But the question becomes, who becomes the [music] closer, right? Who becomes the guy that you can go to with the last second shot? To me, there's no excuse for IU not to make the [music] tournament every season. Can the system win? And I think with Painter, I think the answer is going to be yes. I can't believe basketball's here.
Good morning, good afternoon, good evening, wherever you are, however you may be listening. Thanks for tuning in to the Get Indiana Podcast Network. My name is Dominic Miranda and I've been covering sports for nearly a decade, most of which right here in Indianapolis. [music] This is the Get In Sports podcast. We're going to be covering everything in the Hooser State, high school, college, pro, in the sports capital of the universe, in the greatest state on planet Earth. Thanks so much for coming on this journey with us.
Let's get into it on today's episode of Get In Sports, a very rare third appearance on the program. We like him. Basketball season is here. We're talking all things college basketball with this guy, Matt Carroll, former Purdue basketball player, aspiring college basketball analyst and overall great person here on the Get In Sports podcast. Matt, basketball's here, fall, full swing. Exciting.
How about the foliage outside? I know. I love the four seasons here in Indiana. Used to live in Denver where we'd see it, too. So, yeah. You get four You get four seasons out there.
Yeah. Yeah. You see the the summer, you see the fall, the the trees are different, right? You get more of kind of a yellow. Here you get orange. But uh very beautiful still.
Um the winters are a little different. You think of Yeah. There's a lot of snow but a lot of sun too. Really? Yeah. So this melts quickly where here it just stays gray.
Yeah. Yeah. We're in the gray no sun season especially. No mountains to be able to appreciate when you're out there. I didn't realize how we're just going to talk about nature for the rest of the podcast. I didn't realize how much I love mountains until I got around mountains like Smokies.
And then my wife and I went to Slovenia this uh spring. Oh, nice. I saw like the Alps. Unreal. Anyway, we're going to talk basketball now. But anyway, before we get into talking ball, you recently had an audition for Big 10 Network.
That's right. Very, very cool. I think a lot of people would be really interested in what all that entails. And this was for Color Commentary, correct? So, from start to finish, outline for me how a try out goes for a network like that and maybe what people wouldn't understand about the preparation that goes into that as well. Well, yeah.
No, it was fascinating because I've always enjoyed that aspect of basketball, right? The the TV side, the the behind-the-scenes side of television. And ironically enough, we talked about this last time, when I graduated from college, I really wanted to get into broadcasting and life took a different turn and here we are again, you know, where I had this audition many years later, but it was fascinating. You go into the studio, I didn't know what to expect, right? But you sit down and I did the whole audition with Dave who is one of their main hosts and he is a pro through and through. He's the man.
He is the man. He's so good. So knowledgeable, so on point. And the thing that I appreciated more now than ever is the timing of it all. It sounds so obvious when you say it, but when you are there and you're having to hit your timing exactly where you're just having to wrap something up quickly, make a real skill. It's a skill to to not only have the knowledge but know how to describe the knowledge of what you're talking about and do it succinctly is really difficult.
So the studio portion you just we sat there and we talked about the upcoming Big 10. Yeah. And we had a looking back at Illinois Wisconsin that went into overtime last year in the tournament. But we we made it seem as if it was happening live. And so it was like we're going to go into the game. We're going to talk about the game before we go into it.
Then we talked about it as if it was halftime and then after like a recap. Yeah. And uh so it was all very fascinating and uh I enjoy being in front of the camera so that was not a an issue for me. And uh but the pro the thing that was hard was doing the the color commentating. We went into a different room afterwards. It was a different setting.
Uh we were with a very talented play-by-play guy and uh that is very very hard to do. It's a it's an acquired skill with a lot of reps where it sounds obvious but you watch the guys like Bill Rafferty and all the famous guys who do this. Uh we talked about this last time, but Robbie Hmel is kind of the upandcomer. He is unreal. But you realize how much of that is reps also. It's not just about knowing the game.
It's about knowing when to insert a comment, when to stop talking, when to start talking, when to just stay quiet. And uh it was really fascinating. That's really cool. You you mentioned if you did it all over again, you would prepare differently. How so? Uh, you know, it was one of those things where you went in there thinking that I needed to know every aspect of every team, every detail.
And you can overload yourself with facts and with details that uh sometimes take away from just being able to be in the moment and you don't have to recall every factual thing that goes on. I mean, what happens now in our game today, the the reality of it is all the transfers, right? So trying to know everyone's name, a lot of these guys are have a foreigner last name and so trying to do the pronunciation remember that it can become overwhelming and then you want to like impart every detail on air and you you go into realizing later that you know it's more about telling a story and knowing kind of when to insert those versus trying to know every single detail of every single play and and player and all that. So, uh, it would have been maybe a little bit less reliant on all the notes that I brought and but that's not a bad thing. It's it's okay to be overprepared. I just would have prepared maybe a little differently.
Yeah. What I mean, what do you take away from experience like that? Cuz it has to be beneficial regardless of anything, right? I mean, just like getting that try out, knowing what it takes, and then having that in your arsenal moving forward. Absolutely. It it's a lot of it's just understanding that there's always ways to get better and there's always ways to improve what you're doing your craft and a lot of it's just understanding timing and understanding how I mean I was on you know that dating show on ABC last fall and it's a different kind of thing right you understand a couple days into it kind of what to do and and how to to go about being in front of the camera all the time this is a different type of being in front of the camera and so this is a lot more about delivering a message and how to deliver it what are the key points for every player on every team and uh so it's just a great skill set to to build off of as you move forward.
Yeah. A lot of respect I imagine for those who do play by play and color commentary and studio hosting. It's so much more than just talking ball and all the intricacies of it. It's fascinating. And how do you become interesting when you're talking right for example, you know, it's funny. You listen to me and you go, "Oh my god, this guy, you know, take the whole big fella, you know, that kind of stuff."
You sit back and it's just amazing how he can do all of it. Yeah. Pretty amazing. Yeah. at like 80 whatever 80 something. Guys been doing it at a high level for a long time.
That's right. Okay. So, for those listening, college basketball season begins tonight. It is November 2nd. You'll probably be listening to this next week. Okay.
But let's get into college basketball. Primarily Purdue, your alma mater. Yeah. Fresh off however many tournament appearances in a row. But out go Braden Smith, Fletcher Lawyer, Trey Kaufman Ren, who's still in college basketball after getting drafted by the way. We'll get into that.
Very wild. Very wild the state of college sports. But Purdue begins its season against 15th ranked Gonzaga. Very similar programs, I would say. By the way, uh Purdue unranked in the AP poll, sneaks into the coaches poll at 24th. So, a different team we're learning about.
