March 16, 2023 • 32 mins
The First Round of March Madness is already underway, so let's get gambling! Action Network hosts Chad Millman and Simon Hunter are joined by their colleague and college basketball expert Michael Calabrese, co-host of the Big Bets On Campus podcast, as they preview the games on Friday. Is Gonzaga underrated in the NCAA Tournament this season? Are Creighton and Furman teams worth backing? And who are some other upset specials Calabrese will be targeting on Friday and in the rounds ahead? #Volume #herd
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Welcome to The Favorites, the podcast from the Volume and
Podcast Network. I'm Chad Mollman, Chief Content Officer of the
(01:27):
Action Network. We are still talking March Madness, folks. We're
going to dive deep into the bets you need to
make for Friday with one of our Action Network college
basketball experts, Mike Calabris. You hear him all over the
BBOC podcasts all football season long. He's amazing on college basketball.
(01:50):
He was on our preview show on Sunday night spewing knowledge.
Before we get to Calabris, let me bring in my
co host, my bff, my companion, Mike and Padre professional
Better or Simon Hunter. Hello sewing In, Hello Chad. Just
in time for kickoff of the March Badness. We do
(02:11):
a show, Gotta love it, lemon am here we are
for twelve was it twelve am or twelve pm? They
kick off these games, dude, It's called tip off, man,
Fuck it's tip off it's all right. Listen, listen, I
know where your head is at Your head is the
same place my head is, which is how amazing are
the Chicago Bears, which will be a continued theme for
(02:33):
this podcast. Whether we're talking in March madness, whether we're
talking Masters, whether we're talking NBA playoffs, whether we are
talking baseball, it's not gonna matter. The Chicago Bears are
marching their way to the super Bowl this year. That
odds are dropping. Let's bring in Mike Calabres, who, by
(02:53):
the way, the man knows a little bit of something
about betting because in a into being from a family
of degenerates. And I say that lovingly, I assume love
and affection. I say that if people don't listen to
the Group of Five podcasts that Calabris does during the
season on BBOC, these guys they freaking nail their picks
(03:21):
like it's uncanny. Calabries, how much you know about the
Group of Five, it's pretty impressive. Nice job. Well, I
appreciate that. I think it's time to step into the
tea box, drop the puck, get ready for this basketball action.
You know, try to too as many cross supports references
as we can. Yeah, I agree. This is such a
(03:41):
fun time of year, and for me, people come out
of the woodwork. It's you know, friends, family, a lot
of ex girlfriends. Oh hey, could you help me with
dear bracket? You know, who do you think's going all
the way? So depending on how those relationships ended, I'm
giving out some Easter eggs and I'm also giving out
some soon cold dead losers, just for the first round,
just to turn turn the knife a little bit. But yes,
(04:01):
I'm here to provide as much insight as I can.
Because when I'm tolling away in mid major Land in January,
no one wants to talk about Grand Canyon. But now
all of a sudden, I'm the bell of the ball.
People are like, tell me everything you know about the Lopes.
Let's get to it. Well, listen, I want to remind
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(05:26):
games tomorrow. Obviously, people listening to this, We're not going
to try to tell you who to bet in the
middle of a Thursday when games are kicking off and
we're dropping the puck and it's you know, opening pitch
going up until about ten thirty to night. But we
do want to focus on Friday. I listened to the
Road to the Final Score Show, and listen to watch
the Road to the Final Score Show with you and
(05:47):
Stucky and Anthony du Bundo and Mariam. Are you know
on Sunday you can still check all that out on
YouTube Action Network YouTube page. You had a lot to say,
and I liked a lot of what you were talking about.
I was picking up a lot of what you were
laying down. Give me your best bet right now for
the Friday matchups, you can only choose one. I know
there are a bunch of teams you talked about, So
(06:08):
during the offseason I like to do a deep dive.
I'm not quite on the Evan Abrahams level of research,
but I do like to have my little theories and
then go on these little easter egg hunts and see
if I can find something and one element that I
found since twenty fourteen, when you look at all the
pods and you can see this beautifully on the Wikipedia
page for every single March Madness tournament, you can see
(06:29):
where all the regional spots are located, all the first
and second round spots. So there's eight pods with four
games each in them. So what I do is I
try to find the teams that have the longest travel
because not only are the miles important, but also if
it's thousands of miles away, you're not going to get
many of your fans to come to the games. And
then it's an added bonus if there's some kind of
(06:50):
time shift that works against you. The body clock theory,
all of that is coming together for VS to you
against Saint Mary's. Saint Mary's spent the majority of the
season in the top twenty five. They got, you know,
close to the top ten. And what is their reward
for that? They get to go across country and play
in Albany, New York. Not a great look for them.
When are they playing two pm Eastern so eleven am
(07:13):
body clock tip off for the gals, and they're up
against a high energy VCU defense that turns you over
just about as much as any team in the entire country.
And when you pair that with the fact that Saint
Mary's likes to play real slow, low possession games, every
turnover takes on added value. If it's an up and
down game, back and forth, hey can turn the ball
over fifteen times, that's fine. But when you're playing in
(07:34):
those low scoring games that they want to play and in
in the sixties, if you turn it over fifteen times,
that can be a death knell. And then finally, Aiden mhaney,
who was one of the best freshmen in the entire country,
playing for the Gals. It was a great story. He
turned down some very high major opportunities to go play
for Saint Mary's. He has just been in a bit
of a shooting funk. Four games with ten points or
(07:55):
fewer in his last seven, and that's really why the
Gals have been leaking oil down the stretch. After they
beat Gonzaga in an overtime game, looks like they spent
all their emotional energy up against a VCU team that
has a star of their own, Ace Baldwin at the
guard position. He's a combo guard. He can facilitate, he
can score. I think is gonna win this game out right.
You can still get him plus four and a half
five at seven places in the market. But I'm gonna
(08:17):
go ahead and play him at about plus one seventy
five on the body line VCU, plus four and a
half at Vanduel. As you just said, plus one seventy
five of the money line. I'm not gonna lie caliberies.
That's not one of the teams that you mentioned on
Sunday night in the road to the final score. And
I unloaded on basically every team that you talked about seriously.
(08:38):
And when I say you I mean the collective you
Stucky Dubundo, Nick Giffen. I unloaded on Drake Creighton Firm
in Utah State. I unloaded down West Virginia, Yukon, Arkansas,
Oral Roberts Kent State. Not once did you mention VCU Well.
