Takes

Roy Williams is a better coach than Coach K

And all you haters out there that told me I was an idiot when I said Roy Williams is a better coach than Coach K, he doesn't get the shine, this is just another market in my favor on this.

Arizona is a college basketball blue blood

Arizona could be a blue blood. I think Arizona is a blue blood. I mean, they won a national championship in the early 2000s... Legendary coach [Lute Olson]?

There are only six true blue bloods in college basketball: Kentucky, UNC, Indiana, Duke, UCLA, and Kansas

I googled Blue Bloods in college basketball. Historically speaking, there are only six, so it's even more exclusive. Kentucky, UNC, Indiana, Duke, UCLA, and Kansas. [Indiana] are technically blue blood but I think they would probably be first one out.

Coach K is a quintessential jerk for belittling a student reporter

Coach K was asked the question... by a student reporter from the Duke Chronicle... asking Coach K where do you guys go from here which is a very routine question... and Coach K essentially embarrassed and belittled this kid... How can you defend this, Hank? He's such a jerk. He's a quintessential jerk.

I am okay with moving the Elite Eight and Sweet Sixteen to Saturday through Tuesday

I do actually like that. They're the Sweet 16 and Elite Eight. Sweet 16 is Saturday, Sunday, Elite Eight, Monday, Tuesday. I'm okay with that because Elite Eight is, it's weird when you have the Elite Eight on that Saturday and Sunday and you're like, wait, there's only two games... Whereas now you'll work all day Monday and then you get basketball at the end of the day.

Duke should have changed their shoe contract after Zion Williamson's shoe exploded

Duke should have changed his shoe contracts after Zion [Williamson], huh?

Coach K is the biggest front-running fraud of all time

Coach K is the biggest front-running fraud of all time. Not to brag, but we called it. It was a one game. Hank, they lost to Michigan State. They got killed by Illinois. And then Coach K said, we got to reassess and start really thinking about this COVID thing.

Villanova's national championship teams are the blueprint for high-talent parity in college basketball

Gonzaga is more like the Villanova teams that won national [titles]... where it's like, yeah, is Jalen Brunson or Mikael Bridges the best player on the team? Omari Spellman, yeah. Or is it Dante DiVincenzo off the bench? That's like Gonzaga's feel this year.

Michigan basketball is energized by the failures of the football program

Michigan's football season [will be more disappointing]. Michigan football sucking powers the basketball program. I really think there's something to that. The worse the football program does, the more people shit on Harbaugh by saying Michigan is a basketball school now, which is good because you're saying that to shit on Harbaugh, but what's happening is a real-life narrative is building that Michigan really is a really good basketball school.

UConn is a blue-blood mid-major

UConn is the only blue-blood mid-major we have in college basketball. I think that's what's so unique about them. They are simultaneously a blue blood, but also a mid-major.

Will Wade having a juggernaut team at LSU would break college basketball

The idea of Will Wade having a great team at LSU would break the college – like, it would just break college basketball. People would lose their – like, the old heads that cover college basketball would be beside – Pat Forde would just be in rage, writing column after column. Like, this is disgraceful what LSU has done.

NBA players are not amateurs and the 1930s model of amateurism is dead

To argue for amateurism Based On A system that was set up in the 1930s and 1940s prior to billion dollar TV contracts and ticket sales and Merchandising is crazy. Amateurism does not exist in high-level college basketball and high-level college football.

Roy Williams is suspect and only the second-best coach in the ACC

Roy Williams. Ty Lawson called him out. I mean, everyone knows Roy is a little bit suspect. It's not surprising. Second best coach in the ACC.

The lawsuit against Zion Williamson for allegedly receiving money to attend Duke is cloud chasing

Zion Williamson's former marketing agent has served request for admission in their lawsuit, asking him to admit that he received money... She's cloud chasing, yeah.

Dayton would have beaten Kansas to win the National Championship this year

I think they can beat Kansas... having a rematch with the national player of the year, the national Coach of the Year, a mid-major. When's the last time a mid-major won a national championship? It's been a long time.

Michigan State's hypothetical run would have ended with Tom Izzo and Cassius Winston winning it all against a nobody

I feel like they would have it feel like a fanfic for Michigan State would have had them playing complete nobody came and coming out of nowhere in the finals. So it would have even been a memorable final except for Izzo and Cassius Winston.

