The Kevin Sheehan Show - Kevin Willard And More QB Moves

Episode Date: March 21, 2022

Tim starts the show talking about Matt Ryan being traded to the Colts, and once again the question becomes did the Commanders do the right thing trading for Wentz. He then talks about Kevin Willard being named the head coach of Maryland with Jeff Ermann. Jim Root joins the show to talk Willard and everything else around March Madness. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

You don't want it. You don't need it. But you're going to get it anyway. The Kevin Sheehan Show. Here's Kevin. Welcome in, everyone. Tim Murray once again, sitting in for Shee and Sheehan. I would imagine with your normal run of guests, Tommy, back in the fold.

And I'm sure with the news that Kevin Willard is officially the head men's basketball coach of Maryland. He will have plenty of thoughts and great guests as well. But one more run with me to Murray. Aaron Oster is here. We actually had finished up the podcast. And then the Matt Ryan news came out. And I said, all right, well, let's just throw that on there to start. What to expect on this pod in just a couple minutes.

I will throw to an interview that I had earlier today with Jeff Irman from Inside Maryland Sports, who does such a tremendous job covering the Terps and all facets there. It certainly was all over the Willard news. and then we'll wrap things up with a full breakdown of the weekend that was an early look at some Sweet 16 games with my friend Jim Root that you heard from back on Wednesday. So once again, rate and review, as Kevin would like to tell you, it doesn't cost you a thing, really helps out the podcast. All right, couple thoughts real quickly. We also have to hear from Aaron. As we talked on Friday, as we kind of all expected, Willard would be the guy.

He is the guy. and that is that. But how about Matt Ryan going to the Indianapolis Colts? And Chris Ballard, the GM of the Colts, pretty impressive move here to see the hall that it took to get Matt Ryan. Now, Matt Ryan had a huge cap hit, but that has been lowered to $28 million, which is lower than Carson Wentz's cap hit.

He gave up a third round pick, but they got a third round pick because of the Carson Wentz deal. They don't have a first, remember. So, you know, Chris Ballard isn't, you know, perfect. They did have to give up that first round pick a year ago. That goes to the Philadelphia Eagles for Carson Wentz. But ultimately, they swapped Carson Wentz for Matt Ryan, same cap hit, essentially. And they get a third round pick that could become a second round pick next year.

I would say that's a win for the Indianapolis Colts. You've seen some movements when it comes to the ice. odds market. I think I saw our friend over at Winbet, moved them from 25 down to 18 to 1. The Colts. I mean, the AFC is just ridiculous. I mean, they just keep getting dudes and dudes and dudes. And then you think back to a year ago and the Atlanta Falcons drafted a tight end with the fourth pick when they had a glaring need of quarterback. So James Winston also staying with New Orleans. So it's starting to kind of figure things out. And now you just try to figure out, okay, where does Baker Mayfield now?

ultimately land. I thought Indianapolis would make some sense there. He does not. So, you know, I think some commander fans might be maybe a little frustrated to know, but I think Matt Ryan ultimately wanted to go to Indianapolis. That was what when the Deshawn Watson talks were going on. And for an organization like the Falcons, where he's meant so much, he's won an MVP there, led them to a Super Bowl. They were probably trying to do right for him. They did take on a $40 million dead cap hit for Matt Ryan, largest in NFL history. So the carousel of quarterbacks, Aaron is coming to a close. Matt Ryan to Indianapolis, just another monster there in the AFC. They just need a quarterback, not to mess

things up. And I don't know how Washington fans are feeling. I don't think they were feeling all that great. But think about this, you know, the Colts were on the hook with Carson Wentz. They needed to get rid of them. And they got rid of them. And now they bring in Matt Ryan. They just needed someone. They wanted to not mess things up. Washington now has that quarterback in Carson Wentz, and Matt Ryan goes to Atlanta. Yeah, I mean, I think the cap hit is a big factor in this when you're kind of looking at this.

And the fact that it is pretty equal between Wentz and Ryan. And don't forget that the Colts also ended up swapping second round picks with the commander. So not a big deal. They moved up, I believe, five spots to swap there. But basically trading Carson Wentz for Matt Ryan, a swap of seconds and what likely will become a second round pick is it doesn't feel can't feel great for commanders fans but you know we talked about this on Friday that this was just kind of Washington and I struggle with scoring back before I could forth between saying Washington the

commanders even still but um they didn't want to end up being kind of the last person last sure because of all these other you know we talked about it on Friday all these situations would a quarterback choose them et cetera et cetera et cetera you know you now really have two teams left on the carousel in Carolina and Seattle with possibly Baker and Jimmy G left. So if you threw Washington in that equation, they could be in even more trouble right now. Look, as it is, the Colts got way better of the deal. That's not in doubt right now. The Colts got better of the deal. The commanders didn't. And I could see Commander's fans being upset. They probably should be upset, but it's, you know, it's kind of the final, not final,

but this is where the road goes down when you end up making the decisions you've made over the past 15 years, really. Yeah. And yeah, they didn't want to be left at the altar with no quarterback. They went out, got Carson Wentz, surprised that they're paying him all his money, but that's where we are. So Matt Ryan is a Colt traded for a third round pick and lowered his cap hit from $48 down to $28 million dollars essentially right around what Carson Wentz was going to make. So Jeff Herman coming up in just a moment, but I've given, you know, my thoughts throughout the podcast on the Kevin Willard decision. I talked about it on Thursday's podcast. It was the logical choice. I think it was probably the best option available after Andy Enfield got the bag. Bruce Pearl got the bag. Ratino wasn't

going to happen. So Aaron, before we welcome in Jeff, your thoughts on your new head man, Kevin Willard. You know, I said it on Friday. He's a good coach. He's not the home run higher I would have liked at the beginning of this process. But he was one that, you know, from moment one, it was, okay, here are the guys you'd like. I had, you know, muscle men and oats on that list. I had, you know, I liked some of the younger guys.

I liked Todd Golden. But Willard was always that guy. I was like, you know what? I think we can get Willard. I'd be pretty happy if we got Willard because Willard is a good coach. obviously after Friday night, it's a little bit of a bitter pill to swallow, but you can't get too worked up over one game in the tournament or even two games. It drives me crazy, all these people who are like, well, they should be hiring Shaheen Holloway.

I didn't know who Shaheen Holloway was before Thursday. And if you did know who Shaheen Holloway was, you only knew him as the player. You didn't even know he was in coaching right now. You know, same with some of these other guys who are in the Sweet 16 right now. It's like, you can't get too worked up over one or, one or two game sample size. Kevin Willer is a good coach. A lot will determine, depend on what sort of assistance he gets around him. You get a good staff around him. Obviously, he's bringing, according to Jeff Herman, he'll be bringing over his kind of second

in command, and then you hope to get to local guys to really recruit well. And if you do, this has the potential to be a very good staff. Obviously, look, it sucked what happened on Friday, and that's what you're now trying to celebrate here, the guy who just got absolutely run off the floor. Now granted, with injuries, with a lot of other things going on. But that does suck, the fact that you're now turning around and giving him the helm. But when you step back, when you look at it,

Kevin Willard's a good coach. Quite frankly, he shouldn't have been in the tournament this year with all the injuries he had. So the fact that he got to the tournament, it's a big deal. And he's a good coach, and I think he can do well. You know, we'll see what happens. I don't think he's going to get the grace period that, you know, Mark Turgeon got in the past

that coach has got because you're seeing T.J. Elselberger at Iowa. state turning a two-win team into a sweet 16 team in one year. The way the portal is right now, you don't get four years to put your team together. So, you know, maybe you get a grace period this year, but by the second year, you need to be where you want to be in a lot of ways. So that's kind of where we're at in college basketball right now. Yeah, no doubt. And once again, we recorded the two spots already with Jim and Jeff here. So you'll, you'll hear some of my thoughts. but, you know, Nate Oates also lost.

I lost to Notre Dame. TCU should have beaten Arizona last night. So, you know, I'm not sugar-coating it. I just think it's a good hire, quality higher. Seton Hall was not in great shape when he took it over, and they leave in very good shape. And if you like Shaheen Holloway, well, he'll be the next head coach of Seton Hall.

So you can watch some Big East basketball and see your new favorite coach, Shaheen Holloway, as he and St. Peter's move on. But as promised, Jeff Herman, who's been all over this, has been on this podcast a number of times talking about who it ultimately be. Make sure to follow Jeff on Twitter at Jeff underscore Erman. Inside MD Sports is the best place for all of your Maryland needs.

And certainly he'll have the latest on the coaching staff and all of that. But let's get to my conversation with Jeff, which started with just the simplicity of when did the search ultimately lead to Kevin Willard being the guy. Yeah, Tim, I think that became clear in the past, you know, a week or so or maybe two weeks with the exception of a brief period where it looked like Mike Bray could potentially have moved up to the top spot, but Willard comes as no surprise. You know, he was the guy that I listed as the top contender for the job right after the job opened up, right after Mark Turgeon left.

