Ty Re-Predicts the Men's NCAA Basketball Tournament

Seeing that the men's NCAA basketball tournament now has its Sweet Sixteen, I want to revisit my preview and prediction from last Monday.

First things first, NIL is making this a blue blood type of tournament. I believe that every team left is from a power four conference. Yep, every team left is from the ACC, SEC, Big 12 or Big Ten. The SEC has the most, with seven teams, almost making up half the teams. The Big 10 has four teams, the Big 12 has four and the ACC has Duke. That's another thing, we also have perennial teams like Duke, Purdue, Kentucky, Houston and Arizona, among others. The lowest seeded team left is Arkansas, who is a 10, but they have John Calipari as their head coach and they recruited studs. They had a tougher regular season than most expected, but they're coming together at the right time. The next lowest seed is 6, BYU and Ole Miss. I mean, we don't even have Gonzaga anymore. It seems like the days of Fairleigh Dickinson, Grand Canyon, Akron and Florida Gulf Coast are toast. That bums me out a bit.

The fun of March Madness is the one or two "Cinderella" teams that make a push. I remember a few years back when Michigan faced Loyola Marymount for a final four berth. I was glad Michigan won that game to be clear. There was the Florida Atlantic run to the Final Four, coached then by now Michigan coach Dusty May. I watched Glen Mason make a deep run. Shaka Smart made his name as a coach taking VCU to the Final Four. With NIL and open transfer portal windows, the days of the low seed team making a run is seemingly goen. I made a big bet on Akron and Grand Canyon this tourney. Both were easily bounced in round one. My son and I were near certain that Liberty was going to beat Oregon. Oregon smashed them. My wife was the one who followed seeding and she is leading my son by two games and me by four in our brackets we filled out at home. For the time being, the blue bloods and major programs look like they will be leading the way.

As for my Final Four picks from last Monday, Iowa State is gone. Duke, Texas Tech and Houston are all still alive at least. My "Cinderella" picks, I already mentioned Akron. They got blown out. St. John's couldn't find the basket against Arkansas. UConn's bummer of a season ended during the first weekend and Liberty got smoked. I was hesitant to pick Purdue, and they cruised to the Sweet Sixteen. I mentioned the Arkansas-KU game, and while KU crapped the bed, Arkansas is riding high as previously mentioned. At least I was right about Clemson.

Where we sit now, I am going to do a re pick of the Final Four and championship game. Again. Duke is going to cruise to the Final Four from the East. The toughest matchup they may face is Bama, and they should beat them with ease. I'll also stick with my other two picks that are still alive, Texas Tech and Houston. Houston took on a hot Gonzaga team and won. Texas Tech has to face the red hot Arkansas Razorbacks next, and if they win that, I think they can beat either Florida or Maryland. Both those teams needed late game heroics to win their last game. So that leaves me with the South. I had Iowa State, but they are done. So that leaves us with Auburn, Michigan, Michigan State and Ole Miss. Man would I love Michigan to make a run to the Final Four, but I don't think it's going to happen. Auburn is loaded, deep and battle tested. As for MSU and Ole Miss, MSU knows how to play, play dirty and win ugly. They will beat Ole Miss. This leaves us with MSU and Auburn playing for the final spot. I'm going to go with MSU. I guess my disdain for them is not enough to pick against them this season.

My new Final Four is MSU, Duke, Texas Tech and Houston. As for the title game, give me MSU and Duke, and Duke coming away with an easy title victory. Ugh, that championship game for me would be as bad as the College Football National Title this year. Oh well, this is the current state of the game. The rich stay rich I suppose, as much as it bums me out. 

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing, the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast, and the greatest basketball writer on the internet.

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Ty Predicts the 2025 Men's College Basketball Tournament

I'm about to leave for vacation, in an hour now, but I wanted to leave you all with my men's NCAA tournament preview and picks before I take off for the rest of the week. Like most seasons lately, my knowledge of men's college basketball has dwindled lately due to the transfer portal and one and done players. I did pay more attention this season because both Michigan men's and women's teams were good. That being said, Michigan's men's team is filled with transfer players. But hey, Big Ten tourney champs baby! I'll take that any day.

When I looked at the brackets after they were released, a few things stuck out to me. Duke, who knows what will happen with Cooper Flagg, has a pretty easy path to the final four. They earned it by finishing the regular season as the number 1 overall team, but damn does it look damn near like a cakewalk for them. I feel like Auburn has the toughest path for a one seed. They could potentially face an upstart Louisville team or an experienced Creighton team in round two, if Auburn wins their round one game. And they will, most likely, have to face either Iowa State or Michigan State to get to the final four. Let us not forget they could also have to face Michigan in the Sweet Sixteen if both teams make it that far. That's tough. Florida and Houston are the other 1 seeds and I could see both making the final four. I'm excited to watch a few teams, mainly Michigan. Michigan had a rough finish to the regular season. They couldn't score and their defense was lacking. They still turn the ball over way too much for my liking. But they won three tough games in three days at the Big Ten tourney. I was nervous during the title game yesterday too. They looked tired. But they pulled it out and that gives me a little faith going into the dance. Getting a 5 seed is still confusing to me, but hey, they are in the tournament that matters most. I also want to see what 8 seed UConn can do. This is the two time defending champs. Danny Hurley is still the head coach. They have good freshmen, solid transfer and a few vets. This is a dangerous team. They remind me of the Kentucky team that was an 8 that ran to the final four some years back. I'm also stoked for St John's. I'm not a Rick Pitino guy at all, but he has done one hell of a job turning that program around in two short years. I love when St John's is relevant. It takes me back to when I was a little kid and St John's was one of the best men's basketball teams in the Big East.

There are some teams that I would be a little worried about if I were a fan. Sorry to RD's wife, but Purdue is not the team it was last season. They don't have that anchor in the middle this year, and that means the shots aren't nearly as wide open. They also face a solid 13 seed in High Point in round one. I fully believe that Akron is going to beat Arizona in round one, and hell, they may make a push to the Sweet Sixteen. I have zero desire to watch either Kansas or Arkansas, and they play each other in round one. And I think Clemson is going to be one and done, playing McNeese who flies up and down the floor.

My biggest "Cinderella" is the aforementioned Akron. I'm all in on them pushing to the Sweet Sixteen and then giving Duke all they can handle before bowing out.

As for my Final Four, I'll go with Iowa State from the South Region, Duke from the East, Texas Tech from the West and Houston from the Midwest. That's two number 1 seeds, and two number 3 seeds. That's pretty chalk heavy, but hey, that is how I wrote it out on my handwritten brackets. As for the title game, give me Texas Tech facing Houston. And I have Houston winning it all this season. They've been highly ranked all year, but no one is seemingly talking about them. I think that will benefit the team and coaching staff and they will play free and loose all tourney long.

There you have it, my men's tournament preview and prediction. I will see you all in a week. Have fun watching the first weekend of games. 

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing, the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast, and the greatest basketball writer on the internet.

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R.I.P. Oliver Miller

I was looking at NBA news yesterday and happened to come across some upsetting news. I read that Oliver Miller had passed away at 54 years old. I guess he had cancer.

I was shocked. I had no idea that he was even sick. Many people may not know who Oliver Miller was. Hell, I'd go so far as to say that casual basketball fans may not even know Miller was when he was alive. I became a fan of his almost instantly. The first time I saw him play was in college at Arkansas. When I was younger the only other college basketball team I liked other than Michigan was Arkansas, and that was because of Nolan Richardson. Richardson was one of my all time favorite coaches. I loved his "40 minutes of hell" defense he ran. He would press the hell out of their opponents and it caused issues for them. And what made Richardson stand out even more for me, he recruited guys that many would say didn't look like your typical high level college basketball player. The first one I vividly remember was Corliss Williamson. But Oliver Miller was on a whole other level for me. Miller was a bigger guy. He was, what some would say, chubby. He was tall, clocking in around 6'9. He also tipped the scales at, or sometimes above, 280 pounds. That is almost unheard of with high level basketball players. Look at Zion Williamson right now, and he is listed at 260. Miller was 20 pounds heavier. So, to see him do the things he did under Richardson was eye opening for me. I am a chubby person and was chubby as a kid too. I loved that someone that was built like me, only taller, was so skilled and so good at basketball. Like I said, the first time I saw him play I was instantly hooked. He was on an Arkansas team that won their conference three years in a row and made the final four once. He was also the 1991 SWC player of the year and the conference tournament MVP. The Razorbacks moved to the SEC in 91 and won the regular season title that same year due to Miller's play and Richardson's coaching. And he still holds University of Arkansas records in highest shot percentage and blocked shots. He was drafted in the first round by the Suns, 22nd overall. He never found the same success in the NBA that he did in college, but he managed to carve out an eight year career playing for seven different teams. I remember him most on the Raptors, but that was due to their dope jerseys back in the late 90's. He bounced around Europe and found some minimal success in the CBA. He was an all star there, made second team CBA in 2003 and is the career blocked shots leader. He did have some late in life issues, including pistol whipping a man during an altercation. After that he managed to turn his life around a bit and kept out of the public eye. I don't know what kind of cancer he had, but it must have been bad enough to take him so young.

