Florida Heats Up & Our March Madness Picks

Nick (00:00)
You ready?

Neil (00:00)
Yeah.

Nick (00:03)
We're back. is the height differential and guess what? It is March, officially March, which means March madness is here. That's the six, six, Neil. am the four 10 Nick. Before we get into it, make sure that if you are watching live, which we are live or catching this later, make sure to subscribe to the height differential wherever you listen to podcasts. And if you like the show, rate it and leave it. helps other people find it and also follow us on social.

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Neil (00:37)
⁓ wow. ⁓ wow.

Is that your ringtone?

Once it hits March and if I call you, is that song gonna play?

Nick (00:53)
It's not because I haven't had a ringtone in, I would say, 10 to 15 years. I'm a silent vibrate all the time. But are you updating your ringtone?

Neil (01:05)
No, I'm a silent. No vibrate, I'm just on straight silent.

Nick (01:09)
It's not even vibrate?

Neil (01:11)
Not even vibrate, nope. Usually I'll have an Apple watch on so if somebody texts me or calls me, it vibrates my watch, that's how I know. But you know I miss about March Madness? Gus Johnson.

Nick (01:21)
What do miss?

Yeah. can still catch him on Fox. You can still catch him on Fox.

Neil (01:27)
He was Mr. Madness. I love Gus Johnson. We need to find a way to get Gus back in the game.

I don't know. But he deserves to be a part of that March Madness ⁓ atmosphere.

Nick (01:39)
But is it the greatest sports theme song? Is the NBA and NBC rival it?

Neil (01:46)
Those are the top two. I mean, those have to be the top two, in my opinion.

Nick (01:50)
They are the top two. This one has, this one just symbolizes that it's March. And which elevated, yes.

Neil (01:55)
You get the cold show that noon, it's noon on a Thursday. It's noon

on a Thursday, all productivity, it works out the window. You're just ready to tune into the games and when that song hits, it's go time.

Nick (02:07)
Well, and really the selection show is when it hits because

Neil (02:11)
Yeah,

they make it an hour and a half for no reason.

Nick (02:16)
March is here. Hoops is firing up. And for the first time, we don't have a lot of football to talk about. We don't have Olympics to talk about. This is just pretty much going to be all Hoops the whole way through.

Neil (02:33)
college basketball.

Nick (02:35)
And we talked about last week how Michigan, Arizona, Duke have probably separated themselves from the rest of the pack. We talked about who our fourth number one would be. And you said Yukon, I said Florida, both of them. I think they are still the two that are battling it out. Florida obviously impressed with what they did against Arkansas and we'll get into that. But I guess we'll just kind of go in the order of the games last weekend and

Neil (02:43)
Yup.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Nick (03:04)
Friday night, those Friday night Big 10 games on Fox, you're talking about Gus Johnson. ⁓

They get Illinois and Morris Johnson who played at Illinois last year puts up 19 against his former team and it's Mara had 19 and Yaxle put up 16 and seven. Michigan used like a 10-0. Michigan's now 10-0 on the road after getting that victory and they've won 23 games by 10 points or more. They got their first outright title since 2014. Michigan just kind of doing what they've done all year.

putting Illinois to bed really wasn't that close.

Neil (03:44)
Nah, wasn't that close at all. mean, Michigan continues to roll. You know, we've talked about how what they've done early in the season with all those 40-point wins over good teams like Gonzaga and what they did out in that players tournament. But even in conference play, man, you you get a road win against a really good Illinois team. They've won on the road already at Michigan State. They've won on the road at Purdue. You know, they are beating the big boys on the road in their own places.

They're getting it done. claim, like I they claim the outright Big 10 title. Yeah, I mean, they're gonna be there. They're one of the top teams for sure. What else you can say about them?

Nick (04:19)
There's no doubt, there's no doubt. And I

mean, they took that loss to Duke and we looked at that box score and Elliott Coteau really didn't have a great game. But here's the thing, he didn't have a great game on Friday either and it really didn't matter. Keith Wagler continues to do what he's done all year. He had 23 points but now Illinois all of sudden has lost four of their last six including three in overtime and.

Neil (04:36)
Mm-hmm. All right, ready? Yeah.

Nick (04:46)
They still got one of the best offenses in the country, but defensively they're struggling a little bit. But the story of this game is just, I know we just talked about it, Michigan had that set back against Duke, but that's what, dude, one by 30 tonight? They already beat NC State by 30 tonight, and it's just two of the best teams going at it on a neutral court, and one team won by five. That's pretty much all you can say.

Neil (05:00)
think it's good.

Yeah.

Yeah, mean, hopefully we get a little bit of a rematch with those two teams down the road. I mean, it's very likely a Final Four slash national title matchup.

Nick (05:26)
So Duke what last week beat Notre Dame by 40. And then tonight they beat NC State by 30. then, right.

Neil (05:30)
Yup.

that in between there they just smashed a good Virginia team who was rolling

by 26.

Nick (05:39)
And I don't even know if it was that close.

Neil (05:42)
No,

mean, Duke's defense has just been absolutely outstanding. mean, they were probably the best in the country. Held Virginia to just 51 points on Saturday in that 26-point win. And then on the road tonight against an NC State team who shoots the best three ball in the conference. NC State can put up some points. They held them to 64. So I mean, it's hard to score on them. And then the offensive firepower that they have with Boozer and the rest of them. it's.

I don't know who's stopping Duke.

Nick (06:13)
Well, Isaiah Evans had 19 points in that game on Saturday. He was five and nine from DP at three early that really just built separation. They were eight from 13 from three in the first half. Like what are you gonna do when they're gonna guard you the way that they're guarding? Boozer now we talked about the stat where he's at 14, five and two in every game. That is now extended to 30 games. He's done that every game this year. really they've.

Neil (06:37)
Yo.

Nick (06:41)
Like Michigan and Arizona and Duke are just kind of, Florida may be creeping up there a little bit, I think, but they're really kind of themselves from the pack. Just another stat that kind of tells you about their defense. mean, this isn't Tony Bennett's Virginia. This is a Virginia team that's averaging 80 points a game. And to hell with them to 51, Virginia is now 1 in 32 against number one teams, 0 in 17 against Duke when they're-

Neil (06:57)
No, this is a team that scores points. Yeah, they score some points.

Nick (07:09)
Just Arizona who's also playing tonight these big Monday games with the big 12 this year have just been incredible but but on Saturday they They put it on Kansas win by 23 84 to 61 Bradenbury's one of these other just incredible freshmen has 20 and 12 They used a 19-0 run to build an 18-point lead Kansas did fight back and got back within two and then immediately Arizona's just like now and they go in another 16-0 run

Good up 65-47. Co-op Pete did return for them after missing three games at 12 points. ⁓ The story for Kansas is Darren Peterson continues to play 30 plus minutes. Yeah. So just really those three teams, man, they're just playing great basketball. I guess kind of to lean into it just because Florida, what they did against Arkansas on Saturday. ⁓

Neil (07:42)
Yup, he's back.

30 minutes, put up 24 points. He played a good game.

Nick (08:09)
to 77.

Neil (08:10)
I mean putting up

53 and 58 points respectively in the first and second halves like that's just getting it done.

Nick (08:18)
Hawkhead 22, Chinlu Yalu had his 17th double-double. Here's a stat for you. Kyle's career, tied for his worst loss in his career.

Neil (08:27)
Yeah.

I mean, I believe

it's 34 points. That's a lot of points. Cowlett, I ain't used to that.

Nick (08:35)
Do you have?

So his other loss was that while he was at Kentucky, do you remember or have any clue what it might have been?

Neil (08:46)
34 point loss, Cal at Kentucky, on the road at Alabama. Was that at Alabama?

Nick (08:52)
I believe

it was against Duke in 2018. I think it was the little the season kickoff. Yeah, yeah, and they just put it on him.

Neil (09:00)
the Champions class. ⁓ that was with the Zion team, think, wasn't it? Yeah, that's right.

Yeah, that's right. That's right. I remember.

