Speaker 1: Hello, everybody, Welcome into the Betting Pros Podcast. I am
Speaker 1: Ryan Warmley, joined today by Terrell Furman Junior. We have
Speaker 1: a bracket, Terrell. We can now look at the NCAA
Speaker 1: Tournament twenty twenty five. We know the teams that are in,
Speaker 1: we know where they are seeding, we know where they're playing,
Speaker 1: and we can start filling out those brackets. One of
Speaker 1: the most fun stretches of days of the entire year
Speaker 1: is just tinkering with my bracket and can't you know,
Speaker 1: really struggling to decide who's going to be in my
Speaker 1: final four, which usually happens in most years. How are
Speaker 1: you doing today, buddy.
Speaker 2: Oh, I'm good. I'm great.
Speaker 3: My VCU rams won the A ten. Shout out to
Speaker 3: the home team VCU for being able to get that done.
Speaker 3: I like the draw getting a BYU team that's ryan hot.
Speaker 3: They know that they can shoot, but they haven't seen
Speaker 3: a defense like VCU, So I'm one. I love the
Speaker 3: mid majors and one of my favorite parts of the
Speaker 3: tournament is seeing what mid major decides to make the
Speaker 3: dance and make this interesting for us.
Speaker 1: Speaking of mid majors, I promise we were going to
Speaker 1: look at this from a non Homer view for so
Speaker 1: the show, I have to ask my Maryland Terrapins. We
Speaker 1: were just talking about a little bit before we started recording.
Speaker 1: They're facing a mid major in that four thirteen game
Speaker 1: they get Grand Canyon. What are your immediate thoughts on
Speaker 1: that one?
Speaker 2: Oh, be careful, Maryland.
Speaker 3: This is a Maryland team that has a good amount
Speaker 3: of tournament appearances and not a good amount of wins.
Speaker 3: Here and Greg and Canyon you talked about it in
Speaker 3: pre production. Grand Canyons fans travel really well, and so
Speaker 3: we'll see how that goes. But man, from a Grand
Speaker 3: Canyon team that I think can do it all and
Speaker 3: that has the ability to put up a lot of
Speaker 3: offense and really really lockdown defensively, Maryland may be in trouble.
Speaker 2: Just maybe.
Speaker 1: Yeah, we'll see how that goes. I feel like Memphis
Speaker 1: is a pretty decent five to get as a four,
Speaker 1: you know, I know a lot of places had them
Speaker 1: seated a bit lower. So we'll see if they even
Speaker 1: get to that point having to get past grad kid
Speaker 1: and I do want to let everybody know that we
Speaker 1: have a pick them contest here going on. If you
Speaker 1: think you know college troops take your bracket knowledge to
Speaker 1: the next level with the brand new NCAA Tournament Pick
Speaker 1: Them Contest sponsored by FanDuel. Pick your winners or make
Speaker 1: your predictions against the spread all tournament long for a
Speaker 1: chance to win up to one thousand dollars in FanDuel,
Speaker 1: DFS credits, signed jerseys, and free annual Betting Pro subscriptions.
Speaker 1: The best part is it's completely free to enter. You
Speaker 1: can enter now at bettingpros dot com slash contests. All right, Terrell,
Speaker 1: let's start off with the really main conversation that you
Speaker 1: see every year at this point, right after the selection show,
Speaker 1: which is the teams that didn't make it, and who
Speaker 1: are the biggest snubs in your opinion? And not only
Speaker 1: who are the biggest snubs, but who would you take
Speaker 1: out to make room for them?
Speaker 3: I mean, I think this year is not even the
Speaker 3: conversation of what teams didn't make it. It's the conversation
Speaker 3: of what team did make it that took something out
Speaker 3: because North Carolina is in the field. And as somebody
Speaker 3: who yes, I do like the North Carolina it's our heels,
Speaker 3: you know, coming down to the North Carolina area. I've
Speaker 3: been around here a few and you kind of end
Speaker 3: up picking loyalties one way or another when you frequent
Speaker 3: around North Carolina too much. I questioned them against the
Speaker 3: best teams. Everybody talks out the quad one win record
Speaker 3: and all of that, and yeah, they got a little
Speaker 3: bit of hot playing the bottom of the barrel the ACC.
Speaker 3: But the question mark is how how do you judge
Speaker 3: the ACC? Because they were very very lukewarm in a
Speaker 3: down ACC conference and they made it in the tournament.
Speaker 3: And if you told me Indiana got that spot, I
Speaker 3: wouldn't have been surprised. If you told me Boise got
Speaker 3: that spot, I wouldn't have been surprised. I think Boise
Speaker 3: is the team that I look at and I'm like, oh,
Speaker 3: I really wish we kind of kind of get to
Speaker 3: see that team in the tournament. But North Carolina making
Speaker 3: it in I think that's the one that everybody's confused at.
Speaker 3: And now that they're in there, h they might win
Speaker 3: a game maybe too.
Speaker 1: I was going to say, not only Carolina is the
Speaker 1: obvious one. You're right about that, but those two teams
Speaker 1: you mentioned were the two that I was thinking would
Speaker 1: have a chance over Carolina and Indiana and Boise. So
Speaker 1: I in locks up with you on that was Was
Speaker 1: there any seating snubs in your opinion, any teams that like, yes,
Speaker 1: we knew they were going to get get in, but
Speaker 1: you thought they were lower, or the other version placed
Speaker 1: teams you got were higher than they should have been
Speaker 1: seeded when you look at the bracket.
Speaker 3: I think the ending of the Big Ten Title game
Speaker 3: was rather interesting. You had Michigan come in as a
Speaker 3: five seed I believe in granted, Michigan looked horrible to
Speaker 3: start the regular season, but they got red hot when
Speaker 3: they needed to and won the Big Ten tournament. And
Speaker 3: then you had that Wisconsin team who who I believe
Speaker 3: was ranked a three.
Speaker 1: Is that what we're there are three? They were the
Speaker 1: twelfth team on the escurve. Yeah, there are three.
Speaker 3: Yeah, So I'm like, ah, three for that Wisconsin team
Speaker 3: that struggles like you saw it in the Big Ten
Speaker 3: title game. That Wisconsin team struggles down the stretch of games.
Speaker 3: They will have you in the game.
Speaker 2: Have you in the game? Have you in the game.
Speaker 3: When you get to the final three minutes, four minutes
Speaker 3: of basketball, it looks really really bad on offense, and honestly,
Speaker 3: what it looks like is a lot of just hey,
Speaker 3: figure out somebody shoot the ball and hopefully it goes in,
Speaker 3: and not a whole bunch of hey, let's make this set,
Speaker 3: let's do the things that were working for us all
Speaker 3: the way up to this point. Wisconsin kind of melts
Speaker 3: down in games, so the fact of seeing was consin
Speaker 3: as a three. I thought they were overseeded and definitely
Speaker 3: going to be a team that I'm looking out to
Speaker 3: go ahead and get them out of the water early.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I tend to agree with that. I mean really
Speaker 1: like Michigan. I get it. You mentioned some of the
Speaker 1: struggles I had at various points in the season, but
Speaker 1: I think you could make a at least a cogent
Speaker 1: case that they should have been seated higher than Wisconsin,
Speaker 1: who was a three. Purdue and Maryland were both fours.
Speaker 1: I mean, Michigan just beat Maryland yesterday. Obviously Maryland beat
Speaker 1: them at their place too earlier in the season. I
Speaker 1: don't think Purdue's resume is all that exciting. Like I
Speaker 1: was surprised to see Michigan out of five, given some
Speaker 1: of the metrics and particularly how they finished the season.
