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00:00All right, welcome back to Newswire here on Sports Grid.
00:02Hey, great to catch up with Michael DeCourcy on some college hoops.
00:05We'll be doing this a lot more as we move forward.
00:07Mike, great to have you back here on Newswire.
00:09You could read more.
00:10On Mike's College basketball coverage over at SportingNews.com.
00:13Okay, we start off with the game.
00:15Gators, Mike, on the show today.
00:16That's where I want to begin here.
00:17Six and one in their last seven games, the defending.
00:20Champs are playing well.
00:21They're winning games in the SEC and blowing teams out.
00:25They beat South Carolina last night 95-40.
00:30And outside of their loss against Auburn, they look every bit of the type.
00:35title contender that they did last season.
00:37It just seems like even with a couple of the losses.
00:40of the players that they had last year, guys going to the NBA.
00:42They're starting to find their footing, aren't they?
00:45I think they're becoming a team that certainly has a chance to win it.
00:50Thomas Hauck has been phenomenal, one of the best players in the country,
00:53and you need that kind of talent.
00:55To win it, you don't win six games in the NCAA tournament with good.
01:00college players, you need those guys who are going to be pros and certainly.
01:05Thomas fits that description.
01:07Chenilu has been phenomenal.
01:09Only had.
01:1011 rebounds last night.
01:11When you have to apologize for 11 rebounds, I think you're on your.
01:15You're on a pretty good roll.
01:16He's been just fantastic the last month and.
01:20The backcourt is coming along.
01:21It's still not ever going to be what last year.
01:25was last year's Walter Clayton was one of the best players in the country.
01:28You don't have that now.
01:30And so that's a little bit different formula than you had a year ago.
01:35But still very much a team that can contend for everything and very much a team.
01:40that could win the Southeastern Conference and whatever reward in the NCAA tournament that provides.
01:45Yeah, I agree and and it should be a fun finish here in the S.
01:50D.C. and also let's get to University of Tennessee the 850th win of Rick.
01:55Barnes's career he's had a stellar one both at Texas and as the head coach of the.
02:00Volunteers what do you make of their win yesterday and certainly do you see Tennessee is a.
02:05title contender the Gators just beat them I believe it was a couple of weeks ago big win last night.
02:10I don't yeah I don't know about national championship because they're very thin at the guard.
02:15position beyond Jacoby Gillespie that's why you see Nate Amen play as much above.
02:20the circle as you do but Gillespie's been fantastic and Amen's a great talent.
02:25and they have a phenomenal front court that has such great depth.
02:30Parra is a great defensive player JP Estrella is been.
02:35really good at both ends so it's a team that certainly can contend for the SEC title.
02:40and I would not be at all surprised to see them take a run at the final four but I think when you get to that.
02:45level you probably need a little bit more of an option in the backcourt beyond what Gillespie.
02:50provides you he's he's certainly going to give you enough from his position that they just don't.
02:55have that second third guard that everybody else that wins it does I do like.
03:00this team and I think they certainly have a great potential to do well in March.
03:05Auburn and Texas no strangers to the NCAA tournament.
03:10at this point Auburn takes care of Texas maybe this will help their cause come March.
03:15but as of right now either team in particular having fantastic seasons Mike.
03:20they're going to need some help probably within their conference tournaments.
03:23and always these head to head matchups.
03:25definitely do matter when the NCAA has to make their choice.
03:28yeah Auburn's got kind of a.
03:30funny resume in the sense that.
03:32they they play they schedule really heavily and.
03:35I it looks like.
03:36it looks like a.
03:37Bruce is going to be the coach.
03:38kind of schedule and then Steve.
03:40even took over and it's like he thanks dad for this schedule.
03:43I mean they've lost to.
03:45several of the very best teams in the country almost all their losses are to not good.
03:50opponents but elite opponents and but at the same time they haven't had the occasion to be.
03:55many.
03:56many.
03:57many.
03:58many.
03:59quality teams.
04:00Texas is sort of that probably.
04:00not quite what I'm talking about.
04:01they need more swings at Florida and and that was a great.
04:05great win for them that kind of win that they got over the weekend.
04:08they need more of that.
04:10but and if they continue to perform as they have.
04:12I think you're going to see them climb up the seating chart.
04:15on the various brackets including mine at Fox Sports.
04:18they were seventh I think on my.
04:20most recent bracket on the seven line and I think that after after taking care of.
04:25Texas they have a chance to continue to climb up.
04:28Texas just needs to get more.
04:30the seven line so it had a chance to be consistent.
04:31That I believe the stat I heard was they had
04:32had not won more than two consecutive.
04:33Succeeded.
