Jay Bilas Joins to Recap Rounds 1 & 2 and Preview the Sweet 16 | Ep 19 | - The Gimme Timme Podcast

Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:03):
The following is a presentation of the College Athletes Network Again,
I'm gonna be the good friend that just was thinking
about him. Hey man, good luck last ride in the torney.
I hope you fucking kill it. That's all I was doing.
It was heartwarming. I loved it seeing it like that.
That was what I would tell my friends is if
you really want to get to me, text my mom,

(00:27):
isn't that crazy twenty two years old? Because I'm gonna
respond to my mom. Like if I don't, I'm gonna
get in trouble. So like, if you really had to
tim me for something, then you know who to go to.
Because if if you don't, then I'm like, and that's
probably not important, brother chief. Now it's probably being a
dick or a jackass. Like Welcome into episode nineteen of

(00:59):
They Give Me Timmy Podcast. I'm your host Drew Timmy
here with my co host No Buano here on iHeartRadio
feature on College Athletes Network. Make sure leave a Star
Rider review, YadA YadA, but Noah, Man, what a weekend.
I'm so happy that we made it through. It was
a it was a grueling weekend. Dude, I bet and
I was nervous. As hell watching you guys even. I mean,

(01:21):
I was excited for that Friday night matchup, and I
was more so nervous for the TCU game just because
of Mike Miles Junior and just them being a big
twelve team. But man like you guys made it through.
Also selfishly was like, God, damn it, they better fucking
win so that we can record our damn podcast because
I know he ain't recording the pot if they lose.
It was It was great getting to watch you guys play.

(01:45):
It was great that you guys made it out alive.
Let's get to it. Talk to us well before before that,
we do have Jay billis joining us for the next
almost hour and a half. We just finished up with him.
The Goat came back joined us, was chopping it up,
shooting the ship. We did a lot of a lot
of recapping from the forty eight games this past weekend,

(02:07):
and then we did a little bit of Sweet sixteen
Elite eight picks from Jay's lens and what he thinks.
That's all coming up later in the show. First, Drew
and I are going to just dissect a little bit
of the GCU and TCU wins from this past purple
double talk to us brother man gcuh of a lot

(02:32):
of nervous energy in that first half, myself included, I mean,
this is my third March Madness, but like it it's
still so awesome and so cool, and like it makes
the inner kid and you just get really excited and happy.
And I think they kind of just took it to
us in the first half, and we were kind of
just you know, trying to weave punches kind of softly
come in here. And then the second half we were like,

(02:52):
all right, Mike Tyson meat meat kind of got our
got ourselves loose, and you know, we uh, we just
played Gonzaga ball. And then so that was a fun game,
is a good one. And then TCU, man, that was
a that was a fun one. I want to hear
your thoughts on that game from an outsider's view. TCU. Yeah, Well,
like I said, I was nervous as hell for the

(03:13):
game leading up to it. I really was hoping Arizona
State was going to pull it out verse them because
I just thought that would have been an easier matchup
for you guys, um, But then, like you know, you
guys had that terrible, terrible first half offensively and you
weren't hitting shots, and TCU just looked like they wanted smoke,
like they were like, I don't know, halftime, I looked

(03:34):
up and saw we were like fifteen percent from the
three and fifty percent from the free thrown. I'm like,
all right, who the fuck is copying my stats right now? Bro?
I mean, but there's always this like safety, blanket and
security that I feel I have felt watching you guys
over the last like a couple of months, like probably
since that Saint Mary's loss in Moraga. I've just felt this,

(03:58):
Like even during the game, I'm like, all right, they're
down seven or how much did you go to end
up going? You were down tenant one point right like
somewhere in the first half. I think it was a lot,
I don't remember what, but it was a decent amount.
But there was just like this, like there was this
energy of like okay, like they're just not playing up
to par with who they really are and who they've
been of late, especially like how you guys played against

(04:22):
Grand Canyon, and even like Julian for example, like he
was so hot against Grand Canyon and then coming out
against TCU, like he took in my opinion, a couple
of rushed ones early on that were like, all right,
let's let's let's let the offense settle, Let's get into
a little bit of a flow. Let's get a little bit.
You can get that shot anytime you want. You know,
that's early clock. I just felt like things like that
were shifting the momentum in TCU's favor. But like I said,

(04:46):
I felt like there was always this security blanket with
you guys, knowing coach Feuse great at halftime adjustments, you're
also a great motivator and just weren't going to go
down without a fight. And I think he had seventeen
points in the second half or just something dominant, and
I kind of just was saying to myself, I'm like,
they're they're gonna go as far as like Drew takes them.

(05:07):
And if that means, like coach views hammering, let's get
the ball into the post, let's feed the post and
then play inside out, and that's ultimately what ended up happening.
And I mean, dude, watching you wheel and deal out
of the post and throw those cross court fucking over
the shoulder outlet passes are so much And then obviously
Racier getting going was a huge help. What do you

(05:29):
have thirteen points in the second half. He was you know,
non existed in the first half, and he took ownership
for it. But coach View said in the postgame presser,
he was like, there's just like different types of players,
and he was able to not read into it at
all and just come out and you know, act like
he had made the last seven, not miss the last
seven in the second half, and he was huge for
you guys. I mean that's Rossio though, Like I do

(05:50):
no matter what he's shooting, like I really genuinely believe
like he's gonna make the next shot, and that if
he's made ten or miss ten in a row, like
especially in the crunch time, like I just know if
I can draw in two guys or something and he's open,
like I'm flinging that bitch to him, because that's just
how much fate they have in them. Like it. It's
so nice to have a player like that on your team. Yeah,

(06:11):
But overall, like I keep saying, the security, the safety
blanket thing, you guys just are like so established and
what you do well and what works. And I've been
thinking about this all weekend with like the foul trouble
and like good players getting into foul trouble and I'm like, bro,
this is the most the single, most annoying thing ever,

(06:31):
Like in the Marquette game when Tyler Colick had to
go out and they were like literally playing offense defense
last four and a half minutes of the first half,
and I'm like, bro, this sucks. Bro, Like if this
guy wasn't in foul trouble and didn't swipe down, or
if you I forget what you did that got you
your second foul. I'm like, this just changes the game
because it called me on like a hooking foul. I'm like, bro,

(06:52):
if the bros are gonna reach over my shoulders and shit, like,
of course, I'm gonna fucking put my hands up, like oh,
put your hand in the cookie jar man, And they
don't want to call the hooking foul that was so
blaze and on you. Late in the second half, it
was like end of the game. I think you're back
to the basket left. Yeah, yeah I did. I did,
but I'm not gonna lie brow those dudes. You're hammering

(07:14):
the fuck out of me all games. So I was like,
we can cry all we want about that, but like,
if they're gonna have the other stuff go, then like
it's only fair that they let that go. Right. But
I saw the picture of that, I was like, oh God, livetime.
The angle didn't show the wrap around, but once they
showed the replay underneath the basket, I was like, Jesus,
you let him get away with that. Fine, Like I'm

(07:36):
a zag fan, I don't give a shit, but it's like,
look at what we're like, be just can't be consistent.
The other thing I need to point out about um
the second half or just the game in general against
TCU is is Malachi Smith, Like what a fucking baller?
Bro like four for six, hit three threes, five rebounds
like he was. There was a point in the game
where I think I wish I remembered the score. I

(07:59):
should have wrote a coach just trying to call time
out because they were not anore and he hit that
trailer three at the top of the coach was like
time out, time out. But a coach can't call a timeout.
A player does and he jacks that thing and I'm like,
I'm like, oh fuck, he just pulled it. I was
confident when he shot that. I was like, come on,
I got when that happened was yeah, honestly when it

(08:22):
happened too, I think I was on the court. You
on the court. There was another one, maybe it was
Julian's three. Julian hit that one three, and it was
like when you guys first took the lead, like forty
six forty five or something, and everybody just erupted and
like they showed the instant replay and this was so cool.
Like he like Julian was going nuts, losing his mind
so much emotion, and like Rossier is just in the background,
like going up to him to dap him up, but

(08:43):
he just starts laughing because like you guys, like I
don't think you know this, but like when when you
guys start freaking out like that and you're just like
raw emotions, screaming, like you look fucking insane guys like nuts.
I mean it's great too, but I was like laughing
at Racier laughing because I'm like, he's just like looking
at this guy like losing his mind. Bro, we'd be

(09:04):
getting lit, I love it. We'd be feeding off the energy. Yeah, um,
but we did. We talked about Malachi Smith a little
bit with Jay Um with just like how a player
like him has been able to you know, develop and
benefit from the transfer portal in a positive way. Um.
There was also some TCU talk prior to that game

(09:26):
that I think needs addressed. What I don't even know
the guy's name. I don't even know the guy's name,
but and I don't remember the direct quote, but I
remember seeing it laughing and closing out Twitter because I
was like, that is the dumbest shit I've ever heard.
But he said something along the lines of like, well,
it's north and we've ever see It's nothing we haven't
seen before, something along the lines of that. But like,

(09:48):
I mean, do they not know by now? Yeah? I
do these people not know by now? To just like
especially like in the tournament, like you said something about
it on the podcast with Jay, like adding lighter fuel
to the fire, Like what the fuck are you doing?
Say it like you're not You're not like intimidating. They
don't INTI it's not intimidating for you when you hear that,

(10:10):
knowing you're gonna hear it. I don't know what game
they're these, It's not just them whoever the guy was
at set it's like it's like given my like competitive,
like like energy, like a viagra. It's like here like bam.
It's like yeah, I'm like ultra competitive and like you know,

(10:30):
like it's in like a ball. And then it's like
blue pill bam, and it's like, damn, what a comparison, man,
Just like it's like a Newt going off or something.
I don't know. It just really just ticked me off,
and I was like, I can't wait to be petty
after I loved it. I loved it. Oh yeah, I

(10:50):
watched your postgame presser and you had to get it
off and then I heard crazy because it's crazy because
I've played most of those bros in high school too,
and they've been known. So it's just like still really
like we're gonna try and do that. Also, like the
postgame presser, after you said it, the mics picked up
you saying a coach few like I had to like something.

