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All right? Welcome Inn Coffee and Company, fueled by Thornton's here on a special Monday. I didn't think I would be feeling the way that I'm feeling on this day, even had Louisville like lost to Clemson on Friday, which we haven't talked since then. But even if we had lost Friday night, you know, heck, we might not not even even made the tournament, to be honest with you, when it comes to the way the seating played out.
But you know, this year, there was never really a moment for me where I felt genuinely disappointed and like really sad, you know what I mean, Like nobody likes losing. I didn't like losing the other night to Duke. That was tough when they were getting their tails kicked in earlier this season whenever they played Tennessee at home, and then of course when they got back from the Bahamas, they were adjusting to life without Case and Pryor and Cora Johnson, and they got dusted by Old Miss, lost
to Duke, double figures, lost Toknseax. But I never felt any level of real just like, man, I'm so down on the dumps, and I think it's because of two things. One, you know, I like these guys so much, and when they do end up, you know, falling short, like, I don't think it's because they're not giving it, they're all. I think it's you know, I just think it's because of this of the circumstances. So, you know, I like these guys a lot. We all do, right, this is
a very special group. So because of that and because of the other reason that I didn't mention it, and it may not even need to be said, but Louisville being where they were in the previous few seasons to have this now, I mean, even when there is a setback, I mean it still stings. But man, we know we're in such a better place than we used to be,
and man, we got here pretty quick. So last night to see Louisville come in as at number eight, which, by the way, I don't know what it is, but there was something also awful about being one of the first teams mentioned, like I just I don't know. It felt like it was very premature, very underwhelming. I don't know. But nonetheless, the eight seed sucked. We all know it, but I felt probably the saddest I've been all season.
And I think it's a reminder that when it comes to being you know that disappointed and bummed, part of that feeling that you have is due to an expectation. Right, So when Louisville, that's one one of the things that made this season such a fun ride because I knew this team could lose anybody, right, Like, it wasn't as if even when you would beat a bad team, yeah, it was still what you were supposed to be doing.
But like, you know, this team, as much as they've looked really good and clearly I think we all agree they deserve a much better see than what they got. There's just there was not a whole lot of room for error. Whenever the injuries happened, and when you had the roller coaster where you feel like, Okay, it looks like we're gonna be great after the Bahamas, and then
you realize cases out. So you know, I don't want to be such a Debbie downer because it's great to be back in the tournament, could go to Lexington like it's I mean, just to be a part of this is awesome. But I think because I was so disappointed and surprise, I'm sorry because I was so surprised to see Louisville as the eight. It hit me with maybe the most disappointed moment I've had throughout the season, which
I mean, that's not what I was expecting. I was expecting to be phenomenal, and you know, seeing your name there at a five or six, maybe even a seven, and it would have been a different feeling than what we had last night. So look, there's nothing you can do about it. But I feel like we get one day to bitch about it. Isn't that day today. I mean,
it's what we do. We talk brackets, and I think it's clear that not just around here, but nationally, Louisville is a is believed to be the team probably the most underseated other than of course West Virginia not getting in. So look, it is our Monday Marathon present about Carriage Forward,
and we are simulcasting here in just a moment. So in just a moment, I'm going to turn my microphone off and walk across the hall and join Terry Minors and you will hear both Terry and I on News Radio eight forty TOBHS as well as Sports Talk seven ninety. We're only gonna do this for the first segment, so Terry and I are going to discuss the obvious and
we will resume our regular shows after that. So again, looking forward to talking with Terry, and I mean the different ways in which you can you can look at just how I mean today, and I'll just give you this stat and I don't want to get into too much right here, and then you know, go across the hall and then say the same thing over and over. So I'm trying not to, you know, throw out all the crazy stats that really put in perspective how wildly
incorrectly Louisville was seated. But Kelly Dickey, of course, ul statistical guru. I think everybody knows who Kelly is he's a great follow real card game on Twitter if you guys want to follow him. But what's crazy is Lo was now top ten team. But those who missed it, the ap pole came out today, louis was number ten in the Apeopole after beating Clemson last week and of course competing with Duke. So Louisville being a top ten team playing in an NCAA tournament game as an eight
seed is just it's insanity. And I know the ap pole doesn't necessarily it's not the end all be all, but still like that should show you just how wildly different you view this team compared to everybody else. All Right, we're gonna go, We're gonna go. I'm gonna make my way across the hall here.
Yeah, you saw the new rankings came out today. Louisville's number ten and obviously they have an eight seed. So it's like this whole thing is just tragic and stupid, but it's a reality. So I'm not one of those people's gonna ser and twist in the wind and whine and complain about that. It's just a matter of how dumb it is when you put the the metrics to it all these people want to decide about analytics and
numbers and so forth. Well, Nick Coffee is joining me in here in the Whas studio along with mister Paul Miles.
Hi, Nick Coffee, Hello, gentlemen, how are we doing?
Hi?
Have you racket Monday?
Are we celebrating a simul cast on seven ninety?
That's what we're doing.
Very nice.
It's a party, Miles.
We haven't been on seven ninety for a while in a while.
