You guys hear that. You hear that for the first time, and what
feels like in eternity there's no curb your enthusiasm music to open a show.
And there also are three of us, so maybe that's maybe that's why we
got the bad juju of the regular season because you also as his head up,
his asked so much. So we're done with that and now we're onto
the NCAA tournament. The music is refreshing, the three of us having takes
pretty exciting right, enjoy it for well at least four more days. So
here's how this is gonna work. On the inside of the Paint podcast.
Uh, there's gonna be a couple episodes before Kansas plays. This is the
episode where we're going to discuss the tournament from the Jayhawks perspective. We're gonna
give our assessments of how they did with their draw, We're gonna recap the
conference championship week that we just had, We're gonna answer the ask ARCB,
and then we're gonna preview the Jayhawks NCAA opener. This is the Kansas version
of this show. We're not gonna pick brackets on this podcast, but there's
gonna be another show that launches the same day that exclusively features our NCAA Tournament
reagion by region picks. So doubleheader both a little shorter than normal, but
twice the content. We are up and adam here at what nine o'clock on
a Sunday night, giving you all the Jayhawks content you could possibly have with
tempered expectations. I'm Ryan Landreth, this is inside the paint. I'm Will
Wade's chances of beating both Gonzaga and Kansas next weekend, Da da damn.
And I am Bruce Weber, a new TV analyst. Oh that's right,
he is? Is he? Is he on the Big ten network? Or
did he get like promoted? Okay, all right, so here it looks
like so he didn't hold up on his promise that until Bill Stuff got punished
he would cut his hair. That's rats. Well, he was gonna start
to look like the abominable Snowman, I would guess at some point. But
it's it's okay. They got rid of Bruce and somehow they have an even
weirder coach out there. We'll talk about it. So all right, the
NCAA Tournament is here, even though Greg Gumble is not on the show.
That just didn't feel right. That's the first one in my entire life.
Yeah, that's right, No, Jim Nance. At least we still have
Seth Davis and his five foot two ass. They're to pick against the Jayhawks
every every time. Everything everything's good with Greg Gumble sounded like it might not
be so hopefully. Yes, he said it's a family health situation and that
he'd be back for the next tournament. So we'll see Greg Gumble to that's
true. Yeah, that would That's that's always a positive in that Greg Gumble
in so many ways is the NCAA tournament. Whenever they cut to him.
At least before the days of having four TVs in your living room, they
would cut to Greg Gumble in the game you're watching and you know, oh,
we're about to see something crazy happen. Uh So yeah, Instead we
get Jay Wright, who's very good, we get Clark Kellogg, who's fine,
and we get Seth Davis who picks all ones and twos. And then,
predictably, when people are like wow, that's Chalky, he's like,
well meet me to mean on Twitter. I just hope he has a sharpie.
I can't wait to see that tweeted sixty six times here in the next
couple weeks. That's what I live for these days. Okay, let's talk
about the Jayhawks. You're not here to hear about Seth Davis, because he
is. You're here to talk about the Jayhawks, and even though they have
been we have some optimism they might not be. Let's rock all right.
Let's lead off with Kansas's draw. They are the number four seed in the
Midwest region of the NCAA Tournament, the fourteenth overall seed, the number two
four seed, and they draw a pool that features number one Perdue, Number
two Tennessee. Couple of teams there that have long standing histories of March chokes.
The three seed is creating the five seed is Gonzaga definitely not a familiar
friend here on this podcast. That's not shaping up for us to get curb
your enthusiasms or anything. And then you go on so and so on down
the bracket. Twelve seed, mckney State, thirteen seed caves. First of
Poe, it is Samford the Bulldogs, who are I believe based out of
is it is it Tennessee there for a minute, really your friend was a
Bulldog? Is what does your friend think about Samford? Well, they don't
go there anymore, so I I think not great. Okay, Well it
was worth the shot, you know. I figured there was a one in
four chance that that'd be an interesting question, so I went for it and
it didn't work. It's okay, as most done on the show, let's
talk about their draw. Kansas draws the Midwest region. What do you guys
think specifically? How'd they do last year? We thought immediately they got put
in a really tough region. We saw Arkansas sitting there as a second round
opponent saying, wow, that's brutal and obviously came to fruition. We saw
eventual CHAMPI Yukon sitting there was a four seat hated that. How do we
feel in this year? I think it's a pretty easy region overall. I
could see this region going many different ways. I don't think there is a
very clear favorite here. Obviously good teams, but no, I don't.
I don't think because of the region you should be super nervous at all.
To be quite honest, I think I think this is a pretty weird and
wide open corner of the bracket. Nick, what say you? I agree?
I don't think it's as bad as last year. I do think.
I mean, if we're looking at straight seeds, I mean McNee State and
Stanford, the two teams that you really want to avoid. Those lower seeds.
I think that is tough for Kansas, but likely we're gonna have to
play one of those two teams. I don't know, maybe one of them
upsets Gonzaga. I don't think Ryan would like that. I think Ryan would
actually would like that. So rcb's mentions do not implode when they lose.
The Kanzaka has a one and four chance of being really bad. I might
join Nick on the I'm Done Show if that happens. But anyways, no,
overall, like you said Perdue, I mean they just lost. They're
not completely you know, anept from from out of the question of losing the
game. Tennessee's had some awarts. Creighton, you know, he's been al
right. So I mean it's it's it's an overall. I think it's when
sy it's an easy region. I think it's a normally seeded region. I
do wish they would have gotten shipped out west to a soft one seed North
Carolina. I think if you're talking about anyone getting the shaft. It's Iowa
State not getting the one seed after blowing out Houston and then in the Big
twelve Championship North Carolina pooping their pants a couple days ago, and then they
still get rewarded with the one seed. Iowa State has to play a Washington
State team presumably in the second round, and they're a Yukon's bracket. So
you know, you could nitpick and say each region is difficult and it's a
hard job to seed all these teams. I know some people think that some
teams are good that some others don't, But overall, I think the path
if Kansas can get healthy, can get a little run going. Do you
see this as a favorable path to the Final four for Kansas? So this
is interesting. I just read this on Twitter. Gonzaga was the number twenty
one overall seed, which should make them a six seed. BYU was slated
as the top five seed, but because there were no pods available for BYU
to play a Thursday Saturday slate as a five seed, they actually had to
get bumped down to a six. They went down. So that's the reason
that Gonzaga at twenty one overall is actually serving as a five seed, so
we knew that Gonzaga that was a surprising one. We thought they'd be lower.
