The Kevin Sheehan Show - Madness Is Back

Episode Date: March 15, 2021

Kevin opens the show with some Washington Football Team news before Tim Murray joins to discuss March Madness, brackets, Maryland and Georgetown. 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. The podcast today brought you by My Bookie. March is here. In the madness, it's officially beginning. It's time to shoot your shot and score big on the nonstop action with My Bookie. All right, select the winners of 63 tournament games in the My Bookie bracket contest for a chance at $10,000 in cash prizes. and it's only $1 to enter. $1 to enter. That's an absolute freebie nearly for a potential $10,000 in cash prizes with the MyBooky bracket contest. It doesn't matter whether you're filling out multiple brackets, betting the national championship winner,

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Bet anything, anytime, anywhere with MyBooky at mybooky.orgie. Use my promo code, Kevin D.C. All right, no coolly today. Tim Murray's going to be our guest here shortly. We're going to talk a lot about the NCAA tournament and the bracket. I'm going to get into the Maryland, Mark Turgeon, Juan Howard thing. I'm going to start the show with some Washington football team news, however. And something that I learned from over the weekend.

And it involves Brandon Sheriff. And I'll be straight into the point. Brandon Sheriff, and we've debated this for over a week now, $18 million one year on the franchise tag. They love Brandon Sheriff. This is not a huge revelation, but they don't care. They prefer a long-term deal, but they don't care about paying him $8,000.

million bucks for a year. I know many of you, you know, wonder, well, will they rescind it or will they trade him? Well, he's already signed the tag. He's in for 18 million bucks. I doubt there's going to be a long-term deal done. But the one thing that was made very clear to me over the weekend is that they just don't think they can replace Brandon Sheriff unless it would be like a Zach Martin. You know, they consider Brandon Sheriff to be elite at the position. Not to mention the fact that from a culture standpoint, they all love him, love him. Losing him for next year with potentially two young quarterbacks on the roster and that's it was not an option for them. They were going to tag him if they couldn't get him signed to a long-term deal. And I think

they're hopeful that even if he plays next year under an $18 million number for a year, which, by the way, is very expensive for a guard, we'd all admit that, that they're hopeful that they still, after next season would have a chance, especially if Brandon spends another year here and he realizes he can't be franchise tag for a third year, perhaps he'll want to be here even more a year from now. But it was made very clear to me that the conversation about the money and the one-year tag for them is laughable because there was no chance that they were going to go out and look for another guard to replace Brandon Sheriff. They don't think there is a replacement for Brandon Sheriff. They think he's elite in almost every scheme they run and he's an elite athlete. And sure, are they concerned about

him missing a third of the games over the last three years? They are, but they point to the games that he's missed like the Rams game. And they said, the person that I spoke to, did you see the Rams game in what Aaron Donald did to our interior without Brandon Sheriff there? Brandon Sheriff would have prevented a lot of that. Anyway, netting it out on Branden They think that he's more than worth it. They just do not see the ability to replace Brandon Sheriff with Kevin Zitler, who signed with Baltimore or anybody else. They love Brandon Sheriff. They consider him and Zach Martin to be the two elite guards in the NFL, and very crucial to what they want to do next year, especially if it's with young quarterbacks.

By the way, the other news from over the weekend, Dustin Hopkins was re-signed. That's not a surprise to me. Right now, as we record this podcast, no big news on the free agency front. Cooley will join us on Wednesday when we have more free agency news and on Friday of this week as well. I would urge all of you to listen to the interview that I did on radio this morning with Ben Standing. It was pretty good. We went through a lot of the different options. Bottom line, also, I would just say this as it relates to the quarterback situation. Ben and I ended up talking about this as well. I was thinking about it over the weekend.

I just don't think personally guys like Jacoby Brissette and Tyrod Taylor and maybe even Marcus Marietta are options. And the reason is this. You're talking about guys that are going to come in that would be legitimate competition for Kyle Allen and Taylor Heineke versus you go out and you get Sam Darnold in a trade or if you were to sign maybe even Andy Dalton to a deal or Ryan Fitzpatrick. Those guys are coming in to start. I don't think that those of you that have suggested to me, Taylor, Bressett,

I even would put Marriota somewhat in this category. I just don't think that those are possibilities. I don't think you're going to end up having three quarterbacks. And Ben told me this morning that he had Jay Gruden on his podcast and that Gruden essentially said, you can't have three quarterbacks in a competition anymore. It's impossible to get them all reps. That makes sense to me.

That's why I would think that guys like Tyrod Taylor, Jacoby Broussett, maybe even Marriota, unless they really like Marriota and they think of Marriota as a starter if they were to bring them in, whether it's via a fifth or sixth round pick or even off of waivers, you know, as a free agent. But I would be thinking about the quarterback they add, if they do add one, to be more of an obvious starter over Taylor Heineke and Kyle Allen. Something to think about there. You know, if there's news as I'm recording this podcast on the free agent front, somebody sent me the Rayshan Jenkins stuff, the number 23 DB for San Diego, for the Chargers. I, you know, I haven't done a lot of Rayshon Jenkins homework.

When somebody sent this to me saying Washington's interested, this was on Twitter, by the way, not a source. I just remember Jenkins being number 23, and he's good. He's good. And these are the kinds of guys that if they sign these second-tier guys like J.D. McKissick and Logan Thomas and West Schweitzer, you know, and Ronald Darby. They hit on all those guys last year for the most part. So I'm not going to be that disappointed, and I'm going to give them the benefit of the doubt. But I haven't heard anything specific to Jenkins anyway. But anyway, netting out just this first segment on Washington football, The one thing I was told over the weekend is anybody thinking that they're really, you know, concerned about $18 million for a guard or that they weren't able to get Brandon signed to a long-term deal. They want Brandon signed to a long-term deal.

They consider him to be essential. That there is no replacement for him unless Zach Martin became available. And that they, with a young quarterback, they don't care about paying $18 million. They prefer the other a long-term deal, but there was no way they were letting Brandon Sheriff go. So for those of us that thought it was too expensive, they can afford $18 million for one year, and they hope that it ends up not being his final year because Ron Rivera considers him to be a huge culture piece, but more importantly, a great player at the position. That was made very clear to me that this is not like a guy you just go out and get for a lot less money and you plug and play.

He is considered by them to be elite. All right, I'm going to take a break, and then my good friend, Tim Murray, will join me, and we will talk a lot about the NCAA tournament, about Georgetown's run to the Big East title, to Maryland's run to a 10 seed, and we will get into the Turgeon versus Joanne Howard thing from Friday as well, and a lot more. That's right after this word from one of our sponsors. All right, let's bring in Tim Murray to the show. Tim, of course, forever in this market. At 1 Tim Murray on Twitter.

Tim is part of the Veson Network and is hosting the Nightcap Show, which we've talked about. He and I have previously, I love the time slot. It's 10 p.m. to 1 a.m. Eastern. Lots of ways to listen to it. Tim and I love college basketball

and love college football when we work together at the station. I've told the story many times. But seriously, we were the only two people that were paying attention to college football at our entire station. I'm pretty sure. And pretty much college basketball. Actually, that's not true. Scott Jackson loved college basketball.

And that was base. And of course, Coach Thompson when he was doing the show. But anyway, I wanted to have you on to do some tournament talk. So let's start with the thing we're most interested in. And that is point spreads in these first games in what, stuck out to you. And then I've got 10 takeaways from the draw, which I'll get to in a little bit. I want to go back and talk about Maryland, Michigan in particular, and the Mark Turge and Joanne Howard thing from Friday. Talk about the Georgetown run as well, which was incredible.

And some of the trolling I took when I congratulated and said how happy I was for the Georgetown family, which was totally genuine, and it has everything to do with Coach Thompson. And and the relationship that all of us developed with him at the station. And it is a great thing. But I want to save all of that. Give me, like, right away, because I've got like five or six games that stood out right away when the lines came out. What did you have?

We'll go one by one. You give me a game. I'll give you a game in terms of the way. Tim's a big better too. And I taught Tim as a very young lad in the ways of contrarian, handy. capping and thinking. So what stuck out to you? I'll let you go one. I'll go one until we finish up. Yeah, I've brought the stinky line theory out to Las Vegas. You and you and Van Pelt would be very proud of what I've brought to the Visa network. Yeah, there's a couple games that jump out

at me. I'll give you the first. I think Virginia's in some trouble in that first round matchup. Ohio can really score and their run that they made this open 10 and a half and you've already seen folks come in and buy Ohio. This has been bet down to nine. The Bobcats, what they did in the Mac winning that conference tournament, they beat two really quality teams, Kevin, in Toledo and Buffalo. Toledo was the favorite in Buffalo, I believe was the co-favorant. and they beat both of those teams pretty handily and put up 80 plus points. And the thing about Virginia, and they, they have, they deserve this, this type of reputation because year after year, Tony Bennett has had top-notch defenses.

