Pardon My Take - Brackets Are Here, Jon Rothstein, PMT Death Match + Justin Fields Traded To The Steelers

Episode Date: March 18, 2024

The brackets are finally here and someone on the selection committee has it out for our show with JMU, Wisconsin, Duke and Vermont all being in the same quadrant. We break down our favorite matchups, storylines and who got snubbed (00:00:00-00:32:59). Who's back of the week including Scottie Scheffler, the Titanic, and Joe Lunardi sleeping on the job (00:32:59-00:46:49). Jon Rothstein joins us to break down his bracket region by region, storylines, and whether or not hes going to lose more friends during March (00:46:49-01:30:59). We finish with a recap of the Justin Fields trade and his time in Chicago plus Jake gives his thoughts on the bracket (01:30:59-01:55:41).You can find every episode of this show on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or YouTube. Prime Members can listen ad-free on Amazon Music. For more, visit barstool.link/PardonMyTake

Hey, pardon my take listeners, you can find every episode on Apple podcasts, Spotify or YouTube. Prime members can listen ad free on Amazon music. On today's part of my take, we have our brackets. March Madness is finally here and we're going to break it all down. Someone in the selection committee is a real pervert. We're going to talk about that. We have John Rostein on the show, as is tradition.

He is going to break down all the regions, tell us some fun nuggets. We also have to talk to him about potentially losing friends and a wife and kids over March Madness. We sleep in May. Problems at home. Problems at home. We got Who's Back of the Week.

Justin Fields has been traded. We're gonna actually talk about that after John Rostein. So anyone who's back of the week. Justin Fields has been traded. We're going to actually talk about that after John Rostein. So anyone who wants some thoughts on that, we also had some other moves in the NFL that we will discuss. And before we get to all of that, a quick word from our friends at DraftKings. The thrill and excitement of March Mania is here in DraftKings Sportsbook. One of America's top rated sportsbook apps is giving new customers a shot to turn five

bucks into $150 instantly in bonus bets with any college basketball bet out there. So I'll just say this right now. There's a line out there that I like. I can't say that I like it, but you know what? We'll just say what the James Madison Wisconsin line is four and a half right now. Four and a half. Also the first four games. Colorado is a two point favorite over Boise State on Wednesday night. So some lines out there.

North Carolina listeners, don't forget DraftKings Sportsbook is now live in your state. Download the DraftKings Sportsbook app and use code TAKE. New customers can bet five bucks to get $150 instantly in bonus bets. Only at DraftKings Sportsbook with code TAKE. The crown is yours with DraftKings Sportsbook. It is the best month of the year to gamble on some sports. So go right now DraftKings Sportsbook and you can get five bucks turn into $150 instantly in bonus bets only at DraftKings Sportsbook with code TAKE. The crown is yours. Gambling problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER or in West Virginia, visit 1-800-GAMBLER.NET.

In New York, call 877-8HOPENY or text HOPENY467369. In Connecticut, help is available for problem gambling. Call 888-789-7777 or visit ccpg.org. Please play responsibly. On behalf of Boothill Casino and Resort in Kansas. 21 and over, age varies by jurisdiction. Void in Ontario. Bonus bets expire 168 hours after issuance. See dkng.co slash bball for eligibility and deposit restrictions, terms, and responsible gaming resources. Okay, let's go. Boy! Boy!

Now in the street there is violence And then a lot of work to be done No place to hang out or wash in And then a can of name all on the sun Oh no! We're gonna rock it down to Electric Avenue And then we'll take it higher It's Part of My Take, presented by Partial Sports. Welcome to Part of My Take, presented by DraftKings Sportsbook. Use code TAKE right now when you sign up with the DraftKings Sportsbook app.

You get up to $150 instantly in bonus bets when you bet five bucks only at the DraftKings Sportsbook app with code TAKE. Today is Monday, March 18th and we have our brackets. My bracket's busted. We have our brackets and someone in that committee is a real Sick pervert. I actually think it's probably someone that Hank knows because he's been smiling ear to ear Since the brackets have been announced the pardon my take region It wasn't just that they had to put me verse PFT, Wisconsin verse James Madison in the first round

They also put Vermont and Duke in the same quadrant Yeah, Hank just a miss loaded up up. Famous graduate of Duke University, Henry Lockwood, famous graduate of Vermont, Jake Marsh. Yeah, that's, that is actually the, we'll get to our game, but the, the worst part about what they did to us is not just the two of us because we've, we can survive anything. We're, we're stronger than steel, stronger than iron. We can survive anything. It's the fact steel stronger than iron. We can survive anything It's the fact that the winner of our game will then go up against either Hank and Duke or Jake and Vermont and they both will be like we don't really care as

Our teams like one of our teams loses to those fucking bums. I've seen this movie before Here's what's gonna happen us apart. Here's what's gonna happen It's gonna be it doesn't matter who wins between me and big cat. Yeah, because Jake Marsh is going to be into the second round. And he's going to say, I just I'm actually kind of rooting for James Madison or Wisconsin. Yeah, I want Vermont to win. But I want you guys to be happy. Yeah. Oh, yeah. He's gonna have a smile on his face when he shakes her hand. Hey, sorry. Sorry, I just beat you. Yeah,

the best in the office again. I despite the that this is perverted, and it's sick, and it's disgusting, and there's somebody that's listening to part of my take right now in some college ivory tower. Oh, they're all loving it. Some athletic director, and he's silently jacking his dick off, just listening to us in pain. Slow strides. I want that person to know that they're a pervert.

But that's actually not the sickest thing they did. The sickest thing they did was put UVA in. Yeah. That's disgusting. UVA,A. You should be ashamed of yourself. Let's give some shout outs to the people who got, the people got snubbed, the bubbles burst. It was a crazy weekend of basketball. Saturday you saw basically the bubbles shrink and shrink and shrink because NC State won, beat North Carolina. They weren't going to get in. New Mexico won the Mountain West. They probably weren't going to get in. New Mexico won the Mountain West, they probably weren't going to get in. Temple beat FAU and then it became a Temple UAB, one of those teams was not going to get

in and the bubble just got smaller and smaller and smaller. And the loser, the big loser was the Big East who ended up getting three teams in, which is crazy because of the second ranked conference. Some people are saying, our friend Frank Fleming is saying that because the Big East is broadcasted on Fox and the Mountain West is broadcasted on CBS, what is the tournament broadcast on? That would be on CBS, Big Cat. Interesting. Also, we have another theory. Max, could you please share it? The committee is anti-Italian. Fuck. Anti-Italian American discrimination. This is an example of anti-Italian. Why? Why is the, why is it going against the big?

The biggest is Italian. It's an Italian. I actually agree with you. Yeah, no, I agree with that. You got some, you got some Catholic schools, you got New York schools, you got, you know, Providence, Patino. Yeah. You got Patino. Then you got legends like Rolly Massimino, great Italian, Jim Bayheim, Carneseca, Patrick Ewing, John Thompson, most famous Italians you can find out. Italian league. Yeah. Yeah. Patrick, you're the first Italian American coach at Italian league. Yeah. You got Patrick, the first Italian American coach Georgetown university. Yeah. Kyle Neptune ends in a vowel. Italian. J. Wright looks like he could be a town. J. Wright is Italian. He's not Italian, but he got there as quick

as he could. Yeah. Yeah. The suits are Italian. It was though. The big East got screwed. St. John's wasn't even in the last four out. Yeah. Seton Hall, who beat UConn, the number one overall seed, wasn't in Providence, didn't get in. It's bullshit. Yeah. It's kind of crazy, too, when you look at what the NCAA did by inventing the net ranking, right? And it's the NCAA evaluation tool to determine what teams are better.

It's their own metric that they invented that they claim to rely on Yeah like they they did this and they did it so that they could have some some data to show people and they complained about bubble teams right and They invented a whole new formula and then they just threw it out the window when it came time to decide on which teams run It's it's ridiculous, but it's also very funny that they just created as a distraction like hey Maybe this will shut me make people shut the fuck up for a while. And then we'll just put in the teams. If Oppenheimer had spent those like four years inventing the atomic bomb and then Harry Truman

just surrenders right afterwards before they drop it. It's so dumb what they did. Do they have an explanation? Well, so here was one. So Matt Norlander who works works for CBS, talked to the committee. They said, Q1, New Mexico would have been out if it didn't win the Mountain West. Also, Q1 wins were why Michigan State got a nine, which was pretty shocking. Also said the Mountain West wins mostly came in conference, that's why so many teams seeded

that low. So there's two competing things. Mountain West teams are like, our league got seeded low and Big East fans are like, but you got six in and we got three in. It's bullshit. I think it's quad one wins is what they're looking at, but that also doesn't make sense because Michigan State had three quad one wins. I think Providence had six. So it really was no rhyme or reason. And then you have Duquesne who got an 11 seed who I'm pretty sure they were just the committee got lazy and they're like, whoever wins this game is going to get an 11 seed. There's no reason James Madison shouldn't have gotten an 11 seed over like James. I agree better than Duquesne. They got James Madison got

a 12 Duquesne got an 11. It's just crazy. Duquesne got the same seed is like a horn. I got to find it. It's almost like they just looked at the name of the school. Oh, Duquesne got the same seed is like, hold on, I got to find it. It's almost like they just looked at the name of the school, Duquesne. Yeah, that feels like an 11 seed to me. Put them in there. Yeah. All right. So New Mexico, who they admit was on the bubble, is number 22 in net, and they have the same seed as Duquesne, who was 83 in net. And Oregon, who was 59, and NC State, who was 63. They really, this might be the first year where the arguments about how the bracketologist, the committee did it, is all valid. It feels like they just winged this thing. Yeah. Both in seeding and who they left out. Obviously the bubble getting so tight.

Virginia, that should have just been an easy, do we want to watch more Virginia? It's so funny that not only did they take a team that they knew would piss people off, yeah, because they might not have been deserving to get in, but also they picked the one team in America that would piss the most people off, because now we all have to watch Virginia's standalone game standalone game. Also, just one last thing about Michigan State who I thought should have been in but it like when you put the resume up, you could definitely poke some holes in it. When they were revealing the bracket on CBS, they asked about Michigan State and someone said, it might have been Clark Kellogg, was like, they're playing really

well even though they haven't won a game. Okay. Yeah. They're competitive. They haven't won games, but they're playing really well. It's awesome just having a bracket in your hands, holding the bracket, looking at it, smelling it when it comes out of the printer and it's still warm. Everything about a bracket I love.

It's the best. I just went with my balls. I did a balls first pick and I think I'm going to keep this bracket. I think I'm going to trust my initial reaction on the bracket. Who do you have in the 12-5 matchup? 12-5 matchup in the South? Yeah. I have the JMU Dukes.

I have James Madison winning two games. And Hank, by the way, this is the time, if there was ever a time, you versus Jake, Duke versus Vermont, they are the cat amounts. If you lose to Vermont, you should get a cat. Oh. All right. I tried. Hank has had. I tried.

Hank has this is going to, this is, pardon my take, Civil War in this quadrant. And Hank does not give a fuck. And we knew it was happening. I do have. I filled out a bracket as well. There's one matchup missing. Wisconsin JMU, I wanted to give you guys the floor.

Maybe try and pitch me. OK, I'll pitch you. It's hell for me. Because I just bought back into this Wisconsin team. They played their balls off in, in the conference tournament. I mean, I I've watched every single Wisconsin game. They were playing very bad basketball in February. They fought hard. You know, they're the refs. They beat the refs on Saturday. They played toe to toe with Illinois. Illinois is really good. They have two guys that just, you can't

stop. Um, so I was like feeling excited. I was like, this is a team that I talked about it in January. They have the makings, every piece that's needed for a run. JMU is a problem. They're really fucking good. And they score the basketball, they shoot the three. Wisconsin doesn't defend the three. I'm just hoping that height and scoring down low can work. But it's a lose-lose for me because if Wisconsin beats JMU, they're the favorites, they're the five seed. And if we lose, it's like, ha ha, this one's going to probably hurt. It won't hurt as bad as 2015 because nothing will, but it will hurt very, very bad.

What about like sweet 16, 2016 early date, Florida? That hurt very bad. Probably won't hurt as much as that because it's, it's the first round. It's the first talkie won't hurt. So it'd be number four. It'd be number four on, on Wisconsin basketball losses. The cats right. Like Wisconsin, Wisconsin, Wisconsin is supposed to win this game. We're the underdogs for a reason as we should be but Hank to make my case this will actually I'm not sure if this is gonna make the case for me or against me I think I'm gonna be there. So it's about 15 minutes away from where the wedding is gonna be It's like the universe lining up for me. I'm gonna go there straight from the wedding. It's a black tie wedding, too

It's a Haitian black tie wedding. And I'm going to go 12 minutes down the road, go to Barclays. That might actually work against us because if you look at the history of Barstool and the teams that we root for breaking hearts, if there's somebody there in person, that person usually loses, right? Maybe not from your perspective as a Patriots fan, but for most everybody else is like, this does feel like it's going to be, we are underdogs and we are playing with house money, but it does feel like it will be more heartbreaking for me if I were to be there in person to watch it lose. Okay, but counterpoint, hold on, don't fill it out yet, counterpoint. I just can visualize, I'm going to be streaming, me just just at people love to watch me die on streams

The numbers spiking as the game gets worse and worse Mm-hmm, and then the like, you know every 10 minutes a clip coming out of happy PFT Not on mushrooms, but looking like you might be on mushrooms. I haven't said I'm not gonna take much Okay, so he might be on mushrooms happy PFT while everyone just watches me die. Now, the last thing I'll say in defensive Wisconsin, this will 100% be the trendiest 12, five upset. Yeah. Everyone's going to pick JMU. I was looking at the matchup because I was like, I'm nervous. I was looking at Ken Palm, Bart Torvik, trying to find it, texting all my friends who make power ratings. It's going to be a very difficult game for Wisconsin to win because I think James Madison is very good and they were criminally under

seated, but just got to be taller. Just got to be taller. And AJ Storrs just got to be awesome. You mean AJ Scorer? AJ Scorer. And Max Klezman has to get his groin replaced. It's going to come down to, this is actually the perfect litmus test for rest versus rust. Yeah. Hank, do you believe in rest or rest?

