Become a Creator today!Start creating today - Share your story with the world!
Start for free
00:00:00
00:00:01
'25-'26 Big 12 & National Top 8+1 Mens Basketball Preview
86 Plays4 days ago
Welcome to Episode #61 of the No Conference for Old Men Podcast.
The 3 Old Men are back with our preseason previews of the Big 12 & what we call our "National Top 8+1 List" of national championship contenders for the season. Have a listen as we talk through the teams fans need to be aware of as our Houston Cougars Men's Basketball team marches through their schedule during the '25-'26 season. We highlight who we believe are the elite teams in the Big 12, as well as on the national scene, during this episode.
- No Conference for Old Men is available for free via Spotify / Apple Podcast / SoundCloud & the GoCoogs.com website; we're also available via the Republic of Football Podcast feed from the folks at Dave Campbell's Texas Football as their only basketball-centric offering
- Intro / Exit music: Ground Zero provided by FreeBeats.io
- Please follow us on https://gocoogs.com/old-men/
Recommended
Transcript
Introduction & Episode Overview
00:00:08
@NoConfForOldMen
Welcome folks to the episode number 61 of the No Conference for Old Men podcast, podcast where three old guys are talking Houston and Cougars basketball with a bit of Big 12 coverage added in as well, and proud members of the Gokus.com network, the undisputed number one Cougars content provider.
00:00:25
@NoConfForOldMen
We're here today again with all three of the old men, Tom Lidiak, former coach, Bill Walker, former player, and myself, Steve Chang, analytics guy for this episode.
Big 12 Team Previews & National Contenders
00:00:33
@NoConfForOldMen
Well, we've got a jam-packed episode today, folks, with our annual, we call the Combo Big 12 and National Preview episode.
00:00:41
@NoConfForOldMen
Though our men's Cougars teams have actually already won their first game over Lehigh, we're going to hold off on starting our game summaries this year until after Game 2 versus Townsend this coming Saturday.
00:00:53
@NoConfForOldMen
We actually think this will make for a maybe a little bit more well-informed discussion at that point, especially with so many of the new key contributors on this year's team. So we're going to focus on our rapid fire Big 12 team previews with some quick snippet snippets sorry for each team in our Big 12 projections for this season and end with what we've called our national top eight plus one list, zeroing in on who we believe are going to be the national championship contenders with our elite eight teams plus one more just to make sure we cover off all the teams the Cougs will need to focus on in our minds.
00:01:28
@NoConfForOldMen
So let's get right into it, guys. Okay, now for our Big 12 regular season conference standings for this season, we did our own rankings and we've got kind of a combined consensus list at this point that I sent to both you guys.
00:01:41
@NoConfForOldMen
There's unanimity amongst the three of us around who the top seven teams are this season in the Big 12. And these are the teams that we all agree could challenge for potentially a Final Four bid. In our top seven, really our own, really, I guess it's just minor differences in our rankings with me being a bit higher on Arizona and Tom being a bit higher on Kansas.
00:02:02
@NoConfForOldMen
But I will note that self-proclaimed master prognosticator old man Bill Walker was spot on in his top seven and with his picks exactly mirroring our consensus top seven top seven in the Big 12.
00:02:15
@NoConfForOldMen
And I'm sure we're going to hear about that fact from Bill throughout this episode. So
00:02:20
.0Bill Walker
Of course.
00:02:20
Tom Lidiak
laughs
00:02:23
@NoConfForOldMen
now, no no surprise, we all three of us had Houston as number one and the Big 12. And in our last episode, we went in depth on our Cougars. So folks can go back to the steps of number 60 to get the down low on our Cougs.
00:02:36
@NoConfForOldMen
But before we get to our full rankings, we wanted to first cover off what we're calling the bottom four, which was UCF, Colorado, Utah, and Arizona State. So to get the bottom feeders basically out of the way.
00:02:49
@NoConfForOldMen
So let's take these four as a group and quickly give some quick insights.
Team Rankings & UCF's Challenges
00:02:53
@NoConfForOldMen
And Bill, why don't you kick us off on kind of those last four teams?
00:02:58
.0Bill Walker
Okay. I'm sorry. Tell me again who who we have as the consensus last for.
00:03:03
@NoConfForOldMen
Yeah, we had UCF, Colorado, Utah, and Arizona state.
00:03:06
.0Bill Walker
Right.
00:03:10
.0Bill Walker
Okay. Perfect. Okay. Well, before I get started, let me congratulate our most recent podcast guest, Coach Mitchell, for for winning his opening game for the for the U of H women.
00:03:23
@NoConfForOldMen
Oh yeah. Great point.
00:03:26
@NoConfForOldMen
Yeah.
00:03:26
.0Bill Walker
off to a great start.
00:03:27
.0Bill Walker
So congratulations on the win.
00:03:29
@NoConfForOldMen
Yeah.
00:03:30
.0Bill Walker
Okay. Number 16, I have central Florida and I had them rated higher last year. And for every, every school I get to, I'll, I'll mention how many starters are returning and, and for better or worse. And, and, and,
00:03:50
.0Bill Walker
for my opinion, definitely worse due to NIL.
00:03:52
@NoConfForOldMen
ha Yeah.
00:03:53
.0Bill Walker
these These starter numbers, for the most part, are going to pretty much be zero or one.
00:03:59
@NoConfForOldMen
Yeah.
00:03:59
.0Bill Walker
UCF has nobody returning. And I have one sentence written down. This will not be a good team.
00:04:07
@NoConfForOldMen
No, agreed.
00:04:09
.0Bill Walker
And that's about all I have to say for Central Florida.
00:04:12
@NoConfForOldMen
Okay.
00:04:14
.0Bill Walker
Arizona State, I have at 15.
Analysis of Arizona State & Colorado
00:04:18
.0Bill Walker
Bobby Hurley, we know as a head coach, it's the final year of his contract, and I'm quite sure it's his final year at ASU.
00:04:27
@NoConfForOldMen
Yeah.
00:04:27
.0Bill Walker
he He likes his largely small school recruits. I don't particularly like them. I'm not too impressed.
00:04:36
@NoConfForOldMen
Yeah. Yeah.
00:04:37
.0Bill Walker
So I see them at 15. 14, I have Colorado.
00:04:40
@NoConfForOldMen
yeah
00:04:42
.0Bill Walker
i have colorado
00:04:45
@NoConfForOldMen
Yeah.
00:04:45
.0Bill Walker
Tad Boyle, I like decent coach, one returning starter. Uh, he, he did a lot of recruiting. This is going to be a deep team. Uh, they've got a lot of scores, a lot of shooters, but the defense is going to be problematic. And, and I just don't see them being all that competitive.
00:05:04
.0Bill Walker
And then number 13 for me is Utah and zero returning starters.
00:05:12
.0Bill Walker
Again, new head coach Alex Jensen, who's coming from the NBA, although as opposed to to the other a coach that came from the the NBA, which is Keith Young at BYU.
00:05:12
@NoConfForOldMen
yeah
00:05:27
Tom Lidiak
The Wonderkind.
00:05:27
@NoConfForOldMen
Like Coach Young. Yeah. Yeah.
00:05:30
.0Bill Walker
I actually like Alex Jensen. I think this is going to be a tough first year for him, but I like him and I think that they're going to be bad, but I do think they will be
00:05:33
@NoConfForOldMen
really? Okay.
00:05:44
.0Bill Walker
semi-competitive against certain teams, probably not us with our defense, but, uh, but I think they'll, they'll get better.
00:05:49
@NoConfForOldMen
Yeah.
00:05:54
.0Bill Walker
So those are my bottom four.
00:05:54
@NoConfForOldMen
Yeah. All right. Interesting. Hey, Tom, how about you for the the bottom four?
00:06:00
Tom Lidiak
I have Arizona state, dragging up the bottom. I think Bobby Hurley is a, is a dead coach walking.
00:06:07
@NoConfForOldMen
yeah
00:06:08
Tom Lidiak
Uh, you know, uh, I know they won their first game of the season. I can't remember who they beat, but I think he's a little more upbeat than he was last year. he lost pretty much the entire roster. That can be good or bad, depending on how you look at it, you know, uh,
00:06:25
Tom Lidiak
and he tried to fill it with some decent scores at the mid-major level. But I just don't – I don't know if Bobby Hurley will even make it through the through the whole season before maybe they they just, you know, have somebody else fill out as an interim the rest of the way.
00:06:39
Tom Lidiak
i have a note written here. They probably should have some Vegas odds on who's the first player to quit at Arizona State, you know. You know, because he –
00:06:47
@NoConfForOldMen
No kidding.
Utah's New Coach & Texas Tech's Prospects
00:06:50
Tom Lidiak
Jamie Hollingsworth went to the exhibition and he and he sat right behind, you know, Arizona State's bench. And he said all Hurley and the staff did. They didn't do any teacher coaching. They just bitch at the officials, you know, but the whole game.
00:07:02
Tom Lidiak
And that's that's an exhibition game. You know, what's the purpose of an exhibition is to get better, you know, and whatever.
00:07:04
@NoConfForOldMen
Yeah.
00:07:08
@NoConfForOldMen
yeah
00:07:08
Tom Lidiak
You know, it's not to exactly win, but I guess he was all gung-ho on that. At 15, I have Utah. Like Bill mentioned, Alex Jensen coming from the and NBA.
00:07:20
Tom Lidiak
Jensen played under Rick Majerus. He has no college head coach experience, but he did have four years as an associate coach under Majerus at St. Louis University.
00:07:32
Tom Lidiak
The thing about Utah is they don't even have a home court advantage anymore. Us older guys remember back in the 70s and 80s, Utah mean basketball was everything to Utah back then.
00:07:40
@NoConfForOldMen
Yeah.
00:07:45
Tom Lidiak
They packed the place out.
00:07:45
@NoConfForOldMen
Yeah, it was great.
00:07:46
Tom Lidiak
They hit they had some really good players, some really good teams. They have a little bit of talent. Like ASU, they bring in some scores from the mid-major level. They did bring our Mr. Airplane from Auburn, Ja'Kai Howard, the guy who started the fight last year when Auburn was on the way to
00:08:03
@NoConfForOldMen
Oh, on the plane. Yeah.
00:08:07
Tom Lidiak
uh, to play U of H. And he's also the one that was, uh, all over Twitter last year, Auburn played their first game. And, and he was the one that was, uh, bad body language as some of his teammates were throwing up shots, you know, he was walking back and, and making a, making a big scene about that.
00:08:25
Tom Lidiak
you know, he's a talent could be a distraction if things don't go his way. So all got to say to Alex Jensen is, uh, good luck with him.
00:08:36
Tom Lidiak
14, yeah. Yeah, 14 I have Colorado.
00:08:37
@NoConfForOldMen
Yeah. Yeah.
00:08:40
Tom Lidiak
Could be the end of the Tad Boyle era too at Colorado. You know, unfortunately, he's he's a really good coach, but it's a new era of, you know, as we all know, it's a new era of college basketball.
00:08:46
@NoConfForOldMen
yeah
00:08:53
Tom Lidiak
And, you know, with roster upheaval and all this, he does have some – a couple of guys coming back. He he has some big guys. That Banggot Doc.
00:09:06
Tom Lidiak
Elijah Moore, they're decent players. Sebastian Rancic from Slovakia. But he does have 10 newcomers. Got a couple of promising freshmen, but I just don't think it's going to be enough. And then for my 13th team,
00:09:23
Tom Lidiak
Could be another change, coaching change in the Big 12 with Johnny Dawkins at UCF.
