Day 1 Of The NCAA Tournament, Kentucky's Stunning Loss With Matt Jones, Friday Gambling Picks With Stanford Steve + Fyre Fest Of The Week

Will Cal survive this? If he doesn't? Who could possibly coach the Wildcats? We get the inside scoop from Big Blue Nation. We also have our good friend Stanford Steve on to give you some Friday picks.

So we talked Tourney with Stanford, Steve. Some picks that you're going to be watching today, so you're going to want to listen.

Yeah, if you're listening to this.

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Golden Grizzlies, Golden Grizzlies, I knew that. Take down Kentucky in the one true stunner from day one of March madness.

Jack Golke hit 10 threes from Michigan. Oakland is Yes from Detroit hit 10 threes.

He was the perfect. Wait, really. Yeah, I did not know that.

Home of Derek Watt, Yes, and J.J Watt and T.J Watt.

Yes, yeah, it is in Michigan. That guy could not miss. It was incredible.

He was double teamed, he was coming off screens with no daylight, just sinking everything. It was so much fun.

He was shooting shots that he should net, no one should be shooting fully covered, just draining threes. That was perfectly March madness. And he had a quote after where he was like, I know that they have a bunch of N.BA guys. I know that I'm not going to be playing in the NB.A. But on any given day I can compete with those types of guys.

That's what March madness is, this guy is going.

I do, too, actually. We'll see, because we basically have a matchup of America's Sweethearts in the second round. Now. Because it's Jack Golke and the Oakland Golden Grizzlies going up against the team that just cannot lose right now in N.C. State, yeah, they were very fun teams, yeah.

They've won six straight, well, six straight tournament games, because they won five straight ACC tournament games, and now they've won their first tournament game. I think it was since Flute Girl, really, yeah.

Against Villanova, they showed flute girl, they showed that clip.

They made a good girl.

No, they show her every single tournament, they have a clarinet player. Yeah, yeah.

They were absolutely robbed at the end of the game against Kansas, where they had a perfect block, called a foul and ended up losing the game. But that's the beauty of the tournament. You don't know what team is going to pop up and have everyone talking about them. And now we have Oakland versus N.C. State. The winner of that game is going to be the talk of the week leading up to Sweet Sixteen. Because.

You can't root against him and then you can't root against Golke, so I don't know. Just take the over, yeah, the next game.

I don't want there should be, there should be a rule where two of like the Cinderella's that have very fun players on them. If they both get matched up with each other in the second round, there should be. You should be able to float one spot, yeah, you float one spot, cause I don't want either of those two guys to go home.

I want to get more of those dudes in the tournament. Did you see? There was a very, very funny quote after Arizona? Arizona beat the fuck out of Long Beach State? Yes, a very funny quote from the athletic director at Long Beach State fired Dan Munson.

He fired Dan Munson, or their conference. Dan Munson kept coming into work.

I'm not trying to pat myself on the back, but it worked. That's what a piece of shit.

And then the other big winner of the I thought was the Pack. 12 Washington State beat Drake Drake. Now this is just their MO. They get in the tournament, they get a lead at the end of a game and then they just stopped scoring and lose that game. The exact same thing happened to him last year against Miami. Uh, so Arizona, Washington State, and then we had obviously Colorado one on Wednesday night.

And then we'll, I'm going to mention it again with Matt Jones. But Dana Altman, my most underrated coach in America, I love how he coaches basketball. Dana Altman in the Oregon Ducks. Similar run to N.C. State wouldn't have been in the tournament when the Pack 12 tournament fun fact Dana Altman is now eight No. in first round NCAA tournament. He is such a good coach and he has them going every single, like overachieving every single year.

And so we have, like Dana Altman is, Oh, it's so, did it again, so did it again, now it's going to be.

And yeah, it was a great day. I mean, like, Tennessee took care of business, Tennessee took care of business, Iowa State took care of business. Creighton had a little scare with Akron at the beginning of the.

That was that was actually more.

Yes, we also had, oh, you called McNeese too good. good call on giving out the McNeese schedule, yeah. The University of Women, Mississippi University of Women.

Yeah, is that what it was? Yeah, yeah, they're not McNefew.

I hand up. I was very wrong about that. Uh, I thought that they were, I mean, we. The the talk of the seating was that they shouldn't have been an 11 seed.

Yeah.

11s with the new 12.

Yeah, and the number three seeds also dominate the six seeds. Number three seeds in the later rounds are 22 and five. I guess you just don't want to be a you don't want to be a six seat.

Yeah, that's the.

Like, it's that weird. It's kind of what the five seat was for a long time, and yeah, six seeds had a very bad day. They went on three.

Yeah, very bad. yeah, very bad day to be a six seed. Uh, yeah.

Texas Tech got absolutely worked by N.C. State. Uh, also, we should mention the Dayton comeback. Um, we also have a coworker who went to Dayton Dukes who was literally crying after the company. Now Dayton was, uh, the seventh seed. They were underdogs, but yeah, they were, they were the first two and a half point underdogs.

Oh, happy birthday to Dave Portnoy. Uh, didn't realize that he just Max just pulled up his Twitter and he had the balloons. Dukes was crying, though. Dayton was an incredible, incredible comeback. They basically was like a 22 run.

