March Madness Deep Dive With Jake, Full Bracket Breakdown + NBA Expansion Talk

March Madness is here, and Jeff and Mason are joined by special guest and friend of the show Jake to break down the entire NCAA tournament bracket from top to bottom. The guys go region by region, diving into the South, East, West, and Midwest with bold predictions, potential upsets, and key teams to watch.

They debate top contenders like Houston, Arizona, Michigan, and UConn, while also calling out Cinderella teams that could bust brackets early. From Nebraska’s storyline to VCU’s upset potential, this episode is packed with insight to help you fill out your bracket.

To wrap things up, the conversation shifts briefly to the NBA, where expansion is heating up with Seattle and Las Vegas emerging as frontrunners. Jeff, Mason, and Jake give their quick takes on what expansion could mean for the league moving forward.

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:06

Welcome to the Argue Your Point Podcast. Here are your hosts, Jeff Meetri and Mason Meet.

SPEAKER_05 0:14

Alright.

SPEAKER_04 0:15

Yeah, what's up?

SPEAKER_05 0:17

Podcast 14, I think.

SPEAKER_04 0:19

I think you're right. We have not missed a single week of recording a podcast since we started.

SPEAKER_05 0:26

It's gonna hold on us forever. That one time.

SPEAKER_04 0:28

Oh, we did miss one week?

SPEAKER_05 0:30

Yeah. Well.

SPEAKER_04 0:31

Can you adjust my um um what's the word? The the density or do I sound alright? Do I sound normal? How's that? That's the volume. If you click, can you choose? Press the no, no, hold on. Can you stop pressing buttons? Press the button on top of my mixer. Yep. Okay, and there we go. Move that up and down. Testing, testing. Alright. Yeah, just move it up a little bit. What what number is it at?

SPEAKER_05 1:09

67 decibels.

SPEAKER_04 1:10

Okay, put it keep it at 65.

SPEAKER_05 1:12

Okay.

SPEAKER_04 1:13

All right. Sorry about that. Let's do a compromise.

SPEAKER_05 1:15

66.

SPEAKER_04 1:16

Sorry about that. Technical difficulties. Um I'm on the other side of the. I still feel like I sound different. I don't know. Okay, whatever. Let's just let's just roll with that. Um we've got something is different. We've got um a great show today. We are Mason, why don't you start us off? Start us off. What what you got? What what are we what are we doing?

SPEAKER_05 1:47

So we got bracketology. Start off with the guest speaker.

SPEAKER_04 1:51

No, no, I'm no, I'm talking about before the before we get to that.

SPEAKER_05 1:54

Oh, okay. Do you want icebreaker? So last podcast, I was thinking like, oh, smell is horrible. It smells really bad. Then come um And I can't smell, right?

SPEAKER_04 2:06

Uh everybody know I have uh no smell at all. This something doesn't sound right. Okay, but um just I can't gonna have to uh uh figure something out. I just where is this plugged in?

SPEAKER_05 2:22

Okay, um let's just move on here. Um we're gonna talk about um so last episode or last episode, yeah, smelled really bad. We came uh Saturday, I think, and there's poop all under the floor right where podcast was. We ripped it all over blogger, so right now it's on cement. Could be wide.

SPEAKER_04 2:43

Uh can you um hit the pause button?

SPEAKER_05 2:46

Yeah, so I really think um it was really uh It was a rough one, yeah. If you thought the podcast was crap, you're right.

SPEAKER_04 2:54

It was literally, it was going under the feet, but you know, there's always a silver lining.

SPEAKER_05 3:00

And um literally, there's a plastic lining underneath all the that was a plastic lining, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 3:05

There was there's a silver lining, which means do you know what a silver lining means? Yeah. What?

SPEAKER_05 3:10

It's like um I I don't know.

SPEAKER_04 3:12

It's like a positive thing that that comes from something that's negative. So this was a negative thing, our basement flooded, but the positive is um we'll have new floors. Um, and there's a couple things like in Maddox's room that I need to finish up that I never really got around to, so now I'm gonna get around to that. So, all right, so that's our icebreaker, um, whatever you want to call it. We had um our basement flood, but all good now. We got a plumber coming tomorrow. All good. Um we got some breaking news, yeah.

SPEAKER_05 3:48

Browns re-signed defensive end, Julian O'Cara.

SPEAKER_04 3:52

That's not breaking news.

SPEAKER_05 3:53

Well, it was new that'd be broken.

SPEAKER_04 3:56

All right, we're gonna be breaking. Speaking of breaking down, um, we got a guest speaker calling in at six o'clock. Uh he's gonna fit us in between dinner and trivia night with his wife. Um yeah, and uh and be you know, so we could just jump right in it, and then when the guest joins us, he will uh he'll join us. And we're gonna break down the NCAA tournament, the best tournament, one of the best tournaments in all of sports. It's unique, it's awesome. The first four days, the first two rounds are incredible. There's 56 games in the first at the I think in the first two rounds. Um But it's just like 12 hours Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday. I love it.

SPEAKER_05 4:48

Maybe I convince if the sub to teacher, convince them to put it on. Oh yeah, so watch a movie.

SPEAKER_04 4:53

Yeah, oh totally. Yeah. Can you I got um when you watch a movie, see when we watched a movie, we used to have to have like the the movie cart with the VCR connected to the television on a cart and wheel it in, you know, and then some teachers would be like, Oh, you know, I I I reserved this for this hour, you know. But now but when you watch a movie, you just have like get uh on the on those boards, yeah. And you can put any TV on too. So like live TV is no problem.

