March 18, 2026 • 16 mins
Host of the Blue Blooded podcast and basketball analyst, Ryan Hammer, is here
on behalf of Splash Sports, a peer-to-peer contest and social gaming platform
and THE home of NCAA basketball Survivor and college hoops contests.
Ryan hits on the SEC teams in the bracket, as well as who he sees coming out of the East. Lastly, he gives us his Final Four picks for the 2026 NCAA Tournament. He also talks about his $100K Survivor Madness Contest.
Go to SplashSports.com or download the Splash app, grab a spot, make your
picks, and survive.
on behalf of Splash Sports, a peer-to-peer contest and social gaming platform
and THE home of NCAA basketball Survivor and college hoops contests.
Ryan hits on the SEC teams in the bracket, as well as who he sees coming out of the East. Lastly, he gives us his Final Four picks for the 2026 NCAA Tournament. He also talks about his $100K Survivor Madness Contest.
Go to SplashSports.com or download the Splash app, grab a spot, make your
picks, and survive.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Join us now is Ryan Hammer, host of the Blue
Blooded podcast and basketball analyst and knows a thing or
two about this bracket and Brian. This time of year
is always so fun because we're all experts, right.
Speaker 2 (00:13):
It's like, I just start hearing.
Speaker 1 (00:14):
My buddies tell me, oh, you you know Wisconsin the zone.
I'm like, dude, you didn't watch Wisconsin play all year.
So it's always funny. You're the amateurs out there, but
expert perspective, what do you make of this bracket?
Speaker 3 (00:25):
Kind of overall, Yeah, everyone becomes a bracket experts. That's
the glory of it. I used to get upset about it,
but at this point it just like accepted that that's
what the sports sports nation does. You can turn on
first take and it might be on too. It's crazy,
but no, I'm excited. It's been a great season, better
than honestly most in the recent memory, because of the
overall talent, a lot of the elite Mian majors. We
have a lot of parody at top and a few
(00:46):
different contenders and different teams than normal. So it's been
a great year. In the bracket is always great, but
it's also always awful because I hate picking some of
the regions. So it's it's it's pros and cons.
Speaker 1 (00:57):
I want to talk a little bit on the the
SEC teams. It was weird year for the SEC because
I think they were they struggled in the non conplay
and after last year we said it was so the
SEC was so impressive with a historic number of teams
making the tournament. I think we all were like, well,
it's gonna be a down year, and still at the
end of the day, ten teams from the SEC, most
for many conferences made the tournament. So would you kind
(01:17):
of make of the conference this year, whereas you know,
Florida still looks like the cream of the crop.
Speaker 3 (01:21):
Yeah, it reminds me of what the Big Ten usually is.
I call it in conference cannibalization. They beat each other
up so much and there's so much parody in the
league that none of them have elite resumes outside of Florida. Obviously,
even Arkansas, who wins the set championship, is still a
four seed and normally a team of that caliber that
it felt like last week would be like a one
or two seed, and most of the teams, like the
(01:42):
Big Ten in the pasts, beat each other up and
it gets to the point where one they're fatigued and
they're playing just that style so much. But they also
don't have great resumes and great seeds because of it.
There's so many teams that are Texas and Amazon tense line.
You have a four seed and a six seed in Tennessee,
and they're all over the place to a point where
they have very tough paths to get out of the
first weekend. And that's why the Big Ten always fails
(02:03):
in March because won the style which is different than
the SEC obviously, but two, they never have great paths
to get there, so it's not easy and mathematically speaking also,
but the SEC is great. I think it's been so
good in the middle, better than obviously better than any
of the league in the country. And it's just a
weird different year than we had last year obviously, So.
Speaker 1 (02:21):
It's wild too how they did this, because the most
teams have any conference to make it, and yet in
the East region there's not one SEC team, So I
thought that was kind of peculiar how they kind of
did this.
Speaker 2 (02:30):
But real quick, just look at the East. Is there
a clear favorite?
Speaker 1 (02:33):
I mean, Duke's the one seed, but is there a
clear team you just love on this side.
Speaker 3 (02:37):
Yeah, I think it is due. And by the way,
like you said, makes no sense that they did that
because they were trying to obviously my opinion, at least
forced a lot of those big brands and big teams
in here in this region where you have Duke, you
kind of Saint John should not be in the same region.
There's three big East teams in the entire in the
entire tournament, they should not be in the same region
at all, but they wanted to put them both In
the East. You have Kansas and UCLA, Michigan State, Louisville,
(02:58):
even Ohio State, all these big name brands, and they
really should have put some kind of sec representation in
here because there's so many teams in there. Duke's still
my favorite. Paton Gongba's injury is a huge one. He's
not going to play in their first game, but I
also think he obviously doesn't need to play against Sienna.
We'll just being honest about it, so hopefully it's just
precautionary and he's going to play against a house here
ter TCU, and then obviously in this SWEK sixteen if
and when they get there, but Duke's them my favorite
(03:19):
to get out.
Speaker 1 (03:21):
Let's get into some of the SEC teams as we
look in the on the western side, and obviously Arkansas
and is a four SEA. I've just loved this Arkansas team.
Also that your long Darius A. Cuff wins not just
Freshman the Year but SEC Player of the Year, and
he seems to be getting better and better game by game.
