, or however that one goes, we're looking at Omaha.
So, yeah, it'll be interesting to see how those locales and those fan base is traveling for support, how that could impact how those teams play as well.
So we'll definitely be taking a look there.
Yeah, it's interesting, Tenitra, that that whole bottom half of the east is all in Omaha, both of those odds together.
Yes, I thought that was intriguing, too.
Yeah, and so they would have already seen, you know, whoever comes out of those two games will already know what they have as they head off to Boston the next weekend for the East Regional.
So that's going to be really interesting.
Something that we've neglected to mention here so far is that four of the six power conference tournament champions are all in this bracket.
As we already talked about, three of last year's final four teams are all in this bracket.
So a lot of postseason experience going to be really interesting in this East bracket.
We'll see what it means for the reigning national champion Yukon Huskies.
So let's go down to the West Bracket.
Of course, those teams are going to be playing in Charlottes,
Bocaham, Memphis, and Salt Lake City.
And at the top is your one seat in North Carolina
that's going to play either Howard or Wagner at the 16
and number eight Mississippi State takes on number nine Michigan State.
So Andy, North Carolina has been interesting.
So I'm just going to fall back as a North Carolina fan.
Isaac, I'm just going to fall back as a North Carolina.
a fan because sometimes they really traumatize me. And I'm going to let you guys at least make me
happy and say they're going to get out of that first matchup against the 16. Yeah, no concern about them
not advancing past that first round game. Yeah, I think we're feeling pretty confident about that.
In that second game, you got Mississippi State, Michigan State. And it's hard to bet against Tom Hizzo in March.
This team has been a colossal disappointment. They started the season as the fourth ranked team in the
country. They're getting a nine seed. And some people thought that was even more generous than maybe
they should have gotten, but that team's got a lot of depth, a lot of talent. I think they're going
to advance past Mississippi State and coach Christian's team, but setting up a North Carolina,
Michigan State 1-9 matchup, kind of interesting to see those seed lines next to those two teams as
two of the biggest powerhouses in college basketball. Yeah, Howard and Wagner are the two lowest-rated
teams in this entire field of 68. Whoever wins, congrats to them. They get some money for their
conference, but North Carolina is running over either of them. I've actually got Mississippi
state moving on past Michigan State.
I love Christian's defense.
This team they've got Tolu Smith, who wasn't able to play the beginning of the season with an injury.
Now he's back.
And boy, if that's able to happen, what an interior matchup we would have with he and Armando.
Baycott in round two.
I cannot wait to see the big boys go at it.
Interesting.
Interesting.
So out of that, North Carolina, are we talking, Andy, North Carolina taking on Mississippi State?
And who moves on?
Are we talking North Carolina?
Michigan State, who moves on?
Ultimately, who comes out of that matchup?
Yeah, it's still Carolina for me over Michigan State.
I think Michigan State, if they do advance,
we'll give North Carolina some trouble just because Tom is as a fantastic coach,
and he'll find some advantages and mismatches and whatnot.
But the Targills are just too good,
and I think they're going to advance and they're going to be in the Sweet 16.
Yep, Andy and I chose different teams to come out of that eight, nine game,
but the result of the second round is the same.
Tarheels are moving on.
They got humbled a little bit in the,
the NCAA or the ACC tournament on Saturday night against NC State.
Teneutra's wearing her red glasses to prove it.
But North Carolina is going to be locked and loaded.
They're moving on to the Sweet 16.
Indeed, indeed.
So let's talk about one of the fun ones.
At least it's been fun for me.
It seems like every time I tune in to watch that five, now five seed St. Mary,
they're winning a game.
So they've been fun to watch the entire season.
And then they'll take on the 12 seed Grand Canyon.
Alabama is in that four spot.
And Charleston is the number 13.
scene. Where do we see those two
matchups landing, Isaac?
Well, you know, I went back to the chalk
and it's so funny, even though we
have all these 512s, we know we're supposed to
pick. St. Mary's, who had
a difficult, troubling start to the season,
has really figured it out, ended up
winning the West Coast Conference regular
and conference tournament
championships. And so
I know Grand Canyon is a great
team with Bryce Drew as the head coach,
a man who has one of the single
greatest shots in NCAA tournament buzzer beating history.
But St. Mary's for me is moving on in this one, where they will play.
The Alabama Crimson Tide, Nate Oates and his team.
I love what Charleston brings to the table, but Alabama, just too much.
And so we're going to get St. Mary's and Bama in the second round.
Isaac, it is my turn to chastise you for your next year.
I not only didn't go chalk for one of these.
I didn't go chalk for either of these.
I got a 12-13 matchup in the second round.
round here. Give me Grand Canyon over St. Mary's. The Gales lost Joshua Jefferson. Their starting
power forward about two weeks ago. They did manage to beat Gonzaga once without him, but they lost
badly the other time these two teams played. Mason Forbes has stepped into the starting lineup. He is
offensively pretty enemic. Great defender, great rebounder, doesn't do much offensively. Feels like
they're playing four on five. I think Grand Canyon and Bryce grew can exploit that. Tyon Grant Foster is
one of the best mid-major players in the entire country. I think St. Mary is going to have trouble with
him. And on the other side here, Alabama just doesn't defend anybody. One of the worst defensive
teams at that Power Six level that we've seen all year long. Charleston is an incredibly well-coached
team. They're a disciplined team. They're a 30-win team last year. I picked Charleston to be a
12-5 upset last year. The team that they played last year was San Diego State who went to the
final four. So if I jinxed it and I'm sending Alabama to the final four, I apologize, especially
to our leader, Zach Blacker, be the host of Lockdown Auburn. But we will see if that happens. But I think we
could be seeing a fun mid-major matchup between Grand Canyon and Charleston in the second round there.
Andy, how wild would that be if Alabama did that a year after they were the number one
overall season fell off, so that would be pretty crazy.
Taneitra, just moving on, I'm actually going to stick with St. Mary's to beat Alabama in this game.
I know, as Andy said, they're down a little bit, but it's for me a rally the troops,
circle the wagons moment. Andy talked about Alabama's defense.
I mentioned earlier how woeful Illinois is defensively.
Alabama is even worse.
They can bomb away from three, just like
BYU we talked about earlier, but the defense
does not back it up.
St. Mary's going to the Sweet 16.
Mine would be Grand Canyon.
I'm taking Grand Canyon there, 12 seat over
a 13 seed. We've seen that before. Not very
often, but it has happened, but I think
the lobes are just, again, Tyon Grant Foster,
I mentioned him already, really talented young man.
I think Bryce Drew has done a really good job with this
program, and I think Drew and Pat Kelsey
are two coaches who might end up
being both at different schools next year, especially if this ends up being the matchup. But yeah,
give me Grand Canyon advancing the Sweet 16. Interesting, interesting. Now, as far as who could
bust up the brackets, like these guys have already started kind of busted up the brackets,
but as far as who else could bust up the brackets this year, here's our Lockdown College
Basketball and NBA Big Board contributor. Leave Tulene of Locked on NBA Big Board and College
Basketball here. And here is the Cinderella candidate, I think, will fit the slipper and make a run
in the big dance coming from the left side of your breakfast.
from the West region. It is the New Mexico Lobos, who are among the five bid thieves to get into
the tournament. The Lobos are actually favored by two and a half points in their opener against
Clemson, who is the six seed. That is very rare and indicates value there right off the bat.