SPEAKER_05 5:21

Basically, so um before we before we start on everything, so I want to talk about the first four Howard be UMBC, both 16 seeds, 86, 83, and Texas be NC State, the 11th seed, 686. Now Miami, Ohio plays SMU, and Prairie View AM play Lehigh.

SPEAKER_04 5:41

Lehigh. Lehigh out of the Philadelphia area.

SPEAKER_05 5:45

Oh, you're on the same website. I mean, I see how it is. Copying me.

SPEAKER_04 5:50

Yeah, so um, you know, the brackets out. Um, I think there might be one of the those first four games. I don't like the first four at all. Uh the the bracket is sixty-four, it's not sixty-eight. Why do they keep keep four teams or eight teams, I guess, dangling? Um I have no idea. But it's sixty-four teams. So, anyways, we'll start with the South region, um, which I think is the most wide open field. I'll tell you why. So, you got Florida as the number one seed. To me, they're the the worst of the four seeds. What's going on? Are you getting a text?

SPEAKER_02 6:32

No.

SPEAKER_04 6:33

It's the worst of the four seeds, and um, you know, this is how I look at Florida. Okay, they got a top ten offense, a top ten defense, um, so so they're balanced. They won 12 state straight games before the SEC tournament, but that SEC tournament really exposed them um as they got beat by Vanderbilt. And um, so you know that that just kind of left a sour taste in my mouth.

SPEAKER_05 7:03

I think Vanderbilt's a five, pretty sure.

SPEAKER_04 7:06

That yeah, yeah. So so I don't think that Florida I I don't even think that Florida is the best team um in in in the region, but go ahead.

SPEAKER_05 7:18

But um so uh let me just check out something. I just want to talk about uh something came to my mind. Check about all the one seeds here.

SPEAKER_04 7:26

Um let's let's stay to what we're talking about. Basketball South Region.

SPEAKER_05 7:33

I mean think about Florida, like any um one seed think like no chance they're gonna lose. I heard that um one seeds have eighty percent chance to make the final four based on like previous. This tournament goes back to nineteen thirty-two. So far back it goes, but if if a team plays for Florida right, then they could probably beat them. That's why um Houston that's two seed, it could be dangerous, it could be a possible upset. Yeah, um with Florida analytically, they only I think they're like only point three six apart in net rating, basically nothing. Still one of the best defense team in the country, though. Now they have more scoring, could be the big differences here.

SPEAKER_04 8:15

Yeah, yeah. I mean, so I I actually think that Houston is better than I mean it's not a not uh breaking, you know, uh breaking news here. It it is a two seed. I do think that Houston is better than Florida. Um and um, you know, what they can do is you know, they got Kingston Fleming, he's a freshman, he is their leading scorer, potential pot top five pick, by the way, in the NBA. Um Chris Sinek, he's a big dude. Um he does a little bit of everything, and then um, and then and then they got a bunch of veters on the team too. So they got a star, you know, some star uh freshmans. You you gotta have a big dude, you know. It's like there's only so many guys on your team. Um when you have that big presence. Um you know, a lot of championship teams have that, and I and I think that's what Houston has in Christinech. Yeah. So I I'm probably you know, I'm not I haven't filled out my bracket yet, personally. I should look at mine right now. But um okay, yeah. Don't tell me uh don't tell me, don't reveal too much, but I I think I am gonna have Houston overtake um Florida coming out of the software.

SPEAKER_05 9:34

I do too. After we had that one, um that pick.

SPEAKER_04 9:38

But we'll we'll You want to talk about some of the Cinder the possible upsets?

SPEAKER_05 9:42

Possible upsets, oh yeah. Uh we can't do March Man without a throw on a uh Cinderella team. I think VCU is one of those teams. There aren't a um they're just not just a random pick. I didn't just put a bunch of teams in hat. No, VCU. But I mean they get um they play North Carolina without Caleb Will Caleb Wilson out with a finger injury. Well, the hottest team in the country can play a style that can speed you up and force mistakes. They have a fast pace, and once you win that game, it will get real.

SPEAKER_04 10:14

Yeah, it's gonna get real.

SPEAKER_05 10:16

Oh yeah.

SPEAKER_04 10:18

Um okay. So um yeah, that's always um how it starts. You know, one win turns into confidence, confidence turns into a long run. You know, like sometimes teams just need to get that first win, the first possibly first tournament win in in school history, um, and and get everyone believe in, you know, getting that community believe in.

SPEAKER_05 10:43

First tournament win history?

SPEAKER_04 10:44

Well, in certain no, no, not VCU. I'm saying in certain cases, you know, it's it's not that um uncommon for uh for a team. Well, what we'll see as we go down this. I've seen VCU in the tournament before. They're not, you know, I don't think they're a team that regularly makes the NCAA tournament. Actually, we could look that up. Um, how many times VCU has been in the tournament? Let's see. Are you looking it up?

SPEAKER_05 11:15

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 11:24

Let's see. Do one times. Yeah, that's that's quite a two times, yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Twenty-one times a lot. Not like UB. UB's been at like four. Um B. Yeah. So um another team that I keep um I keep hearing about is Nebraska. They might be the most interesting storylines in this region. They've never won, never, ever, ever won an NCAA tournament in program history. They came into this year, started 20 and oh. That's right, undefeated. Defense is top 10 in the country. They they didn't finish undefeated, they started out 20. Um, the defense is the top 10 in the country. Um, so so yeah, I'm looking for Nebraska to pull up an upset in this tournament in the first round.