But thirteen seed with the Hawaii I don't think we
feel they're an Upsett alert, but it seems like a
(03:41):
lot of people are looking at that next round with
the potential Wisconsin matchup as a danger spot for him.
Speaker 3 (03:46):
Yeah, I've said Arkansas Wisconsin, if they both win their
first round game would be literally my favorite game in
the entire tournament. Those are two teams that before the
bracket was released on Sunday morning, I said, I can't
wait to pick both them into my Elite eate or
Final four in some capacity because those are my two
big dark on the four and five line. And then
also I love Arizona. So of course they all get
put together, and that's how the bracket always works. Everybody
(04:06):
has a region that they hate picking, but Arkansas has
been great they've been awesome. I don't really fear the
first round matchup because Hawaii plays there's no help defense,
where they just want you to play icele ball. They
allow the least amount of assists in the entire country.
Arkansas is perfectly fine playing icele ball and they will
be happy to do that, so I don't I don't
really fear that matchup all.
Speaker 1 (04:25):
Is that one of the tougher roads though, if they
have to go through Wisconsin and then Arizona potentially in
the next round, so.
Speaker 3 (04:30):
Tough of all the four season. I can think, at
least top of my head, absolutely, I think to me
Arizona is the best team in the country right now
because they're fully healthy and you know that for sure
at least obviously what we can forecast right now, and
Duke's not. Michigan's been volatile and they're not fully healthy.
So absolutely, I think it's not impossible because it's really tough.
Speaker 1 (04:47):
The other SEC teams in their Texas beats NC State
the other night is the playing game and they get
BYU and I bet some people telling me they feel
like BYU is a little bit banged up. They were
a sexy team, A couple of weeks ago. What's this
matchup going to be like for Texas?
Speaker 3 (05:01):
Yeah, can they stop Aja Advanza? I don't know if
they can, but teams have still beaten BYU when aj
puts up thirty thirty five plus. I like texas ability.
I actually thought like, Okay, maybe NC State went this game,
but I like Texas's opportunity more to be able to
win a game or two in the NCAA tournament. B
Yu Gonzaga is not awful. They do have to go
to Portland, going to be a BYU home game, and
then it's going to be a gon Zagga home game
(05:22):
essentially after that with the amount of fan representation. But
Texas looked decent enough last night. We know that they
can lose to anybody, but we also know they can
beat almost anybody. That's kind of how they've been all
a year. So I don't hate their ability to win
this game. But I still lean BYU.
Speaker 2 (05:35):
And Sean Miller.
Speaker 1 (05:36):
He knows a thing or two about coaching in the postseason,
so we'll see what they do there. The other SEC
team on this side, Missouri, is a ten seed. This
one kind of seems I've seen some people picking this
as kind of a you know, a ten to seven upset.
I haven't seen a whole lot of Miami this year,
but a few people I've talked to you said, they're
the real deal. Any any chance for Mizoo to pull
this off?
Speaker 3 (05:55):
Absolutely a chance. They're playing in Saint Louis. I mean,
they need a chance right there. That's enough. And we
know I know how much SEC teams are so much
better at home just generally speaking, I think Missouri is
one of those teams. Really a year after year it
feels like they're much better in the Zoo obviously, but
the home game for them Miami is good. They are
the real deal. The seven tens to me, are basically
eight nine games, Like the Seeds are close enough where
(06:16):
for the most part, they're basically toss up games. Obviously
we'll get to Kentucky in a second, but like when
you have a Kentucky Santa Clara, that's a little bit
more of a disparity in terms of who people perceive
the teams to be, So it's more of an upset pick.
But I think Miami, Missouri, especially in Saint Louis, is
basically a toss up.
Speaker 1 (06:31):
All right, let's get to this South region as we
look here. Obviously Florida is in as the one and
they'll they'll play that first round game, but Clemson Iowa
the matchup in the second round. I've just I've watched
Florida all year, Ryan, I mean Thomas Hawk, and like
I mean, player after play after player, Florida's just been
so dominant, particularly the last month plus in the SEC.
Speaker 3 (06:51):
Yeah, I love Florida. I was there in Gainesville when
when they turn their season around. They had the Tennessee
home game in middle of January, late middle of January,
I think it was or early maybe it was early
mid January, but that was when they turned their season around.
Twenty twenty six counter turns. They've been much much better.
Part of me thinks that's the SEC and it's been
friendly to them stylistically, and they're much more dominant in
(07:12):
the front court, especially defensively, where them in Tennessee really
the only teams that are somewhat defensive minded in that sense,
especially physical and defense. So I think that's benefited them
for sure. But they've absolutely turned the corner. It's got
them going on the right path and there's no doubt
they can go back to back as long as the
guards are playing well.
Speaker 2 (07:29):
The interesting path too.
Speaker 1 (07:31):
I keep looking at that potential Vandy matchup in the
third round because they just beat Florida by seventeen this
past weekend in the SEC tournament.
Speaker 2 (07:40):
I'm just looking at.
Speaker 1 (07:41):
That and going, oh, man, would Vandy be feeling themselves
that they were able to get past McNeice in the
winner of Nebraska Troy and a rematch with Florida there.