But this year, this Virginia team, Kevin, is not vintage defensively. They are slow. They have the slowest tempo in the country at 357. However, their offense, believe it or not, is better than their defense when you look at the metrics. So I'm going to take the points with Ohio in that first round matchup. It's the 413 matchup in the West region. And I'll just say this.

I know people will try to poke holes into Gonzaga. I was having a discussion on, I think it was Friday night with, let's just say, a buddy of mine who's not that into college basketball. And he said, well, you know, Gonzaga, who do they play? I said, well, you know, let's break down. the roster. They've got Jalen Suggs, who's a top five pick. They've got Corey Kisbert, who's an All-American. They've got Drew Timmy, who's a borderline All-American. And they've got Andrew Nemhart transfer from Florida who had started any other team in the country. So let's not play

the, oh, they're not that good game. They've three potential first round picks. Yeah. Let's not do that. So yeah, I think the draw for Gansag in the West is pretty manageable. But my first takeaway was I like Ohio in this matchup against Virginia. And then you've got the COVID situation because we don't know what the hell is. going on there and who will be available to play? Well, average minds think alike, because one of the first things that jumped out to me, and I've got a couple of friends, one in particular, a very close friend who is just a massive UVA guy, and I love the Virginia people, and I'm so glad they got their national championship.

I love Tony Bennett, too, by the way. I love Tony Bennett. But I think the COVID situation plus the fact that Ohio can play, and that line went open to 10, jumped to 8. You talk about sharp money moving the line down. I loved Ohio from the jump. I think they can win that game outright. So that was your first, and I agree with you.

The first thing that jumped out to me was one of the first four games. Because I love Tom Mizzow. He's one of my all-time favorite coaches. And I think Michigan State, you know, coming off a couple of weeks where they took out two number one seeds and a number two seed, all right, to make the field. Maryland swept them in the process. they're laying a point and a half against UCLA, and the world is going to be on Michigan State in this first four game. So the first thing that jumped out at me was UCLA.

And the thing is, I kind of like it with what I've watched, because I love Michigan State, and I think Michigan State has been one of the best programs for the Izzo era. But he's lost early. You know, they lost to Mason, remember the year that Mason went to the final four? They lost to Middle Tennessee State. Got their ass kick by a 2-15 game. And this is not a good Michigan state team.

I know they beat Illinois. I know they beat Ohio State. I know they beat Michigan in the last two and a half weeks. And it's just pure toughness and coaching. And, you know, they don't have enough to make a deep run. This is not an Izzo team that's capable of making a deep run, in my opinion, even though they are out of by far in a way the best league, not even comparable. The first thing that jumped out to me in terms of a, not an upset necessarily,

but a line that stunk is, I like UCLA in this first four game. Give me your next one that stuck out. There is one currently, there is only one seed that is a higher seed that is a favorite. Rutgers. Boom. Rutgers is laying a point against Clemson. And Van Pelt last night on his show, said, huh, Rutgers is a favorite. That's interesting. And, you know, like minds, think alike here. So I like Rutgers against Clemson. That's in the Midwest region. Like I said, Rutgers, if you look at the entire bracket, now Virginia Tech and Florida, another 710, that's a pick. But Rutgers is the only higher-seated team that is currently favorite in the entire bracket. And I think Rutgers takes care of of Clemson.

You know, I've gone back and forth with Clemson this year. Sometimes I like them. Sometimes I don't. They've been kind of a bizarre team. I think they got overseeded, to be honest, Kevin. You know, this is a team that is strong defensively bowed out in the ACCC tournament to a really bad Miami team, not very good, all banged up. They're known for their defense, can't score, can't score whatsoever.

So I like Rutgers in this spot, in a. 7-10 matchup. First time Rutgers has been dancing since 1991. I'm a huge Steve Pichael fan, what he's been able to do. But yeah, I like I like Rutgers. I think they have they have enough talent to get it rolling offensively. They're really good defensive team too. If you look at the metrics, top 20 and defensive efficiency. So this is probably going to be a low scoring game, but I like Rutgers in a 710 matchup, take the 10 seed Rutgers down in the Midwest region. the only higher seed currently a favorite in the field of 60. Yeah, and that's unusual.

We see sometimes, you know, it's certainly nines over eights, tens over sevens, and we've seen 11s over six, you know, sometimes. So your Ohio hit me. The Rutgers thing, I actually think the line is right. That's the thing about that game. I expected them to sort of be a favorite. I think Clemson. I actually wanted Clemson for Maryland's first opponent, and Clemson killed Maryland early in the year in the ACC Big Ten Challenge. But Clemson's very up and down, and they can struggle to score.

And, you know, they lost a game to Virginia by 35 points. It's probably Virginia's most impressive win of the year. But the game that I will give you that sticks out, there, there's several. but I really, I don't think Texas Tech is very good. They're laying a very short number to a Utah State team that is very capable, that knocked off Colorado State the other night in sort of that playing game. I think Texas Tech, you know, the national champion runner-up, and by the way, Chris Beard's an outstanding coach. I could see them losing that game outright.

I think Tech's really a team that, I've put it this way, I've had them too much this year and lost. You know, like against Texas the other night, and they lost by a point, had them against Baylor in the fairly short number, and they didn't get it done. I don't love Texas Tech coming into this tournament. I think Utah State has a chance to win that game outright. And by the way, public all over a Texas Tech team that remember the last time we saw a tournament, they were in the final game and losing an overtime to Virginia.

So that one stuck out. Give me one more, and I'll give you one more. and then we'll get to some of the bigger picture tournament bracket takeaways. Yeah, just real quickly going back to the Texas Tech Utah State game. By the way, Utah State was at the South Point. That's where they stayed during the Mountain West tournament, and they were still there. So I saw all their players walking up to go into a conference room.

I was hoping that they'd show them on CBS last night because they were very much a bubble team. And they got the committee gave them a break. I thought at best they were going to be in the first four, and they jumped over that and they get a manageable first round matchup. And you mentioned that Colorado State game. It was very late back east on Friday night. They just suffocated Colorado State.

And Colorado State's a good team. The big boy, Nemes Keda, is a freaking monster. I mean, he had eight blocks in that game. He'll be a fun one to watch in that game. So I think there is a bit of a mismatch there. The one game that kind of jumped out at me, Kevin, and backing the favorite a bit, was Florida State against UNC Greensboro.

I love Wes Miller. Hell of a coach. I love them, too. I hate this matchup for him because Florida State, we've seen this before. Remember a couple years ago? Murray State made a, I forget who they upset in the first round, but then they got Florida State in the second round.

and Florida State can throw so much size and length at you. And that's what troubles me about this. I think they could kick the shit out of UNC Greensboro. I like UNC Greensboro. Isaiah Miller is their best player. He's a six-foot guard. He's a beast. If you watch the Socon Championship, he had like 30 points.

He's really good. But the 11 and a half or 11 there for Florida State, you know, neither you or I really love laying big numbers. But that one is jumping. out at me. I'm sure we'll jump into some others, but, you know, Creighton, UC Santa Barbara, UC Santa Barbara is pretty damn good.

And this number has sunk like a rock in favor of UC Santa Barbara. And then Villanova and Winthrop, I think we found our square dog in the first round. Everybody's going to be on Winthrop. I don't blame them. I don't blame them. But that is another number that is now sitting at six.

Yeah, that's where I was going to go next. With Villanova's injuries, with the way finish the season. If you know anything about Winthrop, they're 23 and 1. This is going to be the matchup in the first round where everybody's on the underdog and everybody's predicting that in their brackets as an upset. You know, sometimes I've done this before in the first round and I've taken a favorite against a massively popular, you know, 12 seat over a 5 or, you know, an 11 over a 6. and actually, you know, the team really deserve the props. Nova is still explosive offensively.

I like Nova. The public, believe it or not, will be all over Winthrop in this game. All over. And so I'll lay the six with Nova. There's one other game just from a matchup standpoint. I actually think Wisconsin can really slow Carolina down. And Carolina's big, but Wisconsin's got size too. and I like Greg Gard over Roy Williams in that game.

And Wisconsin's catching a number that's pretty short. It's a point, point and a half or something like that. I think Wisconsin, and I think the Big Ten in general is going to do really well in this tournament. But that's where we're going to go next. Tim Murray joining me here on the podcast. I've got 10 takeaways from the actual bracket itself. Tim's got some as well, and I'll have him respond to some of mine. We'll do that right after this word from one of our sponsors.

All right, I jotted down 10 thoughts last night from the bracket. And just random thoughts that I had about the bracket, about some of the matchups, about some of the matchups that I'm hoping to see. Tim Murray is with me. I'm going to go through them and I want you to respond and then you can add. Number one is this. I thought the bracket was fine. I don't think there was any reason for any outrage.