Like I mentioned, those that three-headed monster out the door. What do you expect out of this team? Who's going to emerge as a primary player? Is it whole is greater than the sum of its parts where they're looking to find their identity here in 2026. What do you see? I think it's definitely the whole is the greater like as you mentioned.
I also think that whole notion of don't ever underestimate painter. No. And he's always going to find a way to get all these guys to understand their parts, understand their roles, come out and perform. Uh I think that you've got a guy in CJ Cox and you've got Pierce who's going to think I think going to be a great addition. Daniels, who's had a great uh performance in his first couple of games out here in the exhibition games, just very consistent and had a lot of great stats where it wasn't 20 points kind of thing, but it was just consistent across the board, rebounds, blocks, couple points here and there, just changing the game at his size. Sure.
And I think obviously you got Omar Meyer, I think I'm saying that right, Mayer. Um, and obviously we've got Erdle who's coming in who's going to be a great contributor off the bench. I think initially in a chance to start later on in the season. So, I just think that they're going to be really, really good as a unit. You can never replace one of the most important players in program history with Braden Smith, who is such a floor general. And I think we underestimate how important it is to have someone like him who can find guys and put him in a position to score and to be productive.
We talked about this in our last episode, but Edy is who he is because he's Eevee, right? and so is TKR and Fletcher uh and even Kluff who ended up getting you know a chance at uh at the NBA as well. But those guys were better also because of Braden Smith and how his ability is to find people and put him in a position to score and obviously the highest level we've seen um now that he holds that record in college basketball. So the question is not about are we going to find an immediate replacement to Braden Smith. It's about can we find someone who can step into that leadership role, be that floor general, be an extension of coach Painter like Braden Smith was to run plays and to make sure everybody knows what they're supposed to be doing. Yeah, it then the identity piece of this too.
I think we'll learn a lot in this early part of the season. I mean, you got Gonzaga right out the gate, then Valpo, Illinois State, Ohio, Lipkcom, Oakland, Depal, then around Thanksgiving down at Fort Meyers, then you got Oklahoma, then the Big 10 season starts, Iowa, Iowa State. That's going to be interesting. I mean, what are you looking for? And November is such an interesting time in college basketball. No one's really paying attention.
Thanksgiving comes, people start, okay, while I'm going to sleep, I'm going to turn on these late night tournaments that are happening down south in the Bahamas or Maui or wherever. What What do you like you you've been a part of college basketball team, so like what does November mean as far as establishing an identity or just learning something about yourself or the style of play? It's certainly going to be different than when Smith, Lawyer, and Kaufman Ren are here. Well, the biggest question I have for a team like Purdue, but I think this is also a question that is for a lot of programs right now is you can have all the talent in the world, but what it comes down to is can you have the same kind of chemistry that develops? That's the question when we get further into the season, right? Uh for Purdue, even though there's a lot of continuity because we lost uh three great players and TKR, Smith and Lawyer, and then Kloff left as well.
U but you also have guys a lot of guys returning, right? And a lot of continuity there. But the question becomes who becomes the closer for who becomes the guy that you can go to with the last second shot or who can take over a game and maybe it becomes a unit type of thing type of scenario. But what Purdue has had in the last certainly four to five seasons, certainly with Edy, but also even with Lawyer and these other guys that were performing the way they were, even Braden Smith became a guy that you could really trust down the uh down the stretch where he could not only hit a shot and he was a great free throw shooter by the way. He had a knack, if you remember, he had this uh great head fake that he could do where guys Oh, slow pump fake and get guys in the air, get them off their feet and then draw that foul and hit those free throws. who becomes that guy.
Yeah. And so there's a lot of whatifs, but again, I return to do not discount Painter and his ability to coach and to be able to define those roles as the season goes on. Um, and some of those guys on the Purdue roster right now are actually ranked in the top 100 players in college basketball. So, it's not like we're losing uh where now losing guys to where now we're we're talking about players without talent. We're talking with about guys who have a lot of talent. They just need to figure out what their roles are as the season progresses.
Yeah. Okay. So, you got Mayor returning out of the returners. Okay. CJ Cox eight and a half points per game last year. Jacobson at 5 and a half.
Mayor 5 and a half. Takari Harris four and a half. Guys who aren't accustomed to being the scorers, right? So, that's going to be really interesting. But you mentioned like it is nice having some returners on this team. Mayor, Cox, Harris, three starters.
So, they have the chemistry down, they have the culture down. And I think that's something that Purdue does better than a lot of programs in this new era is maintaining that culture. Having four or five year guys, four or five year guys certainly helps in that way. But I imagine that will help a lot. Pierce comes over from Princeton. Okay.
It's not like Painter has had to dip into the transfer portal very much of recent, right? Of recent since it really started. He's had his guys that have kind of and what you're seeing too in all this is the difference between different approaches, right? So, uh, the portal is a reality of the game today. And even think about it from this angle. It's not just about, uh, someone like Painter acquiring new players.
It's also about how do you make sure people don't leave? And that's the thing that coaches talk about. It's like, well, at any given point, the players could leave. And it's funny, when I played, the power was with the coaches. And now it's shifted to the players. Uh, arguably, I mean, we can we could talk about this for hours, but it really has shifted to where the players have a lot of power with how they go about things.
And so they are also having to manage personalities and rosters in ways that you have never had to do before. And when you're making money and you have social media presence and there's a lot of things that these players are juggling as well as the coaches. But I think Pay Painter is going to find a way to get these guys to do what they need to do because he he tells these guys that walking in. Hey, this is what's going to be your role. You're going to have to win the spot. Nothing's guaranteed.
And those guys understand that. But I when you watch mayor last year and even CJ Cox, these guys are understanding what the big moment looks like and feels like. So they're not naive to that and they're going to step into a role. When you look for at mayor, there were times last year where he was really searching for a shot. Yeah. Which is a good sign when you want a guy to come in this year who can take over and do that.
And so we'll it'll be interesting to see how this all pans out as the season progresses, but I think they're going to figure it out. I think he could be a 15 16 point per game guy when it's all said and done. Uh Luke Erdle, we talked about him a lot last time you were on. One of the most college ready players I've seen at the high school level. Just the way he got to his spots, he made players a lot better. Mount Vernon won state in class 4A last year.
He was he carried them. I mean, the way he was able to get to the rim at will, create space for himself. It may take a minute to get acclimated to the college game. I'm not saying it won't, especially in this era when, you know, you talked, we talked off air about kind of Caliperry's freshman method that no, I mean, you're playing guys who are 22, 23, 24, 25 years old now. Y I mean, rosters are older, which makes for a more even keeled across the sport, better basketball. I mean, it's a grown man's game now.
