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Wesley Knight 0:00
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Graydon Prescott 0:17
Hey everybody, and welcome to another episode of sports prep live, prep live where we unbox the mic and talk excellent in athletics

What's up everybody, welcome back to another episode of sports prep live a lot going on in the NCAA recently both on the men's and the women's side. So you know, we had to come in here and do a prep talk great and Prescott k be you know the drill. KB you ready to go?

K.B. 0:52
I am ready.

Graydon Prescott 0:53
All right. We're gonna start on the men's side. Last time we were in here. The round of 32 had just ended. And since then, we've had obviously the sweet 16 and the Elite Eight. Yes. In the sweet 16. UConn is looking good. They beat San Diego State 82 to 52. And then one of my final four picks Arizona fell to Clemson. Right, right. Yeah. Now I was upset number six, Clemson. And then another upset. Number one seed UNC lost to Alabama. And

K.B. 1:30
a lot of people were surprised to see that. Yeah, yeah.

Graydon Prescott 1:32
Obviously. I mean, Alabama last year was dominant. But this year they I don't think they looked as great. Two point loss. Yeah. 8987 Yes. Yes. Then. Sweet 16 Down goes my pick to win the whole thing. I was state. They lose to number three, Illinois 7269 have been looking good.

K.B. 1:54
All year. I will state Yes. Yeah, I did not expect that. From you know, led by their point guard tainment. All Iowa attack native Lipsy. That is just something and Illinois is a really good team. They are a great program. But I did expect Iowa State to pull that out and to certainly get deeper into the tournament than they actually did here.

Graydon Prescott 2:21
So I definitely expect that a lot more from them. Then here comes the biggest upset of the sweet 16 Number 11 NC State and this is also probably the biggest story of the men's tournament Correct. Number 11 NC State led by DJ burns, big man in the middle he's tearing it down for them. And they've won 14 games in a row. They're the only team in the history of the tournament to lose 14 games in a season and still make the final four there's a whole

K.B. 2:47
lot of winning going on there. NC State men's and women's.

Graydon Prescott 2:51
We're gonna get to that. We'll get to that they took down number two seated Marquette 6758 S. Purdue, they beat Gonzaga by 12 It wasn't really that close of a game. They were up by 20 Most of the way Ed Zack Ed is having a dominant tournament as well. And then I picked this one for see Duke defeated number one Houston, who lost Iowa State by 30 earlier in the year, but still, there are number ones he

K.B. 3:24
recently lost Iowa.

Graydon Prescott 3:26
Yeah, yeah. Big 12 tournament. Right. Absolutely. Now there is a little bit of an asterisk because Jamal shed went down early in the game. And it was still a three points spread, but you play who you play. Right. So that is what it is for them. And then the final matchup of the sweet 16. You got number two, Tennessee number three great and that was a great game the whole way through. And Tennessee ended up coming out on top at 275. And I

K.B. 3:54
think that was probably cretins a good ballclub but I think that was probably as expected.

Graydon Prescott 3:58
Yeah, yeah. I think NC State was the favorite. And, or to Tennessee. Tennessee was the favorite. And you know, they did what they needed to do hire

K.B. 4:10
see? Yeah, only by one but still. Yeah. Tennessee is a strong program. Quicken has looked good all year, but I just just kind of have the feeling that Tennessee was going to come out the victor

Graydon Prescott 4:20
there. Yeah, absolutely. Fast forward to the Elite Eight for the men's. And we'll start with UConn Illinois. 2323. A couple of minutes left in the first half. Couple minutes. 30 point? No. 32 Zero couple minutes into the into the second. We're tired at 2323 Yeah, like two minutes left in the first half. Right. Then, you know, four minutes and the second half. It's 53 to 23. Yeah,

K.B. 4:51
that's the word we're looking for Word of the Day avalanche? Yeah, Yukon. Oh, my goodness. Yukon

Graydon Prescott 4:56
is looking dominant right now.

K.B. 4:58
I don't 32 Zero run. I don't know that I've ever heard of that. No, at any level I have that is unreal.