This one bums me out on a few levels. Miller was a niche player that I found a quick fandom for because of his body type. He managed to turn that into a great college career and an okay enough pro career. Rest In Peace Oliver Miller. I hope you're blocking shots wherever you may be now. 

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast.

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Thoughts on Why Sports are Taking More Time, and Getting More Unwatchable

Last night my son and I watched the Nebraska-Michigan basketball game when we got home from running errands. The game was rough. Michigan won, which I'll always take, but it was an ugly game. Each team missed a ton of shots. The offenses were both stagnant. The substitutions were baffling. It was a mess of a game. But what made it damn near unwatchable, the amount of commercials and the refs going to watch videos to see if the calls they made were right or wrong.

We turned on the game with a little over six minutes left in the second half. That's all they had. There were six total minutes of basketball that needed to be played. We turned it on at right around 8:40pm. The game did not end until well after 9:10pm. It took them over thirty minutes to get through six minutes of basketball. In a college game. This should have been over in no more than ten minutes. But, the telecast had to do their under six and under four minute tv timeout. That is unnecessary. The amount of ref reviews was unbearable. Every single call that may have had a hint of a mistake was reviewed. The telecast would show the replay and it was clear to me and my son, as well as the announcers for the game, that the correct call was made on the floor. But the refs took their sweet time. There was one play, where the ball was clearly off a Michigan player, that took so long the crowd started to boo. We all saw it watching at home. The players saw it on the jumbotron at the arena. The Michigan player it went off of knew, he was smiling during the review. He was fouled, which they cannot overturn anyway. But the review went on and on and on. The music person at the arena kept playing the same lyric over and over again so loud that we could clearly hear it at home. This review took over five minutes of real time, and it felt even longer. It was excruciating watching at home. And this was just one of the many, many reviews in the last three minutes of the game. I swear, some refs think that the fans are there to watch them lately. All the while, the game had zero scoring, had far too many missed shots, no team could ever gain any kind of momentum because of all the stoppages. It is a mess.

This is happening in every major sports broadcast lately. College and NFL games take well over four hours now. When my dad and I went to a Michigan game earlier this year, due to all the commercial breaks, it took so long that my dad said he doesn't think he wants to go to a live game anymore. NFL games seem to have stoppages every three to five minutes of gameplay. I get surprised when they don't go to a break after a punt or kickoff. NBA games are dragging too. There's too many foul calls, too many free throws, too much whining to the refs and too many reviews. It's brutal. The only sport that figured it out recently seems to be the MLB. They've made noticeable changes that seem to have worked. I'd love for the NFL, NBA and college sports to adopt some of the methods the MLB has. I'd love for football games to be three hours or less. Basketball games should never go over two and a half hours, and that should only be acceptable if the game goes into overtime. The commercials and reviews and all the other non sports things surrounding the game needs to be fully cut or toned way, way down.

All of this stuff, which was put in to minimize mistakes, is making games take too long. They're becoming close to being unwatchable. I don't know who to talk to or who to contact, but there's too many commercials and too much emphasis on things that have nothing to do with the players and the actual game. Something needs to change. 

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing, the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast, and the greatest basketball writer on the internet.

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Ty's 2024-2025 NCAA College Basketball Preview

Today I'm going to do a men's NCAA basketball preview. Now, as big a grain of salt I told you all to have with my NBA predictions yesterday, find a grain of salt that is double the size of that one. Men's college basketball is like the wild west, I don't know half the players, I can't seem to get into it until halfway through the season and the product is not always the best. And instead of going through the power 5 conferences, I'm going to go off the preseason top 25, and of course I'm going to talk about Michigan.

In fact, let's talk about Michigan right now. I was a big fan of the Juwan Howard hiring at the time. I loved it. And it started out pretty well too. They made the tournament. Hell, they even made the Elite Eight. But, after some players left for the pros, the rails fell off. Then Howard started to fight with the staff. Then he had a heart condition. Then the top recruits either fell off or transferred. Last season was bad, so they let him and the entire staff go. They hired Dusty May from Florida Atlantic, and he brought some of his players over and brought in some transfers from elsewhere. They looked good in their exhibition last week, but I'm not writing much into that. With that being said, I do have high hopes. I'm excited to watch them play. I think they could surprise a few people. But, the Big 10 is tough. There's going to be a ton of travel and that will take a toll on the players. I expect this team to be loads better this season, and make a push at the tournament. I don't know if they'll make the big one, but the NIT seems like a real possibility, with my hopes being they make the big tournament.

Now to the top 25.

Kansas is number 1, and that's not surprising. They have a great recruiting class coming in and Hunter Dickinson came back for another season. I think he's overrated, I did when he was at Michigan, but the talent around him is great. Alabama is 2, and I have zero idea who is on their team. I'm sure they're good, they were in the Final Four very recently. UConn is 3, and why they aren't number 1 is baffling to me. They have won two straight titles and Dan Hurley is the best college basketball coach.  Houston is next, and then Iowa State. Kelvin Sampson is an upper tier college basketball coach and I couldn't tell you a damn thing about Iowa State. Gonzaga, Duke, Baylor, North Carolina and Arizona round out the top 10. Gonzaga is no Cinderella anymore. They're a legit title contending team. Duke has Cooper Flagg, and he is awesome. He is going to be the top pick in the draft. Baylor and UNC probably have the most depth and most veteran leadership. And Arizona has Caleb Love, who is awesome and really elevated his game last year. I wish he was able to go to Michigan.

Following the top 10 we have Auburn, Tennessee, Texas A&M, Purdue and Creighton. Auburn seems to be a much more respected offseason team than regular season and tourney team. Tennessee is hanging around and they are solid. I didn't know that Texas A&M was a good basketball team. Purdue made a push to the title game last year, but they have a ton of talent to replace, namely Zach Edey. And Creighton might be this generation's Gonzaga. They're always good. We then have Arkansas, Indiana, Marquette, Texas and Cincinnati. Arkansas hired John Calipari. He is a great recruiter and a mediocre coach. Arkansas will get great players, but they will burn out of the tournament way sooner than expected. Indiana is gooding good recruits, but they haven't really been able to become a serious threat just yet. Shaka Smart is still the coach at Marquette, and he will get the best out of his players no matter what. Texas usually brings in solid transfers and the new head coach is good. And RD could tell you more about Cincy than me (editors note: I could not really tell you more than Ty just did). The rest of the top 25 is Florida, UCLA, Kentucky, Ole Miss and Rutgers. Florida has become pretty steady. UCLA is a blueblood, but they haven't been as dominant as in the past. Kentucky has to replace Calipari, and they had to search hard to find one, so who knows how they'll look. I am confused as to why Ole Miss is here, and Rutgers got two top flight recruits. They will be very, very good this season.

Look, preseason polls are useless. I don't think you should rank anyone until a month into the season. We can't get a grasp on how good these teams are until we see them play a handful of games. Case in point, UConn isn't preseason number 1. What more do they have to do to convince pollsters that they're the best team in the country. If you want a Final Four prediction right now, on October 23rd, I'll go with UConn, Alabama, Houston and Duke. I'll go with UConn to win a third straight championship over Duke. Cooper Flagg will make Duke that good, but UConn has the far better coach, probably more vets and they will easily walk through the tournament for another season. 

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing, the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast, and the greatest basketball writer on the internet.

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R.I.P. Bill Walton

Hello all, and welcome back after my day off. I've got stuff to write about this week, namely my viewing of "Furiosa", but those other pieces will have to be pushed a day or so.

Yesterday, while swimming with family and friends, one of my family members informed me that Bill Walotn had passed away. I was shocked. I didn't truly believe him when he told me. We are both "CBB" listeners, and Bill Walton is a character that comes up on that show a lot, so I thought he was saying that the character of Bill Walton was going away. I was wrong, and he was right. The real Bill Walton, the actual person, has passed away at 71 years old.