I do think what what goes into a freshman having a successful November, finding yourself, finding your role on the team, emerging, making mistakes against the lips scum is okay. Maybe not so much against Wisconsin on in January, you know what I mean? So, like what what is does he have to do to carve out that role for himself? Because he has all the talent in the world and Matt Painter is steady just recruiting the state of Indiana. That's what he does. Arguably the best player in the state.
What do you want to see out of Luke Ernold? what what what makes a successful start to the season for him? Uh well, one of the things that I think everyone needs to understand is that he's not Braden Smith, right? In fact, he's a very different player than Braden Smith is or was. And uh and so I think that the comparisons are there naturally because they they play the same position that they can't expect him to be the same type of player. So when you watch him in practice, uh you can see that he knows how to use his body.
He knows how to get through spots, but he's also a guard who can pass. We've talked about this as well, where he's in at times a pass first player, which in in a lot of ways is like Braden Smith. The question will be, can he translate what he did in at the high school level into the Big 10 uh season. Uh and so that that's the question that we don't have the answer to yet, but he's a great shooter. He's a lefty, which believe it or not gives you this odd advantage when you're playing ball. It just is.
It's so different. We talked about the uh the player over at uh Notre Dame who's the 610 guy. Yeah. Who uh is a lefty as well and I just saw the highlights of him playing last night. Wow, that guy can move and play at that. Yeah.
And Cathedral kid, I'm almost positive we're talking about the same guy. And so it's an advantage, but I think he's a little I would like to see him put on a little bit of weight. I think that will come with time. Oh yeah. I think with him it's just going to be a matter of being patient. Yeah.
I think there's so many expectations for him to start or to be the guy that he just needs to be patient with himself and understand what that role is going to be that painter has for him. I love him being behind mayor. I think that's a perfect guy for him to learn from cuz Mayor was a guy who can score but wasn't asked to his first couple, you know, first year or two at Purdue. I think it's going to be interesting. I think Eurle can be a guy who's a four-year guy. I agree.
Right. And I think that's obviously huge for this Purdue program. Matt Painter knocking on the door of most likely, unless things go really south this season, pass Jean Katy for alltime wins at Purdue. As a fan and an alum, this kind of just came to my head, but what what does that mean, especially now to have a guy like Tom Isizo who's just at your program forever and ever and ever? You know, tournaments are happening every single season no matter what. that consistent level of success, that culture that is unwavering.
What does that mean to you, just to you as a fan, as an alum? Well, there's a couple of layers to this. You can look at it from the standpoint of what it means to be an alum, ex basketball player that went to Purdue. Uh, but also, so there's continuity there, of course. I think it's something like there the only two coaches that have been there have been the two of them in the last 50 years. Think about how unreal that is in today's game, uh, at any level, right?
And so, uh, the thing about it though is that Painter when he came in, we forget he was 35, I think is the age that he was, you know, I can't imagine that. No gray hair, couple pounds lighter, right? But, uh, a lot more intense than he is right now. He's a lot less vocal these days, which is kind of funny when, uh, when you look at him back then. But, so, we've seen the the evolution of Painter as well, and how he's adapted to the game, which I think is really key. A lot of these guys are kind of tired of the modern day of NIL uh and the transfer portal.
So, he's adapted very well. The question that was in everyone's minds when he got there was how is he going to be able to take over for Katie and do his own thing and now he's answered that. Oh, sure. And you look at the only other coach that I can think of right now that's similar that I think will be on the same trajectory is Shire at Duke. Yeah. And I think it'll be interesting to see what he where he is at in in the next decade because he's a brilliant coach as well.
Yeah. But I think this is incredible for Purdue and it speaks to the culture they've been able to develop and keep there. Uh the nice thing is when you go back there as a player, there's very much of a familyoriented type of atmosphere that you don't find a lot of schools and a lot of that has to do with not only coach Painter but the continuity of keeping players there for longer. There's less transfers coming in and out. So, it all speaks to kind of a a program that is being built differently than some of these other programs are right now, right? You look at Arkansas, for example, with Caliperry.
There's no right or wrong right now. It's about winning no matter what. Um, look at Michigan with all their transfers from last year and they end up winning the title. So, they're just different ways of playing chess, right? You know, and moving those those pieces across the board and uh and Purdue has their own way and it's worked. It's it's worked very well.
last four years. Two regular season Big 10 championships, two tournament championships. Last year was electric in the tournament, a runner up in 24, a Sweet 16 in the Elite 8. I think it's fair to expect a tournament appearance. I would agree. I don't know if especially with the expansion of the pool, I think that we'll see Purdue in it for sure.
Is that taking effect this year? It is. Yeah. I hate that. I know. What do you think about that?
Well, and what how I I guess I didn't even consider that. What is it? Is it 70 some or? Yeah, it's I think it's 76 this year. I just I don't know, man. Yeah.
What what it's doing is and we can get into NIL and what it's doing as well in the transfer portal because I think it all kind of plays together in the same sandbox, but it it's unfortunate in my opinion where you're going to get to a point where it's almost like there's so many teams making it. And the thing about it though is are we really helping out the other conferences or is just it just another opportunity to get more teams in from the the big, you know, the big conferences 100%. So you look at the Big 10 right now and something like 12 teams might be expected to get in this year because of this, which is great, which is great for the Big 10, but if they're desire to help out other conferences, I don't know if that's ultimately what's going to happen. And where does it stop? That's the question. If it's helping other conferences, then I think it's great.
But if all it's doing is helping these power conferences getting more teams into the into the tournament, I don't know if that's good either. So yeah, it expands from 68 to 76. So if the eight additional teams are all from the SEC, Big 10 ACC, great. Like great, we get an 18 and 14 NC State in the tournament, I guess. You know what I mean? Like Dere extends his job security by four years.
Wonderful. I I don't know it. So the way it happens, automatic bids remain at 32. Atlarge bids increase from 36 to 44 as you just said. So it's so it's unreasonable to think that any of those eight teams given what I just said would be mid- major teams. That's right.
That's right. Exactly. Right. So the old This is Okay, I will say this is kind of cool. The old four game first four in Dayton is expanding to a 12game opening round played over Tuesday and Wednesday. Yeah, that's kind of cool.
It is cool. There are cool aspects of it. It'll just be interesting to see how it plays out. What? Three games a day? Yeah, kind of all day now.
Yeah, true TV's got to be jacked [laughter] jacked up. That's right. That's funny. Okay, that's gonna be really interesting. I did not know that was taking effect this season. I mean, obviously we got uh football expansion coming.