Speaker 1: We see it a lot of years, though, that Big
Speaker 1: Ten Championship game often doesn't matter because it's so late
Speaker 1: in the process the bracket is typically made. So unless
Speaker 1: that's a team that's going to steal a bid and
Speaker 1: they have to leave open that contingency, you often see
Speaker 1: it not impact seeding maybe as much as it should.
Speaker 1: I know that's like as a Big ten guy, Maryland,
Speaker 1: I know that's something that people kind of often talk
Speaker 1: about amongst the fandom. Are there any teams that just
Speaker 1: kind of in this early conversation Soalle, you think people
Speaker 1: aren't really talking about enough.
Speaker 2: Yeah, Wafford.
Speaker 3: I hate that the Wafford team got Tennessee as the
Speaker 3: first draw, and that's really really tough. Maybe they're a
Speaker 3: team that I'm looking to bet on against the spread
Speaker 3: and not necessarily move them along with my bracket. But
Speaker 3: that Wafford team, man, I mean, they are completely hot
Speaker 3: coming into this tournament. From three, They're shooting forty fifty
Speaker 3: from three into three games that it took them to
Speaker 3: win the Soocon Championship. They their offense is simple. We're
Speaker 3: either gonna shoot up a bunch of threes or we're
Speaker 3: gonna get those easy percentage chances at the rim. And
Speaker 3: Corey Tripp, Justin Bailey and they got a freshman Luke Flynn.
Speaker 3: They're all shooting better than thirty five percent from the field.
Speaker 3: Bailey's all the way up like forty five percent from
Speaker 3: the field from three, So both like Wafford has a
Speaker 3: whole lot of offense, and I was like, man, any
Speaker 3: team is gonna really really be nervous. And then I
Speaker 3: see Tennessee come across the board and I'm.
Speaker 2: Like, uh, not that team.
Speaker 3: That's a really really good team. So I really, I
Speaker 3: really am looking at the at Wafford. Still, maybe I'll
Speaker 3: bet on them instead of move them along in the brackets.
Speaker 3: But that was a really really tough draw. And then
Speaker 3: my VCU rams this isn't really a lot of like
Speaker 3: homersm at least I don't think for me with VCU.
Speaker 3: But they're a really really good defense. They have a
Speaker 3: player that I think could be one of those darling
Speaker 3: players that people talk about in the tournament in Matt Shulga,
Speaker 3: that can go out there and score on all three
Speaker 3: levels and be really really good energy guy for them
Speaker 3: and want to end their best players. So VCU if
Speaker 3: they get past that BYU team and the hot three
Speaker 3: point shooting that they have, and VCU makes that defense
Speaker 3: and makes them play down to their pace, their level,
Speaker 3: and hey, this is a grinded out defensive game. Yeah,
Speaker 3: VCU can make a run and then they're gonna play
Speaker 3: that Wisconsin team that we just talked about potentially in
Speaker 3: the next round. So if you're telling me that VCU
Speaker 3: gets BYU in Wisconsin and moves on to the Sweet sixteen,
Speaker 3: I wouldn't be surprised.
Speaker 1: I like VCU a lot. I always wonder when a team,
Speaker 1: like a mid major team, has a coach that is
Speaker 1: getting lots of looks at maybe moving up to a
Speaker 1: higher level. And I know there's been some talk that
Speaker 1: like Ryan Odum is going to be the next guy UVA.
Speaker 1: Maybe I know Villanova. I've at least one reporter say
Speaker 1: that could be interested in him. So I always wonder
Speaker 1: if a team is gonna feel just like a little
Speaker 1: bit distracted when they go into the tournament and that's
Speaker 1: kind of hanging over the team. But I'm with you.
Speaker 1: I think VC is a good team. I think he's
Speaker 1: a good coach. Obviously, we know what he can do
Speaker 1: in the tournament, give it what he did with the
Speaker 1: U NBC several years ago. So I think they're a
Speaker 1: good call as well, I do want to let everybody
Speaker 1: know that if you want to build the perfect bracket
Speaker 1: and take down your pool, you can use the free
Speaker 1: bracket Optimize bracket optimizers use me at bettingpros dot com
Speaker 1: slash Bracket. Again, that's the free bracket Optimizer. At bettingpros
Speaker 1: dot com slash Bracket. You can optimize your picks using
Speaker 1: advanced data and betting odds, lock in your favorites and
Speaker 1: will do the rest for you. Find key matchups and
Speaker 1: smart upset picks instantly make your best bracket at bettingpros
Speaker 1: dot com slash Bracket. All right, we're gonna go region
Speaker 1: by region, but before we do, I do just want
Speaker 1: to quickly highlight how strong these one seeds are this year, Turell.
Speaker 1: It is ridiculous. If you look at Kenpom, there have
Speaker 1: been this century. I think it's four teams that have
Speaker 1: had an overall net rating above plus thirty five on
Speaker 1: Kenpom prior to this year. There are four this year alone,
Speaker 1: and of course is the four to one seeds. Duke
Speaker 1: is number one in Ken Palm, Florida number two, Houston
Speaker 1: number three, Auburn number four. Every one of those teams
Speaker 1: is a net rating over plus thirty five. Even a
Speaker 1: team like Tennessee you just mentioned is a really good team.
Speaker 1: They're the fifth team on ketub this year and they're
Speaker 1: plus thirty one on ketbov. It is ridiculously strong, and
Speaker 1: that trickles down to it's very deep as well. I
Speaker 1: mean again, I've been following Maryland a lot this year.
Speaker 1: They're plus twenty six point three to five. That would
Speaker 1: be easily a top ten team in most years. Their
Speaker 1: twelfth in M Palm this year. That's just one example,
Speaker 1: very very very strong at the top this year. When
Speaker 1: you look at these four one seeds, do any of
Speaker 1: them stand out to you as being susceptible to an
Speaker 1: early loss in this tournament? Or are they just so
Speaker 1: good that we should be penciling them into our final
Speaker 1: four pretty much right off the bat?
Speaker 2: Uh penciling in?
Speaker 3: I don't know.
Speaker 2: We'll see what Duke looks like.
Speaker 3: Duke has a lot of injuries, and we're gonna have
Speaker 3: to see what this Duke team looks like going forward.
Speaker 3: And maybe that's something that says, Okay, maybe Duke could
Speaker 3: beat Had because now you're having lineup changes, you're doing
Speaker 3: things that you didn't do over the course of the
Speaker 3: regular seas because you always had Cooper Flag, because you
Speaker 3: always have believe because you always had all these players
Speaker 3: that you never really had to play around with the lineup,
Speaker 3: especially in crunch time. And I think that's the part
Speaker 3: that could really get Duke because if you go back
Speaker 3: to the beginning of the season, Yes, this Duke team
Speaker 3: grew over time, but that early beginning of the season,
Speaker 3: how young this team is that really showed up in
Speaker 3: crunch time. And I think that's something that I always
Speaker 3: kind of checked in the back of my head, like, hey,
Speaker 3: when they get in crunch time, sometimes they do fold.
Speaker 3: So maybe a Duke team like that, I could see
Speaker 3: them becoming one of the teams that kind of goes down,
Speaker 3: especially how everybody talked about how down the ACC is
Speaker 3: and they kind of ran through this ACC. Maybe there's
Speaker 3: a little bit of bias of how Duke's been playing recently,
Speaker 3: but I see Duke that probably be my number one
Speaker 3: just to go down. But that's just because of the
Speaker 3: continuity of Hey, they got some injuries here, there may
Speaker 3: be some changes, some tink rings in the lineup, and
Speaker 3: you don't want to do stuff like that when you
Speaker 3: get to the biggest tournament all year.