Graydon Prescott 5:05
Yeah, that's, that's one of the craziest things I've ever heard. And that game was looking like it was going to be a tight game the whole way through and then out of nowhere, right,

K.B. 5:15
and I don't think that you know, the coach of Illinois, the job is in jeopardy, but if there was ever anything that could possibly put your job in jeopardy 30 to zero.

Graydon Prescott 5:25
I don't think that'll play. Right. I don't UConn is a team having one of the most dominant tournament runs of all time. Did you know they've only trailed by 28 seconds the whole tournament? And it was two to zero and first know that they've been down for a total of 28 second tournament.

K.B. 5:43
I've heard some debate, you know, barbershop talk. It, UConn might be one of those collegiate teams that could run with or possibly even defeat some NBA teams.

Graydon Prescott 5:54
Okay, that's a stretch.

K.B. 5:57
I don't know. Here's how I don't know.

Graydon Prescott 6:01
I respect UConn what they're doing. Yeah, great ballclub they're probably going to win the whole thing. If we're being honest, just the way they're playing right now. They haven't won a game by less than 25. And they've played some very respectable teams. They're looking dominant. Still though NBA is another level of basketball you don't see 72 to 66 an NBA game, you just don't you you get your 108 to 110 you get your you know, last year there was a game it was 175 to 170. That

K.B. 6:38
is true. But it is not to say that you can could defeat all or even most NBA teams but a lot of these NBA teams are littered with guys who would otherwise still be in college. Were it not for the one and done rule?

Graydon Prescott 6:53
Yeah, but most of the one in Dunn's ended up being good, really, Jordan pool wasn't a one and done. And Jordan pool is an effective player in the NBA. Jalen green didn't go to college. I'm just trying to think of guys that are on semi subpar teams right now. Jalen green digital exotics. Jalen Suggs. Okay. Yeah, but he's still giving you 13 points a game for the magic right now. And the magic our fifth seed. So that's not

K.B. 7:20
I was talking about the player novelty. Yeah. Chet Holmes. You may be right, but they are. None that nevertheless, UConn is playing outstanding basketball head and shoulders above

Graydon Prescott 7:33
all their peers. Yeah, absolutely. The tournament right now. Yeah. Then you had a football looking matchup, Alabama and Clemson. Alabama coming up on top 8782. That was probably expected they were two seats higher. Number four versus number six off? They are? Absolutely they had Brandon Miller last year. It's a good program. And I think they get overlooked for their basketball sometimes because of how great their football is. But Alabama is a great basketball program. And they're always in the running. I

K.B. 8:05
think if there's anybody left that can give you kind of run. It might be Alabama, they play

Graydon Prescott 8:10
them in the Final Four. Right. They played them I believe on Thursday. And I disagree. I think the team to give them a run would be Purdue. Yeah. And

K.B. 8:22
I've heard that a lot. You know, Zach, Ed, and his squad over the last couple of years have had have exited the tournament sooner than most people would have predicted. This year feels like it's going to be a little bit different. You know, at seven, four. Okay, that's a lot to contend with.

Graydon Prescott 8:41
There's no more feels like it's going to be different there in the Final Four. Correct? Yeah.

K.B. 8:45
Well, let's put it this way. Even a loss here. I feel like even though that's respectable there in the Final Four, it seems like this should be a team that can get to that championship they're

Graydon Prescott 8:58
facing a number of lemons eat. That is correct. That is correct. Speaking of that, number 11 seed NC State they they did defeat Number Four Duke. This was a great game. DJ burns and once again 29 points 13 rebounds. DJ Burns is about six nine to 85 He's gigantic, 23 years old. And he's been absolutely ballin throughout the duration of the tournament. Unlike anybody we've I've seen other than Zack Ed individually on the men's side.