Speaker 3 (07:49):
I think both Florida and Vanderbilt would be thrilled to
play each other again in the sweet sixteen because Vandy's like, oh,
we just kicked their ass a little bit, like we
can definitely do it again, and Florida says, we beat
them once, they think they got us, We have this
one this time. This is what we were saying before.
There's no way in that they should be remotely close
to each other in the bracket. Saint John's and Uconnor
in the same region. Saint John's should be here just
(08:10):
because they're in the East. Whatever, they should be here,
and then Vandy should be up in the East. They'd
be the only SEC team. Makes no sense that hasn't happened,
but whatever, I digress. That's not the problem.
Speaker 1 (08:20):
All year, I've been like, oh, Vandy, good story, but
they're gonna fall apart, and they never did.
Speaker 2 (08:24):
Mark Byington just hell of a coach, right.
Speaker 3 (08:27):
I love them. I think they're great. The way they
play is super fun. They're underrated. Their guys have been
underrated also, even Tyler Tanner, and I think gets the
respect that he deserves, even though he's gotten all conference
nods and probably all American consideration, but he didn't get
the full votes to get there, I think. But they're
a really fun team. Love Mark Bindon as a coach, aff.
Speaker 2 (08:44):
The last one in the South.
Speaker 1 (08:45):
Another section when people are jumping on Texas A and
M Bucky Ball. They came out so strong in SEC
play and then kind of fell apart on the backstretch
of the season when the schedule got a lot tougher,
but still a dangerous A and M team. In is
a ten seed playing a seven seed Saint Mary's.
Speaker 3 (09:00):
Yeah, I mean Bucky ball, and I call it Bennett
Ball for Saint Mary's. It's the complete opposite sides of
the spectrum texts. A and M and bucket Ball play
one of the fastest paces, deepest into the bench, open,
free flowing style of the basketball that you were going
to find really in the world, to be completely honest,
and Saint Mary's is the opposite. They play slow, they
crunch it down, they play half court offense, a lot
of scheme and action and intention with every kind of movement.
(09:22):
One of them has got a gift. They're not going
to play super fast or they can't both play fast
and slow at the same time. So it'll be interesting
to see how that goes. I think if Saint Mary's
are hitting their shots early, they might be able to
control the pace of this game. But if they're not,
they have to play catch up. Then advantage Bucky Ball
for sure.
Speaker 1 (09:36):
The interesting too, is if they could get past Saint
Mary's A and M a rematch with Houston. That's that
game two years ago in the tournament. You remember they
went to overtime. It's a dangerous spot for Kelvin Sampson
and company.
Speaker 3 (09:47):
I'll never forget that. It was the last game on
Sunday night, I think, or one of the last games,
and I remember like I was like actually finally ready
to get some sleep. Then all of a sudden, that
game stays too close. Wade Taylor and the Gang and
Buzz Williams. I remember that game so well. I think
it was the second round, like one to eight or
one nine, right.
Speaker 1 (10:03):
Yeah, Yeah, and Houston came out, but man, they gave
them everything different, different A and M team. We're talking
with Ryan Hammer here, host of the Blue Blooded podcast
and doing some great work on behalf of us Splash sports.
What it's a peer to peer contest social gaming platform
and from when I read the home of the NCAA
Basketball Survivor in college hoops contest, tell us a little
(10:25):
bit about that.
Speaker 3 (10:25):
Yeah, Survivor is something I love. I've done it for
the NFL. I think people will understand it for that
more than anything else. But it's the same concept. It
just offers something different than doing your bracket because you
fill out your fill out your bracket, you pick four
final four teams, they lose first weekend and then you're
spending the next three weeks kind of sad and like
you missed to pick the wrong things. But Survivor is
survive in advance. It's the same thing as the idea
(10:45):
of what march madis is. In the NCAA tournament, you
pick a team to win every single day of the tournament.
So you pick one tomorrow on the round of sixty
four on Thursday, one on Friday, Saturday, Sunday, et cetera.
If that team wins, you move on to the next day.
As simple as that. The catch you can't pick the
same team twice all year long. The same as NFL
Survivor Contest for anyone that is familiar with it, a
lot of strategy. It's super different than NFL because NFL,
(11:09):
at least you know everybody's playing every week except for
a bye week. The NCAA tournament, if you pick a
team like you don't know if they're gonna be If
you save a team, they might lose an next round
and you might not have them for the round after that.
And you have to have some kind of availability of
teams in the final four to be able to win.
And that's where I always run into a buzzsaw. But
it's super fun, different strategy, and yeah, I have a
contest going on right now in splots one hundred K
(11:30):
prize spots to the winner or winners.
Speaker 1 (11:32):
Yeah, splashboards dot com and learn more. Check out Ryan's
social at Ryan Hammer nine. All right, last bracket to
get to with you here the Midwest and this is
just loaded with SEC teams. Let's start with the eight seed.
Georgia gets nine seed Saint Louis. This one again, another
one feels like a lot of people not buying into
Georgia and a lot of people pick at Saint Louis
in the upset here.
Speaker 3 (11:51):
Yeah, Saint Louis has been one of those sexy fund
man majors all year long, and I love them. I'm
on that too, But I also know that Georgia has
athleticism in size that is way beyond what Saint Louis has.
They both play fast paced, open transition. They like to
shoot a lot. They like to get in transition. It's
a different type of scoring. Saint Louis wants to shoot more.
