Who gets fired for drafting Trae Young? + Sweet 16 picks

All Ball with Doug Gottlieb is part of the Colin Cowherd Podcast Network. All Ball is an unfiltered podcast covering the biggest stories in college basketball and the NBA. Join Doug as he brings his unique perspective as a TV analyst and radio host. In this episode, Doug talks Trae Young draft stock and Texas Tech basketball coach Chris Beard joins the show. Plus Steve Lappas and Gregg Gottlieb talk tournament, recruiting and sweet 16 picks. Follow Doug on twitter at @GottliebShow and go to theherdnow.com to find the latest content.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:03):
Hey, welcome in. This is Doug Gottlieb and welcome to
All Fall Baby, a great part of the Herd podcast network.
As we did last week in our first installation of
All Ball, we started by talking about the NBA and
then UM found our way into college hoop, which is
what we're going to do today. Um. Obviously, Lebron James's coach,

(00:29):
Tyron Lou, has taken a leave of absence. Having been
a contemporary of Tyron Lou about the same age he
did cross me up in college one time when Nebraska
came into our place and beat us, just a devastating
lossus Nebraska sucked on the road anyway. Uh, first, a
quick get well to Tylu. And look, this is what
I said at my radio show, and I kind of

(00:49):
mean it. I don't blame Lebron James for Tyron Lou
getting sick, but what whatever has happened to his health
has been m exacerbated. What a great word exacerbated is
has been exacerbated by the stress that he has been under,
not just coaching the NBA but coaching Lebron James and
what could very well be his last season in Cleveland.

(01:12):
So doesn't it stand to reason that. Had Lebron, you know,
not allowed Kyrie Irving to voice his desire to trade publicly,
to be traded publicly, and he like, look, we could say,
well that was done once it came out that he
wanted to be trade, Like, no, that's not necessarily. There
are women that want a divorce and the dude comes

(01:32):
back flowers and hands on bended knee. I'll go to
therapy whatever you need, babe, and you find a way
to work it out. And maybe you don't stay together
for life, but you stay together and try and work
it out for a year or two, which is all
really you needed in Cleveland. Hey, let's just try and
figure this out for a year and then you can
go your weight. I can go my way, and the
Calves can be the better off because of a trade

(01:54):
where they get rid of both of us. Right. Um,
this this also could have the health problems could have
not been exacerbated. Had Lebron James that started the year
said Hey, I'm staying in Cleveland. Don't worry about it,
and nothing else you here matters. This is my home.
This will always be my home. He didn't. He didn't
stop David Griffin from being fired, and you can say

(02:16):
to yourself, well, what could Lebron really do you mean
to tell me that? Lebron James goes into Dan Gilbert
and says, whatever you do, don't fire David Griffin, don't
fire Griff or else I won't play for you ever again.
It might be a bluff, but it's a strong bluff.
So the point is that you can't help when Tyron

(02:36):
Lou gets sick or Tyrone lose not sleeping and Tyrone
lose having health issues. But you could help those stress
uh kind of buttons from not being pressed, had he
had he not been so passive or even passive aggressive
instead been the leader that he purports himself to be.

(02:57):
All that said, it's going to be absolutely fascinating this
year to see what happens with the Calves in the
NBA playoffs. Now we have Trey Young who's declared for
the NBA Draft, DeAndre Ayton's going to the NBA draft,
Michael Porter Jr. Only Played essentially two games, He's going
to the NBA Draft, and Marvin Bagley is kind of

(03:18):
the only big time one and done non Kentucky player.
More Bomba likely going to the draft. Colin Sexton. Of course,
he said he wants to get a four point out,
but expectations are he go to the draft. The most
interesting one, I think, without any question is Trey Young.
And normally, normally the cases with freshman they don't shoot well,

(03:42):
but you look at their stats and they get progressively better.
That's I mean, we've seen the Kentucky guys. Not not
that the Kentucky guys shot well in the first game
of the n c A tournament, but generally freshman don't
shoot well. They have to learn the speed of the game.
Everybody's the speed of the game. It's more the percentage
of percentage of possessions in which they play at their

(04:04):
peak level in terms of intensity. The thing about Trey
Young is his his shooting performances obviously got worse. I mean,
the numbers since let's just take since February are atrocious,
and so he's getting ready for the NBA Draft. Of course,
a lot of you like to troll me the way

(04:26):
that Sports Center once trolled me. That was fun that
I was not an employee for ESPN for like two
years and somebody somebody in Sports Centers working their Twitter
handle put out kind of a hybridized version of what
I said on when the day he declared. Here's the
tweet that Sports Center sent out. This was awesome right.
This is um April two tho nine, Steph Curry declared

(04:47):
for the NBA draft. Doug Gottlieb says he doesn't have
the upside of Rubio, Jennings, Flynn, Patty Mills, Jefftigue, all
Moore athletic and in all honesty, that was that was accurate.
I thought Ricky Rubio could develop more as a shooter.
Now has he been hurt by the knee injury. Yeah,
But the big thing was Ricky Rubio, for the life

(05:09):
couldn't shoot the basketball and Steph Curry could. That opened
up the court for Steph Curry's game. Brandon Jennings, I
thought he was more athletic than I don't think that's
a that's arguable. Johnny Flynn. The Johnny Flynn thing is
interesting because obviously he went before Steph Curry. The flaw
on the Johnny Flynn thing is one we look back
and say, well, Johnny Flynn sucked. I actually think I

(05:31):
thought Johnny Flynn could have been the next Kevin Johnson,
but he was drafted by the Timberwolves and put it
into the triangle, and if you're a ball screen point guard,
the triangle is not for you. Additionally, he had a
devastating I think hip injury to which his career was shortened.
Patty Mills would be the one guy that I probably
overrated coming out, and he's been a really good pro,
but I I thought he would be a little bit better.

(05:55):
Initially took him a while and he figured it out
and he had become kind of a life versus spur.
But I would have thought. I thought Patty Mills was
going to be a Jamal Crawford type, you know. I
thought he would be a high double digit score off
the bench um and Jeff t I think has had
a really good career. He just hasn't been Steph Curry.
So look, I'll knowingly admittedly a guy who I likened.

