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00:00The tournament, the Sweet 16, is ready to rock and roll tomorrow,
00:03and nobody better in the business, nobody better in the game
00:05than my guys over at Field of 68.
00:08Oh, goody, Jeff Goodman and my man Rob Doster.
00:12Rob, how you doing, man?
00:14Listen, Clint, I'm doing great, but I got a question.
00:17Things are starting to connect for me.
00:19You know, the first time you guys had me on is after Kansas beats Houston
00:24the next morning.
00:25Ron's like, hey, come on, come on the show.
00:27It's great to have you back.
00:28And then, yeah, Sweet 16's in town.
00:31He asked me to come on the show, but all of a sudden, Bill Self,
00:35people talk about him retiring.
00:36Ron's nowhere to be shown.
00:37What's going on?
00:38I can connect these dots, Clint.
00:41I'm glad you figured out.
00:42I'm glad you brought that up because I was going to tee you up for it, man.
00:45You got my man figured out now.
00:46You got him figured out now.
00:48I'll be honest.
00:49I don't know if it's the fact that they got nixed out of the tournament
00:54or the coach is talking about retiring or maybe that old root canal he's got.
00:57He sent us an old droopy face picture from the dentist's office.
01:01So, he's got a legitimate excuse.
01:02He's got proof today.
01:04So, we're going to let him slide.
01:06But you got him figured out.
01:07You got him pegged.
01:07No question about it.
01:09He planned this.
01:10He knew it was happening.
01:12Hey, the minute that Kansas game went south, he said, oh, hell, go ahead.
01:15Wednesday will work.
01:16Hey, Doc, Wednesday will work.
01:18Hey, man, let's – first of all, where are you at, man?
01:20I know with Field of 68, I know you guys now, I think this year,
01:23y'all are kind of spreading out and all going different directions
01:26and being on location when you're reporting.
01:28So, where is Rob Doster going to be for this Sweet 16?
01:32I'm actually about to get in my car and drive down to D.C.
01:35So, we're going to do the East Regional where you've got Rick Pitino
01:39and you've got Dan Hurley and you've got Tom Izzo and you've got John Shire
01:42and you've got Duke and St. John's and UConn and Michigan State.
01:45I think that there's a lot of good basketball that's going to get played this week.
01:49I think the most interesting storylines and maybe the biggest names
01:52are going to be down there in D.C.
01:53So, we didn't plan that.
01:55It just kind of worked out that way.
01:56But we'll be down there.
01:57How about this, the bar that I worked at 20 years ago
02:01when I first got in this business,
02:03that is where we're going to be doing some of our live streams.
02:05So, it's still in existence.
02:07They trust me enough to lead me up there next to a whole rack full of Coles,
02:12Coors lights and, you know, some of the brown stuff.
02:15So, we'll see if we can get through the whole thing.
02:17But, yeah, we'll be down there in D.C.
02:19That brown stuff, that dirty water, boy.
02:20That's OT meal and behind the glass over here.
02:23Give him two fingers, baby.
02:24Give him two fingers.
02:25Hey, let's start.
02:27You are talking to the beautiful city of Houston.
02:29So, let's start.
02:30We'll get to that bracket up there in D.C.
02:32You're talking about part of the bracket up there.
02:33But, let's start with that Illinois-Houston game, man,
02:37and just your overall thoughts of how that goes down,
02:41what it looks like, and what we can expect.
02:44I think it's a really interesting contrast in styles, right?
02:47Like, you have a Houston team who is all about defense,
02:52all about getting on the offensive glass,
02:54all about forcing turnovers,
02:56all about playing as physical of a man-to-man defense as you can.
03:00And, you know, they put two on the ball every time there's a ball screen.
03:02They double the post every second time the ball goes in there.
03:05And then you go up against this Illinois team,
03:07who's the best offense in college basketball.
03:09But the way that they do it is they spread you out.
03:12They put seven-footers behind a three-point line.
03:15They do it.
03:16Everything they run is basically either Keaton Wagler or Kylin Boswell on the ball screen.
03:19They try to get Stoyakovich to get to the rim because of all the space.