Playing good ball right now. We're playing good ball right now. Jamie's had a lot of time to recover. What did you put in there? Well, here's the other thing too, is you would love for me to die against Duke. So that is correct. That's really what you want.

I'm thinking about the vibes. I don't wanna get lashed out on in person'm thinking about the vibes. I don't want to get lashed out on in person on Friday. Oh true. I can't for Wisconsin with you. Cause PFT won't be there. And then you're going to convince yourself that you're going to get revenge for 2015 and lose to Duke, which will be the best content case. So I wrote Wisconsin. Okay. It's funny. Jamie, you get some world again. They, they did this. Someone did this on purpose. Yeah, I mean-

Someone did this on purpose. I said it on Monday. I was like, I'm not trying to be a narcissist, but remember when we had standalone games, Bears versus Commanders, Bears versus Patriots? Someone in the universe is like, how can we squeeze it out of them and try to break them up via sport? Thank you. It's good content for the show.

No, no, it's good for the show. You know what, Hank? You're one of them. You're one of the perverts out there. You probably put a phone call in. But even if it was just 12-5, I would be like, OK, that's kind of a quiz. The fact that Duke's there, sitting there, some sick fuck is just, oh, I know.

I wish maybe it would have been great if it was just like, and Villanova's in the tournament. Duke versus Villanova. That would have rocked. So we unveiled Hank's pick for that game. On Wednesday's show, we'll unveil Max's pick for that game. And then on Friday, we'll unveil Memes' pick.

And then next Monday, I'll- The much anticipated Memes' pick. Next Monday, I'll unveil my pick. But yeah, the bracket's out. I'm just so excited. I'm so excited for college basketball. It is my favorite. I mean, we

should talk about conference tournament week because it was incredible. I reached that point where I think last night I was up again at like 12 o'clock at night watching RUT Arlington boys struggle with, with who they play Grand Canyon. But it's just these five days, I've just had nothing but basketball in my brain. I don't even know, I just need to see a ball be bouncing at all times. Yeah, hearing the squeaks. Yeah, and there was just so many crazy games. I mean, the fact that NC State,

that was one of the craziest runs. Five games, five days, and to beat Virginia when Virginia should have fouled on a bank- three pointer and then kind of low key throttle NC like they were up that entire game. It was crazy. And then we had like every tournament had its own weird thing happen. Kentucky losing in the first round, Tennessee losing in the first round, Bama getting smoked. Mm hmm. SEC was a blood bathath. Yeah, SEC was a...

Wait, I can't say that. You could say. Okay. SEC was a bloodbath. Yeah, B-bath. Houston getting absolutely trucked by Iowa State. Wisconsin beating Purdue was the happiest I've been in a while for any of my sports teams. That was a crazy game, too.

Yeah. And the big pain for me is, like, I like this Badgers team. They're so fun to watch. They're fun. Especially when they're shooting the ball Well, they know they have fun guys. They're not the typical like slow it down, Virginia Let's just fucking you know go 30 seconds just passing the ball around and then get a you know a good layup It's very hard for me to root against a guy named Chucky. I can't be like god damn it Chucky. I fucking hate you No, it's like that's Chucky. Yeah. Yeah, but so I then pack 12 had craziness like, and then, you know, every single conference

it felt like the only conference that went chalk was the big East and Yukon just marches on just dominating everyone. Yeah. I feel like this is a big setup for Yukon to just destroy people again. Yeah. So who would you say? Cause I was going to say that NC state to me feels like America's team or America's sweet destiny, America's sweetheart because DJ burns can't root against that guy just throwing his ass into people. He looks like Escalade. He's the new model of an Escalade and he's just mowing people down with his ass. And then the fact that he's such a silky smooth passer to watching a big dude that can pass like that is so fun. NC State feels like the team that that most

of America has fallen in love with. But besides them, who do who would you put feels like the team that most of America has fallen in love with, but besides them who would you put as the sentimental favorites? Sentimental favorites, good question. But can I just say one thing about NC State and where they're seated in the bracket? I know that we're just going off vibes and everything, but I was thinking about it. You have Houston and Tennessee Futures. I do. I have Kentucky, UNC, and UConn futures. Kentucky wins their

first game and Texas Tech wins their first game. I was just thinking about how I'm just going to watch that game and Patrick Mahomes is going to be standing behind the bench and just another future gone by Patrick. He's going to somehow come in and drop 30. Yeah. It's like, God damn it. This guy. All right. Team of or America's team. America's sweetheart. America's sweetheart. That's great. I mean, you usually don't find out until you get that upset, but hmm. Based off vibes. Will Wade, McNeese? We also need big sexy merch for sure. Oh yeah. Yeah, I mean, yeah.

DJ Burns is- That's gotta be our guy. He's the best. Does he have a nickname yet? I think- Just big sexy? I've heard Escalade memes just keeps calling him big sexy. What about the cyber truck? The cyber truck. We can workshop something, but we need to make a deal there. Yeah. You're the perfect person to ask about that is coming

on the show actually. Yeah. It was Indiana State who didn't get in. I feel bad for Indiana State. It fucking sucks because they were state who didn't get in. I feel bad for Indiana state. It fucking sucks. Cause they were so fun to watch this year. Um, that definitely would have been the team that everyone was rooting for and pulling for. Oh, I've got to, I've got another America sweetheart, but they're going to get bounced in the first round. Okay. Long beach state. Yeah. Cause their coach, their coach, uh, he and, and the university mutually agreed to part ways after the season. Yeah. Essentially he was fired. But they're like, hey, you can stick around

and you can coach for the tournament. Then they just won their conference tournament. So he's still their coach. And Dan Munson's a legend coach. Like he, if you want to actually like draw the line of like when did Gonzaga become Gonzaga, it's Dan Munson. Yeah. He was the coach of Gonzaga.

He was assistant coach for a really long time. Then their head coach, when they made their very first deep run where everyone was like, what is this school? Where is it? Yeah. Um, yeah, him, they fired him and he was like, yeah, I'll keep coaching him for this conference tournament. You're fired. He's like, okay, can I still coach the team? Yeah. And they came back. They were down. I was watching that game. They were down like 10 in the second half and came back and won that game. He said afterwards that, uh, Jim Harbaugh's full of shit when he says, who's got better than us. Nobody. He's like, yeah, I do. I do. My life's pretty sweet. So like a guy who's fired

being that happy about his life, which I guess is still to coach basketball. Um, it's hard not to root for that guy. By the way, if they, if they win, if they beat Arizona, the first round, is he coaching for his job? Like, could they rehire them? They should rehire him. Another one, Keats, NC States coach all time, all time coaching for your job. He had a line in his contract that if he ever wins the ACC tournament in a contract year, he gets an automatic two year extension. So he got an automatic two year extension on Saturday night just by winning that game. That's cool. Good. And he was, he was on the hot seat, like they were going to fire, and he just, it kicks in,

and he just got all these bonuses. All right, I'll give you one other team that I think could be the capture of America's heart. Alabama. Samford. Samford's playing Kansas, 13-4. Kansas has been trending downwards. They've had a lot of injuries.

They got bounced quickly in the first round against Cincy in the Big 12 tournament. Samford plays so fast, they chuck and that's the type of team that everyone falls in love with. Just a bunch of undersized guys who hit threes and played a crazy pace. So Samford could be that team. And Kansas is like, you always got to look, what's the story? Even though Kansas is down, it's like 10 years from now,

if Samford beat Kansas, everyone will be like, wow, remember when Samford beat Kansas? Yeah. It's Kansas. They lost to a school named Samford. Yeah, right. If you're looking at the Jake Marsh storyline, Super Bowl, I see one in the second round. Tennessee, Texas.

Rick Barnes. Yeah, I love that. I really wish the committee had done Purdue versus St. Peter's in the first round. Yeah, me too. That would have been great. But yeah, this bracket looks great. All right. So you guys want to do a quick final four that we can then adjust at a later date? Yes. All right. Do you have yours Hank? Okay. Give Okay, give it to me. Yukon, Arizona, Kentucky, Gonzaga. Yukon Kentucky rematch for Moza 2014. Kentucky wins the national championship.

Okay. Okay. I have Yukon, Arizona, Houston, Tennessee. Okay. I have, this is my first, I mean, done all throughout. I think it's gonna be the storyline revenge factor. It's gonna be Yukon, North Carolina, Marquette, and Creighton. And everyone's gonna be like, why did you leave out half, you know, the entire Big East,

three out of four of the final four teams are Big East team. Counterpoint, do you know what network this is going to be played on? Oh, yes. CBS. And what network is the Big East played on? Fox. Fox. Something to think about.

Shit. That's not going to happen. It would be very- Yeah, it's actually going to be- It actually would be great. ... the state, Colorado state. Yeah, it would be great if that did happen. It would be a big fuck you.

Yeah. ... in committee. I'm rooting for that, I think. I would love to just see the... I just like whenever the committee gets embarrassed, whether it be college football, whether it be college basketball. Committees are bullshit. And I am convinced that all of these committees can be...

The job of the committees can be done better by like 75% of the fans. Or AI. Just anyone who's been paying attention. I know for a fact, I know college basketball guys who are way more informed about college basketball and who's good and who's bad than this stupid committee. Yeah, committees exist just so that one person doesn't get blamed for stuff. Yeah. And then they thank them.

It's like when somebody says, oh, you know, I have to take this to the board Yeah, and get the board's approval on it No, it's just the having a board or having a committee is very useful so you can be like no It's this nebulous entities problem, right? You got fucked over There's there's no one person that like a st. John's fan can call up on the phone be like fuck you Yeah, that's all that's all we want is fans like give me somebody to tell us a fuck off Yeah, give us a hot yeah Establish an open hotline. We should do that for voicemails.

Yeah. Maybe for a Wednesday show. Oh yeah, what was that segment we used to do? We should bring that back for March Madness. Was it like when your dad texted you? Parental advisory. Parental advisory. Yeah, pissed off parents.

And then we had another one where we used a hashtag that was good. That people would tweet us. Oh yeah. Higher education? No, no, no. Some people would tweet us and they were mad and we'd read them off and they were great. It might just be like mad online. Yeah, we gotta bring that back.

Cause that was great to hear from the fans when they have like, they feel like they're hurt. Yeah, yeah. So if you are, if you're in a grieved party, if you feel like you've been wronged by the committee, just tweet at us, hashtag Matt online. Let us know why, let us know what school they fucked over, and we will read the best ones. The end of the CBS show, they thank the committee. Shut the fuck up.

It's a bunch of dudes sitting in women, probably sitting in business casual attire in a Sheridan conference room eating lukewarm spinach artichoke dip and just sitting there being like, oh, this team looks pretty good. Thank you for your service. You spent six hours today and it's probably, I don't know if it's spin art dip or if it's like just cold cut sandwiches. It's just gross food. You had to eat dry sandwiches for a day. You had to eat a turkey club that didn't have almost any mayonnaise on it at all.

Like a very dry sandwich. Thank you for your service. You basically served overseas in Iraq. Yeah, you just, you keep standing up and looking at the cookies again, being like, oh, is this oatmeal raisin? And then sitting back, I'll have half and then you have another half, then you have another half. You've had seven cookies, dude.

They probably- Who put Duquesne at number 11. They brought in the pitcher filled with water in like the metal vase And it was probably filled to the top too far when you poured it into your little stemmed glass It probably spilled a little bit on the on the white tablecloth that was housing all the craft services So it was a tough day for everybody that fucking one idiot who's been accidentally drinking decaf for the whole day He's like halfway through is like fuck. This is decaf Yeah, whole day and he's like halfway through, he's like, fuck, this is decaf? Yeah, it probably took him like 10 minutes

to get the PowerPoint set up. Yeah. You didn't have the right connection cable. They're morons. So no thank you to the committee. You guys did some bad jobs, bad jobs. I actually am more, like the bubble got burst by everyone. Like this was the craziest conference tournament week.

I'm more mad about the seating I think they they did some really bad shit with the seating and fucked over some teams Yeah, that really would it come in terms of the teams that got left out I think you just you have to look at the ACC and then you look at the big East teams that got left out and be like which team like Clemson was what a six seed Yeah, I think so. Yeah, they stink. Yeah. Yeah, Clemson's six seed. Joe Gerard's going to get absolutely eaten alive by New Mexico.

