March 10, 2025 • 19 mins
Mike DeCourcy of The Sporting News joins Dave Softy Mahler and Dick Fain to discuss Duke's win over UNC and their rise to #1, Cooper Flagg's upcoming NBA decision, how Auburn and MSU are looking heading into the tourney, and the state of Huskies hoops.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
It's time for the latest on the madness of March.
Here's Hall of Fame college basketball writer for The Sporting
News and Fox Sports lead bracketelogist Mike Decorsi, brought to
you by Northwest Handling Systems. From forklifts to pelletracks, conveyors
to loading duck equipment, we sell, rent and service all
your warehouse he needs. Request a quote today at NWHS
(00:23):
dot com or give us a call at four two
five two five five zero five hundred. Now with Mike Decursi,
here's SOFTI and Dick.
Speaker 2 (00:31):
All right, boys and girls, back here on a busy
Monday from the Emerald Queen Casino Sportsbook. Where by the way,
if you want to win our King of the Court contest,
come on down here and grab a table, grab dinner,
grab breakfast, grab a suite for you in three buds,
stay overnight watch all the basketball games. Get to the
website ninety three to three KJR dot com the Softing
Dick page.
Speaker 3 (00:51):
Enter to win that right now.
Speaker 2 (00:52):
Big thanks to our friends at Northwest Handling Systems for
sponsoring the Shindig every single Monday. On the radio show,
we get to talk some college basketball as we are
just six days away from selection Sunday and Mike de
Corsi back with us from the Big ten Network in
the Sporting News.
Speaker 3 (01:09):
How are you pal, hi, guys, what's going on? Not much?
Speaker 2 (01:14):
I was sitting at a bar on Saturday night watching
that Duke North Carolina game I looked up in North
Carolina made it close for what seemed like about fifteen seconds,
so until Duke Duke blow him out of the water
late in the second half there. And now we have
Duke is the number one for the first time since
twenty twenty one. Can you just talk about the job
that John Shire has done taken over for Mike Krzyzewski
(01:37):
and the unbelievable albatross of pressure that was on him
and how impressive it is getting them the number one
now for the first time in four years.
Speaker 4 (01:46):
Well, it is a lot of pressure, and because I
think there's an expectation now that Duke's going to do
it a certain way, because they have the ability to
do a certain way, and that is get the absolute
best of the best recruits.
Speaker 5 (02:00):
The John caliperrum machine is impaired.
Speaker 4 (02:04):
Let's say it's not going to flow at the level
that it did when it was at Kentucky. While he's
at Arkansas, he's still going to get some great players,
but Duke had already edged ahead in that race to
get the very best. They did it in twenty fifteen,
twenty nineteen, multiple times along the way in between, and
(02:26):
obviously when they got Polo Bankaro would be another example.
Speaker 5 (02:30):
But I think that this year getting.
Speaker 4 (02:34):
Cooper Flagg was they absolutely had to have him and
making sure that he was positioned to be the best
possible player that he could be, and then figuring out
around him what worked and what didn't. And eventually when
they put seaon James at point guard, I think that
was the last step to this being a truly outstanding team.
Speaker 5 (02:54):
They didn't know exactly how they were going to play
point guard. They tried Caleb Foster there. It just wasn't working.
Speaker 4 (03:00):
I think Caleb is a really good college shooting guard
and not a really good.
Speaker 5 (03:06):
College point guard.
Speaker 4 (03:07):
And they ultimately figured that out and then they put
Sea on there, and after they did that, they became outstanding.
So the ability to be flexible and to not wait
till you were way behind it to make that significant
change in how you did things.
Speaker 5 (03:22):
But he made it. As I remember I don't remember whether.
Speaker 4 (03:25):
Seonce started the Auburn game that I was at, but
it was right around that time or very shortly in
early December that he decided he recognized that he had
to make that change if they were going to be exceptional.
Speaker 6 (03:39):
Well, Mike, you mentioned Cooper Flag. I got my Wooden
Award ballot in the email today at nine o'clock in
the morning. It is now open and Cooper Flag is
right there with Jani Broom for favorites of Player of
the Year. Have you selected your Player of the Year
as of yet or is it still open to interpretation
with two weeks left in the ballot.
Speaker 5 (03:59):
Well, I don't vote for the Wooden Award.
Speaker 4 (04:01):
I'm not the biggest fan of how they do things.
But I do vote for the Nate Smith and we
have some time left on that, and the Sporting News
will present our Player of the Year this week. So
I'm a bit averse to announcing what I what I intend,
what we intend to do as a as a as
a company, will will He'll be out. That will be
out on Wednesday, along with our National Coach of the
(04:23):
Year award. But I can say that this is maybe
the most fascinating Player of the Year race that I've
that I've covered.
Speaker 5 (04:30):
And that I've voted in. Wow, because it is. I
remember when Adam Morrison got.
Speaker 4 (04:37):
USBW a gave vote gave both he and JJ Reddick
a share of their trophy.