People have comments about which I think is different in my opinion. The football piece is almost something that I would be in favor of. Okay. With the basketball though, it was perfect. It was perfect the way. I thought it was great.
Yeah. Why change it? I don't know. There a lot of change happening at the college level right now. I know that's interesting. Speaking of a departure, Trey Kaufman Ren was drafted by the Minnesota Timberwolves.
We talked about that at length. I'm positive he went through training camp or the summer league and then comes back, goes to Kansas. That's right. And I haven't heard anything about it. People should be I don't know if outraged is the right term. I'm a fan of Tay Kaufman Ren.
My guy's 24 years old, went through an NBA summer league and is now back in college basketball because I believe the contention was the five for five rule. Yep. And now taking advantage of that. This is uh peak Kansas. It reminds me of Hunter Dickinson almost. Although this wasn't a rule when that took place, but okay.
Trey Kaufman Ren in a different uniform for one, but at Kansas. Like what do you I don't know. What do you make of that? Well, where do I start? Right. It's one of those things where I'm happy for him.
He's a great guy. He's a great human being. when you meet him. He's actually a really nice guy. So nice. But it's one of those things and he's such a hard worker, too, right?
I compared him to Carl Malone last time. He's got that game, you know, where he plays the mailman plays inside. But he's developed a bit of a three-pointer now, too. And I watched him during the NBA triyouts and and watching him and you can tell that he's really uh extended his game beyond what it was, certainly in the beginning part of his career at Purdue. But how do I feel about him going back to Kansas? I don't know because now we're looking or just that being allowed at large.
Yeah. And it's tough because where does it stop? You know, we just talked about this with the tournament. Where where is where do these things and you're making exceptions for every little thing now. Uh and I know that it went to court and there was a court ruling on it. So, it's not a simple behind closed doors ruling that somebody at the end said, "Well, they did."
It was bigger than that. So, I'm happy for him. I'm not so sure about what this looks like for college basketball. The fact that he's at Kansas is amazing. I have a lot of respect for Bill Self. I've got a great story of meeting Bill Self once.
Let's hear it. Oh man. So, I walk into uh PF Changs, believe it or not. So, this is where this is here in Indie and his head assistant at the time uh Douly, Coach Douly, who was the head assistant at uh New Mexico. Okay. And um when I was getting recruited and so we got to know each other pretty well.
And Fran Friscilla was the head coach at New Mexico at the time. Okay. So, I've got all these, you know, great great stories. Great broadcast. Talk about great broadcaster as well. He is very good by the way.
So good. So good. So Julie and I got really close during the the recruiting process and uh we lost touch of course you know I went to Purdue did my thing and but I walk into the restaurant and I it was so busy they said there's only one table left and it's in the middle of the restaurant. Right. If you've been to PF Changens, when it's busy, it's just kind of like there's no room to move, right? And so as I'm walking towards the table, it's coach Douly and Bill Self sitting there right next to the table where we're supposed to sit.
Okay. And he sees me and he goes, "Oh my god, Matt." And I'm like, "Coach, what's going on?" And so we did the little, you know, how you doing, catching up for a second. He said, "Hey, let me introduce you to coach self." "Hey, coach, how you doing?"
When I was at Purdue, he was So wait, time out. When was this? This was probably a little over a decade ago. Okay. Um and when he was at Illinois was I was at Purdue as well. Okay.
And this is a great story to exemplify how these coaches are. Yeah. They're absolute savants. People always ask me, "Hey, what's uh painter like or what what are these guys like at that level?" And it's like, well, they're so And the the modern day guys for sure. Okay.
You could get away with kind of some rahrah work harder back in the day. These days, these guys are next level. So, I was very injured in college and um was not certainly the caliber of an NBA player like some of these other guys were that I played with uh at the time. I introduced myself to coach self and he's like, "Matt, nice to meet you." Um and we sat down and he hits my arm about 30 seconds later, like it just took him like 30 seconds to remember all this. He goes, "I remember you now.
Number 32, and you played with so and so, so and so, so and so, so and so." He just let rattle off like 10 guys that I played with. Wow. And you sit there and you're just in awe because at this point he'd already left Illinois. Of course, he's at Kansas years later. Years later, and he's talking about my number and all the other guys I played with.
And so I have all this kind of respect for these guys, especially someone like him. And you can start to see why he's so successful and has remain successful over the years. It's not just about being a good recruiter or being good with people or good with X's and O's. It's just the understanding of all of it, right? It's like running a a Fortune 500 company or the CEO 100% 100%. So pretty amazing.
But so I'm happy for TKR to go play for a guy like that, play in a program like that. It's like Mason Gillis who went and played for Duke. Sure. It's really cool to see these guys being able to branch out. It's also a testament to Purdue, right? And and their player development and the fact that these guys are good enough to go play at these programs.
Also, you mentioned player development. Trey Coffman Ren as a freshman, not even remotely close to Tay Coffman Ren right now. Or 80, right? or even 100% or a lawyer any of them. Uh just Indiana kids who are really good success stories I would say. Absolutely.
That's a cool story. Bill Self, one of the very best. Um I've got a lot of those. That'd be crazy. Just PF Chains. What's up, Bill Self?
Oh, by the way, I know exactly who you played with, your number, your stats. That's right, Matt Carroll. That's good stuff. Um okay, I want to transition to I want to get into the Big 10. Yeah. IUOU.
All right. Dere one 18 and 14, no tournament appearance. I know that was disappointing. Um, remade that roster and didn't exactly hit. I mean, we talked about this too in the transfer portal era. You know, you can either be remake your program in a year or be so if guys don't hit and and that's kind of where IU was a year ago.
Had some interesting wins, had some bad losses. Kind of self-fulfilling prophecy there towards the end. Just kind of lost games late. What do you see with IU again kind of remade this team? I know the big piece we talked about Marcus Burton got injured for basically the entire season at Notre Dame a year ago. He was one of their best players.
Went to Penn, Mr. Basketball, all the things. Um, remade roster. I I don't recognize any of these names in the starting five, but IU fans are are limited patience-wise obviously. Uh, and now let's talk about this. In the modern day, we never would have been talking about IU in football, right?
And now we are. Yeah. And a year ago, I remember talking to people like, "Ah, you know, they're never going to win it." And they did. Yeah. And so they are here to stay.
Yeah. And so now there's a different kind of pressure that I never would have imagined on the basketball program. Sure. Where there's this past and this history putting pressure on basketball because of their past success. But now also the winning streak that they have in football and the success they have there is putting pressure on the basketball program in that kind of way too because now they expect it to be there also. I mean, and and the the budget speaks for itself, right?