Speaker 1: It feels like Duke certainly has the talent right Florida
Speaker 1: playing as well as any team in the country. Auburn
Speaker 1: at times has played as well as any team in
Speaker 1: the country. They obviously have you know, John I. Broom,
Speaker 1: possible player of the year as well. So Houston's kind
Speaker 1: of one that stands out to me, not necessarily even
Speaker 1: to knock uson, because I think they're really good team obviously,
Speaker 1: but having to face Gonzaga potentially in that second round,
Speaker 1: who was also a top ten Ken Palm team, and
Speaker 1: you get why Gonzaga might have been seeded where they were,
Speaker 1: but in terms of the metrics, a very very strong
Speaker 1: team as well. So maybe kind of a tough road
Speaker 1: for Houston there, at least certainly in the second round.
Speaker 1: Let's start going region by region, Terrell. We'll start with
Speaker 1: where the number one overall seed is. That is Auburn
Speaker 1: in the South. We don't yet know. There they'll be
Speaker 1: faced facing a sixteen seed. We'll see which one ends
Speaker 1: up being.
Speaker 3: It's gonna be a nine there, let me just go
Speaker 3: ahead and give you that. Now, it's gonna be Alabama State.
Speaker 3: Let's go on sweat.
Speaker 1: You're locking that one in already, so Auburn will be
Speaker 1: facing Alabama State. As you say, Louisville Creighton is the
Speaker 1: game in the eight to nine. Louisville playing in Kentucky,
Speaker 1: so definitely a location advantage for them. Just to read
Speaker 1: through the whole region, Michigan is the five going up
Speaker 1: against UC San Diego, Texas A and m is the
Speaker 1: four going up against Yale or misses the sixth seed.
Speaker 1: Obviously we're rating to see who they facing that eleven game.
Speaker 1: Iowa State is the three, Lipscomb is the fourteen, Marquette
Speaker 1: at seven, New Mexico at ten, and the Michigan State
Speaker 1: at two and Bryant at fifteen. When you look at
Speaker 1: this just from Auburn's perspective, do you think this is
Speaker 1: a tough draw for the number one overall seed. Do
Speaker 1: you think it's a fair draw. Do you think they
Speaker 1: maybe have a relatively easy pass? What's your initial reaction
Speaker 1: for Auburn.
Speaker 3: I think it's all right. I think it's relatively fair.
Speaker 3: I think the eight to nine matchup is always going
Speaker 3: to be interesting in this side of the bracket. Iowa State,
Speaker 3: I think that is the one that you're really concerned
Speaker 3: about and unfortunately, I believe one of the guards for
Speaker 3: Iowa State isn't going to be able to play in
Speaker 3: the tournament, and so that's one of the one in
Speaker 3: seams I was looking at that. I said, Man, Iowa State,
Speaker 3: I think is seated a little low just because of
Speaker 3: a couple of losses they took towards the end of
Speaker 3: the season. At three, I think that they probably could
Speaker 3: play so the level of A one or a two,
Speaker 3: to be honest, and they're all the way down there
Speaker 3: at three, and then you're getting that with the Auburn
Speaker 3: side of the bracket. And I still think even with injury,
Speaker 3: man Curtis Jones for Iowa State is a baller, Like
Speaker 3: he's one of the guys that I think think of
Speaker 3: when I think, hey, who's gonna be that person that
Speaker 3: kind of takes over the tournament and makes everybody shine
Speaker 3: and everybody's looking at them and they're talking about him
Speaker 3: from weekend weekend weekend. Like I think he really is
Speaker 3: one of those type of players where he could average
Speaker 3: some twenty plus points over the course of the tournament
Speaker 3: for Iowa State. So yeah, I think that's really the
Speaker 3: big concern for here. For me Iowa State, and then
Speaker 3: of course they get Izoe and Michigan. And it's been
Speaker 3: a while since Izzo's been able to be Izo in
Speaker 3: March and he's had that roster together. So I think
Speaker 3: that this could be one of the years where that
Speaker 3: makes this confusing for an Auburn team and make and
Speaker 3: make things stuff.
Speaker 1: There's good players in every region. Obviously. This is a
Speaker 1: region though, that has a number of players that I
Speaker 1: think could become I mean, they're all very good already
Speaker 1: and stars to certain levels, but guys who I think
Speaker 1: could really kind of explode on the national scale. Obviously
Speaker 1: we're ready to broom at Auburn and you just mentioned
Speaker 1: Iowa State, but you know Cam Jones with Marquette Jace
Speaker 1: Richardson the freshman at Michigan State. You know Michigan's two
Speaker 1: big men. There's a lot of Chuckie Hepburn at Louisville.
Speaker 1: There's a lot of really good players in this region, right.
Speaker 3: Yeah, man, It's a lot Like I I think this
Speaker 3: is a good one. I think this is a good one.
Speaker 3: If I had to go with a pick here, I
Speaker 3: think I am sticking. I really really want to move
Speaker 3: Iowa State. It's the final four here, I really do,
Speaker 3: but I think the injury is just too much. I
Speaker 3: don't know what they're gonna be able to do about Jhannibro.
Speaker 3: But Iowa State does do a really really good job
Speaker 3: of clogging up the lanes and clogging up the inside
Speaker 3: making you shoot three point shots. And so I think
Speaker 3: it'd be a good game if you get an Auburn
Speaker 3: in Iowa State or Iowa State in a Michigan down
Speaker 3: there in the lower part of the bracket. I'm gonna
Speaker 3: go ahead. I'm gonna stick with the one seed here though,
Speaker 3: I'm gonna go Auburn.
Speaker 1: Do you have a favorite underdog in this region?
Speaker 2: Hmmm, I'll see here.
Speaker 3: I could see a yet Yale and Yale in Texas
Speaker 3: A and them. It's gonna be a good game.
Speaker 1: I was thinking in terms of the first year on
Speaker 1: Yale might be a good choice. Maybe Mark Marquette, I
Speaker 1: like Kim.
Speaker 3: Is the guy from Yale who I can never pronounce
Speaker 3: his name. He is pronoun I can never pronounce his name,
Speaker 3: but he's a baller whatever his name is. Oh my gosh,
Speaker 3: he's a hooper. So I think, you know, and the
Speaker 3: Yale team has been through a lot of turnover.
Speaker 2: And they're still really really good.
Speaker 3: So yeah, man, I could see a Yale team going,
Speaker 3: and then that would only like, bring this whole SEC
Speaker 3: is the best conference and they're gonna get all these
Speaker 3: teams they like we've seen so many times. It was
Speaker 3: one year, I don't know if it was last year
Speaker 3: with the Big Ten or the year before with the
Speaker 3: Big Ten, but the Big Ten had a whole bunch
Speaker 3: of teams and like half of them were.
Speaker 2: Out in the first weekend.
Speaker 3: Like sometimes you just you see really good basketball, really
Speaker 3: good competitive basket wall in a conference and you assume
Speaker 3: that that conference is dominant over everybody else, and they
Speaker 3: always aren't. So so yeah, I think a Yale team
Speaker 3: is fun. I think that UC San Diego team against
Speaker 3: Michigan is also really really interesting as well, And so
Speaker 3: I probably keep it to those two teams right there
Speaker 3: and say we see a upset at four or five.
Speaker 1: Let's look at the East Region. Obviously, Duke is the
Speaker 1: one seed. We already talked about Mississippi State and Baylor
Speaker 1: in the eight to nine game I've seen. Baylor has
Speaker 1: been here before. Oregon is the five, Liberty the twelve,
Speaker 1: Arizona the four, Akron, the thirteen BYU, the six VCU,
Speaker 1: the eleven, Wisconsin, the three, Montana, the fourteen, Saint Mary's
Speaker 1: the seven, Vanderbilt, the ten, Alabama, this two and Robert
Speaker 1: Morris the fifteen. You have already shared that we might
Speaker 1: be thinking of Wisconsin as an early victim of getting upset.
Speaker 1: We already shared that you like VCU. So that's a
Speaker 1: really interesting pod from the way you're looking at it.