(11:11):
Coaches like you can't let them, you can't let them,
or that's how you let them know that they got
to I'm like, oh, I'm letting them know they got
to me because I'm coming right back at them. Like
I was like, I have to like twenty eight eight
and three, I think, I think it's okay if I
let them know that, you know, what they said got
me in a positive way. You realize, like how hard
like I had to sit on not saying anything back

(11:31):
or like the tweet, I wanted to like it and
retweet it so bad because it just as a competitor,
I just started I just started licking my chops. I
was like, yep, not that I wasn't already excited to play,
but like it just it was just stupid, Like why
would it's bullets? Like why would you say something that's
bullets and board material at all? Why? Yeah, no, I don't,

(11:52):
Like I said, I don't know what they were looking
to gain from it, if it was some sort of
intimidation factor, or just even even if it wasn't intimidation
and it was just some type of like you know, confidence,
Maybe it wasn't said that backful, but that's how I
took it, so you know what I'm saying, Like it's
just one of those stings like I'm not you and
I felt disrespected listening to it. I was like, have
they not been watching this guy for the last four

(12:13):
fucking years? Like what what have they been paying attention to?
Like he is like things you haven't really seen. You
don't go and play against a player like yourself on
a nightly basis, not even in the Big Twelve. What
big man in the Big Twelve was doing what you
were doing on a nightly basis? I can't name. I
can't name one. I mean there's good bigs, don't get

(12:33):
me wrong, but I'm not going to name one that's
like i'd put in your stratosphere. Was there any biggs
in the Big twelve that made first or second team
All American? I don't think so. At the top of
my head, no, and I could be wrong, but no,
I remember Marquis Noel, Keante Johnson, Jalen Wilson. Those are
the Big Twelve names I remember. So whatever, I just

(12:53):
think it's funny because I know that, like you know,
I know you don't respond to these things, but I
know you see them like I know you see them,
and I'm like, you know, I don't honestly for him.
I'm not gonna lie I look for him. Can we
just address something here really quick? Too? Because as acause
I'm not a casual fan, I'm a you know this
I'm a I'm a basketball junkie, but I do pay

(13:14):
attention to what people write online, you know, especially about
Gonzaga and you. And I'm really just getting sick and
tired of the constant Oh, isn't this guy just thirty five?
Isn't this guy eight college for eight years? It's like, guys,
this is a fourth year player. He is in college
for the four traditional years. He's not even in his

(13:37):
COVID year, with the fifth year that he has available
that he's already stated he's not gonna take. And I'm
speaking about you in the third person because it's like,
what the fuck do these people not get? Like what
are you guys paying attention to? And it's just frustrating, bro,
because we have said this a million times over twenty
weeks on this show, just like the negative just like
persona and like, I don't even like this this negative

(13:59):
energy around you. And it's like literally for nothing. It's like,
what have you done that has like warranted someone to
hate on you? What? Because you fucking you did the
stash when you're down fifteen against Baylor, Like, well, I
don't know what you've done that has bothered people so much.
I don't know. I think it's just because I kicked
the people's asses that they like. I guess I couldn't

(14:20):
tell you. I don't know. I don't know. I needed
to get that off my chest. Brother is a friend
of yours. I'm like, I just don't think like someone
has storied as him like that really hasn't been that
controversial at all over the last four years. How you
have like garnered so much hate towards your name. It's weird. Weird.
It is weird because like I don't be like really

(14:42):
talking shit to anybody either. I'm not like disrespectful anything.
I'm just doing stuff for my team or myself. You know,
it's nothing like fuck you or like, you know, what
I'm saying sounds a little weird, but you know, never
done anything controversial that's like warranted all this negative hate.
But again that doesn't that I'm not saying that the
TCU comment was hate. I've just adding on to the

(15:04):
conversation because it's just something I constantly see, like you
break the guy Gonzaga all time scoring record, and it's like,
oh my god, this guy is so old, Like he's
just twenty two year old kid. He's a four year
college player. Grayson Allen was a four year college player,
like played it duke for four years. Nobody said anything
about him being old, Like yeah, maybe it feels like
to the casual fan, you've been there for forever if

(15:25):
you're not paying attention. But I don't know, man, tiring
tired of it, can't wait for to never hear it again.
So fucking an. Also, let me just apologize. I think
I've dropped more F bombs and old in the last
fifteen minutes than I have in the last couple episodes.
That's on me. I apologize to our listeners that don't
appreciate the F word. I just him a little bit

(15:45):
ramped up right now. That leads me into another topic.
M why does it matter if I say fuck oh,
this is I know it's our to some people's ears.
I grew up in a you know, Italian family, and
you grew up in a family from Texas where it
just it's part of the language. It's not like I

(16:06):
was on like PBS Kids or like Nick Junior at
like eight am when before school, when like there's a
bunch of like Candy Yarder's like watching like bubble guppies
and I come on and I'm like, fuck, oh yeah,
we didn't even I didn't even bring up your your
bringing it up. No, I loved it. Late night air,
you said, what'd you say? Give me your quote? I

(16:27):
don't remember. I think I said, like, we don't want
to be the team that fucks us up. Like I
don't even like my cuss. I don't even cuss in
like an aggressive manner, you know, it's just like casual. Yeah,
it's part of your language. It's like very I kind
of feel the same way. Sometimes I have a little
bit more passion and aggression in my voice. So maybe
sounds like a little vile when it comes out of

(16:48):
my mouth, but like it really just feels part of
there's like a fluidity with me and with you when
we're when we're dropping f bombs. Yeah, I don't know
what it is. No. My thing is like, look like
it's if we if we want to make all the
jokes that I've been here since like nineteen forties, fifties, whatever,
then you then you know me well enough to know
what you're gonna get right, Like I don't. Yeah, I

(17:10):
don't try to actively do it, but like every now
and then it's going to slip out, like it's just
how I talk. So it's like, let's not act surprised
or anything when it happens. I don't know. I just
don't think it's as big of a deal. You know.
It's not like I'm saying it with like malicious and
ten or anything or being like a total jackass. But
it's like, come on, y'all, like it's not the end
of the world, and like, why are you putting so

(17:31):
much weight behind a word? It's fuck fuck all right?
I do I want to I don't. We probably lost
like twenty listeners and that's whatever. If they if they
hate us because we curse a little too much. I
just I think it's maybe just a younger I don't
even think it's a younger generation. Like we just had
j Billison. We dropped a couple of bombs with him.

(17:52):
He didn't curse, he cursed, he said bitch on the
last podcast whatever, Like cursing is part. There's levels to it,
like you're saying, um, I don't think it should be
taken as serious. That's personal opinion in because I don't
think the words really hold that much weight. I do
think there's time and place for cursing though, question sound
a little class list. You can sound a little like

(18:13):
I don't know, it's it's weird church or like not
going to like a symphony or something like this is
the Gimmy Timmy podcast, Like you know what I'm saying,
Like it's on a podcast, like and I think it's
funny too, because like we are very cognizant of like
what to say, what not to say, how to say it.
Like we've had to really like you know, work our

(18:35):
way around a tight ship here, um, just with like
what's going on, and so I think we've done a
good job. Um. But again, like cursing is cursing. It's
like as athletes, like you know, we're out there with
our boys, what's part of the game, like running up
and down like and just it's just it's just part
of it. I don't I don't really know what other
way to explain to the other thing though, is like
is it part of the you did not have intentions

(18:58):
to like curse in that interview it kind of just
float out of you. But is there a thing like
with Late night TV where they stopped bleeping out the
curse words? Like were you aware of anything like that,
is that a thing? I don't know. I've always seen you.
I always hear a cussing on TV. But I also
watched like Family, Irons South No, but I know, but
like a live event like that, like if they were
sitting in the post, like if Charles Barkley and the
inside the NBA crew or the inside the March Madness

(19:20):
crew was sitting there and one of them said shit,
it would have been would have been passed. It would
have been fine if one of them said fuck or
bitch or something like that, Like they would have bleeped
that out, because I think the live telecast airs two
to three seconds ahead of what we see probably probably.
So My point is is that when you said fuck,
I was like, I'm literally staring at my TV dying

(19:44):
laughing because I'm like, wait, why didn't they bleep that out? Honestly,
like it just kind of came out. I didn't, Like
I didn't. It wasn't my intention to cuss on TV,
but like it happened, and it's like I wasn't saying
it aggressive like fuck TCU. It was more just like
we didn't want to fuck this thing. Let's streak up,
like hey, speaking of postgame interviews that are my absolute
f that contain a curse word is uh Shaquille O'Neal.

(20:06):
I don't know if you've definitely seen this trend on
Twitter where he's like, the reporter asked him something. He's like,
He's like, that's because the reps were sucking up the
fucking game, and the guy was like, shack, we're on air.
He was like, I don't give a shit, Like that's
a that's that's what it's like. Anything like that. All right,
crazy long intro because whatever, it was fun. We're having

(20:29):
a good time, but we had an even better time
sitting down with jay Billis. We just did that for reference.
We recorded this late late Monday night. Jay billis so
much in store, like I said earlier, with just um
all March Madness related stuff from everything that's gone down
this week, hitting on individual coaches like Matt Painter, John Caliperry, Scott,

(20:49):
Drew tom Izzo, just his opinions, his takes, just what
he's seen, kind of what Drew seen, um, you know,
from playing and being a part of the tournament and
just uh so much. I mean, I mean, we really
we went longer than we were supposed to go with
Jay and honestly, now that this intro has become what
it's come, Drew, congrats, we've recorded our longest podcast episode ever. Fantastic.

(21:13):
I love it. I love it. Yeah, my brains fried.
I'm done thinking for the rest of the day. We're done.
We're gonna go to a quick break here and we're
gonna bring in Jay. Billis right when we come back,
Jay Man, thanks so much for hopping on the pod
with this again. Once more, thanks for finally giving me
a ninety four feet after about four years of just
begging for it. But thank you and welcome in Man. Yeah,

(21:35):
thanks for thanks for having me. It's great to be
with you again. Congratulations on another sweet sixteen and I'm
sure beyond and but but the ninety four feet thing,
it was remarkable to me how quickly your mother sold
you out. Like I asked her, you know, do you
have any any dirt on Drew? And she says a lot.
And I said, all right, when's the last time you

(21:56):
went to bed and she said yesterday. I'm not surprised.
He's always the first one to throw me under the bug. Yeah,
she had heat for Drew, and she came on episode ten,
and she was kind of disappointed she didn't get to
get to all of it because we were on a
time restriction. But Jay, first question I have for you is,
over the last four days, forty eight total games, how

(22:17):
many of them are you watching? Like how much time
did you spend watching the games? Were you're doing activities
and just had some on in the background, Like how
devoted are you to every game? Totally devoted? You know,
there are some games that are on at the same
time as you guys know, So I'm not one of
those guys. Like when I go watch players during the

(22:38):
summer at these AU events, I can't watch two games
at once. I you know, some guys can sit there
and watch two different courts and go back and forth.
And I'm not one of those guys. I have to
watch one game, and if I need to see players
on different courts, I'll watch separate games or separate halves.
But I'll watch I'll watch games early on and then

(23:01):
when if there are two games going at once and
they really matter, and if something gets out of hand
in some of these games, and then I don't watch them.
It's pretty rare that I'm seeing a team I haven't
seen during the regular season when you get to the
NCAA tournament, so I pretty much know what they do,
but you want to know what's going to happen in
those particular games. So I watched pretty intently for the

(23:22):
first weekend, and then after that it gets easier because
they're obviously there are fewer games, so it's a lot
easier to watch. Yeah, Drew, what about you? How many?
How many games are you able to watch? Being in
the thick of it as a player, it's crazy, you know,
in between media, practice, film, all all the stuff that
goes on with just your day to day, Like you
can catch like maybe four or five minutes of this game,

(23:43):
and then you come back and it's like another game.
But there's always games on in the background of whatever
we're doing, and you can always catch bits and pieces
of games here. But it was a crazy week man.
This might be one of the craziest marches I've ever
been a part of. Yeah, and you know, Noah, to
Drew's point, I'm not sure as a player that outs
side of what you're doing, you should watch very much.