Secondly, New Mexico is red hot, beating three good Mountain West teams consecutively in a league
that got six bids. What is prioritized in March? That's experience in guard play. The Lobos
have those in spades, as they are led by a terrific trio of Jalen House, the son of Eddie House,
Jamal Mashburn Jr., the son of Jamal Mashburn, and Donovan Dent, all three of whom
score 15 points or more per game, and they are joined by a blossoming NBA draft prospect
in J.T. Toppin, who has 13 points per game and nine boards. The Lobos are favored against
Clemson and then would face a susceptible to potent offense's three seed in Baylor, who ranks
poorly in the defensive metrics. Ride with the Lobos, howling beyond midnight, enjoy the mad.
Ride with the Lobos. I absolutely love that. I absolutely love it. But I got to ask
you guys. So let's talk about where that bracket is. Six-seed Clemson, 11-seed New Mexico. The third
Baylor, three-seat Baylor, 14 is Colgate. Where do you guys see that Clemson, New Mexico match up,
that Baylor-Colgate matchup? Yeah, I'm with Leif. I'm in lockstep here with Leif. I got
New Mexico advancing here. Clemson had a really strong start to the season. Great non-conference,
struggled a bit more as they got into conference play. We've seen that from this team in years past.
Meanwhile, New Mexico seems to be peaking at the right time Richard Petino's group.
As Leif said, got some really fantastic, talented players in House and Mashburn and Topin.
And I think they got an opportunity.
I think this, first of all, I think this is as a 6-11, I think these two teams are very evenly matched.
So if New Mexico does win, I don't consider that like a massive upset necessarily.
I think they're two really good teams.
And I do think Baylor advances past Colgate.
And I think a Baylor-New Mexico matchup could be really intriguing.
And I wouldn't be shocked if New Mexico gives them everything that they got.
But I do think that's what we're going to see in the round of 32.
How about you?
Well, here's the thing.
I love Leif and I love my man, Andy.
But they're wrong here because the Clemson Tigers are going to do work.
They've got PJ Hall, a first team All-American,
the most improved player in the ACC conference in Ian Shufflin,
not to mention Joe Gerard, transferring in from Syracuse,
wearing a different color of orange now, the best free throw shooter in the ACC.
And a whole host, Chase Hunter, running the show.
show. I know that New Mexico is hot right now, but Clemson, who's Clemson a little bit this
year is going to figure it out right here and bring it home. And they'll be playing Baylor.
Now, look, Colgate has been dominant again this season, won their regular season by like
six games. Tenecho, ridiculous stuff. But Baylor is going to win that basketball game.
All right, guys. Well, Cam Stewart with Lockdown, Baylor has more on the bear seating.
The Baylor Bears might have the most uncertain.
team on the one seed line within their region, but it also might be the toughest region for a three seed to even get to the sweet 16.
I'm Cam Stewart from Lockdown Bay, where the Bears are the three seed in the West region.
They are headed to play the Colgate Raiders in Memphis in the first round.
That is Friday that they will be taking on Colgate.
The number one seed is North Carolina, the number two seed Arizona.
So those are the two to look out for and nothing to sneeze at Alabama on that four line right behind them.
but the Bears got to get past the second round first in order to face one of those two teams.
Also in the region, Bryce Drew's Grand Canyon Antelopes as the 12 seed going into this tournament.
So potentially a huge storyline there.
So for all the news to keep up with the Bears throughout the NCAA tournament,
go ahead and follow Locked on Baylor, part of the Locked on podcast network,
your team every day.
So that was kind of a positive spin at the end for more coverage on Baylor.
throughout the tournament.
So we're going to go in that.
But are we going that in that direction as well?
I know you guys are kind of on different sides of the fence,
whether it's Clemson or it's New Mexico State,
but either one of them, Isaac,
does either one of them beat Baylor to move on?
I do have Clemson winning this basketball game over Baylor.
I enjoy Baylor.
I like their team.
Jacoby Walters, one of the best freshmen in the entire country.
But Clemson just too much, too physical for them.
And look, while we've got two,
two Drews in this region. There's only one Petino in the entire NCAA tournament. It is Richard,
the son of Rick Petino. St. Johns didn't make it. Andy, I don't know. Is New Mexico going to get on
past Baylor here? I don't have New Mexico advancing here. I think Baylor's too, too good offensively.
They have too many different ways to beat you with Walter, with Ray J. Dennis. Eves Missy has played
just incredible basketball for this team, a freshman who's really emerged. And while I like J.T. Topin,
and I think the Topin Missy matchup would be extremely fun if these two teams.
teams were to square off.
Baylor's got too many athletes that are extremely well coached with Scott Drew, and I think that
they'd be advancing here.
Yeah.
And then we look to our seven and ten seeds where you start to see kind of the tightening
up, for lack of a better term, of the competition, and then you've got the 215.
Now, the 7-10, of course, you've got Dayton, that seven-seat Nevada, that 10-seat, Arizona,
Azure 2-Seed, and a Long Beach State team that still has a coach technically that Monday
they found out they wouldn't have as a coach number 15 long beach state all right guys
Isaac who comes out of that seven 10 matchup who comes out of that 215 showdown i actually
have nevada winning this one dayton has been a little up and down weird topsy turvy for me
uh like as highly rated as as they've been in the computer polls uh just didn't do enough
actually winning basketball games day ron holmes though one of the best big men in the entire
country is a lot of fun to watch. But I've got Nevada winning that game. And then Tommy Lloyd's team,
yes, Long Beach State. What a hilarious story with Don Monson getting fired on Monday and winning the
conference tournament over the weekend. But Tommy Lloyd's Wildcats led by Pack 12 player of the year,
Caleb Love, going to get the win there. I am also going with Nevada, which means I realized in
this region, I have the 9, 10, 11, 12, and 13 seed all advancing. Definitely not chalk in the West
region. Nevada's played some great basketball as of late. I think the Mountain West is kind of
is a better, is a superior conference to the A10 this year. I think they face better competition.
Dayton's, Duron Holmes is fantastic. Nevada's got some really good players as well, and I think
they got a chance to pull off the upset here. And I do believe they'll face Arizona.
I want to shout out the Gonzaga connection between this Arizona and Long Beach State matchup.
Dan Monson was the head coach of the Gonzaga team that went to the elite eight in 1999 before
Mark Few took over. Tommy Lloyd was an assistant coach shortly after that for 20.
years at Gonzaga before taking that job at Arizona. These two guys have known each other for
decades. I think that makes this a very fun, a little bit bittersweet matchup for Dan Munson
because a pretty realistic chance this is the last game he coaches as a head coach in college
basketball. Yeah, yeah. And it's going to be interesting because, yeah, 18 seasons and who could
have kind of saw it ending in this way for him. But like you all said, we look to Arizona to move on
and we look to Nevada to move on when we see that matchup kind of.
How do we see that playing out?
Well, you know, in that game, I got to go with Arizona.
The firepower is just too much.
I know they've lost a couple of times down the stretch here in the PAC 12
semifinals and in the PAC 12 regular season finale at USC,
but just too much Arizona, too much firepower.
We named Caleb Love, but Umar Balo in the post,
Kylan Boswell, Kashad Johnson, who transferred from San Diego State,
just a lot there.
I disagree. I'm going with Nevada.