Yeah, welcome, welcome, Happy to have you guys. Dave Jennings, he's a staple of seven ninety. Dave Jennings, you're closer.
To That's right. Dave had a lot of years on seven ninety. You're closer to the beverages in our building. That's good.
Yes, Oh yeah, studio is nice. Yeah, I like to like that. That's kind of my domain.
All right, I am opening what that thought? Hang that banner, Hang that banner because the NC DOUBLEA this is a clown show, and so this whole thing of our seating we all get is ridiculous. Nobody can put out numbers that justify it. I mean, I saw the clown Bucco from North Carolina, whatever his name.
Is, Bubba Bubba Cunningham.
Bubba is his name the ad Did they give him a Christian name when he was born.
I don't know. I would doubt that that's his legal name, but he is certainly a name that a lot of people are familiar with. In the last twenty four hours that probably had no clue who he was. I think that was a selection committee.
Bar Rabbis actually was.
The name.
This whole thing is, you know, silly, but we are here. We just have to deal with the reality.
Yeah, And I as I started my show, I mentioned how for me this year was such a fun ride expectations. Who really knew what to expect, and then when they started playing well, even when they had a setback, you felt like, Okay, we're still in a much better position than we've been in a long time. You played some really good teams that beat you. So there was never really like a feeling of disappointment as a fan because even when they lost, I feel like they're still trying hard.
I didn't feel any different about Pat Kelsey and what these guys could eventually do once they played some, once they got used to the new rotation with the injuries
and whatnot. But yesterday's seeing them come in at number eight was as disappointed as I've been all year as a level basketball fan, and I think just because you feel for these guys and you could tell just about the body language when they showed them uh the when they unveiled they're going to be playing against Creighton in the eight nine game.
Clayton is not seated correctly.
So Louisville will have to get past the second placed Big East team, a Big East team that played in their conference championship game against Sint John's the other night, competitively, and then if they can get past them easier said than done, then they get to play the number one
overall seed to go to the second weekend. I just don't think anybody would objectively put Louisville in that position other than the committee, I think anybody else would have said, at least they're a six, so you do get to play in Lexington. There's a there's there's benefit there, but man, you've got you've got a tough first game is really tough. As you mentioned, Creighton's a really really good team.
And it's not just the seating guys, it's it happened two seconds into the broadcast. Yeah, people are pouring their beers and getting their sandwiches and go. Did they just say Louisville?
Yeah, that was that was not that. That was not something I would have expected to hit me like it did. Maybe maybe it wasn't just the seed, it was how early it was.
You're right, Dave, here's the way this feels to me, though we've all gone through this over the last month, month and a half. You're going down a road you normally travel and all of a sudden you hit an unbelievable poddle. But then it's over. You're worried that your car's not right anymore, the alignments out, but it's over. So all you can do is just take the lump and then work with the fact that you got to get ready for this Creighton game and not even sweat
the details that Auburn is lurking behind there. Auburn is definitely going to advance, So you worry about that Friday if you can.
And I think Pat Kelcey, you know a lot of coaches do the worry about the next game. We don't think about anything else outside of that. It's the most important game in the history of the program because it's the next one, and I'm sure a lot of coaches would like to have that mindset within their culture. However, I think Pat Kelsey has shown this year with this group, they've never been too high too low, even when you think that maybe the wheels may start to fall off.
And really that only happened earlier this year when they were playing really good teams, and obviously they were they were dealing with some injuries. But I feel like despite him making it pretty clear he was a little upset by the seating. I mean, I don't think anybody would be surprised to hear that he did not like where his team ended up. But I feel like he's the kind of guy that could get these guys focused, get
them regrouped. I mean, they throughout the entire year, I think have done a really good job of just worrying about who's up. You know, I don't think they're even thinking about any kind of a seed, a number. They're just knowing, Hey, we got to get ready for Creighton. They're a really good ball team. Let's figure out how we can get to win.
Not just that, guys, you have Clemson as a five, so Louisville beats Clemson twice. Clemson finishes behind Louisville in the standings because they beat Duke full strength one given night. Clemson's a five and Louisville's an eight.
That's the biggest That's the biggest issue that I have with the whole thing is that there's no way the committee would be able to tell us how they tell us how they assess the acc I mean, what Carolina clearly got benefit for to get in. Louisville got no credit for Clemson. You know again, if you just want to tell me, well, louisll didn't have many opportunities to play great teams in conference play, therefore they just don't
have a whole lot of quadwin wins. I mean, that's true. However, the rest of the league that did get in seem to be viewed a little bit differently than Louisville.
Miles, you taking aback by any of this stuff that you've been talking about.
Now, But a question for who's gonna who's gonna draw the biggest fan base to Lexington, Louisville, or Tennessee. I'm thinking there's gonna be a lot of orange in that.
I'm thinking there's gonna be a lot of blue in there, Kentucky fans who they knew that their team wouldn't be there, But a lot of people can't travel.
It's Lexiville guys.