Speaker 5 (04:43):
It was so it was a very close.
Speaker 4 (04:45):
Competition, and I thought that that for me, JJ was
pretty much a clear winner that year. This year, I
think you can go either way. It depends on what
you want to reward. In the case of Cooper, I mean,
he's the best talent we have. In many ways, he's
the best player. But there's also the fact that he
(05:05):
did it in a league that wasn't really extraordinary.
Speaker 5 (05:09):
I mean, that's that's being too kind. I mean it
were awful. I mean it was an awful by by
ACC standards.
Speaker 4 (05:14):
It's it's abysmal, And so he wasn't getting challenged that much.
Now he does things on the floor even without the
significant challenges you get from great opponents that I remember,
he's not like playing third graders or whatever.
Speaker 5 (05:28):
They're just not they're just not.
Speaker 4 (05:30):
Great ACC teams, but they're good players out there and
he does crazy good things. And then you've got jan
I Broom, though, who's got to be good every night
or Auburn could lose.
Speaker 5 (05:41):
He's got to Cooper doesn't have to.
Speaker 4 (05:44):
Be good every night, and then the other and the
other teams in the ACC can't beat them. But Jani
has to be really good every night. And that's a
monstrous challenge in this ace SEC. They had twelve thirteen
fourteen NCAA tournament where the teams out of sixteen and
they had to be good every night. And he not
only leads them in rebounding and scoring and blocks, he's
(06:08):
also they're leading a sister, which is for a power
forward on a championship contender.
Speaker 5 (06:15):
It's unheard of.
Speaker 2 (06:16):
Well, Mike Decursi is with us from the Sporting News
courtesy of Northwest Handling Systems. Here on a Monday night,
we're just six days away from the NCAA selection show.
And look, I don't want to spend the entire show
talking about Duke basketball.
Speaker 3 (06:28):
They don't rate the publicity.
Speaker 2 (06:29):
Tell you trust me, But Dick mentioned Cooper Flagg. I mean,
I'm seeing some kind of opinions getting tossed around that
maybe he should go back to Duke make a bunch
of money in nil. I mean, sound something like that,
would have sounded crazy, Mike right, just.
Speaker 3 (06:43):
Two or three years ago.
Speaker 2 (06:44):
Is it totally out of the realm of reality that
Cooper Flagg could return to Duke Well.
Speaker 4 (06:50):
I think it would depend somewhat on how this in
terms of whether it's crazy. I don't think it's going
to happen, Ryan, but the level of the degree of
craziness that would be involved in him going back would
depend on if they thought they could win it next year,
and if he came back, they would be oh my gosh.
I mean with the Boozer Twins coming in and him back,
(07:11):
it would be ridiculous. But I think that they're going
to do very well in this tournament if they made
the final four. Would if you were delaying the NBA
career for a year to take a shot at that
when you know it only takes one loss to take
you out of it.
Speaker 5 (07:25):
There's no guarantees.
Speaker 4 (07:26):
You could tweak your ankle and maybe it wouldn't affect
your future career, but affect the pursuit of that championship.
So I think it's crazy because you can't go any
higher than the number one pick. And if you are
Cooper Flag at this stage, look, he's already played.
Speaker 5 (07:43):
Against NBA guys, the best NBA guys as.
Speaker 4 (07:46):
A member of the select team for USA Basketball that
scrimmaged against frequently the Olympic team in the Vegas training camp,
and he did really well by all accounts, and there
were some of it was televised and you could see
he did really well.
Speaker 5 (08:01):
He's an amazing talent.
Speaker 4 (08:03):
I called him the day he signed or committed to
the Duke the best American basketball prospect since at least
Anthony Davis.
Speaker 5 (08:12):
Wow.
Speaker 4 (08:14):
And I think that we're getting to the point now
where the at least is is probably what comes into play,
and then we have to start thinking about do we
go back to the Durant Odin class or do we
just go ahead and go.
Speaker 5 (08:28):
All the way back to Lebron.
Speaker 6 (08:31):
Interesting, Mike, the good news for the Big Ten is
that there's six teams in the top twenty five net.
The bad news for the Big Ten is there's four
secs higher than the highest Big Ten ten. So does
the Big Ten have any legitimate Final four contenders?
Speaker 3 (08:46):
In your mind?
Speaker 4 (08:47):
Oh yeah, I think that any one of Maryland, Purdue Illinois,
if they got the right draw. I mean, remember we
saw NC State make it a year ago. We saw
flort At make it out of an eight nine game
two years ago. So I think anybody that's good is
now a legitimate Final four contender, but a serious Final
(09:09):
four contender. I think you'd be looking at Maryland in
Michigan State, and Maryland's obstacle would be the likelihood that
they will be a four seed or a five seed,
which means they're going to have to go to somebody's
number one in the round of sixteen, and that's not easy.