Like Louisville to me, to be honest with you and I've questioned the profiles of some of the ACC team. this year, including Virginia. Like, who did they beat? You know, Louisville, who did they beat? They didn't beat anybody, really. And they missed out on some possibilities during their COVID pause. But, you know, they beat Georgia Tech and Virginia Tech. That's basically it. They lost earlier this year by 40 to Wisconsin, by 40. And I love Carleek Jones because he was about to come to Maryland and changed his mind at the last minute. And he would have been a massive difference maker from Maryland this year. He was the transfer from Radford. I think he made first team all ACC. They didn't deserve it resume-wise, so I don't have any problem with Louisville not

making the field. Here were my very minor gripes, and their seeding gripes. Syracuse should have been in the first four, not Michigan State. You know, when you beat two number one seeds and a number two seed in the last two and a half weeks, I thought Michigan State would have been comfortably in the last four by category, and I didn't know that Syracuse was going to make the field. I don't think that Syracuse is a major problem. They're very capable offensively, and Buddy Beheim can flat out shoot it. But I thought Syracuse should have been in the first four, not where they were seated. I think Drake is better than Syracuse personally when Drake's healthy.

There was, okay, two other seating complaints. Oklahoma State shouldn't have been a four. They should have been higher. That's number one. Number two is this. The ACC tournament champion, Georgia Tech, who's won 8.5. games in a row. And Tim, I don't know if you've been on them. I've been on them a lot recently. And they have- I was on them against Florida State. They have treated me well. Yeah, I, they are eight and one in

their last nine against the number. They've won eight in a row. They're better than a nine-seed. And that is a hell of a first-round game with Loyola, Chicago, a hell of a first-round game. You know, Georgia Tech has one of my favorite players in the tournament in Jose Alvarado. If you haven't seen him play, he was the defensive player of the year in the ACC. He is one of the most, he's one of the fiercest competitors in college basketball. He's a badass. He averaged three steals a game and had seven games this year of five or more steals, had five in the ACC finals against Florida State Saturday. I love his game. I think tech would be a problem for almost anybody, but they get Loyola, Chicago in the first round,

and then Illinois in the second round, if they can win that game, which, you know, isn't necessarily a lock. But I think Georgia Tech was very underseated. I think they deserve two spots higher as the ACC tournament champion and a team that proved late in the year that they're going to be a problem for anybody. So overall, my number one takeaway, I don't have any problems with the bracket, really. You know, I don't think you can make a real case that anybody was really, you know, jobbed by being left out. I just think that Syracuse was a bit overseeing.

and I think that Georgia Tech and Oklahoma State were underseated. What do you think? Yeah, I'll start with teams left out. Louisville, Colorado State, those teams, you know, you had your chance. Colorado State, we mentioned it before, essentially had a play-in game against Utah State and the semifinals in the Mountain West, and they shot 25% from the field. I was on Colorado State that night, and they just got suffocated.

So, yeah, I have no issues with teams in or out. I do think that, you know, Syracuse getting that first buy was was very surprising. Yeah, to your point, Michigan State does not deserve to be in the first four when you have the high profile. To me, it should be based off of your ceiling and your big wins. And when you've beaten Michigan, Illinois, and Ohio State, you deserve to be in the first buy. What is Syracuse done to deserve a buy into the field? I'll kind of echo the sentiments that you have. I think Loyola and Georgia Tech, both of them got job with their matchup.

I agree. Loyola shouldn't be an eight seed. They're number nine and Ken Palm. You know, the analytics love this team. They're really, really good. And I think that Illinois kind of got screwed too by getting this eight, nine matchup. I agree. It's a trickle-down effect.

Illinois, in my opinion, should be the second overall seed in this field. they're the third, but they got screwed. I mean, that's a really challenging 8-9 winner, whoever comes out of that. So I think Illinois really got screwed over by the matchup that they have there. Not to mention a Sweet 16 matchup against an Oklahoma State team that to me was underseated. Yeah, I mean, in Oklahoma State, you think about the way that they've been playing. How is Oklahoma State a four and West Virginia, the team they just beat twice once without Cade Cunningham, on the road.

On the road. How is West Virginia a three seed and Oklahoma State is a four seed? Oh, by the way, they get Liberty. Liberty is a capable team as you would like to say. And then other great, BYU shouldn't be a six.

BYU. WI.U. I wanted Maryland to get BYU in a 10-7 game. I was hoping for that. I was actually hoping for a rematch with Clemson. The Yukon game, I think, is going to be a very difficult game. We'll get to that in a little bit.

All right, takeaway number two for me. The Big Ten got the most with nine teams deserve the most. And as I look at the Big Ten, and I just told you that I think I'll probably bet UCLA against Michigan State. Michigan State's not only going to be their favorite over UCLA, they'll be a favorite if they win that game over BYU as an 11 over six. Trust me. If Michigan State wins that first round game against UCLA, I bet they're a three-point favorite over BYU as an 11 over six. So there would be your other, you know, lower-seated team being favored over. a higher-seated team. I think seven of the nine Big Ten teams are favored to win their first-round

games. I think it's very possible that all nine Big Ten teams could end up in the round of 32. And again, I like UCLA because I think they're a major anti-public play. And so, and I don't think Michigan State's that awesome, but I think they would beat BYU if they survived UCLA. I think it's very possible that all nine teams from the Big Ten could make the round of 32. And I would bet you that no less than five are in the Sweet 16 with maybe four in the Elite 8. It is the best league. Now, that takes me to takeaway number three, and then I'll let you weigh in on the conference things. The ACC got seven teams.

I think five of them could lose in the first round. And I think Florida State is basically their best and maybe only hope to reach the Sweet 16. I think UVA, we've already talked about it, the Ohio game. I totally agree with you. It's the combination of their COVID situation, and Ohio can play. And they've got one of the best stories, which I tweeted out last night. Go to at Kevin Sheand, D.C. I watch this story as it unfolded earlier in the year as Ohio played Illinois.

The story of Jason Preston is one of the best stories of the year. He's really good Ohio can play. Remember, too, Ohio knocked out Georgetown a few years ago as a 14 over a three. They've been dangerous. The MAC teams have always been dangerous. I love Georgia Tech, but again, I think they're underseated, which means they could lose in the first round of Loyal, and then they get Illinois. North Carolina, I like Wisconsin to beat North Carolina outright.

Syracuse actually might beat San Diego State. Virginia Tech in Florida, that's another game that reeks to me. I think the public will be on Florida. I think Clemson could lose to Rutgers. I think the ACC, you know, as I watched them all year, and look, It's not that I'm out to get the ACC because I'm no longer in it, and that all of a sudden I've become a real Big Ten believer, which I have.

The Big Ten is the best league by far this year. I just think the Big Ten could literally dominate this tournament and the ACC could be out early. Those were another, that was take number two and take number three. You say what? Yeah, I love Illinois. I mean, I know they're the Big Ten champ. I rode them to the championship.

I mean, since this team, when they lost Ayu Dissoum, something happened with them and he comes back and they're even better. I don't love their draw, the potential of that second round matchups are challenged. Then you might get Oklahoma State who has the best player talent-wise in the country. So the draw is challenging for Illinois to make a run here. One thing about Iowa is twofold. They can't defend and I don't trust Fran McCaffrey in the NCAA tournament. And I think the potential of playing Oregon in the second round, Kevin, is that's a challenging matchup there.

They got long guards. Duarte is a stud. You know, the question will be, can they slow down Luca Garza? But I think Iowa is in some trouble in the second round if they face a team like Oregon, who, by the way, that's a pretty big spread for a 710 game. We're talking about pick one.

Oregon's laying six against VCU. you. And yeah, you know, for Maryland, and I'm sure we'll dive into Maryland a little bit more. Yukon's been a team that I said, when they get healthy, they're going to be a pain to deal with. And then everybody jumped on the Yukon bandwagon, which kind of annoyed me because, you know, just Book Night was back and they had a couple nice wins. But that that is a, you know, of the seven seeds to draw, you would have much, you know, rather had Clemson. or like you said, BYU probably should have been on the seven line. I would have taken Florida, and I think BYU should have been on the seven line. Those were the teams I was rooting for.

I'll tell you what I was worried about. I was worried about Carolina being a 7-10 matchup. Because Maryland, Wisconsin can deal with size better than Maryland can, and I think that would have been a problem. I just, I think the Big Ten has a chance. You know, look, Iowa, if you've watched the Big Ten like I have night in and night out, Iowa can't guard, but man, can they score? And I think when they get out of this league and they're not as well scouted, I think, you know, look, they got blown out by Gonzaga, so I do not see them beating Gonzaga in an elite eight game. But I think they can beat the Oregon VCU winner. I think Kansas is playing awfully well. We'll have to see, you know, what kind of state they're in after, you know, missing some games. But I do think that Iowa can make a deep run and can outscore people. And by the way, Jordan Bowhannon, and I'll mention some players.