Nick (09:09)
So yeah, worse loss tied worse loss in cows career Florida's unbeaten in February. They've won nine straight They locked up their first SEC title since 2014 Boogie Flan who obviously transferred from Arkansas was one of seven Gators in double figures Other than the 34-point win The story of this game to me Was the double technical? ⁓

Neil (09:35)
you haven't seen

that. What was the double technical?

Nick (09:37)
So I think what happened is ⁓ Chinle Yalu hit somebody and this is when Arkansas was going on a run and Kyle asked them to take a look at it. And you know how that goes, it takes some time. They ended up upgrading it to a flagrant one and I can't remember who shot the free throws but they missed both of them. And I think at that point, Ty Golden was like, you gotta be.

Neil (09:48)
Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Nick (10:05)
We're doing all this and your guy can't even make the free throw like this is and they start chirping back and forth

Neil (10:10)
⁓

no, I did see that. Yeah, the coaches. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. The coaches. Yeah.

Nick (10:12)
Yeah, they start chirping back and forth.

Todd Golden's coming off a championship. He's the new young coach that's hot. Kyle's still got his ego. I he's been doing it for a long time. neither one of them get a back down. They're going at each other. They both get popped. And it was good theater. It was good theater, especially in a game that-

Neil (10:20)
Yeah.

Of course. That ain't going anywhere. Yeah.

I it. I love it, yeah, it's always good to have some

theater. I mean, when the game's a 34-point game, you know, it's good to have some theater.

Nick (10:41)
If you're Cal, if you're Todd Golden, you both got the right to get after the other coach. And like I get the frustration you're using that going to the monitor to try to kill their momentum. And then I think he kind of laughed a little bit when he missed both free throws and that didn't bode well with Cal over there and they just start chirping a little bit. It's always good when you get the two coaches kind of getting after each other.

Neil (10:47)
course.

Yeah.

Yeah, I enjoy it.

Nick (11:09)
Do you remember back in the day when Cal was at UMass and him and John Chaney got into it?

Neil (11:12)
⁓ yeah, he

threatened to kill John Cheney. Or no, John Cheney threatened to kill Cal. Sorry, the other way around. Yeah, John Cheney busted at the press conference. Threatened to kick his ass, as he would say. Yeah.

Nick (11:16)
Yes, do it.

Yes!

He just- and he kept moving closer and closer to the podium. Like, I'm gonna kill you! I'm gonna kill you! Yes!

Neil (11:27)
Yeah, yeah. I mean the reporters, the reporters had to get involved. guys,

the dudes that were writing for the newspapers back then had to get out of their chairs and get in between them. I mean Cal wasn't moving. Cal was just standing there like in disbelief that John Cheney is threatening to kick his ass but I mean, yeah, mean it's not gonna, John Cheney at that time was still old. Yeah, he does, I think you're right but.

Nick (11:45)
Well, it's kind of unbelievable.

I think he was born old.

I remember, like he came to one of our practices when I was at PRP, scouting one of our guys. I mean, that was probably, yeah, it was pretty cool. yeah, think he was born old. they know neither Golden nor Cal threatened to kill the other guy. But jeez, I thought it was going to be a fun game to watch. And Florida, man, they're just.

Neil (11:57)
I do want that.

That's cool. I mean, he's a legend.

Yeah.

Yeah, that's good.

Nick (12:25)
We've said it all year, they've got the best front court in the country and we knew that. And with these two guards that transferred in from Arkansas and ⁓ Princeton, would they kind of figure it out? And they're getting more production from their bench too. And for a team that started what five and four?

Neil (12:29)
Yep.

Yeah, yeah.

Nick (12:46)
Look, they are clicking at the right time. They've won six in a row against ranked teams and have scored at least 90 points in all six of those games. It's the second longest streak in college basketball history. ⁓ I think the longest mark is shared by UNLV and Loyola, Marymount, both of those were 88 and 90. So Florida's doing some special things. ⁓

Neil (13:14)
Yeah, they're

Nick (13:16)
Texas Tech loses J.C. Toppin and everybody's kind of just puts them to bed. And since they've done that, they're 3-0 and they get a win over Iowa State on Saturday. Donovan Atwell was 6-10 from 3, had 18 points. ranks second in the country with 3.8 threes and third with 110 threes made on the season. So really a huge

Neil (13:19)
Yeah.

On the road. On the road too.

Nick (13:45)
The Red Raiders had six and double figures, but Grant McCaskill indeed just, I think he's kind of proving himself that he's one of the better coaches in the country. And I think a lot of teams thought without topping, this team really didn't have a chance and they're kind of proving that otherwise.

Neil (14:04)
Yeah, I mean, since he's gone out, mean, they had that bad loss against Arizona State. ⁓ Yeah, but then, you know, after that, even without him, I mean, they've they've rolled a 30 point win over Kansas State. They beat a Cincinnati team that's been playing better as of late by 12 and then that big win at Iowa State on Saturday. So, no, they're still playing good basketball. ⁓ You know, coming down to the end here with with conference play and.

Nick (14:09)
But that was the game where Taubman got hurt.

Neil (14:33)
with March Madness right around the corner, they're still a factor.

Nick (14:37)
Christian Anderson has been one of my favorite guards all season, but it's a cyclone's first loss at Hilton all year. look, dude, we talked about Wisconsin, how good a wins that they had. ⁓ But look at these wins by Texas Tech. They beat Duke at Madison Square Garden, they beat Houston, they won at Arizona, and they won at Iowa State. That also ranks up with anybody in the country. So think they're probably gonna be a three or four seed.

Neil (15:04)
Yep.

Nick (15:07)
It still kind of makes you sad that they're not going to be able to make a run with JT Toppin because obviously you're losing the Big 12 player of the year from a year ago and there's no way you can be better without him.

Neil (15:18)
No. No.

Nick (15:21)
⁓ St. John's after losing by 32 against Connecticut. They get their white game. Rick comes out in his white suit. And you know it's problems when Rick's got on the white suit and.

Neil (15:38)
He took it to his boy, Kevin Willard, former assistant coach. Beated him by 32 and Willard after the press conference, they asked kind of like, you know what it was like working for Rick Pitino back in the day? He said, what did he say? Like you fear for your life. You basically, you were on edge feeling like you were going to get fired almost at any moment. So, no, they're boys. A bunch of respect between those two and Rick really took it to him on Saturday.

Nick (16:05)
Villanova set a season low for points and it's their most cited defeat since 1997 when they got beat 93 to 56 at number three Kentucky.

So that would have also been Rick Pitino as the head coach. ⁓ What else we got here? Houston finally got right after losing three in a row. Colorado really had no chance and was just kind of in the wrong place at the wrong time as Houston was bound to get off their snide. ⁓ Kentucky just.

actually decides that they don't want to get down by 15 points and Revenge is the loss that they took to the Commodores earlier in the year Louisville loses at Clemson

What else we got?

Neil (17:06)
BYU struggles at West Virginia. They lose by eight on the road, and Gonzaga loses to an unranked St. Mary. Although St. Mary's is always pretty good, and they give Gonzaga fits almost every year, and Gonzaga goes on the road and loses that one by 11.

Nick (17:21)
but

also this game holds a little more weight.

because it is the last regular season game that Gonzaga will ever play in the West Coast Conference.

Neil (17:30)
That

is true. The journey with that new form, Pac-12.

Nick (17:35)
They are moving on to the Pac-12.

On Friday night, we saw Miami, Ohio.

Neil (17:45)
Yes we did.

Nick (17:46)
looked like their undefeated season was in a lot of danger. They were about two of their guys in the back court. They were held to 26 points in the first half. And Travis still was not very happy with the officiating going into half time.

Neil (18:03)
No, no he wasn't.

No. He took it out on some poor, unfortunate DJ's equipment.

Nick (18:10)
Well, he got popped first off and he didn't really know what he got popped for, even though it's probably pretty obvious what he got popped for. And then walking off the court, not his court, not his own court. He's on the road and just decides to take out the DJ's speaker on his way out.

Neil (18:29)
That's just being an asshole, man. Can't be doing that. No.

Nick (18:32)
Not a good look.

