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A 7th Final 4 for Houston, where a Duke Rematch Awaits!!!
124 Plays1 month ago
Welcome to Episode #50 of the No Conference for Old Men Podcast.
Our Houston Cougars are now 34-4 & back in the Final 4 for a 7th time (tied for 10th all-time across all programs)! It took an exquisitely executed, last second BLOB play against Purdue, followed by a blasting of Tennessee by 19 points in the Elite 8 to get there. But now it's on to the Final 4, where we reap the benefits of being able to make this final push in our backyard of San Antonio TX! The 3 Old Men provide a recap of the Sweet 16 & Elite 8 games, and break down the upcoming Duke game (as well as the potential looming Auburn/Florida game for the National Championship).
Please have a listen as the 3 Old Men weigh in & discuss the March Madness results, as well as welcome the huge new hire for Houston WBB in Coach Matthew Mitchell.
- 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 gocoogs.com/old-men/
Recommended
Transcript
Introduction to Episode 50
00:00:07
@NoConfForOldMen
Welcome folks to episode number 50 of the No Conference for Old Men podcast, podcast where three old guys are talking Houston 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 Houston Cougars content provider.
00:00:23
@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.
Houston Cougars' Journey to Final Four
00:00:31
@NoConfForOldMen
Guys, the Cougars are back in the final four for the seventh time in program history.
00:00:37
@NoConfForOldMen
fighting past Purdue and basically a road game in Indy, ending with the most exquisite baseline inbound play to win 62-60, and then following up with a much-anticipated matchup versus Tennessee with a thorough beatdown of the Volunteers sixty nine to fifty where they appeared rushed and confused by our relentless and physical D. Cougs now advanced to yet another Final Four, and this time it's in our own backyard of San Antonio, Texas, where we're expected to paint the town red in flipping the dynamic we experience in the Midwest Regional.
00:01:08
@NoConfForOldMen
And guys, you couldn't script it any better with a rematch of last year's Sweet 16 matchup versus Duke awaiting. Though it's our Houston program's seventh trip to the Final Four, which puts us in the top 10 of all programs tied with Louisville, as we said last week, these three old men will never take this type of success for granted.
00:01:28
@NoConfForOldMen
And we're hoping number seven is the lucky number that will bring us our first national championship next weekend. So we'll obviously focus on summarizing the two big wins and then quickly pivot to some detailed analysis of the upcoming Duke game.
Games Against Purdue and Tennessee
00:01:41
@NoConfForOldMen
Then we'll close out on how potential matchups versus Auburn or Florida look should we make the national championship game. So let's get into it, guys. In dissecting our two wins over Purdue and Tennessee, really two completely different dynamics between the games.
00:01:55
@NoConfForOldMen
Obviously, a very offensively oriented team in Purdue first, though i will admit I was surprised at how well they competed on the defensive side of things. And then the expected heavyweight defensive battle against Tennessee that proved to be anything but with Houston shutting down the Volunteers.
00:02:11
@NoConfForOldMen
and us really being able to run our sets without deviation on the other side of the ball as well. Let's start with you first, Tom. What were some of the things you saw from a coach's perspective in our road win over the Boilermakers?
00:02:24
Tom
Well, first off, road game is absolutely correct. You know, it's – I don't know what the NCAA is thinking when they have a number one seed, playing basically a road game 65 miles from the Purdue campus.
00:02:27
@NoConfForOldMen
Yeah.
00:02:33
@NoConfForOldMen
Yeah.
00:02:36
Tom
But it didn't seem to bother Coach Sampson and other the players because I think, we're undefeated on the road anyway. So it's almost like us against the world, Houston versus everybody mentality.
00:02:42
@NoConfForOldMen
Yep.
00:02:47
Tom
Yeah.
00:02:47
@NoConfForOldMen
Yeah.
00:02:49
Tom
Purdue gave us, maybe Gonzaga, but Purdue probably, you know, who would have thought Purdue probably gave us the toughest game of the tournament? i never would have thought that. There was a little more toughness in the Purdue team than I thought they had.
00:03:02
@NoConfForOldMen
Yeah.
00:03:04
Tom
You know, they started a guy named Fletcher. I mean, how tough can you be when you have a name like Fletcher? Sounds like some guy that works for Wall Street or something.
00:03:12
@NoConfForOldMen
Heh heh.
00:03:13
Tom
Milo's had a really good shooting game, 6 for 9 on threes, 22 points, 6 assists. JoJo was limited 15 minutes because of 4 fouls.
00:03:24
Tom
Juwan kind of had a sneaky 12-rebound game. Emmanuel, 17 points. LJ had a rough shooting night. He had a lot of open looks. They just weren't going down. 2 for 13.
00:03:37
Tom
But the key for LJ is that when we needed a bucket, he got it. Let's see, there was like 338 left in the game. We came out from a timeout and score was And we ran, i don't know if it was a play or not, or just part of, our offense, but,
00:03:56
Tom
JVA sets a flare screen for LJ. Their freshman defender, CJ Cox, was just a step slow. And what he did was instead of getting in LJ's hip pocket so he doesn't get screened, he went underneath about one foot, and that was just enough for JVA to catch him.
00:04:03
@NoConfForOldMen
Yeah. Oh yeah.
00:04:15
Tom
And then Milo's delivered a really good pass. LJ hits it in stride, and we're up by five. That was a key point in the game. JVA, very, very solid game off the bench, 8 points, 5 rebounds.
00:04:28
@NoConfForOldMen
yeah
00:04:30
Tom
But the big story, as everybody knows, is the baseline out-of-bounds play, the blob with the game tied up. I've only watched it about 40 times. i don't know how much you guys have watched it, but...
00:04:38
@NoConfForOldMen
ha ha Yeah, I got the same.
00:04:41
Tom
And then went back and I went frame by frame. I read some comments you know on Twitter whatever from some of the coaches. And the play, Milo brought it Braden Smith was guarding him. Juwan broke out to the corner on the ball side corner.
00:04:59
Tom
You had... LJ on the ball side elbow, and he set a screen for Emmanuel, who was on the other elbow, the weak side elbow. And Emmanuel was actually the first option coming off that.
00:05:10
Tom
Kelvin mentioned that in his interview. And then the second option is the old screen-to-screener play. JoJo, who was on the backside block, comes up and sets a screen for LJ. And LJ was going to be the second option on the weak side baseline there.
00:05:30
Tom
And then the third option was JoJo rolling to the basket. Well, Purdue actually sent like three guys to LJ because Kauffman and Rand was guarding JoJo.
00:05:40
Tom
He came off JoJo and helped a little bit on LJ. And that was just enough for JoJo to roll to the basket and get open. If JoJo wasn't open, then we wouldn't have that finish that Milo's had.
00:05:52
Tom
Braden Smith, who's guarding Milo's, he did what's called a peel switch. And he left Milo's and went looking for LJ. And then because JoJo was able to get the ball, there was nobody guarding Milo's.
00:06:07
Tom
And i don't know about you guys, but there was a millisecond when JoJo caught the ball, I thought he was shooting it. And then when he dumped it to Milo's, I was like, whoa, crap.
00:06:12
@NoConfForOldMen
yeah it's beautiful yeah yeah
00:06:17
Tom
That was, and I'm not sure if that was designed to go back to Milo's, you know, if we had scouted. But the bottom line is that if JoJo doesn't get open, he can't make that pass.
00:06:27
@NoConfForOldMen
Yeah.
00:06:28
Tom
And Kauffman Wren helped off just a little bit and enough for JoJo to roll right to the basket.
00:06:29
@NoConfForOldMen
yeah
00:06:35
Tom
And I'm happy for Coach Sampson because
00:06:40
@NoConfForOldMen
Yeah.