Lexville Knoxville is not too far away, and there are Tennessee is a huge fan base. I mean, they are massive, and them being good in any sport will remind you how many fans they have out there. But I wonder if maybe some of them are thinking, Okay, we are we're a top two seed. Maybe maybe we'll we'll wait to go, We'll save our money to travel to the second weekend because we think so we're so confident that
that's gonna happen. But I'm sure there's many Tennessee fans that don't even live that far from Lexington.
Yeah, it is an easy get for them, and Kentucky and Milwaukee. That's not a problem for a lot of Kentucky fans. They're gonna be fine.
They're all over the planet, by the way, Katwaukee Tucky fans.
Right, and then Indianapolis would be their their second stop, and then that's completely due.
I really don't think Kentucky fans can take much issue with how they ended up. I think the three seed may be a little surprising to some because of the amount of losses they had, but they had so many really really valuable wins that really, I mean, that's what's supposed to matter more than anything. And as far as who they end up with, I mean, Tennessee's a team they could meet in the second weekend, they've already beat
him twice. Houston, I wouldn't. I wouldn't say any of these one seeds are are viewed as, you know, somebody that you can easily get past. However, of all the options, I think Houston may maybe the one I would choose. So, yeah, Kentucky definitely rewarded on selection Sunday, I think, and again it checks out they had a really good resume, more losses than you typically see for a team seeded that high, but man, they had a lot of really valuable wins.
And if they could make it through.
Milwaukee, they go to Indianapolis. Correct, Yeah, I think yeah, which would bode well for them in the fan base.
Miles, you ran a clip from Lamont Butler in the top of the hour, and m did you get on the floor with him? And actually, so let's try it, just try me. Did you check him and make sure his shoulder's okay, his legs are all right as lungs as I did not popping.
Maybe you did?
You know they're all they see, Paul Miles. I'm not taking this.
Guy, did. I mean, there's no scenario. It's a coincidence that we could get Patino versus Caliperi in the second round, right, I mean that is I mean too, I mean that would be It'd be phenomenal. Uh, I love it. They have already texted each other about it. I can guarantee, Oh yeah, yeah, and I would I mean, I would be very A lot of people around here would be interested just just to be around kind of the lead
up to that potential game. There only be a couple of days between because it'd be a second round matchup. But man, that would be quite the storyline for the round of thirty two.
Isn't that Rhode Island? Yeah, Marks has got to get past Kansas.
True, very true.
But that's not a full strength Kansas, right.
Well, Kansas, they've just had a I mean, they're healthy as far as I know, as far as their key contributors, but they just they're the latest example of they went out and they bought a lot of really good players. They had a lot of talent. Nobody would question their talent level. They've a great coach obviously in Bill self. It just isn't fitting together. And I don't know if it's more so because style of play or maybe personalities, but they've they've had more losses this year in quite
some time in league play. But they're also, you know, some one of those teams that if they end up going on a run, maybe getting to the sweet sixteen. I mean, I can't say I'd be surprised.
I love the fact that Louisville's playing at noon twelve to fifteen.
The only person I've heard say that, oh I love you.
Lunchtime at the office. You know, I'll put the work aside and just turn on the TV, watch watch the cards.
Somebody gets to be the kickoff, you know, the christening of the tournament, and this year it's louisviland and crazy.
The last time Louisville made the tournament, same thing. They played the very first game against the Minnesota Richard Patino team and lost. And losing in the tournament and having your season come to an end is devastating in any way. It happens, but man to be the first team there is there that was a brutal pain I didn't want to experience going on.
Have you guys heard of our new metric that we use this year. This is the WAB. The WAB the wins above bubble where Carolina finished first and they're crediting that with their getting in. It measures how many more wins a team has compared to what an average bubble team would be expected to have against the same schedule. So it's a bunch of pe people sitting around going, Yeah,
Indiana wouldn't have had it that many wins with Carolina schedule. Oh, West Virginia wouldn't have had that many wins with the Carolina schedule.
But I thought the ACC was terrible. Yeah, the ACC. I feel like the Louisville seating is the one thing that makes you feel as if because it really were overre the bubble teams had of Carolina that had a chance to get in when you got to selection Sunday. But to set everybody the way you did, with you do clearly being a number one, that was easy to do. Clemson getting the five and Carolina getting in at all, I mean, I would have expected that to mean Louisville has a six seed at worst.
Okay, we haven't said these two words yet. Rain Smith, is that for sure? Is he playing?
I mean, I hope. So he did get out there. He got out there on Saturday and was going through warm ups. I don't think the intention was to play, but it was to kind of just get into that routine to kind of see how close he was.
That wasn't they were messing with Duke's mind.
I don't think so, but you know, you could tell there's an emphasis from college coaches around the country to let people know that an injured player who they're monitoring is good to go, because they don't want to be they don't want to be punished by like Cooper Flagg. I think he'll play, but Duke would stand no benefit to put it out there if he's not going to. So Rain will now have a complete two week break from from, you know, playing in a game since the
ankle injury happened. So I think it comes down to canny monitor pain that kind of stuff, or well, can he handle pain? I should say, But I just know when they got to Charlotte he'd not been able to do much yet, so I would imagine he'd probably need a pretty quick recovery in the last week or so. But he's definitely a weapon that you love to have out there because he can flip a game in an instant, but also the opponent has to account for him at all times. Spacing is so much better and he is.
