00:00With the best sports weekend of the year all wrapped up, the NCAA tournament field has now been cut from
00:0468 to 16.
00:06We have three of the four one-seeds remaining and only one double-digit seed surviving.
00:11I'm joined by the creator of the Trapezoid of Excellence, host of the Blue-Blooded podcast,
00:16and one of the best minds in college hoops, Ryan Hammer, is here to break it all down and preview
00:20the Sweet 16.
00:21Thanks for coming on, Ryan.
00:23I appreciate you for having me, for sure. I'm excited.
00:26So, Ryan, I want to get started. We're going to keep it silly here to get started.
00:29You have one of the great names. Hammer is an unbelievable last name.
00:33Did you have a nickname growing up, or is it such a good last name that you just go Hammer?
00:39It wasn't my choice, obviously, but playing sports is just the last name.
00:44A lot of people go by last names anyway, but people didn't want to overcomplicate it.
00:49Just one of those names. You don't need a nickname when you get the last name Hammer.
00:53I had to get that out of the way, or else I would have been distracted the entire time.
00:57But we'll get into hoops now. What's the storyline, the biggest storyline for you that came out of the first
01:02weekend?
01:04It's definitely the Big Ten.
01:05Not just in teams like Nebraska and Iowa, but Michigan State, Michigan, Purdue, etc., taking care of business.
01:11Illinois also having a record six Big Ten teams in the Sweet 16.
01:16They've had a couple of Final Four teams back in 2005 and 2000 when Michigan State got to a national
01:21championship,
01:21and that's the last time the Big Ten cut nets, and this is the best setup that the Big Ten
01:26has ever been
01:27to win a national championship, and they've been lacking in that.
01:29So it'd be a massive year for them.
01:31Obviously, Nebraska-Iowa rivalry is going to be awesome, and one of them is going to be guaranteed
01:35to play in the Elite Eight, maybe against Illinois, so definitely the Big Ten.
01:39Is there a team that played its way into the title contender conversation for you last weekend?
01:46I don't know if I would say that.
01:48I think it's still, like I saw six teams being able to do it.
01:51I think it's still the same six, maybe even down to five if anything else,
01:55and I think those top teams have kind of been dominating for the most part.
01:58Is Michigan State or Illinois one of those teams?
02:01Because for me, those would be the teams I think that, but were they already in your original six?
02:05They weren't, actually.
02:06I still have doubts that they can win.
02:10I just have doubts that they can win Illinois' defense, Michigan State opposite the offensive consistency.
02:15I mean, if they get to a Final Four, anything can happen at that point,
02:18so maybe it is stupid to discredit both of them from being able to do that,
02:21but I'd say they're a Tier 2 or even 3 contender.
02:24Before the tournament, I talked with Jake Marsh, and we agreed this was a legacy tournament for March Madness.
02:29Coming off the chalk of last year, do you think there was enough upsets in the first weekend,
02:34or has March Madness changed as we know it?
02:38I mean, it's changed, and it is changing.
02:40I think it's always going to be changing.
02:42I just think that the decade before the last couple of years, we've been so spoiled with upsets.
02:46We had three 15 seeds go to the Sweet 16, where the only time it ever happened before that was
02:52one time in 2013.
02:53We had them back-to-back-to-back years.
02:55One of them, St. Peter's, went to the Elite Eight.
02:57We had the first two ever 16 seeds to win a game, and I think it was 2018 and 2023.
03:03It's never happened before.
03:04And you have Oakland and all these crazy things going on.
03:07So I think we were just spoiled and used to the crazy, crazy upsets, where now we don't get a
03:12million of them,
03:13and we're kind of just, we think it's all over.
03:15That being said, the sport has changed a little bit.
03:17But we were also getting the best possible round of 32 and on, really, in Sweet 16 matchups possible,
03:23because of that.
03:24Nebraska, Vanderbilt, those two types of teams would never be able to survive and be the teams they are in
03:29the past landscape of the sport.
03:31But because of the current landscape, they're able to be awesome.
03:33And Iowa beat Florida also, and you're still seeing some upsets.
03:36So I think it's been great.
03:38Right.
03:38It kind of feels like we've traded in those upsets on the first weekend for now better upgrade for this
03:44weekend.
03:44The Sweet 16 and the Elite Eights are now going to be great, where you're going to get your powerhouses,
03:48you're going to get your elite coaches that we have this year.
03:50So maybe down the line we're going to get a better tournament,
03:54whereas people really like the upsets to start it.