00:09:30
Tom Lidiak
Same question as Tad Bull. He has a rebuilt roster. He's brought a couple of transfers in from Milwaukee, a couple more mid-major transfers, and a handful of high-major transfers.
00:09:42
Tom Lidiak
Probably the best one, Riley Kugel from Florida and Mississippi State and Devin Cambridge. We know him from from Texas Tech, but you know Dawkins is a good coach. He just doesn't have the horses.
00:09:55
Tom Lidiak
and and And last year, he had some he had some good talent, and they didn't do for you know and they didn't do very well.
00:09:58
@NoConfForOldMen
I've got some athletes, yeah.
00:10:00
Tom Lidiak
So now he's going to have less talent this year.
00:10:05
.0Bill Walker
Yeah.
00:10:05
Tom Lidiak
So it could be could be his swan song at at UCF.
00:10:10
@NoConfForOldMen
Yeah, I would agree. mean, for me, it's bottom line. None of the four have what it takes to challenge for the top, or quite honestly, the middle, for that matter, of the Big 12. It's either bad or super new coaching in Utah's case. No talent to compete and little to no investment on the and n NIL front with these four programs.
00:10:27
@NoConfForOldMen
And for me, ASU, bottom feeder, an embarrassment to the league, should have fired Coach Hurley after last season. And I'm just going to leave it at that. So now moving on to our top 12 teams in the league.
00:10:39
@NoConfForOldMen
In our three-person consensus rankings, we have Texas Tech coming in at number two, where both of you have them at number two. And I was actually the dissenting vote here, and I'll get into that in a little bit.
00:10:51
@NoConfForOldMen
The number two ranking in the Big 12 is also consistent with the media's view from the preseason poll. Tom, why don't you kick things off and go with your coach's perspective on tech?
00:11:03
Tom Lidiak
Uh, I, I put tech at two, uh, solely because of Grant McCaslin. you know, big 12 has great coaches.
00:11:10
@NoConfForOldMen
Yeah, great coach.
00:11:14
Tom Lidiak
I mean, I mean, how can you not talk about great coaches and not talk about bill self, you know, but, uh, you know, Grant McCaslin came from North Texas. Uh, he changed the style a little bit North Texas.
00:11:25
Tom Lidiak
They were just like grind it out. They're going to beat you 58 to 53, uh, to tech uh, comes to tech and They're still a really good defensive team, but there's there's more offense now.
00:11:36
Tom Lidiak
You look at Tech, they bring back two really good players, JT Toppin and Christian Anderson, and they they brought in some transfers. la I think his name is what?
00:11:49
Tom Lidiak
I'm drawing a blank here.
00:11:50
.0Bill Walker
Watts. Watts.
00:11:51
Tom Lidiak
Watts from Washington State in Eastern Washington. He's a really good player. I did see they had three guys out for their first game. They didn't play without Watts. They didn't play without JT Toppin.
00:12:03
Tom Lidiak
And then they they didn't play without the VCU transfer, the 6'10", 6'11", bam, bam, something, Luke.
00:12:11
@NoConfForOldMen
Yeah, they've got some injury issues to start the season.
00:12:14
Tom Lidiak
Yeah.
00:12:14
@NoConfForOldMen
Yeah.
00:12:15
Tom Lidiak
But, you know, from a coaching expert perspective, That's why I go with Tech, just because McCastlin. But here's the deal. that you know If if one they have one injury, that you know it could it could derail their whole season because they're not going to be very deep.
00:12:30
@NoConfForOldMen
Yeah.
00:12:31
Tom Lidiak
So Toppin was injured a little bit last year, too. Yeah. so Health is important to every team, but especially so with with Tech.
00:12:42
Tom Lidiak
like When their top players goes down, you know they could lose a couple of games and then drop them farther in the standings.
00:12:49
@NoConfForOldMen
Okay, great. How about your view, Bill, from a player's perspective with tech?
00:12:55
.0Bill Walker
Well, I agree with with Tom. i i you know I had a tough time with what's several of the top teams and and how to rank them, but McCasland was the the overriding factor and in me putting Tech at two.
00:13:08
@NoConfForOldMen
Yeah.
00:13:15
.0Bill Walker
yeah One starter back, which is the $4 million man top
00:13:19
@NoConfForOldMen
yeah Exactly.
00:13:20
.0Bill Walker
man
00:13:21
@NoConfForOldMen
Yeah.
00:13:21
.0Bill Walker
topping But Christian Anderson basically played starters minutes last year. He's a really good point guard.
00:13:28
@NoConfForOldMen
yeah
00:13:29
.0Bill Walker
He can score. they They brought in a lot of offense. and not Not a lot of big players, but they they brought in a great shooter from UNC Greensboro, Donovan Catwell.
00:13:47
.0Bill Walker
They brought in a 6'6", another great shooter, 6'6", Tyree Bryan from Santa Clara. You mentioned Watts, Tom.
00:13:57
.0Bill Walker
and And then they brought in a another shooting guard, Nolan Groves. He's a freshman. He's 35, 34-point per game score at Minnesota. So, yeah.
00:14:10
.0Bill Walker
Yeah, they they brought in a lot of shooters, perimeter players. that They're not going to be especially big, but again, that they're there're exceptionally well coached, so I think they end up second in the conference.
00:14:25
Tom Lidiak
And I want to mention another guy that he actually played, I think, 34 minutes in their first game. He's a true freshman, Jalen Petty, 6'1 guard.
00:14:32
@NoConfForOldMen
Yeah.
00:14:35
Tom Lidiak
I'm not sure who was out of, but he's gone hete yeah he's going to be a problem in the conference.
00:14:37
.0Bill Walker
is from yeah He's from Washington. Wow. point guard
00:14:44
@NoConfForOldMen
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. yeah I guess for me, as I mentioned earlier, I was the dissenting vote here and I actually had tech a dramatically lower fifth in the big 12 this coming season.
00:14:55
.0Bill Walker
wow
00:14:55
@NoConfForOldMen
and I know. I know. So just to be different, I guess. And I know both you guys in the national experts all had tech with higher ranking at number two. And I think some other pundits had them maybe at three and, but Caslin, I agree, obviously a great coach. So it does seem a bit counterintuitive for me to have them fifth.
00:15:15
@NoConfForOldMen
But as I'm looking at the roster and after paying top end, as you'd highlighted, Bill, it reported 4 million plus in NIL. There wasn't much for everyone else. And I just don't have as much trust in all the new players. I love Watts, but everyone else I think is a question mark.
00:15:33
@NoConfForOldMen
Everyone's high on Christian Anderson and even the analytics support that because he was a player of box score plus minus plus 5.9 last season. But if you look at our games, and that's the only reference point I really have that I watched a lot of his his play, but he was was terrible in both games versus us last season. So I'm just saying, yeah, we'll see.
00:15:54
@NoConfForOldMen
If you look at the analytics, Tech's top 20-ish in both adjusted offensive efficiency and adjusted defensive efficiency in Ken Palm's preseason advanced analytics rate rankings coming into the season.
00:16:05
@NoConfForOldMen
And Ken Palm this season also added what they call a new coaching metric that assigns value to each coach. And guess what? McCaslin was the second highest rated coach.
00:16:16
@NoConfForOldMen
coach but kind with the published rankings and only bested by our very own coach Samson at number one. But even with that, and with so many new pieces for tech, they come in at fourth in the big 12 in Ken Palm, sixth in Bart Torvik, sixth in Haslametrics, and sixth in Evan Meev. So,
00:16:37
@NoConfForOldMen
could argue that I've actually got them ranked a little bit too high at fifth. So we'll see how it, no, no, no, too high.
00:16:42
.0Bill Walker
too low
00:16:44
@NoConfForOldMen
Cause they have them at, and they have them at sixth, right? So I've got, yeah, Ken Palm's got them at fourth, but Bart Torvik, Hauser Metrics and Evan Mia have them sixth in the, in the big 12. So we'll see.
00:16:56
@NoConfForOldMen
We'll see.
Iowa State's Strengths & BYU's Concerns
00:16:58
@NoConfForOldMen
Quite honestly, I think, As you had stated earlier on, Bill, it's tough this year. I think it's going to be a great year in conference where from four to six, it's going to be super competitive and they're they'll all be good enough to actually compete for a final four.
00:17:15
@NoConfForOldMen
Now, number three in our consensus was Iowa State, where all three of us had them either third or fourth. Bill, don't you go first with your players' perspective on the Cyclones?
00:17:24
.0Bill Walker
Well, State has three starters returning, which is little unusual.
00:17:29
@NoConfForOldMen
yeah
00:17:32
.0Bill Walker
and And I like Oxlberger. I think he's a good coach.
00:17:35
@NoConfForOldMen
Yeah, me too.
00:17:36
.0Bill Walker
of course, he comes from Wisconsin, so you know he's got to be good.
00:17:38
@NoConfForOldMen
Yeah.
00:17:42
.0Bill Walker
you know they're They're returning who a lot of people would would suggest is the best point guard in the conference, Tannen Lipsy.
00:17:52
.0Bill Walker
coming back for his senior year. They've also got Joshua Jefferson, who averaged 13 and 7.5 boards, six nine kind of combo forward, more of a small forward.
00:17:54
@NoConfForOldMen
yeah
00:18:05
.0Bill Walker
and then And then the guy who put the dagger in our heart at at the end of the game at Ames a couple years ago.
00:18:13
Tom Lidiak
I was there.
00:18:14
@NoConfForOldMen
Yeah.
00:18:14
.0Bill Walker
Yeah, I know.
00:18:14
@NoConfForOldMen
Yeah, he
00:18:16
.0Bill Walker
Mylon Momsilovich.
00:18:18
@NoConfForOldMen
started.
00:18:19
.0Bill Walker
you know, the 40% three-point shooter. But
00:18:24
.0Bill Walker
they they're they're probably, and i didn't I didn't look to see their box score from from their opening game, but I imagine that Nate Heiss is probably going to be the starting two guards, six five he did okay.
00:18:39
@NoConfForOldMen
Yeah. he started
00:18:41
.0Bill Walker
Yeah, I mean, he was a over a 41% three-point shooter last year.
00:18:41
@NoConfForOldMen
yeah
00:18:46
@NoConfForOldMen
Mm-hmm.
00:18:48
.0Bill Walker
They brought in a big guy who a lot of people are high on. I'm not entirely sure why. Blake Buchanan from Virginia, six ten big.
00:18:58
.0Bill Walker
But quite honestly, he's just – big. He's just kind of average.
00:19:05
@NoConfForOldMen
a
00:19:06
.0Bill Walker
But they've brought in a lot of players. yeah Let's see, Dominik Jakis played a it's a four-star from Germany. Let's see, Dominic Nelson, a 6'5", 2 guard from Utah Valley.
00:19:26
.0Bill Walker
He was the WAC player the year last year. He's not a shooter, but he could he could do everything.
00:19:29
@NoConfForOldMen
Yeah. He can score. Yeah.
00:19:33
.0Bill Walker
and And then, of course, I've got to mention three guys. Jamarian Bateman, first of all, 6'3", shooting guard from, course, Milwaukee, who who's an absolute consensus four-star. He's the seventh best player.
00:19:49
.0Bill Walker
combo guard in the country. He, he averaged 25 and a half points in high school, but he's a, he's a really good defensive player.
00:19:57
@NoConfForOldMen
Hey, Bill, I think he went like 0 for 7 in the exhibition game.
00:19:57
.0Bill Walker
Uh, yeah.
00:20:03
@NoConfForOldMen
and The freshman. the the for Yeah, the four star.
00:20:04
.0Bill Walker
Oh, did he?
00:20:05
@NoConfForOldMen
yeah he He got his minutes, but yeah.
00:20:06
.0Bill Walker
Well, well, once again, and I could relate this back to the U of H game and all the people that are crying because U of H only won by 18.
00:20:16
@NoConfForOldMen
Yeah, yeah.
00:20:19
.0Bill Walker
It's game one, lighten up.
00:20:20
@NoConfForOldMen
Yeah. Yeah.
00:20:21
.0Bill Walker
not Not you, but everyone who's complaining.
00:20:22
@NoConfForOldMen
No, no, no. I get it. Yeah.
00:20:26
.0Bill Walker
They also brought in a 6'6 small forward from Oshkosh North and in Wisconsin, Xavion Mitchell.
00:20:32
@NoConfForOldMen
Mm-hmm.
00:20:34
.0Bill Walker
He averaged 35 a game in high school. And then they I'll just mention him. He's probably not going to get much time, but, but a kid from God, I can't even remember his name, a kid from Brookfield central backup point guard, but the other, the other good freshmen they brought in is a kid named Killian Torre and he's six, three guard. He's, he's a good defensive player as well. He and he and and Bateman are good defensive players. And so,
00:21:06
.0Bill Walker
Yeah, you know Iowa State's going to be deep. They've got three starters back. i I could easily see them challenging Tech for for the second best team in the conference, but but they'll be they'll be very good again, better than they were last year when they kind of fell apart.
00:21:16
@NoConfForOldMen
Yeah, I agree.
00:21:22
@NoConfForOldMen
Okay.
00:21:25
@NoConfForOldMen
Yeah, I agree. How about you, Tom? You're the, there's the Iowa guy. What's your take on Iowa state?
00:21:31
Tom Lidiak
i I have Iowa State fourth. T.J. Otzenberger, you know, coaching is worth something.
00:21:42
Tom Lidiak
And, you know, T.J.' 's teams are always tough. They play good defense. Last year was almost kind of an aberration because they there were some game there were some games where their deep the defense wasn't good.
00:21:49
@NoConfForOldMen
Yeah, I agree.
00:21:54
Tom Lidiak
And, you know, they lost some scores, and that that that might be the the place where you can pinpoint the blame.
00:21:54
.0Bill Walker
Thank you.
00:21:59
@NoConfForOldMen
Yeah.
00:21:59
Tom Lidiak
You know, they lost Keyshawn Gilbert and Curtis Jones as far as scores go.
00:22:01
@NoConfForOldMen
Yep.
00:22:05
Tom Lidiak
Bill mentioned, you know, the three starters. So one thing I think everybody's going have to keep an eye on is Taman Lipsy's health.
00:22:12
@NoConfForOldMen
Yeah.
00:22:13
Tom Lidiak
know, he's already been injured in, I think it was September. He was out like four to six weeks.
00:22:17
@NoConfForOldMen
Yeah.
00:22:18
Tom Lidiak
He's been injured a lot in his career. So that's you know, that's a big concern for, for their season. Mom Silovich, a really good player. Joshua Jefferson, you know, came from, what was it?
00:22:29
Tom Lidiak
St. Mary's really, really good player.
00:22:30
.0Bill Walker
Same Aries.
00:22:31
@NoConfForOldMen
Yeah.
00:22:32
Tom Lidiak
And they actually had, and then Blake Buchanan, the big, he's like a banger, you know, from Virginia.
00:22:38
@NoConfForOldMen
That's right.
00:22:38
Tom Lidiak
they, They actually started Toure, the freshman. He was the he was the fifth starter.
00:22:42
@NoConfForOldMen
Yeah.
00:22:45
Tom Lidiak
So I just think Iowa was State's whole season, I think, is is' going to be dependent upon keeping Taman Lipsy healthy because they they they have decent talent and they got Otts.
00:22:51
@NoConfForOldMen
Let's see. Uh,
00:22:59
Tom Lidiak
And, you know, there'll be a tough out when you play in and Hilton every game.
00:23:05
@NoConfForOldMen
Yeah, for me, I actually almost put Iowa State's second best team in the conference. Really, really close. It was a toss-up for me. And that's really how much I trust Otzelberger.
00:23:20
@NoConfForOldMen
But kept on third with my only concern being scoring. And I'm thinking both Lipsy and Momsilovich will pick up the slack there. And I'm actually expecting Dominic Nelson, as you had highlighted, Bill, from Utah Valley to also really contribute on the scoring front.
00:23:36
@NoConfForOldMen
ISU's top 40-ish in adjusted offensive efficiency and top two in adjusted defensive efficiency in their preseason Ken Palm advanced analytics ratings coming into the season. And Coach Osselberger is actually the 24th highest rated coach in Ken Palm with their new metrics.
00:23:52
@NoConfForOldMen
What this results in is ISU coming in at third in the Big 12, according to Ken Palm, fifth in the Big 12, according to Bart Torvik, third from Haslametrics, and fourth by Evan Mia. So I like where I've got them at third, and I think we've we've got them well placed, and we'll see if they can stay healthy.
00:24:12
@NoConfForOldMen
Now, number four in our consensus was BYU, where all three of us had them at either four or five. Tom, why don't you kick things off from a coach's view around BYU?
00:24:22
Tom Lidiak
Well, when do you talk about BYU? I think you got to talk about, uh, uh, two people. One is their head coach, Kevin Young, AKA, a I call him the wonder kind. Cause I think, I think he came into the college game a little bit, little bit arrogant, you know, with this NBA background or whatever, but like i always said, you know, Kelvin Sampson had NBA background, you know, Kelvin coached, uh, five years in the, in the NBA, uh,
00:24:41
@NoConfForOldMen
Yeah.
00:24:49
Tom Lidiak
So we'll we'll see which type of learning curve, you know, coach Coach Young has. And then the second person, when you mentioned BYU, is A.J. DeBanza. You know, he's just going to be here for a cup of coffee, and then he's going to be the first or second pick in the NBA draft.
00:25:02
@NoConfForOldMen
Yep.
00:25:05
Tom Lidiak
And then you got Richie Saunders coming back. You know, that's that's a good piece to have also. The other key addition was Robert Wright III from Baylor.
00:25:15
@NoConfForOldMen
Yeah. Baylor. Yep.
00:25:17
Tom Lidiak
But, you know, Baylor, you know, when we played them last year, you know, I don't i don't know.
00:25:22
@NoConfForOldMen
Yeah. Yeah.
00:25:24
Tom Lidiak
You know, there's only one basket there's only one basketball, you know, and, you know, I just don't know how all that's going to gel.
00:25:27
@NoConfForOldMen
yeah
00:25:35
Tom Lidiak
They did get a transfer from Southern Illinois, a guy named Kinar Davis. He's like 6'6", and then they have Kiba Kieta in the middle.
00:25:45
@NoConfForOldMen
Yep.
00:25:45
Tom Lidiak
he's you know hes He's pretty good defensive player. He gives them some presence inside defensively.
00:25:51
@NoConfForOldMen
Yeah, he had a good first game.
00:25:51
Tom Lidiak
but
00:25:52
@NoConfForOldMen
Hmm.
00:25:53
Tom Lidiak
But wonder about BYU's depth, though. that's that's That's the thing. They only played in their first game the other day against Villanova. they only went They only played eight guys in the game, and one of those guys only played six minutes. So they basically played seven guys.
00:26:10
Tom Lidiak
So that's going to be something to keep an eye on too if, you know, BYU injuries, you know, are they going to get run down yes as the season goes on?
00:26:19
@NoConfForOldMen
I don't think so because they don't play defense.
00:26:20
Tom Lidiak
So.
00:26:21
@NoConfForOldMen
So it's like half the game they're not playing. Yeah.
00:26:24
Tom Lidiak
True. And, you know, DeBansa, he is a freshman, you know, so, you know, playing at home,
00:26:35
Tom Lidiak
I don't think it's problem. Maybe playing on the road is going to be a totally different story when you get these, when you get these true freshers.
00:26:38
@NoConfForOldMen
Yeah.
00:26:43
Tom Lidiak
I don't care how good they are.
00:26:45
@NoConfForOldMen
yeah
00:26:45
.0Bill Walker
Hey, don't talk negatively about freshmen.
00:26:48
@NoConfForOldMen
Yeah, that's true. We're going to be counting on three of them.
00:26:52
Tom Lidiak
Yeah, but they're, they're not, you know, they're looking at AJ DeBansa to be everything, you know, chef, cook, bottle washer, the, you know, the whole thing.
00:26:59
@NoConfForOldMen
Yeah.
00:27:04
@NoConfForOldMen
Yeah. Great insights. How about you, Bill, from a player's perspective? What's your take on BYU? Yeah.
00:27:10
.0Bill Walker
Yeah, two starters back, Saunders, who who is a really good shooting guard, six five shooting guard, and Keita, the 6'9 center. and he he is he He's a beast on the defensive end.
00:27:25
.0Bill Walker
You mentioned Robert Wright. I think that's a really good addition, a really good addition.
00:27:30
@NoConfForOldMen
It is. Yeah. Mm-hmm.
00:27:32
.0Bill Walker
I mean, he he's...
00:27:34
Tom Lidiak
Thank you.
00:27:34
.0Bill Walker
you know he's He's not a a ball hog, anything like that. He he he is a great passer and he and he likes to pass the ball and move it around. so That's good. You mentioned Kennard Davis from Southern Illinois, 6'6 guard. He is actually not a great offensive player. He is a great defender. so so i was impressed that they brought him in.
00:28:00
@NoConfForOldMen
I agree.
00:28:01
.0Bill Walker
and then And then, of course, you've got DeBantz, the 6'9", small forward. who who you know he could It could be a race between him and, and what's his name, Peterson from Kansas for the number one pick.
00:28:18
@NoConfForOldMen
yeah
00:28:22
.0Bill Walker
Yeah, DeBantz is going to be good. I'm not sure
00:28:26
.0Bill Walker
he's a great... perimeter shooter. Good, not great. So we we'll see.
00:28:32
@NoConfForOldMen
Mm-hmm.
00:28:32
.0Bill Walker
But he can, at 6'9", he can put the ball on the floor almost like a point guard and and get to the basket. And and yeah, super talented. It's interesting. BYU does have a pretty deep bench, even though they didn't play them. And not surprisingly, they recruited a lot of great shooters. Dawson Baker, a 6'4 guard from from Cal Irvine.
00:28:59
.0Bill Walker
Got a guy, six ten shooter, Mikhailo
00:29:08
@NoConfForOldMen
Yeah.
00:29:10
.0Bill Walker
Boscovich, 6'10. He's a small forward and and shoots well. They brought in a Idaho's best player, Tyler Tyler Mikas, 6'7 shooting guard.
00:29:29
.0Bill Walker
they Another great shooter, Nate Pickens from UC Riverside. and yeah and then the And then they brought in one other big guy, Zavion Staten, freshman, a highly rated freshman.
00:29:35
@NoConfForOldMen
yeah
00:29:50
.0Bill Walker
as well from actually, I think he he may have gone to school with the Bansa. He may have gone to high school with the Bansa and he's athletic and he's a shot blocker and a rebounder, not much of a score.