I mean, there's no excuses. And especially when when you start introducing money into this whole thing, Mark Cuban money. I don't know how many times I heard that uh throughout the course of last season's national championship run, which is great, by the way. Love the fans coming out of the woodwork. That's wonderful. You went there.
Go fight win. Go Hoosiers. But uh and you're wearing red from me right now. I know. And it's Waw Bash colors, too. It's all bad.
It's all bad right now in Domland. But when you start introducing money, there's already criticism, lack of patience before money is introduced. Yeah. Then you're like, well, this guy's making this and he's averaging four points a game. What the heck is going on? So, I don't know what what do you make of this team?
What's a realistic expectation? Kind of similar to what we've seen in years past. A a light noncon. You got Eastern Illinois, Bellereman, Syracuse does come to Indianapolis beginning of November, November 9th, Tennessee Tech, Arkansas. All right, I'm I'm walking back these comments a little bit. Arkansas in New York, Kentucky comes to Indianapolis.
Those are big games. So maybe not as light as in years past, but uh I don't know what what do you think? Sure. Well, here's the question I would ask. The question for Indiana right now is it about winning in during the regular season or winning the portal? They just lost 10 players.
Oh, well 10 to 12. I think it was 12 players actually they lost last year. So, they're replacing all those guys and the year before that they brought in new faces as well, almost reconstructing the entire roster, right? And so, now it's about well, what where do you win? The the portal during the regular season, and if you win the portal, well, how patient are the fans before they just say, "Hey, this isn't working right." And and history tells us that not very, right?
And that's I would argue that that's one of the downfalls that IU has experienced is how fast and how often they've replaced coaches. Yeah. When you look at the the coaches that have gone through there, there's a lot of great names and great coaches that have been through there that just were not given in my opinion time. Enough time. Samson, look what he's doing at Houston. Now, I understand that back then, you know, they self-reported and he he left as a result of what he did, but now he was ahead of the game.
He was ahead of the game. That's right. where now that wouldn't even be I wouldn't even think it's even illegal or even something that would even remotely be something that that people would look down on. But look at what he's done at Houston. Uh you look at the other coaches that have gone through there and so right now it's also a question of how patient is you and their fans willing to be with uh with what they're doing which is really starting from scratch when you look at it. So different approach than Purdue.
Uh a lot of money being thrown at these guys. I think I looked at the top ranked teams in the country in terms of money that they could put towards transfer portals um or players in the portal rather and they're right there at the top. I think top three if memory serves me right. So money's in no shortage there. It'll just be interesting to see what they can do with it this season and how it carries into the season after and there and you know and so on so on. But I don't know if you saw it but the viral clip of them warming up for an inter scrimmage or inner squad scrimmage uh I don't know a couple weeks ago.
Yeah. And a stand where it was empty really and everybody was commenting on this and everybody was like saying well it was just you know scrimmage between them and this and that but still we're talking about a lot of people. So it'll be interesting to see how the fans react and now that they have football are they going to lose interest in the basketball season if they don't perform? We'll see. It's just something we never even considered happen. Never considered not at IU.
Uh, their starting five are all transfers. Marcus Burton from Notre Dame, Darren Harris from Duke, Jaden Mustaf from Georgia Tech. Okay. And then you got uh Aiden Cheryl from Alabama. And then this guy from Turkey, I'm not even going to try to say his name, from SMU. I It's just a different world.
And And I mean, you got to hit on these guys and and and how fast can you establish that chemistry? Dere's very successful at uh Drake, very successful at uh West uh West Virginia his very first year. Uh doesn't have his son on the roster anymore. I just think it's going to be fascinating to see and they're going to learn quickly. I mean we Syracuse, Kentucky, and uh who else did I mention there on their schedule, but I I don't know, Matt. Arkansas.
But here's a question for you because I think IU is similar to UCLA. Okay. where they fight. I'm not not I'm not talking about today necessarily, but I'm talking about the expectations they fight. Yeah, they are similar in that regard. I would say that in college basketball, probably the only other programs that would fight this is going to be Duke.
And eventually when ISO leaves, it's going to be Michigan State. I see. But when you look at UCLA and what they fought in terms of the expectations, they weren't just trying to win games. They were fighting against their own expectations. Yeah. And they're finally figuring it out.
And I think they're one of the teams that can really do something this season if they're freshman. They're star freshman. Karita really performs well. He's impressive. A lot of people are saying, and by the way, we can talk about this rumor that he's being paid something like $12 million. Stop.
For two seasons. Stop. Yeah. It's so he can he has to be there for two seasons because that just is insane. Isn't that crazy? It's either 10 or 12 million uh five to six a year because he had he's too young to go to the NBA draft this year or he would have been in the top like three guys, right?
NBA draft. So, uh, and he's something like 67, can do it all. Uh, he's really thin, but you watch him play, he's your typical player from overseas who can move, shoot, pass, do all the things, defend smooth, uh, he's just young. But for UCLA, this is for UCLA. So, if the if things come together for them with their other players and uh with their great coach, you know, Mick, and you never know what he's going to say. I love Mick.
Uh, but that to me is where IU needs to head. It's where like we need to get rid of the ghosts of Christmas past kind of thing, you know, as we get closer to the to the holiday season here. It's like let's get rid of these ghosts of telling us what we need to be and just understand what we're becoming, right? And develop a new a new present and future in the modern day of of basketball. To me, there's no excuse for IU not to make the tournament every season. That's just like where I'm at with IU basketball.
Like Purdue makes it every single year. Michigan State makes it every single year. If you want to be this quote unquote blueb blood, Yeah. you need to make the NCAA tournament every year. Certainly with 76 teams. Yeah.
And certainly with the money you've got, there's no excuse these days when you can bring that amount of talent in. But this goes back to what we talked about, talent versus chemistry and you and this is the thing that that Kentucky used to fight with Caliperry and not every coach is is good at this. When you look at I call him the architect in Dusty May at Michigan. Yeah. when he was able to bring those guys in. Yakil is incredible.
I loved seeing him play Luca recently and the jabbing that, you know, they were doing there back and forth, but what you can see in that is the example of he's not an easy guy to coach personalitywise, right? Certainly the talent is there, but the question becomes in modern day basketball with all these talented freshman, talented sophomores, juniors, and seniors coming through that have been all over the place. When you look at stoakovich at Illinois, this is his third stop. He was at Stanford, then Cal, and now Illinois. Wow. So, you look at all these guys.
So, it's a lot of how do you corral these guys so that these egos in the room can all play together in a way that when you hit later in the season is actually winning you games? Yeah. Some It takes a special head of a program to maintain the whole plan for the name on the front. Absolutely. And and nowadays, there's no question about that. It's going to it's going to be fascinating to see how IU does and uh just how it shakes out with an expanded tournament this season.