Again, I was floored when I found out on my own time. He was only 71 years old. That, in today's world, is still relatively young. He always seemed so full of life and vibrant during games he was calling. There was, to me, no sign of poor health. I figured we were going to get 5-10 more years of his crazy stories he would tell while calling Pac 12 basketball games. Hell, I even loved it when he would go and call NBA games. He was insightful and hilarious. His nonsensical stories cracked me up. He was always quick with a joke. He would go on these wild tangents that were a true delight if you liked his longer stories. I would get excited when I would see him on a game that I had planned to watch. I know not everyone liked his play by play stuff. I did. It was a true joy for me. I think I liked it so much because he never took it too seriously. He understood that it was a game. Sports are not life and death. It is not the end all be all. I need to understand that even more. I need to be more like Bill Walton was when he was still alive.

He also happened to be an excellent basketball player. He was a dominant high school player. He was even better in college. He was on those UCLA teams that were damn near unbeatable. He was on the undefeated team. He was on the team that had a very long win streak. He learned from Kareem Abdul Jabbar, and kept things rolling at UCLA, winning national titles. Then he came into the pros as one of the better big men in the league. He was everything the Trailblazers could have wanted when they drafted him. He took them to places the team had never been before. He was an all NBa player. And while he never won a title with the Trailblazers, he made them a legit contender. He did get his ring with the Celtics, where he became a bench guy. He was ahead of his time as a player. He played free and loose. When he was dealt injuries, he took on a lesser role, doing what was best for the team. When he wasn't making shots, he became a ferocious rebounder. He did things to help the team.

Walton was incredibly outspoken off the floor. He was not afraid to challenge people. He would call out injustices. He would fight to help people anyway he could. He would say what was on his mind. He didn't care about his persona. And boy oh boy did he love the Grateful Dead and the whole hippy culture. He was one of the first dudes I saw that wore a headband. He had long, flowing blonde hair poking out of said headband. He was all about his tie dye shirts. I have to assume he engaged in smoking pot and other hallucinogens. He was all about, and I was here for it. I say, good for him for always being himself, no matter what the situation may have been.

This is a pretty sad one to lose. Bill Walton was truly one of a kind. He was about as famous as one can get, but it never seemed to really go to his head. The outpouring of condolences yesterday proves how important he was to a lot of people. Rest in Peace Bill Walton. Throw one down wherever you may be at this very moment. 

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing, the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast, and the greatest basketball writer on the internet.

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I'm a Bronny James Fan

The NBA combine came and went these past couple of days. A bunch of the top prospects opted out of most of the drills and scrimmages, but some kids were still there trying to up their draft stock. One such prospect is Bronny James. You may know who his father is, LeBron James.

Bronny has been living in his father's shadow since he showed a proclivity for basketball. I remember hearing about Bronny being a decent prospect coming out of high school in regards to playing division 1 college basketball. He moved high schools, played at a prestigious basketball high school and got some D-1 offers. I was hoping Michigan would go after him. He eventually ended up at USC, close to home, and they brought in a monster class. Bronny then had a scary cardiac arrest situation and that sidelined him for a while. He missed the start of the season. He was eventually cleared to play mid-season and he did.

He was fine. He did not set the world on fire. He played in Isaiah Collier's shadow. Collier is one of the top prospects in this upcoming draft. But, Bronny never really set the college basketball world on fire. He plays the game correctly, but that doesn't add up to eye popping stats or highlight plays. USC also played well below their preseason status. They were below .500. They didn't make the NCAA or NIT tournament. And they were easily bounced from the Pac 12 tournament in round 2. The Bronny NBA stock was relatively low.

Then he entered the draft and the transfer portal. He was maintaining his college eligibility, but he was also going to see what his NBA stock looked like. He had a damn good combine. His vertical is big. He had good form and shooting touch. He made a bunch of threes. And he participated in the scrimmages. He looked a little timid in the first scrimmage, but in the second one, he balled out. He looked to score. He was quick to make a move to get to the basket. He played solid defense. He made the correct pass. He showed he has a chance to be drafted. And

I'm here for it. There are people out there that are degrading him. They are saying he is not an NBA prospect. They don't want him to succeed. They are mad at him for no reason, other than the fact that he is LeBron James' kid. The hate he is getting online is brutal. I feel pretty bad for him. These keyboard warriors are calling him all kinds of things, and I am certain they wouldn't score a point against him in a game of 1 on 1. It is easy to shit talk behind a screen name. But these people hold no control over Bronny's NBA future. But because of these keyboard nitwits, I am becoming a big time Bronny fan. I want this kid to make it and have staying power. He is already an above average defender. He showed in the scrimmages that he can hit floaters. He can also spot up for the corner three. He makes the correct decision in a half court offense. He runs the break really well. This kid has the skills to make it in the NBA for a good long while. And he should make it based on his own skill and merit. There is clearly something there. He has the goods. Some team may take a shot on drafting him. Or if he doesn't get drafted, he will most certainly be on a G League team. This isn't the Ball family we are talking about here. Bronny is so much more skilled than LiAngelo Ball. He seems to be much healthier than LaMelo or Lonzo. He has been medically cleared by the NBA.

I'm on Bronny's side. I am rooting hard for him. When/if he gets into the league, I'll be excited to see him play either with or against his dad. 

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing, the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast, and the greatest basketball writer on the internet.

Come and support Ty and the podcast on Patreon.

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John Calipari's "Best" Coaching Days are Behind Him

In somewhat of a shocking move, John Calipari is leaving Kentucky to take the men's head coaching job at Arkansas. I thought this was a joke article when I first read it on Monday. I thought there was no way Calipari was going to leave Kentucky for a lesser college basketball job.

First off, that is no knock on Arkansas. Arkansas was a power in the early 90's. I can vividly remember Corliss Williamson and the 40 minutes of hell pressure that team played with. They were fun to watch. Nolan Richardson was a great coach. He ran a full on press defense and his teams ran up and down the floor. They were relentless. But that was over 20 years ago. Hell, it was damn near 30 years ago. Arkansas has had a few "deep" tourney runs since then, but nothing ever compared to the 40 minutes of hell team that was dominant.

On the other side, Kentucky has always been solid. There were a few down seasons, but those were outliers. Kentucky was a perennial top 25 team. They were usually a 4 seed or better in the tourney. They made runs deep into the tournament. They won a title with Anthony Davis. Calipari recruited his ass off while at Kentucky. He still may do the same at Arkansas, as far as his recruiting prowess, but wins and long tourney runs will be tough to come by. He will have to return to Kentucky to play them every year. Auburn, Tennessee, Alabama and Florida were all tourney teams. Hell, Tennessee was an elite eight team. Alabama was a final four team. The SEC is tough, and Arkansas is not immune to that toughness.

I have also always said that while he is an elite recruiter, maybe the best ever, Calipari is not a very good X's and O's coach. He seems to do less with more than most other coaches. Calipari is always bringing in 5 star players, but he has not been out of the first round in three of his last four tournament appearances as a head coach. Oakland torched him with threes this tourney, and he never made a proper adjustment. While at Memphis and UMASS he could never adapt to beating the best of the best. He had a title in the palm of his hands while at Memphis, but due to his lack of adjustments, Kansas was able to come back and win in overtime. Mario Chalmers was unstoppable due to Calipari deciding to never guard him. He coached Marcus Camby, quite possibly the best college center ever, while at UMASS, and they made the final four once. That appearance had nothing to do with Calipari's coaching. It was all due to Camby's brilliance in college. I think he is going to find it as hard as ever at Arkansas. He doesn't have the resources he had at Kentucky. He doesn't have the cool city he had at Memphis. He has way bigger expectations than what he had at UMASS.

This is all a very confusing, very tough move from Calipari. I look at this like Nick Saban walking away, but Saban retired. Calipari still wants to coach, just at a lower level. I almost think he is bored and wants a more difficult spot to recruit in. But, the SEC is going to recruit just as hard. The Big 10 is expanded, thus making recruiting harder. UCONN is the best of the best and he will have to compete for the best talent with them. The ACC still has Duke and UNC, which are still pretty damn good at recruiting and have younger coaches. This is a head scratching move. I really don't get it. He will bring a bunch of more viewers to Arkansas games, but I do not see him reliving the glory days of Nolan Richardson. In fact, I don't think he will even get close. 

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing, the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast, and the greatest basketball writer on the internet.