Maryland would have made a Final Four run in the 2020 tournament

I do honestly believe that [Maryland] were one of those 15 20 teams that could have made a final four run... you're probably always going to think the most positive outcome was what would have happened because who sits around goes, 'you know, we probably lost to Akron in the first round.'

Duke canceled their season before the NCAA to upstage everyone like drama queens.

Duke, the biggest fucking prima donnas drama queens of all time, canceled their own season before the NCAA could trying to upstage everyone and be like, 'Look at me, look at us, we're Duke.' Then the tournament gets cancelled and then everyone gets to make the joke that Duke got eliminated first.

Kansas was the best team in the country and would have won the 2020 National Championship

I need a John Rothstein certified NCAA champion who won the tournament this year... I would have picked Kansas to win a National Championship. Kansas was the team. In the last month we saw Kansas separate, they were as the best team in the country. They were a cut above everybody else.

Coach K is entering his 'senile' phase where he has no filter and is constantly angry at the media

I think we're going to get into very soon, if we're not there already like the ornery like super angry at the media, just mad all the time [Coach K senile]. We're entering... the Twilight phase of Coach K having no filter and finally saying shit that he really is wanted to say for a very long time.

Kevin Ollie is the worst coach to ever win a National Championship

I assume Kevin Ollie's still looking for a job somewhere worst coach ever to win a National Title.

Sean Miller escaped the FBI because his constant sweating makes it impossible to tell if he's lying

Sean Miller escaped the FBI because when they interrogate him you can't look at a man and be like, 'Oh, he's pouring sweat, he must be lying.' That's just his natural homeostasis. He rolls out of bed sweaty. Just leaks. He's got all these tiny little holes in his body, just leaks like a strainer.

Coach K yelling at Duke fans is a great example of leadership and loyalty

I think it was a recruiting thing, and I think if you're a prospective player and you see that, you see a coach that fights for his guys, even if they're on the other team, that is a great leader. It was because of loyalty. It's a brotherhood for life, and that's a great example of showing that.

Brad Davison has taken the mantle of most hated player in college basketball from Duke

Wisconsin basketball is officially more hated than Duke this year. Brad Davison up to his old tricks with a nut shot last night. I think Brad Davidson has taken the mantle of most hated college basketball player this year, which usually is reserved for the whitest guy on Duke.

A VCU home game is more life-altering than a 10-day trip to Europe

Yeah, but you haven't been to a home game at the Siegel Center [VCU]. And I was like, this was peak Shaka [Smart]. This was Travion Graham, Briante Weber. Like, you want to do push-ups on picket fences when they put the press on. So this was kind of my subtle way after we broke up to kind of, like, send, you know, a shot across the bow.

This is an off year for college basketball

It's an off year for college basketball. I love it. Now. They lost him at home [referring to Duke].

Roy Williams has been more successful at North Carolina than Coach K has been at Duke during the same period

I think that Coach K is not as good a head coach as coach Williams. I think if you look at what Coach K's tenure at Duke [has been] while Roy Williams has been at UNC, by any measurement you can say that Roy Williams has been more successful.

Tom Izzo is overrated because he hasn't won a title since 2000

Tom Izzo is overrated. That's because he's other... He just hasn't won the big one. This is coasting. He's coasting.

Matt Painter is the new Bo Ryan and will win 20 to 25 games every year regardless of his roster

Matt Painter's the new Bo Ryan. Regardless of who he has, he's going to win 20 to 25 games every year. So it's death, taxes, Matt Painter.

Harvard has the most talented Ivy League roster I have ever covered

Harvard, most talented Ivy League roster I've ever covered. Tommy [Amaker] has eight high major players. You look at Harvard, you see a team that has the chops to be a second weekend type team in the NCAA tournament talent-wise.

I would root for Vermont over Syracuse if they played in the tournament

I didn't grow up a Syracuse fan. So but now that you know that now I know people ask me all the time if they play each other in this year's tournament. I would root for Vermont because wow.

Tony Bennett is the best coach in college basketball

He's the best coach in the ACC? Oh, yes. He's the best coach in college basketball. Better than Coach K? Yeah.

In college basketball, you must 'plant a flag' and never lose games at home to build a real program

You just have to set that tone like you can't lose at home. If you're going to build a real program, you've got to plant a flag in your home arena.

Unders in the first half are a strong betting trend for games played on raised floors in football stadiums.