This is an underrated, underrated strength of his that I think is so valuable. He knows what he does as far as commanding attention, and he's always moving, so it just creates so much more space for everybody else. You can tell he's aware of that.
Yeah, he is. He is the force that forces the other team to react to him all the time, which gives you your openings. Without him, we haven't had that same sort of like nuisance factor that the other team has to panic a little bit.
There's some guys on this team that I think I would say maybe not half, but close to it as far as their point production comes from bright place right time because of how they're guarding ranked Smith or because they've got you know, there there are two guys running at him to try to contest his shot that leads to a clean up bucket. Budge vonn Hadley or James Scott. So yeah, Rain's the guy that I knew is valuable.
But seeing this team offensively without him, I mean you can just tell it's they're.
A little bit more easier to defend. Chucky and Terrence have been brilliant. Thank God for them.
Oh my goodness to Javaon is in there busting on D two. It's so great against Clemson and then with Terrence Edwards. I mean, I don't know where it will be remembered down the line, but acc championship game begins to Duke, a kid who transferred in from James Madison puts up thirty on Duke. I mean it was I felt like that was a really I mean hate that it came in a loss, But these guys, man, they compete first half. I wish it could have ended then
because they had the lead, but they're not. I thought that game, even without Cooper flag, in that situation you're playing Duke in Charlotte, I thought that that was really a prove it moment for so that we belong and this is who we are, and yet you didn't get anything that further.
Yeah, and that that made no sense that a halftime of that Duke came. He thought, all right, these guys can't compete with anybody.
I mean, if Chucky doesn't make the game winner against Clemson and you lose that game or not Clemson, I'm sorry smu of Stanford. I'm sorry Stanford. I don't even whereould they have been like they beat Clemson. They got their most valuable win of the season, a neutral sight win against Clemson, and they thought that Clemson was still a five seat and then two days later you get seated with an eight.
We were going to win an overtime, by the way, Yes, Stanford, I felt I think got a little flop back. I thought that Louisville had all the mo at that time. Nonetheless, you know, we had a moment against e Ku way back in the season and then all of a sudden, Noah, I had to pull out our bacon and win right there. That changed the chemistry of the season significantly. And the uprise has been just phenomenal, the uptick through this whole thing. So nothing pointed to this law loss of momentum. And
I just you're right. I think Kelsey's good about getting in their ears is like water over the dam.
He's the kind of leader that can navigate you through this to where these guys they'll be playing with something to prove. But also you know they're not gonna feel sorry for themselves. They're not gonna look ahead, They're gonna be ready to go. I think yeah, and Creighton is a formidable opponent. We know that Kentucky can handle Troy.
Kentucky fans, truthfully, I think are already eyebowling a Tennessee match and fair fair enough to say Tennessee spits the bit in big games, and they certainly did this year against Kentucky. I mean, Kentucky didn't have a full team in either of those games and one and really didn't need to play that well to do it. But I've watched Tennessee play other times and they look really, really good. But Mark Pope, he's he's got something for the balls
so far this year. But I think the potential Illinois Kentucky matchup in the second round, I just think that should be that could be a really that should be a really competitive game. I think Kentucky, if at full strength, is clearly a better team, and they probably are as is. But Illinois, Brad Underwood a tough team. He's done pretty well in the tournament, so I you know, both teams
got to get there. I'm sure there's gonna be some upsets, but that three six matchup in Milwaukee could be one of the better ones of the Round of thirty two. If that's what we end up.
Getting, Kentucky doesn't need to worry about Texas or Xavier emerging over Illinois.
That's I mean, I would, I would. I have a lot of respect. I think Illinois was one of the better teams in the Big Ten this year, even though it wasn't great. Texas is the team I can't figure out, because they did get really good wins in conference play at the end that put them in the tournament, but everything else prior to that would show you that they're pretty average. Xavier, they were another bubble team. I haven't seen a whole lot of them this year, but Sean Miller,
he's made some deep tournament runs before. So yeah, those are the kind of games that you know, I just assume that it's gonna be Illinois been sure enough. They're gonna have a tough game to get past, a tough time getting past their first pponent too.
For everybody did Florida show everyone yesterday that they are the team to be.
I think Florida in the last couple of weeks has looked like the best team in the country, and all they did was more so show that this past week can winning the SEC tournament, which would some would say might actually be more more to challenging than winning this tournament.
I would agree. They're relentless and they're deep. They just keep coming at you. You think you're making a play, and it's like twelve again.
Yeah. When they when they beat Bama by double digits in Tuscaloosa a couple weeks ago, that's when I thought, Okay, a lot of talk about Bama. Auburn Duke of course is great, but man, this Florida team, they're they're elite.
Okay, what about fools Gold. This happens every year. Here we are on Monday, and everybody looks at their brackets and you think, oh, there's the Tom Is Oh Hawaii Dave. He's been there for one hundred years. Boy, he's not gonna lose. And then Michigan State, while you know, oftentimes just walks away confusing people.