Come and support Ty and the podcast on Patreon.

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It is UConn and then Everybody Else in College Basketball

The Connecticut men's basketball team won their second straight title last night. They did it with relative ease. It never seemed like it was in doubt for any amount of time during the game last night. I was rooting for Purdue for a few reasons. My sister in law is an alum and a big fan. I wanted the Big 10 to get the title in college football and men's basketball. That would have been pretty cool for the conference. I like Zach Edey. And boy did he deliver last night. But, in all honesty, even before turning on the game I figured UConn was going to win. After the game against Illinois it seemed inevitable.

UConn has been the best team in college basketball for the past two seasons. They have not only won the title, they have blown teams out in the past two titles. And SDSU and Purdue were no slouches. Hell, Purdue was a top five team all season long. But UConn was never worried. They were never in doubt about their ability. They played with a calmness and ease that I crave as a fan. I would love to see Michigan men's basketball play as well and have as much fun as UConn seems to be having on the court. They were the best team all season long, they were the overall number one team going into the tourney and I think their closest game was the championship, which they won by 15 points.

UConn is the current cream of the crop in men's college basketball and they may be there for sometime. But this blog is not about the title game last night and their recent tournament run. No, this blog is about the state of men's college basketball, and how UConn is clearly the greatest men's program of all time. You can throw teams at me like Florida and UCLA and Michigan State and Kansas. None of those teams have the success in men's college hoops that UConn has. None of them have the staying power that UConn has. None of them have the titles that UConn has. None of them have the dominance in both men's and women's basketball that UConn has. UConn is it. They are the GOATS of college basketball. They are what every team should strive to be. They have the best coaching, the best players, the best program. They are the best of the best. No college team is as consistent. No college team has this type of staying power. No college team has this many rings and titles. No college team is doing what UConn is, and that reigned true so much the past two seasons. They do it better than anyone else. And I have watched videos of their practices recently. What makes them so great, they do the fundamental stuff during practice. I saw them doing dribbling drills. They were wrapping the ball around their waists. They were doing the Mikan Drill. They were doing things that we teach our 6th grade teams to do, and it all paid off with another title. That is seven now. I mean, they are going to have to make a bigger trophy case for all those trophies the men's and women's teams keep on winning.

UConn is a staple, and I think they are now, finally, going to get the recognition they deserve. They are better than any other college at basketball. They are the team you want to be. They are the team that happily wears the target on their backs. They have it all, and the rest of us just want to be them. My hat is off to UConn. They have an amazing basketball program. There was never a doubt they were going to win it all this whole season, and they will most likely be the favorites going into next season. Congrats UConn, and I have to assume we will see you here again next season. 

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing, the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast, and the greatest basketball writer on the internet.

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DJ Burns is the Star of March Madness

The Final Four in the men's tournament is all set. Let’s discuss.

First off let's be honest, UConn looks damn near unbeatable. Illinois put a scare in them for a half, but then UConn decided to stop playing with their food and proceeded to put Illinois away with a 30-0 run. Illinois didn't score a point in 50 minutes of real time. Alabama and UNC played a pretty solid game, but it seemed like Bama was destined to make their first Final Four ever. They are playing with a little extra oomph. Purdue and Tennessee played a decent game. Dalton Knetch and Zach Edey put on a fun back and forth. It was all about those two and they made it a good game down to the wire. But, in all reality, the Duke-NC State game was my favorite game to watch all weekend, and that is all due to DJ Burns.

This kid is my new favorite college hooper. First off, when Duke gets beat a good amount of the rest of the rooting country wins. I loathe Duke. I always have. I know a bunch of other people feel the same way. My son is a Duke fan, so I felt bad for him. But the college basketball fan in me was absolutely thrilled to see them get beat by a team they should have had no problem with last night. A big thorn in their side was Burns. He was dominant last night. He had 29 points and looked great doing it. He was spinning and throwing in nice floating hook shots. He was backing down less thick defenders and scoring with ease. When Duke tried to go at him on offense, he stood his ground, didn't foul and got enough stops. Make no mistake, Burns is a solid basketball player. His footwork is impeccable. He has an incredibly soft touch around the rim. He knows what works best for him and his team and he showed that to the entire country last night.

What makes Burns my new favorite player, his size. He is thick. He is a big dude. He appears to like his sweets. And this is why I love watching this kid play. I too am a thick athlete. I played football, basketball and baseball growing up. And when I was on a basketball court, from 8th grade until a few years back, I was compared to guys like Charles Barkley and Robert Traylor. As I became a better passer I heard Boris Diaw's name in reference to mine more and more. I heard all the trash talk nicknames too. I was called jelly roll. I heard, and said people were correct in their thinking, about how many cinnamon rolls I could eat. People brought up food a lot to me because I was heavier. I'm sure DJ Burns has heard all of this, and so much more. And he has taken it in stride. He plays the game with passion and love. He is almost always smiling while he is on the floor. He is having a good time. I saw some Duke fans trash talking him during the game yesterday, and he responded by letting them know that their season was over. I love that. He didn't stoop to their level, he just let them know a fact. I love this about him. He doesn't have to degrade other people who may be degrading him for his weight. He loves himself, he is happy with the body he has and he has become a star now. But I think only part of it is due to his weight. He happens to be an incredibly skilled basketball player too. And he has shown that during NC State's improbable run to the Final Four. He has been the best player on the floor for them this whole time. And his demeanor and play have been a total blast to see. I have told my son to watch him too, because his footwork is better than most.

DJ Burns has taken hold of the moment and he is thriving. I want to see it continue all the way to a title. Purdue stands in the way, as does UConn and/or Alabama. But if anyone can do it during this specific tournament, DJ Burns is the best man for the job. I know who I am rooting for the rest of the way. Go Wolfpack and Go DJ Burns. 

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing, the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast, and the greatest basketball writer on the internet.

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Ty Picks the Rest of March Madness

The men's basketball tournament is now down to the Sweet 16. Let’s discuss.

My brackets are toast. I had Kentucky in both brackets I filled out going to the Final Four. That was wrong. The Cinderellas I counted on got crushed in their round 1 games. I was all about New Mexico, Clemson made sure to crush that pick. I was rocking Drake, and Washington State took care of that pick. Vermont was another team I was really rooting for, but Duke beat them with ease. Samford was my other big upset pick, and due to some awful officiating, Kansas was able to win that game. The only upset I got right in round 1 was Yale over Auburn. It felt good to get that pick right.

If you go back and look at the teams that won, it has been fairly chalk. Outside Grand Canyon and James Madison, most of the higher seeds won. All the one seeds are in the Sweet Sixteen. So are all the twos for that matter. Oregon tried to be one of the few double digit seeds to make a push, but 3 seed Creighton made sure to pull out that win. And, when you break down the conferences representing the Sweet Sixteen, it is all major conference teams except for Gonzaga, a perennial power, and San Diego State, who was in the title game last season. We do also have Creighton, but they are a 3 seed. They are no Cinderella. NC State is a double digit seed still alive, but they play in the ACC. They are prepped for these big games. The same could be said for most of the teams left, they are bluebloods. We have UNC, UConn, Duke, Purdue, Arizona , Tennessee and Marquette. These are some of the top names in college basketball. The games, save for a few here and there, have been blowouts. UConn has run roughshod over their first two opponents. MSU gave UNC a scare, but UNC eventually pulled away. Texas gave Tennessee a run, but they had to make a pretty big comeback before eventually falling short. Duke has cruised. Houston struggled with TAMU, but they blew the doors off their round 1 opponent. Purdue has won both of their games by 20 plus points. The best game I saw in the first two rounds was the Florida-Colorado game. Defense was optional here, with a final of 102-100. But it was a blast to watch. The scoring was pretty amazing to see. But, not to be outdone, Purdue and Houston have each put up 100 points in a tournament game so far. So this has been a predictable tournament for the most part.

This leads me to my Sweet Sixteen and Elite Eight picks for the upcoming games, which start Thursday night. I have to assume that all the one seeds will win. UConn should cruise. UNC may have to battle Alabama, but they are a better team. Houston has the toughest matchup, with Duke. And Purdue, if they continue at this pace, should crush Gonzaga. Outside those games, I'll take Illinois over Iowa State, Arizona over Clemson, but that will be a tough game, Marquette over NC State and Tennessee over Creighton.