Georgia wants to attack the rim a little more. They
(12:11):
like to rely on athleticism and Saint Louis has that
blistering shot making them in their guard in their back court.
So one of them is probably going to have an advantage.
They'll have their advantage, but one of them is gonna
kind of supersede and take the win in that game.
So if Saint Louis is hitting shots, if George is
smashing the glass really hard. One of those teams will
kind of get through.
Speaker 1 (12:28):
Yeah, that's one of just the SEC teams. I just
I don't have I'm not very confident on Georgia. How
about Alabama? They get thirteen seed Hofstra and then you know,
potentially really good Texas Tech team in the second round.
This one just got a lot more interesting because as
good as Natoas has been in the tournament, man, losing
your point guard Aiden Holloway.
Speaker 2 (12:47):
Not the best time to do so.
Speaker 3 (12:48):
Yeah, and they're still the better team than Hafstra obviously.
Hoftra is a very very dangerous team. They have two
really really good guards, Cruz Davis, who played for Rick
Patino for two years at Iona and Saint John's before
going to Hofstra and Presston and met this young Dynamics,
small shifty freshman. Hofsta is a good squad. They play slow.
Alabama plays fast, and now they have one less ball
handler and one less shot maker and it just feels
(13:09):
like there's this weird cloud over them, which I hate
now Blabaron final On is gonna be the best player
on the court no matter what, so he could come
out have his day thirty forty points and they can
move on easily to the next round. And they can
move on easily with the Sweet sixteen. We've seen the
Alabama do that in the past. But it's gonna be
interesting how they kind of function that Aiden and nine.
Just curious what the vibe is going to be like
for them.
Speaker 1 (13:27):
Yeah, they ought to have Aiden Holloway in the stands
with Charles Beniaca rooting on Alabama. Weird, great great site there,
all right, how about sixteen Tennessee? You know, look, Rick
Barnes has done a good job there. Man, every year
feels like they're winning tournament games, but as we know,
the one program has never been to a final four.
(13:47):
What do you make of this Tennessee team? Because man
Nate have met an incredible freshman. They just got a really,
really fun team to watch.
Speaker 3 (13:55):
Yeah, I think they're without a doubt, the best six
seed in the entire tournament, and they have the best
ability in the best path to kind of get far.
They match up welversh Virginia, and I think they will
beat SMU or Miami Ohio. I just think matchup wise,
the way they playing crunch down the game with size
and a thought. I says it will be a problem
for either SMU or Miami. Could be wrong. Both those
teams have shown the duty to get super hot this
year when they whenever they want to and the shots
(14:15):
are falling. But I like Tennessee a lot. I like
their potential against Virginia excuse me. And even in Iowa State,
these are teams that they have played similar styles, and
they beat Houston earlier in the year. It's another big
twelve team in Iowa State has played and played tightly obviously,
so it'll be interesting. I think they have the potential
to get to any leader, but they also could lose
first weekend.
Speaker 2 (14:34):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (14:35):
Times running out here on Rick Barnes. How many more
years does he have to kind of get over the
hump and get there?
Speaker 3 (14:40):
I know. I listen, someone said they have Tennessee in
the final four. I said, if Dalton connect couldn't get
to a final four, this team, they't gettingto a final four.
Speaker 2 (14:47):
Yeah, Nita Mett might make himself some history if he
does do that. Last one.
Speaker 1 (14:51):
It's seventh seen Kentucky against Santa Clara. My wife as
a Kentucky grad, she is a nervous wreck about Santa
Clara is this one.
Speaker 2 (15:00):
Do you think Kentucky gets the win in I.
Speaker 3 (15:02):
Mean they should. They're on paper there you think they're
the better team. But their defense, especially in the last
ten games, has been bottom half of the entire country,
not in just a tournament. In Santa Clara's offense has
been top ten to twenty in the country in the
last couple of weeks. And they're playing well. They're long, athletic,
and they have legitimate professional talent. I don't think the
talent gap and the quality gap and the roster is
(15:22):
really anything at all. I think they're pretty relatively even
to Kentucky. And that's why I like Santa Clair because
one of those ones where if it's a toss up,
I like to pick the upset because it's more fun
that way, and I see a lot of opportunity where
normally those upsets are in fifty to fifty games. But
Kentucky's weird. Man. They've been hot and cold all year.
They look great at times, They've been the cardiac cats
with comebacks at times, but then they look awful the
(15:43):
next day. And I don't know, they're really confusing. They
could beat Iowa State for all we know. In the
second round and go to the Sweet sixteen, or they
could lose by twenty or Santa Clair.
Speaker 1 (15:52):
Yeah, I'd love to see a Kentucky Tennessee rebatch of
the Sweet sixteen. I mean, Kentucky beat them both times.
They need to cutting backs and both of them to
do it, so it'd be a lot of fun. Ryan,
last thing for you, who's who you got your frontal four?
Speaker 3 (16:04):
I got Houston out of the bottom left to the south.
I have Arizona the top right of this, out of
the out of the west, excuse me, duke out of
the east, and then I always stay out of the Midwest.
Speaker 1 (16:15):
All right, So an sec hater, It's okay, we'll see
if we can get some some tea.
Speaker 3 (16:19):
I want to take Arkansas so bad, I told you,
and even I love Florida too, and I was like, dang,
like I just I went away from the one seat
in Florida and then Arkansas was like damn.