04:35games all year last night was a chance for them to break through and they were in it and had a great
04:40chance to win but faded at the end meanwhile in the sec
04:45arkansas has moved up with some of the shortest odds to win the conference they're having a really
04:48nice season with coach
04:50alabama plus 750 you see the hogs there at four to one behind florida
04:55a&m there at 12 to one and vanderbilt at 13 to one
05:00this point the gators have to be the favorites i mean they played the best basketball recently but
05:04look out for
05:05arkansas right yeah i think arkansas is excellent uh i kind of like van
05:10wendy because they they just have a terrific team and something of
05:15a home court advantage there but the problem that you run into is that not only does floor
05:20to have the best team but the odds makers you know they're no dummies right they looked at the scale
05:25the schedule the schedule's really advantageous when they when they go on the road it's not
05:30not to the tougher opponents in the league in vandy's case which
05:35longest odds of what you presented and i kind of like what they have a little bit in terms of where
05:40they have to go they got to go to old miss they have to go to mizzou they have to go to
05:45kentucky those are all winnable games for them so i think that they have a chance
05:50if you wanted to to make some money so to speak on this uh i think that would be the place but
05:55between the team and the schedule i think florida is going to win the league
06:00let's take a look quick mike before you go at the weekend schedule in college basketball headlined by
06:04the battle
06:05battle of michigan between the wolverines and spartans number three takes on number seven there
06:10uh arizona's unbeatable i don't expect them to lose to arizona state but i guess you never know
06:14then we have
06:15yu arkansas kentucky taking on arkansas in the coach cal game and
06:20then saint mary's gonzaga i mean that generally tends to be a good matchup regardless of when these two
06:25teams play uh gonzaga ranked sixth in the country so i would expect no different there
06:28yeah
06:30they're all great games so that interesting that michigan is a favorite in a road game
06:35against a team that's been on my two line so that's that's really an interesting number
06:40and and then the the darren peterson aj debonsa showdown
06:45in that mid-afternoon kansas byu game really exciting uh peter
06:50missed the most recent game he's got a little ankle problem to go with all the other issues
06:53he's had this year
06:55but bill self is saying he's going to play so you've got probably one and two in the nba
07:00draft facing off against each other and they're not just wanted to
07:03craig they're excellent
07:05players i mean they're going to be they have a chance each of them to be generational type players
07:10players in in the nba so really excited about getting a chance to see that
07:15great stuff mike as always we'll catch up again soon thanks again great to have rich waltz back in the house
07:20calling college football well that's come to an end so college basketball is now on the menu for rich so he
07:25can weigh in on a number of teams and talk some brackets and of course you can catch him this coming
07:30a spring in the world baseball classic calling games in houston as well we'll dive into that as well
07:35always great to catch up rich waltz here on the show rich it's too late to say great
07:40how are you i've missed i've missed the statue of limitations there but it's always great to see you
07:45no it's good to see you and um it's a busy time of year with uh
07:50you know football just ended basketball's in mid-season form and i'm i'm starting
07:55looking at rosters for the the world baseball classic uh for my region in houston and
08:00and for the whole event too which uh will be my fifth it's a it's a really cool event
08:05and it has gained a lot more uh traction and notoriety as
08:10it goes yeah every day we're getting news on that that wasn't the case even four years ago so
08:15yeah that's that's definitely the case here all right so let's do college hoops we'll try to get
08:18into some baseball at the end
08:20uh top seeds in the ncaa tournament as of now potentially duke
08:25arizona not in that order nebraska they were undefeated until the other day and then
08:30michigan those would be the top four but i i guess rich we could start off with the wildcats
08:35because they are undefeated at 21-0 they're 8-0 in the big 12.
08:40and not only are they winning but rich the majority of these games i'd have to go back and look
08:44if they
08:4521 wins i'm guessing like 15 16 blowouts so that's you know kind of telling the story for them this
08:50year they're just not playing competitive games well they played uh they you know
08:55sure the landscape is littered you could say that about michigan too as they you know when michigan
08:59went
09:00went through las vegas at that high level event they blew everybody out by 30 or 40 points
09:12you
09:05arizona's just so deep and and so good and we'll say this though one of the
09:17you
09:10most entertaining games uh that i've seen this year i wasn't there but i was watching
09:26you
09:15our good friend uh book shambi call it was uh the arizona byu game
09:20that was incredibly high level basketball and byu is uh
09:24uh
09:25certainly in the model of the the top four seeds uh you know the cbs sports
09:29sports
09:30and the aquatology breaks down not only the entire tournament field
09:32but also
09:40you
09:35gives you like here are the top you know top seeds and it seeds it all the way down and BYU
09:40is in there that I think the big 12 is really really good
09:45Tommy Lloyd is obviously a Gonzaga disciple from Mark Few's group
09:50and has done a wonderful job there they're deep they're good they're young too I mean
09:55two of their best players are really really young you know Burry's had the big block the other
10:00night Koa Pete's really good on that team as well so
10:05and and Lloyd has plenty of postseason experience as well they've it feels like now
10:10he's he's in this model of college basketball with
10:15nil uh and you know what they've always been able to do down there
10:20at Arizona they're really really good but uh I think the theme of just in looking at
10:25ecotology right now is power conferences man uh this
10:30this nil uh unlimited transfer
10:34you