SPEAKER_05 12:23

Yeah, um talking about Nebraska here. Talk about the um wait, are there um is this Nebraska?

SPEAKER_04 12:32

They playing Troy.

SPEAKER_05 12:33

Troy.

SPEAKER_04 12:34

It's not an upset. They're not like number four. I actually bad on that. It's not an upset. But they are gonna go deep.

SPEAKER_05 12:42

Deep. Uh I actually have them after beating Troy. I think they're gonna can think I'm gonna roll over them, but I actually have them losing to Vanderbilt.

SPEAKER_04 12:51

Okay, yeah. Okay. Alright. Hey Jeff. Hey Jake, how's it going?

SPEAKER_01 13:00

It's going good.

SPEAKER_04 13:02

You're live on the podcast. Yeah, yeah. How um how's your day been going?

SPEAKER_01 13:08

I'm good. I had a good day at work today and uh excited about the tournament.

SPEAKER_04 13:13

Yeah, cool. Yeah, and you're working at the new HighMark Stadium, I hear, right?

SPEAKER_01 13:18

Correct, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 13:19

That's awesome.

SPEAKER_01 13:20

Installing heating systems, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 13:22

That's cool.

SPEAKER_02 13:23

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 13:24

Alright, so um, yeah, yeah, so we so we have a format. It's a little, we've been a little rushed, a little last minute. Um, but we're just right now we're going through the NCAA tournament, and um and we're just going through the South, the Southwest region. We were talking about Houston, who may be a better team, number two, than number one, Florida. That's kind of um my thought on it. Um so so yeah, so just right out of the gate. Do you what what are your um what are your thoughts on the tournament in general? And um, have you looked at any particular matchups that you think you might see an upset coming?

SPEAKER_01 14:14

Um upset mine wise. Well, first off, I I love the tournament. It's my favorite time of year for uh sports. Uh the the uh the conference championships leading up to the tournament and uh you know, just all that basketball being played in such a short amount of time and it's all meaningful. I love it. And I have for a long time. So that's you know, yeah, this is uh a great time of year for me. Uh as far as uh tips and upsets, um, you know, it's uh you you always got those 512s uh that are always interesting.

SPEAKER_03 14:52

That's common, right?

SPEAKER_01 14:53

I didn't I didn't go for 512 in the I'm sorry, I'm looking at some bracket at the moment.

SPEAKER_03 15:01

That's all right.

SPEAKER_01 15:02

Um you were discussing Houston and the South. Is that what you were saying?

SPEAKER_04 15:06

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 15:07

Um let's see. In in my south bracket, let's see if I went anywhere with it. Um yeah, I did. I I took McNeese over uh Vandy. Um just because uh Vanderbilt had a decent tournament and they had a good tournament.

SPEAKER_03 15:26

Yep.

SPEAKER_01 15:27

Yeah, um, they beat Florida there, right? Yeah, they did, I believe. And uh yeah, so uh but McNeese is uh, you know, they've they've been in this tournament before. I don't know that it's this uh particular class has been, but they are uh you know that 12-5 matchup, so I went with it. They're number two in their conference, they had a good conference record overall. Record was great, only five losses. Um they didn't do too well against any top uh 25 competition, but you know, some one of these 12-5s has got to lose, so that's the one that I went with.

SPEAKER_04 16:10

Where is McNeese located?

SPEAKER_01 16:14

South.

SPEAKER_04 16:15

No, like where is that college?

SPEAKER_01 16:18

Oh, where's the school? Yeah, you know what? Uh they got a cowboy riding a horse. Yeah, there's a cowboy. So I'm I'm gonna go with somewhere southwest. Louisiana.

SPEAKER_04 16:26

Louisiana?

SPEAKER_01 16:27

No. Really? That's interesting. Yeah, okay, so that's an interesting southwest, but Lake Charles, Louisiana.

SPEAKER_04 16:40

Lake Charles, Louisiana.

SPEAKER_01 16:43

Oh, that's cool.

SPEAKER_04 16:45

So, okay, so moving on to the East region, we got Duke as the number one overall seed with Cam Boozer. Um, and uh, you know, we've had a little fun with that guy's name all season long. Um, and UConn at number two, um, and then Kansas at number four, who people don't totally trust um can beat anyone, quite frankly. So Duke went 32-2 this year, 17-1 in ACC. They beat Michigan. Um, they've been they've um beat ranked teams all year long. On paper, this probably is the best team in the country. On paper, you know, it's um it's a different story from you know what what actually happens, but um some years it, you know, it doesn't feel like there's a true number one this year. Uh I I feel like I feel like it that Duke is that team. What do you think?

SPEAKER_01 17:43

Well, it is hard to argue that point. Uh their their schedule, uh their record shows how they've done in a tough ACC schedule, I should say. Uh, you know, only two losses overall. And uh what's their win against top 25, 12, and two? So their two losses were due to top 25 opponents, and you know, that's that's the hard record to to argue against. Uh I do not personally have them going all the way because you know the tournament has to be played, and bigger uh bigger favorites have lost. So it's not unheard of at all. But uh yeah, they got as good a shot as anybody, that's for sure. Especially coming out of that. I don't think uh Yukon or uh really anybody else in that bracket is gonna give them much of a fight. Michigan State, maybe, but they always seem to kind of fall short too. But I really don't see a lot of uh anybody standing in their way. I would like to see St. John's personally, but uh that's not gonna not gonna hold my breath on that one.