So my Elite Eight consists of UConn facing Illinois, UNC playing Arizona, Houston taking on Marquette and Purdue going up against Tennessee. These should be some solid matchups. There is also 3/4 of my Final Four still playing this weekend. If you all are here for my picks, here goes. I'll take UConn over Illinois in a very, very close game. Then give me Arizona, the team I am riding with this tourney, over UNC. Then I'll go Marquette over Houston. And finally Purdue over Tennessee.

That means I have UConn, Arizona, Marquette and Purdue in the Final Four. That is two 1 seeds and two 2 seeds. Not very fun, but that seems likely. I'll go UConn taking on Purdue in the title game and UConn going back to back. UConn is locked and loaded and playing their best basketball at the right moment. Take all this with a grain of salt, but after the first two rounds, it seems like this tournament is going relatively chalk, and UConn is the best team left. I'm ready for more hoops. Thursday cannot come fast enough. 

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing, the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast, and the greatest basketball writer on the internet.

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Thoughts on Michigan's New Basketball Coach

I'm back and I'll give my thoughts on the men's basketball tournament tomorrow. Today I want to talk about the new Michigan men's basketball head coach.

Michigan relieved Juwan Howard almost two weeks back, I think they should have given him one more season, and they hired Dusty May over the weekend. I guess they waited to see how Florida Atlantic, his previous team, performed in the first round of the tourney, and then they were going to get him. FAU got beat in a solid round one game, and May was suddenly very available. He was so available, that earlier on Saturday I read that he was finalizing a deal to become Louisville's next men's basketball head coach. I moved on to other names I liked for the job and sat and waited. But Saturday night something must have changed because it was reported that May had turned down the Louisville job and was going to take the Michigan job. I didn't believe it because of the Louisville stuff, but it was confirmed by multiple sources and sites and the university made it official on all of their social media. It was official. May took the job and signed the contract.

I didn't really know what to think. I still don't really know what to think. I was rooting for Shaka Smart to get the job, but who knows if he was even open to moving jobs and Marquette is still in the tournament. He still has some coaching to do. Brian Dutcher was my second choice, but his team is still playing and who knows if he wanted to return to Ann Arbor. May probably was next on my list, but that was strictly due to what I was reading online about him. I still don't know too much about him. What I do know, FAU has been to the tournament two years in a row, where before they had only been three total times in the history of being a division 1 basketball team. They were also in the Final Four last season. I know that was last year , but still, a mid major in the Final Four is pretty impressive. He also won a ton of games and developed players within the program. That is one thing I think will have to change after taking the Michigan job. The transfer portal in big business now in all of college sports. I love the idea of recruiting and developing, which he has proven he can do with way less resources. But college sports is the wild west right now, and you can get tons of hired guns through the portal. I hope he brings some kids from FAU to Michigan to help with the transition in season one under May. He has proven he can recruit. He takes two and three star guys and gives them a tried and true system and they deliver for him. He wins enough games to get to the tournament. He wins in the conference tournaments. The Big 10 is different and tough and a bloodbath, but May has proven he can hang with the bluebloods in men's college basketball.

May is also young, and I'm stoked on that. College sports is changing and you are seeing a ton of younger dudes take over big time programs. Michigan went young with Sherrone Moore to lead the football team. Alabama went young after Nick Saban retired. Duke went young after Coach K. Dan Hurley may seem old, but he is not as old as he looks. Just look at a bunch of current coaches, they are skewing much, much younger.

I have also read some things about his possible staff, and it looks young too, or if they are older dudes, they are Michigan dudes. Apparently John Beilein was instrumental in getting May to take this job, and now he is being mentioned as someone who will work closely with the basketball team, whatever that may mean.

All in all, if you read what the pundits say, this seems like a good hire. May is on the come up and he kind of had his pick of where he wanted to coach next. He has been highly successful at his previous stop and seems prepared to take this next step. It will take time. This program is a total mess and they only have four current players on scholarship. I will be watching what he does in the offseason and I hope he makes his moves sooner rather than later. I am excited, but it could just be the fact that I'm excited about something new with my favorite men's college basketball team. I'll give May two years, but results need to start coming in year 3. That is my mood going forward with this hiring. Go Blue. 

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing, the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast, and the greatest basketball writer on the internet.

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Ty Predicts March Madness 2024

Selection Sunday has come and gone for the 2024 men's NCAA basketball tournament and I'm here to give you my predictions. I say every year that I am less and less versed in men's college basketball, and that is even more true this season with Michigan men's team being abysmal. I did not watch a bunch of men's college basketball this year, I have been back on my NBA kick. So, take all of this with a grain of salt. I'll give my region winners, which will give me my Final Four teams and I will pick a title game matchup and winner. I'll also go out on a limb and pick the Most Outstanding Player at the end of this blog. I may not watch a ton of men's college basketball anymore, but I still know some stuff. Let's get to it.

I'll start with the East Region. UConn is the number 1 overall seed in the tournament. They are the defending national champs. They got most of those players back this year and have been a top 5 team all season long. They look like the best bet to win it all. But Iowa State and Illinois are threats. SDSU was in the title game against them last season. Northwestern and Florida Atlantic, also a Final Four team last season, are both tough. This region is not a cakewalk by any means. This is going to be a tough one. As far as my upset in this region, I think Yale will beat Auburn in the round of 64, and they could give SDSU a tough game in the round of 32. But, I'm going to stick with UConn to take this region. I really want to pick either Illinois or Iowa State, but UConn is loaded and looks more than ready to defend their title.

Let's head West now. UNC is the number 1 here. UNC is a good team. They have been solid all year long. But, they look like the weakest number 1 seed in my opinion. They don't really jump off the screen as much as the other number 1 seeds. I could see the winner of Michigan State-Mississippi State giving them a tough round of 32 matchup. I really like Arizona here. They are locked and loaded. Getting Caleb Love as a transfer was tremendous for both the team and Love. They play good defense and can light up the scoreboard. Baylor is solid. Alabama and Saint Mary's look decent. And Dayton has an NBA prospect on their roster with Dayron Holmes. This isn't the gauntlet that the East looks to be. But, this region should give us some good games in the first couple rounds. My upset pick here is Mississippi State knocking off UNC in the round of 32. As far as my winner, it is Arizona. They look very good right now.

Heading to the South Region we have Houston as the number 1 seed here. I think Houston is a very good team. They play the best defense in men's college basketball. They have depth and veteran leadership. Kelvin Sampson is a top tier coach. But, they always seem to find a way to choke when they have expectations. I picked them to win it all last year and they stumbled before the Final Four. They still look like the team to beat in this region though. They will have to get through a very good Marquette team. They are as scrappy as it gets. They can match Houston's intensity on the defensive side. Kentucky is getting better every game seemingly and they want to make a long tourney run. Duke is Duke. I loathe that team, but they will find a way to get the refs to help for one win. And Wisconsin will bore teams to sleep, and then attack and win games. My upset here is the winner of Boise State-Colorado in the First Four will easily handle Florida in the round of 64. The winner of that game will beat Florida in a wire to wire victory. As for the overall winner of this region, I'm going with Kentucky. I want to see Houston win. I like how they play team defense and pass the ball so well on offense. But I don't trust them anymore. Kentucky is the winner of the South Region.

Finally we have the Midwest Region. Purdue is the one seed here. They need a big tourney run to get the taste of last year's 16 over 1 blown game. Zach Edey is about as dominant as they get at the center position. They have shooters all over the floor. And they can play defense when they are locked in. I don't trust Matt Painter though. He has had better teams that have not done what they should in the tourney, so who knows what team will show up in this tournament. Tennessee is about as dangerous as they get at the 2. They can really do it all on both ends. They also have some lights out shooters filling that roster. Crieghton is legit and ready to take a big step towards a possible long tourney run. Kansas has been inconsistent this season, but they are still Kansas. And Gonzaga does not have high hopes coming into this tournament. Maybe being a 5 will benefit them this time around. As for my upset pick, I'm going with Samford over KU in the round of 64. KU has not been so great this season, and with their top two scorers coming off injury, I don't trust that team. As for my winner of the Midwest Region, I'm going with Tennessee. They look like the best 2 seed and the best team in this region by a pretty good margin.

So that leaves me with a Final Four of UConn, Arizona, Kentucky and Tennessee. That is a very blue blood Final Four. As for my title game matchup, give me Arizona facing Tennessee and Arizona winning it all. I also have Caleb Love as the MOP. Arizona is ready to win it all after a long time of not being the champs. They have the roster, the momentum and the coaching to take it home this season.

