In short
March Madness reactions to UConn’s Elite Eight comeback vs Duke, plus discussion of the men’s Final Four matchups and coaching decisions.
Guests
ESPN college basketball analysts Jay Bilas and Andrea Carter; Illinois head coach Brad Underwood (joins later in Hour 2); Director Antoine Fuqua (mentioned as a guest).
Key claims
UConn overcame a 19-point first-half and 15-point halftime deficit to beat the No. 1 overall seed Duke, with a historic late sequence. The decisive moments were Alex Karavan’s first made 3 (a 26-footer) and Braylon Mullins’ game-winning 35-footer after a Duke turnover on the final possession. The episode argues Duke’s error was failing to secure the inbound/clock situation; John Shire had a timeout but didn’t use it.
Notable examples
comparison to Patriots-Super Bowl XLIX clock management; Bilas cites “championship DNA” and practice “catch and face” drills; Bilas also previews Michigan vs Arizona, emphasizing free throws and physicality, and praises Illinois’ offense/defense and Keaton Wager’s impact.
Written by AI. May contain mistakes. Listen to the episode to check what was said.
Chapters
Tap a time to open that second in VOMarch Madness Overview
1:15 to 2:15
Discussion on March Madness, NFL news, and sports updates.
“ESPN College Basketball Analyst Jay Billis, ESPN College Basketball Analyst Andrea Carter, Illinois Head Coach Brad Underwood, Director Antoine Fuqua, and now it's Rich Eisen.”
Duke vs. UConn Game Analysis
2:15 to 5:05
Detailed analysis of the UConn-Duke game and its pivotal moments.
“The women will have their Final Four set by the end of the day.”
Duke's Final Moments Explained
5:05 to 8:00
Examination of Duke's final plays and decisions that led to their loss.
“and Adam, our call screener, and everybody else in Duke Blue Devil Nation, slow motion.”
UConn's Comeback Explained
8:00 to 12:30
Exploration of UConn's remarkable comeback and key player performances.
“Or make one of two free throws, and they're going to have to go the length of the floor to win this basketball game.”
Final Four Predictions and Analysis
12:30 to 14:00
Predictions for the Final Four and discussion on competing teams.
“Man, they're the ones cutting down the nets in Washington, D.C.”
UConn vs. Duke Final Four Reflections
14:00 to 18:29
Analyze the intense rivalry and performances in the UConn-Duke matchup.
“Michigan and Arizona have looked much better than Duke has looked this entire tournament.”
Jay Bilas on UConn's Championship DNA
20:51 to 28:01
Jay discusses the competitive nature of the UConn-Duke game and coaching strategies.
“All right, I saw your comments first blush that you made on your Instagram account, which is a must follow, Jay.”
UConn vs. Duke: Analyzing Critical Decisions
28:01 to 31:10
Explore the pivotal moments and strategic decisions that shaped the UConn vs. Duke game.
“there Danny Hurley was saying hey you want to foul uh Saar or Gumba uh I think he said Saar or Patrick which is Gungva's first name.”
Narratives of the Final Four: Michigan and Arizona
31:11 to 35:44
Discuss the narratives surrounding Michigan and Arizona in relation to their Final Four matchup.
“let's talk about the other narrative right now Jay which I've already heard and I tried to dispatch um which is Michigan and Arizona is the de facto national championship game Jay yeah what do you I think.”
Brad Underwood and Illinois' Tournament Journey
35:45 to 39:28
Insights on Brad Underwood's coaching style and Illinois' performance in the tournament.
“I don't think that they're going to be happy to be their team.”
Show all 12 chapters
NFL Owners Meeting Overview
42:39 to 43:40
Discussion on the NFL owners meeting, its participants, and activities.
“They call it the annual meeting because it's more than just owners.”
A.J. Brown Trade Speculation
43:41 to 47:59
Exploration of the ongoing trade talks surrounding A.J. Brown.
“And I believe today is when the NFC coaches have their breakfasts and the media sits at their tables.”
Transcript
Automatic transcript. May contain errors.0:00Rich Eisen:Score more with the college branded Venmo debit card and earn up to 5 % cash back with Venmo Stash. Got paid back? With the Venmo debit card you can instantly access your balance and spend on what you want. Like game day snacks, gear, tickets and more. The more you do, the more cash back you can earn. Plus there's no monthly fee or minimum balance. Sign up now at Venmo.com slash college card. The Venmo MasterCard is issued by the Bancorp Bank N.A. Select schools available. Venmo Stash terms and exclusions apply at Venmo.me slash stashterms. Max$100 cash back per month. Protein is now at Starbucks, and it's never tasted so good.
0:33You can add protein cold foam to your favorite drink or try one of our new protein lattes or matcha. Try it today at Starbucks.