He's good in the tournament though, is is pick who are some of.
The fools gold teams that people need to reconsider instead of because a lot of people fill out brackets and then they get into some areas and go, well, I like, uh, I know who that is and fill it down.
I would say for me, and this is a three seat, so it's still a seat that's expected to go pretty far. But Texas Tech they really really fell apart towards the end of the season. Their three seed, their first round matchups against Lips. I'm not sure if they're going to get much of a challenge there, but for I think they're about as vulnerable as any three seed in that potential second round because it's likely going to be Old
Miss in Iowa State. They do a really good job of manipulating the quad system in a different way where if you play a lot of if you schedule a lot of teams that are in the three hundreds, that'll hurt you even because you can't beat them by enough for it to do anything but hurt you. Wake Forest is an example of that. Wake Forest literally should have been should have been a tournament profile all year, but they scheduled so awful in the non conference and didn't
win those games by enough Iowa State. They schedule those teams and they strategically play their starters the whole game, beat them by forty and fifty, and it actually boosts them up. So I think part of the seeding for Iowa State is maybe not as much as how good they are. They just they cooked the books a little bit. They did some things to really improve their numbers, and really they've lost. I think it was three of their
last four to close out the season. So of the top three seeds, I would say they're the most vulnerable. But I really think Terry all the ones and twos, I mean, I think that's a kind of I think they've got some clear separation between the pack.
No doubt. What about the other Patino, Richard New Mexico. You know, he seems like he's sitting in a spot where if they can handle Michigan State, well that's good, get interesting.
No doubt. I think Richard Patino, when he's done a phenomenal job this year with this group. If they lost their best player to Texas Tech, who ended up being one of the best teams in the Big Twelve, to the Portal, he went out added some new players big no real big names, but yet he won the Mountain West once again Coach of the Year. So Richard's a
really good coach. Minnesota firing their coach last week and everybody reminding themselves, oh yeah, nobody's ever woned Minnesota other than coach Haskins from WKU, who did win, but he got caught cheating when he was doing it. So Richard's a good coach. That would be quite the story if he's able to make his first deep run into the tournament. Obviously, his dad's now being talked about more so than I
feel like he has in a long long time. He's got all the shine with his run at Saint John's, so yeah, I don't know how deep they can go. But New Mexico's a team I wouldn't want to play.
All right, we're not revealing our winners quite yet. Well, then we'll talk later on this afternoon. It's good, but my winner is an SEC team. Say here, we'll leave it to that. That's Nick Coffee. I'm Terry Miners back in a few on news radio A forty WA chance and seven ninety kr D.
Now back to Coffee and Company, fueled by Thornton's on Sports Talk seven to nine, day.
It does feel good to be dancing once again. But if there's one day to complain and it really won't do any good. But yeah, I don't think I've There's no way I was as disappoint I mean, honestly, last night was as disappointed as I've been as a level basketball fan since pack Kelsey got the job. Seriously, I mean I didn't expect Louville to be in the tournament
in year one. I mean I thought they could. I knew We're now in a world where you can get there quicker, you can rebuild it quicker, because obviously you can just go get a new team, right, But to have this team exceed expectations put themselves in a spot to where they played in the ACC Championship game eighteen and two in your league, even if the legue isn't great.
I mean the disappointment that hit me yesterday when I saw them come in at number eight, I mean again, it was like it was a feeling that I really haven't hadn't had in a long time. I mean again, when Louisvill lost earlier this year to teams, I mean,
that's that sucks. Nobody likes losing. But again I think part of that feeling of real disappointment and sadness, there's there's a level of expectation that has a role in you feeling that way, right Like, if you don't have any real belief or expectation that you're gonna get you know, you're gonna go win the lottery, or you're really bummed when your ticket's not a winner. I mean, yeah, you wish you won, but you didn't feel like you had
no real expectation of it happening. It wasn't realistic in your mind. So it's been a long time since I've been disappointed in love of basketball, to be honest with you, because I mean the whole Kenny payn era, I mean we were disappointed from the beginning and never it never got it never got better, and there it was never something that many realistic people believed was going to be
anywhere good enough for that thing to be sustained. So to have the moment, you know, selection Sunday, knowing you're going to be a part of it, I mean, that's what this all builds up for, right Like, quite literally everything about the roller coaster that is your college basketball regular season is built up to see what you get when you get to selection Sunday, and of course, you know, sometimes you don't even know if you're going to be in.
Sometimes you know you're in. Sometimes you know you have a great seed. Louisville I feel like could have been seated in a lot of different ways. But eight was was really not at all what I expected after seeing what they did in Charlotte and looking at how they seeded the rest of the ACC. So I mean, I mean, I'm still happy. I'm going to embrace that we get to go to Lexington. There's a lot of you know, there's one positive, and that is the fact that you're close.