00:06:41
Tom
That play was all over social media, and it was like some people were saying, it's got to be the best play ever designed in March Madness, but bla blah, blah, and all that.
00:06:47
@NoConfForOldMen
Yeah.
00:06:54
@NoConfForOldMen
Offense.
00:06:54
Tom
People just say, he just goes out there, and they just play harder than everybody else, and they foul the shit out of people, and blah, blah, blah, and all this.
00:07:00
@NoConfForOldMen
and
00:07:02
Tom
But I thought it was great for Kelvin. you know on the big stage there to get his flowers or whatever for that awesome play. We'll be seeing that play on March Madness for years to come.
00:07:14
Tom
Kind of like the Lorenzo Charles thing. That's kind of in the dustbin now, but maybe we'll get to see this game winner, you know, for years to come.
00:07:22
@NoConfForOldMen
Yeah. Hopefully. Bill, how about your views of the big Sweet 16 win from a player's perspective?
00:07:29
Bill Walker
Yeah, a lot of repeating what was just said by Tom. Essentially, a home game for Purdue. West Lafayette is about an hour drive from Indy.
00:07:42
@NoConfForOldMen
Yeah.
00:07:43
Bill Walker
And not only that, but every single Kentucky and Tennessee fan who attended the game were certainly behind Purdue.
00:07:48
@NoConfForOldMen
I know.
00:07:54
Bill Walker
So...
00:07:54
@NoConfForOldMen
Yeah.
00:07:56
Bill Walker
Yeah, this was... And Kentucky lost the game, so they weren't going to hang around to see the regional finals, so they started selling all their tickets to Purdue fans who couldn't get tickets initially.
00:08:09
Bill Walker
and Yeah, it absolutely was a Purdue home game.
00:08:14
Bill Walker
But the thing is, i i was never as... I guess maybe I would have been a little more concerned had valued Purdue or or rated Purdue a little more highly going in.
00:08:26
@NoConfForOldMen
Yeah.
00:08:27
Bill Walker
I thought it was going to be a 12, 14 point win. So I thought, you know what? We're great on the road. Purdue's not that good. They're not going to be able to compete with us athletically. They're not as aggressive. And So it never really bothered me.
00:08:47
Bill Walker
And, I thought, you know, we're not the first team to, encounter this. i mean, it had, Louisville held up their end of the deal versus Creighton in the first round, uh, Auburn, the one seat, and this would have been a second round game would have played Louisville in Lexington.
00:09:02
@NoConfForOldMen
Yeah.
00:09:05
Bill Walker
And, you know, it, it, it happens. Of course it happened to us, uh, one previously, but when we, had to play uh, an eight, nine game against Auburn in Birmingham.
00:09:20
@NoConfForOldMen
Yeah.
00:09:20
Bill Walker
So it it'd be nice if it would stop happening to us, but, you know what, we've proven that we're going to beat anyone anywhere.
00:09:23
@NoConfForOldMen
yeah
00:09:28
Bill Walker
And, you know, that's fine. Just, unfortunately, bad bad geography for us.
00:09:36
Bill Walker
But, and I made this note during the game, we're going to make up for it when we're playing for the title in San Antonio, which you mentioned, Steve.
00:09:43
@NoConfForOldMen
Yep.
00:09:47
Bill Walker
And, yeah I'll give Purdue and Matt Painter ton of credit. Purdue played their game. They hit shots when they needed to. They defended extraordinarily well.
00:10:00
@NoConfForOldMen
did. Shockingly well.
00:10:01
Bill Walker
And they hung right in until the bitter end. Now, did they get some help? Absolutely. Had the official been in position to make the correct call, Kaufman Wren should have picked up an early second foul and been out for the half.
00:10:21
Bill Walker
Instead, Arsenal got called for a bogus charge, a.k.a.
00:10:25
@NoConfForOldMen
August.
00:10:27
Bill Walker
aka yeah Drexler having his knees bear hugged by Terry Gannon in the 83 championship game. This blown call with Arsenault and Kaufman-Wren, it certainly altered the entire first half because Kaufman-Wren would have been out with two fouls and possibly affected the remainder of the game.
00:10:49
Bill Walker
and There were a lot of sort of odd calls in this game, but that, that was the one that I just thought above and beyond the others was because it was so early and it would have been Kaufman run second foul.
00:11:03
@NoConfForOldMen
and
00:11:04
Bill Walker
Uh, To make matters worse, and I'm referring to the first half, three-fifths of our starters were kind of absent on the offensive end.
00:11:15
Bill Walker
We shot 30% from the field, but if you take away Yuzan, we shot 23.8% from the field and 11% from three. Cryer was 0 of 6 in the first half, 0 of 3 from three. Sharp was 1 5, of which were threes.
00:11:30
Bill Walker
sharp was one of five all of which were three Roberts, I believe, had either two or three points.
00:11:36
@NoConfForOldMen
Thank you.
00:11:38
Bill Walker
Fortunately, we had the best player on the court. Yuzan was four of nine from the field, four of six from three, scored 12 points. Javier, as you'd mentioned, also stepped up with four points and four boards in the first half.
00:11:52
Bill Walker
And we were down thirty one twenty nine at halftime. Second half, we shot better. Yuzan remained great. and Sharp really came to life. and In our preview of this game, I mentioned that Sharp should have a big game versus Purdue's guards. and In the second half, he made me look a little less stupid.
00:12:13
Bill Walker
J.J. Wan, while really no... particular threat in this game offensively dominated the boards as did the entire team. He grabbed 12, five of which were offensive and kicked the ball back out after those rebounds for three assists.
00:12:31
Bill Walker
The team out rebounded Purdue 38, 29. And yeah, it, really looked like we had the, in the second half, we had the game put away a few times.
00:12:41
Bill Walker
But again, I'm going to give Purdue a ton of credit. They hit shots late. They hit them when they needed to. Their Big Ten Player the Year, Braden Smith, who looks more to me like an Amish lumberjack,
00:12:56
Tom
Thank
00:12:57
Bill Walker
assisted on, on every single shot that they made in the second half, which was 11 shots, 11 assists.
00:13:02
@NoConfForOldMen
Yeah. Incredible.
00:13:04
Bill Walker
He finished with 15, uh, for the game. He played all 40 minutes, which he typically does. if we get down to the final, so final, not the final seconds, but maybe the final 20, 30 seconds of the game,
00:13:20
Bill Walker
you know They're down three, and Smith hits Camden Heide, who hit a hit ho just a tough corner three over a quickly closing Tuggler.
00:13:32
@NoConfForOldMen
tur
00:13:34
Bill Walker
It ties the game at 60. We miss a shot, and we get the ball back with 2.8 seconds left. and and Tom, you went through everything. By the way, that last option involving Tuggler,
00:13:47
Bill Walker
absolutely was for Tuggler to go up with the ball.
00:13:50
@NoConfForOldMen
Yes, it was.
00:13:51
Bill Walker
It was not for him to dish it back to to Milos. And so I've got to give Tuggler all the credit in the world for being aware enough to make that pass and give a ton of credit to Yuzan for
00:13:59
@NoConfForOldMen
Yep.
00:14:17
@NoConfForOldMen
Yeah. Exactly. Mm-hmm.
00:14:22
Bill Walker
you know, I heard a lot of people complaining about, particularly about Smith for flashing out toward LJ
00:14:32
Bill Walker
and you know, this is a play that defensively that Purdue runs quite a bit and, they've run it successfully where Smith has deflected passes. They've intercepted passes. it's a defensive play that, Michigan state and Purdue run quite a bit in the big 10 and both have had success running it.
00:14:52
Bill Walker
What was huge, and Tom, you mentioned it, was the fact that Kaufman-Wren was just not quick to get back, and Tuggler beat him to the spot.
