Filling Out Brackets With Mark Titus, The Dumbest Fun Facts For Every Tournament Team, Hot Seat/Cool Throne And More
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Hey, Pardon My Take listeners. You can find every episode on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or YouTube. Prime members can listen ad-free on Amazon Music. I'm this weird part of my life. I really am. Bill Burr, Drop Dead Years, a hilarious stand-up special, is now streaming on Hulu. I am getting along with my wife better than I ever have. All you have to do is agree to something that you would never do. Farmer's Market? Oh boy, would I?

My buddy dies. I show up to the funeral. Open casket. You told me he was dead. I believed you. Bill Burr, Drop Dead Years, is now streaming on Hulu. On today's part of my take, we have our very good friend Mark Titus. We're going to break down the brackets from a basketball standpoint. We're also going to do something new. I think this will be very fun for the people. It's our fun facts for every team. We split it up into four regions.

You're going to find out things like the entire Baylor men's basketball team died when a train hit their bus in like 1920. You'll find out that MLB team once sued one of these tournament teams for copyright infringement.

Fun facts all around. Give you little nuggets to go into the weekend. We are going to do Hot Seat Cool Throne, and we have a couple bets for you, and it's the best time of year. So get excited. Extra long PMT breaking down the tournament from every single angle, and it's all brought to you by our friends at DraftKings.

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Age and eligibility varies by jurisdiction. Void in Ontario. Bonus bets expire 168 hours after issuance. For additional terms and responsible gaming resources, see DKNG.co slash audio. Okay, let's go. A.W. Head. Your part in my day.

Welcome to Part of My Take, presented by DraftKings. Bet the unexpected with DraftKings Sportsbook. Download the DraftKings Sportsbook app and use code TAKE. That's code TAKE for new customers to get $200 in bonus bets when you bet just $5 only on DraftKings. The crown is yours. Today is Wednesday, March 19th. And boys, we've got it. The tournament has arrived. We're going to do a little choose-your-own-adventure. We are taping this in the afternoon. We're going to do a little choose-your-own-adventure.

I bet San Diego State, so I'll be a very sad boy if they lost by more than four and a half. But it does feel like UNC is the team now. Yeah. We've had four days of just hearing that they don't belong. You don't belong. You don't belong. They probably don't belong. Yeah, the West Virginia governor even did a press conference. The National Corrupt Association of Athletics. He had a big sign. Yeah.

It was a big story for what we said, 24 hours. You get 24 hours to basically bitch about it. And then as soon as the ball is tipped, everyone's like, okay, we want to watch the game now. He went on the yak. He went on the yak. What did he say on the yak? Not a whole lot. He basically was like, yeah, I know this isn't going to do anything, but we have to fight for ourselves. He came on because Nick, our good friends Nick and KB are both West Virginia natives. Nick is a West Virginia fan.

And he gave the right answer in the fact that he said, we're like, dude, you're not actually going to get into the tournament by suing. He's like, yeah, of course not.

But you got to basically work for the constituents. He's also he's working a ref. Constituents. Yeah. Next year, if they're on the bubble, that's the right. That's the right. They might give him a little friendly bump. This is the best thing that can ever happen to a politician because it gives you something where you can take everybody under your wing and be like, I got your back as your leader. Meatball Ron did this with Florida State. Yep. And then got awful quiet about it when Florida State got their ass kicked in that bowl game. That's true. But it's a good opportunity. Like if you're a politician, you know, every crisis.

needs a leader. It's a great opportunity for leaders to step up and to have everybody support them. So I guess congratulations to the governor. Yeah. Bubba Cunningham is also like maybe the most corrupt person's name of all time. So my idea is that we need to change. He doesn't deserve to be Bubba.

A Bubba is a guy you want to be friends with. Yeah, but also a big cat. But also someone that's corrupt. A Bubba is someone you hit up to get out of a tough situation. Bubba's walked into a lot of meetings where the other guy brings a briefcase in and then doesn't take that briefcase with him on the way out. I think, though, we should call... His real name is Lawrence. I think we should call him Larry. Larry Cunningham. Strip him of the Bubba. How about Liam? You could call him Liam. Liam Cunningham. Yeah, I just feel like that's a Bubba move. It is. To take bribes. But also, like, being a Bubba...

That's kind of a point of pride. You know, you, when you're a Bubba, that's cool to be like, Hey, I'm Bubba. So we should take that away from him and be like, no dude, you're Lawrence. Yeah.

Yeah, I don't know. Lawrence Cunningham, you're a complete no-name Lawrence. You remember your Bubba's. I feel like this is on the, whoever the committee is, the NCAA for putting Bubba in charge of everything. You don't put a Bubba in the position of leadership. You put Bubba brings the beers. Well, it's also coffee by that where they're like, we're UNC, we'll never be on the bubble. Right. And oh yeah, we get $100,000 if we make the tournament. That's not a conflict of interest or anything. It's bullshit. I think it's like,

anywhere between 40 and 60 grand. And the reason why they do what they say is because if you make the tournament, then the AD has to work overtime. Yeah. So he deserves to be compensated for that. Yeah. So UNC probably will win and they'll probably go to the Sweet 16 and everyone will be like, yeah, you didn't think they should be in the tournament. And then Alabama State won.

Yeah. I'm just guessing. Yeah. Alabama State, St. Francis. I was looking. I did research into these teams earlier. Yeah. So I've got fun facts about them. As fun as they can get about Alabama State and St. Francis. But yeah, they're going to lose. Yeah.

I don't know who it was. I saw it on X to Everything app, so apologies if this was you. But I like the take that the playing game should be bubble teams and not 16. It shouldn't be 16 seeds. What's the point? We've been saying that on this here program. Yeah, that was with John Rothstein on Sunday night. Thanks for subscribing. Please unsubscribe and resubscribe. You're welcome.

It would be better if it was just the bubble teams that had to play for the right to get in and then give the 16 teams their opportunity to get their ass kicked by the one season. Now, the only counterpoint to that, our good friend Tom Fornelli did text me after listening to part of my take on Sunday, something Hank, I guess, doesn't do. Uh...

But he pointed out that they do get a bonus for winning a tournament game. If they win the plan. Yeah. So if you ask the 16 seed, do you want a 50-50 chance at a bonus or a one in a billion chance?

I think they'd probably take the 50-50 chance. And for, you know, the kids and the coach to get a NCAA tournament win on your resume is a pretty big deal. So they might be fine with it. Do they not get a bonus if they just play in the tournament? No, I don't think so. They might, but they get an additional bonus for every win. Also, I appreciate the pageantry and the tradition that is Dayton, Ohio. Yeah.

It's fun. It's where we started off. Listen, I want another playing game on Monday night because last night, I don't know about you guys, but I was lost. I do think it's interesting, though, and John brought this up, Hank, so if you see it online, it's probably from him, that San Diego State and North Carolina, both teams that have played in the NCAA championship game in the last five years. Fun fact. It is a fun fact. Really, very, very fun fact. Uh...

Should we get to our fun facts? Yeah. Let's fucking do it. So we split up the regions. We all took a region. PFT, I think you're up first because you have Auburn's region, right? I do. All right. So Auburn and PFT, the South. One seed. Yeah, the South.

So Auburn is the one seed out of that division. They are the Tigers. We know them as the Auburn Tigers, but they also chant War Eagle. Do you know why they chant War Eagle? No. So the tradition goes back to 1892. There was a football game going on. It was Auburn against Georgia.

and there was a civil war veteran in the stands who had a pet eagle that he found during a battle in the civil war don't ask what side he was on okay but he had his pet eagle in the stands then the eagle took off started a circle in the sky as auburn came back and drove for the win i love that against georgia and the crowd started chanting war eagle war eagle plot twist

Then the eagle just turned straight downwards from the sky, flew into the field and killed itself. Oh. Kamikaze. Kamikaze War Eagle. That's an awesome story. I didn't know that. The eagle might have been woke because he was like, I'd rather die than go back to my Confederate soldier boss. Yeah. So we don't know what happened there. But yeah, that's why they call it War Eagle. Okay.

I like that. I've been to Auburn, saw one of the coolest college football traditions that I've seen. Yeah. The War Eagle flying. Yeah. Yeah. Very cool. Now, if we saw that today, we would say that's a bad omen for Auburn if the Eagle just decided to unalive itself. Yeah. It's like that Central Park pigeon or whatever. Oh, are you talking about Flacco? Flacco. Flacco the owl. Yeah, but he was a slut, remember? He was a slut. He was fucking everything. He had herpes, owl herpes. He also might have been taken out. Yeah. I didn't have eyeballs on Hillary at the time. Oh.

Okay, that was a great start. Is that a fun fact? Well, I didn't know what War... I knew they said War Eagle, but I never looked it up. Yeah, it's a fun fact. Okay. And they're playing? And they're playing against either Alabama State or St. Francis of Pennsylvania. So Alabama State Hornets, notable alumni, 2 Chainz. Oh. Also notable alumni... Oh, did he play... I think he might have played college basketball there. He might have played ball there. And also Clarence Carter. He sang that song, Strokin'. When I start making love, I don't just make love.

Stroke. That is a great, that's a super fun fact. That's a great song. It's a banger, isn't it? That is a very fun song. Maybe the best dynamic duo. If you're putting together an NBA jam team of two musicians that went to any of these schools, 2 Chainz and Clarence Carter are pretty good. Like that. Clarence Carter, Clarence Carter.

They're always in the first four and they've never won a first four game. Okay. And then the red flash. Here's my fun fact about the red flash. St. Francis coach Rob Krimmel has a lifetime record of 171 and 227. Oh, wow. So he's been coaching there for a long time. They haven't won a lot of games. Good job. Just keep staying out there and trying. He's elite at keeping his job. Two chains did play two seasons at Alabama state. Wow. Oh, you think he's going to be there?

Gotta be. He's got it. Titty boy? Titty boy's gotta be there. Hank, you're adding some nice fun facts to PFT's list here. I want to say, we should have started the show with welcome back, Hank. Thank you. Thank you. You were just a vessel on Sunday night. That was your innie. Yeah. Oh, yeah.

No, that was his Audi. It might have been his Audi. Well, his Audi punishes any. Yeah. I was reintegrating, yeah. Yeah, yeah. It was your nose bleeding and being like, what the hell's going on? But yeah, it's good to have you back. Okay. Next game. Next game, Louisville-Crayton. Louisville versus Crayton. We've got Bird Nugget. Bird Nugget of the week because it's the Cardinals against the Blue Jays. Hit the noise, Hank.

That was good. That was good. A Blue Jay would kick a Cardinal's ass in a fight, even though the Louisville Cardinal has teeth. Blue Jays are much bigger. They're super, super aggressive. Also, per StatHole Sports, Rain Smith is the best free throw shooter in the country for Louisville.

So keep your eye on that. Wait, his name's Rain? R-E-Y-N-E. I believe that's Rain Smith. But that's still making it rain. Making it rain. Pretty good. Creighton, fun fact, the Toronto Blue Jays sued Creighton in 2014 over the redesign of the Blue Jay logo. And after three years of litigation, it got thrown out because Creighton's name predates the Toronto Blue Jays name. And also the judge ruled that the Toronto Blue Jays logo was not famous enough to be infringed upon. Ouch.

Yeah. That's brutal. I had to go wild. I went balls deep in reading actual court documents to figure that one out. Also, I did so much more reading than I've ever done today. Yeah. Creighton Blue Jays. Blue Jays is one word. It's not two. So if you see somebody put a space in between blue and Jays in March, they're casual. What about BJs? BJs. Can you do the shirt? I love BJs. I heart BJs. Blue Jays translates to edging.

Blue Jays. Edging. Blue ball. No. P.J. Blue ball. What does the J stand for? Are you saying B-L-E-W? Like B.J., but you have blue balls. Okay. Okay, yeah, yeah, yeah. Bad head. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Okay, got it. Welcome back, Hank. Yeah. Too much teeth. All right. Like the Louisville Cardinals, yeah.

There we go. Full circle. Next matchup. We got Michigan and UC San Diego. Michigan, Dusty May literally translates to pollen season. 10-0 in games decided by 10 points or less this year.

They've been very good in those tight games. And 10 of their last 12 wins have been decided by four points or fewer. So they play close games. UC San Diego, they have the fewest turnovers in the entire country. And they live in heaven. They live in San Diego. So who cares if they lose, honestly? Go back to your vacation. You probably don't even like sports. Sports is for people who don't have to deal with winter. Right. You don't deserve to enjoy it. UC San Diego, you just hang out all day. Also, UC San Diego, during every finals week,

They have a primal scream at exactly 10 p.m. that goes 10 p.m. to 10.05 where all their students can just scream as loud as they want out their window, in their dorm, wherever. The campus just erupts with people screaming because they're frustrated. Is this like COVID? Yeah, I was going to say it's like the COVID. We're right in the zone where everyone's doing the five-year anniversaries and I cringe at every single thing I see. Where it's like, you know, videos of people dancing in the street, socially distanced.

I was walking to the grocery store during that. It was pretty cool. I felt like I was in a parade. Yeah. In New York, I can kind of see it because in New York, the hospitals were bad. A lot of people died right off the bat. But yeah, I don't want to remember anything from that. No, I don't either. It just bums me out when I see it. It was a bad year. Yeah. All right. So that's that game. Next up. Bad month and a half for us. We went back to work pretty quickly. We did. Yeah. Got back to work. Texas A&M against Yale.

Is the next one. Fun fact about this one. You could make the case that alumni from Yale have gotten more alumni from their opponent's

opponents killed than any other matchup in the history of March Madness. Oh, CIA stuff? Well, all the war criminals that went to Yale. And then Texas A&M has like the highest percentage of military graduates. So when you look at it, famous alumni from Yale, George... What were you saying? No, I think you're about to explain. George W. Bush, John Ashcroft, Prescott Bush, some Nazi ties there, Dick Cheney, Bill and Hillary Clinton...

All Yale graduates went to Yale, and then A&M has the highest amount of Medal of Honor winners of any school in the entire nation. Or the Army? Any non-military school. Also, Texas A&M, not a cult. That's my fun fact. They're not a cult. They're very clear about that. Reveille the dog, their mascot, is considered a cadet general and the highest ranking member in the Corps of Cadets at A&M. Freshmen are required to address her as Miss Rev Mam.

It's a held tradition that if Reveille decides to sleep on a cadet's bed, the cadet has to sleep on the floor. Reveille has her own cell phone who's operated by the mascot corporal, and she has her own student identification card. Not a cult. Not a cult.

They wear the rings, too. Yeah. Everywhere. I got some ring facts for you. The Aggie rings from A&M are just, it's a lot. Also, fun fact about Yale. Yale played in the very first five-on-five collegiate basketball game. Oh, wow. Who played in the first four-on-four? I don't know. I don't know what happened before that. I have that same stat for a different team. Oh, competing fun facts. I do not. What team? Spoilers. Oh, yeah, we'll get to it. Yeah, all right.

You can't spoil the fun facts. You're right. You're right. I've said too much about class rings. All right. Next up, we have Ole Miss against UNC or San Diego State. There was, I think it was Doyle. Who was it on CBS? One of them said that Ole Miss gets a lot of love because they played in a great conference. They had a lot of opportunities. But eyeball test.

They're a fraud. They've been called out as being frauds. The eyeball test seems like a personal shot at notable alumni Ben Mintz. But I don't know. Chris Beard is their coach. Chris Beard is their coach. He's a very, very good basketball coach. Yes. Way better basketball coach than Person. I already built up my UNC San Diego State fun fact, which is what John Rothstein told us that these two teams both played in the national championship game in the last five years. Love that.

Iowa State. Okay. Iowa State. This is a fun fact. I wish I could take credit for it, but I can't. There is a Reddit user who goes by the name of Otzelburgers Polos. Very tight. Who put together a spreadsheet.

of the winningest and losingest polos that he wears. Wow. Pretty good, right? This is the stuff you need. This is the stuff you need for your bracket. This is why the internet was invented for this guy to figure this out. So the best polo shirts that he wears are the dark red stripes, the red polo shirt with the dark red stripes on the front and then the red polo shirt with the single yellow stripe.

The worst that he has is the plain gray. He's really bad in plain gray, and he has never worn a polo that's the extra medium size that has yellow as the primary color, even though that is one of their primary colors at Iowa State. Okay. So keep your eye on what Otzelberger wears for his polo shirts. Very important.

Lipscomb has five guys who are shooting 33% or more from three. Iowa State is 135th in three-point defense. Okay. Fun fact. Yes. Lipscomb. What does lipscomb mean, Hank? Teeth. I was going to say mustache, but you're thinking about teeth a lot. Yeah. Something going on? No, I'm just having a hard time. Is that when you dream about your teeth falling out, you're infertile? It's that you didn't say something that you should have said, or you said something that you shouldn't have. Got it. Marquette.

Marquette. Marquette, New Mexico. Marquette, the term, the big dance, was first coined by Marquette coach Al McGuire, who said that he would wear a blue blazer because he's going to the big dance. It's the first time anyone said it. Love that. And they won the title that year. Shock Smart, their coach, has a 26-page document about culture that he sends to every single recruit. Manifesto? Well, it's a manifesto if you killed somebody. Okay.

But it's borderline manifesto. It's borderline manifesto. You call that a handbook? A handbook. But culture document, that's a manifesto. I think that's a coaching thing. That might be a manifesto. I think if you send it to somebody for publicity, it's a manifesto. I'd like to get my hands on that, and we can judge if that's a manifesto or not. Yeah, 26 pages. That's a lot. That's a lot of pages. Yeah, but they send it, and then it's like, if you don't want to handle this, don't come. If you have to click and download, that's a manifesto.

I like that move. I think manifestos, they typically have to be uncovered too. Like somebody finds a manifesto. Why don't you do that as a project? A culture manifesto for part of my take.

Okay. That'd be nice. Yeah. It'll be one page. Great. Good. Then it won't be a manifesto. At that point, it's an executive summary. Yeah. Yeah. It's a table of contents is what you're doing. Marquette has lost to every tournament team in conference twice, except for Xavier, whom they beat twice. Okay. New Mexico, Richard Pitino is their head coach. Yes. Fun fact. And my other fun fact is we should change the name to New America.

Oh. Instead of New Mexico. I like that. That's my only fun fact there. Okay. Michigan State, they have the longest streak in the country in terms of consecutive tournament appearances with 27. Next year, they would tie the all-time record.