(06:17):
I thought Steph Curry would have a Jeff Hornessec like career.
That's what I thought I could play some point. It
was a very good, too, very good shooter. I didn't
think he was athletic enough to get into a defense,
and I thought they had struggled to hide him defensively
and Hornesseck was actually a pretty good defender back in
the day, but it was it was different because you
could grab guys, you could hand check them, you could
hide things a little bit more, whereas nowadays he gets

(06:39):
so spread out and you can't hand check, and everybody
switches every screen. It's really hard to hide a guy.
Um point being that, when I talk about Trey Young
and I likened him to Steph Curry coming out, or
how everybody wants to liken him to Steph Curry, there
are some that will be like, yo, you don't know
what you're talking about. You missed on Stephan Curry. And

(07:01):
that's fair. Fair. I didn't think he would be a
two time m v P. I'm not sure anybody actually
thought he would be a two time m v P,
let alone a perennial All Star. But that's okay. I'll
own that one as long as I'm allowed to own
the fact that I didn't think Derrick Williams was a
top ten, top fifteen pick when he came out of Arizona.
You know, you go back and the hits are greater

(07:22):
than the misses. So look, I've said I think Bagley
should go one over eighton and I understand that you
need big guys now, especially ones that can stay out
in the floor and versatile lineups. One because he can
shoot in two because he can move his feet and defend.
But I think Bagley is just a more versatile player offensively.
And uh, he's a little bit younger. And no, he

(07:45):
doesn't have the body right now of Eton, may never
have the body of Aden, but there's still a little
bit more physical development to take place. I'll put out
up a draft board as soon as the season is done,
and I think it's interesting. But the thing about Trey
is because his game is styled after Steph that when
I tell you somebody's going to get fired drafting Trey Young,

(08:08):
there will be a percentage of people who read the
headline from this podcast and think, well, what does gottlieb No,
he missed on Trey Young. Luck. All right, you go
back to the draft, which had Chris Paul and Darren Williams,
and I thought at the time the league was changing, evolving,
and I thought that the draft should have the Atlanta

(08:29):
Hawks or the Milwaukee Bucks should have taken Chris Paul
Darry Williams one and two. So um, look again, I've
I've missed on picks, missed on guys. But the weird
part about the Steph Curry one is remembers like, well,
you had him ready below Johnny Flynn and Ricky Rubio. Yes,
so the Timberwolves obviously they missed um, but I didn't

(08:52):
have Hashima beat going number two overall, and he becomes
the biggest bust of that draft. Brandon Jennings went a
couple of picks behind him, and Jennings I don't think
ever developed into that player. I had drew Holiday higher
than others. And what's become a guard dominant league. You
sit there and you want to you watch Trey Young
and you you want Trey Young to be Steph Curry,

(09:13):
but he's not. He's not. Now. Uh, this is really
hard because Trey is only a freshman. Steph played three
years before coming out and obviously had more refinement in
his game. Remember Steph played the first two years off
the basketball for the most part with Davidson and played

(09:33):
the point guard his junior year, and that's when he
blew up and had had the type of season we
saw Trey have. Right, he had he average and four
point seven rebounds and two point eight assists during his
sophomore year. During his junior year, that's when he exploded.
That's when he had, you know, forty four in a
loss to Oklahoma. That's when he had scored at least

(09:57):
twenty five points in seven straight games. You know, he
averaged shot thirty eight percent from three percentages actually went
down his junior year. So there's a couple of different
layers to the Trey Young conversation. I think it's a
mistake for him to come out. I think that he
could develop. He could average as many or more points

(10:18):
or fewer points, shoot a lower percentage overall, and still
be as well or or better regarded. The first thing
is defensively. Remember Trey Young is smaller than Steph Curry.
He's smaller than Steph Curry. Steph is a legit six
three ish and he obviously had to add a ton
of strength. And Steph is still a guy that they

(10:40):
hied defensively. Now they hied him defensively because he's a
better athlete than Trey. Trey could improve his athleticism. He's
a little bit bigger than Trey. I don't think Trey
is gonna grow anymore, but I wouldn't put it past
anybody to squeeze out another half inch or an inch
at this stage in his development. And he's a better finisher,

(11:02):
although not the greatest finisher, but he's an incredible finisher
at the rim for a guy his size and considering
he's not a go in and dunk on you with
two hands sort of guys. So there's a bunch of
different layers to it. Uh. But Trade doesn't play any
defense on the basketball. He's not really an active defender

(11:22):
off the basketball, and the numbers in the second half
of the season are really really bad when teams locked
in on him and he is. He's not a product
necessarily as much of the system as much as he's
a product of just dominating the basketball. Trey Young for
the year shot from three. That's not great, that's not great.

(11:45):
But when you go and look at the player splits
and you say, all right, in February he shot thirty
six percent percent from three yikes. In March from three yikes. Like, look,
once you get to February on and you're shooting mid

(12:05):
twenties from three when defenders are locking in on you,
and your averages plummet from thirty a game to one
a game in the last two months of the season.
That's not the kind of progression. And so I understand
why Ray Young his dad is having him go from
being a collegiate player just one season go pro. You

(12:25):
know your name is hot now, But I don't think
his name would cool off. I really don't, especially if
he refines his all around game in order for Tray
to be Tray. He's not a blended guy. He's not
a guy you can just say, Hey, you know, I
want you to blend in. I want you to play
against better competition for a shorter period time and be
more efficient. Come off the bench. If you're gonna drave

(12:46):
to be in the lottery, you're gonna want to start
him at some point. And I just think this is
gonna be bad. I think there's a lot more gimmer
to him than there is Steph to him. He's not
the athlete stuff is. He's not, at least to this point,
the shooter that stuff is. He's a he's a good passer. Uh.

(13:10):
He might be as natural passer as Steff is. He's
a lot more he's he's very right hand dominant. Of course,
a lot of that can be worked out and he
can be made to be a better athlete, although I'm
not sure who would be a great athlete. So I
think because of expectations, the attention that will be paid
to him, the amount of time he has to have

(13:30):
the basketball in his hands in order to be effective,
I think it's more probable than not that there's some
early struggles in his career and that will cause whoever
drafts him, uh, they'll draft him higher than he should
be drafted because of his name. Now, maybe he goes
to a place like Orlando, we don't pay attention to
him first first couple of years, and he develops into
a good pro. But I can think of uh, ten

(13:55):
to twelve guys to which I'm absolutely positively sure will
be pros and be six men two starters in this
league that would take ahead of him. And then I
have a group of ten or twelve others that I
think fit in better as role players. So, uh, look,
I've never been a huge Michael Porter guy, but I

(14:16):
think he'll go somewhere six through ten. Mo Bamba, I
don't think there's any way in which you pass on
Mo Bamba because of the upside with the length and
the way basketball is being played. It's a little surprised
to me that he didn't have a better year that
Texas hasn't been a little bit better since since Shaka
took over. Although one of the big issues with Shaka is,
you know, he's always played with undersized guys, with guys

(14:39):
that were lightly recruited, guys that were tougher than a
two dollar steak. You get to Texas and they get
these regal big guys. Well, it's you can't play havoc
when you have, you know, a six ft nine Dylan
Osakowski and a seven ft Mo Bamba, like that's really
hard to pick up and play. And he has had
depth of guards, but he just doesn't have the junkyard

(15:01):
dogs he had previously. And it's gonna be fascinating to
see how Texas does he kind of refocus his recruiting
instead of going after top fifty, top twenty five guys.
Does he just go and get the best athletes in
the state of Texas and gets after it and and
plays havoc or does he try and refine his style,
which is what he's he's seemingly done and coaching away
in which he hasn't coached since becoming a head coach.