And Arizona and Tommy Lloyd, certainly they really want to get this monkey off their back of losing early in the NCAA tournament.
But I don't think it's going to happen there. I think we've seen this team.
They lose to Oregon State in the regular season.
They give up 100 points to Stanford in the regular season.
I think teams have started to figure out how to beat this Arizona team.
They have a tremendous amount of talent.
They live and die a lot by Caleb Love.
And that experiment has not always gone well, even though he has had a phenomenal season away from Chapel Hill.
I think Nevada, they're top 40 defense, top 40 offense.
They slow the pace down.
I think if they can dictate pace,
force Tommy Lloyd's team to play a little bit outside of their comfort zone
as a team that likes to run and gun.
I wouldn't be surprised if Nevada,
especially if they shoot it well,
pulls off a pretty big stunner here and advances in the Sweet 16.
It's going to be interesting to see how this thing goes down.
Listen, we are just getting started at the right side of the bracket.
Poses interesting first round matchups,
including Zaga getting the dreaded 512 matchup.
Will they survive?
and advance. We're going to find out, but first.
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Welcome back to the 2024 locked-on bracket breakdown presented by Nissan.
Time to take it to the south of Dallas bracket that's ultimately going to land in Dallas.
But of course, we know first starts in Memphis, Brooklyn, Pittsburgh, Indianapolis, which is not really south.
But anywho, number one, the one seed there in that bracket is Houston.
And they'll be taking on the number 16 seed in Longwood.
And then your number eight, Nebraska, against number nine, Texas A&M.
Guys, who comes out of those matchups? Isaac will start with you.
Look, Houston, we know one in 16, so we just thumbs up that and keep moving.
Nebraska's been a fun story this year coming out of the Big Ten, but Texas A&M, who just knocked off Kentucky in the SEC tournament, has so much firepower in the back court, led by Wade Taylor the fourth.
I got the Aggies. Gigum, take that on to the second round.
No, I'm not with you on that one. A&M's far, far too inconsistent. I think they're like,
bottom 10 team in the country and three point percentage. Look, Wade Taylor is phenomenal.
Radford is phenomenal when they're on, but those guys are not on too often for me.
I think Nebraska is a more consistent team. I think they're going to be the team that advances here.
Obviously, no argument with Houston. And I think, I don't want to speak for Isaac here, but I got Houston.
Oh, you can. I got Houston all in the sweet 16 advance and past either Nebraska or A&M.
Give me all that Jamal should, man.
Yeah, he's a bad.
Bad, bad, man. So let's just go to our 512 and see if we've got any upset specials there.
We've got Wisconsin as the number five seed.
And we got James Madison as the number 12.
And then we've got the Dukies at number four and number 13 Vermont.
Where are we going, Isaac?
It's weird.
I keep picking all the chalk in these five 12s and four 13s.
And I'm doing it again.
I know.
How boring of me.
But look, Wisconsin, who had closed the regular season, losing eight of
their final 11 games somewhere finds what they had done prior to the beginning of February and turns it
back around in the Big Ten tournament knocking off Purdue as part of it. I've got them upset and upsetting
James Madison, even though James, not upsetting, good grief, beating James Madison. Boy, that would be
funny if James Madison was favored. Beating James Madison, despite the fact that James Madison has had
success against the Big Ten started off the season beating Michigan State, but I got Wisconsin here.
and then Duke, while they have had some troubles, just too much for the Vermont's team.
Yeah, I'm going James Madison.
Lee Sterling said that he's got James Madison and Grand Canyon is the two 12 seats to watch.
I'm 100% lockstep there as well.
I got the Duke's here moving on.
Mark Bionton, a phenomenal coach.
I think he's probably coaching his last couple games at James Madison.
I know West Virginia, among other schools are really eyeballing him as a potential replacement.
But I kind of, I think having said that,
this is going to be the trendy.
I guarantee you this is going to be the trendiest 12-5 upset.
100% because Wisconsin has struggled.
It is very well known that they have struggled.
James Madison was immediately in the headlines three days into the college basketball season
because they beat Michigan State because they beat Kent State.
So for more casual fans who have kind of just been in and out,
they know James Madison has some big upsets, they know Wisconsin struggled,
they know 12-5 upsets are the pick.
They're going to pick it.
I'm going to pick it.
but we have seen a lot of years where the most popular trendy 12-5 upset pick is not necessarily
the one to go with hedging my bet a tiny bit there.
But I am going to stick with James Madison.
And I have them playing.
It's going to be the Duke's first Duke.
Yeah.
I want to ask you, how big a factor was that in this upset decision?
A bit, yeah.
Duke's versus Duke is definitely a fun storyline that we could roll with there.
But no, the catamounts are a good squad.
I think they've won eight straight conference regular season titles.
but Duke's just too good.
They're struggling a little bit.
I'm not sure they're going to be as dominant of a program in this tournament,
but I think they're going to advance here past Vermont.
But does it matter, Isaac, because at the end of the day,
are we not so ultimately saying,
hey, whichever one of you guys run up on U of H is going to be a done deal?
Yeah, I mean, ultimately, you know,
I will eventually have Houston moving all the way through.
We'll talk about that later.
But I do have Wisconsin beating Duke here.
Duke is this more supremely talented team, clearly,
but they have shown youth and inconsistency this year.
Wisconsin is a veteran team.
They are methodical.
Their offense, you know, typically when we think Wisconsin, what do we think?
Bow Ryan, defense, let's grind to a halt.
This Wisconsin team is a good offensive unit.
I think they can knock off the Blue Devils and I have them doing so.
You can pat yourself on the back for your bold five seat over a four seat.
I'm taking my 12 seat over a four seat here.
No, no, no, five over four is awesome.
Give me James Madison, Sweet 16.
Give me the Duke's year.
I think they can take him.
Kyle Filipowski, obviously, is a huge storyline for Duke if he's playing well.
If he's doing what he's able to do, I think James Madison's going to have a hard time,
but they got two really talented, really veteran players.
I already mentioned Byington, a phenomenal coach.
We saw this team knock up a really good Michigan State team.
We've seen them do it time and time again.
I think this is an opportunity for another 12 seed to be in the Sweet 16
and setting up a nice matchup between Houston and James Madison.
Andy, where do we see it going? When we start to look a little bit further down the bracket,
you've got Texas Tech as a six seed, NC State as the 11 seed, Kentucky in that three spot in
Oakland at 14. Where do we see those two matchups playing out?
Back to go in shock here. I got Texas Tech advanced and past NC State. Look, what an incredible
run from the Wolfpack. They deserve all the golf claps in the world for winning five straight
games. They beat five teams who had all won a national championship in this in the 2000s.
That's an incredible accomplishment, even if Louisville and Syracuse are not exactly at the
level they've been in the past, but still a huge run for them, but I think it runs out here.
Texas Tech really well-coached team. Grant McAflin does an awesome job with that group.
I think they advance. I think Kentucky advances past Oakland here as well.
Just too much firepower, too much peer talent on that Wildcats team to not to suffer a loss here.
So I think we look at a three-six matchup between the Red Raiders and the Wildcats of Kentucky.
Completely agree on the Kentucky side of things.
But I have NC State keeping it on.
Our ACC team advancing from I think.
Yeah, you know what?
I didn't even really realize that, but here we are.
But let me say this.
NC State is just the second ever team to win five games in five days to win their conference tournament championship.