00:15:03
Tom
he over helped bill. And maybe that was a communication thing between Smith and Kaufman brand because Smith probably, I don't, we don't, we don't hear what's on the court, you know, or anything like that.
00:15:04
Bill Walker
And that set up
00:15:07
@NoConfForOldMen
Yes,
00:15:16
Tom
But, there comes a point where Smith, is going to tell Ren, to get back to his man. And I don't know. It was,
00:15:26
Tom
I'm just glad JoJo was able to get the ball.
00:15:28
@NoConfForOldMen
yes yeah
00:15:29
Bill Walker
Yeah, absolutely. And again, you know this was drawn up for, if it came to that, for Tuggler to get the ball and go right up with it.
00:15:39
@NoConfForOldMen
Go up.
00:15:41
Bill Walker
I mean, there's only 2.8 seconds left.
00:15:42
@NoConfForOldMen
Yeah,
00:15:43
Bill Walker
So for him to have the presence of mind to get the ball, to to recognize that Smith has flared out and left Yuzan, that Yuzan is being...
00:15:58
Bill Walker
Not guarded, undefended, unguarded, and getting him the ball. i mean Brilliant, brilliant from Tugler.
00:16:06
@NoConfForOldMen
it was.
00:16:09
Bill Walker
Again, a brilliant play call by by Calvin.
00:16:10
@NoConfForOldMen
and use on.
00:16:14
Bill Walker
yeah Absolutely confirming his basketball intellect. And made the play game over, 62-60.
00:16:23
@NoConfForOldMen
Yeah.
00:16:23
Bill Walker
I will say one thing real quickly, and i don't want to take too much time on the game, but God, I saw a ton of posts where people were beside themselves wanting Cryer to be benched.
00:16:23
@NoConfForOldMen
Incredible.
00:16:38
Bill Walker
And to anyone who thought that Cryer should be benched, let me just say as as nicely as I can, you're an idiot.
00:16:47
Tom
and hu
00:16:47
Bill Walker
Cryer, my God.
00:16:49
Tom
He delivered what it mattered.
00:16:49
@NoConfForOldMen
Well, yeah.
00:16:49
Bill Walker
crier
00:16:49
Bill Walker
cry my god
00:16:49
@NoConfForOldMen
yeah
00:16:52
Bill Walker
Cryer consistently draws the opponent's top perimeter defender. He's always a threat from the outside, and he showed that, Tom, you mentioned it, by hitting that huge late three.
00:17:08
Bill Walker
He plays exceptional defense, and I'm going to get into that when we talk about Tennessee. He dished out five assists in the game, which was second to Yuzan. And, you know, I just...
00:17:21
Bill Walker
It drives me nuts. I mean, it's people completely ignore everything that he does. The constant threat that he is is like, well, he's not shooting well, so get him off the court.
00:17:33
Bill Walker
you know Quite honestly, I hope whoever wins the bracket challenge and is on with us I hope it's one of the people that felt strongly about that.
00:17:44
Bill Walker
You know, you can come on and argue that with us. And I guess at the same time, you can probably continue arguing that the earth is flat.
00:17:56
Tom
That reminds me the old Scott Skiles comment about basketballs like church.
00:17:56
@NoConfForOldMen
yeah
00:18:00
Tom
Many attend, but few understand.
00:18:04
@NoConfForOldMen
I mean, getting back to the game from an advanced analytics perspective, I think we all went into the game respecting Purdue, but thinking that we're just a terrible matchup for them. But Purdue came in, as you just highlighted, with a game plan to make sure Cryer was not going to beat them. So he had a tough time all game long, and they were doubling every time he touched the ball.
00:18:25
@NoConfForOldMen
So Purdue's game ended up being one of those ebbs and flows type of game. And obviously was competitive till the very end. This ended up being a defensive struggle, which we would never have guessed.
00:18:38
@NoConfForOldMen
With a week to prepare, neither team was able to run their preferred sets easily. Both teams shot under 50% effective vehicle percentage for the game. Purdue ending up under 30% from three-point range.
00:18:49
@NoConfForOldMen
But they paid close attention to not turning the ball over at only 12% turnovers for the game, which allowed them to keep the game within striking distance for the full 40 minutes. We made our big run at the third quartile of the game, outscoring Purdue 21 to 12 at that point.
00:19:05
@NoConfForOldMen
And where it looked like we might pull away, Purdue made a push themselves to even things up with 35 seconds to go. And then it was that magical out-of-bounds play from the baseline with 2.8 seconds to go that will go down in history as one of the biggest and most memorable plays of this tourney.
00:19:21
@NoConfForOldMen
Key stat of the game that made the difference for us in the end. Over 39% from us from three-point range on 23 attempts and over 42% offensive rebounds.
00:19:32
@NoConfForOldMen
It resulted in nine more field goal attempts than Purdue, and we crossed over that magical 23-point attempts for the game that I highlighted as key coming into the tourney.
00:19:43
@NoConfForOldMen
Love, love the play calling. Then on to the Elite Eight game versus Tennessee. Frickin' Wally Serbiak and other prognosticators like Jeff Goodman had been dogging our team, you know, all season long, quite honestly, but also heading into the tournament.
00:19:59
@NoConfForOldMen
And for this game, claiming Tennessee had more quote-unquote guys that could get points in a defensive struggle. Well, I guess not. Bill, you can go first. What's your player's perspective on the game versus Tennessee?
00:20:14
Bill Walker
I hate to even mention his name, but, uh, Zerbiak, I saw it. Zerbiak says that there's absolutely no chance that we keep the Duke game within single digits.
00:20:21
@NoConfForOldMen
yeah
00:20:27
Bill Walker
So,
00:20:27
@NoConfForOldMen
and He's so full of it. He's an office. He never played D in his life. That's why he, uh, he always trends that way.
00:20:33
Bill Walker
Yeah, that's absolutely right. yeah I've watched, as you all might imagine, I've watched ton of basketball, a ton of college basketball, and It's entirely possible that I may have witnessed as close to a perfect half of basketball as I've ever seen in the first half versus Tennessee.
00:20:53
@NoConfForOldMen
Yeah.
00:20:56
Bill Walker
yeah Did we execute as well as we could have offensively? Probably not. We shot 41.7% from the field, including a few missed layups, and 30% from three, but what made this one of the the best halves of basketball I've ever seen was the defense.
00:21:15
Bill Walker
Uh, yeah, I talked last week about, what a mediocre shooting team Tennessee is, but to hold a 75 point per game offense to 15 points is phenomenal.
00:21:30
Bill Walker
And that's obviously what we did. The first two notes that I took down when watching the game were specifically about Cryer and Sharp being all over UT's best players slash scores, Ziegler and Lanier.
00:21:44
@NoConfForOldMen
Mm-hmm.
00:21:46
Bill Walker
I said that we must, previously mentioned that we must keep Ziegler out of the lane, and Cryer did so absolutely expertly. In fact, Ziegler ended up shooting one of seven and one of four from three in the first half.
00:22:03
Bill Walker
UT's top score at 18 points a game, Lanier, was smothered by Sharp, absolutely smothered. And he ended up taking nine shots. He hit one of six from three.
00:22:16
Bill Walker
And those two were just completely taken out of the game. As a team, UT shot six of 28, 21.4%, and one of 15 from three again in the first half.
00:22:32
Bill Walker
We out-rebounded them 26-17. Nine of those boards were offensive, leading to 11 second-chance points. And we committed one turnover and five fouls.
00:22:46
Bill Walker
individually in the first half, Francis playing for foul-plagued Roberts went two of two from the field, had six boards and two blocks. Tugler pulled down six boards, four of which were offensive, and led to many of those second-chance points.
00:23:02
Bill Walker
Wilson came in and and was Wilson. Three boards, one steal, one assist, and a block in limited minutes. And our first half offensive star, Terrence, just arose, as far as I'm concerned, kind of arose from the dead.
