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Big CatBig Cat

Shaka Smart is not a good tournament coach

In his last nine NCAA tournament trips, Shaka Smart has been eliminated by a team at least three seed lines worse seven times... Still a good coach but not a good tournament coach right now.

The stats regarding his seed-based losses are accurate historical data.

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Void
Mar 24, 2025
#14498
Big CatBig Cat

NIL and the transfer portal are ruining March Madness upsets.

The biggest culprit that I've seen being blamed is NIL and Transfer Portal. I think that's actually a fair critique because what has happened with a lot of these smaller conference teams is they take a shot on a guy, he's good for a year, and then he gets plucked in the transfer portal. All the Power five schools are basically picking apart all the smaller schools and taking their best players, and then you don't get upsets.

The 2025 tournament featured very few upsets by mid-majors, supporting his claim, though it's still a subjective critique of the system.
Void
Mar 24, 2025
#14499
MaxMax

The Big East is for basketball while the SEC is for football

Big East is college basketball. SEC's football... when you're watching SEC basketball fans, you know, you're only thinking in the back of your head... they don't care about this. Like they care about football.

This is inherently subjective, though historically SEC schools prioritize football and Big East schools lack FBS football.
Void
Mar 24, 2025
#28039
Big CatBig Cat

The SEC only has two and a half real basketball schools: Kentucky, Florida, and half of Tennessee.

I do agree with this take that the SEC has two and a half basketball schools that I respect. Kentucky, Florida, and half of Tennessee. None of the other—like Auburn's great, Auburn could win the national title—but I don't respect them as a basketball school. That's football. Tennessee is obviously a clear one, I respect their basketball tradition and they do care, but football still is the king there.

The classification of a 'basketball school' is inherently subjective and based on historical tradition versus current success.

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Win
Big CatBig Cat

Michigan was definitively the better team in the National Championship and it never felt like UConn was in danger of winning.

Michigan was the better team. We all saw it. It never felt like [the game] was in danger. Like the only moment that I was like, oh, UConn might have a chance, was when there was like maybe five and a half minutes left and Mullens missed that three to cut it to four.

The episode presents Michigan winning the 2026 National Championship as a fact within the show's timeline.
Void
Big CatBig Cat

Michigan was the best team all year — outside of Duke, who would have won the championship by a lot

They were the best team. They were the best team all year outside of Duke. 'Cause that actually was my other big takeaway — Duke just completely, Duke beat this Michigan team a month and a half ago.

Subjective comparison of team quality. Duke did beat Michigan during the regular season in 2025-26.
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Big CatBig Cat

Danny Hurley is 18-1 against the spread in his last four NCAA tournaments, which is insane

Danny Hurley remains 18 and one in the last four tournaments against the spread. How insane is that? Furman is the only one that they didn't cover. That was the first round this year.

This is a factual claim about Hurley's ATS record over the last four NCAA tournaments. Based on UConn's remarkable tournament run, this is plausible and presented as a known stat. Cannot fully verify exact record but the claim is stated as fact.

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