SPEAKER_05 18:56

The thing about Duke is it's not really fully healthy. Okay, the foster point guard, hurt, Patrick, Nabinga. Nabinga, starting centers, her both miss ACC.

SPEAKER_04 19:08

They both missed ACC tournament. Okay.

SPEAKER_05 19:12

Yeah, but it's not it's not nothing.

SPEAKER_04 19:14

Yeah. Yeah, no, exactly. Um yeah, I I think then um you know, then you you start looking at teams like UConn who've who've also won it, you know, um with Coach Dan Hurley. And um they they've got um you know multiple guys on the team that have won it on UConn. So um so that so that's that's definitely another team to look out for.

SPEAKER_01 19:42

Mm-hmm. For sure, yeah. They're bringing back talent.

SPEAKER_04 19:45

Mm-hmm. All right. Um did you want to go ahead, Mason?

SPEAKER_05 19:52

Yeah, um this is Kansas. Might be the hardest team, the entire tournament to figure out how they're gonna play, who they're gonna be. I mean, they beat number one, the two, and the five team, and the five seeds this year. Also lost to a lot of unranked teams late in the season. Unpredictable. You don't really know what they're gonna do, so that's gonna be a tough one.

SPEAKER_04 20:12

Yeah, I mean, beating a number one ranked, number two ranked to number five. Um that's pretty impressive. For sure. That's Kansas that did that.

SPEAKER_01 20:24

Yeah, they always have a bunch of athletes on that team for sure.

SPEAKER_04 20:28

Yeah, Kansas.

SPEAKER_01 20:29

Kansas can get 'em. They can get 'em, that's for sure.

SPEAKER_04 20:33

They've got um, I'm just seeing here, they've got a guy named Darren Peterson, who's a potential number one overall pick. He averages 20 points a game. Um, but he's missed time and hasn't always been efficient. It's just saying here. All right. Um okay, so if we're talking Cinderella stories, it's um it's tough in this reason region. You've got uh elite coach coaches. Um, you got Hurley, Izo, Bob Self, Rick Petino. Um but um but yeah, top 25 defense in the country is Northern Iowa. Um and uh they've got one of the best defensive strategies in the nation, and they get St. John's um in the first round, who um apparently doesn't even have a true point guard.

SPEAKER_01 21:34

That is an interesting matchup. St. John's could go down early.

SPEAKER_04 21:38

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 21:38

Yeah, for seriously.

SPEAKER_04 21:39

Why why you do do you have a personal interest for rooting for St. John's?

SPEAKER_01 21:44

Um that school has always been uh kind of on my radar. Uh I had a friend growing up who played Division I basketball. He went to um Holy Cross. In Massachusetts. But he used to play uh junior ball with a guy named uh Felipe Lopez, who was the number one recruit in the country, and he played at St. John's. And uh the kid was good, he never really turned out to much. I'm not sure if he had much of an NBA career. I do not know. But uh yeah, ever since I was like, you know, 13, 14 years old, uh St. John's has been on my radar. So if they're in the tournament, I always kind of have a soft spot for them. I like to see them go a little further. Uh last year they fell on their face, and I'm thinking they're not gonna try to do that two years in a row, but you know, you never know. It's this tournament.

SPEAKER_04 22:45

Okay, so they were in it last year then. All right.

SPEAKER_01 22:48

Yeah, and I yeah, and they they didn't show well.

unknown 22:53

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 22:53

I believe they lost right away.

SPEAKER_04 22:55

I think um I think Keegan Bradley went to school there.

SPEAKER_01 23:01

Oh, really? Yeah, did not know much of a golf school, but whatever.

SPEAKER_04 23:07

Yeah, I don't yeah. Because he talked about, you know, um he talked about that a lot at at the Ryder Cup. Talking about um sneaking on to uh Beth Page Black all the time. Yeah, you you can confirm that um so another upset that um that were kind of an upset alert is Kansas losing early to to Cal Baptist. Okay, what do what do we know about Cal Baptist, Mason? Anything?

SPEAKER_05 23:38

Uh good defensive team and they have one guard every 23 points a game.

SPEAKER_04 23:43

That's pretty good, 23 points again. Um players to watch kit Cam Boozer, obviously. He's w would you say Cam Boozer, Jake, is the um the the biggest name in the whole tournament. You know, they usually what was that guy's name? Tyler Hansbrough, the one year he was huge, you know.

SPEAKER_01 24:06

On the North Carolina kid, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 24:08

Yeah, he was huge.

SPEAKER_01 24:09

You're right about that. Like as far as uh a name like that where the that much recognition, yeah, yeah, they tried to say so, but he's definitely the only one I know in this year's tournament, and he is getting that kind of like uh um big baby Davis, or who was that other kid from Duke just a couple years ago, ended up uh he hasn't really had that amazing of a uh NBA career. Um who's that kid? It was a sure thing at Duke.

SPEAKER_04 24:40

At Duke?

SPEAKER_01 24:41

Um yeah, it's just like two years ago. Three years ago now, maybe uh forward. He just absolutely dominated. I know you know I'm talking about. You were uh big fan of watching him.

SPEAKER_04 24:56

Oh, okay. I don't know.

SPEAKER_01 24:59

But he kind of yeah, shoot, I wish I knew. So, anyways.