(15:25):
But I think obviously bomba eighton Luca don Chech and
then my personal favorite Marvin Bagley. Those are the guys
that are going to fill out the top five, along
with Colin Sexton, who undoubtedly to me is the first
point guard off the board. He's he can play both
ends defensively, offensively. He's not the pastor of Steph Curry.

(15:47):
He's not the pastor Trey Young. You're not the shooter
shotmaker of Trey. But even though so shooting is held
in incredibly high regard at the NBA level, you also
have to be able to get off your shot. You
have to be able to guard your position, you have
to be able to switch on to bigger players. With
that in mind, let's get to some of our special

(16:09):
guests who join us now on All Ball. Let's welcome
in CBS Sports college basketball elists and former head coach
of Villanova Manhattan U mass Uh Steve Lappas joins us
here on All Ball the Doug Gottlieb Podcast, Just Talking Basketball.
Lap you were in Nashville, incredible site, unbelievable games and

(16:30):
on Sunday you had two I don't know if you
call them comebacks or choke jobs. I guess depends on
what side. Uh, let's let's start with Cincinnati. Um, Cincinnati
a twenty two point lead. That's a choke job more
than a comeback. I guess you were there. It's so
much different when you're there. What happened? You know what, Doug,

(16:52):
It's one of those games. I'm telling you. With eleven
minutes to go, we are on a TV break and
I told this thing is so over. I can't tell you.
The body language of the VATA was bad. They just
picked up technical files. They were a complete mess. They
only had five guys. Uh. Caleb Martin's ain't going sore
at his sneak. I'm like, this thing is over. And

(17:12):
I gotta tell you, I have no idea. You know
a lot of a lot of times the point to
one thing in a game. I couldn't point to one
thing to say how this thing started. But I will
say this, with five minutes to go in the game,
when Jared Cumberland picked up his fourth and Nick Cronan
kept him in the game, and he found out like
thirty seconds later that when they were ubated at that point,
so it had started to turn on, no questions, But

(17:34):
that's when it really turned. And you know this stuff,
You've seen it many times when the teams, especially how
the higher seeded team starts to go south in an
nca churnaly game, it's hard to stop. And they definitely
panicked at the end, no doubt. No the Cumberland fouling out.
And and here's what I pointed out watching the a
C Championship game in person. I was calling the radio
and I said, like, they really only have four guys.

(17:57):
You know, they try and hide the fact that don't
really have a point guard that justin Jennifer can't score.
And Kane Broom's really kind of more of a mid
major low major kid, need you know. And and so
they're they're top four guys are really good, and then
they hide the fact that that point guard they have
no backup. Biggs, you had an experience like this one,
didn't you in the n c A tournament. Yeah, but

(18:18):
not not we like this. In other words, we were
you know, we we had a couple of games in
the n c A tournament, like with Old Demillion in particularly,
we were up five six the whole game and at
the end the three point ended up losing the game,
so we but we I felt the pressure. There's no
question you feel the pressure if you're if you're a
two seat and you're playing with a team that's an eight, nine, ten,

(18:39):
eleven seats and you're a five four minutes ago, you
feel the pressure. And uh so we never had a
big lead like that, but you definitely know that there's key,
no question. All right, let's go to Xavier. Xavier wasn't
up twenty two, they were up twelve um in the
second part of the second half. What went so wrong
for x You know, then might different about it. I

(19:00):
felt like they were in control, but I didn't think
like that it was over and I think, well, we're
What what went wrong for them is they can and
I don't know if you've had a chance to see
Foreign State live see them live, but you said, look
at these guys. I mean athletic, big, strong guys that
can make plays, guys that can get into you defensively
for But the problem for them is they didn't do

(19:22):
it for a long period of time, but they certainly
could do it for five minutes. And that's what they
did in that game. They got into Xavier for five
minutes was what happened to be the last five minutes
of the game, and they were with an ear shot.
And that was the thing about them. You know, they
were close enough where if they could put on one
of their great spurts that they're capable of, that they
could win the game. And that's what they did the

(19:42):
last five minutes of the game. Six minutes. Xavier, who
was one of the best offensive teams all a year,
was awful. And I think Trayvon Blewett is a good player.
I think you got exposed a little bit, and I
don't think February talks about a guaranteed NBA guy whatever.
He couldn't he can't create his own shot. He not
a great athlete, and I think that Florida State really

(20:03):
exposed that a little bit. And then you know, Mature
filled out and Mature really he's their best player in
terms of being able to do something on his own,
especially in transition. So I think that you know, again
the floodgates open, but that Florida State team they can
play defense when they want to know, no question, they're
they're one of the great airport teams. You see him
the airport, You're like, man who are those? Who are

(20:26):
those guys? A couple A couple of quick ones. Um As,
I know you're going to getting ready to call the
Division two national championship. You saw Texas in person, what's
your impression of Mo Bamba? Uh? He's very raw offensively,
he's very weak. Uh So he's got a lot of
work to do on his body. He's got a work
a lot of work to do on his offensive game.

(20:47):
And you know, like I used to tell my big guys,
you can't if you want to if you want to
get eight ten shots in the game, you gotta post
up forty times, which means you almost have to try
to get the ball in every possess in the game
if you want to get yourself sixteen points. So if
there's a play where the balls on this side of
the floor and you decided to stand on the other
side of the floor and not work hard and duck

(21:09):
in and pull stuff, guess what, You're not gonna get
what you want. And that's what I saw a Bomby.
I called it out a few times in the game
that there were many many times in the game where
he didn't even try to post stuff. So he's kind
of a lot of work to do in terms of
playing harder in my opinion, and he's got a lot
of work to go on his body physically because he's
weak right now. He's got Is he talented, yes? Is

(21:30):
this guy potentially can he be a really good player
at the next level, Yes, but he's not there right now.
He will get man handed next year in my opinion.
Why hasn't it hit yet for uh? For that coaching staff, well,
I think they had a little harder luck this year
when you think about well, the hard luck was more
what happens to for Andrew Jones. The the kids got leukemia.