03:22And then what happens is if you put two on the ball,
03:25their whole game plan is like we're going to swing it quick
03:27and we're going to make the right pass
03:28and we're going to find somebody that's open
03:29because if you have two on one side over here,
03:31we can pass it quicker and get an open three.
03:33Then you can recover to our shooters.
03:35So the contrast there is going to be a lot of fun to watch.
03:40I will say, I think I told you this last time,
03:42chestnut checkers, that's what Kelvin Sampson is doing.
03:44He got Rice to host these tournament games
03:47so he can play in Toyota Center in the home game for him,
03:51which I'll be very curious to see what this crowd looks like, right?
03:56Because I think there's going to be a lot of red in the building tonight,
03:59but I think that red is going to be from the state of Nebraska
04:02as opposed to the city of Houston.
04:05I think there's going to be a lot of Nebraska fans.
04:06Treat them well, man.
04:07They show up and they show out,
04:09and especially at the bars and restaurants,
04:11they'll be nice because they'll be spending some money for you.
04:13Got to be perfectly honest, though.
04:14I don't feel that way because there's an Airbnb across the hallway from me
04:17and one of the people that was there,
04:19and I believe that they went to either Nebraska or Iowa,
04:21or I just decided to open up my door and take a step into my domicile
04:24just yesterday.
04:25So I'm not feeling so great about these out-of-towners.
04:29Friendly folks up in the aisle.
04:30Yeah, a little too friendly.
04:31No, no, you can't sit on my couch.
04:33Get the hell out of here.
04:35Now, as far as the Cougs go,
04:37have they been definitively the best team in the tournament to this point?
04:41And what are the odds of them keeping this up?
04:44Because what you have been seeing from everybody,
04:46whether it's Sharp or Hoosan or underneath guys getting 18 rebounds in a game,
04:51man, it's been really impressive to open up.
04:54Yeah, look, they are – when they get hot,
04:58they can just beat the brakes off of you, right?
05:00Like, that's just kind of how this team is built.
05:02They have a couple of shooters on the perimeter,
05:05especially Kingston Fleming, that when they get going, it lights out.
05:10And I think the big thing –
05:12Christine Akin is one of my favorite stories of basketball this year, by the way.
05:15Just the way that he – when he got to Houston,
05:18he had a reputation of kind of being like one of these –
05:20I don't want to say soft bigs, but he was like – he was a jump shooter, right?
05:23He didn't want to get in the mud and the paint.
05:26He didn't want to get physical.
05:27He didn't want to get on the glass.
05:28And part of the reason that he picked Houston
05:29is because he knew Kelvin Sampson was not going to stand for that.
05:33And so he got there, and now he's one of the better rebounders in this draft class.
05:37He's one of the better rebounders in the freshman class.
05:39And he's made himself quite a bit of money
05:41whenever he decides to go to the NBA as a result of it.
05:44And what they did to Bucky Ball in Texas A&M
05:48was something that I think is illegal in 42 states.
05:53And there's a level of toughness and physicality
05:57that you have to bring if you're going to be able to beat Houston.
06:00And frankly, I think if you just look at the matchup on paper,
06:04I like Illinois with that matchup on paper to be able to beat Houston.
06:08But the games aren't played on paper, man.
06:10Like, you still got to go out there,
06:11and you got to beat a team that's full of a bunch of dogs.
06:16And that's going to be the fascinating part about me.
06:18Like, there's a level of toughness and physicality that Houston brings
06:21that nobody else can replicate in the sport of college basketball.
06:24Can you match it?
06:25I tell you, it's powerful.
06:26What about up top in that bracket right there?
06:28Iowa, Nebraska.
06:29Let's say these Cougs, they handle their business against Illinois.
06:32What's that next game going to look like?
06:36Shout-out to my guy, John Martin, one of the hosts of the PLC.
06:39He said this is the least intriguing game
06:41because he wouldn't even watch that if it was a 6-30 tip
06:44on the Big Ten Network in January.
06:46And now he's got it in the Sweet 16.
06:48Look, the run that Nebraska has been on,
06:52I'm kind of rooting for that, man.