He was immediately toward the top of their list. They flirted with a few other coaches, but I think throughout he was kind of the favorite. And during the past, you know, several days, it was just a matter of when and not if it was going to be him. Yeah, it's funny because you know him and he's the producer of this podcast, Aaron Oster, a big, big Maryland fan, Maryland alum. And when Turgeon, you know, resigned, I kind of looked at the fact I'm like, hey, man,

this is, you know, Willard makes a ton of sense. Now, I also said coolly and, you know, a couple other pieces too, but it just kind of felt that was the kind of right way to go. Let's get to the Bray thing because there was a lot of steam late last week about Mike Bray. And, you know, Kevin's talked about it. You've talked about it, you know, Bray last time wanting the job and ultimately them going to Turgeon. It didn't really make a ton of sense in, you know, the age situation.

he's 63. I think he's going to be 64, you know, before next season. But I do get the proximity where he's from. He's obviously a dude full of energy. Anyone watching the end of, you know, watching those games. Let's say for, if Notre Dame makes a run, if they beat Texas Tech yesterday, is the announcement still coming out today that Kevin Willard's the head coach? Yeah, it was a done deal regardless for at least a few days, if not longer. You know, Bray is a guy. You could probably label him as the runner up, I would think. And he was, you know, he did have some intriguing angles, obviously being a local guy, you know, the Dematha thing, everybody rings their hands year after year about not being able to get players. He's a Dematha alum, so he might have been able to open that up a little bit. And he's a good coach. He's a winning coach, good offensive coach. You know, he's been to two elite eights. But I think ultimately, you know, the age factor that you mentioned, It's probably big, you know, 13 years older than Kevin Willard. Even if things go well, you're still going to probably be looking for a coach and, you know, five or six years, you know.

And so I think, you know, not to speak for Damon Evans, but I think they probably wanted to go younger. And, you know, Bray probably would have made more sense the last time around when they hired Mark Turgeon. Who knows how things would have turned out differently? Yeah. Yeah, I mean, I said on this podcast, you know, Thursday, I think it was Thursday. You know, just Kevin Willard, you know, it makes sense. Bray would be fun. And it would have been interesting to see what the, you know,

what the staff would have been if he had been the guy they had selected. So, you know, going back to Willard and your site inside MD Sports, you know, part of the 247 family there, you know, it really is the pulse of Maryland fans. It's where Maryland fans congregate. Obviously, message boards can be a unique place to go and see where, the folks are filing away their thoughts overall, as you broke this news and now that it's official, what has been the reaction from Maryland fans? I mean, I'll lay in my two cents

so we can kind of get into it as well. But, you know, just what, I felt like no matter what, Jeff, just kind of the way I was gathering it, no matter who they hired, it really wasn't going to make fans all that excited outside of, you know, Rick Patino. I felt like that got them pretty juiced up. Yeah, unless you got Patino or Bruce Pearl or Nate Oates, they weren't going to be jazzed up. And there are a lot of fans who kind of have outsized expectations of Maryland.

They think that you should be able to get a guy like, you know, a top elite national coach. And maybe you should, but that hasn't been, that's not the program's profile either basketball or football. They're not the ones to go big like an SEC school and throw all kinds of money at a guy or, you know, take somebody with a lot of baggage. That was a big issue from the start. They weren't going to take anybody who had any sort of baggage.

So that eliminates Petino and some of these other guys. In terms of the reaction, I think that, you know, it is very much wait and see. I would say that might even be a generous way. There's a lot of people, quite honestly, who aren't thrilled with it. They look at his NCAA tournament record. He's one in five. in the tournament and they say we just got rid of this guy who we were upset about, you know, not winning in the tournament and we hire this guy who hasn't won in the tournament.

And then I think, you know, probably, you know, 20% are happy with it. And another percentage are saying, well, we got to wait and see and support the new guy. And at least he's not turgeon, basically, you know, I think that's a mindset to a lot of them. But, you know, it's definitely not like, it's definitely not one where they're going to throw a parade. But I think at the same time, you know, maybe some of them, estimate how difficult it is to win big at Seton Hall. It's not, it's not Maryland. It's a tough job. You know, there are definitely worse jobs out there. It's a big east job, but it's not, the question is how, how will his winning and recruiting translate at a higher level, both in

terms of the challenge of doing it and also, you know, his success. So that's a question. But, you know, it's definitely a mixed bag of reactions. Yeah, I mean, I like the hire. If it was Rick Petino, you know, that's a home run, right? I mean, he's a national championship, you know, type of coach. There is the baggage side of it. But, you know, for me, I think you made a great point there, Jeff, which is, look, at Seton Hall was a disaster when he took it over. I mean, it wasn't a good, it wasn't in a good state.

They had had two coaches prior, a handful of NCAA tournament appearances. And it took him a while to get this thing back on track. You know, they went five straight years without an NCAA tournament appearance in his tenure at Seton Hall. And then boom, they start, you know, pumping them out. And I know the record is, you know, not one that is all that ideal in the NCAA tournament. And they got their ass kicked by TCU. But hey, I mean, TCU took Arizona to the ropes last night and arguably probably should have

won that game if not for maybe a questionable call at the end of the game or, you know, a ridiculous three from the Wildcats. but, you know, kind of like 2020 for Mark Turgeon. It's the what would have happened, right? I mean, they won, Maryland obviously won the Big Ten. You go back to 2020, Seaton Hall won the Big East in 2020. I mean, that team was really good. I had a lot of talented players and then they don't get an NCAA tournament.

So, you know, when you look at Kevin Willard and how he built that program, you know, Maryland, when Turgeon came in, obviously it was kind of in a rebuild situation, took a while to get things going. How would you say the program is right now, you know, for Willard stepping in and what kind of success could he have on a more, you know, immediate, in a more immediate nature as opposed to, you know, what Turgeon dealt with when he came over, came in for Gary, or when Willard took over at Seton Hall, because, I mean, there was no success there. Yeah, I mean, I think the program's in decent shape.

Anytime you have a coaching change, usually you're not going to inherit it. a loaded roster, but, you know, I think it depends on who stays and who goes. I think most of their key guys will probably stay. You can never fully project in a situation like this, especially with the new coach and NIL and all these other things, but I think that they'll keep their core. So, you know, if you're able to bring back Adonte Scott and Julian Reese, Hakeem Hart, some of these other guys, and then, you know, basketball is not like football. You don't need a few years to rebuild the program. You can do it pretty quickly with the transfer portal. So if you add three or four guys around them, maybe more, you might need more

than that. But, you know, they should be able to be solid next year. It's not, it shouldn't be some lengthy rebuilding process. And when you're paying somebody north of four million bucks a year, there's no reason for it to be a lengthy rebuild process. So I think it'll be interesting to follow right out of the gate. It's not going to be like when Turgeon came around and the roster was really weak and the portal wasn't as, as popular then. And you knew that first year was a, going to be kind of a slog, you know, I don't think it's like that anymore. You mentioned the salary, and I think I saw you tweet about it. So what is, what's the salary and what's the contract situation for Willard? Yeah, it's reportedly five years,

$4.4 million a year, which, you know, last side check probably makes them one of the top 15 or so highest paid coaches in the country. So that's pretty good money, but that's the way it's come to be in recent years. Coaches more and more have a mindset of if I'm somewhere with security, I'm not leaving, especially if it's a power five or power six, whatever, including the Big East school. So you have to overpay to get guys to leave good situations now. And that's why, partially why he's making, you know, nearly a million dollars more per year than Turgeon was at the end. What is, what are some of the rumors? I know he hasn't even been introduced. He'll be introduced on Tuesday, but any rumors. You know, I know, I feel like any time, and I talked about him for the GW job and

anytime there's now a big job, especially now that he's on Virginia Tech staff, everyone's like, all right, go get Mike Jones, former Dematho coach, bring him to the staff. It's probably not that easy. But any rumors about what the staff could potentially look like. Yeah, Mike Jones is interesting. People would love to see that. I don't know if he'll leave Virginia Tech except for if it's a head coaching job. He makes really good money there. He's the associate head coach. So he's not your run of the mill assistant. So he's probably a long shot. A guy like Tony Skin, who's really well respected, was an assistant at Ohio State last year, had worked previously under Willard at Seaton Hall, and was part of that George Mason Final 14 back in the day. He's wanted to watch closely.

Grant Bill Meyer, who's been working for Willard for the past. 10 years was his associate head coach at Seton Hall. You'd have to think he'd be very strongly in the mix if he doesn't get a head coaching job, which could actually happen. And then there's, you know, from there, there's a lot of guys who would love to have the job. I was told that he's, that Willard's been getting calls from former head coaches and Power 5 lead assistant coaches. So, you know, it's a job that a lot of guys would kill for. And, you know, you figured if he keeps skin and or Bill Meyer, then it's just going to be one opening, so he'll have to choose wisely. Well, and, and, you know, recruiting is the name of the game and the portal.

