EOCBB on CBSSN: One last look back at the E8; our first preview of a great F4; UNC coaching search

Hey there, I am Gary Parish. Welcome back to the Ion College basketball podcast here on CBS Sports

Network where we sometimes discuss camera fighting Dodo Birds and leaky black Matt Norlander is here with me and as you

surely know by now the 2026 final for it is set you con Illinois advanced from the left side of the

bracket Arizona Michigan emerged from the right to see three seed one seed one seed all Americans

on every team first round NBA draft picks on every team so Norlander now that we've got a couple of

days to you know let's think settle in our mind you tell me how good is this specific final for

best of all time great but not quite that good or disappointing in part because you really want

to Duke and the reigning champs Florida to get the Indianapolis. No I am I love that we've only had two

for all four one seed make a final for ever like we had no wait we had it last year it's cool when

it happens but to me it's more special if we only get it say every 17 18 20 years so I'm good with

not all four one seed's getting there this is pretty pretty pretty good two ones on the right

side that's an incredible match up and then you've got the idea that we have Yukon back here again

going for a third national title in a four year span maybe one of the more under discussed talking

points in the past couple of weeks is the talking point a year ago with Yukon going for the three P

can they do it it's so hard to do and then they couldn't do it and they didn't get it done

three out of four also ridiculous and and and it's something that we've only seen you know

a handful not even a handful of times just a couple of times ever in the history of the sport but

there two wins away from pulling it off so we've got some historic matchups on tap on tap

you know Michigan and Arizona from an efficiency margin standpoint these are two of the five or six

most efficient teams within the context of their seasons and Ken Palm history there's the second

time we've ever had a semi final where both teams going in have a plus 20 points per game difference

in the tournament Cincinnati and Cal in 1960 was the only other time this happened so they've been

like extraordinarily dominant like unusually dominant and on the left side you know in addition to

Yukon and all that's come with that you've got Illinois snapping a drought Arizona and Illinois

snapping droughts in general I think that's tremendous and Illinois you know the number one offense

in the sports the tallest team in the sport it's got a bunch of guys who look like they could be

extras in a John Wick movie I think there's just so much appeal to this final four I can't wait

to get on the ground in Indie you and I will both be flying in on Wednesday and we're doing a

network show today so we got to be much tighter but believe me if they gave us you know two hours

of runway to talk about and hype up this final four we'd have more than enough to get to this is an

excellent four group of national semi finalists and I do think we're going to have two awesome games

on Saturday and that's reflected obviously in the lines going into Saturday night you also look

like you could be an extra in a John Wick movie if we're telling that I appreciate that

hey if someone who went I was on the steps in Paris in October or that they had that epic scene

and John Wick for I take that as a compliment oh I went to Paris this off season I got it we all

we all know you went to Paris this off season so hey it's four of the top nine teams at at

Kinpom and we do have a local component I know that when people thought about a home team in

Indianapolis mostly associated that with Purdue but Illinois is only about a two hour drive

and from my experience of being at the final four more than 20 of them now it is more enjoyable

when you do have that fan base that can you know drive over if they want to wake up on Saturday

and just they didn't have to plan for this three weeks ago they can be overwhelmed with the

experience of advancing to the final four and then realize oh wow we can drive there let's do it

so I imagine you walk around downtown Indianapolis you're gonna see a lot of a line-eye from from

start to finish yeah well big ten in general like Illinois Michigan the fan base is the location

massive alumni bases I'm guessing Illinois oh Michigan's got a huge fan base I will say Illinois

by virtue of the drought being ended will be the most prominent fan base on the ground there

narrowly beating out Michigan and then the Arizona Yukon one it will be it will be intriguing

uh Yukon fans this is getting to be old hat to us or extend like they've been they've been there

done that they're not they're not the team expected to win the national title among the four here

obviously but Arizona fans have waited for 25 years to get back there it's gonna be I I mentioned

this earlier today on HQ I covering the sport year over year and getting to see fan bases

coaching staffs head coaches achieve something they work their whole lives were like Brad