(21:52):
So he do you hate to say, because you're you're
more concerned about him and his sickness that you are
about the team. But if you're gonna look at that
par not having Andrew Jones really hurt with their second
leading scorer all year, uh, And then they will happened
at the end of the year with the kid Eric
Davis not being eligible because of all the stuff that
came out about potential agents and stuff. So and I

(22:15):
and I also think Shaka made his bones playing that style,
and I guess he has found that he can't play
that style at this level, So I think there's an
adjustment their style wise. But I also think he had
some tough luck this year, but more time more concerned
about Andrew Jones's health than about what it did to
Shaka's team. But if you're going to talk about it,
it definitely hurt the team, no question. You have a

(22:37):
suspension of one of your one of your wing players,
and then you lose another one to to leukemia. That's
that's that's totally fair. Um, you and I have both said, man,
Villanova shoots too many threes, and yet gosh, they made
a bunch of threes in their second in their second
round win. We look at how the tournament is kind
of sha changing and evolving and the brackets are opening up.

(23:00):
Has this become their tournament to win? I don't think
there's any question. I'm telling you they're gonna have a
tough time this week. But but you know Bob Hogan's
I think he's gonna have to make an adjustice. He's
gonna come out and press these guys will be a
big problem. And uh and and not because of Jalen Brunson. Yeah,
the thing that beat pressure, as you know, it hasn't
guys to throw the ball up the court to when
you get doubled in the back court. That's the thing

(23:23):
that hurts pressure. And Villanova has too many playmakers up there.
But getting back to what he said, absolutely the way
they're playing right now, and you know what, let's say this,
Yes they made up. They made a ton of three
has been against Alabama. You know what I was most impressed, respuct.
I thought their half court defense was tremendous in that game.
I think they're getting better defensively, lap grade stuff. As always,

(23:43):
get on your plane and thanks so much for jans
on all. Chris Spier joins us on the Doug Gottlick Show. First,
how are you doing? Good? Dog? Good? Hear your voice?
Man Likewise, Um, what's this been like this year as
opposed to the Arkansas A little rock run? Good question? Um,
you know, every journey is different, every team is different. Uh.

(24:06):
The common thing is just so like happy just to
be still hooping. You know, all the sixteen teams left
and we get to practice today, We get to be
around our guys like at the core of it, you know,
like that that's what it's all about. I mean, I
know that it's such a big deal. But the bottom
line is you get to play again, you get to
practice again, you get to you know, get on your
guys one more time. It's fun to play in Dallas

(24:29):
and fund of so many alums. But to play such
a hard fought game in round one. What what was
it like to come out and play Florida in the
second round. You know, it's a lot, a lot, a
lot like back to backs in the Big Twelve. Um,
we thought Stephen f. Austin was like like a Big
twelve team. I would agree with you, Uh, they're really good.

(24:50):
And it's not just about this team, it's about the tradition.
And you know, there was guys on the court there
that had won into a tournament games. We don't have
anybody on our team that they wanted into a tournament games. So, um,
I thought that game actually helped us beat Florida. You know,
I don't know if we win the second game if
we don't have a really tough game in the first one,
and basically the Stephen Foston game, I would agree that

(25:11):
it was like a one possession games. What it was
Perdue's waiting and I'm sure the last team Perdue ever
wants to see is when you coach, because that was
when you were in Arkansas Little Rock. That was the
team that you took down. I know there. You know
there's a lot of similar pieces, right that the seniors
were all on that team. How much of what you
want to do is in any way similar to what

(25:33):
you want to do last time he took on Perdue.
Uh yeah, definitely similarity Samine Cooks produced gonna be, you know,
a team that has great size and great bigs and
whether Hose plays or not, which I think you will,
you know we're gonna have to figure out a way
to contend with that, both on offense and defense. I
think to two different games. Though I don't think anybody

(25:54):
in Indiana's scared of me, but you know I'm going
I think they're glad that Josh Hagen and Roger Wood
that aren't gonna be playing for US. Um, but you
know I won't score basket Friday night, but um, you
know our players have to do that. But I think,
you know, all these games in the tournament or all
have little subplots and cool things and stuff, and I
think this is just another example. But we had so

(26:17):
much respect for Matt Painter I mean, I tell people
that's all the time. It's very easy for me to
describe Matt like he's the exact same guy today to
me that he was when he was an assistant at
Southern Illinois. You know, like we were drinking draft beer
in the back of some bar. Now you know, I mean,
I guess it's Heineken now in the in the front bar.
But he's still the same guy. And he's been unbelievable

(26:40):
to me. And then I tell guys to like, you know,
your true character comes out in adversity and all that
that's true, and mean, that's such an accurate statement. And
when we were fortunate enough at Little Rock to win
that game, I mean, let's be honest, we got lucky
down the stretch. We were really fortunate that thing had
to go exactly the way it did for us to win.
You talk about a gracious guy. Mean, like I'll never

(27:01):
forget it. Like when you go to the press conference
after the game, the tournament is a holding area, and
so we got we literally crossed again, and Matt's like
the same I mean, he's just like the same guy
that congratulated me, took time out to talk to our
guys Hagan's and Roger and I had so much respect
for him on the basketball side and also as a person.
You know, there's I think there's conflicting narratives, Chris. I

(27:22):
think there's a narrative from people in my business that
cover the sport and fans, and there's a narrative kind
of inside the sport. There's all this talk about about
guys that do it the wrong way, and for whatever reason,
there's not enough I don't know, affirmation of the success
for guys that do it the right way. You know,
Like look when you it's almost like the it's like

(27:43):
professional lawyer, Like there's there's millions of really good lawyers
out there. But when you say like you're a lawyer,
like uh, when you say you're a basketball coach, al right,
Like because of because of the scandal that has kind
of put a cloud over the sport, it feels like
suddenly that comes a bad word. But I look at
your growth as a professional from incurrent word to Abilene

(28:07):
Christian to North Texas to Fort Scott to Seminal State
to to McMurray to Angelo State two Little Rock uh
to Tech, and I'm like, look, this is what the
sport is about do it the right way, coach ball,
get guys to play hard, win games and have a
cold beer afterwards and tell stories about it. Right, Like
what what's your sense of the conflicting narratives in how

(28:29):
the sport is viewed and how the sport is actually practiced. Yeah,
well stated, I mean I verbalize that perfect. I think, uh,
you know what they that comes to mind. I think, like,
you know, like the controversy and like spicy stuff is
what sells, not the good articles, but there's also just
like a pureness to like, you know, a lot of
the good parts of our game. And like, uh, my