And in Duke's case, excuse me, in Michigan State's case,
(09:31):
that's a team that is really different than anything we've
seen before, and we don't know what that looks like
under single game pressure one and done one in your
eliminated kind of deal. It's a team that plays ten players,
not equally, but all are significant contributors. It's a team
that who's they don't just play ten players. A lot
(09:52):
of teams have played a lot of guys, and they
have these systems set up, so Okay, at the eighteen
minute mark, you two go in, and at the fifteen
minute mark, you two go in, and then we continue
that and we have these combinations that are made up,
and this is not the.
Speaker 5 (10:05):
Way Tom is coaching.
Speaker 4 (10:07):
He coaches this like he's playing jazz. They have a
plan when they go in and if.
Speaker 5 (10:13):
It works, it works.
Speaker 4 (10:15):
And they'll keep doing it, and if it doesn't work,
then okay, they'll try something different. They've got different guys,
they can put out different combinations and they're going to
try to find something until it works. And the thing
I admire most about what Tom has done and what
gives them the most promise for March is that he
came into the year with Jace Richardson as a very
fine top twenty five ish recruits, and he didn't start
(10:38):
because they had veteran guys and they were good veteran guys.
Speaker 5 (10:41):
But over the course of.
Speaker 4 (10:42):
The year it was pretty obvious that not only was
Jace the most talented player of the program, he's the
best player they have, and so he has to be
out there and he has to be in the lineup.
Speaker 5 (10:52):
And they had the bench.
Speaker 4 (10:53):
A veteran guy who was doing a good job to
do this, and they did, and the veteran guy accepted
it so well. Yesterday he went out led them and
Scoring Hollom and Trey Holloman went out and led them
and scoring in the Michigan game.
Speaker 5 (11:05):
So, and I don't know if you thought it or not,
but he defended the logo toward the end of the game.
So he's all in, even though he got effectively benched.
Speaker 2 (11:15):
Well, Mike de Corsi again with us every Monday, normally
at four, But of all the craziness in the NFL,
Mike was willing to be flexible and we appreciate that.
Speaker 3 (11:23):
My friend, speaking of Duke.
Speaker 2 (11:25):
They might be number one, but as Auburn still despite
the two losses a week ago, are they still your
number one overall seed? If Selection Sunday were tonight.
Speaker 4 (11:35):
They are, But the fact that they dropped the couple
games toward the end, I don't know that one would
describe them as the team to beat anymore because I
always we talked a week ago, I believe about the
various elements of Auburn that say, yeah, they might be
the best team, but do they look like a traditional champion?
And now they've dropped a couple of games and you think, well, yeah,
(11:58):
they can lose in the NCAA tournaments.
Speaker 5 (11:59):
They lose to that team at home.
Speaker 4 (12:01):
Alabama's terrific, But to not be able to run offense
at times against Alabama, and they wasn't that bad, but
it wasn't great, and ultimately they wound up in overtime
and then they couldn't.
Speaker 5 (12:16):
Guard a really not.
Speaker 4 (12:18):
I mean, it was a good action and Sears did
a great job of driving it left, but I mean
they shouldn't have been.
Speaker 5 (12:25):
As out of place as they were on the handoff.
Speaker 4 (12:28):
And then Jani Broom has a chance to comp and
challenge the shot. And it's a lot different shot mark
Sears shooting a floater into open space than it is.
Speaker 5 (12:35):
Trying to shoot it over Jani Broom.
Speaker 4 (12:37):
And Jani Broom goes out faints that that he's gonna
challenge the shot.
Speaker 5 (12:42):
They turns around to go get a rebound with no
time left, like what are you think it?
Speaker 4 (12:46):
And so that's so that worries me about them and
their and their future in the single elimination type deal.
And then I look at Duke and I know they
haven't played anybody. I'm the one who said it five
minutes ago, but ear least anybody in a while. But man,
they got guys, Holy cow, I mean, Cooper flag is tremendous.
(13:07):
But so you know, here we are talking about Duke again,
But there's so much.
Speaker 5 (13:10):
Talent on that team.
Speaker 4 (13:11):
They got four NBA guys minimum, and so I think
that Auburn is still the number one overall seed, but
I think that Duke is going to be the team
that the odds makers say this is the team defeat.
Speaker 2 (13:25):
Yeah Auburn, by the way, still sixteen and four versus
Quad one team.
Speaker 3 (13:29):
Yeah. Right.
Speaker 6 (13:33):
You know, Mike, how many teams potentially could still get
number one seeds in the NCAA Tournament. What's your list
look like.
Speaker 4 (13:41):
I think the most that you would consider is seven,
and that's being very generous to Michigan State. They it
would right now to pass both Alabama and Tennessee. They'd
have to obviously Michigan State has to get to Sunday,
so that would be mean winning two more games, probably
both Quad one, which would bring their Quad one record
(14:02):
up to Right now, they have more than anybody else
except Offer, and they're up to a dozen Quad one
wins because they won I think seven in a row,
so they are up to a dozen Quad one wins, and.