5 chance Jeez and Nevada scored four points.

But that's not what it's about, it's about having fun with your friends, it's about the bets that.

That's a huge, you just got to.

He's, he's the only guy that I know that went to Sanford. Uh, that was, that was bad. You have every right to be mad online, you have every right to go January 6th on the N.C.A.A offices.

Yes, if you're Sam.

They just chuck you.

Yeah, sure, I'm just I'm. I'm all optimism right now. Sure, I haven't kind of beaten out of me yet, yeah.

Um.

So Shohei Otani, one of the weirdest stories that broke, uh, Wednesday night. So the story goes. He went to the media and was like, my interpreter. I had to wire money to my interpreter because he was in gambling debt four and a half million.

I was joking, Yeah, cause maybe it would look bad if you were like, my interpreter is four and a half million dollars in debt. And people were like, Huh, that's weird?

Your interpreters? Four and a half million dollars.

Yeah, so, uh, there's a problem. there's a lot of problems. Um, one is, I'm just I'm going to take Otani at his word, okay?

Yeah, I'm going to say that the well, we don't know his work because he doesn't have an interpreter anymore. Okay, well, I'm going to take him at his representatives first word before he fired the interpreter.

Yep, um, which is beautiful that he.

How would that happen? Because the only way it would happen would be if they were using a bookie that was willing to give that interpreter that amount of credit. Correct, If he makes $200,000 a year, why would the bookie give him four and a half?

Uh, and baseball has got a big problem because Shohei Otani stands to make MLB hundreds of millions of dollars, if not more, over the course of his career. He's playing in the biggest market, by the way. Maybe that's why he moved to Los Angeles was because he loved betting on his team so much and he couldn't make any money off it. Uh, with the Angels, so he moved to the Dodgers so they could win some games and get some money also. Uh, California doesn't have legalized gambling, they do not. So. Again, this was all on credit with an illegal bookmaker.

And, uh, it seems to me like baseball. Given how much money they stand to make from Otani, really does not want to have to treat Otani like they would anyone. Can you imagine if it was a utility player that paid off four and a half million dollars? How fast would that guy be?

Hypothetically speaking, though, if someone were to give me $700 million, knowing that I like to gamble, I'd probably ask for it in little pieces. Not all up front. Maybe a deferment, because I know that I like to gamble and I don't want all the money right away because I like to.

And then Otani's like, Hey man, yeah, we're not going to get that money for 10.

But for his interpreter, yeah, no, that that's like like he's unit sizes in it for for all. Relatively speaking, yeah, isn't crazy. I mean, you hear, like, like, Floyd Mayweather bets a million dollars a game.

It's like, that's, that's eye-popping, but then you're like, wait. But Floyd Mayweather makes like, a hundred million dollars a fight. So my idea for his interpreter, that's a lot, that's a big, that's a big number.

Yeah, so that's it, we'll, we'll see what happens. Uh, this also all broke when he's overseas, right? Because they're they started, uh, the season in Japan.

No, Korea, Korea, Uh, so yeah, we'll see when he gets back. But again, it's very funny. Because he's going to walk in and they're going to ask him questions. He'll be like, I don't have an interpreter. He gambled too much.

His wife is a basketball player. Facts She's actually a bucket she is, with all due respect.

I'd knock it out of the park, but, like, football, yeah, okay, yeah, hockey.

So we're going to, we're going to find out a lot more. God.

But if it's American Sports, then it's I think he probably.

Yeah.

Um, but yeah, we'll update as it goes along, I'm sure.

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I got a simple day, I got a simple one for you. I have a mega Mac super lock of the tournament. Oh, okay, I'll let you guys go.

I have a lock, plus, well, no, now you have to go, oh, you guys go, oh you do. Your Mega Mac. Is it bigger than a Mega Max lock? The tournament?

No, mine's just mine's. just why would you do the main event before the undercard? Mine's a max plus yours.

Yeah, and what?

Plus, six and a half. What happened with the Nit? I think UAB is pretty good. Um, the Mountain West stinks, Mountain West loses every game.

UAB plus six and a half.

Max is just dealing.

We have more picks coming with Stanford Steve, we're going to talk about the entire Friday slate with him before we do that. Uh, Matt Jones is going to join us. Uh, we forgot to mention Matt Jones has a great Netflix show out called, Uh, the Wrestlers. Go watch it right now.

Support our friend Matt Jones. It's awesome, I watched it. If you're a wrestling fan, you got to watch it, even if you're not.

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We now welcome on our very good friend from Kentucky Sports Radio. We've known him for a very long time. We hate to have to bring him on this show under these circumstances, but it is Matt Jones, Matt, where do you want to start? What went wrong?

Kentucky bows out of the tournament in disgrace yet again loses to 14 seed Oakland. You can just tell us what you're feeling or where you want to start, because I'm some follow-up questions, but the floor is yours. Speak for Kentucky. You know, the last time you had me on your show was when Mitch McConnell got me kicked off the radio and I didn't have a job.

And I think this is worse. I'll be honest with you, I think this might be worse. It's terrible, you know? Lose to St.

Peter's in Oakland two of the last three years and I think probably the end of the Calipari era. There's a really good chance. I mean, I mean, I don't think it's certain, but I think a lot of the fans want that.