Speaker 2 (16:29):
Yeah, yeah, it's it's hard again.
Speaker 1 (16:31):
It's Ryan Hammer, host of the Blue Bloody podcast, and
of course, uh Splash sports dot com or download the
Splash app and make your picks and be part of
his Survivor competition. Could be a lot of fun Ryan.
I appreciate the time man, thanks so much.
Speaker 3 (16:44):
Thanks Ji,
Join us now is Ryan Hammer, host of the Blue
Blooded podcast and basketball analyst and knows a thing or
two about this bracket and Brian. This time of year
is always so fun because we're all experts, right.
Speaker 2 (00:13):
It's like, I just start hearing.
Speaker 1 (00:14):
My buddies tell me, oh, you you know Wisconsin the zone.
I'm like, dude, you didn't watch Wisconsin play all year.
So it's always funny. You're the amateurs out there, but
expert perspective, what do you make of this bracket?
Speaker 3 (00:25):
Kind of overall, Yeah, everyone becomes a bracket experts. That's
the glory of it. I used to get upset about it,
but at this point it just like accepted that that's
what the sports sports nation does. You can turn on
first take and it might be on too. It's crazy,
but no, I'm excited. It's been a great season, better
than honestly most in the recent memory, because of the
overall talent, a lot of the elite Mian majors. We
have a lot of parody at top and a few
(00:46):
different contenders and different teams than normal. So it's been
a great year. In the bracket is always great, but
it's also always awful because I hate picking some of
the regions. So it's it's it's pros and cons.
Speaker 1 (00:57):
I want to talk a little bit on the the
SEC teams. It was weird year for the SEC because
I think they were they struggled in the non conplay
and after last year we said it was so the
SEC was so impressive with a historic number of teams
making the tournament. I think we all were like, well,
it's gonna be a down year, and still at the
end of the day, ten teams from the SEC, most
for many conferences made the tournament. So would you kind
(01:17):
of make of the conference this year, whereas you know,
Florida still looks like the cream of the crop.
Speaker 3 (01:21):
Yeah, it reminds me of what the Big Ten usually is.
I call it in conference cannibalization. They beat each other
up so much and there's so much parody in the
league that none of them have elite resumes outside of Florida. Obviously,
even Arkansas, who wins the set championship, is still a
four seed and normally a team of that caliber that
it felt like last week would be like a one
or two seed, and most of the teams, like the
(01:42):
Big Ten in the pasts, beat each other up and
it gets to the point where one they're fatigued and
they're playing just that style so much. But they also
don't have great resumes and great seeds because of it.
There's so many teams that are Texas and Amazon tense line.
You have a four seed and a six seed in Tennessee,
and they're all over the place to a point where
they have very tough paths to get out of the
first weekend. And that's why the Big Ten always fails
(02:03):
in March because won the style which is different than
the SEC obviously, but two, they never have great paths
to get there, so it's not easy and mathematically speaking also,
but the SEC is great. I think it's been so
good in the middle, better than obviously better than any
of the league in the country. And it's just a
weird different year than we had last year obviously, So.
Speaker 1 (02:21):
It's wild too how they did this, because the most
teams have any conference to make it, and yet in
the East region there's not one SEC team, So I
thought that was kind of peculiar how they kind of
did this.
Speaker 2 (02:30):
But real quick, just look at the East. Is there
a clear favorite?
Speaker 1 (02:33):
I mean, Duke's the one seed, but is there a
clear team you just love on this side.
Speaker 3 (02:37):
Yeah, I think it is due. And by the way,
like you said, makes no sense that they did that
because they were trying to obviously my opinion, at least
forced a lot of those big brands and big teams
in here in this region where you have Duke, you
kind of Saint John should not be in the same region.
There's three big East teams in the entire in the
entire tournament, they should not be in the same region
at all, but they wanted to put them both In
the East. You have Kansas and UCLA, Michigan State, Louisville,
(02:58):
even Ohio State, all these big name brands, and they
really should have put some kind of sec representation in
here because there's so many teams in there. Duke's still
my favorite. Paton Gongba's injury is a huge one. He's
not going to play in their first game, but I
also think he obviously doesn't need to play against Sienna.
We'll just being honest about it, so hopefully it's just
precautionary and he's going to play against a house here
ter TCU, and then obviously in this SWEK sixteen if
and when they get there, but Duke's them my favorite
(03:19):
to get out.
Speaker 1 (03:21):
Let's get into some of the SEC teams as we
look in the on the western side, and obviously Arkansas
and is a four SEA. I've just loved this Arkansas team.
Also that your long Darius A. Cuff wins not just
Freshman the Year but SEC Player of the Year, and
he seems to be getting better and better game by game.
But thirteen seed with the Hawaii I don't think we
feel they're an Upsett alert, but it seems like a
(03:41):
lot of people are looking at that next round with
the potential Wisconsin matchup as a danger spot for him.