They play fast. Yeah. Fastball. This is also a very funny time of year because I'm very bad at gambling. I'm on a historically bad run right now. But I also think that I'm smart enough to pick Colorado to win a play-in game and then pick Colorado To win their second round game over Marquette. I already bet Colorado. Yeah, so I feel I don't wins. We're smart. We're sharp Yeah, no, it's fine. It's just you gotta you gotta get into it. So

What else we got for the bracket anything else Hank Duke are you gonna be a Duke fan? Yeah, I Like how you just decided that right now sure I mean, I don't have a college basketball team So they're the closest thing I got Duke went out sad Yeah, I mean this team is not good sad Who do they lose to again? NC State oh yeah, NC State yeah, there's I just my brain is just melted with basketball He asked me a asked me what happened and I'm just like, I think,

I don't know. Well, Max, do you have any other thoughts? Villanova. Oh, last thing. How mad would you have been if Wisconsin had lost at the refs? Oh, with Zach Eady? Yeah. Very mad. I mean, anyone who watched, everyone who roots for a Big 10 team should be thankful that that was the last time we have to watch a Big 10 ref crew ref Zach Eady. I still think Purdue is a very good team. They're better than they were last year. But it's just maddening watching a seven foot guy get

treated like he's a five foot guy and with kid gloves and every single time he gets touched, there's a whistle, he's barreling over people. It's nuts. So that felt really good. That was a very fun win to have. It is funny because the refs feel bad for Zach Eady. Right. Which is really strange for a guy that he's that physically imposing. And you're like, oh, poor Zach Eady. He doesn't look like he's having any fun out there. They did it to Michigan State the night before too. It was just egregious call after egregious call. I had one last thing. Max,

you were never even close to the bubble. You keep saying that, that's not true. No, you kind of wasted our time. Yeah, like you wasted all that anger and you weren't even close to the bubble. If Villanova beats Marquette, then beats Providence and is in the Big East final and loses to Yukon, they are a thousand percent in. That would be six quad one wins. I don't think so. a thousand percent. We know how the committee feels about Italians Max and what network is the Big East? It's true

But and the whole quad one thing is bullshit like Michigan that Michigan State got that seating because of their quad one wins They have three of them. Yeah, Seton Hall has more st. John's has more. Yeah, I thought Michigan State should be in Five quad one win. I know and they beat you con. Yeah, iton Hall has more, St. John's has more. Yeah, I thought Michigan State should be in. But I just... Seton Hall had five quad one wins. I know, and they beat UConn. Yeah. It's crazy. And Max, you were never close to close.

Providence wasn't... Yes, I was. Was Providence even the last four out? They last four out? No, they were not last four out. They weren't last four out. And they went around further than you in the Big East Tournament. But we were ahead of...

We already beat them twice. We were ahead of them going in the Big East tournament. But we were ahead of, we already beat them twice. We were ahead of them going into the Big East tournament. So the last four out was Oklahoma, Seton Hall, Indiana State, and Pitt. You were not even, you wasted our time. But if they beat Marquette and then beat Providence to get to the Big East final, they're a thousand percent in. Yeah, I don't think so. I don't know why you say that.

I don't think so because you weren't even close. Did you call them Frank? You weren't think so. I don't think I don't know why you say that. I don't think so because you weren't even close Did you call him Frank? You weren't even close, but you're yes They're you're saying that because they lost that gets them to know what he've got them to 20 wins with six quad one games Actually, I don't know if Providence would have been quad one Justice for pug justice justice for pug. Oh, yeah, so we should say that is another Fleming curse a crazy stat John Fanta put this out there for the first time in 45 year history the Big East Conference a team went over five games Over 500 in conference play and did not make the NCAA tournament that team is Seton Hall

Damn, that's tough. That is tough. That is very tough. It's just a bubble. The bubble went crazy. It was All those teams just stealing bids. I mean the a10 had every single team being upset. So But yeah, we have a bracket and I'm very excited about the bracket I love my bracket my brackets perfect and it's a hundred percent correct and nothing ever bad is gonna happen to it Who do you think produce is going to lose to? I think they lose to TCU. Samford. Samford's in the Elite Eight.

I think they, I think, I just, I picked some of these teams because I want to see these storylines develop. Like I want to see Will Wade win two games. I want to see McNeese beat Kansas. Samford also, everyone needs to know that you have to fill out your bracket You have to have a really strong conviction about one crazy upset and then have that team lose by 30 Yeah, and then your entire brackets gonna you guys are highlighter guys, right? Um, I go back and forth Oh and in depending on the year highlighter

I don't have I don't have like a device that I need to use every single I go with the flow Oh highlighter for sure right Hank. Yeah, oh always highlighted right right max Circle you circle sir circle and then you fuck and then weirdo not and then put a line through it You gotta be yeah, you gotta be able to do both Yeah, if I have a highlighter for me, I'm a highlighter guy because I got a pen guess what it's big time I want it to be as quick as possible, and I don't always have a highlighter close by I will always got a pen, guess what? It's big time, baby. I want it to be as quick as possible and I don't always have a highlighter close by. I will always have a pen. Yep.

Yeah. All right. Well, we'll get more into the bracket with Jon Rostein and we also are going to have Titus on on Wednesday where we dive really deep in, have more crystallized thoughts. Let's do Who's Back the Week. By the way, I mentioned at the top, we are going to talk Justin Fields after Jon Rostein. Got a lot of thoughts on that. He was traded, so we're not ignoring it. Who's back this week? Brought to you by

our friends at Game Time. Game Time, PFT is going to use Game Time on Friday night to go see James Madison versus Wisconsin. Did you know that you can get tickets to James Madison, Wisconsin right now for only, can you find the price? I don't know if we have the prices up, but that's right with with Game Time the official ticketing partner of Barstool Sports. You shouldn't have to worry when you buy tickets to your next big event. Game Time is the fast and easy way to buy tickets for all your sports, music, comedy and theater events near you. They have flash deals for sudden discounts, zone deals for when you're feeling flexible and their lowest price guarantee means that if you can find the same seats for less anywhere else

Game Time will credit you 110% of the difference. Game Time is the best place for last minute seats with up to 60% off your favorite events. What are you waiting for? I'm going to buy, or PFT is going to buy James Madison versus Wisconsin on Friday night at the Barclays. He's going to do it right now. So take the guesswork out of buying tickets with Game Time. Download the Game Time app, create an account and use code PMT for $20 off your first purchase. Terms apply. Download the

Game Time app today. Last minute tickets, lowest price guaranteed with the Game Time app. Okay, Hank, who's back of the week? My who's back of the week is Black Dick. Oh, okay. Good. Good. Grady Dick and Anthony Black did a Jersey swap at the end of their game on Sunday That's pretty cool It's like we're very funny when Chris very funny picture used to always stay next to Fletcher Cox So we say long Cox and then one time Jalen Hurts got there. It said long Cox hurts. That was awesome

Yeah, just guy stuff. Yeah, I always makes me laugh. Nothing like a good Jersey swap. I was back to get Scottie Scheffler This guy is good. He's a problem. He is a big problem another comeback victory at the players repeat champion at the players fifth major fifth major windham clark, uh Had a putt to tie force of playoff When inside the cup rolled around popped back out Did a 180 degree loop, came out. I may have bet on winning, winning Clark to win. That was a tough loss. That was crazy.

It was wild. Yeah, it was really close going down the stretch there. It was like Brian Harmon, Shofley. Is Shofley ever going to win anything? He just doesn't like to win. Zander. The only thing Zander does, his name is always at the top of the leaderboard on Saturday.

It's always right next to Patrick Cantlay. It's always like Cantlay-Strawflee. I think he's like 0 for 9 and he's been in the final group 9 times. Maybe it's 0 for his last night because he's won a couple times, but... Can't break through. Can't break through. Tough. What about a Zander is it where you're a kid and your name is Alexander and you decide

to go by Zander instead of Alex? I think some kids are named Zander. Yeah, Xander. Xander is Jimmy Tatro in his show. I don't think his name is Alexander. That would be why. You think his name is just Xander? Yeah.

I think it might be Xander. I think people do Xander now. I mean, people do all kinds. No, his name's Alexander. Of course it's Alexander. Oh. That's what Xander's short for. I didn't know.

I didn't know that. You thought just Xander was a name? I think people do name Xander. Well, yeah. Why don't you just go Alex? Yeah, Alex That's what I'm saying You should if your name is Alexander and you choose to go by Xander that tells me all you need to know He should go by Alex till he wins a tournament. Yeah, we've won tournaments you know, but it wins one since he's been choking Does he choke?

You can call today a choke. Also Max Homa did not hit a person. He hit a tree Yeah, he's very clear about that on the record although I wish he had hit the person yeah I wish because the person was standing right in front of him when he's trying to hit a shot And that's that's Darwinism. He said afterwards He's like yeah I asked him to move and then they just kept on inching closer the the post-match press conference with max was so funny because they asked him about that situation and

he had this like smile on his face and he kept holding himself back and if I'm running it through the Max Homa truth translator he wanted to say so badly like I wish that it hit the guy like it's his fault for being there. Yes. He should not have been there. That's his problem not my problem. You should ask him about that. Yeah. But the video made it look like it just whopped him in the head and I was so I was hoping that he got hit in the head, but not bad enough to cause a serious injury, just enough to teach him a lesson. Yeah, yeah, I agree. So Max did not hit a person.

I thought he killed the guy. Yeah, I mean, there's no way that hits him in the head. It doesn't seriously injure him. Yeah, there's a part, like it hits the thing, and then you hear somebody scream like half a second later. Yeah. That would have been, I kind of wish that it happened. Yeah. Okay, PFT, your kind of wish that it happened. Yeah.

OK, PFT, your who's back. My who's back of the week is the Titanic. Oh. So I think we pitched this on the show to Damon John from Shark Tank like five years ago. But it's been my dream to one day recreate the Titanic. And by that, I mean build the exact same ship again, have it leave from the same port on the same day of the year, have it sail the exact same route as the original Titanic.

I like it. And have the exact same number of lifeboats on it. Have tickets cost the same that they did back in the day. The three richest guys in the world on there. Yeah, adjusted for inflation and then just see if you can make it. I guarantee you that would sell out. People like thrill seekers out there. There's a bunch of Titanic freaks out there. Yeah, adjusted for inflation and then just see if you can make it. I guarantee you that would sell out. People like thrill seekers out there. There's a bunch of Titanic freaks out there. We saw it with the sub that imploded. Yep. Like people get legit obsessed

with the Titanic. I would love to have it be like, like stowage class where it costs like $5 for a ticket. You sell a thousand of those and then you have like other like sweets up top that costs $250,000 where rich people get to go. I'm in. Just recreate it 100%, but there's an Australian billionaire named Clive Palmer and he is planning on building the exact replica of the Titanic and he wants to set sail in 2027. I hope he does it at the same time of year.

Just run the whole thing back. See what can happen. Well, there's no ice caps anymore, right? Maybe maybe by then we fucked up that that iceberg. Yeah, we did that iceberg is not exist. Oh warming ah Titanic Kind of kind of a little bit of a bitch-made boat when you think about obviously because it got destroyed But have you ever seen the pictures of the Titanic verse like a modern-day cruise? It's not as big as that shit is a fucking joke. It bays those probably as a boat pick. Yeah

Titanic was mid at best. Yeah, so they should make this a bigger boat. Yeah, that's what I'm saying Like you remake the Titanic Everyone's gonna look at me like that's it They said though cuz in our heads like we're like, biggest boat ever. For that one day, like on the same day of the journey that the Titanic hit the iceberg, they should just have the captain blindfolded. It's like, we're going straight ahead.

And can you imagine what a thrill that would be to be on that boat? I want this thing to sink so bad. It would rock. Especially a billionaire named Clive. It would rock so hard if it sank. I'm rooting for it to sink. He might be building this just to blow it up and be like, it sunk.

Yeah. This might be a Michael Bay movie. Yeah. Okay. My Who's Back Week. I have two. One is, I should have said this during the brackets, but this is the funniest time of the year in terms of non-sports fans or sports fans because I think in NFL season, if you aren't a football fan, I think most non-football fans at least respect, like we know that's big. Like we know the NFL's big. The NFL is king.

There are people who just like, will never watch a college basketball game just out of principle. And I saw this one guy tweet, you're a sick individual if you've been watching college basketball all week. It's like, no, this is the best. But it's always a funny divide

because you have people who like, obviously not listeners to this show, but you have people who are just like, this is just another. But it's always a funny divide because you have people who like, obviously not listeners to this show, but you have people who are just like, this is just another week for them while we are just going to go to war. Yeah. Yeah. I love it. Yeah, it is. It's really strange. But you know what I mean? I get it. I get into whatever big sport is happening at that time. That's how my calendar is. Right. Of course. But you know what I mean? Like when you meet someone who doesn't watch the NFL, they're like, oh yeah, well I watch Super Bowl, John Rostein.

But you meet people who don't watch college basketball, they're like, what is going on? But I feel like during bracket week, that kind of transcends office pools. You get the office pools going. But conference championship week, you're right, there's a lot of people out there that like, March, like college basketball does not start

until the bracket. Right, it's more about conference championship week. They don't understand. Like, wait, you've been watching basketball every day for the last five days. It's the exact opposite of Joe Linares schedule. All right. So that was a segue because my other who's back is Joe Linares, who's now no longer back because it's golf season. Joe Linares. I thought I liked this guy. Have we had him on? I don't think so. I think you know what? He reached out to us maybe maybe year two of part of my take and I think we were gonna put him on the show

But he was like the thing is I'm actually like swamped until the third week of March so I can come on third week of March and then we were like wait a second. What the fuck are we gonna talk to Jill Nardi about? During the NCAA tournament, right like his job is done by then. He doesn't even he doesn't even I don't think he watches the NCAA tournament. Right. Like, his job is done by then. He doesn't even, he doesn't even, I don't think he watches the NCAA tournament. He was also getting community noted because he was putting in like wins. He had Virginia winning against NC State. They didn't.