And it's just sad, you know? Listen, you guys are fans of your teams. When you really, really love something and it feels like the end of an era tonight, that kind of sucks. Yeah, that is, that is tough.

His buyout is what? $33 million to get rid of his contract. Yeah, it's not my, it's Portnoy's kind of money, not ours. But but. But they may have to do it because this fan base, I've never seen them this.

Though it's hard, it's hard to hear that and not be like, what the hell is going on at Kentucky? Like, what is? How did it? How did he get to this point? Well, you guys were the first ones to ever put him on the hot seat, yeah.

You'll have a lot, you'll have a lot to talk about. I think he's kind of gotten a little big for the program, I think he. His relationships here are pretty poor. He has no relationship with the ad, no relationship with the boosters, no relationship with the media. You know, you guys know, I used to be pretty close with him.

He does not like us now at KSR. It's just unfortunate because I think he's a good dude. But you know, sometimes times the end, right, like, sometimes you just got to say, that's it, and I think I don't know if we're.

So I don't with with a coach like that, I understand where he's coming from, but I can't see a fan base really having that message resonate with them.

Shea Alexander, Devin Booker, Tyrese Maxey. Right, you know, Cason Wallace, all these guys, Oscar Shibuye, all these dudes they want, and then they haven't won anything. And I think that Fox Monk, I had a bio, all these guys, Jamal Murray and like to have all those dudes and think about all those guys. I just mentioned not one final four and that entire group, except, I mean, Carl Devin Booker made the final four, but the rest of them no final fours. I think that's, that's a lot. I think people are kind of tired of it.

And then to say he's not going to change. I mean, look, I will tell you, when I saw Gunkel, or whatever his name was, Oakland, yeah, I thought of you too, because I thought those you guys had to love him, right? Real Ham and Eggs Airline play D Three basketball.

And he goes out, he's talking trash. 30 points but losing the dudes like that when you've got the players. Cal has Dillingham and Shepherd going to be top 10 picks? I think fans are just kind of over. Speaker 3. That that is the the extra pain that Kentucky goes through. Because it's very rare that they don't have a more talented team. And they keep having these disappointments.

So let me ask you this if Cal somehow stays, is there a fix? Because it? To me, the biggest issue with Kentucky right now is that it's a lot of recruiting and not a lot of coaching. I've watched a lot of Kentucky basketball this year. There wasn't a lot of like set plays.

There was a lot of guys who are really talented off the dribble, the defense never came around. He said. He was going to do some tweaks, there were no tweaks. It felt like he was the last person on Earth to find out that Oakland ran a zone and that golf he could shoot from anywhere.

So, like to me, I'm just watching that game and I'm like, Did Kentucky? Did they plan anything for this game? Or were they just going to roll the ball out and say we're better than you? Because it feels like that's what happens time and time again? So is there if Cal says, you know, if? He says? In two weeks I'm hiring the best assistant coaches. We're going to get back to basics. We have to actually run some stuff and teach these guys basketball.

That's winning basketball. Would the fan base be like, Okay, maybe this is different? I mean, maybe. But first of all, he would have to admit that, which he won't. I mean, he doesn't. He believes that the way he plays is the way you should play.

I mean, after the game today, he said, we had a lot of freshmen do things they've never done before. But you watch the game, I mean, we. They ran a zone, a little junk zone, and Kentucky couldn't get any shots open. I mean, listen, Oakland should have won by more. They missed 11 free throws. I'll even say we got the good side of the whistle, right.

Like, I think we got some good calls, so it could have been worse. No, there's no assistant, he won't listen to him.

You know, listen, how many 60, however many year olds, how many of those guys do you know that change the best thing? Here's one of the things I like about the culture you guys have at Barstool. You guys have. You two are very successful, Dave is very successful. But you all are surrounded by people that are not on your all's level in terms of like success. But you give each other a hard time and you listen to each other.

Right, and so, like, you will listen to people that might be lower on the food chain, but like, you'll consider what they say. Cal's not like that, Cal is in charge, people can say whatever he wants.

He's still going to do what he wants to do, and that's a good way to lose your grip on success. That's that's crazy to me, because it's just it's. It's so nuts. To be this coach who's been wildly successful and not like Saban is the perfect example. So how many times Saban changed what he did? When the when he would, when he won national titles, where he was running the football and playing great defense. Then linebackers got, you know, smaller and people were spreading it out.

He got two and all those wide receivers and it was that shape-shifting of like, I will get with the Times, Cal like that, that's that I know you, you probably know it, you know, in the back of your hand. But like, up until I think was the LSU game, they hadn't hit a game winner in forever. Because they literally just didn't. They ran the same play every time for a game winning shot.

And it's like 32 shots until the Mississippi State game. They had 32 shots at the end of games to win and they had missed all of them. Which which is like a crazy, which is a crazy stat. And then they hit the one with Shepherd this year.

Saban's a great example, cause to me, Saban is an exact example of what you should do. Like, Cal would never bring in a lane Kiffin kind of guy to be an assistant.

Like, he would never do that, but that's what Saban Saban is the most successful coach of all time. But he had the humility to say, Look, I need help with this, right? I need to bring this guy in for modern offense, Cal won't do that.