(24:07):
You know, Drew knows this from being through it so
much and having so much success in the tournament that
you know, the tournament when you're participating, it is not
about sixty eight teams. It's about one path. And you know,
for Gonzaga or any team, you know, you go into
each weekend, you're just playing in a four team tournament.
That's all you have to worry about. And then you know,

(24:28):
you win that, and then you go to another four
team tournament, and if you win that, you go to
the Final four, which is a four team tournament. If
you're watching other games, you can get kind of consumed
and what's going on around you and get distracted. I
hate the word distraction in basketball, but you do kind
of lose. You can lose focus on what's important and
that's your path. Like you don't Gonzaga doesn't have to

(24:50):
beat everybody in the field. They just have to beat
the teams that are in front of them. And it
sounds simple, but the simpler you make it, I think
the easier it gets to wrap your head around. Yeah,
I mean, I will say, like it is hard not
to get caught up in that stuff. But I also
think us playing on the second day was huge because
we saw so many upsets that first day. It was

(25:10):
just kind of like that gentleoral minder, like, look, all
sixty four of these teams in here are here for
a reason, and especially for some of the younger guys
on our team, Like it's it's one thing to hear
about it all the time, but once you're in that
moment and you see these upsets starting to happen, like
Arizona going down to Princeton, like we're obviously really close
with the Arizona team, the staff and all that, it's like,
shit like that could really happen to us too, And

(25:31):
I just think it kind of puts things into perspective too,
especially like with that second day was it was good
for me to see too, just because like you know,
you can get a little i want to say, like overconfident,
but maybe a little like relax and it helps you
kind of tighten back up just because of how crazy
this month is, you know. And one thing for my seat, Drew,
and you're in it, so you would know. But you know,

(25:52):
one thing about the Gonzaga program, and it's been consistent
over the last twenty years, is you guys are gamers,
Like you're not afraid to lose, And to me, a
competitor is is someone or a team that acknowledges, Hey,
we're going in here into a fight, and we acknowledge
we can lose, but we're not afraid to lose. So

(26:13):
you guys may miss a shot, but you're not taking
the shot worried about missing. You're taking it to make it.
If you miss it, you miss it. But but you're
not You're not afraid to miss. And that's not true
of every team, like some of the teams Arizona, I
think it happened too, and they're the only ones that know.
But but it's what I saw Arizona and Purdue. They
tightened up at the end of those games and they

(26:35):
look like, you know, we're we're afraid to lose, And
I just don't see that in you guys. And that's
that's a that's a trait of a true competitor to me. Yeah,
I think it's just kind of a testament to like
what coaches built here. Like especially our team early in
the year. We we battled and we took some l's
and we kind of got our butts spanked a couple
a couple of games too, like against Purdue and against Texas.

(26:56):
But the thing I was most proud of is was
just we just fought to the last second every time.
And I think stuff like that, even when we lost,
we still fought is what I'm most proud of because
now you know, like when things are close or they
are going well, you're still gonna fight no matter what.
And I think that's the true sign of a great
team in the making, even if it isn't in that
moment feel like it is, but big picture wise, it's
stuff that translates to success later on and especially in

(27:19):
the tournament. I want to kind of take it slightly
back to what Drew said or maybe Jay, you said
it about having one of the earlier games, like oh
Drew said it about watching the upsets on day one. Jay,
do you think like there's any mental edge that like
plays against the teams that have to play those like
first couple games to like kickstart the tournament on Thursday.
And I want to use the Virginia and firm In

(27:41):
game as an example, Like in your opinion, is there
any way like if that game is you know, at
nine o'clock at night or it's day two, maybe maybe
the outcome is different, like because it was what the
second game on the slate, Like I'm curious to think,
like if that plays a part in it with like
just the timing, like this is the second game, this
is the third game of the entire tournament, and like

(28:02):
normally I feel like I can you probably have a
lot more history to know whether or not this is true,
But upsets kind of occur. They can occur that early,
like in the tournament on day one. Yeah, I mean
I never I don't know what different players felt, but
I mean, going back to my playing days, I wasn't
a big fan of playing at noon or one o'clock.

(28:22):
I would rather play later in the day. I didn't
care for nine thirty games, but I'd rather play later.
But I do think there's something to the first day
thing the Virginia game, know that you brought up. I
don't think that had to do with the time of day.
I think it just had to do with one bad

(28:42):
decision that Virginia is not a knockout punch team. They
play in a lot of close games, even when they
play their best. Their games are close and they live
in those, so I don't think it necessarily bothers them.
It was just a fifty year senior making a bad
decision at the worst possible time, and it was sort
of inexplicable. I'm not sure they key Hey Clark could

(29:04):
even explain it. But you know, you don't make that
decision and you win. It's one of those deals. And
I've never seen him make a decision like that. Um.
But but your point is, I think uh salient that
um that the first day. Uh, if you watch it
playing on the second day, it can get your attention that, hey,

(29:26):
you know, we better be ready for a fight here,
because we could if we let somebody hang around, or
if we don't go in and take a swing at
somebody and uh and assert ourselves like you can't, you
can't go in there just you know, hoping to win
or expecting to win. Um. The tournament's a different animal,
and every game is different, and every game is like,
you can't win a championship unless you win the first game.

(29:49):
So the first game is a championship game. And it's
hard to hard to get yourself to think about that
when you know you're the better team. Like the better
team doesn't always win in these things. It doesn't doesn't
always win in every game, but um, but especially in
the tournament, you know, you have to be prepared for,
especially like Gonzaga Duke some of these programs. It's a

(30:10):
different deal when when you're getting your opponent's best shot
all the time. You know, you go on the road
in the WCC, every every game is a storm the
court game, and what you see on film of your
opponent is not what you're getting. And that's what people
don't understand, Like you watch them on film going these
guys are schlaps, like what the hell are they doing?
And then they play against you and they're world beaters,

(30:32):
and even if you escape the game and win, you're
kind of one of the things that the players will
say is why don't they play like that all the time?
If they played like that all the time, they'd be
they'd be in the top ten. Um. That's an amazing
sort of factor when you're a top ranked team, is
the level of effort that comes against you that people,

(30:53):
you know, people that are betting on the game or
watching it, don't understand that that, hey, I saw these
guys lose to this other team by twenty and they're
even with Gonzaga, Well that's a it's a different team
that's not the same team that played those guys. It's
kind of amazing. Really, where do you think, Like, let's
dive a little bit into just how this weekend went
with forty eight games, Like, I want to like your

(31:16):
biggest concern team wise heading into rounds one and two?
What team was it that you were concerned the most about?
Like are they going to get past these first two
rounds and be able to get into the Sweet sixteen?
Was there anybody that stood out to you in that regard?
I mean there were a lot of games where I thought, hey,
this this could be a potential upset, and you know,
you call it out on Selection Sunday, say, hey, watch

(31:36):
out for Drake playing. You know, we're watch out for
Kent State. You know you guys Gonzaga played Kent State.
They're good and I thought they I thought they were
a Sweet sixteen team. I did too. But it's funny,
like I think when those things are are called out
on Selection Sunday, the higher ranked team goes, oh really,

(31:56):
oh really you think that's going to happen? And I
think it gets their antenta up a little bit and
and they so we'll show you And then the ones
you're not talking about are the ones that pull off
the upset like Fairley Dickinson. Like Fairley Dickinson did a
great job, and they deserve a ton of credit for
how they played. But let's not mince words here, like
they won because Purdue sucked, and that doesn't happen less.

(32:20):
Both those things happen that the underdog plays really well
and that the higher ranked team like Purdue plays really poorly.
And you know, you feel bad for Purdue. But but
those games for US fifteen or for a two or
a one seed, I think are like banana peals being
thrown in your path, and every year one of them,

(32:43):
you know, it seems like not the sixteens, but somebody
slips on one of them and the other ones do
just fine. Like how is it the other ones won
and you lost? Like it has a lot to do
with you when you lose a game like that. Yeah,
I would love to know what's going on. I mean,
we're gonna get to the Purdue thing in a little
bit because I have a really interesting question I want

(33:04):
to get your perspective on. But I just don't understand, like,
and you kind of said it, like they make it
to the second round, it's a great story, but like
do you think that like it becomes a bad it's
just bad for the second round, Like you know, they
put up a fight against after you put up a
fight against Florida Atlantic, but like they were the better team.
Florida Atlantic has been pretty dominant all year in the

(33:25):
mid major level. But like even when UNBC won against Virginia,
I don't remember who they played in the second round.
But like it does add a little level of like
you know, walk in the park for the next team.
But it's part of the Cinderella run, so I get it.
It's cool, but like I don't know, what do you
think about just like how it depicts the rest of
the field, because it's like you got this week team
that really doesn't belong here here. Yeah, that's an interesting question.

(33:50):
Like the tournament has become different things to different people.
So there's a populist element to the tournament that the
little guy gets to take a swing at the big guy.
And when I was playing, I played in the very
first sixty four tournament. So my first tournament, I think
it was either forty eight or fifty four teams and
my team had to buy in the first round. We

(34:10):
didn't even play a first round game, we had to
buy into the second round, so we had to play
a team that had already played. And I'm not sure
that's particularly fair or easy. But in the in the
first sixty four team tournament, you know, like I think
Division one is too big. You know, there's no way
that three hundred and sixty teams are competitive with one another.
So in order to make it equitable, you know, the

(34:33):
NCAA came up with this thing of you know, every
everybody that wins their conference gets an automatic entry into
the tournament, and each conference gets to decide their automatic bit.
They can do it by a postseason tournament. They can
send their regular season champion like the IV used to do,
or they can arm wrestle, or they can flip a coin.
They can do whatever they want. And everybody has a

(34:56):
fair shot. Everybody in the country, every team has a
fair shot to get into the tournament by winning against
their peers in their conference. And and after that they
take the thirty four best teams. Now what best teams mean? Uh,
it differs with committee to committee. But you know when
people say people love the early round upsets, they love it,

(35:18):
and then when when this little guy gets through, they
don't seem to watch and as high in numbers as
that happens, and you want you see them get bounced
out of the tournament, and you know they want to
see the blue bloods. When the blue bloods aren't in,
they're they're upset about it. When they're in, they say
the little guys should get a chance. Nobody there's no

(35:39):
consensus to it. But it's still an awesome tournament. Um.
And and all you have to do when you're the
higher ranked team, you know you're gonna have to play
a team you're you're way better than you just have
to beat them. And uh and so I think it's
unbelievably fair. But when somebody like Purdue or Arizona they
slip on that banana peal, Um, it's it's a it's

(36:01):
a big win for the rest of their bracket, a
huge win for the rest of their bracket because they
have an easier path. Yeah. No, I mean it's been crazy,
like and what, in your opinion is the greatest run
Princeton f DU or Saint Peter's because I mean those
are just obviously of recent and I mean, Doug Eater
like it just kind of created like all these personas
and these teams and FDU and like, what's been your

(36:23):
favorite one so far? I mean you'd have to say
Saint Peter's because they got to the Elite eight and
before Carolina blasted them and for them to have beaten
Kentucky and then they get to the sweet sixteen and
they I don't remember who they beat in the second round,
but they then they beat yeah, Murray State. So Murray
State was good, but that was more of a fair fight,

(36:46):
you know, kind of mid major against mid major. And
then they played Perdue and I thought, okay, it ends here,
you know, Perdue and then Perdue laden egg against them,
and you know, there's a part of you that goes, well,
how did North Carolina crack the code if it was
so difficult, you know, because North Carolina ran them out
of the gym. And it's just sort of a mindset

(37:08):
thing in my view that when you go into a game, um,
you know, you have to you have to knock people
out that that you're better then because if you let
teams hang around, I mean it sounds trite, but it's true.
You let people hang around and they get more confident.
And it's amazing how this sort of tension comes into

(37:29):
the higher ranked team sometimes and they start squeezing the
ball like they're afraid to lose, and it's a natural response.
And that's what amazes me. The natural response is what
we saw from Purdue in Arizona late in those games
that they really tightened up. The unnatural, you know, incredibly admirable,
admirable response is what I see out to good Zagen,

(37:51):
what Villanova used to do stuff like that, where man,
they're not afraid to lose, like, hey, you may you
may win, but we're not afraid to lose to you,
and we're going to take our swings. And that that's
an amazing saying like this eight I don't mean to
like suck up to Drew and Gonzaga here, but this
eight sweet sixteens in a row. Nobody else has done that.