Speaker 1: What about the rest of this region? Do you like
Speaker 1: somebody in particular in kind of that Oregon, Liberty, Arizona,
Speaker 1: Akron range? Do you like anybody to upset Duke here?
Speaker 1: You talked about them dealing with their injuries. Is Alabama
Speaker 1: one of the stronger twos in EU opinion? How do
Speaker 1: you evaluate this region?
Speaker 3: Okay, So Oregon is always a team that I circle
Speaker 3: because of Data Autman. Data Autman really really good head
Speaker 3: coach when it comes to the guesst the spread numbers
Speaker 3: in the tournament, and so you put a circle there.
Speaker 3: You're always interested in, Hey, what's the line on Oregon
Speaker 3: and who are they playing? And how are they able
Speaker 3: to get up for some of these games? And I
Speaker 3: think if they get past a Liberty team that's pretty good.
Speaker 3: They've played Arizona in years past. It wasn't just two
Speaker 3: years ago. They were in the same conference. So I
Speaker 3: think that they could get up for a game going
Speaker 3: up against them.
Speaker 1: Well, let me ask you quickly, is Arizona maybe gonna
Speaker 1: get upset because Tobby Lloyd has not been very good
Speaker 1: in the turnip For as much regular seas and success
Speaker 1: as they've had under him, that is not translated to
Speaker 1: Martin Yet.
Speaker 3: They lost as a two seed, lost as a two seed?
Speaker 3: What was that Princeton?
Speaker 2: Yeah and so, and they're playing Achering like Akron is the.
Speaker 3: Team that you did not want to go you do
Speaker 3: not want to go up against when you're talking about
Speaker 3: a coach that struggles in the tournament and an Accron
Speaker 3: team that plays from behind. They've been comfortable playing from
Speaker 3: behind this year and not giving up in games, not
Speaker 3: giving up in games. So Akrod against the spread numbers
Speaker 3: against Arizona is something that I'd be interested in. But
Speaker 3: I mean, here, Duke, I think if they get Mississippi
Speaker 3: State and Chris Jansen that defense, I think that they
Speaker 3: could scheme up something good, especially if Duke is compromised.
Speaker 3: They could scheme up something good and then that would
Speaker 3: throw this whole region on his head. I could see
Speaker 3: a number of situations. I could see Alabama, of course,
Speaker 3: coming out of it as the two seed, and I
Speaker 3: think that's what I'm gonna go with this. I'm gonna
Speaker 3: go with Alabama. I think that they're gonna be able
Speaker 3: to get it done. A little bit of a path
Speaker 3: of least resistance for them, because I think that whether
Speaker 3: you get Saint Mary's or Vanderbilt, they have familiarity. With Vanderbilt,
Speaker 3: I think they can outshoot Saint Mary's. And on the
Speaker 3: other side, I told you I'm not confident in Wisconsin,
Speaker 3: and I think they can out play offensively be BYU
Speaker 3: and the high shooting offense and three points that they have.
Speaker 3: So yeah, I think this is pretty comfortable with me
Speaker 3: going Alabama in this region.
Speaker 1: If I ask you for an underdog, I'm assuming you
Speaker 1: would pick VCU given what you've already said.
Speaker 3: I mean, the Rams do struggle offensively, and when you
Speaker 3: get to an Alabama you gotta be all the way,
Speaker 3: So I wouldn't give him as my underdog all the
Speaker 3: way through. But yeah, I do think that they can
Speaker 3: make this game very competitive with BYU, I think they
Speaker 3: can beat BYU. And if you tell me they beat BYU,
Speaker 3: and I have VCU in a game against Wisconsin, I'm
Speaker 3: one hundred percent taking VCU. So yeah, yeah, maybe VC
Speaker 3: you can get me a little sweet sixteen.
Speaker 1: Nice little run there. All right, let's go to the Midwest.
Speaker 1: Houston is the one seed as mentioned and going up
Speaker 1: against SIU Edwardsville, then Gonzaga the eight, and Georgia the nine.
Speaker 1: Clemson is the five. McNeese Underwill Wade is the twelve,
Speaker 1: Purdue the four High Point to thirteen, Illinois the six.
Speaker 1: They'll face the winner of Texas Xavier. I think it is.
Speaker 1: It's not on the bracket. I'm looking at Kentucky the three,
Speaker 1: Troy the fourteen, UCLA seven, Utah State the ten. That's
Speaker 1: an interesting one, and then Tennessee to two and Wafford
Speaker 1: you already mentioned, is the fifteen. I think the standout
Speaker 1: for most people looking at this is going to be
Speaker 1: again I kind of already alluded to this, but Gonzaga
Speaker 1: is a top ten team on Kenpom according to the metrics.
Speaker 1: As a potential round two matchup for Houston, that's a
Speaker 1: tough one.
Speaker 3: I feel very confident about Houston in that matchup. I
Speaker 3: think Houston defensively has the press, has the ability to
Speaker 3: speed Gonzaga up a little bit more than what they
Speaker 3: want to be offensively, especially in the half court, and
Speaker 3: get them turning the ball over. I think Houston be
Speaker 3: able to offensive rebound in that game. It's really just
Speaker 3: the size and if as long as Houston can combat
Speaker 3: the size, I think they have the guard play that
Speaker 3: you know, Gonzaga is so predicated on with nim Hard
Speaker 3: and all those guys over there, I think that they
Speaker 3: have the guard play that can play really, really well
Speaker 3: with them. I think Houston is I have I'm gonna
Speaker 3: have multiple brackets going over the course of this season,
Speaker 3: and there are three teams that I'm pretty confident that
Speaker 3: I'm gonna have winning, and there's Florida, Houston, and then
Speaker 3: I may, you know, just in case I hate Duke
Speaker 3: into a title outthrow one with Duke in there, but
Speaker 3: really really hoping the Duke one doesn't come through, but
Speaker 3: just in case I hate them, I'll throw one in there.
Speaker 1: I am not somebody who has typically liked Brad Underwood
Speaker 1: or this Illinois team that much. Maybe that's because I'm
Speaker 1: a Maryland fan, and for whatever reason, Maryland owns Underwood.
Speaker 1: It's remarkable how often may be eat him, even when
Speaker 1: they're less talented. But I do kind of like them
Speaker 1: against Kentucky if it gets to that point. I think
Speaker 1: it's a good matchup for them with the lack of
Speaker 1: defense you get from Kentucky, Like Illinois can run back
Speaker 1: and forth and I think they can definitely outscore them.
Speaker 1: I like Tennessee a lot kind of in their pot
Speaker 1: of four down there. They're also just a really good
Speaker 1: team obviously, as we talked about, So I kind of
Speaker 1: like Illinois to face Tennessee when they get to that
Speaker 1: point in the I guess that'd be the Sweet sixteen.
Speaker 1: The other kind of region of this region and that
Speaker 1: I think is really fascinating is this Clemson McNeice gew
Speaker 1: High point range. Anybody can come out of the cog
Speaker 1: case for any of those four teams exact.
Speaker 3: Any any of those four teams can come out of there,
Speaker 3: and I would be like, all right, understood, it's March
Speaker 3: like that's what happens, and you know, tough things like
Speaker 3: Clemson is a team that we seen them beat Duke,
Speaker 3: like when everybody thought Duke was unbeatable, and there was
Speaker 3: nobody that was gonna get in front of Duke. Clemson
Speaker 3: went in there and played them in a tough game,
Speaker 3: got them into what exactly I was talking about, a
Speaker 3: late game situation. That's what you want to get with
Speaker 3: Duke k Just don't try to go out there and
Speaker 3: blow them out by twenty points and beginning the game. Hey,
Speaker 3: let's stay it. Stick with them, stick with them, stick
Speaker 3: with them, keep with a close game. Because when we
Speaker 3: get in a late game situation, that's where we execute
Speaker 3: and we can hope on the young the youthfulness of
Speaker 3: that Duke team, and Clemson was able to exploit that
Speaker 3: earlier this year when they got the win. And so yeah,
Speaker 3: I think Clemson can go out there and beat anybody.