Underwood is the third oldest coach to ever finally break through and make a final four the only

ones older were Bo Ryan when he did it and then Brian Dutcher just four three years ago with

say with San Diego State there's the only two coaches that waited longer in their life to finally

as a head coach make it to their first final four I love seeing that I love that Arizona fans

finally get to experiences again and it's awesome for Yukon fans but again like they've been the

most successful program over the past three decades in college basketball and Michigan which only

has one national title um but was in the final four multiple times under John B line like they

should be excited as well but particularly and Dusty May's already gotten there and and

Dan Hurley's already gotten there and so I just I love that part of it as well so there's there's

so much to talk about to sell to market with this final four we've had an awesome season and

the optimists in me really wants to believe that at minimum one of the national semis on Saturday

is going to be good and then we should hopefully hopefully get a really competitive final game next

Monday night. All right we're going to dive into each individual matchup in the next segment but

before we do that I want to ask you this I noted that these are four of the top nine teams at Ken

last season I believe heading into the final four it was the top four all four number one seats

after one season of this I understood people saying let's wait and see but now it's two years of

kind of the same thing is this where the sport is at now because of transfer waivers because of

NIL because of revshore revenue sharing are we done with the George Mason Loyola Chicago stories

if not forever will they be more uncommon than maybe they had been over the past 20 years or so

so you're specifically asking are we almost definitely done with a team from a with a mid major

making it all the way to the final four you take ACC big 12 big 10 SEC big east put them over here

are we basically done with anybody else other than maybe Gonzaga here or there actually marching

all the way through the bracket yeah that new pack 12 coming alive will be an interesting I think

that leaks gonna be pretty solid but I don't know if it'll be high major interested as you bring

this up like be interested see how the pack 12 forms and the greater context and landscape

the sport over the next half decade I don't think we're done now keep in mind

1985's when the tournament expanded 64 teams we went more than 20 years without getting a mid major

to the final four we have we're three years removed from two of them being in there so no I don't think

we're done yeah and I and I don't want to believe that we are if it takes another seven eight

years then it takes another seven eight years but from George Mason in 2006 until FAU and to a lesser

extent San Diego state in 2023 we had what seven eight examples of teams breaking through and getting

there GP VCU Butler back to back Loyola Chicago Wichita State I think we can and we'll get there again

but we're obviously in the midst of a pretty significant sea change that's gonna essentially last

the better part of a decade before we get to some sort of somewhat stability but I think we'll get

there again I just don't know if it'll happen next year or the year after I would never say never

just because you end up looking silly when you speak in absolutes but I do think it's gonna be more

infrequent than it has been in recent years it's gonna be more difficult than in this range of time

where we were getting the George Mason Loyola Chicago Butler stories it will be more difficult for

programs like that from leagues like those leagues to bounce to the final weekend of the season I

believe going forward based off of revshare and NIL and transfer waivers but we can argue about

that another day when we come back let's dive into the national semi finals game by game what makes

Yukon Illinois interesting what makes Michigan Arizona interesting I'm gonna ask Norlander both

of those questions next this is the Ion College basketball podcast one CBS Sports Network

welcome back to the Ion College basketball podcast we're here on CBS Sports Network the national

semi finals are set for Saturday on TBS the first game it's gonna be Yukon Illinois that is the

number two team out of the biggest versus the number two team out of the big 10 Norlander what

makes you kind of Illinois a compelling national semi final you've got an Illinois team that

has been better and more efficient at scoring than any team in the country this Illinois group

I think one the biggest thing about Illinois being a danger to win the national title that has

not been discussed enough is this team was at one point was 20 and three once we got to the early

part of February and then it lost three three out of five and all of those losses came in over time

by three to Michigan state by two to Wisconsin by one cross you know out west against UCLA and then

they lost to Michigan so they got to a point where they were 22 and seven their prospects seem

to be a little more undetermined but since then the only other loss also came in over time against

Wisconsin the I know they've got a three next year the name this is the number four team at Ken