I think he's the kind of guy that could have a massive tournament with some big, big shots. Well, you think, the thing about Oregon is they had two COVID shutdowns. The loss to Oregon State was pretty surprising to me the way they were really just not even competitive in that game. But you look at Oregon since they kind of got right past COVID, they got on a roll. Now, the Pac-12, I'm not comparing it to the big 10 or the big 12. It's not nearly the conference that that those are. But I do think that Oregon and Iowa, the potential of that second round matchup is very intriguing. And it's going to be a

short number. It's going to be a shorter than most people expect because I think there's a belief in Dana Altman. They've got talent on that roster. So if Oregon gets past VCU, I think that'll be a short line. And then, you know, to your question, to your point about Kansas, we don't know about McCormick. He was the one who really has thrived here lately, their big man. And he was out of the big 12 tournament due to COVID reasons. And if we get Kansas USC, USC is massive. I mean, with the Mowbly brothers, they've got a top five pick in. Yeah. They can lay an egg, though, man. Oh, sure. Absolutely. They laid it. I mean, I didn't say they laid an egg against Colorado. They get back, you know, they'd need a double overtime to be Utah, which was surprising. But Evan Mowley is a, is a lot of fun to

watch. They've got, you know, their front court of the Mobley brothers is seven foot and six ten. So a second round matchup with their length and their size against Kansas could be interesting there. I wouldn't be surprised if USC may answer the Sweet 16. All right. So I'm going to ask you for your favorite second round matchup, you may have already given it to me. The first round game you're looking forward to the most. For me, it's, I've already mentioned it. It's Georgia Tech Loyola, Chicago. Cameron Cruttwig is a freshman. freshman when Loyola with Sister Jean and company went to the final four, I fell in love with him as a player. I'm like, oh my God, I think I just played with a dude like him at Bethesasas

Sport and Health over the weekend. You know, seriously, he's got the old man game, 610, a vertical leap of maybe two and a half inches, but great hands, great feet, great vision, great high, super high IQ player, four-year player at Loyola. He was the player of the year in the Missouri Valley, and he's going to play against, to me, Jose Alvarado, one of my favorite players in college basketball. I can't wait to see that game. I think it's a great game, first rounder. I think both teams, as we both mentioned, were underseated. I don't have a good feel for who will win that game. I really like the way Tech's been playing, and I think Alvarado is just a thief and can completely disrupt a game.

He's really amazing. But like you said, the metrics love Loyal of Chicago, in part because, because they destroyed teams, you know, at one point. They had, I'll never forget, I sat here on a Saturday, and they were playing Drake in the first matchup against Drake, and I think they were laying four and a half or five or something like that, and I didn't play it, and then the game was really tight at halftime, and I played them on the second half line, and they won by like 20.

You can look it up, I forget exactly what it was. And then the next day, they got beat in a 51-50 game. That's why I like Drake, too. You know, they were missing Roman Penn in some of those games, which hurt them. But that matchup to me, Georgia Tech, Loyola, Chicago must watch first round game. Give me the first round game you're looking forward to the most. I tweeted out, you know, how these games are, and they're based in, you know, they each or have their own time slot, right?

So there's like four games in each time slot. So I picked my favorite game in each time slot, and I tweeted it out. Georgia Tech Loyola, for those wondering, will be at 4 o'clock on Friday. that'll be on TBS. So I'm very much, that was on my list of games. I'll give you, I'll give you one that I just,

if you like points, I love the matchup for this one. Arkansas. It's the first, yeah, it's in the first window. So you, the second game on Friday,

1245, Colgate and Arkansas, two teams that run that can shoot. What's a total? I haven't even looked at it. Kevin, it's been bed up seven. points already. Has it really? What is it? 162.5. Okay. It is the highest total on that board. So it might be

one of those situations. I was talking to a gentleman who was set in lines last night. He said he likes the under in this game. I mean, that'll take, you're getting value now. Yeah. I mean, it has been bet all the way up to, it was like 154 is where it opened. And now it's sitting there at 162.5. So it's been bet up seven points from the opener was 155. I'm looking at it right now. So I love Colgate, Arkansas. And then I'll give you a game on another eight, nine game that I'm really looking forward to. St. Bonaventure in LSU.

I think this could be a really fun game. LSU, I think most people watched on Sunday, take care of business. Sorry, I didn't take care of business, but got in a hell of a game. It's Alabama back and forth. Very athletic team, very similar to what we've seen of. of LSU and pass. And St. Bonnie, man, that team, that team could play. They, they handled VCU, both times they played them. The bonnies are incredibly well coached. They'll have the coaching advantage in that game, no doubt. Mark Schmidt is, is one of the better coaches in the country,

doing what he does with his skill set and his players. They've really rolled through the A10 tournament. You know, they beat a decent Duquesne team by double figures. They suffocated St. Louis, which I was surprised about. I'm high on St. Louis. And then they beat VCU by 9. So that'll be a Friday game. Bonnie's an LSU, 8, 9 in the East region that I'm looking forward to.

I remember you, you were high on St. Louis. You texted me one night and said St. Louis, and it wasn't even close. It got absolutely clobbered. I forget when it was. But I didn't play it, but I remember because you and I text back and forth, and we give each other some pretty good advice,

and then sometimes it doesn't go so well. Texas over the weekend. Yeah. So we already both sort of agreed that Ohio over Virginia would be, you know, our big first round upset possibility. So number six on my list of 10 takeaways from the bracket, best second round matchup, the one that I want to see the most. You know, I've harped on Georgia Tech Loyola versus Illinois, the winner. So I'll go to my other one. I actually think the Yukon, Maryland winner has a shot against Bama and that that's a really good second round game.

I don't know who's going to, obviously, I want Maryland to win the game, and I think Maryland has a shot. I think it's a very, very difficult matchup for both teams because they're both very similar in that they're both very good defensive teams. And, you know, part of me says, we can throw Darryl Morsell and Book Knight and we can win that game. But I think the winner of that has a chance against Bama. You know, Bama is one of these teams. They're super athletic. Nate Oates basically says, you know, first guy that's open, go ahead. I mean, I'm not going to sit you for any bad shot.

I want to play fast. And both Yukon and Maryland have a chance to slow Bama down and frustrate them. So I think that that is a second round matchup for obvious reasons if it's Maryland. But I just think that that's a very interesting second round matchup in what would be a two versus seven or two versus ten game. Yeah, I think there's a couple two seeds. I mentioned Iowa already, and I agree on Alabama. I think that are ripe for an upset. And when you look at Alabama, you know, one thing that jumps out at me, as you mentioned, Nate Oates.

And I love Nate Oates. I mean, what's not the love about the dude? He doesn't give a crap. And you saw him yesterday telling the LSU bench to get the F out of here. I mean, this dude doesn't care. And it's great in their high tempo. They got some dudes. Herb Jones, that dunk that he had yesterday was pretty.

remarkable. Shackleford's really good. But how many times do we've seen it, Kevin? Teams that rely almost solely on the three get bounced early. 47% of their possessions end with a three-point attempts. Think about that. 47%. Yeah, they got some guys that can dunk on you, too, and they'll chase it on the offensive glass, too. And they can defend. You know, the metrics love them defensively. But I think especially, you know, if it's Yukon with the talent that they have, I think they could give Alabama a run there in the second round. Yeah, I'll go to the game that I already mentioned. I think Iowa and Oregon, really, you could get a live dog in that second round matchup.

If Oregon beats VCU, which I think they will. And I think the numbers indicating might win that pretty comfortably. I like Dana Altman quite a bit. I think they'd have the coaching advantage over Fray McCaffrey there. As all your listeners know, watching Iowa a handful of time, I mean, they can score with anybody. Their defense is absolutely a massive question mark. One of the worst defensive teams in that, you know, top 10 region, you know, two offensive efficiency, 50 in defensive efficiency.

So I think Oregon has the potential to take them out with the talent that they have. So I think that is the second round matchup to keep an eye on Oregon and Iowa. I think if that matchup happens, Kevin, that will be a shorter line than people. The real issue with Iowa defensively, unlike many teams in the Big Ten, is they have a real difficult time keeping people in front of them on the perimeter. And then while Garza is a phenomenal offensive big man, he's not a true rim protector defensively. All right. Takeaway number seven. The second weekend games or game or games, and I've got two of them that you'd want to see either Sweet 16 or Elite 8.

I'll go first. I would love to see West Virginia, Houston in a Sweet 16 game. That would be the rock fight of all rock fights. I mean, it would be a war. Two of my favorite coaches and Huggins and Sampson, all they do is win. And they win ugly. They win with defense. They win with pressure.

I would love to see that game. I would very much like to see a, you know, a Purdue with their size. and they've got two big men in Trayvion Williams and Edie, a 7-4 guy. I would very much like to see a Purdue Baylor Sweet 16 game. I think Purdue is well-coached. I think they're better than most people think. And I think Purdue could actually make a run to the final four. And then the last one is, hold on, where is it here?