One thing I will say in defense of this good thing,
(08:59):
you jump on that Drake client because I think I
could end up closing as a pick against Miami. It's
a twelve five game that's in paper flat. I'm just
trying to say here, we gave you that scorching hot
intel to be able to get in before they rule
out in North Shadow Mirror from this game because Drake's
defense is incredible. They're really strong on the glass. All
the things that we said on Sunday night, I'm glad
(09:20):
that you got in at the right number, because that's
what Stuck is preaching this time of year, get the
best number possible. Yeah. I'm not getting the best number
on anything. By the way, all my numbers are off
from what I did on Sunday. I'm just saying, Simon,
before we jumped on the air, you said you add
some late breaking info from professional groups on one of
(09:41):
the games that's happening on Friday. I think I'm still
recovering from here. In chat say unload multiple times in
about a two minute span. That was a bit much. Yeah, Chad,
this is my time of year. I'm just a true
fly on the wall. Like I'm in all these texts
group with all these pros, and I know this is
in my place to say anything or reach out. So
I literally I'll wake up in the morning, I'll just
(10:01):
read through conversations that people have all through the night,
just the degenerates talking shit, throwing ideas, and multiple guys
keep popping up with Grand Canyon outright over Gonzaga, which
to me is so out of this world even thinking
about it, because Gonzaga historically, yes they do choke, but
it's not until maybe the second or third week, right,
they don't choke first weekend. Usually they're pretty good at
(10:23):
beating up these bad teams. And then I look, I
see you online. There are three seed Grand Canyon is
the fourteen. It's plus eight ninety right now on Fandel.
Of course I'm gonna throw some on it. So I
would love to hear that from another professional viewpoint. What
are these guys seen and what's the other side here,
Why would you say no, Tiken zag on the spread.
That's the better play than calling for the big upset
(10:45):
here of Grand Canyon over Gonzaga in round one. This
is a three point variants kind of play. You know,
the Lopes are gonna fire up probably twenty five thirty
threes in this game. They go ahead and make ten
or twelve, it's going to be a game in the
under eight time out. So I stand from that perspective.
But then when you look on the other side of
the ball, for Grant Kenyon, they're one hundred and ninety
eight and palm defense. They're going to get fed into
(11:07):
the wood chipper by this Gonzaga offense. They're by far
the number one rated offense. And really I've been calling
them the zombie Zags ever since they lost an overtime
a game that they dominated for thirty nine minutes against
Saint Mary's and just fell apart at the end of regulation.
They lose in ot and the national media was basically like, well,
they were this cute story this year. You know, they're
not going to be in the national conversation to really win,
(11:29):
to finally get over the hump for Mark Few. Since then,
they've averaged ninety three points per game in their last nine,
including two games against Saint Mary's where they thumped them.
And I think from a human nature standpoint, Mark Few
is really pushing the right buttons right now. Because Drew
Timmy came back for this run, They're not overlooking anything
in March Madness. It's been all about getting to this
(11:50):
tournament and dominating. And for that reason, I think they
actually have great value to make the Sweet sixteen at
minus one sixty because beyond this game, they have a
chance to go up against a wounded UCLA team that's
down the defensive player of the year in the Pac twelve.
They also set have some injury issues in their front court. Gonzaga,
I think it's just locked and loaded, and I love
their depth. Malakai Smith is a name to keep in
minds as this tournament goes on because he comes off
(12:11):
the bench. Last year, he led Chad knew Good to
the MC double A tournament and he was like a
twenty and eight kind of scorer. This year, he's coming
off the bench, but he's capable of double digits and
that's the beauty of what Gonzaga has going on offensively
Beyond Timmy, it's just a multi headed attack. So there's
no way to take the offensive pressure down from Gonzaga.
They're gonna push, push, push, and I mean, Grant Indian
(12:34):
is a good story. But the fact of the matter
is they're better home team. They're clear on that playing
on their home floor here. So I actually like the
fifteen and a half point spread for the Zags. Maybe
play it in the first half, see if they come
out with their hair on the fire. But I think
in terms of the pros, it's just a value proposition.
I would have to be north at ten to one
for me even to get interested in a nightmare scenario
where Gonzaga goes out because Mark Fu's gone to the
(12:56):
Sweet sixteen and seven straight tournaments, so that's early exit,
you know, tag that's attached to them. As you said,
that's a second weekend conversation, not on the first weekend.
Calabrie's is unloading on your wise guys. Yeah, no, it's
making me feel good. I like when I hear a
team can get hot from three points, That's what I
wanted to hear. I just want to know why are
they taking Grant Cannon that makes perfect sense. If they
(13:16):
can hit the threes. You know, Gonzai can score they want,
they can't catch up to all those threes being made.
That's that's kind of the angle I think they're taking here.
All right, Michael, you told us about VCU five days
after the seatings came out. Who is another one that
we should be looking for on Friday? So I'm hot
(13:38):
to trot on Creton. This is one that I have
not kept close to the best. I'm telling everybody stopping
people on the street the hot dog vendor here in
New York City because I'm at the lovely New Action
Network headquarters shooting video so I can the opportunity to
walk around talk basketball with anyone to listen to me.
Craydon's got it all, to be honest, there's a certain
championship DNA out there. From a composite resume standpoint, when
(14:03):
you look at Kenpom, if you can be top thirty
and offensive even defensive efficiency year elite, they're twenty eighth
and offense fifteenth in defense. All five starters average over
eleven points per game. They got a great big and
Kalk Brenner, so they're not going to get bullied by
any of these opponents. They play great defense and something
that I really love that's infuriating and something that can
be overlooked pretty easily when you're putting together your picks.
(14:24):
They don't put opponents to the line. They only give
up twelve point four foul shots per game. That's third nationally.
So you have to truly beat him. There's no cheapies,
there's no easy points being handed out. You got to
beat him in the half court and that's really difficult
to do. And then additionally, beyond everything they have offensively,
they do not turn the ball over. So when you
put it between not turning the ball over and not
(14:44):
putting teams on the line, it's hard work to knock
out the Blue Jays. And they're up against ency state
team that has some nice wins this year, but they're
all at home. They've done absolutely nothing zip zero, nada
on the road or a neutral sites, and I think
that's a bad recipe for the wolf Packs. All go
ahead and the five and a half. I'd love to
get five. I think there's a chance maybe it'll go
down to five in the market, but I would probably
(15:07):
play it up to seven, where it still has its value.
Now looking at the whole board here, do we have
any Cinderellas up pop out to any teams that can
make a run. You know, every year we always have
these teams. Now everything in the NCAA is so much
closer now where we talked about stuck. If there's a
bunch of good seniors, you can usually make a run. Right,
These guys haven't been together for three four years playing
(15:28):
against these teams at Yes, they might have the pedigree,
but they're just not a team like these other teams are.
