The Lack of Upsets and the State of College Hoops With P.J. Carlesimo, Plus, New Red Sox 3B Alex Bregman.
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What are the top Sweet 16 teams this year?
On today's episode of the podcast, we get up close with Alex Bregman, the newest third baseman of the Boston Red Sox, what his offseason was like, patience, the whole deal. We're going to talk tournament, we're going to do some Big E story, of course, Louis Carneseco with our guy PJ Carlissimo, and life advice from We're going to talk now with one of our favorite guests, a man that understands the tournament, former Seton Hall head coach and now part of the ESPN and NCAA tournament broadcast, PJ Carlissimo. What's up, man? It's good to see you.
Good to be with you, brother. This is, uh, you know, we, we both did time at ESPN. This is the nicest thing they do for me. They let me go for three weeks to do the, uh, the tournament every year for Westwood one. And it gives me my college fix. I love it. Uh, I had been doing PAC 12 tournament. It seems like for six, eight, 10 years, I don't even know, but obviously this year they put me back into big East, which was kind of, kind of fun being back in the garden. I hadn't been at the big East tournament in a long time, but, uh, I lucked out. We got Seattle the first round, so it was a home game. Now we got San Francisco, the West Region before, and San Antonio. There's enough places I've been fired.
Let's start with kind of just a general question here. Now that we're at the field of 16, is there – Is it Duke? Is it Florida for you? Is it Houston? Do you have the team that you go, you know what, I actually think it's them, and I don't know if much of that has changed since the start of the tournament.
I thought for a lot of the year, I actually thought it was Auburn. I hadn't seen them in person, which is all, you know, again, I don't see as many in person. And it's hard. It's different. I don't I don't know why, but it's just different sitting there seeing the quickness, seeing a team. And like, you know, I came out of the Big East tournament feeling I really knew those teams. I had watched a lot of games before going in. I thought it was Auburn early. Then they kind of slid. I haven't seen Duke much, but like kind of the consensus and people I talk to, most people feel it's Duke's to lose. Like if Duke plays that, that they're, they're good enough to win the whole thing. Florida has really come on. Everybody's talking about them right now.
Danny Hurley, my old buddy, had them on the ropes. I actually thought UConn was going to get them. They played so well, but I'm anxious to see Todd. I've known Todd for a long time. He was at Columbia. He was assistant at USF, Todd Golden. But I'll tell you what, we were with Maryland for four days here in Seattle. Maryland's very, very good. They're very solid. They play both ends of the floor. I don't know if they're underrated, defensively, they're a really good defensive team. Everybody keeps saying they only have five starters. Their bench is not very good, but their five starters are damn good. I like them a lot. I just have kind of a feeling that one of the old horses is going to make some noise, either Izzo or Kelvin Sampson.
I'm just probably pulling because they're closer to me in age than anybody else. But hopefully one of those two guys, Michigan State or Houston, will do some damage.
Why is Kelvin so good? Because, I mean, here we go again. Reloaded Houston. And with the health questions about it, but obviously this is kind of what's expected now of Houston in a way that we're not used to really going more than five programs deep in college basketball. They are expected to be here now at this point with him.
He's a machine. It doesn't matter now. They change conferences. Everybody goes, oh, how are they going to adjust to the Big 12? They've owned it since they went into the Big 12. He loses guys. It doesn't matter. He's an exceptional coach. He drives his – he's got a great rapport with his players. I don't want to say they allow him, but, I mean, he is tough. He's on them. If you go to their practices, their shoot arounds, there's no middle ground. Like if they don't do what he wants, he's very direct. He tells them, but they, you know, they love him too. His son is excellent, which really helps an awful lot. He's always had a good staff. He's losing Qantas this year. They defend and they rebound. St. John's was very much like them, right? I knew St.
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Chapters
5 chapters
1
What are the top Sweet 16 teams this year?
0:10–36:21
2
How has the transfer portal changed college basketball?
36:21–1:06:11
3
What is it like for Alex Bregman joining the Red Sox?
1:06:11–1:13:16
4
What was Alex Bregman's offseason like?
1:13:16–1:36:53
5
What expectations does Alex Bregman have for his new role?
1:08:32–1:36:53
Speakers
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