Speaker 5 (14:13):
Their resume metrics are now.
Speaker 4 (14:15):
I think their number is like six point seven, which
is a pretty It's like a middle of the pack
two seeds.
Speaker 5 (14:22):
But Alabama's like at a three.
Speaker 4 (14:25):
And they're still a two seed, and Tennessee's I think
at like five point one or something like that.
Speaker 5 (14:31):
So both of those.
Speaker 4 (14:32):
Teams would be ahead in that metric, and then when
you go to the predictive metrics like ken Palm, they're
well behind both of those teams. So it would take
quite a miracle of sorts, a statistical miracle.
Speaker 5 (14:45):
For them to wind up with a one seed.
Speaker 4 (14:47):
I think for them, it's just about where they get
placed as a two seed, who would be their partner,
And I think what they would want is to avoid
the trick.
Speaker 5 (14:58):
There is the they would want to.
Speaker 4 (15:00):
Avoid Auburn as a two seed, but it's almost impossible
for that to happen because they are the most prominent
to other than the SEC teams yep. And so the
two SEC teams can't be paired with the two that
are on the one line. So that leaves the south
where Auburn will be and the west where Florida figures
(15:21):
to be right and so unless Florida can win its
way past Houston on the one line and get to
Indy instead of getting shipped to San Francisco. I think
Michigan State's almost stated to end up playing Auburn, presuming
they both get that far.
Speaker 2 (15:36):
Well, Mike DECURSI is with us, and we'll talk more
Monday about the bracket when it's announced on Sunday. But
I do got to leave you, Mike, with just a
thought on what happened here in Seattle. I know, when
we first talked a few weeks ago, we brought up
Danny Sprinkle's struggles and things didn't get any better since
that conversation that we had. I mean, they beat Maryland
on January tewod in Seattle. We're all thinking, all right,
(15:58):
maybe they're starting to click here, the schedules to open
up a little bit in the next few weeks after
this crazy gauntlet, But they ended up going four and sixteen,
dead last in the Big Ten. They went three and
fourteen in their final seventeen games.
Speaker 3 (16:10):
Overall, they haven't won a game.
Speaker 2 (16:12):
Excuse me, They've won three games in two months and
they finished in the last place. So I'm looking at
Lorenzo Romar, guys, who finished in ninth place his first
year on the job at U dub in the Pac
Ten and then made the tournament the next year almost
beat you a B in the first round, and they
went to the Sweet sixteen the second year and lost
to Rick Patino in Louisville and Albuquerque. So should Husky
(16:35):
fans think that there's possibly something that could similarly happen
with Danny Sprinkle after this year one disaster?
Speaker 4 (16:44):
Well, I think that when you look at it, they
certainly need to compliment the group of players that they have,
Guys like Tyler Harris who made a lot of progress
over the course of the year, zum Diallo. They have
to get better compliments to them. They made a pretty
substantial investment by all accounts into Great us of Or
(17:05):
and it really didn't work at the level it needed
to for them to be more competitive.
Speaker 5 (17:10):
They need that next investment.
Speaker 4 (17:11):
They make, And I don't know that they had a
ton of options last spring. Danny was new to Washington,
he knew what Great had done last year at Utah State,
and so he rode with it and it didn't work
at this level.
Speaker 5 (17:25):
I think that they need to.
Speaker 4 (17:28):
Deploy their resources better. But if you look at the
guys I mentioned, I think they showed themselves to be
very capable Big ten players, and so how do you
build around that, Well, you have to go out and
find yourself two or three guys who can compliment them,
who can be good where where you're not right now,
(17:51):
and just improve the overall talent level. And then all
of a sudden, you do that and the places Alaska
Airlines Arena, heck ed, whatever you want to call it,
becomes can become a real fortress. I thought one thing
that I will say is I'm not sure about the
very end. I didn't see yesterday's game, but a lot
of the games that we did on VTN, the the
(18:13):
enthusiasm in the arena was pretty good.
Speaker 5 (18:17):
For a team that was pretty clearly faded towards last place.
I thought the enthusiasm in the arena was pretty good.
Speaker 4 (18:23):
So if you could just get that talent level up
a couple of notches, and then you add in that
that great home court advantage, and I.
Speaker 5 (18:32):
Think that they could they could be competitive.
Speaker 4 (18:34):
But that you know that first if is a tough one.
You have to get that done. And Danny and his
staff know what it's about. And look at everything you
dub has to offer, great education, unbelievable location, uh, the
terrific home court venue, all of that, and so you
would hope.
Speaker 5 (18:53):
That that you know, the next group of.
Speaker 4 (18:56):
Future Huskies, Uh, they'd be able to do better than
they were able to do first time around.
Speaker 2 (19:01):
No doubt, Mike, great Stuff, enjoyed Championship Week, and this
time next Monday we will be beholding the bracket together
on the air.