Just Illinois versus a West Virginia or Houston. in the Elite 8 game would be a phenomenal Elite 8 matchup. Illinois, I agree with you. I think they're the second best team in the country right now behind Gonzaga, and I think they got a brutal draw. They're going to be tested. They're certainly capable of beating everybody that they play. But in Illinois, Houston or Illinois, West Virginia, Elite 8 matchup would be phenomenal. Give me the second weekend matchup you want to see the most. All right, I got a couple, but I want to go back to Purdue because I know you're a big Matt Painter guy. As am I. He deserves

to be questioned very, very harshly for his decision to pull out Trayvion Williams in overtime against Ohio State. He was going offense defense there for a reason they lost that game is he put in EDI and EAD couldn't do a matchup

and, you know, Trayvion Williams is the reason they got back in that game. He was a beast. He kept feeding him. And I understand the offense of defense, scenario that's been done time and time again. But man, taking him out was in my opinion the reason they lost that game. But speaking of the team that beat them, I think a sweet 16 match of Arkansas and Ohio State would be a ton of fun. Ohio State, as we know, can score incredibly well, cannot defend at all. Dwayne Washington, the performance he put on yesterday to get Ohio

State back in that game. I mean, that just took some big balls from him. But they lack in size. And I'm very high on Arkansas. I love Musselman. Me too. I love him. He gets the best out of his players. You think about how they started the season. Kevin, they had a stretch where they, they went to LSU and to Alabama.

They lost by 16 and 31. And after that, they flipped the script. They didn't lose another SEC game, including a win over Alabama that I think you and I were both on that night. And then they lost to LSU in the semifinals of the SEC tournament. But this is a team that gets up and go. in Arkansas. I like their second round matchup if they get past Colgate

with either Texas Tech or Utah State. I do agree. I think Utah State could be a live dog there. But a Sweet 16 match we have Arkansas and Ohio State

could be really fun. I think Arkansas would win that game. And I think Arkansas could be in the elite eight and maybe make a run to the final four. An Illinois,

Oklahoma State would be how much fun would that be? Yeah, it'd be great. Oh my God. I mean, Cade Cunningham. The thing I love about

Kate Cunningham is that he has, as I just mentioned, mention it with Dwayne Washington. Bucket-getter. And he is a guy, you know, we've seen these phenoms come in before that know they're great, know they're going to be the number one pick and they don't give a shit. He cares.

He wants to win. No doubt. He's a gamer, man. And you saw him over the weekend. He had, what, two points in the first half in there. It was the game against Baylor. He had two points in the first half. He had like 23 in the second half in the game against Oklahoma.

home on that Saturday afternoon. He was just an unstoppable force. He gives a shit and he wants to win. And they got dudes around him. I mean, this isn't, you know, Kansas State with Michael Beasley or USC with OJ Mayo. This almost reminds me. Or Texas with Kevin Durant. Yeah.

This reminds me a little bit of Carmelo and Syracuse who the surrounding. Well, they're well coached too. They're exceptionally well coached. Yeah. And Boynton, yeah, he's done a really nice job. But yeah, so I would say Illinois, Oklahoma State, Arkansas, Ohio State, two games I'm really looking forward to in the sweet six. All right, I want to rip through these last three real quickly. Two players who aren't household names to most sports fans and even some college basketball fans that could make a name for themselves over the next month.

Jose Alvarado, I've already mentioned him. I think he is one of the best and fiercest players in the draw. Love the way he plays. and the other one I will give you is actually James Booknight from Yukon. But Jaden Ivy also from Purdue, but he was one of the best freshmen in the country. But I think Book Knight's really good for Yukon. And I think if Yukon beats Maryland, they can beat Alabama and they could be into that Sweet 16. So those are two names that not everybody knows that could become household names over the next couple of weeks.

Give me one or two from your end. Well, I'll give you a, yeah, I agree with Book Knight. I think, you know, people, because he was hurt, people don't know the name all that much. There are seven seed. I love, I love Book Knight, and that's why I've been on, but high on them. You know, a name that I think we could see in a matchup potentially in the Sweet 16. And if you're a college hoop fan, this isn't a name that is surprising. He was the preseason Biggie's player of the year.

But Marcus Zagorowski is a dude. Yeah, he can play. He can play, man. And if they get past UCSB in that first. round. Creighton. The fighting Zabes, Craton there. I just can't believe they were down literally by, they were down by 31 points to Georgetown.

I was, uh, I was, I was doing the, I mean, I was on dad duty on Saturday. We were at a birthday party. And, uh, you know, a funny thing about Creighton and Yukon, I had a future on, on Yukon, uh, three to one to win the big east. So I, what I said was, well, I'm going to hedge off in the semis because whoever wins this game is going to beat Georgetown. So I hedged hard on. Creighton. So I ended up making some money and I would have lost money because I wouldn't have

bet the game because Creighton got smoked by Georgetown. But I do think Marcus Zegorowski is a name to know. And, and you know, Chris Duarte for Oregon, I know I keep going back to them in a matchup against Iowa. I think that's a name. If they can pull that upset off, you're going to know the name Chris Duarte. I think he has the capabilities of going off a little bit there. So those are two guys I would keep an eye on. You know, you know, it's the name that we know in the D.C. area, and they could get bounced in the first round, but couldn't you see a guy like MacKulung having a crazy offensive? I think there's a chance, and I think Aaron tweeted this out. I mean, it was close. Texas Tech could have been a five playing Georgetown 12. That would have been

crazy. By the way, Andre Crabello, the way he's developed at Illinois. So much fun. He is really, I mean, in many ways, he's almost a bigger threat than Desumo is for Illinois. and a lot of people, if you haven't been paying attention to the whole season, don't know how good he is. All right. Last two. You already mentioned one, and I agree with you. Give me the coach in the field that you love because he gets more out of less. You mentioned Musselman, and I mentioned painter. I will give you one more since we mentioned those two guys. I love what Greg Gard is going to get out of Wisconsin in this tournament. I really think Wisconsin's dangerous because it's hard to. to play them if you haven't played them, if you haven't scouted them. They've got guys that are all 24, 25 years old. None of them are spectacular, although Demetric Trice can really play.

But we both mentioned Musselman and Painter. Give me another coach in the field that you love because he just consistently gets more out of less. Well, I like Dana Altman. I always think he gets the most out of his players, the Oregon Ducks, but I've mentioned them a lot. I'm fascinated to see what St. Bonaventure is going to do against LSU. Mark Schmidt is a coach. I don't think many people know up there in middle of nowhere, upstate New York. But the bonnies have some dudes.

Kyle Lofton is a stud guard, a SUNY, their big man is really good. And they don't, they're not deep at all, which makes me a little nervous going up against Will Wade, but I think Will Wade versus Mark Schmidt is a massive coaching advantage to St. Bonaventure. massive.

All right. They don't have the athletes. That's what makes me worried, and Bonnie doesn't have much depth. But Mark Schmidt is a hell of a coach. Last takeaway number 10, which is just first blush final four. Here's mine.

You ready? It's Big Ten dominated. Illinois versus Purdue, I think Baylor's in a little bit of trouble. They have not played well recently coming off that pause, and I think Purdue can make a run. I got Illinois versus Purdue, and I do have Michigan,

although a lot of people are down on them right now. I've got Michigan facing Gonzaga. I've got Illinois over Purdue, and I've got Gonzaga over Michigan, and I've got Illinois over Gonzaga in the final. That's first blush. I think it's going to be, they've got the hardest draw. I think it'll really prepare them. But I've got three big 10 teams, Illinois, Purdue, Michigan, all in the final four.

Gonzaga beating Illinois in the final. Illinois beating Gonzaga in the final. What do you got? I've got Gonzaga. I just like their bracket. I think they gave the number one overall C pretty manageable bracket there.

Their second round matchup doesn't really scare me. Their potential Sweet 16 matchup doesn't really scare me. And then who's going to come out of the bottom half of the bracket? I already mentioned I think Oregon could beat Iowa. So I think Gonzaga should really, it would be a surprise if they don't get out of the West region. The east, I like Michigan.

the Isaiah Liver's thing scares me. I don't know if he's going to play. He's got a stress fracture in his left foot. He did not play in the semi-final of the Big Ten tournament against Ohio State. And just to be a little different, and this scares me too, because I feel like Leonard Hamilton is great up until he's not. But I think Florida State has the potential to come out of the east. So just to be a little different, different.

That would be my first blush. I'll take Arkansas out of the south. I think I like their situation. and then I'll take Illinois in the Midwest. I'll have the same final as you, Zags, in Illinois, but I'll go with the Zags. I love this team. They're so talented.

And they proved early on in the year, Kevin, that they can beat the crap out of anyone you put in front of them. And if they stay healthy, they've got a lottery pick and Jalen Suggs. They've got so many weapons. I'll say the Zags win it this year over Illinois. Still, Arkansas, going Arkansas and taking a three and a four, Arkansas and Florida State, it's pretty bold. And I took a four on Purdue.

So there you go. All right. We've got to get to a break when we come back. My take, get Tim's as well on what happened between Juan Howard and Mark Turgeon in that Friday quarterfinal between Michigan and Maryland, right after this word from one of our sponsors. All right, Maryland lost to Michigan. We were in here doing a podcast on Friday and talked about how impressive they were beating Michigan State in that first round. You know, as it turns out, if Maryland had lost to Michigan State, Maryland probably would be in that first four game against UCLA on Thursday night. But they swept Michigan State at the end of the year, and they were solidly in the field as a 10.