(28:51):
girlfriend Randy, she watches a lot of these like uh
reality shows, and like I'd be lying to you if
I didn't tell you. Sometimes I'll sit down and kind
of get in as with him, like the housewives and stuff.
And if you look on there, I mean every one
of those uh women have something going on. I mean
none of them are just like happily married. Everything's rocking around.
I mean it's like, you know, it's like just like

(29:12):
the spicy stuff sells, you know, the stuff is kind
of on the dark side. That's what people kind of
it's what entertains people. But I would agree with you.
To me, like I'd like to watch the reality show
of like a couple of people that are married and
doing it the right way. And you know, because I
think there's beauty and that too. I mean, like for me,
that's where real happiness comes from. And I would tell

(29:32):
you that in basketball too. I mean, to me, I've
been on all sides of it, you know, like I've
been like a junior college coach. I saw everybody coming
and recruit our players. And now I've competed at all
these different levels, and I'm telling you that most guys
are doing it right. I mean, most of us are
out there trying to, you know, get it done. And
I mean, um and and I put produced program right there,

(29:52):
like Matt Painter recruited our players and we've recruited against him.
Um and, so I would tell you that he's one
of the best which is in our game, that that
just does everything everything right. Keenan Evans is an absolute star.
He's had an incredible season. Obviously, you inherited him from
from Tubby staff. Uh what about him from a guy
who watches him every day, watches every tape, coaches every game.

(30:15):
What about keen Nevians impresses even you Probably the consistency um.
You know, he's always been a talented guy, um, but
certainly last year to get himself in the category as
a junior, where's an All Big twelve player? To me,
that equals consistency. Like just the other day when I
had the ballots in front of me and you're trying
to pick the players, every one of them is a

(30:36):
all conference talent. So what I do is I bought
out the stat sheets and I start really thinking about it,
and I just look at consistency um. You know, Like
to me, way to Kansas State was an All conference
player in our league because how consistent he is. There's
other guys as talent in his way, but way, to me,
he's the first team All Conference guy because as his
consistency um. And I would say the same thing with Keenan,

(30:57):
Like what he's been able to do now this year.
He he's getting the best team's defender, he's getting game plans,
but he's still you know, he's able to make plays
on both ends of the floor. And to me, ultimately,
you know, I've never been in the NBA and the
whole bill but I would I would assume the consistency
is a big, big part of it too, with an
eighty something game season. And to me, that's why I
think Keen and Evans is an NBA player. You know

(31:18):
that there's your story at some point, your storyould be
a great like thirty for thirty right because you were
going to be the coach at UNLV. Then the Texas
Tech thing came open. And for people who don't know,
you know, you're divorced out of three girls and they
live now driving distance away from Texas Tech, it just
kind of this is this is like one for you
for now. Texas Tech isn't a destination job for a

(31:40):
lot of people on Earth, but for you, it absolutely is.
It makes it different to to achieve success and maybe
sustainable success at tech for you. Is that that that fair? Yeah? Absolutely?
I think, uh, you know, like there's different programs and
players and coaches having success right now, and I think
success will lead places in different directions and human beings

(32:03):
in different directions. For us, we just want this to success,
to continue to lead us to that last Monday night
and certainly this year, that would be awesome, and everything
has to go right for something like that to happen.
But hey, you know, we got a chance. We're want
of sixteen teams left. We'll take our odds, but ultimately
want the success that we have this year to kind

(32:23):
of spring boarders to next year in the year after.
And you know, it's about recruiting. At this level, it's
about players, and then ultimately it's just about you. I
think it's about tradition to it's like, uh, you know,
we just want to be one of those teams it's
not known for the Sweet sixteen several years ago. We
want to be a team that you know, gets to
this point. Like I told the guys this morning, like

(32:44):
you know, they're not having a party right now in Lawrence, Kansas,
or in Durham, North Carolina, or in Lexington, Kentucky, because
they're in the Sweet sixteen. You know, they're getting prepared
for the next game. Their parties happened at the Final four.
So you know, as much as we all kind of
want to like have a little moment right now, I mean,
let's let's keep this thing rolling and then we'll see

(33:05):
if we can't get ourselves in the class of those
kinds of schools. That's what we want to do. We
want to be just like Keenan Evans has become consistent.
We want to be consistent with our program. But how
do you do that? I talked with Matt Painter about this,
and I actually talked with Jay Right both on this
show about it. In that j when he went to
the Final four the first time, he said, look what
we got into homes we couldn't get into We had
the top recruiting class in the country, but all of

(33:26):
a sudden, we weren't getting our type of guys. Matt
Painter said the same thing. You go back a couple
of years ago when they struggled, they you know, they
had to get their type of guys, and they've refocused
and that's how they've they've gotten so good. How do
you balance the fact that because now Texas Tech is
back on the national map and you know, you look,
you got two stud freshmen, But how do you continue

(33:46):
to get your type of guys even if you can
get maybe higher, higher rated recruits. Yeah, I think it's
true to yourself and we'll always be that here and
getting guys. You know, the love basketball. I want to
be coached and want played team basketball, but certainly to
get in that next you know kind of category players
like we like we did with Zaire and Jared colver Um.

(34:09):
You know, I'm not I'm not complaining about that. We
want to coach the best players, but we always want
to get guys that fit our culture too, And I
think that exists because I, you know, again kind of
what we're talking about earlier with the you know, the
kind of the controversy seals Um. You know, obviously, I
think in the top hunter typ deal, you're gonna get
your guys that are kind of looking for more of
a me situation. And maybe I'm naive, like maybe I

(34:30):
don't know, but I still think the majority of guys
want to be coached. The majority guys want to be
on good teams, The majority guys want to play unselfish basketball.
And I really believe that, and I think it the
best players that I've coached. You know, Andre Emmett was
an NBA players. Him is one of the best team
players I've ever been around. Great teammate. We had Marshall
Henderson here in Texas Tech. I recruited him and he

(34:51):
was sitting out here and then when we got fired,
he transferred. But you know, with everything with Marshall Henderson,
I promise you this. He was a great teammate. He
wanted to be coached, and I'm sure Anne Kennedy would
tell you the same thing. So we're looking forward and
we're enjoying recruiting success right now because of our team success.
But at the end of the day, we'll always be
who we are and get guys that fit all right.

(35:13):
Last thing, if you have that Final four party, okay,
that means you get to the Final four. Now we
can have a celebration. What what what local establishment in
Lubbock would you call the watering hole of choice of
Chris Beard. Well, first, we got to hang out in
San Antonio on the way home for that. When we're
gonna go to the Minger Hotel, the Minger Bar in Hotel.

