00:00So I've been saying for weeks, I keep calling these conference tournaments
00:03dumb tournaments because they end up hurting some teams
00:06and they just don't even need to play them.
00:09When you get the bigger conferences like the Big Ten, the SEC, and ACC,
00:14don't even bother.
00:16Your record is your record.
00:18You don't need some team to go out and make this incredible run
00:22and win the conference tournament to get into the NCAA, right?
00:27Like if Northwestern goes on some crazy run here and wins the conference tournament
00:31they get in, great, hats off to you.
00:34But that's not what we're counting on.
00:35I just wish they would just do away with this conference tournament.
00:38It's not going to happen.
00:39It's my own pet peeve.
00:40It's my own little crusade that goes nowhere.
00:43You're 100% right.
00:44Do you remember the absurdity in the Major League Baseball All-Star game
00:48when you got to host the World Series if you won the All-Star game?
00:51Right, depending on which league won it, yes.
00:53Equal absurdity that the automatic bid goes to the conference tournament winner
00:58when you're doing something four games in four days that you haven't done
01:02all year long, and science tells you that the greater the sample size,
01:07the more accurate the result, right?
01:08So who is the best representative of the conference?
01:11I've talked to NCAA head coaches who have told me we would do anything
01:17to have the regular season.
01:19This is for ratings, and it's BS.
01:21Yeah, it's a TV event, and for the occasion that you might have
01:25a Cinderella story in your dumb conference, that that translates
01:28into the NCAA tournament, which, again, is another money grab.
01:30But I thought this was interesting last night.
01:33I saw this on the ESPN, where Auburn was playing Tennessee,
01:38and Tennessee's number 25 in the country.
01:40Auburn had a 10-point lead and blew it, and they lose the game.
01:44So now Auburn is 17-16 on the season.
01:48And yet their coach, Steve Pearl, has the temerity to come out and say
01:53that his team deserves to be in the NCAA tournament.
01:57Our guys have some of the best wins in college basketball,
02:00and this team deserves to be in the tournament, he said.
02:03It's a team that can win games in the tournament,
02:05and I think they've done enough, ultimately,
02:07to have their name called on Selection Sunday.
02:10Well, they haven't won games out of the tournament, so.
02:12I mean, you're 17-16.
02:15You're barely 500.
02:17You've lost 16 games, and you think you belong in a tournament.
02:22Now, as much as I rail against the crap conferences,
02:26and they're dumb tournaments that determine who gets in,
02:28and with Miami of Ohio losing in the Mid-American Conference,
02:32that now they may not make the tournament, despite being 31-1.
02:37They played nobody in their non-conference schedule.
02:42I mean nobody in their non-conference.
02:46So they have nothing to like to stand on.
02:48If you were going to bank your hopes on it, and again,
02:50this is another situation where if you're Miami of Ohio,
02:52why are you even taking place in the dumb tournament
02:55where you can get tripped up, lose your first game of the season,
02:58and then find yourself out of the tournament because, hey,
03:01the committee's only going to take one team from the MAAC Conference,
03:05from the Mid-American Conference.
03:06If the big brands would hate me if I was making the decisions
03:11on the NCAA Tournament Selection Committee,
03:13because to me the tournament is about the little guy.
03:16If you have double-digit losses, you're not in my tournament.
03:20I've already seen you lose 11 times, 12 times, 13 times.
03:26I'm out.
03:27I need to see whether the little guy can do it.
03:31You had your chance to show that to me.
03:33It's not about can you win a game in the tournament.
03:36You had plenty of opportunities, and you're a 500 basketball team.
03:40So welcome to the not-in-tournament known as the NIT.
03:44Enjoy.
03:44Right.
03:45And as things progress today, Michigan and Ohio State playing,
03:49and let's say Michigan loses to Ohio State.
03:52Does that mean that they don't secure the number one seed?
03:56I mean, it's possible.
03:58I suppose they wouldn't.
03:59And on the other side of that, let's say Michigan State goes out and wins,
04:02not only tonight's game against UCLA, but they win tomorrow,
04:05and then they win Sunday's championship game in the Big Ten,
04:07and they've improved the record from 25-6 to 28-6.
04:12And whereas now they're the eighth-ranked team in the country,
04:16and it looks like they're a number two seed by most metrics,
04:19do they all of a sudden become a number one seed
04:21because they made a run in the dumb conference?
04:24Which does College Basketball Society say matters more,
04:28the regular season title or the conference title?
04:31I think everybody says it's the regular season title.
04:33I think College Basketball Society says it's the tournament,
04:38which is ridiculous.
04:40The conference tournament.
04:41Yeah, the conference tournament, which is ridiculous.
04:43It is ridiculous.
04:44It is what it is, and as much as I rail on it,
04:48when I get home, will I watch some of this?
04:49Yes.
04:50Will I watch Michigan State tonight?
04:52Yeah, I'll watch Michigan State tonight.
04:55It feels like tonight's that night where it's just, I mean,
04:57I feel a little ashamed, like I'll be watching Michigan State.
05:00I'll probably watch some of the World Baseball Classic as well.
05:03United States and Canada, even though there's no real patriotic feelings
05:08about this going into tonight, maybe it'll change the second I flip the game on
05:13and see that crowd in Houston, and they're all excited about this game
05:17between United States and Canada.
05:19Maybe because it's U.S. and Canada, it'll spur something else inside,
05:22although I don't know why it's baseball.
05:24It's not hockey.