I don't like the opponent and those saying, well, hey Auburn's lost three or four, Okay, yeah, I don't want to play Auburn. I mean, you might have to, and if so, we'll see what happens. But like, I just can't go. I can't. I mean, I can't get there with some people that are trying to act like this isn't some really really really tough thing that was put in front of this team. Again, just think about this.
Louisville has to get past the second place biggiest team, a team who play in the bigiest championship just two days before selection Sunday, or just two days ago today. They got to just get past them to get to play the number one overall seed in Auburn, just to then get to the sweet sixteen the second weekend. I mean, I don't think you could have been nobody outside of the people who made this decision, the committee, nobody would have objectively put Louisville in that spot. Makes no sense.
I mean the ap pole. I understand the ap pole does not matter, and we talk about that quite a bit, but you know what the ap pole does give you. It gives you perception. Those who vote on the apeopole. The writers, those who have a vote, say what you
want about them. They're they're objective. They're not fanboys. They're people who are you know, Capital Jay's and they may you know, they may be great writers, back you know, good, I don't know, but they're objective, like when you and there's a lot of them, it's not just one or two. So to have them currently vote Louisville as a team they believe as a top ten caliber team and then
see them get an eight seed is insane. So again I'm not saying we should use the AP but it just gives you another perspective as to how off the committee was. The committee is the only it's the only again it's the only one that matters, but it's also the only where, the only place you'll find anybody that viewed Louisville in that way to give them an eight seed. I mean, Louisville right now becomes the first. This is
just insane. And again I'm not just to clarify we shouldn't base it off the AP pole, but I'm just telling you the committee decided to view Louisville entirely different than just about everybody, I think everybody. And they didn't just view them differently, they viewed them insanely differently. But seeds one in the updated top ten, the eight of the top ten are ones and two seeds, and the ninth seed or the ninth ranked team is a three seed. Louisville is the tenth rank team in the eight people
they're an eight seed. So again they clearly, you know, it's just Louisville that they clearly view that much differently. And again the ones and twos were pretty clear. So maybe that's not the best example, but again, it's just I mean, you just can't. It doesn't make any sense. I mean, when you when you look at Duke getting a number one overall seed, that was gonna happen regardless, So maybe I should stop referencing that. But what it comes down to is Clemson getting a five. Make it
just makes no sense at all. If Louisville is an eight. Carolina getting in the tournament makes no sense at all. If Louisville is an eight, I mean, it just doesn't. And look, if you were gonna tell me that Louisville would be an eight seed, I still would have been stunned in any way, but I would I thought that would have meant that North Carolina's not sniff in the tournament and that Clemson's a seven. And I still would have thought that was ridiculous. But the league was down right.
And that's why when I would talk about it throughout the season, it wasn't like I was making a It wasn't like I was being critical. It wasn't like I was really even trying to be negative. I was just you know, and trust me, this isn't and I told you so a moment because again, if I could say that one, I would. But this doesn't mean I was right. It means the committee is inconsistent and they goofed on
this because Louisville going into last night. I looked it up yesterday on I think it was bracketologist dot com, as is the website that has the tool where you can compare everybody's resume, so based off of bracket Matrix and wherever. But I mean, Louisville was talked about as like a five or six, like seven seemed like the absolute worst, and it seemed unlikely based off everything else.
So I went and looked at Louisville's resume compared to all the other teams that were believed to be competing for that five to six maybe seven line, and of all those teams, Louisville clearly had one glaring issue. They didn't I mean, they didn't have many good wins. In fact, you know, this doesn't say anything about Louisville, it's just
the way it played out Louisville. I think. Actually I thought the game against Duke, even without Cooper flag in Charlotte, by the way, playing Duke there, I felt like that was like I kind of felt like, no matter what happens the rest of the way. Even though they lost, surely anybody who watched that knows Louisville proved that they're
a good team. They may not be elite, they may not be a top four seed, but man, I thought that showed that they, you know, they belonged, Like if you didn't have like if you felt like the numbers could could make you go one way or the other, which they could, by the way, because again there's two different ways you can look at Louisville. You can say, look, great resid or a great season as far as wins and losses, but you didn't beat anybody good, you don't
have enough good wins. Or you can say, look louisll lost to only good teams. There's only one team that they played that's not going to be the only one team that beat them, that's not going to be in the tournament. And they went eighteen and two in their league. They beat Clemson twice. So again, it just it was gonna come down to how you you know, which way
you wanted to look at it. And I felt like if you were somebody on the fence, or maybe more so leaning towards not giving them the benefit of the doubt and just assuming that you know, they're simply a product of a down league. I thought the Duke game showed you that, like maybe you know, again it's a loss still, but I felt like that seeing them compete in that way. And again, I know Cooper Flagg didn't play, but that doesn't matter. Duke without Cooper flag could still
win the whole thing. I don't think they will, and I think he will come back, but like, Duke's really really talented even without him, and they're good, So you know, I just don't know how they The committee was just so different than not just like Louisville fans who want their team to get the best seat possible, but they the committee viewed a little different than everybody. I mean, it just doesn't it doesn't make any sense at all.