Speaker 3 (03:46):
Yeah, I've said Arkansas Wisconsin, if they both win their
first round game would be literally my favorite game in
the entire tournament. Those are two teams that before the
bracket was released on Sunday morning, I said, I can't
wait to pick both them into my Elite eate or
Final four in some capacity because those are my two
big dark on the four and five line. And then
also I love Arizona. So of course they all get
put together, and that's how the bracket always works. Everybody
(04:06):
has a region that they hate picking, but Arkansas has
been great they've been awesome. I don't really fear the
first round matchup because Hawaii plays there's no help defense,
where they just want you to play icele ball. They
allow the least amount of assists in the entire country.
Arkansas is perfectly fine playing icele ball and they will
be happy to do that, so I don't I don't
really fear that matchup all.
Speaker 1 (04:25):
Is that one of the tougher roads though, if they
have to go through Wisconsin and then Arizona potentially in
the next round, so.
Speaker 3 (04:30):
Tough of all the four season. I can think, at
least top of my head, absolutely, I think to me
Arizona is the best team in the country right now
because they're fully healthy and you know that for sure
at least obviously what we can forecast right now, and
Duke's not. Michigan's been volatile and they're not fully healthy.
So absolutely, I think it's not impossible because it's really tough.
Speaker 1 (04:47):
The other SEC teams in their Texas beats NC State
the other night is the playing game and they get
BYU and I bet some people telling me they feel
like BYU is a little bit banged up. They were
a sexy team, A couple of weeks ago. What's this
matchup going to be like for Texas?
Speaker 3 (05:01):
Yeah, can they stop Aja Advanza? I don't know if
they can, but teams have still beaten BYU when aj
puts up thirty thirty five plus. I like texas ability.
I actually thought like, Okay, maybe NC State went this game,
but I like Texas's opportunity more to be able to
win a game or two in the NCAA tournament. B
Yu Gonzaga is not awful. They do have to go
to Portland, going to be a BYU home game, and
then it's going to be a gon Zagga home game
(05:22):
essentially after that with the amount of fan representation. But
Texas looked decent enough last night. We know that they
can lose to anybody, but we also know they can
beat almost anybody. That's kind of how they've been all
a year. So I don't hate their ability to win
this game. But I still lean BYU.
Speaker 2 (05:35):
And Sean Miller.
Speaker 1 (05:36):
He knows a thing or two about coaching in the postseason,
so we'll see what they do there. The other SEC
team on this side, Missouri, is a ten seed. This
one kind of seems I've seen some people picking this
as kind of a you know, a ten to seven upset.
I haven't seen a whole lot of Miami this year,
but a few people I've talked to you said, they're
the real deal. Any any chance for Mizoo to pull
this off?
Speaker 3 (05:55):
Absolutely a chance. They're playing in Saint Louis. I mean,
they need a chance right there. That's enough. And we
know I know how much SEC teams are so much
better at home just generally speaking, I think Missouri is
one of those teams. Really a year after year it
feels like they're much better in the Zoo obviously, but
the home game for them Miami is good. They are
the real deal. The seven tens to me, are basically
eight nine games, Like the Seeds are close enough where
(06:16):
for the most part, they're basically toss up games. Obviously
we'll get to Kentucky in a second, but like when
you have a Kentucky Santa Clara, that's a little bit
more of a disparity in terms of who people perceive
the teams to be, So it's more of an upset pick.
But I think Miami, Missouri, especially in Saint Louis, is
basically a toss up.
Speaker 1 (06:31):
All right, let's get to this South region as we
look here. Obviously Florida is in as the one and
they'll they'll play that first round game, but Clemson Iowa
the matchup in the second round. I've just I've watched
Florida all year, Ryan, I mean Thomas Hawk, and like
I mean, player after play after player, Florida's just been
so dominant, particularly the last month plus in the SEC.
Speaker 3 (06:51):
Yeah, I love Florida. I was there in Gainesville when
when they turn their season around. They had the Tennessee
home game in middle of January, late middle of January,
I think it was or early maybe it was early
mid January, but that was when they turned their season around.
Twenty twenty six counter turns. They've been much much better.
Part of me thinks that's the SEC and it's been
friendly to them stylistically, and they're much more dominant in
(07:12):
the front court, especially defensively, where them in Tennessee really
the only teams that are somewhat defensive minded in that sense,
especially physical and defense. So I think that's benefited them
for sure. But they've absolutely turned the corner. It's got
them going on the right path and there's no doubt
they can go back to back as long as the
guards are playing well.
Speaker 2 (07:29):
The interesting path too.
Speaker 1 (07:31):
I keep looking at that potential Vandy matchup in the
third round because they just beat Florida by seventeen this
past weekend in the SEC tournament.
Speaker 2 (07:40):
I'm just looking at.
Speaker 1 (07:41):
That and going, oh, man, would Vandy be feeling themselves
that they were able to get past McNeice in the
winner of Nebraska Troy and a rematch with Florida there.
Speaker 3 (07:49):
I think both Florida and Vanderbilt would be thrilled to
play each other again in the sweet sixteen because Vandy's like, oh,
we just kicked their ass a little bit, like we
can definitely do it again, and Florida says, we beat
them once, they think they got us, We have this
one this time. This is what we were saying before.
There's no way in that they should be remotely close
to each other in the bracket. Saint John's and Uconnor
in the same region. Saint John's should be here just
(08:10):
because they're in the East. Whatever, they should be here,
and then Vandy should be up in the East. They'd
be the only SEC team. Makes no sense that hasn't happened,
but whatever, I digress. That's not the problem.