00:23:15
@NoConfForOldMen
Yeah.
00:23:20
@NoConfForOldMen
Yeah.
00:23:20
Bill Walker
Hit three of six shots, including two of three from three, scored eight points. Quite honestly, he was needed, and he definitely came through.
00:23:29
@NoConfForOldMen
Yeah.
00:23:29
Bill Walker
but Bottom line, just an absolutely dominant first half 34 to 15 at halftime and a half like that against Duke. And we scare the freshmen right out of the Alamo dome.
00:23:44
Bill Walker
Second half UT was, a little more into, I guess you could kind of say desperation mode. They cut the lead to 10 a couple of times, but no closer.
00:23:54
Bill Walker
And when they did, and when they began scrambling to, to double team our, guards, our perimeter players, It left shooters open, and we did a brilliant job of getting the ball to Cryer, to Wilson, and especially Sharp, the Midwest region MVP.
00:24:09
@NoConfForOldMen
Sharp.
00:24:14
Bill Walker
and we We just made them pay. In the end, you know we held to 28.8% shooting some... and seventeen percent from three i mean that's just extraordinary you know There were some pretty mediocre calls against you and crier and Tugler leading to a 20 to four UT free throw disparity.
00:24:37
Bill Walker
But, uh, and Steve, I will, I will still defy you to, to find evidence that, that the foul disparity, you know, 16 called on us nine called on Tennessee was, was done, due to referee hatred of Calvin, uh,
00:24:56
@NoConfForOldMen
No, no, I didn't say Kelvin. I didn't say Kelvin.
00:25:00
Bill Walker
Well, hatred.
00:25:00
@NoConfForOldMen
I'd say there, I think, I think there's a bias towards some of the other conference teams and I don't want to get into it now, but if you total up,
00:25:06
Bill Walker
either I either, but I, but we could do it off.
00:25:07
@NoConfForOldMen
yeah You total up the foul counts for SEC teams versus Big 12.
00:25:11
Bill Walker
We could continue.
00:25:13
@NoConfForOldMen
Huge discrepancy in all the matchups.
00:25:16
Bill Walker
Well, again, i think a lot of it, I think that don't get me wrong. I think there were a lot of bad calls made in this game, but I also think that, and again,
00:25:29
Bill Walker
You Calvin referenced or spoke to, to Milo's early in the year and said, you know, basically yelling him to be aggressive and said, we follow at U of H.
00:25:40
@NoConfForOldMen
Yeah.
00:25:40
Bill Walker
Uh, we're, we're so aggressive. Uh, we, we challenge every single shot. We don't allow open shots. We challenge absolutely everything. We're going to have more fouls called against us.
00:25:51
Bill Walker
And, and I'm, and I'm perfectly comfortable with that to an extent, uh, In terms of individual stat lines, I'll mention one player, 17 points, four assists, and seven boards.
00:25:51
@NoConfForOldMen
yeah yeah
00:26:08
Bill Walker
And that was, of course, LJ.
00:26:10
@NoConfForOldMen
Yeah. Yeah.
00:26:10
Bill Walker
And that doesn't even take into account him locking down Ziegler. Another one, only three points, although the three were huge, but seven rebounds and four assists. No surprise, Malik.
00:26:23
Bill Walker
And yeah just just to show that the players fully accept Calvin's defense, rebounding, protect the ball mantra, Cryer,
00:26:23
@NoConfForOldMen
yeah
00:26:35
Bill Walker
Cryer held Ziegler to five points for the game and four turnovers, whereas LJ in 38 minutes committed zero turnovers. So for the people that think he should be benched, like, just wake up.
00:26:50
Bill Walker
Sharp, he held Lanier... Now granted Lanier, Lanier almost scored his average. He's scored 17 points. He shot four of 18 from the field to get there and two of 12 from three and sharp like crier committed zero turnovers in 31 minutes.
00:27:01
@NoConfForOldMen
Yeah, exactly.
00:27:11
Bill Walker
Javier and JoJo were dominant inside with eight and nine boards in 15 and 25 minutes, respectively. And Yuuzhan, while he didn't do a whole lot in terms of scoring, he was solid.
00:27:25
Bill Walker
He only committed one turnover in 34 minutes.
00:27:27
@NoConfForOldMen
Yep.
00:27:28
Bill Walker
you know For U of H fans wanting to buy tickets to the title game and specifically to the title game, and fortunately I have mine, I would say make friends with the Duke fans as quickly as you can.
00:27:46
@NoConfForOldMen
nice hey Tom how about your perspective from a coach's view of the game
00:27:52
Tom
and First off about the foul discrepancy, you know, sometimes it's only human nature when one team's just like creaming the other, was just kind of start calling fouls on the team that's, is way ahead.
00:28:04
Tom
It's almost like give the dog a bone, you know, a pity call or whatever.
00:28:04
@NoConfForOldMen
yeah
00:28:08
Tom
Yeah.
00:28:08
Bill Walker
I agree with that as well. you know you you
00:28:09
@NoConfForOldMen
Yeah, it happens, but it it shouldn't.
00:28:10
Bill Walker
you know often you know I don't know if TV plays a role in that or not, but but yeah oftentimes you want the team that's getting beaten badly to, you know you may subconsciously want to help them and you make some bad calls that favor
00:28:31
Tom
and talking about that first half defensive performance, that was just, it it was incredible. You know, early in the year, we were holding teams, to that type of score. But that was – you know, not the quality of team that Tennessee is, definitely not a, not a, not a two seed in the, in the NCAAs.
00:28:48
Tom
A little bit about Tennessee's offense. It was the way they run their offense. it was their worst nightmare against our defense. First off, they played two bigs and those guys are just glorified screeners.
00:28:56
@NoConfForOldMen
Yeah.
00:29:00
Tom
They ran a lot with the NBA. They call floppy sets where you'll have a shooter like Lanier run off a series of screens from the big men down the baseline or down screens.
00:29:11
Tom
But yeah, they're bigs. They were just basically glorified screeners. I went back and I rewatched the first half. Not once did their bigs ever roll and then post up and get the ball.
00:29:24
Tom
They short roll a few times, but I might, know if I'm mistaken it or not, but they, I didn't see one time where they hit, uh, where Ziegler hit the short roll or even hit the, well, one time they, they hit a roller who rolled all away the basket. I think that was Milo's fault because he didn't get there in time and they got a dunk and then, Kelvin was yelling at him to get there, but, it was just a perfect storm for, for us and their worst, worst nightmare. Um, nightmare.
00:29:52
Tom
Bill, you mentioned LJ's defense on Ziegler. And I think a lot of I think maybe some of the reasons Ziegler couldn't get the ball to the bigs on like the short roll is what, what is he? Five foot 10?
00:30:02
Tom
Five foot 10.
00:30:03
Bill Walker
Yeah, five eleven
00:30:03
Tom
Cause momentarily there the roller would be open, but with our big, it's either JVA or it was Jojo, you know, in his face. I don't, I just don't think he could see him.
00:30:14
@NoConfForOldMen
yeah Yeah.
00:30:15
Tom
When we play Duke, I'm not sure how tall Tyrese Proctor is, if they run pick and rolls with him.
00:30:21
@NoConfForOldMen
He's like six, four, six, five.
00:30:21
Tom
but But we'll see.
00:30:22
@NoConfForOldMen
Yeah.
00:30:22
Tom
But anyway, And then speaking of these screens that they set and those floppy sets, there was one where I had to played it over about three or four times because they set two screens on a manual for Lanier. Both screens were illegal. They both just like gave a shoulder to a manual, but he's so strong. He's like an ox. He just gets through those screens. And, mean, you've got to give Milo's E-Man's And Malik came in too, just a great job of getting through the screens.