So again, if your best win is Clemson twice and your second best win is the last team they put in, which is Carolina, that is absolutely not a good place to be. And that worried me deep down. I kept thinking, you know, it's all gonna come down to how they decide to view this team, and I said it a lot, so if it would have just been that, I mean, I still would have been upset. I wouldn't agreed with it, but it would have at least, you know, it would
have been a little more fair. But to see Clemson get the vive in Carolina get in, so like what Carolina got in for? Like what really helped Carolina become that last team in of course, other than their athletic director being the chairman of the committee, which we got to talk about that later. That's that's a bigger The arrogance of the nc douablea as an entity to not to just assume people won't raise questions about the conflict of interest there is insane. It's really another reminder that
what's what purpose does the NSABA serve? None? None? But again, when it comes down to Carolina, what helped Carolina get in Louis Will got no credit for. And I'm not one for conspiracies, I really am not, because I just you know, sometimes they're fun to talk about on the show, but I don't know what it is. But I I just it's not even really giving people a benefit of nout. But I just I don't fall in this world of like, you know that people who are in powerful positions that
have you know, like people on the committee. I shouldn't assume that they would make some crazy mistake because you know, they're successful people. They ended up on the selection committee. They work for universities and power conferences. But I think you could make the case that they might have actually
just switched teams accidentally and not realized it. I mean, I don't know if you guys have seen the comparisons, if you base, if you go, if you go look at and I'll pull out all reference the numbers here, if you go look at the profiles for these two teams, and you look at where they where they seated each of them. Again, in all seriousness, I don't believe that they that this could happen and them not notice it.
But maybe I shouldn't just assume that they're gonna not have a goof like this because Louisville and Memphis, I'm pretty sure Louisville should be the five in Memphis should be the eight, because again that actually I mean that actually breaks. So yeah, as of March seventeenth, as of yeah, that's today, there's between Louisville and Memphis. Across all the different ranking systems, Louisville is twenty four in the net. Again, the net is the formula that the NCAA created, that's
the one they're supposed to value more than anything. Louisville is twenty fourth in the net and they're an eight seed, Memphis forty ninth in the net. In their five seed Louisville and the Ken Palm twenty three, Memphis thirty four bart Torvik, which is the new formula that is now calculated, Louisville's nineteenth Memphis is forty espn BPI, Louisvill's twenty Memphis
is forty two. So think about this, their new formula, they're using bart Torvick which was added, and their own insanely high on Louisville, and they give him an eight. Bubba Cunningham, obviously, everybody wants to hear what he had to say about Carolina getting in. How he has no involvement, YadA, YadA, YadA. But he was asked about Louisville and what he said is that they used the Torfic rankings this year as
part of the decision making process. Is if it was really, you know, a bigger factor, Louisville again would have been a five seed based off those rankings. Again, I'm not one to actually think something like this. I mean, it's possible, certainly, I just I you know, maybe I'm just giving people the benefit it out because I assume there's no way they would make that kind of a mistake. But maybe they did because they can't justify that they I mean, they
don't have to, which is the real problem. There's no mean they can do whatever they want and just decide that that's how we decided to do it, that's how we see it. So again, I'm not a lunatic when it comes to just thinking that that that you know, this for sure happened, But if you found out that it was a goof, would you be surprised? I Mean, this isn't something that people probably really care about. But like the n DOUAA, they own the NI T. I
don't if you guys know that or not. Did you guys hear about the goof last night of the n I T where they invited a team and told them they were coming, only to then't rescind the invite because they didn't realize that a team that initially they wanted to come was going to be able to come like it. You know, maybe these kind of things do happen. But anyways, I promise you we're not gonna at least I'm gonna try not to bitch and mow in the rest of
the entire show. But if there is a day to get it off my chest, it's today when we talk brackets. It's what we do. It's our annual carriage board Monday marathon, and I got to get it out of my system because, to be honest with you, yesterday, last night, that was the most disappointed I've been in a long long time for little basketball. Because again, let's consider what really brings you to the level of disappointment. There's got to be some level of expectation. I was never disappointed in this
team at any point. Like I didn't like when they lost games, they didn't play great all the time, But like I wasn't disappointed because, like I knew they were given everything they had and that we were making the most out of the situation when Kitty Payne was here, I wasn't disappointed because the disappointment set in pretty early and it just never changed. Last night, hit me, hit me in the gut. Did not like it. All right, Look what you guys have probably already done, is filled
out of bracket. What I want to tell you guys about is our twenty twenty five college Basketball Mayhem Bracket Contest, presented by salser Rita's Fresh Mexican Grill. Because it's now upen running. Take your bracket, fill it out online at seven ninety Louisville dot com and you can take your shot at winning a million dollars. So you register, pick your teams now, it's seven ninety Louisville dot com. You
got a chance to win again. It's presented by sALS Fresh Mexican Grill, and it's our Monday Marathon percent about Carriage four. Let's take a quick time out. We'll come back. Keep this thing rolling along on the other side right here on Sports Talk seven.
Ninety Now back to coffee and Company fueled by Thornton's on Sports Talk seven nine day.