Not a good look. ⁓ he did show some sincerity afterwards talking about how he was wrong with a lot of stuff that he did.

Neil (18:43)
Yeah,

it's a lot easier to show sincerity when you win by two and you're on the winning end of things instead of losing into things.

Nick (18:49)
But

if you break the speaker, you're picking up the cost, I would hope.

Neil (18:54)
⁓ yes, you got 100%.

Nick (18:57)
Like you 100 % gotta pick that up.

Neil (19:01)
Was he fined?

Nick (19:01)
Like

I didn't see if he was fine, but honestly, just kind of a jackass move. And I get it, you lose your cool, you don't really know where you are. I get it, but you gotta keep your composure and be a little more emotionally intelligent than that. just a bad look, I mean, we all want a route for this Miami, Ohio team to make the tournament.

Neil (19:08)
Completely, completely.

Do we?

Nick (19:27)
Do we not? Well, first off, they figure out a way to win. They went at the buzzer. And it was Trey Perry, a backup guard who scored with 0.4 seconds that propelled them to victory. It's Miami, Ohio's seventh win by six points or fewer. This season still calls this team unflappable. Said they have an unflappable mentality.

Neil (19:28)
Do we? I don't know if we do.

It's been multiple times this year that they've done that.

Nick (19:54)
They remain the only undefeated team in D1 basketball.

But Bruce Pearl on, I don't know if it was TNT or CBS. He's on both.

Neil (20:04)
Yeah.

Nick (20:06)
Not really a fan of saying that Miami, Ohio deserves to get an at-large if they don't figure out a way to win their tournament. He says, we going to select the 68 most deserving teams or are we going to select the 68 best teams? If we're selecting the 68 best teams, Miami, Ohio is going to have to win their conference tournament to qualify as a champion. As an at-large, they are not one of the best teams in the country. Your thoughts.

Neil (20:35)
He's not wrong. I mean, I understand his motivation behind saying it because he wants Auburn and his son Stephen Pearl to get in and right now I think Linares has them as an 11 seed and one of the last couple teams in the tournament So, of course, he's gonna say that cuz he you know, if Miami gets in that takes away a bubble spot So I understand his motivation behind it, but his words what he's saying is not wrong. They have not played anybody The teams that they like you said, they've just won several games by six points or fewer

And it's all against, I mean, this Western Michigan team has 10 wins on the season. They're not good, and they're struggling against teams that aren't good. Are they winning? Sure, they're winning. But if you put that Miami team against some of these teams that are on the bubble in the last four, like in Auburn or like maybe, I don't know, like SMU or whoever's around that cut line, Miami loses by double digits.

They lose by double digits.

Nick (21:32)
Yeah,

they are also the only undefeated team. Auburn, do you think, first off, you think Pearl's comments are strictly because of Auburn?

Neil (21:44)
Yes.

Nick (21:46)
Auburn's 15 and 14, like, get on, like, this is what we don't need in the tournament.

Neil (21:50)
You know,

he's trying to get his kid in. First, he doesn't want to look like him positioning his son to be the head coach is going to be a failure. We all know what he did. He left at the time that he did because his son was going to get that job. So he wants his son to succeed and be successful and not suck. And by getting to the tournament, that takes a little bit of heat off of him. So yes, think that's the main motivation behind what Pearl said.

I agree with him. There's a lot of people that don't, such as yourself, that don't agree with him, but I think his main motivation was because of Auburn.

Nick (22:25)
Well, like Auburn is two and seven in Quad One, which obviously is, it's a lot better than, my team. Well, they play in the SEC, so you're automatically going to play some Quad One games. I have no want to see a six and 10 to Auburn team. They are six and 10 in the SEC. They are defeated.

Neil (22:33)
A better than Miami. They've at least played nine more Quad One games than Miami has.

But you want to see Miami of Ohio. You want to see the team that

has a buzzer beater against a 10 win Western Michigan team in the tournament. Do you honestly think they're one of the best 64 teams? Let's be real. Let's be real.

Nick (22:54)
Let's give him a chance, like Auburn's head faces.

One of the best

No. Do I think they deserved? I don't even want them a date. I think they're in the tournament. Put them in the tournament. Put them in the tournament.

Neil (23:11)
When your conference

tournament then you're then we got no problems when your conference tournament then They you should not they they don't deserve to be no frauds frauds

Nick (23:16)
Like, what you're really telling me,

like six and 10 in league play, you shouldn't be able to get in the tournament if you ain't five-wunder it.

Neil (23:25)
What do you think Miami of Ohio

would be in SEC league play, Nick? You think they're gonna be better than 6 and 10? This is what this is. It is. It is exactly what it is.

Nick (23:29)
But that's what this is. No, it's not. Why do you want to see

a team that is not just under 500, four games under 500 in league play?

Neil (23:45)
When you're talking about at-large teams and the committee selecting an at-large team, you're selecting the best of the non-conference winners. So it's all based on judgment of who you think the best teams are that did not win their conference tournaments. And there's no way that you're gonna put Miami of Ohio in that conversation. There's no way, no chance.

Nick (24:03)
How many teams are in the field?

Neil (24:07)
You how many teams would be undefeated if they played Miami schedule? 50. 50. I'd say 50.

Nick (24:11)
A few, a few. But they're not,

but they're not like.

Neil (24:16)
Because they actually play people. They actually play good teams. They play competition.

Nick (24:19)
But we just we just talked we

just talked about it last week how rare it is for anybody to be 28 know what seven teams since 1985. That's 1985.

Neil (24:24)
Okay, you're going, ⁓ dude, you're going,

you're going against the same logic of when we talked about this for the college football playoff of you didn't wanna see the two lanes and James Madison's in. And now the same argument, you're going completely against that and saying put Miami in as an at-large team.

Nick (24:45)
I

think it's a good point by you and I'm proud that you actually have a good point. That's 12 teams, this is 68. And also neither one of those teams, neither one of those teams were undefeated.

Neil (24:52)
They're not one of the best 68! They're not!

Nick (25:00)
They both had terrible losses. Miami, I know they don't have any great wins, but they don't have any terrible losses.

Neil (25:04)
Well, they did not have terrible

losses. James Madison had one loss and it was to a nine win Louisville team. No, don't care. They also won their conference. They also both won their conferences. And if Miami doesn't win their conference, they don't get in.

Nick (25:11)
Remembered Tulane's losses? They were terrible.

They have to finish the regular season undefeated. And if they win their first round game in the MAAC, they should get in.

Neil (25:30)
and you're putting them straight in. As an at-large team, straight in, that's ridiculous. That's ridiculous.

Nick (25:31)
Yes.

I don't want to see these six and ten, seven and nine power four teams. They've had so many opportunities to beat good teams and they've proved with losing ten times that they can't do it. Give these guys a chance. They're undefeated. It's happened seven times. Teams play bad schedules every year. We don't always see undefeated teams.

Neil (25:49)
They have a chance. They have a chance. Win your conference tournament. That's your chance. That's your chance.

They don't

play this bad a schedule. I mean there's a lot of Mac teams that will go and play ACC opponents, SEC opponents, Big Ten opponents. Miami had a chance to do that when they started scheduling these teams and they did it. They scheduled quad four, non-conference quad four games. Non-conference quad three games. Not even quad, schedule a quad two, schedule a quad one. Play a middle of the road SEC team like in Auburn and see how you do in the non-conference. That's how you earn your way in and they didn't do it. They loaded up on cupcakes, they have a fraudulent undefeated record, get them out.

Nick (26:28)
But their best one is Akron who's right around where they are in the rankings. Their schedule, like you said, is 316 out of 365. And I know I'm arguing against myself, but I just think like what being undefeated is hard and it deserves being rewarded. I hope that they remain undefeated and they go into the dance undefeated, but I think it'll be a great story.

I think if they get to where they're in the semis and if they do get tripped up, I'd like to still see them in the tournament.

Neil (27:04)
Yeah, I would like to see him in the tournament. It's called the NIT.

Nick (27:08)
And guess what? They're guaranteed to get in NIT because they're going to win their regular season championship.

Neil (27:10)
They'll play Auburn. They can play Auburn in the NIT.