Okay, Big 10. You're knowledgeable about the Big 10. Got the prep carried over from the trial. Carried over. That's right. Uh going through the rankings here, five Big 10 teams ranked, six if we count the coaches poll there with Purdue.
UCLA, you mentioned USC down in the 20s. Michigan defending national champ. Out goes Dusty May. And to your point about the way college basketball is now, Dusty May, master of the portal, says, "Peace, I'm out. I did it. I don't want to deal with it anymore now with the Dallas Mavericks."
Ending on a high note. What a way to go. That's the way to do it, man. That's the way to do it. Um, and we'll see if his name comes up. Uh, look, I hope Dere does well.
All right. Not calling for anybody's job here. We have had enough of that with the Colts, but uh, you know, setting himself for a clean. It would have been very difficult. These are the tin foil hat people. Okay.
It would have been very difficult to go conspiracy theorist to go from Michigan to IU, but have a little buffer there with the NBA. Now, if he does well, this is all for not, but if IU's job so happens to come open in three or four years. Yeah, I like that. That's an interesting thought. The Eastern Green kid. That's right.
I don't know. It could al people forget. Anyway, uh defending national champs without Dusty May. They're 17th. Michigan State in the top 10. Illinois third.
Fresh off of Final Four here in Indianapolis. What do you like about those teams? Or anyone that's a sleeper in this conference? Just give me your rundown of what sticks out to you. Well, the Big 10 now with 18 teams. Yeah.
Jeez. Right. Big 18. Big 18. That's right. That's the crazy thing about it.
And they're all over the country now, you know? I mean, it's no longer just where we were before. We got mainly CLA and Ruckers and Biscataway on a Tuesday night. That's right. Wow. That's right.
So, it's a lot. And the question becomes, you know, what does it look like this year? Well, I would tell you that you're seeing a lot of teams, a lot of different approaches for how to win a game and how to construct a team and every coach is doing it a little bit differently, right? Greg Guard is doing it differently at Wisconsin than Brad Underwood at Illinois, right? Illinois last year, by the way, was the tallest team in the country. Yeah.
Average 68 in height. And this is what's fascinating when you look at teams and how their strategies are. It's not just about talented players that you're acquiring in the portal. the approach to the game. So you look at Brad Underwood and something like 40% of their shots last year, actually no, you know, it was over 50% of their shots last year were coming from three-point really. But then they were one of the highest I think they were ranked third in the country for offensive rebounding.
And so it was almost like here you are something like 40% of the shots that they uh when they grabbed a rebound, 40% of the time they would score after that rebound. And so their three-point shot and their rebounding became almost like an offensive strategy. Yeah. Right. It's not long shot, not long rebound when you have bunch of 68 610 guys out there. And so what he did though was he recognized the power in not only the three-point shot because of the modern day way of playing cuz even their guys at the Twins, they can shoot a three, they can extend the floor.
It becomes a problem for these teams that play against them because you have to treat all those guys as threats. Yeah. And then those guys can set a screen roll to the basket and score as well at a high level. So what happens though is that he wasn't sending back two guys with every shot uh after a shot was thrown up and and and sending guys back where he was sending either all the guys to the glass or the guy who shot the three would be the only guy back. Right. So now you have a strategy for how to approach the game.
So it's interesting to see the archetype of how each team is being developed to be able to win in this very difficult conference, right? where they in a lot of ways beat up on each other every night. Sure. And even though Penn State is is down and has been for years, you can't take the night off and go in there and hope to to just kind of walk out there with a win. You've got to go in there prepared and and and ready to play. So, I think the top teams are are the ones that we've the obvious ones are uh Illinois and Michigan and Michigan State, right?
Those are the staples. Uh Michigan, of course, is I think the biggest question mark from last year. I think those are the three teams that are obviously going to be the front runners right now. Illinois a bit of a question mark with Davian Murkovich. Uh he had surgery on his foot this summer and then he just had that appendecttomy on Saturday. Um Brad Underwood just announced that he's not going to be playing tonight.
So we'll see what that recovery arc looks like. But he's a preseason all-American. And the question mark for them is how do you replace Katon Wagler? Stud. Stud. Unbelievable stud.
And you see what he's doing in the NBA right now. Uh it was not just a fluke. The fact that he was able to get better through the season last year is impressive. So, uh, but I love Vox, their transfer, he is good. Yeah. And when you look at Underwood said that he thinks he is the best scorer in the portal and they were able to get him.
He's a big guy. He's like 6'8, can do it all. Uh, so it'll be interesting to see. Theich twins are amazing. Uh, with Michigan State, you've got Jeremy Fears and you've got Cohen Carr who are the one. Wow.
Yeah. So, uh, arguably the best point guard in the in the country right now. Most people would put him as the top player in the country right now. The question I have for Michigan State though is although Fierce has really worked on his shot in his offensive game in the offseason, what happens when you take him away? Because if you start to pressure him in a way where you take him as a as a threat, a serious threat on the scoring side of things because he really is a pass first guard, he actually was uh had more assists per game than Braden Smith last year really. So, uh, when you look at it from that standpoint, who is just like we talked about Purdue, who's the guy that steps up for that team consistently, uh, when you take away those guys.
So, um, but yeah, then you get into the the sleepers. I still think Purdue has a great chance to to show everybody why they're still Purdue and how culture and system can win over talent sometimes. Even though those guys are talented, but we're not talking about coming into the the season with all Americans, right? Can the system win? And I think with Painter, I think the answer is going to be yes. Uh then you have USC.
They've got all the talent in the world. Yeah. And a lot of people have them as the sleeper uh of the Big 10 right now, just because the question mark is, can all that talent come together to win? Yeah. When you've got Arenas, uh you've got uh the twins that are coming in that are impressive as well. All kids sort of NBA players.
The question though is can they come together and win? Arenas is impressive. Have you seen him play? I have not. Oh my god, he is one of the best players I've seen in a while with how he handles, how he shoots, how he moves. So, if they all stay healthy, then of course you've got UCLA and their Costa Raa um who all of most people have him as one of the top 10 players in the Big 10 right now and just very young.
So, I think when you look at the top of the Big 10, it's impressive. And then we haven't even talked about this of the world. I was just going to say Iowa went to the Elite A last year. Nebraska went to Sweet 16. I mean, Nebraska, when are we going to stop talking about them like a surprise? I know.
and that they're just here to stay. Yeah. So, when you look at all this, it's incredible. And so, Ohio State and Ohio State right now, um I love Debbler. I think he's a great coach and I think that it's going to be interesting. I think he's a little bit on the hot seat right now because he u came into that job the way he did.