In Illinois losing to Nebraska, they didn't. But Joe Linarity on Friday night, after making Virginia the winner, tweeted, danger time for UVA and good night for me. Joe Lennardi has to work three weeks a year. And he said good night at 1057 during conference championship week on Friday night when there was like six games left. Yep.

What is up with this guy? I think he hates brackets. Yeah, because he also said, I think Joe Lennardi is trapped in his own personal hell. Like the one thing that he has to do all day every day, he hates doing, which is watching college basketball. Right, and he was the first to do it, and everyone respects him, and ESPN employs him, but a million people do brackets now.

Shout out Bracket Matrix that compiles it all. He had a couple hours before the brackets came out, he said two hours, actually two days until golf season. He's just so excited to be done with this stuff. And then he also said, this is grumpy time for him right now. It was like right before the brackets come out. He's as grumpy as it gets. What is up with this guy? Does he not? Bro, you got to love what you do. Yeah. It's like if Hank's job was to read all the time. That's what he's treating this like. I was shocked. And he might not even watch the games this week. I don't know. His job is done. Like Joe, Joe

Lunardi's usefulness runs out at exactly this time. Yeah, it's over. Yeah. And Max was here on Friday night. We were just like, what do you mean good night? I was furious. What do you mean good night? Your job is to watch the games and decide the bracket for us. You are going to sleep. We had, Max when he tweeted that, I think you and I both stayed up for another five hours. Yeah. I mean the Arlington game was unbelievable. It went forever and it was incredible. But yeah, New Mexico and Colorado hadn't even tipped off yet and they were both bubble teams.

Good night. How are you supposed to make a judgment on who should be in and who should be out if you won't even watch the games on Championship weekend. Careful Max, he's an Italian. We were literally CBS we were just screaming. What do you mean? Good night? You can't go to sleep. This is your job It's five days a year that he has to stay up that late Yeah, what he needs to realize is that with one snap of the fingers, that freak Steve Kornacki could step into his job and do it better. I've always been

a Jerry Palm guy myself. That fucking piece he has on his head just rocks. It just goes out there with authority. You're like, dude, what are you wearing? I like Charlie cream. I'm on the cream team. Okay. Yeah. Yeah. So let's, let's normalize other guys. Yeah. I think so I was thinking about the upcoming college football season I think Blake his line is gonna be he's gonna be a bracketologist for football because nobody's doing that yet. Yeah. He's gonna be the first. Yeah that's as long as Lunardi's not doing it. No. He hates his job. Good night. You don't fucking say good night to us at 1057 on Friday night of Conference Championship Week. What do you mean goodnight?

Yeah, well it was midnight on the East Coast. This was after he had put Virginia as a win. Yeah, it's tough, tough night for him. Real tough. Okay, Jake is still taping with Titus. We can ask him his who's back when he gets back here. Let's get to John Rostein, talk a little more college basketball.

Also gotta talk some tweets with John Rostein because he's had a bunch recently that have had to say, huh, we are brought to you by our friends at Uber Eats. This is the time for Uber Eats people. Big announcement. Did you know you can get almost almost anything from Uber Eats? And no, I'm not just talking about food from your favorite restaurant. Uber Eats has a full range of delivery capabilities beyond just restaurant food like groceries, convenience, and alcohol. Whether you need ice cream, batteries, two sodas, or paper towels, or maybe all four, Uber Eats can deliver

almost, almost anything. Get grocery, alcohol, and everyday essentials in addition to the restaurant food you love. So in other words, get almost, almost anything with Uber Eats. Order now. For alcohol, you must be legal drinking age. Please enjoy responsibly. Product availability varies. Buy Region C app for details. Uber Eats, this is the perfect time to sit on your couch all weekend long. Never leave.

Uber Eats, get almost almost anything with Uber Eats. We're also brought to you by our friends from Chevy. You know that we are truck guys. We love the Chevy Silverado. The Chevy Silverado has commanding and unstoppable grit, legendary capability and dependability too. We've all spent seat time, as they call it in the biz, behind the wheel of a Silverado,

and we're not just truck guys, we're Chevy truck guys. You know about the ZR2 family of trucks, lifted and ready for anything right from the factory. Now Silverado is taking it all to the next level with even more Silverado truck tech like available Super Cruise. Only Super Cruise lets you drive hands free and tow hands free on more than 400,000 miles of compatible roads with over 138 million miles of hands free driving by customers. Super Cruise will help you get to your adventure energized and it will help you drive home. Go to Chevy.com where

you can check out the Silverado. Build your own Silverado online and learn important details about Super Cruise today with Chevy. Thank you to Chevy, our wonderful sponsor. Okay. Here he is, John Rostein. Okay. We now welcome on a very, very special guest, recurring guest. It is John Rostein. You can find him on CBS Sports. You can hear his podcast, College Hoops Today. It is a tradition unlike any other, we have John Rostein to break down his regions, talk brackets. But before we do that, John, how are you feeling after Shocker Smart just outed you for being a serial texter to him on national television for people who missed. John asked

him about Tyler Colick and whether he'd be playing. And Shaka said, should I answer this now or should I wait till you text me every single morning? Uh, how are you feeling? You know, Hey, look, I hope that cat, everybody who meets me, and I think probably most people feel this. I feel I'm one of the most relentless people that they've met in the history of their life. Look, nothing was given to me. Nothing obviously was put in front of me and I think probably most people feel this. I feel I'm one of the most relentless people that they've met in the history of their life. Look, nothing was given to me. Nothing obviously was put in front of me and said, okay, take this. This is yours. So the only way I know how to live life is to go through every life each and every day. Like I've accomplished nothing and the way in life to accomplish everything is to wake up each and every day believing that you accomplish nothing. Oh, every day is a gift. Wait, so

every day you wake up and you're like, I have not texted shock of smart ever in my life. Essentially. No, I was following up with him this past week, obviously about Colics injury news and we spoke before the big East tournament. He said, there's no news right now. I'll let you know if that changes and so on and so forth, but I can never Go through life feeling like I could have done more in my vocation and in my effort So what I mean by that is you know, I believe it was it Salvador Dali who said have no fear of perfection You'll never reach it. We're getting deep and philosophical here on the first question, but why not? We're close. Yeah, I like that I think the way you have to look at it is I could never live with myself We're getting deep in philosophical here on the first question, but why not? We're close. Yeah, I like that. I think the way you have to look at it is,

I could never live with myself without like, well, I could have done X, Y, or Z to be better, and I didn't do that. So now I look at things and I say, you know what? I have to always make sure that I'm stretching things out as much as I can, giving my best effort. And if the chips don't fall in your favor, the chips don't fall in your favor.

You're never gonna be able to be on top of everything, but you can never not give your best effort. And if the chips don't fall in your favor, the chips don't fall in your favor. You're never going to be able to be on top of everything, but you can never not give your best effort in life. As you know from one of our favorite movies that we share together, one of most Sylvester Stallone's most underrated movies over the top, the world made nobody halfway. Yes. And you do not, you live that.

You live that mantra. And sometimes to your personal life's detriment, because I was made aware of this tweet of yours a couple hours ago I wanted to follow up make sure that you're doing okay personally Because I believe this was Friday you tweeted problems at home Yeah, been so dialed in that my wife took our six month old girl with her to a work trip on the west coast I hope they come back But if they don't dying on your sword is worth it when UConn St. John's is

24 hours away at MSG. Remember, life is about choices. So are you single? Is this the lookout ladies, John Rothstein, ready to get back at it? No, but the truth of the matter is this. My wife, I've got a really busy stretch. As you guys know, I was doing TV tonight. I had to do my own podcast.

I'm on with you guys. I have more TV in the morning. Then I'm flying out to Dayton for the first four, and then I'm going to another site from there. But she was like, all right, I get it that this is March. Every month is March for me, because I have a job to, and I have my own career. And she's like, you know what? I'm putting the baby to sleep,

and I'm sleeping in a different room tonight, because I don't want to hear about these brackets. I'll watch the game socially, but that's it. And I go, that's fine. So, March season drives a rift, I think, you know, in the house a little bit. Like people don't understand that like, it's a really big deal that Duquesne hasn't been to the tournaments in 77, which is the same year that Star Wars first at theaters, but I have learned this and you guys tell me if I'm

wrong, nobody is perfect, not even my wife, who I love to pieces, but at the end of the day, you are who you are in life. And at this point you guys know me well enough I'm not changing so if I for years have felt that the most underrated rivalry was St. John's Yukon and it was untapped because St. John's who didn't make the NCAA tournament hasn't won an NCAA tournament game since 2000 when Mike Jarvis led St. John's over Northern Arizona in Tucson when Northern Arizona had a very dangerous center named Dan McClintock. I am not going to back down

on the fact that I was still waiting to see if St. John's could get the Friday night, the big East tournament to play Yukon, who again has become a team that is operating on a Calhoun level. Yes. Under Dan Hurley. Yes. No, hey, listen, we have busy seasons, football season. We have a lot of stuff that pulls us in different directions. So we understand. I want to follow up with one other. We had your back on the other tweet where you said you lost a friend because you didn't go to their engagement party. I don't know if you heard what we said on our show, but we said engagement parties are bullshit. Right. A guy should never be like, I can't believe

you didn't come to my engagement party. That's point John Rostein. You made the right choice. But also, and you guys know this, when you do what we do, you don't say no to work. You don't say no when you have opportunities because especially, and you guys know this, when you're starting out, if you say no, you may never get another opportunity this guy who again was a pseudo friend I would say when I went to college he was like you know friendly like you know hey do you want to go to a Nick game or whatever you know kind of like friendly but then like when I started like you know having more opportunities in my career like hey my brother really wants to get in the talk radio can we come by

and see the station and it's like a friend of convenience and you get invited to the wedding and you're happy that happy that your pseudo friend is having success. But you're not going to say, no, I'm going to come to your engagement party instead of going to a Final Four when Butler was playing VCU and Yukon was playing Kentucky, and Shabazz Napier and Jeremy Lamb were freshmen at Yukon. Right, and that friend's name?

Jonathan Bosco. Yeah. Look where it ended up. Who's Jonathan Bosco? You can put it together with the last name. Okay, fair enough. That's all you, BFB. I'm not going down that rabbit hole. Yeah, you know, we had your back. All right, so let's get into it. Let's dive into it. I know you, you always like to put names on the, on the bracket on the region. So we're just going to hand it to you. You drive. We'll insert ourselves here and there with questions, but let's rip it off.

All right. Well, let's start now in the top left right now, which is the East region. Yukon is the one seed. And I look at the makeup of the coaches in this region as having such fiery personalities. Dan Hurley is your one seed. TJ Altshulberger is the two. He looks like he could step in an octagon and fight Ken Shamrock right now. Brad Underwood at three is a coach who keeps a treadmill in the gym at practice.

And if a coach and a player isn't playing well, he makes sure they get on and obviously hits the treadmill. Duquesne is Pittsburgh tough at 11. Auburn one of the toughest teams in the country, one of hardest playing players in the country and Katie Johnson San Diego State is Also, you know a very hard playing time a far hard playing team at the five seat. I see ruthless hard-nosed Competitive teams in this region and I see the region of gladiators led by the coach of the one seat in my opinion the favorite in the NCAA tournament Dan Hurley and Dan Hurley probably in his own mind feels like he's a little bit like Russell Crowe and Gladiator in this NCAA tournament. Brother to a famous point guard, son of a famous father. And even

though he won a national championship last year, he will have his vengeance in this tournament of the next. Okay. I like that. I like that. The gladiator region. So, um, can you tell us what just missed for this region? Because, or how quickly do you come up with the names and was there anything you were workshopping? Cause I'd love to see the drafts. I'd love to see what was like, ah, this was so close, but you know, Iowa state doesn't really fit this or BYU doesn't really make sense here. So was there, was there a name that you were toying with before you came up with Gladdy? Well, I was looking up and down, obviously this region and I was just saying, oh my God,

like, you know, Iowa State is so tough and Dan Hurley is such a personality and you know, we have Bruce Perl who's such a personality and so fiery. And then you have obviously, you know, the Brad Underwood stuff. He's such a personality and you Kane and Pittsburgh and it's such a story for them to get there for the first time since 77. I almost went with the region of chutzpah. Ooh, okay. I like this. I need the, I know I need whatever cut, you know, is on the drawing or in the drafts for each one of these regions. I like that. So it was almost the region of chutzpah, but I went with the region of gladiators because

I think you have the Dan Hurley element of again, even though he won a national title, brother to a famous point guard, son of a famous coach. And even though he won a national title, he will seek his vengeance in this tournament of the next. Okay. I also think in your flow chart, it really helps if it can line up with a movie that would fit right in at like 2 p.m. on a Saturday afternoon. Has an airing on TNT, right? It came out at least 20 years or more. Yes.

Right. Gladiator came out in 2000. Yeah. That's 20 years or more. That's right. Yeah. All right. Who do you have coming out of this region?

I've got UConn, guys. I mean, UConn is going to be playing, and I've been talking about this for weeks in situations where UConn is not going to have to get on a plane to go to a final four. Stores to Brooklyn, win two games there, back the stores, win two games in Boston. But I will say this, if Auburn can find its way to Boston there in the Sweet 16, I think UConn against Auburn in that Sweet 16 in Boston has a chance to be one of the best games of the entire tournament. I don't know if you remember this, Cat or PFC,

they played a couple of years ago in the first round of the Battle for Atlantis, and it was one of the best games that we had that season. That Cat, I think it was Thanksgiving Eve. It was, I was at the park in Brooklyn with my kid. I think I had two kids. I was with my son and it was like, what, two over times? And I had a lot of money on that game. Was it two over times? That was, I think two over times. Yes. It was definitely an over time. I remember it well. That was a great game.