There's anyone that stands out to this year that could
be a Cinderella or is it kind of flat across
the board? So I'd love to say Drake, but I
don't want to get yelled up by Chat again. So
I'm gonna go with Montana State, one of the most
experienced teams here in the field. They're up against a
Case State team and Bobcats have won fourteen and fifteen,
(15:50):
coming in four upperclassmen, and they're starting lineup a dynamic
score in former Washington guard Raquan Battle. The other issue
in this case is sometimes it becomes the game inside
the game. So kse State loves to get to the rim.
They want to attack, attack, attack, but Montana State is
six nationally in points per possession allowed at the rim,
(16:10):
so I think that's bad news for KSE State, and
pressure wise, I think all of its slides. When you're
a fourteen seed, they're quote unquote happy to be there.
But KASE State has spent a lot of this season
in the fight in the mix in the Big Twelve,
thinking of themselves as a national title contender. Certainly, it
contended to win the Big twelve regular season and it
didn't come to fruition didn't come together in the Big
(16:31):
Twelve tournament. And I think if they have some bum
luck early in this game and they kind of get
stuck in the mud trying to drive and not finding
their usual success, I think the bobs are going to
absolutely throw a scare in the Wildcats. So I think
they're alive as dog here. KSE State is an interesting program.
Another interesting program with national aspirations in my backyard the
(16:56):
Yukon Huskies, which at one point this year were you know,
a top two team and then faded and then they
were listen the West Hartford cocktail party circuit. We were
ever at the Burns. They had the whole neighborhood over
(17:18):
talking about Yukon basketball because in the middle of January
they got hot last six weeks of the year, potentially
one of the best teams in the country. They got
to take on rip Pettino and Iona great couple of years.
Rumors he may take a new job. Rippettino coming back
(17:39):
at seventy years old. Love that. Where do you stand
on Yukon? Right now? Yukon is an elite offensive rebounding
team and I love the fact do you bring something
special to the table. And in a lot of cases,
teams at this point the season will say we're great
from three point range, which to me is a double
edged sword. It doesn't always travel. Sometimes it's the bay
(18:00):
and you can throw you off. Sometimes you just have
those nights where you shoot twenty five percent from three?
Can you recover from that? Offensive rebounding travels everywhere. They
have these bouncy athletic you know, six foot six to
six foot ten guys. They just come in waves like
it gets a line change in hockey, and for the
most part they overwhelm teams in that regard. Now I
own them is a good offensive rebounding team in their
own right. They're twenty sixth in offensive rebounding percentage nationally,
(18:22):
which is one of the best marks for mid major.
It begins and ends with Nellie Junior Joseph the averages
close to fifteen and ten per game. I own. It
also is great in terms of turnover margins. So when
you put the offensive rebounding stats in there, and then
fourteenth in turnover margin at just about plus four per game,
that's a lot of extra opportunities. You're not giving opportunities
to the opponent. They're also elite at shutting down the
(18:44):
three point line for opponents. Their twentieth in opponent shooting efficiency.
So the gals are real tough defensively, and when I
look at Yukon, there's so much to like about them,
but their offensive engine on the perimeters. Jordan Hawkins, he's
seventeen for fifty in his last four games. That concerns
a little bit, not necessarily to get out of the
first round, but I think it's they're legitimate threat to
(19:05):
go to the final four. He has to get it together. Luckily,
in this spot, Yukon can also turn around and just
shut down the three point shot. They only gave up
four point nine made threes per game. That's third nationally.
So Iona, I do not think have the Cinderella formula
to be able to bomb away from three. It's going
to be Yoman's work on the glass just to probably
be minus five in the offensive rebounding battle. What I
(19:25):
actually like, there's under one forty three and a half.
I think it's going to be at rock fight, and
I think Ukon's going to be happy to get out
of there with a five or six point win. Simon.
I don't know about you, but I like listening to
Calabrie's talk about college basketball. Might be making up the
name of every single player on teams, like he talks
about the Lopes, he talks about, you know, Iona's offensive
(19:49):
rebounding prowess. Can you name the leading score for every
team in the NCAA tournament year the NCAA tournaments. There's
a good chance. One of my parlor tricks is I know,
you know, obviously every single Division one school nickname which
comes into play. You know, if I meet someone's wife
(20:11):
at a party, she's like, well I went to Western Illinois.
Just give them a good go leathernecks, that icebreaker, I
know the Leathernecks. A guy from my high school played
football for Western Illinois, and we're like the Leathernecks roof
positive right there. Just bringing people together school. It doesn't
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West Virginia. Speaking of college basketball powers Indiana University. I
went to Indiana. Been super excited about this team. All year,
(22:29):
up and down, up and down big wins against Purdue.
Looked terrible against Penn State. After jumping out to an
early lead, I think they made one three the entire game.
They got Kent State. In my IU text chain, it
was reminded. I was reminded that the last time we
played at Kent State in the first round, we were
dominated by Antonio Gates before he moved on to the NFL.
(22:53):
I bet Kent State plus four and a half. It's
a little bit of an emotional hedge. Give me your
take on this Indiana team. Well, I would say if
an upset happens, that means I guess Sincere Carrey is
going to be a starting defensive back in the NFL
in five years because he's there there you go, showing
off right there, ten and one down the stretch for
the Golden Flashes. And here's the thing about MAC basketball.
(23:15):
There's a decent amount of teams that go to the
low post and play back to the basket and want
to feed the post. So they have experience and they
come in as one of the best mid majors defending
the post. Why is that importance? Because Trace Jackson Davis
is such a dominant post player. So really it becomes
Jordan rules where it's like, as long as we can
let him get just twenty five instead of thirty five.
(23:36):
I think the Golden Flashes are going to be in
good shape there. And there's also at this point in
the season, you know, we make light of some of
the teams like Grand Canyon in Montana State where they
don't have those apples to aticles nonconference comparisons, but not
Kent State. They played Houston, they were within five, They
held Houston to forty nine points, and they were within
seven of Gonzaga, both of those games on the road.
(23:58):
So I think that illustrates that they don't feel that
they're in deep water playing against you know, elite teams,
nationally ranked teams. Yes, Trace Jackson Davis is probably gonna
have a double double in this game, but if he
gets in foul trouble early, this could be curtains for EU.
I think this is a bad raw. I think that
they were you know, misseated, probably by one line. I
would have preferred them in some of the five twelve games.
(24:20):
In terms of the overall player on player matchups. This
is not a good situation. So I think the emotional
hedge was the right move on your part. He a
little curball here. What is Arkansas Tech's nickname? Arkansas? They're
not division one of anything, as I I thought you
were gonna hit me with Arkansas Pine Bluff, Go Gold Through.