Palm right now and the size between Keaton Wogler who hello look around it's the best freshman

remaining in this final four I think I would say that you've obviously got two really good ones

playing there at Arizona there's a relatively recently famous one playing at Yukon but Wogler

from the start of the season to now it's been the best freshman so how does he play on a stage like

this and and how much do they run through him how much does you know players that Illinois fans know

but nationally might not have as big of a of a profile they have a Mirkovich does he step up in this

spot do either of the V such brothers are they the guys that that can handle terrorist read in this

spot terrorist read has been outstanding he was the most outstanding player in the east region

how does he play going up in this particular game and and for Yukon you know a team that is

more defensive oriented you know Illinois is number one in offensive efficiency it's it's 20th

at Ken Palm on the defensive end it was actually 30th to start the tournament so it helps us

numbers a lot there by virtue of getting there with four double digit wins Yukon's the inverse

not quite but they've got the number nine in defense the number 28 and offense there uh caravan

with his experience on the stage I think it's interesting solo ball had a better game as of late

it probably need him to step up score 15 plus points in this game Tyler's demory not 100%

but still giving it a go and and really impressive there and then we see how Mullins handles going

back home and playing in front of I don't even know how many people he knows are going to be at that

game on Saturday so that's a very brief initial kind of 10,000 foot overview I think it's a fantastic

national semi and and I'm interested to see how Yukon's experience as a coaching staff in this spot

is a factor or is not a factor against the Illinois team that was a preseason chic top 10 kind of

group they went over to the Balkans they brought some big boys over there from over there and they've

they've been a very very impressive team for the majority of the season you mentioned Illinois's

offense is the top rated offense in the country it's also unusual I talked to David Cobb and

Tom Fernelli about this um after the align I punched their ticket to the final four

because in that elite eight game all of the stuff that I'm about to tell you like showed up in

that box score as well so Illinois's got the best offense in the country according to Kenpah

and yet they have that despite shooting just 34.8% from three and just 57.9%

from two they rank 128th in the country in three point field goal percentage and 22nd in the country

in two point field goal percentage so how can you rank in those places in those categories and

have the quote best offense in the country the explanation is they don't turn it over

their ranked 10th in the country in offensive turnover percentage at 13.2% and that's Keaton

and if you want to know why he's in position to maybe be a top five pick almost certainly not

dropping out of the top 10 it's because of in part that number he is a six foot six jumbo lead guard

who shoots about 40% from three and really takes care of the ball processes things very well

and takes care of the ball so Illinois doesn't shoot it great from three and they're not one of the

top 20 teams from two but they're one of the very best at taking care of the ball so they're not

going to give you extra possessions and then they're going to create extra possessions on the

offensive glass their offensive rebounding percentage is 39.5 that ranks third in the country

and then free throw percentage is 78% ranked 16th in the country so how do they have the most

efficient offense in the country despite not shooting well from three or really two they don't

turn it over they offensive rebound like crazy and they make 78% of their free throws interesting

offense it's fun to watch and Wogler being the head of the whole thing has been absolutely fabulous

and if you heard Brett Underwood talk about him after the elite eight win he was like

you could see a lot of this stuff but the idea that you could see any of this coming like this

no nobody saw this coming he was ranked 150th in his high school class his story's well documented

I think mostly known at this point but he's just another you know it's you there's never

been a final 14 that didn't have an awesome story connected to it you almost got to by definition

and for Illinois there's a lot of awesome stories but the Wogler one is for me tip top

yeah it's basically unprecedented and I am interested to see like is he about to have he's had

some really amazing moments like incredible moments this season some out like some absurd games

against top shelf competition are we five days away from him doing something that is going to put

him in the pantheon of like all-time final four performances I don't know he's he has showed the

the flash and potential to do that this season but he is number one on that scouting report and

Illinois can beat you from the foul line with those bigs it's going to be a I do think it's

going to be a bruiser of a game against Yukon I'm pretty I'm pretty intrigued and fascinated by

that on the other side I mean come on now Michigan Arizona like I'll toss it right back to you

before I give you some on on my end but this I understand like some people are saying like that's

the real national championship that's not how this works Yukon and Illinois can win the title okay

they are not they are not overmatched even close Michigan Arizona have been absurd they've been so

good this whole season I like the fact that we are guaranteed getting the game like if they were

on opposite sides yeah that would they would both be favored but there's no guarantee we get the

game now we at least get the game and the fact that we get the game with these teams looking as

dominant as they have is a really special treat what are your thoughts on it it is not the national

championship game but it is a game featuring the two best teams in the country there's a distinction

there and so I'm with you I'm not going to listen to anybody say things like and the title will be

decided Saturday night because that's not true first off if you don't think Dan Hurley and the