So there's a lot of conference champions in this bracket. Do you, do you put any stock into them fading out of the tournament? There's two sides to that. You know, I mean, we look at what happened obviously with Purdue in the past, we've seen it work both ways. It's obviously great momentum for some teams. UConn in 2011 won five in five days with Kemba Walker, and then won six games in the NCAA tournament. I think there's some of that. I also think that, you know, you look at the bottom of this region, you've got the, I think, you know, the two, three seed is massive. I mean, Iowa state on Sunday, I had forecasted as my fourth number one seed and Illinois is a team that I felt for about a month could be a dark horse final four team. So I'm looking at the scenario at the

bottom of that region as being a dynamite dynamite region here So who did you have dropping out if you had Iowa State as number one? So I had North Carolina dropping out, huh? Okay. Okay. I saw Carolina drop I saw a lot of people online said that I'm not saying this but I saw a lot of people online Saying that you were a moron for that. Would you like to defend yourself against those people? I don't look at my mentions. I haven't looked at my mentions since 2017. That's smart. That's very smart. What about the people that say Duquesne

was lazily seeded because it seems like the committee basically said whoever wins VCU Duquesne, who are the 11th seed, VCU would make more sense as 11th seed. Oh, shit, we already filled out our whole bracket. We'll just put in Duquesne when they clearly are the weakest of the 11 seeds resume wise and actually a lot of 12 seeds have better resumes. Well, look at this right now for a sec guys. The 11 seeds, Duquesne, bid stealer out of

the A10. New Mexico, we learned later, was a bid stealer out of the Mountain West, I thought New Mexico should have been in regardless. NC State, bid stealer out of the ACC, and Oregon, the 11th seed in the Midwest, bottom right, was a bid stealer. So it almost feels like the 11 seed slots all just went to the bid stealers. Yeah. Yeah. Interesting. That might be what happened. Okay. So, well, if you haven't read your notifications or your mentions in 2017, did you ever think that maybe there's a young John Rothstein out there that wakes up every day and tweets at you and is trying to interact with you in the same way you're dealing with coaches?

And they're just pounding their head against the wall. They're just trying to make a name for themselves, John. I have an email. He can reach out to you guys or Hank or Jake, and I'll get in touch with him or her. Okay, all right. Okay. Anything to help younger people achieve their passion like we've been fortunate enough to do.

Okay. So any upsets coming out of this in the, uh, in the first two rounds? I've got Duquesne beating BYU. That's a little bit of an upset and it's not an upset I'm going to take here, but I, I mean in terms of the seed, but I think considering how poorly Florida Atlantic played losing the temple, I think a lot of people are going to I think considering how poorly Florida Atlantic played losing the temple I think a lot of people are gonna, you know fade Florida Atlantic I think Northwestern you guys know this being in Chicago is severely severely

Limited after losing Ty Barry to a season ending injury and that Northwestern has also, you know been without Matthew Nicholson Who has been a stalwart inside for them during this two-year run. He has been out for a number of games. I'm gonna take Florida Atlantic to beat Northwestern. I've talked obviously for a long time about Auburn because I love Auburn and I don't really love the matchup for Yale but James Jones has a good ball club at Yale. I think Auburn is too deep for that, but my upset in this region is Duquesne beating BYU in an 11-6. I think we have to remember this and you guys get this. BYU for the most part was a team that it was recruited to play in

the West Coast Conference and now you have a team in Duquesne who just won the Atlantic 10. There is not the conference gap that there probably would be in your normal 6-11 when you have a bid stealer. So I'm taking Duquesne right there, but I've got Yukon, Auburn, Illinois, Iowa State in my Sweet 16, the region of gladiators, and I've got Yukon over Illinois in the Elite 8. Okay. Okay. All right. Next region, wherever you want to go. Bottom left, we'll stay on the left side of the bracket.

The West region which is played in Los Angeles and because it's played in Los Angeles it should fittingly be called the region of drama. Now why is it the region of drama? Well let's look right now who the one seed is. North Carolina obviously two years ago played for a national championship, lost to Kansas, had the dramatic season last year where it missed the NCAA tournament. Now it has done a complete 180, but who is the two seed? Arizona. And that means if the seeds hold in Southern California, and it's a one-two, we would have Caleb Love going up against his former team for the right to go to the final four That is the region of drama now you look at the other characteristics of this region

You've got drama with New Mexico a team that had to play well at the Mountain West Tournament after losing the Air Force in obviously a very very brutal loss a couple of weeks ago You also have drama with st after losing the Air Force in obviously a very, very brutal loss a couple of weeks ago. You also have drama with St. Mary's. Randy Bennett's club starts eight and six. Then it goes, he rips through the WCC like a chainsaw through butter. It gets a five seed.

It wins the WCC regular season and also tournament titles. St. Mary's has not been to the second weekend of the NCAA tournament since 2010 with Omar Samhan, Mickey McConnell, Matthew Delavadova when they beat Richmond and Villanova back to back in Providence. And then you got Tom Izzo in this region as well, who again is always a great quote, always opinionated. He's a very dramatic guy. But the big headline for the region of drama is the potential North Carolina, Arizona, Caleb Love against the Tarios matchup in the Elite Eight in the West region, therefore the region of drama. Okay. How much longer do you think

Izzo is going to stick around? Oh, I don't see him not coaching. I don't think Tom Izzo could not coach. I think Izzo in some ways enjoys the adversity more than the actual success because the adversity then forces you to have the truly brutal practice the next day and getting back the respectability. So what missed the cut in this region? What were we thinking about when we saw it? As soon as I saw that it was being played in Los Angeles and as soon as I saw there was a chance that Arizona could play North Carolina in the Elite Eight, I said hands down this is the region of drama. There's nothing else to talk about. It's so dramatic. And again, life is not obviously a movie, but this would feel like a movie if we have Caleb Love against North Carolina going up against R.J. Davis and Baycott, guys

he went to the national championship game with two years ago. Yeah, so hold on. That feels like kind of like the selection committee screwed up by just like, oh, we'll just put Duquesne in at the Levin seed. When you found out that it was going to be LA, what, like, when did they announce the sites? Like a year ago? Was that always going to be the drama? In LA? Yeah. No, but the matchup, the potential matchup, you know, obviously.

I want to just make sure. I want to make sure you're not, you know, we're we're not like you could maybe tell us what the regions are next year based on where they're being played. I'm not there yet. I'm taking a one day one year at a time. So if we're looking at this like a movie, who's the good guy though? Is Caleb love the good guy or is it his teammates and then Caleb love walks out the door on him? Caleb love is I think has gotten a bad rap. I think Caleb love is perceived to be the bad guy, but he's not. I went to Arizona and you know, spent some time with him the pre-season. Wonderful guy. He's had a great year, you know, packed to a player of the year, played like an all-American. I just think that it would be compelling, compelling theater if that's the case. I mean, look, both of these teams got to go through really good

teams to get to that point. I'll say this guys I'm looking at North Carolina another game will be played in Charlotte, but whoever North Carolina gets Mississippi State or Michigan State in that round of 32 game That is a bear of a game to get to the sweet 16 now I think America is going to be taking Michigan State in this game because of Tom Izzo That's what people from the periphery do. I am going with Mississippi State I am going with Chris Jans the dentist who will give you a root canal without the Nova Kane when he gets the chance guys Let's look at Chris Jans here in the NCAA tournament New Mexico State He beat you con two years ago last year got Mississippi State to the NCAA tournament lost on the last possession in the first quarter pit. Now he's back. The dentist doing work cat. That's, I like it.

I sound like a very good dentist though. It sounds like just a torturer. Yeah. I like it. All right. What's part of me really good defensive coach. Yeah. Although their defense hasn't been as good as it was last year. Fair enough. Fair enough. I guess, you know, he took some tweaks out, But again, a little bit better offensive. The guy you want to keep an eye on for Mississippi State, a guy who I think could be a real star, as again, people who are coming from the periphery, is Josh Hubbard, 5'10 freshman from Mississippi State. I believe he scored over 4,000 points in high school.

Okay. All right. We're going to get back to John Rothstein in a second. He's brought to you by Peloton I was on my peloton earlier today been doing some classes on the bike We're back on the bike baby buns of anarchy get it going and wherever you're beginning and wherever you want to be Peloton encourages you to just start Peloton helps you start no matter what level you're at whether you're starting There's thousands of classes to get you moving if you're a beginner, if you're advanced, doesn't matter, they've got rides for both.

They have feel good live DJ rides, they even have artist theme rides. I've been doing some pop punk rides, outstanding, having a great burn. They've got you covered no matter what you're into. Get started with Peloton bike or a bike plus rental by visiting onepeloton.com slash bike slash rentals. Terms apply, that URL is onepeloton.com slash bike slash rentals. Terms apply. That URL is onepeloton.com slash bike slash rentals.

John Rothstein is also brought to you by our great friends over at Coors Light. The mountains were blue this weekend for St. Patrick's Day. I'm happy to report there's some seriously blue mountains. Had a great time with the help of my good friend Coors Light from day to day annoyances to the big stuff, life throws your way. It's easy to get worked up, but there's a better way, a chiller way. You can turn that canceled concert into a parking lot dance party.

If it was too cold for an ocean swim, well, you can play volleyball. You can light a bonfire instead. That's choosing chill. And when you choose chill, you can reach for Coors Light. When the mountains turn blue, it's as cold as the Rockies. When you choose to rise above it all, choose chill reach for Coors Light. When the mountains turn blue, it's as cold as the Rockies. When you choose to rise above it all, choose chill, choose Coors Light. Get Coors Light delivered straight to your door

with Instacart by going to coreslight.com slash take. Celebrate responsibly, Coors Brewing Company, Golden, Colorado. And now here's more John Rothstein. Where are we going next? Let's go to the top right, the south region, the region of firepower. And I'm looking at this region and I'm seeing elite perimeters and elite scoring power. Houston obviously didn't play well against Iowa State in the big 12th tournament title

game. Tremendous four guard sets, tremendous guard play, tremendous firepower. You know about Nebraska with Fred Hoyberg, we love Kasei Tomonaga, another player I think could captivate the country in spurts with his ability to shoot. Nebraska by the way has never won an NCAA tournament game so that's on the line for them. They go against Texas A&M who has that dynamite backboard for Buzz Williams with Wade Tale of the fourth and Tyrese Radford and they can really really score. That's aite first-round game and guys I'm gonna be at that game you know doing sidelines in Memphis we got then Wisconsin the best offensive team of the Gregg guard era

with AJ store against James Madison that's gonna be a trendy 12-5 yeah and then you got Duke against Vermont Duke is Duke I know Kat doesn't want to hear that we've got Kentucky the best scoring team of the Calipari era. And then if you look at the bottom right in the region of firepower, you've got Florida, you know again they lost their center, Micah hand logged into an injury on Sunday, a leg injury against Auburn. But they're going to probably go in against the winner of Colorado Boise State, Colorado a potent offensive team and then Marquette's the two, Chaka Smart as you know saying on CBS Sports Network

that they're planning on Tyler Cole coming back. There is major, major firepower in that region. I have loved Florida's ability to score the ball throughout, obviously this season, they're a little bit different now up front without hand logged in, but you look at the offensive capabilities of the teams in this region, it is exquisite. Yeah.

Yeah. I mean, PFT and I obviously were going up against each other in the first round, then you got Jake and Hank going up against each other. This is going to be a fun region. Yeah. Can you give us a pick for JMU Wisconsin? I know you said people on the periphery, people on the outside, trendy 12-5 pick for JMU. Does that mean that you're going Wisconsin Wisconsin I'm gonna take Wisconsin I like Wisconsin to play Duke in a rematch

of the 2015 national title game at the Barclay Center I've got Houston and then obviously I think A&M beats Nebraska I love the way A&M is playing even though they lost a little early Nebraska again never won an NCAA tournament game I'll take Texas Tech over NC State, Kentucky over Oakland I got Florida playing Marquette. I would take Florida over Marquette. Ooh That's a little bit, you know, I'm gonna break it open a little bit there Then I'm gonna have Kentucky Florida in the sweet 16 and SEC games. I'm going to take Wisconsin to beat Duke. Oh

Wisconsin to beat Duke. Oh. And then I'm going to take Houston to play Wisconsin and I've got Houston beating Kentucky in the Elite Eight in the region of firepower. Okay. How about this? If JMU beats Wisconsin, can JMU get a John Rothstein-ism? Can you come up with something for Harrisonburg? Well I can't force Rothstein-isms.

Yeah, come on. Rothstein-isms are things that can't be forced. Yeah, but if they beat Wisconsin, if they shock the world, if these JMU Dukes, if it hits, they beat the Badgers. I don't have a Rostinism for Kansas, Kentucky, Gonzaga. I mean, they've done a little bit more than JMU. Yeah, so far. What was your last Rostinism that you came up with?

I'd have to go back and look at things in the lab, but one of know, one of the things that, you know, got a lot of play today was the Keith Danbrot one, because nobody for a long time cared about Duquesne. Yeah, when Keith Danbrot took the Duquesne job, I called it Mission Impossible. And then Duquesne, like a count, you know, tweeted today, Mission accomplished. Because Duquesne hasn't been to the tournament. I like that. Duquesne hasn't been to the tournament since 77. So mission impossible got accomplished, but yeah, you know, I don't just

come up with them and throw it out. Everybody knows like, oh, I want to tag. I don't want to tag on. It's like, it's not that easy. What about just handing those out? Harrisonburg more than just meth. What about that? You like that one? That means no, I think that would be Harrisonburg, the Las Vegas of central Virginia. That's not what I've heard about Harrison Harrisonburg, the Las Vegas of central Virginia. That's not what I've heard about Harrisonburg. Oh, well, my friend, you have not spent time at Fiddington's Cove when they get the cigs inside

and the jello shots going. Fair enough. I have a feeling that you might have had enough from me during your tenure there. How long was it? Four years, exactly four years. Thanks, Sean. That was a really mean question.