SPEAKER_04 25:05

Um yeah, yeah, maybe it'll come to us.

SPEAKER_01 25:08

But that big name recognition, boozer is definitely the guy. Uh I think he stands alone with that. I can't tell you another name off the top of my head that jumps out like that. Definitely not. Not with uh the lineage and on top of it, you know, and then the the boot that he is legitimately like one of the best players, if not the best in the country.

SPEAKER_04 25:31

Yeah. Yeah. Um yeah, he's been fun to watch. We've we I've watched a couple Duke games this season, maybe not like from the very beginning, the very end, but um, you know, I I catch chunks of it here and there. And um, yeah, and he and he's he's uh he's a fun player to watch. All right, let's um keep moving to the West region. Um okay, it's 618. I know you gotta run. But we'll so so let's it's um we'll move on to the west region real quick. And Arizona, this is Arizona's region to lose. They've they've they're coming in on a nine-game win streak. They won the Big 12, beat top ten teams like Kansas, Houston, Iowa State. Um and um they're basically one of the most complete teams in the country. And Vegas is basically telling you the same thing. Uh they're a top three title favorite. Yeah. Yeah. But um Arizona's a top three title favorite.

SPEAKER_05 26:36

I think this one is. I think uh Arizona's gonna be probably one of the most complete teams. I mean, they're basically lost to get to the six three sixteen, probably eight, and most likely the final four, but who can challenge them? You know, maybe Purdue come off the big um come off the big big ten tournament run. Yeah, Gonzaga. They're always dangerous.

SPEAKER_04 26:57

The Zags.

SPEAKER_05 26:58

But you're the one that's really complete for Arizona.

SPEAKER_04 27:02

Yeah. Um, what do you thought? Any thoughts on that, um, Jake, on Arizona?

SPEAKER_01 27:10

Uh I would agree with your statements on that. Arizona seems to be the uh the dominant force in that. Um, I don't really see Purdue giving them much of a matchup. I don't think Gonzaga has uh, you know, that that league always puts St. Mary's and Gonzaga in the tournament, and it really doesn't ever, you know, materialize into much for either one of those teams. They dominate their leagues and they're always in. Um, so they're always gonna get good seeds. You know, Gonzaga always ends up up there at the top. Uh, but you know, I mean, I wouldn't be surprised to see Kenneshaw State make some noise and take them out in the first round. I couldn't, I wouldn't be blown away to see something like that.

SPEAKER_04 27:54

Just see who? Who was that?

SPEAKER_01 27:57

Kenneshaw State, number 14, take out Gonzaga.

SPEAKER_04 28:00

Okay. Okay.

SPEAKER_01 28:03

Not unheard of. Um Wisconsin doesn't seem very uh, you know, they're up and down. They've had an iffy season. Um Villanova's not what they used to be right now.

SPEAKER_02 28:18

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 28:19

It seems like it's an Arizona's team with their turn uh bracket to lose, I should say.

SPEAKER_04 28:24

Did you know the Pope?

SPEAKER_01 28:25

Did you know the Pope went to Villanova? What's up?

SPEAKER_04 28:29

Do you know the Pope went to Villanova?

SPEAKER_01 28:32

Oh, yeah, the most recent one now?

SPEAKER_04 28:34

Yeah, I could not know that. I just found that out yesterday.

SPEAKER_05 28:38

There you go. Talking about Villanova. Okay. One of the most uh NBA producing teams.

SPEAKER_04 28:43

Yep. Jalen Brunson.

SPEAKER_05 28:45

Josh Hart, Bridges, Steven Chenzo, a lot more guys.

SPEAKER_04 28:49

But you know, like Purdue, going back to um um the West, Purdue, they won four straight in the Big Ten. Um they beat Nebraska by 16, and everybody's you know hyping up Nebraska. Um Brayden Smith is about to break the all-time assist record. He's averaging 14 points and nine assists. So if they get that rolling, that can make things interesting for Purdue. Um yeah, just wanted to put that out there. They could um, you know, they could possibly contend with Bath Arizona in that region.

SPEAKER_01 29:25

Oh, something interesting. Queen's University. This is their first season of eligibility, and they made the tournament.

SPEAKER_03 29:33

Queen's University? Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 29:35

Yeah, winning the Atlantic Sun tournament as a three-seed. Very interesting. Royals knocked off the regular season champ, Central Arkansas in OT behind a 34-point senior uh led uh three-point shooter, uh Chris Asby, who averages 11 points a game and uh is their leading uh leading scorer. So uh look out for Queens University. They might uh make some noise themselves. Cinderella.

SPEAKER_04 30:06

Queens, and where are they? Um okay, Queens, North Carolina. That's what you're talking about.

SPEAKER_01 30:16

Yeah, Queens University. They won the Atlantic, uh, yeah, yeah, the Atlantic South. I was thinking Queens like New York. They're 15 feet. Yeah, you will immediately.

SPEAKER_04 30:25

So yeah, they're paying they're playing a number two Purdue. Yeah, I mean, that would be a big upset.

SPEAKER_01 30:31

But uh like to see a number two go down.