00:30:53
@NoConfForOldMen
Harassing.
00:30:53
Tom
And then, you know, it's a team defense. JoJo and JVA, great job when their men were setting those pin down screens. they're coming out and they're hedging and they're they're helping.
00:31:04
Tom
And then they're quick enough to get back to their man.
00:31:07
@NoConfForOldMen
Yep.
00:31:07
Tom
And they really didn't have to worry about their man too much because they never got the ball.
00:31:10
@NoConfForOldMen
And score.
00:31:11
Tom
yeah.
00:31:11
@NoConfForOldMen
Yeah.
00:31:12
Tom
so Bad matchup for Tennessee. Great matchup for us. Yeah, it was that first half. That was total domination.
00:31:23
Tom
And I want to throw in Clark Kellogg's name, too. I don't know if you guys recall, but when the brackets came out, he had Clemson winning our regional.
00:31:27
@NoConfForOldMen
Hmm.
00:31:32
@NoConfForOldMen
Ridiculous. Yeah.
00:31:34
@NoConfForOldMen
I remember.
00:31:34
Tom
Clemson was the 5C. Clemson lost the first game to McNeese State. And then in the studio before our game against Tennessee, everybody picked us, but Clark Kellogg did. He he picked Tennessee to win.
00:31:45
Tom
So, you know what, Clark? Screw you.
00:31:48
@NoConfForOldMen
Yeah. That's
00:31:51
Tom
That's what you get for losing to Obama in a game of horse.
00:31:54
@NoConfForOldMen
right.
00:31:57
@NoConfForOldMen
You know, when we all looked at this, and especially as we looked at it from an advanced analytics perspective for the game, We all predicted a tight one here, but you know what? We should always more heavily weigh the value of Coach Sampson on only two days prep.
00:32:13
@NoConfForOldMen
No team can be remotely ready for our level of intensity and physicality on defense with that quick of a turnaround.
Rematch Against Duke
00:32:21
@NoConfForOldMen
So this game was a blowout from the start where Tennessee was confused and frantic dealing with our ferocity from the jump, quite honestly.
00:32:29
@NoConfForOldMen
This was a defensive masterpiece, as you had highlighted, Bill and Tom, by Coach Sampson, in taking away everything that they like to run on offense. They ended up in an anemic 33.65% effective field goal percentage and under 18% from three-point range.
00:32:46
@NoConfForOldMen
And that number three defense of Tennessee... You look at our offense, we were right around all of our key numbers on the offensive side that made us the number 10 offense in the country.
00:32:57
@NoConfForOldMen
We were over 49% effective field goal percentage for the game, 36% from three-point range, plus 33% offensive rebound rate against the most physical SEC team around.
00:33:09
@NoConfForOldMen
So it was a textbook win for our program. Key stats of the game that basically showed how we suffocated Tennessee in this game. In addition to our normally stellar D, we blocked over 17% of their shots, limiting them to 10 percentage points under their normal two-point field goal percentage, while turning the ball over on just under 9% of our own possessions.
00:33:32
@NoConfForOldMen
This is what we mean by suffocating our opponents. There was just no wiggle room for any mistakes for Tennessee against us, and they got crushed. And now we're off to the final four in San Antonio, where we can now reap some of the benefits of being close to home for this final push.
00:33:49
@NoConfForOldMen
Tom, why you go first? What's your coach's perspective on the epic upcoming rematch against Duke?
00:33:56
Tom
it's, it's going to be interesting from a coaching standpoint of, uh, how we defend, know, the pick and roll, model watch, you can throw a ball up 14 feet up there and he just gets it and he slams it. Tennessee didn't have that type of, a post guy,
00:34:12
Tom
I will say this, Cooper Flagg, he'll turn the ball over. He had seven turnovers against Wake Forest.
00:34:15
@NoConfForOldMen
Yep.
00:34:16
Tom
So, I would expect this to come out there and really, really pressure him a lot on the perimeter. Knipple is an excellent player.
00:34:26
Tom
I'll be interested. It'll be interesting to see who we put on him. But yeah, the, uh, what we do with the pick and roll is going to be interesting. If it's, Cooper flag, you know, he's really good at setting the screen and then, uh, doing the short roll.
00:34:39
Tom
And then once he gets the ball about 10 feet from the basket, he can either score, he can just lob it up there for model watch. You just, uh, who slams it, uh, see on James, a transfer from Tulane, a big, strong fiscal guy.
00:34:52
@NoConfForOldMen
Yeah.
00:34:52
Tom
And then, They've rounded out with the point guard Tyrese Proctor. So that's what I think I'm going to focus on when we play defense is how we guard that pick and roll.
00:35:08
Tom
you know We might just come out there and might just blitz who's ever the dribbler in the pick and roll, just blitz them and try to make some lob passes and we can recover.
00:35:18
Tom
defensively, it looks like, uh, Malawatch plays a little drop coverage on the pick and roll. And that's kind of right up, Milo's alley. You know, Milo's can get in there and he can use that little snake dribble and, do what's called a hostage dribble where he keeps his defender on his back.
00:35:26
@NoConfForOldMen
Yeah.
00:35:32
Tom
And we know he has that floater.
00:35:35
@NoConfForOldMen
Mm-hmm.
00:35:36
Tom
so those are the things, you know Duke's got a lot of talent. They probably have, Knipple and flag Flag will probably go number one. Knipple's been talked about in the top 10. Malawatch, probably first round. You know, there's a lot of talent there, but they are freshmen.
00:35:52
Tom
You know, that's to our advantage, even though in this day and age, freshmen, you know, a lot of times they aren't freshmen because they've been playing on those AAU circuits, Montverde Academy or whatever, you know,
00:36:05
Tom
you So it's not like the old days, but they still are freshmen. We'll have the experience advantage.
00:36:12
@NoConfForOldMen
So who are you picking? What do you think that the score is going to be, Tom?
00:36:17
Tom
I think we win.
00:36:18
@NoConfForOldMen
All right.
00:36:19
Tom
it's it's not going to be easy. You know, Duke can win. You know, they can get on these these runs. But the thing is, is that we're going to control tempo.
00:36:30
Tom
You know, we don't take quick shots.
00:36:30
@NoConfForOldMen
Yeah.
00:36:32
Tom
You know, if we have a three on two whatever, we don't go out there and fire up on a three on two, which means if you miss, the ball's going back on the other end and they got the numbers.
00:36:42
Tom
So, Kelvin's a master tactician when it comes to controlling tempo. And, a lot of these points you see Duke score against other teams, they're not going to score against us.
00:36:54
@NoConfForOldMen
Yeah.
00:36:55
Tom
They're going have to go against our, you know, our our our set defense.
00:36:55
@NoConfForOldMen
Not gonna happen.
00:37:00
@NoConfForOldMen
All right. Great analysis about you, Bill, from a player's perspective versus Duke.
00:37:07
Bill Walker
Duke, 35-3, 1-1, Ken 4-1, So... we're to
00:37:12
@NoConfForOldMen
Yep.
00:37:12
Bill Walker
one an offense four and d so good numbers. yeah Late in the season, we discussed teams that could potentially beat U of H, teams that were possible threats to U of H, and teams with no chance.
00:37:23
Tom
you
00:37:29
Bill Walker
And if you both recall, i put Duke clearly in the no chance category.
00:37:37
@NoConfForOldMen
Yeah.
00:37:37
Bill Walker
and
00:37:39
@NoConfForOldMen
You still feel that way?
00:37:39
Bill Walker
you know and and well At the beginning of the tournament, I was really pleased to see them on our side of the bracket.
00:37:46
@NoConfForOldMen
Yeah.
00:37:47
Bill Walker
Admittedly, I've warmed up a bit on Duke, but not to the point where I think that they can beat us, which I'll certainly get to.