Yukon Huskies can win another national championship you haven't been paying attention

um and this Illinois team again it's fourth at Kenpon right now so don't be misled by the three

next to their name this is one of the four best teams in the country at this point and that's

why they're favored over Yukon despite being the worst seeded team beyond that I know Arizona looks

unbeatable Michigan looks unbeatable but Duke was the number one overall seed in this tournament

and Yukon just beat them I know how Arizona looks I know how Michigan looks Houston was a team

a lot of people picked to win the national championship was playing inside the Toyota center

and that team got knocked out you know in this bracket so Illinois and Yukon are absolutely

capable of winning two games uh to to cut net someone denied but it is true the two best teams in

the country are playing on Saturday and I've gone back and forth on this like literally I've

picked them both depending on who asked and I've seen somebody describe it that there's a because

it's it's number one and number two at Kenpon but I've seen somebody else describe it with some

additional numbers that say this should be being described as an all-time great national semi-final

like a generational national semi-final and maybe we haven't quite gotten to that point yet because

you know Michigan's got at least three future NBA players but none of them are going to be picked

on the top five and Arizona's got maybe three or four NBA players but none of them are going to

be picked on top three or four and so maybe we're missing that a little bit but this Michigan team

and this Arizona team um your big 10 champ in your big 12 champ um there's a lot of numbers to

support the idea that we've had very few national semi-finals with two teams of this caliber and

this is should be considered among among the very best matchups we've ever seen at this stage in

the bracket yeah I've said this I said this on Sunday on set with you um if Michigan and Arizona

bring out the best in each other and they play to their potential we will have one of the best games

in the tournament this decade uh you you have rarities in terms of just how dominant these teams have

been um it's the first time a tournament game has featured two teams that have outscored their

opponents by at least 650 points in that season since Kansas and Memphis played in the title game

in oh wait GP was in the building when that happened you've got the big man matchup with a

dimara and mo crevice a couple of seven two seven two just towers that is phenomenal in fact

I think this is I think when when 80 went up against clinging a couple years ago that was the only

other time I think I got this in my notes GP yeah here it is clinging and 80 and now Mara and

crevice are the only two times in the past 50 years when the starting uh matchups in a final four

or or title game feature two players uh at least seven feet tall so that you got you got that

element to it you've got Michigan that has been just completely dominant against some insanely good

competition this season Arizona has four team wins over ranked teams this season that's more than

any team in the season ever that what this Arizona team did it it's got the rare

feature where you could tell me it's co-op Pete jaden Bradley

Braden burries you could tell me it's crevice Ivan karchenkov looks like he is a four year veteran

and he is a freshman as well any of those guys and Anthony Delorso coming off the bench

or Toby awaka coming off the bench any of those seven guys could be the most important

player for Arizona in this game and sometimes when that's true like it could be any one of five or

six guys a team might have a ceiling that's not the case with Arizona it's not their top four

offense top two defense and yet on the other side Michigan the number one defense in the country

and a top five offense they've been outstanding it will be a battle in the paint

it's a phenomenal game and I love the fact that we get it just the fact that we get this game

and I hope it lives up to the hype it is rightfully so the marquee event on Saturday night in

Indianapolis and and I just I hope it delivers I really really do I don't I couldn't tell you how

it will unfold other than if they're at their best and they bring out the best in each other

is going to be an all-time classic eight forty nine PM eastern is the scheduled tip time you'll be

able to watch it on TV yes when we come back I want to circle back to Yukon because it's now been

I don't know about 48 hours since Kaden Booser turned it over and Braille Mullins sank that long

three pointer in the final second to push Yukon past Duke Braille Mullins is now a household name

he was on the today show this week meantime John Shire has been turned into a meme will revisit

that all-time classic we'll do it next is the Ion College basketball podcast we're on CBS sports

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promos limited time offer welcome back to the i own college basketball podcast we're here on cbs

sports network it's now been nearly 48 hours since cadence boozard turned it over in the final 10

seconds and braille mullins sank a long three pointer in the final second to push you con past