SPEAKER_04 30:35

Yeah. All right. Um yeah, Wisconsin, they could be a possible other um upset. They average 90 points a game, they shoot 49% from the field, and they lead the country in in steals. So that's um that's what's good. That's the uh the positives coming out of Wisconsin. And then um okay, one last region to cover here. I know we skipped over some of the you know, we can't talk about every single team, but finally the Midwest region. Um feels like Michigan this is um you know Michigan's path to the final four. It opened up as Michigan is the favorite to win the whole tournament, one of the favorites. Um they got a a big physical front court. Um, honestly, one of the cleanest draws in the bracket, probably the easiest path to the final four. Um having said that, they have lost to Purdue. And um but but but I really think that um they will probably I I I think that they will get to the final four. What about you, Mason? How do you feel about that?

SPEAKER_05 31:54

Yeah, I don't know if I'm uh fully sold on that, but I mean Michigan's a favorite, but people just gonna assume they're going getting through it and going to Final Four, but Region's more dangerous than might think. Iowa State can score basically anyone. Virginia could slow down games completely. And you just have some upset teams there. I don't think it's um easy team to make it so around the Midwest. I mean they have a lot of good teams. They always have they have um I mean Iowa State, talking about them, Kentucky, Virginia, Tennessee, and and they're either and um either Miami, Ohio, SMU. That's uh or the first four. But they got a load got a lot of uh good teams in there.

SPEAKER_04 32:39

Yeah, Iowa State. Um Jake, did your dad go to Iowa State or did he go to Iowa? Didn't he go to Carlton State?

SPEAKER_01 32:47

Oh, he went to a school in it uh northern Iowa. No, not northern Iowa, it's called University of Upper Iowa, was the name of the school at the time when he went there. It's no longer called that. The school is still in existence, different name, and uh it but it is has a different name now, and I don't know what it is called anymore or what it's called now. But yeah, it was a division one wrestling program. Yeah, and he wrestled division one.

SPEAKER_04 33:16

Okay, cool.

SPEAKER_01 33:18

Um because I always thought that he like roots for the Iowa State or uh No, no, not not big time, or not not like you know, Big Ten programs, but but no, he did he wrestled in the same like you know areas as uh there was this guy named uh Greg Barnes, I want to say. Don't quote me on the name, but he is the only guy that ever beat Danny Gable. Danny Gable was from Iowa, he won three national titles, he was going for his fourth national title, his senior year, and he lost to this gentleman named Greg Barnes, I want to say. My father, at some point in his career, had wrestled that same guy. So he was wrestling at the same levels, he was at the top levels of of wrestling.

SPEAKER_04 34:10

I think I seen that story you're talking about. I think I seen like a documentary or something on TV about him. So he so so there was a guy that wasn't he like only at two losses ever, or maybe or is it one loss? He was like 301, and that one guy that beat him is the guy your dad wrestled. Is that the story? Is that how you how it works out? Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 34:34

Yeah, yeah, he never lost, right, until his like last match of his senior year or something like that. Something crazy. But yeah, that he lost to, my dad had wrestled at some point. And how did your dad did not do great against that guy? No, the guy um guy was really good. He got pretty my dad doesn't he didn't he didn't get beat bad too often, and that guy was one of the times.

SPEAKER_04 34:54

Oh, okay. That's cool. That's cool.

SPEAKER_01 34:58

Yeah, yeah. He was he was good. He he was at the top levels.

SPEAKER_04 35:02

So what it so going back to the the tournament, what are your thoughts on the Midwest? Um, you got Michigan at number one, Iowa State at number two.

SPEAKER_01 35:13

Um, you know, I I think it's gonna be a uh you know a clear path for both one and two, Iowa State and Michigan to the end. Um, I don't see a lot of uh any upsets, as a matter of fact. I I I see this break as playing out pretty pretty straightforward. Um I I see Iowa State. Uh I I really like Iowa State. They are they got a solid defense, uh 16 and oh before dropping a few games there in the middle, but they uh they pulled it together there towards the end, and uh that they are a team that I think is gonna make a lot of noise.

SPEAKER_04 35:56

Yeah. Yeah, me too. Um with one caveat, Miami of Ohio, if they make that tournament, I think they're a first, let me see. Yeah, they're a first four-game matchup today. Um this team, Miami of Ohio, was nationally ranked, right? In the season?

SPEAKER_01 36:21

Right, but they lost their conference tournament to Akron, and that's why Akron's in there. They barely squeaked in as a result of that.

SPEAKER_04 36:32

But they were nationally ranked.

SPEAKER_01 36:34

They are a very good program. That's not uh that's not a like uh like you're saying, it's a top 25 program.

SPEAKER_04 36:41

So that's not so why are they in the first four? You know, I don't understand that.

SPEAKER_01 36:47

Because they didn't win their tournament and they are that mid-major, they uh they took a knock. That's really all it is, and it dropped them down to an 11th seed. So that is that is definitely a uh you know one to watch.

SPEAKER_04 37:04

Yeah. Yeah, it just seems weird, like a nationally ranked team having to play that first four game.

SPEAKER_01 37:11

Um is Tennessee's rank right now. They're six, were they a top 25 team?

SPEAKER_04 37:19

Um during the regular season, I'm not sure.

SPEAKER_01 37:23

Yeah, I'm looking right now. Standings. Yeah, they're 23. So they're right there right in the same mix as Miami of Ohio. That if they get through, that could be a good uh that could be an interesting one.

SPEAKER_04 37:44

Uh yeah, yeah, I think so too. Um, and didn't they go like man, weren't they like 30 and oh until they something like that? They were they were um they were coaching.

SPEAKER_01 37:58

31 Redhawks finished the regular season 31 and oh, only to be one and done in their Mac tournament. Yep, they were undefeated regular season and got knocked right out in the tournament.