That's true.

That's true.

Nick (27:20)
Their schedule is pretty bad.

Neil (27:26)
It's historically

bad.

Nick (27:30)
reward them they're undefeated

Neil (27:31)
not rewarding you for not challenging yourself. You'll get rewarded

for not being challenged. Get out of here.

Nick (27:40)
So like I'm looking at quad one wins right now. In Michigan is six and one, Duke seven and two, Arizona six and two. Last week you said you would take Connecticut there five and two. And the fact that Florida is only three and three, that could be a reason why you would be right that maybe Connecticut will get selected over top of Florida. Because they just Florida struggled early and lost some opportunities.

Neil (27:53)
Yeah.

They did.

Nick (28:09)
Some of these records that Arkansas is one in seven in quad one wins, which really kind of surprises me.

Felt like it might be a little better than that. Vanderbilt's only 2-4 in Quad 1. 2-4 in Quad 1.

Neil (28:23)
Vandy's only two and four? Only

six quad ones for Vandy. Total. Interesting.

Nick (28:29)
Well, one

quad one a there seven and six but quad one there there two and four

Neil (28:34)
Is Quad

1A and Quad 1, aren't they just Quad 1?

Nick (28:38)
quad 1a is is even higher tier

Neil (28:43)
what qualifies as a woman.

Nick (28:44)
I don't know what the break

off is there. ⁓

Neil (28:48)
I mean, if

you go to the official net rankings on the NCAA, just has Quad 1, Quad 2, Quad 3, Quad 4. It doesn't break it out even further, I get...

Nick (28:56)
I'm looking at Torvik. Torvik takes

it to another level. Clemson's 0-3 in Quad 1, but they're 6-5 in Quad 1A. We don't want to talk about what Louisville is in Quad 1A and what they are in Quad 1. So just for example, Louisville's 0-8 Quad 1 and then 6-9 in Quad 1A.

Neil (29:16)
No, you got that backwards my guy. 6 and 9 in quad 1. 0 and 8 in quad 1. Yeah. Yes.

Nick (29:19)
Right, other way. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, the other way. ⁓

I don't know. We're getting, it's just, let's get Miami in the thing.

Neil (29:35)
Get out of here. So you're saying reward them for being undefeated. That's like giving a college kid a reading award for reading like Dr. Seuss. No, you don't get credit, say you're a proficient reader when you're in college, by reading a kindergartner's book. Not happening, no.

Nick (29:58)
Dr. Seuss is classic. It's hard to read. You gotta read it fast, like a rapper. ⁓

Neil (30:05)
Fine, the little engine that could. You're like an MIT student reading the little engine that could and saying he's a great reader.

Nick (30:11)
Hey, not a bad ⁓ comparison.

⁓ Well, I guess we talked about doing a little draft with championship contenders.

We will go five deep on each side. You can go first and then we'll go, and then we'll go snake.

Neil (30:29)
Yeah.

Nick (30:35)
But we're trying to see what team, and we'll just see what team has teams advanced the farthest in the NCAA tournament.

Neil (30:45)
Okay, I mean, I'm my first pick, said? All right, we're going with the team that's just dominating. ⁓ They're on a roll, they just beat Michigan on the neutral court. We're gonna go Duke. I mean, think that's the obvious choice.

Nick (30:48)
You got first pick.

Yeah, I think they're playing as well as anybody. go. I'm going to go Michigan and then I'm going to go.

I'm not gonna get them if I don't wait. It's hard not to pick Arizona here, but I think I'm going Florida.

Neil (31:16)
That was a good pick. I was gonna take Florida if you weren't good pick good pick I'm gonna go I Get back to back I'm gonna go Yukon and Then Arizona with my third pick so you call my second pick Arizona's my third pick

Nick (31:36)
I think there's a clear top five. So you have in the first pick, think was a real advantage.

Neil (31:44)
Yeah.

Nick (31:45)
But I've got a clear answer here. I'm going Houston.

I still, know, look, I think it's more of a product of their schedule. Right now, them struggling, they got right on Saturday. Give me Kelvin Sampson in the tournament every single year. And this is where it gets a little tougher.

Neil (32:12)
Yeah, you have another pick, right?

Nick (32:14)
Yeah.

Neil (32:17)
Yeah, it gets tough now.

Nick (32:20)
I just, can't trust Purdue. I think I'm gonna have to go Illinois.

Neil (32:27)
Yeah, I don't know what's going on with Purdue.

Nick (32:30)
So you got to.

Neil (32:32)
So you went Illinois, huh? I like this team, but they just don't have any success in the tournament. I want to pick Nebraska, but I don't know.

I could see them just choking though. Give me the Michigan State Spartans with my next one.

Nick (32:54)
All right, and then your last pick.

Neil (32:55)
Okay.

Nick (32:57)
I got one more.

and I know how I'm taking, so.

Neil (33:00)
Are you taking the Huskers?

Nick (33:03)
I'm not telling you.

Neil (33:04)
Gimme the zags. Gimme the Gonzaga.

Nick (33:07)
I definitely

would not have taken the zags.

Neil (33:10)
taking his eggs. I'll just not smart you. I don't know about that one. I don't love that one. I would take Nebraska over Iowa State.

Nick (33:12)
Give me the side clones.

Dude, Otter Burger's proved he can do it.

I don't think I'll, yeah. We could keep going. Like if I was going one more.

I would probably go Texas Tech and then let you have Nebraska.

Neil (33:37)
No love for the Huskies. All right,

I'll take Nebraska. All right, we'll go 6-D. And then outside of that, it's just a bunch of okay teams.

Nick (33:48)
But if I look at it now, like if I'm thinking teams that can win it all.

Neil (33:53)
Yeah. There's only five.

Nick (33:57)
Duke, Michigan, Arizona, Connecticut is a clear tier.

Neil (34:03)
I Houston's right there. Right there. Alright, we can do that. Okay, I would agree with that. Those are, I think those are the clear six. Yeah.

Nick (34:05)
I know I'm included Houston in my six. I'm included in my six.

And then like the next tier would be, would be Illinois, Iowa state, Michigan state, Nebraska, Texas tech.

And then you get into some teams that maybe could make a run to do lead eight. I just don't see potentially the final four, but I just don't see anybody else that can really win it all.

Neil (34:38)
No, I would agree with that.

Nick (34:40)
And we are, it is the beginning of conference tournaments this week. OVC men's tournament starts this week. bunch of the Power Four women's tournaments start this week. But one tournament that I think we need to talk about is the Sunbelt.

Neil (34:46)
and you might have to come back.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Nick (35:04)
and the way that it is designed.

Neil (35:07)
I mean, it's designed to get your top team into basically into the NCAA tournament.

Nick (35:11)
and look the OVC does this too where they only take the top eight teams and Basically five through eight play the first night the winners of those games play three and four and then the winners of those games play one and two Which I I think is a that's a good bracket it helps your one and two teams get it get a chance to get in But this Sunbelt tournament takes that

Neil (35:34)
Yeah.

I mean they stretch

it all the way out. Yeah.

Nick (35:40)
to a whole other level.

You've got 12 or 11 through 14 playing on tomorrow. 11 through 14 play tomorrow. The winners of those games play the what the nine and the 10 scene on Wednesday. The winner of those games play the seven and the eight. The winners of those games play the five and the six. The winner of those games play the three and the four.

And the winner of those games play the 1 and the 2.

Neil (36:15)
This

is just dumb. It's just dumb. What do

Nick (36:18)
Like to

me, the OVC tournament, the only the top eight teams get in, you give your ones and twos a double buy, your threes and fours get a single buy, that tournament makes a lot of sense.

Neil (36:30)
Like, what's the point of this? Like, you're just, if you're gonna do this, you might as well just chop your field in half and just play the top four in like in a semi-final and just, you know, just go that route. Because if you're playing on day one, if you're the 11 through 12 seed, I'm sorry, the 11 through 14 seed, you have to win seven games in seven days. You start on March 3rd and you play every single day through March 9th.

if you want to try to get to the dance. I mean that's just impossible. It's impossible. So what's the point? Like why are we doing this to these kids? Like it's not fair. It's not...