00:37:58
Bill Walker
Duke, as I mentioned, they've lost three games. Two came in the non-conference. They lost a Kentucky by five, and they lost to Big 12 perennial giant Kansas, and I'm saying that sarcastically, by three, both on neutral
00:38:13
@NoConfForOldMen
yeah yeah yeah
00:38:20
Bill Walker
both on neutral courts. The one conference loss was 77-71 at Clemson. And this could be the most shocking stat of all time, where somehow the officials called 23 fouls on Duke to 12 on Clemson.
00:38:35
@NoConfForOldMen
yeah
00:38:37
Bill Walker
Absolutely stunning.
00:38:40
Bill Walker
you during the regular season, Duke beat Arizona by 14 on the road. They beat Auburn by six at home, two mutual opponents in the tournament.
00:38:49
Bill Walker
they rolled, they beat Baylor by 23. They beat Arizona by seven, although Arizona scored 93 against them. And, and they just destroyed Alabama, Uh, they're playing very well. They have momentum,
00:39:06
Bill Walker
Happily, it all ends for them on Saturday night. And yeah, this is a big team. They shoot the ball. Well, 49% from the field, 38% from three, they move the ball. Well, averaging 17 assists per game.
00:39:19
Bill Walker
And they only turn the ball over nine and a half times per game. Not, not too dissimilar from us. Uh, What they aren't is an experienced team, as you mentioned, Tom.
00:39:31
Bill Walker
And while that's, again, as you mentioned, not nearly as important as it once was with what these kids play in and the teams they play on heading into college, it does matter and it will adversely affect Duke versus us.
00:39:40
@NoConfForOldMen
Thank you.
00:39:47
Bill Walker
Yeah. Next, they've, and I've said this over and over and over, they have emerged from the worst Power Five conference imaginable and a conference that was probably worse than some non-Power Five conferences, certainly the Big East.
00:40:13
@NoConfForOldMen
Yeah.
00:40:15
Bill Walker
The ACC was awful this year. Now, dukes Dukes emerged from that, and they've played well in the tournament and beaten some good teams. So we'll see. But, I mean, the teams from the ACC that made the tournament,
00:40:32
Bill Walker
Clemson, as you mentioned, Tom, gone in the first round. Louisville, playing in Lexington, gone in the first round. UNC, who was an absolute joke participant to begin, gone after after the play-in game.
00:40:48
Bill Walker
And Maryland was the fifth team, and they
00:40:52
Bill Walker
They beat they won their opening game they
00:40:52
@NoConfForOldMen
No.
00:40:55
@NoConfForOldMen
Maryland's not ACC anymore, man.
00:40:56
Bill Walker
they be
00:40:59
Bill Walker
Oh, you're right. That's Big Ten. Oh, my God.
00:41:02
Tom
and which
00:41:02
@NoConfForOldMen
we're We're showing our age.
00:41:03
Bill Walker
You're right.
00:41:04
Tom
Hey, my Iowa buddy didn't claim Maryland when they lost.
00:41:05
Bill Walker
I'm living in the past. Oh, my God.
00:41:09
@NoConfForOldMen
Yeah.
00:41:09
Tom
He said, I consider them still ACC.
00:41:11
Bill Walker
Jeez. Sorry.
00:41:13
@NoConfForOldMen
yeah
00:41:15
Bill Walker
God, maybe I'm the one that needs to get off of fentanyl.
00:41:15
@NoConfForOldMen
That's funny.
00:41:21
Bill Walker
Yeah. Yeah. I was wrong in in and thinking that... that this would, this would be the case, uh, in terms of Duke, Duke going down to us, Arizona, definitely Alabama, were good wins.
00:41:39
Bill Walker
And, and, uh, to their credit, they,
00:41:40
@NoConfForOldMen
Yeah.
00:41:42
Bill Walker
took care of both. However, it's going to be a different story versus us and our defense. Duke's very good. Don't get me wrong, but they're going up against a far hungrier, far more athletic, aggressive, and i think a far more intelligent team. And I, I,
00:42:00
Bill Walker
absolutely believe they're in trouble. Obviously, everyone's heard of Cooper Flagg, freshman forward. He'll be the first pick in the draft. He leads them in five categories, 19 points, seven and a half boards, four over four assists, a steal and a half per game.
00:42:17
Bill Walker
And as you mentioned, Tom, he leads them with over two turnovers per game. He's He's a 48% shooter, 37.5% from three. He's an absolute weapon offensively. And I would imagine that Jaewon will probably start out against him.
00:42:39
Bill Walker
You've got to mention Con Knipple, of course, because he's from Milwaukee. six seven forward. He's their second leading scorer, 14.5 points. Shoots 40% from three, 91% from the line.
00:42:54
Bill Walker
yeah I don't know. you know I'm not sure. Maybe Sharp plays him. Maybe Yuzan.
00:43:01
@NoConfForOldMen
Yeah, absolutely.
00:43:03
@NoConfForOldMen
Yeah.
00:43:03
Bill Walker
The thing is, this is a big, big team. Proctor is their point guard, Tyrese Proctor. He's six six he shot 41% from three and, know, maybe, maybe Cryer that's, that's playing against Proctor, despite the size advantage, Sian James, he's also six, six, he's, their next starter.
00:43:27
Bill Walker
And, he shot 42% from three and, and that may be, That may be a matchup for, i don't know, possibly Yuzan. And then Malawach, who you talked about, Tom, the 7'2 freshman center, shoots over 71% from the floor, I would say.
00:43:47
Tom
Hard to miss a dunk.
00:43:48
Bill Walker
Probably 71% of those are dunks.
00:43:48
@NoConfForOldMen
It's all dunks. Yeah.
00:43:50
Bill Walker
Yeah, exactly. And obviously he'll be matched up with Tugler and or Francis. The other guys that I'll see playing time for Duke, Isaiah Evans, a 6'6 freshman guard, another guard in that 6'5, 6'6 range, and another six five guard, Caleb Foster. So this is a big team and a good shooting team.
00:44:27
@NoConfForOldMen
Yeah.
00:44:33
Bill Walker
He got yanked in the second half of the Tennessee game because he didn't. wasn't exactly sure where to be on defense, but he needs to be aware of what's going on and he needs to play well. And we're going to need him to play well on both ends.
00:44:47
Tom
Thank you.
00:44:47
Bill Walker
Bottom line, we're the superior coach team. As I mentioned, we're hungrier, we're more aggressive. They are, Yes, they've played good teams, but they have not played good teams that play the defense we play. And it's going to be a shock to their system, just like it was with Gonzaga early on, just like it was for an entire half or more against Tennessee.
00:45:11
Bill Walker
And assuming this isn't an extremely tightly officiated game, which does concern me, we're simply better. 74-70.
00:45:23
Bill Walker
seventy four seventy
00:45:25
@NoConfForOldMen
Okay. Four point win. Yeah. It'll be tight.
00:45:28
Bill Walker
I think we're about a five-point underdog right now.
00:45:31
@NoConfForOldMen
It's already gone up to five points. Wow. Okay.
00:45:34
Bill Walker
Well, i I heard over the weekend on, and I think it may have been on CBS, five and a half, and then someone in our office today told me that that that was correct, but it had dropped to four and a half.
00:45:43
@NoConfForOldMen
Really?
00:45:48
Bill Walker
So I'm just going say it's about five, somewhere in that range.
00:45:49
@NoConfForOldMen
Yeah. Okay.
00:45:51
Tom
So, Kate, I like us being the underdog in this game.
00:45:54
@NoConfForOldMen
Yeah, I completely agree.
00:45:54
Bill Walker
Oh, I do too. Absolutely. Absolutely.