You know, it's just a different beast, you know, not to say that Seton Hall is some chump, but, you know, I've been to Seton Hall's campus. It's, uh, no offense to any Seton Hall alums out there. It's not the most, uh, beautiful campus. Uh, they're, you know, the fan base is kind of scattered that, you know, I, I think the situation certainly makes a lot of sense to come here. and that's why I think hopefully Maryland fans will recognize, you know, the sustained success that they had down the stretch was really damn impressive. But, you know, recruiting chops-wise, any worry about Willard or on the other side,

excitement about him, you know, I think he's a New Jersey guy or a New York guy. So he's got ties to the area. So it's not like he doesn't come in, you know, blind to what this area can be. So recruiting-wise, what's your expectation for Willard and this? staff. Well, I mean, that's where the coaching hires coming in big, because people love to talk about head coaches as recruiters, but the reality is the assistants do most of the work there. You know, he was a solid enough recruiter at Seton Hall, but definitely was not recruiting on a Maryland level, which no one could have really been expected. Now, again, the question, like I said earlier, is that recruiting translate now that you have so much more to sell, you know, these facilities at Maryland that you didn't have, this recruiting base. And then, you know, any time, you know, you have a new coach, they tend to get that early recruiting bump because you haven't lost any games yet so you can sell this great vision of building a national title contender. So they call that the new coach bump. He should get the new coach bump. I would think he'll hire staff and be a good recruiter. The question is, will it be, you know, a Mark Turgeon level of recruiter or the next level up?

You know, obviously, if you're going to get Maryland to where these fans want it to be, you need to recruit a consistently higher level. So that's a million dollar question about Willard. Yeah. So Kevin Willard is the guy. Only time will tell I like the hire. My blown away, no, but I think this is a pretty good job, you know, pretty good guy to bring in here. I consider the Big East, you know, among a Power 5 level competition. And certainly Villanova has been great there and they've gone toe to toe with them over the year.

So I think it's a solid hire for Maryland. Rick Patino would have been my number one. And then after that, I mean, you know, Ed Cooley, Willard, I mean, it just Cooley probably was never happening. I mean, so Willard, I think, is a good hire. Hey, Jeff, before I let you run real quickly, I saw you tweet about this the other day. I'm just intrigued by this situation because of one of the names you mentioned in JT3.

What are you hearing about George Washington? I was a bit surprised they moved on from Jamie and Christian and in the fashion that they did that quickly. but that's a program that really is kind of been all over the place here since Lonrigan's departure. So what are some names you're hearing and could we see JT3 back on a sideline here soon? Yeah, so I've actually got a little bit of fondness for them. I used to go to their games when I was younger watching Yink Adere and those guys

the year they beat number one UMass and stuff like that. But, you know, obviously they have not come near that level. And Jamie and Christian was, you know, the results were really poor this year. But I think from what I've been told, Mike Pegese, who was the interim head coach last year after Chris Mack left Louisville. He was Chris Mack's associate head coach. So I was told he interviewed for the job.

I would think he'd be a great hire. He's a local guy, another D'Amath guy, has tons of local ties, very well respected. And then the other two names I heard were Martin Inglesby, who got Delaware to the tournament, had a really good team this year. And then JT3, which would be really interesting. I mean, to me, if you're if you're DW, that's also a great hire guy who's had really high level success.

I mean, you know, he had some really good teams at Georgetown and, you know, has been out of the game for a while. So they've got some pretty, pretty solid candidates. I'm not sure which one of those guys is in the lead right now or even if there's anybody else in the mix. Yeah, I'm with you. I didn't go to GW, but, you know, a soft spot there for them. And when they're good, it's, it's a, it's a, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, It's a fun arena, Smith Center. But the news obviously in the excitement, and we'll see. For Kevin Willard, you know, Sheen will be back tomorrow. We'll get all his thoughts.

But Jeff, I really appreciate it. I know you've been grinding away on this story, and you've been on top of it, man. And, you know, great work. And we'll see how it plays out. Intro Presser on Tuesday night. Kevin Willer, the new head man of the Terps. Jeff, great stuff. Thanks, Tim. Appreciate you having me. All right. Follow Jeff on Twitter at Jeff underscore. or Irman inside MDsports.com is where you need to see all of that. We're going to take a quick break when we come back more on the weekend, more thoughts on the hiring of Kevin Willard.

It is the Kevin Sheehan Show podcast. All right, we keep it rolling. Thanks again to Jeff Irman. I know right off the top having a guest a little unusual, but I thought with the news official that Kevin Willard is the new man and this podcast being so pro-Maryland, not because of me, but because of the guy that hosts this show, who will be back tomorrow,

and I'm sure he'll have a slew of great guests all throughout the week and his thoughts on the Willard, I was going to say signing, but the Willard decision to make him the next head coach of Maryland. Once again, rate review, subscribe. It doesn't cost a thing. That is what Kevin always says. All right, let's keep it rolling.

More on Kevin Willard, more on the weekend that was with my guy, a good friend of mine who was busy, busy, busy over the weekend. Live in life in Vegas. That is Jim Rute at second chance points on Twitter. He joined us to break down the bracket on the first pod that I was filling in for, and now he rejoins us to basically say goodbye because I am out after this, much to the joy of everyone. But Jim, how did you survive the weekend? I saw some pictures. It looked like you were having a good time, man. Yeah, absolutely.

It is for those uninformed. I'm part of the three men. We have done an annual trip to Las Vegas for nine years where we head to this trip. We watch all the games. We gamble. We misbehave. It is a joy, something I look forward to every year. But what we did not realize when we started that was that we would eventually start to work in college basketball.

And you can't really take those. three days fully off. So there wasn't much sleep. There was a lot of early wake-up calls to do shows. As you can see, as you can hear my voice sounds great, has taken a little bit of a beating as well. But you know what? It was all worth it. I love getting to just dive into the tournament with a bunch of pals, the gambling, the hanging out. It's really a true joy and something to look forward to every single year. You know, every year you know what day of the calendar it is and something to look forward to. Yeah, it's awesome. You know, I, I didn't get out this weekend.

That was on dad duty. We'll get to a fun little story about my situation and a contest that I was in as I burp on air. We'll keep it in. Nah, whatever. It's a podcast. You're a lot to burp. But we'll get to that a little bit later on. And actually, real quick, because this is a really fun thing.

And this is going to be more just, which is kind of nice, Jim, because, you know, my show, Vison and what you do a lot of the time with, you know, all the different entities that you work for. We look so far ahead and we don't have a chance to digest, but this isn't a gambling podcast. I mean, we talk about gambling. Kevin obviously is a big gambler and has me on to talk about it. But, you know, we can kind of digest the games and react. So it's kind of fun. I look forward to doing that. But real quickly, before we jump into Kevin Willard and him being the new head coach of Maryland,

And there's a really fun thing that happens at these sports books. And it's the race to 15. And you had a great bet. I can't remember if you gave it out on this podcast or not. It was Jacksonville State first to 15 against Auburn, which hit. I had the first to 10 and they were blocked at the rim. So I had both. So one came home.

So we were good. But yeah, I mean, you look at it. I had Michigan State yesterday first to 15. That came home. Miami first to 15. Obviously, they won that game outright. But the scene where you were, those first to 15 runs for people who haven't been to Vegas, is that one of the more fun things to watch is watching these underdogs and if they can come

home and get you some decent cash on the plus money. Yeah, absolutely. And I mean, you're hoping for hot shooting. And I fortunately got that with the old. with the game Cox, I think they started five for seven from deep before they missed their next 11 or something like that. So I got the early hot shooting that I needed there. But it's a very fun one to watch in a crowd. And even if you're not on one, but if there's somebody else in a group or a different group nearby you that's on it, because you'll forget about it. And suddenly it'll

hit 15 points for the underdog. And there'll be this, this big uproar. And you're like, what are they Oh, they must have had first to 15? So, you know, like down the end of the game, everybody's in a spread. Everybody's sweating a total. Like you kind of have an idea what's happening. But when there's a bunch of different games going on, you lose track of a race to 15. But it's such a quick bet. You're dialed in for it. It usually takes, you know, the first six or seven minutes of the game. And it's easy to just get locked in. And every basket means so much. Every call means so much. Everything just gets played up in terms of the stakes. It is an absolute treat to be on. And I feel like we've done close to coin flip on it. And there are a lot

of like plus 300 plus 400 type of odds out there. So yeah, I adore that. Yeah, it's a lot of fun. And yeah, we'll see. The run of those now that we're in the Sweet 16 is gone. So we'll get to the games that just happens. Our thoughts, you know, the biggest surprise is all of that just a moment. But this is the DC-centric podcast and the news became official today that Kevin Willard is the guy. I like this higher. I don't love it. I like it, you know, but I don't know. And I saw a lot of people, you know, on Twitter basically saying this is just Mark Turgeon 2.0. You know, he's one in five in the NCAA tournament. They just got their ass kicked by TCU, which I guess doesn't look so bad considering TCU was a, a bomb away from winning that game outright yesterday against Arizona. But, you know, the more and more I think about it, you know, look, Seton Hall is, It's a Catholic school in northern New Jersey, not great facilities, you know,

fan base is kind of weird. And you're getting an opportunity here in Maryland. So I don't know what Maryland fans were hoping for. We had, you know, we just had Jeff on, and he kind of said it was a mixed bag. I think there's a lot of, I think whoever they hired outside of Rick Petino, there would have been, oh, you know,

this is the best they can do. I mean, you're getting a guy that has led a team to a tournament, what, five times in the last six years, you know, They would have been a three or four seed in the COVID season. So the more and more I think about it, I think this is about as good as Maryland could have expected. You know, I love Ed Cooley. Ed Cooley wasn't leaving.