Duke in an all-time classic elite eight game over the past couple of days braille mullins has become

a household name he's been on the today's show norlander now that you've had some time to let

things settle give me your two days after the fact take on braille mullins rip and dukes hard out

and becoming a march madness legend yeah it's the kind of play that is going to settle into among the

best uh winning shots in the history of the tournament i don't know where it ranks i've been too busy

to i would actually love to be able to sit down and kind of chart that out but then don't have the

time right now find me in the middle of may i guess um but to me in in the aftermath parish

this one feels like one of the 10 biggest shots in the history of the tournament

because it was to go to the final four because it was in comeback fashion

because it was it wasn't a buzzer beater there was time on the clock if it was a buzzer beater

all the more but it was not the the the buzzer was not beaten for all intents and purposes it was

but there was what point three point four on the clock uh when that uh when that shot was just

perfect swish through the net there um and by the way they have changed the official distance of

the shot when we did the pod on on sunday night it was we were told it was 35 feet they have

officially changed this to a 33 foot shot which is still nonetheless the fourth longest

yeah you know fourth-long is winning shot uh and and and civil tournament history um all ends

is the second freshman with a game-winning field goal in the final two seconds in the elite eight

or eight or eight or later you say that three times fast jalen sucks obviously from 37

in the 2021 final four in Indianapolis is where we're going and then mullins the local kid

i just love the fact that he hit the shot to send them to indianapolis he went to high school like

25 minutes from downtown indianapolis um that's incredible so on the Yukon end of it uh it's been

it's been awesome to kind of watch all all the the Yukon fan reactions are reactions are reactions

on the HQ set for an all-time march moment that oh oh by the way kind of saved the weekend

because the elite eight of the other three games were all uh not close in the end all double

digit margins all that stuff so um the fact that we got this game in this ending just uh the latest

you know epic closer uh to this event which delivers every single year yeah and you know that

that shot also obviously pushes Yukon to indianapolis rather than duke and i don't know that one's

necessarily better than the other in terms of brands although i know duke is a massive brand but

like dan hurley is at this point kind of the most famous person connected to the sport of college

basketball in a lot of ways like is he more famous than rick patino is he more famous than rick patino

yeah um i don't know i don't i don't even yeah i have no i i don't know why for the big easter in

the same conference though i just i just i just popped in my head that's i don't know how to

distinguish between the two but how about this a random person who doesn't follow college basketball

closely is more likely to bump into dan hurley content than they are rick patino content or

anybody else content in the year 2026 i think that's fair

keeping college people like maybe maybe this is why it's in my head i as i'm traveling home

yesterday i get a text message from a buddy of mine that i haven't heard from in like a year

and the text message was just as simple as this and i'm just quoting i'm just quoting but it was like

l-o-l dan hurley is a psychopath okay so i was like correct people right because like there's

also like just let's let's let's let's dive in this real quick here um because we really didn't

talk about on the sunday show but it had legs and then understandably had legs so the buzzer the

near buzzer beater mullens is march moment happens and then roger errors who is as respected and

liked is quite literally any rough in the country it's actually a shock that he's not working

the final floor but he's worked so many of them heirs is walking over to hurley essentially to say

to communicate hey dan this is not there's no time on the clock i gotta go review it but as he's

walking there's bodies on the floor hurley's out of his mind his jacket tap off and like they they

meet and her i mean i mean only dan hurley like there's a lot of people that had real issues with

this and i understand that but the only context that i would ask is go watch the way that heirs

approaches hurley and they almost they like accidentally like escapacus and i don't know and

people wanted the technical there and i get that but you got to understand that heirs

he's a he's a looser official he like he jokes with the coaches and so i could well be wrong

about this and for people that hate hurley they don't want to hear this i don't know if it was any

other official of hurley would have done would have done that but it was almost like roger can you

just believe what happened the moment is insane like he should not have done it but the more i've

watched that i've watched that almost as much as i've watched moments of shot gp it's ridiculous

i don't know what was going through his mind there but we had to at least talk about it here

on the Tuesday show it's ridiculous i agree only him only dan would only can you imagine if

shire did that no like who would be the funniest coach doing that who would be the i mean the

funniest coach the herbs and deck i mean you're going down the list think about think about like

mat painter mark view like just imagine any other coach doing what hurley did you can't do it