(35:33):
Gary P. Nunn has got a song about it, tradition.
It's a it's a big time google that one entertain you. Uh.
Then when we get back to Lubbock, you know again,
although we'll probably be getting invites from all the people,
we we gotta stay through to ourselves. Um, we gotta
go or to four where we've been doing some postgame Uh,
you know, situations with our team this year, and the

(35:56):
guys over with the lantern have been great too. Minutes
where I eat late night, um, and then there might
be another one or two, but just kind of hesitate
starting to mention, and you know, then you pist somebody. Yeah,
I understand, And and are you Heineken? Now? Like really
did you go? Do you go Heineken on me? I
would say a painter might be not me? Not me?
You are what well? I mean above bla Like if

(36:17):
I have a choice between a draft beer and a bottle,
I'm going draft. It's just me Chris beer draft beer
at four Love of Texas Minger Hotel in San in
San Antonio. Hopefully we'll have that beer in San Antonio
with you guys playing there. Uh. Safe travels to UM
to Boston. I know, I know Boston not necessarily normally
your cup of tea. But good people up there up

(36:38):
above the Mason Dixon. We'll talk soon, Okay, take dog.
Welcome to my brother, Greg. Greg Gottlieb is an assistant
head coach. Assistant. Greg Gotliber is an assistant coach at
Oregon State. He's previously been at cal Berkeley for six years,
was at Sandy State. For eight years, was at Sack
State for two years, was a Cole Polly San luc

(36:59):
Abissos over two years. I can't hold on to a
job at this damn problem anyway, Uh, he joins us.
What up, dude? How goes it? It goes? Well? All right,
here's what I want in terms of your insight. You're
gonna have to defend the honor of the Pack twelve. Uh.
You're going to have to give me your honest assessment
of the little things that you've seen in the n
c A tournament from a completely inside the actual sport

(37:23):
perspective that the rest of us that just cover the
sport or fans think they know about the sport. And
then I want to talk about how recruiting actually works.
All right, So that's kind of the premise of of
you entering joining us here on all ball. Let's start
with the Pack twelve. What went so wrong for the
for the league? Well, um, that's a good question. You know,

(37:44):
I think you know that I've been in the league
now for eleven years. I've seen I've seen it at
its at best and you know at what it's quote
unquote or so what I can tell you is, uh, really,
the games are hard to win, no matter how good
the first option is of the league. Um, last year
the league was considered really good, but really there was

(38:07):
four teams at the bottom that really struggled, and everybody
at the top was they were able to beat him
some now side you get separation. That's what you really
need in the league as you need separation. Um. I
also think in our league, if you look historically speaking,
we have we have more teams than how guys move
on to the NBA than any other league in the country.
So now you're you're talking about a lot of young

(38:27):
teams early on in preseason only that's when you seem
to get judges the most. You can't really do a
whole lot to change of profile in the league. It's
kind of already set. Yeah, And part of it is
I think there's this success assumption that only the top
teams deal with guys thinking about moving on. But the
truth is that like, look, you guys, you should have

(38:48):
been better than a five hunt you were sixteen and
sixteen is that your final record? I think yeah. And
you guys lead I think all but one game in
the second half. You lead all but one game in
the past twelve and even the one the ones once
you lost, I mean, you're I think you're better than
your record. You just struggle to close games. But even
with your team, there's the there are guys that are

(39:10):
thinking about, you know, can I get to the NBA Draft,
Whereas I think the perception is you only deal with
that in Kentucky or Caroline or Duke or Arizona, et cetera,
as opposed to the fact is every team is actually
dealing with it to a certain extent. Fair, no question,
there's no question about that. There's you know, kids forget

(39:31):
that there's only sixty draft spots and they're going to
take some from overseas. And when you mentioned, you know,
story of a kid who you know is a really
good player doesn't make it. They always think they're going
to be the exception, not the rule. My brother Greg,
Greg got Lee from Oregon State joining us here on
the All Ball Podcast. UM, how surprised were you to

(39:53):
see Arizona go down? Maybe not just lose, but the
way in which they lost. Um, you know, obviously I
was surprised. I would have picked Arizona to win. I
think they got a heck of a team. Um, you
know we lost to him uh twice this year at
their place. I think we were up five was five
minutes ago and lost and then we lost it all

(40:13):
the time at home. You know, as has proven they're
not the only team that uh you know, we got
to one seeds that are out right and uh, you
know it can happen the Syracuse Zone. You've seen it
regular season. I remember you guys, Uh, you were down
a guy, but you got stopped pretty good in New

(40:33):
York City. Uh. A couple years later you played them
when you're a cow. What's the right way to beat it? Well,
I think the first thing is, um, you know, you're
gonna have to make some adjustments because when you you're
gonna put together a game plan for what you want
to do. But you can't duplicate the fact that they
have so much length and athleticism. And I think you've
talked about that before. You know, you guys are recruiting

(40:56):
to have those kind of guys, especially on the back
line there and but obviously everyone talked about playing through
the high post, uh, where we usually had success. When
you're playing through the high post, is uh put a
guy in there who not only can shoot the ball there,
but he's got to be able to attack and finish
at the rim. And when you start doing that, they'll
collapse their other front core players and then you gotta

(41:17):
you gotta relocate your shooters so into the corners and
then really get the defense stretched out. The other thing
people have done a lot of is running a little
more of a two guard front. Traditionally, the traditional school
of thought as if people defensively they go with a
two guard front, you go with on one man front
and vice first. So in this scenario, I think it
kind of sometimes uh um get some playing almost in

(41:40):
a matched up man the man. So those are some
things we've done in the past. But we never beat Syracuse.
Uh we had a lot. We had some competitive games,
but we never could beat them. And we had some
really good games with Washington. We were two and one
against Washington, but they were all barn burners. The two
games we won were in both and overtime, and then

(42:01):
we lost by two at their place. So a lot
of respect for them, and I think it's a great
uh mutht because it forces a lot of teams, so
you got to come up with something that you don't
normally do. Offensively. You can't. You can't do what you've
been doing for thirty games. Um. I want to ask
you about Tony Bennett. Um, like a coach to coach.

(42:21):
You watch what he's done at Virginia. You know what
he did at Wazoo. You know that style so well. Um,
is that pace of play? Is the way in which
Virginia plays, is that ultimately flawed and will keep them
from winning it all? You know it's funny. Uh. First
thing I would say the coke analogy, you know, I mean,

(42:42):
if you're Tony Bennett, you know poke, you know why
why do you need to do coke working? You know?
I mean I think you're looking at the teams that
you're talking about, is you got to beat they're beating
in league play, and those games all to me harder
to win then conference tournament games generally. I mean then

(43:04):
U nt A tournament games just because they know you're
their personnel so well, they know each other so well,
those are hard games to win. Um, and uh, I
think it's pretty effective. I would I would say, you
know U m b uh, you see played phenomenal. They
got a little bit of a lightning in a bottle
as well. You know, I just think they kind of

(43:25):
broke the game open by hitting a bunch of threes. Uh,
and that really changed the game. Okay, I wanted to
ask you about about recruiting, and this also is probably
just one other thing. Yeah, it's also possible that maybe
the reason that they're a sixteen seed be to one
was because maybe they weren't a sixteen seed. Is that possible.

