 We're here with Fandle. I got the man himself, John Rosting, for the bracket breakdown. We're talking all things March Madness, and we're gonna go through everything you guys got questions, every game we can, all the matchups, storylines, stuff. John, thanks for coming on here and welcome. Thanks Ryan, this is March. This is March, 100%. It has been March, it feels like for some time. We've seen a ton of madness go on. I think the Conver Tournaments have been better than I can remember in recent years, and we had some crazy, we got Fitts dealers, we had the bubble was all over the place. I definitely wanna start with the bubble, if you're cool with that. A lot of controversy on some of the things like Michigan, not only getting in, getting in with the buy, and other teams like Texas A&M being booted, even though they got to the SEC final. I wanna hear your thoughts on the bubble and how teams got in, how they got out, and kinda how it went down. You know, the Texas A&M Notre Dame dynamic to me was really, really interesting because these two teams were both buying for one of the final spots, and Texas A&M beat Notre Dame head to head. And I also think, you know, Texas A&M proved on a neutral court over the last couple of days how competitive it could be with some of the best teams in the country. Texas A&M was a fringe NCAA tournament team, then it went out and beat Auburn and Arkansas back to back. Ryan, those are two out of the top four 16 C in the NCAA tournament. To me, they were worthwhile of a bid. Yeah, I think I tend to agree on that. And I think a teammate Virginia Tech that went through the ACC, which is definitely weaker than the SEC is this year. I think everyone can agree on that. They ended up getting 11. Obviously they won the ACC. So it's different. They had that extra game over Duke at the end, but similar runs in the end, almost like Oregon State had last year. So I definitely agree with you. Yeah, 1000%. You know, it's interesting just you look at how dynamics changed with momentum. Certain coaches will tell you, you know, there's two sides to this. Some coaches believe that entering the NCAA tournament with the momentum of winning a conference tournament can go a long way in March. Others will say it's good to be rested. It's good to be refreshed. It's good to be off the radar. If you look back to last season and you look back, Baylor and UCLA were two final four teams. These are one of their conference tournaments. So there's no inexact science and no exact science has to do this, I should say. Yeah, I think that's fair. And I think that's why, like you said, this is March. This is why we call it the madness. This ton of stuff is going to always happen. Nothing's ever predictable. And I think the Oregon State thing, like to me, your Richmond is a similar team like that this year. Richmond and Virginia Tech, and obviously those teams would not want to lose. They wouldn't want to win the conference tournament and have that rest because they didn't, they didn't have that luxury to afford. So they needed to win their tournaments to get in. But I'm definitely looking forward to seeing those teams in the first round. Richmond got faced up with Iowa, probably the hottest team in the country right now, maybe outside of Tennessee. What are your thoughts out of that top of the Midwest region where Richmond is and they won the A-10, which is awesome. I think they could be a dangerous team, but a really, really tough first round matchup. Well, you know me, I love to name the regions based on the storylines that I think are going to emerge. So I look at the Midwest region and I see a Kansas team that's obviously played very well. They'll self is ringing out the sponge, but they're not vintage Kansas. There's no Andrew Wiggins, Josh Jackson, Joellen Bede. I look then at Auburn, I see a team that's been hampered by limited guard play, quite frankly. I mean, in Auburn's SCC tournament loss to Texas A&M, the Troika of Guards that the Tigers lean on, Zep Jasper, Katie Johnson, and also Wendell Green were combined seven of 34 from the field. They're vulnerable. Then I see Wisconsin as a three seed, a team that lost early in the Big 10 tournaments Michigan State and also lost its last regular season game to Nebraska. And then we have Providence as the four seed, 25 and five, a historical season, first ever Big East regular season title, but they kind of limp into the NCAA tournament. So I look at this region. It's the region of vulnerability. And I think if you're going to take one outside the box final four pick, you do it from the Midwest region. And look, I'm pretty steadfast on my opinions when it comes to players, but I felt Oscar Shibway should have been the national player of the year. He was my national player of the year. Johnny Davis was right behind him. I also understand, and I think we do too much of this in the media, that people want to forecast prospects for the next level. That's why people talk about Jabari Smith and Paolo Mancaro and Chet Holmgren. But right now if we're talking about which player is simply playing the best basketball, it's Iowa's Keegan Murray. I mean, Ryan, in the Big 10 tournament, Murray averaged 28 and eight and shot a blistering 61% from three point. I'm not saying that again, Keegan Murray should have been the national player of the year. I'm not saying he should be the number one pick in the draft, but Keegan Murray is playing better than any other player in college basketball right now. And with all due respect to Iowa, I have said this time and time again, if you flipped him to a blue blood program who played for Michigan State, the view universally would be different. I'm taking Iowa to the final four. That's, I think that's gonna be a popular pick because of how hot they are, but like rightfully so, it makes a lot of sense. And I think Keegan Murray, he didn't get a lot of the recognition because Iowa wasn't getting a lot of the recognition early on in the season because they were playing a very weak schedule out of conference and he was scoring 30 and nine, getting 15 boards in five blocks, but then he started doing it in big template and he slowly started to get that recognition. And it wasn't really until this last like 10 game span where Iowa and Keegan Murray had been really kicking up. And that's why there are five seed and not near that seven or eight line now. Oh, great. A thousand percent. Yeah. But I think so, say the Midwest region real fast, talk about sleepers. I want to break up San Diego State. I'm a huge Mountain West fan. One of my favorite conferences to watch for years, especially this year. And I think San Diego State is a dangerous game for Kansas. As long as they can get past Craig and you leave defense, Matt Bradley's been playing well. They're really experienced. Definitely want to hear your thoughts there. I just feel like, you know, watching San Diego State sometimes, and again, full credit to them being in this position because remember they're a team that lost Matt Mitchell and Jordan Shackle. Right. But I will say this, I mean, the lack of offense around Matt Bradley is something that really, really can, I think, affect how far you've known the NCAA tournament. You know, they kind of need like a canteen in the desert somewhere to step up and be a secondary scoring option. Yeah. And again, it's fair. It's going to be interesting. Kansas has actually been better defensively than usual, I'd say, but offensively is obviously where they thrive. So it'll be a really interesting matchup as long as San Diego State, like I said, can get past Craig and Blue Jays of a high-powered offense versus statistically the second best defense in the entire country in the Aztecs. But I guess we'll see how that goes down. Yeah. No, it's a fascinating game. These eight, nine games on top to bottom are all going to be pick-ups. I mean, you look at the matchups, you know, up top in what I call the region of star power. We've got Seton Hall against TCU. I looked it up today. Jamie Dixon was seven and four, I believe, against Seton Hall in his time in the Big East. Remember he was the coach at Pitt for a long, long time. And also, you know, you look at these other matches Marquette, North Carolina, that's a heavyweight showdown. And you can't forget about the Boise State matchup with Memphis. You're a Mountain West guy. You got to love that. Yeah. I think people don't realize that game was in Portland also. So, yes, it's six hours away from Boise. Already done the research, but that is significantly closer than it's to Memphis. Memphis is also one of the hottest teams in the country right now, even though they couldn't finish out the AAC final. But I think, athletically, Memphis is the top team in the country and they can really compete with Gonzaga. But so can Boise State on a different level. I think that is easily one of the best first-round games. I'm totally with you. Two completely different style teams. I'm very excited to watch that. Do you have any other games, first-round matchups, that you're like super keen to watch, like a hundred percent? Well, I don't know how many hours we have, but I mean, I'd like to watch all of them. Of course. Of course. Of course. I think that the winner of Rutgers Notre Dame, I'm going to take Rutgers to win that game. But I think the winner of that game against Alabama will be fascinating for sure. You hit on the Boise State-Memphis thing. I think, you know, I've talked about Carolina Marquette, Murray State San Francisco, simply because it's two mid-major teams. And if Murray State were to win, Murray State would get a chance to play the University of Kentucky. As we know, Kentucky would not schedule Murray State regularly. So it would be a game that Kentucky would want to advance to the sweet 16, but the Wildcats have nothing to gain in everything to lose in that game. And then on the other side of the bracket, Thieton Hall TCU, I think it's another really interesting game. And then, you know, the Providence, South Dakota State game to me is all sorts of juicy. Yeah. So when I first saw that come out, I instantly, I was like, oh my God, the Jack Rabbits have an incredible match up here, a majorly defensive team versus South Dakota State who is literally all offense. I was beyond excited for that game. I thought South Dakota State would be closer to a 12 seed, but it honestly is what it is. Incredibly excited for that game. And if we have South Dakota State Iowa in the second round, that could be a 200 total point game with their offenses. This would be incredible. Yeah, I'm taking South Dakota State over Providence. You got to roll a dice somewhere. Yeah, yeah, exactly. Back to the Murray State thing. So Murray State is a team that I labeled as potential final four team a couple of months ago, and I still stand by that. To me, the East region is incredible. It's ridiculous. It's so good. Talking about firepower. Does Murray State, Kentucky feel like a little bit of a little brother, big brother thing like Loyola, Illinois was last year when Loyola took them down? No, no question. No question. I mean, you know, when you think about the programs in the state of Kentucky from a college perspective, obviously Kentucky and Louisville are going to be one in one A. Kentucky is obviously going to be the focal point there. But then I would even say over Murray State, some people might see Western Kentucky before Murray State when you look at, you know, the programs in the state of Kentucky. So that would be an incredible game for the state if the racers were going to get that shot in the round of 32. I think a lot of people are overlooking San Francisco because people are looking at the Murray State, San Francisco, but that would be an incredible game if we get that game in the round of 32. Yeah, and I think it's a bummer that Murray State ended up getting on the seven line. I completely understand that based on the metrics and like they play in the OVC. It is what it is at times, but they got pitted against San Francisco and then Kentucky. And it's a bummer for both those sides for Murray State and San Francisco. But I guess we'll see if either of them can compete with Kentucky. Yeah. Back to some of the other first round games, we're going to go up to the south, the top right here. This little cluster of four has been, I've already, it's been one night. I'm already losing sleep over it. To me, Houston, UAB, Illinois, Chattanooga, any of the four can go to the sweet 16. And do you lean any certain way with these teams? I mean, I think UAB has star power with Jelly Walker. They have a lot of high major transfers, but are you going to, again, take that in the impulse of making that pick over Kelvin Sampson, who's done as good of a job as any coach, anywhere that's even considering that. Houston is a five seed in this thing and lost two perimeter starters and maybe the conference player of the year, Marcus Sasser, and another guy in Cremont, Mark, that was going to be a 10 to 12 point per game score. So I'm taking Houston and look, I mean, people can talk about Chattanooga all they want. Lamont Parris, I've known since he was an assistant at the University of Wisconsin, but with all that said, are they going to be able to withstand the most dominant physically imposing force that I've ever covered in college basketball in over? Like it sounds good. Well, Chattanooga won a game to VCU. They're good, they're out of the SoCon, but then you have to line up and beat them. Yeah, I don't, I think like Illinois, obviously Kofi and then they have a lot of outside play, a lot of guard play, even with Cabello as like their X factor now, but Trent Frazier and Alfonso Plummer, they're good. I think Chattanooga is similarly built in a sense that they run behind Malachi Smith and David John Baptiste and then Silvio D'Souza, like you said, can he match up against Kofi? I don't know if anyone really can, but he's a good guy out of the mid-major schools to try to do so at least, I would have to say. I would agree. I mean, they're going to need the D'Souza to play his best game for them to have a chance. Yeah, exactly, exactly. We'll say, we can stay in this region real fast. So you see these guys coming through, which team out of Houston, Illinois, do you think poses a bigger threat to Arizona if it were to be a sweet 16 matchup? Well, I call this the region of star power and obviously Illinois has more star power because it has Kofi Coburn, but I think any team that's going to have a chance to beat Arizona in this tournament has to have capable size. UCLA beat Arizona, they played three times. UCLA beat them once, but even in the victory, Arizona overwhelmed UCLA on the backboard. Arizona is not just the most aesthetically pleasing team in college basketball. They're the most physically imposing team in college basketball. They are a team that, again, is just unbelievably big up front and can play ping pong off the glass at times. So I think you're going to have to have size. That's why when I look at the makeup of this bracket, I think it's set up nicely for an Arizona-Illinois rematch. Remember those two teams played in December in Champaign and Arizona won. That was probably the first time that I would say that people kind of thought that Arizona was a real contender under Tommy Lloyd here. Yeah, and I think they've come of really, really far away since then. They've gotten the recognition. They obviously had the recognition there once in the second overall scene tournament. Illinois was dealing with incredible amount of player availability issues throughout the first half of the season, but still a really, really good win to put them on the map, I guess. And Arizona, like I said all day today and yesterday that athletically and physically, just like you said, there's almost no one that can compete with them in this region. Tennessee is obviously a team in the bottom that beat them early in the year. What? I think Arizona, again, come a long way and physically, like I said, they're a mind of their own. Benedict Matherin is incredible. And you talk about before some NBA prospects, some scores, take it as you will, he's still like an all-American level player. He's been unbelievable this year. Well, and also to me, he is ready to explode like a volcano in this NCAA tournament. I mean, the NCAA tournament is about finding guys who can explode. And obviously college basketball fans know about Ben Matherin, but now we're gonna get people from the periphery. Seeing and sampling the sport for the first time, Ben Matherin's going to be one of those guys that has all the potential to move on and move on in a major, major way. And you look at the other side of the bracket and if Arizona were to play a Villanova or Tennessee, one of those things that really puts me in caution about picking one of those seems to be at Arizona, there's aren't teams that have great size up front. Right. Yeah, and I was at MSG on Saturday night. I watched the Villanova, Creighton final. It wasn't vintage Villanova by any means, they got the job done. But like you said, and I think they actually game plan for Adama Sonogo on Friday night against Yukon pretty well. But like Calc Brenner on Creighton is not some of you game plan for and they had a ton of issues. He had almost 20 points and a bunch of boards. He was killing them all night. And I think put them against like Christian Coloco or Kofi Coburn and they will have a ton of issues, 100%. Agreed. And remember a couple of years ago too, Villanova was dominated in the round of 32 against Purdue when Purdue had Matt Harms. Yeah. They just won back three years ago but Villanova too has had that happen a couple of times in the tournament. Yep, that's a fair point. Staying this region real fast, Colorado State, Michigan, I've talked about the Mountain West, Big Mountain West guy, but the Colorado State Michigan. You're buying stock in the Mountain West. I've been, I've been invested, I've been invested for over a couple of years now. But the Colorado State like the Rams are good. David Roddy is I think one of the most exciting players in the college basketball and for most of the casual fans that don't know about him that much. This is a good stage for people to be like, this guy is incredible. He, he breathes college basketball. He screams a college basketball star for a potential Cinderella run. But they have to play Michigan, who yes, maybe they shouldn't have gotten that buy whatever it is, and then they have to play Tennessee. How do you see that then playing out here? Well, Michigan is a difficult team to draw if you're Colorado State because you have your sights set obviously on trying to have a breakthrough run. I mean, Colorado State, I think it's been, you know, maybe the most consistent team other than Boise State in the Mountain West all season long. But now you take on a Michigan team that has pieces back from a squad that went to the brink of the final four last year and lost to UCLA. So you look at your Michigan alignment right now and you've got Dickinson and Brooks, okay, two guys who have played in the most meaningful games that you can play in and you've got obviously high level talent. I mean, that's the thing I think that people, you know, forget a little bit about Michigan is, you know, Caleb Houston and Musa Di Abate are high level talents and that can shine through in a one game setting. Did they over a G a little bit during the year? Sure. I mean, I think Michigan's record probably should have been a little bit better, but they've done enough to get into the NCAA tournament and that's an 11 seed. But how many 11 seats have an old American? I have probably zero off top of my head looking at them. Yeah, zero. Brock, Isaiah Brock and Tim was probably somewhat close, but no dice. Yeah, I'm with you, 1,000%. Yeah. And that's in Tennessee, let's keep it on Tennessee real fast. Like that's a team looking at the resume in my opinion should have been a two seed and a lot of eyes should have been a two seed instead of maybe Duke who ended up getting that two even after losing the ACC final. How do you think the committee went about that giving Tennessee a three? And also, do you think that adds fire to the volunteers? I was in the impression that Tennessee should have been a two and Duke should have been a three. Now, you know, Duke is still going to have an arduous road to get to a final four because whoever they play, whether it's Davidson or it's Michigan State in the round of 32, I know people would want to see Michigan State because it's a brand on brand game in the round of 32. Whoever that Duke is matched up with will obviously be in a situation where I think it's going to be a difficult game for Duke but then you might have to get through Texas Tech in the in the sweet 16. So Duke has its work cut out, that's for sure. Yeah, I think that's fair. I think people want the Michigan State. They want the Iso coach K. No matter who's going to win, they want to see that handshake at the end. But I've been on the A10 teams for a little while. Richmond and Davidson were both looking great on Sunday even though Davidson didn't get the win. They have a lot of firepower, very efficient offense, can shoot the ball from everywhere, experience guard, experience guard play and I think that they big into a shootout with Duke can easily hold a lead, especially on the free throw line throughout the game. I'm big on Davidson's potential to go to the sweet 16. Well, and the thing is this too, Davidson is going to be playing with a clear head, I think in the round of 64 because it's the foster lawyer game. Yeah, oh yeah. Foster lawyer, and again, I looked this up this morning or late last night, I don't know the days run into each other, you know how it goes, right? But I looked it up this morning, I thought this was a really interesting note on foster lawyer. We'll get to the exact terms right now, just give me a minute. Go ahead. Foster lawyer, you know, obviously was sporadically in the lineup at Michigan State during his college career, was kind of a, got a chance as a starter, they went back and forth, but he made 43 three point shots at Michigan State during the first three years of his college career. He's already made 72 for Davidson this season. So he's been unleashed a little bit here. And you know, I would say that I would be concerned about the physical prowess of Michigan State up front. But I don't think Michigan State has the type of size up front that really, you know, intimidates you. Like I don't see a Xavier Tillman. I don't see a Jaren Jackson Jr. on this team. I see a Michigan State team that's been inconsistent. That doesn't really do a good job taking care of the ball. Davidson's got a puncher's chance there. Yeah, and I think we've seen from Michigan State throughout the year that they struggle in sometimes late game situations when they don't have a go-to guy and Max Christie hasn't been that super starter they want him to be. And Dave Brown and Bingham haven't been like, again, no one's really stepped up to be the guy. And I think you see similar things with teams like with a team like Texas who maybe has done better than Michigan State overall by a little bit, but similar struggles throughout the year, I'd say. Yes, I agree with it. Yeah, down to that Texas Virginia Tech game. Virginia Tech, we talked about them for one of the hotter teams in the country on the AC title. They shoot the three ball really well. They're a team that people are definitely gonna get excited for. And an interesting match up against Texas in two majors in one of that 11 seed. And hopefully one could potentially get Purdue. And then if even after that, it could get Kentucky or Murray State. Yeah, I mean, this is the interesting thing that I gotta look at. And this is the thing I look at, when you look at Texas and Virginia Tech, they're polar opposites in the way that they're constructed. Like we would probably agree that, you know, Texas was the team that quote unquote won the transfer portal in the off season. People thought they could go to a final four. They wind up as a six seed. Virginia Tech's the complete opposite. Virginia Tech is a team that has been put together by a good staff and a great offensive coach and Mike Young. But, you know, here's the thing, man. You know, you look at this starting five, four of Virginia Tech starters, Storm Murphy, Hutter Couture, Kevia Luma, and Justin Mutz either began or initially committed to mid major programs out of high school. And again, they have molded right now and been melded into a team that won the ACC tournament title. So it goes to show you that talent and rankings and, you know, Twitter buzz, even though I'm guilty of it sometimes, it's not everything. Yeah, I think that's a tell for teams like Memphis that don't have Emoni Bates anymore, but have been playing better without them and stuff like that. We have a question, a good question from Pat Fitzpatrick in the chat here about this little region here. Am I the only person who likes Purdue over Kentucky? Now Purdue is not a good defensive team by the statistics, by any means. Can they contend and can they go far? Yes, but definitely want to hear your thoughts on that because no defense usually doesn't do so well in the NCAA tournament. Purdue is the forgotten team in the East region, the region of branding. They are the forgotten team. There's obvious buzz about Kentucky. There's obvious buzz about UCLA and Baylor because UCLA I think has turned a corner here even though they've lost to Arizona with how well Jaime Acas is playing. Purdue, I think people have kind of forgotten about as a bona fide threat for the final four simply because they haven't been that good defensively and they didn't finish strong losing at Wisconsin at late in the regular season and also losing in the big 10 tournament. But Purdue is a forgotten commodity. Yep, I think that's fair. And it's going to take a lot. They might not even get Kentucky. Like we said, they might get the Loyola, Illinois, the same thing with Murray State, Kentucky. They might get Murray State out of it. If they get past Virginia Tech and Yale, you never know. Staying in this region, Baylor, the reigning champions, they've dealt with injuries all year. L.J. Crier is still on the 50-50 on that one. Reigning champions don't do it well historically, by any means, especially in recent years, they haven't gotten past the 16 reigning champions I think in five or six years. It takes on Baylor and if Scott Drew can take them past North Carolina in the second round and then how far they can go. Baylor doesn't have what it had, but Baylor still has enough to get to a final four. Now, I'm not saying they will, but Baylor still has pieces if they can just keep Flagler, Akinjo, and Meyer together. They have the pieces, okay, that I think are in firm position to be good enough to get to a final four. Now, with that said, I expect them to win their first game, but then whoever they get in that second game, whether it's Carolina or Marquette, is going to be an arduous, arduous opponent. You know, here's the thing, and I tell people this all the time, Ryan, the two days I love, the two days I yearn for on this beat are the round of 32 Saturday and Sunday, because it's like a weeding out process. After the first two days, you have your Cinderella's and then you have obviously teams maybe who hold serve up a little bit of chalk, but if you win your next game, that second game, you are getting five, six days more of media attention. It changes the complete perception and feel of your program. I think that it's going to be a fascinating, fascinating dynamic. Whoever winds up playing Bale are in Fort Worth. I think it could be, you know, one of the best games of the round of 32 regardless of opponent. Yeah, I think it's a really, really good point by the round of 32 because you see games where like, even if you expect some upsets and obviously the one 16s usually at least and the two 15s are, they might end up being 20, 30 point games. It happens, but those second round games really do weed out some of the weaker opponents and Marquette, if you go back maybe a month, North Carolina is barely in the tournament if at all and Marquette is a team that people are looking at as a five or six seeded potential dark horse final four team behind Justin Lewis who was absolutely playing out of his mind and even guys like Darryl Morsell as a Maryland fan of a big Darryl Morsell fan. So I think Marquette is definitely a danger for sure. Yeah, I agree. Yeah. So it's looking at keeping this region at the end of it. If it gets chalked up a little bit and you see maybe a Baylor versus Kentucky game in the elite eight. I mean, that is exactly what the people have wanted two of the best teams all year long. How would they match up together? Well, I mean, you know, I think, you know we have to wait and see what happens if, you know Baylor can show that it still has the same jolt and the same Moxie that it has throughout the NCAA tournament. You know, for me, you know, the Kentucky thing is all going to come down to Kellen Grady when Kellen Grady makes shots opens things up for the rest of Kentucky's offense. And, you know, talking to their staff and other people and other, especially a lot of other SEC coaches that is the thing that, you know people have kind of noticed, you know he's a much different threat for Kentucky when he's playing when Kentucky is a much different team when telling great threat, I should say. Yeah. And I think people don't realize that some people might think Kentucky is the same kind of team every year. A lot of NBA prospects, a lot of talent, no success. They're completely different with transfers and severe wheeler Oscar she weighs. I mean, one of the best transfers I've ever seen in my life, to be honest. That's a whole year. Right. And I don't know if you've ever seen them from a transfer and they're, people don't realize that they don't just have NBA talent, which they do in guys like Taitai Washington and throughout the bench for 2023. But they have guys that are breadwinner bread college basketball winners. Like they are not built for the NBA as much as they are to win right now. I think that's what makes Kentucky better than they always are, even when they're one seeds and they're undefeated or whatever it might be. Yeah. I agree with it with that completely. And I also think we're going to find out too how teams who went heavy in the portal are going to do in the NCAA tournament. So many of them did, you know, we're going to find out. Right. Cause this was a huge transfer year. You kind of mentioned Texas and a couple of other teams. We talked about Darren Morsell, like the list goes on of transfers more than ever this year because of the extra year of eligibility and things like that. And that's kind of is what it is. Are there any teams that everyone, everyone that fills at the Bragg is looking for sleepers and stuff like that. Like we talked about Murray State. We talked about a couple of teams that we like. Are there any other high seeds that maybe seven and up that you're extra excited to watch for and you really think are set up for maybe, maybe a big run here. I like South Dakota State, you know, South Dakota State, I think team that you look at and South Dakota State has all the requisites of what, you know, a sleeper in this tournament is but I'm trying to identify sleepers. I'm saying, do you have experience? Do you have returning personnel? Do you shoot the three well and is there a regularity in terms of expect expectation of winning? South Dakota State, okay, won 30 games. South Dakota State hasn't lost since early December and South Dakota State as a team shoots over 44% from three. To me, this is one of the best games in the round of 64. And if you're Providence now, you're in a difficult spot because you've had a dream season. You've won a big East regular season title for the first time ever. And now you're in a scenario where I think if you don't win games and get to the second weekend, the season is going to be disappointment. Yeah, and I think that's fair. And I think Ed Cooley was, it was a finalist for coach of the year and they kind of died down. They're trending in the wrong direction. You never want to be trending in the wrong direction ever, especially going into the tournament. We know that from history. Even like you said, like maybe they had a couple of extra days rest, but you'd rather be playing for a big East title in Mass Square Garden on Saturday night than sitting on your couch and waiting to be drawn for the NCAA tournament. I think I agree with you. I think most of the public is going to end up going this way. It's one of those upsets where you feel like this is their, their bread to win this game right here. South Dakota, South Dakota State, the Jack Rabbits. But we will see. And they might get Iowa in the second round and we mentioned that matchup of high powered offenses. South Dakota State, I think is one of two teams that average, they have three guys who score 15 a game. It's absolutely bonkers that that is, that is real. It bonkers indeed, good word. Yeah, yeah, there you go. Maybe a new metaphor for the, the Rosslynites on Twitter. But anyway, anyone else on the upper, on the upper region, South and West, that you're looking at sleepers or are you think it's going to be mostly chalked up for this? I mean, you know, whatever I think seems the opposite seems to happen over the years. I'm going to take South Dakota, South Dakota State over Providence. And obviously I'm going to take Iowa to a final four. That's the region of vulnerability. And then up top, you know, a lot of people like Lola Chicago. I personally think everybody's, you know, kind of underrating Illinois. I like Chattanooga, but not against Illinois. And you know, we'll see. I think TCU is a very dangerous team here. TCU is a team that, you know, a lot of people, you know, I think, you know, don't understand how, you know, competitive they can be out of the big 12. They've recently won a lot of, get big games beating Kansas. So that's a team. I love those eight, nine potentially whoever wins that game in the round of 32. Yeah. I think we've seen that over the years where Villanova played Wisconsin a couple of years ago, last year, Illinois and Loyola. And people tend to overlook that the one seeds do exit early. And very rarely do we get all them the final four. It's only happened, I think one time or a couple of times. And then very rarely do we even get all them in the elite eight and sweet 16. Like there's always a couple of high seats at exit early. And like you said, those eight nines are either teams like TCU that are kind of an up and down and see, you know, or teams like Memphis and Boise State who have been trending in the upward direction for most of the season. So those are definitely dangerous teams. No question, man, but it was good. Good rap with you, Ryan. Yeah, of course, of course. I guess that was, we appreciate you coming on. And John is always bracket talk. That was great. It's good to hear your insights on everything. Obviously you are the guru for us. We love it. And I guess happy March and a big week for us. And what's your last thing? Tradition on Thursday at 1210, 1215, what are you doing? I'm just consuming it like everybody else. I'm just trying to take it minute by minute. I mean, you know the