it's only hurley gosh he's the only one who would do it and yet when i first saw it i think the first

the first the first viewing you're like what is he doing that gets that yes all right and then after

that it just got progressively funnier to me yes like i and i do think the context matters like

any other coach that wouldn't work perhaps any other official with any other coach maybe it goes

down differently but in that moment it felt it just felt it looked hilarious to me

whenever dan actually does cross the line and i think he crossed the line i'll stand up and say it

sure and then he you know i'll you know i'll say it and then he can not care and it'll be fine

but like i didn't think this was anything except funny i thought it was funny it's make it makes

we thought we thought it was was justifiable if the big east would have suspended hurley for the

first game of the big east tournament after he had an antagonistic encounter with an official

that the official said that he never made contact with the loss at market that's that's that's

100% and then you have this here i think ares was trying to get close to hurley because it's noisy

as hell like everyone's going nuts and he's trying to go over and say hey games that over

i got to check the clock here and as he's doing that hurley's just he he is not within his own

body in that moment i agree with you like i get it a lot of people don't like hurley i get that

and when he and when he steps over the line we're going to call him out on it the more i watch this

the the funnier it gets the funny and you got to see ares approach him that's the other part of it

you got to see that he's intentionally trying to get close to hurley and so as hurley turns his

body suddenly they find themselves forehead to forehead it's ridiculous and honestly and like i

just only that coach only only him only him what it looked like to me and maybe this is only a

me thing or me and my friends on the golf course thing but like i have a friend that i can visualize

in my group who if he were to sink a 14 foot birdie putt he would walk over to me and get four

head to four head with me and do that like that that that's what it looked like to me the type of

thing i'll put a name on it Chris the type of thing my friend Chris Vernon would do if he was

to see you can just say it everyone knew yes everyone then that would be the day everybody knows

that's exactly what he would do and when i saw day and do that that's exact that is what came

into my head all right real quick on the other side of all the braille mullins and hurley stuff

is john shire becoming a meme he's a meme now um i've noted that that i think national championships

are in his future rick patino has tweeted championships are in his future but in his present he's

getting beat up because for the four straight year his team's been eliminated in the instantly

tournament as a favorite for the second straight year it happened after having a double digit lead

in the second half is all of this beating verbal or online beating that john shire is taking is it

is it fair no some of it's not fair some but some of it's just online meme culture so like that's

just going to happen and you know shire actually was one of the earliest subjects of meme culture

back when he played and shire faced a thing so that this actually that i mean like in all like

that was a thing when he played he's aware of like you know it's what it is um but so it's um

apropos not the right word but how interesting that you know all these years later now with uh

and what like what do you expect to do it like he's he's watching a play and a game dissolve

right in front of his face like it is with this um but you take the Duke job and you get all the

benefits that come with it the recruiting advantages um that is you know top three job in the sport

you can make the case it's the best job in the sport with all of the built in uh things that come

with it but that also means that if you do not win the end subway tournament not just that but if

you lose in a way that uh is embarrassing or historic then it's going to lead to a lot of backlash

and this in particular like the loss on its own like let's say they had been defeated soundly

in the final four against Houston but it wasn't a collapse where they couldn't score a bucket for

the majority of the final 10 minutes of the game or they didn't lose and uh to NC state but they

lost to say Houston the year before in the sweet 16 because remember Houston had the injury and

that helped Duke move along there um those would have been bad but um you know they wouldn't have

had this attached to it there have now been three exits from the tournament and three consecutive

years for Shire and Duke that have uh made him and his program uh ripe for you know online mockery

and and a lot of what drives interesting college basketball is people love to see Duke lose they

doesn't matter how but if it loses in a way where it's a pratfall um or it's it just it's spills soup

all over itself so to speak then then that's going to help drive interest in the sport uh Shires

are some of the blame but not all of it we have more you know kind of grading his his career to this

four years in overall and he's done an incredible job uh for the most part all around but the

tournaments the tournament and if you are the the the CEO and your teams are are failing like this

in a high profile fashion then yes some of the blame falls on you the tournament is the tournament

these losses particularly the last three especially the last one are really bad and that's

the thing that I would that would prevent me from giving him an a plus grade through four years

but I did over at cbsports.com go with a minus and the reason is because I'll just list some facts