06:54Like, I didn't realize this.
06:56Fred Hoiberg's grandfather was the head coach at Nebraska
06:59like 50 or 60 years ago.
07:02And his son is now one of the best players on their roster.
07:06And this is the first time that they've made it to a Sweet 16.
07:09The first time they won a game in a tournament this year.
07:11And to see him make the run that they won
07:12with the family environment that they had in a year
07:15where coming in, everybody thought that he was going to get fired.
07:18Like, this was the end of it for Fred Hoiberg.
07:20And to see them be able to have the success
07:22and to see the way the fans showed up in that.
07:24But I don't know if you guys saw the Vanderbilt-Nebraska game
07:27on Saturday night, but that was a home game.
07:29That looked like it was played in Lincoln, but it wasn't.
07:32It was played in Oklahoma City.
07:33And I know you guys know this, but there's a lot of people
07:35where I'm from on the East Coast that don't realize
07:37that to get from Nebraska to Oklahoma City,
07:40you have to go through an entire state.
07:43You have to drive through the entirety of Kansas
07:45to be able to get there.
07:47And they showed up.
07:47So I bet they didn't even go home.
07:49I bet they went from Oklahoma City and said,
07:51we're going to keep going south.
07:53They're heading right down to Houston.
07:54They're going to have hotel rooms because that's a big old city.
07:56And we're going to find a way to be able to make our presence known down there.
08:00And, yeah, I'm excited to see what that environment is going to look like
08:05for that game because you know that those fans are going to show up.
08:07They're hungry.
08:08They put $15,000 in an arena for women's volleyball.
08:11Like, if it has anything to do with Nebraska, those guys are showing up.
08:15Let's keep it in Texas for a moment.
08:18I texted one of my friends after their round one win.
08:22Congrats.
08:23He's a Texas alum.
08:24He didn't watch the game.
08:26Somehow they rally against the Zags as well.
08:28And they're on to the sweet 16.
08:31You take a look at the sports books out there,
08:34and they have the most fun odds for just about everything.
08:38Plus 260 to make it to the elite.
08:408, 25 to 1 to make it to the final.
08:434, 120 to 1 to make it to the final.
08:47Plus 300 to 1 to actually win the whole damn thing.
08:51Am I setting my money on fire if I am gambling on the Texas Longhorns
08:55to advance and to advance and to advance some more?
08:59I feel like you would have been setting your money on fire
09:01to bet on them to get to the sweet 16.
09:03So, at this point, you're kind of playing with house money.
09:07I don't love this matchup for them because I think that the strength
09:11that they've had in these first two games has been their big guy,
09:13that might as well for Titus.
09:15And Purdue's got a big fella inside that you're not going to out-bully
09:18and you're not going to out-physical.
09:20But if you want me to try to talk you into it, right,
09:23and give you a reason to believe,
09:25the first reason is that they have the length and the athleticism
09:29to really bother Braden Smith.
09:31Like, Braden Smith is one of the best point guards we've seen
09:32in college basketball in the generation.
09:34But he's like 5'9 and 160 pounds.
09:37And when they played on Sunday, he was 3-for-12 with eight turnovers.
09:44They did not win that game because of Braden Smith.
09:46They won that game because a supportive cast, Fletcher Lawyer,
09:50C.J. Cox, showed up and made a whole bunch of really big shots.
09:52So, if you want to talk yourself into Texas being able to beat Purdue,
09:57it's that they have the length to bother Braden Smith,
09:59and that you can't bet on those role players to do that every single night.
10:03Now, I don't think anyone's getting by Arizona.
10:05I just don't.
10:07I don't think Arkansas, Clint.
10:08There you go.
10:09There you go, Rob.
10:11I don't see them getting past it.
10:12I don't see Arizona losing to Arkansas.
10:15But if someone is going to beat them, like if the basketball gods are up there
10:19and they're writing a script for the movie of the 2026 NCAA tournament,
10:23there's not much that is more fitting than Sean Miller beating Purdue
10:26and getting to the Elite Eight and beating Arizona to send Tommy Lloyd home
10:31in the round that the only place Sean Miller could get to
10:35when he was coaching Arizona was the Elite Eight.