SPEAKER_04 38:11

Oh, okay. So they didn't okay, they got they lost their first game in the Mac tournament?

SPEAKER_01 38:16

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 38:17

In 30 and oh, ranked, and then oh yeah, wow, that's that's interesting.

SPEAKER_01 38:24

That is zero quad one wins, so you know they dominated a weekly. They had zero quad one quad one wins, uh top notch wins, top like uh playing uh Duke for the game. Well, yeah, I mean that's another one.

SPEAKER_04 38:42

Wouldn't that be a nationally ranked team?

SPEAKER_01 38:46

Right. Um, but that's what they're saying is they didn't go up against any really heavy competition. Yeah, they they won a very weak Mac, and uh and you know that's that's basically they their pre-season uh you know uh pre-conference schedule wasn't a very difficult one either.

SPEAKER_04 39:09

Yeah. All right, Jake. Uh, we went through the whole bracket, um, e every region. We we touched on little parts. Um thanks for joining today, man. Really appreciate that.

SPEAKER_01 39:21

Absolutely. It was fun.

SPEAKER_04 39:22

Yeah, yeah. We're gonna have a lot more of these. Um, today it was based on basketball. Usually it's well, I guess it could be anything football, um, bills-related, sabers.

SPEAKER_05 39:35

Also, could you MBA too?

SPEAKER_04 39:37

NBA, yeah.

SPEAKER_05 39:38

We're gonna talk about later.

SPEAKER_04 39:40

Yep, we're next fans.

SPEAKER_01 39:41

All right, well, you guys keep me posted, and uh I'd be happy to uh join you again.

SPEAKER_04 39:46

All right, sounds good. Thanks, Jake. Have a good day. All right, yeah. Bye. All right, cool. That was a nice uh call in from Jake. He had a lot of good perspectives on um sports in general and about some of these teams, you know. He was saying that he wasn't really following along, but once he got him into it, he he um he did have some some background on on some of these teams, which was which was really uh good and insightful.

SPEAKER_05 40:20

Yeah, um, okay, we're gonna uh first time today move on to NBA.

SPEAKER_04 40:28

NBA, okay, all right.

SPEAKER_05 40:30

Talk about NBA expansion.

SPEAKER_04 40:31

Running up against the clock here. We have we have time though. Looks like we have time.

SPEAKER_05 40:35

No, the NBA is gonna be expanding. Well, not yet having a meeting with uh team owners and city to uh add some expansion talks for the next season. Actually, no, not next season, it'd be like 2028 season is when they might two more teams?

SPEAKER_04 40:51

How many teams do they have now?

SPEAKER_05 40:53

Thirty.

SPEAKER_04 40:54

And they're looking to get to thirty-two?

SPEAKER_05 40:56

Yep. Most likely cities of Seattle to bring back Supersonics last team two thousand and eight through OTC. And um if they did that, you think Kevin Durant would go back to Seattle? 'Cause he started his career in Seattle, I think.

SPEAKER_04 41:11

But uh what do you mean? When was the last time the Supersonics had a team?

SPEAKER_05 41:14

2008.

SPEAKER_04 41:17

2008. I think he's been playing for that long.

SPEAKER_05 41:20

Kevin Durant, yeah, playing for a while. So relevant.

SPEAKER_04 41:24

Wow.

SPEAKER_05 41:25

But um also Las Vegas too. That's crazy. Fastest growing thing, fastest growing sports city in the US, already the WNBA and HL. And MLB because the Oakland Oakland Athletics are moving to Las Vegas. It's like the last Oakland team.

SPEAKER_04 41:40

Yeah, yeah. I did hear that.

SPEAKER_05 41:42

Calcium.

SPEAKER_04 41:43

Uh very um when I was younger, I used to have a Sean Kemp card. Um and he used to be one of my favorite players in NBA. Yeah. I like I used to like the Seattle logo and everything. It's cool. I don't I kinda like the city. I've never been there. I've always wanted to. My sister lived there. Um should have visited her when she was there. But um beautiful city. Okay, go ahead. Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 42:10

So timeline is gonna be vote to explore expansion, be at next week from the recording day. Final approver, final approval likely in 2026 later. Target start date, 2028-2029 season. Now, what expansion would look like? 32 league, 32 team league. NBA go for 30 to 32 teams. Seattle and Vegas like to go to Western Conference, and for instance, one or two teams move east. Minnesota, Memphis, and New Orleans are candidates to move from the from the um Western Conference over to the Eastern Conference. No, other way. Uh I think it's the East out west. Yep.

SPEAKER_04 42:52

So they Which team's New Orleans? They're on the uh they're on uh they might they might even be in the mountain time zone.

SPEAKER_05 42:59

Um Minnesota might go to the eastern.

SPEAKER_04 43:04

So well, they're too far west. Oh, but I could see the museum.

SPEAKER_05 43:09

But now we can talk about the expansion draft NBA. Each current team could protect about eight players, new teams, pick from remaining players. They can only take one player per team. But so they'd be able to get I mean, probably a pretty solid roster.

SPEAKER_04 43:25

I wonder um make side deals. See the way um when Vegas Golden Knights came into the N NHL, they allowed them to make side deals. I mean so they would so they were allowed to protect, you know, like like you said, like maybe it was ten players or something. And then um they would be like, Okay, so I have these players that are unprotected. They'd be like, Can you agree not to take this player? And if you do, um I'll give you a draft pick in twenty twenty. or something, third round draft pick. Um they would make deals like that. And they they built their team you know ready to win from the very beginning, which they have already won a Stanley Cup. Um but they made it to the Stanley Cup in their first season. So yeah they're they're a they're a successful expansion. But then a couple years later when Seattle came in I think they changed those rules so they couldn't do that.