and then we'll move on he's 124 and 25 through four seasons as a head coach with two ACC

regular season titles and three ACC tournament titles nobody's ever won more games through four

years than that he's one of only three coaches to ever make three elite eights before turning 40

the others are Bob Knight and Dean Smith he did coach in the 2025 final four so he's

already made a final four um his winning percentage of eight thirty-two is higher than the

winning percentage coach K posted at Duke and K is widely regarded as the goat of college basketball

coaching so I know he's now been to three elite eights and he has no national championships

but he's been to three elite eights at the age of thirty eight I think john caliperi was in like

his eighth elite eight before he finally won a national championship for bill self I believe it was

before he finally won a national championship these things tend to take time and given the way

the loss to you kind of unfolded after last seasons lost to Houston unfolded I understand the

oh my god he's wasting all these opportunities but broadly speaking if you just compare him to

basically any other coach in the history of the sport he's a head of schedule he's a head of

schedule and if he keeps building teams like this I genuinely believe he'll eventually get the

national championship that some people think he already should have had and perhaps he already

should have had but the past three years at least he's built teams that were good enough to do it

they just didn't for a variety of reasons but if you keep building teams consistently that are

good enough to do it eventually most coaches they do I just want to add one small thing that almost

no one's talked about and I don't know if it would have if it would have changed it at all maybe

it doesn't make boozer as dominant of a player you know if not for an incredible two week stretch

last spring in pre draft workouts Cedric coward would have gone to Duke yes instead he turned into

a lottery pick dom a star would not have been at Duke otherwise and who knows how that would have

played out but I think it's reasonable to project that Cedric coward could have quite easily been in

all American level player and had that happened maybe Duke season goes differently again maybe

isn't the national player of the year if that happens but it's just one thing that I couldn't help

but notice is all this played out and Caden Booser found himself on the floor at the end of the game

and they dealt with the injury to Caleb Foster and all this stuff it's ifs answer but he coward did

what he needed to do he's in the NBA playing for for Memphis there but had he had he returned to

college there's a real chance he would have been one of the you know 20 to 25 best players in the sport

and played for Duke and that team would have been even better than it was obviously nobody's ever

going to feel bad about Duke in its roster but it is true in back to back years I was told at

least that Duke was going to add a transfer portal wing that got pushed into the NBA draft and then

selected by the Grizzlies two years ago it was Jalen Wells out of Washington state and then it was

Cedric coward out of Washington state they were both if they didn't stay in the draft going to Duke

and they both ended up being members of the Memphis Grizzlies and they're both impressive young

man I'm nice to call him I'm happy to call him co-workers and and colleagues and and neighbors when

we come back we're going to break away from the final four focus on the coaching carousel what is

the latest at North Carolina is Billy Dott of in returning to college basketball am I asked

North end of those questions next this is the Ion College basketball podcast CBS Sports Network

and welcome back to the Ion College basketball podcast on CBS Sports Network and before we dive

into the coaching carousel let me remind you to follow the Kansas J Hawks and the Michigan Wolverines

throughout the 2025 26 season in made for March a new four-part docu-series featuring unprecedented

off-court access new episodes drop a pre-fourth on CBS and paramount plus okay norlander yes we've

still got three games to play in this season but we never wait for the season to actually finish

but before we start hiring and firing coaches in this sport so with that in mind it's now been seven

days since North Carolina moved on from Hubert Davis what is the latest at UNC

I didn't realize it'd been seven days oh my gosh days time what do they mean

latest is that they're waiting this out like quite literally all of their primary candidates

I'm of the understanding that Tommy Lloyd is the top choice the top pick the most desired candidate

although the margins are slim then Dusty May and Billy Donovan but Tommy Lloyd and Dusty May are

going to coach against each other on Saturday in fact I know you don't have the answer to this but

look have we had this before was the last time two coaches were squaring off against each other

in the final four while both coaches were acknowledged in the general public as the top candidates

for a vacant job elsewhere have we ever had this I don't know but that is the case right now

and there's no indication that Tommy Lloyd or Dusty May are favoring North Carolina over Arizona

neither of them have publicly outright come out and shot down the possibility there that's smart

leveraging like what do you expect them to say in that kind of situation like why would they have

they have all the power they have all the leverage why would you not do this right so I understand

it from that point and then Billy Donovan still you know exists as a potential candidate but also