Speaker 1 (08:20):
All year, I've been like, oh, Vandy, good story, but
they're gonna fall apart, and they never did.
Speaker 2 (08:24):
Mark Byington just hell of a coach, right.
Speaker 3 (08:27):
I love them. I think they're great. The way they
play is super fun. They're underrated. Their guys have been
underrated also, even Tyler Tanner, and I think gets the
respect that he deserves, even though he's gotten all conference
nods and probably all American consideration, but he didn't get
the full votes to get there, I think. But they're
a really fun team. Love Mark Bindon as a coach, aff.
Speaker 2 (08:44):
The last one in the South.
Speaker 1 (08:45):
Another section when people are jumping on Texas A and
M Bucky Ball. They came out so strong in SEC
play and then kind of fell apart on the backstretch
of the season when the schedule got a lot tougher,
but still a dangerous A and M team. In is
a ten seed playing a seven seed Saint Mary's.
Speaker 3 (09:00):
Yeah, I mean Bucky ball, and I call it Bennett
Ball for Saint Mary's. It's the complete opposite sides of
the spectrum texts. A and M and bucket Ball play
one of the fastest paces, deepest into the bench, open,
free flowing style of the basketball that you were going
to find really in the world, to be completely honest,
and Saint Mary's is the opposite. They play slow, they
crunch it down, they play half court offense, a lot
of scheme and action and intention with every kind of movement.
(09:22):
One of them has got a gift. They're not going
to play super fast or they can't both play fast
and slow at the same time. So it'll be interesting
to see how that goes. I think if Saint Mary's
are hitting their shots early, they might be able to
control the pace of this game. But if they're not,
they have to play catch up. Then advantage Bucky Ball
for sure.
Speaker 1 (09:36):
The interesting too, is if they could get past Saint
Mary's A and M a rematch with Houston. That's that
game two years ago in the tournament. You remember they
went to overtime. It's a dangerous spot for Kelvin Sampson
and company.
Speaker 3 (09:47):
I'll never forget that. It was the last game on
Sunday night, I think, or one of the last games,
and I remember like I was like actually finally ready
to get some sleep. Then all of a sudden, that
game stays too close. Wade Taylor and the Gang and
Buzz Williams. I remember that game so well. I think
it was the second round, like one to eight or
one nine, right.
Speaker 1 (10:03):
Yeah, Yeah, and Houston came out, but man, they gave
them everything different, different A and M team. We're talking
with Ryan Hammer here, host of the Blue Blooded podcast
and doing some great work on behalf of us Splash sports.
What it's a peer to peer contest social gaming platform
and from when I read the home of the NCAA
Basketball Survivor in college hoops contest, tell us a little
(10:25):
bit about that.
Speaker 3 (10:25):
Yeah, Survivor is something I love. I've done it for
the NFL. I think people will understand it for that
more than anything else. But it's the same concept. It
just offers something different than doing your bracket because you
fill out your fill out your bracket, you pick four
final four teams, they lose first weekend and then you're
spending the next three weeks kind of sad and like
you missed to pick the wrong things. But Survivor is
survive in advance. It's the same thing as the idea
(10:45):
of what march madis is. In the NCAA tournament, you
pick a team to win every single day of the tournament.
So you pick one tomorrow on the round of sixty
four on Thursday, one on Friday, Saturday, Sunday, et cetera.
If that team wins, you move on to the next day.
As simple as that. The catch you can't pick the
same team twice all year long. The same as NFL
Survivor Contest for anyone that is familiar with it, a
lot of strategy. It's super different than NFL because NFL,
(11:09):
at least you know everybody's playing every week except for
a bye week. The NCAA tournament, if you pick a
team like you don't know if they're gonna be If
you save a team, they might lose an next round
and you might not have them for the round after that.
And you have to have some kind of availability of
teams in the final four to be able to win.
And that's where I always run into a buzzsaw. But
it's super fun, different strategy, and yeah, I have a
contest going on right now in splots one hundred K
(11:30):
prize spots to the winner or winners.
Speaker 1 (11:32):
Yeah, splashboards dot com and learn more. Check out Ryan's
social at Ryan Hammer nine. All right, last bracket to
get to with you here the Midwest and this is
just loaded with SEC teams. Let's start with the eight seed.
Georgia gets nine seed Saint Louis. This one again, another
one feels like a lot of people not buying into
Georgia and a lot of people pick at Saint Louis
in the upset here.
Speaker 3 (11:51):
Yeah, Saint Louis has been one of those sexy fund
man majors all year long, and I love them. I'm
on that too, But I also know that Georgia has
athleticism in size that is way beyond what Saint Louis has.
They both play fast paced, open transition. They like to
shoot a lot. They like to get in transition. It's
a different type of scoring. Saint Louis wants to shoot more.
Georgia wants to attack the rim a little more. They
(12:11):
like to rely on athleticism and Saint Louis has that
blistering shot making them in their guard in their back court.
So one of them is probably going to have an advantage.
They'll have their advantage, but one of them is gonna
kind of supersede and take the win in that game.
So if Saint Louis is hitting shots, if George is
smashing the glass really hard. One of those teams will
kind of get through.
Speaker 1 (12:28):
Yeah, that's one of just the SEC teams. I just
I don't have I'm not very confident on Georgia. How
about Alabama? They get thirteen seed Hofstra and then you know,
potentially really good Texas Tech team in the second round.