Yeah, I just wanted to check. All right, so what about the last one, Midwest? Well, the Midwest region is the region of tension. Ooh, okay. Now why is it the region of tension? Well, your one seed is Purdue. Your two seed is Tennessee, who has not been past the Sweet 16 under Rick Barnes.

Your fourth seed is Kansas who again did not have both Kevin McCullar and Hunter Dickinson available for the Big 12 tournament. There's a lot of tension in this region right now and I also think you know when you look at the one seeds guys, I think the path for Purdue, and I know you have to take this with a grain of salt because nothing is easy for Purdue in March. I think the path for Purdue is very favorable to at least get to the Elite Eight. The first two games are at Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis. You're going to play the winner of Utah State in TCU second.

And then if you win there, your five and your four are Gonzaga, which is the most vulnerable Gonzaga team we've had since 2016. Then you have Kansas, we discussed, without McCullar, without Dickinson potentially in the big, well they didn't play in the big 12 tournament, but they're obviously very wounded. I mean, it's not a great Kansas team, even if those two players play. I'd be shocked if Purdue doesn't get to the Elite Eight. I know that's saying a lot concerning the way things have gone in the NCAA tournament and

then the bottoms. I'm looking at Creighton being an underrated team. I think they lost early in the Big East tournament that changed things and then also if Texas wins and Tennessee wins we could have a game in the round of 32 Rick Barnes against his old school and against his former assistant, Rodney Territt. Hmm. Okay. So what was-

Region of tension. What was, was there anything else that we were going to name this region? When I saw Purdue and Tennessee together, it was either the region of tension or the region of pressure, but I thought tension was better. So that a little bit more. So which of these teams is best equipped to handle tension? Well, if history tells you anything,

it might not be any of them, but I would say Creighton. Ooh. I think Creighton's the dark horse in this region. I'm gonna take Creighton to get to the Elite Eight and lose to Purdue. I'm going to, I think that Purdue will exercise the demon, much like Virginia in 2019 after losing to UMBC, and get to a final four.

Okay, alright, so your final four, and then maybe give us your national champion. I am going to go with UConn out of the region of gladiators, I'm going to go with Arizona out of the region of drama, I'm going to go with Houston out of the region of firepower, and then Purdue out of the region of tension, and I like UConn over over Purdue clinging against ED, a battle of the Titans in the title game and Yukon led by Dan Hurley as we said, brother to a famous point guard, son of a famous coach,

getting his vengeance in this tournament or the next, becoming the first back to back national champion since Florida in 2006 and 2007. Okay. Okay. All right. Do you have any comment about the Big East getting fucked over? Well, the thing is this, and Murphy's Law sometimes happens with the NCAA tournament in terms of the bubble situation. The Big East started championship week with seven teams in play for the NCAA tournament.

Now, the thing was, the Big East all season long had a number of teams in play, but so many teams were tied up with the bubble. So there were only three teams all year long that separated themselves. And we had a Murphy's Law type situation for bubble teams. Now, what do I mean by that? themselves and we had a Murphy's law type situation for bubble teams. Now what do I mean by that? If Florida Atlantic won the AAC tournament, we would have seen one bid open up because they are an at-large team. If Dayton won the A10 tournament, we would have seen an at-large bid open up because Dayton was

already projected as an at-large team. So that's two bids right there and then if NC State didn't win the ACC tournament we would have seen that large bid open up and then if Oregon didn't win the Pac-12 tournament we would have seen that large bid open up. That's four and then we found out tonight if New Mexico didn't win the Mountain West tournament, we would have seen that large bit open up. That's five bids and five spots for other teams where the Big East surely would have been represented. I thought that St. John's would have been a little bit closer to the cut line. They weren't among the first four out for the selection committee from what we saw earlier

tonight, but obviously you have three Big East teams in Creighton, Marquette, and UConn that are all good enough to go to a final four, but the Big East right now with its lowest number of teams in the NCAA tournament since 1993. It's crazy. And now if all five of those hadn't opened up, would Villanova have been one of the last four out then? Probably would. The first been one of the last four out then? Probably would. The first four out or the last four out? No, last four out. Like it would have been first four out so there would have been the eighth team out. Like where would they have bumped up if we had had no bubbles burst?

Like could we have had at least last four out? I think so. Okay. All right. So they would have been... Maybe. Like could we have had at least last four out? I think so. OK. All right, so they would have been eight. Yeah, so they were like, if we had had, if the committee had just said, you know what, this is an awesome year, let's do 78 teams, would Villanova have been in?

Potentially. Potentially. Let's do a little thought experiment, though. If St. John's had gotten in, what seed would they have been? They would have been in Dayton in the first first four instead of UVA. Yeah. Virginia was the team when I did, you know, I do a bracket projection every day during championship week.

So when I did my bracket projection today, I did not have Virginia in the field. Now what we learned and I talked to Bubba Cunningham about this, who obviously is a part of the committee, is that the committee really valued teams who didn't have any bad losses. Now, if you look at the metrics for both Virginia and Colorado, not too many impressive wins.

Virginia beat Florida, won at Clemson, Colorado beat Washington State twice, but they didn't have any quad three or four losses. So the committee really took that into consideration. Now, Texas A&M had a weird resume, had five quad three losses, but Texas A&M beat Iowa State who's a two seed, beat Tennessee who's a two seed, beat Kentucky twice who's a three seed, and also beat Todd Golden in Florida who's a seven seed.

Hmm. Okay. John, what does, we haven't had you on since you had the birth of your child. What does fatherhood look like for John Rossi? And how's it going? I appreciate you asking every day is a by game. That's the best way I can say it. It feels like you're down eight at the under 12 timeout every single day. You know, you know it, there is nothing in the world like, you know, being a father and you know, you know it, there is nothing in the world like being a father and having obviously a child and the way it makes you feel complete as a family, but you also feel like you're in a by game against Matt Langle and Colgate and they're drilling threes

and there's nothing that you can do. Yeah, yeah. No, that's a great way to put it. I often say the same thing. So what's your schedule? You're going to Dayton. Do you know where you're going after Dayton? Yeah, I'm going to be in Dayton. I'm actually having some TV to do tomorrow morning. I'm

going to do CBS this morning or CBS mornings tomorrow morning. And then I'm doing, I'm flying to Dayton. We're going to do the first four Tuesday, Wednesday. Then after the games, I'm going to be going to Memphis for the Friday Sunday. So Friday Sunday is going to be Houston Longwood Nebraska A&M and then Clemson New Mexico Baylor Colgate and then I'll be back in studio on CBS Sports Network for the sweet 16 the Elite Eight and then we'll be at the final four in Phoenix. Are you going to go take a dip in the Bass Pro Shop pyramid in their their tank that they got there with the best pro shop here. I remember my friend. It's the most magical place on earth. No I mean I'm pretty singularly focused on the labor line. Yeah I was going to ask you what's your take on Justin Fields

being traded to the Steelers. What position does he play. He's a quarterback for what team for the. Well he was on the various now he's on the Steelers. Yeah. Okay. I mean I really haven't followed the Steelers since like Neil O'Donnell Okay. All right. What about did you watch the Super Bowl? We had a party. Yeah, and what'd you think? My homes played right? Yep, and they play Andy Reid was the coach Yeah, who was the other team that played against Taylor Swift? No the 49ers Right, and that's not Jeff Garcia. Is it? No, no, not anymore. No. Yeah. Who was the other team that played against Taylor Swift? No, the 49ers. Right. And that's not Jeff Garcia. Is it? Nope. Nope. Not anymore. No. Yeah. Close. Close. Um, wasn't

Brock Purdy? Yes. Yeah. Yes. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. Um, I was kind of just socializing cause like I, you know, the college basketball game was over. I think I worked the seat in all Villanova game that day and I was just kinda, we're just talking to people. I didn't really have an interest in the game. I would like you to to maybe you have the you're relentless. We started this interview saying you're relentless. I have a long standing thought that there should be a college basketball game after the Super Bowl on Super Bowl Sunday. Everyone's looking for something to bet after they lose their Super Bowl bets. Can we get that into someone's head and be like, hey, let's schedule a game.

Let's play a game. Well, I think one thing we should do and you tell me because you know, you say you're always looking for, you know, stuff like that, you know, for additional ways to, you know, obviously have sports. Yeah. Yeah. I think that, and you know, I'm all about standalone games and college basketball. I think, you know, a certain league should play a five o'clock game on like a Friday afternoon. You happy like a happy hour thing. And I also think you did that like certain leagues, maybe not the highest profile leagues should play 10 a.m. games on Sunday on Saturday morning. So it's a standalone game and then not have any, not have any attention and get things going quicker.

I like that. We also came up with an idea that you should pitch to people because this one has legs. PFT and I, I don't think that they should expand the tournament. No, no, we should not expand the tournament under any circumstances. And it aggravates me, not you guys, but that people think that it's a good idea. Jeff Goldblum said in The Lost World, the sequel to Jurassic Park, that taking dinosaurs off this island was the worst idea in the long sad history of bad ideas. Expanding the tournament might be worse. Okay, so not an expansion of the tournament, but if on selection Sunday we have the eight

teams that would be potentially on the bubble, in the bubble, in the tournament. So, you know, Boise State, Colorado, Virginia, Colorado State all we're in Oklahoma, Seton Hall, Indiana State and Pitt. We have them all in the same location. The minute we have the bracket, we have those eight teams play to see who gets the last four spots. Well, I think I think that's a good idea. It's expanding the tournament, but yeah, I've also said this.

I love where we're at right now with the amount of teams in the NCAA tournament. I feel that if you're an automatic qualifier and you win your league, you should be in the round of 64. And I have said that repeatedly. So I would like it. And I love, I've worked the first four in Dayton. It's great.

If the last eight at-large teams someday could be the teams in Dayton. Yeah, I agree with that. So if you're looking at it right now, let's look at, we know the matchups in Dayton, the last eight at large teams, the 11 seeds were not obviously the, we're not at large teams. They were automatic qualifiers. So the last eight at large teams were Nevada, and then, let's see. Boise State, Colorado. Well, Boise State, Colorado,

and then Virginia, Colorado State. But also, so that's four. Nevada is five. Drake was in AQ. So if you had Nevada, Michigan State, A&M, and then PCU or Northwestern in Dayton, and then you let obviously the 16s play in the round of 64, I think that would be an incredible way if we could ever do that to really draw people in. I like that.

I like that. And not to say that people aren't obviously excited or whatever. And look, the first four is great. We had Fairleigh Dickinson last year who wound up beating Purdue and Fairleigh Dickinson was a treat to watch. But I feel if you are a mid-major team that wins your league, you deserve to be in the round of 64.

And those last eight at larges should start off the tournament in Dayton. Yeah, and the first four is great because usually a team makes a run. I mean, we had UCLA go all the way to the final four. Like there's a lot of times- That, 10 out of the last 11 years, a team in the first four has won a game in the NCAA tournament.

Yeah. Who's that team going to be this year? I think the team to watch in the first four, let's see. That's a great question. Also, do you have a name for the first four? You should give a name to that. The first four. Yeah. I would say the team most likely to win an NCAA tournament game this year for the first four. You should give a name to that. The first four. Yeah. I would say the team most likely to win an NCAA tournament game this year are the first four is the Boise state Colorado winner. I love Florida. That's a really, really tough round of 64 game because Colorado, if you think about it guys, KJ Simpson, potent player. I think if Colorado was better, he would have been an all American candidate,

potent player. Cody Williams is a projected lottery pick. Tristan De Silva is going to play basketball professionally. Also, Eddie Lampkin, if you remember guys, is on the TCU team, who almost beat Arizona two years ago when they had Ben Mather and he went for 20 and 14. Florida is going to have its hands full with either Colorado State or Boise. Boise playing in its third straight NCAA tournament under Leon Rice and another Another storyline here guys, which I you know wrote about for my daily newsletter tomorrow One of the big takeaways is the Mountain West got no respect for double digit seeds out of the Mountain West

I mean, Nevada the two teams in the first four and then also New Mexico as tens and 11 seeds I mean as a wise man once said, wasn't personal. It was strictly business. But they did get respect for the fact they got six teams in. And the big A's got three. No question, and that should be celebrated. But the Mountain West, like I felt like all week today, if the Mountain West gets six teams in, that's great. You should celebrate it. The Mountain West is something to prove in this NCAA tournament. You were slighted. People don't respect you on the committee. Yeah. All right. I got one last question. It's a Roeback question. R-H-O-B-A-C-K.com promo code take. 20% off your first purchase. Cues his polos, hoodies, joggers, shorts.

Roeback.com promo code take. 20% off your first purchase. Go right now. We love Roeback. The most comfortable clothes out there. Last question for you, John. We haven't talked to you in a while. How was Europe? Europe was incredible. Really? Better than DCU? I mean, when Shaka was there and it was Breonte Weber at the top of the press, I mean, it was tough, really tough to kind of take that over anything else. Just because, I mean, you had the band, you had the band,

you had the havoc, you had the pressure. There's a clip, if you guys can find it, it was in 2013. Breonte Webber stripped Alex Barlow on Butler and threw down a ridiculous jam and just punched the air and like, it made you like seriously like wanna find a picket fence to start doing pushups on because it was so crazy. But Europe was great.