Nick (37:10)
Well, and that's

a good point too, because we talk about how, ⁓ we don't talk about as much now in this era, but used to be schools first, right? If you're forcing a team to play seven games in seven days and win all of them. look, it's not gonna happen. And we've seen teams win five, we've seen like NC State two years ago win five in five days. So we've seen that.

Neil (37:18)
Yeah, yeah, you're gone for seven days.

And that's not gonna happen. No. Just cut the tournament half.

Yeah.

Nick (37:37)
Can you expand it to where you're winning seven and seven? I don't.

Neil (37:40)
No, but even

in this situation where NC State won five in five days, they were going against other teams that were also playing, like even the championship game Duke had played for three or four straight days. Like here, by the time you get to the semi-finals, you've already played five games and you're playing a team that's been sitting and resting for five days. They're fresh, they're ready to come, you know, beat the hell out of you and you're probably dead tired.

Nick (37:52)
Three, I've, yeah.

Neil (38:06)
It's just not, it just doesn't seem fair. Just like, if you're gonna go this route, just cut your tournament in half. And play normal tournament.

Nick (38:14)
Yeah, don't, it's all, they're in Pensacola, so at least it's a nice place to be. and look, I think they're doing this because they want it to catch attention. And would we be talking about-

Neil (38:29)
They

want to get their one and two seeds into the tournament.

Nick (38:33)
But

you can do that without this gimmicky bracket. I just told you how the OVC does it makes a lot of sense you cut the field like you only allow eight teams in a tournament and You let your ones and twos get double buys. They only got to win two games to get into the tournament and I mean, this is just gimmicky. It's it's Trying to get people like this to talk about it trying to get it, you know

Neil (38:36)
I agree. I agree.

Nick (39:02)
That's what this is all about.

Neil (39:03)
I mean, they're getting

us to talk about it, but they're getting us to talk about how stupid it is. Not that, this is great. Like, no.

Nick (39:09)
I would,

⁓ Preston Spraglin is the head coach of James Madison. They are the nine seed. We obviously worked together when we were more head state. I would like to get his thoughts on this bracket after the season.

Neil (39:15)
Yeah.

Well, see you in the next.

Share the text, get them on the show.

Nick (39:27)
at six, but they have to win because they're playing on the second day. They're gonna have to win six in six days. We talk about how hard it is to win six in a row just to win the national championship. And now to win the Sunbelt title, you gotta do it six times in six days.

Neil (39:31)
At in six days, yeah.

It's just dumb. Impossible. How many of these games will you watch from the Sunbelt Conference Tournament? You gonna tune in to, what is it, tomorrow? Watch Georgia State, Louisiana, or Louisiana Monroe versus Old Dominion?

Nick (39:59)
I will try to tune in on Wednesday if possible to watch James Madison play the winner of Louisiana Georgia State. That'll probably be the first game in the Sunbelt tournament that I will watch. the OVC, got Johnny Maddux, Morehead State, and Nolan Smith, Tennessee State. Tigers share the OVC title. They both are the one and two seeds in the OVC tournament.

Neil (40:09)
5pm, yeah.

Yep.

Nick (40:29)
They will play in Evansville on Friday night. Morehead State will tip off at 1030 Eastern Time in Evansville. It's always, I don't understand why it's because it's on ESPN2, it's made for TV. Tennessee State's the one and they're the two. But congrats to Nolan Smith and congrats to Johnny Maddux on sharing that title.

Neil (40:37)
Oof.

They're the one seed. They're making them play that late as the ones. ⁓ okay. Dang. Yup.

Yeah, yeah.

Nick (40:54)
And then on the women's side, UofL will be the two seed in the ACC tournament this year in Duluth, Georgia for the first time. It's kind of a, I think it's a wide open tournament. Obviously Louisville's not going into this play in their best basketball, but I think you kind of hope that you you regroup a little bit, get a win on Friday and then just kind of try to get things rolling downhill a little bit and see what can happen.

Neil (41:02)
Yeah.

Yeah, looking forward to it. We'll be there. You finally got the courage to, you know, ask for a ride and you'll be driving down there on Thursday. So we'll see you down there. But yeah, the ACC tournament is going to be great. Louisville had a chance yesterday to beat Notre Dame on their home court and share the conference championship, the regular season conference championship and just unfortunately couldn't get it done. But Duke losing two out of their last three shows that they are beatable now.

They hadn't lost all year until that Clemson game and they've now lost two or three. So it is wide open. Notre Dame, it looks like they're playing their best basketball this season. And with Haina Hidalgo running the point, they can probably beat anybody. ⁓ So they're going to be something a team to reckon with. And North Carolina is playing good ball. So wide open, wide open.

Nick (42:06)
Yeah,

it's not like it's been in the past where there's a clear favorite. And unfortunately Louisville's also going into the tournament losing two or three. But like I said, you get that first win on Friday and kind of shake off the cobwebs a little bit and you never know what's gonna happen this tournament. And anybody can win it. I don't know if anybody can win. I think the top five teams all can win it.

Neil (42:33)
Yeah, I that's,

I think it's five deep. I think it's five deep as well. And just, just glad to be out of Greensboro and onto a new location to Duluth, Georgia.

Nick (42:42)
Yeah, I'm excited, excited to go down and hopefully see the cards win three games and get the first ACC title since 2018.

Neil (42:51)
Yeah, think we'll have a good contingency of fans. I we've sold about 150, 160 tickets in our allotment and several others that wanted to buy, but they were a little too late. I think we'll have a decent showing down there. Looking forward to it.

Nick (43:05)
Bunch of former Cardinals in the crowd last night.

Neil (43:08)
It's all that, all Asia Derva's

Nick (43:11)
Asia Durham, Mekasa

Robinson, ⁓ Jada Curry, all in the house. Got to see Asia and the family in the little bar area underneath yesterday at halftime. It was good to see them and think they might be obviously with being from the Atlanta area, I think they might be there. ⁓

Neil (43:14)
Yeah.

No, nice.

What's she doing? know

she COVID kind of derailed her career and that really was unfortunate because she was a great, great ballplayer. She's still trying to play somewhere. Is she trying to get into coaching? What's what's what's her story? You talked to her at all?

Nick (43:39)
She played,

she just got back, she played in China. And kind of trying to figure out her next steps. She coached briefly at Charlotte. So but she's focused on playing and but it was great to see her in the fam and dude, to talk about the next one to have their their jersey up in the rafters on the women's side. I think that's who it is.

Neil (43:42)
Okay.

Welcome. Good. Good.

Yeah, I would say so. I would say so.

Nick (44:07)
We'll talk a little quick, Bengals.

Neil (44:10)
Alright, throw some NFL news in there, yeah.

Nick (44:13)
Well, they did the easy thing.

Neil (44:15)
They didn't screw up the easy, which is important. That is important.

Nick (44:20)
Dawton Reiser

obviously after the season made it very obvious that he would like to remain a bingo. And sometimes you just don't know with this front office if they're gonna be able to pull off the easy. Today they signed him to a one year deal for the first time in Joe Burrows tenure. He will have his entire offensive line returning. And the second half of the season, this actually was one of the better offensive lines in the league. So.

Neil (44:41)
Yeah.

Yeah.

Nick (44:50)
A good thing.

Neil (44:51)
Yeah, like I said, I'm just glad the front office didn't screw up the easy thing. Reisner made it known that he wanted to come back. The coaches wanted him back, but more importantly, Joe Burrow wanted him back. And Joe, Reisner talked about Joe texting him throughout this whole process, wanting to know if the deal has been done yet. The deal has been done yet. And sent him a congratulatory text today. And they're focused now on winning football. So good to have him back. He played well. ⁓

like to have the continuity on the offensive line, something that Joe Burrow hasn't had. And hopefully that helps with some of the slow starts that we've had in the past couple of years and maybe we get out of the gate a little bit hotter. Yeah.