Speaker 3: But oh man, there's some power going on with Will
Speaker 3: Wade and McNeice right now. Did you see did you
Speaker 3: see the manager for McNeese.
Speaker 2: On social media? Oh man, dude, he was sitting there.
Speaker 3: He's had a spcial media video and it was after
Speaker 3: they had won, and he was like, yeah, we're going
Speaker 3: dance and look at it and he shows off his sweat,
Speaker 3: so it's got march Is on his sweats. He's like, yeah,
Speaker 3: that's where we're going a huh seeing next Sunday. Yeah, yeah,
Speaker 3: and he got an nil deal with like Insomnia Cookies
Speaker 3: and Buffalo Wow Wings.
Speaker 2: Like, oh, this dude is electric. This is what March
Speaker 2: is about.
Speaker 1: He's a great coach too. I mean, like, obviously the
Speaker 1: reason he's at the Levelly he is is because of
Speaker 1: some of the stuff with paying players in past years
Speaker 1: before that was allowed. But like, Will Wade is a
Speaker 1: very good basketball coach. I like mcneesse a lot, and Purdue, like, listen,
Speaker 1: obviously they're not what they were last year without Zach Edie.
Speaker 1: Brandon Smith is really darn good as well. Yeah, high
Speaker 1: Pointing not an easy matchup, though, I don't think so.
Speaker 1: Like that's a really interesting again, any of these four Klepston, McNeese,
Speaker 1: Purdue high Point, Like you could talk me into making
Speaker 1: a Sweet sixteen run.
Speaker 3: Watch that high Point, Watch high Point, and it went
Speaker 3: out right against Purdue.
Speaker 1: I mean, Perdue's been upset before in the tournament, right.
Speaker 3: Like I hate yeah, and uh, I would hate it.
Speaker 3: It's so many times that Purdue has just gone into
Speaker 3: the tournament and laid an egg. And I think that
Speaker 3: watch high Point be the dog that everybody's playing. I'm
Speaker 3: sure by the time the end of the week gets here,
Speaker 3: high Point is gonna be the dog that everybody's playing,
Speaker 3: because everybody's gonna look at Purdue and being like, do
Speaker 3: I really want to lay that many points with Purdue?
Speaker 2: Nah?
Speaker 1: Yeah? All right? What will keep us from Houston Tennessee?
Speaker 1: Or are you saying it's gonna be Houston Tennessee and
Speaker 1: the Elite eight?
Speaker 2: Yeah?
Speaker 3: I think it's I think it's gonna be Houston Tennessee.
Speaker 3: I think this is gonna be rather chalk Houston Tennessee,
Speaker 3: and then Houston just has I like Houston's offense a
Speaker 3: lot more and I think that they're gonna be a
Speaker 3: lot more consistent on offense and the defense is gonna
Speaker 3: do what it does if they have the guard play
Speaker 3: to guard Thenier and guard Ziegler and really not let
Speaker 3: those guys be the guys that beat them. We'll see
Speaker 3: how the bigs are able to do and that they're
Speaker 3: able to counteract that in the game. But I think
Speaker 3: that those Houston guards are good enough defensively that they
Speaker 3: can take away the top two guard options for Tennessee
Speaker 3: and make this a really, really tough game.
Speaker 1: I want to let everybody know that you can get
Speaker 1: your college basket ball. Betting Edge Live joined Matt Pearl
Speaker 1: and Terrell Furman Junior, every Tuesday at five thirty pm
Speaker 1: Eastern on the Betting Pros YouTube channel at YouTube dot
Speaker 1: com slash Betting Pros for expert NCAA tournament picks and
Speaker 1: betting breakdowns. Here are the best bets before the odds move.
Speaker 1: You guys will be doing that in a couple of
Speaker 1: days with some first round bets, some of those first
Speaker 1: four bets. We're gonna doing that for every round and
Speaker 1: all all tournament long with you two, So that will
Speaker 1: be something everybody wants to check out before they place
Speaker 1: their bets. All right, let's get to the West Region.
Speaker 1: Florida is the one seed going up against Norfolk State.
Speaker 1: You condy eight, obviously coming off back to back championshit.
Speaker 3: Be careful about that Norfolk State team to put some
Speaker 3: respect on their name. They played a Tennessee team and
Speaker 3: lost by it was like five or seven points or
Speaker 3: something like that.
Speaker 1: So I almost paused when I read them to let
Speaker 1: you jump in.
Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, yeah, So give that Norfolk State scene some respect.
Speaker 2: I understand.
Speaker 3: Is we got a lot in front of us right now.
Speaker 3: But they are gonna come in, They're gonna go play hard,
Speaker 3: and they're gonna cover the spread. Darn it, they are
Speaker 3: going to cover the spread against Florida. They played that
Speaker 3: Tennessee team tough.
Speaker 1: What do you think that spread's gonna be?
Speaker 3: Oh, dude, it's probably something crazy. It's probably like twenty
Speaker 3: and a.
Speaker 1: Half the way Florida's playing.
Speaker 2: Yeah, like Florida.
Speaker 3: Florida is one of my like I really really think
Speaker 3: it's going to be tough to beat Florida in this time.
Speaker 1: I think they're still good. I think Todd Golden is
Speaker 1: a great coach. I I really one of my really
Speaker 1: good friends is a Florida grad. I texted him the
Speaker 1: day they made that higher. I said, he's going to
Speaker 1: take you to a Final Four in the first three
Speaker 1: or four years. I think he's I think he's really good.
Speaker 3: Yeah, And they just they have too many athletes. Just
Speaker 3: like everybody on that team can score the basketball, score
Speaker 3: the basketball efficiently. They offensive rebound at one of the
Speaker 3: best in the nation, and all those offensive rebounds probably
Speaker 3: come back into three point shots made for that Florida team.
Speaker 3: It's just too much offense for anybody. I mean we
Speaker 3: haven't even gotten through naming the rest of the bracket yet,
Speaker 3: but like it's really hard for me not to think
Speaker 3: Florida is making out of this region.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 1: You know a lot of my Maryland fan friends were
Speaker 1: talking about, call you, we got to avoid Duke, or
Speaker 1: we got to avoid Auburn. I was like, I want
Speaker 1: to avoid flor Yeah, nobody is playing better than them.
Speaker 1: Of course we didn't avoid them. Uh. The eighth seed
Speaker 1: is Yukad, the nine is Oklahoma, the five seed Memphis,
Speaker 1: twelve seed Colorado State also playing very well right now. Maryland,
Speaker 1: of course, is the four Grand Canyon, the thirteen Miszoo
Speaker 1: is the sixth Drake, the eleven that's a really interesting one.
Speaker 1: Texas Tech, the three UNC Wilmington, the fourteen Kansas, the
Speaker 1: seven Arkansas, the ten Saint John's, the two Omaha, the fifteen.
Speaker 1: First of all, at the bottom of this region, we
Speaker 1: might get Rick Patino against John GALLIPERI.
Speaker 2: Yeah, that would be amazing, that would be amazing.
Speaker 3: I mean, the Italian American Bowl that's going on in
Speaker 3: that game, Oh man, I just it is gonna be great.
Speaker 3: It is gonna be great. We probably should get Tommy
Speaker 3: DeVito course side for that one. Uh we got we
Speaker 3: gotta dig what's my guy over there? That head coach
Speaker 3: for Indiana football coach hand football coach.
Speaker 1: Signetti guy from Jmut Signetti.