rules, we sleep in May. We do sleep in May. I guess I'll see you. I'll see you then. I'll see you in June. All right, man, I appreciate it. Have a great day. You too, John. All right, guys, that was great from John. We got a lot of insight from him. We filled that most of the bracket with some of his insights. That was definitely a good time. I'm looking at everything. We obviously didn't get to every single game, every pick, but we got a lot of it. And I got a lot of good insights to hit to who he likes, who he doesn't like. And I think the South Dakota State thing is a great one. We talked about Murray and Davidson. This is a potential upset that Davidson game, Virginia Tech and Texas opposite sides. We're definitely, and we also talked about the Regions. South versus East, probably the two best regions. West is a little bit of weird. A lot of high powered names and coaches. Then the Midwest, obviously the bottom right. It's kind of the weaker one. Like you said, vulnerability. The region of vulnerability. And I'm going to use that a hundred percent. And he thinks Iowa's coming out of there. I think that's going to be a really, really popular pick. Rightfully so. Keegan Murray and the Hawkeyes are playing unbelievable. But only time will tell. This game would be awesome. This game would be awesome. Iowa and South Dakota State. I can't imagine letting less than 160 or 170, 180 points in this game because these two teams are two of the best offenses in the entire country. If not the two best offenses in the entire country. Only time will tell to see. And it's called the madness for a reason. It's called March Madness for a reason. We fill out brackets and make predictions. No one's ever going to be perfectly right. And I can't imagine that either of us are going to be very close either. Because imagine we say Arizona, we like this, we like Baylor, we like Kentucky, we like Iowa. And then all of a sudden Richmond takes down Iowa and Colgate takes down Wisconsin. Things like that do happen. But only time will tell. We do wish you all the best of luck in filling your brackets because it's going to be fun. And definitely want to hear you guys answer my last questions before we hop off, by all means, questions ask away. But I will sit down here and fill out the bracket based off John's advice, right? Because you might as well. I do think it's going to be a good game here. But like I said, if you guys have questions, hand me the chat, we'll pop them up here and we'll answer them. I do think we didn't get to this one. I'm very interested in New Mexico State with Teddy Allen and Sir Sir Jabari Rice because I think it's going to be a really, really good game here. Better than people think for New Mexico State. But we shall see. Speaking of the 12 seeds, Fred says, which 12 seed has the best chance? The best chance to win a game? I would go, I'm looking at, let's see. That's the plan. I think Richmond, if they weren't playing Iowa, I'd say them. I'd probably go to New Mexico State or UAB. I think UAB's probably got the best chance. Based on number of fire, win probability, 15% there, 19% for New Mexico State. I do think New Mexico State is a sleeper that people are overlooking already. But that's fine. That happens every year. And I think they are definitely dangerous. They haven't had a Teddy Allen. New Mexico State's in the tournament almost every year out of the big West, but I'm sorry, excuse me, out of the Swack. And I don't think that they're the same team as always. Teddy Allen's one of the best mid-major players in the entire country. So they're definitely a team to watch out for 100%. UConn has been good, in my opinion, the second best team in the Big East. But I like New Mexico State in this game. I like them to come play Arkansas, excuse me. But that's definitely going to be tough for sure. If they get past UCon to go and play Arkansas, I think it'll end up being chalked 1-4 on the top of the Midwest, at least in the sweet 16. But only time will tell. John mentioned he likes Rutgers out of the Notre Dame game and potentially Rutgers to be Alabama or Notre Dame, but he liked Rutgers more. I tend to agree with him on that because I think Rutgers matches up really well with the guard play of Alabama and they can really frustrate them and slow them down, which we've seen Alabama struggle with. And I think I would take, I can't take the plan yet. We're going to take the plan though. We can't click it, but we'll take them. We'll take Rutgers, hopefully pass here. We have Texas Tech. And we already talked about this match potentially being in lead eight with a path to the final four. I think this is a crazy, crazy good game. Kind of two very, very different teams. Tech to Tech's more balanced, defensive minded. And Zaga is kind of balanced, but they have star power and they're heavily offensive, offensively favored. But it's hard to go against the Zags also. We talked about how good they are every single year. This year, they're no different. And honestly, I think they're better than they were last year, even without Jalen Sungs. Edger Nebhart has been a great transfer. He's been amazing this year. So I think that Zaga is the team to be here. And I'm going to take them to the final four. I'm going to take them to the final four. We talked about Baylor. We won't go through everything here, but Baylor and Kentucky, I don't know. I think this region is too good for us to get these two teams. I think they're just as good as the other seeds for relative to their spot and their seed. But I think that this is going to end up being other seeds that want to and not chalked up because Virginia Tech is dangerous. Texas is dangerous. UCLA, St. Mary's, Wyoming and Indiana are the playing here. Those teams are dangerous. That's going to be incredible matchup for UCLA in the second round. Marquette North Carolina and Baylor. We talked about this, but if you're looking at