K.B. 9:35
He's been in Korea has really helped his potential draft prospects Yeah, absolutely

Graydon Prescott 9:40
only downside to him as he's old. The same was Aggie holder, their old for college player holder for a college basketball, not old. Older NBA players generally like to get drafted 20 And under these guys are approaching 40 But it's okay

K.B. 9:59
to on some of the audience is going to take that literally,

Graydon Prescott 10:02
they're pushing 3024 23. Okay, that

K.B. 10:05
is not pushing says a 16 year old, right? But 30 feels old. These guys are 2324 years old possible. Yeah, that's true. That's not which is a little bit over what you would be if you went to college for four years, and then decided to enter the draft. But if four years and in graduate school, which almost never happens, in fact, I don't know that it ever has happened, that's around the age that you would be however, their game is going to be much more seasoned as they look to take the leap into the NBA, like that, that extra time in the oven. It does matter, it can be helpful because a lot of these guys that do the one and done thing, find out that they are not as ready as they may have thought they were judging on what they did against their peers in college. It's a big jump. And

Graydon Prescott 11:00
speaking, just to use your point of the big jump. I think that's why UConn could not hang with some of that a lot most all of the NBA team. Okay, NC State,

K.B. 11:17
we'll never see it, but I'd still love to see it. Yes.

Graydon Prescott 11:22
This year is the first time in the history of the NCAA tournament. You're going to schools through programs. That's right. Two schools two programs have women's and men's teams representing their school in the Final Four. One would be UConn right? The dominant on the men's side and then led by Paige Becker's on the women's side and then NC State. Both underdog

K.B. 11:51
Oh, certainly. Yeah, both certain both

Graydon Prescott 11:53
for NC State underdog. NC State Women's had to go through Stanford. They were in a bracket. They were in a tough, tough bracket. And then NC State men's is an 11 seed. They were in a bracket with Duke with Houston with Marquette. That's tough to go through. But here they are both in the Final Four. And I don't know how often we're gonna see this. I don't know if we'll ever see it again. But it is certainly something special to see a men's and women's programs in two different schools NC

K.B. 12:26
State mark my words here, folks as dangerous. And

Graydon Prescott 12:32
how dangerous women's or men's women's?

K.B. 12:34
Since I thought we were kind of Yeah, shifting over to the women's side. Yes, because we had kind of gotten to the Final Four on the men's side. On the women's side, NC State is dangerous. How dangerous, very

Graydon Prescott 12:47
self hate beating South Carolina VR.

K.B. 12:51
Look, this is a one game series right now. In South Carolina found that out last year. Iowa found that out last year, it's one game. And if anything is off in that game that is normally there which can happen from game to game. That's the end of the season. There is no do over. So yes, South Carolina is the favorite going into this game. But there are a lot of favorites who are going to be in the same position as you and I this coming weekend sitting in front of a television watching the game. So there's there's a lot of favorites out there on the men and women's side. Yeah. Who are going to be sitting at home watching. Yeah, so that doesn't tell us everything. That just gives us an indication of what you know, the stats and the analyst and the sports commentators think is going to happen. But as we all well know, that doesn't always come to fruition. That's true. So look out for NC State not saying they're gonna beat South Carolina, but they are no pushover.

Graydon Prescott 13:57
This is true. Sweet 16. On the women's side, you had some great, great basketball game, NC State. We'll start with them. They defeated to seed Stanford for Cameron brink. Iowa pretty easily took care of Colorado. I

K.B. 14:14
was surprised by that. Yeah. But you know, what I think helped is the game that they had against West Virginia. Yes.

Graydon Prescott 14:20
Because Colorado defense. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. Colorado is not as stingy of a defense as West Virginia. And then they came in and put up 89

K.B. 14:29
points, and I think it helped that Iowa first had to go through that West Virginia test. And that really helped kind of sharpen the saw for what they were going to face and Colorado and

Graydon Prescott 14:39
likewise. And like we spoke about last year, our last episode, Iowa last year had a tough second round game against Georgia. Again, great defense and held them well below their scoring average and that got them ready for the rest of the tournament. And same thing is looking like it's happening this year. At LSU UCLA that was another great game. I couldn't watch the whole game because I was juggling my own basketball tournament but you saw Okay, your you saw a lot of that game. I heard flop J was excellent. Angel did her thing. Yes. Lauren best got into foul trouble. She I think she found out. Yeah. So LSU ended up coming out on top. USC beat Baylor and a thriller. I did get to see that game. That was a one point game with five seconds left. And then free throws it right. Yes. And then UConn, took care of Duke 5345 And another great performance from Paige. Then on to the Elite Eight, South Carolina. They kept it moving. They beat Oregon State pretty handily. Yep. 70 to 58 and then NC State once again. Wow. Yeah. Wow. They took down number one seed Texas. Yes. That's big. Because then that shows they've they've been a number one and number two, on their way to the final four. I said this team is dangerous. Yeah. So you could see them beating South Carolina is great. And Prescott here on Sports prep live. And we're on the mic with kB discussing NCAA Tournament men's and women's. Now. Yesterday was probably the best day for women's basketball ever will start with UNC, or USC. And then UConn even though that was the ladder? Yeah. We'll start with that one. Yeah. And first of all, congratulations to Juju on her amazing season.