00:45:56
@NoConfForOldMen
i It's what we want. So if you look at it from an analytics perspective, this Final Four has got four of the top 10 statistical teams ever since we've been tracking all of these advanced analytics.
00:46:08
@NoConfForOldMen
Basically, whichever team gets through this gauntlet will be able to claim to have survived the toughest route ever for a champion. And this Duke game is truly the definition of a toss-up.
00:46:18
@NoConfForOldMen
With Kempom having Duke number one and us number two, with Duke projected to be a two-point favorite for this game. Then you flip over to Bart Torvik, where we're number one and Duke is number two. And there we're projected as a one point favorite.
Potential Championship Opponents
00:46:34
@NoConfForOldMen
Now, Duke's number one in adjusted offensive efficiency and number four in adjusted defensive efficiency in Kempong. While we've settled in at number 10 in adjusted offensive efficiency and number one in adjusted defensive efficiency.
00:46:46
@NoConfForOldMen
So no matchup is favorable at this point, with this being clearly the toughest game so far for both teams in the tourney. Duke offensively is exceptional across the board with almost all grains in critical metrics.
00:46:59
@NoConfForOldMen
Number three in effective field goal percentage, number eight in three-point percentage, number six from two-point percentage, and number 18th in turnover percentage. But fortunately for us,
00:47:11
@NoConfForOldMen
They're also a very deliberate team on offense, ranked number 268th in tempo. So it will allow for more setting up of our D. Nothing here for Houston to really pick on from a defensive view.
00:47:23
@NoConfForOldMen
You've basically got to be prepared to defend anything and everything. Plus, as you guys have mentioned, Duke is also just great size across the lineup, making things that much tougher.
00:47:34
@NoConfForOldMen
Now on D, Duke's almost as exceptional coming in as the number one team at challenging every shot with effective field goal percentage D at 44.4%. That's even better us. They're also almost as good defending the three as the two, ranking 30th and number three, respectively.
00:47:50
@NoConfForOldMen
Duke achieves these numbers focused primarily on just tough fundamental man-to-man D. So one saving grace is that they don't take as many risks trying to steal the ball or force turnovers, where they're a lowly 178th in turnover percentage D.
00:48:06
@NoConfForOldMen
They're also just kind of good at blocking shots inside, ranking number 93rd in block percentage. So on offense, it's really going to be about Crier, Sharp, Uzan, and to a lesser extent, Roberts breaking down their man to score.
00:48:22
@NoConfForOldMen
In the two comps against physical D's this season, Duke lost to, as you had mentioned, Bill, KU and Clemson. Now, granted, these were back in November and early February, but it leaves me with at least a little bit of confidence because our D is next level aggressive compared to what they've experienced so far.
00:48:40
@NoConfForOldMen
Based on the metrics, like I said, this is a toss-up based on Ken Palm and Bart Torfic. But because our D is peaking right now, we've got a week to prepare. We're also playing in Texas. And that payback angle from last year in the back of the kids' mind.
00:48:54
@NoConfForOldMen
I'm predicting a 68-65 3.1 for the Cougs. Now, not to jinx things, but assuming we do win this game, our potential matchup will be versus either Auburn or Florida in the championship.
00:49:06
@NoConfForOldMen
Now, we're running low on time, so just quickly, guys. Bill, you can go first. What's your player's perspective around that game as well as the matchup potentially with Houston?
00:49:19
Bill Walker
Well, if we play Florida, who I do not think will play, in the tournament, they barely beat UConn in the second round. They destroyed Big Ten weakling Maryland, and they got completely outplayed and somehow stole the Elite Eight matchup versus Tech.
00:49:31
@NoConfForOldMen
Yeah.
00:49:39
@NoConfForOldMen
yeah
00:49:41
Bill Walker
attack Yeah, in their four losses, they gave up 106 points to Kentucky. They lost it at home to first-round loser Missouri.
00:49:52
Bill Walker
They scored only 44 points and 20-point to tennessee And they also lost to SEC bottom feeder Georgia. I won't get into all their players and all that because of time, but their best player is Walter Clayton, transferred couple years ago from Iona, guard.
00:50:08
@NoConfForOldMen
Yeah. Yeah.
00:50:11
Bill Walker
He plays well. Their starters are six three uh, six, two, six, four, six, 11, and six, nine. It very similar to us.
00:50:23
Bill Walker
They, have a three guard offense. We match up, we'll match up well against that offense.
00:50:27
Tom
Thank you.
00:50:29
@NoConfForOldMen
yeah
00:50:29
Bill Walker
And I absolutely see them struggling versus our D much like Tennessee did. Clayton is a really good player. And I imagine crier, And also Sharp will play against him. And between those two and Wilson, I think we're just fine.
00:50:47
Bill Walker
This won't be as bad a win as the Tennessee win, but we're absolutely the better team at virtually all facets. 74-67 Cougs.
00:50:57
@NoConfForOldMen
Okay.
00:50:59
Bill Walker
If it's Auburn, I had a little more written down about Auburn, but we'll make this quick. This is who I think we meet in the title game, but unlike the first time, this one belongs to us. Auburn's biggest win of the year was against us, and that was the second game of the year.
00:51:19
Bill Walker
Kelvin's great at revenge games, and Yuzan is night and day versus where he was in the second game of the year for us.
00:51:25
@NoConfForOldMen
Yeah.
00:51:30
Bill Walker
you know Auburn losing three of their final four pre-NCAA games, I think, is a bit overrated, but they did lose to Tennessee in the SEC tournament, and And, yeah, I think, i I just don't think that they have the team to beat us.
00:51:49
Bill Walker
I think they have the team to make it to the championship game and play us. And Pettiford, who lit us up in the first game, they would have scored in the 60s in the first game if it hadn't been for Pettiford hitting shots at the end and they beat us 74-69.
00:51:59
@NoConfForOldMen
Yeah, agreed.
00:52:04
Bill Walker
Yeah, he's playing extraordinarily well right now. but this team This team has not improved to the extent that we've improved.
00:52:16
@NoConfForOldMen
Yeah, I agree.
00:52:18
Bill Walker
We're going to win. We're going to beat at Auburn in the championship 75-69. See you all San Antonio. so you all in san antonio
00:52:25
@NoConfForOldMen
Nice. Tom, how about you from a coach's perspective on the other game?
00:52:31
Tom
Well, first things first, you know, hopefully we're fortunate to get back, get past Duke.
00:52:35
@NoConfForOldMen
Yep.
00:52:38
Tom
And then if we do make the championship game, my bracket, I have Florida winning, but you know, when we were filling out the brackets, that was after the sec tournament when Florida was on a roll, but they haven't, they haven't played,
00:52:45
@NoConfForOldMen
Yeah.
00:52:50
Tom
you know, that well, like they showed in the sec tournament. Uh, uh, so I think Auburn's going win the game.
00:52:55
@NoConfForOldMen
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
00:52:58
Tom
So I think we're going if we beat Duke, I think we're all face Auburn.
00:52:59
@NoConfForOldMen
yeah
00:53:02
Tom
And like Bill said, it's a revenge game. And, you know, that was back in November and, we had November milos back then. Now we got March milos, uh, uh, Terrence was coming off, the injury to his Achilles.
00:53:14
Tom
He didn't even play the second half. That game was at the Toyota center and they didn't have a exercise bike or whatever, where he could keep that Achilles, lose. So he didn't play the second half.
00:53:22
@NoConfForOldMen
farm
00:53:24
Tom
And then you have to remember JVA was coming off 19 consecutive days and no practice. And he was just rusty. I remember posting on the, on the veer,
00:53:35
Tom
JVA should not dribble the basket.
00:53:37
Tom
Should not dribble. I don't care if it's one time. cause he, he was that rusty.
00:53:43
@NoConfForOldMen
Yeah.