10:35has kind of squeezed the mid-majors if you look at last year's sweet 16
10:40it was all power conferences there weren't any cinderellas is that good for the NCAA
10:45tournament I don't know I kind of liked it when Butler made a run or San Diego State
10:50got to the championship game that's kind of the fun but in terms of the top teams man
10:55uh Duke Arizona and and there's young players you know some really good friends
11:00and there's a lot of freshmen on both and including uh Cam Boozer on Duke who could be the
11:05you know the player of the year in the conference uh Dubonza of BYU
11:10BYU looked great the other night he looks I had him early in the year
11:15and it looked like he was still trying to figure out which end was up and and you
11:20could tell he was really talented now you watch him and you're like this this cat
11:25is as good as everybody says he is let's get to some other hoops here before
11:30we get to baseball we're gonna run out of time here so the two seeds uh out west UConn Iowa State
11:35Illinois Vanderbilt let's dive into the threes Luke from here let's move on and show
11:40Michigan State out west uh Gonzaga Purdue and Houston so
11:45let's go through those eight teams here Rich real quick UConn Iowa State Illinois Vanderbilt
11:48obviously Michigan State
11:50State's always a factor Gonzaga Purdue and Houston I'll stay with I'm gonna
11:55go with the two that I've seen in person and that's I've seen Gonzaga a lot and and
12:00I had Houston in New York in late December the one thing
12:05about Kelvin Sampson if you look at his track record she's just an incredible
12:10college basketball coach and certainly a hall of famer his teams just
12:15really get better they're never you know sometimes you'll see him in November
12:20and December and it's like boy these guys are so it's a tough team to play and then when you get to
12:25February and March that's when Houston really really gets better
12:30I like him a lot um Gonzaga is an interesting one to me because they're they're they're
12:35kind of still the Cinderella they operate you know budget wise and
12:40and schedule wise as a power conference team
12:45they're holding that seed right now without their two best players
12:50players on on the court Graham EK and Braden Huff the best front
12:55line in college basketball many people feel were those two guys they were both averaging 18 points
13:00a game Huff hurt his knee and he's out probably for another six weeks hopefully they
13:05get him back they're hoping by the end of February into their conference tournament into the NCAA
13:10EK had an ankle and he should be back shortly this is as good as
13:15as a team that mark few has had probably since his last final four
13:20I like him a lot they've collected a group of players in the portal
13:25that are really good but not headliners and they they've supplemented it
13:30with guys like EK and Huff that have been in the program for a while
13:35um you know Iowa State I'm a I'm a big believer in in those
13:40guys there that's just a hornet's nest to go to I didn't have I haven't had him this year I had
13:45a couple times last year and they have a relatively a roster intact
13:50that's what the other part of this sport right now is with a team like Houston
13:55or a team like Gonzaga or a team like Iowa State if you retain program guys who are really
14:00great players and get you know the next year and the next year
14:05that's different than the makeup of many of these teams which are just portal portal portal and you're trying
14:10to create chemistry on the fly and hope that by the time you get into March that you've got
14:15what you're you're looking for let's get a real quick rich one quick
14:20comment here on undefeated Miami not the Hurricanes the Red Hawks
14:2521 on the season and uh and it look they're gonna play in the tournament but how far can it
14:30make a team like this go I you know transparently haven't seen them play this season yeah I
14:35mean I've just you know on the periphery watch highlights and stuff I don't have any Mac
14:40games they may have to win their conference tournament to get
14:45here because they're 51 right now in in the net which is a crime
14:50the problem with it with the Miami of Ohio's and the St. Mary's and other teams like that right now
14:55when it comes down to March oftentimes people look at the the committee will say well look
15:00they and Miami of Ohio has not played any quad one games it's like they don't have any quad one wins
15:05that's because no one will schedule these teams you talk to coaches in this sphere
15:10of college basketball and all they do is say I tried to schedule these guys I tried to
15:15schedule these guys I tried to schedule these guys but they knew we're good and they wouldn't play us
15:20and so you know that argument that well they haven't played anybody there's a reason
15:25for a lot of these teams haven't played anybody is because the power conferences won't
15:30play them or at least won't play them unless it's at their place so
15:35let's just uh gotcha uh let me step off the soapbox a bit but for Miami of Ohio that's the team
15:40that's the kind of team you root for when on that first day of the NCAA tournament right
15:45yep uh rich we got a minute to go we'll have to bring you back to do more baseball but you can catch
15:50rich uh calling the baseball games for the world baseball classic rich we have a minute to go
15:55uh this is going to be the the most anticipated world baseball classic ever
16:00i think it'll be probably just as big as the world series people call me crazy but it will be i mean
16:04i the the moment
16:05the momentum for this is is nothing like we've ever seen they're talking about it every day
16:08yeah look and then
16:10in this short time i'll tell you i started in 2009 and
16:15watch the netherlands beat uh the dominican twice in the most unbelievable fashion
16:20uh and i've done this will be my fifth every year the the games are in
16:25incredible and now finally all the major leaguers want to play
16:30in it and they're climbing all over each other to get on that roster
16:33it's something that japan has always
16:35japan has always fielded the ichiro's the otanis and all of that they're all
16:40all-star team and probably japan and us in the final but that was pretty cool
16:45last year wasn't it
16:46it was thanks rich
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