(38:14):
Like where are the blue bloods doing that? Or the
Power Conference teams doing that? If if all these other
programs are so damn good, how is Gonzaga doing this
and nobody else is? And that the people who say, well,
they play in the West Comes Conference, Okay, I'll give
you that for seeding and for getting into the tournament, Okay,
But when they get there. How do they keep doing it? Like,

(38:35):
how is that possible that they keep sneaking in that?
That that to the people who want to diminish what
Gonzaga has done, I just go, Okay, eight Sweet sixteens
in a row and these championship games and all this stuff,
all right, you know, go ahead, take the regular season
argument that they don't play the same schedule the Big twelve. Okay, well,

(38:56):
how are they doing in the tournament then, because because
everybody's got the same chance there and nobody else is
doing it, you know that that pretty much ends the argument,
the reason argument. To me, I have two quick things.
Shout out to just New Jersey basketball, since I'm a
New Jersey native, those guys, it's great seeing those runs.
But also I think I actually love that, like how
much of an advocate you are, j for Gonzaga basketball,

(39:17):
Because like obviously, the more and more you pay attention
to it, the more and more at heart, the more
harder and harder it is to like kind of be
on the opposite side, Like, like you said, only I
think only one other team has done it nine times
in a row, is North Carolina. Like in the eighties
and the nineties, so, I mean, the new gen like
what Gonzaga has done is it's insane, it's it's remarkable,
and I appreciate that. But I don't consider myself an advocate.

(39:39):
I just consider myself chronicling the fact of the matter.
And these aren't like arguments, they're facts. And look, people
get territorial about their teams and about basketball. And I
don't know what it is about us as a society
that we like to diminish certain things. But but how

(40:00):
can you diminish that? Um? You know, like this year, know,
Gonzaga was ranked twelfth or so going into the tournament.
Most every West Coast Conference team outside of Gonzaga would
hang a banner up in their gym if they were
ranked twelfth at the end of the season, they'd hang
a banner up and it would be one of the
best seasons ever. And and you know, the rest of

(40:21):
the country is like, ah, you know, Gonzaga is only twelfth.
You know, they've only won like twenty nine games, Like yeah,
really that that makes no sense to me. It sort
of goes against what we claim we're about in the sport.
But you know, I can't, you know, we can't control
what people say or what they think, but you can
counter it with with what you think is the truth. Yeah,

(40:43):
it's crazy to me because like they're always like, oh,
the Big Tens this and that, which it's a really
good conference. I'm not trying to shit on it, but
it's like the WCC is one tournament team, one team
left in the tournament, and so does the Big Ten.
And if you want to talk about how the regular
season builds them for the tournament, why is only one
team out of how many made like six or seven
made it in the sweet sixteen them. So like, I

(41:05):
don't get the double standard where it just selectively turns
off and on. But you know, Drew like so when
when this bar room argument starts, I would I would
accept from somebody who compares the West Coast Conference to
the Big Ten and say, all right, if Gonzago is
in the Big Ten, would they have the same record, Like, no,

(41:26):
they are four more losses because you got to go
on the road in that league against all those big bodies. Yeah,
they'd have four more losses, But tell me they'd be
different in the tournament. They wouldn't be like you wouldn't
be and you're not getting into the you're not winning
in the tournament because you had some boat ride the
whole season. That makes no sense, Otherwise other teams would

(41:46):
be able to duplicate it. They're only five Power Conference
leagues and there are thirty some leagues in the country.
So why hasn't anybody else approached this if it's so easy.
None of these arguments sort of that are trying to
diminish Gonzaga's success make any sense at all when you
you know, when you look at it through a reasonable lens,

(42:06):
and I'm okay, like you can like Gonzaga, you can
like Kentucky, you cannot like them. That's a matter of taste.
These other things are matters of fact, and the facts
don't lie. Sweet sixteens in a row is a level
of excellence that that has been matched what very few

(42:29):
times in the game's history, let alone right now and
right now. Nobody else can say that, and that that
speaks pretty loudly to me. There's also only one PAC
twelve school and one ACC school, so of the three
Power five conferences, like there's literally only one school being
represented by So I mean not to just like jump

(42:49):
on Drew's parade, but I mean they're like you're saying, Jay,
there's fact to these, because these have to be used
in the arguments when people are like they're really holding
true to what they believe in and like, na, Gonzaga
just isn't that good because they're in the WCC. But
then when you look at the grand scope of it,
it's actually the argument is very frugal. It's not it's
just there's not much there. There's not a lot of
substance there in my opinion. Yeah, and no, at your point,

(43:12):
so like, look, nobody, no reasonable basketball person would argue
that the West Coast Conference was better top to bottom
than the Big Twelve. It's not. But that doesn't mean
that the top teams in the West Coast Conference aren't
equally as good as the top teams in the Big Twelve.
You know that, Like, I don't think this was the

(43:34):
Big Twelves. It was the Big twelves best year for
top to bottom competition. Every game was a fist fight,
and the ten teams in that league, I don't think
I've ever seen a more balanced league top to bottom.
But that doesn't mean that it was the best year
for the top teams. Like Kansas won the league, this
isn't even the best Kansas team we've seen, let alone

(43:56):
the best Big twelve team we've seen. Like Baylor a
couple of years ago, was way better than any team
in this league in Kansas and in certain years was
way better than the best team in this league. So
that that's sort of the issue. We didn't we didn't
have a team this year in college basketball that was
heading shoulders above everybody else, Like a couple of years
ago when Goodzaga and Baylor played for the title, you

(44:20):
had two teams that were better than everybody else, and
if they didn't make the final four, we would have
been shocked. There was nobody in this field that if
they don't make the final four, we would have been shocked. Yeah,
so kind of speaking to that, just outside FDU and Princeton.
What was your biggest surprise from this first weekend of
the tournament. I don't know, Like Michigan State was a

(44:42):
little bit of a surprise, but not a huge one.
I don't know that there was anything that like the
first weekend when Furman, especially the way it happened Furman
beating Virginia, I thought there would actually be a few
more upsets. Frankly, than we had, and we could have
had more, but you know, it kind of these things,

(45:06):
in my experience kind of wold deform in a lot
of ways that you don't necessarily know where the upsets
are going to come, but you know you're gonna have some.
And by the time we get to the Sweet sixteen,
usually it's it's twelve Power Conference teams, Gonzaga, uh and
then and then a couple of mid majors that we

(45:26):
didn't see coming, like Princeton, you know, Florida Atlanticum. If
if you saw Purdue whole deform probably might not be here.
And then and then Houston's in. And but Houston's going
to be a Power Conference team next year and their
Final four team two years ago, Elite eight last year.
So it kind of held to form. It just wasn't there.

(45:48):
Weren't some of the teams we've come to expect, like
Duke or Kentucky or North Carolina stuff like that, or
Kansas or some combination thereof. It was some different one,
but it kind of held to form as far as
the number of Power Conference teams versus the quote unquote
mid majors. Yeah, you bringing up Furman beating Virginia kind

(46:10):
of just goes to my point of like the higher
seed winning because in my opinion, I don't think that, Um,
I don't think that San Diego State beats Virginia in
the round of thirty two. I don't. I don't know
what you think, but that's what I mean about the
matchups of like those upsets where we're talking about earlier,
Like like the Furman verse San Diego State game is
a way less watchable game, I guess to the more

(46:31):
average eye than if Virginia is in that game and
it's a four or five matchup. Yeah, I think I
think San Diego State would have definitely preferred to have
played Furman, a team they could they could physically manhandle,
and they did. If they had played Virginia, it would
have been more of a fight and it would have
been a low scoring game. I don't think you would

(46:52):
have seen, uh, San Diego State put up eighty on Virginia. Um,
they very well could have beaten Virginia. I didn't think
this was one of the strongest Virginia teams we've seen,
but they were very, very good and difficult to play against.
But that's sort of what the tournament becomes like. That
that goes back to the point about it's just your path.
You know, like when when Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal

(47:16):
play in Wimbledon, they don't have to beat the whole field,
They just have to beat six guys, and that that's
kind of the way the tournament is. For the basketball
tournament is for every team. You don't have to beat everybody.
Like when you look at your side of the bracket,
you know, the thirty two teams on your side of
the bracket, the sixteen and your region and the sixteen
right above you. Who cares what happens in the other side.

(47:37):
Only one team's coming out of there. And if you
handle your business, you play them on Monday night. It
really doesn't matter. All that stuff's great entertainment for everybody else,
but it doesn't affect you. And so keeping your universe
small is usually the best way to go in this thing. Yeah.
Um let's jump into some just winning and losing coaches here. Um,

(48:01):
you mentioned Tom Zoe they kind of surprise to Michigan State.
Drew said only Big ten team left in the Tournamentum.
I was listening to the One Shining podcast with Tate
Frasier and he was saying the last two East regionals
that were at Madison Square Garden resulted in a seven
seed coming out of the region. Do you like you
were surprised by them making it to the sweet sixteen,

(48:21):
But what are your feelings about them moving forward? I
think they've got a great opportunity to get out of
there and get to Houston that, um, you know, to
have Kansas State in Tennessee, they all have to be
very happy that Marquette and h and Purdue are out
of the region because everybody has to feel like they

(48:42):
could beat everybody else. And I think Tennessee would rather
play against FAU than they would Purdue. Um, you know,
they can their physical and you you've played them, drew
like they they're going to turn that game into a
football game. And I don't mean that negatively. You know,
they do what the officials allow, and they should. But

(49:03):
that's going to be a physical contest and I'm not
sure that FAU has played anybody quite that physical, and
so it's gonna They're gonna have a hard time speed
in that game. Up. It's gonna be played at Tennessee's
tempo and the Michigan State's a little bit different than
they've been. I mean, you know, Gonzaga played them in
the very fruit not that you could tell anything when
you're playing outdoors on a aircraft carrier, but Michigan State

(49:26):
is not the same kind of team they've had. They're
not as as assertive on the glass as they've been.
They're good defensively, but they're not They're not great. They're
not a knockout punch Michigan State team. But they can
get they get jump shots, and they're versatile. They can
play a smaller lineup, they can play bigger and they're confident.

(49:48):
Um So if they're making shots, which they've been doing
of late, there's no question they can be they can
be Kansas State. Yeah, that Readion's super fun, but now
kind of for the the losing coaches. How much do
you think Bill self now being in that game affected
Kansas's chances of beating Arkansas? I don't think it helped.

(50:10):
I think that you take a degree of confidence of
having the continuity of of of your coach being there
and that that voice that you trust. It's not that
the players don't trust Norm Roberts, because they do, but
it's just different, and I'm not sure that different is
helpful at the end of the year, and when you're
playing in that kind of event, you know that was

(50:32):
a game I was a one possession game as a
game that Kansas easily could have won. But but you know,
these get a lot of these games come down to
one possession and when you don't have the voice you've
had all year long, it's kind of like, it's not
like you don't trust your backup point guard, but when
you're starting point guard files out in the last two minutes,
you have somebody else in there, it's different, and it's

(50:54):
not it's not ideal. So it wasn't ideal. It's not
an excuse, but it wasn't ideal for Kansas. Yeah, two
other coaches, I want to get your take on Coach
kl with Kentucky and then Scott Drew with Baylor. Just like,
where do both of Let's start with coach cow. Where
does coach cow and Kentucky kind of go from here?
Moving forward with how the last three tournaments have kind

(51:16):
of ended for them with the bad season the COVID year,
they didn't even make it last year, they get bounced
by a fifteen seed this year, losing around to thirty two,
Like I mean, because coach cow was so ahead of
the game with the one and done's. Is it like
adjusting and just making better decisions in the transfer portal?
Is it? There's all you know, there's some chatter about
him leaving. I don't. I want to know what you

(51:38):
think about just all of that. Coach Kel, Yeah, I don't.
I don't see him leaving, but who knows. You never
know how these things are going to go. It's just
my view. I've never talked to cal about this, but
I think you're right, Noah, that when he got to
Kentucky in twenty ten, Yeah, he was ahead of everybody
on the one and done thing. A lot of coaches
railed against it back then. They didn't like it, they

(52:00):
didn't want to go that route. And then when cal
ad tremendous success, some other coaches were thinking, well, if
we can get these guys, we should take them, because
we got to play against them. If we don't take them.
And you saw Duke doing similar things and taking one
and don's and being very successful. Not everybody can get them.
They might be able to get one, but they're not
gonna be able to get four. Like you know, four

(52:21):
lottery picks like Cal's been getting. But I think when
the transfer portal came in, my perception is that Cal
wanted to get ahead of that and he took a
number of transfers that were good players, Like those guys
are good, but they're not as uber talented as some
of the big shot freshman he had been getting, and

(52:43):
you know, I think it was a departure. Now next
year he's got like the number one recruiting class coming in.
Does that change back, We'll see, But I think you
can balance it by having a number of uber talented,
kind of lottery pick tip freshman at Kentucky and sprinkle
in the transfers that fit like Canzaga has done as
good job as anybody with that of getting the type

(53:06):
of player that they want out of high school and
then also getting somebody like Malachi Smith that comes in
from Tennessee Chattanooga and just sort of seamlessly blends in.
You know, they used to take a year with those
guys and they have them in the program, but now
you can't do that anymore. Guys want to play right
away and they're transferring in order to play right away,

(53:27):
So you just need to be smart and intentional about
who you bring in. There's got to be somebody in
your culture. And my son played at wake Forest. He's
a walk on at wake Forest, and he was the
one that pointed this out to me. He said one
time that he said it was his belief that players
understand that if you bring in a freshman that's better
than you, they just have to deal with it. They

(53:50):
don't understand you bring it in a fifth year senior
that's better than you when you've been here this whole
time and it's your opportunity, and then all of a
sudden they bring in somebody older than you on top
of you. That can be difficult on on a team dynamic.
And I do, after thinking about it, think that there's
something to that. But you just have to balance it

(54:13):
and hope you bring guys into your culture that fit in,
because you know, Gonzaga and other programs are just like
Nzagon this, They've got established cultures and you can't ask
the entire culture to change for one player bring it in.
You have to make sure that that player fits into
the established culture. If that makes sense. Yeah, No, that's
a tough dynamic, and I think we've done a good

(54:34):
job of that, just like Malachi coming he was a
Player of the Year and he's kind of shifted into
this different role where some games he might have fifteen twenty,
other games he might have like six, but he just
plays good defense. I think that is the hardest part.
And then you throw an eye on the mix, like
you get this amount of money, but then they bring
in this transfer. Who gets now double that or trip whatever?

(54:56):
It is, Like it's just a weird, weird dynamics starting
to form. And I think we're gonna see a lot,
like a lot of cultures, either teams fall apart and
teams kind of break apart, which I'm surprised hasn't been
the case as much this year publicly because of how
how many people have left for money, and it's been
so publicized this year. Yeah, I mean back in the
day when I played teams, teams broke apart for a

(55:19):
number of reasons playing time. You know, the attention you get,
some guy thinks he's a pro whatever. It's not like
before Nil, there weren't there weren't problems. There are always
problems when you have competitive people that are asked to
pull in one direction for the common good. You know,
you got you got players who were stars in high

(55:40):
school asked to be role players and you're gonna, wait
a minute, I'm as good as that guy. What are
you talking about? How's he getting all? You know, stuff
like that that always happens. But there's a new dynamic
now and everybody's going to have to learn how to
deal with it. But it's really the same. You know,
how much money somebody makes off the court, it really
doesn't differ for how many minutes they get on the court.

(56:00):
Like you know, so you're willing to be a competitor
in that realm, but you don't want to be in
competitor to the other one. And but those those are
things that the smartest ones like kind of address and
make sure they don't become problems because they shouldn't be problems. Jay,
I want to just I have two I want to
know what you think about the Scott Drew and just
like I think Baylor underachieved in my non almost professional opinion,

(56:26):
I want to know what the real professional thinks. Like
just the roster they had, they got their highest recruit
ever in Quante George, and just to keep it blunt,
he was horrible one for ten the other day yesterday, Like,
I think they underachieved with the team that they had.
I want to know what you think and just where
Baylor goes from here. You know, I would probably differ
with you a little bit there. I think Baylor had

(56:46):
a great year for what they had. They were not
near the defensive team they've been. Part of that was
Jonathan Chawachatchua came back late in the season, mid season
whatever was, and he's not the same player he was.
How could you expect him to be after that sort
of catastrophic knee injury. But you know, a couple of
years ago, they were ridiculously good defensively. This year they're

(57:10):
they're an unbalanced team. They're great on offense and they're
average at best on defense. And those guys had to
play a lot of minutes, and so they're running around
all these screens getting shots, and then they're asked to
play high level defense at the same time for forty
minutes and without a break. That's hard to do. And

(57:31):
it's really hard to be proficient in both offense and
defense at that level and playing at that tempo. And
the other thing is, and you know, I don't know
whether Drew would agree with this or not, but it's
damn hard to be good every year, and some years
you're better than others. You know this, and you may
differ with this, but this is an outstanding Zaga team.

(57:54):
But it's not better than it was two years ago.
And that's okay. You can't be the same every year.
Not going to be the same every year, and but
what's been a complished with this roster has been amazing
and it's been a beautiful ride. So each ride, I
think each year is different in that regard. And so

(58:16):
to me, what Baylor did having this good of a
season is kind of remarkable in a lot of ways,
like a lot of other teams have when they have
a year that's not as good. They missed the tournament,
or they go in as a as an eleven seed
or something that didn't happen with Baylor was a three
seed this year, and you know, they got beat by

(58:38):
a team that's better than a six seed like crdon's
better than that. They had a six game slide in
November into December where they lost six games in a row,
and you know, I don't know all that went into that.
I wasn't there but at the beginning of the year
and then when I saw him at MAUI, I'm like,
it's a Final four team, Like they're Cran's been your
team from the jump. You said, they're good, man, They're talented,

(59:01):
they're deep, they got a great big guy, they got
a great pointer, you know, Andrew's brother Ryan. They gotta,
they gotta, they're legit. And so I'm not sure that
those numbers, by their names, the three and the six,
shouldn't have been reversed because because I think I think
Crayton was every bit as good as any three seat

(59:22):
in the field, if not better. Well, uh, kind of
go off top of the way of that altitude up
there's a bitch. I'm not gonna lie. We were all
playing in Denver, and I mean, shit, the way those
Baylor guards run around and stuff, like I definitely had
to make them more tired with the defense and stuff.
I mean, I know I did a especially that Grand
Cannon game. Like you can practice and stuff, but there's

(59:44):
a different shape between practice and playing. And after a
couple points to posts, I was like, holy shit, where's
the media? And I look up at the clock and
we're only halfway to the first media, I'm like, oh fuck,
Like those of the things that go into it that
people don't understand, like they're different. You play at altitude
and it can get in your head a little bit.

(01:00:04):
It does affect you, and it affects the other team.
But you know, like years ago, back when a kiem
Elijah was playing, he was taking oxygen in Albuquerque during
the game. You know, it affects you. You guys aren't
like you know, you're not marathon runners that that train
at altitude, it affects you. I've never been to Denver,
so what what is Like? I know the altitude is different,

(01:00:26):
but like it's a notable difference when you're out there
playing Drew, it's like a like what can you describe it? Yeah,
it definitely is. It kind of feels like you're breathing
heavier than you normally would when you're in the same situation.
As well as it's it's also dryer, so like it
kind of feels like moisture leaves your body like you're
way thirsty or quick quicker, if that makes sense. Like

(01:00:47):
it's so dry and stuff. And then like I don't know,
I'm so used to like the Texas like humidity that
I always feel like there's it's just kind of wet,
and it kind of helps me not feel as thirsty
and stuff. But I get way more, way more thirsty
up in Denver. You kind of get a little light
headed quicker, I would say, like you kind of get
to that part, you know, where you start seeing a
little black in your eyes a little quicker Towards the
end of the game. You get that feeling a little

(01:01:08):
bit quicker in altitude. But it also is mental too,
I think. But then especially when you're playing in an
environment like that, that crowd can suck so much energy
out of you really quick initially, like just that you
get so amped up as a player, Like I think
in our Grand Canyon game, you're like, Jesus Gonzaga is
only up four to Grand Canyon. It to be honest,
we should not have been up for the way we

(01:01:29):
played that first half, but just kind of just like
all that energy and stuff. Then, like obviously it's hard
to play and stuff at the jitters and everything. It's
just a lot that goes into especially the first day,
but also playing in an environment like that, it is
it is kind of hard if you're not used to it.
Let me ask you another question, though, is is the
altitude thing a you need to get Like it's a

(01:01:50):
one time you get used to it or is it
a steady progression each time you go back to Denver
you get used to it, or like you go there
like the Denver Nuggets, they travel, but that's their home turf.
So I'm sure that they're immune to it. Now, Like
what is the maybe you know, Jay, I'm totally uneducated
on how altitude can fuck you up. Well, it's not
like you can you can play like Drew's played three

(01:02:11):
four days there. If he goes back at this time
next year, it's not like a booster shot. You know,
you'll be I didn't think that he'll have to go
He'll have to go through the same process again next year. Yah. Now,
if you live there and you leave for a week
and come back, you know it's not going to affect
you as much. UM. That's why that's why UM runners

(01:02:33):
go train at altitude UM and then they feel they
feel better and stronger, you know, with the oxygen levels
in their blood and all that stuff when they go
down to sea level. UM. You know, it's a very
real thing. But you know, I agree with Drew. I
think there's a mental component too that the other teams

(01:02:54):
dealing with the same thing and you have to you
have to fight through it. Now, the problem you have
is when you go play you know, if you're playing
you know, the University at Denver Inn, you know they're
gonna have an advantage because they're accustomed to it and
used to it and uh, and you're going to be
at a deficit plan against them. So it makes it
makes it more difficult. It's like playing By, They're they're

(01:03:14):
basically at the same altitude as Dinverse. So like people
always talk about, like your first time going to By,
you like get ready, Like you're gonna get tired quicker
than you normally would. It's gonna take a minute to adjust.
And it's something that you're like, yeah, whatever, just some
altitude and then you're like you get in there, you're
first timing. Oh fuck, Like this wasn't a joke. Just
the crowds aren't as nice as they are off the court. Yeah,

(01:03:38):
they got they have a reputation for being very nice,
but the crowds aren't quite as nice when you're a visitor.
I hate it after the game, all the all the
fans like, oh, you played so well, like we love
playing against you. I'm like, stop being so freaking nice.
I don't like you, guys. It's all the fans. I
just they're the ultimate kill you with kindness, guys. I
don't like it. I'd rather be cussed out or something

(01:03:59):
than that. Well, I appreciate the lesson in altitude. I
I don't want to sound like a hater when I
talk about Baylor. I think I was more so just
bummed that they I did see that they had some
oxygen on the bench, so maybe it really did play
a play a big part. I think I was just
more so bummed from a fan perspective, as like a
fan of watching Baylor. I love their guard play, and
I was like, it just felt unfortunate that like those

(01:04:21):
those guys, especially the older guys, couldn't make a run
in Quante George being as good as he is top
ten pick probably so, I think I don't want to
sound like a hater when I said it. I do
have the one more coaching question for you, and then
we're gonna go to a quick break. I don't know
what tier you put this coach in, and maybe that's
where this question can kind of be swept under the
rug as to why it's not a conversation because it's