There you have it, my 2024 NCAA Men's tournament preview and predictions. The games cannot come soon enough. This is when I'll watch more college basketball this season than at any other time. The tournament is a thing of beauty. I can't wait. 

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing, the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast, and the greatest basketball writer on the internet.

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Let's Talk About Classless Duke Players and Their Fans

A week or so back there was major outrage coming from all kinds of sports media due to the court storming after Wake Forest beat Duke. Everyone was up in arms. Kyle Filipowski had to be helped off the court. His coach had some diatribe about the horrors of court storming. The talking heads, mostly on ESPN, were making this out to be the worst thing since the Michigan sign stealing ordeal. Other coaches were coming out in droves saying how awful court storming is, and that the rules needed to be changed. This was everywhere for over a week.

Leading up to Duke's next game, against lowly Louisville, Duke came out and said they weren't sure Filipowski was going to be able to play. First it was his knee. Then it was a high ankle sprain. Then a regular ankle sprain. Then he was "sore". A surprise to no one, of course he played in that game and Duke won. All was forgotten. No one was bringing up the whole court storming thing anymore. It came and went like a breeze. It was in the past.

Duke had their big rivalry game over the weekend with UNC. ESPN was heavily covering the game. There were videos of Duke players singing with the crowd. The "Cameron Crazies" were everywhere. This time it seemed like Duke was going to win because they had the momentum. UNC won last time, but Duke had overcome this "horrific" court storming and had righted the ship. And the game was in Cameron Indoor. This was going to be what separated them from the rest of the ACC. They were truly going to put the court storming incident behind them.

UNC had other plans.

They went to Duke and beat them for a second time this season. The game was pretty solid too, but UNC kind of had control for most of the game. They are a better team. They were the better team that day and they have been the better team all season. They came out and won and UNC grabbed hold of the ACC.

Unfortunately this game was not without its drama. Kyle Filiposki tripped a UNC player. There was a fast break opportunity, and as UNC was running up the floor, Filipowski stuck his leg out and tripped the player. He was doing his best Grayson Allen impression. He was being the typical white Duke asshole basketball player. He wasn't getting his way, his team was getting beat and he wasn't playing well. That meant he had to take his frustration out on his opponent. Clearly it was not his fault, it was this UNC player who was beating his team, so he was going to trip with the intent to stop a fast break, and maybe injure this player. But, if you were to watch highlights of the game on ESPN, they barely touched on this. ESPN cannot go after their white savior college player. Why would they denigrate this kid, even if he tripped an opposing player? It was a disgusting sight to see. They covered the court storming like it was front page news. It was a crime against humanity. But when he trips a kid they pass it off as no big deal and they want it wiped from their screens as soon as possible. That makes me incredibly angry. And other sports websites were not too high on covering the trip. The other sites seem to blow it off nearly as much as ESPN. We should not forget about this just because of the court storming. They were equally as egregious. I don't care about either to be honest, but when major publications, tv shows and websites are just blowing the trip off, that is wrong. It should get the same coverage. Not to be outdone, the Duke fans decided to throw drinks at the UNC basketball team as they celebrated their win. And for the people telling the UNC players to "win with class", shut the hell up. That was a rivalry game. UNC beat Duke twice. They have played better basketball. And they have every right to celebrate a win over a hated rival. I guarantee that if Duke won and celebrated in UNC's face, it would be a non story. The major websites would be saying that is how rivalries are supposed to be. But for the fans, the famed and disgusting "Cameron Crazies", to throw drinks at people, that is about as classless as it gets. That is foul. That is childish. That is white privilege at its worst. It is the whiniest way to handle a game that doesn't go your way. And these kids, these frat boys and girls can just run away from any punishment and go to mommy and daddy to help them out.

This makes me very upset when people act like this. I hate when Michigan gets all high and mighty, but I have never seen a fan at a live game throw a drink at anyone. I'm not saying it hasn't happened, I just haven't seen it. I have seen video of Duke fans throwing drinks at UNC. I watched Filipowski trip the UNC player. This is all readily available for anyone that wants to see it on the internet.

I have never liked Duke, and this past rivalry game makes me despise them even more. They are not above punishment. They can't just get away with stuff because ESPN likes them. They are not the blueblood they used to be and other fans are starting to notice. Duke is a classless team with a classless coach. They can get any recruit they want, but if this is how they act and their coach continues to act, I will forever root against them. My hatred for Duke only grew over this weekend. Their actions and reactions are childish, from top to bottom. Grow the hell up and stop blaming everyone else. 

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing, the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast, and the greatest basketball writer on the internet.

Come and support Ty and the podcast on Patreon.

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Michigan Wolverines Basketball is Not a Good Watch

I am still reveling in the glory of Michigan's football title. I don't think I'll ever not be happy about this past college football season. It was an amazing season, it was incredible to watch and it made me smile so much. But man oh man is the men's basketball team bad. They are really, really bad.

The Wolverines cannot put it together. I don't think they've played a full game since the first or second game of the season. They have been a team that plays tough in the first half, then they totally flop in the second half. They have blown many halftime leads, they have let close games slip away and they look confused more often than not on the floor. They seemingly have no plan on offense, their defense is horrendous and the coaching has been rough all season long.

Where we sit right now they are 8-22. They have officially clinched the bottom of the Big 10. They have been beaten seven straight times. In fact, they are 3-20 in their last 23 games, and have recently been beaten by 30 at Rutgers. Their best starter, transfer Oliver Nkamhoua, has been inconsistent and now is out for the year with an injury. Dug McDaniel, their lead point guard, got oddly suspended for road games halfway through the season. It was bizarre. There was no reasonable reason for the suspension, other than McDaniel's grades. But, why not just fully suspend him? It was odd. Another transfer, Nimari Burnett, has been on the floor with the team,  but he may be the most inconsistent player in the entire Big 10. Tarris Reed barely gets touches. He has been horrendously underutilized. Howard was a big man, so you'd think he would be coaching him up. It has been the opposite for Reed. And Terrance Williams has never gotten over the hump. He has been an offensive liability since he stepped on campus. The bench is not great either. Will Tschetter is too wild and too inconsistent of a shooter to get real playing time. Youssef Khayat has not gotten any better. Tray Jackson has never gotten into much of a flow. And George Washington Jr has gotten less and less playing time. I fear he may transfer. The team is also trying extra hard to keep their committed recruits, which is never a good sign.

The construction of this team is a mess, and the coaching has been bad. The season started with Juwan Howard out due to heart surgery. I had no idea he had anything wrong. But when the team took the floor for game one, Howard was gone. Phil Martelli filled in just fine, but he is not a head coach anymore. He is an assistant. Howard came back, but it feels like he has not had any type of real gameplan. The offense seems slapstick. They shoot too many threes, but don't attack enough. They seem to settle far too much. There is no real ball movement. The offense feels a lot like going one on one. There doesn't seem to be much of a plan. The defense is very bad. They don't rotate. They get confused too much. They are bad in transition. They give up way too many open looks. Teams move the ball with ease. They are not a good rebounding team. They don't box out and they give up on possible rebounds way too quick.

This Michigan men's team is really really bad. That starts from the top. Juwan Howard is having as bad a year as a head coach can have. He doesn't seem to be in control. It started with him getting Caleb Love to commit from the transfer portal. He committed, was ready to come to Ann Arbor and then he wasn't accepted. His grades weren't good enough from what I read. Howard went to Michigan. He should know the standards to get into the university. Then he took on Nkahouma, who is very talented. But, there has to be a reason he left a very, very good Tennessee team. I don't know if it was a lack of playing time, or something else. Seems odd though. Burnett is on his third team now, and he did not start at either Alabama or Texas Tech. Then Howard had Martelli oddly coach a game that he was healthy enough to coach. But, for some reason he asked Martelli to be the head man for one game in the middle of the year. It made no sense. Then the basketball team strength and conditioning coach just resigned. But, the whole story of why just recently came out and it paints a very bad picture of Juwan Howard. He has clear anger issues that he needs to deal with on his own time. He has had multiple issues with anger in the past, and this deal with the S&T coach leaves Howard with a very bad look. Having said all of this, I would not let Howard go just yet. This season has been bad. The team looks bad, Howard looks bad, they cannot win many games and they are going nowhere. But I'd give Howard one more season on a very, very short leash. If there is no sign of improvement within the first five games of next season, let him go then. Coaches have bad years. Sometimes it doesn't pan out the way you want it to.

This is rock bottom for the men's team. I haven't seen this team play this bad since they were sanctioned to hell after the Fab Five left. Things need to be fixed, and fixed soon. But I wouldn't let this staff go just yet. Give them one final shot at turning it around. 

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing, the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast, and the greatest basketball writer on the internet.

Come and support Ty and the podcast on Patreon.

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Let's Talk About the Duke Court Storming Incident

I want to start out this piece today by saying I think court storming is stupid, unless your team has just won the title. That seems like the only appropriate time for fans to be so excited that they leave their seats and run onto the floor to celebrate with the team. Even then, it seems like a bit much. The fans didn't do anything other than cheer for their favorite team. The players and coaches are the only ones that should be out there right after the game ends.

With all that being said, I now despise Duke men's basketball even more than I thought possible. For people who may nor know, Duke played Wake Forest recently, Wake Forest won, the game was at home and their fans ran onto the court. During this, some of the fans ran into Kyle Filipowski, one of Duke's star players, and he went down in a heap. At the moment, it looked pretty bad. I read that he may have had some kind of structural damage to his knee. At best, for him, it looked like he may have sprained his ankle. Either way, Filipowski looked hurt. But then all the grandstanding from Duke's coach and players started. Duke's coach, John Scheyer, made a face on the floor that looked like someone was physically abusing him. He went into the post game conference and bitched and moaned nonstop. He called for an end to court storming. He wanted to know if the ACC was going to do something about what happened. He said that he was certain Filipowski was badly injured. He cried and cried. And, of course, ESPN latched onto this story and took Scheyer's side. Soon other coaches found a reason to bemoan court storming. This was their in. They just needed someone to whine first before they could all complain.

This actually reminded me a lot of the Michigan sign stealing "scandal". Coaches just needed someone else to bring it up so they could all play the martyr. That is exactly what is happening with Duke and the court storming. Filipowski could have stayed quiet and just tried to heal, but like the white Duke basketball player he is, he came out and said he thought it was "personal". He claimed that it felt like people were purposely running into him during the court rush. He was certain he was badly injured. But as the days have dragged on since it has been revealed there is no structural damage to any part of his body. He may have had a sprain, but it was mild at best. He came out yesterday and said he was "sore". Scheyer has said that he is "doubtful" for their upcoming game against Louisville.

All of this is hilarious to me. This is just a narrative they are pushing that will favor Duke in the eyes of the media. If they play Louisville without Filipowski and they get beat or it is too close for comfort, the powers that be at Duke can say they were missing one of their key guys due to "wild fans" at Wake Forest running on the floor. But, if he miraculously plays, I'm being sarcastic, and plays well, the ESPN's of the world can call him a "warrior". They will compare him to Willis Reed or Paul Pierce. By the way, we all know Pierce pooped his pants. The cat is out of the bag. But Filipowski, Scheyer and Duke are in a win-win. They can do no wrong in this case. A bunch of people are on their side. The narrative has switched from Wake upsetting a highly ranked Duke team to, their fans are crazy and they intentionally hurt a star Duke player. Add to that that Filipowski is white, the main media is creaming in their jeans over this whole thing. Meanwhile, I find this hilarious and catty from Duke. They need a built in excuse for why they are not a contender yet again. This is too perfect coming from this basketball team at this university. I guarantee that the media wouldn't be this crazy about this story if it happened to J'Wan Roberts from Houston. Or Zach Edey from Purdue. Or Caleb Love from Arizona. The media is skewed in the wrong direction, but now they have this story to keep them afloat even longer. I am champing at the bit to see the hubbub when he does suit up and play the game against Louisville. It is going to be so sappy and so stupid.

Get over yourselves Duke. You will not stop courts from being rushed, and you should have won the game. Like they were supposed to do. They could have avoided this whole thing if they were a little better at basketball. 

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing, the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast, and the greatest basketball writer on the internet.

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Zach Edey on the Spurs Makes Too Much Sense

As we get closer to March, I get more excited for the NCAA basketball tournament. Even with Michigan's men's basketball team having a bad season, the football team won the title by the way, in case you all forgot, I still want to watch the tourney. Hell, I'll even check in from time to time with the NIT. I like tournament basketball. The stakes are the highest, we get cool upsets and we see who the best of the best is in the end. The fact that the tournament is around the corner means that it is also the NBA mock draft season.

I look at these closer this time of year because I want to know what players to watch as we get into conference tournaments and March Madness. The mock drafts let me know who I may have forgotten about, or what player from a sleeper team I need to see. This was when my love for Ja Morant started. I saw his name fly up draft boards and I started to pay more attention as his Murray State team made a mini run in the tournament. So, I was looking at a mock draft on Bleacher Report a little bit ago and I saw that this writer had Zach Edey mocked to the Spurs as the 33rd overall pick, the first pick of the second round.

I kind of brushed it off and thought, Edey is big, strong and skilled, he may be a mid to late first rounder. But when I was cleaning my house, I thought a little more about this spot, and the team he was mocked to, the Spurs. For those that may not know, Edey is the starting center for Purdue. Purdue is a good team. They've been in the top 5 all year. And Edey is their best player. He also happens to be 7'4 and he weighs 300 pounds. That is one big dude. I watch him a lot, I'm a Michigan fan so I watch the Big 10 specifically, and not only is he big, Edey is skilled. He has great post moves. He is a good defender. He is a good rebounder due to his height. He is a solid passer. He can see over everyone. And he is pretty dominant in one of the better conferences in all of the country. The only knock on him is his outside shooting, which is non-existent. But, he should make for a fine bench/role player in the NBA. Him being 7'4 has got to be enticing. And this is not a Tacko Fall or Manute and Bol Bol thing. Those guys are very tall and kind of skilled. But they were skinny. Edey is skilled and thick. He will be able to deal with all the stuff that goes down in the post in the NBA. This all works in his favor.

Then, if the Spurs do draft him, they are teaming him up with Victor Webanyama, maybe the best young talent in the NBA. Wemby is amazing. He is supremely skilled. He can dribble like a point guard, shoot like a 2 guard, defend all positions, run an offense, have an offense run through him, rebound, be a menace on defense, he can basically do it all. He has been as advertised. I know the Spurs are very bad right now, but Wemby is worth watching. He is doing amazing stuff night in and night out. But, while he is 7'4 and can do pretty much everything, he is 18 and skinny. Edey can come in and take on the bigger guys in the league and let Wemby be a rover on defense. Edey can come in and find that his role is defense and rebounding, and let Wemby continue to blossom. He can be his backup, or the Spurs could start the two of them together in the low post. That would be a nightmare for opponents, trying to score over those two. Then you throw in a guy like Jeremy Sochan who is already a good defender and menace. He is also 6'8. The Spurs could go guard in this draft, but they do have Tre Jones, who has proven to be a good pick and roll player. They could let Zach Collins or Charles Bassey walk and be okay with Edey sliding into one of their spots. And guys like Malaki Branham, Devin Vassell and Keldon Johnson will be able to hound guards on the perimeter, knowing that they have two 7'4 guys waiting to protect the rim.

I kind of love this idea in this mock draft I read today. Pairing these two is an exercise I'd like to see take place. If Edey pans out even a little bit, the Spurs could be a force within a year or two simply due to their defense. I say do it San Antonio. Take Zach Edey at a reasonable spot if he is available in the upcoming draft. They are trying to build around Wemby, and building means protecting the young star. This will be a great protection on the defensive end. I hope it happens and I hope it works. These two on the floor at the same time would be very cool for me to watch as a fan. Go do it. 

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing, the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast, and the greatest basketball writer on the internet.

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Losing Hunter Dickinson will Make Michigan Basketball Better

Michigan struggled on the basketball floor this season. Their women's team was good, but the men's team was wildly inconsistent. They never closed teams out. They had plenty of opportunities to get signature wins and they found ways to blow it. They never had a complete lineup. They lost games they never should have, let teams like Eastern Michigan stay in games way too long that they eventually won and they couldn't beat the good teams.

With a bad season there was a lot of blame to go around. Most people turned to Juwan Howard, but I do not put much of the blame on him or his staff. I do think the time is ticking, I'd give him two more seasons to turn it around. I turn to some of the players on this team. I think some of the guys that were counted on to be leaders got too big in their britches and thought they were better than they actually are. This team had no urgency. They had no killer instinct. They never showed the will to stomp an opponent out. That falls on players to me, especially now that I am a basketball coach. As much as I would love to go play, I can't. I'm too old and too out of shape. But the players play. The players are supposed to be the ones to take the coach's vision and show it on the floor. Michigan didn't do that. They took too many threes, couldn't rebound or get stops and they played too much individual basketball. Jett Howard wanted to average 20 a game. Kobe Bufkin was asked to do too much, mainly coming from teammates. And Hunter Dickinson only cared about double doubles.