I've been told like he's going to coach out the season with the bulls so if Tommy Lloyd stays at

Arizona and Dusty May stays at Michigan and I can see both those scenarios playing out can Carolina

will Carolina just say okay we're going to sit put while the portal opens and then hopefully Billy

Donovan will tell us yes and if we can get him to say yes and come back to college then we can

get him on board but the only other key context of this for GP is that it seems like a minimum of eight

and potentially ten NBA jobs are going to come open here and as was laid out to me by a source on

Monday there are not ten names that make sense to fill all of these openings at the NBA level

the point being if Billy Donovan wants to coach in the NBA again next season he will have a job

waiting for him that will happen so just Billy want to continue on in the environment that he has

been coaching at for more than a decade now or does he want to step back and go back to college I'll

be at one of the best jobs in the sport but into an environment that he has never had to work in

before he's worked in college he hasn't worked in the NIL in Portola era that's different than

working at the NBA level they're not the same so Carolina sits in weights and we're I'm talking

to you here on a Tuesday afternoon I would venture to say we are at least at least seven days away

from knowing who the next coach at Carolina will be and it could be well two weeks beyond you know

a week beyond that so we sit and wait. Just to answer your question if you do not lure a Tommy

Lloyd or a dusty May and honestly every game they win makes that more complicated like if you

want to hire a Tommy Lloyd at Arizona it's easier if he loses in the round of 32 than it is for him

to continue to coach into the final four it just becomes a harder thing to leave the the bigger the

accomplishment gets doesn't mean you can't it's just it complicates everything not to mention draws

it out a little bit but if you can't get a Tommy Lloyd or a dusty May if the question is do you

wait on Billy Donovan the answers yes yes the the bull season will be over on April 12th if you

have to wait till April 13th you wait for Billy Donovan before you move on to secondary candidates

and I know you said that the way you said it I would just I think clarify a little bit more you don't

actually have to wait until April 13th to sit down and figure out if Billy Donovan is going to take

your job you can know whether Billy Donovan taking your job after the seasons over before well

before the seasons over you could probably know that right now if you wanted to know that right now

so if you're waiting you're not waiting to get an answer you're just waiting for him to get done

with his season with the bulls and then you're following through with the things you've already

worked on so interesting situation a lot of moving parts as always we'll keep you updated

as you need to be updated when we come back one more segment to go who's going to win the national

semifinals we'll take some guesses next I own college basketball podcast we're on CBS Sports Network

welcome back to the I own college basketball podcast couple minutes left for hand things off to

HQ spotlight I'll be on that side show too I'll see you over there in just a minute norlander we

said a lot of things over the past hour but we haven't made predictions predicted for us who wins

Yukon Illinois and why I will go Yukon over Illinois Yukon leads the all-time series four to one

they beat him earlier the season keep that in mind they beat him in the tournament two years ago

feels like a toss up I'll rely on the coaching experience Dan Hurley that's the entire staff

like there's no change over from the title teams so that in addition to caribbean

braille and mullin stylist demory terrace reads been a beast I'll say the defense beats the

offense in that situation but I got to be clear I am not overly confident about this but I'll go

Huskies doing that one I also will take Yukon over Illinois I also do not feel confident feels like

a total coin flip of the game for me could go either way but I'll pencil the Huskies into Monday

who wins Arizona Michigan why oh my god I will go Arizona over Michigan in a classic give us a

classic please why because I think Arizona's size and its superior ability in the paint at both

ends by narrow margins wins out but toss up of all toss ups I just saw Tommy Lloyd in his wildcats

there I've seen him multiple I saw him win at bay why you I saw him win at Yukon I saw him win

in the in the big 12 tournament and now I just saw him win in the West region so I will go with

wildcats narrowly like I said on Sunday night there is no combination of teams playing Monday that

would be surprising to me but I will take Yukon from the left side Michigan from the right let's

call that a show Shasta Devon Downey Chester South Carolina Terry Deagle legend Hutt Larnell thank

you guys for watching the Ion College Basketball podcast we'll be back on Friday live from Indianapolis

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