Nick (45:28)
I would hope because

the offensive line has played a big role in why they've had slow starts. And it's like every year it's not just protecting the quarterback, the running game is always slow at the beginning of the year. And then for some reason halfway through the season, they become one of the better running teams in the league. But like we give the Bengals organization a lot of crap and rightfully so. But with Reissner's quote, they deserve some props for that.

Neil (45:33)
Yes.

Yes.

We're not giving them credit for doing the easy thing, Nate. We're not giving them credit for doing the easy thing. No!

Did you see?

We gotta talk, alright, if we're gonna do this we also need to talk about the players grading the report card.

Nick (46:03)
we haven't got into that yet. So we will get into that. like, Verizon basically said, I've never felt this way about an organization. And that's a positive.

Neil (46:15)
What does that mean

though? What does that mean? What is he feeling?

Nick (46:18)
I think

he's obviously just really happy to be there, to be a Cincinnati Bingo. I think he enjoys playing for Zack Taylor. I think he enjoys playing with Ted Karras. I think he enjoys playing with Joe Burrow. But-

Neil (46:32)
Well, he must not have a family.

Nick (46:35)
Well, he

does because his wife was trying to break the news and be be the Adam Schefter on social media.

Neil (46:42)
I didn't see that. But yeah, look at the, we talk about the grading of the Bengals from the NFL Players Association. Treatment of families, F minus. Not just an F, Nick. An F minus is how the players view the Bengals' treatment of their families. That's a problem.

Nick (47:01)
I don't think it could get much worse than that. F minus unless you just want to keep adding minuses. But look, you see all these, how many Bengals wives have we seen that try to get popular on social media? You don't ever see them complain about anything, about the way they're treated.

Neil (47:07)
That's a lot of bean.

Nick (47:23)
You ever see Jake Browning's wife when she's all over social with her fit check every single game complaining about the couch in the lobby?

Neil (47:30)
Probably does behind closed doors. I don't know. I don't All right, so we have treatment of families, F minus. The food and dining area, F minus. Where are they making these guys eat? Like in a closet? In the janitor's closet? Like...

Nick (47:33)
All right, keep going. else we got?

Nagu.

That's 2f minus-

Neil (47:48)
sitting on a bucket eating a bologna sandwich for lunch? Is that what we've like, what, how are you getting an F minus in food slash dining area? Then your nutrition slash dietician also gets an F.

Nick (47:57)
I

So if you come home from school and you bring your parents a report card with not one F minus, two F minuses, and an F, how are they going to handle that?

Neil (48:03)
Yeah. Yeah.

Hehehehe

⁓ I have to be grounded for life.

Nick (48:19)
So can we ground, Mike Brown?

Neil (48:22)
Yes, I mean, I wish, yes, like we've been saying all along how we wish we would sub the team, an F minus, like that's what was like, what are they feeding these guys and where are they making them eat to where you're getting an F minus for your dining area, food and nutritionist, dietician? Like what is happening? Yeah.

Nick (48:36)
UNT

So this is what I'm envisioning.

I envision Chris Farley in his hat singing the Sloppy Joe song, just slamming Sloppy Joes on everybody's plate. And they probably spill over into the family area, and there's just Sloppy Joe stains everywhere. And that would also attribute to the nutrition dietician, because I can't imagine that Sloppy Joes are probably the healthiest.

Neil (48:49)
Yeah.

Bye.

Nick (49:09)
So that's probably the main reason for that. But your boy, Mike Brown, got a D plus for ownership. So no, I'm saying he ain't going to do anything about it.

Neil (49:15)
That's not good either.

No, we got a D- on home game field. I don't know what that means. Does the field... Does it?

Nick (49:24)
It means the field sucks. And I get

on the field all the time because the end zones always look like crap. Even when they got a new field, I was like, it still looks like crap.

Neil (49:30)
They just got a new field. Didn't

they just get a new field like last year? Year before?

Nick (49:34)
They did and

it still doesn't look great. It was probably used by some D3 football team and we got a deal on it and we just had to repaint it.

Neil (49:38)
I mean, I'm just...

Like team travel, team travel, C minus. Below average, C minus. Like these are like the things, like the treatment of families, the food, like the travel. no, you froze up, you're back. The treatment of families, the food, like the travel, like these are things that free agents will look at. If you're trying to lure some free agents in and it's between you and two other teams and you have this reputation of not taking care of their families and feeding them sloppy joes in a closet and.

Nick (50:14)
with Chris Wiley.

Neil (50:14)
You're flying commercial

to all of your stops or whatever. I know they're not flying commercial, but you got crappy airplanes? No, I'm going to go somewhere else. You've to get better at these. It's not just this year. They've gotten Fs and Fminuses almost every year. And they don't do anything to fix it. They don't care. They don't do anything to fix it. They're just so cheap. It drives me crazy.

Nick (50:34)
Have a

The only positives were the locker room and the training room and the training staff. And then some of the staff, like the coaches, got some good grades. Your boy Zach Taylor was an A minus. Al Golden, a B plus. Pitchard was A minus. their straight coaches got an A.

Neil (50:52)
This is buddy buddies, but he's basically their age. Everybody goes and drinks with him after the game.

Yeah.

Training staff was an A, so yeah, mean, there's some A's, but...

Nick (51:07)
But it's all the people. The people are what got A's. And the facilities and the way you treat people other than going into the training room is not good.

Neil (51:10)
Yeah.

facilities all got. ⁓

Nick (51:23)
Not good, look, they're not gonna get free agents normally. But the fact that they have Joe Burrow and they could actually be competitive is the reason why they will get free agents. And the problem is you don't figure out a way to win this year, you lose that luxury and then you don't get anybody. So that's why this is the biggest off season in the history of this franchise. And they sure as hell better figure out a way to fix that defense.

Neil (51:44)
Then we suck.

Nick (51:53)
and put a winning product on the field or you got problems.

Neil (51:55)
Yup.

Yup. Yup.

Nick (52:00)
Because then fixing all this stuff ain't even going matter because.

Now I'm sad.

But I'm excited. There's a lot of opportunity.

Neil (52:08)
As a fan, as a fan,

as a fan, what would you give the Bengals a grade for fan experience? When they did not shovel your seat and scrape the ice. So keep in mind what they've done to you this year. We'll see what your grade is overall fan experience for Nick Evans.

Nick (52:16)
Look, at it.

that day can I do how many minuses can I put?

Dude, that moment where I'm, I I don't, I might put 20 minuses behind the death. Just absolute garbage. Just, just unbelievable. I will say overall the fan experience has improved over the last couple of years, but it ain't, it ain't great yet. And you just can't, you can't show the fact that you care more about money than you care about your fans on a day like that. And just,

Neil (52:42)
Okay.

Nick (52:57)
Getting out there and cleaning that stadium would have just shown they cared and they chose otherwise. And that's, it's bullshit, honestly.

Neil (53:04)
Yeah,

but I will give an A. I'll give an A plus to the beer vendor that's that Hawks beers outside of section 312. The dude from Louisville that knows you from. From whatever he. Yeah, where is he from? Where do know from the bats games or Louisville basketball? PNC the PNC guy. Yeah yeah yeah. We'll give we'll give beer vendors A plus for the Cincinnati Bengals.

Nick (53:11)
Yeah, there's a lot of ⁓ A pluses.

No, he's always up at the PNC. Yeah, he's always up at the PNC club.

Well, and I'm sure in turn they will also give us an A plus.

Neil (53:32)
Facts.

Nick (53:34)
⁓ The cognizant was at Palm Springs. We won't get into it too much cuz it was a really limited field. But Shane Lowry's three up with three to go. Looks like he's gonna cruise to victory. And he does what probably me or you would do in that situation. Water on 16, water on 17. Back to back doubles, you turn a three shot lead and two shot deficit and you end up losing to Nico Echevarria.

Neil (54:02)
That's kind of a brutal way to lose a tournament.

Nick (54:05)
Well, and dude, you know how they do the spray charts? So 16 is par three over water. They did the spray chart and they're like this white dot of Shane Lowry's. It was 50 yards short of everybody else's shot. Like I don't even, he shanked it. Just completely shanked it and couldn't figure out a way to win. But I'm wearing this hat because we are at, we got the Arnold Palmer Invitational this weekend.