The other, the Kemba Walker, Kenba Walker, Yukon Huskies team that went on to also win
the NCAA tournament. Now, I don't think NC State's about to do that, but I do have them getting past
Texas Tech. The Red Raiders are a little bit banged up here. As Andy said, Coach McCaslin has done a great
job in his first year in Lubbock. But NC State and their big man inside, DJ Burns is a force
to be reckoned with. He had seven assists in that ACC championship game. Watch what happens as he is
inside with guys like DJ Horn. It's the DJ DJ DJ show for NC State. Give me the Wolfpack
moving on to the second round.
Gotcha. So if we then look and we're going to stop for a second and kind of hear a little bit more about this,
but there are some intriguing matchups to figure out whether or not who those teams are going to meet as well.
And that's with our number 7 seed in Florida and then our number 10 seed there with Colorado,
Boise State, number two, Marquette and number 15 in western Kentucky.
But let's hear from our guy Brandon Olson with locked on gators.
He'll have more for us on Florida's position in the tournament.
It turns out going three in one and quad one this weekend and being the SEC runner up means nothing to the NCAA tournament.
I'm Brandon Olson with Locked on Gators.
The Florida Gators are the seven seed in the south bracket and will face either the winner of Boise State or Colorado.
And then if they win, they will face off with likely Marquette, Kentucky's in the bracket, Nebraska, Wisconsin, Texas A&M, Duke and Houston.
And the Florida Gators, it's an interesting situation to play the winner of a play-in game on Friday
because you don't have all this time to prep.
You are coming off a huge injury with Micah Handlockton who will miss the entire tournament.
But the Florida Gators will persevere and show up,
and I still don't understand how everybody thought that they'd be a five or six seed going into the SEC tournament.
Then they went three and one in quad one games, including a.
a loss to Auburn.
And somehow, the Florida Gators are a seven seed for more coverage of the Florida Gators
during this entire tournament.
Check out Locked on Gators, your team every day.
So Brandon has made his case for his Florida Gators.
They're the, like we said, the number seven seed versus either Colorado or Boise State
at number 10.
Isaac, who do he thinks coming out of that matchup?
And then, of course, we've got Marquette versus Western Kentucky, the 215 seed.
Well, Brandon's right.
What happens in the SEC tournament often doesn't show.
show much to the selection committee, it seems year after year.
I've got the slash, the slash winning this basketball game.
Whether it's Boise State or Colorado, I think either of them will knock off the gators.
I hate the loss from Micah Handlogton in the SEC championship game.
Boise State is underseeded.
They should have been ranked more highly, as we've said about a couple of Mountain West teams.
Colorado has so much talent, KJ Simpson, Cody Williams, another one of the best freshmen in America.
Tristan de Silva. This threesome can really put it together. They've struggled with some consistency this year.
But I honestly, truly like either of these teams to beat Florida. And then Marquette, Tyler Kolek, is ready to go.
According to Shocker Smart, we'll see what happens this week. But they're going to beat Western Kentucky.
Yeah, I hate the hand-locked an injury for Florida. I'm curious if that made an impact on them getting seated at his seven when, yeah, I can totally understand B.O's argument for them being a six, maybe even a five-seat.
but Todd Golden, phenomenal coach for the Gators.
He's a very analytical mind, I think takes a lot of research.
I think the fact that he won't get as much time to prep for his opponent is something that could impact the Gators.
I'm with Isaac 100%.
Boise State or Colorado, whoever wins that game, which is going to be a really fun game, by the way.
That team, I think, advances past Florida.
They end up playing Marquette, who even if Kolek's not at 100%,
they're going to advance past Western Kentucky.
We'll see if that impacts them a little bit further down the line in this tournament.
But I think you're going to see Marquette playing either Boise State.
of Colorado in that second round.
Okay.
And when we go to that second round, where do we go from there?
Because we're still looking to see who's going to meet the bond at U of H.
but where are we going in that second round?
Who moves on from there, Andy?
I got Marquette moving on.
I got Marquette in Kentucky playing each other.
Fairly chalk right there.
But I think for starters, if that ends up being a matchup, wow, that's going to be an
incredibly fun basketball game, too high-level offenses, two extremely talented guardrooms.
That's a really fun matchup.
And I think that's what we're going to end up seeing coming out in the Sweet 16.
I got the exact same, nothing more to say about it.
Oh, love it, love it, love it.
We are going to keep trucking along.
We're headed to the Midwest round one.
And, of course, Midwest will be in Detroit, but they'll start off in Indianapolis,
Salt Lake City, Pittsburgh, and Charlotte.
So let's go up to the top seed in this particular region.
We're talking Purdue here, and of course number 16 will be Grambling or Montana State.
And then we look at number eight Utah State against number nine.
TCU. Let's take those matchups first. And guys, let me know where you're landing. Isaac.
I got Purdue. It ain't going to be last year, baby. They're moving on. No sweat, no worries at all.
And then Utah State Aggies, man, what a story they have been this year. Great stuff.
The eight seed Utah State Aggies moving on to face Purdue. It's not going to be the same story for Purdue.
I'm with you. I would love it if Montana State and Utah State advanced because Montana State's
coach, Danny Sprinkle, took the job at Utah State last year. That'd be kind of a fun story.
line, but it's not going to happen. Purdue is advancing. I do also have Utah State, the Aggies. I think
they were underseated like we've talked about with a handful of Mountain West schools as a team that
was in first place in the Mountain West for the vast majority of the season. Eight Seed felt a little
bit disrespectful in my mind, a really talented program there. And I think they advanced past TCU.
And do we see Purdue or Utah State coming out of that matchup? Oh, it's going to be Purdue.
I love Utah State. I'm excited about the matchup inside between one of the best names in college basketball,
Right, Osabor against Purdue's national player of the year, presumptive dude, Zach Eady.
But those sophomore guards have grown up.
Purdue moves on to the Sweet 16.
No, I'm picking a stunner here.
I think Utah State would need a great performance from Osabor, but I think they could get it.
I think Purdue, I know they're kind of the team that you can dunk on a little bit because of the loss of the 16C last year.
But we've seen Purdue be susceptible to some teams that can play the style that Utah State can play.
They're a really well-coached team.
they can pack it in, force Zach E to get rid of the basketball,
force those guards to beat them.
I do agree with Isaac.
Those guards are vastly improved from where they were last year,
Braden Smith and Fletcher lawyer.
Apologies to the lawyer family.
It's right.
Yeah, big apologies this time.
I think Utah State is going to send a message
that the Mountain West deserves to be a little bit better seated,
and I think they're going to advance here and shock the world.
And you can't pick all the one seats to be in the Sweet 16 every year.
That's no fun.
So I think this is the opportunity where Purdue could fall a little early.
And certainly that would continue the reputation that Matt Painter has unfortunately already gained for not being able to win in March.
Yeah, and if this is the year where you don't see all the ones get to the Sweet 16, I mean, nobody would be shocked.
It's been cray-crae before we even got to March, Matt is officially officially.
Let's go down to Salt Lake City with the 512 matchup between Gonzaga and McNeese and the four matchup between N-13, Kansas and Samford.
Andy, where are we going?