He's got a great situation in Providence. Rick Bettino would have brought a ton of enthusiasm, as we found out they wanted no baggage. Bruce Pearl got the bag there at Auburn. And oh, by the way, how did that, you know, end up there over the weekend? Andy Enfield, I think Willard's better than Andy Enfield, in my opinion. and Enfield got the bag as well at USC. So the more and more I think about it at the end of the day,

you're getting a good coach, took over a program that was in, you know, in bad shape when he took over Seton Hall, took him a while to get it going. And, you know, with the portal being what it is, I think he could instantaneously make them a competitor. And I think, Jim, and something that you break down a lot,

I think his style, a lot of toughness and all that, you know, those types, I think his style can translate to the big 10. So Kevin Willard to Maryland, your thoughts. Yeah, I immediate reaction was kind of along the lines of that. Like, oh, you ran Mark Turgeon out of town largely because of NCAA tournament, lack of success. And then you look at Willard, and it's not like he's blown you away in that event. But kind of like Tersian, his best year was the COVID year.

And he missed out on a chance to really make a run that season. And he was getting lower seats, eight, nine type stuff. Seton Hall has, I would argue, less resources. then Maryland. Yeah. So he was succeeding with a little bit of a lower means, and now he goes up to a really top shelf job. There's going to be some renewed energy in the building out there in college park.

I think it's a good hire, too. It's not a grand slam, Homer or whatever, but it's solid. He wins games. He has really figured it out over the past seven years. Like you said, five tournaments plus the COVID one. It's six out of seven. I think most programs would be pretty pleased with that. that. I know my alma mater would. So yeah, I mean, it's been, it's not like a banner hire,

like you said. It's not a Hall of Fame. It's not something that you're going to, you know, write home about it immediately. But it's, it's good. It's steady. And I think he will win consistently, if not hugely the same. Like, he won't win. I don't think I won a national title there. But I think you'll, you'll see a second weekend here and there. He'll mix that in. He's a solid coach. Well, let me ask you this. There was a lot of, a lot of buzz. right around the play-in game, the first four, that Mike Bray was the guy. He was going to Maryland, that he was going to bring the Louisville interim coach, was it Pegasus? Pagis. He was going to bring him, who might get the George Washington job per reporting. He's up for that.

Then, you know, Jeff basically said in our previous segment, you know, Mike Bray was basically the runner-up. You know, I'm sure Bray would never say that. 63. If you had to choose as a Maryland fan, if you were a Maryland fan, put your Maryland fan hat on, would you rather have Kevin Willard or Mike Bray? I'll give you my thought. I love Mike Bray. I think he's awesome. I think he's a good coach. I think he's very good coach. I think he's tremendous with the media. I think it would be fun to watch. I jokingly said on the podcast, you know, last week, I hope he coaches two more years and then we can get a good five, seven-year run out of him in the media because he's just awesome. He's just a good dude.

like him. He's well respected. But Kevin Willer makes more sense for this program. I mean, if you're getting, Mike Bray is not Rick Patino. Rick Patino is a multi-national championship coach. Okay, that's different. He's a Hall of Famer. I think Kevin Willard, and I think most Maryland fans would agree, is a better move for the long term of this program than Mike Bray, even though Mike Bray, of course, has the demathetize and the ties to the area. Yeah, I think just in a vacuum, like for one season, I'd probably take Bray, but this isn't a one season higher. Like this is a, let's look long term, you're getting a 46 year old instead of a 62 year old. I believe in what Willett has accomplished.

Bray is great. I love watching his offenses play. I think that might be, you know, if there's a knock on this, it's that Seaton Hall isn't like a great offensive team. Pretty consistently they're not. And Bray's teams always have beautiful spread pick and roll. they spread the floor with shooters. But yeah, in the Big Ten, you're not really like,

it's not an offensive driven league. Like, look what Nebraska has done, trying to bring in an offensive mastermind in Fred Hoyberg. It hasn't worked. You need the defense. You need the toughness. I think as a fit in the Big Ten, Willard works out a lot better.

And you add in the fact that he's younger, you add in the fact that, you know, there isn't a chance that he might retire soon like Bray. Bray could. I think, yeah, overall, it's the better move. All right. So Kevin Willard, he will be introduced on Tuesday. Sheehan obviously will have his thoughts when he returns from vacation.

And I'm sure he'll have some great guests on the press release, you know, had all sorts of quotes from different, you know, coaches from around. Gary Williams, Ed Cooley, et cetera, were part of that press release. Pretty poorly kept secret late as after they lost the TCU. He was basically giving Shaheen Holloway, the St. Peter's coach, the job. at Seton Hall, which would be, which makes sense. That's his alma mater there. But speaking of St. Peter's and the Peacocks, they are on to the Sweet 16.

Reactions from the weekend, biggest disappointments, best games, refereeing, all that fun stuff after this quick break from some of our sponsors. All right, welcome back in. It is the Sheehan podcast, Tim Murray sitting in for Kevin one more day. And Sheehan will be back from vacation, rejuvenized, if that's a word. And I'm sure he'll, he'll have some stories and thoughts on lots of things. I was hoping, I was like, fingers crossed, don't have any Washington football news this weekend.

And for the most part, yes, Desha Watson did get traded. And now there's some quarterback news out there. But I think off this weekend, it's fair on this podcast with the news of Willard and and the NCAA tournament to focus solely on college hoops. So we'll do that one last time. Jim Root once again here, the three man weave. Check out that site.

They do a phenomenal job. Their Twitter feed at 3MW underscore CBB is a must this time a year. They're going to take a little reprieve, a little break, a little freshening up, a little shower, and then be ready to go for the Sweet 16. So, Jim, let's look back at the weekend because, you know, you and I, like I joked in the last segment, never really get a chance to do that, right? We're in the gambling space. So it's like, all right, cool, those games happen. Now what's next?

But now we could kind of sit back and embrace it a little bit. Would you say the best game of the weekend was the finale on Sunday night, TCU, and Arizona? I'll be a full disclosure. I had a pretty decent bet on Texas, and I was on dad duty. So I went and I did this on Saturday night with Memphis and Gonzaga. I paused the game, went Kona silence, put the little guy to bed, sat down, watched the entire game. And then that game ended when I was on, you know, tape delay.

And I went to TCU, Arizona. I was already in overtime. I'm like, ah, shit. All right. What I miss here? So, you know, takeaways from the Arizona TCU game. And did you think that TCU got hosed on the final play? Should that have been a foul as he gets knocked out at midcourt?

Yeah, I think it was the best game of the weekend. I'll definitely just come around and say that. The shot making and playmaking on both sides is really impressive. Neither team had any interest in boxing out. It seemed like every big bucket was a second chance bucket. Not a lot of defensive rebounding to be had there. But yeah, the late call, I get it. I think that was probably a foul.

I think you could go back and Benedict Matherin had a dunk to cut it to one where I think he pretty obviously got fouled as well he would have had a chance to tie it wouldn't have needed the three-pointer so I think you can kind of go down that vacuum and say like that probably was a foul

probably was a foul. Ultimately I like that we had five extra minutes to figure out who the best team was. They both had the equal opportunity there. I'm glad that the dunk off of the foul did not get down in time because that would have been a real bummer of a way to go, and it would have made the foul or the lack of a foul call,

even more of a firebrand of a topic. But then they went to OT, Mathrim made some huge plays. Coloco had to put back dunk. I'm bummed to see that TCU team out because, man, they play hard. I think they started to get better and better down the stretch. I think they said on the broadcast, this is the fifth time they played a one seed in the last three weeks of the season. They played Kansas three times.

I played Baylor once. They beat Kansas one of those times. They gave Kansas everything that can handle and a couple others. And they've only got one listed senior, Chuck O'Bannon. That's a team that I'm going to be really high on next season. I know we're looking back. But as we watch it, as long as Mike Miles is back, as long as he returns for his junior year,

TCU is going to be a real problem next season. But what a great game. I'm glad we got it to cap the evening. No buzzer beaters this weekend, but we did get some huge shots, especially in that game. Yeah, that game, and then you got the sights of some blood at the end of the game. Matherin was, I mean, that shot that he hit, the balls that it takes, I mean, there are seasons over if he doesn't make that three, and he just steps up and buries it.

And we're going to get to Gonzaga and Memphis here in a little bit. But, you know, I know you've been very high on Arizona. We talked about it when you were on the pod, you know, last week that you really jumped on the bandwagon pretty early. early. One thing that certainly worries me was that, you know, TCU got after it on the offensive glass, right? They had, what, 20 offensive rebounds? And it doesn't get any easier for Arizona in the next round because that's exactly what Houston wants to do. They are going to pester you on the offensive glass. So when you try to digest that win, I mean, the shot making Kirk Carissa coming off the ankle.