All right, so if you guys want to join us, you can. We don't have a whole lot of time left here in the three o'clock hour, but we had a different than usual start here to our Monday because it is our annual Monday Marathon present about Carriage forward, and you've got a chance to win a million dollars in our bracket contest. It's the bracket mayhem twenty twenty
five percent about Salcreta's fresh Mexican grill. So I know you've probably already filled out of bracket by now, so why don't fill out one for us and you get a chance to win some big time money thanks to our friends over there at Salcerita. So again, if you want to join us on the show five O two five seven one seventy nine hundred to gain fibo two five seven one seventy nine hundred, you can give us a call. We will open phone lines coming up here
in just a moment. Also, you can text it on the Ellen and Federal Credit Union text line FIVEBO two four three eight ninety seventy three. Again five oh two four three eight ninety seventy three. Members get more at Ellen and Federal Credit Union. You can learn mo on open your account today at LNFCU dot com. All right, so a lot to unpack with this, this entire bracket,
which we'll do throughout these next couple of hours. But just one real one, one real quick one to think one thing I wanted to mention that you did here. If you were listening to the beginning of the show, but it really is. I mean, in all time reminder that they do, in fact pay attention to potential storylines that can help generate, you know, interest in specific matchups.
If they end up happening and having Arkansas and Saint John's potentially play each other in the round of thirty two, I mean that would be such a weird experience for fans around here because I mean, it's col verse Rick, but like, we're not involved, and I'm not sure any of us ever thought we'd get that again, right, And look, both teams got to get past their first opponent, Saint John's. I don't think we'll have a whole lot of trouble
with Omaha. But Kansas Arkansas, I mean, Arkansas is gonna be underdogs and for good reason, so we might not even get it. Probably won't even get it. If I'm being honest with you, I don't think Arkansas will beat Kansas,
but the thought of that matchup is wild. And again, if they can, they will, meaning and I don't really see any real issue they clearly I'm gonna take talk a lot and a lot of you know, I'm gonna say a lot of bad things about the INNC, double A and the committee and their selection process today, and we've already done a lot of that. So this is just something I don't see issue with if in fact they if they tried to deny it, that they're liars.
But even if they did, tell us the yeah, if we can pick among teams that are you know, four teams in the sea line, if we can match a team up with somebody that gives us a good storyline, then we'll do that, because you know, this is in fact an event that's for television, and the millions and millions of people that watch it on television is why
it's worth so much money. But other than that, and again we got we've got plenty of time to to kind of in fact, we got all weak to really talk about the actual games themselves, the matchups, which regions appear to be the strongest and the weakest, that kind of stuff. But you know, one thing that really stood out to me is that when I look at teams seeded six, seven, eight, even nine, and I did it.
I noticed this yesterday when I was looking at all the different bracketology out there, thinking that there's no way Louisville could be an eight seed, because you know, that just doesn't make any sense. Where would that come from. But looking at teams like six through nine, I think that's a huge pool of teams that are all very similar. And I don't mean style of play. I just mean like they're all kind of in that same tier in
my opinion as far as they're good. I think Seeds three through five are also kind of in their own tier. They're they're better than the rest of the pack outside of the elite tier, and the elite tier to me is Seeds one through two. I mean, I think Auburn, Duke Houston, Florida, Saint John's, Tennessee, Alabama in Michigan State. I mean, I do think those are those are the best teams in the country right now. And what I don't know, and we'll find out. You know, you saw
some SEC teams run out of gas. I mean Florida really did that too. You know, Florida was a big factor in that certainly. I mean, if you Kentucky, I mean they got blown out by Alabama on Friday night. Only for Alabama, I didn't get blown out in their next game. So Auburn they've now lost was it three or four, but they've all been against good teams, and they've all been you know, it's been it's been in the almighty sec So I don't know if if that
means these teams are vulnerable or not. But again, we'll find out. I mean, Louisville, if they can get past Creighton, they're gonna get Auburn. And I know they've lost more games in the last two weeks than they did all year, in fact, in the last ten days or something. But I mean, when I thought of Louisville, because I've been pretty clear the Sweet sixteen is kind of what I'm is kind of like a dream thing for me this year.
Like I I mean, maybe they get further than that, but like I've always been kind of saying, look, if you can make the second week, and that would be like that would be you know, like making a Final four. I mean not really, but you know what I mean, like it would it would just be what it would be awesome. I Mean, you know, clearly you want to get you want to go as far as you can.
But I've always just kind of said, man, if they could somehow find a way to get a good enough seed to put themselves in the second weekend and give us another week of postseason play. Man, that's gonna be great for this fan base. And look, they may still do that, but I'm thinking about you know, you being a sixth seed or a seventh seed, you know, and
like maybe getting a tube. But to see the number one overall seed as the team you would have to get past, if you can even get past the second big second best Big East team, I mean, I know I'm sending dramatic here, but I don't think I don't think you can find anybody other than whoever signed off on it in that room as far as the committee that would have put Louisville in this situation, other than
those that you know matter. All Right, two more hours left, give you a lock right here at Coffee and Company. Feel about Thorton's on Sports Talk seven to ninety