That's a good draw my just a weird little effect tooy there. I
was looking at the overall seed list and saw that that's not right. That's
why. So my initial thoughts on this draw is the first matchup is scary
because of what we've seen happen in the tournament so many times. We're gonna
give you a more in depth Samford preview at the end of the show.
That's obviously already being pegged as at minimum a scary matchup and at maximum a
popular upset pick around the country, even a popular upset among Jayhawk fans.
But I think that overall, I think they definitely got one of the two
weakest regions. It's way easier than the East, and it's way easier than
the South. I think that it is the weakest region. I would rather
have Purdue as the one than everybody but North Carolina. But I'd rather have
Tennessee as the two than Arizona. I'd rather have Creighton as my three instead
of Baylor, and I'd rather have Gonzaga as my five instead of Saint Mary's,
even though that kind of feels like a wash. So yes, I
think that Kansas finally got the draw that we had been waiting on for a
little bit, and I think this path sets up kind of nice for them
to make a run. I think they should be considered the favorite to get
out of their pot of four. Perdue is the one seed. Really the
same Ku fans on Twitter who laugh about Purdue never doing anything in the tournament
are now gonna act all scared of them. You can't do that same with
Tennessee as your two seed. Perdue and Tennessee, one of them has a
very good chance of making the final four. But come on, all the
laughing we do about how no one's scared of these teams in the tournament and
now they get paired with Kansas and everybody's complaining about how scary that is.
I think Kansas got as good of a draw as you could have hoped.
The draw and essence is all about what happens in your first two games.
Once you get to this week sixteen, there's gonna be enough madness, but
otherwise everybody's good. You expect to be playing ones and two seeds when you
make the second weekend, So Samford tough on paper in some ways, not
so tough in others. Then you also have Gonzaga, who is overseeded McNeice,
who is a scary matchup that they may not even get there because they
have to play Gonzaga. Kansas is at most only gonna play two of these
teams, so there's no sense in panicking about all three. How'd you guys
think that the committee did? This seemed to be a tougher year than many
for the committee because there were so many auto bids that were secured, with
teams like Oregon and North Carolina State stealing bids down the stretch of conference play.
But the committee took quite a pounding on Twitter. Do you guys agree
with that? Uh? Yeah, But I do think some of the oddness
was forced upon them, like having teams like Texas A and M and Michigan
State as nine seeds. In normal years, that's not the case at all.
In normal years, I feel like they are easily tens or even elevens.
But yeah, this year, there's so many automatic bids that weren't gonna
be there, shouldn't have been there, or wouldn't normally have been there that
were there because yeah, you had lower seated teams winning that. I think
there was some oddness put upon them that is not necessarily their fault. I
don't think it's a necessarily poor job. I think I've seen worse brackets.
But it's I mean, it's it's got its quirks, like all brackets do.
I'm not super picky because I just like having a bracket. There's no
there's no giving Kansas like seven seed Wichita State, which I think is pretty
wild. I'm glad Oklahoma's not in as well, which is nice. I
guess that bounces out Virginia being in, which sucks. That's a bad call.
I don't know why Virginia is in. Well, they're in the plan.
They're not gonna if they can get out of the playing game. Nick,
It's probably true. You never know, though, So Nick, you
were This obviously wasn't a Chris Reynolds job. We saw that last year.
But overall people still pretty unhappy with the job the community. Was there anything
that really stood out to you? Uh, Michigan State Lanta made a good
point. They're nineteen and fourteen. How the heck did they even get in
the tournament? I don't understand. I don't if you're at fourteen losses,
I just I don't. That was the weirdest name. I thought Michigan State
was out completely and they got a nine, which was pretty wild to me
when it was right out of the shoot. We saw Florida Atlantic with four
quad four losses draw an eight seed BYU as a six, which is now
understandable that all of the four or five matchups or the regionals that they would
play into, they had to they had to figure that out, so they
should have been a five. They were a five. They just didn't land
there. Northwestern a lot of people thought they'd be a bubble team there,
and nine. A lot of people thought that Boise State would not be a
bubble team and they were one of the last four in. Uh, this
is this is really strange. Mountains close either, Yeah, Saint John's didn't
even make the first four or out, and then there was a lot of
people who thought Indiana State was going to be far and away from this field
and they were the second team out. The thing that I'm confused about is
the Mountain West got totally shafted here and Michigan State and Gonzaga get over seated.
So after they announced the bracket, they interviewed the chair of the committee
and he stated that New Mexico, who won the Mountain West title last night,
would not have been in the tournament if they didn't receive the at large
or they would not have gotten at large. They would not have made it
had they not received the automatic bid for winning their tournament. They were five
and six in quad one games, and he stated that the reason they would
not have gotten in is because of their lack of quad one wins. Then
a few minutes later, he was asked about Michigan State and how they were
seated as high as an eight seed or are they a nine and eight whatever,
they're nine. I think as a nine seed, and he stated the
reason that they were higher than some people were expecting is because of their record
in quad one games. Michigan State is three and nine and quad one games.
New Mexico's five and pliticians. Hey, this is yes, this is
what I hate about the committee interviews because they they aren't allowed to actually say
anything, so it's a completely pointless interview because like they aren't gonna actually break
down their actual process in picking these teams. Because it will real too much
about what they actually look at, and they don't want to do that.