He's clearly not 100%. One for 10 from three. He got some open looks late in that game. Maybe he'll be better. He gets another day. They don't play until, do they play on? They play on Thursday, right? So they play Thursday.

So he doesn't get that extra day. Excuse me. That game in San Antonio. So you'll have some Houston fans there for sure. How worried are you or was this a situation where, hey, they got their scare, their battle tested. they survived in advance, unlike Baylor, unlike Auburn, unlike Kentucky. They figured out a way to get out of this, and now they're in good shape.

I'm more worried than content and in good shape for them. The Khrasea thing matters a lot, and I just thought Lloyd was banging his head against the wall, playing him so much yesterday, especially over a bigger lineup with Umar Ballo on the fore. When they played the two bigs together, that's when they went on the run. They got up 67, 58. they were taking care of the paint a lot better. But then they went small and things seemed to fall apart. Eddie Lampkin just continued to eat on the offensive glass.

And that is what Josh Carlton, J. Wan Roberts, Fabian White, Reggie Cheney, those guys are going to be all over the glass for Houston. And the Cougars have slightly better guards. They have slightly better shooters. It's kind of like a better version of TCU. And maybe it helps Arizona that they've seen it already. And like you said, Creeza could get healthy. but he was bad on defense too,

and they're going to put him in a ton of pick and roll with Jamal Shed. He was brilliant against Illinois in how he handled the pick and roll. So, yeah, I'm more alarmed, especially because they're only a two-point favorite, whether you care about gambling or not. That tells you how close that matchup actually is. Yeah, I mean, Houston's ahead of them in Ken Palm. It tells you a lot about how great that Cougars team is

and the fact that they are a similar version to a team that just gave Arizona the ultimate scare, that definitely concerns me for Arizona. Well, I'll tell you one thing. The host of this podcast will 100% beyond Houston and 100% beyond Texas Tech. We'll talk about those in just a minute. But let's talk about Houston because, you know, I think on this podcast incorrectly said UAB would cover. you astutely said, I think this is a tricky spot for them. Houston maybe the most, might have been the most impressive team, you know, outside of St.

Peters of the weekend. I mean, they dominated Illinois. I know there are a couple runs there, but I mean, they kind of kept them at arm's length. And I tweeted it out, and it's not, you know, groundbreaking knowledge if you follow college hoops. But, I mean, what Kelvin Samson has done this year without. their best player is absolutely ridiculous. And I know the AAC stinks, and they didn't have, you know, a win over a team in the field until the final game of the season in Memphis.

But I just, that team without Marcus Sasser, for those who don't know, dude was averaging over, you know, 17 points per game before he goes down with entry. They had another guy, Traymond Mark, who was averaging double figures. He goes down. He's lost for the season. Is this, I mean, I don't know, I know if you do it life and ifs and butts, like you can't do that. But I mean, is this Houston team winning the national championship fully healthy? I mean, they made the final four last year. Here they are again. What Samson does is wizardry, man.

He is he is unfreaking believable. And that team is just a pain in the ass. And one of the best plays in the entire weekend and so indicative, Jim, of what they are, right? They get a put, they knock a ball away. way on on defense dude races it down he's falling out of bounds tips it back in for a lay in i'm like holy shit this this houston team is just something man so i you know i wasn't necessarily on their bandwagon i didn't think they i thought they i thought you a b would just give him a better game they didn't um and my guy jelly walker just couldn't hit a shot for his life but

i i think houston is 100% live on thursday Yeah, I mean, they're for real. It's, you kind of end up sounding like a cliche machine when you talk about them, but it's like the buy-in, the culture, the physicality, the next man up. Like all of that stuff just applies like crazy. I remember coming into the year thinking, well, they don't really have a true point guard. And then they just slowly but surely groomed Jamal shed into this, this monster at the point guard's bodies. And the top 30 in the country and assist rate, he started hitting that Chris Paul jumper against Illinois, where Illinois,

would drop their pick and roll coverage and he'd just be at the elbow all by himself. And if you can pull up and hit that shot, you are basically unstoppable in the pick and roll. And he did it a few times against Coburn, against that Illinois defense. And his elevation to like kind of stardom or semi-stardom is really, really impressed me. Defensively, they make everything difficult. You know, Illinois wants to play through a big dude. Okay, we double the post more than anybody in the country. and they fly around on their closeouts, their rotations.

That's, again, part of, like, the defensive buy-in. And, man, Samson recruits guys that fit. Taji Moore drew a lot of comparisons to Dijon Jero, the shutdown defender they had last year, 6-5, lanky, bouncy, and he delivered on that promise, too. He really bugs people with his defensive acumen. I'm very sold on the legitimacy of Houston. I said to Matt and Kai,

my cohorts yesterday. If they had Sasser, I don't even know how much better they can be than they are right now. But yeah, like adding one more perimeter threat, can never hurt to have another 40% three-point shooter looking around everything they do. So they're as good as it gets. I think they've absolutely earned their top ranking in many of these analytics sites. And that game is probably the one I'm looking forward to most of next weekend. And there's quite a few good ones.

So that's high high praise. Thursday is loaded, man. Thursday is going to be unbelievable with, you know, the chalk region, the west, you know, all four seeds advanced. And then you've got you've got the, the Arizona region. They're in the, was that the Midwest. They're down at San Antonio. So the south.

They're the south. Arizona, Houston and the Michigan and Villanova. So Houston takes out in Illinois. Illinois, you know, continues to have its struggle. come the NCAA tournament. They were one seed last year. I thought unfairly had to play Loyola, but still you should win that game.

And they obviously got upset by the Ramblers. Last year in the second round, so they continue their struggles. But, you know, bigger picture of, you know, this being, you know, a DC pod and Maryland, of course, you know, being a true blue blood of the Big Ten, because that always makes sense. What's up with the Big Ten?

You know, Michigan, I actually was on Michigan on Saturday. It was, I mean, you know me, Jim. That was like I had to be on Michigan. Everybody and their mother was on Tennessee. I didn't think they'd went out right. I just thought to keep it close. And they did.

They pulled it away. So Michigan is the team still alive. And Purdue, which will get to in just a little bit, that game drove me absolutely crazy. But only two teams remaining for this conference. Iowa gets bounced in the first round. They were kind of a sheet pick to make a run. You know, you look at Illinois's gone.

Wisconsin is gone. So what do you make of the Big Ten? You know, we always try to do this. We do it during bowl season, which I think is ridiculous. But here I think it's fair to an extent, you know, to criticize and question conferences. The SEC only has one team left. Kentucky and Auburn both bounced in the opening weekend. So, you know, when it comes to the Big Ten, what's your?

your thought and your takeaway on where this conference is and their struggles here in the postseason. What they haven't won a national title, I think, since Michigan State in 2000. Yeah. Last year, I think shocked me more with the Big Ten's failures. This year feels kind of the end. It's about what I expected. I just didn't think this league was that great at the top. It had a lot of depth to it. Obviously getting as many teams into the tournament as they did that exemplifies it. but two 11 seeds, two seven seeds, a 12 seed. I'm not going to give them too much flack for not getting through to the Sweet 16. You can go case by case on some of them,

like maybe Johnny Davis was still not fully healthy for Wisconsin. Iowa, man, I don't know if it's a, the Fran narrative continues. I think I mentioned it on the pod last week, how narratives are true until they aren't. Well, Fran not making a second weekend remains true. That is an issue for the Hawkeyes, something they need to figure out.

But a lot of those teams played fairly close games Sunday was kind of like the bloodbath for the Big Ten. But down the stretch, couldn't quite get the victories. Michigan State, Ohio State, Wisconsin, couldn't quite pull out the Ws. Maybe there's something to the style that the league plays throughout conference. It's more physical. They're allowed to play maybe a little more of a physical and foul prone defense style that catches up with them a little in the tournament. But I don't have a huge sweeping narrative to paint over it. I just think the Big Ten wasn't that that strong this year.

I think if I had to say I was disappointed, it would be more in the SEC. I think that's the league that really underperformed. Yeah, let's get to the SEC. So Kentucky bounces. We talked about that on Friday's pot a little bit, but then Auburn gets knocked out. I'll be honest. Now, I didn't see them losing to Miami, but on my show on Friday night with Sean King on Vison, a little shameless plug, every night, late night, if you want to hear us talk.

You know, he was all in on Auburn. and I was to an extent. And then as the year closed winded down, I was like, I don't know about this team. Look, I had a future on them, a 30 to 1, which was nice until it wasn't. I should have sold it before we got into the tournament because I just didn't see this. I didn't see it coming. I didn't see the run coming, I should say.