03:56But I want to move on now to preview some Sweet 16 matchups here.
04:00Let's start in New York City.
04:02Let's start with St. John's.
04:04What do they need to do to knock off Duke?
04:07I mean, their frontcourt dominance needs to be better than it's ever been.
04:11The guards need to be on for sure.
04:12But that's the story of every St. John's game, it feels like, for both of those sides.
04:17I think their frontcourt can't struggle.
04:19They can't get into foul trouble.
04:20They can't lapse because Duke's frontcourt is so, so good, just as good, maybe, if not better.
04:26But they're comparable to each other.
04:27And the guards can't get shut down.
04:30The games are not always easy for the St. John's guards.
04:32But if they're completely off, it's going to be a long night for them.
04:35How important would Caleb Foster returning to the lineup be for Duke?
04:39It'd be great.
04:40It's another piece, another facilitator, another vet on the floor.
04:43It's obviously a huge positive, another guy that can control the ball.
04:46And Caden can't do it by himself, especially as the opponents get better.
04:50What's the stylistic matchup you're most intrigued to watch?
04:54I'd say in this game specifically or in general?
04:56In general.
04:58I'd say Illinois-Houston.
04:59I think Illinois is a team that relies so heavily on offense, best in the country right now.
05:03And Houston, maybe not by the analytics, but realistically,
05:06is probably still the most menacing and best defense in the country.
05:09So one of them is going to have to give.
05:11That Wagler-Flemings matchup, that's a great matchup.
05:14Two of the best freshman guards in the country going at it against each other.
05:17I don't know about that.
05:18That Houston defense is not the same that we've seen the last few years.
05:23But the offense is a lot better, it feels like.
05:26So, yeah, I think that is an interesting one to see two pretty good offenses going at it.
05:32What's your favorite bet, Ryan, for the Sweet 16?
05:37I'm not much of a betting man, but I think I looked at the odds before anyway,
05:41and I saw Arizona's even to get to the Final Four, give or take somewhere around that.
05:44I like those odds a lot.
05:46I like their chance.
05:47I think they have the best path of any team, maybe next to Michigan,
05:50but different types of odds you're looking at there.
05:52So I like Arizona to get to Indy next week, finally.
05:55Just to backpedal a little bit now,
05:57what was the moment from the first weekend that made you get off your couch
06:01and shout or whatever sort of reaction?
06:04What was the reaction now that you're going to look at
06:06and remember from the first weekend?
06:08Listen, if you go to any of my video profiles, social media, Instagram, TikTok,
06:13you'll see I was off my couch a lot, and I was getting up for many different moments.
06:16But, I mean, the Vanderbilt-Nabrowski ending, the Tyler-Tanner shot,
06:20I was already standing because it was so crazy.
06:22But I couldn't believe that happened.
06:24The ball was literally halfway beneath the rim and inside of the rim.
06:29You could count a point and a half for a shot.
06:32It was crazy.
06:32I couldn't believe it.
06:33That Santa Clara-Kentucky one, too, back in four, what,
06:36three buckets in the last 15 seconds of that game?
06:39That was a great finish.
06:41And I've got to end it here, Ryan, selfishly.
06:44I'm a Syracuse guy, so now that I've got you on here,
06:47is Jerry McMare the right guy for Cuse to get us back on track here?
06:50What do you think about the hire?
06:52I think he definitely can be.
06:54I think time will tell with that one.
06:56I wanted them to go outside of the Syracuse Jim Boeheim circle to get someone.
06:59But this is also different because Red Autry was one of the inner circle hires
07:03where Jerry McNamara is a good coach first, and then he's a Syracuse guy.
07:07So I think everything kind of works out well.
07:09I hope he does great.
07:10He's a good coach.
07:11He's earned this, and he deserves this job.
07:13So only time will tell, but I like him.
07:15Are you surprised they weren't able to reel in Josh Schertz or Hodgson there,
07:19the two of the bigger out-of-the-family guys?
07:23A little bit on Hodgson because he's from Buffalo, but it was an NIL money play.
07:28He has more resources and more ability at Providence,
07:30so that's where he wanted to go.
07:31And I think Schertz is just very selective, and he can be with the quality he's kind of
07:35put out at Indiana State and St. Louis.
07:37He's just going to be really selective on where he goes if he leaves St. Louis at all.
07:41Ryan, thank you for taking the time.
07:42Hopefully we get another good weekend of college hoops here.
07:45Should be a fun one.
07:46A lot of great matchups.
07:48For sure, man.
07:48Thanks for having me.
Comments