Speaker 3 (19:10):
Great Stuff and we're talking a week man.
Speaker 5 (19:11):
Thanks Mike, Thanks guys,
It's time for the latest on the madness of March.
Here's Hall of Fame college basketball writer for The Sporting
News and Fox Sports lead bracketelogist Mike Decorsi, brought to
you by Northwest Handling Systems. From forklifts to pelletracks, conveyors
to loading duck equipment, we sell, rent and service all
your warehouse he needs. Request a quote today at NWHS
(00:23):
dot com or give us a call at four two
five two five five zero five hundred. Now with Mike Decursi,
here's SOFTI and Dick.
Speaker 2 (00:31):
All right, boys and girls, back here on a busy
Monday from the Emerald Queen Casino Sportsbook. Where by the way,
if you want to win our King of the Court contest,
come on down here and grab a table, grab dinner,
grab breakfast, grab a suite for you in three buds,
stay overnight watch all the basketball games. Get to the
website ninety three to three KJR dot com the Softing
Dick page.
Speaker 3 (00:51):
Enter to win that right now.
Speaker 2 (00:52):
Big thanks to our friends at Northwest Handling Systems for
sponsoring the Shindig every single Monday. On the radio show,
we get to talk some college basketball as we are
just six days away from selection Sunday and Mike de
Corsi back with us from the Big ten Network in
the Sporting News.
Speaker 3 (01:09):
How are you pal, hi, guys, what's going on? Not much?
Speaker 2 (01:14):
I was sitting at a bar on Saturday night watching
that Duke North Carolina game I looked up in North
Carolina made it close for what seemed like about fifteen seconds,
so until Duke Duke blow him out of the water
late in the second half there. And now we have
Duke is the number one for the first time since
twenty twenty one. Can you just talk about the job
that John Shire has done taken over for Mike Krzyzewski
(01:37):
and the unbelievable albatross of pressure that was on him
and how impressive it is getting them the number one
now for the first time in four years.
Speaker 4 (01:46):
Well, it is a lot of pressure, and because I
think there's an expectation now that Duke's going to do
it a certain way, because they have the ability to
do a certain way, and that is get the absolute
best of the best recruits.
Speaker 5 (02:00):
The John caliperrum machine is impaired.
Speaker 4 (02:04):
Let's say it's not going to flow at the level
that it did when it was at Kentucky. While he's
at Arkansas, he's still going to get some great players,
but Duke had already edged ahead in that race to
get the very best. They did it in twenty fifteen,
twenty nineteen, multiple times along the way in between, and
(02:26):
obviously when they got Polo Bankaro would be another example.
Speaker 5 (02:30):
But I think that this year getting.
Speaker 4 (02:34):
Cooper Flagg was they absolutely had to have him and
making sure that he was positioned to be the best
possible player that he could be, and then figuring out
around him what worked and what didn't. And eventually when
they put seaon James at point guard, I think that
was the last step to this being a truly outstanding team.
Speaker 5 (02:54):
They didn't know exactly how they were going to play
point guard. They tried Caleb Foster there. It just wasn't working.
Speaker 4 (03:00):
I think Caleb is a really good college shooting guard
and not a really good.
Speaker 5 (03:06):
College point guard.
Speaker 4 (03:07):
And they ultimately figured that out and then they put
Sea on there, and after they did that, they became outstanding.
So the ability to be flexible and to not wait
till you were way behind it to make that significant
change in how you did things.
Speaker 5 (03:22):
But he made it. As I remember I don't remember whether.
Speaker 4 (03:25):
Seonce started the Auburn game that I was at, but
it was right around that time or very shortly in
early December that he decided he recognized that he had
to make that change if they were going to be exceptional.
Speaker 6 (03:39):
Well, Mike, you mentioned Cooper Flag. I got my Wooden
Award ballot in the email today at nine o'clock in
the morning. It is now open and Cooper Flag is
right there with Jani Broom for favorites of Player of
the Year. Have you selected your Player of the Year
as of yet or is it still open to interpretation
with two weeks left in the ballot.
Speaker 5 (03:59):
Well, I don't vote for the Wooden Award.
Speaker 4 (04:01):
I'm not the biggest fan of how they do things.
But I do vote for the Nate Smith and we
have some time left on that, and the Sporting News
will present our Player of the Year this week. So
I'm a bit averse to announcing what I what I intend,
what we intend to do as a as a as
a company, will will He'll be out. That will be
out on Wednesday, along with our National Coach of the
(04:23):
Year award. But I can say that this is maybe
the most fascinating Player of the Year race that I've
that I've covered.
Speaker 5 (04:30):
And that I've voted in. Wow, because it is. I
remember when Adam Morrison got.
Speaker 4 (04:37):
USBW a gave vote gave both he and JJ Reddick
a share of their trophy.
Speaker 5 (04:43):
It was so it was a very close.