Listen, when dudes get a certain age, they do not change, and the ones that do are special. SaBAN So Chesky did that right, so Chesky was recruiting a certain kind of way, and then he goes, you know what?

I got to go get the stars, I got to go get the star freshmen and he did, and they kind of took a lot of cows, guys.

Like, think about Zion. Yeah, Zion would have been a Kentucky player. Back in the day, Cal made K change. That's exactly right.

He did, and now, and now, Cal needs to change back because Jay Wright tonight said, at the best because of Nil. These dudes are staying in college longer and that's about to happen. Like, you're going to see good players stay in college for three and four years. And I just don't know if you can win with freshmen anymore. Because these, I mean, hell, the guy. Two of the starters on Oakland were 24 years old.

We're starting three guys that are 18.

That's a big difference. Yeah, yeah, no, you're right.

Have you?

All right, let me hear. And if we're talking buyouts, there's a guy down in Alabama who just got a new contract with a massive buyout. But if you want to win, Nate Oates is a hot name, yeah.

But Nate Oates hadn't won anything, though.

I like that, Matt.

And then I think they their next thing would probably be Scott Drew at Baylor would be who they would try to get. But I'll tell you, after Scott Drew, I would ask you guys like, there's not an obvious Yeah, there is no, yeah, there is. He was on, he was on this show and he said that he never should have left Kentucky.

He said Such nice things about how about that.

How did you not ask him about some of the stories I've told on your own show? Well, we were very intimidated, we and we also we we we had. It was the most that PFT and I, like, talked about an interview before doing an interview. We're like, Okay, this guy was nice enough to come in. We said a lot of things.

Yep, we have to obviously own up to some of the things without getting into too much detail, which I think we did well. But we were like, we've done some interviews that we haven't aired, where we screwed up by kind of being like, it didn't go well right away. And we're just like, so we're like, let's have a good interview here, uh, but yeah, it was in our mind the entire time. I'm kidding you.

I thought you did a great job. Like people, people want you to be jerks to people when you interview them and you can't like, like, it's hard to do that. And I thought, you guys actually thought you made him seem very likable. Yeah, he is Matt.

We're Reputino guys now. I wanted, I wanted at least one down my leg.

They fall in love. It sounds fake to me. We're Reputino guys now.

But they fell in love at Subway. No. That's a beautiful place, that's a beautiful place.

I mean, I'll throw out another name who's the opposite of Cal and the fact that I think he's a fantastic coach. Uh, X's and O's. What about Eric Musselman? Arkansas? Like, that's a guy like, even like little stuff, like there's certain coaches, like all right, so back to Cal and how he coaches.

Like we saw today. Dana Altman, Oregon coach, I think he's one of the most underrated coaches in college basketball. He always has teams overachieving to their talent level and and playing great tournament basketball. Throwing like the defense, he threw it. South Carolina today had them completely befuddled in the first half. Or, like, even shock, a smart even as it drives me nuts that he's on the court. But like, going back to that, you know, game. When they played against Villanova, he drew up the perfect play at the end of the game that ended up not counting. But like those types of things where it's like, you have a coach that you know, we'll steal you, you know? At least a few possessions a game when it comes to, like, out of timeout calls, when it comes to little throwing, little wrinkles at them for a possession here and there.

And that's the stuff that, like Cal, just doesn't do, and it would drive me nuts as a Kentucky fan. It does some, I think. At this job, though, this is like, again, I know, I don't know if people outside of the state realize, but like, you have to be a rock star. To be at this job like this is a hard job. In the state of Kentucky.

This is what we do. I mean, you guys know, you've hosted the show every year, like it's it's what people live for. So you can't be like Dana Altman, looks like an accountant, you can't be an accountant.

You have to be a rock star, you know? If Nate Oaks had ever won? He's an example of a guy who has that personality, but he still hasn't won anything yet. So I think it makes it hard. This is tough. Normally, there's always the guy that I think, well, if Cal leaves, we'd get fisted.

Right now, I mean, Scott Drew, he's won a lot, He's kind of boring, right? Like, So like, Do you get? Do you get, Scott Drew? That's why I think they'll go hard if Cal leaves.

And again, I don't know if he will, but Jay, right and Brad Stevens would be right. right, would be very good, Jay.

Right about T.J. Otzelberger, I mean, it's Kentucky, he's a wrestler, yeah.

Yeah, I want to win, give me, just give me somebody that will win. The fact that, like, nobody got upset tonight, but us. That also makes it stink, like all the favorites, one except us.

Yeah, no, the 11 seeds had a nice showing, but you're right, like it. It felt like all day we were just watching for that big moment. It's like, Oh, here comes Kentucky, shitting down their pants again, all right?

So last question for you, Matt, your your show which everyone should tune in tomorrow. What are you expecting? In terms of the anger and the calls, I would imagine there's probably people already on hold right now, waiting to, waiting to talk to you. But is it going to be one of those shows where it's just going to be people just calling in and ripping them apart? Well, I already did a post game show a little while ago and we had one person cry, okay?

We had one person very, very angry, we had a couple of people drunk, Hank say. Cal better get out of here. So there, I think it'll be more of that. Um, I don't think we're going to be very reasonable, to be honest with you.