By the way, they showed up late on bracket selection. A lot of Maryland fans were like freaking out. Like, are they going to get screwed? No, I never was worried, especially when I saw Michigan State as an 11, I knew Maryland was a 10 and in the field. And I'll go over the matchup against Yukon here in a moment. But I want to go back to Friday and the Turgeon versus Joanne Howard confrontation. Real quickly, though, on that game, Maryland had a 12-point lead against Michigan in the first half. Darryl Moresell was dominating that game, and he picked up his second foul and went to the bench.

I had Turgeon on the radio show this morning. You can go back and listen to it. And I asked him, I said, when they started cutting into that lead, did you think about putting Darrell back in? And he said, yeah, I made a mistake. I should have put Darrell back in. You know, it's an automatic default now. And this was never the case, Timmy, way back when.

Coaches, when they get a player that gets a second foul in the first half, they're done until the second half. I've never understood that. I would never think automatically my guy's sitting for the rest of the half. You know, because you can't, if he's a really good player, and it's a tight game. Can you really afford to have them off the floor if he picks up his second foul with 12 minutes to go? So Morsell picked it up with about seven and a half to go.

And it totally changed the game. Mike Smith all of a sudden took over the basketball game and had one of the great statistical lines you will ever see in a college basketball game. 18 points, 15 assists, which was a Big Ten tournament record, by the way. and zero, zero turnovers. That's unbelievable. He also had five rebounds. 18 and 15, zero point. He took the game, he had two steals too.

Totally took the game over when Morsell went to the bench in the first half. And Maryland had so many wide open looks in the second half with their best shooters. Michigan played them in zone. I couldn't believe it. But Michigan won the game. Anyway, let's get to what a lot of people. talked about from that game. A lot of Maryland people, a lot of Michigan people. Oh my God. I had no idea that there were so many Michigan basketball fans like there were,

and how obsessed they are with things I don't know why they would be obsessed about. If I were a Michigan person, I'd be obsessed with the fact that my head football coach can't beat Ohio State. That's what I'd be obsessed with. But anyway, what happened, there's a root cause for what happened in the confrontation between Turgent and Joanne Howard. And I will walk through this with you chronologically. Hunter Dickinson played at Dematha. It was a big-time recruit. Hunter Dickinson went to Michigan. He was recruited by Maryland. He was offered by Maryland. When Maryland played Michigan with Hunter Dickinson as a freshman on New Year's Eve for the first time this year, Hunter Dickinson said before the game that Maryland neither recruited him nor did they offer him. That was

just not true. Everybody in town knows that's not true. Now, there are degrees of being recruited, and it's a very gray area. Was he slighted? Maybe that Mark didn't show up for a certain game. Maryland recruited him aggressively and offered him when he was a sophomore. It was very clear early on, I was told he was not coming to Maryland. He made it a big deal.

He was obsessed with making it very clear that, for whatever reason, he believed Maryland didn't recruit him and didn't offer him. And on that New Year's Eve night, he taunted Turgeon during the game from the floor. And he had a great game. And Michigan was dominant in that game in the second half. It's a very interesting thing. Maryland was up six in the second half. And Darryl Morsell got hurt.

That was the game in which he had his facial bone fractured. And he ended up wearing that mask, missed a few games and wore the mask when he came back. And Michigan went on a run without Morsell in the game and ended up winning the game by 11. but they were up by like 15 or 16. They pulled away. I remember saying the next day, oh, my God, Michigan is loaded. They are so good to me. They're the best team I've seen other than Gonzaga.

Well, Dickinson taunted him the entire night, Turgeon. It was a big deal. If you followed this, you know that he'd hit a shot and he'd stare down Turgeon, pointed at him. This happened throughout the night. Turgeon did not go back at him, didn't even mention it, was asked about it, didn't mention it. complimented Dickinson after the game. And here's why. You can't tell people the story and that the guy was not telling the truth when you got your ass kicked.

And not only that, he had 26 and 11 that night. So Mark totally handled it the right way. Basically just complimented them, said they played great. They're really difficult to guard. Juan's doing a great job. But he was not happy that Joanne Howard allowed it to happen and essentially said, hey man, that's basketball. He let his freshman center taunt the opposing coach during the course of a game over something that was not true. They played a second time, and Mark made it very clear to the

league that he was not going to take it for a third time. Now, Dickinson did not taunt Turgeon again in the game on Friday. What happened on Friday, I gave you the backdrop for the tension between Howard and Turgeon and Maryland in Michigan, all right? Which, by the way, Turgeon never said boo about it publicly at any point this year. He let others speak on his behalf. You know, people that know what was going on and know that the kid, for whatever reason, was majorly obsessed with Maryland not recruiting him even though they did. By the way, if I were a Michigan fan, I would wonder why the hell my freshman phenom is so obsessed with the team that didn't recruit him.

How about just enjoy where you are and the team you're on? Because it's a really good fucking team, like capable of winning the national championship. It's almost like when Landon Collins got signed by Washington, I just couldn't believe how he could not get Dave Gettleman's name out of his mouth and couldn't stop talking about the Giants. He was so butt hurt that the Giants wouldn't recruit him, wouldn't sign him. And I kept saying, hey, dude, you're on our team now. you're a Washington football team player.

Get the – fuck the Giants and what you're going to do against the Giants for the rest of your career. We have 14 other games during the year. And Dickinson, if I were a Michigan fan, I'd be like, why is he so obsessed with Maryland? We own them right now, which they do. But anyway, what happened the other night was there was a call, and Juan Howard explained this portion of it accurately. There was a call where the ball got knocked out of bounds off Galen Smith and they gave it to Maryland anyway. It was actually a bad call. I went back and looked at it.

Joanne Howard starts complaining at the under 12 timeout to the officiating about the call. Joanne Howard, the way he explained it was that he was barely outside the coach's box. And Turgeon then said, hey, he's outside the coaching box. And that's when Joanne went to Turgeon and said, what, are we going to complain? about me being outside the coaching box? Well, the truth is he wasn't just outside the coaching box. He had crossed half court and was closer to Maryland's coaching box than his own. And that's why Turgeon said to the referee, hey man, he's out of the coaching box. And Joanne Howard lost it. And according to multiple reports, Joanne Howard threatened to kill Mark Turgeon. He said,

I'll fucking kill you. That's when Turgeon turned. and went towards Jouan. Jawan says he charged him. He didn't really charge him. It's right there. That part of the videotape is there. Turgeon definitely started pointing at him saying, don't you talk to me.

I'm done talking to you. Don't you talk to me after he was threatened. Maryland turned it into the league. And per usual, it's another situation where there are two schools in the Big Ten that matter more than anybody else. Michigan and Ohio State. Why? Because they generate most of the rest.

revenue, and the new commissioner Warren basically said, ah, we're not going to do anything about it. And it's the same situation you got with Kevin Warren, who, by the way, started the Big Ten season about a month after it should have been started due to COVID. Okay. Kevin Warren, who, by the way, had a very high position with the Minnesota Vikings, took the job as the Big Ten Commissioner replacing a legend and decided he's not going to punish anybody, which, okay, and Turgeon, by the way, is not going to go public with any of this. He won't.

He will not. but that's what happened on Friday. And for you Maryland fans, it's, oh, we just found our new Duke. Not for me. Michigan's really good, and they have owned us three straight times this year. There's no doubt. The game on Friday was a competitive game. Maryland led by 12 in the first half.

They cut it to five with four and a half to go or five minutes to go and had legitimate chances to get back into that. Michigan State is the one team, and I don't know that anybody in the Big Ten's ever going to view Maryland is a rival. We just don't have that length of time or tradition. You know, our rivals are back in our old league where we were for 50-some years. It'll take a lot of time. But beating Michigan State twice at the end of the year, to me, was awesome. Michigan hasn't meant anything to me. Michigan State's the Blue Blood

program in the league. Indiana obviously hasn't been very good. Michigan's more like, you know, having a rivalry with UVA, which Maryland had a rivalry with. But it's not Duke or Carolina. Now, I will tell you this, if Maryland plays Michigan at Xfinity Center next year, and that game is, if they do have that game, I don't know what the schedule is. Hopefully they'll schedule it for when the students are back. Juan Howard and Hunter Dickinson, if he's still playing for them, will get the full J.J. Redick Coach K. Treatment.

It will be a scene, man. If Michigan plays in college park next year, you know, after the end of January, when the students are back, it'll be one of those heated Xfinity Center crowds that you won't forget if you're there. You'll want to be at that one. But damn, Michigan's good. They're so good. And they're better than Maryland. They're a lot better than Maryland right now.

They are. But, you know, I don't know why Hunter Dickinson's so obsessed. with not getting recruited. I don't know how many of you. My God, I've never, I had so many Michigan people responding to some of my stuff on Twitter. I had no idea they cared so much. You know, it's a football school that can't beat its chief rival, can't even come close to beating its rival. They've been owned by Ohio State. I mean, Ohio State is, you know, a legitimate upper-tier college football program. Michigan's now been relegated to, what, third-tier, something like that in terms of a college program, football program. And, you know, I'm not trying to hurt you.