Speaker 2: We gotta get Chris Sinnetti over there? Like this is
Speaker 2: that's good? That would be a great game.
Speaker 1: Oh my gosh, yeah, Kansas, of course, you know Bill
Speaker 1: self and a lot of talent on that team. They
Speaker 1: could upset our Italian Bowl in the second round. But
Speaker 1: an interesting pod there. Obviously, Rick Petino has done an
Speaker 1: amazing job at Saint John's and you know legendary, clearly
Speaker 1: legendary coach, arguably the best of all time. So might say, so,
Speaker 1: you know, that'd be a really interesting area. Missuo Drake,
Speaker 1: I think is a really fun matchup? What do you
Speaker 1: make of that one?
Speaker 2: Oh man?
Speaker 3: I mean, if Miszoo finds a way to score the basketball,
Speaker 3: then they'll win. But Drake is gonna Drake's gonna play
Speaker 3: well defensively, And I think with the time and prepare
Speaker 3: and the watching film and getting ready for this miszud team,
Speaker 3: I don't know if Missoo's gonna be able to get
Speaker 3: that done. I mean, Drake has been the team. I
Speaker 3: think all year people have talked about, Hey, they're gonna
Speaker 3: do something in tournament. They're gonna do something in tournament.
Speaker 3: I think now is the time that we're here and
Speaker 3: we just got to get behind them. That Drake team
Speaker 3: really really something different.
Speaker 1: Defensively, what do you think about Yukon? I know I
Speaker 1: kind of skip past them quickly, but again, they have
Speaker 1: won two straight titles. We know what Hurley can do
Speaker 1: as a coach. This is not the same Yukon team.
Speaker 1: I mean last year on this very show, I was
Speaker 1: asking our guests, is it Yukon versus the field? Like
Speaker 1: that's how how clear of a giant? They were clearly
Speaker 1: not the case. Obviously they're an eight seed. Now would
Speaker 1: you be scared if you're a Florida fan and you
Speaker 1: have to go up against Yukon in round two?
Speaker 2: I don't think I am. I don't think.
Speaker 3: I'm like and I was talking with someboddies and as
Speaker 3: the brackets drop, you know, everybody's texting live reactions and
Speaker 3: they're like, man, Florida, tough draw, and I'm like, well,
Speaker 3: if we just stripped the name Yukon from the team
Speaker 3: and it's just Team A standing there and I'm.
Speaker 2: Looking at I'm like, well, I still think this Florida
Speaker 2: team can beat Team A and they will be really
Speaker 2: really good.
Speaker 3: Like, I don't know if they have the bigs that
Speaker 3: is that are gonna be able to continuously battle with
Speaker 3: Florida downlow in the paint over the course of the
Speaker 3: entire game, because Florida's cyclic bigs in and out of
Speaker 3: the game, like they have so many options and gotten
Speaker 3: so much healthier. And so I mean, Clayton and you
Speaker 3: talk about Richard and all these other guys, Like, I
Speaker 3: think that they have so many offensive power, so many
Speaker 3: offensive weapons on that side of the ball all that,
Speaker 3: no matter how good Yukon is defensively, somebody really really
Speaker 3: good is going to get their hamds on a basketball
Speaker 3: and get a pretty good look at the basket. So
Speaker 3: I don't think Yukon actually makes it a game at all.
Speaker 3: If you tell me Florida Yukon, I'm probably gonna end
Speaker 3: up taking whatever points I have to lay with Florida
Speaker 3: and saying that they handle business here.
Speaker 1: I do think it is. I think Florida is good
Speaker 1: enough that it doesn't matter. But I do think this
Speaker 1: is a relatively touch draw. Not because of Yukon, but
Speaker 1: just this region as a whole is really strong, even
Speaker 1: just looking at the coaching. Look at how many former
Speaker 1: championship winners there are in this region. We just mentioned
Speaker 1: Hurly with Yukon obviously, Caliperry, Bill self, Rick Patino, those
Speaker 1: three alone is remarkable. I think Texas Tech is an
Speaker 1: excellent three seed.
Speaker 3: Like coach Kyle coached himself out of it and so
Speaker 3: we don't have to worry about that.
Speaker 1: Yeah, but he obviously's got the experience. I mean, I
Speaker 1: would say this, I think the two, three and four
Speaker 1: seeds are stronger in the West than they are in
Speaker 1: any other region. I think I think Saint John's Texas
Speaker 1: Tech Maryland to me is stronger than like like Tennessee,
Speaker 1: Kentucky Perdue. I like Tennessee, I don't really like Kentucky
Speaker 1: Purdue all that much. You know, we talk like Wisconsin's
Speaker 1: at three in a different region. I know, we like Alabama,
Speaker 1: Arizona is the four. You know, Texas A and M
Speaker 1: is the four another region. I think I think the
Speaker 1: region as a whole, even if not necessarily that matchup
Speaker 1: with Yukon. I think the region as a whole is
Speaker 1: very strong. I know, like, like again not to be Homer,
Speaker 1: but like people have talked about Maryland with they're starting five,
Speaker 1: is like a possible dark horse Final four team, probably
Speaker 1: not anymore given that they're going in the region with Florida,
Speaker 1: but there's just a lot of talent in this region
Speaker 1: and a lot of really good coaching, so it's a
Speaker 1: really strong one and I think that could make for
Speaker 1: some upsets because there's so many good teams in terms
Speaker 1: of seeding, but maybe not upsets in terms of like
Speaker 1: the coaching matchup or anything like that. I do just
Speaker 1: have to say, like I have to give a little
Speaker 1: analysis on Maryland because that's the team I care about most.
Speaker 1: Sartreaty five is incredible. I'm not a big fan of
Speaker 1: Kevin Willard, so I really worry about his two tournament
Speaker 1: wins in his career, and it's been an eighteen year career,
Speaker 1: so that's really concerning to me. We already mentioned how
Speaker 1: Grant Canyon like could be kind of a scary matchup
Speaker 1: for them, and they have zero death like what there's
Speaker 1: absolute nobody in their bench to mention in fact that
Speaker 1: there was a really interesting stat during the Big Ten tournament,
Speaker 1: and I knew this in my head, but I didn't
Speaker 1: realize how significant of a stat it was. They are
Speaker 1: the only team in the entire country to have every
Speaker 1: single player is either either averaging over eleven points per
Speaker 1: game or under four. There's no like bench pieces averaging
Speaker 1: six points per game, eight points per game. It is.
Speaker 1: They're starting five is all averaging a dozen per game,
Speaker 1: and they're all It's a superb starting five. They called
Speaker 1: the crab five. They're awesome. Everybody else is totally useless
Speaker 1: of scoring the basketball. And if they get into foul trouble,
Speaker 1: how their game is officiated is going to be really
Speaker 1: meaningful for them, because if they get into foul trouble, screwed, screwed,
Speaker 1: it's over. It's absolutely over. So that's my thought on Maryland.
Speaker 1: I do like the match up with Memphis if that
Speaker 1: is the four or five game we get in the
Speaker 1: second round, but like I said, we'll have to see
Speaker 1: it if they even get end up getting there. Is
Speaker 1: there an underdog in this region that you are eyeing
Speaker 1: or I mean, I know you already said you're you're
Speaker 1: gonna take Florida, but if you had to pick somebody.
Speaker 3: Else, Yeah, Drake is very I think Drake's really interesting
Speaker 3: and what they can and the fact that if they
Speaker 3: get past Maszoo, they get potentially Texas Tech, who is
Speaker 3: amazing offensively and not a bad defensive team, amazing offensively.
Speaker 3: If Drake can hold that Texas Tech team to under
Speaker 3: seventy points, oh, man, I think Drake is definitely gonna
Speaker 3: be in the conversation of oh, they kept these games close,
Speaker 3: if not won these games outright, and we finally get
Speaker 3: that Missouri Valley madness in the tournament where they move
Speaker 3: on to a sweet sixteen round. So yeah, I could
Speaker 3: see that Drake team definitely getting up for some games.