I think we stayed. And I think the trip was long. Cat, like we were there for 18 days. We had a couple of we had a couple of friends get married about three hours outside of Paris, so we went to Paris first. We hung out with them for a little bit. It was incredible. The bread, the scene.

Paris is an incredible city. We then went to three stops in Italy. You were right about the food, both of you, in terms of it being incredible. I mean, I have, we talk about bucket list items. The show Searching for Italy with Stan Tucci, to me, is one of my favorite shows, because I'm such a food fan.

Like that, to me, would be, I think, a tremendous guess for you guys, to have Stan Tucci on Pardon My Take. Because this guy's just housing food throughout Italy and he doesn't gain any weight. But we went to Portofino, we went to Rome, we went to the Amalfi Coast. There's now direct flights from the Amalfi Coast to New York. Then we went to Greece last. Nice. Nice. Yeah. So are you willing to take back your statement, don't waste calories on pizza outside the Eastern time zone?

Not in terms of the United States. But pizza in Italy, you can do that. I can do that. I leaned into the Italy trip, but the bread in France was the thing that really blew my mind. Yes. The bread in France, and the thing is this, you guys know how much I love food, but in France you can be content with a beer and a great loaf of bread and

like butter. Yeah. So content Paris, France, the Siegel center. You got to pick one of the eight 10. I mean, aside from a rare thing like this year, they've kind of become a one bid league. So I'd probably take Paris over the Siegel center. Wow. You change John Rothstein sold out. Damn. Okay. Sorry. I tell you that. All right. I don't think it's real. I don't think it's really anything to do with Paris. It's just an indictment on the Atlantic tenant. Never show up in the 18 league games. Yeah. From 16, 18 league games guys, after the 14th season, think about this for a sec. In 2013, the Atlantic then had five teams in the NCAA tournament five.

And then after that season, temple left, Xavier and Butler left. And then next year, with the same crop of teams, pretty much what it has now, the league had six teams in the NCAA tournament. Then after that year, all of a sudden the 810 thought it was a power conference. It went from 16 to 18. Leagues never been the same since. You need that non-conference scheduling flexibility. It's the same flexibility that the WCC had that allowed Randy Bennett to schedule Colorado State and New Mexico two wins obviously that helped St. Mary's get in the position it's

in right now which is via 5C in the NCAA tournament. I do have one last last question for you. So we were just talking before you came on about Long Beach, Long Beach State and Dan Monson. Wild story. Is there any chance that he gets his job back if they win in the first round? came on about Long Beach, Long Beach State and Dan Monson. Wild story. Is there any chance that he gets his job back if they win in the first round? It's as awkward of a situation as I've seen, you know, that would be incredible.

I think he made a comment about that. It's like he said, it's like your girlfriend coming back and trying to get back together after you get famous. If somebody asked him if like, you know, he would get his job back, you know, it's a, it's as bizarre a scenario as I've seen in 20 years doing this, but you know, there is a tie into that first round matchup. Do you guys know it? What is it Gonzaga? Dan Munson was the head coach of Gonzaga when he went to the elite eight 99 lost to Yukon coach Calhoun's first final four. And he's playing Tommy Lloyd, a. Good daggit system. Oh, I just I love the fact that he pulled a Hank. They were like, Hey, you're fired. And he was like, Yeah, can I just keep showing up for work?

Okay, cool. Boys are playing for him. Love it. Yeah. All right. Well, John, thank you as always. You're the best, uh, best time of year and we'll be tuning in. We'll be watching you and Dayton on Tuesday and Wednesday. Always great being with you guys. Love you dearly. We sleep in May. Absolutely. Bye John. John Rothstein was brought to you by Proper 12. Proper 12 was founded by a true Irishman, Dublin 12's own, the notorious Conor McGregor. We were on a boat, dying the river green. Shout out to Plumbers 130, right?

Yep. Did a great job dine that Chicago River Green, and we're drinking some proper number 12 Irish whiskey. We're passing around. They make outstanding mixed drinks. The Irish Apple, that was a great... It was Irish Apple and ginger ale, right? Delicious. Such a good drink. Such a refreshing drink. Probably did what? Four or five shots on that boat? At least. Had a great time with our good friends at Proper Number 12.

You can make it a proper Amazon prime time. You can grab a bottle of Proper 12 for the premiere of the new film Roadhouse starring Conor McGregor. Proper 12 is a rich and smooth blend of golden grain and single malt aged four years in bourbon barrels. Anything else just wouldn't be proper.

By the way, Roadhouse, one of the all time great movies. I can't wait to see the remake. The original was awesome. Probably in my top 10 movies of all time. Crack open a bottle of the original rich and smooth proper number 12 or new crisp and fresh Irish apple. The Irish apple is so good. So good. Okay. Let's talk some Justin Fields. Oh, by the way, I should have mentioned during bracket talk, we are running a bracket at

Stella Blue Coffee. All you got to do is buy anything on StellaBlueCoffee.com and you will get a link to join the bracket. Fill it out. If you win the bracket, you get a trip to Chicago HQ with two friends and you get to spend the day with us hanging out playing ball whatever you want to do. Also the other I think places 2 through 11 will get a signed Stel Blue custom basketball. So you're filling out brackets you gotta drink coffee anyway. We have mugs we have hats everything StelBlueCoffee.com. Just go buy anything between now and Thursday

when the games tip and you will get that link and you can join the bracket. Justin Fields. Justin Fields traded to Pittsburgh Steelers for a sixth rounder that could be a fourth rounder. Depending on playing time. Depending on playing time. So I'm going to give my, I think actually a very balanced take that people probably are

not going to like because it's been a very polarizing subject and I have a take that's, I'm going to give you my honest take that's balanced and I feel is how I feel. The Bears failed Justin Fields. It sucks that this is the way it ended. They set him up in a really bad spot in the fact that they drafted him with a coach that was already on the hot seat. They were planning on sitting him that first year and then remember they decided, hey, let's start him against the Browns, one of the best defensive, one of the best pass rushes in the game and this will be fun. And he got sacked like nine times and threw for 27 yards and we were off and running.

Year two, the team was actively tanking. They had one of the worst defenses I've ever seen. They had 10 game stretch at the end of the season where they let up 25 or more points and six out of 10 of those games, they let up 30 or more points. And then year three this year, they were basically like, be so good Justin Fields that we will keep you, go out and do it with an OC that doesn't really know how to use you. Could Justin Fields have played better? Yes.

But I also think he was set up to fail and I'm really sad about that because I like Justin Fields as a guy. And I think if you listen to anyone in that locker room, they love him as a leader. It sucks that a guy that was so exciting and I had so much hope for was failed by the organization. So I thought that they had to trade him and I'm happy that he was traded just because Caleb Williams is the future and you couldn't have done the Justin Fields, Caleb Williams thing at the same time. And if you had kept him, maybe you could have gotten more from when quarterbacks get injured. But that would have been a disaster for Caleb Williams.

You would have basically done to Caleb Williams what you did to Justin Fields and set him up for failure. So at least they're learning from these mistakes. Also, shout out Ryan Poles and the Bears. They did say they were going to do right by Justin Fields and by all accounts they did because they had a few different suitors. And I think Patriots fans are like, why didn't we get Justin Fields? Eagles fans are like, why don't we get Justin Fields? I think Justin Fields was like I want to go to a place where I can play Yeah So when you look at what Ryan Poles did I think you can you can definitely say that? The Bears did not get everything they could have gotten for Justin correct

So a legitimate criticism of Ryan Poles would be to say Your job is to do what's best for your team right Chicago Bears and in this case It looks like he wanted to keep his word to Justin Fields and do right by him more than he wanted to maximize trade value for Justin Fields. So you might say that he made a mistake doing that, but I also think that this is, in his mind, at least like a long-term play for becoming known as a GM that will do something nice for a player as a way to thank them for what they've done in that city.

So like, it could, I guess, make Chicago a slightly more attractive. If it's between the Bears and a team that's in a situation like the Bears, and you have a history that's been built up of doing right by your players, that could nudge a free agent or two over the edge. And Ryan Poles is probably admitting that the Bears failed him.

And it wasn't Ryan Pohl's failure. Like, let's be honest, because it was, remember, Justin Fields wasn't drafted by Ryan Pohl's. Ryan Pohl's shows up in year two of Justin Fields. He inherits Justin Fields. Ryan Pohl's job is to basically completely strip this thing down and build it back up, which he has been doing an incredible job of. Unfortunately, Justin Fields wasn't in that plan other than Justin Fields playing so well in year three that they had to have him. And then the contract part is a big part

of this because everyone I think was saying, well, all you got was a six, maybe a fourth. The Steelers have to decide whether they want to pick up the fifth year option in like three months Yeah so I think a Big part of this was that fields his value ended up being so low because GM's don't want to have to make a hard decision Before he plays a snap we have to decide she's want to keep it which is extremely relatable Right like I oh I'm gonna trade like a third round pick for this guy And it's just gonna make me have to make a big decision soon. No my big decision is trading for the guy

I don't want to have to double down on decision soon. No, my big decision is trading for the guy. I don't wanna have to double down on doing work. So I understand that. If you're Russell Wilson, I saw he reacted, what'd he say, like this QB room is about to be lit, Justin? Yeah, I hope Justin Fields beats him out. I think he's better than Russell Wilson right now. I think he might be like for the future, he definitely is. And then Kenny Pickett is out of Pittsburgh too.

So Kenny did not react well apparently to the Russ signing. I guess reading the writing on the wall it just seems like Russ is now anointed as a guy. They told Russ- No, Justin Fields is, I think they said Justin Fields is going to be the starter. Did they? No. I think Schefter said something. No, I think he said the opposite. I think he said Russ is going to be the starter. Oh, Russ is going to be the starter. Yeah, yeah. that Kenny wanted out because I think they told Kenny like this is our guy for the next season

Yeah, he's the presumptive starter. Yeah, and so Kenny's like no I got to get out of here. Oh wait breaking moose Villanova gets a one seed in the NIT. Let's go, Max. Max. Yeah, it's big. VCU is a tough draw, though. You know what? You know what, Max? People forget that the NIT was the original national championship tournament. It's a very prestigious tournament.

Win that, Max. Win it. Yeah, I'm sure the boys are going to be fired up. Got to be. Very fired up. OK, that was our Villanova talk. Yeah, Kenny, I mean, he was an Eagles fan growing up. I hope he has a long career. We like Kenny. And now he's in a good, like, everyone seems

to be going to stable places. Like it was unstable for Kenny in Pittsburgh. Now it's stable in Philadelphia. He's not the starter, but he knows his role. Justin Fields was unstable in Chicago. We failed him. Now he's going to a stable organization in Pittsburgh, which I think he's going to end up like, I think he'll probably win the job. I know they said Russ is the starter, but once you watch Justin Fields versus Russ, it's going to be apparent. George, George Pickens is not going to like Russell Wilson. He's not going to like him at all.

So I had one last thing about the Justin Fields thing and this is where because it was very tumultuous the last two months on Bears Twitter and Bears, you know seeing people on the street. There's Justin Fields camp. There's Caleb Williams camp I've been in the Caleb Williams camp just out of the logic of you Ryan Poles set this whole thing up to be to get that One pick and to get a franchise quarterback on a rookie deal when you've already invested in some other parts of your roster. And that's the window. Ryan Poles is doing, he's correcting everything that was wrong for Justin Fields. Cause like I said, Justin Fields stepped into a disaster situation with no defense. They obviously got to eat you more later, but they like very little offensive talent to throw to. Ryan Pohl's is now doing the reverse where I think that Caleb Williams might be set up better than any number one

pick ever. And I know that sounds crazy because it's still the Bears, but remember it's not often that you get a number one pick as a seven and 10 team. The defense is good. He has a legitimate number one. He now has a legitimate number two in Keenan Allen. He has a top 10 tight end in Cole Comet. He's got a running game. This is finally, outside of the coach maybe being on the hot seat, this is finally you've set up your future franchise quarterback to walk into a situation that he can succeed in. That is why every Bears fan should be very happy that Ryan Paul's the GM and that he made this

move to trade Justin Fields and we turn the page and we go to the next one. Now everyone's telling me Caleb Williams is going to be a bust. I get it. He sucks. Nail paint, whatever. I don't care. I think he's really good and he's set up in a perfect way. Yeah. Like Andrew Luck. Andrew Luck went to a two win Colts team. Trevor Lawrence went to a terrible team. Wasn't that the... Oh, they were... Peyton got hurt that. Yeah. Peyton got hurt that year. They even went to win to have two wins. I don't even know. We can probably look at it and see what, what the best record was for any team. Yeah. They picked number one. All these teams like Bryce young has gone into the worst situation. Like the there's,

you can go, Trevor Lawrence was in a bad situation. All these number one picks, Baker Mayfield, they haven't been put on teams that are seven and 10 that have pieces around them that are legitimate. And, oh, I forgot to mention, we also have the ninth pick. So that's another thing that's going to help Caleb Williams, whether it be a pass catcher, a defensive player, I don't know. I just think that Ryan Pohl has set this up where it now is the question is if Kale Williams is great, the Bears will have a definite window to win a lot of football. It's a very funny thing that we do to first overall picks.