(24:42):
They're called the Boys, Wonder Boys, the great nickname. What
a nickname that is? That's one one more? You see
Santa Cruz. Anybody got that one chambered? Okay? Good? All right,
So somebody somebody's awake at the wheel over there, frash
out of the favorite. Okay, do you have any other
(25:04):
best bets for Friday that pop off the top of
your head. Let me just look through my entire sheet here,
because there's a couple of games that I actually think
are very well calibrated by the market. Not surprising. That's
what stuck. He was saying. You're just talking about how
the margin now just just got big sports betting his gun.
He just keeps getting smaller and smaller. This value of
March Badness and doing the podcasts throughout the basketball season
(25:27):
was stuck. We noticed that as well. And it's not
just the National Lady televised games. It's also you know,
Leeds down to the high mid major level, you know
that kind of middle tier. I'm gonna go ahead. I
think there's one team that is an underdog. I think
they should be favored, and it's the ten seven game
between USC and Michigan State. Spartans are a two point
favorite here. I actually like the Trojans. I mean, they
(25:47):
nearly swept UCLA. They're only lost in that series was
a two point road loss. They lost the Tennessee and
ot They gave Arizona run for their money to end
the regular season. But really, beyond the fact that they're
always close or they're winning those games against you know,
the best competition on their schedule, their backcourt gives them
huge upside. Boogie ellis a lot of people on the
East Coast have never seen this guy play. He's a bucket.
(26:09):
He poured in twenty one plus in seven of their
last twelve games. Drew Peterson is also absolutely lethally. He's
like six nine, six tenth, so he gets a shot
anytime he wants. Last month of the season, he shot
forty percent from long range. This backcourt helps them achieve
one of the cooler New Age stats in college basketball,
which is the kill shot. That's a ten o runner better.
They are one of the top ten teams in the
(26:29):
country and kill shot runs. So I see them potentially
running away from Michigan State team that Yes, they don't
shoot a ton of threes, but when they're not falling,
their offense can fall apart. You saw that happen against
Ohio State in the Big Ten Tournament. They shot I
think like twenty percent from long range. They end up
losing by double digits in that game, so that's a problem. Additionally,
(26:50):
when it comes to stopping Peterson and the perimeter weapons
from USA, Michigan State ranks three hundred and twentieth and
catch and shoot three point defense, so I see a
lot of slashing, kick the ball out three's fallen for USC.
As they mentioned, I think they should be the favorite song.
I go ahead and just play them at plus one
out of five plus one ten New Jersey Institute of Technology.
(27:14):
He must be referring to the Highlanders. Man, you are
a fucker that is not to be not to be
confused with UC Riverside. Also the Highlanders. They have a
really cool Scottish bear mascot with the whole Highlander look.
I'm moving out to California in the spring. I'm excited
to get my hands on some UC riverside swag. That
(27:34):
was good because not only did you paused for a
second where I'm like, I think I got them, and
then you just pulled out like fucking suave, really really good.
Give me your final four, assuming that you know, we'll
hope that whoever is in your final four doesn't get
(27:56):
napped at on Thursday while people are listening to this podcast.
All right, I'm going to go through region by region.
So in the South, I have Cradon. In the East,
I have Marquette. You're gonna like this one. Chad. Out
of the West, I have Yukon, and then I have
Texas coming out of the Midwest. I love Texas, And
(28:17):
I brought this up on Vison about a week ago.
Twenty five years ago, if you lost a head coach midseason,
that your whole program would have just fallen apart. There
was the game of basketball, there was more involvement from
an exs no standpoint, and a little bit of a
tighter leash by a head coach. Particularly had a huge
program in the top ten. That's just not been the
(28:38):
case with Texas. I think they circled the wagons. I
think strangely, I think it's made them a closer team.
They have a great backcourt in Marcus Carr and one
of the best names in all college basketball, Sergibari Rice.
So I love what the Longhorns have, and their front
court got better and better. Dylan to Sue in particular,
you know, took a step forward in the Big Twelve tournament.
He gives them that final piece. If he plays like
(29:01):
that for six games, I think they're gonna win the
national championship. And then who do you have winning it?
So I've Texas over Creton in a tight one. We'll
call it a one possession game, just from a you
know style, making fights situation. That's going to be a
really good defensive battle, and both teams can heat up
from the perimeter. So I think it's going to be
(29:22):
a seesaw events. It's a little bit heavily on Big
East teams, but I think that's just the way it
shook out. I'm not trying to get in my own head.
Those are just the teams that I think have the
right path and the right mix of analytics and personnel
to get it done for six games or in this case,
four games to get to the final four. Do you
know what's interesting about this final four? It's the last
thing that I think we're going to cover here. Marquette, Creton, Yukon.
(29:45):
In this new age world of nil, these are not
programs that are going to compete at the same level
as the Texas, the Dukes, the uncs. We'll be able
to compete in college basketball. So I know we're still
in the early stages of this, but that's a fascinating
(30:07):
idea and it would be real boon for these programs
to be able to get to the Final four when
it's going to be increasingly competitive for talent. It is interesting,
although I will say, you know, these mini collectives at
the mid major level you can get together. You can
keep one guy on campus. Western Kentucky just did it
with their quarterback Austin Reid, who looked like he was
(30:27):
going to enter the transfer porter and next thing you know,
he's on Instagram with a brand new car. So it's like,
to me, these are all victimless crimes, Like they are
absolutely funny. And you know, we're not talking about competing
with the death star like Alabama or Texas, where they
just have an unlimited amount of resources to just pound
the competition on the recruiting trail if you want to
(30:49):
get together and put you know, three hundred thousand dollars together.
A lot of these schools are big schools. I think
of school like Liberty, and not many people know it's
the largest undergrad you know, a population in terms of
kids on campus in the entire country. There's a lot
of people that graduated from Liberty. You get five ten
bucks ahead, all of a sudden, you can start competing.
So I think it's a little bit overblown that there's
(31:10):
such a gulf between the major power programs and their
potential on the NIL front and everybody else. Speaking of
power programs before we go Rezbyterian College. Yeah, I mean,
I wish I could say that I didn't know that
it was the blue Hose, but of course, and you really,
(31:31):
you really had to enunciate when you're around Presbyterian PC grads.
Make sure to enunciate so you're not calling them blue hose.
Oh my god. By the way, that's a great doublelon
to Andrea. Presbyterian College, Mike Calabrie, out standing. Thanks for
coming on the Favorites podcast. Great work during college football,
(31:55):
great work during college basketball for Simon Hunter, for Matt Mitchell.
Our producer, I am Chad Millman. This has been the
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subscribe directly to the favorites. Please leave us five stars,
(32:16):
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Welcome to The Favorites, the podcast from the Volume and
Podcast Network. I'm Chad Mollman, Chief Content Officer of the
(01:27):
Action Network. We are still talking March Madness, folks. We're
going to dive deep into the bets you need to
make for Friday with one of our Action Network college
basketball experts, Mike Calabris. You hear him all over the
BBOC podcasts all football season long. He's amazing on college basketball.