Neil (54:07)
Yeah.

Yeah.

boy. Okay. Your boy Ricky gonna be in that one? Okay.

Nick (54:34)
A palm club. ⁓ Yeah, of course. ⁓

He's an Arnold Palmer ambassador. He'll be wearing some good Puma gear this weekend. ⁓ We've talked a lot of hockey because of the Olympics. We got a new hockey story.

Neil (54:43)
So.

Alright.

⁓ boy, yeah. Wait, before we get into that, since we did talk about hockey, how are your Tampa Bay Lightning doing since the resumption of play? You been keeping up with them? You said you'd be a big fan, and how we doing?

Nick (54:55)
UMass and UConn. Yeah.

Terrible, terrible, terrible.

Carl who is also trying to become a Lightning fan already wants me out because they've been terrible. I don't think they've won a game, but I got to stick to it. I got to stick through it. I have not watched a game. have kept up with them. I came home one night after I think I had dinner with the parents' house and I was going to turn it on and I turned it on and it was already over. So I made an effort.

Neil (55:14)
Hehehehe. Alright.

Okay.

big enough.

Nick (55:31)
but did

not actually watch any hockey. But UMass and UConn, and their season is very similar to college basketball season. So they are amping up for their 64 team tournament. this game's in overtime. And it's UConn and UMass at UMass. And they do three on three. And UMass, it's at UMass, right? That's what I said.

Neil (55:59)
Yes,

that is correct. Yes.

Nick (56:01)
They're

looking like they're challenging to score, but really they don't get that close. But the marketing people at UMass think they scored, the lights start going off, and then UConn gets a break of their own, they get close to the goal, and the lights just go out completely.

Neil (56:18)
He he he.

Nick (56:20)
So they're getting ready to score to maybe win the game. this is a team that needed this win because they're kind on the bubble.

Neil (56:28)
They're

on the tournament bubble for hockey, yes.

Nick (56:32)
So they're on a break, lights are flashing, then the lights go out completely. They clearly cannot score in the dark. And then it goes to a shootout. They end up losing in the shootout. I don't know if this, I think I would put this game under protest if I'm Yukon.

Neil (56:49)
I mean I would if that's a thing. I don't know what that does but I mean... I'll say like yeah... we accept your protests you still lose. Like I don't know. They're not gonna go back and replay the game. But I mean just like complete home court. Like just like the marketing team. They knew what they were doing. They knew what they were doing. I mean they screwed up to begin with. But once they realized they screwed up and that UConn was on a breakaway. They just shut the whole thing down. Just shut it all off.

Nick (56:53)
People doing it in baseball and it never does anything, so.

What?

Neil (57:20)
There

Nick (57:20)
Well, you need to...

Neil (57:21)
was only a minute left in overtime too, like it was coming down to the end.

Nick (57:23)
Yeah, and dude,

like three on three, any break is a chance to score because there's just not that many defenders. And like, you think that you asked, like, do you think the lights go out automatically? Like when they start doing that, the light show when they score, but dude, it was pitch dark.

Neil (57:41)
Well, like the lights started, I guess they hit the goal horn, so the Zamboni horn or whatever that thing is was going off. then the strobe, like the lights were flashing for a second, then they kind of went red and then dark, right as Yukon was going in for a shot. Just lights out. It was kind of brilliant, kind of a genius move.

Nick (58:03)
Like,

you just wonder if somebody's up there. Nope, not today. Boop. Starting the lights out.

Neil (58:10)
I mean, it worked. I mean, they won the game because, I mean, maybe not because of it, because we don't know if UConn would have scored, but they had a great chance to. So they very well could have been the reason that UMass wins that game. I don't know if UMass is on the bubble. When I looked at the rankings, they were 18th and UConn was 13th at the time. So I don't know. I guess UMass is behind UConn, but if they're both bubble teams, this was an important game for both of them. And you know, your marketing team came through for you.

Nick (58:11)
It clearly worked!

Will you watch any of the hockey tournaments?

Neil (58:43)
No, maybe the frozen, maybe the frozen four. I've seen the frozen four before. Yeah, yeah. I mean, usually it's the same teams. You see Denver and Boston College and Boston and Minnesota, Michigan. I think usually has a pretty good team. Notre Dame. I don't know. Those Northern, Northern States, maybe North Dakota or something like that.

Nick (58:43)
Do you not even defuse it for? Like you'll turn it on if it's close it closed late.

Yeah, pick it up. Pick it up if it's close to late and we'll see what happens. We're hockey guys now, so.

Neil (59:08)
Yeah.

I hope you can't get sand.

Nick (59:14)
Yeah, and I hope they turn the lights on somebody else if they need to figure out a way to get in. They got the strategy now.

Fernando Mendoza is going to be the number one pick in the draft to the Raiders. But there's one team when he's in an interview that says, hey, dude, why don't you just go get arrested? Go get arrested so that maybe you'll slide down in the draft and we can get you. I think of all the people that might get arrested, I think he might be close to last on the list. So I don't think this is going to happen.

Neil (59:47)
I would probably, if we were drafting

athletes most likely to get arrested, he would be the last pick taken probably. But what a genius move by the team, whoever said that. I mean, first of all, why, I don't know why you're interviewing the kid, because you don't really, unless you are thinking about trading up to get them, which I don't know which team it is, if they need a quarterback or not, but you're just wasting your time. But you know, throw a little comedy into the interview and you know.

Nick (1:00:02)
I'd be a waste of time.

Neil (1:00:16)
Pretty smart play.

Nick (1:00:19)
Yeah, like he's like, what is, ⁓ he's doing a little interview and telling that story. And it's just, guess that's one way to try to get Fernando Mendoza into your squad. Just. ⁓

Neil (1:00:34)
You think he'll be good for the Raiders?

Nick (1:00:36)
I... I wanna say yes.

I just...

Neil (1:00:40)
He's a smart kid.

Nick (1:00:41)
He is and I think that'll help him figure it out. It's just, I don't know. I don't think that he's ⁓ a no brainer like some of these other number one picks. And we've seen a lot of number one picks fail as well. I don't know.

Neil (1:00:44)
you

What

you're saying is he's no Joe Burra.

Nick (1:01:00)
That is, I think that's pretty obvious. We've, we've compared their numbers as, as Iceman trophy winners. And look, you're going into a tough situation too. Which, so.

Neil (1:01:02)
Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah.

Who'd hire?

Nick (1:01:16)
You gonna put me on a spot like that?

Neil (1:01:18)
I don't honestly don't even remember.

Nick (1:01:20)
Welcome Raiders head coach. Who did they

I love Google and Clint Kubiak.

Neil (1:01:24)
Eee.

Over.

Nick (1:01:27)
I guess we'll close with this one.

Cameron Brink played for Stanford now plays for the Fever. She's attractive. She's more than your Wihoss, she's pretty tall.

Neil (1:01:35)
Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Nick (1:01:44)
⁓ Revealed on social media this week how her now fiance Ben Felter

It's a good last name for...

Neil (1:01:58)
Cameron Felter, is that what we're gonna go with?

Nick (1:01:59)
Yeah, yeah.

Ben Felter, how he first put in work on her. And we hear all this stuff about people hitting up the DMs and stuff like that. He went a different route. He went the old fashioned, huh? He went the old fashioned email. And his, I think his subject line.

Neil (1:02:11)
Yeah.

A little unconventional. I a little unconventional.

How did he find her email?

Nick (1:02:28)
sure you look it up. People, you can find it. If you need to find somebody's email, you can find it. No, not Joe Burrows.

Neil (1:02:32)
I can find Joe Burrow's Alright,

who can I find? Can I find Caitlin Clark's email?

Nick (1:02:40)
Probably not. did go to Stanford together. So maybe that is a... I don't think they knew each other, but they did go to Stanford. They both are Stanford grads. But his email is subject line, attempting to mingle.

Neil (1:02:41)
But how did you find Cameron Brains?

They already knew each other?

Okay. Okay.

Nick (1:03:00)
I love it!