And this doesn't surprise me all that much. You know, Walker Kessler gets in foul trouble right out of the shoot. Jamari Smith plays poorly. And the guard play, as, you know, I think you've talked about, is just so inconsistened. assistant. And, you know, Pearl kind of lets them do their thing. And Laranega is a fantastic coach, obviously, you know, with his runs at George Mason, and he's done a really good job at Miami over the years. He's had some really strong teams. You know, yeah, let's look at the SEC because Tennessee, you know, was kind of that darling, hey, I think they're going to come out of the

South region. Could they win a title and are playing so well? That's another narrative. Rick Barnes, unable to get it done in March. You know, Cala Perry. I'm a big Cal fan, but, you know, the facts are what they are and, you know, bounced early again here. And you look at Auburn, they're knocked out. Arkansas, the lone survivor. So, yeah, looking at the SEC,

Auburn's departure doesn't surprise me, but I guess this early does. But we kind of saw it coming. and they suck on the road and their guard play is spotty at best. Yeah, their top two guards took almost 353s this year and they made a combined 30%. That is a license to gun without any sort of efficiency. And it bit them. I mean, late in that game, there was some panic level from Auburn where they got down a couple possessions and they just started chucking.

And that was their identity all year. I think the first time we talked to Auburn on your show way back in January. or something. Sean brought that up. He's like, you know, if there's one concern, it feels like they take a lot of tough shots. And I'm like, yeah, it's part of the style. It's part of how Pearl empowers his players gives them a ton of confidence. But it can bite you. It can bite you when nothing's going in. And that was really the case. Miami took advantage. They had much better guard play. Wong was terrific. McGusty was great. So yeah, the concerns with Auburner are Real Tennessee. I feel like I'm going to buy in every single year and get burned every single

year because the defense is so real. And this year I was like, oh, they have great guards. They're the new Virginia, right? They're going to be people are going to count them out until they get it done. Yep. Yep. And, you know, the days of the day that Barnes made the turn or the final four seemed so distant way back with T.J. Ford back in the day, it's just, he doesn't, it doesn't seem to get it done.

Like you said in March. So the SEC had much more concerning failures to me, like Alabama. losing double digits to a team playing its second game in 48 hours after driving out or flying out west. I mean, real quickly, because I know Maryland fans love Nate oats. They're like, oh, we got to get Nate oats, Nate oats, Nate oats. That team this year, I mean, the metrics are out of control in this regard, right? They were, I don't have Ken Palm up in front of me, Jim, so you can, you know, correct me if I'm wrong. They had, they shot per possession. They shot, well, like 48% threes of their possessions.

And they were like a 30% shooting team. It's like, these things don't match. This is like water and like oil. Like, what are we doing? Yeah. This is your strategy and you suck at shooting. Square peg round hole all season with the, with the team, the roster.

And like that's on oats. Like you built a roster around a bunch of guys who can't shoot. Granted, they did lose a really good shooter in the preseason to a torn ACL. But one guy wasn't making the difference here. They just didn't have the pieces to play the style he wants. And I tweeted something about that after they lost. I was like, I'm worried he's getting seduced into a Shaka Smart at Texas-esque issue

where he's got to take all the talent that wants to play there. But if the talent doesn't fit the style and he's not shown a lot of flexibility with the style, then they're going to struggle. And I was told that the five-star recruits he has coming in are not good shooters, which is alarming to me because otherwise they're just going to really, struggle to score. I mean, if they're going to be a 30% three-point shooting team, that offense is going to have flaws every single year. So, yeah, I love oats. I've loved him for years. I thought what he did at Buffalo was absolutely incredible. But I think like Shaka, he needs to be recruiting

his style rather than just gobs of talent. The fit is more important for him. So a couple of thoughts on what we saw this weekend. You know, I don't want to make this a big, because I'm sure all the, you know, yelling shows or, you know, refereeing is out of control and all this. I do, look, I, you know, you love this more than I do. I mean, I love this sport. You know, Sheen loves this sport. I don't know how we got to fix it. I'm all for getting things right, but for the love of God, man, like every game at the end is, it's unbearable. It's really hard to watch. Everything is a review. you know, the technical foul on, on the kid from, who was that?

Illinois. Illinois. It was just like, what are we doing here? Like, they had, they teed up, who was it? They teed up someone over the weekend. I'm like, there should, honestly, unless you're punching someone in the face or like throwing a chair, Bobby Knight style, there should not be technicals in the NCAA tournament. You know, and, and then, you know, the Purdue, Texas game. was just, I mean, that game was hard to watch.

It was 45 free throws. It was gross. I mean, so everything, it felt like every possession, Jim, was just a, was a free throw shooting contest. So here I am complaining about, you know, the refereeing. It was a fun weekend, the Baylor comeback, which we can get to here, or meltdown by UNC and ultimately coming out was, was something else, you know, but I don't know what we need to do with the reviews, but it's bad.

It's really, it's kind of a buzz kill, right? It's like, oh, yeah, we got this great game going, we're going to finish. And it's like, oh, and we got to add 1.2 seconds to the clock. I'm like, all right, let's just, there's got to be a faster way to figure this out. Yeah, it's got to be an, we probably should allow an element of human error into the game. And we've tried to legislate that out, but the result has been all these stoppages. I think especially for the NCAA tournament, it'd be great to have a, you know, a command center where it doesn't

to be the refs on the floor. It's guys in this command center that are looking at reviews immediately or replays immediately as they happen. Take 60 seconds tops. Either you flip it because it's obvious or you'll leave it. I think there should be a cap on them because if you can't tell in 60 seconds, maybe it's just not worth changing. So something like that, some sort of review cap. And the one that always drives me nuts is block charge stuff. Oh, my God. It was terrible again all weekend. It's always going to be terrible because the temptation to call charges seems too great. So at some point getting that out of the game would be okay with me. I took a lot of charges when I played.

So did I. Got it. But I get it. It is not great for the game. It sometimes has risk of injuries, guys sliding under guys that are in the air. I pretty much had it with the block charge because I don't think it can be called correctly. There hasn't been any evidence that it can be.

So, yeah, there's definitely some things we'd love to see fixed. The game is not perfect. I hope they take a look at some of it. over the off season here. Yeah, because this is, you know, for the sport that, you know, for the most part, people don't really pay attention till to the month of March. It's not great for it. You want it to be at its best, you know?

We're like, we want more people to like the sport that we love and we need to be at its peak. All right, a couple more thoughts. We haven't talked about Duke at all. But let's get to UNC Baylor because UNC was another one of those teams and they advanced. I just, I don't know what they are. And because they, at their peak, they beat Duke in Cameron. They looked amazing. They're running Baylor out of the building.

And then Manick, Brady Manick, gets tossed out of the game for throwing an elbow. And, you know, who knew he was worth 20 points to the, to UNC? Because they just collapsed. Hubert Davis calls a timeout last play of regulation. They run ISO and they get a 27 footer contested. I'm like, oh, that was good usage of a timeout. But they get it done. They figure out a way.

So, you know, Baylor was, I think, by most people thought this would be the most vulnerable one. And people were right because I thought this was a tricky matchup for them on UNC. I thought Kentucky obviously would be a tricky matchup. They're gone. But you look at this UNC team and you look at that region, which is just, I mean, that's the region on its head. It's UNC, it's UCLA, it's Purdue and St. Peters remaining there in the Sweet 16 in Philadelphia. You know, when you look at this UNC team, now knowing at their best what they are,

could you make a case that they come out of this region? Sure. Yeah. I mean, I still think the Purdue defensive flaws are there. So there's a concern. They gave up no points for 10 minutes against Texas and still gave up 71. I mean, that tells you how bad the defense was the rest of the game. By the way, I've never been more infuriated.

and anyone who's ever seen me kind of sweat out bets, uh, I was just losing my mind, that 10 minutes stretch, just what was going on. And remarkable. It was awful. I mean, and,

and by the way, it's back to the refereeing. I mean, I, you know, I did a write up for that, that Texas game, uh,

for, for vson.com and I talked about on my show and, you know, I felt like they had enough bigs to, to slow them down. And just like that, they're picking them off. Everything's a foul.

And I'm like, Jesus Christ. I mean, What are we doing here? So, but yeah, back to UNC. I mean, yeah, I mean, outside of St. Peters, if you told me any, you know, you know, UNC, UCLA are produced in the final four, like, all right. I mean, wouldn't shock me at all.

Yeah, UNC has the high ceiling. I mean, the talent on the roster is undeniable. You look at the recruiting rankings. They've got a couple of five stars and a couple four stars in the lineup. They have basically no depth. Their top five guys are their top five guys and they're not looking to go to the bench very often. And I think that was what really showed up in that Baylor games. You lose Manick.

Caleb Love eventually files out. They're down to two competent offensive players in Davis and Baycott. Somehow they get through overtime with just those two. Davis was amazing. Yep. That really surprised me. Unbelievable. I thought once it went to overtime, it was going to be Baylor's game because of the depth issues that UNC was experiencing.

But their top five is excellent. They are going to give UCLA a heck of a game. I think that's going to be another awesome, awesome one. maybe the best game on Friday. On Friday, yep. We'll see. UNC could definitely win it for sure. All right, let's get to Duke real quick.

Coach Kay's, I don't know if you've heard. This is last year. He's done. There's been some whispers about that. Yeah, yeah. I just texted my buddy who will be on the Westwood one call. And I said, hey, just so you know, you're going to call Coach Kay's last game,

just so you know. Because I don't see them getting out of the region. I don't like Duke. I mean, I don't like Duke. as a team this year. I think people listen to this podcast have fiery hatred for the Blue Devils over the years. So I look at, you know, I give them credit. They beat Michigan State.