K.B. 16:46
I'm an old Young. Absolutely. I was so impressed by her. We're gonna see great things from her. In the near future. We saw great things from her this year. I was I felt so bad for her. You know, to see her up on the stage, as so many great players before her have been letting the emotions kind of wash over them. Because for a lot of them, that is an important step that they take in order to get to the next level. Yeah.

Graydon Prescott 17:17
She finished second in the nation in scoring 26.9 points per game. She broke the record last night for most points in a season as a freshman Do you want Yes. She had a 51 point game. She led us at their first PAC 12 tournament championship in 10 years. And she led them to their first elite eight in almost 40 years. So she had a fantastic season. Unfortunately, it came to an end last night she still had 29 points, inefficient shooting nine for 25. Right. And she faced a UConn team that looked ready. And they looked comfortable. And the pressure packed setting of the Elite Eight

K.B. 18:02
I think, with Juju last night, and I don't think this is a mistake that will ever repeat itself. But this is a part of that inexperience of coming into the NCAA tournament. You know, she's averaging I think 27 points a game a little over on the season. She scores 29 Last night. Yeah. Where you look at a player like Caitlin Clark, who's averaging 32 on the season and drops 41 Last night. And just as we see on the professional in the professional leagues come playoff time, come tournament time, you got to step it up, you've got to turn it up a notch. Yeah. And I in watching that game. I remember one of the the commentators talking about how Caitlin Clark had an I'm sorry, Judy Watkins had not scored in eight and a half minutes. That's a really long time for your leading scorer, not to put the ball through the hoop, I don't think she will ever make that mistake again. And it may have been just, hey, we're finding other ways to get it done. But that can kind of take you out of your rhythm. Obviously, she had an inefficient night shooting the ball. I don't think we'll ever see that from her again, especially in tournament season. You have to take it up a notch, you have to surpass your excellent points per game average, probably by a factor of sometimes five to 10 or more. And she just didn't do that. And that may have made all the difference. You know, what did they lose by seven? They lost by seven? Yeah, that would have made all the difference. So I think that's a lesson that she's going to take to heart. She's already talked about going back, you know, this summer and getting in the gym and working on some things. There's not a lot of deficiencies in her game. I think that was just the inexperience in that moment. But she's a fantastic player and we expect to see great things from Juju in

Graydon Prescott 19:59
the future. Absolutely. And then the star of the game was Paige Becker's. 28 points 10 rebounds success. She averaged 20 on the season. Lucky it up to 2811 for 23. So pretty decent shooting. Didn't miss a free throw and she leads UConn to the Final Four for the third time elite UConn basketball. Oh yeah, yeah, dealing with five

K.B. 20:24
seasons several injuries and you bet.

Graydon Prescott 20:27
Alia Edwards was spectacular. 24 points, six rebounds, seven for 1310 for 14 on free throw line. So all in all, it was a great basketball game. And it was one of the best games of the tournament, only to be outdone by the previous game. Wow. On the same Wow LSU in Iowa that should have been the nightcap you didn't rematch? They were the Encore Yeah, they should a page records game was the Encore Yeah. And that my goodness that had to do with where the games happened. Right, right, of course. But still, that Iowa and LSU game was a thriller. Obviously everybody knows the backstory. Iowa defeat or LSU defeats Iowa 8102 85 last year 17 point in the championship. Jasmine Carson goes for 21.7 threes. Alexis Morris has a great game. Caitlyn has an off night. 30 points but she did not shoot well settled for a lot of threes last year. And the trash talking, you know, Juju or Juju Angel Joe? Yeah,