Neil (1:03:02)
I mean he should have been shooting my shot, but I would have said-

Nick (1:03:04)
I mean, that could work too. But I just like the non-aggressiveness of it. Like you're still, you're putting it out there. If she responds, she responds. If she doesn't, she doesn't.

Neil (1:03:15)
She's a basketball

player, you gotta say shootin' my shot.

Nick (1:03:17)
And ⁓ yeah, is, dude. But it still worked. still worked. His email says, hey, Cameron, wanted to chat you up, but I think DMs are a little bit creepy. Not that an email is much better. So here's my number, Ben. That's it. That's it. That's the whole email. So you're just putting it out there. If she responds, great. And if she doesn't, I guess this ain't no big deal.

Neil (1:03:22)
It worked. Clearly, worked.

Yeah.

mean good for him to go the uncon... I mean she probably does get a lot of creepy DMs and all that. So good for him, somehow he stalks her and gets the email. And just does a little of the unconventional route. Sometimes unconventional gets the attention that you want and she took him up on it.

Nick (1:03:47)
The lesson is...

So I've got an idea. I'm just going to do a mass email.

Neil (1:04:07)
Yeah.

Mila Kunis, who else we got?

Nick (1:04:11)
Yeah, just mass. Well,

let's go to see, like she's married. But I've done plenty of, I've done plenty of mass emails in my, in my day for, for all the different jobs that I've had. Just copy and paste it, change the email, change the first name and boop, boop, boop, just have two windows up and just do it till it works. Do it till it works.

Neil (1:04:17)
Pretty swanky. ⁓

Who's at the top of that list? Who's at the top of that list?

Nick (1:04:39)
It's better than what I'm doing now!

Like we're talking about, I don't know, famous people?

Neil (1:04:47)
I don't know, whoever you want to send an email to, bruh.

Nick (1:04:49)
I guess it'd be Jessie Murphy. I'd probably try to hit up Jessie Murphy, but I'm probably a little too old for her. Jessie Murphy, I she's just like 21, 22. I'm probably little old, so a little old for her. But I do think it's better than what the strategy I'm doing now.

Neil (1:04:50)
I mean, you could be your old high school crush, for all I know. I don't know who. Who?

Which is...

Nick (1:05:13)
Nothing.

Neil (1:05:13)
⁓ Yeah, you gotta come up with a different strategy because nothing ain't gonna work. You gotta come up with something.

Nick (1:05:19)
Honestly, my strategy right now is go to karaoke, do Gangster's Paradise with you and then hope somebody comes up and says hi.

Neil (1:05:28)
Well, we attempted that strategy on Saturday.

Nick (1:05:31)
wasn't bad i enjoyed it i like the change up it was a good spot

Neil (1:05:33)
Yeah,

that was good. What's it called now? The old Patrick's. What's it called? Nightcaps. Yeah, nightcaps. Yeah, good spot on Frankfurt Avenue. Go check it out for anybody that hasn't been. Couching, got couches, they got, yeah. Karaoke was good. Yeah, we did.

Nick (1:05:36)
⁓ nightcaps, nightcaps.

Nice little couch area, ⁓ a relaxing vibe. We did a little Gangster's Paradise, then we switched it up,

did a little Zach Brian something in the orange.

Neil (1:05:57)
You sure did.

Nick (1:05:59)
I don't know if something in orange was received as well as the gangster's paradise.

Neil (1:06:03)
Usually it's not. Gangster's Paradise is a crowd favorite.

Nick (1:06:06)
It's just, yeah, it's just automatic.

Neil (1:06:08)
Except kids

these days, man, if in their early 20s, they might not know what Gangster's Paradise is. It's kind of getting sad. Yeah, it is sad. It's a classic. How many times in our lives have we karaokeed Gangster's Paradise together? It's been quite a few.

Nick (1:06:13)
which is just, which is sad, right?

What's this, Seb?

I would say, I think it's approaching 20, maybe even 25, 30. I think the first time we did it was at the athletics Christmas party in the, was it, was that the angels envy or was that the PNC? don't know. Okay. We did it there and ever since then it's just kind of been our go-to. We've done it in Mexico. We've done it in,

Neil (1:06:28)
Yeah, it's been quite a few.

Yeah.

That was the Angels MV. ⁓

Nick (1:06:52)
The one in Tampa Bay was the tightest one ever. You're up on a stage, you're elevated, you kinda actually feel like you're actually a star a little bit. Everybody's going crazy singing the words. We got video of that one too. That was the tightest one. Felt like actual legends on that

Neil (1:06:57)
Yeah, that got the crowd going. Yeah, that was fun.

concert.

Last time. Yeah, that was good.

You actually got a girl's number that night too, I believe, you?

Nick (1:07:20)
No, I need to bring that back. Bring those kids. Like, yeah, we just do. I think we just need to go karaoke in all the time.

Neil (1:07:23)
That one worked.

We'll go on tour. The High Differential Karaoke Tour.

Nick (1:07:30)
because otherwise,

yeah, I mean, other than that, my only strategy is just start emailing chicks.

And I will change the email to shoot in your shot. I like that. Or maybe I'll do half and half do a little AB testing. See what works better.

Neil (1:07:43)
Okay.

Yeah, see what the open rate is.

Nick (1:07:52)
Yes. And see what the responses are. I am appreciative to Ben Felter for giving me new hope and giving me new strategy. We leaving anything else out?

Neil (1:08:01)
There you go.

Good job, man.

No? No?

Nick (1:08:09)
So

I guess next week at this time we'll be getting ready for conference tournaments. So we can kind of predict the winners of all the Power Four tournaments. And then the next week, we've got to do show on Sunday night after selection Sunday. I know we've kind of moved to where we're doing Mondays, but I think we need to do a live reaction on Sunday night to the selection Sunday.

Neil (1:08:15)
Yup.

Maybe. It's gonna be tough.

Nick (1:08:38)
Why, why, why are we, why is it gonna be tough?

Neil (1:08:41)
Well, Nick, because that's also the women's selection show and I'll be preparing to host the first and second round and I got some work to do that day. I got some tickets, some links to put out live so fans can buy tickets to our...

Nick (1:08:52)
Do you miss

the good old days when that was on Monday night?

Neil (1:08:56)
Yeah, well I ESPN screwed it up and revealed the bracket early. Just ruined our entire selection show.

Nick (1:09:00)
How wild was that?

The whole thing just comes out early. ⁓

Neil (1:09:07)
Remember

we had all the fans and stuff at the auditorium for the selection show? We already knew we were a one seat.

Nick (1:09:12)
Wait.

Was that when the volleyball was 18, right? And that was 19? Yeah. Like you don't even know if you trusted at the beginning when it first got leaked. then you. Yeah.

Neil (1:09:21)
Yeah, was around that same time. We already knew we were going to be a 1C.

I think that wasn't that the UConn year?

So we were a one seed and we were still mad because we had to go to Albany to play UConn, who was the two. Ridiculous, but...

Nick (1:09:34)
Yeah, which is just.

You beat them at home and then your reward is, hey, you're a one, but guess what? You still got to play Yukon in Albany.

Neil (1:09:44)
in their backyard. So we knew what was happening, were, the entire selection show, everybody's already mad. What a time, what a time.

Nick (1:09:55)
But the good news is March is here. It's gonna be warm all week. Unfortunately, it's gonna rain, but it looks like it's gonna be nice in Atlanta or Duluth, so.

Neil (1:10:03)
Pack your shorts.

Nick (1:10:05)
I will. ⁓ I will.

Neil (1:10:06)
Maybe we'll

do some karaoke while we're down there.

Nick (1:10:10)
And then we can do this. You want a karaoke that one? So we're just sticking to the gangsters paradise. And if I meet some chicks down there, get their email and work my magic. For the 6'6 Neil, I am the 4'10 Nick. Before we get out of here, make sure you subscribe to the Height Differential. However you listen to podcasts, follow us on social media at Height Differential.

Neil (1:10:24)
There you go.

Nick (1:10:40)
We will talk to you next week as we break down the conference tournaments. It's exciting that it's here, great time for those fans. We'll talk to you next week.