I don't think Michigan State's all that great. They're fine. You know, they ended up covering too, which I know bothered a lot of people somehow, some way they were losing and, you know, late in that game and they get some wins. But, you know, they still can't defend all that well. Jeremy Roach is playing better, which is big for them. So they have six dudes that are really good, limited depth, kind of like you said, with UNC. So, you know, when you look at this Duke team, you know, at their best, they beat Gonzaga.

They beat Kentucky to start the year. You know, they had a stretch before that game where they lost to UNC where they were just blowing people out. So, yeah, at their best, they can look pretty good. but I don't know. In the first two games, whatever. I mean, Cal State Folington, I can't take too much from. They didn't cover. That was a situation where it was a dunk late in that game, important to some.

And then, yeah, I don't know. Michigan State game, I certainly didn't come away from that gym saying, oh, they found it. They're good. They're going to run through this now. Yeah, the defense was, again, the problem. And I know Michigan State was hot from three, so maybe that's part of it. A lot of them were open jumpers, and that's because Duke is lazy. sometimes off the ball.

Michigan State got a couple leakout transition buckets because Duke didn't get back. That's another concern. The one thing that I came away surprised and impressed by with Duke is that they were down late and potentially Coach Kay's last game and they did not tighten up. They made some huge plays, especially some of the younger guys. Keels had a big three to tie the game.

Roach hit the three to go up four with like a minute left. I thought those would be the games where they might not shrink from the moment, but just kind of feel the weight of the expectations of the pressure of Shoshavsky's final game. And they didn't. So I have to tip my cap to them because that was the problem I thought they would run into. Now, I think the Texas Tech matchup is really tough for them. And it's going to be an interesting game. The Red Raiders give up no points in the paint.

Duke's going to have to hit a lot of jumpers or find a way to the free throw line because otherwise they're not going to compete, but I don't think they'll be able to beat Texas Tech unless they rein in some jump. home shots. Yeah, and they're an underdog. And the world, I mean, the world will be on due. They don't know who Texas Tech is. Texas Tech played an ugly game against Notre Dame. Undercame home. Thank you. Final thought on the first week. I think I've said final thought 20 times. But that Gonzaga Memphis game was as high level of a basketball game that you may ever watch. And I know it was a one-nine game or one-eight, whatever Memphis was. But I thought, and I think we said it on the show,

if not, you know, I said it somewhere. The committee did Gonzaga no, no justice with their draw. And, you know, Georgia State is not a 16 seed. And they got the cover miraculously or, you know, should have been all the way and then ultimately did. They were the right side. And then this game, you know, and the line opened way too high. And I'm watching this game.

And the first half kind of played out like I was expecting. I was like, the athletes of. Memphis. It's showing. Holmgren is unable to do homegrown things and Timmy is getting dominated like he did in the Baylor game. Through Timmy's credit, that dude came out in the second half and was like Christian Leitner against Michigan in 92. I mean, that dude was a fucking beast and he couldn't miss and that's why they won the game. And now they, and that's the thing, too, about, you know, Gonzaga is, and I know, you know, the big boy, Duren, got in some foul trouble, and I think that was a huge issue. They had foul trouble as well. But Drew Timmy was what

college basketball is all about, man. He's, you know, this veteran dude and he's coming out. Now, Andrew Nemhart was burying threes, Bolton, the Iowa State transfers, hitting threes. I mean, they were hitting big shots. I mean, Gonzaga, it's as crazy as this sounds, I wasn't all in on Gonzaga. I picked them to get bounced by Arkansas because I was like, I can't have all ones in my final four. That game, to me, Jim, said, yeah, what Gonzaga might win this whole thing, because Memphis is really good. They're really athletic. Coaching up and down. I thought they could have used some timeouts there late in that game. But I came away from that game saying they just got punched in the mouth and they were getting bullied by the more athletic team and they came out

of the second half and they were they they got rid of that lead or that deficit by like the first media timeout it was incredible I was very very impressed by Gonzaga even though it's a one verse 90 yeah I mean this you asked me about Arizona if I was more impressed that they got through and figured it out or more alarmed about going forward I think with Gonzaga it's it's the former. Like I'm impressed that they figured it out in a game where they were not at their best. Memphis was kind of at their. Memphis only had five turnovers. Like that's their whole bugaboo all seasons that they coughed the ball up. Memphis played a, as good of an offensive game as you could really expect from them. And like you said, Gonzaga took the punch. They rallied at halftime. Drew Tim, he's a little editing of his halftime speech in the postgame interview was terrific. That was good. Yeah. But so I think that that impressed me, like you said, that they came out, quick and took care of the lead and then down the stretch made enough plays to get through. And I think that's going to serve as a confidence boost for them. You know, last year they were winning by double digits every single game in the region.

They were undefeated and that just kind of they were rolling. And they ran into UCLA and had a big scare. But getting by Memphis, the team that for the past month and a half had played like a top 10 squad by basically every analytical measure and figuring it out late. Yeah, I think that's huge for Gonzaga. looking at the spread against Arkansas. I think maybe it's still a tad high and the racerbacks can hang around.

But I think Gonzaga proves something out there against Memphis on Saturday night. All right. Let's get into, let's get some early thoughts on the Sweet 16. We don't have to go crazy in depth here. And once again, follow Jim on Twitter at second chance points. I'm sure he's going to have great stuff, write-ups for different companies out there.

So make sure to follow him in the three-man weave. We didn't talk about St. Peter's, the darling. They knock out surname state. I was very sad to see that happen. But St. Peters moves on. I got to do a little more digging. I don't like Purdue as a team. We talked about their defense there, in my opinion,

definitely not going to win the championship. I think the winner of UNC, UCLA, I'll probably take them in the points against Purdue. However, in this spot, I think Purdue is going to murder then. I think the big boys in Williams and Edy are going to eat them like their, you know, hamburgers on July 4th. I mean, they and prove me, you know, correct me if I'm wrong. That spread is high, but Purdue always seems like the team and they did it in the first round

against Yale. Like, if they're playing a crappy team, they're going to murder them. So I just think the matchup is really tough for St. Peters. And more often than not, you see these Cinderella stories. say go through the first round and then this first time they're in like, okay, now you've got people fully scouting them. It's like, oh, oh, crap. So I hope I'm wrong.

I hope St. Peters makes it a game. But I think with Williams and Edy, if they're smart, they just pound those dudes and they just say goodnight to Cinderella. Yep. And St. Peters is, they have an excellent interior defender in Casey and Defoe, but he's small. He's like six, seven, 200 pounds. you can really overwhelm him with physicality.

I kind of thought Oscar would do that. And to an extent he did. Oscar Shibway for Kentucky. Yeah, 30 and 16. Yep, and got him in foul trouble. I think Purdue can do the exact same thing. He mentioned what Purdue did to Texas is front line with all the foul trouble. They got him in not to keep bringing up a sore subject.

But yeah. Yeah, and St. Peters was really hot in their first two games. They are not a good shooting team, but this weekend they were lethal. I have a hard time seeing them get easy. baskets even against Purdue's iffy defense. And Purdue's got the answers for a really solid St. Peter's defense. So I think that gravy train does run out a little bit there.

I remember oral Roberts only lost by two to Arkansas when they made the sweet 16. But I see a different ending for the peacocks here, unfortunately. Yeah, I think it's a bad matchup. And I think the public's probably, my guess, would be take the points. So, yeah, it's St. Peter's this great story, you know, all this. I just think it's a bad matchup. Looking at Thursday. Thursday, by the way, that game's on Friday.

Thursday's games are out of this world. Hopefully, hopefully we get them and they're super competitive. Houston, Arizona, right now, Arizona is a two-point favorite. Michigan, Villanova. I haven't really talked much about Villanova. You know, they, you know, workman's effort, Ohio State came back in that game, and then Villanova was able to pull away. Gonzaga, Arkansas, Texas Tech, and Duke.

Um, you know, wherever you want to go with this, you know, we, we mentioned Houston, Arizona a little bit. I, I like Houston in this spot. I think they can attack the glass. Um, you know, I'm done doubting Kelvin Samson. So now Arizona will probably win by 15. Um, but I like Houston. And then, uh, I think Duke and Texas Tech is going to be really, really interesting, uh, because that is a team that I don't think they faced a team like that. Those are some tough sons of guns. Old dudes. transfers. You mentioned O'Roberts, Kevin O'Banner. He was on O'Robberts last year. They're a team that is just a pain in the ass. And, you know, they don't shoot very well. So that could be worrisome. But you watched last night, Notre Dame just kind of run out of gas, right? Notre Dame had a lead, I think with like two minutes to go and then just couldn't get anything going. And Texas Tech just kind of pounded them into submission there. So I kind of feel like that. This is a it. I mean, Coach K's magical career, greatest of all time or greatest modern era, whatever you want to call it. I think it ends on Thursday to Texas Tech. Yeah, I do too. Just looking at the opponents that Duke has played this year, they have only played one top 30 defense all season per Ken Palm's metrics. And that was Gonzaga back in November. So they haven't played a defense anywhere near this good in months. Now they take on Texas Tech who I saw it. My favorite stat, basically all season has been Texas Tech's paint defense.