This is amongst this fan base, as many things they're not. Reasonable is not a one of them. I want to say one thing and I want to do it on your show because people, your listeners, need to hear this. These two dudes, I've known these two dudes now since before they were popular. I'm telling you, the guys you hear, I get asked this all the time about you all.

Like, are those really nice guys the guys you hear on the show? This is how they are in real life. They are kind to people that they don't need to be kind to. And I know they're funny and hilarious and super successful. But there's good guys, as you hope they would be, which I can't say about everybody.

Real quick, Matt Um, would you say? The last time that, uh, this fan base was truly happy with coach Cal and Kentucky basketball was, uh, March 28th, 2015. When you beat Notre Dame, the elite Eight, to punch your to the final four at 38 to 38, No. Would that be the last time? You know, that might be right.

I think we were pretty happy up until we lost to Carolina in 2017.

And I got sued by John Higgins and won the lawsuit in the sixth circuit. That's the last time. Maybe we were happy, but your Wisconsin team, I don't even want to hear it. It's still the thing I hold against you the most in life.

It's probably my like, one of my happiest moments, and it didn't end well a couple of days.

We didn't even win it, it was.

That's what everybody knows. Yeah, we're still, we're still, you know what? Rent free, yeah.

Rent.

So I will not be insulted and be called India. Okay, last, last, last question, Are you guys a football school now? Ooh, yeah.

Well, I think we got to go to a B A playoff first. But I will say it's now become more of a debate. You guys would love Mark Stoops, by the way. Oh, we've had him on, we've had him on, yeah.

We've had him on, he's the best he was at. A. And you would like Cal, too, you're going to get Cal at some point and you'll end up charmed by him.

I remember that you went to.

Well, Matt, thank you. sorry again. uh, but you are the best. And, uh, we can't wait to host Kentucky Sports Radio this summer. Thank you for coming on. Yes, I can't wait to my fellow draft kings.

Guys, you'll have a good night, love it, love it, take care, Matt.

See you, Matt.

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Uh, he is one of the sharpest guys we know. What was your? what was your record on game day this year? Not great. Oh, no, four, four and one in 2024, four and one 2024..

So we're taping this on Tuesday afternoon, so, uh, we're going to run it Friday. And we were like, we need to have Steve on and I think it's the perfect time to have you on because Thursday already happened. If you're listening to this, you got your teeth kicked in, you got absolutely destroyed. And Steve is going to help us navigate the Friday slate and hopefully win us some money.

Uh, Steve, big thoughts, though, before the tournament starts. Uh. This might be bad if you recommend a team that is playing on Thursday and then loses and you say, Oh, they could win the final four. But big, overarching thoughts. Your Yukon huskies look unstoppable. Uh, what else you got? That's, that's the worry.

Just just so you have an extra day of the tournament. Yes, yeah, that's a very good point, that's a very good point.

Hopefully, uh, North Carolina beat the winner of Howard Wagner because all my other final four teams are playing on Friday. That's smart, so no, Tennessee.

I have kind of a couple of, uh, you kind of couple of weeks ago to make the final four plus one 25.

Okay, um, I'm still shopping around for a duke not to make the sweet 16 because that's even money. I was hoping that'd be a better price. Known to teams that they're in a little pod, but I'm sure we're going to talk about that.

Yeah, but um, no, I was. I was solely based on Yukon. uh, I did not, I didn't buy any of the Houston. I'm just um. The purdue factor, uh, is obviously everybody's feel good story except yours, Dan, yeah.

So, um, I do have something in myself rooting for them. But yeah, we're pretty stacked up on Yukon and now it's pretty scary how much I should spread. First of all, how good they are, but then again, the belief because now they are the ultimate one seed. Last year, they were four, and, uh, you know, I thought they had. I did, I think, right. When Titus did it, uh, we were talking about them for national title, so it's, uh, it's been a storm brewing.

You guys have had early on, there's no messing around. I think he's a master motivator in what he does and I could see his motivation for every step of the way. Because this is the one thing about the tournament, and you know, right away, it's Yukon has the toughest road, right? Yukon brackets. Unbelievable.

Same thing on the women's side, Kaitlin Clark's brackets and incredible. Okay, I understand you see the teams in the bracket, but on the bottom they can only play one team, right? So whoever comes out of that bottom and all people are saying, you know, Illinois, Iowa, that's going to be over. Uh, hopefully both those teams moved on.

Um, but they only can play one of those teams, same thing with, uh, San Diego State in Auburn or UAV in Yale, like they could only play one of those teams. So I don't look at the they're not playing the whole bracket, they play whoever's on the line in front of them.

And that's why I don't think it's as tough a walk for Yukon. And the biggest factor of all that no one brought up is they're playing in Brooklyn and in Boston, Connecticut's in the middle of them. Yeah, you know, like it's home games. And all my friends can be as bitter and evil and just flat out mean from Connecticut as possible. And that's all they're saying to themselves.

Like that, they can't wait to get to the gym. Well, you have to have something.

I think this bracket pool, I think it's a possible.

Do.

Happened to be happened to be a picture of boobs. Hey, it happens, you know? Hey, sometimes the one thing.

If we're going to bring up that guy, just, you're just putting the mush all over them.

Probably isis, yeah, probably. oh, he does.