That's just fact. You know, that's just, you know, Jim Harbaugh has not gotten it done at Michigan, period. That's got to hurt you more than Maryland fans, you know, complaining about Hunter Dickinson. I mean, enough of that already. You guys have been great, and B-Line was one of my favorite coaches, and you played in two national championship games in the last 10 years. We haven't done that. But the last title won by anybody playing in the Big Ten currently was won by Maryland. That was the last time a team currently playing in the Big Ten won a national championship. Michigan's last came in 1989. Really good program.

Really good team. Excellent team. And Juwan's doing a great job. Doing a great job. I don't see, for me, making Michigan our game. Duke. First of all, I don't think Michigan will care as much because they've got their own rivals. They're a football first school. So it's not a, it's not a, it's not an, you got to, you got to look at the basketball first schools as potential rivals, Indiana, you know, Purdue,

Michigan State, to a certain degree, you know, in terms of their, they're the, they're the, the the only team in the Big Ten that is a, is close to Duke, Carolina, Kentucky, Kansas, It's not Michigan. It's Michigan State. And obviously Tim Wright was Indiana for a long time, but it's been a long time for Indiana. But Indiana is a basketball first school like Maryland is. You know, the Big Ten is a football league, but there's still a couple of basketball first schools in the Big Ten. And you start with Maryland, obviously, and Indiana.

You know, Ohio State and in Michigan and Penn State and Nebraska and, you know, Wisconsin's probably football first, right? Yeah. And Michigan State, you know, for a lot of those people, it's probably football first, but their program and their basketball program has been so good. But, man, I mean, you guys, for owning us three straight times, I've never seen people that, upset. But Joanne initiated that confrontation by walking towards Maryland's bench across half court. That's what Dickinson, from what I learned, didn't do anything in the game the other day in terms of continuing to taunt the coach. They'd cut that out. But Joanne walking in that direction was the instigator, period. That's what happened. He wasn't just outside his own

coaching box. You watch any view of that video. He is across half court closer to Maryland's coaching box than his own. He exaggerated that just slightly in his postgame thing. And left out, if true, the reporting, now many people have reported, Turgeon didn't say it, that Joanne lost his mind and momentarily threatened to kill Turgeon. But the good news is Turgeon, the only other coach I know that he might have beef with in the entire country is Danny Hurley. That's right. And they get him on Saturday night. By the way, on that game, I want to get to it.

But go ahead. Did you have any reaction to that thing? And do you think I pretty much explained it accurately? Yeah, I think so. I mean, you know more about it than I do with, you know, the threatening there. But I just, I thought it was funny that the big rumor was why Juwai, got all upset was that some dude with like 20 followers on Twitter heard something that no one else could hear. The banner. Which was the banner thing, which was funny, which was really funny. And I give

that guy credit for the creativity. But it didn't happen. Yeah. And as you looked at it, it's going to be a he said, he said type of situation. But it certainly looked like, you know, with Howard being that far down. And I didn't know, honestly, I didn't know. Honestly, I didn't know the Dickinson backstory. I knew he obviously went to Damatha and I remember them having some reports that he didn't get recruited, which was I knew was inaccurate. But yeah, clearly, but I will say this, obviously there was some sort of bad blood there because I don't think Turgeon would have snapped like that unless it was something that was kind of boil up a little bit. So there was some bad blood there. Yeah, and I hope, I hope that this is a, you know, a, a

9 p.m. game on an early February night in college park next year because that could be, that could be a lot of fun. But yeah, I don't, I don't fully anticipate this to be. It would not have surprised me had Maryland, let's just say, made it to the nine line, if they would have been opposite Michigan for a potential second round game. Well, I don't think so. No, they can do that. They can do that conference-wise. Because Maryland on the seed line, I thought was kind of supposed to be a nine, but ultimately got bumped to the 10.

They try not to do it, but they don't completely avoid it, especially when you've got nine teams from one league. Sometimes they can't do it. By the way, Tim made reference to the banner. For those of you not familiar with what happened, there was a rumor going on that Turgeon basically told Joanne Howard, and that's what set them off. Don't hang the banner because your banners come down, you know, the Fab Five banners. in reference to, which Howard was a part of. Even Howard didn't say the Turgeon said that. So nobody had that.

And Howard, you know, went into far more detail about what happened from his viewpoint and never mentioned that. So anyway, I love, look, I know Mark well enough. He's a competitor, man. He is feisty, and he won't back down. And a lot of Maryland fans said they wish he had said something about the banners. But that's not really his style either. He wouldn't have said something or even thought to say something like that. Anyway, Maryland, Yukon, Georgetown, Colorado.

Some thoughts on that and just one last thought on the show about marvelous Marvin Hagler right after this word from one of our sponsors. Georgetown's run through the Big East tournament to me was so unexpected. But at the same time, it's really weird because during the course of this year, you know my good friend, Christopher Johnson, CJ, and he's almost like another family member with the Thompson family. And I swear to God, he'll back me up. I would say five times during the course of the season. I would just text him right before Georgetown games would tip, and I would say Georgetown, because they were getting a short number against somebody

good. I had them so much this year as winners. I had them against, Providence. I had them against Creighton. I had them against Xavier. I had them against Nova. They were the right side so many times this year. They also, and this is something that I've talked about over the last couple of years, I don't watch a lot of Georgetown basketball. I don't. But when I have watched them, I think they're well coached. And it's been a talent issue more than anything else. look, they got a break in facing a Villanova team that's banged up, but they came through on that. Bottom line is, I don't think they would have beaten Yukon in the final, but the Creighton

score and the way they did it is stunning to me. Stunning. Creighton had destroyed them the last time they'd play. They split with Creighton, but Creighton can really score. And Georgetown outscored them at the end of that half. 30 to 5. It was 13 to 6 and it ended up Creighton with about 11, 10 and a half to go. And Georgetown outscored them 30 to 5 over the last 10 and a half 11 minutes of that first half. I was shocked by it. I thought that Harris was great.

I thought Wahab, when I watched him play, that he's, I think they do a really good job of going inside out. I think they're really, really good at creating offense. I would, you know, I know that they're a five-point dog to Colorado. It's not going to surprise me if Georgetown has a legit chance to win that game. What do you make of the Hoyas? Yeah, I mean, the run was absolutely unexpected. And preseason, I did a write-up for the Big East. And we'll talk about Yukon.

I was very high on Yukon. I thought they were the third best team in the conference. But I also thought Georgetown was the worst team in the conference. I didn't expect anything from the Hoyas. And look, they lost a Navy in the conference. the preseason, you know, early on in the year, maybe end up being a decent team. But the way the season started, I mean, they were a train wreck. But after the COVID pause, they really came back and, and, and we're just a completely different team, Kevin. And, you know, the road

road went at Creighton was one of the bigger upsets of the year. I mean, they were about a 14 point dog going to Creighton. And they won that game by seven. But the run was, was remarkable. And the game against Seton Hall was really impressive, winning that game and the fashion that it did. But, yeah, the close out against Creighton, it was 18, 18. They wanted an 18-0 run to close out the first half. I mean, they had a 35 to 6 run to get it to 53 to 24. So it was remarkable. And that's something that you look at.

Colorado, I don't know how much you've watched of Colorado this year. They're so kind of hit or miss. You know, I thought they're winning against USC was nice. but they'll have a loss to Cal. You know, Oregon State obviously beats them. McKinley Wright is their best player. He's a really talented guard. And he could do, he's a, he's a fun player to watch.

But yeah, I would not be surprised whatsoever. And I think the line kind of indicates that. It's a five point spread for a five, 12 game. That's not a ton of points. So I think Georgetown is absolutely live in that spot. And that's an interesting little pod because of Colorado Georgetown game and then Florida State and UNC Greensboro. I mentioned that Florida State, I think, is a tricky matchup for Greensboro.

But I think Georgetown could, it wouldn't be the craziest thing in the world to see them get to the Sweet 16. And yeah, to your point about Patrick Ewing, I mean, they've had so much unrest in that, in that program with with players transferring and disciplinary reasons and whatnot. So where they are and the struggles that they've had with keeping talent, whether one way or the other, other. It's a remarkable coaching job by Patrick Ewing. They're going to play Colorado in the first round, as we said, and I agree. The line's a little bit short there. I would not surprise me if Georgetown won's Tad Boyle, the coach of Colorado, was one of Turgeon's closest friends. Coached under Turgeon, you know, at Jacksonville State and Wichita State as an assistant to Mark before finally getting a shot. I think it was Northern Colorado. I think it was as a head coach. And he's from Colorado.

He's been the head coach now there for a long time. You know, Tad Boyle's been at Colorado for what? Is it a decade? It might be a decade at this point. And he's done a good job, you know, over the years as their head coach. They've been to the tournament, you know, a few times. It's been a while. But, you know, they had a shot last year to make it.