And then they also just like don't know what they're talking about. Half the
time. It feels like yeah, like it's completely pointed, and they won't
criticize the team. They'll never actually criticize the team or say actually, why
a team did or did not get in? Especially did not get in because
I watched four seconds of it. He was talking about Indiana State, I
think, and he was like, yeah, they had a great season.
All credit to Indiana State. They won a lot of games this year.
They were a good team. It's like, well, then why didn't they
get in? You want to actually hear them actually say like, no,
we didn't like Indiana State very much. We didn't think they were worth putting
in the tournament. So it's a completely useless interview. It's twenty twenty four
and AI is starting to take over. Can we not just replace this human
process with a bunch of random dudes in a locked room together talking about advocating
replace human since twenty twenty four, can we literally just get eight? I
mean, you have all the stats, just get AI. Make it a
little bit sentient, so it can do some eye tests out a great idea,
and then you just have AI fill out the bracket for you. It's
better than it's better than a bunch of morons in a room together trying to
figure out how high they can see Michigan State in the tournament when they're nineteen
and fourteen. Highly disagree, but I understand that point. I'm trying to
figure out. So we've heard net net net like all year, right,
the net is written whenever they show the first four out in the last four
in graphic on CBS, they show the net ranking. That is the only
fact that we get other than record. That's the only end to rank these
teams. Well, looking at the net, New Mexico is twenty two,
who would have been out? Dayton is twenty three, They were almost a
play in team. Michigan State is twenty four, and Colorado's twenty five.
Colorado's a playing team. Michigan State is an eight seed or a nine seed.
Then I scroll way way way down after stating, you know, just
so, we just thought New Mexico would have been out at twenty two.
Indiana State's twenty eight, they are out. Saint John's is thirty two,
they're out. Then you scroll all the way down here and you see Northwestern
and Virginia at fifty three and fifty four. Northwestern was an eight seed or
a nine seed, and Virginia is on the play in line. So let's
not with net it's complete buns. It doesn't actually matter. They're looking at
other things. One thing I thought was going to happen, especially whenever you
saw all of the at larges, they're bubbles shrinking as these automatic qualifiers happened.
I wondered if the committee would leave a big twelve bubble team out to
send a message that the non con strength of schedule does matter. We saw
them only give Iowa State the last two seed in a clear message of they
are great in conference play, but the non con strength of schedule ain't gonna
fly around here to get to get a higher seat. Oklahoma gets left out.
I wondered if that was gonna happens as a result of that, because
Oklahoma's non con schedule wasn't good, albeit it was not bad compared to some
of their competition in the conference. That's the one thing I agree with.
I'm glad they left Oklahoma out. We've been advocating for that the whole time.
We don't need Oklahoma and anyone who complains about how we need an expanded
field, why so we can watch teams like that is oklahomaket ever. Yeah,
we don't need more, we don't need we don't need more of these
mediocre teams in there, Virginia Ryan. What the NCAA does need more of
is money. Yeah, yeah that. Did you see that? That Wendy's
ad that made me want to drill screws into my brain? To Sandstorm?
Did you see that? Because you're gonna see about one hundred times if you
didn't today. Oh yeah, I can't wait for the March Madness app to
show me a Coca Cola commercial, an All State commercial and what's the other
the Corporate Partners or something with Barkley and all of them will have Chuck Chuck
Barkley in them. Yeah, yeah, No. The the Wendy's one is
terrible. It's these two guys singing about how you can get a dollar burgers
in the apps thanks to March Madness to Sandstorm, and it's it's it just
sounds it sounds like this the one thing that the committee, so the one
thing they got right, was Oklahoma. Uh, Virginia, Why seriously why?
I saw that stupid, god awful basketball team pop up and just screamed,
oh god, nobody. It's like they were like, hmm, we
only have a couple spots left here. You know, we could put a
team like Indiana State or Saint John's in a team that people would like to
watch, or we could put a team like Oklahoma and a team with some
quality wins. And it's like that. They they cleared all that and said,
but wait, what if we put a team in there that sucks but
also that everyone hates watching. Great idea, Let's put Virginia in the dance.
We don't want Virginia in the dance. So here they go. No
one does. Not a single person does. Bare I thought it was one.
I thought it was a really bad bracket if we're being honest. But
you know, it's still a bracket. We're still gonna watch. Also,
Oklahoma declined an n invitation. It's really sad that Porter has never made the
NCAA tournament at Oklahoma. Moser is taking his ball and going home, just
just sad. What's the point he's declining? Then it well, you're prideful
sir, don't you see whenever you're you're used to making the tournament at a
zero zero zero percent clip like Porter has. It's just too much to overcome
to be left out. And I guess the Oklahoma fans, instead of ruining
the prestigious like six hundred people that watch every single one of their games in
person, go down to like two hundred and fifty. I get that.
That's fair, right, Well, I'm with you, though, why decline
it? Like you? It's money revenue opportunities for your school. It's a
chance for your student athletes to to continue to play a sports they've worked all
year four Like I'm something. Yeah, I don't understand it. I thought
Oklahoma would win that tournament. They wouldn't. It's a pride thing, I'm
sure at this point. So that's our take, Canda Straw at least,
okay, if not a thumb's up compared to other years, they committee bad
to be specific. All right. Now, let's do a recap of some
of the action from over the weekend, just because there is some stuff here
that impacts the bracket other games. So we begin with the Big twelve land
in the take going into the week was that Iowa State. This is kind
of their super Bowl. They get up for it, and wow did they
do that in a big way this week. Yeah. Look, I got
made fun of for picking Iowa State v. Houston, and that's exactly what
happened. I was say ripped through the field. They beat K State,
Baylor, and number one Houston by an average of twenty points a game.