You want to rip off the bandaid, your pod, your pod. I'm including all the guys. Yeah, because you are a Duke fan.

Uh, I so, I said it on Wednesday and I'm not being, I'm not just doing this just to, like, guard myself. I think this is a very bad matchup for Wisconsin. I'm very nervous about this game. They don't defend the three well. James Madison hits the three.

Well, uh, what? what's your take? Unbiased take on this matchup? All right, I'm going to.

I think they really.

I'll FaceTime Steve knowing that he's sitting right next to Scott and just be like, talk about the game, knowing that Scott's just getting so upset.

So you what you like? Wisconsin, the final four.

I mean to to withstand what they had to do against Purdue. Dan and you watched them, you guys, I checked in on the on the live stream, you guys watching that game and I get it. You know, you had to do it what? Three times this year it is. I sort of take Edie side though, because he is Shaq, no one knows how to defend him, he gets shit that that guys just don't get.

And it is so different because he's so big. Yeah, you know, it's funny. I got three little girls at home and whenever they're on, it's like, Oh my God, there he is again, like, they just they're enamored with how big he is.

And I just think, you know, he's, he's, he is that good. I give a kid a ton of credit, um, for for what he was stood. He got his father shooting better.

He's in way better shape this year, you can just see that. But anyway, Wisconsin, I just the team's been through a lot, man, like they got seriously humbled in February, yeah.

You lose to Michigan. Yeah, like, like, that's, that's as bad as it gets. Yeah, and I think there, I mean, there's been passes with Wisconsin basketball teams and stuff off the court. Whether the locker room likes each other.

But I genuinely feel this team has the goods. They're as versatile as any of these Wisconsin teams, maybe even more versatile. Uh, because the athleticism at the guard, at the guard spot, then the team that lost in the national Championship. Yeah, I know that team had pros. But like, what you want in this day and age, with three point shots and inside presence. Uh, you know, you mentioned the perimeter defense, I get it.

But if you're if James Madison is going to make 30 threes, then they're going to be anybody in the country, right? maybe anybody in the world. Um, but I, I'd like the offensive standpoint. Store could get a bucket at any single time. Uh, Hepburn is is the same way, and that opens up a lot of stuff.

Now do I feel confident? No, it's, it's, it's a, it's a five. Um, you know, going to the final four. But I just felt, Houston, um, is beat up, man. They they are not what they were at the beginning of the year. I have A and M winning against, uh, Nebraska as much as I love the basketball. And is Jake in there?

He is in there. Did Jake go to the Vermont game Sunday? No Saturday?

No, when's the last time he didn't go? I was at the Championship game last year, I know, and then the year before, right?

Um, if you're rooting for big.

Listen, Steve I, I, I like that you, uh, think that we found something in it. Yeah, I mean, the the Big 10 tournament, like the thing with Wisconsin is if they can hit their threes, everything opens up. You saw it with in the Northwestern game.

When A.J. Store hits one or two threes, no one can guard him off the dribble. And then when you have to come out and like even crowd hitting a top of the key, you know, key three, that all opens up. Klesman can obviously get hot. But I just, I, just I, I'm worried about.

And they are, they're as different a team because they just absolutely violate the three point line, right? And your recipe for a tournament upset. Everybody loves that and they got purple and people love that, so people love purple.

People love purple.

Jake was talking to me about that earlier. Uh, they they played at Michigan. Obviously. Does that have anything to do, like, are the is the moment going to be too big for?

I mean, that eight 10 tournament is as dark a backdrop as possible. Uh, so no, I don't. I don't worry about the. I do worry about the rims. These rims are brand new, they bring them in for it feels like every single pod. Uh, they're not, you know what the Nets play on?

Hopefully, I was hoping you were going to get those because they're probably soft for what the Nets shoot on a nightly basis. But no, it's, it's a it's a real interest. It does. It does feel too public to me for, for for the 12 five.

Everybody loves the 12 five. I get it. Um, I liked looking more towards down for upsets, but I get everybody's withstand. It's going to be a fantastic, it might be the best game of of the first round. Uh, so it's, it's, it's more my my, my thing is just more inclined to what's, what's. What's the bet for all four guys?

Wow, you mentioned the bet, so it sounds like.

There will be something. Here's my problem. So when?

What are you going to say? Max? Uh, what about, like an N.B.A. playoff series where, well, you guys bet that I'm talking about myself, I'm talking about myself personally. Like, I care so much about the badgers in the tournament. That, like, there's already so much at stake. That, like, humiliation of losing in the first round sucks, humiliation of losing a duke would suck.

Humiliation of Jake, like, you know, being like, Oh, I'm kind of rooting for Wisconsin against Vermont, like, I hope you guys have fun. That would suck. So there's like, No, there's nothing that could be. It's just torture. It's just waiting for me on the other side.

Very simple.

What's wrong with you? How much would you pay? how much would you pay to know that Wisconsin was going to advance? 50 K 50? Yeah, there you go, and then JMU hits you get.

I would be like I could, just I could just be happy for the rest of my life. Oh, deal, you're going to make it done. Uh, we've talked about, I will say.

They play great defense and all the pressure is on Duke. This is when I really get worried about, This is when the Mercer happens, this is when Lehigh happens, it's when they're on the four line.