Uh but I think that he's done a great job in the portal and he's got great players coming in. So, the top of the Big 10 is is going to be extremely difficult. Uh, and it's going to be interesting to see who comes out on top. Yeah. Night in night out and then, you know, with Oregon, Dana Alman leaving late. That was incredible.
What do you think? I mean, that we we've seen that sometime. Bo Ryan retiring what eight games into the season when Greg Guard takes over or whatever. That was an weird situation. Dana Alman, it strikes me as a guy that's like, "Screw this." Yeah.
I'm out. Well, that's the feeling. All time legend though. Alltime legend. It's the feeling that I think a lot of people watching had. Yeah.
Was I'm done with this whole college basketball way of doing things now. But the timing of it was odd and extremely I think if you're a player that came there to play, it's brutal. You've that's brutal. And the coach is picking up the pieces. It's brutal. So, I think he could have handled it differently.
I don't know if you saw, but he called coach Iso the night before. It's almost like I's turned into the godfather. you know, we're sitting there, you know, kind of where guys almost have to ask for permission. You know, what do you think about me doing this, coach? You know, that is crazy. I I would say that is a guy I'd probably call.
I'd probably call him, too. But, uh, yeah, that's certainly odd. And I think that but Oregon is another I don't know if people know this, but the guy who started Nike went to Oregon. It's one of the reasons why they have so much money and their facilities are insane. Oh, yeah. Uh, their facilities for football are legendary.
Right. So, it's another team that don't ever count them out with the amount of NIL money they have and what they've been able to do in the past. It's just he's 68. He was only eight wins away from 800. Gosh, I wish he would have stayed. He should have quit right there, right after 800 wins.
Yeah. Pull the old uh Bo Ryan there. That's right. Um it looks like Rob Mullins. Oh, he's the athletic director. So, Tony Stubblefield takes over.
If that name sounds familiar, he was the head coach of Depal from 21 to 24. I don't know. Um, that's a that's an odd situation, but something that I imagine may become more common just with the way it's trending. And you get to be in your late 60s or early 70s, it's like, man, I don't want to do this anymore. Well, what you hear from all these coaches though, the common theme, the common thread is we just need to understand the rules and there needs to be some guard rails here because they're all trying to figure it out as they go. Things are moving so fast now and that's the part that all these coaches are having to adapt to.
Now, if you're established like Painter and some of these other guys and certainly Alman was, but uh but it's one of those things where you're just trying to understand how do I coach in this modern era of basketball because so little of it has become coaching, right? NL portal, recruiting, it's roster management, it's personality management, it's social media management. So, and when once you got once you get those guys on campus, can you keep them there? And it's a constant game of cat and mouse and and then it turns into well how much do you offer this player and that player? How do you This is the thing no one talks about in the locker room when guys find out oh my god you're making this much. I'm making this much.
Like how do you manage that? And they're 18 to 22. They're going to talk about it. They're going to talk about it. Like come on. That that's just it's fascinating to mentioning how deep the Big 10 is.
Okay. Iowa was 500 in conference play last year. 24 and 13. Go to the Elite 8. Yeah. Nebraska was win, loss, win, loss late in the season.
Like everybody beats everybody. They go to the Sweet 16. Wisconsin's lurking. Of course, they lose the high point in the first round. You know, it's going to be a league that has a lot of tournament teams. Yeah.
And it's just how far do they go? And uh see if the Big 10 Yeah. They break down that glass ceiling, winning the national title last year with Michigan and Illinois in the final four. And it's it's just going to be fascinating. Well, with a he with a healthy David Murkovich, I think Illinois is still a Final Four team, 100%. And with the Final Four happening in Detroit this year, how awesome would it be to see Michigan State there?
Yeah. The last time it was in Detroit, guess who was there in the final four? Michigan State. Imagine Michigan State. Yes. So, uh, a lot of great stories to be had here.
A lot of people would put the Big 10 as the the best conference in the country. Yeah. This year, I would agree. I think you have so many, to your point, top to bottom, great teams that don't look that way necessarily in the Big 10 season because they're all beating up on each other. Correct. But then when tournament time comes, that's when you see how they all come out and are able to show who they really are against these other teams and other conferences.
Yeah. It's what it's what makes this these early season non-conference games really interesting as well, just to see where certain conferences stack up. But how many times have we seen a team look one way in November and a different way in March? I mean, the season's just so long. Yeah, we'll see what happens. It's going to be a lot of fun.
Uh, okay. Last thing I want to leave you with, Matt. This has been great, by the way. Um, always love having you on talking. I can't believe basketball's here. It's actually insane.
But, uh, we've talked about this kind of hinted at it throughout this podcast, but how have you seen just the overall product of college basketball shift? and and we've talked at length about NIL transfer portal. Okay, those are one thing, but like the game itself, have you seen that shift? Cuz we've seen this in football. Like the battle of attrition has never been more than it is right now. Teams cannibalizing each other.
Okay, we might see a 500 team make the tournament this year. I think that's certainly conceivable. Auburn almost did last year. Give it the pearl nepatism, whatever you want to call it. It was it was more so a conversation than I think it's ever been, but it feels like less playing for the name on the front. It's cliche, but it's true.
I don't know what kind of conversations have you had with players or coaches or analysts, just people close to the sport on the current state of the sport. Is it trending poorly? Is it okay? It's just an adjustment. Like, I don't know. Well, this could be a whole podcast itself, but that's why I saved it for last.
And I believe that every coach and every player would have a different answer for you. Um, and we'd almost have to take this in categories, right? What does it look like for these players to to make money? Well, if you're one of the top guys, it's really great, right? But you hear what some of these coaches are talking about, which I think is is a good thing to be talking about. A good topic is what about the guys that are not starting and they're the last guys on the bench?
Yeah. How is this good for them? Yeah. What's their college experience like? What's their experience like? Are they g getting an education?
We talk about all this from the standpoint of the players who are going to the NBA, the 1% guys who are making all the money and moving around, but what about we we've lost everything in translation about what does it mean to still get an education? What does it mean to still be loyal to a program? What does it mean to the coaches that are still, I would say, old school. Sure. where they're still trying to impart values and what it means to not only be a good player, but a good person and what it means to, like you said, have pride in the name on the front of the jersey, not just the back. And so, it's become very much like a pro sport.
Uh, and that's nothing new. It's not like all of a sudden this season we're talking about this, right? It's been in the works for many years, but what does that mean for the future of it? Because we talked about this last time. We're seeing this trickle down into high school sports now. Yeah.