This one just got a lot more interesting because as
good as Natoas has been in the tournament, man, losing
your point guard Aiden Holloway.
Speaker 2 (12:47):
Not the best time to do so.
Speaker 3 (12:48):
Yeah, and they're still the better team than Hafstra obviously.
Hoftra is a very very dangerous team. They have two
really really good guards, Cruz Davis, who played for Rick
Patino for two years at Iona and Saint John's before
going to Hofstra and Presston and met this young Dynamics,
small shifty freshman. Hofsta is a good squad. They play slow.
Alabama plays fast, and now they have one less ball
handler and one less shot maker and it just feels
(13:09):
like there's this weird cloud over them, which I hate
now Blabaron final On is gonna be the best player
on the court no matter what, so he could come
out have his day thirty forty points and they can
move on easily to the next round. And they can
move on easily with the Sweet sixteen. We've seen the
Alabama do that in the past. But it's gonna be
interesting how they kind of function that Aiden and nine.
Just curious what the vibe is going to be like
for them.
Speaker 1 (13:27):
Yeah, they ought to have Aiden Holloway in the stands
with Charles Beniaca rooting on Alabama. Weird, great great site there,
all right, how about sixteen Tennessee? You know, look, Rick
Barnes has done a good job there. Man, every year
feels like they're winning tournament games, but as we know,
the one program has never been to a final four.
(13:47):
What do you make of this Tennessee team? Because man
Nate have met an incredible freshman. They just got a really,
really fun team to watch.
Speaker 3 (13:55):
Yeah, I think they're without a doubt, the best six
seed in the entire tournament, and they have the best
ability in the best path to kind of get far.
They match up welversh Virginia, and I think they will
beat SMU or Miami Ohio. I just think matchup wise,
the way they playing crunch down the game with size
and a thought. I says it will be a problem
for either SMU or Miami. Could be wrong. Both those
teams have shown the duty to get super hot this
year when they whenever they want to and the shots
(14:15):
are falling. But I like Tennessee a lot. I like
their potential against Virginia excuse me. And even in Iowa State,
these are teams that they have played similar styles, and
they beat Houston earlier in the year. It's another big
twelve team in Iowa State has played and played tightly obviously,
so it'll be interesting. I think they have the potential
to get to any leader, but they also could lose
first weekend.
Speaker 2 (14:34):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (14:35):
Times running out here on Rick Barnes. How many more
years does he have to kind of get over the
hump and get there?
Speaker 3 (14:40):
I know. I listen, someone said they have Tennessee in
the final four. I said, if Dalton connect couldn't get
to a final four, this team, they't gettingto a final four.
Speaker 2 (14:47):
Yeah, Nita Mett might make himself some history if he
does do that. Last one.
Speaker 1 (14:51):
It's seventh seen Kentucky against Santa Clara. My wife as
a Kentucky grad, she is a nervous wreck about Santa
Clara is this one.
Speaker 2 (15:00):
Do you think Kentucky gets the win in I.
Speaker 3 (15:02):
Mean they should. They're on paper there you think they're
the better team. But their defense, especially in the last
ten games, has been bottom half of the entire country,
not in just a tournament. In Santa Clara's offense has
been top ten to twenty in the country in the
last couple of weeks. And they're playing well. They're long, athletic,
and they have legitimate professional talent. I don't think the
talent gap and the quality gap and the roster is
(15:22):
really anything at all. I think they're pretty relatively even
to Kentucky. And that's why I like Santa Clair because
one of those ones where if it's a toss up,
I like to pick the upset because it's more fun
that way, and I see a lot of opportunity where
normally those upsets are in fifty to fifty games. But
Kentucky's weird. Man. They've been hot and cold all year.
They look great at times, They've been the cardiac cats
with comebacks at times, but then they look awful the
(15:43):
next day. And I don't know, they're really confusing. They
could beat Iowa State for all we know. In the
second round and go to the Sweet sixteen, or they
could lose by twenty or Santa Clair.
Speaker 1 (15:52):
Yeah, I'd love to see a Kentucky Tennessee rebatch of
the Sweet sixteen. I mean, Kentucky beat them both times.
They need to cutting backs and both of them to
do it, so it'd be a lot of fun. Ryan,
last thing for you, who's who you got your frontal four?
Speaker 3 (16:04):
I got Houston out of the bottom left to the south.
I have Arizona the top right of this, out of
the out of the west, excuse me, duke out of
the east, and then I always stay out of the Midwest.
Speaker 1 (16:15):
All right, So an sec hater, It's okay, we'll see
if we can get some some tea.
Speaker 3 (16:19):
I want to take Arkansas so bad, I told you,
and even I love Florida too, and I was like, dang,
like I just I went away from the one seat
in Florida and then Arkansas was like damn.
Speaker 2 (16:29):
Yeah, yeah, it's it's hard again.
Speaker 1 (16:31):
It's Ryan Hammer, host of the Blue Bloody podcast, and
of course, uh Splash sports dot com or download the
Splash app and make your picks and be part of
his Survivor competition. Could be a lot of fun Ryan.
I appreciate the time man, thanks so much.
Speaker 3 (16:44):
Thanks Ji,
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