The exclamation mark was a sixty nine to forty one demolition of the top rank
Cougar's in the In the championship game, the Cyclones held Houston to twenty seven
percent from the floor, while I mean lan mom Silovic, who Nick said
looks like Ryan and he's not necessarily wrong, made four threes. What are
your takeaways from the rest of the Big twelve tournament? I think particularly stand
out, Nick, anything stand out to you in these games, like the
honestly the last like with the exception of I'm trying to think. I think
all the games sucked, Like after I think Texas and K State, there
were nine games after that and they all sucked, right, they were all
blowouts. I be honest, I didn't watch any of these games. Yeah,
I want to know how your camping trip was whenever we're not in the
Big twelve segment. I think Houston jumped on TCU sixteen zip. They crushed
Tech and then they got crushed. Iowa State won their games by a bunch
UH. Tech thumped BYU and UH and Baylor thumps before getting thumped themselves.
So yeah, the last eight games of this tournament sucked. Also, Mike
Boyton got fired. That did happen? That final checks out? So yeah,
Iowa State, Wow do they do? They play well in this tournament?
I do not look at that, doesn't it doesn't even matter how good
they are almost going into it like they just are great. They've won it
five times in the last ten tournaments, like I think Kansas only won it
three times by comparison. So you know that only six teams have won the
Big twelve tournament in twenty eight years. I was looking at that the other
night. Yeah, it's a shockingly low number. Baylor still has never gotten
it done. They never play well in this tournament. Missouri won a couple
times, Oklahoma won it three in a row way back at the start they
got a couple yeah, and Missouri won a couple and the rest is Iowa
State and Kansas who have won like twenty two of the twenty eight tournaments or
something like that. Just you you'd think after next year, we're going to
have had twenty two different teams playing tournament and only six of one. It's
that's kind of wild. Houston concern about them, Like you don't see a
lot of teams that go ride into a national title with a twenty eight point
l on their resume. Concern there. There was always some concern with Houston,
especially offensively. I they really there are seed draw its gonna be really
tough well, and they're banged up too. Roberts didn't play in the second
half and they've lost two or three guys this season ending injuries. Like their
front court depth is so thin right now for an offense that doesn't really shoot
the ball well. Baylor got blown out by Iowa State, but it's basically
a road game. Tech and BYU I thought would perform a little bit better.
TCU just got ripped to shreds by Houston and in Kansas obviously they they
didn't play well in that game either. So we'll see. Okay, Nick,
tell me about the ACC. Everybody's favorite. Yeah, in the ACC
bid steeard. North Carolina State, who entered as the number ten seed in
the field, won five games in five days to force their way into the
dance. Really truly crazy. The wolf Pack up set number eleven Duke on
Tuesday. A Thursday, used a crazy overtime, forcing Buzzerbe to take down
Virginia on Friday, and then the outlast a number four un c win eighty
four to seventy six in the title game. The tar Hills should not be
trusted. The Blue Doubles are on a losing streak. Virginia absolutely sucks Ostrich
balls, and yeah, the ACC's trash like we are. The the ACC
got well, they got four teams in because Pitt got left out. But
Virginia's knuck in right and then the Autobid and Duke and Carolina. I believe
that's correct. Yeah, okay, So like Duke Man, every time I
start to round the corner with them, they just they just slip up.
I think that's gonna lead to an underwhelming team, super average, right.
North Carolina's had a really nice year. They have, they are loaded with
experience, and they're in a pretty soft region. But I don't know something
there, like am I crazy, We'll obviously pick the brackets with something with
North Carolina. Even with all that going for him, it just doesn't feel
right. Yeah, I agree, And then what then? What else you
have? Virginia? Yeah? The North Carolina State shot to beat Virginia was
amazing. They tied it with a crazy three after a ninety percent free throw
shooter missed one that would assaulted the game. Way NC State wins in overtime.
It would have been poetic if that had been the shot that knocked Virginia
out. It wasn't. It was close. In the Big Ten, number
thirteen, Illinois won the championship over Wisconsin in a super entertaining and high scoring
unlike the Big Ten to have it not it's anything but a rock fight in
their tournament. But this was a brilliant game either sport for that matter.
Arren Shannon Junior I think had ninety points or more in the three games here.
He was absurd way more. He had like seven, well over seventy,
and just the semi final and championship alone, he had like another twenty
eight in the quarterfinal. Oh and Nick is writing about how Terrence Shannon junior
story has kind of gotten a little swept under the radar by the national media.
He's playing. We'll see, you know if that winds up biting them
in the ass one day, You know, I don't have fun with that.
The Badgers upset number three per due in overtime despite Zach Edy taking twice
as many free throws as Wisconsin's entire team. You guys want to say anything
about the way Zach Edy is officiated? Uh, here, here's a here's
a sound. Is there a whistle sound on the soundboard? Oh yeah,
let's see if I do. Someone tried to defend Zach aty. Ohpe he
bumped into a trash can on the way into the arena. Ope, he
slipped in on the floor. Oh nope, that's the Hunger Games whistle.
That's not the that's not the whistle I wanted. Okay, that's gonna have
to do the job. That's basically or that's basically it. Yeah, man,
Zach Edie and I believe so produce played thirty three games, and Zach
Eaty has taken three hundred and seventy free throws, which is just I'd hope
he's averaging near thirty if he's taking fifteen game, how many has Kansas shot
as a team at this point, like it. I'm sure it's more than
that. Kansas as a team has attempted four hundred and thirty two free throws.
Zachiaty has taken three hundred and seventy by himself. My gosh. Yeah,
it's unwatchable the stuff he gets away with. And then they'll you know,
and here's the thing. He gets fouled a lot and they don't call
it. He probably gets filed every possession. But relative to the way they
officiate other players, yeah, it's pretty absurd. Also nebrasketball, they are
scrappy as hell. Hoiberg finally got a team of Hoyberg level players who shoot
a high percentage and play at an up tempo pace, but they don't play
any defense. It's hence why they got They got run out of the gym
in the second half against Illinois after leading by double digits at halftimes. Those
are kind of the hallmarks of Hoiburg basketball. Entertaining though, for sure.