(01:04:42):
not coach k it's not coach Cal, it's not Tom
is Zoe. And I'm not trying to be negative about
this particular coach either. I just want your perspective on it.
But like with Purdue's outcomes in March Madness the last
three years, you know, they lose the sixteen seed after
you fifteen seed Saint Peter's, thirteen seed North Texas in
twenty twenty one, what does that say if anything about
Matt Painter the program overall. Like that they've had these

(01:05:04):
just catastrophic struggles. Like when it matters the most, I
think it, I think it requires so three times in
a row, even though they happen in different rounds. So
they lost in the first round to North Texas as
a thirteen seat, so it had lost in the fourth
thirteen game. And then they lose last year to Saint Peter's,
but that was in the sweet sixteen, so that wasn't

(01:05:27):
game one. They just played a fifteen that had gotten
through and then they lose the second team. Ever since
nineteen eighty five, when the tournament expanded to lose to
a sixteen. That's a trend now, So they're dealing with
a trend. And so I think a trend requires you
to make some changes, and I think the change is

(01:05:48):
more on the mindset front. And from my seat that
I saw and look, I wasn't there and I'm not
in their locker room, I'm not in their practices, but
I saw a team that was afraid to lose. And
you know, basketball, in my opinion, is a game that

(01:06:08):
needs to be played tension free. Not intensity free, but
tension free. So when you're shooting a free throw, if
you've got tension, you're not going to shoot a good
free throw, or at least not your best. You may
still make it, but you're not going to shoot a
good free throw. So you have to be relaxed in
the action, if that makes sense. And they were not
a relaxed team. You know they were not. You know,

(01:06:29):
every competitor, It's kind of like we were talking about before.
Every every true competitor goes into a game knowing I
may get beat, but I accept that and I'm not
afraid of it. I'm playing this game to win, And
it's easy to say it's not necessarily easy to do.
And that's that's where I think it's again. Some other
teams out there kind of crack that code. They're gamers, man,
they're not afraid to lose, and I think it's going

(01:06:52):
to require some mental attitude adjustment of Look, this has
happened a few times, but we're not afraid of this.
I'm not afraid of losing to whatever team we're playing.
We may get beat, we're not afraid of this. And
who knows, maybe it's going to require some you know,
some mental coach to come in there and do a
little training or whatever. But it's a hurdle they have

(01:07:13):
to get over because it is going to follow them
around until they end it. And we're going to keep
thinking about it and talking about it until until they
put a stop to this, like Virginia did when they
you know, they won the year after losing to UNBC,
it still gets brought up with them, and when they
lost this year to a thirteen seed, it got brought
up again. That stuff doesn't go away, and it can

(01:07:35):
still you have to sort of embrace it and accept
it and own it and move forward. And it's easier, way,
easier said than done. Yeah, I mean, I love your
point about just like just having intensity but not being intense,
because everyone's always like, why are you smiling laughing in
the court, Like if you look at that TCU game,
like you really watch it, I'm joking around and laughing

(01:07:58):
and we're down four, like we're down six, Like I'm
just trying to make it a game and just have
fun and like not try to like the moment bigger
than it is. It's a game and it is hard,
but like, I think that's the reason, like why, it's
why I've had so much success in the NCAA tournament,
just with everyone's like, how you score so much? I
saw something like when a nine player something with nine

(01:08:20):
plus twenty point games or something like, I'm not thinking
about that stuff. I'm just out there having fun in
the moment. I'm not getting too tense. I'm not trying
to chase something. I'm not trying to be like, oh,
we have to beat this sixteen seed, Like why don't
we just go out there and play, have fun and
if we win, we win, screw it. And that's kind
of the mindset I have, and I think that's kind
of what helps, at least me produce in the NSA tournament.

(01:08:42):
Is I go out there with this mindset of like
like I've already put in all the work I can.
I can't really put in much more than I have,
So why do I need to be tense and act
like I haven't done it. I've done the work, the
rest will show itself and whatever happens happens. And I
think that's it is hard to do, but it's something
that I try to do and that's how I kind
of that's my approach to the game, which I think

(01:09:02):
has helped to point and some of that drew his
personality driven some of its learned behavior, I'm sure, but
I still remember this. And look, I wasn't in your
league as a player. I was a role player in
college and played on some great games. But when we
played in the we're the number one overall seed my
senior year of college, and when we played in the
final four, I had to shoot some free throws toward

(01:09:24):
the end of the game. And you know, I had
grown up wanting to be a basketball player, So I
shot free throws in my backyard pretending I was playing
in the Final four, and then I was shooting these
free throws in the final four, thinking about shooting free
throws in my backyard, and I thought after the game,
I was like, ah, that was weird, Like, you know,

(01:09:45):
so you're shooting, you know, you're shooting these free throws
with all this attention on you in this big moment,
and I was thinking about, I've done this a thousand
times in my backyard, Like I'm just shooting free throws,
not a big deal, you know, trying to convince myself
that it wasn't that important, that I didn't have to
carry the weight of the world on my shoulders. And
luckily I made them. But I really think that, you know,

(01:10:07):
the game's supposed to be fun. And I had a
baseball coach when I played in high school that that
said this one thing I remember he said, having fun
is doing hard things well, and uh, and you know
what's harder than playing in a in a you know,
big game in the NCAA tournament. It's hard, but it's fun. Man.
That's what you work your whole career for. And why

(01:10:28):
why go into it like hanging on to something that
doesn't belong to you yet you know, you're trying to
win a championship, You're you're you can't win it, you
have to go win it, like it doesn't belong to
you yet you have to go take it. And that's
a mindset thing that again, it's easier to talk about
than it is to do it. And the people that
sit at home on their couches going what a bum
you know, I can't believe that guy missed that shot

(01:10:50):
when you have a seven foot or right in the space. Um,
they don't understand that, and I don't expect them to
and they don't have to. But the people that have
been through it kind of kind of get it that
that it's hard, but it doesn't mean that that you
have to you know, you have to carry extra weight
on them exactly. I Mean that's the thing with the
Gonzaga can't win a championship thing, and it's like they
want to put all this pressure on now. So it's like,

(01:11:12):
obviously we want to win a national championship. That's great,
But for me, like that's guy's kind of the cherry
on top, Like it'd be it'd be freaking sweet to
win one. I'd love it mean the world to me.
But like if we don't like it is what it is,
you know, it's really hard to do. And it's kind
of one of those if you get caught up and
just chasing the trophy, then you don't even you can't

(01:11:33):
enjoy the process and the grind and the journey. And
I think that's kind of what gets lost in this
this time, is like you're not defined on just one
game in the championship, Like it's a lot of things
that go into that and the journey. And like for me,
it's a cherry on top, like if I have it,
if I don't get it, I still got this great
Sunday with a lot of toppings and shit, But there's

(01:11:54):
just no cherry, you know. But we want the cherry
for sure. Well. But so your point about about the
Gonzaga not winning the championship thing, So if that's the
way people want to put if that's what they want
to put on Gazaga five, So don't mention Alabama, don't
mention Perdue. I don't want to hear another word about Texas,

(01:12:16):
Like there are a ton of teams in this field
that have never sniffed the championship and and Gonzagas played
for one two times in the last six years, and
they've been to all these Sweet sixteens we've just talked about.
So if that's what they want to lay on Gonzaga,
then don't. I don't want to hear another word about
Alabama until they win one is because that's not the standard.

(01:12:36):
They hold those programs too. And and I think that,
you know, if if you want it one way, then
let's make it one way about everybody. And nobody seems
to want to do that. Well said, we're rolling here,
Let's take a quick break. We're gonna do some Sweet
sixteen Elite eight picks right when we come back. All right,
and we're back on the Gimmy Timmy Podcast. Drew Timmy

(01:12:59):
Jay Billis is here with us. Drew, what do you got? Yeah, man,
we got got some good matchups here. I wanted to
start off with your thoughts on Tennessee versus FAU. I
don't think a lot of people predicted FAU to get
this far, myself included. I personally thought Memphis was going
to be where they are, But I would like to
get your thoughts on that, especially with Tennessee not having
their point guard. I'm surprised how well they've done so far.

(01:13:21):
They've done really well. I think The one thing that
Tennessee has in its favor is their level of physicality
is going to be an incredible challenge for FAU. And
you've played against Tennessee this year in that early season
exhibition game. Their men, and they when they hit you,

(01:13:42):
you stay hit. Whether it's a screen or a blockout
or whatever. They're ridiculously physical, and I think that's going
to be the difference in the game. Um, Tennessee can
go through games where they can't hit a shot that's
happened to them. But but I think if if that
does happen to them against Florida Atlantic, they can still

(01:14:03):
they can and will still win the game because they're
so much physically stronger, and I think they can turn
they can muck the game up, and I mean that positively.
They can get their cut type of game easier than
Florida Atlantic can. So I favor Tennessee in that one,
all right, headed staying in the East region, you kind
of already alluded to thinking Michigan State's going to come

(01:14:26):
out of there. Is that if so we can skip
that as you think. No, I actually think that Kansas
State's going to win the game. But I think Michigan
State has a great opportunity here. You know, early on
in the bracket, I thought that I thought that Marquette
was going to cause Michigan State more problems. Like Michigan State.
You know, they've been much better this year with taking

(01:14:47):
care of the ball. They're not they don't turn it
over as often as they did last year the year before.
But if I remember right, like Marquette is like a
plus five point four turnover Martin. That's huge, and they
got beat in that department. They had sixteen turnovers in
that game, and I think Michigan State had like twelve.
And to have a positive a positive turnover margin for

(01:15:10):
Michigan State was a big deal. Michigan State didn't hit
any threes in that game, they like two and still
won the game. So I still favor Kansas State because
they've got They probably have the two best players in
that game with Marquis Noel and Keyante Johnson, So I
tend to favor them. All Right, Well, let's take your
two matchups, Kansas State Tennessee. Who gets to the final four.

(01:15:33):
That's a hard one because they're they're similar, and I
think that Kansas State Kansas State scores a little bit easier,
and they're really good defensively. They're not as good defensively
as Tennessee is, but I would I would favor Kansas
State in that one too. For one of the reasons
Drew mentioned that, I do think Zakai Ziegler not being

(01:15:53):
available is going to catch up to him at some point.
It hasn't yet, but I think it very well might
in that type of game. Yeah, it has to at
some point. What's next? True. My favorite matchup actually Houston
versus Miami. I haven't really watched Miami this year, and
I've been able to just kind of watch their guards play,
and I did not realize they were that good this year. Obviously,

(01:16:15):
the ACC was down, so I didn't really pay as
much attention to them as I usually would. But obviously
Houston's guards are amazing. I've played with them since I
was little, so I know all about Jamal and Marcus.
But Miami, I'm impressed with that matchup. I'm curious to
hear your thoughts on that one. Miami's got elite shot
makers that are NBA caliber scorers, so Isaiah Wong, Jordan Miller,

(01:16:40):
Nigel Pack who used to play at Kansas State, those
guys can make logo threes and they can get their
own shot anytime they want, so they're not dependent upon
some sort of offensive set to get them the shot
they want. They can go get it, and they can
exploit different matchups at different positions on the perimeter. That
the key. I think the key to their team is

(01:17:01):
there a big guy. They got a big guy named
North Chadowmere who transferred in from Arkansas State, and I
think I think Miami would would have won the a
SEC tournament had North Chatomere and not gotten injured in
the first sixty five seconds of that game. He tore
up his ankle and couldn't play the rest of the
game and Duke wind up beating him in a relatively
close game. But I still think that Houston because of

(01:17:23):
how physical they are defensively and how good they are
in the glass, and they can they can make it
a really difficult game on Miami, and so I favored
Houston if they're if they remain healthy, like if if
Marcus Sasser gets healthier with that groin and Jamal schtz
knees not a problem, I think I think Houston wins
that game. Okay, all right, staying in the Midwest, Xavier, Texas.