We're like, congratulations, you're going to the shittiest team. Hope you're good enough to overcome how bad this team is. Will you be, Baker, will you be good enough to overcome the brownsing at all or not? Urban Meyer is going to kick half your roster, Trevor. I hope you're good enough to overcome him ditching your team after Thursday night games and fingering co-ed's butt holes. Right. Good luck.

No offense to you guys, but would you not say that the Bears are in a better situation for a first, a QB taken in the first round than the commanders in the pitch right this second? I think our ownership is strong. I think the ownership in DC is strong. Our ownership's about to be dead, but yeah. Yeah. Shout out Virginia, she's still kicking. But like this, he's set up better

than the number one pick has probably ever been. I think they should build around Tyson Bajin. Yeah, there's gotta be at least a few out there. Yeah, there's gotta be some Tyson Bajin heads out there. Just walking around. But yeah, I mean. That was arm wrestling. I'm excited about this.

If you go through Ryan Pohl's and what he has done, he gets so much heat for Chase Claypool, which was a mistake, but he also cut bait on that mistake, which was, you know, some GMs are stubborn like that. Everything else he has done, Montez Sweat, DJ Moore, you know, getting the Carolina number one, all these things, beefing up the defense, not going crazy on free agency, keep getting in a good cap spot. He's been great. And so why wouldn't you trust him? And why wouldn't you trust his evaluation of Cale Williams? And I'm very, very excited for the future of the Bears. And again, sad Justin

Fields, but I think we have a very, very bright future. So you shouldn't it was it was tumultuous. It was people were at each other's necks Yeah, this is it's one of the great controversies of all time It's something that you'll be doing a post-mortem on for the next probably six years Chicago We don't deal well with the quarterback controversies Josh McCown was had a strong camp start over Jay Colton Listen, I'm still obsessed with the Kirk Cousins RG3 debate from 10 years ago. This is, you have not yet begun to see the end of this fight. Yeah. We also had Tyree Kill on the news again.

Oh, yeah. Another Tyree Kill headline. Adlib. Dolphins Tyree Kill bullied wife, smashed face with unlit cigar, police report says. So I'm glad that they clarified that it was unlit, because the first time I saw this headline, it just read that he smashed a cigar into her face.

Which is bad, but it's way worse if the cigar is lit. This was an unlit cigar. Also the term bullying your wife, what does that even mean? I don't know. I don't know what bullying means anymore. He really is mad libs every single time he's in the news. He's mad, yeah. Tyrekeal bullied wife, smashed face with unlit cigar.

Unlit cigar. Hank, do you wanna tell me that I was wrong and you were right about Justin Fields? You wanted him. I do want him. I think he's gonna be good. Okay. I think the sealers are gonna be good.

I still think he could be the guy. I'm not giving up on that. Yeah, I think the sealers are set up, I think both quarterbacks are forgotten about, but I think both could be good. Yeah. Not funny. I don't wish this, but something happens.

Caleb Williams maybe has a minor injury. Jesus, I'm knocking on wood. And then you trade back for Justin Fields, get him back in town. He knows the system. A lot of people would like that. Yeah. Yeah.

A lot of people would be pumped by that. It seems like, from what I've seen from Chicago people, they're mad. He knows the system. A lot of people would like that. Yeah. Yeah. A lot of people would be pumped by that. It seems like from what I've seen from Chicago people, they're mad. People are mad because they... I think there's a feeling that Justin Fields was failed by the organization, which I agree with. I think you can't be mad when you're given the circumstances of you have a decision you have to make on a fifth year and you have the roster set up perfectly right now to insert a rookie contract QB,

it makes so much sense. If you want to win a Super Bowl, you got to do it with this rookie contract and everything else you got around him. It's a no-brainer in my mind. Also shout out Ryan Poles for doing that when the entire city was drunk off their mind. So that, you know, like people probably woke up on Sunday and they're like, what happened? Oh, there were definitely, definitely some riots that happened.

Like I would have loved to have been in a bar as the word of the trade trickled out. Trickled through, yeah. Just watched the instant reaction from the crowd. But definitely some blacked out dudes who just like, they were told, but they didn't find out till Sunday morning. Yeah, they forgot about it.

They woke up and they're like, what? Or they woke up, they're like, oh shit, I had a crazy dream. We traded Justin Fields for a six pick. I think people are also upset. Hank, to your point that like people are mad. People are mad because it is a fleecing because they were told. Yeah, they were told that the compensation was going to be what Sam Darnold's compensation. Who started that rumor? Who's Schefter? Was Schefter the one who said it was a one? There was someone else. No, no, no. Schefter said on our pod that the formula is out there for what Justin Fields is going to cost, and that's what Sam Darnold got, which was a second or a third or something

like that. So people's expectations were too high. The market wasn't that strong. So that's why people... Actually, the Sam Howe trade, the Ziox gave up more for Sam Howe than the Steelers did for Justin Fields. Yeah, I mean, I, at one point was, oh, it was Mel. Mel said that it was gonna be the eighth overall from the Falcons.

Fuck you, Mel. He fucked us. Who the hell is Mel? I remember when that happened, I was like, this is awesome, maybe it's true. But in the last three weeks or so, I had come to grips and I even said it on Waddle and Sylvia. I was like, a fourth would be a dream. And it could still be a fourth, but that was, it felt like it was settling there and I had come to grips

with it. Yeah. Now you got a route for a Russell Wilson meltdown. Yeah. Yeah. I'm rooting for Justin Fields. So we turned the page. It's better for the Bears franchise going forward to go with Kale Williams. Kale Williams is going to be so polarizing. God, people are going to hate him so much. Not even Bears fans. I'm saying like outside they already hate him.

Max just tweeted, I'm getting so fired up for the NIT. We can watch him live tweet because he's not searching for Sidney Sweeney right now on the computer here. He's just cruising Twitter. Okay, Jake just walked back in. We got to get his thoughts from him. Also, pug just walked in as well. Pug quick before we get to Jake's thoughts. Seton Hall, give it to us. Seton Hall, give it to him. Seton Hall got screwed. Three teams out of the big East is just blasphemy. I'm sad. NIT is here. Pug.

Okay. Good take. All right. Good take take pug. So put that on a quote card Jake yes go off so much to break down if you want to watch back on the mark Titus show We just broke we just filled out an entire bracket. Okay, I'm not changing it. Wait, Jake What's your favorite storyline because we did Jake storyline prediction. Yeah, my favorite storyline is well, obviously the number one is Purdue's redemption. Okay. Can they, can they do what Virginia did and when it all after losing to a 16. Um, another one is an Ali eight matchup I have between UNC and Arizona. Arizona would be playing for the right to go to the final four in their home state. It's in Phoenix and also Caleb love, one of their best players, a former North Carolina Tar heel could see them battling for the early date. Okay. That's another one. Um, and then Yukon, the, the, the best chance for someone to repeat since the Florida Gators and Oh

six Oh seven. This is it. So, okay. What about the part of my table? I mean that goes, I'm saying from a big picture, talking about national media. Yes. Don't listen to this podcast. We're listening to this podcast right now. Exactly. Yeah. But yeah. The part of my take thing we had our live bracket show and when it said Wisconsin James Madison I was like wow that's crazy but we kind of saw it coming and then Duke for a month right afterwards all in the same pod. Congratulations to us because one of our teams are going to the sweet 16. Yeah. So we predicted it. You Vermont's going to go to the sweet 16 and you're going to be like, I'm actually rooting for you guys. Cause I only called Vermont for two years

and like I'm rooting for them, but I'm not rooting for them. But then you're definitely rude for them. And then you're going to be like, Oh, I feel so bad for you. And then you're going to tweet like cat amounts. Yeah. It's going to just trigger all of us. I know it is, but I do have, I will say I have jam you over UVM. Okay. Oh, okay. Yeah. All right. So fuck you. So you have you have Vermont pulling off the first round upset. You've always had a do it. I Wisconsin. Well, I was going to say I'm crazy. I like no I do. Listen, Jake is a college basketball expert. I've always had respect. He's an expert. He's an expert. He's an expert in sucks every year. I mean this call. I really think that you know ball. Wait, what who's your in your final four last year?

What's who's in the championship? Last year, uh, I don't know who my final four was but two years in a row My national champion has been eliminated on day one. Okay. Yeah two years ago brackets Did you intentionally pick someone that plays on Friday this year? Nope wasn't scared of it if it happens again it would be equally as funny okay years ago I had Kentucky they lost the st. Peters on Thursday last year at Arizona they lost to Princeton on Friday this year I have a team playing on Thursday wait do the final four first don't just give us this year okay Auburn North Carolina Houston Purdue so three ones and then Auburn, North Carolina, Houston, Purdue.

So three ones and then Auburn staying hot. Oh, the Dickie V, the Dickie V bracket. Three ones. Is that what Dickie V is? He always does three ones in like a two. I know Auburn's not a two. Yeah, they're what, a four? They're a four.

And then I have North Carolina versus Purdue. So you have the storyline of North Carolina winning it in the same stadium that they won it last time in 2017. You're such a storyline slut. I know I am. Gross. And then you have Purdue. This is storyline, you just open up your mouth. You have Auburn beating UConn? You glaze. I have Auburn beating UConn because the last few years, the number one overall seed's lost in this week's 16. I feel like everyone always has the number one overall seed going to the final four. All right, what upset do you have? Big upset for so I first round I have no threes losing, but I've Charleston over Alabama and

Vermont over Duke and deep runs. I have Drake in the elite eight and I have Florida in the elite eight. I don't hate the Drake call. Drake's really hot. I think Illinois and I was well as dick is. Yeah. So you see that video, Jake? I did. Yes. Oh, you did. You saw Drake's cock. Wow. Sure. I did not think that he would have. Is there a chance that Drake can play against South Carolina? That'd be awesome. Yeah. Drake beats the cocks again. Oh, national championship. Yeah. But yeah, the top left

region, the east, you have all the conference tournament champions, the top four seeds, UConn, Auburn, Iowa State, Illinois, and I had a note, I had a reminder for myself. I rarely set reminders for myself. Last year, after the first weekend, I said, do not take more than one or two conference tournament champions going deep because everyone on the recency bias. So, that's why I have UConn, Iowa State, and Illinois all not making the Elite Eight. Wow.

Yeah, so that was that. And I had North Carolina winning the championship. Jake, why do you think they fucked over the Big East? I honestly don't know, because in recent years, they always threw over the smaller schools. And they let everyone from the Mountain West in. Yeah. All six strong.

Do you recognize those teams,et which one Mountain West team no I've never heard of them no I what did what if what did Frank say hold on I got a fun Frank he had a he had a great tweet about the mountain west I kind of see what Frank's saying about the broadcast rights yeah not sure I'd cut the CBS broadcast Mountain West the tournaments on Turner and the Big East is Fox but yeah yeah, so the biggest takeaways are I have three, one season, the final four. However, I have Drake and Florida in the elite eight. Okay. What about you guys?

Uh, I have a pretty chalk fun. I did two ones, two twos. Yeah. I feel like I really mixed it up there. You'll like mine. Uh, Jake, I went storylines. Oh, Frank said, so, uh, John Fenton said the big East just announced that this year's entire conference tournament was a sellout. 19,812 came to all five sessions. Frank said, don't tell the committee they're busy watching Mountain West bore ball. Fucking got them. Yeah. I have the, I, you'll love my final four cause it's the storyline. It is Yukon, UNC Marquette Creighton. Three out of four of the Big East, all three Big East teams get to the Final Four and show the selection committee was very stupid.

I love that. Also, I forgot what I was going to say. Okay. I also have Jamie, you go into the sweet 16, Jake. I think that's a sharp pick on your part. Yeah. I mean, the bottom right, the Midwest, it's all the teams that choke in the tournament. So one of them has to break through, right? Purdue and Tennessee, they always have like final four realistic expectations. Krate, Kansas is there. No, but that's what I'm saying. Like of course Kansas or Gonzaga is going to end up winning the region because you can't really trust any other team. Yeah. Although they, they kind of stay, but I have Purdue. Oh, I remember what I was going to say. Congratulations to the Howard Wagner winner on beating UNC because that will be my trend of my champion being out

day one. Oh yeah. So you should take Howard Wagner winner money line. All right, Jay, give us your first four. We actually didn't break down any of the first four. I have because everyone despises Virginia. I have them not only beating Colorado state, I have them beating Texas and going to the round of 30. Yeah, they're going to make us watch more of all. That's going to be such a great game Which one Virginia loses like Virginia never should have been in if Colorado State loses it be like not what sucks Yeah, he should be in we just basically get to decide what we want from that game Yeah, buddy, you can listen to the mark Titus show for my full bracket, but those are the big takeaways. Okay Alright, well good show boys. We will have mark Titus on on Wednesday to get deeper into brackets best time of year

Let's do numbers 12 18 40, but I feel like 3 I'll go one for Villanova Once he wants he'd know a 20 99 put It's 16. I'm gonna be Yeah, oh Shane. Thanks for Kenan Allen by the way

Thanks for Kenan Allen you want to say anything about that appreciate it shame was very upset at me. Yeah You want to say something Shane? What we saying thanks for Kenan Allen fuck you okay What we saying? Thanks for Keenan Allen. Fuck you. Okay. 23! MJ, North Carolina, be coming for your love, okay I'll be coming for your love, okay Take on me

Take on me I'll be gone in a day or two I'm gonna take you to the top Needless to say, I'm all set in Spar feet, stone, and a weight Slowly learning that life is okay Say after me, it's better to be safe than sorry It's better to be safe than sorry It's better to be safe than sorry Okay Take me on! Take on me! Take me on! Take on me!

I'll be your I'll be your I'll be your dream! Ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah,