March Madness With Jon Rothstein, We Talk Brackets And Storylines, USA Beats Dominican Republic Plus Who's Back Of The Week

12:14PFT Commenter:Yeah. I don't know. Zach and Max were talking, so I don't know if they heard us. Okay. But, Zach, you know what? Look up whatever you think we said. Let's just play that game. That sounds good. Look up as close to whatever you think we said, and then we'll just go from that. This is going to be interesting to see what he looks up. just as many words as you can remember that we said and then go there. Hank, how do you like Duke's draw? It's a bad draw.

12:38Big Cat:It's a tough draw. But their odds on DraftKings have improved. We talked about that. You said they were shooing to win. I think they were 330. And the last week, they're now plus 300. Okay.

12:48PFT Commenter:So that's good. That's good. Zach has started with the word Izzo. He's stuck on Izzo. That's right. Yeah, good start. We're in the right ballpark. Izzo versus Coach K in March. There we go. It's close enough. I did this. Oh. You just looked that up?

13:05Big Cat:Well, yes.

13:06PFT Commenter:Oh. I thought Zach was controlling.

13:08Big Cat:Izzo has a - No, I controlled this. 12 - I just went in there to change the - Got it. To get the TV going. And Zach's looking up something on his phone.

13:16PFT Commenter:What are you looking up on your phone, Zach?

13:17Big Cat:I had typed out Izzo versus Coach K Total.

13:20PFT Commenter:Okay.

13:20Big Cat:Just since 2019, four out of six tournaments where both participated. They were in the same region.

13:27PFT Commenter:Love it. They love doing that.

13:29Big Cat:And that's just since 2019.

13:31PFT Commenter:I mean, they are always in the tournament. Yeah. Those two teams.

13:34Big Cat:But, I mean, when they're in, I'm sure they're always in that same bracket.

13:38PFT Commenter:Yeah. Any other thoughts on the East region? Again, I'm so excited for whatever Ross Dean is going to drop it on us. It's going to be fucking great. I kind of like the pull at the heartstrings story, South Florida. Brian Hodgson, who's the coach of South Florida, is a really, really good coach. Part of the Nate Oates, Rico Bosco coaching tree. he's from Buffalo was an orphan I think I saw that his dad has dementia has never been able to see him coach live and they're playing in Buffalo so he's going to get to see him that's super cool so very very cool we're also by the way we are going to do we're going to run it back no South Florida at UCF yeah Brian Hodgson yeah he's from Buffalo we're going to run back what we did last year because I thought it was great where we're going to each pick pick a region and do fun facts about each team.

14:28PFT Commenter:And I've also told Zach he's going to do Zach facts about every team. So he'll clean up behind us. One fact about every 60 68 pack. Yes. Zach

14:39Big Cat:quick 68 piece to round it off.

14:41PFT Commenter:Yeah. It's going to be great. Okay. The West region Arizona. Arizona is really good. That's all I that was how I wanted to start that one. So fucking good Arizona. I have a staff for you for Arizona. Arizona has 12 wins over ranked opponents this year that's 38 of their wins that's the most ever and i also want to give a shout out to arizona iowa state playing one of the best college basketball games i've seen in a long time on friday night where there were 11 straight possessions to end the game with a shot made and it was just peak peak conference tournament peak march madness the only thing that would have made it better is if they had played that on an led tv it was very slippery

15:26Big Cat:yeah other than that it was the best game i i am kind of worried that we're just like one snafu and one minor groin injury is going to scare us away from having led tv basketball courts for forever listen all i know is that a lot of the losing teams were complaining not the winning it is a great excuse i'll say that like if you lose on the on playing on the tv surface i saw

15:48PFT Commenter:Kansas State players complaining. They stink. Yeah, you should not complain. Right. They're just mad.

15:53Big Cat:They just want to blame anything. So, when this bracket came out, do you think that the first thing that Arizona fans thought was just ultimate PTSD of Wisconsin?

16:04PFT Commenter:Not the first thing, because I think Arizona is just... I think Arizona might be the best team in the country right now, especially considering Duke and Michigan's injuries. It was probably like the second or third thing, though. They definitely had it out there. I mean, Wisconsin's the back-to-back Final Fours in 2014 and 15, we had to go in the West region and we had to go through Arizona, and we did that both times. Wisconsin going up against High Point, I was initially nervous and I've calmed down because I looked, I did a deep dive into High Point, not the school because we did that last year, which we'll do again this year, but they haven't played anyone.

16:43PFT Commenter:I know this is, I mean, anything can happen, but they have literally played not a they didn't play a single quad one team they played two quad two teams they lost to both of them and their defense isn't very good and they're short they could listen one basketball game offense could be electric but i i trust i trust my guys i trust our backcourt so do they get wet they don't they're good offense very good offense but they don't their defense is not they're they want to turn you over and and nick boyd and john blackwell i trust them again any This could look stupid, but I've calmed down because initially I was like, oh, no.

17:16PFT Commenter:And everyone's going to try to pick a 12 over a 5. I get it. So it is the team of Chase Johnston.

17:21Big Cat:Yeah. The new goal key that might be emerging that does not do anything but three.

17:26PFT Commenter:I have a new new goal key, though.

17:28Big Cat:A newer goal key.

17:29PFT Commenter:Newer goal key hit that we didn't know was going to be in the tournament because they had to win today. But the newer, newer goal key is from Penn and it's TJ Power. TJ Power. I think he had like, what do you have today? Max 40? and he hits like 44.

17:44Big Cat:He hit the one that got over.

17:46PFT Commenter:Yeah, he hits 44 % from three, and his name is TJ Power.

17:51Big Cat:TJ Power's pretty sweet.

17:52PFT Commenter:He's a fucking man. 44. He hit 44. They also, Penn, we'll get to Penn. The end of this game was absolutely insane. They also have a guy who shoots 41 % from three, and his name is Cam Thrower. So Penn's got the names. Penn's got the names. So that's my new goal key. But honestly, my first reaction, other than high point, my favorite player in the entire tournament is Darius Acuff. And Arkansas and the way he plays, I would be a bad NBA GM. If they let me be an NBA GM, I'd take him 1-1 because I fucking love him. He is a fucking killer. He makes every right decision all the time.

18:30Big Cat:He is a stone-cold psychopath. He is the best. When he played that game against Alabama that went to overtime, he was by far the best player on the court, just absolutely dominant. And Cal has kind of had a second coming for the last couple years. There's something different about the way he's been coaching at Arkansas. Well, yeah.

18:51PFT Commenter:It was like getting into a new marriage. Yeah.

18:54Big Cat:Or Arkansas. And it's been fun to watch. And Acuff is, I think he's definitely the most fun player to watch in college basketball.

19:00PFT Commenter:By far. And we had a moment on Friday night where we laddered his threes to six in the cave. He ended up only hitting five, but he hit four in the first half. And then he hit five again today. I'm retired, but we also laddered again today. But he just takes over games. And we were to the point where we would get mad when he wouldn't take a three. But every time he wouldn't take a three, he was just doing it because he was making a perfect pass. Like a perfect alley-oop, a perfect – the defense collapses on him and he kicks it out. he just he plays and he's got you know what he's got that you just you just know it when you see it he's got that like uh incredible athlete cool guy limp when he's walking in the tunnel before a game it's a it's a limp that's not an injury it's just that i'm cooler than everyone limp like a little bit of a gate to him that you're like fuck that guy is awesome you know he's got that steph curry

19:53Big Cat:has that yeah he's got like he walks a little off balance i don't need to worry about matching my

19:58PFT Commenter:steps correct you can tell so that one that arkansas is like i said a cuff is my favorite player to watch it's also going to be very fascinating to watch so they're going up against hawaii and hawaii famously this year or they've they've been doing this but they play no help defense which essentially is just hey we're gonna we're gonna have everyone be in one-on-ones and not let you know the kickouts the the collapse of the defense to help i don't know how you do that against Darius Acuff because he will, I mean, he's just so good with the ball in his hands. So that's going to be a hell of a matchup.

20:33PFT Commenter:And then the other things I had in this region, I have a new bet that I'd like to maybe throw out to you guys. I already told memes this. A new bet. A new bet.

20:42Big Cat:Is it parlay? No. I saw somebody make a joke about this new bet. I don't want to say the joke that I saw.

20:48PFT Commenter:What?

20:50Big Cat:Our friend, Clue Haywood, said, oh, is it one that wins? Oh, that was his. Yeah, yeah, that's whatever.

20:57PFT Commenter:I mean I lose good one dude I lose a lot this is the rollover over though Texas NC State are playing in Dayton over whatever we win on that BYU versus the winner of that game over the rollover you take the winnings and you roll over to another over there's no defense I like it

21:21Big Cat:I'm a little shell shocked from BYU watching that second. You remember that second half against Houston? Yeah. Where they just could not score for the last 15 minutes of the game. That's the last thing I have in my mind. Texas and NC State ain't Houston. They're not Houston.

21:35PFT Commenter:They ain't Houston. They're not Houston. The rollover over, whoever wants to join with me, we're going to bet the over, and then we're going to bet it again. We're going to take all of our winnings and bet the double it up on the next over. Are you in for the rollover over? Of course. I'm down. Okay. I'm down.

21:48Big Cat:I appreciate you guys supporting me. I'm interested to see what happens with Purdue going up against a school that's not going to exist in six months.

21:56PFT Commenter:Yes. Queens. Queens. Which is not in New York. It's not a New York school. They asked Colin Koff that, and he was like, I think it's in New York. He's like, no, it's actually in North Carolina. Yeah, it's North Carolina.

22:05Big Cat:It's about to be absorbed by Elon, like Starlink. So they're just going to take him over? Well, they're just going to combine schools. Do they get any naming rights? I don't know what the name of the school. I think it's just going to be there. Remember the Titans? Yeah. Quilon?

22:20PFT Commenter:I think they're going to be a - Quilon sounds kind of offensive.

22:22Big Cat:Yeah. I just did this to a school. You guys ate up a school? Yeah, we ate a school. Cabrini. Cabrini. Shout out. Cabrini. D3 national champions. Lacrosse. So you ate an entire school? You get to claim that championship though. Are you full? Yeah. I'm full. Needled. That's what they should do. Like if you.

22:41PFT Commenter:Max is on the needle now and he just keeps saying that. We're asking what we want for dairy. He says, I already ate needle. Have you been. Did you shoot yourself?

22:50Big Cat:No. My fiance did it for me. That's nice. I'm needled, though. Your boy's needled. I'm about to be looking cool.

22:58PFT Commenter:In the butt? In the butt, yeah. In the butt. You took it in the butt. I'm going to be the most proud GLP-1 guy of all time. You're going to be the chick in the yellow dress dancing around. I was going around the bar yesterday telling everyone, and people were like, I've never heard someone be this outright on the GLP-1s. Max is on the gear. I asked Max We were in the gambling game I asked Max Don't you Don't you Like shit a lot And then Dana Who's been on the needle Off and on Yep needle gang He's needle gang He goes He goes no dude He's fat again What No he just got back on He's off and on He was off Now he's back on He's beaten it He's beaten it a few times He's beaten Ozempic a few times He's eaten his way through He and Stu Fire Are the only two people Who've beaten Ozempic But I was like Max are you gonna just shit a lot And Dana just goes No no no Don't worry dude You don't shit and then you shit a lot.

23:49PFT Commenter:I was like, what? Okay. That's some really good doctor mind.

23:53Big Cat:He said it builds up for a while and then once you shit, you shit a ton. Me and Dana. Have you pooped yet? Disgusting. No, I just took it this afternoon. Okay, so you haven't gotten to that point yet. Have you thought about chicken parm? You've got to do a poop review.

24:08PFT Commenter:Did you eat any lunch?

24:10Big Cat:First GLP-1 poop.

24:14PFT Commenter:This is my... Speaking of the rollover, over this is just my region of overs just like the east is the region of unders i'm just gonna love every over in this region because a lot of teams don't play defense i think so i the there are uh let's see one two six teams in the top 20 efficiency in offensive efficiency in the country

24:33Big Cat:in this region i think purdue got a great draw yeah i do i really do i mean yes i think it's

24:40PFT Commenter:and purdue i think it's i think that's gonna be a great i think i'm gonna have sweet 16 purdue and Gonzaga. It's also got Fiennes up. Oh, man. You gotta let Max do it. Max, you do it.

24:55Big Cat:I gotta move the mic away from my face here.

25:01Fiennes up!

25:03PFT Commenter:Oh, Hank, come on. Get a little more into it, Hank. What's going on? I know. I tried. I knew it was gonna be loud. I don't understand doing it for the non-Fiennes team. It's just a vibes thing. Like, Max would just yell it from across the court and everyone would just be like it's just vibes max just does it and we

25:20Big Cat:just do it max how do you feel about about your boys about your cats uh i i can't say i've watched a ton of utah state this year but every every person i've talked to is like this is just the best team of all time so we're probably gonna lose uh but i'm gonna have fun doing i'm gonna have fun you know supporting my guys i'm happy they're not a big team we struggle with size we just got to get hot from three we shoot a lot of threes sometimes we make a lot of them Sometimes we don't. We just need this to be a game where we make a lot of them.

25:47PFT Commenter:The Utah State and Iowa are the two nines that are favored over the eights. So not an upset if Utah State beats Philadelphia. Yeah, that means we should be able to get them for bracket busters. Yeah, you're right. I agree with that. I agree with that. But it's – yeah, and Max got the best time window. I got one of the worst. So Wisconsin plays fourth game of the tournament. the last game of the first slate. Max, you have what, Friday evening? Friday at 3 o 'clock Central. Oh, it's so perfect. It's the perfect.

26:24Big Cat:I can enjoy all of Thursday.

26:26PFT Commenter:You want that so bad.

26:28Big Cat:Friday I can get myself a little appetizer and then just really lock in for probably a loss. And then it's fine. It's Friday night. What about your pride? When do they play? That's a good question. I don't know when they play. Hofstra plays, I think, Thursday. I'm going to have Rico Thunderdome.

26:46PFT Commenter:Yeah, no, the Thursday early first four games sucks. Yeah. Because it's like you could just. The tournament. The tournament. I could just be like, I'm going home. Yeah. And I just don't want to be here. Oh, they're going to be playing at the same time. What? Hofstra? Oh, no. Hofstra and Nova?

27:03Big Cat:Yeah. Hofstra's at 215.

27:05PFT Commenter:Matt, yeah. Can we do that? Cut it down the middle?

27:07Big Cat:Yeah. I can maybe try and figure that out. Yeah. You just take two jerseys and you cut them down the middle. But then how do I put them back together? So them. So them, dude. You have needles. You have needles, dude. You're needled up. You're the needle guy. You're the number one needle guy we got. Use those needles. Although I did. Yeah, your needle, just a different needle. I shot my ass perfectly on Friday. It was a beautiful shot right in the middle of the cheek. Just right in. Barely felt it. Wham, bam, thank you.

27:40PFT Commenter:Needled.

27:40Big Cat:Needled. Okay, next region.

27:43PFT Commenter:Before we do that, actually, real quick from DraftKings. Let's get excited for the tournament with DraftKings. DraftKings Sportsbook, the number one sportsbook for live betting, is built for March. The tournament is unexpected. Rewards are guaranteed. DraftKings Sportsbook is delivering the most generous rewards in the market no matter what happens on the court because this isn't a tournament you bet and forget. It's one you react to. With DraftKings, the number one sportsbook for live betting, you're not betting what might happen. You're betting what's happening. possession by possession play by play live lines props next play outcomes as the chaos unfolds the bracket will break so don't just watch the unexpected bet it new to draft kings bet just five dollars and get 200 in bonus bets instantly download the draft king sportsbook app now use code take that's code take to turn five bucks into 200 in bonus bets instantly in partnership with draft kings the crown is yours south region vandy got screwed if you want to say teams that got seeds screwed vandy got screwed because vandy is a very good team they had a couple blips when duke miles got hurt in the middle of the year and they just won the sec and got a five seed and potentially have to play florida for a third time in the sweet 16 i think vandy got screwed yeah we

28:57Big Cat:were doing uh we're doing blind resumes on wake up barstool last week and i think we had 12 different schools with their blind resume that were like bubble adjacent and out of those 12 schools i think I think eight of them had as like a quality win that they had this year beating Vandy like Vandy is the king of like if you beat them you can you can claim that's like right at the bubble of what you can claim as being a great win this season our old coach from JMU Byington yeah we were the we had an era there when we had we had Byington and then obviously in football yeah J.M.U. cradle of coaches but I do root for Vandy even in that weird gym where they line up in the wrong spot

29:40PFT Commenter:I mean they're the 12th best team on Ken Palm they started the season they didn't lose their first game they started season 16-0 and they just won the SEC with a beat down of Florida a pretty impressive win against Tennessee or sorry they didn't win the SEC they lost to Arkansas today but they went to the final and they did it in impressive fashion, I think they got screwed a little bit.

30:05Big Cat:That would be my take. You think they're a four?

30:07PFT Commenter:I think they're probably a four. Again, they're the 12th best team analytically on Kenpom.

30:11Big Cat:Which of the four would you drop out if you had to?

30:13PFT Commenter:The four is probably Nebraska.

30:15Big Cat:That's fair.

30:16PFT Commenter:Nebraska has not beaten a tournament. They beat Iowa in the last game of the season in overtime. Before that, the last tournament team they beat was January 5th. So Nebraska had a great start to the season. I guess they're kind of similar, Nebraska and Vandy, where they both were, if you looked at January 1st, both those teams were like, holy shit, they're incredible. Vandy just did a little bit more in the SEC tournament by beating Florida and Tennessee. But this entire region, yeah, I mean, Florida got, that's a tough draw to play potentially in the Sweet 16 against a team that you just lost to in the SEC tournament.

30:57PFT Commenter:and I think that Houston got a very nice draw and I think Illinois too. Illinois is going to be in the Sweet 16. I don't think North Carolina is very good. I might pick VCU to beat North Carolina in the first round. That's not a huge crazy upset because they're only a two and a half point favorite. But I like chalk in the South outside of I think Vandy is going to go to I think it's going to be Vandy, Florida, Illinois and Houston. That's my chalkiest region.

31:24Big Cat:So with Penn, I'm sure Rothstein will bring this up, but I did see that he mentioned this is the fifth team that Fran McCaffrey has taken to the tournament. So he took Lehigh, UNCG, Siena, Iowa, and now Penn, the Quakers. The Quakers going to the NCAA tournament. Pretty impressive that Fran's done that.

31:42PFT Commenter:Yes. And I also think St. Mary's got a little bit screwed just with matchup-wise because they have to play. Last year, they went up against Vandy in Alabama. St. Mary's is one of those schools, like, just don't make them play against a really fast-tempo SEC school. But they're going to have to do that, and they're going to have to play Buckyball with Texas A &M. Yeah, the South is an interesting region because I don't think it's the strongest region outside of Florida and Houston. And Houston's playing great right now, and Houston also gets to play at home if they get to the Sweet 16.

32:14Big Cat:So between that Illinois pin game, is that the matchup of the two guys who can get the hottest?

32:20PFT Commenter:uh yeah i mean power and mom silage yeah and i think i think illinois is i think illinois is significantly better so no duh right they did limp in a little bit i mean wisconsin we beat them on friday um but we could have their offense is really really good the number one offense in the country we could have a dude off in that game yeah are you are you discounting wagler No, I'm not. It could be a few dudes. That would be the dude. Yeah. Yeah. We'll see. With my future with Florida, I do like to draw on the fact that they're not going to be surprised by Vandy after what Vandy did to him yesterday.

32:57PFT Commenter:No. And, again, I would probably lean Houston to go to the Final Four, especially with the fact that they're going to have home games if they get to the Sweet 16.

33:04Big Cat:What do we do in a game like Clemson and Iowa? Under. What should we do with that TV? Under. Under and don't watch. I got to figure out a strategy for it because I do. I like to take occasional unders in these games, especially if I just lose like three overs in a row. That's what I need. I need a strategy for making it bearable to to watch the games that I bet the unders are under.

33:25PFT Commenter:They are the second and fourth slowest teams in the tournament. And Ben McCollum, who came from Drake, he wants to he wants to grind it out. Just suck the air. I'm also probably going to take Iowa in that game. okay last region the midwest region michigan who just lost to purdue purdue's playing hot michigan uh i feel like they got a pretty decent draw because you have texas tech who without topping is a different team and alabama i mean they can get hot but they also can look really not great defensively and at the rim they're a little soft so i don't i don't hate

34:02Big Cat:michigan's draw here no michigan i think you're happy if you're a wolverine fan yeah um i was Iowa State got a great draw. They got a great draw, too.

34:10PFT Commenter:Yeah, I like Iowa State's draw. And I like it. Virginia's the one team in that group that would – because I'm not scared of Kentucky. I think Santa Clara can win that game.

34:18Big Cat:I think they're going to beat them. Oh, Hank. What was that? Just put my hands up. Sorry.

34:22PFT Commenter:Oh, he put his hands up.

34:23Big Cat:Playing a song. Watch above your head. That thing's about to fall. Yeah, you're about to get brained with a bear smug. Maybe Mount Rushmore. What if you died by getting brained by Mount Rushmore?

34:34PFT Commenter:Hank, what's going through your head right now?

34:36Big Cat:Mount Rushmore. We're down to our last strike. It's 2-1 U.S. Bottom of the ninth. This ump is clearly from America. Yeah. He's made some generous calls. I think it's Cam Young. Got to dig deep. Got to dig deep here. You have obviously, just because he's from America doesn't mean he's rooting for America. Yeah, it's true. Good point, Max. Really good point. Based off of the calls that he's made the last couple of innings. Really good point. I think he is. Hank was being so annoying in the car on the ride over here. We were watching the World Baseball, and Hank was just like, he was coming himself.

35:09Big Cat:When J-Rod had that catch that robbed Aaron Judge of a home run, Hank was like, turn it up. Turn it up. In your face.

35:17PFT Commenter:Disgusting. Here it is. There we go, Hank. Talk us through it. It's your team. You live and die with them. Oh, he took it. 3-2. Man on third. Have you loved watching Austin Wells? You're like, that would be me? Yeah. Speaking Spanish in the dugout. Having fun.

35:36Big Cat:3-2 count men on third two outs oh nope I will say this oh you guys are Roman Anthony stepped up to the play and Hank goes like I wouldn't hate it if this guy hit a home run oh wow yeah if the US is gonna win and it's because of a Roman Anthony go ahead home run I can live with that yeah that's like the best but if they win any other way you're down in the dumps

36:00PFT Commenter:yeah soggy sorrows at the Dominican Republic loose I don't think so

36:04Big Cat:Maybe if they lose the finals It's only the semis

36:07PFT Commenter:There's a hell of a bat There's a hell of a bat I hate that you guys are ahead of me

36:12Big Cat:It's how you compete Come on Hank How far ahead are we?

36:16PFT Commenter:We're about 10 seconds ahead So far ahead Hank just watch the TV behind you

36:20Big Cat:He's watching it

36:21PFT Commenter:He's now taking out his phone And he's reversing the camera So he can watch it Instead of you could just turn around

36:27Big Cat:Actually I think this is super smart for him Yeah it is It's the best thing he's ever done And it looks like it's a lefty pitching

36:32PFT Commenter:Oh, there you go. Oh, got him.

36:37Big Cat:See ya. No, that was a ball. That was a ball. Oh, hey. What do they call it? What do they call it? That was a ball. That's how you get out. That's insane. That's USA baseball right there.

36:49PFT Commenter:Sorry for your loss, Hank. Not. Absolute insane.

36:52Big Cat:Not.

36:55PFT Commenter:Oh, man. What a game that was. And will you be rooting for the winner of Venezuela and Italy to beat the U.S. in the finals? No. Yeah, you can't refer. I mean, you don't like Italians. You don't like Italians. Definitely not Italy. Yeah, you don't like Italians.

37:08Big Cat:Venezuela can be fun.

37:11PFT Commenter:Big Ben. All you got to do is watch one Venezuela game and you'll be hooked instantly.

37:16Big Cat:I will say that Dominican Republic, they changed their entire mentality after getting thrown out at third base. It seemed like they were afraid on the base paths like three or four times. They put the brakes on. They didn't want to get thrown out again. It was mentally dominated. I will also I've never seen Manny Machado run to first base in my life and tonight he put his head down and was like a bat out of hell out of the batter's box tonight if you're a Padres fan you're watching this you're like where the fuck is this Manny

37:45PFT Commenter:he's just swept up in the DR like Hank

37:47Big Cat:but like it took my breath away watching Manny Machado hit a ground ball and immediately head down taken off yeah

37:55PFT Commenter:Hank what's going through your head it's just a sad run

37:58Big Cat:It's just a sad run. Yeah, three more years. Any regrets? No. No. I regret nothing. I'm happy for Roman Anthony.

38:05PFT Commenter:But you regret nothing in picking the wrong side, the losing side.

38:09Big Cat:The more fun side.

38:10PFT Commenter:Well, you know what's fun? Winning.

38:13Big Cat:Yeah. Winning is a lot of fun. It helps when the umps just call in balls tricks. That was a huge difference those last two innings. This is what it is. Congrats to the USA. He's in the car. I also, Paul Skeens, he's a true patriot. Such a good tomorrow part of my tape picture right now.

38:28PFT Commenter:By the way, Ken Rosenthal, get the fuck out of here, dude. I'm so sick of this guy. Ever since that Brewers thing last year, he's such a loser. Get him out. I don't want him anywhere near me anymore.

38:39Big Cat:He had maybe the quote of the century earlier tonight. He said, Fernando Tatis said the Dominican Republic is like a bunch of superheroes. Nine Batman, if you will. Paul Skeens is the closest thing we have to Superman. So he was saying who wins nine Batman or one Superman. That's a terrible comparison. yeah batman would beat the shit out of one superman i'm so sick of ken rosenthal that

39:02PFT Commenter:should have been like a career ender the way he reacted we looked at the walkie yeah yeah he's just a jerk you like you would just tell a guy is you know i'm all for second chance but you could tell he's just a jerk and so like why why do we why do we let a jerk he didn't really he didn't handle the second chance that well no no he he tried to explain his way out of it

39:25Big Cat:I'm happy for Paul Skeens I am too

39:28PFT Commenter:Midwest

39:29Big Cat:yeah Hank was calling him Big Dom he was calling Dominican Republic Big Dom you were? nice partner? Big Dom I just love watching Max win

39:42PFT Commenter:every time Big Dom gets brought up okay do you want to take a shot at our early Final Four again we're going to do our full bracket breakdown with dumb facts about each team on Wednesday's show. We also have Mark Titus. Any you want to? Yeah. Everyone share their final four. It's my early final four. Early final four. Everyone share it. Go for it. Memes, you got one? Memes, I know you filled out a million brackets. The first one I filled out, I had St. John's coming out.

40:12Big Cat:I don't have my paper in front of me. St. John's, Houston, Arizona, and Iowa State. Arizona win the whole thing.

40:23PFT Commenter:Okay. Okay. I'm going to go with Duke, Arizona, Houston, Virginia. Duke obviously winning the whole thing. I mean, it's not even. Again, why play? Not close. Why play? Why play?

40:40Big Cat:I'm going to go with Michigan State. I'm going to go with Houston. Arkansas.

40:55Big Cat:and I think I'm just going to go Michigan out of the Midwest.

40:59PFT Commenter:Who do you have winning it all?

41:01Big Cat:I got Houston winning it all. Okay. I'm going to go. Fourth year in a row. Yep. I'm going to go. Listen, you got to get it. You got to get it eventually. You can't stop. You can't stop. You got to get it eventually. Duke, Illinois, Michigan, Wisconsin.

41:19PFT Commenter:I knew you were going to do that.

41:21Big Cat:With Duke beating Wisconsin.

41:22PFT Commenter:In Indy. So you got three of your Big Ten teams. I knew you were going to do that. Okay, Max.

41:31Big Cat:That will do. Okay, can we just say that, honestly, that would probably be the most listened to podcast. Oh, yeah. A part of my take if that happened.

41:39PFT Commenter:Especially if Wisconsin had a halftime lead.

41:42Big Cat:Yeah. And beating Michigan would be awesome.

41:44PFT Commenter:Yeah. I mean, almost. I was. The Saturday. Austin rap was insane. I think he hit six threes with five in a row in possessions. And the whole time I was thinking, like, if the Badgers can pull this off, I would obviously still be rooting for Wisconsin winning it all, but I might sneaky have to root for Michigan because then I would raise a banner in our office with an asterisk being like, but couldn't beat Wisconsin. Yeah. Because it would have been two times that we beat them and had Dave here do a banner cutting day, a ribbon cutting day for the banner. All right, go ahead, Max.

42:21Big Cat:St. John's, Florida, Arizona, Iowa State.

42:28PFT Commenter:Okay. And winner? The Duke disrespect is disgusting, right, Hank?

42:35Big Cat:Disgusting. Disgusting. I will do Iowa State over St. John's.

42:44PFT Commenter:Okay. Zach, finish this off, then we'll do who's back of the week.

42:47Big Cat:I'm going to go Yukon Florida

42:55Big Cat:BYU Akron

42:57PFT Commenter:Oh Akron Love that I'm going to take Akron to win Akron to win it all Just a kid Love that Just love the zips Zip up I told Dom I'd zip up

43:09Big Cat:Let's get zip

43:11PFT Commenter:Should I be worried about that Zach Knowing that we're on bracket busters together No

43:16Big Cat:some things won't transcend the busters we'll bust together memes and i were thinking about

43:21PFT Commenter:letting you just bust i think we got three man bus no you just decide you're in charge of busting yeah you might be just you we're giving you the wheel we should bust together okay you're dave and busters okay uh before we get to who's back of the week twisted tea twisted tea is refreshing hard ice tea made with real brewed tea and five percent alcohol twisted tea is the perfect drink to keep the good times going all day and all season long, whether you're hanging out at a friend's house, catching a game at the stadium or at the bar, or day drinking with friends, Twisted Tea is there to turn your day up a notch and make a good time a great time.

43:55PFT Commenter:Grab a refreshing Twisted Tea today. The half and half, the original, the peach, it's all Twisted Tea. We're going to get summer's coming oh so close, and it's Twisted Tea season. As soon as it gets a little warm, crack open a Twisted Tea. You know what? Crack open a Twisted Tea for the first round of the tournament. Get that half and half. You will not regret it. Grab a refreshing Twisted Tea today. Okay, who's back of the week? Hank, by the way, I've looked at the pitch a little bit more.

44:24Big Cat:There's a bunch of pitches.

44:26PFT Commenter:Well, I mean, the last one, if I could change it, I would. For your beloved Dominican Republic.

44:31Big Cat:But unfortunately, we can't. Well, the thing is, nobody's more upset about that than I am.

44:35PFT Commenter:Yeah.

44:35Big Cat:I want to see the better team win. Because first and foremost, I'm a fan of fairness in sports. And that, to me, it doesn't pass that test. But you can't take it back. I mean, the game's over. You can't send the guys back on the field now, I guess. And are you making excuses? No.

44:51PFT Commenter:Okay. No excuses. No excuses.

44:53Big Cat:But? It's bullshit.

44:55PFT Commenter:Okay.

44:55Big Cat:And I thought, you know, whatever.

44:57PFT Commenter:What?

44:58Big Cat:They obviously aren't doing the new umpire rules that they're implementing this year. Why not? Wouldn't this be a perfect time to implement it?

45:06PFT Commenter:You'd think so. You would think so.

45:09Big Cat:But no excuses.

45:10PFT Commenter:But no excuses.

45:12Big Cat:Again, if we could change that Yeah Like I would love If I had a magic wand My first wish would be Go back and put the robot umpires into this game So that So that we can So that the U.S. might not win Yeah That's what I would love to see

45:26PFT Commenter:So that Hank could continue his wonderful ride with Dominican Republic

45:30Big Cat:It was a great ride Magic wand

45:32PFT Commenter:Over two games watched? No, two games watched

45:37Big Cat:Yeah, probably two total Two games and some highlights Yeah What a ride Magic Wand would be a great nickname for Minnesota. We were listening on the drive tonight. The sound was cutting in and out. PFT was just doing play-by-play at one point. Yeah. It was painful. Great play-by-play. Okay, who's back? My who's back, speaking of not winning, is just not being able to win the big one.

45:58PFT Commenter:Yeah.

45:59Big Cat:A few. Dominican can't win the big one. Timothy Chalamet.

46:03PFT Commenter:Yeah.

46:04Big Cat:Did not win.

46:05PFT Commenter:Did you hear there might have been someone part of the PMT team who made a guarantee on Timothy Chalamet winning that. Who would? Oh, Shane? Yeah, our number one movie guy, Shane. Guaranteed it? Corn dog.

46:19Big Cat:That's all he does is watch movies. I know, and he said he guaranteed that.

46:23PFT Commenter:Literally just, that's all he does. We were watching it in the cave and he's just like, what? Michael B. Jordan? How could that happen? We're like, Shane, that was a guarantee. Bolt up, Shane. Ah, brutal. That's tough. Chalamet, he'll win one. Yeah.

46:41Big Cat:Yeah, but he's now in that, like, can he win the big one? I think it's his third time. Nothing. Can't win the big one. Nothing to show.

46:49PFT Commenter:Chalamet and Caitlin Clark. Yeah. Can't win the big one.

46:52Big Cat:As a guy that didn't see either of the movies, Sinners or Marty Supreme, he got hosed. I saw Marty Chalamet's year.

47:00PFT Commenter:I disagree. I don't think he got hosed. Oh, come on. It was fine. It was a good movie. I didn't think it was as good as his. I don't think it was, like, the greatest movie. No. I liked One Battle more. Did you see Sinners? I did not see Sinners.

47:13Big Cat:You were about to say Sinners.

47:15PFT Commenter:No, I didn't see Sinners. I saw half of the debate we're having here, and the half that I saw don't think she deserved to win. Can't speak for the other half. Sinners is very good, too. I'm sure it is. I probably watched it at some point. I liked One Battle more than Marty Supreme.

47:32Big Cat:But it's best actor.

47:33PFT Commenter:I understand. Should have been Benicio.

47:36Big Cat:I think he was supporting. I don't know if he won.

47:38PFT Commenter:He should have been lead.

47:39Big Cat:I think he did win.

47:40PFT Commenter:I think they should just make it lead actor even for the supporting guys. If you're the funniest guy in a movie.

47:45Big Cat:No, I think Sean Penn won supporting for one battle. That would make sense.

47:49PFT Commenter:Yeah. That would make a lot of sense.

47:51Big Cat:He kind of had that little limp walk in that movie.

47:54PFT Commenter:Yeah, they should just have a chillest dude award. Benicio would win that one. Okay, so Chalamet. Did you see both of them?

48:03Big Cat:Chalamet, Dominican Republic. No, I just saw Mars Supreme. I saw one battle too.

48:06PFT Commenter:Okay, did anyone see Sinners? You saw Sinners, Max? Finish this debate for us. Was Michael B. Jordan more worthy of winning than Timothee Chalamet? This is great. As a collective podcast, we saw both these movies. One battle won Best Picture.

48:20Big Cat:I understand. Wait, did it? Good. That's awesome. Should have.

48:23PFT Commenter:That's the one movie I saw this year. So what are you arguing? No, we're arguing Timothee Chalamet. We're basically not arguing.

48:28Big Cat:You're not arguing Timothee Chalamet. You're just arguing that you liked One Battle better.

48:32PFT Commenter:Correct.

48:32Big Cat:That is what you said. Which one?

48:34PFT Commenter:Well, but no, but he said can't win the big one, and I'm saying didn't really deserve it. didn't think Marty Supreme was worth it. You're just going off of the movie.

48:42Big Cat:Correct. No, but as an individual, the big one is best actor. Right. Everybody knows that. Correct. Right. It's MVP debate. Does the MVP just go to the best quarterback on the best team every year?

48:52PFT Commenter:Marty Supreme wasn't good enough as a movie for him to win the big one.

48:57Big Cat:Well, let's just say if you took Chalamet out of Marty Supreme and you replaced him with, let's say, McConaughey, how does the movie do?

49:06PFT Commenter:Probably fine. Is it as good? I like Chalamet a lot. I didn't really love that movie. Again, this has nothing to do with best actor. I'm more clowning on Shane for having a guarantee that didn't come through. But Max, who was better, Michael B. Jordan or Chalamet? I like Chalamet. Okay. But I thought I liked Sinners as a movie better.

49:26Big Cat:I like Chalamet. Chalamet got robbed.

49:28PFT Commenter:I liked Marty Supreme as a movie better than Sinners, but I liked Michael B. Jordan. You didn't watch Sinners. Zach. Well, yeah. Yeah, that's so... Zach, did you watch both of these?

49:39Big Cat:I haven't seen either of those movies, but I'm going to take Chalamet.

49:41PFT Commenter:Memes, did you watch both of these? I like Frankenstein. Okay, nice. Nice.

49:46Big Cat:If you only go to see one movie in theaters all year, and that movie ends up winning Best Picture, that's a hell of a year. Yeah, job well done. That's a hell of a year. I'm pumped. I watched Begonia this morning. I know ball. Oh, I did see that, but it was in my house. Begonia's awesome. Yeah. The only one I saw in theaters was Barney's. I saw One Battle in my house as well.

50:04PFT Commenter:Oh, wow. You got a fucking... You live in a movie theater, bro?

50:09Big Cat:What? Sick. You heard him. I saw it on my couch. You live in a movie theater, bro. Yeah, you live in a movie theater. Shout out Stav. You sleep with Onion?

50:16PFT Commenter:Do we have a comment from Shane? How did he... We'll get him for lottery ball. Okay.

50:22Big Cat:But Chalamake can't win the big one. Ludwig, a bear, can't win the big one. Yeah. Big time can't win the big one. Another choke. Choked in the Masters. He hit some water, huh? Choked today. Huge choke. He had a dominant... At his home course. Going into Sunday. Choke. And I put him on my list of guys I will never bet again after he choked in the Masters, and then I forgot about putting him on the list. Bet him again this week, and, yeah, it was a nightmare choke job. Damn. Can't win the big one. Can't do it.

50:51PFT Commenter:Was that the big one?

50:53Big Cat:It's a big one. Fifth major.

50:55PFT Commenter:It's a big one, but not the big one. It can't be a big one, and the big one is different than a big one.

51:03Big Cat:in golf there's like five big ones six big ones okay but what's the big one depends depends who

51:09PFT Commenter:you ask okay i feel like there's the man he couldn't win the masters and then he had another chance to win a big one but there is no a big one is different than the big one okay apologies

51:21Big Cat:well no he'll win a big one win a big one the big one is chalamet not winning the oscars he

51:27PFT Commenter:can't really win a one. Yeah. Has he won a one? You can't win a mid one.

51:33Big Cat:I think he's won a tournament.

51:35PFT Commenter:He's won one. Okay.

51:38Big Cat:But not a big one.

51:39PFT Commenter:It was disgusting.

51:40Big Cat:But I guess maybe not. There's only one big one. So I guess I was wrong there.

51:45PFT Commenter:A testy Hank. I'm just saying. The big one is the big one. What would the big one be? The Masters. Which he didn't win. Yeah. So he can't win that one either. Yeah.

51:55Big Cat:He stinks. He stinks on Sundays. I don't know what it is about him. For being a robot, because he feels like he does have the personality of a drone, when he gets under pressure, he just melts down. And most guys that have that robotic personality, they don't have the choke gene.

52:13PFT Commenter:Yeah, he's water multiple times, right? Yeah. Okay, PFT, who's back of the week?

52:19Big Cat:My who's back of the week is taking medical advice from strangers on the internet.

52:23PFT Commenter:Nice.

52:24Big Cat:So I don't know if you got anybody that sent this to you, Big Cat. I had a couple people that sent it my way out of concern for a friend, Hank. On Thursday, we were watching some college basketball on TV, and Hank had his foot up for most of the night, put his foot down, took a step, and just completely crashed out onto the ground. He had a case of the old numb leg. Fell onto the ground. I was glad that you were okay. Yeah. The first question I asked was, can I get that clip? And then I immediately said, wait, Hank, are you okay? and they said yeah I'm fine I'm like okay good now can I please get that clip and there's some guy on the internet that's telling Hank that he's 99 % sure that Hank has pancreatitis because of the numb leg but the guy shout out to this guy because he's not actually just a fan of the show that wants to get talked about

53:13PFT Commenter:well mission accomplished his name is Big Pancreas

53:20Big Cat:which he only changed after this clip but I've had lots of people reach out to me being like hey is hank all right in reality hanks he was just sitting with his leg numb but now everybody's hitting me up being like hey is hank gonna die i hope not no you're fine you have

53:38PFT Commenter:pancreatitis i might 99 sure shit dude that's not good i'm gonna have to go get checked out i don't

53:45Big Cat:know how do you get that checked out make you shit in a cup or a doctor i don't know i we did look up the uh the symptoms and one of the first symptoms was just like your shit smells like extra shit Like, ugh. We're smelling shits that you can possibly have. I don't think that's true for me. Okay. That's good. Your shits smell normal, yeah.

54:05PFT Commenter:Yeah. Ugh. Okay. My who's back of the week is Joel Embiid. Because he has officially reached the perfect level. I have something to say about this. 485 games played, 485 games missed. I have something to say about this.

54:22Big Cat:is joellen b the only athlete in the history of sports that like gets clowned for being that's a crazy stat that's a great i just do you not just hear pfts he just he clowned hank well i wasn't are you in sports yeah he's in sports media i'm an athlete you're not an athlete that's a derrick rose derrick rose and everyone is like oh my god that that's that's that's a horrible shame what happened to Derrick Rose's career. Greg Oden gets hurt in horrible shape, what happened to Greg Oden's career. For some reason, Joel Embiid always gets hurt, and it's like, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha. What a great athlete that can't stay healthy.

55:00Big Cat:Let's laugh in his face. He's the only athlete ever that anyone does. Wait, wait, wait, wait. Name somebody else. Name somebody else. Michael Irvin being concussed at Veterans Stadium comes to mind. That is not the same thing. At all. because it's not like a legacy thing. What? In his career, right? What do you mean a legacy? No, but that was like one time that Philly fans were assholes about. One time. Yeah, it was one time. I can't think. Yeah, Boston. Racist Boston fans over here being like, oh, yeah, let's talk about Philly fans.

55:34PFT Commenter:I didn't think this was going to go like this. I can't think of this. No, because it's bullshit. No, but I didn't say.

55:38Big Cat:Because so many people tagged me in that, and it's like, he's the only guy ever. Everyone is always, oh, what a shame that this career wasn't the same thing because of injuries, except for Joel Embiid for some reason.

55:50PFT Commenter:You bring up fair points. That's a crazy stat. It happens. Everyone happens, but for some reason for Joel Embiid, it's funny.

55:58Big Cat:I haven't laughed. What injury is it now? Whatever. I don't even know. I just want to know. Some injuries are funny. Admit it. Some injuries are funny, Max. You get hit in the nuts. Yeah. You guys are... Oh, no, Max. Nobody would ever... No, I can't think of anyone else that gets made fun of for being injured. It happens. What? Athletes get made fun of for being injured. You're not an athlete.

56:26PFT Commenter:I'm not talking about me. But if we... I mean, I do consider him an athlete, and it is funny when he gets injured sometimes. That's true.

56:33Big Cat:Yeah.

56:35PFT Commenter:I wasn't talking about me, Max. But if you want to talk about PFT, we have laughed Yeah

56:39Big Cat:Before Yeah, we laugh at injuries Paul George He has an oblique injury People make fun of him He can't stay healthy

56:47PFT Commenter:Yeah, playoff P Anthony Davis Nope Yeah, I laugh He gets injured like every game Big Ben And then he comes back in Big Ben Checkmate Big Ben Checkmate He did the whole thing about it The walking boot Checkmate

57:04Big Cat:Big Ben is funny because he says that he has injuries and he plays.

57:08PFT Commenter:Okay, good counterpoint. Listen, you're making a lot of good points that I'm going to take into account. You changed the mind today. Great. 485-485.

57:17Big Cat:And a lot of those games also were before he even started his NBA career, which shouldn't even count.

57:22PFT Commenter:I'd agree with that. That's a good counterpoint. Yeah. Fake stat. So we just got to wait a couple more months for it to be real stat?

57:30Big Cat:No. That's 82 games, right? 82 games in NBA season? Yeah, 82 games.

57:37PFT Commenter:You got it. You got it.

57:38Big Cat:I got to trust myself. 83 if you play in tournament. Well, actually. No, those games don't count for any stats. They exist outside the realm of reality. Yeah, but they don't count. It counts for your body. No one knows. Your body does. Your body knows. Yeah, for sure. If you get a torn ACL in a play-in game, I don't think it does. No, it doesn't count. I think you respawn the next day.

57:57PFT Commenter:NBA Cup.

57:58Big Cat:NBA Cup. Is this a real stat that games played since February 1st, 2024, Ben Simmons 59 Joel Embiid 52 That's not real I think I just got Keep going keep doing this Also who's back? Jeremy McCain

58:15PFT Commenter:He's been playing well

58:16Big Cat:He's killing it and all the thunder They all start doing a celebration It's a good look It is college basketball season It's college hoops We do not talk about the NBA this week ever What are you fucking laughing at over here You haven't won shit ever ever

58:33PFT Commenter:it was funny NBA Cup it is funny I was watching the Canadians by the way us beating Canada on Friday night was awesome although it really didn't really like move the meter it's like we have to beat them that was one of those wins that's like you can't really flex it's just if a loss happens it's really bad but memes went on a little tweet storm on PMT about Canada and just all the replies like this is from the loser Jets fan memes he's never won anything It was just going after memes hard. I didn't see that. Just doing your job. To those people, I'd say suck my dick. Yeah, just doing your job, bro.

59:12PFT Commenter:Just doing your job. Okay, Zach.

59:17Big Cat:My who's back of the week this week is the Paris Gentlemates professional Call of Duty team. Yep. They've got the fourth major of the year coming up. I was going to say that. Gentlemates? Gentlemates, yes, sir. They're out in Europe. They secured a venue for the major four. It's the Paris La Defense Arena. So it's got 45 ,000 seats. So it's going to be the biggest event in Call of Duty history. 45 ,000 seats for a video game tournament? Yes, sir. Some of the more notable stuff that recently happened in the same arena, Taylor Swift Airs Tour and Olympic swimming, the last time they had the Olympic swimming.

59:47Big Cat:That's pretty incredible. So it's going to be just eight dudes on PCs, main stage, 45 ,000 seats. That's pretty cool. I got a dumb question. How big is the screen? I would imagine that would be a very important part of going to see a video game tournament live. Like the Jumbotron that everybody could watch. I don't have a square footage of Jumbotron on hand, but we can find it really quick. I think it's big. What's the stadium? La Paris Defense Stadium? Pretty solid chance. It's kind of like MSG has the side where we went to darts. I'm thinking that... It wasn't, but it's like in MSG, but it's like a 5 ,000 person.

1:00:23PFT Commenter:Yeah, yeah. Yeah.

1:00:25Big Cat:My gut tells me that this is. Oh, yeah. That thing's huge. That's a big screen. Now, if they're in the market for a bigger screen, I know a guy that makes basketball court size screens that has one. Probably looking for a good home. Oh, Max, do you ever follow up with that guy? You guys never answered me. Do it. I said, do you want me to follow up?

1:00:46PFT Commenter:Yeah, do it. Do it. I forgot. Do it. I would definitely make this court an LED screen. It would be so sick. Yeah.

1:00:56Big Cat:There was some slippage, though.

1:00:57PFT Commenter:Can we get Oldie in here? Let's get to our interview with John Rothstein, and then after John Rothstein, we'll get some quick thoughts from a Canadian on March Madness bracket because Oldie was watching college basketball all weekend with us. NCAA. NCAA. All right. Let's get to John Rothstein. Okay, before we get to John Rothstein, Reese's is teaming up with basketball titans to build their brackets, It's brackets that will inevitably bust, but this year those busts can score you a Reese's. So pick along with the pros and just know whenever you bust, at least you can win a Reese's. Will your bracket survive or will it bust for a Reese's?

1:01:36PFT Commenter:Get your brackets in early and let's see who has the last one standing and the first to get a Reese's. Because even busted brackets happen for Reese's. I have it right here. I'm going to have a Reese's Peanut Butter Cup right here on air because I love them so much. Turn your busted bracket into your shot at Reese's and more. Post your busted bracket tag at Reese's, at R-E-E-S-E-S on Instagram, X, or TikTok, and use hashtag for Reese's sweeps for a chance to score free Reese's and a shot to enjoy those Reese's at the men's or women's Final Four and Championship Games. No purchase necessary. Open only to legal residents of the 48 U.S.

1:02:19PFT Commenter:and D.C. 18 years or older. Void in Alaska, Hawaii, and where prohibited by law. Starts 3-19-26. Ends 3-27-26. Includes daily entry periods. See official rules at everybracketbusforreeses.com slash pages slash official rules for how to enter prize details, odds, and restrictions. Sponsor the Hershey Company. All right, I'm having it right here. it still hits the best ever. Listen, we all are going to have tough brackets. That's how it goes. So sign up now. Let's get some free Reese's going. We're also brought to you by our friends at Chevy. Football season might be over, but you know how it goes the minute the big game ends.

1:03:00PFT Commenter:We're already talking about what's next. Free agency, the draft, who's getting paid, who's grinding, because for football guys, there's no offseason, and that's exactly why they roll with the Chevy Silverado. Silverado is a truck that shows up every time, built to haul a tow and take a beating, but smart where it counts with modern tech that makes life easier. Big screens, available camera views that help with the towing and parking and a cabin that feels right. Whether you're road tripping, heading to practice or loading up for the weekend, during the season, it's the MVP of the tailgate. After the season, it turns into your training camp truck, hauling gear, tackling home projects and doing the work that never stops because the grind doesn't take breaks and neither does Silverado.

1:03:40PFT Commenter:Check out the current offers and build your own. Chevy Silverado at Chevy.com Okay, here he is, John Rostein Okay, we now welcome on a very, very, very, very special guest Recurring guest, as is tradition It is the one, the only, John Rostein You can hear him hosting Inside College Basketball now Get it wherever you get your podcasts He will be on our TV screens in St. Louis For Friday, Sunday action He will then be in studio for the rest of the tournament. John, we've made it. We have a bracket. How are you feeling? Outstanding, Cat, PFT. Always a pleasure. One of the best days of the year, Selection Sunday.

1:04:24Kind of feels like the first night of Hanukkah, but, you know, for all intents and purposes right now, all we have is a bracket, and we know that there's 67 games ahead, but we don't know what's going to happen between now and April 6th. Yes. But we know this is March.

1:04:38PFT Commenter:Yes, this is March. All right, so before we break it down, we've done some of our show, and we said we cannot wait to hear specifically what John has dubbed the East Region. But before we do that, I have one simple question for you. Because on Saturday, or maybe it was Friday, CBS Sports, your colleagues were trying to do a pajama party on air. Yes. And you said no to the pajamas. Was that even – did you even have a second thought about it? because that was like such a, listen, we sleep in May. What are we doing? We're not putting on pajamas. Did you have like a moment where like maybe I'll play along?

1:05:17PFT Commenter:Or were you just like, no, absolutely not. I'm John Rothstein. I don't put on pajamas in March. I'm not a pajama guy to begin with, but like when you have business to tend to, it's not a time to get cozy and feel comfortable. Like we were dealing at that time, I believe, with the San Diego State-New Mexico game, which is like a loser leaves town match that we grew up with with professional wrestling where obviously the guy had to leave the WWF, but this was just, you know, you have to leave college basketball and obviously not be able to play in the NCAA tournament. So I wasn't interested in pajamas.

1:05:48PFT Commenter:Okay. I love that. I knew it. I knew when I saw the picture, I was like, of course, John Rossi is not going to do this. Come on. Be serious, people. We don't need gimmicks this time of year. It's March. Yeah. It's March. We lock in.

1:06:00Big Cat:Dress for the month you want, not the month you have. Yeah. Listen, I. I will say this. I know what you're saying about dress for the month you want the way you are, but I am somebody who, regardless of what month it is, if I am going on a college campus or I'm going on the air, I am always wearing a suit and tie unless it's in a podcast situation that I'm hosting because I have been instructed in those situations not to wear a tie because they want to be more casual. But I am somebody who has always believed that it's really important to wear a shirt and tie. I remember, guys, early in my career, I was working at the ESPN radio affiliate in New York.

1:06:38And I remember I was, you know, like a fill in talk show host, but I also did updates on the Michael K show. So I remember as like somebody who dreamed about living and working in New York. I mean, I was somebody in college who would watch like three movies in the rotation. It was Cocktail, Wall Street and like the secret of my success. I was like determined to be in broadcasting and like live and work in New York. And when I would drive into Manhattan, there was this big billboard on the Upper West Side Highway, and it said, Reporting America's Story. And that's when Brian Williams was hosting NBC Nightly News.

1:07:12So I remember I was doing updates at ESPN Radio. This is probably now close to 20 years ago. And Michael Kay, who was the voice of the Yankees, was the afternoon drive host. And he said to me, he goes, just a heads up, Brian Williams is going to come in to sit in on the show tomorrow with his son. And I said, well, if Brian Williams is coming, then I need to make sure that I wear a suit and tie. So I, with a suit and tie, was like doing updates, doing my job. And I could tell that it made an impression on him. And then years later, I bump into the guy in Rockefeller Center. This is the anchor of NBC Nightly News at the time.

1:07:48And he said to me, I was like meeting somebody for a beer and like a button down. He said to me, I didn't recognize you without your suit. So I will never not obviously wear a suit when I go to a college campus or be in a work setting again.

1:07:59Big Cat:Okay. I like that about you, John. It does become like, you know, if you came on the show and you were wearing a t-shirt and shorts, I would feel like the month of March wouldn't feel the same to me. Right. It would affect my calendar. Like March is John Rothstein wearing a suit and a tie and speaking very authoritatively about what he wants to call these brackets because something has occurred to him when he looked at the coaches, he looked at the teams. And so we got to ask you about the East because it's a lot of brands. It's a lot of coaches. We want to know where your brain went. The region of Blue Bloods is the East region because, as you mentioned, we have brands on top of brands.

1:08:39The number one overall seed is the Duke Blue Devils. Obviously, that's an easy one. But also you have a great brand in Ohio State in the eighth spot. St. John's is your five. Kansas is your four. Louisville is six. Michigan State a three, and then UCLA and UConn. Guys, how about this? Six of the 16 coaches in the East region have coached in the final four. John Shire, Rick Pitino, Bill Self, Michigan State, Tom Izzo, and also UCLA's Mick Cronin and UConn's Dan Hurley. Therefore, the region of Blue Bloods.

1:09:13PFT Commenter:I love it. I love it. Yeah, we went through it. It's seven national titles between those guys. Bill Self with two, Patino with two, Izzo with one, Hurley with two. The teams themselves have 30 national titles. It's pretty crazy. They just stack this region with some of these teams. It's like you grew up on this in college basketball. Also, an incredible region for defense because there's some tenacious defenses in this region. Tenacious defenses in this region, and I think, honestly, a team that a lot of people are sleeping on in the East region, the region of blue bloods is Jamie Dixon's team at TCU.

1:09:56I think a lot of people looked at their bracket and they said, Oh, we're going to get a Duke Ohio state brand on brand game in the round of 32. I am taking Jamie Dixon and company to beat TCU. I think they could push Duke. I don't think they'll beat Duke obviously in the round of 32, but people obviously follow Jamie Dixon at the university of Pittsburgh. You obviously became familiar with his player development, his obviously ability to retain players. David Punch is a player on TCU that people will become familiar with later this week, and he also did a really, really good job recalibrating his perimeter last offseason via the transfer portal.

1:10:35Brock Harding, Jaden Pierre, Latouris, Lelovicius. I'd like TCU to beat Ohio State and pull a little game pressure on Duke.

1:10:40PFT Commenter:Yeah, I was mentioning it. TCU is a big-game team. They beat Florida. They beat Wisconsin. They beat Iowa State. They took Michigan to the limit. So they have played up in level and gone toe-to-toe with some of these teams and asserted themselves like we can hang. So, yeah, I think that's the best 8-9 matchup. Those two teams are both playing great. I mean, Iowa State's playing some great ball recently. Really good ball, but I think if you look at storylines, And this is obviously a couple of rounds down the line, but it's something that I think I've looked at, you know, right now for, you know, since last summer.

1:11:20Coming into this season, you know, I really felt that the burgeoning rivalry in college basketball was UConn and St. John's. Rick Pitino and Dan Hurley. Dan Hurley and Rick Pitino, two of the three active coaches that have won multiple national championships. Bill Self is obviously the other one. And I think if you look at this region right now, if St. John's can get by Kansas and get to the second weekend and get back to the East Coast in Washington, D.C., St. John's could be the team in the Sweet 16 that would match up with Duke without Caleb Foster. If we saw St. John's distort this region and beat Duke in the Sweet 16, it could set up a regional final of epic proportions.

1:12:08I'm talking Ali Frazier type of stuff. I am talking about stuff that they will be doing 30 for 30s on. Because I felt there was a real chance before the season that UConn and St. John's could meet four times this year. They've already met three, but if they meet for a fourth time in 2026, it will not be for a Big East tournament title. It will not be for a Big East regular season title, which obviously was decided in the last days of the regular season. It would be in the Elite Eight for a chance to go to the Final Four. So there's a lot that has to happen for that to come to fruition. But can you imagine in our nation's capital if we have Rick Pitino on one side and Dan Hurley on the other?

1:12:52for the right to go to the Final Four, I mean, I may need a tranquilizer.

1:12:56Big Cat:That would be great. That would be awesome. Can you just talk real quick more about the potential second-round matchup of St. John's and Kansas? Because to me, that sounds like a very, very intriguing game. Really intriguing game, PFT. We have to also remember that Zuby Ejafor, who has emerged as one of the best players in college basketball, I had him as an All-American, started his career at Kansas under Bill Self and then transferred to play for Rick Pitino at St. John's. Look, obviously, Kansas coming into the season had a great deal of attention because of Darren Peterson, who obviously, when active and healthy, has the highest long-term ceiling individually as a prospect in college basketball.

1:13:41But guys, I have said this ad nauseum here. Just because you are obviously a great long-term prospect at the next level, That doesn't mean by any way, shape, or form that you are going to have team success in the NBA, in the NCAA tournament. Remember this. The last nine years, we have seen three first-round picks. Markel Fultz, Ben Simmons, and Anthony Edwards play on teams that didn't make the NCAA tournament. Darren Peterson's team obviously made the NCAA tournament. But Bill Self has had to coach two teams this season. One with Darren Peterson, one without Darren Peterson. I think the round of 32 guys is always the juiciest round of the NCAA tournament because you get matchups like this and because you have one team that's obviously going to be euphoric going to the Sweet 16 and the other is obviously going to go home for the season.

1:14:36And I look at this dynamic between Bill Self and Rick Pitino. It's interesting. As power conference head coaches, Rick Pitino and Bill Self have never coached head-to-head. The only time that Rick Pitino and Bill Self have coached head-to-head was when Kansas played Iona a couple of years ago at an early-season tournament in Orlando.

1:14:55Big Cat:Wow, that is crazy. You would think that they would run into each other at some point over the years. I like watching Kansas because I feel like Fiori Badunga, the big man. You may remember watching, if you watched the tournament last year, not great offensively. This year, he's become maybe the most fun interior player in college basketball to watch, just the way that he affects games with his defense, and he can just dominate you offensively now. I feel like it's a guy that, if all goes well for him, he will be able to take over a game and wreck it himself. Yeah, well, that would be the matchup inside, right?

1:15:33How would Badunga, with his defensive prowess, deal with the size and the physicality, not just of Zuby Ejafor, but of Bryce Hopkins. And guys, I really think the guy that's been the game changer for St. John's, and I thought this when I went to a St. John's practice in the preseason, the guy that has made St. John's the team that it is, is Dylan Mitchell. Now, when you look at the way this roster was constructed, it was obviously constructed with high-level talent. Joe Zanzen and Ian Jackson were guys who were really offensive-minded players, but obviously were not part of high-level winning situations.

1:16:09North Carolina went to the tournament last year, but was in the first four, probably shouldn't have been in the bracket. Joe Zon-Sanon was at Arizona State at a team that didn't make the tournament. Now all of a sudden, Rick Pitino, especially without a traditional table-setting point guard at the high level, Dylan Darling's done a nice job, but obviously it wasn't like having Qadari Richmond or Davon Smith like they had a year ago. I watched practice in Queens, and I said to myself, So Dylan Mitchell's a guy that needs to be on the floor a lot for St. John's because he can have a great impact on a team by not demanding shots.

1:16:42And I think if you look at it from a coaching perspective, the number one thing you think about is shot distribution and whose hands the ball's in. You never have to worry about that with Dylan Mitchell. I felt he was the best glue guy in the Big East. He's definitely one of the best glue guys in the sport. But I'll say this. Things have aligned perfectly for St. John's the last couple of years. Rick Pitino was out of college basketball he came back from Greece and he started to coach at Iona because he wanted to obviously take a job in his native New York it so happened that St. John's was open when Iona was having success and that coincided with the transfer portal name image and likeness and a billionaire booster in Mike Rapoli who obviously has a major hand in St.

1:17:25John's resurgence all of these things aligned so yes it's been incredible to seest john's last year win an ncaa tournament game for the first time since 2000 yes it's been incredible forst john's to win back-to-back big east regular season titles outright and back-to-back big east tournament titles back-to-back for obviously the first time in program history but when you have rick patino as your head coach and look he could coach another 20 years you have to wring out the sponge and And that's why I think if you don't get to the second weekend this year, you're going to feel like something was left on the table.

1:17:59PFT Commenter:I'd agree with that. All right, before we go to the next region, do you have an upset pick? And we'll do all your picks at the end. But do you have an upset pick that you like in this or a team we should look out for? I think if you're looking at the round of 32 game, that could be interesting. It's obviously, and it's another great made-for-TV game if it comes to fruition, it's UConn-UCLA. I will say this, though. UCLA has not played well out of the Pacific time zone. Yep. UCLA. And again, UCLA, we have to remember, is the only team in the Big Ten out of the old Pac-12 teams that has had real success since they joined the league.

1:18:41USC, Washington and Oregon have all struggled when you look at it, especially this season. UCLA has been banged up with Bilodeau and Dent. Mick Cronin has told me he expects them 100 % to play in the first NCAA tournament game against UCF, which will be on Friday. But I do think that UCLA has been such a poor rebounding team and has had such a hole in the middle that Taris would be a tough matchup. So that, to me, is the most appetizing. I think if you look, guys, I mean, if seeds hold, and that happens sometimes, but if seeds hold and we had Duke against Ohio State or TCU, St. John's against Kansas, Louisville against Michigan State, UCLA against UConn.

1:19:20In certain years, those half of the brackets could be the final four, and we wouldn't be complaining.

1:19:25PFT Commenter:Yeah. No, you're right. You're right. That's why it's the region of Blue Buds. Quick break from John Rothstein. This show is sponsored by BetterHelp. It can be challenging to make time for therapy. BetterHelp makes scheduling and attending your weekly sessions easy because it's all online. You can do phone, video, or message chat according to your schedule with over 30 ,000 therapists. BetterHelp is the world's largest online therapy platform, having served over 6 million people globally, and it works with an average rating of 4.9 out of 5 for a live session based on over 1.7 million client reviews.

1:19:58PFT Commenter:If your therapist isn't the right fit, you can switch anytime easily and no extra cost. Prioritize your well-being with BetterHelp. Visit BetterHelp.com slash PMT to get 10 % off your first month. That's BetterHelp, H-E-L-P.com slash PMT. I see a therapist. Let's take care of ourselves. Let's take care of our mentals. Guys, it's okay. Let's get some help. Go to BetterHelp. BetterHelp.com right now slash PMT 10 % off your first month. Okay, back to John Rothstein. All right, what about the South? Let's go to the South next. This is the region of pressure. Now, why is this the region of pressure?

1:20:36There's pressure on Florida to win a national championship again because Florida has a team good enough to win a national championship again and Florida is a number one seed in the NCAA tournament in back-to-back seasons for the first time ever so get this guys for as great as the teams were under Billy Donovan in 06 and 07 that went back to back Todd Golden has led Florida to better seeds in the NCAA tournament this year and last than Donovan did in 06 and 07 Florida has been a one seed in back-to-back years for the first time ever. There's pressure on Nebraska to win an NCAA tournament game for the first time ever.

1:21:12And I am on record in saying this. I said early in the season that if Nebraska were to win an NCAA tournament game for the first time ever, before the start of next season, I would fly to Lincoln, I would put my credit card down in the Haymarket District for one hour, and I would give Nebraska fans a happy hour on me. Love that. Nebraska right now has a lot on the line coming up against Troy later this week. Nebraska has tied its record for program wins, the most in program history of 26. So Nebraska has to win an NCAA tournament game for the first time ever to break the program record for wins.

1:21:52But this is a really, really difficult game, guys, against Troy, a team that won earlier this season at San Diego State. You're looking for a name to keep an eye on. Thomas Dowd is the guy for Troy. 25-19 in that win over San Diego State earlier this year. I'm taking Troy to break the hearts.

1:22:13PFT Commenter:Oh. Everybody at Pinnacle Bank Arena and move on to the round of 32. You're a mean guy, John. Wow. You're a mean guy.

1:22:20Big Cat:That's a mean thing that you're doing. Okay. I'm spicing things up. I'm fully prepared to pay for that happy hour. There's pressure on North Carolina without Caleb Wilson to win a game or two in his NCAA tournament. My heart breaks for him. It breaks for JT Toppin, two of the five or six best players in college basketball. Both of them went down with season-ending injuries. Now, remember this. North Carolina's playing VCU, who's an 11 seed. What seed was VCU in 2007 when it beat Duke in Buffalo when Eric Maynard made that shot? 11. What seed was VCU in 2011 when it went to the Final Four under Shaka Smart?

1:22:58It was an 11. VCU that year averaged 8.3, made three-point shots during the season, averaged 12 in the NCAA tournament. And there's pressure on Houston to get to the second weekend of the NCAA tournament because Houston, after playing Purdue last year at Lucas Oil Stadium in the Sweet 16, relinquished their right, a genius move by ADN E. Nunez, relinquished their right to be the host school in the South region. because Houston then would be eligible to play Sweet 16 and Elite 8 games at the Toyota Center in downtown Houston. So this is the region of pressure. But get this, guys. Houston wins two games, in my opinion, in convincing fashion because they're going to beat Idaho, and I think they'll beat the St.

1:23:45Mary's Texas A &M winner. That would put Kelvin Sampson in a situation where the basketball gods 23 years later would hit him back. What do I mean by that? If it's a Houston-Florida game to go to the Final Four at the Toyota Center in downtown Houston, a rematch of last year's national title game, it wouldn't just be a rematch of last year's national title game. It would put Kelvin Sampson into the opposite position he was in 23 years ago. Because 23 years ago, when Kelvin Sampson was at Oklahoma in 2003, he was a one seed. He was one year removed from a Final Four appearance. And he had to go to Albany to take on Jim Boeheim in Syracuse when Syracuse won the national title.

1:24:27So this would be obviously a major geographic advantage for Kelvin Sampson. He also had to go to Indianapolis to play Purdue last year. So there could be a geographic advantage looming there right there for Houston in the South region, which is also known as the region of pressure.

1:24:42Big Cat:I love that. John, I want to clear something up real quick with you. The rules for the happy hour. You're going to march in. You're going to put your credit card down. Are there limitations on what you can order? Like fancy margaritas? One hour, I start my clock. No, no. It's not just going to be. This isn't like when you go to those weddings and all they have is wine and beer because they're cheap. This is not going to be one of those situations. No, for one hour, I'm going to do it for Nebraska fans if they can beat Troy coming up later in the week. I did it a couple of years ago. How about this, guys?

1:25:12A couple of years ago, and this is Chicago-related. You guys weren't in Chicago at the time, but I would have invited you at the time. I really felt that Chris Collins had an NCAA tournament team at Northwestern, and they lost a bunch of close games. And I told Northwestern fans that I would take them to a happy hour if they didn't make the NCAA tournament. Then after that season, Northwestern lost Pete Nance to North Carolina as a transfer, and they lost Ryan Young to Duke as a transfer, and then they went to the NCAA tournament. But you know me. I'm a people person. I enjoy engaging with the people of America.

1:25:46That's fact. You are.

1:25:47Big Cat:I don't waste calories on alcohol outside the East Time Zone, though. Yeah. You know me.

1:25:50PFT Commenter:You are a people person. Pizza. Pizza. I don't waste calories on pizza. Pizza. All right. West. The West region is the region of floor generals, and look at the point guards in this region. Jaden Bradley at Arizona, John Blackwell and Nick Boyd, the killer bees at your alma mater, Wisconsin. I love Darius Acuff at Arkansas, the best freshman point guard that has ever played for John Calipari. And then you have Rob Wright at BYU. You have Trey Donaldson at Miami. And of course, Braden Smith at Purdue. This is the region of floor generals. Now I will say this. Arizona has not been to a final four since 2001 under Lute Olsen.

1:26:33this might be their best chance to go back since it's going to be through san diego and san jose arizona fans always travel at a high high level but arizona i don't think will be tested in its first two games because i don't think the villanova utah state winner will push them in the round of 32 but that wisconsin arkansas game and i'm not trying to you know force you to grab a nitroglycerine pill here cat but That Wisconsin-Arkansas game has all sorts of intrigue and juice and spice. But I'll say this. If Nolan Winter is able to be healthy and functioning, I got the Badgers going on. You take on Arizona, which would be a rematch of the Elite 8s in 14 and also in 15.

1:27:27Where were those Elite 8 games played? the state of California yep so I think if you're looking at things if you're Wisconsin if you can get by Arkansas there might be a little bit of feeling right now that this Wisconsin team with the killer bees if you get Nolan Winter back could be the team to maybe break open the bracket I think the bottom part of this region is fascinating I'm obviously going to be at the games in St. Louis BYU against Texas or NC State whoever wins in Dayton obviously is a brand name matchup, Gonzaga against Kennesaw State. Guys, an update for you guys. I tweeted this the other day.

1:28:04Mark Few told me that Braden Huff, who was playing like an All-American before suffering a knee injury about eight weeks ago, is shooting and jogging, but he's doubtful for the first weekend. So Gonzaga is not expected to have him, according to Mark Few. But a Gonzaga-BYU or a Gonzaga-Texas round of 32 matchup would be incredible. The Miami-Missouri thing is interesting. I looked up the mileage. This game's in St. Louis. Miami has to go over 1 ,000 miles to play. Missouri has to go just over 100 miles, and Missouri's the 10th seed. And then we got Purdue at the bottom of the bracket, a team that reminds me a lot, guys, of the 2004 UConn team with Gordon, Okafor, Charlie Villanueva.

1:28:48Reminds me a little bit of the Florida team in 2007. And I really believe this in all my years covering a sport. When you bring back a large nucleus of players from a team that went far in the NCAA tournament the year before, and they know that the goal is to go as far in March Madness as you can, and that's how the season is going to be defined, you obviously are in a situation where you know that those players know what's at stake at the end of the race. So you might have lulls during the regular season to keep them occupied and engaged. We've seen Purdue turn it on here the last couple of days at the Big Ten tournament.

1:29:27Beat Michigan today. Looked like the Purdue team we thought. So I've got Arizona, Wisconsin at the top of the region of floor generals in the Sweet 16. And I got Purdue, Gonzaga. I have Purdue taking on Arizona in a West Regional final. And Arizona's playing great basketball right now. and Arizona looks like a team obviously that can win a national championship but I'm a sentimental person I believe obviously in the great story I believe obviously in circles becoming complete I believe still in people who have calluses from life and when I think about people that have calluses from life and life experience I think of Purdue senior class Brayden Smith, Fletcher Lawyer, Trey Kaufman-Wren.

1:30:14I look at what they went through as freshmen. Big Ten regular season champion, Big Ten tournament champion, and then on the wrong side of the biggest upset in the history of the NCAA tournament when Fairleigh Dickinson beat Purdue after Fairleigh Dickinson was not good enough to win the Northeast Conference Tournament. Merrimack won the Northeast Conference Tournament. wasn't good enough to go to the NCAA tournament or wasn't allowed to go to the NCAA tournament because of the transition rule. Then as sophomores, it was the ultimate bounce back, exercising the demons, getting Purdue to the final four with Zach Eadie for the first time since 1980 and losing in the national title game to UConn.

1:30:59Then last year, it was something in between. You make the Sweet 16, you go to Locust Soil Stadium and play Houston in a war, you lose a close game. It's Purdue's best chance to win a national title. Yeah. It's a Final Four bus season. I believe in Purdue. That's taking Purdue to go to the Final Four. And in Indy.

1:31:21PFT Commenter:Yeah, yeah, in Indy. To go to the circle complete, it would be perfect.

1:31:27Big Cat:Now, do you think that this is a better team than the team that went to the Final Four? No, because you don't have Zach Eadie. Right. You don't have Zach Eadie, but I think the X factor is Oscar Clough. The record with Oscar Clough is incredible. They've only lost three games all season when he scored in double figures. So to me, that's the guy that's got to be really, really good. You got an upset coming out of this region? I'm a little chalky in this region. Okay. I mean, I don't think Utah State or Villanova is a huge upset, and I have too much confidence in Wisconsin and Arkansas. I could see the Texas NC State winner beating BYU, but I don't think that's a huge upset.

1:32:11PFT Commenter:Yeah. Okay. Last region, the Midwest. The region of innovation. Ooh. Coaches in this region, and I think about how things are evolving in the modern era of college basketball. You have to have great roster composition. You have to be able to put together a roster. Dusty May has done that. Ryan Odom has done that at Virginia, the three seed. Nate Oates has done that with the style of play that he's instituted at Alabama. And Josh Schertz has done that at St. Louis as well. This is the region of innovation. I've got Michigan playing Georgia. I like Georgia over St. Louis. I have Akron and John Gross picking off Texas A &M in a 12-5.

1:32:56I've got a Michigan-Alabama Sweet 16. And then I'm going to take Tennessee to beat SMU, who I think is primed to show Miami, Ohio, a different weight class than it's seen all season. If you're not familiar with SMU, you are not familiar with the team, I think, that has one of the more underrated perimeters in college basketball. Now, somebody can say, well, why are they underrated? They just backed into the tournament. B.J. Edwards, who had multiple triple doubles this season for SMU, hadn't played since late February. He was a starter and a key player. He, Geron Pierre, and Boopy Miller are three dynamic guards.

1:33:39This is SMU's guys, first at-large berth to the NCAA tournament since 1993. I've got them losing to Tennessee. I've got Kentucky-Iowa State at the bottom. Then I've got Tennessee as a sixth seed, a little of an upset, beating Virginia. and I'm going to take Michigan over Iowa State so I've got Purdue, Michigan in the rubber match in the final four and I got UConn against Houston on the other side

1:34:08PFT Commenter:we can't lose you right now John it's March get yourself together just a little water you've been working all day all night for the last week especially I need you to take a big sip of water

1:34:23Big Cat:and grab a nitroglycerin pill. I got it. That's right. I'm rallying. So I got in the East region, the left side of the bracket is filled with drama. Like we've got the St. John's UConn phase four possibility. We've got Florida, Houston. I'm going to take Houston and UConn. I've got UConn winning that game. And then I've got a rubber match between Purdue and Michigan. I'm taking Purdue. So for the second time in three years, It's Purdue and UConn for a national championship. Dan Hurley against Matt Painter. And this time, we complete the circle for the Boilers. Wow. The team that started the year number one in the country wins a national championship.

1:35:05Wow.

1:35:07Big Cat:That's something. That's a spicy meatball, John. That's a take, John. That is a take. That is a big time. John, do you spread any money on these games? You ever put down a couple bucks? No, man. I'm working a tournament. Objective. Yeah, he's got to work a tournament. He's working the tournament. Fair and easy. But, I mean, Purdue, if you're looking to sprinkle a future on Purdue, that pays off pretty nicely. So that might be a great tip. Nah, man. That's not my beat.

1:35:38PFT Commenter:John, how much college basketball have you had your daughter watch? you know we're right now um obviously in an interesting stage of parenthood i'm sure you've been in we're in the potty training stage yeah so you know now it is literally every day is like its own bye game it's like literally like we are in the stage right now where you just have this two and a half year old running around naked because we're trying to potty train her yeah And there's just hands and all stuff. And she's drawing on the floor. But it's literally like you feel like you're in a situation where you've like bought Matt Lengel and Colgate and you're down by 12 at the under 12 in the second half.

1:36:21PFT Commenter:Perfectly said. Can I give you a tip on potty training? Just wait till they're old enough where they're just like, yeah, this is crazy. I'm still using a diaper. All my kids were potty trained at like three and a half to like an uncomfortable level where it's like, all right, enough is enough. And they picked it up in like a day. yeah no it's it's amazing like before you have kids you have no idea i think about how meaningless some of the other stuff you worried about before you have kids are because you know it used to be like i used to love how people like oh like yeah like what are you leaving work going home to unwind it's like unwind this is like buying shaka smart at vcu by the way are we shaka smart has not been good for a very long time do any of your do any of your like sayings you have to be like all right we got to retire this one like it's over well time out time out he's went to the ncaa tournament every year at market except for this year but he hasn't done anything in the ncaa tournament for a long time well he went to the sweet 16 two years ago okay but like he his teams he's had high seeds i'm saying like shaka's look it hasn't been great well i mean i think how you're looking at it like should Marquette be expected to get to a final four I think Marquette every year should be in the NCAA tournament he's four out of five like I mean let's think about this Marquette since we've all been following college sports has been to one final four correct and they went to one final four because who was the player on the team Tom Crean was the coach well that's Wayne Wade I know but time 29 11 and 11 a triple double against Kentucky in Minnesota against Marquis Sestel, Gerald Fitch, and Keith Bogans in 2003.

1:38:03And who else was on that team? Steve Novak, Travis Diener, Scott Merritt, Robert Jackson. I mean, great players. And that was obviously in Conference USA. So, great coaches don't do this without great players.

1:38:16PFT Commenter:I'm just saying, Shaka Smart is kind of a perfect example of, like, don't overachieve early on in your career. He went to a Final Four in his second year as a head coach, and he's gone to one sweet 16 since. Like, he set the bar too high on himself. no i get it but i mean that's what happens i mean that sometimes is what happens in march madness i don't want to say it's the dark side of march because that's a different reference that i use but i will say this i will quote mike tyson the brighter the lights the darker the shadows

1:38:47Big Cat:yeah good point that is very very true and in the in the pressure region pressure makes diamonds that's another one that's what i'm saying now that's what i'm saying cat yeah john the head coach of florida who's the number one sea pressure region his last name is golden yeah how about that um have you had any new john rothston isms that maybe the uninitiated should should pay attention to when who is the last coach to get a nickname or a catchphrase you know it's it's not it's not one for bill self but i was just marveling this year at how like and we've said this for years but you know how like you're watching kansas play at allen field house and some of the games that they win there are just so ridiculous.

1:39:29Like you can't believe it. It's like the plot of Godfather three. It's like, how does this happen? How does this, you know, come to fruition? So I just went this year when they played Arizona at home without Darren Peterson and they beat them. I just couldn't believe it. And I could feel the crowd through the TV and I just tweeted. And on the eighth day, God created Alan field house.

1:39:50Big Cat:Yeah, that's good. That's good. I like that one. Also, I don't know what, what movie were you referencing there? I'm not supposed to talk about it. The plot of what movie? I've never heard of that movie before. I'm not supposed to talk about The Godfather. You just did. I broke my own rules. You just did. Yeah. I just broke my own rules. No, I said never acknowledge The Godfather Part 3 as part of the original trilogy. So I touched on something.

1:40:12PFT Commenter:Okay, John, this has been great. We love having you on. I have one last question for you. It's a rowback question. R-H-O-B-A-C-K.com. Promo code TAKE. 20 % off your first purchase. Q-Zips, polos, hoodies, joggers, shorts. Rowback.com. Promo code TAKE. One thing I love about you, John, is that you're tweeting college basketball no matter what. Whatever can be happening in the world, you're tweeting about it. I had a couple that I wanted to just bring up and see if you remember what maybe you tweeted when these things were happening. Because, again, it's like the world could be falling apart. And John Rothstein's got an update about Merrimack playing Stanford in their non-conference.

1:40:52PFT Commenter:Do you remember what you tweeted on the day that Prince Harry and Meghan Markle got married? I don't. May 2018, this is not during college basketball season. You just tweeted, during their wedding, most underappreciated aspect of Villanova's run the last five years, going 32-4 and earning a one seed in 16-17 when Amari Spellman was ineligible and the Phil Booth was injured. Perfect. Perfect timing on that one. Do you remember, what about the Notre Dame Cathedral fire? April 2019. No. You said Source Fordham will host Bryant as part of its 19-20 non-conference schedule. And I went to that game.

1:41:33PFT Commenter:Bryant won in a bye game. It was the epitome mentality. Do you have these ready to go at all times? You have a file. In all seriousness, guys, this is what has happened. I, as you know, am always laser focused on my job, and I don't follow other sports. So I'm just focused on the task at hand. So, like, there have been times, and I felt bad about this, but, like, I hadn't watched a Monday Night Football game since probably, like, Troy Aikman and Emmitt Smith were on the Dallas Cowboys. So a couple of years ago, Rutgers is playing Purdue, and Cam Spencer, before he transferred to UConn, makes a crazy three, and, you know, they go and they win the game at Mackey Arena, and I pound, you know, on Twitter, grab near nitroglycerine pills.

1:42:20that coincided with that incident with the bills game when uh the more hamlin went down thank god he's all right and like you know people were coming at me it's like how can you not know that's like well i haven't watched like a monday night football game since 95 yeah how would i know it yeah yeah so then i think what's happened is this there's been like other instances like i remember like i was with a friend of mine we were actually we were living life in our 40s and he like fell when we were playing like touch football with our kids and like he had to go to the hospital so i'm like waiting with him in the hospital he's getting like an x-ray and like i just got a heads up it's like hey john like you know just a heads up you know i own a start in a home and home with fordham so i like tweeted in the emergency room and i have no idea like there's this big like political issue going on so what has happened is this because of that which has all happened organically whenever big world events happen i now get flooded on my phone with like little scoops that would be a good time to put that's great i remember this i remember like whenever like the new pope had been picked yeah i got like somebody at northwestern hitting me up it's like yo john heads up we're hosting fairfield in a bye game on this date november feel free to put it out

1:43:30PFT Commenter:i love it i love it i mean my personal favorite because when it happens when it's like not college basketball season because tomorrow hamilton that's during uh college basketball season uh 2019 august 2019 Jeffrey Epstein found dead John Rothstein tweeted Joe Dooley will bring in 11 new players next season at East Carolina have never heard of a coach bringing in more than eight or nine in a single recruiting class the epitome of flipping a roster perfect ECU basketball baby you had

1:43:59Big Cat:another one during the Super Bowl this year Indiana will host Bellarmine on November 5th part of its 2026 non-conference schedule against Doug Davenport we look forward to it it's just great it's just like you

1:44:11PFT Commenter:You just know because, you know, the world's a cynical place. The world's an ugly place. But you know that Rothstein's going to be there with some college basketball news for you at all times. No, but, like, that's the thing. Like, there is no act. There is no stick. Like, this is who I am. This is who I am. That's the bottom line. You know. I do love the fact that it's now become a chicken and egg situation where now you get, like, the minute something bad happens in the world, people just start hammering you with bye games. I was on vacation and I was hanging out with my wife and like it coincided when like I guess, what's her name?

1:44:47Taylor Swift was getting engaged to the guy from the Chiefs?