00:30:02
.0Bill Walker
but But so they did bring in some defensive players. And I just think that the the guy, know, who's essentially a legend in his own mind, kevin Kevin Young,
00:30:16
.0Bill Walker
Don't especially care for him. I know you two don't either. And and so, you know, we'll we'll see. BYU is my toughest choice in terms of where to where to rank them because, you know, they could be really good.
00:30:33
.0Bill Walker
And then again, they they could be okay or they could just be good.
00:30:39
@NoConfForOldMen
Yeah.
00:30:40
.0Bill Walker
So, yeah, I had them at four.
00:30:42
@NoConfForOldMen
Yeah. It's funny. It's right. All the voters are really high on BYU. So we'll actually higher than us, right? Higher than we are on BYU.
00:30:51
.0Bill Walker
Yeah, well, yeah, well.
00:30:52
@NoConfForOldMen
And we've got them already pretty high at four, right? In the conference.
00:30:55
Tom Lidiak
They look at these early games and they look at pretty offense and that's what they look at.
00:30:58
@NoConfForOldMen
Yeah.
00:30:59
Tom Lidiak
And, and you know, they just wait till the grind hits.
00:31:02
@NoConfForOldMen
Yeah.
00:31:03
.0Bill Walker
Yeah, they had a pretty low scoring opening game with Villanova, but but again, it's the opening game, you know, but you know big deal.
00:31:05
@NoConfForOldMen
I did. did. Yeah.
00:31:12
@NoConfForOldMen
Yeah. And I thought, yeah, I thought they played decent defense in that game too. So that's always a good sign.
00:31:17
.0Bill Walker
Yeah, agreed.
00:31:19
@NoConfForOldMen
So like you guys both highlighted super talented team, DeBansa being the kid that everyone's watching. It is just it highlighted. Yes, I i'm completely with you guys. I'm not a fan of Coach Young, but I will also admit that I was super impressed with Coach Young in year one in the Big 12 because I thought they were just going to get smashed because, you being from the NBA and in kind of the G League, not used to playing the kind of D that you see in the Big 12. So I actually think he adjusted well very quickly. So I think he's a super coach, even though I may not like his personality.
00:31:55
@NoConfForOldMen
BRU's top 10-ish in adjusted offensive efficiency, no surprise, and top 50-ish in adjusted defensive efficiency in their preseason Ken Palm ratings coming into the season.
00:32:08
@NoConfForOldMen
What this really results in is BYU coming in at fifth in the Big 12 based on Ken Palm, second in the Big 12 based on Bart Torovic, fifth in Haslametrics. And then for Evan Mia, he's also got them fifth in the Big 12. So I think we're we've got him in roughly the right spot at fourth.
00:32:28
@NoConfForOldMen
Now at fifth in our consensus was
Kansas & Arizona: New Talent & Youth Challenges
00:32:30
@NoConfForOldMen
Kansas. And this was where we had a difference where Tom had them third and really the highest ranked amongst the three of us. But Bill, don't you go ahead and start first with your takes from a player's perspective?
00:32:45
.0Bill Walker
but The reason I have Kansas fifth is because of their recent history. They bring in a lot of players and that they don't seem to gel. They don't seem to mesh.
00:33:04
@NoConfForOldMen
Yeah.
00:33:05
.0Bill Walker
Really kind of mediocre and and especially mediocre in the Big 12 on the road. And with with zero returning starters, you know, we'll, see we'll see what happens.
00:33:18
.0Bill Walker
We'll see if all the new players can, can play well together and, and especially how, how well they'll play when they are on the road.
00:33:21
@NoConfForOldMen
Yeah, agreed.
00:33:27
.0Bill Walker
You know, the, the, the one player that, that everybody wants to talk about and should talk about is Darren Peterson, the six, five combo guard, possibly the number one pick.
00:33:34
@NoConfForOldMen
Yeah.
00:33:39
@NoConfForOldMen
Yep.
00:33:40
.0Bill Walker
Self, I heard self say that he's seen him do things in practice that he's never seen any other player do in, in, in the entire time that he's been in basketball.
00:33:46
@NoConfForOldMen
Yep.
00:33:52
.0Bill Walker
So, uh, you know, incredibly talented player and, you know, we'll, we'll, uh, we'll see what he can to, you know, not only be extremely productive, but to help the rest of the team, because again, it's a, it's a brand new team,
00:33:52
@NoConfForOldMen
Yeah. Crazy.
00:34:11
.0Bill Walker
their other guard is going to be, his name is Melvin council. He came from St.
00:34:17
.0Bill Walker
Bonaventure.
00:34:17
@NoConfForOldMen
Yeah.
00:34:17
@NoConfForOldMen
Yeah. Let's try it.
00:34:19
.0Bill Walker
He, he is not a great offensive player. he can, he can score. can, he can get to the basket. He is not a shooter at all.
00:34:30
.0Bill Walker
Uh, but he can play defense as well. Uh, They've got a small forward named Cole Rosario and they actually brought him in late.
00:34:40
.0Bill Walker
He reclassified from the class of 26, uh, uh, consensus five star and Kansas got him ladies, uh, about six, five swing man, small forward, uh, really good shooter, uh,
00:34:43
@NoConfForOldMen
try
00:34:57
.0Bill Walker
brought in a power forward, a 6'7 power forward named Trey White. he's He's been all over the place. Illinois, Louisville, Florida.
00:35:08
.0Bill Walker
Well, I take it back, not Florida, just Illinois and Louisville. He's coming in. he's He's a banger. And then, of course,
00:35:17
.0Bill Walker
and then of course The guy that almost played starters minutes, Flory Badunga,
00:35:22
@NoConfForOldMen
Yeah, he's really good.
00:35:24
.0Bill Walker
6'9", 220. He'll take over for Hunter Dickinson, man the middle. But yeah, though those guys are going to play a lot. They've also got, and I'm not going to go through any of the names, but nine reserves.
00:35:39
.0Bill Walker
and they pretty much cover every position. They've got a couple former five stars included in that group of nine. This is...
00:35:50
.0Bill Walker
I'd say between this this team and Kentucky, probably that the deepest teams in the country, even though Kansas didn't play a whole lot in their in their opening game. But this is a wildly deep team. And again, I've got i've just got them at five because over the last few years, they they haven't been especially good. They've definitely not been good on the road. And and Kansas has a recent history of of bringing in a lot of new players, and they've just not – You know, they've just not gotten it done.
00:36:23
.0Bill Walker
So we'll see.
00:36:24
@NoConfForOldMen
Yeah. Yeah. We'll see. How about you, Tom? I'm really curious. You have the number three. And what's the reason behind that?
00:36:31
Tom Lidiak
Well, I'm going to get real technical here. You know, you could put teams two through six in a hat and just draw names out of a hat and put them two through six.
00:36:34
@NoConfForOldMen
Yep.
00:36:38
@NoConfForOldMen
Yeah. True. This season.
00:36:41
Tom Lidiak
So so Kansas, no, i im I'm just kidding.
00:36:42
@NoConfForOldMen
Yeah.
00:36:45
Tom Lidiak
I'm just kidding.
00:36:46
@NoConfForOldMen
Ha ha ha.
00:36:47
.0Bill Walker
Tom, with your love of Kansas, I thought you would have –
00:36:49
@NoConfForOldMen
Ha ha ha.
00:36:51
.0Bill Walker
I thought you would have either a had them ahead of us to be number one, or maybe you'd have them at 15 16.
00:36:55
Tom Lidiak
Sixteen?
00:36:58
.0Bill Walker
Yeah.
00:36:59
Tom Lidiak
Yeah. Yeah. If you listen the podcast, I'm not a I'm not a big fan of Kansas basketball, but a couple of reasons I picked him at third.
00:37:10
Tom Lidiak
First one, it's a two word answer. Hunter Dickinson.
00:37:15
@NoConfForOldMen
Yeah.
00:37:15
Tom Lidiak
He's gone. That was actually four words. He's gone. Addition by subtraction. I'm giving Bill self, you know, he's had like two mulligans. we'll <unk> We'll see this third year.
00:37:25
@NoConfForOldMen
yeah
00:37:27
Tom Lidiak
You know, if he doesn't get it done with this group, then, you know, I'm not sure i'm not sure what what's going to be the deal. But, and seriously, again, another reason I put them a little bit higher is they play the top five teams. They get them all at home.
00:37:42
Tom Lidiak
And we know we know Kansas, their last couple of years, they've been front runners at home.
00:37:42
@NoConfForOldMen
Yeah.
00:37:48
Tom Lidiak
They play their best games at home. And then they, you know, then they're like possums. they They, you know, they play dead on the road and they don't play near as tough or energetic or whatever on the road.
00:37:55
@NoConfForOldMen
yeah
00:38:00
Tom Lidiak
But yeah, good question why I had that high, but that's kind of, that's kind of where, what I was thinking. You know, like I said, you know, there, you look at these teams two through six and it's, you know every, every day could have came up with a different order.
00:38:15
@NoConfForOldMen
Yeah. Yeah. Mm-hmm.
00:38:16
Tom Lidiak
You know, and I probably did. But Bill, I think, covered all the personnel personnel on there. And it looks like they started Trey White, Darren Peterson, Cole Rosario, and Melbourne Council to go with Bidunga in the first game.
00:38:31
Tom Lidiak
Rosario's interesting. You know, he's a freshman. We'll see. we'll see He's just wildly athletic, too. If you ever saw or remember Christian Braun playing, Think of Christian Braun, a good shooter, athletic.
00:38:46
Tom Lidiak
That's who, that's who he reminds me of.
00:38:47
@NoConfForOldMen
Okay. Very cool.
00:38:49
Tom Lidiak
He, while the people at midnight madness was, was some like incredible dunks. And then you got El Marco Jackson camp. He's a former five-star you know, he's, he's on the bench.
00:39:02
Tom Lidiak
So we'll just, we'll just have to see. I'm, I'm not rooting for Kansas. I don't care where they finish third, but that's where I think they're going to finish.
00:39:07
@NoConfForOldMen
Yeah.
00:39:08
Tom Lidiak
actually Actually, I hope I'm wrong. They finished life finish like eighth or ninth.
00:39:14
@NoConfForOldMen
yeah
00:39:15
.0Bill Walker
That's funny that you say that because I feel exactly the same way. Not so much about their team, but about their fans. And I've certainly alluded to this before, and that would be Tech.
00:39:24
@NoConfForOldMen
Yeah.
00:39:27
.0Bill Walker
So I have them at two, but I'm certainly hoping that they finish or 16th.
00:39:28
@NoConfForOldMen
Oh, yeah.
00:39:33
Tom Lidiak
They can be an insufferable lot, man.
00:39:33
@NoConfForOldMen
Yeah, I'm with you.
00:39:36
Tom Lidiak
I'll tell you that.
00:39:36
@NoConfForOldMen
Yeah, yeah. Yeah, so but another superstar freshman in Darren Peterson, like you guys had highlighted, and with arguably the best coach in the country now, supposedly back fully healthy himself.
00:39:49
@NoConfForOldMen
So it could be a comeback year, but I had them sixth because I don't trust the pieces around Peterson. KU's top 30-ish in adjusted offensive efficiency and top 10 in adjusted defensive efficiency in their preseason, Ken Palm.