Yeah, I'm staying chalk here, Gonzaga versus Kansas, and the South.
second round here. McNeese, great story. Will Wade is a phenomenal coach, takes this job over
after everything that went down at LSU. A team went on a 10-game winning streak even before he got
back from his suspension. But here's the deal. McNeice played one team that made the NCAA tournament,
and it was UAB who only made the tournament on the legitimate last day because they pulled a
surprising run in the AAC. This is just not a team that has played enough talented experienced teams
to be able to be as prepared for this game as they need to be. While I like a lot of,
Will Wade as a coach.
Give me the Zags that outside of that loss to St. Mary's in the WCC Championship,
they were red hot for the last six weeks of the season playing some phenomenal basketball.
They have enough size, enough experience, guard play with way Ryan Nimbard's been playing lately,
I think in Zagga advances.
And look, Kansas is susceptible.
They're susceptible right now.
If Hunter Dickinson and Kevin McCull are, I kept trying to say KJ Adams, if those two guys are not at 100%,
even if they play, if they're not at 100%, there's just no depth.
for this Jayhawks team outside of the four the four key starters Adams Dickinson, Nicolar,
and Juan Harris, they just haven't gotten a lot of other performances.
If those two guys are banged up at all, Samford, they play a unique style of basketball.
I think there's a chance here.
Having said that, I am picking Kansas to advance.
I just think that's a game to keep an eye on.
Fair enough.
Oh, give me Gonzaga.
I thought about some McNeese and Will Wade, but Gonzaga, too much, been playing so much better lately.
And while I've been going a lot of chalk in this bracket, I will not be going with the rock chalk because the Jayhawks are going to lose to Samford.
Bucky ball, their pressure style.
It's going to get to a short-handed potentially, but definitely no-depth Kansas team.
What do you do against pressure, which Sanford brings literally every possession?
You need depth.
Kansas doesn't have it.
Will Hunter Dickinson be full go?
Will Kevin McCuller be full go?
We don't know.
But even still, the season long thing has been Kansas struggles at the shooting guard position.
Andy and I've talked about that at infanitem.
This is where it comes back to Biden.
Bucky Ball is moving on to the second round.
Wow.
Well, for more on who could bust up more of the brackets this year.
And listen, you guys just heard our guys bust up brackets.
But here's Locked on college basketball.
And NBA, big board contributor talk about some bracket busting.
leave two lean of locked on NBA big board and locked on college basketball here and here's the
Cinderella candidate I think will fit the slipper and make a run in the big dance coming from the right hand side of your bracket.
This team sports a 30 and three record and have a coach with experience winning games in the big dance and Will Wade.
They're the McNeese Cowboys.
McNeese is led by a former Big 12 transfer in guard Shahada Wells who scores 18 points per game, adding five assists per games.
McNeice shoots a lot of threes hitting 39% of them, which is good for 7,000.
nationally. And then McNeese also forced a lot of turnovers at a high rate sporting a steel
percentage of 14% good for six nationally. Additionally, this team has wins over the American
Conference Champion UAB, who is another 12 seed by 21 points, beat Michigan by double digits,
along with VCU who is in the championship game for the 18, A10 by double digits.
They are also well ranked in Ken Palm and adjusted efficiency on offense and defense,
ranking ahead of other teams that made the tournament from high majors.
That's really hard to be, and they've done it well.
McNeese plays a team in Gonzaga that was supposedly going to be a six seed.
That was a five because BYU does not play on Sundays,
so perhaps less warranting the seed line they possess.
Gonzaga is a team that is heavily relying on bigs to score,
and McNeese has the ability to disrupt and take the ball away from guards
and disrupt the ability to get the ball into the post,
which is where Gonzaga makes their hay.
And that makes this a very interesting game.
The winner then would face either a dilapidated can
Kansas side that has struggled and could be without their best player and Kevin McCuller
should they top the Socon champs Samford.
Sanford also presses a lot and could beat Kansas.
So you could see double upset madness coming from this side.
Let's see if McNeese can cause chaos and mayhem in Salt Lake City.
I'll be at the games expecting to see it.
So Leif is thinking he's giving McNeese maybe a little bit more credit than we did.
But ultimately speaking, I want to hear what you guys think about who's coming out of that
space to ultimately meet Purdue. I know that you guys are a little bit split there, but tell me
from where we were before Leaf started to where we're going to be, who's going to meet Purdue?
Well, Andy. Samford. Samford wins this basketball game. And why do I have to do this? Because one of my
bold predictions preseason was that Gonzaga's Sweet 16 streak would end this year. And it happened
at the hand of the Sanford Bulldogs.
I got to keep my bold prediction rolling,
and this is how it's going to happen.
You got great in the final four, right?
Oh, you don't.
We'll get there later.
I got Gonzaga advancing here past Kansas in this situation.
Again, Kansas is pretty banged up.
We'll see how healthy they are.
Grammy-K versus Hunter Dickinson,
incredibly fun matchup on the low block.
But I ultimately think the depth issue is going to be a problem for Kansas.
I think Gonzaga, the way they've been rolling as of late.
be able to advance here. Again, for me, not playing Purdue, actually playing Utah State in that
Sweet 16 matchup. I would be a really intriguing one. Yeah, interesting, interesting indeed.
Let's go to the bottom of that Midwest bracket where we see South Carolina at the six seed.
We see Oregon in at 11, Creighton at 3 and Akron at 14. How do we see those playing out, Andy?
Yeah, I'm taking South Carolina and Creighton here. I don't think Oregon's very good.
Shout out to them for winning the Pac-12 tournament.
The final Pac-12 tournament.
final back 12th tournament. I think Dana Altman saved his job. I think if he had lost any of those
games that he would be one of the coaches we would hear being on the chopping block, but he managed
to find a way to get those Ws and now might get an opportunity if they do pull off a win to play
his old school at Creighton. But ultimately, I think Lamont Paris and the Gamecox are going to
advance here. Really good job by him this year. This team is not expected to be anywhere near
this conversation, and yet they are. I don't think Oregon's got the horses to win this one.
Akron, funny story that they got into the NCAA tournament.
Funny is maybe not the right word, kind of more tragic for Kent State,
who unfortunately player made a mistake and committed a foul when he shouldn't have
and the team ends up losing because of that.
But Creighton is so talented.
They got some depth issues that I think could trip them up a little later in this tournament,
but I think they advance here and they end up playing South Carolina.
Well, you know, South Carolina, as Andy said, was picked dead last in the SEC preseason poll.
they finished tied for second. Great job by Lamont Paris. But I actually have Oregon continuing to
ride the wave of their Pac-12 tournament run in Folly Dante is an absolute dude, 16.2 points per game. Jackson
Sheldstad is a fantastic freshman for the ducks there, 13.1 points a game. So they might not have the
horses to win this game, but they got the ducks to win this game and they're going to do it. See what I
did there? But I'm right with Andy on Creighton. Too much firepower from everyone, but the guy I call
egg.
All righty. So regardless of which one of those teams plays Creighton, whether it is South Carolina or it is Oregon, does Creighton come out of that matchup to move on?
I have. I have Creighton coming out. Yeah, I think, again, the top four guys they have in Alexander and Ashworth and Baylor Shireman and Ryan Cockburner, that group is just so, so good. And they're not getting a lot of contributions from anybody else, not from Mason Miller, not from Firebella, like some of the other guys. And I think that could trip them up later. But I think they're good enough to advance.
past South Carolina, such a dynamic offense, high scoring offense, especially when Ashworth is shooting
well from deep. So give me the Blue Jays advance into the Sweet 16.