And then not only high school, but what does it mean then to trickle down further down? And what I'm hearing now from coaches is that the frustration that and what they're having to adapt to is the mid- majors. What they're seeing now is well, I'm almost becoming like a player development type of thing. Yes. Right. Yes.
They're becoming the G-League for the other programs like the the Yeah. Some some teams use it as a pitch. Hey, come ball out for a year, maybe two, and you you'll be on Tennessee next year. Look how many players we've sent to Duke. You know, think about that for a second. Instead of saying, "Look how many players I've sent to the NBA," it's look how many players I've sent to these other programs.
So, you think Power Four is a one-year team. These mid majors are like, "Oh, no. Listen, you'd have no idea." Yeah. And And so, it's that's the part of it that's really interesting. Now, the flip side of this though is you look at Stirts from Iowa.
Yeah. And what a great story. There's success stories. There are success stories where without the modern day of looking at this, there is no ST story. And so I can see both sides of it. I think that we just need to find better guard rails that we can put around it so that we don't have the chaos that we see right now.
And how long have we been saying that? A long time. And I don't think the NCAA really knows what to do. And if I'm in their shoes, it would be tough. It feels like they're not in control. It does feel.
I don't even know if that's a fault of their own. Like this just kind of is like, okay, we're allowing this and then it just we didn't know the the fallout and here it is. Well, there's so many legal aspects to this too and that's the thing that we forget. And so, I mean, look at TKR. We brought him up earlier, you know, his situation went to the courts as well. So, this isn't just a simple we all had a meeting and this is what we came up with.
There's a lot of legalities. We also forget this is not just about basketball. This is a football thing. I mean, what about the soccerers of the world and the wrestlings of the world? I mean, this isn't just unique to just a basketball conversation, right? And that's the part is that it becomes almost siloed when we talk about these sports, but it's much deeper than that.
So [snorts] much deeper. Like, I think these decisions are being driven by mainly football, but basketball, too. But then what about the random volleyball game? UCLA volleyball has to travel to Ruters. That's right. On a week night.
What about What about the baseball series? Right. You know what I mean? Like the amount of money being thrown around, not only for players to get paid, but travel, that's right, is insane. And like these students are still trying to get an education. Like imagine doing your homework just like consistently on a plane or consistently on a bus or whatever you're doing.
It's just crazy. And you you mentioned TKR. And just one final thing on that. It's like I don't think the five for five is necessarily an issue. Like I do think like kind of cut and dry five years of eligibility that's fine. I think it's when you start like if you get drafted or in football if you participate in a training camp and say you get cut and then you join a team like that's where I think a line needs to be drawn.
If you enter into the professional level you're there. Okay. And I'm happy for TKR. He needs if he feels like he doesn't have an NBA future then make your money in college. I totally get it. Set yourself up for your life.
That's awesome. Go fight win. But I just think if you if you taste what professional basketball is like and you're like, "Oh, I didn't do as well as I thought or maybe I need more development here." And then come back to the college game. I just think and and when's the cut off in the date you can make that decision also? You know, I'm thinking about going back, too.
Yeah. Right. You could, [laughter] you know what? I think someone could use a We should do a documentary where they follow me as I try to go back. That's right. Um, you got eligibility.
That's right. I got eligibility certainly now with the rules, but it's a fascinating question all around. And I think that the people that suffer in all this are my kids right now are are playing basketball. Yeah, they're 12 and 10 and eight. But how do I get them to actually focus on loving the game versus seeing the glitz and the glam of what these guys at the top are are portraying? because it certainly is.
If I was me making the amount of money that Karita is at UCLA, I mean, you could argue that these are bigger contracts than some of the guys in the NBA are making. Kirby Smart said yesterday, "These guys are making more than I made till I was 40 years old." That's right. So, what happens when you when you So, it's not just affecting the college game and not just affecting the guys who are the 1enters at the top. It's also trickling down into how do we develop players? Think about how fascinating this is.
We talked about this before the show started. The difficulty of pronouncing names right now. Not a problem in terms of have all these foreigners in the game. It certainly has elevated the game and I would argue that it's been a good thing for sure college basketball and the NBA because of the flavor of basketball they bring. But it's also a sign of the times of what basketball is moving towards and how do we teach the players in high school and in middle school to to kind of get to that level too. Yeah.
Overseas those guys practice five days a week and and play one maybe. Right. In the United States we practice a couple days a week and we play all weekend and there's more games than there are practices. I was helping my kids the other day and I was reminded how little of the fundamentals we're teaching them. Just go out and play. Get four games a week.
That's right. That's where the game is shifting also is that we need to be able to make sure that we're keeping up with uh with the times as well as we're kind of the feeder program into these universities. But uh time will tell. I think that again we're not going to solve it on this podcast, but another podcast for another time. But it's it's certainly interesting how it's evolving and and I I would hate to see more Altman's I know leave the game because of what we're seeing. I know it it's going to be a sad day when Tom Mizo hangs it up.
It will be cuz he's really the guy. He's kind of like the poster guy. He is the godfather. He is the godfather. Like he he's the guy who's going to say things that nobody wants to hear. His teams are going to be like gritty like play for coach.
I just love it when he gets into a player. Like I want my son playing for someone like that. Yeah. It'll be interesting to see if he wins this year. Is he going to pull a Dusty May and just retire? Peace.
I'm out. I hope he does. Like, see you. This has been great. Um, that's super interesting. Well, Matt, this has been awesome.
I think we're going to have Matt on hopefully twice a month during college basketball and just like keep a pulse on it. Um, I know we're football heavy right now, especially in the high school stuff, but we really appreciate your perspective. It's been great. I love it. I look forward to it. Yeah, man.
And, uh, I'm really excited to see this new Purdue um kind of what they're looking like. And hey, Notre Dame got a big win over Villanova in Rome. I saw Pope Leo dribbling a basketball. All right, we love it. And we love it. We love that.
That's what sports is all about. That's the good side of it. It It made me irrationally happy to see Pope Leo just dribbling a basketball. I don't know why. It was just incredible. Good stuff, Matt.
Thank you so much, sir. Matt Carroll, extraordinaire. Follow him. He's the man. He's going to be talking Purdue with us all season. All Big 10, Big 10, IU, Notre Dame, college basketball in general.
Yeah, it's just going to be a fun fun season. So, basketball's in full swing. We got podcasts with Marian head men's and women's basketball coaches, Ball State head men's and women's basketball coaches coming out all throughout the month of November. We're getting heavy into basketball. Make sure we keep a pulse on it. So, thank you so much for listening.
Follow Nate Spangle, Get in Sports, Don Miranda TV, the whole nine yards. But this has been a fun podcast and basketball season full swing. So, keep listening. We got all you need.