(01:50):
He was on our preview show on Sunday night spewing knowledge.
Before we get to Calabris, let me bring in my
co host, my bff, my companion, Mike and Padre professional
Better or Simon Hunter. Hello sewing In, Hello Chad. Just
in time for kickoff of the March Badness. We do
(02:11):
a show, Gotta love it, lemon am here we are
for twelve was it twelve am or twelve pm? They
kick off these games, dude, It's called tip off, man,
Fuck it's tip off it's all right. Listen, listen, I
know where your head is at Your head is the
same place my head is, which is how amazing are
the Chicago Bears, which will be a continued theme for
(02:33):
this podcast. Whether we're talking in March madness, whether we're
talking Masters, whether we're talking NBA playoffs, whether we are
talking baseball, it's not gonna matter. The Chicago Bears are
marching their way to the super Bowl this year. That
odds are dropping. Let's bring in Mike Calabres, who, by
(02:53):
the way, the man knows a little bit of something
about betting because in a into being from a family
of degenerates. And I say that lovingly, I assume love
and affection. I say that if people don't listen to
the Group of Five podcasts that Calabris does during the
season on BBOC, these guys they freaking nail their picks
(03:21):
like it's uncanny. Calabries, how much you know about the
Group of Five, it's pretty impressive. Nice job. Well, I
appreciate that. I think it's time to step into the
tea box, drop the puck, get ready for this basketball action.
You know, try to too as many cross supports references
as we can. Yeah, I agree. This is such a
(03:41):
fun time of year, and for me, people come out
of the woodwork. It's you know, friends, family, a lot
of ex girlfriends. Oh hey, could you help me with
dear bracket? You know, who do you think's going all
the way? So depending on how those relationships ended, I'm
giving out some Easter eggs and I'm also giving out
some soon cold dead losers, just for the first round,
just to turn turn the knife a little bit. But yes,
(04:01):
I'm here to provide as much insight as I can.
Because when I'm tolling away in mid major Land in January,
no one wants to talk about Grand Canyon. But now
all of a sudden, I'm the bell of the ball.
People are like, tell me everything you know about the Lopes.
Let's get to it. Well, listen, I want to remind
people as I have all you know month long. We're
(04:22):
talking about the game Time ticketing app, which is the
fastest growing ticketing app in the US. You know, I
love it, I do. I use it all the time.
If you've been looking to get out to a pro
or college game this week, or even a concert, game
Time has amazing last minute deals on tickets to all
(04:43):
of these events. I'm actually going to open game Time
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The Brooklyn Nets play tonight and I can get into
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no matter where you live. Download the game Time app.
(05:03):
Get out have some fun this week. You deserve it.
Redeem code favorites for twenty dollars off your first purchase.
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tickets a little sprice guaranteed Calabris. It's Thursday, we got
(05:26):
games tomorrow. Obviously, people listening to this, We're not going
to try to tell you who to bet in the
middle of a Thursday when games are kicking off and
we're dropping the puck and it's you know, opening pitch
going up until about ten thirty to night. But we
do want to focus on Friday. I listened to the
Road to the Final Score Show, and listen to watch
the Road to the Final Score Show with you and
(05:47):
Stucky and Anthony du Bundo and Mariam. Are you know
on Sunday you can still check all that out on
YouTube Action Network YouTube page. You had a lot to say,
and I liked a lot of what you were talking about.
I was picking up a lot of what you were
laying down. Give me your best bet right now for
the Friday matchups, you can only choose one. I know
there are a bunch of teams you talked about, So
(06:08):
during the offseason I like to do a deep dive.
I'm not quite on the Evan Abrahams level of research,
but I do like to have my little theories and
then go on these little easter egg hunts and see
if I can find something and one element that I
found since twenty fourteen, when you look at all the
pods and you can see this beautifully on the Wikipedia
page for every single March Madness tournament, you can see
(06:29):
where all the regional spots are located, all the first
and second round spots. So there's eight pods with four
games each in them. So what I do is I
try to find the teams that have the longest travel
because not only are the miles important, but also if
it's thousands of miles away, you're not going to get
many of your fans to come to the games. And
then it's an added bonus if there's some kind of
(06:50):
time shift that works against you. The body clock theory,
all of that is coming together for VS to you
against Saint Mary's. Saint Mary's spent the majority of the
season in the top twenty five. They got, you know,
close to the top ten. And what is their reward
for that? They get to go across country and play
in Albany, New York. Not a great look for them.
When are they playing two pm Eastern so eleven am
(07:13):
body clock tip off for the gals, and they're up
against a high energy VCU defense that turns you over
just about as much as any team in the entire country.
And when you pair that with the fact that Saint
Mary's likes to play real slow, low possession games, every
turnover takes on added value. If it's an up and
down game, back and forth, hey can turn the ball
over fifteen times, that's fine. But when you're playing in
(07:34):
those low scoring games that they want to play and in
in the sixties, if you turn it over fifteen times,
that can be a death knell. And then finally, Aiden mhaney,
who was one of the best freshmen in the entire country,
playing for the Gals. It was a great story. He
turned down some very high major opportunities to go play
for Saint Mary's. He has just been in a bit
of a shooting funk. Four games with ten points or
(07:55):
fewer in his last seven, and that's really why the
Gals have been leaking oil down the stretch. After they
beat Gonzaga in an overtime game, looks like they spent
all their emotional energy up against a VCU team that
has a star of their own, Ace Baldwin at the
guard position. He's a combo guard. He can facilitate, he
can score. I think is gonna win this game out right.
You can still get him plus four and a half
five at seven places in the market. But I'm gonna
(08:17):
go ahead and play him at about plus one seventy
five on the body line VCU, plus four and a
half at Vanduel. As you just said, plus one seventy
five of the money line. I'm not gonna lie caliberies.
That's not one of the teams that you mentioned on
Sunday night in the road to the final score. And
I unloaded on basically every team that you talked about seriously.
(08:38):
And when I say you I mean the collective you
Stucky Dubundo, Nick Giffen. I unloaded on Drake Creighton Firm
in Utah State. I unloaded down West Virginia, Yukon, Arkansas,
Oral Roberts Kent State. Not once did you mention VCU Well.