(43:46):
I mean, maybe they were worthy of a thirteen or
fourteen or even a fifteen, but maybe they weren't really
a sixteen, and and that might be the one of
the reasons why the first time a one off a sixteen.
You know, But what was it for an Atlantic? Afford?
Flori Atlantic beat us in our place? We had an eight.
That's a much bigger upset, by the way than here.

(44:07):
Let me let me give people for people don't know
we had. We won eighty one consecutive nonconference home games
these are guarantee games, and played Florida Atlantic. They won
five or six games. There's actually it's actually I'm glad
you brought that up. They won five or six games
that year. This is in nineteen. I think they won
five or six games. One of them was at our

(44:27):
place and the GALLAGHERI Arena sold out. We had just
we we went to Hawaii. We beat Marquette in Hawaii
back to back nights, won that tournament, came back home,
played TCU, whose ranked top twenty in the country, beat
them at our place, and we're going out to play
U C l A on the weekend. And we played
Florida Atlantic in a bye game, and we only had
four eligible guards on the roster, and Glenn and Alexander's

(44:53):
McDonald's All American all time lean scored in the state
of Texas was eligible at semester like three games later
he was gonna be eligible. So we only actually that
four guard guards on the roster. And they came into
our place and uh, they ran a little flex and
then at the end of the shot clock they give
it to whoever our center was guarding and go one
four flat, you know, or they go high ball screen

(45:13):
and then they throw it back to the center. And
their center was, you know, a wing, you know, six
ft four, six ft five, and we were up a
couple of points at the half and then you know,
I gotta I gotta technical foul after a turnover in
the bucket. We got down seven, fought all the fought
all the way back to like tying the game, and
we we gotta stop first, we gotta stop. And they

(45:34):
threw in the post and Alex Webber kicked the ball.
It reset it all the way back to thirty five.
We get another stop, we get a rebound. Joe Atkins
are two guard rebounds the basketball. I'm standing at the
hash mark for an outlet pass and he instead of
just passing it, he dribbles the ball twice and one
of their players falls down trying to run back on defense.

(45:54):
It hits off his foot, rolls underneath their basket, and
one of the big guys that wasn't back on defense
picks it up and lays it in and they beat
us by two points. Like that, to me was a
way bigger up considering Virginia. And here's the similarity. They
didn't have DeAndre Hunter, who's their most versatile kind of
three four hybrid player, And you know, UNBC is playing

(46:15):
small ball, spreads them out, finds the mismatches at taxas mismatches,
shoots twelve of twenty four as you point out, from
three point range, catches a heater, and ends up pulling
what's what's deemed to be the greatest upset in n
c A tournament history. Now Virginia without DeAndre Hunter. And
remember they didn't play a true double round robin schedule
in the A c C. I don't know if they

(46:35):
would have been a one seed, but they weren't a
one seed as they were comprised that day U NBC
had lost earlier in the year to Albany by forty Um.
So I I guess they're a sixteen, but maybe closer
to a fifteen if you actually look at their personnel
or a fourteen, And yeah, it's a little bit closer.
But sixteen being one is still something we hadn't seen before,

(46:56):
no question. But you know, again this is a if.
That's the beauty of the NCA tournament. But um, you know,
even going back to Arizona, I mean, Arizona Buffalo goes
fifteen for thirty from three. I mean, I uh, if
you look up this year, I don't know how many
teams hit fifteen threes in a game, especially fifteen for

(47:17):
thirty for three and lost, you know. And so sometimes,
like I said, a team gets lightning in a bottle
and they make shots that they don't uh normally make
but that's what makes the tournaments so great. You know,
they the committee has changed their criteria year to year.
They've changed a learn other things. To you. It definitely

(47:38):
makes it hard for coaches if you're trying to plan
an event, I guess and say, hey, we're scheduling based
on these kinds of things. Um. But at the same time,
I know the committee is trying their best. Uh, it's not.
It's not the same people every time, and and I
know they're trying to evolve as well to make it
a great tournament. Still the tournament. But all those teams, Arizona, Virginia,

(48:01):
they'll be back. They're just they just will. So history
history tells us as much. Okay, I want to ask
you about recruiting. You've been in this thing for twenty years.
What's it really like. Let's here's here's one Alan Crapp. Okay,
he's an NBA player. He's from Los Angeles. First time
you saw Alan krabbing and gym was where it was

(48:22):
at a tournament when he was just finishing his sophomore
year of high school. Okay, so how does it work?
You see him play and do you write down notes
and think I'm gonna send this kid a letter. Do
you go see his AU coach, his high school coach? What? What? What?
What do you? What do you do next? Well, I
didn't see him first, you know, I think sometimes that happened.

(48:45):
Do you get every kid is different in this scenario,
I had heard about him as well as some other
kids that were young prospects. And and we we knew
we were going to have five UH kids in that class.
We had five, Um, I guess that we had five
sophomores that were just finished their sophomore year. UM, when
Mike Montgomery first got the job in the spring, and

(49:07):
so I knew two years down the line we got
we got a big class to field. So I started
recruit you know, looking at UH. We'll get lists and
different recruiting services and things like that and calling different people.
And Allen played for UH Mike Lynch at Price High School,
and UM, he had a previous kid that we had recruited.