Speaker 1: Who are some other dark horses you like for the
Speaker 1: final four in any region? So you know, not a
Speaker 1: one seed, not even a two seed, maybe not even
Speaker 1: maybe a three seed could count, but somebody that you
Speaker 1: would qualify as a dark horse that you would like
Speaker 1: to kind of highlight here.
Speaker 3: It's gotta be that Iowa State team still State. Yeah,
Speaker 3: Iowa State with even now with the fact that they're
Speaker 3: missing I believe it is Gilbert and not gonna be
Speaker 3: able to play in this game and so in the tournament,
Speaker 3: but they still have Kurt like, I think that this
Speaker 3: is still a really good offense. They play really really well.
Speaker 3: It's just a three point shooting. If they can defend
Speaker 3: a three point line a lot better than what they've done,
Speaker 3: especially against like BYU and some of these other teams
Speaker 3: in the past, then I think that they're gonna be
Speaker 3: really really lock solid and really really good team. They
Speaker 3: played well in out of conference. Like, I think that
Speaker 3: Iowa State is one of those teams that I'm looking at.
Speaker 3: I'm like, Okay, I could see them a three seed
Speaker 3: making it to the Final four and being in there
Speaker 3: in the conversation, especially if you get past an Auburn
Speaker 3: or something weird happens with Auburn, then yeah, I can
Speaker 3: see Iowa State getting there.
Speaker 1: Do you have any kind of Cinderella predictions? I know,
Speaker 1: you know double digit seed will say, And we talked
Speaker 1: a little bit about high point En McNee. We talked
Speaker 1: about vcus and eleven. Yale is a thirteen Grant Canon
Speaker 1: is a thirteen. Do you have kind of a favorite
Speaker 1: Cinderella or two.
Speaker 3: It's a few of them out here. I'm very interested
Speaker 3: a lot a lot of those times, some of those
Speaker 3: teams from the first four games will go in there
Speaker 3: and they'll be able to go up and get up
Speaker 3: and go and get on a run. I know VCU
Speaker 3: two thousand eleven first four was able to go out
Speaker 3: and make a run. We saw UCLA make it to
Speaker 3: the final four out of the first four and they
Speaker 3: made a run. So as I look at the first
Speaker 3: four games and if there was a team that was
Speaker 3: I really just don't want to believe that North Carolina
Speaker 3: has it in them. But they were good out of conference,
Speaker 3: and I think that's the thing that pulled them in
Speaker 3: is how good North Carolina was.
Speaker 2: Out of conference earlier in the year.
Speaker 3: So if North Carolina decides to try to go on
Speaker 3: a run now, I think the tough thing is that
Speaker 3: even if they get out of this round, they're playing
Speaker 3: an Ole Miss team and the SEC beat up on
Speaker 3: the ACC this year and the SEC ACC Challenge, So
Speaker 3: well we'll see about that. But I'm looking towards the
Speaker 3: first four games. Maybe we get a Texas that comes
Speaker 3: out of there. And Texas got really, really hot in
Speaker 3: that SEC tournament, so maybe a Texas comes out of there.
Speaker 3: Because like you said, I'm a little bit iffy on
Speaker 3: Illinois right now.
Speaker 2: And if they're gonna be able to play well.
Speaker 3: And then if they get another matchup with Kentucky and
Speaker 3: the SEC rivalry like that could potentially either way. Maybe
Speaker 3: they get up, maybe they lose it at Kentucky team.
Speaker 3: So not too many cinderellas outside the ones that we highlighted.
Speaker 3: I do like high Point. I think they could be fun.
Speaker 3: McNeese possibly could be really fun. Everybody knows that I'm
Speaker 3: gonna be cheering for my VCU Rams, watch out for Vanderbilt,
Speaker 3: who had a really good season this year. So I
Speaker 3: think there's a couple number of teams and I hate
Speaker 3: to say it, but that Maryland team really does struggle
Speaker 3: in the tournament, man, like they really do. I blindly
Speaker 3: told myself I was gonna fade Maryland in the tournament,
Speaker 3: and so if Grand Canyon just needs one to get
Speaker 3: them going, then maybe they do to out.
Speaker 1: Maryland won the national championship in two thousand and two.
Speaker 1: Do you know how many Sweet sixteens they've made since then?
Speaker 2: How many Sweet sixteens have they made since two thousand
Speaker 2: and two?
Speaker 1: Two you went too high, They've made one one Sweet
Speaker 1: sixteen And by the way, it was the Turgon like
Speaker 1: year where They were the number two team preseason with
Speaker 1: diamond Stone and Mellow Trimble Robert Carter, and they didn't
Speaker 1: they didn't even do anything with that. They were terrible
Speaker 1: like like that. The best they did was they got
Speaker 1: to the sweet sixteen and got blown out in the
Speaker 1: sweet sixteen. Yeah, they're not good in the tournament.
Speaker 3: They gotta be careful because that that Grand Canyon team
Speaker 3: also plays really good defensively and if this is an ugly,
Speaker 3: grinded out defensive game between these two teams, and it's
Speaker 3: just like whoever gets on that last run goes And
Speaker 3: plus Grand Kyon's a pretty solid offensive rebounding team as well.
Speaker 1: So I I, you know, my Maryland fan friends think
Speaker 1: that I want them to lose because I don't like Willard.
Speaker 1: I want them to win, right, I would love nothing
Speaker 1: more than to be incorrect, but I just don't think
Speaker 1: Willard has the stuff for March. And they're talking about
Speaker 1: extending him, which by the way, was a very difficult
Speaker 1: piece of news for me to read earlier today. But yeah,
Speaker 1: like they just and also the fact they're playing Seattle
Speaker 1: like not going to be easy to Maryland's worst game
Speaker 1: of the entire season, was there at Washington this year,
Speaker 1: Like they're not a team that travels well. So they
Speaker 1: only lost by six because they didn't have any bloods
Speaker 1: this year, but they looked awful in that game and
Speaker 1: Washington is not good, so, uh that that really concerns me.
Speaker 1: And I don't think you're wrong about that. Any players
Speaker 1: that we didn't highlight that you think could maybe kind
Speaker 1: of jump out throughout the course of this month. I
Speaker 1: mean we always see some of these guys were already stars,
Speaker 1: but like the Shabbaz Napier, like the Kemba Walker like
Speaker 1: kind of led you kind of those runs Marky Snoel
Speaker 1: a couple of years ago for Kansas State. Anybody stand
Speaker 1: out to you that you think we could be uh,
Speaker 1: you know, really excited to talk about for the next
Speaker 1: few weeks.
Speaker 3: Oh man, I feel like it's like a lot of
Speaker 3: guys that you talked about Cam Jones over there, Marquette
Speaker 3: got to shut out my guys, Shaka Smart one time.
Speaker 3: We talked about Kurt over there in Iowa State. I
Speaker 3: mean it's a bunch of players. Some of the smaller
Speaker 3: schools got got a lot of dolls. Matxtion will go VCU.
Speaker 3: I think that's going to be a good one. We
Speaker 3: talked about Grand Canyon and in Maryland, they got a
Speaker 3: guy down there, Grand Canyon, Grant Fall, who's been really,
Speaker 3: really good, and I think that he may be able
Speaker 3: to give them a game and make.
Speaker 2: A little name for himself. So I think it's a
Speaker 2: lot of players that I'm interested in.
Speaker 1: I really like Marquette, honestly, I would not be surprised
Speaker 1: if we're sitting here a few weeks from now and saying,
Speaker 1: you know, Michigan State, they didn't have enough star power.
