Takes

Midweek college basketball is better than the NBA

That's why I love college basketball so much, especially this time of year where every game feels so important... there's nothing like these college basketball games, a midweek game where the crowd and you get true home court advantage. And it feels like there's big, big time stakes.

The current college basketball season is the best in a long time because the top of the rankings is loaded with juggernauts.

This might be the best college basketball season we're having right now in a long, long time. It is so loaded at the top. There are, you go eight deep of teams that feel like they are like juggernauts.

Duke cannot just lose a basketball game; they always have to make it about a larger issue like player safety.

I just love when Duke loses. They can't just lose, they have to make it about something... It has to be something bigger than just basketball. It has to be, you know, teaching kids to become men or unsportsmanlike or this or that or the other. Just lose the fucking game. You lost the game, you choked.

NIL has improved the quality of college basketball by keeping talented players in school longer.

I would make the counter argument for basketball specifically the fact that we have NIL and guys get paid. You have some super, super talented guys playing in college basketball now... some guys who are staying a little bit longer 'cause it's, you know, they can make more money playing college basketball.

The NCAA Tournament is the most fair tournament in sports

My Hot Seat is Joel Klatt. He said that the NCAA tournament is a joke. ... Most unfair tournament in all sports? It's the most fair.

The 'Players Era' tournament is ruining the tradition of Feast Week college basketball

The players era fucking sucks. There's not even a real tournament... They've taken away and no one's in the stands there. Feast Week used to mean something, man.

Houston was uncomfortable not playing from behind in the title game

I think that Houston was uncomfortable not playing from behind. I feel like Houston had had to lead the whole game and they were like, wait, we're, we're usually the ones that are, that are coming back at the last minute.

Todd Golden's technical foul was the most strategic in history

Todd Golden probably deserves credit... his technical was maybe the most strategic technical of all time. Because after his technical foul, which was of I think like three or four minutes into the second half, the fouls went 13 to three on Houston.

The 2025 Final Four will be remembered as the Final Four of Chokes

I think it'll be remembered as the, the final four of chokes. [Cooper Flagg] choked. [Kelvin Sampson]... this would've been 800. Brutal.

The Florida championship win means college basketball is alive and well

It turns out that the only thing that we could say after the tournament was over if Duke had won: NIL ruined college basketball. And since Florida won and they didn't have freshmen, it's college basketball alive and well.

Coach K is secretly happy that Duke lost because it protects his legacy

If we had true serum Coach K's happy. He doesn't want the next guy to win a title in his third year... John Scheyer, the, the, the school has not dropped off in terms of a level of basketball. But what Coach K has done to win titles gets magnified even more of. That's really hard to do because John Scheyer couldn't do it with one of the best analytically best teams of all time.

Houston is a team of wolves led by a wolf

Houston is just a bunch of wolves, man led by a wolf... the way they get after it, you, you can't prepare for it. It's like a pass rush that just the quarterback is gonna be rattled and it kills, it kills your transition offensive game because it's hard for you to even run on them because getting a defensive rebound feels like survival.

Buzz Williams moving to Maryland is a smart move to reset his coaching clock.

So this move, I believe was a smart move by Buzz in the fact that the SEC has gotten a lot better. He has kind of maxed out what he's got at Texas A&M... So why not move and reset the clock? Pretty good. Yeah. Also like you're basically resetting the clock with a new fan base who is hungry for someone to say I love you.

Auburn felt like a special team early in the season after competing physically with Houston.

We had to play an an incredibly well coached, hard playing Houston team where we were gonna find out whether we were gonna be physical and tough enough... once we were able to beat Houston or at least be on compete with 'em, we felt like this team had a chance to be pretty special.

College basketball is a Ponzi scheme

I was gonna say it's college basketball. A Ponzi scheme. Mm. Because the tournament starts. Just wait. Did not Great Matchups round of 32. Gonna be great. Round of 32's not great, just wait. Good. So sweet 16. Sweet 16 happens. Oh, that sucked. But just wait. This is the best Elite eight you've ever seen. The Elite eight sucks. But just wait. The final four, we're kicking the can down the road.

Houston is the biggest 'Cinderella' of the Final Four

I have Houston one, then I had Florida two... [Houston] because they've never won a national title. They don't have any legacy in basketball outside of Charles Barkley. And obviously what Bruce Pearl's done, I think they would be the second Cinderella. Florida still has, you know, they, they back to back national titles.

NIL has ruined college basketball

I just NIL ruined college basketball. I don't wanna be a hater, but it it... I just want madness. I don't care if, if the games are good, I wouldn't care. But yeah, the, I want good games.