One thing I will say in defense of this good thing,
(08:59):
you jump on that Drake client because I think I
could end up closing as a pick against Miami. It's
a twelve five game that's in paper flat. I'm just
trying to say here, we gave you that scorching hot
intel to be able to get in before they rule
out in North Shadow Mirror from this game because Drake's
defense is incredible. They're really strong on the glass. All
the things that we said on Sunday night, I'm glad
(09:20):
that you got in at the right number, because that's
what Stuck is preaching this time of year, get the
best number possible. Yeah. I'm not getting the best number
on anything. By the way, all my numbers are off
from what I did on Sunday. I'm just saying, Simon,
before we jumped on the air, you said you add
some late breaking info from professional groups on one of
(09:41):
the games that's happening on Friday. I think I'm still
recovering from here. In chat say unload multiple times in
about a two minute span. That was a bit much. Yeah, Chad,
this is my time of year. I'm just a true
fly on the wall. Like I'm in all these texts
group with all these pros, and I know this is
in my place to say anything or reach out. So
I literally I'll wake up in the morning, I'll just
(10:01):
read through conversations that people have all through the night,
just the degenerates talking shit, throwing ideas, and multiple guys
keep popping up with Grand Canyon outright over Gonzaga, which
to me is so out of this world even thinking
about it, because Gonzaga historically, yes they do choke, but
it's not until maybe the second or third week, right,
they don't choke first weekend. Usually they're pretty good at
(10:23):
beating up these bad teams. And then I look, I
see you online. There are three seed Grand Canyon is
the fourteen. It's plus eight ninety right now on Fandel.
Of course I'm gonna throw some on it. So I
would love to hear that from another professional viewpoint. What
are these guys seen and what's the other side here,
Why would you say no, Tiken zag on the spread.
That's the better play than calling for the big upset
(10:45):
here of Grand Canyon over Gonzaga in round one. This
is a three point variants kind of play. You know,
the Lopes are gonna fire up probably twenty five thirty
threes in this game. They go ahead and make ten
or twelve, it's going to be a game in the
under eight time out. So I stand from that perspective.
But then when you look on the other side of
the ball, for Grant Kenyon, they're one hundred and ninety
eight and palm defense. They're going to get fed into
(11:07):
the wood chipper by this Gonzaga offense. They're by far
the number one rated offense. And really I've been calling
them the zombie Zags ever since they lost an overtime
a game that they dominated for thirty nine minutes against
Saint Mary's and just fell apart at the end of regulation.
They lose in ot and the national media was basically like, well,
they were this cute story this year. You know, they're
not going to be in the national conversation to really win,
(11:29):
to finally get over the hump for Mark Few. Since then,
they've averaged ninety three points per game in their last nine,
including two games against Saint Mary's where they thumped them.
And I think from a human nature standpoint, Mark Few
is really pushing the right buttons right now. Because Drew
Timmy came back for this run, They're not overlooking anything
in March Madness. It's been all about getting to this
(11:50):
tournament and dominating. And for that reason, I think they
actually have great value to make the Sweet sixteen at
minus one sixty because beyond this game, they have a
chance to go up against a wounded UCLA team that's
down the defensive player of the year in the Pac twelve.
They also set have some injury issues in their front court. Gonzaga,
I think it's just locked and loaded, and I love
their depth. Malakai Smith is a name to keep in
minds as this tournament goes on because he comes off
(12:11):
the bench. Last year, he led Chad knew Good to
the MC double A tournament and he was like a
twenty and eight kind of scorer. This year, he's coming
off the bench, but he's capable of double digits and
that's the beauty of what Gonzaga has going on offensively
Beyond Timmy, it's just a multi headed attack. So there's
no way to take the offensive pressure down from Gonzaga.
They're gonna push, push, push, and I mean, Grant Indian
(12:34):
is a good story. But the fact of the matter
is they're better home team. They're clear on that playing
on their home floor here. So I actually like the
fifteen and a half point spread for the Zags. Maybe
play it in the first half, see if they come
out with their hair on the fire. But I think
in terms of the pros, it's just a value proposition.
I would have to be north at ten to one
for me even to get interested in a nightmare scenario
where Gonzaga goes out because Mark Fu's gone to the
(12:56):
Sweet sixteen and seven straight tournaments, so that's early exit,
you know, tag that's attached to them. As you said,
that's a second weekend conversation, not on the first weekend.
Calabrie's is unloading on your wise guys. Yeah, no, it's
making me feel good. I like when I hear a
team can get hot from three points, That's what I
wanted to hear. I just want to know why are
they taking Grant Cannon that makes perfect sense. If they
(13:16):
can hit the threes. You know, Gonzai can score they want,
they can't catch up to all those threes being made.
That's that's kind of the angle I think they're taking here.
All right, Michael, you told us about VCU five days
after the seatings came out. Who is another one that
we should be looking for on Friday? So I'm hot
(13:38):
to trot on Creton. This is one that I have
not kept close to the best. I'm telling everybody stopping
people on the street the hot dog vendor here in
New York City because I'm at the lovely New Action
Network headquarters shooting video so I can the opportunity to
walk around talk basketball with anyone to listen to me.
Craydon's got it all, to be honest, there's a certain
championship DNA out there. From a composite resume standpoint, when
(14:03):
you look at Kenpom, if you can be top thirty
and offensive even defensive efficiency year elite, they're twenty eighth
and offense fifteenth in defense. All five starters average over
eleven points per game. They got a great big and
Kalk Brenner, so they're not going to get bullied by
any of these opponents. They play great defense and something
that I really love that's infuriating and something that can
be overlooked pretty easily when you're putting together your picks.
(14:24):
They don't put opponents to the line. They only give
up twelve point four foul shots per game. That's third nationally.
So you have to truly beat him. There's no cheapies,
there's no easy points being handed out. You got to
beat him in the half court and that's really difficult
to do. And then additionally, beyond everything they have offensively,
they do not turn the ball over. So when you
put it between not turning the ball over and not
(14:44):
putting teams on the line, it's hard work to knock
out the Blue Jays. And they're up against ency state
team that has some nice wins this year, but they're
all at home. They've done absolutely nothing zip zero, nada
on the road or a neutral sites, and I think
that's a bad recipe for the wolf Packs. All go
ahead and the five and a half. I'd love to
get five. I think there's a chance maybe it'll go
down to five in the market, but I would probably
(15:07):
play it up to seven, where it still has its value.
Now looking at the whole board here, do we have
any Cinderellas up pop out to any teams that can
make a run. You know, every year we always have
these teams. Now everything in the NCAA is so much
closer now where we talked about stuck. If there's a
bunch of good seniors, you can usually make a run. Right,
These guys haven't been together for three four years playing
(15:28):
against these teams at Yes, they might have the pedigree,
but they're just not a team like these other teams are.