Got nothing different for me. Give me the Creighton Blue Jays. I had them as Andy joked about as a preseason
final four team. And I'm not coming off of that in this game. Well, we will see what Andrew
Lyon has to say about that. He is with our locked on Gamecocks and has more on South Carolina's
position in the tournament. The South Carolina Gamecocks are a number six seed. And
anything else would have been wrong.
I'm Andrew Lyon from Locked-on Gamecocks.
For the first time in seven years,
South Carolina will be going dancing in March Madness.
The Gamecocks are number six seed in the Midwest region,
which I think is a little bit low.
A lot of projections have them as a number five seed going to this bracket,
but I don't think it's a bad deal at the end of the day.
The big dogs in this region are the Purdue Boilomakers,
the Tennessee volunteers, and the Creighton Blue Jays.
The South Carolina Gamecocks will be taking on the number 11 seed organ ducks in the first round.
The Oregon Ducks won the Pack 12 tournament championship,
so they are definitely on a hot street right now,
and they're led by former Gamecock, Jermaine Kuzanard.
For more on the South Carolina Gamecocks,
subscribe to Lockdown Gamecocks,
part of the Locked on podcast network, your team every day.
Well, we'll see if Andrew is right on that one,
or if you guys are right on the money with South Carolina,
but ultimately speaking,
let's go a little bit further down the Midwest bracket
where we see Texas,
the number 7C,
taken on either Virginia or Colorado State at number 10.
And of course,
the 2C Tennessee will take on number 15 in St. Peter's.
Where do you see those matchups going, Isaac?
Well, I took the slashy earlier coming out of the playing game,
and guess what is happening all over again.
I know Andy gave me a hard time about the ACC earlier,
and so let's fix that because I'm going with Colorado State coming out of that game and beating Texas,
who's been underwhelming a year after making it to the elite eight.
And then look, St. Peter's won against an SEC team coming out of that 15-2 matchup a couple of years ago
when they knocked off Kentucky in the 2022 tournament.
It ain't happening this year.
Too much Dalton Connect.
The Vols are moving on to the round two.
I'm with you 100% here.
I'm also taking this last year between Virginia and Colorado State.
picking both opportunities for those 10 seats in the play in advance, in part because Florida's
vulnerable with hand-locked in. And frankly, I think Texas was a bit overseeded as a seventh seat.
I don't think they're quite that good. And certainly when they're at full health, they can be
really talented. And Dylan DeSue is a big factor for them. But ultimately, I'm taking the slash
between Colorado State and Virginia. I think ultimately it is going to be Colorado State.
Isaiah Stevens is just such a dynamic, talented all-around guard, one of the better mid-major
guards in the country. And I think that's what we're going to see advanced there. And I do think
that that team Colorado State went up playing Tennessee.
Again, love the peacocks, love the story.
It was a phenomenal run a couple years ago.
The fact that they lined them up as a 15 seed against the dominant SEC team once again is pretty
entertaining, but Dalton Connect is too good.
I think Tennessee advances here.
And Andy, is it Colorado State or Tennessee who moves on?
Tennessee.
I got to, again, Tennessee is just so good.
Rick Barnes has had his issues advancing in the NCAA tournament.
There's no secret about that, no surprise there.
but what he needed on this roster was a go, a bucket getter type of score,
along with all the defensive role players that they had around him.
They add Dalton Connect.
He's the perfect piece alongside Vescovy and Ziegler and Jonas Adieu and everybody else on that roster.
And I think we've seen them be susceptible to some losses at times,
but ultimately when this team is on, they're really, really good.
And I think they're going to find a way to play themselves into the Sweet 16 again.
Yeah, shake off the rest of what you saw in the SEC tournament last week.
Tennessee wins this game.
Colorado State has been just too inconsistent, two up and down this year, particularly in
Mountain West play. As great as Isaiah Stevens is, Tennessee has the defense to shut him down
and enough offense to get it done. Move on to the Sweet 16. So what's the highest seed we could
see make the final four and which number one seed will fall first? We'll give you our picks,
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Welcome back to the 2024 Locked on Bracket Breakdown presented by Nissan. So guys, it is time to
move on through our brackets down to our suite 16. Let's take it to the east first. And Andy,
I want you to take us through where you landed coming from 6860.
slash 64, down to our 32 and ultimately to our sweet 16. Who you got? Yeah, it's pretty chalk here
for me in the east and it kind of stays that way all the way through. I was one, two, three,
and five with San Diego State beating Auburn is the only upset to have happen in this region.
So you got Yukon versus San Diego State in the suite 16, of course, a rematch of the national
championship game from last year. And then you got Iowa State in Illinois, your Big 12 and Big 10 conference
tournament champions, really exciting stuff.
there. And I got Yukon advancing here past And Diego State, just like they did last year. And I got
Iowa State out of the Big 12. They've just been playing some incredible basketball, elite, elite defensive
team for T.J. Alsoberger. So give me Yukon and Iowa State, the one versus the two. I know it's not
very fun, but I do think those are the two best teams in the East region. I think those are the
teams that are advancing. And give me the Huskies going back to the final four. No team who has won
a national championship has even advanced past the Sweet 16, the following.
years since Florida went back to back in 2007, 2008.
But give me Yukon going all the way to the final four out of the East region.
Crazy to think it's been 15 years.
But yeah, Isaac, you definitely were in the Yukon space, but maybe some of the other teams,
that's where kind of we split.
And it's not so much chalk.
Yes.
Well, first, before we get lit up, Florida's back-to-back was 06 and 07.
So I don't want Raymond Olson jumping out at us here.
But this is the one region where I do have chalk.
one, two, three, and four in the sweet 16.
So Yukon against Auburn.
I'm going with the Huskies breaking that streak that Andy was just talking about there,
making it to the lead eight against Iowa State.
Look, Illinois is such a good elite offensive basketball team,
but Iowa State is the number one defensive team at Ken Palm.
I love this matchup because of that offense defense.
Iowa State too much.
We saw that against Houston in the Big 12 championship game.
And then this is where I have my first one seed falling.
Iowa State is going to knock off the number one overall team in this tournament.
The Cyclones going through the final four with T.J. Otselberger.
Whoa, you heard it here first.
So let me make sure I make a note that this is where we kind of part the waters in that eastern region.
Well, Mark Zanetto with Locked on, Yukon has more on the Huskies attempt to repeat.
is the number one overall seed right where they belonged,
even before the rest of the number ones and their regular season with a loss.
Hi, I'm Mark Sennetto, your host of Locked on Yukon.
The Huskies open up the fence of their national title in Brooklyn Friday against the Stetson Hatters.
The East bracket has the Big Ten champs, Illinois, the SAC champs, Auburn, the SAC champs,
Auburn, the Big 12 champs, Iowa State, the A10 champs, Duques, and the AAC champs UAB.
But let's be honest, the reality is, for those teams and every other bracket,
it's Yukon's dance.
No matter how many challenges you put in front of Danny Hurley and his team,
nothing is stopping the champs from going back to back in Phoenix.
Go check out my show daily on YouTube and wherever you get your podcast.
This will be a fun few weeks as we are in the mix for number six.
I love it.
I love it.
I remember those words as well because I'm interested to see kind of how this plays out
for Yukon being the number one seed overall.
That said, let's take it down to L.A.
and look at what's going on in our Western bracket.