K.B. 21:34
probably the most memorable aspect of the game from last year. I don't even remember LSU cutting down the nets but I remember Angel Reese chasing Caitlin Clark around the the basketball court flashing her you can't see me sign or her rendition of it. You can see me sign and pointing to the ring finger. She received a lot of criticism for that some of it unjustified in my opinion some of it justified Yeah. You know a lot of the commentators that came on in the days after that that national championship when pointed to the fact that Caitlyn had kind of waived off Raven Johnson from South Carolina, which probably lasted all of a half a second. Yeah. And they pointed to the fact that she did the you can't see me in the game against Louisville. She was saying that she did it to her trainer but even if she I think most people felt like she did it towards Haley van lift Haley van lift confirm that it was to the trainer. But even if it was to Haley van lif that you can't see me shout out to John Cena that you can't see me in the wave off of Raven, Johnathan probably lasted all of one and a half seconds. Angel Reese chased Caitlin Clark. It started before the game ended Gee, yeah, I know. On the free throw line. She's waving the you can see me sign as she stands next, like 10 seconds. Yes. And then walking around and following finger pointing at the ring finger. So some of that criticism a lot of people feel that was directed at Angel Reese was justified because it seemed like taunting it went beyond that. Just normal trash talking. The game was over. You had won. Fast forward to this year. Yeah, seems like a lot of lessons were learned. Oh, yeah. So let's talk about not only the performance of a Caitlyn Clark, who came into this game, fully recognizing that what you saw last year was just the beginning. The points 31 I think she had last year. But she wasn't particularly efficient. She wasn't a three level score. She settled. She got frustrated at times. being pressed by poli men. Alexis more. Yeah, Alexis Morris. This year, completely different picture.

Graydon Prescott 23:57
Absolutely. 41 points, seven rebounds. 12 assists. 13 of 29 Nine for 20 threes. 67 from the free throw line for Kaitlyn and she got downhill she Lowry. Yes. She hit nine threes tied to tournament record. But still she was she had an efficient night. I think 60% True shooting percentage, which is outstanding. And much different game this year than it was last year. I believe.

K.B. 24:27
You know, shout out to Geneva communique and Andrea Carter. I believe they both described it last night in the postgame commentary as a masterclass by Caitlin Clark, and that's exactly what it was. But the interesting thing to me was what happened between the two teams once the buzzer sounded in the clock hit triple zero. Yeah. That to me was really telling I think, as expected Kalen card. Caitlin Clark and company handled the win. with grace, with humility, obviously they were excited. They did not wait to get to the handshake line. Now a lot of lessons could have been learned from last year. But I think that's just kind of who they were innately as a ballclub and as a program, and I was happy to see that the LSU side had learned some lessons. And they were gracious in defeat. Most people usually are, but you have to be allowed to be gracious, you know, in defeat, and I just don't think that, you know, last year, that space was given to Iowa, you know, they kind of robbed I will have that moment of showing, hey, hats off to you. You won the game. No one could talk about that exchange, because it didn't happen last year. It did happen this year. So much respect to Angel Reese LSU program. Speaking of the LSU program, what the heck happened with this article or this author or columnist, from the Los Angeles Times? Yeah. Some of the stuff that has been directed at Angels way really was because of what happened last year, but some of it has also went off the Richter scales. Some of it has been egregious. Some of it has been over the top beyond the pale, you name it. Yeah. And this article was replete with those sorts of things, you know, calling you know, the LSU team, dirty debutantes, and then referring to the UCLA players has not only milk and honey but America sweetheart. The connotations of racism and sexism. All of that that just came dripping out of this article was really galling. And I was happy to see after a little bit of pressure from Stephen A Smith and first take, which is a national new national television program. They put a little pressure on the LA Times. It shouldn't have taken that for Ben bolts. I think his name is to come out and apologize for an article that should have never been written in the first place. Yeah.