I've noticed that teams, when they're on that raised floor... in the first half, it seems to me like all the first half unders were hitting on any game that's ever been played on an elevated floor, like in a football [stadium].

Auburn's loss to Virginia is the worst possible way to lose a Final Four game

Auburn, I would say that might be the worst possible way to lose a Final Four game of all time... hitting three free throws in that situation, that's the shit you do in your backyard, and you miss two out of three, and you're like, all right, redo. He was money on all three. And Auburn, I would say that might be the worst possible way to lose a Final Four game of all time.

You can't play the 'sliding doors' game with officiating mistakes in a loss

Auburn has a terrible loss but at the end of the day it's like that's kind of how it goes. Like you can't play sliding doors, you can't be like, well this call should have gone another way and it would have changed everything.

John Calipari's lifetime contract actually proves he was on the hot seat

This also, I think, proves that we were right all along by saying Cal's on the hot seat because you don't give a lifetime deal if a guy's not on a hot seat. You know what I mean? You just let it ride out because you're like, it's fine... To do this drastic deal for life, that feels like they're trying to get in front of the hot seat that probably was very, very hot.

Tom Izzo is overrated until he wins a second title

Tom Izzo himself is on board the Tom Izzo is overrated bandwagon. He said that he needs another title to validate his time there as a head coach. Okay, so I'm going to consider that a win for myself. And if he wins this year, then guess what? I'm taking him off my overrated list.

Upperclassmen leadership is the difference in the NCAA tournament

Sometimes you run across a Michigan State team that's as physical and have maybe a little more junior and senior leadership than we had. And that makes a huge difference in the tournament if you have some upperclassmen that give you some experience.

Zion Williamson was the college basketball season and his departure leaves a hole in the Final Four.

I'm going to miss Zion a lot because he was so much fun to watch this season. He was the college basketball season, and he leaves like a hole in all of our hearts for the Final Four. Zion was the only one who, like, wanted it, I felt like, a lot of times during this Duke run.

Tom Izzo is a very overrated coach because he does not win enough championships.

I still think that Izzo is very, very, very overrated. Final fours. Yeah, that's fine... When was the last time they won a championship? I'm about rings, dude. I don't know about you. I don't care about Final Fours, all that bullshit.

Kentucky would destroy Auburn if the game were played on an NBA court instead of a college court.

[Kentucky] has too many NBA caliber players and it doesn't translate to college ball. Kentucky would destroy Auburn on an NBA court... That's actually very, very true.

Coach K and John Calipari are more focused on building their brands than winning basketball games.

Cal and Coach K are not playing the same game as everyone else. They're not trying to win basketball games. They're trying to win their brand. They're trying to build their brands and keep the machine just churning. And they don't want anyone to notice.

Coach K has entered the 'Paterno phase' of his career where he is no longer actually coaching.

First of all, can we just acknowledge that [Coach K] has entered the Paterno phase of his career where he's just trying not to shit his pants as the game's going on. He's not actually coaching. That's the thing. This season was such a disaster from Duke... How do you have a team full of freshmen get worse as the season goes on?

The gap between Zion Williamson and the second-best player in college basketball is the largest I have ever seen.

I can't remember a time in my life where the gap between the best player in college basketball and the second best player was so big as it was this year.

Matt Painter is the new Bo Ryan

We have Purdue, Matt Painter keeping it real, as John Rothstein says. Matt Painter, the new Bo Ryan.

The Purdue vs. Tennessee game was the best game of the tournament so far, second only to Duke

Matt Painter, you have slightly less of a stupid face, and I'm going to say some nice things about Purdue, but that [Purdue vs. Tennessee] was the game of the tournament other than the Duke game.

Tennessee should not be allowed to wear their Indiana-style warm-up colors

My big takeaway was the Tennessee uniforms. They should not be allowed to wear those pants and those warm-ups and those colors. Those are Indianas. Those are Indianas.

The 2019 Texas Tech vs. Michigan game was classic Big Ten football played on a basketball court

It was classic Big Ten football. Just on a basketball court. [Michigan] scored 16 points in the first half... Two touchdowns and two two-point conversions.

A team's connectedness is more important than talent or coaching

You can't be in the Sweet 16, or it's rare if you're in the Sweet 16, if you think it's only based on talent or if it's only based on coaching. There have to be a lot of other intangibles... it's the connectedness of your staff and the example that your staff sets for your team.