So they draw on eight seed. How many teams did the Big ten get
in the dance produced at the top Illinois is good, wisconstants five they get
six. So those final four teams are Yeah, those four plus Michigan State
and Northwestern I guess yeah, they did. Wow. Every year it feels
like that we're lucky to get more than one Big ten team the second weekend?
Is it kind of looking like that again? Yeah, it's very on
the table. I don't trust most of I don't trust almost any team in
the dance. Quite honestly, I really don't trust most of the Big ten.
Well, I know you don't trust any of the sec So why don't
you tell me about all those teams? Yeah, that's decidedly true. On
number twelve Auburn. They won the tournament, though their path to a championship
was five seed, nine seed six. They beat Florida in the finals after
number five Tennessee got trashed by number nine seed Mississippi State and nine overall Kentucky
got ninety seven hung on them by Texas A and M, who also is
in the dance as a nine seed, which was a little odd to me,
but that's okay, we are here. Auburn ended the tournament with just
one quad one victory, so the resume he'd get some badly needed polish on
it. While the top teams at the conference enter the NCAA's with major questions
like are you capable of playing defense at all? EXAs, A and M
had a lot of really good wins. They just had some bad losses.
So here we go again with the committee, Like they're saying with I would
the message the committee sent was we don't care about bad losses if you have
good wins. That's why FAU and A and M both weren't even on the
bubble. Alabama is giving up a ton of points. They had over one
hundred hung on them by Florida. And you said Kentucky too. Everybody's loving
Kentucky's draw. I saw someone on Twitter say, man, if Cali Perry
doesn't blow this, they're gonna go a long way. Well, guess what's
gonna happen here in a couple of wek Guess what cal Perry and not being
able to play defense and the tournament gets yet cal s walenis what's wrong with
that? Like, I don't know. I applaud you for trusting in Kentucky
every year we picked them two rounds too far. They're great when they're playing
well, but oh wow, is that a young team that doesn't play a
lot of defense. Auburn, to me is the scary one. Auburn is
the one that no one's talking about. I also thought they got a lousy
draw. They got paired with Yukon as their one seed. A lot of
people thought maybe this was enough to get them up to the three line.
But again, not a lot of quality wins before this tournament. Uh.
And then Tennessee. We're doing this again. Like a lot of people like
Tennessee's draw, but Barnes is like, you're gone, Rick Barnes, Yeah,
yeah, Barnes deserves this. The instant the calendar turns to March,
Rick Barnes appears and they lost by twenty against the nine seeds. Hey,
guess who's all in the same region together? Him and Matt in my head
and looking around at Knowing in particular when we were talking about Tennessee, definitely
gonna They're definitely gonna choke, right, I bet they'll I bet they'll choke,
for sure, choke one. They won't go to the final four.
They're definitely not in the final four, right. What are the odds that
a team in the Midwest region not named Purdue or Tennessee make the Final four?
Two and five very specific. I think it's I think it's decently high.
Probably yeah, or may not reflect that, but it is decently sounds
about right, And Kansas fans need to remember that these are two of the
teams we make fun of all the time, and now you're terrified of them
as the one of the two. That's not how it works. Now.
Theoretically purduees do Tennessee's do eventually. One would think you keep giving them ones
and two seeds, they're gonna make one eventually. But you know, if
history is any indication, I don't get the panic over Purdue. Landon thinks
Purdue is the best basketball team ever. He thinks Zach Edie would basically murder
Hunter Dickinson on the court. So I don't even know why they're playing the
games. Just go ahead and fly Purdue to Phoenix right now, and don't
even let them play the games in their region. In the Pac twelve,
as they seem to do just about every couple of years, Oregon came out
of nowhere to win this tournament and earn an NCAA bid, upsetting Number six
Arizona and then Colorado in the semis. In the finals. The league probably
turned from a two bid league into a four bid one as a result of
this tournament, because Colorado made a run to clinch and then Oregon obviously winning
it out right. Who here is excited for a red hot Ducks team to
get paired with Kansas. I wrote this before the bracket and they are in
the same region. Boy, if anything can make us go, Oregon's always
scary. They always do this. They always sneak their way in there and
win one or two more games than you think they will. I think Arizona
got paired in an easier region with great geography, but they haven't made a
Final four in a thousand chances as a one or a two seed, So
I don't trust anyone from the PAC twelve. That's the league. I'm the
most bearish on. Washington State's not doing it for me. Oregon, I
think I actually might have the most confidence in of these teams. Really,
Arizona's fine, but they don't play defense. Oregon's the hottest. Oregon is
the hottest. I definitely could see Orgon winning a couple of games. I
don't hate Arizona's draw it all though. I think Arizona got a pretty good
draw, But then again, if Arizona when they lost to Princeton last year.
They've lost a Buffalo before. Like you said, they have had a
lot of teams that have been very good and theoretically were Final four good that
could not get the job done. Well. There was one league that was
not very interesting, and that was the league with the number one overall seed
that would be the Big East. Yukon ripped through the field, beating a
Tyler Kullich less Marquette team by sixteen in the finals. It's their first Big
East title since twenty eleven. The most interesting event from the tournament was a
shouting match between Rick Patino and Dan coach k two point zero Hurley in the
quarterfinals. Did you guys see this? Did you guys see what went on
with this? It was a ninety five to ninety barn burner by the way,
that cost Saint John's that they wanted they'd been in the tournament. Did
you guys see the whole thing? No, So, there was a fan
behind the Saint John's bench that was shouting at the game, as you should.