10:37And after he got fired by Arizona for some of the nonsense that happened there,
10:41and I don't know if it was the right thing to do to fire him,
10:44to see him end their season in the Elite Eight as an 11 seed would be
10:49the kind of thing that storybooks would be made out of.
10:51But, you know, I'm not wanting to buy into that too much.
10:55But we all know Arkansas is winning the national championship anyway, right?
10:58So you might as well just bet on that.
10:59Hey, if you must be looking at my bracket, Chief,
11:01you must be looking dead at my bracket.
11:03Hey, here's the deal.
11:04You want to talk about a storybook?
11:05I just realized this, by the way.
11:08Arkansas beating Arizona and Texas beating Purdue,
11:11and you getting an Arkansas-Texas, one of the, I would say,
11:16old Big 12 rivalries.
11:18Don't mean much to you.
11:19Don't mean much to the rest of the country.
11:20But to those two fan bases, that Elite Eight matchup would be storybook.
11:26Not that damn, whatever you said, Texas-Arizona.
11:29To hell with that old boy.
11:31Hey, all right, so I'm guessing you like Arizona.
11:33Obviously, you like Purdue there.
11:35Let's jump over.
11:35You've got four games left that we haven't discussed.
11:37Let's knock those out, Rob.
11:38Duke, St. John's, and Michigan State-UConn in D.C.,
11:41where you're going to be.
11:42What's that look like for you?
11:42It's going to be awesome.
11:43Let's start with Michigan State-UConn.
11:45You know I'm a UConn fan,
11:46and I feel really good about the way that this matchup plays out.
11:50I think Silas Demery, who, I don't know how he's playing.
11:52Like, he's got an ankle injury that should keep him out for five or six weeks,
11:55and he played after eight days.
11:57I like what he can do defensively against Jeremy Fears.
11:59If you cut off the head of the snake there,
12:01Michigan State can't really do anything offensively.
12:04And then I think UConn wins the matchup at the forward.
12:06Michigan State's got to do with a Jackson Kohler,
12:08who's like a throwback power forward, right?
12:12Like, he is a big man.
12:13And there, UConn's going to be running Alice Caravan off the screen
12:16after screen after screen.
12:17I don't know if he can chase him.
12:18Downside is, every single time this year where I've felt good about UConn in a matchup,
12:22they've lost.
12:23Whenever I feel like they're going to get smoked, they end up winning.
12:27So, you probably want to bet on Michigan State in that game.
12:29And then Duke-St. John's is the most fascinating game of the Sweet 16 to me.
12:34I'm very curious to see what St. John's is going to do
12:38to match up the size that Duke has.
12:40Like, they got big Pat Gong on his back.
12:43I said this last time.
12:45I think we talked about this, Clint.
12:46Zuby Edgefour is the perfect matchup to slow down Cam Boozer.
12:50But the problem is Zuby plays the five.
12:51He can't play the four.
12:53You've got an even bigger dude in the big pad that's going to be at the five.
12:55So, I think that just the size and the physicality of Duke's front line
12:59is going to be too much for St. John's in the end.
13:01But that means I'm picking against Rick Pitino, who, for my money,
13:05is the best coach that I've seen in college basketball since I've been doing this.
13:10I think he's the – I would go so far as to say he's the greatest of this generation.
13:14That includes Coach K.
13:15They all do respect to him.
13:16So, that's one – man, I cannot wait to see those two games in the East on Friday night.
13:23You know, I was going to ask you a question about how awesome a hire it was
13:27for Jerry McNamara at Syracuse.
13:29And then I heard you mention that disgusting UConn fandom.
13:32So, I'll ask you this question.
13:35Between all the coaches who are known for yelling in that Eastern bracket where you will be,
13:41if you could be yelled at by one of these three coaches, who would you least like to be yelled
13:47at by?
13:48Is it Rick Pitino?
13:49Is it Tom Izzo?
13:50Is it Dan Hurley?
13:52So, I'll break it down like this.