(01:17:46):
I like Texas in that game just because they I
think they are pretty good defensively and they can really
you know, they can score, and they're they're big guy
Dylan to Sue transferred in two years ago from Vanderbilt.
He looks like his old self. He got hurt at Vanderbilt.
He was leading like the SEC and rebounding when he
got hurt. And uh, and he wasn't. He wasn't the
same player last year, at least I didn't think. And

(01:18:08):
part of that might have been, you know, his first
year a new program. But the last six or seven games,
he's been outstanding and he's given him an interior threat.
And they don't win their their second round game without him.
Um So, I tend to favor Texas in that game.
I don't think Xavier is a great defensive team. They're
they're really good offensively, but but I think they can

(01:18:29):
they can be had on the defensive end. Yeah, he
was a monster down the stretch against Penn State. Um So,
that means that you have Houston Texas Elite eight obviously,
pending those injuries. With Sassar's hamstring, that could it's almost
like they should have just sat him out of the
first two games just to keep resting, because the hamstring
could really linger on you. You cannot afford to do that, though.

(01:18:51):
I know you're playing with fire if you sit him
out for but I don't know, I just don't want
it to you know, it could it could be one
of those things like late in the second half, like
it just it pops on him again. I don't know,
Like James Harden's had that struggle with the hamstring for
almost three years now, like people mid season struggle with
to But Jay, who do you take us to your
final four in the Midwest? Houston, Texas? What do you?
What do you got? I picked Texas to make it

(01:19:12):
at the beginning of the tournament. Part of it was
I didn't trust some of the one seeds uh and
and Sasser's injury factored into that a little bit. So
I don't see any reason to change it. But but
healthy Houston's a little bit better, I think, Um, but
you know, I don't know. Texas score is pretty easy. Um,
they're they're a good offensive team and uh and Tech

(01:19:36):
Houston can be you know, hit or hit or miss
um with how well they play on the offensive end.
They just they give themselves a chance to win every
game because they rebound and they guard so well. But
I favored Texas just a bit. Going to our next game,
we got Alabama and San Diego State. Do you think, uh,
San Diego State has any advantage over Alabama. They're physically stronger, Um,

(01:20:01):
They're they're big, strong, solid men, and Alabama is more
uh kind of lengthy, um, springy athletes. I think Alabama
is a better team and uh, and they can they
shoot it better. They rebound it just as well, if
not better, And I think they're almost if not, if

(01:20:22):
not as good. They're a different defensive team. They do
it more with their length and athleticism. But San Diego
States like ridiculously physical. I just wonder can they score
enough points against the teams that can really score Um,
even even if Alabama doesn't shoot it well, they still
have to where with all to win those tough games.

(01:20:42):
I mean, they won a game I did at Houston
where you know, they were down seventeen. I thought they're
about to get blown out, and they came back and won.
And that's settled. And they've done that a number of
times this year. They did at Arkansas, did at Auburn.
Um they're they're not afraid, you know, like they they're
not freshmen. Um. I don't know where those guys came from,
but you know they must be a bunch of Danny

(01:21:02):
al monte Is because they play older than they are. Um.
All right, Creton Princeton in the South Region. Winner of
that would play Alabama if Alabama wins. If Creton decides
they're gonna take away threes and not worry about getting
backdoored once in a while and giving up contested twos,
they'll win. If they get put on a string trying

(01:21:23):
to take away everything, then Princeton can beat them. But
I tend to think that the way to beat Princeton
is limit their threes and see how many times they
can back Doria and if you know, they're gonna get some,
but they ain't gonna get fifty of them, and uh,
and I would I would make it. Let's see how
many twos you can make Tom beat us, because if
they're making threes and then you're you're getting stretched out

(01:21:46):
and U and now you're worried about a backdoor and
you know you give up three, you're chasing If you
get chasing them around, you're done. Um, it's going to
be a long game. But I like Creton to win. Okay,
then Creton Alabama. I'm assuming you're gonna take the boys
from Abama. I would probably take Alabama, but that's gonna
be a hard game because Crayton can make shots. And

(01:22:08):
they got that kid, Baylor Shireman who came in from
South Dakota State, lefty six eight sixty nine, really good defensive, rebound, rebounder,
and he can make logo threes. And Nemhart's really good.
I don't think he's quite as good as Andrew, but
but he's he's really good. Just at thirty one the
other night. They they can score it from everywhere on

(01:22:29):
the floor, and their wings are really talented, like Arthur
Coloma is one of the best defensive players around, and
Trey Alexander's one of the best defensive players. So they
got four guys on the floor all the time that
it can make a three. And then Kap Printer is
like a lop threat screen roll guy that's really you know,
he shoot seventy three and uh and he's I think

(01:22:50):
he's the best in the country at that vertical can
test you know, when you're in a position to take
a charge, but you jump up and contest the shot straight,
you know, straight up and down. He's as good as
anybody in the country at that. I think you should
just go on the record and say that you want
or you're taking Creighton to win it all. I think
that you should just you should ride with them, Jay,

(01:23:11):
I can't. They're they're they're good enough to be in
the final four. I don't. I don't think they're gonna
win it, but uh, but you know, they can challenge
for it. I still think Yukon's the most dangerous team
out there though. All right, yeah, that's who you that's
who you had in the West Region. Go ahead, So
that leads just obviously during the next matchup. But Yukon
and Arkansas. Obviously, Arkansas is just a freaky athletic team

(01:23:33):
as well. And they I think they're just kind of
a matchup nightmare for any team. Really, there's so unique
compared to most schools around. Yeah, they're they're great defensively, Um,
they're game planning. Their staff Eric Musselman's staff do as
good a job as anybody at game planning and implementing
a game plan um and scouting um. I the only

(01:23:57):
concern I would have and picking them to win that
game is UH is they don't they're not consistent perimeter shooting,
so they're gonna have to get you know, they're gonna
have to drive it, get into the lane and get
to the free throw line. And you know, Ukon's not
the team that they don't have to foul a lot
because they got two big guys. You know, they got

(01:24:19):
Snogo and uh and Klingon that can protect the rim.
And they're athletic on the wing with Andrew Jackson who
can really pass it and Jordan Hawkins is one of
the best shooters in the country. I think they're really
well constructed too, and they can play slow, they can
play fast, and they're balanced offensively and defensively. I think

(01:24:39):
they're in the top ten or at least top fifteen
in both offense and defense this year. So I think
Yukon wins. Yeah, they definitely have a lot of NBA
potential on that team. And also I don't really know
who on Arkansas would be able to match up with Snogo.
I mean, they have the Mitchell twins who I think
are there, and I think it was Macai Mitchell, who
had some really good minutes for Arkansas in the round

(01:25:00):
of thirty two before he felled out. But I just
see him being too much of a problem. But the
moment we've all been waiting for for you to tell us,
right to Drew's face, Gonzaga or UCLA. I had Gonzaga,
and when the bracket came out, you know, had Gonzaga
going to the Elite eight. And uh, and I still
feel that way. Um, it's gonna be a fist fight

(01:25:21):
and it's gonna be physical. Uh, Gonzaga is gonna, excuse me,
UCLA is going to do everything they can to keep
Gonzaga out of transition and make it a half court
game like they did against Arizona in the games that
they've played. Um, you know, I mean, if the game's
up in the high seventies or eighties, you know, Gonzaga
is gonna win. I think I think UCLA is gonna

(01:25:44):
want to keep it to a low possession game. Um,
but you know, like how Nolan Hickman plays at the
point against Tiger Campbell and Julian Strauther, I mean, you know,
and and you know Drew's gonna be playing against a
legit shop locker and bona. Uh. He's super athletic and
and bothers as many shots as he blocks. But I'm

(01:26:06):
not sure he's played against a guy like Drew. I
don't think he has that that that can up fake
him and you know, pivot and all that stuff and
keep him off balance. That's going to be kind of
interesting to watch. Um, But I think Zaga's offensive ability
can can carry the day. Yeah, I think it's gonna
it's gonna be a hell of a game. I mean,
we've just watched a couple clips on him. But UCLA

(01:26:28):
is also very experience. I mean Tiger and I mean
we've played them twice. Like, I feel like we know
that team pretty well, they know us well. So it's
it's gonna be a beast of a game. I'm excited
for it. Yeah. The two shortest coaches in college basketball history,
or do you have a jay you might have like
a beef with short people or is it just to

(01:26:48):
like put them, you know, let them know, like, hey,
you didn't crack six foot, Like it's the only vulnerability
that Mick and and few we have, you know, it's
the only thing I got on them because they're both
like so successful and so great and such good guys.
The only thing I tease them about is they're they're
tiny and uh and I've given Mark a hard time

(01:27:09):
over the last twenty years over that. I got two
things about that game? Is that the best I think
that's probably the best game in the in the Sweet
sixteen is would you agree disagree? I would agree. I
think it's the It's the best game for a couple
of reasons. One, uh, the marquee talent on each team.
Everybody knows who the players are, which isn't true of

(01:27:30):
all these games. And I'm talking more about the casual
fan than the people in the weeds like us um
and and both those teams can score, so my senses,
it's going to be a really good like an offensive
It's not going to be like a grinder like we saw,
you know with Tennessee and Duke for example, which was

(01:27:52):
a great game, but it wasn't the most aesthetically pleasing game.
And uh, you know, even when Gazaga plays against Saint Mary's,
which Saint Mary's can slow you down and you know,
make it into a possession game and they're very physical. Uh,
you know, Gonzaga still winds up, It still winds up
being an aesthetically pleasing game. And uh and obviously I'm talking,

(01:28:13):
you know for those that have to watch it, like
the players don't care, they just want to win. But um,
but I think it could be one of the you know,
a couple of years ago, is the best game in
the tournament by far, back in the bubble U and
it'll it has a chance to be that kind of
game again. Yeah, well, you gotta pick your winner, Yukon Gonzaga,
that's who you're sayings in your Elite eight. Who do

(01:28:34):
you I think you're going with Yukon right? Tho was
your original final four player. Can't really go against what
I already picked, like I picked it in the you know,
you're putting me on the spot here and they give
me we don't do charity your hand. I'll stick with
it and then give through that extra chip on the shoe.
You can go. When he's going, yeah, when he's going

(01:28:56):
nose to nose against a damas Andoga, I go, hey, yeah,
that bill is you look at this? Yeah, it's like
you can't replace your bet once it's placed, So it's fine,
you keep keep them there. But like now that you've
seen them play like what like you've seen everybody in
the field play, that, does it make you feel a

(01:29:17):
little bit differently about the Zags? No. I mean I knew,
I knew that Gonzaga was legit and I liked the
draw um, But you know, you got two teams in
that region that you really think are legit, and the
other one is Yukon. And you know, Yukon's got they've
got dudes, man um, They've got two big guys, not

(01:29:42):
just one. And they've got you know, they've got shooters,
they've got everything. The only the only area. And you
could make this argument with Gonzag a little bit is
is their point guards aren't like long time established and
they're both you know, they're they're they both have had
great games, and they both have had times where you're going, boy,

(01:30:03):
that could have been batter But you know that's gonna
go a long way to determinate some of these games
is how how the point guards play. And that would
be a great matchup between Tristan Newton and Nolan Hickman.
But you know, the one thing, like you, Yukon hadn't
been there before. They've been there before in their their
team's history. But this particular team, this is our first

(01:30:25):
sensity double a tournament wins the two that they just got,
Danny Hurley's first as a coach there and Gonzaga. That's
that's been their their life, you know, like they don't
know anything but the Sweet sixteen. And so there's the
experience level in that realm is important, and it's not
going to be the only thing, because you've seen teams

(01:30:47):
in their first ever tournament do incredibly well. But but
I'd rather have more experience than less. Yeah. I sent
Drew a nice little text message for his first game,
and I emphasize, like to rely on your experience, just
because I felt like, you know, I mean, yeah, like
you said, there's a lot of teams that come in
and win it all as freshman and whatever, not a
lot of experience. But I just think with them, the

(01:31:09):
guys on that team and then even coach fuse mega experience,
Like it's a big thing, big component to be able
to lean on towards like when the when the stakes
get higher, Um, when we have that When you sent
that sage advice, he didn't answer me. Did Drew? Just
immediately delete it and then move on to the next one.
When when just wanted I just wanted him to know

(01:31:32):
I wanted to. I didn't think he would. I was like,
I just want to be a supportive friend. I'm gonna
just send him a nice little text real quick. I'm
not gonna lie. I texted him after the TCU game,
and I was like, oh no, it texted me a
nice inspirational paragraph, said gate It's okay. As long as
he knows that it was there, It's like all right.
At least he was like he was being a good friend.