Speaker 4 (04:45):
Competition, and I thought that that for me, JJ was
pretty much a clear winner that year. This year, I
think you can go either way. It depends on what
you want to reward. In the case of Cooper, I mean,
he's the best talent we have. In many ways, he's
the best player. But there's also the fact that he
(05:05):
did it in a league that wasn't really extraordinary.
Speaker 5 (05:09):
I mean, that's that's being too kind. I mean it
were awful. I mean it was an awful by by
ACC standards.
Speaker 4 (05:14):
It's it's abysmal, And so he wasn't getting challenged that much.
Now he does things on the floor even without the
significant challenges you get from great opponents that I remember,
he's not like playing third graders or whatever.
Speaker 5 (05:28):
They're just not they're just not.
Speaker 4 (05:30):
Great ACC teams, but they're good players out there and
he does crazy good things. And then you've got jan
I Broom, though, who's got to be good every night
or Auburn could lose.
Speaker 5 (05:41):
He's got to Cooper doesn't have to.
Speaker 4 (05:44):
Be good every night, and then the other and the
other teams in the ACC can't beat them. But Jani
has to be really good every night. And that's a
monstrous challenge in this ace SEC. They had twelve thirteen
fourteen NCAA tournament where the teams out of sixteen and
they had to be good every night. And he not
only leads them in rebounding and scoring and blocks, he's
(06:08):
also they're leading a sister, which is for a power
forward on a championship contender.
Speaker 5 (06:15):
It's unheard of.
Speaker 2 (06:16):
Well, Mike Decursi is with us from the Sporting News
courtesy of Northwest Handling Systems. Here on a Monday night,
we're just six days away from the NCAA selection show.
And look, I don't want to spend the entire show
talking about Duke basketball.
Speaker 3 (06:28):
They don't rate the publicity.
Speaker 2 (06:29):
Tell you trust me, But Dick mentioned Cooper Flagg. I mean,
I'm seeing some kind of opinions getting tossed around that
maybe he should go back to Duke make a bunch
of money in nil. I mean, sound something like that,
would have sounded crazy, Mike right, just.
Speaker 3 (06:43):
Two or three years ago.
Speaker 2 (06:44):
Is it totally out of the realm of reality that
Cooper Flagg could return to Duke Well.
Speaker 4 (06:50):
I think it would depend somewhat on how this in
terms of whether it's crazy. I don't think it's going
to happen, Ryan, but the level of the degree of
craziness that would be involved in him going back would
depend on if they thought they could win it next year,
and if he came back, they would be oh my gosh.
I mean with the Boozer Twins coming in and him back,
(07:11):
it would be ridiculous. But I think that they're going
to do very well in this tournament if they made
the final four. Would if you were delaying the NBA
career for a year to take a shot at that
when you know it only takes one loss to take
you out of it.
Speaker 5 (07:25):
There's no guarantees.
Speaker 4 (07:26):
You could tweak your ankle and maybe it wouldn't affect
your future career, but affect the pursuit of that championship.
So I think it's crazy because you can't go any
higher than the number one pick. And if you are
Cooper Flag at this stage, look, he's already played.
Speaker 5 (07:43):
Against NBA guys, the best NBA guys as.
Speaker 4 (07:46):
A member of the select team for USA Basketball that
scrimmaged against frequently the Olympic team in the Vegas training camp,
and he did really well by all accounts, and there
were some of it was televised and you could see
he did really well.
Speaker 5 (08:01):
He's an amazing talent.
Speaker 4 (08:03):
I called him the day he signed or committed to
the Duke the best American basketball prospect since at least
Anthony Davis.
Speaker 5 (08:12):
Wow.
Speaker 4 (08:14):
And I think that we're getting to the point now
where the at least is is probably what comes into play,
and then we have to start thinking about do we
go back to the Durant Odin class or do we
just go ahead and go.
Speaker 5 (08:28):
All the way back to Lebron.
Speaker 6 (08:31):
Interesting, Mike, the good news for the Big Ten is
that there's six teams in the top twenty five net.
The bad news for the Big Ten is there's four
secs higher than the highest Big Ten ten. So does
the Big Ten have any legitimate Final four contenders?
Speaker 3 (08:46):
In your mind?
Speaker 4 (08:47):
Oh yeah, I think that any one of Maryland, Purdue Illinois,
if they got the right draw. I mean, remember we
saw NC State make it a year ago. We saw
flort At make it out of an eight nine game
two years ago. So I think anybody that's good is
now a legitimate Final four contender, but a serious Final
(09:09):
four contender. I think you'd be looking at Maryland in
Michigan State, and Maryland's obstacle would be the likelihood that
they will be a four seed or a five seed,
which means they're going to have to go to somebody's
number one in the round of sixteen, and that's not easy.