And that's that's what scares me. They're as talented as anybody. I just haven't seen that angst. A little more emotion would be nice, and that's what worries me about the Duke.

We've talked about doing some sort of.

It would be funny. What do you weigh now? Uh, I haven't. Honestly, it could be anything. I haven't weighed myself in. Like, a year. Loser has to go to two 10..

Loser goes to two 10.

I got, I got way better.

He's got to back somebody.

And if not, he gets punished. I liked it. Oh yeah, I should have.

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Now back to Stanford. Steve, All right, so other games on Friday that you love? You mentioned Texan? I love Texan in this game.

I think their guards are going to cause Nebraska problems. I think they're going to get. They're going to slow it down. They're going to get it like, nice and dirty, because Nebraska when they go, when they go nuclear. It's fun to watch, but I think.

Um, you know, with Nebraska being back in the mix, they play a fun style. Take the over in that game. Uh, it might be the highest over on the board, or maybe that.

Oh wow, that's getting a little crazy. it's getting a little crazy. You got to play a perfect game for one 73 and a half. So what other bets on Friday have you circled?

Uh.

And they did it with with Master and Junior and House, uh, they were spectacular. That's what you want, they're the perfect mix. You got a patino in there.

Knowing that, you know, Son probably knocked out the dad, uh, when they got an automatic bid. But I think New Mexico is playing as well as anybody. Uh, there. I mean their ability from the three point line, they got some young bigs that are good they'll be tested against.

P.J. Hall Clemson, you know, is is not going to get picked because of how bad. I mean, I was there against BC. They were, they were pathetic. Um, and you can't expect them to come out with that after knowing how close they've been to the tournament and now they're in. But I do like them.

I mean, they're an 11, they're favored, uh, I think they're, I believe they're the better team. I really would like to see New Mexico and Baylor in the second round, that's that's a fantastic, uh game.

Uh, Jake, would you rather have Vermont playing Duke or Auburn? Cause I'm thinking of, like Yale and Vermont in the same category? I'd rather be playing Duke. Right now, just the way the two teams are playing, yeah.

Uh, Auburn could not. They can't be better than they were. Yeah, they, they. they just can't, um.

Yeah, but still, it's a little bit different than having to go through that.

They'd be Florida. Florida is a team I absolutely loved coming in. Before the injury, I, I, I honestly thought they could have won a national championship. Um, I still think they could do some damage.

Uh, I thought they got a tough draw with, um, playing a winner of the the playing game. And then, you know, Marquette sitting there, Marquette's team. That scares me because of how valuable and how good Colic is. Uh, it feels like Kentucky's way too public for me. Um, just knowing how many people have picked them to go to the final four. Uh, Grand Canyon is really interesting. Uh, totally different style of play that they're going to play against St.

Mary's and Um, and the Games in Spokane, I, it feels like both those fan bases there, you know? Grand Canyon has done a great job of creating a great home atmosphere wherever they go, where it feels like in in, um, the southwest of of the country, uh, but I I see I would pick Grand Canyon in that one, uh. St. Mary's Jefferson injury has been huge for them.

It really hurts them, um, as far as defense, and that's what you need. A tie on the kid for Grant. Uh, Grant Canyon is a pro. Uh, if you haven't seen him, I think he's, he's going to be a name that you're going to know for sure. Alabama is an absolute shambles crapshoot.

Like, I don't I Charleston see, here's the deal with, with a Charleston, even a UAB and a Vermont like those teams. I don't think they're as good as they have been in years past, but they, they, they do a good job of playing, you know, doing what makes them successful. And obviously, if you can make threes against BAMA, you're going to be in it. Cause all they do is is is shoot threes and try and block your shot. So that that's an interesting matchup I would sign.

With BaMa winning, I could see myself taking a point, uh, with College of Charleston in that one.

What about Northwestern? So I don't.

So I like Northwestern. My analysis is twofold. Real in-depth shit here. Okay, one boo-boo is fun to say and he's fun to root for. He's a good player.

Boo-boo, you're going to want to say that name a lot. Um, number two is a lot of chatter about Dusty May, a lot of chatter, a lot of chatter about his next destination, maybe going up to Kentucky somewhere. Uh, I, I like Northwestern in this game.

I guess they are true underdogs. Cause a lot of these seeds we're talking about earlier, the higher seeds are actually favored by Vegas. But, um, I like Northwestern, it sounds.

I don't think they should be an eight seed. Uh, obviously everybody knows the story of what they did last year. Nobody capitalized on the opportunity that they got last year more than them getting to play fairly. DicKinSON in the next round, Uh, I thought, really, that got themselves going, uh, towards their final four run. But Fau just feels way too public to me. Uh, I still think they're another team.

I really liked Northwestern when they were fully healthy and now they got two injuries. But I Boo-boo is fantastic. Uh, I think Northwestern will make enough outside shots, uh. And I like being on the other side of the public in that one, so I do have Northwestern playing UConn.

Because it's it's really, like, really centrally focused. Um, like, you feel like, don't you feel like, you know, everybody's, yeah, yeah, like that, that's, that's, that's the that's the good part of the of the days leading up.

Is you? is you're really? oh, you like, Oh, I got it, you like James Madison, too.