There's anyone that stands out to this year that could
be a Cinderella or is it kind of flat across
the board? So I'd love to say Drake, but I
don't want to get yelled up by Chat again. So
I'm gonna go with Montana State, one of the most
experienced teams here in the field. They're up against a
Case State team and Bobcats have won fourteen and fifteen,
(15:50):
coming in four upperclassmen, and they're starting lineup a dynamic
score in former Washington guard Raquan Battle. The other issue
in this case is sometimes it becomes the game inside
the game. So kse State loves to get to the rim.
They want to attack, attack, attack, but Montana State is
six nationally in points per possession allowed at the rim,
(16:10):
so I think that's bad news for KSE State, and
pressure wise, I think all of its slides. When you're
a fourteen seed, they're quote unquote happy to be there.
But KASE State has spent a lot of this season
in the fight in the mix in the Big Twelve,
thinking of themselves as a national title contender. Certainly, it
contended to win the Big twelve regular season and it
didn't come to fruition didn't come together in the Big
(16:31):
Twelve tournament. And I think if they have some bum
luck early in this game and they kind of get
stuck in the mud trying to drive and not finding
their usual success, I think the bobs are going to
absolutely throw a scare in the Wildcats. So I think
they're alive as dog here. KSE State is an interesting program.
Another interesting program with national aspirations in my backyard the
(16:56):
Yukon Huskies, which at one point this year were you know,
a top two team and then faded and then they
were listen the West Hartford cocktail party circuit. We were
ever at the Burns. They had the whole neighborhood over
(17:18):
talking about Yukon basketball because in the middle of January
they got hot last six weeks of the year, potentially
one of the best teams in the country. They got
to take on rip Pettino and Iona great couple of years.
Rumors he may take a new job. Rippettino coming back
(17:39):
at seventy years old. Love that. Where do you stand
on Yukon? Right now? Yukon is an elite offensive rebounding
team and I love the fact do you bring something
special to the table. And in a lot of cases,
teams at this point the season will say we're great
from three point range, which to me is a double
edged sword. It doesn't always travel. Sometimes it's the bay
(18:00):
and you can throw you off. Sometimes you just have
those nights where you shoot twenty five percent from three?
Can you recover from that? Offensive rebounding travels everywhere. They
have these bouncy athletic you know, six foot six to
six foot ten guys. They just come in waves like
it gets a line change in hockey, and for the
most part they overwhelm teams in that regard. Now I
own them is a good offensive rebounding team in their
own right. They're twenty sixth in offensive rebounding percentage nationally,
(18:22):
which is one of the best marks for mid major.
It begins and ends with Nellie Junior Joseph the averages
close to fifteen and ten per game. I own. It
also is great in terms of turnover margins. So when
you put the offensive rebounding stats in there, and then
fourteenth in turnover margin at just about plus four per game,
that's a lot of extra opportunities. You're not giving opportunities
to the opponent. They're also elite at shutting down the
(18:44):
three point line for opponents. Their twentieth in opponent shooting efficiency.
So the gals are real tough defensively, and when I
look at Yukon, there's so much to like about them,
but their offensive engine on the perimeters. Jordan Hawkins, he's
seventeen for fifty in his last four games. That concerns
a little bit, not necessarily to get out of the
first round, but I think it's they're legitimate threat to
(19:05):
go to the final four. He has to get it together. Luckily,
in this spot, Yukon can also turn around and just
shut down the three point shot. They only gave up
four point nine made threes per game. That's third nationally.
So Iona, I do not think have the Cinderella formula
to be able to bomb away from three. It's going
to be Yoman's work on the glass just to probably
be minus five in the offensive rebounding battle. What I
(19:25):
actually like, there's under one forty three and a half.
I think it's going to be at rock fight, and
I think Ukon's going to be happy to get out
of there with a five or six point win. Simon.
I don't know about you, but I like listening to
Calabrie's talk about college basketball. Might be making up the
name of every single player on teams, like he talks
about the Lopes, he talks about, you know, Iona's offensive
(19:49):
rebounding prowess. Can you name the leading score for every
team in the NCAA tournament year the NCAA tournaments. There's
a good chance. One of my parlor tricks is I know,
you know, obviously every single Division one school nickname which
comes into play. You know, if I meet someone's wife
(20:11):
at a party, she's like, well I went to Western Illinois.
Just give them a good go leathernecks, that icebreaker, I
know the Leathernecks. A guy from my high school played
football for Western Illinois, and we're like the Leathernecks roof
positive right there. Just bringing people together school. It doesn't
make people excited. You're a freak man this March. Take
(20:34):
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(20:57):
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West Virginia. Speaking of college basketball powers Indiana University. I
went to Indiana. Been super excited about this team. All year,
(22:29):
up and down, up and down big wins against Purdue.
Looked terrible against Penn State. After jumping out to an
early lead, I think they made one three the entire game.
They got Kent State. In my IU text chain, it
was reminded. I was reminded that the last time we
played at Kent State in the first round, we were
dominated by Antonio Gates before he moved on to the NFL.
(22:53):
I bet Kent State plus four and a half. It's
a little bit of an emotional hedge. Give me your
take on this Indiana team. Well, I would say if
an upset happens, that means I guess Sincere Carrey is
going to be a starting defensive back in the NFL
in five years because he's there there you go, showing
off right there, ten and one down the stretch for
the Golden Flashes. And here's the thing about MAC basketball.
(23:15):
There's a decent amount of teams that go to the
low post and play back to the basket and want
to feed the post. So they have experience and they
come in as one of the best mid majors defending
the post. Why is that importance? Because Trace Jackson Davis
is such a dominant post player. So really it becomes
Jordan rules where it's like, as long as we can
let him get just twenty five instead of thirty five.
(23:36):
I think the Golden Flashes are going to be in
good shape there. And there's also at this point in
the season, you know, we make light of some of
the teams like Grand Canyon in Montana State where they
don't have those apples to aticles nonconference comparisons, but not
Kent State. They played Houston, they were within five, They
held Houston to forty nine points, and they were within
seven of Gonzaga, both of those games on the road.
(23:58):
So I think that illustrates that they don't feel that
they're in deep water playing against you know, elite teams,
nationally ranked teams. Yes, Trace Jackson Davis is probably gonna
have a double double in this game, but if he
gets in foul trouble early, this could be curtains for EU.
I think this is a bad raw. I think that
they were you know, misseated, probably by one line. I
would have preferred them in some of the five twelve games.
(24:20):
In terms of the overall player on player matchups. This
is not a good situation. So I think the emotional
hedge was the right move on your part. He a
little curball here. What is Arkansas Tech's nickname? Arkansas? They're
not division one of anything, as I I thought you
were gonna hit me with Arkansas Pine Bluff, Go Gold Through.