Graydon Prescott 27:08
And I think one of the one of the ones or one of the pushback that stood out to me most, although I'm not her biggest fan, I don't think she's the greatest coach in the world. KIM MULKEY Yes. She defended her players like I've never, I mean, obviously a coach is going to defend their choice. But sure, what Kim Mulkey said and what she did to defend her players, I admire how she handled the situation. I respect how she handled the situation, I think it was a great thing to see. And she earned a lot of respect from a lot of people, right? Because of the way she handled the situation because you can't write articles like that. You can't say things like that. A lot of the connotations you know, almost calling LSU hood rats, correct. Yeah. sexualized Angel Reese in that article. And you know, you just can't do that. Like, at the end of the day. These are college kids. And this is a basketball program. Right? Right. I mean, not all of them are going to the WNBA. They're not all making a career out of basketball. It's still just a basketball game. Right? And it's still a basketball team. I

K.B. 28:22
understand LA, you know, the LA Times the hometown newspaper. You know, I heard Stephen A say if another for different newspaper had written this article USA Today or in New York Times, someone that did wasn't invested in the outcome of the game. Yeah. They would have never have happened it correct. It would have never happened, but it would have been an even bigger news story. Yeah. But it's the hometown paper trying to take a dig at LSU which is also understandable. It's just you don't need the racism. Yeah. And to make Mulkey a sympathetic figure was really quite a feat because you're right. She did Handle This Episode. Quite well. defending her players Haley van lift defending her teammates. I think hey, are multi learned some lessons from how she handled the situation with Brittney Griner? Because that was not exemplar. Yeah, that she she stubbed her toe on that one. It may have learned from that because she did a really outstanding job of coming to the defense of her players in this situation. Yeah.

Graydon Prescott 29:26
So as we get to wrapping up here, just a couple of closing things. South Carolina final for fourth consecutive year. Yes. In the last two years. They are 73 and one and the one is Caitlin. Correct. They're looking like they're gonna win the championship. But a lot of people are saying if they meet Iowa, it's

K.B. 29:49
they've had some games where they didn't when they escaped.

Graydon Prescott 29:54
Yeah, especially that Indiana game Correct. You have a 22 point lead in the second half. And with a minute left, it was 74 to 72. Yes. They they got away by the hair on their chin in that game. I mean it

K.B. 30:10
was you know Cordova has to hit a prayer three pointer and again yeah and never shot a three pointer in her college career. She's 100% for the 14 years that she's been in college because she shot one and prayer and made it yeah, we're at not for that South Carolina goes down so I don't think they appear to the the the other three teams NC State Iowa can then Yukon as an unbeatable, I don't think they appear is invincible. That's absolutely right. So I'm not expecting Yukon or I'm sorry, I'm not expecting South Carolina whoever they play to just roll. Yeah. Especially if it's Iowa. Yeah.

Graydon Prescott 30:53
And they're not going to roll NC State. Right. I mean, any of the three teams outside of them remaining. can put up a challenge and beat them on any given night, right. They're a great team. They've gotten some shooting Camila a lot better in the short. Yeah, sure. But UConn, very good team, Iowa, great team, NC State great team. And they have, you know, NC State is more of a team. You know, they play together.

K.B. 31:21
They're athletic, they're fast. Yeah. But

Graydon Prescott 31:24
then Iowa and UConn. They have to their

K.B. 31:28
leaders are perfect scores. They have great outside shooting, and no matter what you can't count them out, and really decent post players and Hannah and then Alia Edwards. So you know, Stokey and Edwards can can easily give you 20 points. I mean, Stokey I think out of 47 Point games. Yeah, yes, he did. And not too long ago. So who knows what's going to happen and that's part of what makes this a really exciting time of the year for basketball.

Graydon Prescott 31:54
And we've been saying it on sports prep live, but you know, it just took Yukons coach to confirm it. And I quote, Gino

K.B. 32:04
after after saying after saying Paige Becker's was the best, yeah. player in college basketball on the winning side. He

Graydon Prescott 32:13
says, I don't need to be seeing Caitlin Clark dropped 50 on us next weekend. I think she's the best player. Forget that I ever said Paige was the best player. I think Caitlyn is the best player of all time. That's awesome. No. Of course he's partially joking. But I mean, some of it except

K.B. 32:30
that he's not right. Yeah.

Graydon Prescott 32:31
I'm kind of joking, but not really. Not really. Yeah. All right. Thank you, everybody, for tuning into this episode of sports prep live. We cannot wait to see what happens in the final floor. And we hope to get back to you next time with more. See you later. Thank you for tuning in to this episode of sports prep live. I'm grading Prescott. And don't forget to catch all of our episodes on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts and be sure to follow us on Instagram or Twitter at sports rep law. Thank you