No doubt, no doubt, and it's, it's.

You know, and what they did, New Mexico was as good as they played all year, and it's hard to, and you know, that New Mexico. Clemson, I mentioned it before, that's the there. There's not a bigger difference of perception of teams with how hot New Mexico is and how not good Clemson looked in their last game. So I do feel like that, but I always have an 11 going to the sweet 16 and in New Mexico is mine this year. Ooh.

Okay, um, any upsets, any one or two seeds?

So if Michigan State wins their first game, I think people will be shocked. When that line comes out and it's like, No, I think it's gonna be way less. I think it'd be like North Carolina, favored by like, five. No, it'll be at least seven. You think so, yes.

Okay, all right, we'll make a bet, we'll make a wing bet on that. I like that.

Betting on a bet Yeah, we're betting on a bet, betting on a bet, so I have anything under seven.

Yeah, okay, and seven's a push, seven's a push, seven, Max wins.

I went on seven, I'm the guest, no way you said 10, you said double digits, so I think seven has to be a push.

Seven and a half, you get it? You were listening to me? Yeah, yeah, no, I'm listening, I'm listening.

What what is the UH, March Madness setup look like for Stanford? Because you don't go to Vegas, you go to Vegas for Conference Championship. Uh, did that, uh?

At home, I got I got four TVs, uh, ready to go, so they will be on constantly and I will be on the couch. I do like to watch a lot of these games by myself. I, it's, it's, it's the fantasy football mentality.

I think going out to watch NFL regular season games now is is, um, what do they call? Um? New Year's Eve is a JV holiday. Now, yeah, I feel like that's a JV way of going. Cause all anyone is yelling about is their fantasy team.

Yeah, it just drives me nuts, but I do like to get around the energy. So I'll, I'll do that Thursday and the night sessions, I'll be at home. Uh, locking in, uh, with all the TVs going, and, uh, only four TVs.

Uh, it depends if they want to play, okay.

Okay, yeah, I think you.

Oh, just get only fans feed of Max watching all his sports, just him being sad. We could get so much money.

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Switch to Visible and save Switch now at Visible.com Rate with service on the Visible Plan. For additional terms and network management practices, see Visible..com. Steve, do you have a Fitbit? Or, like an Apple watch, I do.

Yeah, I want to see what your steps are going to be like on Friday, like if you're just posted up in your basement. They were great Saturday. I'll tell you that. What do you think the over under would be on Saturday?

Yeah, yeah, so driving, not driving, there's a majority jogging.

There's been some we've been upticking on the running, um, but uh, yeah, we've been, we've been trying to 35 miles last week. Wow, you Steve walks.

Yeah.

Was there any hesitation having him do? Frank walks No, okay, you didn't think that Frank was just gonna throw him into the reflecting pool?

No, no, no, because Scott deserves a lot of credit, he is an everyman. I. When we were setting it up, I was like, Scott, will you do this?

He's like, No problem. I was like, Alright, who should I contact to get your schedule set? and he's like, just have him text me. So Scott was texting with Jenks and maybe Frank and like, I don't know many guys in Scott's shoes.

It would be like, Yeah, just throw my number and he was in, he was all the way in there.

I mean, princesses walking feel feel like on the street during garbage Day, they have garbage trucks going around. Scott was down by the reflective pool, it was gorgeous. Yeah, there.

He's great at changing the subject.

Yeah, yeah, remember how messed up people were? yeah.

Patrick's Day for Central Virginia. It was wonderful. Yeah, the amount of grown women we.

Thank you ma'am. Take care. No, that was. It was a very fun time. I'm glad that we got to experience that together.

The FaceTimes afterwards Yeah, pretty incredible. If you follow fellow Texas football message boards, you probably put together who we were talking with and her monkey.

Her monkey was also there.

No, oh, fuck, oh, they're so good, I.

I will say, this sounds like a yes.

And have have Scott's head spin as they go into sportscenter. All right, because Frank has made up this entire like fictional world in his head, yeah.

Where? where? Scott loves it when the Mets lose and his head starts spinning around. Just like you don't have to talk about it. But just as Sportscenter's intro, just have, like, a little SVP logo with the head spinning around. Or maybe yeah, or maybe like a.

Yeah, uh, no, but we've done the optimism meter with me, and I'm I'm a diehard born Loser Mets fan.

Quite something. When you say it out loud, like that, it sounds, it sounds just about as bad.

What, what team in the tournament would have worked worse for your or or the poorest nickname? Cause you're Stanford Steve, but, like, would would a Grand Canyon Steve have worked? if you had gone there St. Peter's Steve? that would have worked?

I always think about that. You went to Stanford SS, but like, what, what happens if you had decided to go to McNeese State, McNeese? How about Drake? Steve would be good.

Your whole life would be different. If you went somewhere. I mean, you could have been Notre Dame. Steve could have got a huge hog. Do you regret not going to Notre Dame? I don't, I don't.

Why you would have, you would have been able to get, like, a cushy job as an executive somewhere in Chicago? Yeah, that's not fun, I guess, that's.

You'd be a lot.

Steve would suck, Yeah, Howard, Steve not Howard.

Grambling, Steve.

Southern Steve Southern Steve would be all rock. Yeah, Tarleton State Steve.