00:40:03
@NoConfForOldMen
rankings coming into the season. And Coach Self is the 20th highest rated coach in the Ken Palm metric now as well. And what this means is KU comes in at sixth in the Big 12, according to Ken Palm, fourth, according to Bart Torvik, fourth in Haslam metrics as well in the Big 12, and then third, according to Evan Mia for the Big 12. So I think yeah Yeah, we'll see. I mean, you you could be right, Tom.
00:40:30
@NoConfForOldMen
They could be could be coming in again third.
00:40:32
Tom Lidiak
Never know.
00:40:34
@NoConfForOldMen
Now, number six in our consensus was Arizona. And again, I'm the outlier here with Arizona. Tom, you go ahead with your coach's perspective on Arizona.
00:40:44
Tom Lidiak
Oh, Arizona, Tommy Lloyd, really, really good coach, is able to attract really, really good talent. Their game the other day when they played Florida, they actually started three freshmen in If you consider Brandon Burry's the guard, we were, I think, interested in him.
00:41:02
@NoConfForOldMen
Yep. yeah.
00:41:02
Tom Lidiak
Co-opete, you know, came down to either Chris Senac or Co-opete. And then we ended I think, Chris Senac, he, I think, committed to us and then Co-opete, then went to Arizona.
00:41:17
Tom Lidiak
And then I don't know if you can consider this guy a freshman, but he's Ivan or Yvonne Korchenkov. born in Moscow. So he's Russian, but he, but he spent most of his life in in Germany.
00:41:26
@NoConfForOldMen
oh yeah
00:41:30
Tom Lidiak
He started playing in the Euro league when he was 12 years old. So he's played, I think Euro ball for, for seven years, but technically, you know, he's, he's a freshman, but they started those three freshmen in their, in their first game to go along with Jaden Bradley and,
00:41:37
@NoConfForOldMen
A
00:41:47
Tom Lidiak
the seven to Lithuanian, uh, yeah.
00:41:49
@NoConfForOldMen
center. Yeah.
00:41:51
Tom Lidiak
Uh, uh, Krivas who was injured all, all of last year.
00:41:52
@NoConfForOldMen
Yep.
00:41:56
Tom Lidiak
that's why I probably had Arizona, uh, down a little bit because of, uh, you know, they're gonna, they're gonna be playing with, uh, you know, a lot of young guys and yeah, they beat Florida in the first game, but, you know, traditionally, yes, kind of how, how Arizona plays at the first of the year, they, you know, they,
00:42:04
@NoConfForOldMen
Yep.
00:42:15
@NoConfForOldMen
Impress the hell out of everyone, right?
00:42:17
Tom Lidiak
Last year was an anomaly. They started at 6-5, but you know you know it's it's they they play pretty basketball.
00:42:20
@NoConfForOldMen
True.
00:42:23
Tom Lidiak
you know They're enjoyable to watch because you know it's it seems like everybody has a green light and they push it up fast and all that, but you know how it is once a once conference starts, games kind of grind down a little bit and you know it doesn't seem there like they're as successful playing that kind of style.
00:42:45
Tom Lidiak
and we know Kelvin's a master at tempo. you know Teams are going to play to our tempo. Just don't get in a shootout with Arizona.
00:42:57
@NoConfForOldMen
How about you, Bill? What's your take on Arizona? You also have them sixth.
00:43:01
.0Bill Walker
I've got them sixth. They've got a couple starters back. theyve They lost Trey Townsend. They lost Caleb Love, and and he's the one that that
00:43:12
.0Bill Walker
that I'm curious to see how how he's replaced because while he was a hit-or-miss player in a lot of games, you yeah know you have games where he'd go one of 12 three,
00:43:14
@NoConfForOldMen
Yeah.
00:43:24
@NoConfForOldMen
Yeah.
00:43:26
.0Bill Walker
but he'd also hit big shots when they needed him. And he was the guy they looked to. So we'll see who they look to from the perimeter going forward. Uh, they got Jaden Bradley back.
00:43:38
.0Bill Walker
Who's who I really like at guard at point guard, uh,
00:43:40
@NoConfForOldMen
Yeah, like him too.
00:43:44
.0Bill Walker
You mentioned a couple of the guys, or you mentioned pretty much all the guys, Tom.
00:43:48
@NoConfForOldMen
Yeah. Mm-hmm.
00:43:49
.0Bill Walker
Krivis, Krivis I really like. he He missed virtually all of last year with a stress fracture, and so he's back 7-2 Lithuanian. And then you've got Karchnikov, who you also mentioned, zo and mentioned how much he's played at Bayern Munich.
00:44:09
.0Bill Walker
and He's going to be a really good player. and Then, of course, he got the two freshmen, Pete, who scored 30 against Florida, and and Burries, who who was looking at us until, you know just like Pete, they committed with with Arizona.
00:44:15
@NoConfForOldMen
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.
00:44:26
.0Bill Walker
I think this is a really, really strong starting five, but this team is not deep.
00:44:33
Tom Lidiak
Mm-mm.
00:44:34
.0Bill Walker
They had a nice win over Florida, but i I wonder if if they wear down over the season. I mean, they've got other players, but but not nearly to the level of the five that that are starting.
00:44:49
@NoConfForOldMen
Yeah, that's true.
00:44:57
.0Bill Walker
Otherwise, it's going to be a lot of minutes for the starters. And you know if they if they suffer any injuries, if Krivis... pri were to get hurt again. Yeah, I just think there's some question marks there, potential question marks. And so that's why I've got Arizona at six.
00:45:17
@NoConfForOldMen
Okay. For me, I've got a soft spot for Coach Lloyd in the whole Gonzaga style of play. Plus, as you guys had highlighted, I love the two freshmen in Co-op, Pete and Braden Burries because they were good enough to be on our and initial list of kids that UH was interested in.
00:45:34
@NoConfForOldMen
So I had them number two in my Big 12 rankings. Yeah. Arizona's top 10 in adjusted offensive efficiency and top 20 in adjusted defensive of efficiency in their are preseason Ken Palm advanced analytics ratings coming into the season.
00:45:47
@NoConfForOldMen
What this results in is Arizona comes in at number two in the Big 12, according to Ken Palm. They come in third in the Big 12 based on Bart Torvik, second in Haslametrics, and second in Evan Mia.
00:46:00
@NoConfForOldMen
So I don't know, guys. I'm feeling pretty good about my number two versus your number six, but I think everything you guys highlighted is spot They're not deep, I guess, and so it'll be curious. If they stay healthy, they could be really good, but we'll see.
00:46:16
@NoConfForOldMen
Now, number seven, our consensus was Baylor, where all three of us had them there. Bill, you go ahead with your players' perspective on Baylor.
00:46:23
.0Bill Walker
Okay. what One thing I want to mention before Baylor is i've looked at the, we talked about it the other night when the three of us were having dinner about the schedules. And it's amazing. i didn't take it wholly into account, actually not that much into account.
00:46:42
.0Bill Walker
I probably should have a little more when I was doing the rankings, but, but God, BYU has one out of the top seven teams has one road game in conference at tech.
00:46:42
@NoConfForOldMen
Yeah, me neither.
00:46:57
@NoConfForOldMen
Hmm.
00:47:03
.0Bill Walker
Arizona, same thing. They've only got five, conference, good games, three of which are are on the road.
00:47:14
.0Bill Walker
U of H, and I won't go through everyone, but U of H, I have as the worst schedule, conference schedule of the of the seven teams.
00:47:21
@NoConfForOldMen
Yeah.
00:47:23
.0Bill Walker
Eight, we play eight of the good teams and five on the road. And it's exactly the same for Tech.
00:47:30
@NoConfForOldMen
Yeah.
00:47:32
.0Bill Walker
which is ironic because I've got them as my one and two teams.
00:47:34
@NoConfForOldMen
oh
00:47:36
.0Bill Walker
But theyve they've definitely got the the toughest schedules. And and yeah, BYU just seems to have like almost egg walk.
00:47:42
Tom Lidiak
Pure coincidence, guys.
00:47:45
.0Bill Walker
Yeah, of course.
00:47:47
@NoConfForOldMen
yeah they they got Yeah, you mentioned that at the game.
00:47:48
.0Bill Walker
So I just wanted to throw that out. But but getting back to to Baylor, and and I've told you guys, I've got Baylor at seven, but I thought about ranking them higher. I think...
00:48:01
.0Bill Walker
I think they could be good this year. They, uh, yeah.
00:48:05
@NoConfForOldMen
Thanks.
00:48:06
.0Bill Walker
Uh, Scott drew took the entire team over to play in the world university games and they, they played very, very well. They lost to Spain in the finals, but I think that's, I think that's going to bode well for them.
00:48:23
.0Bill Walker
You know, that it wasn't simply, you know, some exhibitions and, and, you know, practicing, over the summer that they actually went and played, uh, you know they were together, they traveled together, they, they played in a big European tournament and, uh, and did well.
00:48:41
.0Bill Walker
Uh, with that said, they've got zero, not surprising, uh, because nobody returns much, but zero returning starters.
00:48:48
@NoConfForOldMen
Hmm.
00:48:50
.0Bill Walker
Uh, Scott drew, however, who I like, uh, had the 16th rated, uh, transfer class. So a lot of good good transfers coming in. The best one almost for sure is Cameron Carr, a 6'5 shooting guard. He's coming from Tennessee. He was the second leading scorer for Baylor in the World University Games.
00:49:15
.0Bill Walker
a Really good player. Other other guy that, that, uh, the other guard who I think is going to be their key player is OB, uh, Agbin, uh, six, three a point guard coming in from Wyoming and him taking over for, for right, I think is, is going to be key.
00:49:24
Tom Lidiak
Thank you.
00:49:36
.0Bill Walker
And if he plays well, then, then, uh, yeah, I like Baylor, uh, uh, Tunde Yasufu, he's the five-star shooting guard that they brought in.
00:49:46
@NoConfForOldMen
Yeah, he's good. Yeah.
00:49:48
.0Bill Walker
hes he's He's very talented. He was the California high school, he set the all-time California high school scoring record.
00:49:55
@NoConfForOldMen
Yeah.
00:49:57
.0Bill Walker
So, yeah, there's there's he's going to be one to watch. And then They brought in, I'll just mention one other guy, Dan Skillings, who who seems like he's in it maybe his 30th year of college.
00:50:10
.0Bill Walker
he We all know him from from his days Cincinnati, 6'6", small forward.
00:50:10
@NoConfForOldMen
Yeah.
00:50:14
@NoConfForOldMen
Cincinnati, yeah.
00:50:16
.0Bill Walker
So, yeah, a lot of new players for for Baylor, but I like Scott Drew. i like i love their backcourt. I love the scores. they're Their frontcourt scoring and even their frontcourt defense is – going to be a bit more of a challenge and losing Robert Wright is is tough. But I just think that with the experience they got over the summer with Scott Drew and I like the players they brought in I've got them at seven, but I could easily see them usurping, you know, Kansas for sure. And and and maybe Arizona as well.
00:50:57
.0Bill Walker
We'll see.
00:50:57
@NoConfForOldMen
Okay. Okay. have to remember that one as we go through the season, Tom, Tom, how about your coaches view on Baylor?
00:51:02
.0Bill Walker
Yeah, I'm sure.
00:51:05
Tom Lidiak
I have have Baylor at seven, you know, as well.
00:51:08
@NoConfForOldMen
Yep.
00:51:09
Tom Lidiak
And the reason I didn't have them higher is because, you know, the whole roster, you know, not just part of it, the whole roster. had to be rebuilt.
00:51:19
@NoConfForOldMen
Yeah.