Isaac, we're going to start with you this time.
Take us through from where you are,
seated with the Sweet 16 and bring us all the way to your final four.
Yeah, my Sweet 16 had North Carolina and St. Mary's,
the one in five seeds,
and then Clemson and Arizona, the six and the two.
And North Carolina, look, St. Mary's,
Andy talked about earlier, has some injury stuff going on right now.
Just too much talent, too much depth and experience for the Tar Heels,
RJ Davis, the ACC player of the year,
presumptive first team All-American,
takes the Tar Heels to the Elite 8,
where they will face their former teammate,
Caleb Love, and former assistant coach, Steve Robinson,
against Tommy Lloyd's team.
I love this matchup.
The back court of RJ Davis and Caleb Love
going off against each other,
the front court of Armando Beacott and Umar Balo.
So much fun stuff.
Pella Larson, probably against Harrison.
That should be a blast to former Pac-12.
player or one current pack 12 player and one former pack 12 player squaring off i love this matchup but i have
the north carolina tar heels moving on to the final four i i i love the north carolina
arizona matchup i think it'd be absolute blast but i had nevada upsetting arizona in that second
or in that second round you shouldn't have done that andy you should have too late that's what
we got going on uh so i have uh north carolina taken on grand canyon i have balear taken on nevada so
It's a one, a three, a 10, and a 12, a very unique bottom half here of the bracket.
Again, it has been a season full of parity, so why not toss a couple double-digit seeds into the sweet 16.
I do got the tar heels advancing past Grand Canyon, I think, just too much firepower for Hubert Davis's team,
too much size in the front court with Baycott and Ingram.
And I got Baylor over Nevada for a lot of the same reasons.
Baylor's guard room is just so, so good.
They have had their struggles at times defensively, but I think they're good enough on that end of the floor,
especially with their explosive offense to advance past the Wolfpack.
I got Baylor and, excuse me, North Carolina and Baylor in that Elite 8 matchup.
And give me the bears here.
I know that the defense is an issue for them in Carolina has been playing some good defense,
especially as of late.
But I think there's a really fun, intriguing matchup here between those backcores of Ray J.
Yeah, Ray J. Davis and.
Ray J. Dennis.
Yes, thank you.
I was like, I know I have it wrong there.
Dennis and Walter for Baylor as well as obviously.
RJ Davis and Cormac Ryan for North Carolina.
I think that's a really fun matchup.
But give me the Bears advancing here and going into the final four.
That'd be a fun rematch of the 2022 second round
when Baylor was working to defend their national championship.
Interesting, interesting.
So we got a little bit of a dichotomy on who gets out of the West,
who comes out of the West.
But which teams are high seeds,
but maybe bad betting options?
Here's our locked on bets insider to tell you.
This is Lee Sterling with Paramount Sports. You're locked on bets insider, and these are the three most
overrated teams for March Madden. It's number one seed Purdue. They try to feed the ball way too
much to Zach Ead, and they miss a lot of key free throws late in games. Number two seed, Tennessee.
They have arguably the best player in the country and Dalton Connect, but their second best three-point
shooter hits only 38%, but only on about 30 regular season attempts. Number two-seat Arizona.
This Pac-12 team was playing poor opponents all season long when they played decent rosters
like FAU in Washington State. They had trouble. They have played very few quad-one opponents.
For more insight and game selections, make sure to follow me on social media.
at Paramount Sports and check out Paramountsports.com.
All right, guys, let's go south and we know that that region is going to land in Dallas,
but want to know where you guys are taking it.
I think we saw some agreement at the 32 stage when we talked about U of H,
and then it started to kind of go in a different direction.
So Andy, I'm going to get you to start us off with where you landed for your Sweet
16 and take us through your Elite 8 and who you got going to the final four.
Yeah, another double-digit seed for me in the Sweet 16.
in the South region. I got Houston taking on James Madison, the Dukes. I got Houston advancing
in that one, though. That team is just too, too good. I think James Madison would be a tremendous
story if they got to the Sweet 16, but have a hard time seeing them get past Kelvin Sampson's squad.
Then that's chalk after that, two verse three, Kentucky, Marquette. I love this matchup. If Tyler Kolek is
100% healthy and a matchup between Shaka Smart and John Kalapari, the incredibly talented
guard rooms for both these teams, it's going to come down to how Oslo Agadaro can play
for Marquette if he can cause some problems for Kentucky's front court.
I think there's a real chance for Marquette to advance.
However, I do have Kentucky because we're not sure on the health for Tyler Coleck.
We're not sure how that's going to shake out.
I think if this Kentucky team gets red hot with the incredible freshman guard trio that they have in Wagner and Shepard and Dillingham,
I think they advanced to take on Houston, but the Coog's train is going to keep on roll and I got Houston in the final four.
How about you, Isaac?
Yeah.
I in the sweet 16 I had Houston the one seed in Wisconsin the five seed too much Jamal shed too much LJ
Cryer pouring it in from outside so Houston moving on to the elite eight and in that Marquette
Kentucky I actually hedged the other way that Tyler Coleck will be good to go shock smart had some
comments on Sunday night after the bracket revealed it says everything is trending in that direction
and assuming he meets all those markers this week he will be back that his pain has
recited, excuse me. So I do have Marquette knocking off Kentucky. They are too much of a veteran
team. I know that they're missing Sean Jones, who is one of their burners and athletes that can help
with Kentucky's superior athleticism. But ultimately, shock is smart. I just think back to that team
flying around against Kansas back in Maui in November. Andy, you remember that? What a crazy game that
was. I see that happening in this game. And Marquette's able to move on to the elite
eight where they will face Houston, but ultimately too much Kelvin Samson's team, too much defense,
but just enough offense to get past Marquette and go to the final four in their first season
in the Big 12.
Indeed.
Did I hear my bracket breakdown team actually come to agreement in one side of the bracket.
We did.
I love it.
I love it.
I love it.
Let's see what happens in the Midwest.
Andy.
Talk us through your Sweet 16 on down through your final four.
Yeah, it's a chalk except for one incredibly notable counter example, I guess too, but certainly Utah State being the upset here, the pickover Purdue, sticking with that. So I'd have them taken on Gonzaga and the Sweet 16. Down at the bottom, it'd be a two-verse-three matchup, Tennessee versus Creighton. I actually got Creighton coming out of that matchup. I think Tennessee, again, we kind of talked about it a little bit, some issues with outside shooting on that team outside of Dalton Connect. We've seen teams if they can slow him down, or even if he just has an off-night. We've seen Tennessee struggle. We talked to.
about Creighton having some depth issues as well, but they got four guys who can beat you.
So even if Dalton Connect, or even if, let's say, Trey Alexander or Baylor Shireman has an
off night for the Blue Jays, they can still find a way to win. I'm not sure Tennessee can do that
if Dalton Connect has an off night. So give me the Blue Jays advancing. Give me the Zags over Utah
State. I think Grammy UK is going to be too much. He spent some time in the Mountain West
already with a player of the year candidate at Wyoming. He's going to be ready for this Utah
state team. Give me the Zags and Creighton. Ryan Nemhard battle, Nemhard transferred from Creighton
to Gonzaga this last off season, really fun kind of rematch there.
Gonzag and Creighton have had some great battles in the past, and I think Creighton's going
to take this one, advance themselves into the final four as a three seed coming out of this region.