05:25But it's another thing that as the week has gone on,
05:28I feel like I'm going to be compelled to watch the game tonight,
05:31and it's another one of these games that, does it matter?
05:35No.
05:36Will Vest from the Tigers is going to come out of the bullpen, perhaps.
05:39Oh, boy.
05:41This is still spring training, you know?
05:43We're two weeks away from the baseball season starting.
05:46Quick vote.
05:46I nominate either of the first two days of March Madness
05:50as the national sports holiday.
05:52And when you consider some of the things we have holidays for,
05:55we should have a national sports holiday.
05:57The other candidates are opening day, the day after the Super Bowl.
06:01I nominate the first day of March Madness as the national sports holiday.
06:05Are you with me?
06:06No.
06:07Oh, come on.
06:07No.
06:08Ken, are you with me?
06:09You're asking the wrong person because I'm not the big tournament guy.
06:11Yeah, you're asking the wrong guy.
06:12Oh, come on.
06:12What about you?
06:13I love the tournament.
06:14I would love, yes, Thursday, Friday, yes.
06:17National sports holiday over opening day,
06:19over the day after the Super Bowl.
06:20I'd take the day after the Super Bowl for my...
06:22Well, that's just for recovery purposes, but...
06:25Yes.
06:26It's part of your question, though.
06:27I mean, it's all part of it.
06:28I want to enjoy the game and not...
06:30I mean, the thing is, regardless, with our jobs,
06:32we come in and we work the next day regardless, right?
06:33We have to work these.
06:34But as a fan, what would I take...
06:39Because I've become less and less enamored with college athletics
06:42with the way that things are going,
06:44so I care less about that.
06:45I've never been the big tournament guy anyway.
06:48So opening day versus the Super Bowl.
06:51It's probably opening day.
06:52I love opening day baseball.
06:53I didn't even get considered.
06:54I didn't even make the final round of your consideration
06:57to the opening day of March Madness.
06:59It wasn't even the final two for you.
07:01No.
07:02For me, it's...
07:03But I'm the exception.
07:05Six billion dollars in lost productivity.
07:07You don't think we need that day off?
07:09I'm in the minority.
07:10I just...
07:10It's not me.
07:11It's not for me.
07:12I got it.
07:13I watch it every year,
07:14and every year, once my team gets knocked out,
07:16I don't care.
07:17It's a bracket day.
07:18Everybody cares about the brackets.
07:20They're rooting for the bracket.
07:22And, okay, great.
07:24It feels like everybody pays attention to the first day
07:26and don't care as much about the second day,
07:28even though the second day is the same thing as the first day,
07:30because it's the other side of the bracket.
07:32I think the tournament gets worse as it goes along
07:34from an interesting standpoint.
07:35Agree?
07:37Because by the time you're in the Elite Eight,
07:39it's only the brands.
07:40I love the first couple days.
07:43I love when chaos happens.
07:45Yeah, but I think most people, Mark,
07:47they only like chaos early.
07:48Then they want the Blue Bloods.
07:49I'm talking most people.
07:50You're right.
07:50You're right.
07:51They don't want to see Lehigh and Mason,
07:53George Mason go that far.
07:54Maybe win a game.
07:55Maybe two.
07:56And that's it.
07:57And then they want the Kentuckys and Dukes
07:59and Michigan States and whatnot.
08:00It's sad.
08:01They say they love the Cinderella's.
08:02The ratings say otherwise.
08:03The ratings say they want the brands in there.
08:06By the way, a little NFL news here.
08:07Adam Schefter is saying the Titans are going to release
08:09cornerback Legereus Sneed.
08:11Fit?
08:11Is it a fit?
08:13What do you guys think?
08:14Anything's a fit at this point.
08:15They need a corner.
08:16Yes.
08:16Go.
08:17Yeah.
08:17I have no.
08:18Please.
08:19If they're going to release him,
08:21then that price just comes way the hell down, right?
08:24Yes.
08:25100%.
08:26I was on Legereus Sneed a year ago.
08:28A lot of people were.
08:30Yeah.
08:30Look, Terry and Arnold,
08:33we hope something comes of them.
08:34You know DJ Reed can play better
08:36than he showed you last year.
08:37You add Legereus Sneed,
08:39you have two players capable of solid cornerback play
08:42that come back healthy.
08:44Make it happen.
08:45Why do I have little faith that it will?
08:48Because we have yet to see him,
08:50you know,
08:50make one of those types of moves,
08:52but this is why you wait a little bit in free agency too.
08:55So I have always said,
08:56be patient with free agency
08:57because things happen.
08:59Players get released all the time
09:01or bargain prices come
09:02because players value themselves too high.
09:05And what used to be,
09:06they thought it was going to be a four-year,
09:08$80 million deal
09:09ends up being a one-year,
09:11$8 million deal, right?
09:13They just, okay, fine.
09:14I'll sign.
09:15You're not going to agree to a long-term deal.
09:16I'll give you the one-year prove-it deal.
09:18Let's go.
09:20100%.
09:20This is something that makes sense.
09:22It would be great
09:22if the Lions were to get on board with it.
09:24Look, they've got plenty of time
09:26in free agency to make something happen,
09:27but this is just another move
09:28that, yes,
09:29I'd love to see them go get Legereus Sneed
09:31or one of the edge rushes.
09:32We'll see what happens.
09:34Valenio Rego coming up next.
09:35Mark, thanks for your help.
09:36We appreciate it.
09:37This is 97.1.
09:38We'll see you next time.
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