00:51:20
Tom Lidiak
They lost every, every single player. So, uh, you know, and one thing I don't get is Scott drew law. He won a national championship just four, four years ago.
00:51:29
@NoConfForOldMen
I know.
00:51:31
Tom Lidiak
It's like, what's going on in Baylor? You know, does he got, does he got cooties or what, you know, uh, uh, I mean, they're, uh,
00:51:34
@NoConfForOldMen
Exactly.
00:51:40
Tom Lidiak
you know, it's been, it's just been a revolving door past, past couple years. Uh, and then you get, you get your, you know, your five-star guard who plays one year and then goes to the and NBA. He said, what, like, this is like the third straight, I think one he's had.
00:51:49
@NoConfForOldMen
Yep. Yep. I
00:51:54
Tom Lidiak
So we'll see. i mean, you know, you never know when you assemble a whole, whole new team and, and, uh, throw, throw them in the mix, you know, what's your, what's your girl and get. It's just, uh,
00:52:09
Tom Lidiak
like a grab bag you know of players, you know no roster retention.
00:52:11
@NoConfForOldMen
i know
00:52:16
Tom Lidiak
So I'd say seven, the highest I would i would rank of a rank Baylor.
00:52:24
@NoConfForOldMen
Oh, interesting.
00:52:26
.0Bill Walker
You'll see.
00:52:26
@NoConfForOldMen
I mean, I've, yeah, we'll see. i mean, I've got them this high at number seven as well, strictly because of freshman Yosifu and coach Drew, but everyone's new on the rosters you guys has highlighted. So I don't have faith in the pieces fitting in that well together.
00:52:41
@NoConfForOldMen
Baylor is coming in at top 20 in adjusted office so efficiency and top 30 ish in adjusted defensive efficiency in their preseason Ken Palm readings And what this means is Baylor comes in at seventh in the Big 12, according to Ken Palm, eighth in the Big 12, according to Bart Torvik, seventh according to Haslametrics, and eighth in Evan Mia.
00:53:01
.0Bill Walker
Thank you.
00:53:03
@NoConfForOldMen
So I think there's a lot of agreement in kind of where we've got them at seventh. Now, coming in at number eight, and we need to pick up the pace a little bit here, guys, for the rest of these.
Cincinnati's Tournament Ambitions
00:53:14
@NoConfForOldMen
We've got consensus with Cincinnati, where we all have them eighth or ninth. Tom, you go ahead with your coach's perspective on Cincy.
00:53:22
Tom Lidiak
oh Could be Wes Miller's last year if they don't make the tournament.
00:53:26
@NoConfForOldMen
i know. Yeah.
00:53:27
Tom Lidiak
So good defensive team. we'll We'll see if they have, we'll have enough scoring. You know, that's kind of, it's kind of way Cincinnati's been past couple of years. You know, i'd I'd say probably one of the most disappointing teams in in the Big 12, if not the most disappointing team.
00:53:44
@NoConfForOldMen
yeah
00:53:44
Tom Lidiak
So the pressure on Wes Miller is going to be is iss goingnna be tremendous if they don't make the tournament.
00:53:53
Tom Lidiak
And my guess is, you know, they'll be looking for another coach if he doesn't doesn't get in there. I don't think they'll make it. I don't think they'll be in the March Madness.
00:54:02
@NoConfForOldMen
Oh, you don't think so.
00:54:03
Tom Lidiak
Mm-hmm.
00:54:05
@NoConfForOldMen
How about you, Bill, from a player's perspective on Cincy?
00:54:08
.0Bill Walker
After the top seven, I've only got two other big 12 teams that I think are are potential NCAA tournament teams. I've got since it number nine and.
00:54:20
@NoConfForOldMen
That's right. Yeah.
00:54:21
.0Bill Walker
Yeah, we'll see. yeah i do like Wes Miller, but but I know it's you know the pressure's on. They've got one starter back, Day-Day Thomas, and he may have a much better year because they got rid of Gissel James, who from what I have read and understand was it was a complete headache.
00:54:36
@NoConfForOldMen
That's right.
00:54:39
.0Bill Walker
and and they he He didn't transfer. They released him. they've theyve got I'll just mention a couple of of new players. One is probably going to be their leading scorer. His name is Baba Miller.
00:54:53
.0Bill Walker
he he started out at Florida State, but he's played the last two years at FAU. He's 6'9", power forward, but he can score.
00:55:03
.0Bill Walker
Good player. The other one is seven two center, Mustafa Thiem. And he he he's going to be a problem in the middle, especially defensively for a lot of teams, but he can score as well.
00:55:19
.0Bill Walker
I just don't think they've got enough to to, in the end, to crack the top seven for sure. and you know they're they're gonna need They're going to need some additional players beside the three that I mentioned to to step up for them to make the tournament.
00:55:38
@NoConfForOldMen
Yeah. I mean, just like you guys, I like coach Miller as well. Love his team's tenacity on D. They just can't seem to score enough each year. But I'm hopeful with the number eight ranking that we're coming up with this season that it holds and it's actually an NCAA tourney team.
00:55:55
@NoConfForOldMen
Basically, if you look at the advanced analytics, you know Ken Palm's got them eighth in the Big 12. Bart Torvik's got them seventh in the Big 12. Haslametrics has got them eighth in the Big 12. And then Evan Mia has them seventh. So I think there's a good chance at this point for Cincy to actually join March Madness, because I'm i'm expecting a good eight or nine teams in this season.
00:56:17
@NoConfForOldMen
Now, number nine, our consensus was Kansas state. Tom, why you go ahead with, uh, uh, or actually was it bill? Is it your turn to go first?
00:56:26
Tom Lidiak
Bill's turn.
00:56:27
@NoConfForOldMen
Okay. Bill, uh, K state.
00:56:29
.0Bill Walker
I've got K-State at 10.
00:56:31
@NoConfForOldMen
Yep.
00:56:32
.0Bill Walker
One returning starter.
00:56:35
.0Bill Walker
they've hey I don't like Jerome Tang. I don't think he's a good coach. So that's part of the reason I've got them at 10. You guys may disagree with me. They did bring in so some good players, but I'm not entirely sure that they're good team players. the The number one, of course, would be P.J. Haggerty. He was...
00:56:55
.0Bill Walker
He was Memphis' leading scorer, assists, 6'4 shooting guard, really talented player, but I'm not sure that a great team player makes makes the players around him much better.
00:57:07
.0Bill Walker
And then Abdi Bashir, six seven forward, a great shooter, really great shooter from Monmouth.
00:57:11
Tom Lidiak
Thank you.
00:57:18
@NoConfForOldMen
Oh,
00:57:18
.0Bill Walker
And then the third and and last guy I'll mention is he was the Mid-American defenseman player of the year last year. he's a he and not only was he their player of the year, but he was the defensive player of the year. That's 6'3 guard Nate Johnson.
00:57:33
.0Bill Walker
He could end up being better than Hagerty and being their best player.
00:57:38
@NoConfForOldMen
wow
00:57:39
.0Bill Walker
you know, they're relatively deep team, but i just I just question whether they're going to be a good team as opposed to being...
00:57:51
.0Bill Walker
a team with a lot of good players. And I don't like Tang.
00:57:56
@NoConfForOldMen
You don't.
00:57:58
.0Bill Walker
I liked it when I was a kid. I liked Tang the drink, but I don't like Jerome Tang as a coach.
00:58:03
Tom Lidiak
but That shit was nasty. I hated it.
00:58:06
.0Bill Walker
I liked it.
00:58:11
@NoConfForOldMen
how about you, Tom, on Kansas State?
00:58:12
Tom Lidiak
I think the best Kansas State can hope for is to be the best of the rest. Speaking of Jerome Tang, we're both North Shore high school graduates.
00:58:20
@NoConfForOldMen
That's right.
00:58:20
Tom Lidiak
But guess what? I scored a heck of a lot more points at North Shore than Tang did because he never made the team. So that's...
00:58:27
@NoConfForOldMen
Is it?
00:58:27
.0Bill Walker
<unk> it's
00:58:27
@NoConfForOldMen
Really? Nice. Yeah. Obviously, you played in the better right?
00:58:29
.0Bill Walker
it's probably it's probably
00:58:31
@NoConfForOldMen
Yeah.
00:58:32
.0Bill Walker
yeah He's another North Shore guy. That's probably why I don't like him.
00:58:36
@NoConfForOldMen
yeah
00:58:37
Tom Lidiak
Probably, probably we're, but you know what we, we played, we played in different eras too.
00:58:38
.0Bill Walker
Ha ha ha ha ha.
00:58:43
@NoConfForOldMen
yeah
00:58:43
Tom Lidiak
Uh, so, uh, anyway,
00:58:45
@NoConfForOldMen
obviously you played in the better era right
00:58:47
Tom Lidiak
yes, exactly. Exactly.
00:58:51
Tom Lidiak
You're looking at Tang saying, I got the best point guard in the country. I got the best three-point shooter in the country. I got the best athlete in the country. He didn't say we were the best coach team in the country.
00:59:03
Tom Lidiak
But you know what? If you got the best and all that, you know, like like Galen said on the show the other day, go out and prove it, dude. You know, go out and prove it.
00:59:11
@NoConfForOldMen
yeah he's
00:59:12
Tom Lidiak
I think Tang's another one that could be moving along after the seasons.
00:59:15
@NoConfForOldMen
at risk yeah
00:59:17
Tom Lidiak
I don't think he'll get fired. but I think he'll, I think he'll probably start looking for, uh, for other jobs. So they're, they're right there. They're, they'll be on the cusp. but I think along with Cincinnati and making the tournament, uh, you know, it's probably going to come down to who's on the the committee, you know, and you know, whether they like a product a or product B, you know, um, know,
00:59:29
@NoConfForOldMen
yeah
00:59:39
@NoConfForOldMen
Yeah. Yeah.
00:59:41
.0Bill Walker
I will say this about Tang. he He went out and brought in a couple of new coaches, one of whom was an assistant with him at Baylor and then another one that he's known for a long time.
00:59:55
.0Bill Walker
So I don't know if that makes a difference or not.
00:59:59
@NoConfForOldMen
Yeah.
01:00:00
.0Bill Walker
Obviously, they were on the Baylor title team.
01:00:03
@NoConfForOldMen
Yep.
01:00:03
.0Bill Walker
But yeah, I just don't think he's a good coach.
01:00:08
@NoConfForOldMen
Yeah. Wow. I actually like Coach Tag. I actually gave him credit for kind of those the tougher D on the Baylor National Championship team, but I haven't seen it with his own team, so I may have been wrong.
01:00:24
@NoConfForOldMen
I actually think this year's team makeup of players at K-State is much more conducive to winning with Hagerty and Bashir, but I am concerned about a lack of insight presence. Now, if you look at the advanced analytics, Ken Palm's got them coming in at ninth, actually, in the Big 12.
01:00:40
@NoConfForOldMen
Now, Bart Torvik has them 14th in the Big 12. Hazel Metrics has them 10th in the Big 12. And then Evan Mia has them ninth in the Big 12. So a little bit all over the place. So we're close, I'd say, right at number nine.
01:00:55
@NoConfForOldMen
Now, number 10, our consensus was West Virginia. And you're the highest on them. bill but i'll let tom go uh first since it's his turn
01:01:04
Tom Lidiak
Like Grant McCaslin, their coach, Ross Hodge, or is it Boss Hogg? I don't know. One of the two. He comes from North Texas with, a you know, he was pretty successful at North Texas.