Speaker 1: They had a lot of death, but they didn't have
Speaker 1: enough star power. I always stayed dealing with the injury.
Speaker 1: If we're sitting here a couple weeks from now and
Speaker 1: Marquett's in that Elite game, Elite eight game, I don't
Speaker 1: know I'm gonna put in my bracket, I would not
Speaker 1: be surprising. Cam Jones is a baller.
Speaker 3: Shaka's got to get over that that monkey off his
Speaker 3: back in the tournament. Shaka has not performed well in
Speaker 3: the NCAA tournament. Trust me as a guy that is
Speaker 3: a fan of Shaka Smart After he took VCU from
Speaker 3: that eleven seed all the way to.
Speaker 2: The final four in twenty eleven.
Speaker 3: He hasn't he hasn't replicated the same success in a
Speaker 3: long time, and so very very I'm always iffy about
Speaker 3: Marquette when it gets to the tournament, But I mean
Speaker 3: Cam Jones is just a dog like he is an
Speaker 3: absolute dog. He was going out there and he fought
Speaker 3: everything he could in that Big East title game and
Speaker 3: really throughout the whole Big East tournament. So there's a number,
Speaker 3: there's a number of players Drake. I think Drake has
Speaker 3: a couple of guys in there that that are gonna
Speaker 3: be really really good for the tournament as well.
Speaker 1: Any other kind of final warking thoughts on the tournament
Speaker 1: before we get out of here, anything that we haven't
Speaker 1: hit on, or just kind of general thoughts about what
Speaker 1: this tournament. You know, some tournaments are a little chalk
Speaker 1: heavy than usual, other easy get out, we're upsets is
Speaker 1: kind of any final thoughts.
Speaker 2: I think that we are.
Speaker 3: We've seen years past where a lot of the underdogs
Speaker 3: come through, especially early rounds, and I think this is
Speaker 3: another one. There's a number of underdogs here that I
Speaker 3: think can make teams competitive at least games competitive. Maybe
Speaker 3: not get the outright, but maybe I'm betting on them
Speaker 3: against the spread. Like I said, I had that Watford
Speaker 3: basketball team circled like, oh man, this dude is this
Speaker 3: team is red hot right now and they're going into
Speaker 3: a matchup against a very, very tough Kentucky team And
Speaker 3: that wasn't the draw you wanted. But like even you
Speaker 3: and CW, we didn't talk about them on the show
Speaker 3: that much going up against Texas Tech. Everybody assumes Texas
Speaker 3: Tech is getting out of there easy. But this UNCW team,
Speaker 3: first tournament appearance in twenty seventeen, they feel felt very
Speaker 3: very slighted going into their conference tournament. They put on
Speaker 3: a really big run and they got out of it.
Speaker 3: They could be somebody that makes some noise. Arkansas is
Speaker 3: getting Boogie Flann back from injury, so they're gonna be
Speaker 3: playing full strength against the Kansas team. We got to
Speaker 3: see what that looks like. Arkansas is a ten seed here,
Speaker 3: Like there's some teams here that I'm like, all right,
Speaker 3: we could actually see something going. Because Calipari, he may
Speaker 3: not be the best ex's and o's coach, but when
Speaker 3: you give him the talent and how they play defensively
Speaker 3: all year long, they just got to get hot. At
Speaker 3: the right team, right time, and that Arkansas team might
Speaker 3: be able to make a run. So there's a number
Speaker 3: of teams that I'm looking at that I'm like, hey,
Speaker 3: things could follow their direction and they could be a ten, eleven,
Speaker 3: twelve seed. That's making it a little bit further than
Speaker 3: people thought.
Speaker 1: Let's wrap up with our shoot from the hip gut
Speaker 1: reaction final four picks. We are obviously we reserve the
Speaker 1: right to change these betweed now and the start of
Speaker 1: the tournament. We've kind of sprinkled them in throughout talking
Speaker 1: about the regions, but just officially our final four picks here,
Speaker 1: what do you got for us?
Speaker 3: Just go with Florida coming out of the West region.
Speaker 3: We're gonna take Auburn coming out of the South. We
Speaker 3: are going to Yeah, I'm not officially giving out the Dukies.
Speaker 2: What do you mean?
Speaker 3: Give me Alabama getting out of the Eastern region. And
Speaker 3: then I'm sticking with my Houston pick coming out of
Speaker 3: the Midwest National title game. Give me Houston versus Florida.
Speaker 1: So here's my problem, my gut reaction to giving my
Speaker 1: final four picks is Florida, it's Auburn, it's Alabama, and
Speaker 1: it's Tennessee. I refuse to give four SEC teams. It's
Speaker 1: not gonna be that in the final four, So I
Speaker 1: have to shake it up somewhere, which means I'm going
Speaker 1: the one I feel like I most want to change
Speaker 1: up from that group is Alabama. So I'm gonna go
Speaker 1: with Duke, even though I kind of do like Bama.
Speaker 1: I just can't go for SEC teams. I also just
Speaker 1: like I hate Duke so much that, like I know
Speaker 1: it's what's gonna happen, is they're gonna win because I
Speaker 1: because I don't want them to uh, and they are
Speaker 1: obviously an insanely good team went healthy if if the
Speaker 1: lineup is right, like there's a reason they're number one
Speaker 1: on ken Palm and there's actually like even a gap.
Speaker 1: We talked about how strong those other three one seeds
Speaker 1: are historically, there's a gap between Duke and those guys too.
Speaker 1: Like against ACC, I get it, injury stuff, I get it,
Speaker 1: but obviously like a super talented team and would would
Speaker 1: not be surprised. So I'll say Duke against Tennessee, I'll
Speaker 1: say Tennessee beats to do. I'm gonna say Tennessee makes
Speaker 1: the title game. Here on my.
Speaker 2: Shoot call Rick Barnes making it all the way.
Speaker 3: So the title game, this is a regular season, regular season.
Speaker 1: It is dangerous. I'll say Florida over Auburn, and then
Speaker 1: I'll say Florida wins it all again. I just think
Speaker 1: nobody's playing better than Florida.
Speaker 3: Yeah, man, I got Florida over Houston in the title game,
Speaker 3: but I'm gonna have a bed on Houston.
Speaker 2: Man. I think Houston's got some value.
Speaker 3: And if Houston, if we get some upsets here or
Speaker 3: there and the path opens up, Houston is gonna look
Speaker 3: way better than whatever set plus seven fifty they are
Speaker 3: right now.
Speaker 1: Yeah, we're gonna dive into more of some of our
Speaker 1: betting futures in the coming days. You guys, like I said,
Speaker 1: you and Paul are gonna break down some of the
Speaker 1: first round matchups here in the weekend, and we'll be
Speaker 1: chatting again kind of each week leading up into each
Speaker 1: weekend for the next three weeks of the tournament. So
Speaker 1: there is a lot more college basketball talk to come,
Speaker 1: a lot more March madness to come. Enjoy this week
Speaker 1: of filling out your brackets everyone, because it is, like
Speaker 1: I said, super fun to quibble with all of your
Speaker 1: picks and just you can dream big every single year.
Speaker 1: It's the hope springs to Turtle for sure. Great talking
Speaker 1: to you, Terrell, best Eluctive VCU hopefully best luck to
Speaker 1: Merlin as well. Forterrell, I'm Ryan warmly thanks everybody for
Speaker 1: tuning in and we'll see again next time. Thanks for
Speaker 1: listening to the Betting Pros podcast. If you love the show,
Speaker 1: the best freeway to support us is by leaving a
Speaker 1: positive review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. Follow us on
Speaker 1: x and TikTok at Betting Pros and Instagram at Betting
Speaker 1: Pros NFL. Also subscribe to our YouTube channel at YouTube
Speaker 1: dot com slash Betting Pros