00:00We're now at Elite Eight. Who do you like so far and what you've seen so far as we're now
00:04in the Elite Eight?
00:07Yeah, I mean, how can you not just look at Arizona and just say, I mean, this team looks incredible.
00:11And to an extent, you know, I do think maybe that can play into almost an overinflated market in terms
00:18of the spreads.
00:19Because, you know, spreads exist for a reason.
00:21Just because the team is rolling doesn't mean they can't get hit with a crooked number here and there.
00:25At the same time, the way that Purdue is as a two seed, just the map painter kind of the
00:31way that they performed in a tournament in spots rather than those kind of big time upsets.
00:35They have gone deep in this thing multiple times over the years recently.
00:39I do feel like the Purdue credit is helping out this Arizona line today.
00:44And so I look at Arizona and I think they're going to lay that number in cover.
00:47But I think the other two, the other team that a lot of people really are kind of giving the
00:51proper attention to.
00:52I don't want to say the Hawkeyes, the team that actually playing, it's Illinois.
00:56I mean, they're as physical as anybody.
00:58They just punked Houston.
01:00That does not happen usually when you're talking about an offensive physical style game to win a rock fight and
01:06dominate it.
01:07And we haven't even seen Keaton Wagler in terms of, you know, his upside as a score in this tournament
01:13yet.
01:13That's playing a lot of averages.
01:15It's bound to happen.
01:16And I think Illinois can win in a lot of different ways if they get that chance.
01:20All right, Ollie Frazier, you missed it here.
01:23UConn and Duke here, you know, here we go.
01:26Talk about a rock fight here, man.
01:28I can't wait to see this bad puppy.
01:30Three minutes left in that game against St. John's.
01:33St. John's was up in that ball game, but Duke and Boozer took care of business.
01:38They got it done.
01:39And, you know, people are telling me here, Rob, that UConn's not the same team that won that back-to
01:43-back national championship a couple years back.
01:45But here they are again, Elite Eight.
01:47What do you like here?
01:50Yeah, it's going to be a fun matchup because the second that Cam Boozer gets an and-one kind of
01:54tentative, softer foul, Hurley's going to lose his mind.
01:58And I'm so here for it because I love the spectacle.
02:02Obviously, you have two great coaches or two just great programs and brands.
02:07And, heck, Shire might be on his way to being a great coach as well.
02:10But you have that kind of blue blood dynamic at play with UConn-Duke.
02:14And, ultimately, I do think that UConn getting this number, it almost feels like too high for a reason.
02:22Maybe I'm going to fall into this trap.
02:23But I think UConn's been the most impressive, more impressive team, rather, kind of leading up to this point.
02:29Because, yeah, Duke kind of dressed up that TCU game.
02:32It felt like a one-possession game throughout the game.
02:34Felt like they even had a chance to lose against TCU.
02:37Final score reflected a 20-point win.
02:39And last time out against St. John's, they were down by, like, 10 points with eight minutes to go.
02:44Found a way to win.
02:45And then against Siena, the 16 seed, which, yeah, Siena might have been a little bit under-seeded.
02:50But they gave them a run for most of the game.
02:53And so, I do feel like Duke playing with fire, almost kind of like Purdue in a sense,
02:57it's eventually going to rise to the surface and they're going to get got.
03:01And I do tend to think it's going to be right here against the UConn team
03:04that just went through a war with Michigan State.
03:07You know, you mentioned Illinois, but I'm going to throw another team at you here that,
03:11are you surprised?
03:13Tennessee, I mean, the Volunteers have just been quietly going through their job here.
03:18They're taking on this Michigan team who, you know, people could say Arizona and Michigan
03:23are probably your favorites maybe to win the national championship.
03:27But, I mean, tell me about this Tennessee team.
03:31Yeah, you know, Tennessee, I think, plays tournament-style basketball.
03:34And, you know, the Rick Barnes narrative of failing in March, I think, stems a lot more
03:39from his days at Texas and early stages of Tennessee rather than the last five or six years
03:44because they've been a frequenter of the Elite Eight.
03:48And anytime you're a frequenter of the Elite Eight, a lot of coaches cannot claim that sort
03:52of brand.
03:53And, you know, Rick Barnes, for whatever reason, you know, he's got, I think that he's just
03:57kind of built like this forever because of how he failed with Kevin Durant.
04:00Certainly, you know, he deserves a little bit of criticism for that, I would say.
04:03But this is a new sort of style of Rick Barnes where they are bullying teams.
04:08They are playing that old-school basketball.
04:09And that might be the market inefficiency right now of so many teams going finesse, so
04:14many teams going for scoring, that this drastic style change just disrupts everything.
04:19And so I do think that Michigan is going to have their hands full.
04:22I think Michigan has the physicality to match it, though.
04:25That's why I'm willing to lay it with Michigan.
04:26But yeah, Tennessee, they've been very, very impressive.
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