01:01:17
Tom Lidiak
He's also bringing in like a collection of mid-major transfers. I kind of liken this to what Ben McCollum and I was doing, you know, McCollum came from Drake.
01:01:28
Tom Lidiak
He's the new Iowa coach and, and he's going to try to replicate at Iowa in the big 10 and what do he did with Drake with, with similar players.
01:01:28
@NoConfForOldMen
yeah
01:01:37
Tom Lidiak
I don't know if that's going to work. Same here in the big 12. We'll, we'll just have to see the games that they went there. They're just going to be, have to be, you know, tougher, the toughest team every night when they play and in order for them to have a chance to win.
01:01:53
@NoConfForOldMen
Yep. Yeah. So how about your take bill? You were the highest on West Virginia.
01:01:58
.0Bill Walker
Yeah, I've got them at eight. Just like Baylor and like Kansas, many of the schools, zero starters returning.
01:02:10
.0Bill Walker
So new team. But As opposed Jerome Tang, I really, really like rass Ross Hodge. I think he's a really good coach, and i think he's gonna I think he's going to win some games that they might otherwise have not won because because of his coaching.
01:02:18
@NoConfForOldMen
Yeah.
01:02:21
@NoConfForOldMen
Good get.
01:02:29
.0Bill Walker
Looks like the best player that he brought was one of his, Jasper Floyd, a 6'3 guard from North Texas. Really, really solid guard. They also brought in another very good point guard, Honor Huff from UT Chattanooga. And like you mentioned, Tom, a lot of lot of mid-major players coming in.
01:02:53
.0Bill Walker
Trace and Eagle staff, 6'6", small forward, a really good player, good scorer from North Dakota.
01:02:59
@NoConfForOldMen
Yeah. Mm-hmm.
01:03:01
.0Bill Walker
But yeah, like I said, I think, i think well, for me, it was West Virginia, Cincinnati, will be competing for eight nine and nine. And they're, they're the two that I think are are the bubble NCAA teams. I just, I give West Virginia the edge because I like Hodge. I think he's a good coach. I think he'll get it done.
01:03:23
@NoConfForOldMen
Nice. i I'm in agreement with you on Coach Hodge from North Texas. I'm a big fan as well. I'm just not sure they have the players to go higher than this. However, I will also admit that I felt like he's did a really phenomenal job at assembling the roster in a very short period of time.
01:03:43
@NoConfForOldMen
Now they're all mid-majors, as you guys had highlighted as well. So for me, this is actually going to be the most interesting team for me to follow in the Big 12 this season, because I think the coaching's there. The talent might be there if it translates to the Big 12.
01:03:57
@NoConfForOldMen
Now, if you look at the advanced analytics, Ken Palms got them coming in at 10th in the Big 12. Bart Torvik also 10th. Haslametrics has them coming in at 11th in the Big 12. Then Evan Mia also 10th.
01:04:08
@NoConfForOldMen
So we're close to the advanced analytics here with them coming in at 11th. We have them coming in at 10, right? 10, I think.
01:04:19
@NoConfForOldMen
Yeah. And so, yeah, yeah, not all of us.
01:04:20
.0Bill Walker
Not all of us.
01:04:23
@NoConfForOldMen
Now for our consensus 11th, we've got TCU. And Bill, why don't you go first?
01:04:29
.0Bill Walker
OK, and incidentally, we met we let off with four teams that aren't going to make the NCAAs, aren't going to be competitive.
01:04:37
@NoConfForOldMen
Oh.
01:04:38
.0Bill Walker
I think it's more like six. So these next two, I think, have zero shot at it at the NCAAs and and
01:04:45
@NoConfForOldMen
Hmm.
01:04:47
.0Bill Walker
zero shot at finishing in the top half
Kansas State & TCU's Struggles
01:04:49
.0Bill Walker
of the big 12. Uh, the, the, the child actor, Jamie Dixon, I do think is a, is a solid coach.
01:04:59
.0Bill Walker
They've only got one starter back by the way.
01:04:59
@NoConfForOldMen
Yeah.
01:05:04
.0Bill Walker
a lot of people saw that they lost their opening game to, to new Orleans, but once again, once again, big deal.
01:05:08
@NoConfForOldMen
It's game one.
01:05:10
.0Bill Walker
It's it's game one.
01:05:11
@NoConfForOldMen
Yeah.
01:05:12
.0Bill Walker
Exactly. This is going to be a very guard-heavy team.
01:05:20
.0Bill Walker
yeah A lot of a lot of newcomers. So it's going to take a little time. And and that that was the case on on the on Monday when they when they lost at home.
01:05:26
@NoConfForOldMen
Hmm.
01:05:32
.0Bill Walker
But but
01:05:34
.0Bill Walker
yeah A lot of people are down on them, especially i read a lot after that first game. But I think this team is going to be OK. i don't think they're going to, like I said, I don't think they're going to compete for the certainly the top seven, eight in the Big 12 and no chance at the NCAAs. But but but they'll they'll get better as as the season goes on.
01:05:57
@NoConfForOldMen
Yeah. How about you, Chong? What do you think of TCA?
01:06:00
Tom Lidiak
Well, it's interesting that Bill mentioned Jamie Dixon being a child actor because I think he'll be in front of the camera again next year as a TV analyst. I don't think he'll.
01:06:10
.0Bill Walker
may be You may be right.
01:06:10
@NoConfForOldMen
Yeah. Yeah. you're yeah
01:06:15
Tom Lidiak
You know, he's had a good run. he's He's a heck of a coach. But these last couple of years haven't been haven't been good, you know, and it just seems it just seems like, you know, he's the, you know, the mouse or whatever the rabbit on the on the turnstile just going around and around last couple of years.
01:06:22
@NoConfForOldMen
Yeah. Haven't been kind. Yeah.
01:06:33
Tom Lidiak
It's the same old story every year, you know. lose your roster, try to rebuild, even though he it it appears though he might be trying to build some homegrown talent because he, two of their starters, you know, played there last year, David Punch and what's his name?
01:06:51
Tom Lidiak
Micah Robinson were home, you know, I'd say homegrown talents because they played there as freshmen, but I don't know, just kind of the kind of the same old story with with TCU like it's been last two years. I don't think they make the tournament either.
01:07:06
@NoConfForOldMen
Oh, really? Okay.
01:07:10
@NoConfForOldMen
Yeah, I mean, for me, you know, I was a big fan of Coach Dixon from his days at Pitt, and I loved his willingness to adapt to a much quicker pace at TCU when his old style just wasn't working.
01:07:23
@NoConfForOldMen
But I'm not sure of... quite honestly, what he's trying to do do with his team this season. So he gets even number 11th from me strictly because of coaching.
01:07:34
@NoConfForOldMen
Now, if you look at the advanced analytics, Ken Palm's got them 15th, basically second to last in the big 12. Bart Torgovic's got them, oh yeah, 11th in the big 12.
01:07:42
.0Bill Walker
Wow.
01:07:44
Tom Lidiak
Mm-hmm.
01:07:45
@NoConfForOldMen
Haslametrics has got them ninth. And then Evan Mia has them 12th in the big 12. So the advanced analytics are actually all over the place with TCU. So we'll see. Now, number 12 in our consensus was Oklahoma State, with all three of us having them at 12.
01:08:02
@NoConfForOldMen
And so, Tom, why don't you give your coaches' view on them quickly as well?
01:08:06
Tom Lidiak
They might be a team that'd be interesting to watch because they might just blow up on on live TV. they they kind of volatile They got a volatile mix of players.
01:08:18
Tom Lidiak
They have a guy that came from Doug Gottlieb's Green Bay team that he didn't play enough games, but he led the nation in scoring, but he's been to like four schools and they got another guy that's been to like three.
01:08:30
Tom Lidiak
Just a volatile mix of players and
01:08:34
Tom Lidiak
you know, in my opinion, that that doesn't, that doesn't bode too well because, you know, you get, you get players like that. The first, you know, there's going to be adversity. And a lot of times the first little adversity they hit, you know, instead of, you know, trying to be tough and fight through it, you know, they start pointing fingers and play the blame game and all this. And i could see that happening at Oklahoma State this year.
01:08:57
@NoConfForOldMen
How about you, Bill, from a player's perspective?
01:09:01
.0Bill Walker
I put Oklahoma State at 12, but I could have easily had them at 13 or 14. That was kind of a toss-up. The reason I had them at 12 is because I do like Steve Lutz.
01:09:15
@NoConfForOldMen
Yeah, me too.
01:09:16
.0Bill Walker
I think he's a very good coach. They've got one starter back. They do have a pretty highly rated transfer class in terms of the players. and and Tom, you met you mentioned our our guy again.
01:09:30
.0Bill Walker
another Wisconsin player, a great score, but you know we'll see. They are a deep team. Lutz brought in a lot of players. He brought in a lot of scores and a lot of shooters.
01:09:42
.0Bill Walker
The question for them is going to be defense, yeah interior defense, and just defense overall. It's a guard-heavy team, and see teams just – i see teams just possibly scoring at will against them. I can see some shootouts.
01:10:01
.0Bill Walker
But again, starting with Oklahoma State, or we're really starting with TCU, I don't think any of these teams from TCU down have a shot at the NCAAs.
01:10:14
@NoConfForOldMen
Yeah. Yeah, I'd agree. I mean, it's year two of Coach Lutz and I'm with you. I loved what he was able to do in year one with limited talent. Now he's got basically a completely new roster in year two. Now he's he stated that he purposefully did that to construct some a roster that could compete in the big 12.
01:10:37
@NoConfForOldMen
And so, you know, for me, even to get to number 12, it's really more earning my benefit of the doubt based on what he achieved in year one. Now, if you look at the advanced analytics, Ken Palm's got them 11th in the Big 12. Bart Torvich's got them 9th in the Big 12.
01:10:53
@NoConfForOldMen
Hazel Metrics has them just like us at 12th.
01:10:54
.0Bill Walker
Thanks.
01:10:55
@NoConfForOldMen
And then Evan Mia has them 11th. So again, I think the even the advanced analytics have got it right where we're at at number 12. So we'll see. hopefully Hopefully they can get good enough where they're actually competing for a spot in March Madness. But we'll see.
01:11:13
@NoConfForOldMen
Now, with what little time we've got left, let's get into our kind of national top eight plus one national championship contenders for this season.
National Contenders & Surprises
01:11:23
@NoConfForOldMen
Now, if i look at the grid that we've got,
01:11:26
@NoConfForOldMen
at Surprise, surprise. We've got Houston, number one, Purdue, number two, Duke, number three, Florida, number four, UConn, number five, St. John's, number six, Michigan, number seven, and Kentucky, number eight. And then the plus one is conference mate, Texas Tech at this point.
01:11:47
@NoConfForOldMen
Now, if you look at the differences, I think I was the highest on UConn. I think, Tom, you're the highest on Michigan from the rest of us.
01:11:58
@NoConfForOldMen
And i think, Bill, did you get i think you got the exact almost the exact ranking there as well.
01:12:07
.0Bill Walker
Yeah, no surprise.
01:12:08
@NoConfForOldMen
No surprise. So, maybe Bill, why don't you, why don't you give a little bit of highlights around kind of your, your top eight plus one, and what fans should look out for coming into this season.
01:12:20
.0Bill Walker
Okay.
01:12:22
.0Bill Walker
Yeah, I'll whip through this really quickly. And ed I say no surprise.
01:12:25
@NoConfForOldMen
Yeah.