(01:31:53):
He was thinking about it's this to preface this, though
no one knows, I'm one of the worst texts and
communicators around. So our rule is I will give him
my undivided attention for like three texts once per week
about the podcast. That's kind of how that's kind of
our given goat thing. And we already talked about the
podcast earlier. So like I was just like, I'm not

(01:32:16):
gonna if you text me or I'm not really looking
for it, you know, like if you really need me,
you can text my mom because I don't like to
be on like my phone like that. So like he
knew better but I looked at it like after the game.
Let me preface it with I wasn't expecting an answer.
I knew, I knew what I was getting into. I
was like this, dickheads has no intention of even opening this.

(01:32:36):
That's fine. It's like again, I'm gonna be the good
friend that just was thinking about him. Hey man, good
luck last ride in the torney. Hope you fucking kill it.
That's all I was doing. It was heartwarming. I loved
it seeing it like that was what I would tell
my friends is if you really want to get to me,
text my mom, isn't that crazy twenty two years old?

(01:33:00):
Because I'm gonna respond to my mom Like if I don't,
I'm get in trouble. So like, if you really had
to me for something, then you know who to go to.
Because if if you don't, then I'm like and that's
probably not important, bros. No, it's probably being a dick
or a jackass, like yeah, like, hey, you better responding
on I'm like, crap, what did I miss? Like like
when I said to you Jay today, I'll confirm the

(01:33:20):
time with you later. It was because I needed to
get in touch with Megan before I heard from Drew
and she gave me the lowdown come through. Oh yeah,
it's cool, man, It's just one who Yeah, most most
coaches are complaining about having to deal with agents now,
but you just kind of deal with Drew's mom's mom. Yeah. Well,
at least I've gotten to know her. Very nice lady,

(01:33:41):
a lot nicer than she's, very sweet and very proud.
You could tell. It's fun to watching your parents after
the last game when you guys are celebrating. That was
really cool. Yeah, still watching that, um Jay, Before we
wrap this up, I want to get like, just something
that stood out to me that Jay Wright said we
don't have We just talked about Gonzaga and UCLA for

(01:34:01):
ten minutes, but he said, like, whoever wins that game
he believes is the national champion. I really like that stance.
I think that it's going to be such a hard
fuck game, and I think that that could be the case.
But the other thing that he pointed out was there's
eleven different conferences being represented in the Sweet sixteen. I
think I saw a tweet. It's only happened two other
times where that many different conferences were in the Sweet sixteen.

(01:34:25):
But just like the transfer Portal, the parody that the
transfer portal has brought onto college basketball. We all three
of us touched on this in episode four when you
were on just about like how much parody there is
all across basketball, within the NBA, within college but like
there's so much hate and negativity and like these negative
connotations that are associated with the transporter because it's like

(01:34:45):
they don't want players to move, or they think like
players don't want to be homegrown in tom i Zo
or Mark Few system and like build and build because
they didn't play a lout their freshman year. But then
there's these positive marks where like a Kansas State and
Jerome Tang are able to build an entire roster out
after getting the job and put together these pieces that
blends so well and now they're in the Sweet sixteen,

(01:35:06):
chance to go to the Elite eight. Like, can you
just elaborate on just like the significance of all of that,
Like with the transfer portal and the a parody that
it's brought brought among college basketball, it's definitely spreading talent
around more. To me, all the transfer portal represents is
choice And look, when I was playing us old guys

(01:35:31):
can say whoa, we were loyal to our teams. We
didn't have a choice. You signed on the dotted line
when you came out of high school, and if you
wanted to leave, you had to sit out a year,
give up a year of your life to get one
on the back end, and play when you're twenty three
years old. And none of us wanted to do that.
So so you know, to me, when when old guys

(01:35:54):
like me say, well, we knew what loyalty was back then,
or we dealt with adversity, um, no, we didn't like.
We didn't like adversity more than players today. We just
didn't have the same choice. And so to me, one
of the great things about the portal is all these
players that got recruited out of high school and maybe

(01:36:14):
weren't as well regarded as Drew. Maybe they were late bloomers,
maybe they just didn't get evaluated properly. They go to
a small school, they kill it for a couple of years,
maybe three, and they decide, you know what, I want
to play on a bigger stage. Like malak Kai Smith
is a great example, Like he's player of the Year
in the Southern Conference and the best player in the league,
and nobody knew who he was outside of the you know,

(01:36:36):
the geeks like like me and other people like me.
And you know, he transfers to Gonzaga, He's got a
chance to play on a much bigger stage. He's playing
in the tournament in the sweet sixteen and perhaps beyond,
and everybody knows his name now. And there are a
million examples of that. Marquis Noel is one of them.

(01:36:58):
You know, he was at what Arkansas Little Rock, Yeah,
North Chadowmere was at Arkansas State. You know, there are
a million of these examples, and I think that's been
nothing but a positive. It's different and us old guys
that like to say get off my lawn are just
gonna have to get used to it. And if if

(01:37:19):
you know, if you want a player to stay in
your program, treat him well and maybe he'll stay. But
they should have the right to go if they want to.
And if you want him to stick around longer, sign
him to a contract and pay them. Because the coaches
leave when they get a better Like nobody's telling Rick
Patino or Ed Cooley, Hey, you don't have any loyalty
or a place assign to you to contract, gave you

(01:37:40):
a job. They went to a better job that was
better for them, and I just don't see why the
players shouldn't be allowed the same the same opportunity. The
world isn't going to spin off its axis if somebody
decides to go from school AID to school B. It's
not that big of a deal. I think it's kind
of interesting now from like a coaching perspective, at least,
like I feel like the hot seat just got a
lot hotter. If you can't assemble a team in your

(01:38:01):
first or second year, I feel like for coaches that
you don't have the luxury of building a culture, I
think it's going to be harder for that to happen,
which is how quick I feel like you can get
fired enough. You don't if you don't hit the portal
and get a team that can go deep or win
a game in the tournament in one or two years.
With guys like coaches, I think that's right stuff that
they are. I think that's right, Drew. I think it's

(01:38:22):
going to affect things. But you know, to me, whether
it's a it's a transfer or a freshman that somebody
like you has been around for a while, if you
only play with him for a year. What difference does
it make. I mean, you still you still forge these
meaningful relationships that you're gonna have the rest of your life.
You know, you're still you're still great teammates if everybody

(01:38:43):
wants to be um. I don't think it's that different,
And it's just something that the game's not used to yet.
We'll get used to it. It's kind of like when
you know, you guys are too young to remember this.
When I was a kid, there was something called the
reserve clause in baseball. You were tied to a team.
There was no free agency when I was a little kid,
and free agency came in in the mid seventies, probably

(01:39:06):
nineteen seventy five, with like Andy Messersmith and Catfish Hunter
became like the first big free agents, and people were like, oh,
this is going to ruin baseball. Didn't ruin baseball. You
could argue it made it more interesting in a lot
of ways. But at first, you know that was the
death of baseball that the old old heads were saying,

(01:39:27):
this is going to ruin everything. And there's a similar
feel to this, and it's not going to ruin everything.
It's going to be fine. Not that big of a deal.
Our biggest issue in basketball is dealing in college basketball,
is dealing with the other other sports that are capturing
people's attention. You know, football has grown leaps and bounds,

(01:39:48):
especially the NFL, and soccer is growing, you know, the
Premier League, all this, you know, Major League. So all
these different things are growing and basketball is not doing that.
Right now, college basketball is not growing. It stayed static.
And I think the game needs to get more exciting,
and it needs to get less physical, and it needs

(01:40:10):
to be more about offense than it is about physical
defense and charges and all that stuff. But that's a
that's a thirty thousand foot view until we take care
of that. You know, who wants to watch a game
in the sixties. And he's saying, shade more to the
NBA style. Yes, yes, like Greece. Davis said this the
other day. He said, basketball is an offensive game with

(01:40:32):
a defensive component. But right now, what do we talk
about most in this tournament? We're talking about defense, and
we're seeing teams shooting in the thirties. And it's not
because you guys can't play. You can and you can
play better than teams did. And players generally thirty years ago.
It doesn't mean every team or all that every player,
but you know, we didn't face this kind of physical

(01:40:55):
pounding like you guys do. We didn't get chucked running
through the lane. We weren't being held trying to get
to a ball screen. It wasn't like this, and a
lot of stuff that happens now that's incidental contact was
contact was a clear foul thirty years ago. The only
difference thirty years ago, when I played longer thirty years
ago now is that we didn't have flavorant fouls. So

(01:41:18):
when you fouled somebody, you put them into the wood
and got your money's worth. And so it was more
physical when you fouled somebody because you didn't get you
didn't there was no sanction for knocking the crap out
of them when you knew you were going to give
up a foul. Now there's a sanction for it, so
you don't have those kind of physical fouls. But now
the incidental contact that goes on and every play, most

(01:41:40):
every play is it would have been called a foul
years ago. Rock Solid, I think we can wrap it there, Jay,
I want to get your thoughts on a third podcast
down the line, because I want to just talk straight
NBA with you one day that really that'd be really fun.
But shout out to you, man, appreciate you coming on
doing this again. This was a This was fantastic. Always

(01:42:01):
a pleasure, Drew. Good luck this weekend. Man, appreciate it you. Yeah,
thanks so much for coming on. And you know, maybe
maybe if we make it farther, you can come back
on and we can get another breakdown or something. But
appreciate your time as always. That's a deal. If they
go to the final four, you're you're back on next Monday.
They're will do it at the final four. Okay, letter,
all right, you got my portable mic for a portable

(01:42:23):
pod hopefully coming soon. We'll see he did, he got
portable mic. You're ready. You guys, have a good one.
Thanks as well again, all right, be good. This has
been a presentation of the College Athletes Network.

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Jay Bilas Joins to Recap Rounds 1 & 2 and Preview the Sweet 16 | Ep 19 |

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.css-14f5ked{margin:0;word-break:break-word;display:-webkit-box;-webkit-box-orient:vertical;box-orient:vertical;-webkit-line-clamp:2;overflow:hidden;}Jay Bilas Joins to Recap Rounds 1 & 2 and Preview the Sweet 16 | Ep 19 |