13:54Like, when Tom Izzo is yelling at you, it's just going to make you feel bad.
13:57Like, you know how when you were growing up and your parents were like, I'm not mad at you.
14:02I'm just disappointed in you.
14:03Like, that's what getting yelled at by Tom Izzo feels like.
14:06With Hurley, that's the one where you're getting yelled at, but it's almost like this dude is so ridiculous.
14:12I got to try not to laugh while he's screaming at me because he's completely lewd as in mind.
14:17The Rick Pitino one is terrifying to me because I don't know what kind of connections that guy has.
14:21Like, he could be screaming at you, and then there might be someone waiting out in the park a lot
14:25for you,
14:25and you may never be seen again.
14:27That's anti-Italy discrimination.
14:30That'd be the most – that'd be the scariest one for me is Rick Pitino because that'd be –
14:36hey, look, he might, man.
14:37He might.
14:38I'm just saying.
14:39I'm not saying, but I'm just saying.
14:41Hey, Rob, knock out these last two games, Michigan-Alabama and Tennessee-Iowa State.
14:45Your thoughts on each one of those games, and then we'll get you up out of here, brother.
14:50I just – I can't see Alabama hanging with Michigan here.
14:53I just – I can't.
14:54They don't have enough size.
14:55They don't have enough physicality.
14:56Like, Michigan is – they're enormous, man.
14:59They're so big.
15:00I can't see Alabama competing with them.
15:03I think that one ends up being like a 20-point game.
15:04I like Iowa State, even without Joshua Jefferson.
15:08And it's because their guards are just so good, man.
15:11And T.J.
15:12The coach has done such an incredible job of building a culture there.
15:17It doesn't matter who they lose, right?
15:19Every year since he's gotten there, they've lost someone important, either in the portal
15:24or to graduation.
15:26It's like, I don't know how they – they're not bringing anybody in.
15:28How did they replace this guy?
15:29It's just next man up.
15:31So, I feel really good about them being able to win.
15:34Their backcourt is just so physical and so good defensively.
15:37I don't know how Tennessee is going to be able to run offense.
15:39So, I like Iowa State.
15:40I like chalk in that region.
15:41Give me the one of the two C2 games.
15:43Rob Doster, field of 68, on the drive right here on Houston Sports Leader.
15:47Before we get you out of here, Rob, we got a parlay for the people.
15:50The way this goes down is we put our money up.
15:53We got a 14 parlay in the tourney going.
15:55We win.
15:56We open the tab at a local establishment here for our listeners to come through
16:00and have a pop with us, you see.
16:02And here's the parlay for the people.
16:04I want your honest opinion.
16:06It's four games.
16:07We got Duke minus six and a half.
16:09We got Arkansas plus eight.
16:11We got Iowa plus two and Michigan minus ten.
16:14How do you feel about that?
16:16The only one I don't feel great about is Duke St. John's
16:19because I think that six and a half feels like a lot of points.
16:22I'm on all the other games with you, though.
16:24My man.
16:25My man.
16:25And I wouldn't dare say not to bet on Arkansas on this show.
16:30Not today.
16:30You're damn right.
16:31That'd be disrespectful.
16:32We're all hogs.
16:33We're all hogs on Thursday, Clint.
16:35We're all hogs on Thursday.
16:37Pig!
16:38Sui!
16:38You're damn right, Rob.
16:39You're damn right.
16:40Y'all know I love Arkansas.
16:41Me too, Bryce.
16:42Me too, brother.
16:43Hey, Rob Dosterman, we greatly appreciate you joining us all the time.
16:47But definitely today, the day before they tipped the Sweet 16, man.
16:50Y'all be safe out there traveling, man.
16:53Have a good time.
16:53Thanks, Rob.
16:54And we'll circle back, my brother.
16:56Tell Ron to stop ducking me.
16:58I will.
16:59I'll definitely tell him, man.
17:01Again, y'all be safe.
17:02Y'all be safe out there.
17:03Tell Goody I said to quit lying, and he better start calling them damn hogs, too.
17:07All right?
17:07All right.
17:07All right.
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