01:12:27
.0Bill Walker
It's also, keep in mind, coming from the guy who typically finishes dead last in the NCAA bracket every year.
01:12:32
@NoConfForOldMen
a
01:12:33
.0Bill Walker
So, yeah.
01:12:36
.0Bill Walker
Yeah. Take that for what it's worth. I've got Purdue at number two. they've got four starters back. Uh, Braden Smith point guard could be the player of the year.
01:12:50
.0Bill Walker
Fletcher lawyers, a really, really good shooting guard, outstanding shooting guard. And then, uh, uh, Kaufman ran the, their big guy inside. I, I don't think he played their first game, but I didn't pay too much attention to it.
01:13:04
.0Bill Walker
Uh, they brought in uh, They brought in a, a I think it was about 6'11", 6'11", 7-foot center from either South or North Dakota, but supposed to be a very good player. So Purdue's going to be deep. Purdue's going to be good.
01:13:21
.0Bill Walker
And I've got them at two. Three, I've got Florida. they've They've got two transfer portal guards, one from Princeton and then Baltimore.
01:13:33
.0Bill Walker
Boogie Bland from Arkansas, lot of new players at Florida, although they do return two starters. And despite the loss at Arizona, again, game one, big deal.
01:13:39
@NoConfForOldMen
Mm-hmm.
01:13:44
.0Bill Walker
I think they'll be right there at the end. i have Duke at four, zero starters returning. The number one rated recruiting class, they've got the Boozer twins coming in, and and Cameron is the – is the one who who could end up being the number one overall pick, possibly, playing in the middle for them. and yeah He didn't look great against Texas last night, but again, game one, big deal.
01:14:15
.0Bill Walker
St. John's, I've got it five. Patino, they've got one starter back. Patino, not surprisingly, killed the transfer portal.
01:14:25
@NoConfForOldMen
Yeah.
01:14:26
.0Bill Walker
The thing about St. John's last year... Great defense, really inconsistent, if not mediocre offense. He brought in a lot of shooters, a lot of offensive players. So, yeah, I've got them at five. And and my coworker, Stanley Phillip, a St. John's grad, would be happy to hear that.
01:14:47
.0Bill Walker
Sixth.
Michigan's Big Ten Hopes & Kentucky's Depth
01:14:48
.0Bill Walker
Sixth, I've got Michigan. and I'll just mention one guy. First of all, I like i like May. I think he's he's a really, really good coach.
01:14:58
.0Bill Walker
they They, I think, had the the top-rated transfer. Yes, they had the top-rated transfer player coming in, Yaxel Lindeberg, UAB.
01:15:11
Tom Lidiak
We recruited him.
01:15:12
.0Bill Walker
Yeah.
01:15:13
@NoConfForOldMen
Yeah, that's right. You're trying.
01:15:15
.0Bill Walker
he's he's He's going to be really good. And and and yeah, Michigan with two starters back is is going to compete with Purdue for the Big Ten title. Seven, I've got Kentucky.
01:15:27
.0Bill Walker
They, like I mentioned earlier, or Kansas are are the deepest teams in the country. One starter back. And this is this is Mark Pope's first
01:15:40
.0Bill Walker
really it's his first recruiting class, full recruiting class. He he came to Kentucky kind of late last year. And and so so hes he's brought in a ton of players. Almost all of them could play. So very deep team. And and you know we we'll we'll see how things work out. But I think that they compete with with Florida for the, yeah and Tennessee will be close for the SEC title. And then eight, I have UConn.
01:16:08
.0Bill Walker
And And I'll just say that that Hurley, Danny Hurley, hit the hit the portal very well. They've got three starters back from from a team that underachieved last year.
01:16:16
@NoConfForOldMen
Yeah.
01:16:20
.0Bill Walker
and And he's clearly fired up. you know he
01:16:23
@NoConfForOldMen
yeah
01:16:24
.0Bill Walker
He's done a lot of complaining. I told you guys he complained. at at ad nauseum about how his team was so bad in transition defense last year, not very good defensively in his opinion overall.
01:16:38
.0Bill Walker
I think that's a big focus for him this year. And so I've got them at number eight. They'll obviously be competing with St. John's. And then I guess my plus one would be Tech.
01:16:49
.0Bill Walker
And we've already talked about Tech, so I won't say anything else about them.
01:16:51
@NoConfForOldMen
Yep.
01:16:53
@NoConfForOldMen
Okay. How about you, Tom's and, and specifically zeroing in on Michigan, you had them pretty high, uh, and number four.
01:16:59
Tom Lidiak
Yeah, starting off, I have U of H's number one team in the country. Two, I have Duke. Duke is Duke. They're always going to have talent. They have a really, really good coach in John Shire. Three, I have Florida.
01:17:10
Tom Lidiak
you know Todd Golden, their head coach, that's who Kevin and Young would like to be when he grows up, is Todd Golden.
01:17:15
@NoConfForOldMen
Ha ha ha ha ha.
01:17:18
Tom Lidiak
Four, I have Michigan, simply because Dusty May, like Bill said, really good coach. I like Dusty May. I actually think Michigan's going to take the Big Ten title away from Purdue this year.
01:17:31
@NoConfForOldMen
Oh, nice.
01:17:31
.0Bill Walker
Wow.
01:17:32
Tom Lidiak
Five.
01:17:32
@NoConfForOldMen
Yeah, I like that.
01:17:33
Tom Lidiak
Yep. Yep. You know, Purdue is Purdue. They, you know, we beat them to go to what the elite eight was it.
01:17:41
@NoConfForOldMen
Philly date. Yeah.
01:17:42
.0Bill Walker
Yes.
01:17:43
Tom Lidiak
So it's not like Purdue made it to the final four last year.
01:17:46
Tom Lidiak
You know, yeah, they, they got four starters.
01:17:47
@NoConfForOldMen
Yeah, you're right.
01:17:49
.0Bill Walker
No, but that no but they but we hit a shot at the buzzer to beat them.
01:17:52
@NoConfForOldMen
yeah
01:17:52
.0Bill Walker
they they They came closer to beating us than anyone other
Kansas, St. John's & UConn's High Rankings
01:17:59
.0Bill Walker
than Florida.
01:17:59
Tom Lidiak
but you know what, Bill closely counseling, horseshoes, hand grenades, and, uh, you know, uh, drive in movies.
01:18:00
.0Bill Walker
Although you could argue Duke. our that Yeah, they they played a damn good game. and And they've got, like I said, they've got four starters back. I think they're going to be really good.
01:18:12
.0Bill Walker
But but i'll I'll defer to you.
01:18:12
Tom Lidiak
mean, it's not like I have them at number.
01:18:14
.0Bill Walker
I'll defer to you.
01:18:14
Tom Lidiak
I mean, and it's not like I have them at number 25. I got them at five, you know, but I think, yeah.
01:18:18
@NoConfForOldMen
Yeah, or five right next to Michigan. That's right.
01:18:21
Tom Lidiak
And, and, and, uh, six, I got tech. We, we talked about tech UConn because they got the best blankie blank coach in the game.
01:18:29
@NoConfForOldMen
There you go.
01:18:29
Tom Lidiak
Uh,
01:18:32
.0Bill Walker
Another legend in his own mind.
01:18:35
@NoConfForOldMen
yeah
01:18:35
.0Bill Walker
Although, admittedly, with back-to-back titles, he can't argue that too much.
01:18:38
@NoConfForOldMen
Yeah.
01:18:39
Tom Lidiak
yeah
01:18:40
@NoConfForOldMen
Yeah.
01:18:42
Tom Lidiak
I got Kansas at eight. I don't know why
01:18:45
.0Bill Walker
Oh. Wow.
01:18:46
@NoConfForOldMen
because Because you love Kansas and self, right?
01:18:48
Tom Lidiak
Right. I'm trying to put some bad voodoo on them, ranking them high.
01:18:48
@NoConfForOldMen
Yeah.
01:18:51
@NoConfForOldMen
Yeah. Yeah.
01:18:52
.0Bill Walker
Wow.
01:18:53
Tom Lidiak
St. John's because they have Rick Pitino and they got some talent. and you give You take talent and you take Rick Pitino and you put them together and you're going to have a heck of heck of a team.
01:19:04
@NoConfForOldMen
yeah
01:19:07
Tom Lidiak
So that'd be, and then I had Kentucky right behind St. John's. So I probably, probably should have scratched out Kansas at eight and put Kentucky there, but Hey, nobody's going to go back and watch this podcast again. So nobody's going to know.
01:19:19
Tom Lidiak
Right.
01:19:20
@NoConfForOldMen
That's right.
01:19:22
.0Bill Walker
Tom, I'm just stunned with your your newfound love affair with with Kansas and and obviously obviously bill Self.
01:19:27
@NoConfForOldMen
I know. It's just shocking.
01:19:33
Tom Lidiak
Well, like I said, I'm trying to put some negative voodoo on them.
01:19:38
@NoConfForOldMen
Nice. Nice.
01:19:40
Tom Lidiak
Because if if I pick them 30, they probably finish, you know, in the
01:19:40
@NoConfForOldMen
Yeah.
01:19:44
@NoConfForOldMen
Yeah. I mean, I'm not going to go through my top eight plus one. and I'll just highlight the the big difference I had was UConn. I had them number three, which was higher than and then all of you guys. And obviously, you mentioned it, Tom.
01:19:58
@NoConfForOldMen
I mean, Hurley's told us he's the best freaking coach in college basketballs, of course, right?
01:20:01
Tom Lidiak
top 10. Yep.
01:20:03
Tom Lidiak
Yep, in the game.
01:20:05
@NoConfForOldMen
There you go. But in all seriousness, I think. I actually like the team that he's constructed. He's got, you know, some star
Conclusion & Listener Engagement
01:20:14
@NoConfForOldMen
players coming back. And I think what he's supplemented with in the class that he's got coming in reminds me of the makeup of the teams that he had during those championship runs. And he is a good coach. I'll give him credit where credit is due.
01:20:28
@NoConfForOldMen
Or at least I should put it this way. I love his his coaching staff. I think he's got some great assistants, you know.
01:20:34
Tom Lidiak
Bill Murray's son,
01:20:35
@NoConfForOldMen
Yeah, Bill Murray's son.
01:20:37
Tom Lidiak
offensive architect.
01:20:38
@NoConfForOldMen
So that's why Yeah. So I've got them highlighted is pretty high. and And I think we're going to end it there. And so, wow. Thanks for fans that have stuck it with us for this episode, number 61, and our Big 12 and National Top 8 Plus 1 episode of the No Conference for Old Med podcast. Hope you all enjoyed it. And again, would really appreciate it if folks who would follow, subscribe, and collect.
01:21:03
@NoConfForOldMen
Our podcast, depending on your podcast platform of choice, we are also available via the Republic of Football podcast feed from the folks at Dave Campbell's Texas Football as their only basketball-centric podcast.
01:21:14
@NoConfForOldMen
We're at the gocooks.com website for those that prefer to digest the content that way. We appreciate the continued support from all. Also, please give us a follow on our Twitter account, NoComps4OldMen. Thank you all again for listening, and please be on the lookout next week where we'll start to cover the actual games.
01:21:31
@NoConfForOldMen
so you can download and listen as the next episode drops.
01:21:31
Tom Lidiak
Woohoo!
01:21:35
.0Bill Walker
Go Cougs.
01:21:36
@NoConfForOldMen
Take care, everyone. Go Cougs!