I had Purdue, the one seed, and Samford, the 13th seed in my sweet 16.
Look, one of the bracket things you folks need to know is you fill these out, you'd take your
underdogs for a while, but once we get to the money-making time, you got to go with the favorites.
It's Purdue over Sanford to get to the elite eight.
And I have that same Creighton and Tennessee matchup,
but I do have Dalton Connect,
Zichai Ziegler, Josiah Jordan James,
Santiago Vescovy, taken over this game.
The Creighton starting for the four of five that always score and do the work,
do it, but it's just not enough.
As Andy said, Mason Miller doesn't contribute enough.
Farabello doesn't contribute enough.
Tennessee going to the elite eight where they will face,
Purdue and Zach Eadie and Tennessee moves on.
to their first ever final four.
Whoa.
Okay, you called it.
You called it.
This will be very, very interesting.
Now, if you want to take those bracket busters to the bank,
we got somebody to help you do it.
Here's our Lock On Betts Insider.
This is Lee Sterling with Paramount Sports.
You're Locked on Betts Insider.
And these are my three sleeper teams for March Madness.
Number five, Gonzaga.
Number one and number two, Purdue and Tennessee,
are consistent choke artists in this region here.
And number four, Kansas is banged up.
This team beat Kentucky and St. Mary's on the road.
Number 10, Drake, top scorer Tucker DeVries.
Number six, scoring in college basketball with over 21 points per game,
had 13 games of 25 points or more,
and the team shot over 43% from three-point range in conference tournament.
And number 11, Duques, Dukane.
The Dukes have won eight straight, and they ranked number 34 in adjusted defense.
The best among mid-major busters here.
For more insight and game selections, make sure to follow me on social media at Paramount
Sports and check out paramountsports.com.
All right, guys, time to put your money where your mouth is indeed.
So let's go back to the final four one more time and then tell me who you guys got winning all.
So if I go back to the east, if I have it right, I've got Yukon.
That's Andy.
Is that getting the right?
Yep.
And I've got Iowa State, Isaac.
That's right.
All right, boom.
Remember we said that.
And then we go to the west and I've got Isaac, you're picking UNC coming out of the west.
And we've got Andy with Baylor.
Yep.
And going up top to the south, it's Andy with U of H and Isaac with U of H, right?
Agreement.
I love it.
I love it.
But then we go back to the Midwest and we take it.
back down to Isaac having Tennessee and let's see. Andy, you got Creighton?
Yep. All right. Time to put your money where your mouth really is.
Who's going to be hoisting that trophy, cutting those nets in about three weeks from now, Andy?
Who are you guys? Give me the Huskies. First time repeat national champion since 2007, not 2008 when Florida did it back-to-back years.
This Yukon team is so deep. They're so talented.
Danny Hurley has this team absolutely rolling, even at times this year when they had injuries.
They never really wavered.
They've had very few ugly losses this year.
They lost to Seton Hall.
The first game of the Big East, outside of that, this team has just been tremendously phenomenal.
If they can stay healthy, if Klingan doesn't suffer any injuries, his presence down low,
Alex Caraband and Cam Spencer providing that floor spacing on the wing, Tristan Newton's one of the top three point guards in college basketball,
and I don't think he's third.
he is phenomenal the way that he has played this year.
That combined with, I mean, we're four players in.
We're not talking about their potential lottery pick combo guards in Stefan Castle.
Like this team is so deep, so talented, so well coached, so experienced.
To me, it's really hard to see, especially with the matchups here in this bracket.
The Baylor does not have the defensive horses to hang with Yukon.
Houston is a phenomenal, phenomenal defensive team.
And I think that's your national championship matchup is Yukon versus Houston.
But Houston just does not score enough.
Yukon does not need to score 85 points against Houston.
They probably only need to score 65 in order to win that game.
It might not be the most fun watch, but I think Yukon beats Houston in a low-ish-scoring national championship game.
Isaac, who cuts down the nets on April 8th in Phoenix?
Well, coming out of that left side of the bracket where Iowa State and North Carolina,
I do have the tar heels, just that experience that they have, despite the fact that they have a freshman run in the show in Elliot Cadeau.
I just rhymed and I didn't even know.
But the Tar Heels are bringing it into the national championship game.
First time making it back there since two years ago when they fell to Kansas.
And unfortunately for the Tar Heels, they will fall again to the Houston Cougars who are going to knock off Tennessee.
A great defensive battle, by the way, in that semifinal.
Good grief.
Looking forward to it.
Houston, North Carolina in the championship game with Kelvin Samson and the Cougars doing it.
But what's interesting for me is I look at my final four.
it is like six of our top Ken Palm teams in the nation.
Iowa State number one, Houston number two, Tennessee, number three, and North Carolina
number six.
So we could have a defensive-minded final four if it plays out the way I see it.
How about you, Andy?
We talked about Yukon.
That's who you're picking to win it all.
Isaac, you're picking you of age.
But Andy, is there any pick when you look back to how you got to Yukon winning it all that
you said, man, I hate I want that route.
You know, it's funny.
I, I fill these out kind of quickly, and then I go back through, and I usually go back
through a handful of time, so I'm still kind of working back through some of the picks that I made
here.
There's nothing that I vehemently don't like.
I kind of wish I'd pick Drake a little bit farther.
I just don't like that second round matchup with Iowa State.
I think that's a tough one for them.
I do think Drake is the kind of team, like the kind of mid-major double-digit seed that could
advance to the Sweet 16.
I just have a hard time seeing them do it over Iowa State.
So that's kind of the one that's tough.
Obviously, Utah State over Purdue is a Hail Mary pick.
I don't regret it because I think there's a real chance that we don't have just a bunch of one seeds in the Sweet 16 Elite 8.
This just has not felt like a year where we're going to see a whole bunch of one seeds and two seeds and three seeds all advancing.
I think the data, I don't have the full data.
We've talked about it a lot on locked on college basketball,
but unranked teams beating ranked opponents at home was at a sky high rate.
rate this year. And so I think we're going to see some upsets. We're going to see some parity in
college basketball. And so for me, why not pick a mid-major team, a Utah state team to advance here?
I know it's a risky pick, but I'm sticking with it. I think there's a chance that we're
going to see some Titans fall early in this tournament. Yeah. And Isaac, how about you?
You end with U of H cutting the nets on April 8th. But is there when you look back across the brackets,
is there one where you say, kind of wish I hadn't gone in that direction?
same kind of thing as Andy I'm looking as y'all were talking I'm looking back at my choices I don't have really buyers remorse on anything I want to keep the house you know but there are a couple I could switch around and see like Baylor beating clemson you know maybe maybe one would be this I picked Oregon over South Carolina I could see the gamecocks really taking care of business there winning as they did what was that the 2017 season when they knocked off Duke they were a seven seed beat beat the two
seated blue devils. And so there's a couple there, but, but nothing on obviously Thursday and
Friday, I'm going to regret all of this because it's all going to be dead wrong as Andy's talking
about. There's going to be upsets galore. And that's what makes this the single best time of the
year. It is. It's like Christmas for these guys here. Thank you so much for watching the 24
Locked on Bracket Breakdown presented by Nissan. Don't forget to follow and subscribe to your favorite
lockdown show as the NCAA tournament progresses. And as always, Andy and Isaac will have
you've covered on Lockdown College Basketball, part of the Lockdown Podcast Network,
your team every day.