He was being a little rambunctious, but he was in no way an
active threat to the game, and he was yelling at Dan Hurley, and
both coaches got technicals for shouting at each other very early in this game,
and Hurley starts screaming at the officials to throw this fan out of the game,
like he is stopping the game and pointing at this fan telling him to
get lost. They didn't end up throwing him out. And then after the
game, Dan Hurley gets in his presser and he goes, you know,
I was just looking out for our game because that fan was honestly behaving worse
than coach Patino was. Oh my gosh, who let coach k back in
here? You self righteous jackass. You win one tournament and you think you're
God walking around out there. What a absolute piss baby he is. It's
no surprise who his brother is where he gets this, But how did he
go from you know, oh we would the Big East is this man's league?
Whatever he said. When he gets his feelings unhappy, he gets his
panties in a water at any turn of his head. What a manchild.
The Hurley brothers both are other. Then again, anytime you insult Rick Patino,
I'm not I'm not livid. I like Rick Patino. I could use
more Rick Patino in my life. Why didn't they give Virginia? Why didn't
they give that spot to Rick Patino? I much rather would have had that
anybody there you go. Yeah, the Mountain West six seed New Mexico beat
five seed San Diego State to win the league's autobid in the finals, which
sums up how crazy that league wound up being. We did get a Patino
in the dance. It is Richard Patino who has taken New Mexico from like
a seven win team two years ago to dancing even though they wouldn't have,
says the clown committee chair, because we have to have powerhouse teams like Virginia
in there. Can't have any spot for you. Mountain West Juggernaut, ridiculous
good league. Mountain West is the third best league in the country, after
the Big Twelve and the and the U and the SEC. Maybe the fourth
if if you want to say the the the Big East gets in there because
it's top heavy. I don't know Mountain West really entertaining league. Glad they
got all their teams in UH miscellaneous tournament information. Long Beach State won the
Big West Tournament one week after their ad announced he was going to fire the
coach at the end of the season. That's wild. What do they do?
I don't Decaine overcame premature confetti to send off premature confetti send off to
win the eight en title for their first tournament birth since Star Wars. Did
you see that? I saw the end of the game. I heard about
the premature confetti. I did want to win that game. In the middle
of the second half they shot the confetti off. It just starts falling and
they had to stop the game to clean it up. And then Ryan,
you should tell us about the Kansas basketball Twitter count bracket. Yes, so,
Rock Chuck Blog made it to the Elite eight in the Ku Twitter Tournament.
And then as we do, as we know how to do, just
like the team we embody, the team we cheer for, we cruised to
the Elite eight and then yeah we lost. We lost the Braden Turner,
who's one of the most popular individual KU Twitter accounts out there. What was
this? What was the percentage breaking? As like sixty eight to thirty two.
It was a blowout. We got cooked after a really close game over
eleven seed the Ghost of Joe YESAFU, one of my favorite Twitter accounts.
We needed a late rally just to get there. You kind of knew that
we were we were dead man walking after that. So major folks or major
props to Jayhawk Focus for taking the time and putting that together. That takes
a lot of work and it was cool to see everybody get enjoyment out of
it. We will hang an Elite eight banner. We will be Kansas State
not Kansas and showcase our Elite eight banner with its gonna get another ring because
he gets rings every time he wins Fantasy football, and he also gets rings
when he wins his Blue and Gold charity game. So I can't I can't
wait for a show one of season whatever, season twelve when we hang that
early day banner. It's gonna be a great Oh yeah yeah, Nick,
you'll have to come back late night bann of that takes up most of the
rafters. Nick, you have to come back for season twelve because we're gonna
hang a banner that on late night next year that says Elite A to the
Rock Chalk Blog Twitter tournament. That's that's awesome. Yeah. Even though the
Elite eight loss we got, we got Oregon out came Dylan do or outcome
Dylan Brooks and Tyler Dorrisey and also Nick, you won pick them by thirteen
games l good job show. Yeah, this was just pick them always.
So this is uh, this is pick them and and this is these are
the sounds for each of us. Nick, Ryan, Eh Landon that is
a twenty You're only twenty games back, sir. That's well next year,
I'm I'm gonna run it back. I'm gonna run it back being at least
five to ten games behind and pick them probably worse. Yeah, Nick is
the pick him crown, that's his. That's his third outright title. And
then he and I also split one and I won three. Four. Yeah,
we each have four and signed to come back for season twelve, so
I can take the outright crown. Yeah. And then and last with no
titles, you have Landon Fields, but Landon Rick Painter, I meant to
say, I meant to say Landing Fields as his head asked so much.
But you know, especially late season, pick them, yeah, late season
pick them, and and Landonville is just one big all right right team solutions
the last show, we're not doing that because it's everybody but Iowa State.
They are the only ones, ask r CB, so there's only a few
questions. I assume most of them are about the Jayhawks. They knew they
normally are. Let's open up with one that's not about the Jayhawks. And
I love this question. It's from our buddy at ku Tweets and News who
asks who's worse, Jean or Jean Sterotur. Here's my answer. God,
I actually think I dislike Jean Sterotor more. Jean Sterotor is one of my
five least favorite people in sports. He sucks. Who was the first one?
It was Jeane Sterotoriy and you cut out before the first Sister Jean said,
yeah, the Jeans. What do you guys think? Really you think
sister Jean's annoying? But Jane story. You can hate on a little old
woman, he does so gen No, I also hate on little old men
like fran Fraschilla, and he basically does the same thing that Jean Sterotor does.
They just defend the refs all the time, Like, seriously, a
fan could run on the on the field and tackle three basketball players and knock
them all out unconscious. And if the refs said, you know what,
I think We're not gonna call anything, play on Jean would go. You
know, I think that's a good call. No one was in danger there,
clearly just have to move along. He's just completely at the mercy of
the officials. And I hate it at Kat tweets and news. Is there
a better slew of opponents in the field than mcneice's. So here's who McNeice
has played this year? Are these are these real? Wait a second,
I have to verify this. Is this Are these real names? Or are
you screwing with me? Kat tweets and News. The McNeese Cowboys coached by
Will Whitt. Oh my gosh, he's right. So these are four teams
that McNeice has played. Mississippi University for Women who scored twenty three I remember
on twenty three points, Letturnio Laturnio Champion, Christian Champion Christian who only lost
by sixty and Ryan went to school and no, we went to their other
opponent which is College of Biblical Studies, which is CBS. Wow, that's
an all timer. And then what's the one is MUW and McNeese has VCU
and Michigan road wins, which I know are not what's the MUW team that's
the women's school. I think that's the women three. Yeah, Mississippi University
for women. The men's team, I assume, uh, they scored twenty
three points and that is twelve That is seven for fifty five is what that
shooting percentage looks like. They could have had twenty nine had they made the
six free throws that they missed. Also, so have you ever seen a
team have thirty seven baskets to their opponents seven in a basketball game? Because
that's what happened. And this is the team people are afraid of in the
tournament. Well, I mean they do have a ninety two to twenty three
win on their resume, and they do shoot the ball extremely well at kate
Eden fourteen. Kansas either makes the Final four or loses the first game.
Overall, love the draw in this region. What's your thoughts kind of talked
about that. I think overall we think it's a it's a decent draw,
right, It's as well as they could have hoped for To avoid one,
avoid Ucon that was priority A. We know they're gonna be a four.
Want to seem a void, Yukon. Were there any other teams you were
really wanting to see them avoid Sandford? I mean not that you actively could
really avoid. I was hoping Gonzaga is genuinely like the best five seed you
could have got. Gonzaga is not a five seed. Yes, they literally
are not a five seed. They're six. They just had to get moved
because BYU. I think that Kansas got a pretty good two seed, a
pretty good three seed, and a really good five seeds are all like I
would have taken quite ones. I probably would have taken any of the five
seeds. It's San Diego State, Saint Mary's, Gonzaga, who is,
like we said, living not a five seed, and Wisconsin. Wisconsin's the
scariest there. But Wisconsin is the best for sure, and then the six
seeds might be better like Gonzaga was supposed to be there BYU is better Texas
Tech. Yeah, the struggle against Texas Tech at all right now? Nope,
butides at time to keep moving. Besides being healthy, what does Kansas
need to change about their playing to help them win? Well, Bill se
said, they just need to play with some swag, do everything better.
They need to go out and make threes. That's the thing. You don't
have to make a lot of threes because your two point games so good but
you need to be able to make somewhere in the vicinity of six to eight
threes. If you can consistently do that, it doesn't matter where they come
from, You're gonna be fine. At Preston skirts sake. Rob Dillingham has
been electric to this year to watch. By the way, John Calli Perry
brought both Dillingham and Reed Shepherd off the bench in that loss AAU hoopin Power
five. Who have been the most fun players among all college basketball players for
you to watch this year. So the real thing is, I didn't watch
very much college basketball this year. Well, I love watching considering the College
Basketball podcast I do. I love watching players shoot free throws, tweet free
throws, tweet free throws. So it's been a dream to watch. Zach
Edy ps Reed Shepherd is genuinely up there. He's really good. Fun.
Yeah, Dalton is a monster. Caleb love when he has his moments.
Uh, that's that's hit or miss. Wade Taylor is a stud at A
and M fun and the the dude for Indiana State was fun too down the
stretch until it just they they didn't end up making it. Yeah, that's
and Jamal said Jamal pretty electric. Yeah, he had a forty burger earlier
this year. Honestly, read Shepherd and uh and freaking Rob Dilleam might be
your answer and they come off the bench. Yay cow. Two questions from
at show Me Hawk. Do you like our chances of a trip to Phoenix
if our path is if the path is Sanford McNee state you in Oregon?
Well, yes, I would very much like that. Really, Wow,
that's sad at Show Me Hawk, Nick, if North Carolina and Duke were
in the Big twelve, what would their conference records be? Ooh man,
eleven and seven and ten and eight, Yeah, something like that. I
think North Carolina. North Carolina might get to twelve. Duke is no better
than any of the teams like the Texas Kansas. They're exactly ten and eight
I think. And they weren't even that good at home this year. They
lost multiple home games, so who knows how that how much that of an
advantage would have been. Yeah. And then the final question for Matt Preston
SKIRTSK I was thinking about this the other day, is the m color injury?
What Kansas fans thought that Jalen Daniels injury actually was a lot of interesting
comments around his injury from inside the program, Yeah, self said basically he
hasn't seen mccullor practice, so they don't know. It sounds like Dickinson should
be good to go. But yes, it is interesting that we all kind
of speculated how much of this is the player's choice with Jalen Daniels, and
that appears to be exactly what's going on, at least to a certain extent
with with what's his face with Kevin mccullor. Yeah, if you ever having
ascarcbs twitter hashtag, all right, let's preview the game. The Jayhawks draw
number thirteen, not macnece Samford, Number thirteen Samford versus number four Kansas on
Thursday. They won the tournament. March twenty first, late tip off,
eight fifty five pm. Nick, your thoughts, No, it's the late
game and it's probably gonna start later than that too. The Samford Bulldogs,
they won the regular season title in the Southern League and then they won the
tournament. They are twenty nine and five overall. They have not lost since
February twenty eight. They lost three conference games. They started h to two
with a fifty three point loss to Purdue and a ten point loss to VCU.
Those are the only quality non con opponents. They played oh to one
against ranked teams and it was by fifty three points. This is the thing
that everybody is going to know about Samford. They shoot a lot of threes.
They're good at a lot of threes. Just to give you a basic
breakdown here, Samford is seventh nationally with a thirty nine per team mark from
the three point line immediately go ahead, however game. They are fifth nationally
in points per game and they play with one of the five smallest lineups in
the country. But the first thing that stands out here they make a lot.
They shoot a lot, but it's not as many as you think.
People are comparing this to BYU, a team that catches and shoots everything.
They really don't. Here's what Samford does. They play hella fast, They
lead the confer or. They lead the country in possessions per game, up
tempo pace, full court press all the time, what West Virginia used to
do. And they're not necessarily looking for threes. They're looking to shoot early
in the shot clock, so it reopens up early in the shot clock.
They're gonna fire it. I heard on eight to ten tonight driving around that
they had the shortest time of possession among any team in the country. They
want to take a lot of shots. They want to maximize possessions. They're
also really small, a team that's not very good on the glass, a
team that's about on defense what Kansas State kind of. They're right around k
State and the Ken Palm rankings, but they're only about eightieth in defensive efficiency.
Offensively, they're brilliant, but it remains to be seen how much of
that was a product of their schedule, because they didn't even get out of
the forties against Purdue. What do you guys think about this matchup and what
do you think the keys to it are. I think it's a really bad
matchup in anything other than size for Kansas They've played really poorly against teams that
play fast and like to cause turnovers, which McNee State, who I think
should outrightly be favored against Gonzaga, maybe also does. But in the little
analysis the ESPN game, they also sub a lot ten players ours at least
twelve minutes a game. Six of the top seven guys in minutes shoot at
least thirty six percent from three. They have a freaking small forward who's shooting
forty seven percent on threes, and you may think, oh, so he's
probably like eighteen for forty fifty one for one hundred and eight. That's a
huge sample size. That's amazing. That's a lot of threes. They shoot
a lot of threes. They also their best player also is a guy with
the same first name as last name, Aussie A Core at Core is their
big guy. So I do think it's a bad matchup. However, you
do see in games like this often enough that all that doesn't actually matter when
it comes to four thirteen and you sort of outthink yourself and it doesn't really
matter in the four seed wins by fifteen to twenty anyway. So it's it's
a little bit tough to know. Like Ryan, you were saying, like
it's a little bit hard because you know, it's the SoCon. I think
that's Seinford's conference, right, the SoCon not exactly the best conference that's ever
walked the earth, and they got smashed by Purdue. They lost by ten
at VCU early in the season two. So yeah, I don't know,
but I do think on paper, pretty bad matchup for Kansas, though.
Hunter Dickinson theoretically should play very well. Nick, give me a prediction.
What do you think happens in this game. I think Kansas is gonna win
this game. I think there's a lot of, you know, rightfully so
hysteria about this three point shooting Mark Stanford team has, which makes sense.
Kansas hasn't been great defending the three this year. They've been unlucky with the
three this year. What spells disaster more for Bill's self from the first and
second round of the NCAA tournament more than teams with fire bomb white shooters,
and that seems to be the case here. But I do think they win
this game pretty comfortably. I think by fifteen plus. Honestly, if you're
looking for a white guy of the game, it is Rylan Jones from Utah
who shoots thirty eight percent on threes. Yes, that's not gonna be good.
I agree with Nick. You ready for this, Kurby your enthusiasmy on
the next show. I don't just think Kansas wins. I think Kansas put
Samford in a body bag. I don't think that this is unnecessarily a bad
matchup for Kansas. It's a scary one in the sense that you've seen them
lose to You see a lot of three point shooters. That's what we said
about Freakin Texas Southern or didn't they play? Was it? Who was the
team that came in with like the huge three Eastern Washington. I guess made
him sweat a little bit, like I remember Howard being pretty good shooting three.
I don't care. Here's what I know about this team. You want
to take a look at the four games that Kansas played a team with the
ken Pum defensive rank about what Samford is. Kentucky scored eating are U KC
scored eighty eight, Kansas State scored ninety like when the Jay Like, I
don't know this, Kansas State scored seventy in overtime, but that's true.
Yeah, but Kansas put up points whenever they Oklahoma State is one spot behind
them in defensive efficiency and Kansas scored in the eighties in both games. This
is a team that turns it over a lot and they have no interior defense
or size. Hunter Dickinson bet the over on his props. He should tear
this team apart. And while yes, if Samford's making threes, will it
be hard for Kansas to counter? With twos. Yes, but you are
playing a team that is going to try to maximize possessions. I think the
problem matchups for Kansas are the ones that slow them down with elite defense like
Cincinnati. Look how that went. The Jayhawks struggle to score more than they
struggle to defend. Give me strength against strength, and I will bet on
more talented team every time. Kansas should not have a problem scoring and getting
quality looks both inside and outside the Ark against this team. They've proven this
year that, again similar competition, they're able to take advantage of that.
And I think Kansas wins going away. Jayhawks eighty nine, Samford seventy one.
I think Kansas wins, but I hate every second of it. I
don't feel good about it at all. But I think they do win.
I think it's close. I think Samford scores a lot. I'll take the
Jayhawks to win. I don't know Sanford scores a lot. I think it's
a close game. I'll say seventy five sixty eight. The line right now
is Samford minus eight. What side of that line are Samford plus eight?
What side do you want? I will take Sanford and the points. I
guess wows wit that right, but I'll take the points. If they lose
to Samford, you know it's over, so I'll own it all. But
I don't think this is the type of team that's beating Kansas. The Jayhawks
are very good defensively. I trust them to get stops, and I also
think that you are gonna be stunned how easy the Jayhawks will get quality looks
in this game. This feels like a Hunter and kJ combined for fifty points.
Game could be, could be, hopefully so, so we will be
back. Make sure to click our NCAA Tournament bracket preview. We're gonna do
that show here after we rap recording on this, and then you're gonna get
a show that's gonna post Saturday morning, win or lose. I guess hopefully
we're talking about the next game for the Jayhawks, so be on the lookout
for that. We will be back later in the week to talk about Kansas's
first NCAA Tournament game. This is inside the Paint on Rock Chuck flogging Ryan
Landrath. I am Bucky McMillan's chance to beat Kansas. I'm poor moser,
al is what I have to say on that one. All Right, Guys
behave, don't get stand farted ideas mhm