They played 24 different teams this year. 17 of them have their season low in paint points against Texas Tech. They just make it impossible to get easy buckets. They're physical and large at every position so they can battle Duke that way. They're going to force them to the perimeter. And I just don't think that's the Blue Devil's strength. We'll see Trevor Keels and Jeremy Roach take a lot of probably ill-advised threes to try to go over the top of this Texas Tech defense, and that's not going to work out.

And if there's a flaw of the Red Raiders, it's certainly the offense. But Duke's defense has been kind of a healing elixir for a lot of struggling offenses recently. So, yeah, I'm with Texas Tech here. I bet the minus one. I believe the Red Raiders will get the victory as well. Yeah, I'm with you. Yeah, so Thursday, anything else you like, Gonzaga, Arkansas, I'm probably going to stay off that I don't like that number.

Michigan Villanova. Michigan's playing well. Dickinson's, you know, could be a bit of a matchup issue for Nova. They're not huge. But the thing about Villanova, I'm betting against them, and this needs to be reminded,

if they're down, if they're up to and we start fouling, they're never missing. They're the greatest. This is not hyperbole. This is true. They're the greatest free throw shooting team of all time. I believe they're like 83% as a team.

They don't miss free throws. So they're old. They're not going to miss. They're not going to be rattled. So I would probably stay off that one. And I do like Houston a little bit against Arizona. So of the Thursday games, I think you and I are in agreement on Texas Tech Duke.

Anything else jumping out at you? I'm hoping, excuse me, I hope in Villanova goes a little lower. I know it's down to four and a half in some places. If I can get that down to four, three and a half, I'll probably take a swing there. I haven't gone through the totals that much yet. You know, I love your totals.

Oh, yeah. Yep. So I got to hunt down a couple of, a double unders in this round that really get my juices flowing. But yeah, not a huge betting day for me Thursday. That's going to be more of the just totally drinking the quality of basketball because I think it's going to be great. Yeah.

And fading and fading coach Kay trying to bet against him on his last day. I mean, that would be great, you know, if we're able to predict that correctly. All right, let's quickly run through Friday. I mentioned St. Peters, Purdue. That's a big number, 12 and a half. I think I might have to lay it. I don't love laying in the chalk, but I just think Edy and William. I mean, my God, here's the thing.

Like, can we play Williams more? That dude is a freaking monster. I mean, I know Zach Eadie's 7-4, but Trevion Williams is so fun to watch. He's so good. And Jade and Ivy, I know there's comparisons, and I'm not saying he is John Morant, but, you know, with his mom being an assistant down there with the Grizzlies and, you know, him, you know, watching Morant up and close and personal. He has a lot of Morant in him in the sense that he,

he almost threw down a dunk last night, Jim, that would have brought the freaking house down. He got smacked on the arm going up, but he tried to split two defenders and just violently throw it down. And then he hit the clutch three. I mean, Jaden Ivy, who's going to be a lottery pick, hit some big shots. That three he hit late in the game was the dagger.

And it was deep. So I still don't think Purdue is going to win the championship, but they're going to be in the elite eight. And they got some fun pieces, components to watch. So, yeah, I would think about looking at the 12 and a half there. Yep, for sure. I also, I'm a big fan of Providence on Friday. Really? I bet I like a lot.

Yeah. I know they've been blown out like twice this year, but I just, man, I don't see them in the biggest game of the season, a whole bunch of 24, 25-year-olds on that roster. I think they keep it close with Kansas. I know the Remi Martin return and his emergence, I guess, as a key piece for them, has been huge. But I just, the friars are a pain to put away. Even some of the games where they ended up coming back to win,

they got down double digits and came all the way back. I have gotten to the point where I believe in this team, granted they had some mega-friendly shooting splits against Richmond. I don't think I've ever seen a colder, team than Richmond that on Saturday. Shot quality is a site that I'm sure Kevin would laugh at, but it's, you know, an analytical site that breaks down, you know, what the, what the score should have been. And Providence, who won by what, 20 plus against Richmond?

Yep. Should have lost the game per that website. Yeah, I mean, Richmond was one for 22 from three and eight for 21 from the free throw line. Like that, I've just never seen anything like it for a pretty good shooting team. But the friars are pesky. and some part of that credit to Richmond's poor shooting night goes a little bit to Providence's defense. I think they're going to be pesky that entire night.

I don't know if they'll beat Kansas. I think they have a chance to, and I think they'll hang around. I hope not too, Tim, but seven and a half is too many points. Yeah, I got a lot of things wrapped up here on the Kansas Jayhawks here to make it out. So I need something. Daddy can't lose all his bets. But yeah, look, you know, the Creighton game is kind of eye-opening to me. me, how they let Creighton kind of pesker around, you know, hang around and lurk and almost win that

game. All right. So you like Providence. I think we're in agreement. We do like Purdue, even though it's gross laying that many points. Unc, UCLA, I got to do a little more digging. I don't know. It's hard betting UNC, betting honor against them just because you just, that was one of the most popular bets of the weekend. Public was taking the points with them and Baylor and the public won, which doesn't happen often, just ask Tennessee backers on Thursday. By the way, Zave, our good friend who I saw out in Vegas, I saw him tweet that he was all over Tennessee. I was like, oh, boy, oh boy, yeah, that was a pretty clear indicator.

A lot of people were on the Vols. But anything on Miami, Iowa State, that game's going to be ugly. Good Lord. Iowa State, Wisconsin. I think, you know, we basketball took like six steps back during that game. Yep, that's kind of what Iowa State does. They muck the game up to make it, make it ugly. I like Miami, and this might end up being one of the unders.

I like, I just, Iowa State unders have been bet up for two straight rounds, and they have sailed under the total easily. So I'm thinking about backing that as well. I think it's a bad matchup for Iowa State, though. Miami, Florida has a bunch of guards that can handle the ball. They've got shooters. Wisconsin was ice. freaking cold from the perimeter. I don't think we'll see that from the hurricanes.

But, hey, a lot of people have bet on Miami already. The number has moved quite a bit. So people are in agreement there. Yeah, I would agree too. So I like Miami a little bit too. So yeah, some favorites that I like that doesn't make me feel great. Yeah, I could jump on the Providence train with you. But all right, I think that's going to do it real quickly. A couple things. I just want to, while Jim is hanging out here. Shout out to, my, to my brother's alma mater. There's some people in the D.C. area that go to Randolph-Macon College. I wrote a story on them when the pandemic hit.

They were thing number one in the country. They just obliterated everybody, won the D3 national title. So a little shout out here to Randolph-Macon College, winning the national title, first ever in any sport. And then we had a listener, Jay Red, who we actually played college basketball against each other. Well, not really, Jim, because he was two years older and he. so I watched, you know, a lot of basketball in my first two years. But Jay, appreciate you listening.

He was impressed about the I-270 note. But I'll leave us on this, Jim. I had dad duty this weekend. And I was in a contest at a local sports book. And it was a last man standing contest. Essentially, you had to pick a game against the spread. You could get as many as five entries. and he had a pick a game against the spread and it's survive in advance essentially last man standing it was

it's kind of like hitting a big parlay so i was in this uh and our friend jared smith was helping helping me out too and my five entries went down to three after the first day and then down to one uh after sat after friday and then we survived on saturday with michigan uh but while i was trying to get the michigan entry in i walk into the sports book and i've got my son with me he's four years old. I'm like, I was a good fatherhood. So I'm like filling out the sheet that I need to fill out. I'm waiting online. And whoever runs the sports book just pointed at me and was like, not allowed. And it was like, get out. I was like, what? I was like, can I just, all I need to do. I was like, I see, can I just give this to you? They, I mean, it made me, it made my already

crappy parenting decision of bringing my child into a sports book on a Saturday. morning to make a bet already feel terrible. And then I got yelled at and scorned. And then I handed it. I was like, all right. I asked some guy behind me. I was like, can you just hand this in? No money is being exchanged. He's like, yeah, sure. So I go to stand on the side. A security officer comes over. It's like, you can't stand here. I'm like, good Lord, man. Just let me get my ticket in. So that'll be a, that was a fun way. Proud parenting moment, Jim, of bringing my child to a sports book and getting yelled at by multiple people that he was not allowed to be in, said sports book. Yeah, I guess lesson learned. But I think it's good. I think your son is going to come by

it honestly and become a wonderful gambler because of the influence of his father there. And then I saw someone I knew at that hotel and they're like, oh, are you getting some bets in? I'm like, yeah, yeah, feel pretty, pretty awesome about it right now with my child by my side. All right, with that, that's going to do it for me, filling in for Sheehan. Thanks to Jim for jumping on a couple times. Thanks to Jeff Erman. Sheen should be back tomorrow. If he's not, I don't think I'll be hosting this podcast.

But it's been a lot of fun. We appreciate all the comments. And by the way, I always love some vindication. I was so wrong on St. Mary's on Friday's pod about UCLA. But I did call USC frauds.