College basketball should implement a salary ladder to discourage transfers

A freshman gets 50 K from the school. A sophomore gets 75, a junior gets a hundred. If you transfer, you go back to freshman salary. So like, there is a, you could still transfer, you can still do whatever you want, but you don't get to climb the ladder of, of what the school can pay you.

I am worried about Kevin Willard's tenure at Villanova

I'm worried about [Kevin Willard's] tenure at Villanova. That's a past, we're worried about the future. And Kevin Willard to Villanova... that's what I care about. I'm worried about that.

Sportsmanship should stop at the Little League level

The sportsmanship stops at Little League. That's really what it is. Like when people are like, oh, you gotta win class. You gotta do the—that shit is not for high level college basketball, high level pro sports. I don't care. I want bad losers. I want people who are, who crash out when they lose.

Annual free agency in college sports is detrimental

I'm pro players getting money, I'm anti-free agency every single year. 'Cause that's just stupid. It doesn't exist in any other sport. So I don't know, there's a lot that's going on, but... I think it's just kind of the new reality.

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... 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.

Dusty May is a premier tournament coach

Dusty May is just a hell of a coach. He said it on our show. He's like, we needed a reset... What have they done since then? They won the Big 10 tournament and now they're in the Sweet 16... I'm putting him in like tournament coach.

Texas Tech is officially a basketball school

Here's the Texas Tech, maybe a basketball school stat... They have gone to four Sweet 16s over the last seven tournaments with three different coaches. Pretty impressive. To do it with three different coaches in that short of amount of time. That's culture.

John Calipari is finally back to his underdog roots

Kentucky made him soft. Now he's going Arkansas... now he's kind of the underdog. 40 minutes himself. He's feeling himself again... he was too luxurious in Lexington for him. Now he's gotta get back to his roots and coach basketball.

McNeese State dominated Clemson despite the close final score

McNeese State I think leads the, leads the storyboard because what a day for Will Wade... and gives us a classic 12 5 upset where I know it looks like a two point game, but they were dominating Clemson for, for the majority of the game.

Will Wade being honest about leaving for NC State is better than coaches who lie

I'd rather will Wade be transparent about it. Yeah. It's awkward that he took a new job before his team even played in the tournament... I'd rather have the Will Wade where you're just upfront about it and saying, yeah, I'm talking to NC State. Oh yep. I got a new job.

Kansas was not built for a long tournament run this year

I think most Kansas fans saw this coming in the fact that they just weren't built for a long run... Moreover, they won one tournament NCAA tournament game in this time there. [Hunter Dickinson] is done.

The NCAA selection committee accidentally swapped Memphis and Louisville

Memphis, I am choosing to believe this because it is crazy... people are saying that the committee, they accidentally swapped him. Louisville has a better net RPI, KenPom, T-Rank and higher in the ESPN BPI rankings in every category. But Memphis is the higher seeded team. I choose to believe that too because it makes no sense other than they just accidentally messed it up.

North Carolina's inclusion in the tournament is the most egregious committee decision ever

I thought North Carolina, at no point in the season did they look like an NCAA tournament team. They, they, yeah. They, their, their, their highs weren't very high. Their lows were pretty damn low. And I was, I was stunned. I was, in all the years of, you know, that's how the bracket works. It comes out, we, we lose our minds about teams that got in that didn't deserve it. We, we feel bad for the teams that were left out. This is the most egregious example that I've ever seen.

It's disrespectful to make UConn an 8-seed after back-to-back titles

I gotta admit, it's disrespectful that UConn is an 8-seed, Mark, because they won, I don't know if you know this, they won the last two national championships... and now you're just relegating them to an 8. You're throwing 'em out like the trash. Gimme a fucking break.

Dan Hurley is an asshole, but he is important to the college basketball ecosystem

Dan Hurley's an asshole and I think that's fair... Dan Hurley is the heel... I think it's great for the sport if [Duke and Hurley] make it there... I would've been upset if college basketball lost him [to the Lakers].

Duke is the best team in the country and has no weaknesses

I believe Duke is the best team in the country. I believe Duke has no weaknesses... I think that they're a little bit better than every other team in this field. So I, I'm, I I, I have Duke coming out of the east and I have Duke winning the national championship.

Cooper Flagg's hype is actually lower than it should be given his dominance

I think Cooper Flagg has had, I, I don't, I, for some reason he, the, the hype is somehow there, but it's also, I feel like it's not as great as it should be for this kid. 'Cause he is unfucking believable. He had an, an insane amount of hype coming in. He's delivered on all of it. He leads Duke in every single category.

The NCAA Tournament bracket reveal is the best non-sporting sporting event of the year

I actually think that this is the best non-sporting, sporting event of the year. I think that bracket reveal is the best sporting event that does not actually contain sports of the year. Oh, it's, it's incredible.