it and you're looking at who's playing well right now going into everything, I think it's hard not to go with Kentucky, but I still fear about the second round game. So I'm going to go with Baylor because I'm still a Baylor guy, if this was the lead-aid especially. But like I said, there's going to be tons of upsets here, I think because these teams are so good. What are the big team stats of looking at when you're looking at matchups? I think it depends how the teams play for sure, because let's take this game for example, I just keep going back to it, San Diego State and Kansas. Say this is the second round matchup. San Diego State's a heavily defensive team and Kansas is the opposite, completely out, for the most part, completely offense. But so in a sense like that, you might look at how San Diego State forces turnovers. Does Kansas turn the ball over a lot? And are they going to feed into that, the mighty, mighty defense of the San Diego State Aztecs? If that's the matchup, you're looking at things like that. Other than that, I think John hit it on the head before, three point shooting experience is such a big thing. An experienced guard is even bigger. Having an experienced guard running your offense, like a Colin Gillespie on Villanova is beyond everything because you know they can shoot the free throw well. You know they can control the flow of the offense, slow the game down, speed the game up if they need to in whatever situation they are, especially in a tournament setup, when things are really, really high pressure. So I think those are a few things. Turnovers are huge. Abilene Christian beat Texas last year in the 14 versus three game. Abilene Christian coming in was the best turnover team in the entire country. They had the highest turnover margin. They forced the most turnovers in the country. Little things like that are what you really need to look for. I think free throw shooting I said before about the guards is huge because if you're, there's more fouls in March. The games are closer. So there's more fouls and more free throws. If you can shoot the free throw well and you're an experienced team, you're going to be able to hold off other teams much more than other teams will. I think that's why I like Davidson out of this over here. They do all that really well. I experienced really good shooting the ball, really good three point shooters. Hyeong Jin Lee is awesome to watch. We talk about the foster lawyer game against Michigan State. He can shoot the three absolutely electric. They have the best free throw shooter in the entire country who's a senior this year for Davidson. So I think they're definitely a dangerous team to watch out for here. Those are just some of the stats. I guess we'll finish this out here. Loyola Chicago, I do like Loyola. I think this is going to end up being Tennessee Nova because these are the two best teams in this bottom part by a pretty big landslide. I'm going to ride with the experience in Villanova even though Tennessee's hot. I'm going to ride with that. Arizona has been awesome. This is kind of shocked right now. It's basically all shocked. But I think like John said, there's a lot of firepower here. I actually like UAB in this game personally. John said it's kind of like a flyer pick. I think I tend to take chances on those flyer picks where I think it has a pretty good chance. Jelly Walker, Jordan Walker is awesome. He's one of the best mid-major players and scorers. You'll see it in all college basketball. And I think I'm going to go with the experience in Villanova. Now, this isn't a great matchup for Arizona, for Villanova, excuse me. We talked about athletically it is. So you know what? We'll switch it. We'll go off John. We'll go on the John knowledge because he is king. We go with John. This is the final four we got out of our talk with John. We got Gonzaga, Baylor, Arizona, Iowa. I like this final four. Is it going to be three one seeds? Probably not. Could we have a West Coast final? I could definitely see that. I'd probably lean Gonzaga, Arizona, West Coast final if this was the final four. This is not going to be my final bracket by any means. I will definitely do more throughout the week with y'all. And we'll talk about that. We'll put them on Twitter and everywhere else. But if this was kind of how we set it up with John, this is like our joint bracket, I guess. I would take Gonzaga over Arizona in the final. I think it's finally time for Gonzaga to seal their fate and stop getting the fraudulent calls because they don't deserve that. They really don't deserve that at all. But yeah, I appreciate y'all for being on here. We appreciate it. We had a great time. Stay tuned this whole week for more content on College Basketball, Mars Madness, TikTok, Twitter, everywhere, Instagram. John's going to hopefully join us again soon. We'll do something throughout the week. Definitely follow him if you don't already and how you Mars Madness then because we sleep in May and this is March. But again, we appreciate y'all for being here. Appreciate y'all for tuning in. It's been awesome. Hopefully we do this again. Hope you guys had the best luck feeling at your bracket and you're not tearing them by your second day or second hour of the first day. And enjoy it also. Have fun filling out your bracket. That's, this is the best part is these three days in my opinion are the best part where you're picking random upsets like I'm picking Jacksonville State. I'm not actually picking Jacksonville State. I'm picking Jacksonville State and I'm picking Miami and Colgate. Have some fun with it. Don't get too upset. It's very hard to get a bracket one and whatever 20 trillion quintillions, whatever it is, chance of getting a perfect bracket. It's not going to happen, but you can only hope. But all right. Hope you guys have a great day, great week. Enjoy the tournament. Enjoy the games. Now I will catch you guys.