So 28 would be the record that Kansas had. Kansas does not. It's not an active streak for Kansas. Got it. Longer. So, yeah, Tom Izzo, January, February, Izzo, April. Although he should want it to be January, February, March, Izzo. Would be better because that's when they play the championship game. And they play against Bryant.

My fun fact about Bryant is their coach is Phil Martelli Jr., son of legendary St. Joe's coach Phil Martelli Sr. Yeah. Also, I believe this is true, Richard Pitino, back to New Mexico, I think he's the only coach in this tournament that at some point has lived in another coach's balls. That's also in this tournament. That's also in this tournament, yes. Because Phil Martelli Jr. lived in Phil Martelli Sr.'s balls. That makes sense. Okay.

Who's up next? That was great, PFT. Thank you. Who do you have coming out of this region? The funnest fact out of this region? No, who do you have coming out of this region? Oh, I've got Michigan State coming out of this region. I've got Michigan State against Auburn. Okay. Hank, are you up next? I think so. Duke? Florida. Oh.

Max, you're up next. Jesus Christ. Duke. Duke. We're going to the east. We're going across. Okay. I thought we were going to go to Hank, too. Clockwise. Okay. We can. No, no, no. I'm good. I'm ready to go. I'm ready to go. I'm ready to go. I'm ready to go. Who's more ready to go? Me. He said that faster. I've already told you guys this fun fact. I don't know if I told all four of you. We're starting with Duke, and my friend's sister is John Shire's assistant at Duke. Yes. That's pretty cool. So how close are friends?

We played baseball together in college. Do you keep up? He was in Chicago last year. We got dinner. Okay. So fairly, like, yeah, you could get us John Shire on the show. Yeah. Okay. Yes. Love that. I could get it. I could. Yes. I will say yes. Okay. That is a very fun fact. Fun fact. What does John Shire translate to, Hank? Oh, I got one. What? I'm waiting for Hank. Bilbo's son.

I don't know who Bilbo is. Bilbo Baggins? Shire? I don't know. Okay. Is that it? What do you got, PFT? I was just going to say SiriusXM 2015 bathroom. There we go. Bathroom. Because he couldn't piss. He couldn't piss. Got it. Wait, what is that? What are you referring to? I mean, I brought it up with Ed Sheeran. I don't think you have.

In 2015, I was at the Sirius XM studio and I went to the bathroom. He came in with me and Ed Sheeran goes to the urinal next to me. I start to piss. I'm letting it rip. I'm just pissing like a racehorse. Okay. Like letting out gallons. It's a fire hose. It's like a super soaker. And then Ed Sheeran's trying to piss and he can't piss. What? And yeah, he's just standing there like, you know, he's shorter than me too, which is crazy. So he's trying to piss. He's intimidated by my strong stream. And then he does the fake flush like he pissed, but him and I both know he didn't piss.

And then he gets out, washes his hands and leaves. He went in there to pee. He didn't pee because he got scared. Holy shit. How do you not tell us that story? I don't know. That's crazy. All right, Max, back to you. So Duke plays the winner of American or St. Mary's. I have some facts about both of them. Okay, great. Um,

The American fun fact is another personal fact. In 2009... I hope they're all personal facts. In 2009, they were beating Villanova by 13 at halftime in the first round as a 14 seed against a 3.

And I vividly remember where I was at that moment and thinking that I wanted Jay Wright fired in that moment. And then they ended up... How old were you? I was 14. Okay. I love that. 13. I was 13. Yeah. So this is why we shouldn't listen to you. You're going to want every coach fired at some point. Yeah. No, I wanted him fired. But then Villanova ended up winning that game by 12. Okay. Nice. Nice.

I also did something. I started to do something and then I felt like it was mean. I started to do a best player and a worst player from each team. Okay. Okay. I don't have to continue. I don't have to. No, give us one. Okay. American. Matt Rogers. Best player. 17 points. 55% shooting. 40% from three. Pretty good numbers.

Worst player. No disrespect to Jeff Sprouse. Jeff Sprouse is definitely in AWL. He's definitely listening to this right now. Trying to take his mind off the play and matchup. The guard, Jeff Sprouse from American, plays 23 minutes a game. I didn't want to pick the walk-ons who never play. He has six points a game, but he's the guard who shoots 33% from the field and 50% from the line. Oh, man.

Just not great numbers from Jeff Sprouse. What are the assist numbers like there, Max? What's his game like? Yeah, he might be like a John Stockton. This is the notes that I have. I don't have the assist numbers on here. Okay, St. Mary's.

This kind of got away from me, too. You're on your third team, Max. I know. Okay, D2 wagon, 1962 national champions in the D2, five final fours in the D2. Okay. And then I started thinking about St. Mary's. I'm like, I'm pretty sure they have a really small court. And then I looked it up. I'm like, oh, yeah, they have a small court. But then it made me think, like, is that the smallest court? The court's not regulation size? No, like...

Stadium. Small stadium. Like high school looking stadium. Small barn. Yeah. So they have 3,000 people in their... They can seat 3,000 people in their stadium. And I was like, that's pretty small. I wonder what the smallest is. South Carolina upstate, their stadium seats 800 people in it. Whoa. I'm going to show you a picture of it right now. Oh, I want to see this. I think if... We could get more people in our office basketball gym than this team can. I love these small gyms.

Yeah, so it kind of got away from me and I started to look... This is why... Instead of it being a South Carolina upstate fact. Look how small this gym is. That's really small. Look how small this gym is. That's like a high school gym. This is why this tournament is so great, though. Because it's these type of teams. I know South Carolina upstate's not in it, but...

They could be. It's why I love this tournament. It's why it's analogous to the, what do they call it? FA Cup. FA Cup. Yeah, where it's like a YMCA is playing against Man U. That gym, I can guarantee you, is hot as fuck during a game. Yeah. That's a cool gym. 800 people in that tiny room, yeah. That's a cool gym. And one more thing about St. Mary's. This is a bad fun fact that I found. Oh. Just like, it's just a stupid fact. Okay. They have a player on their team.

That his name is two other teams in the tournament. Oh. All right, go on. His name is Xavier Lipscomb. Wow. Whoa. That is a very fun fact. That's a very fun fact. Xavier Lipscomb plays for St. Mary's. You killed that. What happens when he plays against Lipscomb? Does he play for the name on the front or the name on the back? Yeah. Whoa. That's big time. Okay, I think Pete's going to win that game. Okay. We're on to Mississippi State Baylor.

Mississippi State, Big Dairy School. Yeah. Didn't know this. Brandon looks like a bag of milk. They annually produce 369,000 gallons of milk, 9,000 gallons of ice cream, and 300,000 pounds of cheese, all sold exclusively on campus. Love that. Big Dairy School, didn't know it. Josh Hubbard, good player. Okay. Baylor. So I have a...

Fun fact about the people in this room with Baylor, and then I have a morbid fact that I did not know about Baylor. Oh, you did not know about that. Did you know about this? What about this thing with Baylor? He's pointing at you. Are you talking about the murders? I didn't know murders. You didn't know the murders? No, not the murders. That's not what I'm talking about. Oh, okay. That's not what I'm talking about. Go ahead. Well, the fun fact is that- Is it the Branch Davidians you're going to bring up? No. Okay. No. You don't know what that is either. I don't know what that is either.

The fun fact is that Baylor is the team of the bracket busters of the three of the four people in this room. Well, whatever, room, whatever. So let's go Baylors. We're rooting for Baylor in here. Let's go Baylors. Max, PFT, and Hank have Baylor as their Experian buster, which we do every year at Barstool. It's very fun. I have Utah State with Jerry. Bear up.

Yeah, you do the bear claw. Bayleaf. It's one of these, right? No, that's a horn frog. I'm a Baylor-y. What's the hand signal for the bears? The paw. Paw. They do a claw? I don't know. I'm just doing the Caleb Williams. Paw. Okay. Okay. Morbid fact about Baylor basketball. Did you know that they had a Marshall situation? A what? We are Marshall? A we are Marshall situation. Oh. In 1927, they were busing the team to a game, and the bus driver...

ended up putting the bus on a train track as the tracks were coming through. What? And 10 of their players died and they had to suspend the season. Holy shit. Not good. That's bad. Morbid fact. Not a fun fact. All gas, no brakes. Should have blown through it. There were some crazy stories of it. Apparently one of the teammates pushed another one out of the...

out the window before the train hit and saved his life. Good teammate. Yeah. Because you know the other one, too, which is also very morbid. I don't. A Baylor player shot another Baylor player and murdered him. They pretty much had to redo the entire program. Yeah, like 20 years ago. Yeah, so I didn't know about either of those. But this is a new program. Yeah, this is a new program. And it's good vibes because you guys have Baylor. Yeah. And Waco. Is it Waco? Is Waco Baylor? Yeah, that was the Branch Davidians. Yeah. So there's a lot going on with Baylor. Yeah, we've really put a nice spotlight on Baylor here. Yeah.

I mean, RG3? They won a national title. Yeah. There we go. Baylor. Baylor. Okay. I like Baylor in this game. How many schools have won a national title in basketball and a Heisman in the last? Oh, I thought you were going to say one national title and also had murders. No, we're not talking about that. We're not talking about that. In the last 15 years, let's say.

Won a national title and a Heisman. And a Heisman trophy. If you go a little bit, Florida, obviously, if you go a little bit further back. I selectively put it at 15 years for that reason. Yeah, not a lot. Baylor. Baylor. Baylor. Baylor's the answer to that question. Okay. Okay. Oregon. This was another. I got fixated on courts a little bit during this.

I was in my head. I was going to say Oregon, horrible, horrible court because I remember watching how bad their court is. They changed the court. Yes. That's what I was going to say. They changed the it still is not great, but they changed way better than the coloring of it. So it's not as distracting. It looked like it had water damage. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

No, they definitely upgraded it this past year. Yeah, so it looks much better now. Yep. That's it. They've improved their court. Okay, which they won't be playing on in this tournament. Yep, nope. That has nothing to do with it. They also have TJ Bamba, who was once a Villanova Wildcat, so I like him, but I also hate him for leaving. Fun fact. Okay. Remember when they tried to update Puddles the Duck into Robo Puddles?

Nope. I think they debuted that in like 2002, 2003. They tried to have like a new space age version of Puddles the Duck, who we all know and love. And this duck, the Robo Duck, is fucking hilarious. Yeah. He looks like Batman if it was a duck. It was crazy. They just went a little too far. A little too far with it.

Oh, there's RoboDuck. Well, that's from... Oh, yeah. You got to watch the birthing of RoboDuck. They had it hatch out of an egg. It was weird. And then it met Puddles, and it was, yeah, one of my favorite clips. Yeah. Okay, well, they played Liberty, and I knew that Liberty was strict, but they were worse than BYU strict. Oh, yeah. I looked up some of the things that you can't do at Liberty's school. Mm-hmm.

They know R-rated movies, no cursing, no hugging and no dancing. And if you violate any of these, you get fined. Yeah. I don't understand how you can find someone who's paying to be there. They can do whatever they want. What about, is there anything in the rules about a love triangle with a pool boy and watch your wife get cucked?

I didn't that didn't come across okay Jerry Falwell Jr. Jerry Falwell Jr. was the president of Baylor the pool boy was fucking his wife and he was just sitting there watching it and they have all these rules and then that whole thing happened yeah I didn't know any I didn't know about that you don't know a lot about a lot no yeah this was I spent like four hours looking for these by the way you can ask memes I was stressing okay uh I like uh I like Oregon in that game okay okay okay

Now we're on to Arizona-Akron. Yeah. Arizona, fun fact. They already have a Cinderella on the team. One of their best players, Trey Townsend, was a teammate of Jack Golke at Oakland last year when they beat Kentucky. He's got Cinderella DNA. Yep, he had a really good game in that game. I think he had like 18 points. Yeah, I think he was like, obviously Golke was a story, but he was a stud. He was a stud. Yeah.

Also, Caleb Love, I think he's been on the team for 40 years. Well, in college basketball for 40 years. He was on North Carolina. Yeah, in college, whatever. You know what I mean. Yeah. This is the worst fun fact that I found of the day. I was looking up every team's fun facts, and then I found this, and it pissed me off, so I had to tell you.

Akron is really excited about this, this matchup, because he really likes coffee and the game is being played in Seattle. That was a fun fact that I found. Who really likes coffee? The coach really likes coffee. John Grocher. Yeah. And he's excited because Seattle is known for their coffee. You can't get coffee in anywhere else. No. Yeah. So he's really excited to go to Seattle for their coffee. That's the fun fact that I found from Akron.

Okay. And that pissed you off. Well, I want to say right now, John Gross, if you guys hit the over in this game, I will send you coffee from StellaBlueCoffee.com. Love it. I like the over in this game. Okay. Okay. BYU. BYU.

memes is a BYU lever because they play super fast and he likes teams that play super fast. And they also have like the most NIL in the entire country. They, they're, they have the number one recruit coming in next year and they've given them $7 million. And I did not know BYU had, had, had NIL money like that. Yeah.

I also read another article. They got stupid money. Yeah. I don't know where that money's coming from. Why do the Mormons have all the money? But whatever. 10%. You got to kick it up to the boss. Also, I read an article that someone predicted Richie Saunders would be the...

The name of March Madness So that's a guy on their team that Apparently is getting a lot of hype What was that documentary you told me to watch Max About the influencer family The mom influencer Fuck Ruby Frank Crazy Her weird husband who I think is just as in on it as she was Either that or he's the biggest idiot on the planet He's always rocking BYU gear Interesting Good fun fact Very good fun fact

And they will be playing VCU, who their head coach, this will be his last time at VCU, no matter what. That's my prediction. This isn't a fact. No, no, no. I'm telling you this as my thoughts, is that this guy will not be coaching VCU after this.

Are you reporting? I'm reporting this. You're reporting this, that he's going to be the Villanova head coach. Or Virginia. It's most likely Virginia. Okay. Because...

I want him to be the Villanova head coach, but it's looking like he's going to Virginia. So he will either be going to Villanova or Virginia after this year. This is his last ride with VCU. And what's his name? His name is Ryan Odom. Yes. They also have a player, Max Shulga, who said he was transferring to Villanova and then said he wasn't transferring to Villanova and went back to school. I love these fun facts. These are great fun facts. Okay. Okay. Wisconsin, Montana.

Another terrible fun fact that I found that I'm going to share. Montana's forward Amari Jenkins and Wisconsin guard Kamari McGee are both from Racine, Wisconsin. Yeah. And they both started their college at Green Bay. However, they did not attend the same high school.

And they weren't at Green Bay at the same time. So it's basically a nothing fact. Okay, that's a nothing fact. I was starting to read. I was like, oh, this could be good. This could be good. And then by the end of it, I was like, why even include this in anything? They both know the same restaurant. They know of each other. They have been in one area at the same time. Okay. It pissed me off. Maybe one had the old guy's old locker. Yep. Yeah. Yeah, I guess at Green Bay. Yeah.

Another thing that I found about Wisconsin is that every single article about Wisconsin basketball, the headline is just the coach is not complaining about quick turnaround to Thursday. Love that. But it makes me think that he should be. He might be complaining. But everything is just about they're not complaining. Can't complain. You haven't complained once. No. About going to Denver. Nope. The best player also was named the second team All-American today. Yes.

John Tonji. He's great. And last thing, not good for Big Cat. Montana has the best name in the draft, in the tournament. The Grizzlies? Money Williams is a guy from Montana. That's a good name. But Money Williams sounds like a guy who's going to be a star in March Madness. Yeah.

Any fun facts about Wisconsin and Villanova going up against each other in the tournament? Wisconsin once beat Villanova as an eight seed. Stopped them from a three-peat. Yeah, Nigel Hayes decided to be, you know. The one year in between their Villanova's championship. Wisconsin's been really good recently. Max, do you know the last team to beat Wisconsin in the NCAA tournament? JMU. Yeah, it was a JMU dude. I also have a fun fact about that game. I was watching that game at my friend's house at Delaware. What?

And he had friends that were coming over that apparently had to leave because he was like, I couldn't watch a game with that guy because he was freaking out so much. Yeah, but you guys were defending champions. I was pissed. And yeah. I mean, you won titles on either side, so it's not really a big deal. Yeah, it's okay. But at the time, I was pissed. Yeah. Okay. I like Wisconsin in that game. Okay. Now we're on to St. Mary's versus Vandy.

Oh, this is actually a pretty fun fact. Well, first off, notable alumni, St. Mary's, PFT. Delhi. Delhi. There you go. Fun fact. Their name is the St. Mary's Gales, and their name was given to them by a sports writer in the 20 who nicknamed them that because they had so many Irish guys on the team. Oh. So that's where they got the St. Mary's Gales. Australians are just, they're Irish criminals. Yeah. And now they're just importing from the opposite side. I guess so.

Good way to look at it. Okay. And now we have a contradictory fact from PFT from earlier. Oh. But I think I understand where the contradiction comes from.

Vanderbilt is the first college to participate in a basketball game. And that was a 9-6 victory over Nashville YMCA. Oh, okay. So I think maybe yours is the first to play another college, and this is the first college to play. Okay. Was yours a 5-on-5 game? I don't know.

All it says is in 1893, Vanderbilt beat Nashville YMCA 9-6 in the first college to participate, whatever. Okay. Okay, this is my last game. Alabama versus Robert Morris. I have some bad stats about Alabama. Murder? But I thought that I would phone a friend to, you know, maybe see if he could...

say save those facts from being said yes i like that that's a good idea so let's let's phone this friend let's see if he answers i mean he should he's probably on the phone with somebody else he probably is yeah he's got he's got deep rolex rico thank you for answering the phone tell him he's live you are live to tape on part of my take okay uh do you have any fun facts about this alabama robert morris game

Yeah, we went to the Final Four last year. We're 11 deep. Got a great coach, great fan base, friends of the program. So that... I just want to know if you have any fun facts about Alabama's basketball program. Yeah, I mean, they came out of nowhere. They were never good my entire life. And now Oaks is left with five straight high seeds. Something that's never been done before.

I was personally going to say that their coach may be involved in a murder allegation. You're supposed to be an incredible news source. Why don't I just say that you double teamed three fat girls at the ball last week? I called you. I called you because I wanted. Wait, is that true, man? No, it is not true. How do you double team three? Wait, it sounds like he's at home. You're number two. You want to play the game? Come on.

Wait, I don't think he does have more followers than Max. Let's fact check that because that's a fun fact. You bring up Rico. I'll bring up Max. Also, can you just make sure Rico sounds like he's at home right now? Just tell him to let the kids have the Reese's. He hung out. All right, the kids should have the Reese's. Oh, he might have more followers. Max has 144,000. Rico has 180, so credit to Rico. Credit to Rico. He had that off the top.

of his own pretty quickly, by the way. There's a rumor going around that Rico and Max are dating.

What? They left together on Friday night. Well, they were hanging out. That's actually incorrect. They were sitting right next to each other on the couch. I saw you double teamed. This is actually incorrect. I actually have video evidence of us not leaving because we were going to go to the bar together and then some assistant coach hit him up and asked him to go to a different bar and he was like, oh, I got to go eat. And you have video evidence? I have video evidence of him on the phone with this other. Oh, that doesn't prove that you didn't leave with him.

I guess technically that's true. Yeah. But I have him on the phone. Sounds like you guys did, in fact, make plans for a date. Sounds like you guys might be dating. Yeah. I wanted to go on a date with him. Yeah. But now I was turned down. Triple teaming fat girls. I was not triple teaming fat girls. I think it was, was it you guys double teamed three fat girls? No. He was ready to go with that.

For the record, I had nothing to do with any fat girls. His kids were right there. I had nothing to do with any fat girls. They were just happy that they could eat the Reese's without getting stolen. But no disrespect to fat girls. No. No disrespect. All right, Hank. Hank, you're up.

Wait, was there a Robert Morris fact in there? I thought maybe he would have something about Robert Morris. Oh, okay. All right. To me, Robert Morris just sounds like a cigarette company. I do have a fun fact, but this is via StatHole Sports, is that they have the most losses of all time without a win in the NCAA tournament. Oh. Robert Morris. So they're two. 0-8. Oh. Okay. Hank. All right. Here we go. South region. First fun fact actually comes from PMT alumni. This is not the South region.

Yeah. West region. Already off. West region. Yep. This comes from PMT alumni, our darling Jake Marsh. Oh. Florida said, this is his tweet. This is awesome. Three of the four number one seeds in this year's NCAA tournament are led by Jewish head coaches.

Bruce Pearl, John Shire, Todd Golden of Florida. Mazel Tov on a great season so far. Wow. Fun fact. That is a fun fact. Fun fact. Also, love you, Jake. Yeah. Love you, Jake. Are all your fun facts going to be ripped from other people? No. I guess it's not great timing that the first one was, but the rest are all me. Because you could see how we'd think like, oh, well, we all did hours of research. No, I did. I did a lot of research. That was just that. I liked that. That was a fun Jake fact. I did just call Rico, but that's fine. No, that's all right. That was fun.

Norfolk State. There's a few fun facts here. Okay. Won each of their previous games by one point. So if it gets close, they know what to do. That was the intentional foul game. Did you see how that came? No. So they tied. I can't remember who they were playing. It might have been like North Carolina Upstate or one of those schools.

Their opponent scored, got the ball on a press, scored to tie it with 10 seconds left, and then they intentionally fouled because he just didn't have time and space. That's how they ended up in the tournament. J.R. Smith, yeah. They're one of their most notable alums, also a recurring guest on this show.

Maybe smooth. Oh, yeah. People forget. And then this is multiple recurring. This is the wind horse. This one doesn't make sense to me. I feel like maybe I'm still brain fried and big. That's going to have an obvious reason for why this is. All the other 16 seeds are 101 to make the sweet 16 on DraftKings. Norfolk is 20 to one. Yeah. Well, at least two of them haven't won yet. Right.

Right. Okay. And then the last one. The last one would be. Oh, no. Who's the last one? SIUE. Yeah. SIU Edwardsville. What are their. Oh, I do have the reason. They're an Illinois school.

So you can't. All right. I knew it didn't. As I was looking at it, it made no sense. It's like, what is Vegas? No. And that's the answer. The other two have to play in the play in. The other four have to play in the playing. And the last one would be 20 to one. But they are an Illinois school. You can't bet Illinois schools in Illinois. So 20 to one. Can you bet the opposite side of that? I wish. That's a good investment. Yeah.

Okay. Or no, it's 200. No, what is it? It's 2,001? Yeah. Wait, what did you say? Norfolk State is not 100-1? Wait, this was also this. I swear to God, they changed this in the last hour. Me and Spider were on this earlier. Me and Spider were looking at this earlier. This is what happens when he doesn't get it from somebody else. Didn't make sense. Okay. Okay, moving on. Well, that was an excellent one. Betting the opposite of 20-1 for Norfolk State. That's a great bet.

UConn. Yeah. Trying to be the first team to three-peat since UCLA in 1969. Mm-hmm. They were led by Luol Cinder. Mm-hmm. A gallon of gas in 1969 cost 35 cents. That is a fun fact. That's good. And the number one song at the time was Dizzy by Tommy Rowe. Mm. Give us a couple bars of Dizzy. I don't know. Dizzy, dizzy, dizzy. When I make love, I be stroking. Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha.

And then Oklahoma, this is just some player fun facts. Bryson Goodine is from New Bedford. That's a mess. That was a fun fact to me. Okay. And then one of their top players, Jamiah Fears, is from a local guy, Joliet. Okay. Yeah, he said it perfectly. Brother of Michigan State Fears. Yeah. Assist machine. Another fun fact. Memphis. I am choosing to believe this because...

It is crazy. I don't know if you guys have seen the Memphis-Louisville. People are saying that the committee accidentally swapped them. Louisville has a better net, RPI, Ken Palm, H-Lock, and higher in the ESPN BPI rankings in every category. Yes.

But Memphis is the higher seeded team. Yes. I choose to believe that too. I do as well. Because it makes no sense other than they just accidentally mess it up and they just have to live with it. That's how I choose to believe that they put Wisconsin and Denver not making excuses for it. They're like, whoops, we meant to put them in Milwaukee. Yeah. I mean, there's a lot. They just like mixed up a couple things. Yeah. They're moving around a lot of things. Things get lost in the shuffle. Purdue and Michigan should have been flipped. And then they are playing Colorado State.

whose campus is on a 5,011 foot elevation, which is the fifth highest in the country. And the highest are in New Mexico, UC Air Force, and Wyoming are higher. Maryland. Yep. Interesting. I couldn't find the reason why, because Maryland's the biggest crab exporter in the country. They're all about the crabs. I was curious why the Crab 5. Why aren't they the Terrapins and not the crabs?

Why are they the turtle? Why are they the turtle, not the crabs? Yeah. I don't know the answer to that. I feel like crabs just aren't a great mascot. I disagree. No, in terms of like... There's a turtle, though. Right. But a turtle is stronger than a crab. A turtle, you can't... Like crabs, you just fucking put a little trap out and then you just eat them.

I think it has something. Turtles can at least defend themselves. I think it has something to do with the flag. I think they wanted the flag to be the star of the show. And so they wanted like a less angular, cool mascots. They went with the terrapin. And the reason that Maryland blue crabs are so elite is because they hibernate in the Chesapeake Bay during the winter, which allows them the luxury of building additional fat reserves that have distinct look and taste. Delicious. Put some Old Bay on there.

They are going up against Grand Canyon, which, fun fact, is not the deepest canyon in the world.

Did you also know, fun fact, it would take us, the entire population of the world, 800 years to fill up the Grand Canyon with piss? I did see that video. 800 years? Yeah. If we were all just continuously pissing. We should try that at some point. Yeah, we should. What is the deepest canyon? What is it? Bonnie Blue. The Yarlung Topango Grand Canyon in Tibet. Oh. Plummets to a depth of 17,567 feet, making it more than two miles deeper than Grand Canyon's 6,093 feet.

It's also about 30 miles longer than the Grand Canyon. Damn. The Grand Canyon, I saw it for the first time last year. It's grand. It is really awesome. It's a very cool place to go. I can't imagine the first person who discovered it. They're just like walking through the woods and they're like, holy fuck. Yeah. Where is Grand Canyon University, Hank? Nevada? No. Arizona. Yeah. Yeah. It's in Phoenix. It's also for profit. I believe you can buy stock in Grand Canyon University. Oh, we should. Yeah. Or short it.

That would be nice. I will not be buying stock. I like Maryland in this game. Okay. But their women's team. Yeah. Buy stock. You caught up on their women's team? I did. Yeah. I understand now. I understand it now. Mizzou. This is what makes the March Madness great. Missouri. 3,543 students.

Drake, 4,774. The University of Missouri only has 3,000 students. 31,500. There you go. That does make it great. 31,543. Drake has 4,774. Missouri's leading scorer went to Duke for two years. Fun fact. I'm sure they'll mention that in the broadcast. And Jeremy Piven is an alum of Drake. Nice. Nice.

Love it. Also wouldn't have thought Drake was in Iowa. Yep. Or Des Moines. Iowa. You got it. Yep. Where would you think it was? I don't know if your brain's on my back. Somewhere in like the Northeast or like, I don't know, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Kansas. Seems like a rust, I guess. Kansas. Yeah. Texas Tech moving on. Mm-hmm.

The mascot is named the Masked Rider. Jeffrey? But true fans know that the Masked Rider's real name is Jeffrey. Jeffrey. So when you see him on the broadcast, they'll say, oh, it's the Masked Rider. And you can say, no, his real name is actually Jeffrey. And even say, like, hey, that's Jeffrey. Yeah. Yeah. Give a shout out to Jeffrey. Yep. They are going up against UNC Wilmington. There are 17 schools in the University of North Carolina system. Yeah. System.

There's a school, the University of North Carolina School of the Arts. Their mascot is the Fighting Pickle. Whoa. One of the best mascots I've ever seen. That's cool. If someone here is listening from UNC OA. Doubt it. I would love some Fighting Pickle gear because look at, check it out, Pete. I'm checking it out right now. The UNC Williamson is the Seahawks.

That's one you can just throw around to people. Makes you feel like you know ball. Not as good as the Fighting Pickle. Yeah. Oh, the Fighting Pickle's great. Fighting Pickle's awesome. He's got like a little Cavalier soul patch mustache thing going on. Yeah. That's cool. That's a cool mascot. Let's get some Fighting Pickle merch.

Okay. Kansas versus Arkansas. Arkansas. Arkansas. Kansas. So both of these names, they're so similar, and it's because they're both named after Native American tribes. And I'm guessing it's Kansas means wind. Oh, okay. You're guessing? Or like... Let me pull up. This is the fun facts. Well, no. The...

That's a fun fact you can find out. I had different notes going. How come Kansas is pronounced Kansas and then Arkansas is pronounced Arkansas, not Arkansas? Because they're both different tribes. Got it. Now that's a fun fact. Mm-hmm. Southwind or wind of the people. Okay. That's Kansas. And also Arkansas is a different... Type of wind? No, it's also wind. Yeah, it's wind. So it's a wind battle. Yeah. Battle of the wind. Got it.

Coach Cal? Yeah. Very superstitious. He said he wouldn't start a player who got a haircut on game day. So if you play for Coach Cal, no haircuts. Wow, the Yankees. And he hates raisins and oatmeal. If he walks into where they're having breakfast and he sees raisins and oatmeal, he said they were on a 25-game win streak or something at home, and he walked in, saw raisins and oatmeal, threw it across the wall, they lost the game. Wow. He also collects bobby pins.

He thinks they're good luck. If he finds a bobby pin, he saves it and he has a collection of them. What is a bobby pin? It's like the thing in your suit, I think, or something. Yeah, it's like the little tiny thing. Oh, the tiny hair clips. Yeah. Yeah. That's a fun fact. That is a fun fact. Coach Cal's kind of weirdo. Yeah, that is weird.

Yeah, notable pro golf alums. Gary Woodland went to Kansas. He has six pro wins, one major. John Daly went to Arkansas. He has 19 pro wins and two majors. It would have been funny if you just did all golf facts. Yeah. And then... You got one more game? I do. Where are my notes? St. John's in Omaha. Omaha was just an indicator word, Manning explained.

Good job.

And then St. John's, I think they're going to, my fun fact is they're going to advance out of this region and win the national championship. Wow. Fun fact, Hank. That's very fun. All right. These have been great. I feel like I'm ready for the tournament now. I got my region. Before I do that, game time. The best part of college basketball is here, and we know you're as excited as we are to watch some big upsets throughout the tournament. While we're streaming in the cave, you can get out to see the action in person with game time, the official ticketing partner, Barstool Sports.

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I am up. Last region. We have the Midwest. Am I in the Midwest? You are the Midwest. I am in the Midwest. You got to get your hands on one of these brackets. I know. Someone printed out all these and they don't have any of the regions. So stupid. Okay. First big, big picture from my region.

Three of the teams in the Midwest are in the top six for most tournament appearances without a final four. So Xavier has been to the tournament 29 times, no final fours. Tennessee's been in the tournament 26 times, no final fours. Utah State's been in the tournament 24 times, no final fours. Utah State's sneaking in there. Yeah. Okay. Okay.

First matchup, Houston versus SIU Edwardsville. Houston, speaking of, has the most Final Four appearances without a national title. So they've been to the Final Four six times. They've never won the title. The next in line for them is Illinois and Oklahoma. Both have been to five, never won a title. Hmm.

Also, Lil Wayne attended University of Houston for a year in 2005, majored in political science. So shout out political science majors. I did not know that. Pretty cool. Let's get him talking some poli. So I was Stephen A. Smith. Yeah. Then he had to drop out and he went to University of Phoenix and finished his degree. SIU Edwardsville. What? What?

I don't know if he finished his degree, but he went to university of Phoenix after little Wayne went to Houston. He went to Houston, enrolled in Houston. He allegedly was getting good grades. That's what it said. Wow. 2005 to 2005. Polly Psy major. Pretty fun fact, huh? Yeah. That is blow your mind. Uh, SIU Edwardsville. Uh,

It is the first ever NCAA tournament appearance for them because they became D1. Hank still doesn't believe it, by the way. I saw that. Right there. Well, he was like putting music out there. Yeah, I know. You can do both. Yeah, you can do both. He probably saw higher education and was like, I was wildly misled by this title. Yeah. And left. This is their first ever tournament, NCAA tournament appearance. They became D1 in 2008. Also, if you want to get a little cheeky at the bar...

Say you like the Cougars in this game. I do like to get cheeky at the bar. Both teams are named Cougars. I like to get cheeky with the Cougs. Yeah, so just say, hey, who you got in this game? I got the Cougars. Also, Houston's going to win by a billion. SIU Edwardsville's 34th largest college in America by acreage.

Okay. Kind of cool. It's down by St. Louis. Notable alums, Jeff Tweedy from Wilco, Bill Plaschke. And this one I feel like is stolen valor because everyone talks about the

The Big Show, the wrestler, going to Wichita State, he finished his career at SIU Edwardsville. That's where he got the degree from? Yeah, and he played D2 basketball there. Okay. So we need to put some more respect to the Big Show going to SIU Edwardsville. SIUE. Yeah. Also, game notes for this one I had. Houston has played...

Five teams, 200 or worse in Ken Palm. Here are the scores. 97-40 against Jackson State. 91-45 against Louisiana. 80-44 against Hofstra. 78-49 against Toledo. 87-51 against Texas A&M Corpus Christi. Dead. Not good. Dead. Not good. Not good. Okay. Next one. Next game. Gonzaga and Georgia. Gonzaga...

is going for their 10th straight Sweet 16, which is insane. Yeah. That's an insane nine straight Sweet 16s is nuts. Also, I found out one of Mark Few's dogs, who you might remember from his DUI video, is named Stella. Oh, that's fun. And he brings her to practice.

With a record like that, Mark Few could have also gone to Georgia. Yeah, that's true. Mark Few also, he loves fishing so much, he convinced his dentist to shave down a piece of his front tooth so he can better use it

to cut fishing lines with his teeth. That's kind of creepy. So he put like a little notch in there so he can line it up? I think it was like, it had gotten a little, like there was an indentation for where he had been doing it because it was like wearing down. Yeah. And the dentist was like, we could replace the tooth. He's like, can you just shave it down so I can just...

Keep going. That's crazy, but I actually respect that. Yeah, he's very competitive. I read an interview with his fishing buddy. He's like, he's so competitive even when fishing. Pretty cool. All right, Georgia. Does anyone know the last time Georgia won a tournament game? Did Tom Crane win one? Did not. 2008. 2002. And so this got me thinking, and I went down a little rabbit hole of just searching because it makes no sense. Georgia's a huge school.

Of the 10 college football national champions since 2002, seven out of 10 of them have been to a final four. All 10 of them have been to an elite eight.

All of them have won a minimum of six tournament games, and Georgia has not won a game. That's crazy. So you go down the list, like Ohio State, 21 wins, Final Four. Michigan, 25 wins, Final Four. Alabama, 13 wins. Clemson, six wins, lead eight. That was actually the worst. UCF? UCF I did not have on there, but they've won games in the tournament. Florida, obviously, 33 wins, National Championship. Texas, 20 wins, Final Four. USC, eight wins, lead eight. Georgia? Zero wins.

Combined, 154 tournament wins for all other programs that have won a national title in football, and Georgia has had zero wins since 2002. That's kind of crazy. Isn't it? Why do you think they've had some decent players too, right? Obviously, you can do the Villanova's basketball school, football is not...

But it's rare to have such a, like, football. When you have a big, robust football program, that means you have a lot of money in the athletic department. The basketball school should at least be in the tournament every now and then and at least winning tournament games. It also means that, yeah, you can fund a decent basketball program with what you get. And you want to have your fan base spend money in the wintertime after football season's over. With basketball, yeah, funding a great athletic department for football is a lot harder to do from the ground up. Right.

So this is that, I think that's the biggest disparity. Yeah, I would say so. Between a football and a basketball program. Hank, you with us? What are you doing? Just doing some research. Oh, okay. Nice. Also this game, just game note, uh,

Gonzaga is a better team, but Georgia is taller and more physical. So it'd be very interesting to see how Gonzaga has sometimes been called soft. Yes, they have. By me specifically. Next up, Clemson versus McNeese State. So this is Clemson. I have gone to a game at Clemson. Pretty cool campus. Nice stadium. It was good.

Clemson is also a cult that doesn't get enough credit for being a cult. They all wear their class rings. Didn't realize that they all wear their class. So they're in the Texas A&M Notre Dame camp in there. There's a rule on campus before football games. You have to wear orange on Fridays. It sounds like you get arrested if you don't. Yep. They also do the $2 bill thing.

Where this started because in 1977, Georgia Tech and Clemson used to play every year in Atlanta and Georgia Tech canceled their rivalry game. And so George Bennett, an executive director of Clemson's Booster Club, said all Clemson fans, let's use two dollar bills to show the impact we have on the economy. Yep.

Now it's kind of just they're bragging. Now they don't even make $2 bills anymore. Yeah. They're just bragging, though. You probably have to. If you're a Clemson fan and you're planning a road trip, you have to go to the bank and ask for all the $2 bills that you might have behind the scenes. You have to plan these road trips. And they're kind of just being like, look at how awesome we are. Everyone's got $2 bills now. Yeah, we travel well. And then there's also a statue, Thomas Green Clemson, in Tillman Hall statue. You're not allowed to read the plaque until you graduate. Guess what? I read the plaque today. Okay.

But you didn't graduate. But I might graduate, and I already read the plaque. But you're not allowed to. I could. I'll fucking do it. But you're not allowed to read the plaque. What do they do? Is there a punishment if they catch you reading the plaque? I don't know. I asked. We have a coworker, Kayla, who went to Clemson. I was like, did you read that plaque? She's like, I don't remember.

I was like, sounds like you specifically didn't read the plaque. I would definitely read the plaque. And she had a ring on. I didn't know they all wear the ring. They need to be made fun of for the ring. You ever been to Clemson? I just said that. Yeah. I went to a game. You spend any time in the town? Yeah. They've got a gas station. Yeah. They've got a rock. It's small. And then they have a hill. Yeah, it's very small. Yeah. The bars were cool. I went to a couple of bars there. Yeah, that's the Clemson class ring.

And they switch the C around when you graduate. McNeese State, it's all about Amir Khan, viral student manager. He's the best. His nickname is Aura.

And he's the first student manager to ever sign an NIL deal. He got a deal with Buffalo Wild Wings, Tick Picks, and Insomnia Cookies. And he has the quote, if they kept manager stats for rebounding and wiping up wet spots on the court, I'd put up Wilt Chamberlain numbers. Yeah, this guy rocks. He's the best. I've seen a bunch of videos with this dude. Yeah. He's worth every penny. Yeah. Well.

One note on this game, McNeese State actually played two Power 5 programs this year. They lost by eight to Alabama and three to Mississippi State. So they might be able to hang. Fighting Will Wade. Okay, next up, Purdue High Point. I got Purdue. I'm going to keep it clean here. Purdue has produced 27 astronauts, and they also have the first and last guy to walk on the moon.

So Neil Armstrong first, Eugene Cernan last. You mean a soundstage in Burbank, California? Yes. Okay. Also, I found out that 16% of people who have been on the moon are named Alan. That is a fun fact. Yeah. Alan Shepard. And the other Alan. There's another Alan? Yeah. Also, over 70% of Purdue students graduate as virgins. High point. This one's crazy.

High Point University. I don't know if you guys know anything about High Point. I actually talked to Kelly Keegs, our coworker, who went to High Point. They have the second longest win streak in the country right now with 14. High Point University is they basically made like a Sims College because it looks like Disneyland. There's like 15 pools. There's a Max, you're going to like this because I know I liked it.

There is a ice cream truck that's free to all students that you can get in between classes. It's free all the time? Yeah. That is an incredible... I think it's part of your meal thing, but it's like you just go, you get ice cream. That is the best perk. High Point also has a steak restaurant that you can go to once a month free, and it is...

The goal of the steak restaurant is it's a fine dining learning lab. Aims to teach students business and social etiquette, including how to eat in a professional setting. They're literally teaching them how to eat.

High Point's not real world. I'm going to guess that High Point might have, outside of Yale, High Point might have sneaky the highest tuition. It's a great, like looking at the campus, seeing all this stuff. Also, the president is from the country Jordan, and he made it from High Point College to High Point University, and then he built all this stuff. $70,000 a year. It's insane.

Like, if you look at anything about High Point, it basically is like a movie set for a college. That's very funny. They're like, it's $70,000 a year, but free ice cream while you're here. Yeah, and you get to learn how to eat a steak. Also, High Point, South Carolina, is the furniture capital of the world. Yeah, North Carolina furniture is a real thing. Yeah, so they have like a furniture expo every year. Pretty crazy. My only game note from... Oh, they also have a guy, a seven-footer, Juslin Bodo Bodo.

I like that. Just like it. My note from this game is High Point plays a drop coverage scheme, and Braden Smith is probably going to go over on his points and assists. Okay. They're just going to run two-man offense, Purdue, all game. Okay, next up, I got Illinois versus Texas and Xavier. My Illinois fun fact is I have two of them. Tom Fradelli was once at a party with Deron Williams, and Deron slept while standing up in the corner.

Oh, that's pretty cool. Yeah. Way to go, Tom. Yeah. So that was a cool one. And then my other one is... Was that just because you didn't want to talk to Tom? That was really mean. That was really mean. You don't think that Tom can party? No, he's saying that Tom was such a bore that he was sleeping in the corner. Maybe Tom... Was Tom talking to him while he fell asleep?

Yeah, it's like, oh, no, this guy's going to come talk to me. Yeah. Other fun fact is our guy Chuck, and I witnessed this firsthand. He had a friend in college named Pat Moriarty who would bring a Ziploc bag of Italian sausages to the bar. And I actually watched this. We were out there doing an event at Red Lion for the Blackhawks. I think it was like 2013 or 14. And he literally just pulled a sausage out of his pocket. He's like, you want a sausage?

Cook sausage not like sausage bites cooked on the grill sauce was it hot how fat Pat Moriarty? He actually was in pretty good shape. That's a wild move. Yeah, pretty cool move though I ate the sausage was it hot salt like did it was temperature hot or was it just cold stale pocket temperature? So no, it was like he grilled the sausage in the morning Then would put it in the ziploc bag and then bring it out with him boom need a sausage. There you go I think you were there with us

You might have been underage, so you might not have come to us, the bar with us. Yes. Okay. And then they're going to play Texas or Xavier. Xavier, Sean Miller, all-time sweat guy, just needs to be reminded, everyone. Also, Xavier, Zach Fremantle has been there for about 100 years. If you're not familiar with him, he's very good, but he's been there forever. And Ryan Conwell, their other really good player, you might recognize him. He was on Indiana State last year, which was kind of a darling that didn't make the tournament. And then Texas...

Trey Johnson is a lottery pick. You should know his name. And Texas is in the tournament 19 and 15 is their record. And if you take out teams worse than 200 in Ken Palm on their schedule, they were actually 13 and 15. So they beat the fuck out of Houston Christian, Chicago State, Mississippi Valley State, Arkansas Pine Bluff, New Orleans, Northwestern State. Texas has good players. There might not be a good team.

I've seen enough Texas this year that I would agree with that. Yeah. Uh, okay. No, I got three more Kentucky verse Troy, uh, Kentucky. Mark Pope met his wife. Uh, she was a, a, a personal assistant for David Letterman and Mark Pope actually met his future wife's brother. And then the brother called the future wife and said, uh,

When my brother met Mark, he was like, I just met the male version of you. He's you, but he's a dude. He's going to call you for Letterman tickets. Is that good? I saw White Lotus. You're kidding me. Yeah, true. True. And then also Mark Pope raps. I saw Mark Pope's rap. Well, he did Eminem at the. Credit him for trying. Yeah, this one was, he did Hamilton. Do you want to play it? I don't. There's nothing I want to. Yeah, sure. Yeah, play it.

Do I have a hidden talent? Just in the hopes that Lin-Manuel, that you're watching. I'm going to get a scholarship to King's college. I probably shouldn't brag, but dad got maize and astonished. The problem is I got a lot of brains, but no polish. I got a holler just to be heard with every word. I dropped knowledge. I'm a diamond in the rough. A shiny piece of coal. Everybody. Okay. That's Mark Pope. That's Kentucky. Uh,

Coach Cal would have killed that rap. Yeah. Yeah. Troy, that was tough to watch. Troy, it's their third tournament appearance. They've never won a game. And this one's a fun fact. Their coach recently went on record saying he only recruits guys who like Waffle House. That's not a bad strategy. Yeah. So in the town where Troy plays, it's like 15,000 people. There's three Waffle Houses. So it's like he said, it's probably per capita. Yeah.

the highest, like 5,000 person per Waffle House. And he said, we often ask them, do you like Waffle House? If the answer is yes, we sign them. If it's no, we never get them. I like that because if you spend time in a Waffle House, you know how to handle yourself too. Yeah. You got street skills. Yeah. Facts. Also, Troy, the game note I had, Lamont Butler's back for Kentucky, and Troy is one of those teams that's very analytical. They only shoot at the rim, and they shoot threes.

Only problem for Troy is they suck at shooting threes. So they're literally the worst percentage in the entire field of 68 at shooting threes, and they shoot a lot of them. This is when keeping it Steph Curry goes wrong. Yeah, yeah. But they're doing it. They're doing it. All right. UCLA versus Utah State.

this one is just UCLA, Mick Cronin. Remember when Mick Cronin basketball almost killed him? Uh, he had a unruptured aneurysm in the back of his head and almost died. Yeah. So I found a very funny, I went, I went deep. I found a very funny dude's rock moment. Uh, there was a story about a man in Minneapolis who saw Mick Cronin story. He had similar headaches and he went to the doctor and, uh,

The doctor was like, oh, you have an unruptured aneurysm. And the guy was like, I know exactly what that is. Coach Cronin's got it. And the doctor was like, who the hell is Coach Cronin? So Mick Cronin saved the guy's life. This is how dudes learn about injuries and learn about illnesses that they might have. Yeah. It's like, oh, I think I might have what that coach had.

He literally saw him. He's like, yeah, I got really bad headaches. He almost died. And he's like, oh, fuck, I've had really bad headaches. Am I about to die? He went to the emergency room, was about to die. Good for him. Saving lives. Saving lives. Utah State, I just have notable alumni because they have a lot of guys who played football there. Yeah.

Bobby Wagner, Donald Penn, Roy Shivers, Al Smith, Travis LaBoy, Eric Hipple, and Chris Cooley. Those are all the really good football players from Utah State. They're the Aggies too, right? Yes, they are the Aggies. Utah State also is going to zone the fuck out of UCLA. So I kind of like the under in that game. All right, last one for me, Tennessee and Wofford. Tennessee. Tennessee.

Rick Barnes is in his 29th NCAA tournament. A lot of tournaments. He is fourth all-time for tournament appearances. He's never won a title. He's been to one Final Four. He's 30 and 28 in NCAA tournaments. Not great. Not great.

Their last, is it their last three years they won? Yeah, so that was my other phone call. So 2020 was COVID year, no games. 2021, they lost the first round. 2022, they lost the second round. 23, they lost the third round. 24 in the Elite Eight last year. So this year. Final four. Final four. And next year, championship game, unless they're a playing team.

Yeah. Then that would fuck up the whole thing. That would mess. I don't think that there would be. But yeah, so this guarantees that they get to the Final Four. Yes. Yes. Wofford, Spartanburg, South Carolina. Notable golfer, Hank. Willie McGirt. Do you know him? Nope. Great name. Dirt McGirt. Two professional wins. Also, they have a live mascot terrier named Blitz 3.

and has been the live mascot since 2014. Yeah, those small dogs live a long time. Yeah, I tried to find any other news, and I couldn't find any, which I think is a good thing. Yeah, I mean, I think that most people learn about geography in the United States via mid-major schools in March Madness. And so when I learned that this was South Carolina, I'm like, okay, Wofford, South Carolina, Terriers, and they had that one good player a couple years ago. Fletcher McGee. Fletcher McGee. Yeah, also this game, game note,

Wofford, 333rd in tempo. Tennessee, 346th in tempo. Going to be a slow one. A real slow one.

Okay, I feel like that was it. Very fun. What? What, Max? I think that was the longest segment we've ever done. But it was great. It was good. It was the funnest segment we've ever done. Yeah. Should we rip a quick Mount Rushmore? This is going to be... All right, then we won't. Let's not. What about Rapid Fire? Rapid Fire, Mount Rushmore. Let's do it on Friday. Let's do it for Friday's episode. I love that. Yeah, let's do it for Friday's episode. Friday's episode, Mount Rushmore. I love that. That's a good idea. Friday guests might be sick. Friday guests might be sick. Yeah. No.

Literally ill. Oh, so we can't get her? Try to guess. It's sick. Oh, actually sick. Actually. Wait, is that what you were referring to, Hank? The flu. Yeah. Oh. Yeah. Okay. We will have Stanford Steve on as well. So no Snooki? Damn. It's looking like no Snooki. She has a flu. She missed her filming shoot today. Okay, well, we'll try to get her on. She wants to talk ball with us.

All right. We just broke down the whole bracket. Our fun facts. We're going to do more with Titus, but we got to do a pick boys. So when it comes to college basketball, March mania, one thing is for sure. Nothing's for sure. Upsets, buzzer beaters, Cinderella's advancing top seeds going home early. Bet the unexpected, every upset every day with DraftKings Sportsbook. Everyone's sweating it out except you. DraftKings is offering all customers a no sweat parlay every single day. How does it work? Opt in and place a bet today.

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All right, so we're going to do a parlay for Thursday and a parlay for Friday.

So you guys got your Thursday picks? Yep. I'll start. I got Purdue high point over 153.5. I have VCU money line. Okay. Like that. Is Yale A&M Thursday or Friday? Yale A&M is... Okay. Yale plus 7.5. Like that. Max? I am going to go Louisville minus 2.5. Did anyone say that? Nope. Okay. That's first game.

A lot of pressure. Fuck. I didn't know that was first game. Yeah. Do you want to think about that? No, just go for it, dude. All right. All right. Go for it. All right. Change it. If you want to change it, change it. Should I go UC San Diego? Yeah. All right. UC San Diego plus two and a half. Why don't we move the line a little? We got a money line in there. Make it four and a half. For what? UC San Diego. Okay. Our odds are going to be good because we have a VCU money line.

All right. I like it. All right. And then our Friday pick. You're going to be able to bet all these in the DraftKings Sportsbook app. New Mexico plus three and a half. Okay. I'm going to do Colorado State minus two and a half. I'm going to do Memphis Moneyline. My bet. I had that written down. Okay. All right. You can do that. No, I'll change. I'll change. The only problem is. Well, we didn't talk about this before. Obviously, it happened rapid fire. You're acting like I did that on purpose. Well, did you not get the text? No. It's too finer.

Oh, yeah, I didn't see that. Okay. He said it was a lineage play. He's going to be pissed if you're saying this. I already said it with Titus. Did we say that? Yeah, we live updated with Titus when he texted us yesterday. All right, give me Grand Canyon plus ten and a half. Okay. I'm going to go with our Baylor Bears plus one and a half. Love that, Max. Love your confidence in our Baylors.

All right. Go bet those in the DraftKings Sportsbook. Ride with us. We're going to be live streaming all Thursday and Friday. We're very excited. Let's do Hotsy Cool Drone, and then we will kick it to Titus, and we will talk some more bracket from someone who maybe it won't be fun facts. It'll actually be real facts about the games. Hotsy Cool Drone is brought to you by our friends at Body Armor Flash IV. Body Armor Flash IV is packed with electrolytes,

provides faster and longer lasting hydration with no artificial flavors, sweeteners, or dyes with great tasting flavors like strawberry, Kiwi, and tropical punch. Body armor flash IV gives you your body the rehydration it needs to recover. Get yours at a local 7-Eleven or on Amazon today. Had just walked out. Yeah, so he's supposed to start off hot seat cool throne. Did he forget that? I don't know. He's still, he's not back. You know he's not back. He's still off. No tap. Hot seat.

What do you got? Michigan baseball player. Yeah. Do a notes app. Oh, for doing a line of Coke. Max, you took mine. But yeah, that's what Hank would have done. Sorry. No, no, go for it. I was just thinking. I was like, we should have. That's it was funny. Yeah. The notes app. The guy from Michigan had to apologize for fake snorting a lot of Coke. Yeah. It was very funny. He really read the notes app. Do you have it? I got it right here. He really took down that line. Yeah.

Yeah, I like this. I don't think he should have apologized. No.

What's your cool throne since Hank left? Hank, do you want to go? No, you got it. Sorry, I had to pee really bad. Cool throne, PFT. Okay, my cool throne is Paul Skeens. Because Paul Skeens, you might want to sit down. Uh-oh.

He was named the starter for opening day for the Pirates. Wow. And they did a big video production about it, too. And they were like, congratulations, you're going to start opening. The dude fucking started the All-Star game last year as a rookie. I love that. And the Yankees don't have to put out an announcement that Giancarlo Stanton's going to be injured opening day. Right. The Pirates don't need to put out an announcement that Paul Skeens is going to be the starting pitcher for opening day. Right. My other hot seat was going to be Griff, too. The Drake Bulldogs live mascot. Oh.

Oh, yeah, I saw that. You're not allowed to bring your live mascots to the NCAA tournament unless it's the Final Four. Yeah. But they don't allow them in the building. And the Drake Bulldogs, under Griff 2, their current Bulldog, I believe their record is, at least in the Missouri Valley Conference Tournament, 9-0. They're 9-0 when Griff 2 is there. You've got to, if you're a Drake...

If you're a Drake administrator, you got to trench coat this bulldog. Yeah. You got to bring him in a trench coat. I don't care. You got to get the bulldog in there. For all the dogs, right, Hank? Yeah. Yep. Get him. Do the service dog. I don't care. Griff's got to be in the building. Got it. Free Griff. Free Griff. All right, Hank.

My hot seat is the FBI slash CIA slash mafia. Okay. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. Trump announced that he's actually finally releasing the JFK files. So he was supposed to release those today. We haven't seen it today. I hope it happens. I mean, they got to come out, right? They got to. The Epstein files. That was a big nothing. Nothing burger.

Yeah, no, obviously nothing's going to come out. Who do you think did it? I like how they keep saying, because I'm sure in a couple weeks or months they're going to say, now we're going to release the upsetting files. Yeah. Who do you think did it, Hank? The CIA. The guy, his driver. Yeah. Turned around and got him. Yep. I think it's the dude that was from Illinois. Yeah.

That guy. Mafia guy? Oh, yeah. Mafia slash CIA, yeah. Who was in charge of getting Jack Ruby killed? Yeah, that guy did that shit. Or in charge of Jack Ruby killing. Killing that guy, yeah. And then the craziest part about Jack Ruby, he went to prison, and then one of the doctors that ran MKUltra went to visit him, gave him a dose of some medication, then Jack Ruby went insane right after that visit. Damn, damn.

Makes you think. Finally, we'll know the truth. My cool throne is Podcast P with Paul George. Is it back? Yeah. So he, on February 26th, said, I want to let the Podcast P family know that after today's episode with Dwight, I plan to take a break from the pod just to focus on getting my body right, mentally right, and, you know, help the squad make a push towards our goal to finish the season out and gives ourselves a chance to be in contention to compete for a championship. Mm-hmm.

And then today, the Sixers announced that Paul George received injections in his left muscle and left knee on Monday and has been ruled out for the rest of the season. So he's bringing it back. He's got to bring it back. I mean, you said podcast P. I thought you meant that you just got off the couch again to go use the bathroom during a segment. Or you were just talking as oldie. I love that oldie calls you P. Yeah. So funny. Podcast P. Makes me laugh every time. It's a good nickname. P. I like it. Okay.

Okay, my hot seat, I have two, is my sleep because I woke up this morning at 4.30 this morning to watch the Cubs lose to the Dodgers. Turns out the Dodgers are still really good. Yeah. And they're going to win a lot of games. I hate this shit that they start the season overseas. Yeah, and like Shota was pitching a no-hitter through four, which doesn't really count through four. He threw four walks, and they pulled him because I think they're trying to be very cautious with the fact they have to go all the way

back from Japan and then there's 10 days before actual opening day so it's weird but the Dodgers are really good did you see any more highlights

Yes, they had. So they had a high. They had what I think was the camera we watched from behind the plate. And it was just the player. The batter was just totally pixelated every time. Yeah, it was garbage. It's weird. It was garbage. So it's not one camera. I don't know what it was. It's a combination of a bunch of cameras. Every time it looked like your TV broke, it would show this highlight. So.

So it sucked. Your thoughts, Hank? No comment. Also, hot seat Aaron Rodgers because Cam Hayward said, I ain't doing that darkness retreat. And he said, I don't need any of that crap. Either you want to be a Pittsburgh Steeler or you don't. It's that simple. That's the pitch. If you want me to recruit, that's a recruiting pitch. Pittsburgh Steelers. Yeah, I like that from Cam Hayward. He's like, this is...

What Aaron Rodgers is doing right now is not Steeler football. Yeah. And he's like, I'm ready. I'm about to retire. Just fucking just let me go. Like, just figure it out. I'm not doing this. Also, Schefter said that he thinks that the Vikings want Aaron. He's option number one for the Vikings. And so now it's up to Aaron Rodgers to just decide if he wants to play there. Yeah. So the whole thing is weird. We'll find out. Crazy. At some point. Crazy that Aaron Rodgers is holding up.

This will turn out well. Yeah. He really is just, it is cats in the cradle with Brett Favre. Yeah. He's just learning everything from, uh, he hated Brett Favre. I know it's, it's perfect. Uh, cool throne. Uh, two of them as well. Uh,

Get your brackets in. Stella Blue Coffee. We're doing a golden bracket. So all you got to do is buy something on StellaBlueCoffee.com. If you have the best bracket, you're coming to the final four with us next year. You know what? I'd like to make an announcement, Big Cat. Yeah. If anybody that enters the Stella Blue, it's one per person, right? Yeah. You buy something, then we send you the link. And then you're in the pool. One per person. If somebody gets a perfect bracket, I will cut off my penis. Yes. Yes.

Love that. So go sign up. We need more. Hank's going to cut his dick off too. Max. Yeah, no, no, Max. We're doing it through Wednesday. Yeah, yeah. Yes. I thought Max was also going to say he's going to cut off his penis. All right. Go buy Cell Blue Coffee and fill out a bracket. And like I said, you'll get to go to the Final Four with us next year in Indy, so that's pretty cool. And then my other cool thrown is Tracy Morgan. He just had food poisoning. It happens. I think this was...

awful that you're throwing up courtside of the next game and the game's delayed like 20 minutes. That sucks. I think it was like in a weird way. Good that Tracy Morgan could see how much he's loved because I didn't see anyone clowning on him. Tracy Moore. He's had this opportunity a few times. Yeah. It's like the world has reminded Tracy Morgan, like, please, I hope you're okay. Yeah. Like he's had health issues. And so everyone, when I saw it, cause I'm, I'm the number one puke guy. I love puke. I laugh at puke all the time.

There wasn't a lot of like joking about Tracy Morgan. Everyone was like, I hope he's okay. Yeah. James Dolan has got to be furious that Tracy Morgan got food poisoning at MSG. He might be kicked out. Yeah. Also, it was very funny because if you saw one of the videos, Bobby Bacala was just looking like, get this guy out of here. Yeah. He was like, oh, I need my train set. It's very funny puke. All right.

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Okay, we now welcome on a very, very, very, very, very, very special guest. It is Tradition. Except that one year when he said really inappropriate things. Yeah, when he got canceled. It's Tradition, Mark Titus. It's a lot easier than in years past when we would have to... He would basically get hit up by every single person in the media world this week being like, Oh, Titus, you like ball? Come talk to me about March Madness.

Now we work together. Now you own me. Yeah, we own you. Two years. Is your two-year anniversary coming up? Yeah, yeah. I think I've been here two full years now. I was hired right before March Madness, which I don't know if that was smart or not. It was a terrible idea. Well, no, it was actually smart because you survived it. But yeah, we always have you on the Wednesday of March Madness of the tournament week.

I'm excited about this bracket. Do we need to just say a quick fuck you to UNC and prayers to West Virginia and Indiana for being left out? Yeah, I mean, like you said before, you'll move on fast. The second the ball's tipped, I won't give a shit, but it was egregious, I thought. I thought North Carolina at no point in the season did they look like an NCAA tournament team. They...

Yeah, their highs weren't very high. Their lows were pretty damn low. And I was stunned. I was. In all the years of, you know, that's how the bracket works. It comes out. We lose our minds about teams that got in that didn't deserve it. We feel bad for the teams that were left out. This is the most egregious example that I've ever seen. And, you know, the fact that the AD is the guy running the whole thing also is interesting. But this has Michael Jordan's paws all over it.

But, you know, when the basketball starts, who gives a fuck? Yeah, who gives a fuck? The more I thought about it, because we did our instant reactions on Sunday night, I think the committee basically was like, we have four historically great teams at number one seeds, and

And the rest of the bracket will just fucking fill it out however it goes. Because it's not just who got left in, left out. There's some weird seating, like Michigan getting a five. Louisville getting an eight. Gonzaga getting an eight. The whole Wisconsin going out to Denver in four days rest. It just felt very weird how they put the whole thing together.

And I think I would have been fine with that if they just like would have straight up said, all right, so here's the deal. You Carolina got in cause Bubba Cunningham's the chair. Uh, some of these seatings are off because to be completely honest, we think it doesn't matter. There's right. Cause it's so top heavy. So who gives a fuck? Um,

But the, yeah. So saying like Tucker DeVries was hurt and that's why West Virginia was, I don't know. It's, it's, it's so transparent and stupid. I didn't think Carolina, I said this, you did. I didn't think Carolina, if I was running the NIT, Carolina would not have even been a one seat in the NIT bracket, much less in the NCAA tournament. But at the same time, we,

We move on. We get excited about the bracket we do have. And they're going to probably win a couple games. And they're probably going to win a couple games. You guys just interviewed the governor of West Virginia, but he also gave a press conference earlier today. I wasn't able to watch it.

Did he do the thing like Chief Sahalik's lawyer where he made a lot of like bad basketball puns in reference to the miscarriage of justice? No, he actually, he had a good perspective on it. He was like, this isn't going to change anything. Yeah. Okay. He's like, nothing's going to change. I just want to raise a little hell. I was hoping he was going to say like, this is an alley oops. Oh, yeah.

The big dance is now the big dunce. He did that with the sign, the National Corrupt Athletic Association. Yeah, the West Virginia governor doing that, he basically had like two hours of...

you know, everyone's paying attention and then I'm already over it. He's just like, I'm showing my constituents. I too am upset and I'm going to say something about it. It's the quickest, like we, literally when Tuesday happens in the first balls tip, it's like, who was that governor? When we were signing off, I told him, I'll do anything to help you governor as long as it doesn't require extra effort or inconvenience me in any way. I will throw my weight behind your cause. Would you change the channel to something else during the play-in game halftime show?

No. Roste. Yeah, that's a good point. Roste's going to get some nuggets. I can't turn my back on Roste. I'm trying to figure out.

What I could do. Yeah, probably nothing. Do we think we're going to break down the bracket with you in a second, but do we think there is any chance they have the ball situation figured out this year? Oh, yeah. I'm very nervous about that. We had the guy from Wilson. There's a guy from well, we're doing one of the upfront thing. A guy from Wilson was in the office. I talked to him for like an hour about this. He said the problem they have with this ball and maybe you experience it because we have them here. Yeah, the super orange balls.

They're a little more cushiony than the other evolutions, right? Yeah. He said the cushion, the way it works is they'll pump the balls up and then they just give it a little squeeze to see if it's, you know, you want to like a little bit of give but not too much, you know. Right. You feel it out. It's like, yeah.

That's how you pump up the ball. But it has so much cushion that they'll pump it up to the max, give it a little squeeze and feel the cushion. And be like, pump it up more? And pump it up more. And he said it's like the people that pump this thing up are working on – apparently there's just not a PSI system. I don't know. He told me this. This was like a year ago he told me all this. And I was like, oh, my God, it makes so much sense. So I don't know if they solved it. They have to have solved it. Because I think they just got these like 65-year-old dudes just over there

pumping up these balls and they're over inflated and uh i don't know i i and it matters it does matter we saw like crazy air balls and weird things happen um yeah but hopefully hopefully that's not a problem and they and they've learned the lesson but yeah that that first year especially i think that was the 22 tournament yeah i think it was three years ago it was brutal guys couldn't dribble guys couldn't shoot but you know has it ever gone the other way where the ball is like perfect

Oh. Like a great example of a ball, and it's like scoring's through the roof because the guys love this ball. The guy has a perfect ball? Yeah. Oh, that's a good question. Because I feel like any time they switch out a ball, it's never for the better. You're right about that. Yeah. Yeah.

No, we should figure out what the perfect ball is. It's a feel thing. You know when you dribble it, it's that perfect ball, the exact right amount of bounce that you were expecting. You throw the other one away, let's go. I had someone point out to me something I never thought about, but when Wisconsin was playing Michigan in the Big Ten tournament final, I was like, yeah, tired legs. This is what I expected. They just aren't moving. And someone was like...

Did you ever think maybe the ball is tired? The ball could be tired. That ball has played a lot of hoops in the last five days. And on top of all of it, it's too orange. It's just a weird orange. And I think they've got to fix that. We've got to go back to a more brownish orange. I agree. So you want to get into the bracket, Mark? Yeah.

I would love to get into the bracket. Let's dive in. And if you doubt Mark Titus' credentials, he was drafted by the Harlem Globetrotters. That's right. So that's a pretty fucking impressive thing to have on your resume. I got a high-level bracket before we go region by region. So this is the season, and I love it, where we get all the analytics and people are like, hey, this is what needs to happen as a champion.

It's the Ken Palm rule where I think it's a team has to be, I believe it's 21st or better in adjusted offensive efficiency and 37th or better in adjusted defense. And both of those cutoffs exist because of 2014. You got it. Yes. But so those cutoffs usually, and it is like, if you look at it going into the tournament, that's where you're going to find your national champion this year, though. It's crazy. It's crazy.

There's 11 teams that meet that, which I feel like has never been. It's usually like six or seven teams. Yeah. So there's 11 teams. I'm going to list all 11 for you, and you can tell me, yes, the national champion will be in this group. Okay.

Duke, Florida, Houston, Auburn, all your one C Tennessee, Alabama, both two seeds, Texas tech, a three seed Gonzaga, an eight seed, Iowa state, Wisconsin. Also your three seeds and Arizona. That's the list. I mean, yeah, I think the national champion is in that group. Notable exceptions that have been left out are Michigan state, St. John's, uh,

So those are the teams, like, I think a lot of people... Maryland's not in there. Would you feel comfortable saying that the others are not going to win? I would. I think this year is the most top-heavy...

uh, feeling I have about college basketball entering an NCAA tournament since 2015. I remember 2015 was a, uh, it stood out to me going into the tournament. There was Kentucky at the top who was undefeated, obviously, but I felt like the, the rest of the ones and the twos Duke ended up winning, but Wisconsin was absolutely loaded that year. Um, as you know, Dan, uh,

I think Virginia and Villanova both had really, really good teams. Arizona had a good team. I think Kansas was a two. They were like a week or two that I think ended up losing early. But I remember going into the 2015 tournament feeling like it was kind of a perfect setup because Kentucky was the undefeated behemoth Goliath, but they weren't unbeatable as we learned in the final four. Yeah.

But I had a really good feeling that it was going to be a one or a two because if you watched all season, it just felt like these teams are just way better than everybody else. Right. I feel that way this year. For the first time since 2015, I have that same feeling again. I just think the Dukes, the Auburns, Florida's been coming on strong. Houston...

All the one seeds are clearly better than everybody else to me. And then the two seeds, it's like all the ones, all the twos, and then everybody else is kind of how I feel. And Texas Tech is like the one team that might be in the mix that's not a one or a two. If they got healthy, yeah. Otherwise, I just think it's really top-heavy, and it sucks because...

I think everybody this time of year gets excited about the Cinderella and they want me to come on here and be like, I think this team's going to get upset early. I think it's really chalky season. Yeah. I think I have a really chalky bracket. I think this is the year of chalk. But chalky, again, obviously you want an upset or two in the first round. It's fun. Chalky always does make it great for the second weekend in the final four. Because it's like you don't.

like a st peters was a great story that elite eight game was garbage it was garbage it was terrible yeah and like even george mason who's like the og cinderella story they got to the final four and got their ass kicked right florida um it always happens that way uh so yeah it's weird because you want to celebrate the fun little little guys making the runs but you do want to see the big boys i think that's what we're getting this year i think

I think there might be like one or two. Maybe you get like a double-digit seed, make the Sweet 16. Maybe you get like a crazy Elite Eight run. Maybe, hell, maybe there's like a seven seed in the Final Four, but I'm very, very confident that your national champion will be a one or two, which I understand everybody listening is like,

Good job going out on a limb. But UConn two years ago was a four seed. What I'm telling you is that will not happen this year. There will not be UConn two years ago four seed. There will not be the UConn of 2014 being a seven seed. It will be a one or a two. And it will probably be a one. They're just so much better than everybody. The other nice thing that we like about the Cinderella's early on is if there's an unlikable coach or a coach where it's fun if they lose to a Golke.

So last year it was Cal losing to a Golke in the first round. Is there any coach out there that you think America would be like, be really funny if that guy lost? It'd be funny if that guy lost. Um...

Good question. I mean, Todd Golden. I don't know how many people are paying attention to what was going on. Well, they did an investigation. And their investigation was Florida's really good. It's always funny if Rick Barnes loses. Rick Barnes losing is funny. Yeah. I mean, Matt Painter getting over the hump just to go right back to losing in the first round. It's also a little bit personal for you. Yeah. Yeah.

Nate Oates. You got the Bill Self, John Calipari, Rick Pitino little section down there in the bottom left. Only one of those guys can come out, so I don't know. There could be some interesting dynamics at play there. Yeah. All right. Let's start breaking it down. All right. Let's go in the top left.

The East, is that right? South. I have a... South. You think Auburn was deserving of the one overall seed? It is unprecedented. Lost three of four going into the tournament. That is never... No team's ever done that and gotten the number one overall seed. Uh...

They had obviously a dominant stretch up until the last couple weeks. Basically, someone pointed out that their tough stretch started when they clinched the SEC. So maybe if you want to believe in Auburn, just say that they have had nothing to play for. Yeah.

But it was interesting because like up until they started losing there, someone I was watching, I think it was Jimmy Dykes. I was watching one of the Auburn games and he made the point. Auburn could forfeit every game for the rest of the season and still get the number one overall. And they pretty much did like, okay, we're going to go do that. Um,

So yeah, I think if you're looking at it in the totality of the season, Auburn's resume was maybe the strongest resume we've kind of ever seen, which maybe is not true now that they lost because I guess Kentucky was undefeated that one year. But it was just like an insane resume. They played all the other one seeds. They beat just about everybody.

But yeah, I mean, it is weird because going into the tournament, the number one overall seed is generally the team that everyone's like, yeah, that's probably the best team. And I think most people are like, yeah, Auburn is, it feels like it's Duke and Florida. I would not have, if I'll put it this way, if any of the four one seeds were named the number one overall seed, I probably would have been fine with it. I think all of them have arguments. I think Duke is the best team. I think Florida has, is the hottest team. I think Houston is like a team that, that ripped through a big 12. That's really strong in Houston. Yeah.

I think Houston only lost one game in regulation all season. Yeah. They lost like four, but three of them were in overtime. Yeah. And they just like, they don't go away. It's impossible to beat them by, yeah, more than one possession. I think Houston had a case to be number one overall, but I don't know. Auburn had a historic run and played Houston non-conference. They played in the Maui Invitational. They went to Duke.

And then they were also in the SEC, which was as good of a conference as we've ever seen. All right, so what do you have? Any –

Any upsets in this region? So I'm looking at what everyone else is looking at, 12-5. How do you feel about this? Because UC San Diego, I'll be honest, transparent, I watched one game. It was the Big West Championship. They did not look good. I know they won the game against a team that's also supposed to be good. I didn't think they were that good. I was worried. I'm worried about the idea. Michigan turns it over like crazy. UC San Diego leads the country in turnover margin.

So part of me is like Michigan's just going to turn it over like 30 times and UC San Diego wins this, but...

Has UC San Diego faced two seven-footers running a pick and roll? Do they have the horses for that? I think their tallest guy is 6'8", and most of the guys are 6'6". I feel like everybody's hot on UC San Diego. The other thing, they haven't played a power conference team, and that's why I'm worried about that because it feels like McNeese last year. You remember McNeese State last year? Everyone was like they were the hottest team in the country. They lost by a billion.

And then I looked at their schedule. I was like, they haven't literally not played anybody that has a center that's taller than 6'8", you know? Yeah. When did they become McNeese? I don't know when that happened. They just dropped the state. You know what's funny, too, about the UC San Diego-Michigan upset that everyone's going to pick? Because I agree with you. I think that UC San Diego is a very good team. Their metrics are off the charts for a 12 seed for a small conference. Yeah.

They haven't played anyone and they're going to go up against two seven footers. That doesn't feel like a good recipe, but then right underneath it, I think Yale could beat Texas A&M. Yeah. Yale is the team like Yale completely dominated the Ivy. They played a couple, like they, they played, uh, uh, they lost by like eight to Purdue. They played a one possession game with Minnesota. Obviously Minnesota did not like, wasn't an incredible team, but I,

I feel like Yale, and they got guys who could rebound. Your point about Minnesota, I think that matters. I want to see these smaller schools having played. Just get a taste for it. Get punched in the mouth by... Have to go up against a defense, even if they're not the best team in the world. You're actually being guarded by a 6'6 guard out there or something versus playing in the Ivy League and dealing with the...

smaller and less athletic dudes. Right. And Texas A&M is one of those teams. I like Buzz Williams. I think they're a good team, but they are a team that struggles to shoot basketball. And so if you can't score, that's why as much as I want St. John's to go deep, it's like, if you have, if you don't have the ability to get, uh, a couple of guys hot, just because you look at their body of work and they just can't do it. Uh,

that always spells trouble so i feel like yale might be my upset that could be a good one i yelled i you could get the yale michigan uh danny wolf storyline yeah yeah that little that little thing going um i think new mexico when i look at this region the first round game i'm most excited for is new mexico marquette i think donovan dent versus cam jones is going to be fucking insane to watch i think both those guys could score 35 points in this game it'll be up and down um

And I'll love it, and I don't care who wins. But that's an upset, I guess. You know, New Mexico beating Marquette, that has my attention. But yeah, I am gravitating towards chalk in general across the board in this bracket, which is very boring, and I apologize to the...

to the awls out of the gate because i i just not the first time you had to apologize uh i wish i had the balls to pick louisville to beat auburn yeah i wish i had the balls but i don't louisville playing in louisville got fucked with their seed but they could play in lexington i know like i would have rather had a five seed and be in milwaukee uh here's another one that i'll throw out there and i don't think brian's gonna beat michigan state but it shocked me when i saw this

Bryant's taller than Michigan State. Oh, really? Yeah. They don't have a starter under 6'6". No shit? Yeah. That's a shocking 15-2 where you get a 15-2 and it's almost always, oh, well, look, height actually matters in basketball. But Bryant, again, I think Michigan State's going to win the game. But that could be a game that's a little bit trickier for Michigan State if they can't out-physical them.

Give me your overall vibe reading on Michigan State and Tom Izzo heading in. This specific Michigan State, does this feel like a quintessential Tom Izzo and March-type Michigan State team? Does this feel like maybe they've been punching above their weight class, so to speak? Because I'll be honest, after the Champions Classic...

I thought Michigan State was going to be in jeopardy of missing the tournament. I was like, this team just doesn't have a ton of talent. I felt like last year's team was like a nine seed, if I remember right. And they lost their three best players. They didn't really replace... Like Jace Richardson ended up being awesome, but at the time he was, I think he was like a four-star recruit. And it was like, I don't know how they're going to replace the production they lost. And they weren't even that good last year. I didn't think they would be very good. I was very wrong. They have bought into the culture. They've been playing out of their minds.

But I don't know, now that the tournament is here, is that the recipe for Tom Izzo? Or is the recipe sneak up on teams a little bit? What I see from Izzo, usually the last couple of seasons going into the tournament, Izzo, he's very transparent. He kind of lets you know with his body language and his language language that he's not happy with his team and he's not super confident. What I've seen more from Tom Izzo is him being...

like upset that he doesn't have enough reasons to be pissed off at his team. Right. Which to me, I read that as confidence. Yeah, no, I think this is a very classic Michigan State team in the fact that they have...

uh, guards that wear thick headbands and are absolute dogs. And then even they throw in the, uh, the, the Kohler bear Jackson Kohler, just a white dude who plays basketball. Like he's a football player. He's got like a Hakeem Elijah dream shape too. He'll just post up and like hit a little baseline turnaround, but they always need one of those guys too. I, I, yeah, I like this Michigan state. I think, I think I've got, I settled it. So I have Michigan state going to the final four because I think Auburn is going to get tripped up somewhere. Um,

So I do think Michigan State's going to go to the Final Four. I think I settled on they are on a typical Michigan State tournament run, but it just started in November. Yeah. I think that's what this team is. This team started their typical, like, I don't know, when I think of the Tom Izzo runs, they're like a seven seed or a six seed or something. Like right when the seed is starting. It's not hot yet, but people are talking about maybe heating it up next year.

And I think this team was that in November and then they just stayed on a run the entire season basically. And I think they might be a quintessential Michigan State team in the fact that I think they'll go... Like, I'm going to pick them and go to the Final Four in this region as well. And then they'll lose like...

to 54 in the semifinals. In the first one. They're going to play the early one. They're not going to shoot it all in the big dome. And you'll be like, ah, shit. Exactly right. That was it. You made a great point, too. The guards that they have...

The one thing that they have perfected is figuring out the exact amount of confidence you should have on a basketball court. They have the perfect amount. They talk the perfect amount of shit. But Auburn's a team that I think they've overdone it in recent weeks. They almost get too much into the shit talking and pumping up the crowd and all that. Whereas Michigan State is the perfect level of we're going to talk insane amounts of shit to you, but also remember that we're playing a basketball game and we need to beat you at basketball. Whereas Auburn, I feel like...

Yeah, I don't know. The last couple weeks, every time I watch Auburn, they'll hit one shot and just start getting the crowd going. It's like you're still down four. Who's that one guy that just blacks out and just gets a technical? Chad Baker Mazzara. Yeah, he'll just hit you in the back of your head. Yeah, he got kicked out of the game two weeks ago. I think it was the Arkansas game where he hits a three by Arkansas' bench and turns to them and pops his jersey. Then two possessions later, he hits another three and goes like...

He says something, obviously, and the ref immediately texts him up, and he just goes, what? Yeah, what? And then in the Alabama game, he clotheslines someone. He clotheslines someone in the Alabama game. He hit him, and then he was like, no, that wasn't hard enough, and then brought his hand back. Last year in the tournament, he got the flagrant against Yale to start the game. Yeah, this is like Izzo coaching against Draymond if they get to that matchup. Yeah, that's right. All right, so you've got Michigan State in this reach.

I think so. Michigan State's offense worries me. I'm not blind to that, but I think I've doubted Michigan State the entire season, basically. And I think I've seen enough to be like, yeah, they play great defense. They're all bought in. I think Jason Richardson is a star, and I do think as much as I was concerned about

throughout the season, like do they have top-end talent? Do you have a guy who can go get you one when you need it? I think he's that guy. And I think Auburn will get tripped up somewhere along the way. And Iowa State, Keyshawn Gilbert being out is definitely significant. That was going to be my question. As a college basketball casual, I watch probably five to six games of college ball a week until March starts, and then you ramp it up, and you feel like you know more after conference tournament week. I don't know anything about Iowa State.

I don't know anything, but I know they have a great coach. I know that they have a star who's going to be injured. Tight shirts, TJ. Tight shirts. He looks like a thumb. Is he going to be thinking about how the Villanova colors will look on his body? Oh. Is he maybe mind elsewhere? But also, really, how is Iowa State going to be able to do without their star? I also will say that TJ Otzelberger, Greg Gard is a phenomenal coach, and I want him to keep coaching forever, but TJ Otzelberger will be next. He's from Wisconsin, so.

So he's going to Wisconsin. So I already got that on him. Yes, you can't have him. Iowa State, there were times this season Iowa State looked like they could be national title good. They went to Maui. They had Auburn up like 18 at halftime, I think it was. And obviously Auburn's the number one overall seed. Throughout the Big 12 schedule, they have awesome wins. They've dealt with a bunch of injuries. They're banged up, but I guess like the overall –

thought on Iowa State is they are like a Houston's cousin almost. They play insane defense, but they also, even though defense is what they're known for, they have guys that can score the basketball. I loved Iowa State throughout the year. The injuries have taken a toll, though. They've had dudes get randomly sick and banged up. Yeah, and I don't know how healthy they are, and I don't know if they've really...

put it back together since then. So it would not surprise me if Iowa State – I have Iowa State in my Sweet 16. I haven't played in Michigan State in the Sweet 16. But, yeah, it wouldn't surprise – like, I think Iowa State, at their best, is a team that is national title good. All right, so Michigan State over Auburn in the Elite Eight, and then Michigan State going to the Final Four. That's what I have, yeah. Okay. Okay. The next region, Florida's. Yep. How did they print a bracket with no –

What is that? South? Oh, that's the West. The West. The West, Florida. Florida's playing incredible ball right now. They're on fire. I don't know how... It sounds stupid because it's a tournament and anyone can beat anyone. I just don't know how you deal with everything Florida can do because they have everything. They shoot threes. They have incredible size. They rebound the fuck out of the ball. It just feels like...

They're almost like a ramped-up hyper version of Alabama, of what Alabama wants to be. We'll get to Duke in a second, but I think Florida and Duke are the two teams that I honestly can't figure out how they lose before the Final Four without them fucking it up themselves. Right. Like, they just...

If they play their best game, they're in the final. Yeah, it's not even close. They have answers, like you said, they have answers for everything. There's no team that says, I like our matchup with Florida because we can do this and they're not good at this. They have no weaknesses. They have guard play. They have a rotating cast of big dudes. They play defense. They shoot threes. Everyone can shoot. Everyone can shoot. They have demoralizing dunkers. Like Elijah Martin will just...

shit all over you and you're just like well god damn i thought i thought we were kind of cutting into this lead a little bit but i guess i guess maybe not that's a great point because it is when you watch florida that is exactly what happens it's like oh here's a logo three and then here's like a dunk on your two your center and power forward yeah um in back-to-back possessions and then you i mean the guards are the what makes them go with with martin and walter clayton and and will richard who's like a you know could just out of nowhere drop 30 points um

But then Condon is like, he's a dude that, that was at Bama, the Bama game. He had, I forget what he ended up with, but in the 20s or something, he was dominating Bama. Florida is playing insane basketball right now. You know what else is demoralizing about Florida? Is when they just wheel their 7'9 redshirt freshman who's not even playing. He doesn't even play. And he's the tallest human being you've ever seen. You're like, we don't need this guy.

They got size like in their back pocket. Do you think that helps him where they just come out to warm up and he's just standing there and you're looking at him instead of the guys you're actually going to play against? Yeah, you're like, holy shit, this guy is not even playing.

He's not even one of their best players. It's kind of fucked up that he doesn't play. We all want to see him play. We all want to see him out there. It's kind of fucked up that we all saw the video of him in the preseason, and then they redshirt him. It's a cock tease. I wanted to see him out there. And I watched him walk. He looks like he's a healthy walker. He looks like he can move. He did the Edie move where he cut down the nets without a ladder. Oh, I love that. You know, he was the world's tallest teenager. That's pretty cool. I think he was like 7'4".

That's really cool. Yeah. But this is actually my, so with everything we said about Florida, how good they are, this actually is my group of death because I do think Maryland is final four caliber. I think St. John's, Texas Tech, who we mentioned, and Colorado State's probably the hottest team outside of Florida, and they're all in the bracket together.

Yeah, I think Maryland's probably the best four. Yeah, I think Texas Tech is definitely the best three. So in that regard, I would agree with you. I also just think, though, if you're a Florida fan, you're not really worried about any of these teams. I think...

I don't know how much – what's the read on UConn? Oh, I said that I want UConn to win the first game because then I want everyone to be like, oh, watch out for UConn. Florida will kill UConn. Yeah, like those of us that have been watching all season, like, no, this UConn team is just not good. No. They can't guard and they don't – the thing with UConn, though, you'll watch them. They'll be down like 15. They'll go on a run. They'll cut the lead to like six.

And they fucking have it. And Dan Hurley's fucking chest bumping someone. And I'm fucking, you know, Liam McNeely's like going crazy. Caravan hits a three. Caravan hits a three. Like, I don't know. They get the juice flowing and you think that they have something. And then you look up and they're playing like fucking, sorry, Max, but like Villanova or something. Or they're playing, you're like, what are they playing Georgetown? And you're like, I mean,

The fact that we're down to this team is kind of concerning, boys. I don't think UConn – yeah, I was curious, though. Like, PFT, what is – as a self-proclaimed casual, you see UConn in a bracket. Do you think that, like, the casuals across the country are talking themselves into – Danny Hurley knows how to coach. I don't know. It's disrespectful that UConn is an eighth seat, Mark, because they won – I don't know if you know this. They won the last two national championships, and I think they covered every single game in both those tournaments.

And now you're just relegating them to an eight. You're throwing them out like the trash. Give me a fucking break. They stink. And caravan, the shocking thing about watching caravan this year is last year, people were saying like top 10 pick top 15 pick in the NBA draft. Yeah. And it turns out he needs, it appears that he needs other guys and,

that he can just worry about getting open. Yeah, when he has four other guys on the court who are better than everyone else's guys on the other side, he looks a lot better is what you're saying? Well, I'm saying that also like last year, I thought that he was better off the dribble. I thought that he was a better shot creator. This year, he has just not been that at all. They also really miss... Did you guys see the Cam Spencer clip of him just barking at KD? Like that's the guy. They don't have that guy who's like a hurly on the court. And I've...

held out hope for UConn this year that they were going to, like there's been moments, like when they played St. John's twice, I was like, this is the moment. They were up big against St. John's in stores. And I was like, oh, here comes UConn. Even in the Big East semifinals, it's like UConn's going to beat Creighton. They're going to go take down St. John's. It just isn't there. I have a bone to pick with you about UConn, though. Okay. Yeah.

You don't like Dan Hurley? No, I never said that. I said Dan Hurley is an asshole, and I think that's fair. Okay, but... I think that's fair. I thought that was the whole point with Dan. No, no, that's fair. That is fair. But you...

is Dan Hurley good for college basketball yes okay good yes when Dan Hurley loses three games in the Maui Invitational and then says I'm never going back to Maui Invitational he shits over one of the great things college basketball has going for it which is the Maui Invitational which I fucking love shut the fuck up Dan Hurley but that also like shut the fuck up but that's yeah like that's good for college basketball but like but that's part of the that's that's yeah I'm I'm

I thought this is a, my whole thing with Yukon and Dan Hurley was that I thought this was like a dance we're supposed to do is Dan Hurley's an asshole. And then I, the pundit, I'm supposed to be like, this guy's an asshole. And then Yukon fans are supposed to be like, Oh, he doesn't like it. We don't, he doesn't like that. You know, I thought that was the whole thing. Yeah. All right. So we're on the same page because I, I'm doing my job. I'm a big believer that like one of the things about college basketball, because the, the, the, the rosters change every year, especially now with transfer portal, uh,

Coaches matter. You know what I mean? The asshole coach is kind of getting phased out where we don't have the Boeheim. We don't have the Huggins. We don't have the Coach K. Dan Hurley, to me, he's the torchbearer for that next generation of dickhead coaches. You need them now.

Because otherwise you're getting mad at like an 18-year-old that you've known for like two months. I completely agree with you. I just can't. Okay. I can't. Yeah, you got to play it out. I have to play my job. Dan Hurley's the heel. That's fair. So I'm going to react to the heel behavior. Okay. We're on the same page. And say, yeah, when you tell the ref I'm the best coach in the sport. Yep.

You know, we're on the same page. You're back to me. I'm going to call you a douchebag. And it's important to the ecosystem. I do want him to be. Yeah. He would have gone to the Lakers like he definitely was 100 percent going to do. And that was a very real thing that almost happened for sure. I would be I would have been upset that college basketball lost. Yes. Lost him. He's a heel so that your face as a pundit. Right. I don't I don't know. Yeah. If he loses, are you going to take any pleasure in Yukon losing the first round? Um.

I won't take any pleasure. I don't know. I've enjoyed for as much as, yeah, like the Dan Hurley antics. I don't always love, uh, I, I do enjoy watching their team when they're good. Like I think the offense they run is fucking awesome. Like last year's team was like sex dude, watching them play basketball. So, uh,

You know, like I appreciate good basketball. This year's team is not good. And I just think like when they lose, it'll just be like another mediocre team dipping out in the tournament. He knows how to coach in the tourney though. He does know how to coach in the tourney. I will say like if he, if he goes on, if he can like go on a run to the Sweet 16, be Florida,

I mean, obviously he won two national titles. He has my respect for that, but that's a different level of like, god damn, this guy might be a magician. Yeah, you're a wizard. If you can take this team and go on a deep run, you actually are that dude. You figured it out with college basketball. Alright, so at the bottom of this bracket, we have the Bill Self-Cal matchup, which I know people want to hype up, but like

I feel like it's just a depressing matchup. It's depressing. Because both these teams aren't good. So it's just like, and I'm closing my eyes. How I'm going to bet this game is I'm closing my eyes and I'm just going to try to figure out which one of these two I'm going to visualize standing in a hallway after the game doing a CBS interview being like, we just didn't have the guys this year. This is why the Patriots and Giants are playing and they're just showing Super Bowl highlights of the times that they met. But it's modern day Patriots versus modern day Giants. What are we, you know?

This isn't it. So I don't know who's going to win that game, but I hope St. John's gets to the Sweet 16 because I do like...

And Rick Pitino is going for, Rothstein told us, he's personally trying to get Calipari off of his resume by taking a fourth team to a Final Four. Cal and he are the only two to take three teams to a Final Four. Okay. So he would then... He would be the fourth. It would no longer be Pitino and Cal did it. Oh, that's right. And he might have to go through Cal to do it. It would be Pitino did it. Wow. Yeah. St. John's is... What a story, man. What a story. They are so fun to watch.

I can't get enough of it. I am fully bought in on this team, even though, yeah, the offense isn't great. And you pointed out the Ken Palm thing. Their offense is like, what, in the 60s or something? They just can't shoot. They can't shoot. They get rebounds. Every time they do hit a three, though, it feels like it's worth like 10 points. I know. It's like, oh, my God, they hit one. And they got a technical on Saturday night for the Pistols. But they're so comfortable. They know they can't shoot, though. That's what helps them is that they are aware of it. They're not like a team like –

We'll get to Wisconsin in a second, but Wisconsin, it's a bad example because Wisconsin is a good shooting team, but Wisconsin in the Big Ten tournament was just missing, and they're just like, we're just going to keep shooting and keep missing. You're not going to see that at St. John's. If St. John's is bricking threes, they're not going to put up 30 threes. They're going to be like, all right, we're not going to make threes tonight. But

But yeah, they're comfortable being down 15. They're comfortable with chaos. They're comfortable, I think, when these NCAA tournament games go to the under-8 timeout and it's a three-point game and assholes start getting tight and the energy in the room is building and there's something here going on. I think St. John's is going to be really comfortable in that environment.

So I understand all of the concerns about St. John's, but I'm fully bought in on Rick Pitino, the Rick Pitino renaissance. And I'm bought in on this being a matchup of Calvert's Pitino. I think it has to be. I'm with you. You got to rig it. You have to rig this. If you have to insure us of one second round matchup, it has to be Arkansas St. John's. Although it was very funny during the bracket buster selection that we took today. Roan was on Pat Bev's team.

Arkansas was still on the board, and then he selected some random-ass team, then Arkansas went off the next one afterwards. Pepto's not going to be happy about that. I have to see Cal versus Rick Pitino. I have to see it. I need Pitino wearing the white suit for the matchup against Cal, too.

What about Drake? What about him? What about Drake? Say Drake. Here's what's going to happen with Drake. Certified lover boy. I'm going to bet on him. Certified spreadophile. I'm going to bet on Drake, and they're going to be up for the majority of this game. Then they're going to melt down in the last five minutes where they can't score a bucket. And I'm like, I did it again. Yeah. We did it again, boys. It is a completely different Drake team. It is. Different coach, different team. Same Drake probably, though. I just think that it's really tough when you play –

at that pace, and then you have a four-minute shooting spell where you just can't hit a shot. It's like, God damn it, where'd that game just go? What is your plan B is the question I have for basically every team. But that's why you get excited about the Floridas and the Dukes and the top of the teams. They've demonstrated that they can win games in different styles when they're hot and when they're not, and slugfest and yada yada. Drake...

I don't know. They play the slowest, right? The number one slowest team in college basketball, I think. They're the only team in the country to average less than 60 possessions a game. And Missouri's reeling a little bit. I'm fascinated. The SEC, very much deserving of the reputation it got this year. But there does seem to be a sense that all these middle-of-the-road SEC teams, like your Missouris and your Oklahomas, say, and your Ole Misses,

There's a thought that once they get out of the SEC schedule and they have a little room to breathe, they're going to just go back to dominating everybody. And I don't know if that's going to be true or not. So I'm fascinated by... I'm more interested in when you talk about how the SEC is going to do in the tournament. I'm less interested in is it going to be Auburn, Florida, Tennessee, Bama, those teams in the Final Four. And I'm more curious the middle of the pack teams that swear the only reason they're losing these games is because they're also playing other...

heavy hitter teams. Right. So now you get a Missouri team that has been struggling down the stretch, but you know, let's see what they're made of against Drake. I don't, I think that's going to be an awesome game. Yeah. But Drake will probably lose like they always do. Yeah, I do too. And I,

I don't know. I want Drake to win because I feel like every year I'm like, oh, Drake, they could do this. And they're really well coached. Mark Titus is brought to you by Hey Dude. We'll get back to him in a second. But Hey Dude wants to remind you that game days just got better. We're excited to announce these stylish and comfortable kicks to rock from the stadium to the clubhouse. It's the Hey Dude MLB Collection, the ultimate dream collab designed for everyone who lives and breathes baseball.

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the depth that they have does hurt in the NCAA tournament where you can get these stupid games where a guy gets two fouls five minutes in and you're just like, what the fuck? What's the plan now?

I think it might be Texas Tech, if not Florida. Texas Tech is... They're so banged up. JT Toppin plus shooters is the recipe. I ended up... I filled out my bracket last night on my show live. I put St. John's in the Final Four because... And maybe you guys can help me out with this. You're better at the content game than I am. I said in the preseason when I was doing Final Four picks, I picked, I think, Bama, who was preseason number two. I picked UConn, who was preseason number three.

I picked uh I think I picked Duke who was like in the top 10 but you know Cooper flag was going there and I was like that would I I'm gonna pick Duke so that wasn't really going out on a limb and then the one like I'm gonna put my neck out a little bit was st. John's I said st. John's of the final four in the preseason now I'm staring at the bracket and they're in Florida's region and I'm like it's Florida it's obviously fucking Florida right but I said in November st. John's of the final four what do I do do I double down and say I

I said in November it was St. John's, and God damn it, I meant it. You double down. Or do I diversify the text that are out there? No, here's what you do. Max, what are you doing? You double down because if you're right, then you're like, I'm a fucking genius. I told you. And you get to claim yourself as being like the number one St. John's believer. Okay. And if you're wrong, then you just find something to bitch about, like something unfair that happened.

They got a bad draw. That made St. John's lose that game. Okay, because that's what I settled on last night. I picked St. John's in the Final Four. I do believe in that. That wasn't just like a I said in November type thing. I do believe the St. John's team is special. You could also do this. This is what Stephen A. Smith is really good at. If they lose, then you can turn it on them and be like, they let me down. Oh, yeah. That's a good point. So you also would be going up against another Ken Palm stat.

that in the 64-team era, there have been 36 teams to enter the tournament as a one or two seed that weren't ranked in the preseason AP poll, and they have a combined zero Final Four appearance. St. John's and Michigan State are those teams this year. They were not ranked in the preseason AP top 25. There are two seeds. So you could be like, you know what? I picked them both. Yeah, but if you get this right, though, you are the first. I was the guy who believed. You beat the guy.

Ken Palm. Yeah, you're right. I beat the Ken Palm. So it's even more illustrious. Because I mean, that is how these things work is that you do the, no one, you know, you draw the line. You're like, no one below this line.

And then 2014, UConn happens, and instead of being like... It screws everything up. Instead of taking the whole formula and throwing it in the garbage, you just move the line down. Yeah, yeah. But that one is one that's floating around right now. I mean, it makes sense. I know we make fun of the preseason polls, but it is largely based on overall talent. Yeah, who's got the talent. But St. John's was like 26, right? They were right outside. I don't know. They might have been. And I think Rutgers got in over. I think St. John's was like...

St. John's should have been ranked in the preseason. Rutgers had just insane amount of talent at the top. Yeah, two lottery picks. Max is looking it up right now. Let's see. Is this the preseason? The preseason. Max is really bad at Googling. I'm not that bad. I'll just do it myself. You're really bad at it. All right, here we go.

What? He's got it. St. John's isn't there. They're not ranked. Right. Confirm that. What was the... Others receiving votes. Wisconsin, Colorado, UCLA, St. John's. So they were 29th. It's crazy. Auburn wasn't 29th. Wait, but Auburn wasn't in the top 25. Oh. They were 27th. Or they got 27 votes.

Wait. Wait. Is that this year? This can't be this year. No, I think it is. Yeah, Kansas, Bama, UConn, Houston. Oh, wow. That's this year. No, Auburn's right there. What the fuck? Why is Auburn at the end, too? They just got extra votes. They just got extra votes. Oh, there you go. Yeah. All right, so St. John's and Michigan State are the two that fall under that. Last year, Iowa State was a two-seed, not ranked in the preseason. They went to the Sweet 16.

Yeah, so I'll stick with St. John's to the Final Four. And like you said, PFT, if I'm right, I just become the guy who believed in St. John's. And I think I need to be part of the national championship celebration. Agreed. Agreed. Okay.

what about east east duke uh i'll start with duke i uh i believe duke is the best team in the country i believe duke has no weaknesses i believe duke has three there's three things you might be slightly concerned with duke it's it's they rely heavily on freshmen it's obviously the health of cooper flag and malik brown um malik brown's out malik brown's just gonna be he's not gonna be he's gonna be i don't think i don't strap it up

Dr. Dan said that he's going to have to have surgery. What about next man up? He's a defender. Just strap it up. He's an important defender. Just strap it up and let him. But yeah, Cooper flags ankle. I don't know. It looked pretty bad to me, but I assume he said he wanted to play, apparently, in the ACC championship. He's probably not going to play against the 16. I don't know what they'll do for the second round game. But then the ACC, that is a...

On a scale of 1 to 10, it's like a 4 or 5 of a concern for me that the ACC was weaker this year. I think it's being a little bit overblown that Duke played nobody. I think Louisville and Clemson are better than people realize. I think Duke did play Auburn and beat them pretty easily. Did they play Alabama too? No. No.

But yeah, I think they played at Arizona, I think, and just fucking smoked Arizona and Tucson. I mean, they kicked the shit out of Illinois. I know Illinois was pretty down at that point. So I think this idea that Duke hasn't played anybody with a pulse is just wrong. But I will at least admit that they have not played the Floridas and the Bamas. They haven't played those teams over and over and over. Anyway...

I have Duke winning the national championship because I think Duke is in a position... When I was making the reference to 2015 earlier, and I said this tournament feels like the 2015 tournament, I think Duke, more than any other one seed, feels to me like the equivalent of that Kentucky team. Where, yes, of course they can lose, but I think that they're a little bit better than every other team in this field. So...

I have Duke coming out of the East, and I have Duke winning the national championship. And I think Cooper Flagg has had...

For some reason, the hype is somehow there, but it's also I feel like it's not as great as it should be for this kid because he is un-fucking-believable. He had an insane amount of hype coming in. He's delivered on all of it. He leads Duke in every single category. He does everything there is to do on a basketball court well. Do you know what it is? I don't know why. I think the hype went down a little because the ACC is not good. So it's like he wasn't playing top 25 matchups week in and week out.

And then he slipped in that game against Kentucky. He slipped early in the season, and that was pretty much it. He slipped in the last possession. He is a... If you haven't watched Cooper Flagg, he's an incredible basketball player. Guy sweats a lot. He does sweat a lot. He sweats a lot. Yeah.

and he slips and his mom likes to talk shit i love that from her yeah that was such an awesome statement the one in carolina the dunk and she's on your fucking head yeah and then when she apologized and then everyone was like oh shit she's apologizing and then she was like two little things yeah for absolutely nothing pft let me ask you this because because big cat is compromised and he can't give a straight answer i agree is it possible i already said they're gonna win it all by the way is it possible for duke to be likable

No. No, I don't think it's possible for them to be likable. I think it's possible for them to be less hateable. Okay. And this is one of the less hateable Duke teams. Yeah. I think this is a pretty neutral one as far as Duke goes, and that almost makes them likable. Because what I said about UConn's team last year where I said, like,

Like you asked me, am I cheering for their downfall? And I was like, I honestly can't because I enjoy watching them so much. I'm starting to feel that way about this Duke team, and it's very bizarre because I'm not necessarily rooting for them to win. I am. I'll be honest. I'll be transparent. I want them to get to the Final Four because I think it's great for the sport if they make it there. And we do get the 2015 Kentucky thing where it's like you have the number one pick and the best player in the country leading this young team, and maybe they fuck it up, maybe they don't. I think that's fascinating.

But yeah, I'm slowly enjoying watching them play, and I don't want them to stop playing. But then also, I don't want Duke to win the national championship. I don't know how to reconcile those two thoughts. Yeah, I want them to give us a reason to hate them. Yeah. The problem is they're not doing that, and it's disappointing for the sport. I don't know if I told you this, Titus, but I grew up, I liked both UNC and Duke when I was a kid. Oh, really? In my family, because my grandparents were from North Carolina, and they were Tar Heels fans.

And then Grant Hill was my preschool teacher in Northern Virginia. So then when he goes to Duke, now I got to root for Duke too. And it was a very confusing time until I learned what a dickhead Coach K was. And then I'm like, oh, this is a no-brainer. UNC, better colors, nicer people. Let's root for UNC.

And then now that there's no Coach K, it's like I need a reason to be reminded of my hatred. But if you watch the Carolina-Duke game, that was like living in Bizarro World because the identities of both of those programs have been flipped. Carolina was like flopping all over the court trying to draw fouls on Cooper Flagg. Duke is the program that now has like all the five stars and the NBA players, and Carolina's got these unheralded guys, and we don't know if they're going to make the NBA or not. And they're just trying to like grid out a win. It was...

You know what it is? It blew my mind. We need Conn Knipple to step up and hit someone in the balls. Yeah. That's really the only answer. It's not going to be Cooper Flagg, Conn Knipple. More shots of Coach K in the crowd maybe. Yeah. Show him smiling and I'll be like, okay, fuck this guy. Chris Mellon needs to do something fucked up in an NBA game. That will get me going. When people are like, oh man, I wish we didn't have the one and done rule. I'm like, well, that's bullshit because kids should be able to go earn a living and if they're good enough to be in the NBA, they should be in the NBA. Yeah.

But part of me is like, I kind of miss, I wish we had three years in college basketball just so I could get my hate up for Duke. Yeah. Because that is, it's so transient now. Yeah. You know, it's in and out where, and again, I think more than anything, what you're saying, Titus, about this Duke team is they just didn't, what's the most memorable game they played in this year? Yeah. They were just so much better than everyone in the ACC. They destroyed everybody. Except Clemson beat them. But like-

Usually you have at least a couple memories from like deep in January or February where it's like, oh, Duke went to Wake Forest and they tripped someone and then they won a bullshit way or, you know. Now all we've got is White Lotus. That's it. That's the only thing about Duke that's been memorable this year. I saw that. I'm not caught up. Okay, well, I won't say anything. There's like a Duke. Yeah, yeah. There's a guy from Duke. And he's got a fucking hog. And his wife's UNC. Oh. Yeah. She's pilled out. Yeah.

Yeah, I mean, I think... What else in this bracket? I agree with you. I think Duke's going to win it all. Yeah, Duke's the most talented team by far in the country. It doesn't always shake out, though. If this was the NBA, you know, seven-game series, I would bet my house that Duke would win it all. Crazy shit can happen. Bet your house game. This would be a bet my house... Bracket. Bracket, yeah. What about the bottom half where Wisconsin is? We got screwed, but I...

Montana's ass. Montana's certified ass. So we got screwed in the location. I would rather play Montana than Lipscomb. Yeah. Lipscomb's like... You're right about that. ...kind of plucky. Montana... I know they can shoot threes, but they've played two power four teams. They got fucking work. They got fucking smoke, dude. You're fine there. BYU is an interest. BYU-VCU would be interesting. I think VCU might win that game. VCU might win that game. They're just so annoying. They are annoying. You're not a BYU leaver? I said...

I actually picked BYU to beat Wisconsin. That's fine. I picked BYU to beat VCU and Wisconsin. But I said on my show last night that I... BYU, VCU, I want...

I want BYU to just play all-time offense and have VCU guard them and annoy them. And if VCU gets a stop, they get like two points. And when I say VCU's annoying, I just want to be on the record because I don't want Dukes' VCU guy to come after me and prison fuck me. Annoying in a good way. You don't want to play them. They annoy their opponent. They're not fun to play against. But yeah, BYU-Wisconsin. If BYU gets past VCU...

That's a sexy matchup. Yeah. That's a very fuckable matchup. That's a lot of offense, a lot of threes. I like Wisconsin's draw, though. I like this Wisconsin team. You know that, Dan. Yeah, you do. I think this is not a... If you have not been paying attention to Wisconsin this year, this is not your daddy's Badgers. Nope. This is a completely retooled Wisconsin team, and...

terrible showing in the Big Ten tournament for what Wisconsin basketball is this year. In the final. In the final, I meant. Yeah, that's what I meant. That was the funniest part of everyone being like, this team is asses. They just won three games. But if that was your introduction with this Wisconsin team and you turn it on and they're bricking threes, you're just like, goddammit, not again with Wisconsin. They are a completely different team and I have to believe that they're going to make shots in the tournament.

If you would take Tonje and just put him in just like a black jersey with no letters on it, no numbers on it, how long do you think it would take for you to guess what school he went to? That he played at Wisconsin? Oh, my God. I think it would probably be like 90. 364 teams. I'd probably be well into the 150s. Yeah. But they are fun, and they have like a solid nine guys, and Blackwell's awesome. Klesman's clutch. Yeah.

You know, I think Crowell and Nolan Winter, they both got called out early in the season for being soft and they played a lot better. They just need to make it to Sweet 16. If they make it to Sweet 16, then I'm like, I said this like a month ago, get to Sweet 16, then there's obviously I'll be devastated if they lose in Sweet 16, especially to Alabama. But I understand the tournament. Crazy shit happens.

Once you get to that point, it's like anything can happen. So it takes a little bit of this thing out, but if they lose in the first or second round, I'll be devastated. If we get BYU-Wisconsin and then we get... Whoever wins that game plays Bama. That's just a lot of fun basketball. A lot of offense. A lot of fun. I...

What do you think about Bama? Bama's tough to figure out, man. They're tough. They run the Bama shit. It's the same old Bama of spamming threes and layups, and Mark Sears is there, and Grant Nelson's there. What's his deal? I don't know. He's getting his knee looked at as we speak. They don't shoot as well as they need to. So last year, because I think we do that as fans, where we're like, oh, this is the same team. Last year, they obviously went to the Final Four.

they were 19th in the country in three-point shooting. This year, they're 114th. Right. And their whole thing is that three is more than two, so we're going to take threes. Three is only more than two if you make the three. You've got to make them. If you miss the three, it is not more than two. And they get stubborn, and that's always when it goes wrong for Alabama in the tournament with Nate Oates, it always looks the exact same way, and it's just them being stubborn, them being like a...

Going back to the plan B thing, they don't have a plan B. It's like we are built to shoot threes. We're not making threes. It doesn't matter. We're going to keep shooting them. And the mid-range is coached out of them. You see them standing there with an open mid-range, and they'll pass it up. In 23, I think it was, yeah, that was the San Diego State team. They played San Diego State. They were the number one overall seed. I lost my fucking mind. I picked Bama to win it all, and I'm watching them play San Diego State. And San Diego State had the rim protector. I think it was Mensah was his name, the seven-footer.

And San Diego State, it was like so obvious what they were doing. They were just running out to the three-point line, funneling everything to the rim protector. Alabama, if they would have taken mid-range shots, would have been wide open the entire game. Just would not do it. Would not do it. Wouldn't take a single mid-range shot. And that's why they lost. I don't know. They have the – I think they have the players. I think there have been moments where Alabama feels like they're turning a corner and they are hitting shots.

but I don't trust that six games they're going to put that together and they're going to make shots for six straight games. And their defense is not that good. Their defense isn't as good as it should be either. When they have that guy, LeBaron Phylon, making shots, then they can beat anybody, I think. If it's going like Grant Nelson's playing well and then also Phylon is able to step up and score, then they're a very good team. But, yeah, there's another team. Is it Baylor? So they're really good from three, but they suck at shooting foul shots, right?

Liberty's that way for sure. I don't know if that was your thing enough too, but Baylor might be. I think Baylor is like that too, yeah. Liberty is comical. I was reading up on them. They are fifth in the country in three-point shooting and like 300-something in free throw shooting. Yeah.

Yeah. So it's like exactly what you said about Baylor, but I kind of like Oregon. I think, you know, and they have their seven footer Biddle who's he's a tough one to look at, but he's good. He's they play great defense. Akron is a was a school that I was excited about. Like before the bracket came out, I thought I'm going to pick Akron to win a game.

Arizona is a horrendous matchup. They're just basically better Akron. They play the exact same styles. They have the same philosophies, and Arizona has better players. So I hate that matchup for Akron. So Duke coming out of this region. Yeah, I like Duke. And you have BYU. Who wins BYU-Alabama? I ultimately went Bama, but I think that's going to attract me in a fun game. Yeah, I went a little chalky. I went chalky with the lead eight. And then, yeah, I got Duke over Bama. All right, last one, Midwest, Houston.

They're really fucking good. They're really, really fucking good, man.

really fucking good but they also have to play possibly Gonzaga who's a top 10 Ken Palm team and Mark Few has made like a thousand sweet 16s in a row yeah right um Houston has I've been like a Houston critic a little bit through the years uh mostly just because they they always are they always look great in the regular season but uh there for a while they were playing the American now that they've joined the Big 12 they're absolutely dominating the Big 12 they stepped into what was the best conference of college basketball and just fucking own that conference now um

I think this Houston team is as good as any Houston team has been in this stretch as Kelvin Sampson's had. They can score. They have multiple guys who can score. Malik Wilson's a dude that just is a bucket out of nowhere. LJ Cryer's the best scorer. Wilson's the microwave guy. If you want to be concerned about Houston, but you're worried that you need a guy that can just go get you one, they have an answer for that. They have an answer for three-point shooting. They have great point guard play. They obviously play just phenomenal defense.

I really, really, really love Houston. So, yeah, I think Houston finally gets a breakthrough and makes the Final Four. They made one in 2021, but I don't count that one. Yeah, and you were right. So there are four losses on the season. They lost Auburn in the second game of the season early November. Which came down to the wire. It was like a minute left. We need to stop here. I think it was tied with a minute left. Yeah, and they lost in OT to Alabama, OT to San Diego State, and OT to Texas Tech. Yeah.

So they've lost one game in regulation. And you remember the Kansas game in Allen Fieldhouse. Oh, yeah. When they were dead. Houston and St. John's are the two teams that just will not die. When the clock hits zero and you think you've beat them, you better make damn sure you've actually beat them. Get the hell out of the arena. Take your win and get out of there. Because if there is one...

0.1 second on the clock, they are still alive. I don't know. You can't put away either one of those teams. And I love Houston for that reason. So talk to me about Gonzaga because as a casual, I've got to admit, Gonzaga until the conference tournament, not a team I was ever interested in watching this year in conference play. Yeah.

So all I know about Gonzaga is basically what Big Cat said, which is they're always winning in March. They're always winning in March. They always go to the Sweet 16 at the very least. Never been to Final Four. They got screwed on their seeding. Last year, I remember being out on Gonzaga as the calendar turned to March. Really like mid-February, I'd say. They put it together, started playing really, really well.

They go back to the Sweet 16 by beating the fuck out of Kansas in the second round. They brought a lot of those dudes back, and I was really high on Gonzaga entering the season. They opened the season beating the piss out of Baylor. That was night one of college basketball season. That was like the big game, and they won by like 40. I think it was like literally 40. Yeah.

but then since then they just kind of been uninspiring they had a big lead on Kentucky and squandered that in in West Coast Conference they've been just kind of like St. Mary's won the conference they lost twice to St. Mary's they don't play they don't have a rim protector they don't play great defense I think the offense like the shooting comes and goes the three-point shooting they still have dudes that can play they still have Mark Few who knows how to coach in this tournament they still have

They still have a Nem heart. I think there is a world where Gonzaga does pull the upset over Houston. I think that's going to be a great game, but I don't love this Gonzaga team as much as I've loved Gonzaga teams in the past. Yeah, all right. Illinois. Talk to me about Illinois. Yep. Because I think from what I've seen at Illinois, they've been really, really good, or they've been getting the shit kicked out of them.

Illinois is, in my estimation, and there's probably a lot of teams you could say this about, but if you were to say this phrase to me, I would think of Illinois immediately. They are the make shots team at the NCAA tournament. Make shots team. When they're making shots, you're like, who's going to beat these guys? They're the best team ever. When they're not making shots, you're like, this team is dog shit. This team is absolute dog shit. So Illinois' whole thing is they...

they are, they're doing what Bama, they're taking the Bama approach and they're like, we're just going to shoot a bunch of threes. And they just simply do not make threes. They're shooting like a little over 30% from the three point line, but they are just going to keep jacking them up. I went to the Ohio State Illinois game in Champaign and I sat behind the Ohio State bench and the thing that stood out to me when the ball gets tipped off

Like immediately it was, it was, it was obvious that Illinois is like two or three inches taller at every, at every position. They just had like Yaka Jonas is there. They're he's going to be a lottery pickers. They're point guard. He's like six, six plays like a European is, is under control at all times, knows how to find the open man. They got the seven footer, a big Z at, at Arkansas. His brother is, is at Illinois. They, they have a bunch of big dudes. They're just like, yeah, they're long and tall.

And they do nothing with it. And they all just hang out at the three-point line and shoot threes. And I was like, why are they doing this? This is so fucking stupid. Why are they not getting inside and taking advantage of their height? So that's the report on Illinois. There was one game, I think it was at Oregon, where they were hitting everything. And they looked like the best team in the country. But then against Duke, they lose by 40. They are as volatile as it gets. Flip a coin. If you're someone that wants to believe in Illinois, flip a coin and

You know, that's as good of an indicator as any as to whether or not they're going to be hitting shots. The best way to sum up Illinois, and I'm pretty sure this stat is correct. Someone told it to me, and even if it's not correct, it makes sense for Illinois. Their average margin for a victory is 15 points. Their average margin of defeat is 15. Yeah, yeah. I love that. That's it. You know what?

I think I'm going to believe in Illinois. And I can just about guarantee you every single win, just go straight to the three-point shooting. And it's like, oh, they went 11 for 24. They probably won that game. Oh, this game they went four for 26. They probably lost that game. That's really all it is with them. Just be a believer in Illinois. Looking at it right now, just going down the stretch, they lost by...

14 to Michigan State. They lost by 21 to Wisconsin. They lost by like 50 to Duke. And they turn around and beat Iowa by 20, beat Michigan by 20. In the Big Ten tournament, they beat Iowa by 12. Then they lost to Maryland by 20. That's just what they do. I like it.

Yeah, they're fun. I want so bad. If you could just snap your fingers and be like, that matchup happens, Illinois-Kentucky. That would be so fun. So fun. That would be awesome. And then also maybe Kentucky-Tennessee. Yeah, Tennessee beat Kentucky twice this year. But yeah, if that matchup happens, I think that is... Yeah, Kentucky. I know that Tennessee already beat them twice, but I think Kentucky is...

is is another team that like they don't guard anybody that that's what worries me and they they are really injured they're they're seemingly every guy that's played for them this year has gotten hurt um

But Kentucky's a ton of fun, and they push tempo, and they score a ton of points and have a bunch of guys that can beat you. So I like Kentucky a lot. So you have Houston out of this region? I have Houston out of this region. Oh, what about Purdue High Point? What was the source you had? Source inside – well, I don't want to say who it was from or give away who it could be from. But it was a source. A source that I have has sources inside High Point, and they said that –

Purdue was the one matchup that they did not want. Looking ahead at the tournament, it said, okay, we can deal with a lot of these other three seeds, four seeds, that sort of thing. But Purdue was the one matchup nightmare. Yeah, neither plays defense very well. I think it's kind of what I said about the Akron-Arizona matchup where it's like,

You would think that Akron playing against a team that likes to play up-tempo is a good thing for them because they play up-tempo. I actually see it as the opposite. It's like the way those teams win is they bring a style to the table that the other team isn't comfortable with. And I think that's what high point Purdue is going to be, is that high point is a – their offense is great, their defense is not. I think Purdue is – you could say the same thing. Like when their offense gets going –

They look pretty good, but they're never going to be great defensively. And I think Braden Smith is just going to control this entire game. This is just going to be a Braden Smith masterclass of controlling the tempo and everything. Oh, I just got a text. Breaking moves. Breaking moves. Max, just got a text. You guys can tell me who this text was from. I'll tell you what it says. Colorado State is a lineage play.

A lineage play. A lineage play. All right. That seems like Rothstein. That means that's your entire lineage. Your family tree is one line. That's finer. That's too finer. He just texted me, Colorado State is a lineage play. That is finer. That is one's too finer. Colorado State. Your entire family tree. You got it too? Yeah, yeah.

I didn't mention it when we were talking about the West, but Colorado State, Memphis is going to be a fucking banger. That P.J. Haggerty versus Neat Clifford. If you don't know anything about Colorado State, they've got to do that. Nine of the last 12 games, they scored 20-plus points. Memphis has P.J. Haggerty, who is just a fucking bucket. I don't know how else to describe the guy. He's an incredible scorer. That matchup and the Donovan Dent-Cam Jones matchup with Marquette in New Mexico, those are the two that I circled as like,

Don't care who wins, but goddamn, that's going to be fun to watch. That's going to be fun basketball. It's going to be fun basketball. Yeah. Lineage play, huh? Lineage play. So Duke, Houston. Yeah. Then we have, did you go Florida or St. John's? I went St. John's. St. John's and-

And then I went Michigan State. That's my Final Four. Yeah. Copping piece of shit. Oh, really? Yeah. That's okay. And then I did Duke over St. John's. Okay. And I think Rick Pitino, who said he put the white suit away for the season. I don't believe him. Oh. I don't believe him. I think if St. John's makes the Final Four, I think we see it. Okay. I hope you're right. Last thing I want to do with you, Titus. Rowback question. R-H-O-B-A-C-K dot com promo code TAKE. 20% off your first purchase. Q-Zips, polos, hoodies, joggers, shorts. Rowback dot com promo code TAKE.

Go right now. Let's do a quick ranking of the windows for the people. Okay, yeah, let me look at them. I didn't prep, so I'm not just springing on everyone. It popped in my head that this would be a fun exercise. Ranking of the windows. So obviously we had the first. We'll rank them. The Eastern Standard Time, the 12, 15 to 435 window on Thursday, the night window. Let's look. Max, fill in with your bracket thoughts real quick. Why are you wearing a headband?

I don't know. ADD? What? Kinda. While we look, go ahead and fill in your bracket thoughts. You and memes, talk amongst yourselves while we look and do our research on this. I don't have much thoughts. I do have thoughts on the Villanova head coaching. Yeah, what the hell? Yeah, let's hear it. Ryan Odom is the top of my big board. I really think that he's going to be the guy to get Villanova to the next step. There were some talks with Mick Cronin today. I don't think that I want Mick Cronin.

People are upset that I said Todd Golden yesterday. I still think that there's a chance there. We have money. We have lots of money. They're upset because they think that you're delusional? Correct. Is that what you mean? Yeah. Chris Collins, I think, is a blant. I think that he's probably going to be the one that gets hired. Wait, he's a what? Blant. He's just a little blant to me. I don't think that he's going to be really exciting. I've heard that Porter Moser is gaining more and more steam.

Which I think I would be pretty excited about Porter Moser, but I'm not exactly sure because he's kind of a one-hit wonder at Loyola Chicago. He's been in Oklahoma for a couple of years now. This is the first time in the tournament. You want me to keep going? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Keep going, keep going, keep going. You're doing a good job. Little Patino, I would like that just because it's fun. Like St. John's, Villanova, two OG Big East basketball programs. I have my answers. All right, I'm done.

I think Friday night is by far the best. Friday night you got Marquette versus New Mexico, which we talked about. Illinois versus Texas or Xavier. You got UConn, Oklahoma. Akron, Arizona. I think Arizona wins easily, but it would be fun to watch. I think Arizona will be up 7-10 the whole game. And then Troy, Kentucky. Those are some really good...

good games Friday night so that would be my 1-1 I got I'm looking at Thursday afternoon right now I might go Thursday afternoon as well I think the early slate of Creighton Louisville we're starting off with a banger high point Purdue should be a lot of offense a lot of fun I do think Montana is ass and Wisconsin will win easily so that one's not good Houston's not good the Houston game I mean

I think McNeese-Clemson is going to be a great game. I think VCU-BYU is a great game. And I think Gonzaga-Georgia is going to be a great game. I might go early. I think the opening slate is, I think the schedule maker's got it right. Yeah. I think that Thursday, my favorite window is Thursday through, Thursday at like 11 through Friday at like 1130 p.m. That is the sweet spot. That's your goddamn right. Well, also, I mean, Thursday night, we got Arkansas and Kansas. Yeah.

I like, though, that there's some fun offense on Friday night that I'm like... Because that's when you start to run out of gas mentally. And you need to pick me up. You need some good... You need to pick me up. Yeah, you don't want to have it be like a bunch of two 15s or one 16s. Although it is electric when it gets close. That's true. That's true. Okay, any last thoughts? I'm excited. I don't know. I guess I would just say I...

I apologize for going chalk. I just think, you know, but I also don't want to apologize for being right. And I think I'm going to be right. I think this year is going to be the year of I have a feeling after the first two rounds when the sweet 16 is set, there might be one or two good stories that we can latch on to. Maybe a 12 sneaks in there. Maybe, you know, there's always one or two.

But I think the story of the first weekend will be not as much madness in terms of the bracket breaking open as we had hoped, but that sets up for the heavy hitters playing each other down the road. I think that's going to be the story this time. I agree. There's nothing better. The ball is tipped. There you are. I just want to, like, that Thursday morning feeling.

I just wish I could bottle it up. Yeah. Because like I'm stupid where I get like introspective where once Thursday's over, I'm like, damn, we're 365 days. I've been doing that for three weeks. I'll just be sitting there in my kitchen. I'll turn to my wife and I'll be like, do you realize she doesn't really care? Yeah. Do you realize in three weeks there will only be eight teams left? Yeah. I'll just say shit like that. She's like, yeah, I don't care. Yeah.

But it hurts me. It's like, I just want to freeze time in that first window. When I was growing up, my parents were both teachers and they were hard asses where like, you know, I had to go to school because they cared so much about the profession. And, you know, you do not skip school for anything whatsoever. And Thursday and Friday of March Madness were the two days out of the year where

that I would always get a mysterious call from the office and be like, you have a dentist appointment scheduled for now. And that made it extra special because my mom and dad, not for anything. I was a senior in high school, and I was like, can I just skip the last week of school? And they were like, no. See it through to the finish line. Perfect attendance. All this was important. But they respected the game. And yeah, those Thursdays and Fridays, there's nothing better than it. There really isn't.

I can't wait. I can't wait to watch it, to watch all the ball with you boys. Yeah. Thursday and Friday have our eyeballs bleed. Yup. There's nothing like it. Feel like I got hit by a truck every night. No. Get back at it. All right. Thank you, Titus. You're the best. Everyone go subscribe to Mostly Sports. Uh,

Mark Titus show. Yeah, we'll be going. Titus show will be going live every night after this. So if you're a sicko and you're like, I watched all the games and I want more, I'll be going live every night after the games and talking about everything we saw. I might have to. Well, hopefully Wisconsin wins on Friday or Thursday and then Saturday if

I will only come on if they win. I got to save if they lose for the AWL. I need your official pick. They don't want to hear me talk about winning. Mississippi State Baylor.

Your co-host Brandon Walker, big Mississippi State fan, allegedly. And when this comes out, we'll know that Hank, PFT, and Max, they accidentally took Baylor. Well, we kind of had to. We didn't want to take Baylor. They wanted to do the troll move in Montana, but Montana is ass. No, we actually did not want to do the troll move. The troll move would have been to take VCU. That would have been the troll move. We wanted to do that one. But yeah, we did take Baylor.

RG3 is my guy. Yeah. You know, Central Texas. I was near there for a while, so we had to. Mississippi State never wins a big game. That's true. They just don't win. I watched them all year, and Brandon would come in and just be like, this Mississippi State team, something special is going on. I was like, all right, what's your next big game? He's like, we got Kentucky coming up this weekend. It's a must win. They lose. It just happened every single time. Last year, the tournament, they were in the spot.

Not competitive. Look bad. I don't know. That's just what Mississippi State will do. They will lose. Scott Drew, Championship DNA. Scott Drew, Championship DNA. Somebody send us a merch.

I'm on it, Max. Yep. You're already on it? RG3's hooking it up. I need some Utah State merch. Probably won't get here in time. Yeah, we'll figure it out. I need some Utah State merch. Actually, Rico's got some. Wasn't Sprinkle there last year? Yeah, Rico's got some. Oh, yeah. He's got it somewhere. Which one of Rico's teams do you think is going to fall this time? Oh, man. All right. Thanks, Titus. Thanks, boys.

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Okay, boys, the next time you'll hear from us, we're going to have madness. We are a programming note. We're going to have Stanford Steve on Friday's show. We will only talk about Friday's games with him, give you best bets, talk with him. So after Thursday, if you get your teeth kicked in, want to just sound smart, this is the best. It's the best weekend. It's absolutely the best weekend. If you stumble on Thursday, guess what? You got Friday. And I'm going to try to keep my voice.

Didn't help that I had to wake up for the Cubs game today, but I'm going to keep my voice, hopefully. Knock on wood. This is danger zone for me. Any other thoughts before we do numbers? Three. Oh. That was not. He said it. I said before we do numbers. That sounds like a penalty. That sounds like a penalty to me. No, I. Can we ask President Pugg? Before we do numbers. Because Max was looking at me like he wanted to say something. Yeah. President Pugg. He said it. President Pugg.

I said anything else before we do numbers because Max was looking at me like he wanted to say something. Memes then said three right away. But he said numbers. Right, but it was not in numbers like that. Three. If it's end of show and you say the word numbers, I think it's fair. Okay. All right. There we go. All right. All right. Better watch out. Max, what were you going to say, though? What was Max going to say? I was just going to say my number. Oh.

What's your number? You were looking at me like you had something very important to say. No, I just wanted to say one. 68. 64. 99. 76. 21. Memes, you know this would be fraudulent. You don't want to win with this asterisk. I do. I just want this number. People would be like, asterisk. I want to prove to people there's numbers in this machine. 34. 34. Oh, you're never going to get it.

You're never going to get it. It's tough for all the memes leavers out there. Love you guys. Auto insurance can all seem the same until it comes time to use it. So don't get stuck paying more for less coverage. Switch to USA Auto Insurance and you could start saving money in no time. Get a quote today. Restrictions apply. Meanwhile at Xfinity.

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