The NCAA selection committee stopped working on Friday night

The committee. It's very clear they stopped working on Friday night. Maybe that's why Leonard's been sleeping because it makes no sense that UNC is in this tournament. It makes no sense that Michigan got a five. It makes no sense that Louisville got an eight.

Michigan has turned the corner and is a dangerous team after winning the Big 10 tournament

Michigan obviously beat Wisconsin Big 10 title today. Dusty May called it correctly. He was like, our team needs a reset. They got their reset and then they won the big 10 tournament and they looked really good doing it. So maybe they've turned the corner and gotten that reset they needed.

UNC getting into the tournament is the biggest miscarriage of justice in 20 years

This is one of the biggest miscarriage of justices that I have seen in all my years covering college basketball... North Carolina was one and 12 against quad one opponents. That is just a fact of life... My heart breaks for West Virginia, it breaks for Indiana that North Carolina got this opportunity instead of them.

Automatic Qualifiers (AQs) should always play on Thursday/Friday, while at-large teams play in the First Four

I think if you're good enough to get an automatic qualifier to the NCAA tournament, you deserve to partake in the Thursday and Friday of the first week... put the last eight at large teams in the first four, it would reward these programs again at the lower level and give them the NCAA tournament experience.

Danny Wolf's basketball ceiling is just scratching the surface

[Danny Wolf] is just scratching the surface to be honest... For his long-term future, and for us, his ability to dribble the ball, make, make difficult passes. I mean, he's, he's got a special, special gift.

Expanding the NCAA tournament too much will water it down and hurt the TV product in the second round

I worry if they expand it too much. You know, we have already, it's tough because we have Cinderella... the more you expand it, the more those kind of things happen. Which you guys all like the first day, right? But TV doesn't like it the second round. No. So it's always fun and exciting for you guys. And meanwhile I'm sitting home ready to, you know, whatever.

Drake deserves an at-large NCAA Tournament bid no matter what happens in their conference tournament

Texas does not to be deserved to be in. They're bad if like Drake gets kept out instead of Texas. If Drake doesn't win their conference, I'll be very upset. I'm gonna say it right now. Drake deserves to be in no matter what.

Duke is a defensive wagon and a national title favorite

Duke is damn good. They are, they are a spectacular team. They're a wagon defensively... If you force me to take Duke/Auburn or the field today, I would take Duke/Auburn.

You cannot win big in college basketball with high school kids anymore

I I don't think you can win and win big with high school kids. Huh? I don't, I really don't believe it. I wish it was true now. Good recruiting. I I think New York is more attractive away from New York than in New York. I agree that as somebody who used to live in New York.

The NCAA 20-hour rule for practice is 'absurd' in the NIL era

The ncaa, I've always said this about them, they are never proactive. They're always reactive. The fact that we have a 20 hour rule right now is, is absurd. Now, we don't spend 20 hours now this part of the season because we don't want to get injured. But in the beginning, in the summertime, they give you five hours a week. That's crazy.

Indiana should immediately hire Chris Beard without interviewing anyone else

If I was the ad at Indiana, I would immediately not even interview anybody else and hire one of the premier coaches in all of college basketball. And that's Chris Beard from Ole Miss. I wouldn't even think about another person. He's perfect for that job. He's a tough, hard-nosed coach. He's a superstar top three coach in my estimation.

Kentucky fans should boo Coach Cal when he returns

Coach Cal going back to Kentucky... Drop his nuts on Kentucky. That sucked for Kentucky fans. You boom him. You can celebrate him when time has passed and he's not coaching in the SEC anymore. You boo him when he comes back right now. Agreed. He's a league rival.

Kentucky basketball won the coaching trade by replacing Calipari with Mark Pope

Kentucky, there's a clip going around. That's awesome. It's Mark Pope coaching in the huddle, essentially telling his players exactly what Cooper Flag is going to do... Something that Kentucky basketball is missing that in-game coaching. Kentucky basketball, good for you guys.

Villanova head coach Kyle Neptune is a worse coach than Nick Sirianni

I will not say a bad word about Nick Sirianni for the rest of the year... You don't have to watch Kyle Neptune coach basketball. [He is worse than Sirianni] without question. They lose to everyone. He has more... seven [losses to teams above 100 on KenPom] to two for four times as many years.

Adding UConn to the Big 12 would make it the greatest college basketball conference ever

The UConn Huskies are seems like they're trying to get into the Big 12... it also would make the Big 12 the greatest college basketball conference of all time. because it would, now you'd have Kansas, you'd have UConn, you'd have Arizona, like Cincinnati. It'd be just crazy college basketball.