Look, I get the hate surrounding Hunter Dickinson. He is an asshole. He is a jerk. He pops off at the mouth too much. He is soft. But he was Michigan's offense, and he was a Wolverine, so I rooted for him. But he endlessly frustrated me as a fan. He would do these amazing things in the post on offense. His jump hook was unguardable. He was a very good passer out of the post. He could, sometimes, fire himself up and he would throw down on dudes. But he was not a solid defensive rebounder. He was a below average post defender. Opponents would take their big man, who usually outweighed Dickinson, and that guy would cook against him in the post. It felt like all it took was one bump to the chest and Dickinson was done. He was also a very poor help defender. For a 7 footer, he gave up far too many uncontested layups and didn't block a ton of shots. So when he announced he was going into the transfer portal about a week ago I was stunned for a second, but I moved on pretty quick. I mean, the entire offense was built around his style of play. He was the driver of the car. He was the focal point for opposing defenses. So for him to transfer, it felt odd.

After my intial shock I then I thought about the other stuff. The defense. The lack of rebounding. The lack of intensity when he wasn't getting touches. The dumbass things he would say in pre and post game interviews. And I kind of moved on. I figured, oh well, let's get ready for the Tarris Reed era of Michigan big men.

I really like Reed's game by the way, and he is a bruiser in every sense of the word. There is still a possibility of him coming back to Michigan, and if he does I will root for him. But if he does leave, I will not be too disappointed. He was a Michigan great. He will go down in the pantheon of Michigan basketball players. But I miss guys like Jordan Morgan, Mo Wagner and Robert Traylor. Those big men did the dirty work and did it with pride. I see that potential in a guy like Tarris Reed. Michigan also got a 6'10 kid from Seton Hall in the portal. And they were able to snag Caleb Love from UNC. That kid has loads of potential. Add on Nimari Burnett and the two recruits they have coming in, I'm a little more excited by what the Michigan men's basketball team has for next season.

In the end I look at Dickinson's posible transfer as addition by subtraction. The basketball team may not be handcuffed in trying to get Dickinson more involved. Maybe they can run some more. Maybe they will play a little faster. All of that sounds way better than what I watched last season. 

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing, the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast, and the greatest basketball writer on the internet.

Come and support Ty and the podcast on Patreon.

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UConn Proved Once Again that it is an Elite Basketball Program

The UConn men's basketball team finished its wonderful season with a title last night. They dominated from start to finish. Sure there were moments that SDSU made it close. I tuned in the entire game because it got as close as six points. But in reality I think we all knew that UConn was going to finish this thing off. And they did, in convincing fashion.

The Huskies were clearly the best team in the men's tournament. They proved it over and over. They won every game by double figures. No team really got close in the second half, with SDSU being the lone exception. This was also the first time I watched UConn closely and they really impressed me. But that is not the main focus of this blog today.

During the game last night the announcers gave the viewers a stat that really impressed me, and I bet a ton of other watchers. This title marks the fifth title that the UConn men's basketball team has won since 1999. In the past 24 seasons they have 1/5 of the men's college basketball titles. That is dominant. They are so good. I mean, all the basketball watchers know how dominant the women's team is. They are an incredible dynasty. They are akin to the UCLA teams from the 70's. But no one mentions the UConn men's team as a dynasty.

The narrative out there says the majority of these five titles are considered "lucky". They won with Kemba Walker only after making the tourney due to his heroics in the Big East tournament. The Shabazz Nappier team grinded out a title over an 8 seeded Butler team. Emeka Okafor was so dominant that no one could beat them. There are seemingly a million excuses for why UConn continues to win titles. No one says this about Duke. They have three titles in the same span of time. Kansas won it all twice in the same time span. North Carolina has as many as Duke. Michigan State has one. Florida has two. Arizona has zero. Gonzaga has zero. Baylor has one. Oregon has zero. UCLA has zero. I could go on and on.

It is time that UConn be considered the bluest of blue bloods. They may have down years, but they always regroup and end up winning titles. I guess they don't get the love because they don't have a bunch of lottery picks, or high profile coaches or recruit a ton of one and done guys. They go out, play old fashioned basketball and win titles every five seasons or so. I was endlessly impressed by this number. I thought about it a bunch last night and even more this morning. UConn is a big deal. They may be the best men's and women's basketball programs in the country. Seriously. If you use numbers, they have the most titles. If you look at wins, they have the best totals. If you look at style, they clearly play a winning style. The Huskies are great. The Huskies should be the college program others strive to be. They are better and more prolific than any other program. Duke, Michigan State, UNC, Michigan, Gonzaga, they all wish they could be where UConn is right now. They all crave that winning tradition and dominance. They all want to be them. It is that simple.

While all the Duke fans will claim to be the best, or the UNC fans or the MSU fans or the UCLA fans, I say go look at UConn's brilliance over the last 24 years and tell me that I'm wrong when I say they are the premiere college basketball program. Congrats on yet another title. I guess we will see you all here again relatively soon. 

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing, the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast, and the greatest basketball writer on the internet.

Come and support Ty and the podcast on Patreon.

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Ty's 2023 Men's Basketball Final Four Predictions

The men's final four is this weekend. I am going to do a preview and prediction. With that being said, take this prediction with the biggest grain of salt. On my personal brackets I have zero of the final four teams. I filled out multiple brackets too. This tourney has been nuts and all of my "bracket buster" picks were wrong. I also had Arizona in the Final Four. They got beat on the first day. I had Purdue making a run. They were the second 1 seed to be beat by a 16. I was sticking up for Marquette, and they were gone after the first round. I'm just saying, I may not be the best predictor out there. Just a heads up.

Where we stand, we have San Diego State, Florida Atlantic, UConn and Miami in the Final Four. There are two 5 seeds, a 9 seed and a 4 seed. That is wild. Two of the teams are from power 5 programs, but the other two are mid majors. Three of the final four teams have never been this far before. This is pretty much unheard, especially after the blueblood fest that was last season's final four. But I am excited for this four team crew. There is no team I dislike and no team I am a humongous fan of. I could care less who wins. If I am sticking up for any team it is SDSU due to the Michigan connection. But I have always liked UConn. Seeing a perennial football power like Miami here is rad. I am enjoying the whole FAU storyline that is going on. This is fun. This is why they put "madness" within the "March Madness" marketing.

With all that, I am most excited to watch FAU-SDSU. These are the two mid majors. These teams couldn't be more different. FAU wants to move up and down the floor. They want to shoot and shoot some more. They are fast and athletic and want a track meet. SDSU is all about their defense. I saw a stat in their elite eight game that said they have held their last five opponents below their season scoring average and 3 point percentage. I love that. They also like playing a half court game and shortening the other team's time of possession. They are a throwback team. They are also older and experienced. That is why I'm going with the Aztecs to make the title game. They have a little bit of everything, they have played a tougher schedule and they are coming off upsetting the number 1 overall seed. And their defense is otherworldly.

The "blueblood" matchup has UConn and Miami. Miami is fun. They are like a bigger FAU. They also have a ton of experience. They can also absolutely shoot the lights out. Miami deserves to be here. UConn should be the prohibitive favorites, definitely now. They have it all. They have size, athleticism, shooting, speed, experience and talent. They have been very good all season long. They have also been consistent. They are such a good, deep basketball team. They have also been destroying their opponents in the tourney. I think they will do the same to Miami. UConn is so good and they will overwhelm the hell out of you. In each game it is close for a half, and then UConn has put it on teams in the second half. I believe that will happen tomorrow.

So that gives me UConn-SDSU in the title game. And much like their entire tournament run to this point, I think they will be too much for SDSU. I will be pulling for SDSU. I'd love for them to prove me wrong. I'd love to see their defense play their best game all season long in the title game. But I just do not see that happening. UConn can counter anything SDSU might throw at them. They can also play the exact same thing, but their size and talent will win out in the end. UConn is going to win it all this season and announce their return loudly back at the top of men's NCAA basketball. They are loaded and they will win it all in pretty resounding fashion.

Now let's get to these games. I am pumped. 

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing, the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast, and the greatest basketball writer on the internet.

Come and support Ty and the podcast on Patreon.

Follow Ty on instagram and twitter.