SPEAKER_02 44:25

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 44:26

Um but but the Vegas Gold Knights was the first expansion team in in many many years. And then Seattle had you know just came in two years after Vegas. So things were a little bit different.

SPEAKER_05 44:39

Okay. Um so why the NBA would want this expansion fees could be four to six four to six billion dollars per team. They have new TV markets for every streams and the league designed a huge media deal so the timing would make sense.

SPEAKER_04 44:53

Wait what was what was that about four to six billion? What's four to six billion expansion fees.

SPEAKER_05 44:58

How much cost is fees? Yes.

SPEAKER_04 45:00

Four to six billion per team cost a lot. What do you mean per team? There's no way they're gonna have fork over six billion dollars.

SPEAKER_05 45:08

They do have an expansion so for the NHL I think it was like half a billion not four billion podcast takes here.

SPEAKER_04 45:37

Yeah that's yeah yeah it's a no-brainer um Seattle deserves a team why not and um Vegas prints money so give them a team also.

SPEAKER_05 45:48

Yeah but um the expansion will water down the team's talent. You're adding thirty more both spots just overnight but the point is the expansion help parody her her overall quality well um I mean you want parody you do in the league.

SPEAKER_04 46:12

Um you don't want teams you know always dominating and at the same time teams that are always in the basement of their league or division whatever um you want to you know you know bring some of that in the middle somewhere so adding more teams will I mean kind of have to right you it's it is going to spread the the talent out a little bit more but college seems like they've got enough talent to fill those holes you know yeah um I know I've I know there's a lot of unbelievable college stars in basketball that that don't really um go to the NBA but they're amazing in college that that's also a fact but um yeah I'm gonna say that the um it it'll help parody which I like and it also might hurt overall quality so but I don't think that by that much okay um I think we'll end that for today. Yeah okay it was a good podcast maybe next time we'll try a little bit different more next time let's do real quick um the uh PGA picks okay so last week you picked Scheffler yep he did not win and I got when you picked first last week so I picked first this week okay and um wait let me get the let me get the um the odds actually aren't they so we got Velspar this week copper head course don't get snake bit um I just want to see the odds you know what are the odds that players let's just uh I'm just looking the field list right here so active players I'm gonna take a look here um oh yeah okay here's the odds but they're not in order Andrew Shaffley has the um Andrew Shoffley Shaffle is 11 to 1 odds right now okay that makes sense got it all right so we got Shaffley Hodlin Fitzpatrick who came in uh sorry about that who who lost to Cam Young who striped a 370 yard drive down the center of the fairway on the 18th at the players um to win only his second tournament ever someone who was known as you know the guy who was coming in second so many times and who was unbelievably talented um he won one of the biggest tournaments on the tour um so that was a really impressive win that you know when you when you walk up to the 18th green in your front and you're tied the Louveg Aberg who lost that um at this point was like four or five shots behind it that was that was magical that was awesome it was a great way to win um two great competitors yeah I know we're still not over and over we're doing we're doing win win cut top ten let's do top twenty five make that a bit more top twenty five so you have to pick a player's going to win this okay you okay you've got Shawley you've got Havlin Fitzpatrick which I just talked about batia uh he he won a couple weeks ago Justin Thomas um he's he's coming on to his own he had an incredible uh first round um he had he had a great he had a great tournament at the players he's a former champion there he had a great tournament um during speech um I'm not going to bet on him to win anything anytime soon um kepka can this be the one where Kepka you know finally um you know you know he's had to go through some growing pains which he has um maybe now he's he's ready oh we're up on one hour okay um I'm going to say um I got my picks I'm gonna say Matt Fitzpatrick is going to win this write it down Matt Fitzpatrick um he's gonna win the tournament and in the top 25 um you know seems like easier than um I'll I'll take Kepka top 25 Kepka and who's gonna who's surprisingly gonna miss the cut see if you pick pick someone to miss the cut you can't go down to like 50001 like Greg Cook. Oh I'll choose him he's got the the person to miss the cut they've got to be um I don't know 101 odds to make that the cut line but um a surprising miss cut I don't know maybe maybe we don't maybe let's not let's do that who's gonna miss okay you gotta just pick one pick a player um I'm gonna say Bridgman's gonna miss the cut Jacob Bridgman fair enough he comes in at 24 to one okay I think I I already have this ready so going to win a Shaffley to win he's gonna I think he's a surprise everyone but top twenty five everyone he's the number one favorite well uh I think actually I'm gonna pick a um different one here I think wait wait wait what do you mean a different one here the top twenty five uh just the top twenty five okay I think I'm gonna go with Panther Catley okay top twenty five all right and to miss the cut no I'm not gonna do the same guy I think I'm actually gonna do maybe let's do I'm gonna do Sanjay M. Sanjay M. That would be a surprise missed guy so to recap I picked Fitzpatrick to win I picked Kepka 25 and Bridgeman to miss the cut and you picked Shoffley to win yep who was in your 25 top 25 Cantley Patrick Cantley that's right and then to miss the cut was Sanjay M. Sanjay M. Okay awesome that's a wrap you guys all for watching you guys learned something about the tournament today I know I did okay see you all next time see ya