1:44:50PFT Commenter:Yeah, Travis Kelsey, yeah. Yeah, him like right away I like got a heads up that Robert, I remember tweeting this, it was like Robert Morris against Drake and I was like oh my god, Andy Toole against Eric Henderson? Money. It's perfect. It's perfect. Oh man. Well John, you're the best Everyone get ready for March Madness. You will see him, like I said, in St. Louis on your TV screen. Then you'll see him in studio. You can listen to his podcast anywhere you want to get podcasts. And John Rothstein is the absolute best. We love it. This is March. By the way, the Inside College Basketball Now is his podcast.

1:45:29PFT Commenter:John, we made it. Brackets, this is March. This is March, fellas. Always a pleasure. Have a great tournament. Talk to you soon. All right. Thank you, John. John Rothstein was brought to you by our friends at Planet Fitness. Everybody can get strong at Planet Fitness. High value membership that supports any fitness journey as low as$15 a month. Over 2 ,800 club locations. Most clubs open 24 hours. We're all strong on this planet. Look, we have the gym here. I've been doing my workouts, but I've also, what we don't show is I do my Chinese workout. Then I get in the Planet Fitness gym. Then I do some free weights.

1:46:05PFT Commenter:Then I get on the stair climber. Then I get on the treadmill. Let's all get better this year with Planet Fitness. We're all strong on this planet. Join today in club, online, or in the free PF app. Hours, amenities, and offers vary by club. Check out planetfitness.com or stop by your local club for more information. Must be 18 years old to enroll or 13 to 17 with a parent slash guardian. Let's get it going, boys and girls. With Planet Fitness this year, join today in club, online, or in the free PF app. We're also brought to you by some great footwear to work out in at your Planet Fitness. We're brought to you by Noble.

1:46:44PFT Commenter:Noble is a footwear brand built for training. It's a brand for anyone that strives to be better every day with options across training and lifestyle. Noble has options for everyone. It's a brand for anyone who wants to be a better version of themselves and get stronger physically, mentally, and emotionally. They don't over-promise or under-deliver. The shoes just feel great and hold up to any occasion. I wear them. They are great. Noble has absolutely perfected that lightweight, perfect shoe for the gym. And we just got the all-new Drive 2, and it might be the most versatile shoe I've ever owned.

1:47:15PFT Commenter:Anything from lifting, cardio, or just going for a walk. It's been redesigned for better comfort, fit, and performance with lighter materials and improved support. Not to mention it's the same brand worn by professional athletes across all the major sports leagues and TB12 himself. exclusively for pardon my take listeners Noble is offering 35 % off your first order visit nobleproject.com use code PMT for 35 % off your entire first order that's noble www.nobullproject.com and use code PMT for 35 % off ok wrapping up the show Oldie was here this weekend but his flight got canceled uh bad storm in chicago you guys want to talk about how you got back yeah yeah uh hey oldie how's it going how are you good to see you i love you oldie i'm sorry

1:48:13Big Cat:that i missed you i loved it too i was a little bit sad when i was in the uber and i was like man i get to say hi to pft and hank i'm a little upset but it worked out for the best right boys yeah that's why i'm back it's good to see you so yeah so today we were flying out of uh jacksonville after the players and we were leaving at at noon flight gets canceled hank pulls a a genius move and sprints the other side of the airport to a different end of the terminal books a standby on a different airlines flight that hasn't been canceled yet that gets delayed like four times we eventually get out of there on this flight we think we're going to get into chicago safe and sound and as we're landing i've never been more scared on an airplane in my entire life we're going in for the landing and then the uh the pilot just well it was it was it was super foggy up in the air so you've been sitting at the window and then we just got as we're descending we just got to the point where you could see like you're getting close to landing that we could see the runway as we're pulling up to it you'd see the ground yeah and we were flying in sideways and we started flying in sideways because the wind was 35 miles per hour the pilot told us and it switched at the last minute to like the opposite direction so the plane like makes this huge shutter to the side the pilot hits full throttle to take off and try to go around so now we go from almost landing to nose pointing up and like going up through the clouds again and the plane is like shaking and like creaking hard turns creaking and people were were screaming on the plane this old lady was sitting next to me i i hope she's okay mentally now but she just reached it she just grabbed my arm and she was crying like full tears damn coming down her face there are people like crying on the plane i think hank thought that he was gonna die and and i had bet on ludwig and matt fitzpatrick and like those were also just going down in flames and i was just like this is this is it the worst moment yeah and this lady she was like crying and like wailing in my ear and i just i looked i was like let's take some deep breaths together what's your name it's okay we're gonna we're gonna be fine we're gonna make it out of this and then there was like a very long silent pause where everyone kind of caught their breath for a second and then a guy that was like two rows in front of me turns around and the whole plane's quiet he goes this ever happened on your simulator pft and then it like broke the ice a little bit and i was like yeah it's okay and then the lady was like are you a pilot and then i had to be like not not exactly a pilot uh but no but i was like trying to explain to her we're going to be okay we're going to be okay then we end up landing in michigan the bottom line is the the pilot did an awesome job to get us out of there but it was like we i've never been on a plane where i actually

1:50:54PFT Commenter:thought that there was a chance that we were going to crash damn and yeah and it was it was like that

1:50:59Big Cat:for a little bit so we we get to grand rapids get off the airplane and then hank drives back through a uh through a flood which was a an all-time move on his part good job good showing hank golf almost killed you guys great showing today hank the players that's what you know it's the things we do for our kids right right if you guys had missed the show tonight i would have been so upset

1:51:22PFT Commenter:yeah that was never an option i mean it's selection sunday that was never an option

1:51:26Big Cat:it's a big weekend we had a yeah right right a great time on uh on friday uh after after we were done playing some golf with bortles bortles like yeah i'll come over for a drink ended up staying over at her place for like six hours and then homa stopped by and basically like homa and bortles got to hang out and i think i think bortles went triple platinum with like nine different one-liners that he dropped that night like funny story it was just like an awesome night having max and blake like do their own podcast for us together yeah uh we'll watch those two good guys watch some some games and ate some pizza so it was fun and i'm just very very glad that we're not dead yeah

1:52:09PFT Commenter:Very glad you're not 10 That would have sucked A lot Oldie What do you got thoughts On March Madness You know

1:52:17Big Cat:I gotta give it up To my boys Ohio State It's been four years I'd like to see that Okay Gonzaga Or Gonzaga They got some Canadian boys Out there Yep And then I need Max's help here We got a lot of Canadians on Yeah St. Mary's Oh yeah yeah Yeah Yep

1:52:37PFT Commenter:Fiams

1:52:39Big Cat:Hank, stop finding it funny. It's a lot of Canadians on the team. That's why. They are? Yeah, there is. Hell yeah. Five of them. Five of them, yeah. I like Fins Up for Fins Up. Okay. Fins Up was electric.

1:52:53PFT Commenter:Yeah, Fins Up is like all the boys doing it together, being goofy together. I guess we're too serious for it.

1:52:59Big Cat:Was that? Yeah, I enjoy it. I feel like, was that a secret until two months ago? A month and a half ago? What? Who uncovered Finz up and brought it to a national conversation?

1:53:10PFT Commenter:It was a couple weeks ago. I saw the guys went on Ryan Hammer's podcast. They were guys who are not affiliated with LA, who didn't go there. They live in New York, and they wanted to find a team to root for. And then they went to a game and then just started doing it. So it's awesome. Now they're in the tourney.

1:53:28Big Cat:It's literally like a synchronized swimming done to perfection. And it's done. When it's called out, the hands come together, boom, clap, done, over. crushed it you know what i love is uh the the pictures of like the the tiny gyms that some of these schools play in queens look at queen's gym it is a high school gym yeah yeah i mean i've been

1:53:49PFT Commenter:to the liu it's a great gym you just walk in free tickets free tickets general admission walk yeah absolutely lower decker you're in there's not really an upper deck but yeah all right so what What other teams do you like?

1:54:03Big Cat:Gonzaga. I don't want to say Duke. Okay. Don't. Don't. I got to write Ohio State, I think, by their maybe second round. They got to play against Duke, so it's not looking good. So I got to write LIU with the Cinderella story. And my boy, who's on the team? Ryan Nembhardt. Yeah. Canadian. So his dad's a beaut. Yeah. Who else? Houston. Maybe Houston. Yeah. But there could only be one, so we're going to go right to Houston. We'll go Houston. Okay. I love it.

1:54:35PFT Commenter:That was a very weird way to get to Houston because when you said only one, I was like, oh, shit. I love their physical team. Yeah. Grinders. Nembhard's not on Zag anymore, by the way. He's not? No. His brother's not there. Ryan? Ryan, I think, is in the NBA, right? Definitely in the NBA. Yeah. But that's okay. They were there. Yeah. A little support still. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, you know, it stays on. You keep riding with them.

1:55:04Big Cat:Keep riding with them.

1:55:05PFT Commenter:Okay, well, it was great having you here, oldie. By the way, Shane, can you put Shane on real quick? Of course. Love being here, boys. Love you guys. Shane, what happened to Chalamet Guarantee? I mean, it's tough.

1:55:21Big Cat:These movies, they go on these award circuits for months and months, So at a certain point, at least over the past few years, you can get pretty predictive of who would get the Oscars. And Chalamet swept everything except for, like, the BAFTAs. So I thought Chalamet was the guy. I like to think of myself as, like, the movie guy here. I mean, this is a tough look for me. Very tough. Back to the drawing board. Who did you think was better? You've got to watch more movies.

1:55:49PFT Commenter:Who did you think was better?

1:55:51Big Cat:I think Chalamet was better. I mean, my favorite performance of the year was Leo in One Battle. But the way the campaigning went and Leo wasn't really showing up to anything, that was kind of out of the question. What do you think about his mustache? I think he looked great. The last couple years, he's kind of just, like, looked disheveled for this other movie. And he's looking pretty, like, well-kempt. He had the mustache rocking. He was looking slick. So you think that it does matter if somebody shows up to, like, campaign for their movie? Yeah, Oscar campaigning is a very big thing. Like, if you look at the history of the Oscars, like, it's a very big thing.

1:56:22Big Cat:That's kind of stupid. No, I mean. That's how elections work That's how so many directors They give them honorary ones later on in their career Because I forget the one What was the movie with Gwyneth Paltrow It was like Shallow hell It was like the Shakespeare in Love That was like a big one I forget what that won over That was like a big Oscar year But that was just because I hate to bring it up But Harvey Weinstein was like But he campaigned very hard and he like... Love you guys. This is a really long way of saying you got it wrong. No, I got it wrong and yeah, I have to live with that. You're not the movie guy.

1:57:03Big Cat:Bad guy, good campaigner. Memes is playing you off. Yep, you can do that.

1:57:12PFT Commenter:You got it wrong. Yeah, got it wrong. 19. And in your defense of yourself, you started talking about Harvey Weinstein.

1:57:18Big Cat:And he didn't say numbers. No, I know, but I was trying to bring an example. Yeah, whatever. Sorry, guys. He didn't say numbers.

1:57:24PFT Commenter:Don't say sorry. Don't say sorry. All right, numbers.

1:57:29Big Cat:19.

1:57:30PFT Commenter:There you go. 23.

1:57:31Big Cat:56. 86. 17. 46. Shane, if you want, you can also give us a quick recap of everything else that the Chargers did in free agency. What's your favorite move that the Chargers had, Shane? Favorite Chargers move of free agency. Keaton Mitchell. Okay.

1:57:56PFT Commenter:Did everyone say their numbers? Yep.

1:57:58Big Cat:Yup.

1:57:59PFT Commenter:Oh, did you say one? Four.

1:58:02Big Cat:Four.

1:58:23PFT Commenter:72. 72. Anyone? Anyone? Nope. One more? One more. Same numbers. Same again, 23. Same numbers, 56. 17.

1:58:40Big Cat:Someone should have said 64 or 68.

1:58:50Big Cat:41. 41. 41. Love you guys. And happy birthday to Gaz, my good friend Gaz. Wow. The last department. Huge. Yeah. Love Gaz, everything about the guy. Go follow him online. He's got funny things to say all the time. Soul sales guy. Love you guys.

1:59:20Thank you.

1:59:50Thank you.

2:00:22Thank you.

2:00:55Thank you.