And in Duke's case, excuse me, in Michigan State's case,
(09:31):
that's a team that is really different than anything we've
seen before, and we don't know what that looks like
under single game pressure one and done one in your
eliminated kind of deal. It's a team that plays ten players,
not equally, but all are significant contributors. It's a team
that who's they don't just play ten players. A lot
(09:52):
of teams have played a lot of guys, and they
have these systems set up, so Okay, at the eighteen
minute mark, you two go in, and at the fifteen
minute mark, you two go in, and then we continue
that and we have these combinations that are made up,
and this is not the.
Speaker 5 (10:05):
Way Tom is coaching.
Speaker 4 (10:07):
He coaches this like he's playing jazz. They have a
plan when they go in and if.
Speaker 5 (10:13):
It works, it works.
Speaker 4 (10:15):
And they'll keep doing it, and if it doesn't work,
then okay, they'll try something different. They've got different guys,
they can put out different combinations and they're going to
try to find something until it works. And the thing
I admire most about what Tom has done and what
gives them the most promise for March is that he
came into the year with Jace Richardson as a very
fine top twenty five ish recruits, and he didn't start
(10:38):
because they had veteran guys and they were good veteran guys.
Speaker 5 (10:41):
But over the course of.
Speaker 4 (10:42):
The year it was pretty obvious that not only was
Jace the most talented player of the program, he's the
best player they have, and so he has to be
out there and he has to be in the lineup.
Speaker 5 (10:52):
And they had the bench.
Speaker 4 (10:53):
A veteran guy who was doing a good job to
do this, and they did, and the veteran guy accepted
it so well. Yesterday he went out led them and
Scoring Hollom and Trey Holloman went out and led them
and scoring in the Michigan game.
Speaker 5 (11:05):
So, and I don't know if you thought it or not,
but he defended the logo toward the end of the game.
So he's all in, even though he got effectively benched.
Speaker 2 (11:15):
Well, Mike de Corsi again with us every Monday, normally
at four, But of all the craziness in the NFL,
Mike was willing to be flexible and we appreciate that.
Speaker 3 (11:23):
My friend, speaking of Duke.
Speaker 2 (11:25):
They might be number one, but as Auburn still despite
the two losses a week ago, are they still your
number one overall seed? If Selection Sunday were tonight.
Speaker 4 (11:35):
They are, But the fact that they dropped the couple
games toward the end, I don't know that one would
describe them as the team to beat anymore because I
always we talked a week ago, I believe about the
various elements of Auburn that say, yeah, they might be
the best team, but do they look like a traditional champion?
And now they've dropped a couple of games and you think, well, yeah,
(11:58):
they can lose in the NCAA tournaments.
Speaker 5 (11:59):
They lose to that team at home.
Speaker 4 (12:01):
Alabama's terrific, But to not be able to run offense
at times against Alabama, and they wasn't that bad, but
it wasn't great, and ultimately they wound up in overtime
and then they couldn't.
Speaker 5 (12:16):
Guard a really not.
Speaker 4 (12:18):
I mean, it was a good action and Sears did
a great job of driving it left, but I mean
they shouldn't have been.
Speaker 5 (12:25):
As out of place as they were on the handoff.
Speaker 4 (12:28):
And then Jani Broom has a chance to comp and
challenge the shot. And it's a lot different shot mark
Sears shooting a floater into open space than it is.
Speaker 5 (12:35):
Trying to shoot it over Jani Broom.
Speaker 4 (12:37):
And Jani Broom goes out faints that that he's gonna
challenge the shot.
Speaker 5 (12:42):
They turns around to go get a rebound with no
time left, like what are you think it?
Speaker 4 (12:46):
And so that's so that worries me about them and
their and their future in the single elimination type deal.
And then I look at Duke and I know they
haven't played anybody. I'm the one who said it five
minutes ago, but ear least anybody in a while. But man,
they got guys, Holy cow, I mean, Cooper flag is tremendous.
(13:07):
But so you know, here we are talking about Duke again,
But there's so much.
Speaker 5 (13:10):
Talent on that team.
Speaker 4 (13:11):
They got four NBA guys minimum, and so I think
that Auburn is still the number one overall seed, but
I think that Duke is going to be the team
that the odds makers say this is the team defeat.
Speaker 2 (13:25):
Yeah Auburn, by the way, still sixteen and four versus
Quad one team.
Speaker 3 (13:29):
Yeah. Right.
Speaker 6 (13:33):
You know, Mike, how many teams potentially could still get
number one seeds in the NCAA Tournament. What's your list
look like.
Speaker 4 (13:41):
I think the most that you would consider is seven,
and that's being very generous to Michigan State. They it
would right now to pass both Alabama and Tennessee. They'd
have to obviously Michigan State has to get to Sunday,
so that would be mean winning two more games, probably
both Quad one, which would bring their Quad one record
(14:02):
up to Right now, they have more than anybody else
except Offer, and they're up to a dozen Quad one
wins because they won I think seven in a row,
so they are up to a dozen Quad one wins, and.
Speaker 5 (14:13):
Their resume metrics are now.