00:53:43
Tom
He was that rusty compared to how he's playing now. And yeah.
00:53:46
@NoConfForOldMen
Now, you see that drop step he had against Tennessee? That was a thing of beauty.
00:53:49
Bill Walker
it's like He's like you, Zan.
00:53:50
Tom
Oh yeah.
00:53:50
@NoConfForOldMen
Yeah.
00:53:51
Bill Walker
He's night and day as well.
00:53:52
@NoConfForOldMen
Yeah.
00:53:53
Tom
Yep.
00:53:53
Bill Walker
You see that block shot he had against Tennessee with his armpit?
00:53:53
Tom
So,
00:53:55
@NoConfForOldMen
Yeah.
00:53:57
Tom
so, you know, Malik's coming off some really good games too. he's got some momentum going. Uh, so i just think, Bill mentioned this, I just think, we've gotten better since November and, Auburn just kind of plateaued, you know, you either get better, you get worse, you never stay the same. And, a lot of teams will, will peak and, and like, uh, late November. And, that's why you can take, uh,
00:54:25
Tom
You know, games played November, you take with a grain of salt, if not the whole shaker. You know, so it's it's like those games in November are like fool's gold. don't get too excited about your team. Don't get too down on them.
00:54:40
Tom
that's three and a half months away from March Madness.
00:54:44
@NoConfForOldMen
So you're thinking you're thinking Auburn, right, in the finals?
00:54:47
Tom
Yeah, even though you know my bracket was was Florida, but that was toward the end of the SEC.
00:54:54
Tom
And another thing is I'm not too impressed with the SEC defense. I mean, there were a lot of games in the 90s and in the 100s that were played from supposedly tough defensive teams. You know, I just just don't think they play defense the way we do. Well, nobody plays defense the way we do.
00:55:13
@NoConfForOldMen
Yeah, yeah. Completely agree.
00:55:14
Bill Walker
chalk Chalk was riding the hot hand.
00:55:17
@NoConfForOldMen
Yeah, he was you was right.
00:55:18
Tom
What's that?
00:55:19
@NoConfForOldMen
you was right to go, Chalk.
00:55:21
Bill Walker
Yeah.
00:55:22
@NoConfForOldMen
We made the mistake of picking a another number two to make it.
00:55:22
Bill Walker
yeah that's Yeah. Well, I still think I got robbed by picking Tech over Florida, but that we could discuss that offline.
00:55:26
@NoConfForOldMen
Yeah.
00:55:32
@NoConfForOldMen
yeah I mean, this Auburn-Florida game is a rematch of SEC rivals. And if you look at it from an advanced analytics perspective, these teams are almost mirror images of each other.
00:55:44
@NoConfForOldMen
Auburn's number four and Ken Palm, Florida's number three. Auburn's number three and adjusted offensive efficiency while Florida's number two. Auburn's number eight and adjusted defensive efficiency while Florida's number 10.
00:55:55
@NoConfForOldMen
Then you go down the detailed advanced analytics and they both emphasize the same things as well across the board. I guess it's no surprise since Golden was briefly on Pearl's staff at Auburn, but the only stat that was different is that Auburn blocks more shots on D than Florida, ranking fourth in blocks percentage.
00:56:15
@NoConfForOldMen
I know Florida's beaten Auburn at Auburn this season already, but this is a tourney game where the stakes are different, and I believe the experience of head coaching matters here with Bruce Pearl. I also believe that having broom on your team that can just dominate inside when things bogged down and the tourney makes a huge difference as well, assuming that he's healthy.
00:56:34
@NoConfForOldMen
And guys, this is also projected to be a super close game where again, on the analytics side, the experts are reflecting different results. Kim Palm has Florida winning by one where Bart Corvik has Auburn winning by one.
00:56:47
@NoConfForOldMen
Both teams are exceptional. So I don't think it really matters who we play. But, you know, had a preference, I'd pick Florida because they haven't had the experience or D yet. And like I said, the coaching factor matters with the two day turnaround.
00:57:01
@NoConfForOldMen
And I'll always go with Coach Samson with just two days prep against an inexperienced head coach. In the championship game, I think how we would prepare for either team is thankfully very similar given their styles.
00:57:14
@NoConfForOldMen
Player wise, I also think we match up better with Florida since I think our bigs are more athletic and physical than theirs. And I'll take our guards versus anyone's in the country, including Florida's. I believe the winner, actually, of our semi with Duke wins the national title.
00:57:28
@NoConfForOldMen
Either SEC team we play, I think we win by six points. And, you know, I think I'm with you, Tom, as well as you, Bill. I mean, I'd also, like Tom, pick Florida in the finals at this point. actually think Auburn's making it to the finals.
00:57:44
@NoConfForOldMen
And so let'll see.
00:57:46
Bill Walker
I picked us over Auburn at the beginning, but I i still, even if I change my feelings toward Auburn, I i just think that Calvin in a revenge game is is, I feel very good about that.
00:57:46
@NoConfForOldMen
Yeah. Yeah.
00:58:03
Bill Walker
So I want us playing Auburn.
00:58:05
@NoConfForOldMen
yeah
00:58:06
Tom
And I'm going to say this. If there's any young listeners out there, if we happen to beat Duke, don't. automatically think we're going to win the game Monday night like we did in 1983.
00:58:16
@NoConfForOldMen
No.
00:58:18
Tom
You know, there was all that big buildup about our game against Louisville was the varsity game and the NC State Georgia game was the JV game. So hopefully people out there don't feel that way because we got two big games left.
00:58:28
@NoConfForOldMen
No, no, no. I don't think there's a chance of
00:58:36
@NoConfForOldMen
and No way.
00:58:36
Bill Walker
Tom, i thought I thought you were going in a different direction.
00:58:37
@NoConfForOldMen
I mean, these
00:58:39
Bill Walker
I thought you were going to talk about Duke coming back after losing by 30 to UNLV in, I think it was 90, and then beating them and in 91.
00:58:52
@NoConfForOldMen
are for the best 10 teams.
00:58:53
Bill Walker
Yeah, that's where I thought you were going with that.
00:58:55
@NoConfForOldMen
these are for the yes ten teams Ever, right? is As far as we've collected these stats. And so I don't think there's any way we can overlook any of these four teams.
Closing Remarks
00:59:10
@NoConfForOldMen
And, you know, before we sign off here, I just wanted to highlight that we also have our new women's basketball coach, and it's a big get. Matthew Mitchell, who was the longtime head coach at Kentucky, is our new women's basketball head coach.
00:59:23
@NoConfForOldMen
Not sure if you guys had seen his background, but quite honestly, we could not have hired a better coach given his record.
00:59:30
Bill Walker
He's a great hire.
00:59:31
@NoConfForOldMen
Yeah, while at Kentucky, three-time SEC coach of the year, two elite eights. Welcome, Coach Mitchell. Looking forward to catching some women's basketball games next season. So, guys, that's it for our 50th episode of the No Conference for Old Men podcast. We hope you all enjoyed it. And again, we'd really appreciate it if folks would follow, subscribe, or collect our podcast.
00:59:54
@NoConfForOldMen
Depending on your podcast platform of choice, we're also available via the Republican Football podcast feed from the folks at Dave Campbell's Texas Football as the only basketball-centric podcast. We're at the gokus.com website for those that prefer to digest the content that way.
01:00:08
@NoConfForOldMen
We appreciate the continued support from all. Also, please give us a follow on our Twitter account, No Conference for Old Men. Thank you all again for listening. And please be on the lookout for our final in-season episode next week to download and listen as we hope to be celebrating our first national championship.
01:00:28
@NoConfForOldMen
Take care, everyone.
01:00:28
Bill Walker
We will.
01:00:31
@NoConfForOldMen
Go Cougs!