(49:29):
Well we didn't. We didn't get it, nonetheless, and UH,
but I built a relationship with his coach and UH
and and some some of it is the evaluation. Some
some of it, you know, you have a what do
you call an army of people that you trust, that
you build up relationships with. And this at Price High School. Um,

(49:51):
he's now at Lasal High School. But he was incredible
at UM forecasting the potential of some of his kids.
You know, he he ended up having three or four
other really good UM college players after Alan as well,
and he was just spot on in terms of projecting
where they would be. And uh, you know, Allan was

(50:13):
six two or six three at the time, but his
dad played nine and uh, he knew his mom as well,
and he had a chance to grow. He could really shoot.
We had a junior day, junior day with his mom
and uh, and then we saw him play a couple
of times in the fall, and then he committed Christmas

(50:34):
Day of his junior year. UM so and the rest
of history. Okay. So so then so the question becomes, like,
have what's the percentage of times in which somebody has
asked and somebody asked to be taken care of financially?
Hey can what what do we get when we get
to when we get to campus at Corvallis or Santego

(50:56):
State or at cal How often have you been proposed
probably position for money Um, I don't think it happens
as much as people think. I think, uh, you can
kind of set the tone with how you present yourself
from the start, and I think for us that's how
we've approached everything, is we talk about character and how

(51:18):
important it is and recruiting the right kids and and uh,
but it'll happen from time and time. But you know,
I think the thing you have to do, um, you know,
if you're a coach and you're put in that situation,
you've got to be willing to walk away from a
kid like that, you know, and um, because those are

(51:38):
as bad news necessarily for me at least, I've just
never subscribe to it. And uh, so you know, I
think sometimes you get from people that fish for that
for with their hand, but I think most people are
appreciate it, people that are genuinely hot. That's just kind
of the kids that we try and recruit. I think

(51:59):
as you get older too and coaching, you realize character
is such a huge part of the kids you're recruiting,
and so I think, you know, some of that speaks
to their character as well. So okay, give me a
give me a is it? Can you count on two hands?
Is it a like? And and I mean have you
known this twenty plus year, so i'd say probably been

(52:20):
more than two hands. But you know, the kids that
you kind of at least the rumors are that maybe
that that uh, they're looking for something. You just kind
of don't even uh put yourself in that position. Just
you know, you don't recruit everybody. You know, your kids
that you know you can get regardless of situation. So

(52:43):
if you feel like, for one reason or other you
can't get them, you gotta move on. When you've been proposition,
how they ask um, you know, it would be it's
smart with something small, like have kids coming up for
an unofficial visit. They'd say, hey, you know coaching, you know,
will you take care of us we get up there?
You know, can you help us get up there? That
kind of thing. That would be something they're always gonna

(53:06):
start with something small. They're never gonna start off with
hey I need in an envelope, but it will be
something small like that, and you just shut it down
right away. And and then and then you find out
if that's what or or does that cause you to
want to shut it down right away? Like I don't
know how other people do their their business, but we

(53:27):
you don't. We don't have there's no funny business in
our program. So you know, we gotta we do things
the right way. And you know, so sometimes people just
look to see if what they can get. You know,
that's just happens. I think it happens in any profession,
in any I don't think it's just basketball, but that's

(53:47):
kind of things happened, all right, man, Well, listen, I
appreciate you giving us this insight. It's great, it's awesome.
And uh, I know you're on your way to go
and seeing a couple of high school kids and offering
them hundreds of thousands of kiddings. Kidding, totally kidding, all right,
So that's all ball The Doug Gottlieb Show Basketball Only Podcast.
Continue to download it, continue to listen. Hope you enjoyed it.

(54:10):
Let me quickly give you my picks for the Sweet
sixteen and we'll see what happens with the Elite eight.
Kansas State has taken on Kentucky. I think if Dean
Wade plays, this is a Kansas State team that I
think will win the game. Um, they have very good
guard play. Barry Brown is a lights out shooter. Again,
this is if Dean Wade place. He said it was

(54:30):
chance he plays. Wade is a stretch for it. They
just had more skilled than Kentucky. And yes, Bruce Weber
has been maligned as a coach. It's a very good
basketball coach. He's evolved his style. It's not necessarily shot
at Kentucky. I like this Kentucky team and what Calipari
has done. I just don't think they have enough offense
to beat Kase State. Louis Chicago taken on Nevada, but
Porter Moser has done an amazing job. But they were

(54:52):
dead to rights beaten uh By Tennessee Tennessee more more athletic.
This is a Nevada team that doesn't have a bunch
of depth. I don't think the depth affects them. I
think Nevada wins that game and one game. Depth doesn't
really affect unless you get into foul trouble. On the
other hand, Nevada was down twenty two for a reason,
but a completely different level of athlete and style of athlete.

(55:13):
You've got the small ball of lot of Chicago and
frankly Nevada playing without a point guard. Um, but I
like Nevada to win that game. Florida State taken on Gonzaga.
I respect this Florida State team. They've been all over
the map, though in terms of their performances, and I
think Gonzaga a little bit too much skill, a little
bit more refined. Michigan TEXTA, A and M is fascinating
because Michigan plays small and A and M plays big,

(55:35):
and I've learned that small usually beats big. But I
also think that sometimes better players win the game. Ah,
this is a hard one. I'll go with A and
M to win. To win. Billy Kennedy kind of underrated coach,
not that John bee Line is not as good as
anybody who's ever done it. Nova taken on West Virginia.
West Virginia should scare Villanova on the boards, But outside

(55:58):
of that, Villanova because Connote can't standerneath the basket and
block shots, they invert their offense. Bigs playing outside, Jalen
Brunson playing inside. I really like this matchup for Villanova,
just too much offense. Texas Tech Perdue. I think the
athleticism of Texas Tech matches up very well with Purdue
produced struggles to make jump shots against athletic teams that

(56:18):
can switch their screens. I take Texas Tech to take
on Villanova in the Elite Eight. Kansas taken on Clemson.
I have learned you don't doubt, you don't doubt Kansas
comes from. Was really impressive against Auburn, but Auburn essentially
with without three starters from the start of the season.
That's a Kansas team that seems to be getting better
and better and more and more confident. Playing in a
home away from home in Omaha, I'm gonna take KU

(56:41):
Syracuse taken on Duke. We've seen this game earlier in
the year. I do think that Duke has too much.
It's the it's the it's the matchups that win this thing.
And Duke shoots the ball so well from three from
so many different positions. I don't think that. And look,
this is a Duke team that's not perfect. They're not
great defensively, but a team that and and percentage wise,

(57:01):
they're not great from three outside of Gary Trent. I
know Wendell Carter shoots a good percentage, but he's not
a high volume three point shooter. But they can hit
you from three. Guys and Trayvon Duval even though he can't,
he he's a sound enough ball handler. The big issue
with this Duke team has been their defense. Right, It's
been Uke basketball, but against Syracuse, you don't have to

(57:22):
be great defensively because Syracuse struggles to score. Case in point,
they only scored forty four last time they played Duke,
So I think it's a bad matchup for for for Syracuse.
I like Duke to win. So there's my Uh those
are all my picks, right, Yeah? So Duke, Kansas Tech, Nova,

(57:43):
k State, Nevada, Gonzaga, and I'm gonna go with A
and M, which what I would deem a upset. I
haven't seen the numbers in Vegas. Thanks for downloading the
All Ball podcast, a great part of the Herd podcast network.
I'm doug out.