Speaker 4 (14:15):
I think their number is like six point seven, which
is a pretty It's like a middle of the pack
two seeds.
Speaker 5 (14:22):
But Alabama's like at a three.
Speaker 4 (14:25):
And they're still a two seed, and Tennessee's I think
at like five point one or something like that.
Speaker 5 (14:31):
So both of those.
Speaker 4 (14:32):
Teams would be ahead in that metric, and then when
you go to the predictive metrics like ken Palm, they're
well behind both of those teams. So it would take
quite a miracle of sorts, a statistical miracle.
Speaker 5 (14:45):
For them to wind up with a one seed.
Speaker 4 (14:47):
I think for them, it's just about where they get
placed as a two seed, who would be their partner,
And I think what they would want is to avoid
the trick.
Speaker 5 (14:58):
There is the they would want to.
Speaker 4 (15:00):
Avoid Auburn as a two seed, but it's almost impossible
for that to happen because they are the most prominent
to other than the SEC teams yep. And so the
two SEC teams can't be paired with the two that
are on the one line. So that leaves the south
where Auburn will be and the west where Florida figures
(15:21):
to be right and so unless Florida can win its
way past Houston on the one line and get to
Indy instead of getting shipped to San Francisco. I think
Michigan State's almost stated to end up playing Auburn, presuming
they both get that far.
Speaker 2 (15:36):
Well, Mike DECURSI is with us, and we'll talk more
Monday about the bracket when it's announced on Sunday. But
I do got to leave you, Mike, with just a
thought on what happened here in Seattle. I know, when
we first talked a few weeks ago, we brought up
Danny Sprinkle's struggles and things didn't get any better since
that conversation that we had. I mean, they beat Maryland
on January tewod in Seattle. We're all thinking, all right,
(15:58):
maybe they're starting to click here, the schedules to open
up a little bit in the next few weeks after
this crazy gauntlet, But they ended up going four and sixteen,
dead last in the Big Ten. They went three and
fourteen in their final seventeen games.
Speaker 3 (16:10):
Overall, they haven't won a game.
Speaker 2 (16:12):
Excuse me, They've won three games in two months and
they finished in the last place. So I'm looking at
Lorenzo Romar, guys, who finished in ninth place his first
year on the job at U dub in the Pac
Ten and then made the tournament the next year almost
beat you a B in the first round, and they
went to the Sweet sixteen the second year and lost
to Rick Patino in Louisville and Albuquerque. So should Husky
(16:35):
fans think that there's possibly something that could similarly happen
with Danny Sprinkle after this year one disaster?
Speaker 4 (16:44):
Well, I think that when you look at it, they
certainly need to compliment the group of players that they have,
Guys like Tyler Harris who made a lot of progress
over the course of the year, zum Diallo. They have
to get better compliments to them. They made a pretty
substantial investment by all accounts into Great us of Or
(17:05):
and it really didn't work at the level it needed
to for them to be more competitive.
Speaker 5 (17:10):
They need that next investment.
Speaker 4 (17:11):
They make, And I don't know that they had a
ton of options last spring. Danny was new to Washington,
he knew what Great had done last year at Utah State,
and so he rode with it and it didn't work
at this level.
Speaker 5 (17:25):
I think that they need to.
Speaker 4 (17:28):
Deploy their resources better. But if you look at the
guys I mentioned, I think they showed themselves to be
very capable Big ten players, and so how do you
build around that, Well, you have to go out and
find yourself two or three guys who can compliment them,
who can be good where where you're not right now,
(17:51):
and just improve the overall talent level. And then all
of a sudden, you do that and the places Alaska
Airlines Arena, heck ed, whatever you want to call it,
becomes can become a real fortress. I thought one thing
that I will say is I'm not sure about the
very end. I didn't see yesterday's game, but a lot
of the games that we did on VTN, the the
(18:13):
enthusiasm in the arena was pretty good.
Speaker 5 (18:17):
For a team that was pretty clearly faded towards last place.
I thought the enthusiasm in the arena was pretty good.
Speaker 4 (18:23):
So if you could just get that talent level up
a couple of notches, and then you add in that
that great home court advantage, and I.
Speaker 5 (18:32):
Think that they could they could be competitive.
Speaker 4 (18:34):
But that you know that first if is a tough one.
You have to get that done. And Danny and his
staff know what it's about. And look at everything you
dub has to offer, great education, unbelievable location, uh, the
terrific home court venue, all of that, and so you
would hope.
Speaker 5 (18:53):
That that you know, the next group of.
Speaker 4 (18:56):
Future Huskies, Uh, they'd be able to do better than
they were able to do first time around.
Speaker 2 (19:01):
No doubt, Mike, great Stuff, enjoyed Championship Week, and this
time next Monday we will be beholding the bracket together
on the air.
Speaker 3 (19:10):
Great Stuff and we're talking a week man.
Speaker 5 (19:11):
Thanks Mike, Thanks guys,
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