00:00Obviously, Selection Sunday yesterday, you know, the big thing I was waiting to see,
00:04because, you know, Syracuse isn't in, so from a rooting standpoint,
00:07I got to find a team to back this year.
00:10And Miami of Ohio did make it.
00:11They did.
00:12Which I give the committee credit.
00:13It seems like there's not a lot of major arguments today.
00:16Not really.
00:17You know, typically there's always that one, two, maybe three or four teams.
00:19I think there's maybe one team for the most part.
00:20Maybe a Seton Hall.
00:21That's the biggest one.
00:2220 plus wins.
00:23Yeah.
00:23I think the problem for Seton Hall is that the Big East was not very strong this year.
00:27Yeah.
00:27Outside of St. John's in Connecticut.
00:29Here in New York.
00:30While people are thrilled that St. John's won the regular season Big East and they demolished UConn.
00:35Yep.
00:36They really blew them out after UConn did the same to them in the last regular season meeting up in
00:41Connecticut.
00:42Look, the complaint for St. John's fans, which is interesting to me, is that, A, they shouldn't be a five
00:49seed.
00:49They should be a four seed.
00:50They played great ball the last two months of the season.
00:53I think only two losses, you know, in the last 20 games they played.
00:58And they did win the regular season Big East title.
01:01They did win the Big East tournament, Madison Square Garden, on Saturday as well.
01:06Here's the weird thing about it.
01:07It kind of confirms what I've always said, which is that as fans, we just want the easiest possible road
01:14to a championship.
01:16Yeah.
01:16Well, St. John's isn't getting that.
01:18Now there's UConn, by the way.
01:20And UConn, I think, even though they lost two or three to St. John's this year, UConn was the better
01:25team all year.
01:26Yes.
01:27Now you can argue they played each other three times.
01:30St. John's beat them two out of three.
01:31Both of those wins were at the Garden.
01:33The one loss, which was that second half where they went 17 and a half minutes without scoring a single
01:37bucket, as you recall, because we talked about it here.
01:40But that's not even the argument.
01:41The argument is, historically, the committee has always done favors for Duke, that whenever Duke was the number one seed,
01:48it seemed like they were always the number one of all the number ones.
01:51And when you looked at their path, even if you went by seeding to a Final Four, they always kind
01:57of greased the wheels for a team like Duke.
01:59Now, Rick Pitino's enjoyed that as well in his previous stops along the way, but not this year.
02:05But it does prove what I've always said, which is, as fans, we just want the easiest road possible.
02:12And when you look at the St. John's draw, and yes, you can argue they should be a four seed,
02:18not a five seed.
02:19But even Rick Pitino said, somewhat tongue-in-cheek, I thought we'd be a five seed anyway.
02:24And that's what you got.
02:25But sending them all out west and looking at the four or five Blue Bloods or the favorite teams in
02:33that conference, in that section, pardon me, at west, it ain't going to be easy.
02:40But I'd say whoever gets out of the west, that's going to be the team to beat.
02:44Because the road to a Final Four, whether it's a three-seated Michigan State, whether it's Duke, whether it's UConn,
02:53whether it's Kansas and Louisville, whether it's St. John's, that really is a who's who.
03:00And when you compare it to the other brackets, look, it's not easy for anybody, but that is the most
03:07difficult bracket.
03:08Absolutely.
03:08I mean, you mentioned you have Duke, you have St. John's, you have Kansas, you have Louisville.
03:13Now, Kansas and Louisville haven't been great this year.
03:16Right, but I'm just talking about Blue Blood names.
03:17They're like seven seeds, eight seeds.
03:18Right, but Blue Blood names, you're talking about all of those guys, plus UCLA and UConn, all in the same
03:23bracket.
03:24That's the toughest one.
03:26Now, UCLA lost its best player, maybe he comes back, Denton, you know, in time off for Thursday, Friday.
03:31Dukes without their point guard.
03:33So, yeah, so there are teams that are banged up, but they went out of their way not to do
03:37St. John's or Connecticut for that matter.
03:40Like, I know St. John's fans are bitching about the five seed and being sent out west.
03:45UConn's got a bigger gripe than you do, because UConn should be viewed as the best of the threes.
03:52Uh-huh.
03:52And they got sent to, you know, this, you know, bracket of death.
03:56Yeah.
03:56Which is what a lot of people are now calling it.
03:59So, I'm glad the tournament's here.
04:00It is a perfect, perfect event.
04:02And let's hope that we don't mess it up by having, you know, dumb takes like St. John's got screwed.
04:08If you're that good, go win.
04:10Go win.
04:11Ed, let's get to your first Final Four in 30 years.
04:14Let's say they were a four and Kansas moved to the five line, because you're not going to move Arkansas,
04:20because they just won the SEC.
04:21They won their conference.
04:22So, they're not going to be a five once they win the conference out there, whether you like it or
04:25not.
04:25They just won the SEC.
04:27What difference does it actually make?
04:29Like, it's not a home game, so it'd still be in the second round, Kansas versus St. John's.
04:34Let's go play basketball.
04:35Yeah, by the way, St. John's is better than Kansas this year.
04:37They should beat Kansas.
04:38They should.
04:38St. John's biggest problem is that they have nights when they just can't shoot the ball.
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