And it's going to be, that's a great first round game. Now, as far as Maryland and Yukon, we've already talked about Virginia, Ohio. By the way, I think Florida's got a shot. shot at Virginia Tech. I think Mount beats Texas Southern. I do. I think it's a tricky matchup for Texas Southern. They're very

big, athletic. And if you look at the teams like that in the NEC, I thought real quick, I was doing 30 seconds on them, but I thought the game plan that they put out there, Dan Engelstad and his staff against Bryant High School. Yep, Pride of Whitman. I thought it was

a masterpiece what they did against Brian. no one gave them a chance to beat Bryant, undefeated at home, and they stifled them defensively. I love how you're into that league. You've always been into that league. NEC, baby. Yeah, so that's a great spot for them. They're by themselves on Thursday, so it's a cool spot,

good moment for Mount St. Mary's, and I think they beat Texas Southern. So this is a tough matchup for Maryland. It's a tough matchup for Yukon, too. The thing that concerns me, it's not the team that I wanted. I think, you know, I can tell you this, Georgetown didn't want Yukon. They wanted Creighton in the final. They didn't want any part of Yukon. They, Georgetown gave up 98 to Yukon just a week and a half ago and lost 98 to 82 in that game. Yukon, with Book Knight, their scoring guard is really capable. And Danny Hurley's teams are always tough physical. Maryland had a couple of games with Rhode Island and handled them, but they were rough games with Rhode Island.

Chippy games. I think this is going to be a chippy game. These are two physical teams, two teams with a lot of length and a lot of wingspan. They've got some size and their freshman big who Maryland recruited. The key to me is, you know, can Maryland get them to shoot at a super low percentage, which is what they did against Creighton? Creighton basically held them to, I think I looked at it up last night, 32% from the floor and held Yukon to 56 points. You know, you can see it in the total in this game, which is like 129, 130.

You know, people are expecting this to be, you know, a game in the low 60s, you know, somewhere in that neighborhood. And that's where Maryland needs it to be. I don't know if Yukon feels the same way. But it's going to be, you know, it's going to be really, Maryland's superb defensively. They really are. And they can play small and switch every single screen. But Yukon's got some size. And Maryland has dealt, had some issues with some size. And their big dude, Sanago is like 610 and 240. And Whaley, I think, is big too. So you've probably watched more of Yukon. I've watched enough of them to know that I didn't really want them.

because this has, you know, this has 60, 360 written all over it one way or the other. Yeah, I really like this Yukon team. And I was hoping they'd get a better draw than Maryland, too, because I think they have the capabilities of making a run. Sonogo, as you mentioned, the big man, yeah, he's played well down the stretch. He had 13 against Creighton, that first round matchup against Paul. He had 14. He had a big game against Seton Hall, 16 and 9.

And I think a game that maybe will be similar in style, stylistically at the end of that, at the end of the season there. Yeah, and that's the thing. When Yukon got James Booknight back, they really started to hum. Tyrese Martin has played well, another guard. They are really good backcourt with Martin Booknight and then the Howard transfer, R.J. Cole,

RJ Cole, I believe was the Miak player of the year, two years ago, transferred to Yukon, sat out the year, and he's kind of been up and down. I think they've, he's had some big games. You know, he can be neutralized, but Book Knight's the big, the big key here. I mean, he is a, you know, big, long, rangy guard, 19 points a game, crushed Georgetown. And since he's come back from injury, he's really played well. And since that loss, they played Villanova. Yeah.

On a Saturday, lost that game. And I think they didn't cover. It was a tight game. Yeah, it was closer than the score indicated. They went on a run and they started killing people. And they didn't, you know, they played Georgetown twice during that stretch. They played Marquette. They beat Seton Hall.

And then they had one of the worst shooting games they've had in a while. Maryland's better defensively than Creighton. So maybe Maryland can force them. Maryland's one of the best defensive efficiency teams and offensive efficiency teams for that matter in the country. I think this is a coin flip. I would have felt much better against Clemson, even though they lost to them earlier. I think Maryland would have destroyed a team like Creighton, actually. I think they would have defended them and forced them into a rough night.

I think they would have beaten BYU. I think they would have beaten Florida. There were a couple of teams I was hoping for. I didn't want North Carolina and I didn't want Yukon. Those were the two I didn't want. But, you know, they've played better, man. I mean, the Big Ten, you know, Yukon would have fit in actually nicely in this year's Big Ten with the way they play.

But Marilyn played, you know, the elite of the elite this year. So they're certainly not going to be afraid and they're not going to be overwhelmed by any stretch of the imagination. It's a really good matchup, you know. CBS is putting it in the primetime slot, you know, on Saturday night with, you know, the two programs that have, you know, significant history. Last time they played was in the Elite 8 at the Carrier Dome in 2002. Gary Williams called it the best game, highest level game he ever coached in when Maryland beat them to go on to win the national championship. I wanted to mention two things before we go.

Number one, I really was sincere when I tweeted out for those of you that thought I was really not. I really was sincere about being happy for the Georgetown family. You have no idea how cool it was for all of us to work in a building where, a legend like Coach Thompson was every single day. And Tim was a part of it, too. Some of those conversations in the bullpen with coach were some of my best memories working at 980. And I know how emotional this was to that whole group. And I like all of those people, too.

And so I am happy about him. Now, he would call, he would say, motherfucker, you know, tell him how you really feel. And I would say, I don't want Georgetown to be good. You know, I want Maryland, I'm a Maryland fan. Georgetown becoming a really good program under Patrick Ewing doesn't help Maryland. And vice versa. Those guys, whether it was JT3 or Ronnie or coach, they would tell you, they didn't like Maryland. They didn't want Maryland to do well.

Now, John loved Lefty and loved Gary, but he was never rooting for them to do. well or rooting for the ACC to do well. But I am happy for that for the Georgetown family. Because what a time to do it, man. What a time to do it. I love Patrick's response when he was asking the postgame show. What do you think coach would be saying to you right now? And he said, well, I can't say it on television because it would have started with MFER. But that was a term of endearment with coach. And I think it's really cool that they made that run through the tournament, not to mention the fact that Patrick is doing a great job and is so likable. Like everything about Patrick Ewing is likable.

And the way he handled the whole weekend, I thought was brilliant talking about people not recognizing him at Madison Square Garden. I think they've got a shot to beat Colorado. I do and get to the second round, which would be a second round game against Florida State, right? Is that the matchup? It would be Florida State in the second round if Georgetown wins. Yeah, that would be the matchup. But that would be, you know, that's a big old team that Florida State's got. But Georgetown is playing well.

And they're playing, they've got high IQ, I-IQ players and a high IQ team. All right. I just wanted to say real quickly, Tim, because you're younger. How many times have you watched Hagler-Herns? Have you seen it? No. Oh, boy. I'm glad we ended with this.

Do I need to sit on Uncle Kevin's knee here for a moment? Yeah, you do. It's only like 17 minutes long. It's three rounds. It's the greatest three rounds that you'll ever see. It's the greatest first round in big-time championship boxing history. Okay, seriously, the greatest first round ever. It is one of those fights that over the years, you know, I'll be sitting around in front of my computer on YouTube and I'll be like,

let me go watch Hagler-Herns again, because it's so awesome. I've made all my kids watch it over the years. And when Hagler died over the weekend, and that's why I'm bringing it up, he died at the age of 66. He was during an era of non-heavyweights being the story in boxing. It was all, it was middle-weights, it was welterweights, it was lightweights, it was Sugar Ray Leonard, it was Tommy Hearns, it was Roberto Duran, it was Marvin Hagler, it was Alexis Argueo, it was Aaron Pryor, it was Pepino-Quivas, it was,

It was Wilfred Benitez, and the list goes on and on and on, and they just, the Hagler was the best. He was the best pound-for-pound fighter of that era. I think he beat Sugar Ray Leonard in that epic matchup in April of 87, even though Leonard got the decision. It's what sent him into retirement early. He thought he was completely jobbed. I did too, and I was a Sugar Ray guy. Hagler just was the ultimate pro, and he was, for that era, as good as anybody in one of the greats of all times. And he was part of one of the most memorable fights in boxing history.

Hagler Hearns, three rounds of some of the fiercest attempting to knock each other out with big blows that you will ever see. Tim, do yourself a favor before you get ready for your show. It's 17 minutes when this show ends. Just YouTube. And get the version with Al Michaels. And I think it's Ross Bernstein on the call. the Al Michael's call of it. It is incredible. You just don't see fights like that anymore. Hearns was, you know, Tommy Herns, the Tommy the Hitman, Hearns, was a knockout artist until he lost to Sugar Ray Leonard in a TKO in Caesar's Palace, 1981, when he became more of a boxer.

But the hitman came out that night knowing, if I don't knock him out early, I can't beat him. And he tried like hell to knock him out. And it's one of the more electrifying sporting events of the 20th century, the three-round Hagler-Herns fight, which nobody who has ever seen it will ever forget. So I've given you homework. I'm on it. Thanks for spending time on Uncle Kevin's knee. And thank you for hanging out with me for the show.

We gave you guys a lot of NCAA tournament talk. I've been checking Twitter to see if there's anything related to our football team. team. Nothing has happened during the show. Back tomorrow with Tommy. Another right hand.