(24:42):
They're called the Boys, Wonder Boys, the great nickname. What
a nickname that is? That's one one more? You see
Santa Cruz. Anybody got that one chambered? Okay? Good? All right,
So somebody somebody's awake at the wheel over there, frash
out of the favorite. Okay, do you have any other
(25:04):
best bets for Friday that pop off the top of
your head. Let me just look through my entire sheet here,
because there's a couple of games that I actually think
are very well calibrated by the market. Not surprising. That's
what stuck. He was saying. You're just talking about how
the margin now just just got big sports betting his gun.
He just keeps getting smaller and smaller. This value of
March Badness and doing the podcasts throughout the basketball season
(25:27):
was stuck. We noticed that as well. And it's not
just the National Lady televised games. It's also you know,
Leeds down to the high mid major level, you know
that kind of middle tier. I'm gonna go ahead. I
think there's one team that is an underdog. I think
they should be favored, and it's the ten seven game
between USC and Michigan State. Spartans are a two point
favorite here. I actually like the Trojans. I mean, they
(25:47):
nearly swept UCLA. They're only lost in that series was
a two point road loss. They lost the Tennessee and
ot They gave Arizona run for their money to end
the regular season. But really, beyond the fact that they're
always close or they're winning those games against you know,
the best competition on their schedule, their backcourt gives them
huge upside. Boogie ellis a lot of people on the
East Coast have never seen this guy play. He's a bucket.
(26:09):
He poured in twenty one plus in seven of their
last twelve games. Drew Peterson is also absolutely lethally. He's
like six nine, six tenth, so he gets a shot
anytime he wants. Last month of the season, he shot
forty percent from long range. This backcourt helps them achieve
one of the cooler New Age stats in college basketball,
which is the kill shot. That's a ten o runner better.
They are one of the top ten teams in the
(26:29):
country and kill shot runs. So I see them potentially
running away from Michigan State team that Yes, they don't
shoot a ton of threes, but when they're not falling,
their offense can fall apart. You saw that happen against
Ohio State in the Big Ten Tournament. They shot I
think like twenty percent from long range. They end up
losing by double digits in that game, so that's a problem. Additionally,
(26:50):
when it comes to stopping Peterson and the perimeter weapons
from USA, Michigan State ranks three hundred and twentieth and
catch and shoot three point defense, so I see a
lot of slashing, kick the ball out three's fallen for USC.
As they mentioned, I think they should be the favorite song.
I go ahead and just play them at plus one
out of five plus one ten New Jersey Institute of Technology.
(27:14):
He must be referring to the Highlanders. Man, you are
a fucker that is not to be not to be
confused with UC Riverside. Also the Highlanders. They have a
really cool Scottish bear mascot with the whole Highlander look.
I'm moving out to California in the spring. I'm excited
to get my hands on some UC riverside swag. That
(27:34):
was good because not only did you paused for a
second where I'm like, I think I got them, and
then you just pulled out like fucking suave, really really good.
Give me your final four, assuming that you know, we'll
hope that whoever is in your final four doesn't get
(27:56):
napped at on Thursday while people are listening to this podcast.
All right, I'm going to go through region by region.
So in the South, I have Cradon. In the East,
I have Marquette. You're gonna like this one. Chad. Out
of the West, I have Yukon, and then I have
Texas coming out of the Midwest. I love Texas, And
(28:17):
I brought this up on Vison about a week ago.
Twenty five years ago, if you lost a head coach midseason,
that your whole program would have just fallen apart. There
was the game of basketball, there was more involvement from
an exs no standpoint, and a little bit of a
tighter leash by a head coach. Particularly had a huge
program in the top ten. That's just not been the
(28:38):
case with Texas. I think they circled the wagons. I
think strangely, I think it's made them a closer team.
They have a great backcourt in Marcus Carr and one
of the best names in all college basketball, Sergibari Rice.
So I love what the Longhorns have, and their front
court got better and better. Dylan to Sue in particular,
you know, took a step forward in the Big Twelve tournament.
He gives them that final piece. If he plays like
(29:01):
that for six games, I think they're gonna win the
national championship. And then who do you have winning it?
So I've Texas over Creton in a tight one. We'll
call it a one possession game, just from a you
know style, making fights situation. That's going to be a
really good defensive battle, and both teams can heat up
from the perimeter. So I think it's going to be
(29:22):
a seesaw events. It's a little bit heavily on Big
East teams, but I think that's just the way it
shook out. I'm not trying to get in my own head.
Those are just the teams that I think have the
right path and the right mix of analytics and personnel
to get it done for six games or in this case,
four games to get to the final four. Do you
know what's interesting about this final four? It's the last
thing that I think we're going to cover here. Marquette, Creton, Yukon.
(29:45):
In this new age world of nil, these are not
programs that are going to compete at the same level
as the Texas, the Dukes, the uncs. We'll be able
to compete in college basketball. So I know we're still
in the early stages of this, but that's a fascinating
(30:07):
idea and it would be real boon for these programs
to be able to get to the Final four when
it's going to be increasingly competitive for talent. It is interesting,
although I will say, you know, these mini collectives at
the mid major level you can get together. You can
keep one guy on campus. Western Kentucky just did it
with their quarterback Austin Reid, who looked like he was
(30:27):
going to enter the transfer porter and next thing you know,
he's on Instagram with a brand new car. So it's like,
to me, these are all victimless crimes, Like they are
absolutely funny. And you know, we're not talking about competing
with the death star like Alabama or Texas, where they
just have an unlimited amount of resources to just pound
the competition on the recruiting trail if you want to
(30:49):
get together and put you know, three hundred thousand dollars together.
A lot of these schools are big schools. I think
of school like Liberty, and not many people know it's
the largest undergrad you know, a population in terms of
kids on campus in the entire country. There's a lot
of people that graduated from Liberty. You get five ten
bucks ahead, all of a sudden, you can start competing.
So I think it's a little bit overblown that there's
(31:10):
such a gulf between the major power programs and their
potential on the NIL front and everybody else. Speaking of
power programs before we go Rezbyterian College. Yeah, I mean,
I wish I could say that I didn't know that
it was the blue Hose, but of course, and you really,
(31:31):
you really had to enunciate when you're around Presbyterian PC grads.
Make sure to enunciate so you're not calling them blue hose.
Oh my god. By the way, that's a great doublelon
to Andrea. Presbyterian College, Mike Calabrie, out standing. Thanks for
coming on the Favorites podcast. Great work during college football,
(31:55):
great work during college basketball for Simon Hunter, for Matt Mitchell.
Our producer, I am Chad Millman. This has been the
favorite podcast from the volume Podcast Network rate review, Subscribe, subscribe,
subscribe directly to the favorites. Please leave us five stars,
(32:16):
say whatever you want feedback as a gift. Good luck
in your brackets until next time. Love you. Action Network
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