0:45Rich Eisen:This is the Rich Eisen Show. Hey, everybody. Can't get enough of the Rich Eisen Show? You're in luck. You can find us everywhere. Watch us weekdays on Disney Plus from noon to 3 Eastern. Miss the show? We've got a podcast so you can listen anytime. But here's the best part. Our YouTube channel. Subscribe at youtube.com slash Rich Eisen Show and you'll never miss a moment. Now, on with the show. There are so many games that come down to the final shot. Ballin, three, he got it! Oh, he got it! This is the Rich Eisen Show. Michigan wins the Midwest region. Today's guests. ESPN College Basketball Analyst Jay Billis, ESPN College Basketball Analyst Andrea Carter, Illinois Head Coach Brad Underwood, Director Antoine Fuqua, and now it's Rich Eisen.
1:46Rich Eisen:Hey everybody, welcome to this edition of the Rich Eisen Show live in Los Angeles, California on ESPN Radio. Sirius XM Channel 80 for those listening, for those viewing Disney Plus and the ESPN app. 844-204-RICH is the number to dial to have a chat with us about whatever you want to chat with. A lot of NFL news popping with the NFL owners all gathering in Arizona to meet today and vote on things or not. March Madness. Men's Final Four is set. The women will have their Final Four set by the end of the day. Major League Baseball having its first full weekend in the books. 844-204-RICH. Number to dial however you want to chat with us, please do.
2:29Rich Eisen:Good to see you over there. Christopher Brockman, how are you? Hey, Rich. Happy Monday, my friend. Same to you. Jason Feller, how are you? Hey, what's up, Rich? Good to see you. The Los Angeles Dodgers have already won the NL West. Congratulations. I mean, they're not far off. Good to see you, TJ Jefferson. What's going on, man? That was disappointing. Ah! Well, let's talk about it. Hi, everybody else. Sorry, TJ. March Madness. This is why we watch March Madness games. Shockers, big finishes, major comebacks, bracket busters, or not. Oh, my goodness gracious. Wow, right? The Duke Blue Devils, after struggling against Siena and TCU and then St.
3:16Rich Eisen:John's giving them a game, The number one overall seed in this tournament had a massive lead on UConn. 19 points in the first half, 15 at halftime. And usually that's all she wrote when you're taking on a number one seed, let alone the number one overall seed in this tournament. 134-0. That's what the number one seeds in the history of the men's NCAA tournament are, or were with a 15-point lead or larger at halftime. And then UConn makes a run because they have nothing but lion-hearted champion-type players on the floor, on the bench, and certainly one of the best coaches we've seen in men's college basketball in some time, in Dan Hurley on the bench.
4:10Rich Eisen:and what we saw was something we'll be talking about forever, quite frankly, because it is rare to see a comeback like the one that UConn mounted. It is rare to see, as I mentioned, a comeback like the one that UConn mounted against a first overall seed in this tournament. But what we saw were two three-point shots by UConn made by guys in Alex Caravan and Braylon Mullins who did not make a single three in the game up until the point that they made two three-pointers to give UConn the requisite number of points to beat Duke. But in order to beat Duke, what had to happen is something that I think played out in slow motion for Duke fans.
5:03Rich Eisen:if I may speak on behalf of you, TJ Jefferson, and Adam, our call screener, and everybody else in Duke Blue Devil Nation, slow motion. And every single time I watch it back, I can't believe it happened. Because all Duke needed to do was inbounds the ball and hold on to it. And when you watch it over and over again, you can see how it all unfolded that this kid, Dane Zarr, he's the one who inbounds the basketball. Zarr inbounds the basketball to Cameron Boozer, who gets it back to Zarr. He's under the basket by himself. All he needs to do is hold onto it. All Boozer needed to do was hold onto it.
5:59Rich Eisen:All Duke needed to do was just inbounds the basketball and maybe pass it once, and that's it. Because you can't get a 10-second violation when there's just 10 seconds left on the clock. Great. So we use all 10 seconds. You get the basketball. The thing is, UConn, there's no time left. We win. We're in the Final Four. We're cutting down the nets in Washington, D.C. And Sarr passed the ball to Caden Boozer, who tried to get it over the outstretched hands of not one but two UConn Huskies and turned the ball over. And that's when Caravan, who was 0 for 5 in the game from three-point range until he made a 26-footer to make it a one-point game, passed it to Braylon Mullins, who was 0-4-4 from three-point range, to nail a 35-footer splash that will live in NCAA tournament history forever.
7:00Rich Eisen:Unbelievable. Mr. Basketball in Indiana, splashdown. And the only thing I could think of here at that point in time is you start looking back at it, right? John Shire had a timeout. Yeah. Yeah. John Shire had a timeout after UConn made one of two free throws, the back end of the free throws. He had a timeout. And I'm wondering if he's sitting around, and we'll ask Jay Billis this, when he joins us in about 14 minutes' time, in a quiet moment thinking, if I had fired off a timeout just to let everyone know We're going to come up with the best inbounds play we've got. Set the ducks in a row. And then you hold on to the basketball.
7:50Rich Eisen:You don't need to pass it. Get fouled. Do nothing. Let UConn begin to be the ones to panic as the clock starts winding down. Get fouled. Make two free throws. Let's cut down a net. Or make one of two free throws, and they're going to have to go the length of the floor to win this basketball game.
8:15and unbelievably, Duke passed it,
8:21Rich Eisen:and now UConn passes them with a pair of scissors and a ladder to cut down the nets, and this is what John Shire had to say afterwards. We just have to secure it, right? I mean, we got it. They had a foul. I was ready for a timeout, and we just got to hold on, And, you know, it's easy to look at that play. You know, I look at every play that happened, especially in that second half. This is not about one play. It's about every play to put us in that position. And that's what you don't want to do. Where one play, something can happen. And so for me, look, it's going to be tough. But it's not going to be on one play.
9:03Rich Eisen:I understand that. And, you know, I hear him. But this is one play that is going to really stick. And you know what this reminds me of? This reminds me of the Patriots Super Bowl win over the Seattle Seahawks. How so? Where Belichick let the clock wind down instead of firing off a timeout. And Seattle was left to its own devices to do the obvious. And didn't. And threw it when they should have run it. And UConn, instead of fouling. First of all, instead of fouling, they let the clock run and left Duke to pass it when they should have held it. Yeah. And also, I thought when Dan Hurley's standing on the sideline there, I thought he was going to tell his free throw shooter, who made the back end of two free throws, miss it on purpose.
10:14Rich Eisen:We don't have time left. There's 10 seconds left. Miss it on purpose. Let's try and get the rebound, and let's get a two here to tie it or a three to win it. and instead he made the free throw where he needed a three to win it, a three to tie it. I thought that's what he was going to do. Instead he made the free throw, and instead of fouling, UConn just backed off, got the turnover they needed, and then Hurley, with them getting possession out of nowhere, decides to let the clock run again. He doesn't fire off a timeout and try and set a play. Exactly. He pushed every possible right button in the last 10 seconds.
11:01Rich Eisen:And after the game said this about not calling timeout and letting his Mr. Basketball from Indiana nail one from the logo. Oh, it's scary, man. It's like, yo, what the, you know, because Duke is so good defensively, it just felt like you're almost, you know, you're watching Alex and seeing, you know, kind of like as Braylon's catching the ball, does he look like he's in some type of a rhythm? You know, does he look like he's going to kind of rip drive it? I mean, you're torn right there, and you're almost like, and you're just, it's instincts. It's gut instinct. But I think with their size, their length, their ability to switch everything, You know, it just felt like the window where you just got to let March Madness take over.
11:56Rich Eisen:March Magic. March Madness and Magic taking over. I like that. He lets his guy shoot the free throw. They make it. He doesn't foul and lets Duke throw it around like they need to score. and then picks it off, decides not to call a timeout because why would I let Duke set the defense? I'll just let my guy shoot it from the logo. 30-footer, nobody else. Okay. Wow. Yeah, that was crazy. Wow. What a win for UConn. Man, they're the ones cutting down the nets in Washington, D.C. and moving on to a third Final Four in four years to take on Illinois, whose coach Brad Underwood is going to join us in hour two.
12:49Rich Eisen:And this is why Hurley, Caravan making a shot, this kid Mullins making a shot, but Hurley being the coach, I don't want to hear that my alma mater, which boat raced Tennessee, Andrea Carter joining us in hour two, and Arizona, which eventually got its sea legs in its toughest matchup in the tournament to date before dispatching Purdue with dispatch. I don't want to hear that that's the de facto national championship game like Rams-Seahawks was the de facto Super Bowl this year. Why? I don't want to hear that. But they were. But as a Michigan fan or what? I mean, I don't know. No, no, no, no, no.
13:35Rich Eisen:How can you argue? How can you sit here and say UConn can't beat Michigan and Arizona when they just beat the number one overall seed down 19 with guys who made shots and coaches who pushed buttons, man? Come on. UConn has no shot. It's like they'll go into the national championship game if they beat Illinois against Michigan or Arizona with a slingshot? Come on now. Third time in four years. Come on. These damn straight. Michigan and Arizona have looked much better than Duke has looked this entire tournament. I understand that. I get it. I just don't want to hear it, man. They can do it. Yeah, they can do it.
14:15Rich Eisen:You want to wait like an hour? Okay, for overreaction Monday? I get it. I get it. So, there's all of that. And then, just while we're on the subject of my alma mater. Taking on Arizona on that second game and final four Saturday. Oh, my gosh. After UConn and Illinois play one another. And whoever wins definitely has a shot to win it all. And it's more than just, you know, a dollar and a dream, as they used to say back when. Chip in a chair. Chip in a chair. You know, all you need is a lottery ticket. More than that. But I'll just say this. I'll go here, if you don't mind. on behalf of a lot of people oh yeah from the north midwest you mean or no no around the country tobacco road everywhere interesting but for me personally for me personally um and i have nothing but respect for john shire and the boozers we had carlos on and you know honestly this is quite the wind up this is the wind up But for Michigan to make the final four on the same day, Duke gets late nerd in front of the whole country.
15:38Stuck the way they were stuck. Them reeling for the second straight year by getting bounced from the tournament.
15:49Rich Eisen:I want to freeze time. And it causes me to get a little bit nervous that it can't get any better. it just can't get much better than that the only thing better is if we were the ones to late near them in the national championship game if we're so fortunate to get there because arizona is a wagon but not just anyway too that michigan gets to the final four by dismantling Tennessee, which, according to one particular individual, could not be punked, only to get punked, to get a 28th win of the year by double digits, which is one more than Michigan State had entire wins for the year. Oh, Michigan won by double digits 28 times.
16:46Rich Eisen:Michigan State had 27 wins. oh this has just been again i get nervous how well it's going oh just want to rip that knob off on that front and i'm through with that i had to get that off my chest i bet you did duke all the way yeah right i didn't play that one that's okay man because i'm sure Ken Jeong and the rest of every Dookie I know, that's a tough one. All they had to do was just the most situationally smart thing for a team that is situationally brilliant at a school that's just filled with smart people. And they didn't do it. And UConn moves on. Freshman. These things happen. Cash, baby.
17:41The three guys were all freshmen.
17:43Rich Eisen:And I know I jumped off the couch. That was one of the most remarkable shots. Do you think it was in? In the air? Absolutely. I kind of did. Oh, I don't know. I was just hoping it would be. The second it left us in. God bless it. And then look at him. He's RG3ing. It's the most greatest celebration. Are you not entertained? What are you going to say to me now? It's like the opposite of the Nick Young gif. And then the shots. Just seek it out. the shots of Hurley's mom and dad cursing. Bill Raftery in Grand Hill. Sick. Oh, and our next guest, Jay Billis, had the greatest post about Raftery looking stunned like his car just got stolen.
18:27Rich Eisen:He said that that's the look he has when he hears the words last call at a hotel bar. Well done, Jay Billis. That's why we have him on. And he's next right here on this edition of The Rich Eisen Show.
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20:42the rich eyes and show podcast radio joining us now is our favorite jay billis back here on the program good to see you jay how are you sir doing great it was heartwarming to see you back uh doing that highlight not only with hair but with that chest protector tie like i know yeah look at that
21:03Rich Eisen:man i don't know where the anything is uh the suit the the tie and the hair they're all gone they're all gone never to be seen again i don't believe but i don't know maybe were you were you the were you the analyst that night where were you on that national change 27 years ago i was there working for usbn so i was at the game uh covering it for sports center and all that stuff we did pieces back then so you had to stick around and do post-game interviews and put an entire piece together. We don't do that stuff anymore. But yeah, I was right there courtside. Man, oh man. All right, I saw your comments first blush that you made on your Instagram account, which is a must follow, Jay.
21:44Rich Eisen:But I'll give you the floor. What do you think now a day later about the finish between UConn and Duke? Jay? I'm just left with what an extraordinary competitive event that was. I think one of the things that it wasn't just Braylon Mullen's shot at the end of the turnover that made it great. It was just the compelling nature of watching UConn, Duke trying to hang on and UConn just never giving up. Just an incredible basketball game. I was an assistant coach at Duke when Leitner hit the shot against Kentucky in 92. And honestly, when Mullen's shot went in, it was the same kind of feeling of, I can't believe that just happened.
22:27Like, I don't know, Rich, what the win probability was for UConn, but it was really low. And I do believe there's something to the idea of championship DNA. I certainly think Duke has it, but UConn really has it. And every day in practice under Danny Hurley, they're under stress. And so the games, I guarantee you this, the players think the games are easier to practice. and they're put in those situations. They have experienced players. Like I thought every bit as important as that shot that Mullins hit was the pass that Alex Caravan made. And I'm not sure that a younger player could have or would have done that, maybe.
23:10But for him to have the presence of mind to pitch that ball back to Mullins, who was the one that corralled the deflected pass from Caden Boozer and then hit Caravan with it. I think most players would have, in a short clock, would have taken that shot. Caravan would have taken the shot. But he had the presence of mind to pitch it back to Mullins to give him a better opportunity to make what, clearly, even though Mullins is an amazing shooter, made a lot of those kind of shots in high school, you know, that gave them the best opportunity. And Caravan understood that. That was an extraordinary play.
23:47Rich Eisen:Yeah, especially since he had just made his first three and might have had a little bit of a heat check. But the thing that really I'm taken aback by are the decisions by the coaches here, Jay. And let's start with John Shire. Do you think if, you know, he should have fired off a timeout after the free throw to just remind his players you don't need to get the ball over half court. Just let's get our best inbounds play together. Get the ball inbounds and just let the clock run down and let them foul us. I mean, you could have done that, but they did almost everything right except for one thing.
24:26So you'd rather keep a timeout to if a player gets in trouble, they can call it. Right. Like Duke every day in practice, and this goes all the way back to Coach K. I did these drills every day. It's called four coach passing drill. And it's a drill that simulates having to make those catches and process things against full court pressure. And so what the drill does is you have to come back to the ball, you catch it, and then you're on two feet, you turn, face the defense, and then make your decision. And so Coach K, John Shire, every day during that drill, they say catch and face. Catch, face the defense, and then make a play.
25:10You don't catch and dribble or catch and turn, you know, while you're catching it, because that can lead you into the problem. And so Caden Boozer, who's a freshman and Duke is not, you know, with these players, they're not in this situation all the time. So he caught the ball and turned and dribbled and then left the floor to make a pass in the air. And if he had caught and faced, then you can make a decision as to what to do. Maybe you back dribble, maybe you hold the ball so you can get fouled, or maybe you pass fake up and pass around and the game's over. So there wasn't time once Boozer caught the ball to call a timeout because he didn't catch and face and do that.
25:52But that's part of the thing of having young players. And one of the things when people are talking about, you know, Duke's last four losses going back to Houston in the Final Four last year, they've had double-digit leads. You know, so it was Houston last year, then Texas Tech and North Carolina this year, and then this game against UConn. The problem that you have is that most, if not most of the players, if not all of them that were on the floor at the end of the game in this one, had no memory of the Houston game. You know, most most of the guys are in the NBA now.
26:25Rich Eisen:Right. So, you know, UConn's players like Caravan and all that, those guys have a memory bank of situations that they've had over the course of their college careers. The Duke players that play the most minutes are freshmen. And so they don't have that memory bank. And they had three freshmen on the floor in that last play. And then Isaiah Evans and Patrick Gungaba down the floor that were the only ones with experience in those situations. And so that's the hard part. So when you're saying, what does Duke do going forward? Well, maybe you start thinking about maybe even more game situations in practice to prepare for those kind of things.
27:04But one of the things you don't want to be lost is, look, it was an extraordinary game. And my thing was, like, in this tournament, like, seeing the losing players in every locker room throughout the course of the tournament, every every locker room the players were crying after the game like these guys care and in an era where people are saying oh because nil it's all transactional and all everybody cares about his money there are no relationships anymore name on the front versus name on the back none of that's true like these players they're great relationships they're tight groups they want to win and they're devastated when they're like who was thinking about money at the end of that game nobody no
Read the full transcript
27:49Rich Eisen:reasonable person was yeah especially when there's twin brothers who may not play again on the same team together um Jay Bill is here on the Rich Eisen show and then the decisions made by Dan Hurley at the end Jay um from telling uh Demery go ahead and shoot your free throw don't purposely miss it so he can maybe get a three and tie the game and then not fouling and letting everything play out calmly and then not calling a timeout after you get the ball back letting that play through the only analogy i could make uh about that was bill belichick's decisions at the end of super bowl 49 with the clock ticking down everybody saying why would he just not fire off a timeout he just let seattle make decisions that came back to bite him and i'll give you the floor on dan hurley i guess that's another aspect of championship quality been there done that and he helped uh UConn get through or at least put his players in a position to help him get through Jay yeah and but but they were they were looking to foul now because you could see uh after the free throws or during the free throw process of Silas Demery Jr.
29:03there Danny Hurley was saying hey you want to foul uh Saar or Gumba uh I think he said Saar or Patrick which is Gungva's first name. That was their plan to foul one of those two guys. They wanted to foul. But when Cameron Boozer caught the initial pass off the inbound and he got double teamed, so he pitched it back to Dame Saar. Now, you could argue Saar could have held the ball longer as defenders were coming toward him, but I think he made the right play to get it to Boozer, Caden Boozer, who did a good job of making himself available to be able to catch that pass. It was just going back to the catch and face thing.
29:40Like that was the one error was made in execution. But UConn executed flawlessly and gave themselves a chance to win. And Duke did not do the same thing. And that's what aided UConn in getting a chance to win. And, you know, in this situation, like what I think the questions we tend to ask ourselves in the media is, did UConn lose the game or excuse me, did UConn win the game or did Duke collapse? And when you have a 15-point lead at halftime, there's a little bit of both of those things. Like UConn had to do a lot of things right to win, and Duke had to do some things wrong to lose. And those eight turnovers that Duke had in the second half to UConn's one, that was the difference.
30:25I mean, I think there was a Caden Boozer pass that Terrace Reed intercepted and took the other way for an easy basket. Then with a minute to go, Duke got a four-point lead, and Cameron Boozer made a drive down the right side and just lost the ball. And UConn takes it the other way, and then Caravan gets a three. Like, those things all contributed. So John Shire was right in saying it wasn't just that one play. But when it gets down to one play, it is that one play, because that was the only play left. And whether Duke made the comeback or UConn made the comeback, there was that one play. and it's about execution and uh and Duke didn't execute the way they wanted to and UConn did and that's why UConn's in the final four.
31:09Rich Eisen:Jay Bill is here on the Rich Eisen show let's page turn let's talk about the other narrative right now Jay which I've already heard and I tried to dispatch um which is Michigan and Arizona is the de facto national championship game Jay yeah what do you I think. Yeah. Well, it's that there are two narratives. So it's that of the de facto national championship game between the two behemoths on one side of the bracket in Arizona and Michigan. And then there's the fact that right now, whether on television or radio, the officials for the final four are listening to your show and they're, they're going to have in their heads.
31:47How can I screw Michigan? Because I can't recognize it. Thank you, Jay.
31:52Rich Eisen:Well done, Jay. That's going to be part of this. And so hopefully they'll be able to overcome that. No, Duke's not in it, Jay. Duke's not in it. Right, exactly. Which, frankly, with my Duke diploma, I think the nation mourns. But from your perspective, I mean, you might want to start talking about the Illinois-Yukon game to take a little pressure off your Wolverines. But to your first point, how many times have we seen this? Like, I think back to 1983 when I was a freshman in college, and the final four was Houston-Louisville playing on one side of the bracket, and then Georgia-NC State playing on the other.
32:34Rich Eisen:There you go. And none of us could wait for the doctors of dunk of Louisville to play against Elijah-Juan Drexler, you know, Mishaw and Young. And it was a dunk fest that Houston won. And we thought, whoever wins that game, national champion, and then NC State wins. That's not the only time that's happened. So I wouldn't mind being either UConn or Illinois going, hey, we win this game and everybody's thinking about the other and they're going to have a heavyweight fight in the other game and everybody thinks they're going to win. I wouldn't mind being those two teams. No, and I know you chose Arizona to win your bracket, to win the tournament, and you took Arizona to be playing Iowa State in this game and Tennessee dispatched Iowa State before Michigan could compete against them, and Michigan punked Tennessee, to use the phrase that's everywhere right now.
33:28Rich Eisen:How do you see Arizona versus Michigan playing out, Jay? Two teams that match up really well together, size-wise and with physicality. I think they play a little bit differently. Arizona is an inside-oriented team. They're going to pound the ball inside in high-low situations, getting downhill. They want to put pressure on the rim all the time. And so they have great positional size in the interior. But the free throw line is going to determine the game. Obviously, there are other aspects. One team out-rebounds the other, whatever, turnovers. There are a lot of factors. But the biggest factor is going to be, can Michigan play the physical game that they're going to have to play to beat Arizona and keep Arizona off the foul line?
34:13because Arizona makes more free throws on the season and in their tournament games. They make more free throws in their opponent's attempt. And the free throw line is the most efficient place to score in a basketball game. And if you see Arizona getting to the line 25 times, 30 times, that's going to be advantage Arizona. Michigan has a different gear than most teams. Like they can go on these 20-2 runs or something. I'm not sure that's necessarily possible against Arizona, but they're the one team that can do that in this tournament. And I think you and I talked after the Michigan Duke game in Washington, DC, the thing that surprised me about that game was Michigan didn't get to their, their second and third actions and possessions against Duke.
34:59I thought if those two played again, they wouldn't let that happen and they can't let that happen against Arizona. Like Michigan runs great offense. They've got so many weapons. Yaxo Lendeborg chief, chief among them. I mean, he'll be like the queen on a chessboard for Dusty May. But if they get to those second and third actions, kind of like UConn does, they're going to be extraordinarily difficult to beat. That's going to be a great game, and it's worthy of any championship game we'll ever see. And one of the great things is we get in the semifinals, and then you get a great championship game after that.
35:32Rich Eisen:Yeah, and that'll be after UConn in Illinois. I've got Brad Underwood on in our number two. What do you think he's thinking right now, other than, oh, my God, I can't believe I've got to talk to Rich. Jay, what does he think? Well, I mean, I think they'll be – I don't think that they're going to be happy to be their team. One of the things I really respect about Brad, when people were asking him about, hey, you're playing in Houston, and it could be against Houston, and what a difficult task. He's like, who cares? That's not even an issue. He embraces the tough things that you have to do in a no-excuse fashion.
36:09And, you know, he's an old junior college coach, man. He was driving his team around in a van and, you know, mopping the floor and doing all the stuff that now driving, you know, flying around on charters, which Ben McCollum of Iowa calls bougie. You know, so bougie. But I think he does. I think Ben does enjoy some of the bougie things you get to do. But Brad's the real deal. Like, he's a tough dude. And his team, it's probably the best offensive team in the Final Four. Like, they run beautiful offense. They've got really skilled players. Both he and Tommy Lloyd of Arizona have done a great job of recruiting internationally.
36:48But their defense has taken a leap over the last month or so, I'd say. Like, they've become really tough defensively, which I believe early on in the season they were not. And early on in the year, I thought that Andre Stojakovic was their best player. Now he's coming off the bench, and in the tournament, he's averaging like 17 a game, shooting over 60%. He's a big-time driver of the basketball getting downhill. But Keaton Wagler has been the revelation of the season. Like, I had never heard of him in high school. He grew up in Shawnee Mission, Kansas. And actually, Brad's son, Tyler, who's on his staff, was the one that found him.
37:23If I know the story right, I think Tyler was scouting another player and saw him and thought, man, this guy is really good. And so the MVP of the Illinois staff is not Brad Underwood. It's Tyler because Keaton Wagler is I think he's Tyrese Halliburton. I think that's good how good he is. Wow.
37:42Rich Eisen:That's a that's very high praise, to say the least. All right, man. I mean, what a weekend. That was unbelievable. I still can't believe that happened at the end of that game. and then you know the the rest of the rest of the story is it's just a a group of two big 10 um big east and you know and and big 12 that's what we got in the final four and you think it's arizona versus uconn at the end of the day no i wouldn't say that like i i favored iowa state because but they didn't have joshua jefferson so with without him they're not going to beat they're not going to beat Michigan. And it turned out they couldn't beat Tennessee.
38:22You can't take a national player of the year candidate off any of these teams and expect them to reach the Final Four. But, you know, when you're making these picks, they're kind of flyers in a way. One thing I knew, I shouldn't say I know, one thing I really believed was we weren't going to have all four number one seeds make it. It has not been that type of year. Did I see Iowa beating Florida? No. but I didn't think we were going to have all four make it again. That's an extraordinary happening in any year, NIL or not. So I think we got what a lot of us expected was it was going to be a little bit more tumultuous than last year, and that's what we got.
39:01And we got more buzzer beaters than, I mean, what is it, six or seven now, which that doesn't happen very often. So it's been an amazing tournament. We didn't have the St. Peter's making the Elite Eight type thing, but that doesn't happen every year either. So it's just another data point in what has been an extraordinary NCAA tournament. And I can't believe we're not going to have an equally extraordinary Final Four.
39:27Rich Eisen:I can't wait for it. And we'll chat next week, Jay, in our traditional spot. You're always so kind to make time. Hopefully your flight works and we chat again next Tuesday when it's all over. Looking forward to it. But I'm going to leave for the airport right after the other sound. Ladies and gentlemen, Jay Billis has clear, basically, is what he's saying. Good to see you, man. Thanks again, bud. Thank you, guys. You got it. The great Jay Billis. The great Jay Billis here on the Rich Eisen Show. Attaboy. Yeah, man. What a good time this weekend was. Let's take a break. All sorts of NFL news popping.
40:04Rich Eisen:I told you about that Browns rule change. DOA according to one particular individual. We'll talk also about A.J. Brown still being a Philadelphia Eagle and why. That's coming up here on The Rich Eisen Show.
40:30Rich Eisen:If you're like me and my family, you're all about creating amazing memories while on vacation. And for me, many of those have involved a home we found on Airbnb. We had such great experiences that whenever we travel somewhere new, we always check Airbnb first to find a place that fits our needs. The homes we've stayed in, comfortable, safe, private. You feel like you're part of the community. After a long day of exploring or sitting on a beach, it really is nice to come back to a place you can call your own. Airbnb is also a great way, if you want, to earn some extra money while you're traveling or out of your house for an extended period of time.
41:07Rich Eisen:You can make your home work for you while you're away. Not as a full-time thing, not as some big production, just something that fits into trips you're already taking. You can use the money for that dream vacation or put that money towards that outdoor kitchen you always wanted. Hosting on Airbnb just feels smart. Your home may be worth more than you think. Find out how much at airbnb.com slash host. Get into the Hyundai Getaway sales event and get away with a deal so right it almost feels wrong. Because right now you can get great deals on our most popular models, including our adventure-ready SUVs like the Hyundai Santa Fe or Santa Fe Hybrid and the Tucson or Tucson Hybrid.
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42:38Rich Eisen:The Rich Eisen Show, the podcast. 844-204-RICH, number to dial. NFL owners meeting. It's called the league annual meeting. We call it the owner's meeting. They call it the annual meeting because it's more than just owners. It's team presidents. It's coaches. The coaches are going to get together for the annual coaches photograph. We always break that down. It's always a lot of fun. That's coming up. Everybody's chilling out while not in meetings. There's competition committee meetings. I've been in these rooms. NFL Network. This was the first event that we covered and put on television en masse.
43:16Rich Eisen:we did a little bit at the combine in 2004 after we launched in November of 2003. But the first thing we do, we didn't tell with access to the owner's meeting at the breakers hotel. And we realized there's newsmakers everywhere here. And it was awesome. And we did it all the time. And then till we didn't anymore, yada, yada, yada ESPN is going to take over on Wednesday. But everybody's there having conversations. And I believe today is when the NFC coaches have their breakfasts and the media sits at their tables. It's kind of really old school. There's no podiums. There's tables. And the AFC coaches, I think, go tomorrow.
44:01Rich Eisen:So you're going to see a lot of NFC coaches talking today. Nick Sirianni, last we saw him was at the combine. He's like, dude, I've got nothing to tell you about A.J. Brown. He's an eagle. and so what's happened between the combine and the owners meeting? Not much. Do you expect AJ Brown to meet the goal on April 20th and throughout the 13th? Yeah, everything, nothing's changed there. AJ's an eagle. Nothing's changed from the last time I spoke to you guys, and, yeah, that's where we are. So, Howie Roseman. Okay. Where are you, Howie Roseman, in all of this, since he's the one who would have to pull the trigger if there's something to pull.
44:42Rich Eisen:Quote, I understand that there's interest in the A.J. Brown story. I unfortunately don't have a home under a rock, but my answer to any question on A.J. Brown is A.J. Brown is a member of the Eagles. From my perspective, anything you ask me about A.J. Brown, I'm going to go right back to that answer, but I understand the interest. I put on TV and I see there's interest, but my answer is A.J. Brown is a member of the Philadelphia Eagles, end quote. So he's still in the Eagles. Everybody who comes on this program says if it's going to be a trade, it's coming after June 1st for whatever cap purposes makes it after June 1st.
45:18Rich Eisen:And then there's going to be no reason to trade him on June 1st. If there's going to be any reason at all. Albert Breer came on this program last week, our friend from Sports Illustrated, and said, to his knowledge, there's something going on between the quarterback and A.J. Brown that keeps this thing constantly being talked about amongst members of front offices around the league, keeping this thing alive somehow, someway, hoping that this goes down. And it appears that the Rams were the ones to also reach out to him, which caused Sean McVay today to say that he's spoken to Devontae Adams about these rumors and that he's glad that Devontae is still a Ram Because, again, if they trade for A.J.
46:07Rich Eisen:Brown, they're not going to have Puka, Brown, and Adams. Yeah, but Devontae's on the hook for a good amount. Right. And so that could also mean Puka doesn't get a long-term deal because of all the stuff going on off the field there. But Adams is still there, and Puka's still there, being Los Angeles, is the there. and A.J. Brown is still there in Philadelphia. And it looks like it won't happen before the draft. Who the hell knows? Your Patriots might make an offer, supposedly, to use the godfather phrase, since we just heard a godfather, to drop an offer that Howie can't refuse. Because Drake may need somebody like A.J.
46:56Rich Eisen:Brown. Or everyone's going to go into the draft and see which receivers fall. and we're like, we love the kid. We don't need A.J. Brown. We don't pay him all that money. I think everyone has now gone back to their corners on this front. They're going to go into the draft. They're going to see who they come out of the draft with at wide receiver. And then after all of that, they'll make a decision. And we'll see if there's somebody other than the Rams or the Patriots who would enter this fray. But there's some reason this keeps on being brought up outside of us being the ones to bring it up. everybody's talking about it for a reason.
47:34There's got to be something going on that causes this thing to stay alive.
47:41Rich Eisen:But this will be the last time until, I guess, their pre-draft and then post-draft press conferences to talk about it. And then there'll be all the Sirianni questions about it at OTAs and whatever. And then June 1st will hit. And we'll see if A.J. Brown is still a member of the Philadelphia Eagles at the end of the day. The end of the day.
48:32we had a killer amongst us murder at the you listen now
From the publisher
Rich and the guys react to Duke’s epic collapse/UConn’s epic comeback in
their unforgettable Elite Eight showdown in the NCAA Tournament.
ESPN College Basketball Analyst Jay Bilas and Rich break down the keys
to UConn’s extraordinary comeback vs Duke to reach the Final Four, discuss if
the Arizona vs Michigan national semifinal is the de facto title game,
Illinois’ chances to win it all with star guard Keaton Wagler, and
more.
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