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Graydon Prescott 0:17
Hey everybody, and welcome to another episode of sports prep live. Sports prep live, where we unbox the bike and talk excellent in athletics.

What's up everybody? Welcome back to another episode of sports prep live. I'm your host, Graydon Prescott, today is, of course, the last day of the NCAA Tournament men's bracket, the National Championship game is today a very disappointing one at that, at least in my opinion, and the women's tournament is over. That ended last night with UConn winning the national championship. As I predicted they were a two seed. They beat South Carolina 82 to 59 I'm going to have some stuff to say there, and I'm also going to have some stuff to say about the Final Four in the men's tournament, because I am utterly disappointed and ashamed of what happened in that game. And I'm specifically talking about Duke versus Houston. So as you all know, I'm great impressed. God got my man KB here today, and we have some things to discuss. Yes, sir. Okay, we'll start with the lighter topic. UConn beat the brakes off of South Carolina on Sunday. They avenged their loss in the 2022 national championship game. Indeed, indeed, this is their first title since 2016 in their 12th in program history. Obviously, they are the winningest program in in Women's March Madness history. And UConn also has the most combined national championships between men's and women's of any school and basketball, with 18 now, wow, six men's championships, they're actually six for six in finals. And the women's, that was their 12th Corinthians, correct? Which is impressive. I knew early on that UConn was going to be there was a fork on conclusion problem, sure. And I also picked them to win the tournament even before the juju Watkins. And they were number two seed. They shouldn't have been, I think they should have been, actually the number one overall seed. They were the number one team in Power Rankings prior to the end of the season, and somehow they were not a number one seed for whatever reason, someone out there doesn't know something about basketball. But this is the second time this season they have embarrassed on Staley in South Carolina. I actually thought South Carolina was going to put up a slightly better fight because of what happened the first time they played back down in the south but

K.B. 2:50
UConn has given them the business this season. But that

Graydon Prescott 2:53
is not the case. They had no answer. Sarah strong is the best freshman I've seen tough. She's the best. She is tough. She's the best freshman I've seen since probably Caitlin Clark. You could say Juju Watkins was a good one too, but I think Sarah strong is more dominant than Juju Watkins was as a freshman, just in terms of all around impact. Juju was a great scorer. She had a 50 point game, but 24 points and 15 rebounds, four double doubles in six March Madness games. Sarah strong is is a force to be reckoned with, and she will be for the next three seasons,

K.B. 3:32
and she comes from an incredible basketball pedigree the background, I think her mom currently, who has also played high level basketball. Collegiate Pro is an executive with Boston Celtics, if I'm not mistaken,

Graydon Prescott 3:46
yeah. So I mean, there's just, there's really no holes in her game. Great, great interior force. And then I think the player that I'm most proud of is AZ FUD. Yes, she had 24 points in three steals. I think she got the MVP tournament. MVP, she got Final Four, most outstanding player, because despite what Paige did from the round of 64 to the Sweet 16 or the Elite Eight, might I add with that game against USC, in which she had 31 points, AZ was actually better in the Final Four and in the national champion Sure, she was more efficient. She scored more, not a great three point shooting game for her, but she still had 24 points. And what most people don't know about AZ FUD is she was not, and she has not historically been, especially in high school. She's always been a great shooter, but she was never really just a catch and shoot player like I saw her play when she was a junior in high school, or maybe even a sophomore in high school in Minneapolis. Okay. She. Played against Caitlin Clark's all Iowa Tech team that actually ended up winning the national champion

K.B. 5:04
championship that year. Yes, in Chicago

Graydon Prescott 5:07
and AZ probably had 40 points, and they won the game pretty handily. She outplayed Caitlyn, and it wasn't catch and shoot threes. I mean, she was breaking people off the dribble. She was getting downhill, mid range, pull ups, all sorts of aspects of her game. It was very, very similar to what we see from a Juju Watkins nowadays, right, right, but more efficient. I really think, barring any injuries, AZ FUD would have Dave Z's

K.B. 5:37
a much better shooter than than Juju Juju Watkins. Yeah. And you know, we're high on Juju Watkins, but AZ is an incredible shooter,

Graydon Prescott 5:45
and then she went down with the AC or ACL tears, but she's had three major injuries and only one healthy season in her four years. So I think it was the right decision for her to come back to college for one more year and give herself one more healthy season of college basketball, but now she's going to have a lot of momentum riding into her fifth year senior season, MVP of the Final Four, back to back 20 point games in the Final Four, and she started to look a little bit like her old self, even though those knee injuries are always going to be kind of a lingering thing for her. She still showed that she is as an effect, as effective of a player as you could ask for, especially on a team like UConn, where, you know, you have a clear Sarah strong and I'll get to the other Paige Beckers, you have a clear one and two. What is that three per what is that third option going to do? She showed that she can be much more than just a third option. She was a 13 points per game player for most of the season, up to that in the NCAA tournament, and then in the Final Four, she's a 24 points per game kind of player. So I really I have high expectations for AZ Fudd next season. I'm looking forward to seeing what she does, and as she continues her career into the WNBA, I'm very, very proud of what she was able to accomplish this season.

K.B. 7:06
Well, she's, you know, it's a really interesting narrative between both, because they're really good friends. They've been roommates in college between AZ and page, and they've both gone through some harrowing injuries, you know, injuries that I think a lot of people who couldn't see what they were hoping to achieve with the at the end of their careers, their collegiate careers, who could not only see that, and you have, you'd have to excuse a person for feeling like, like, I can't come back from this. But not only did they keep, they hold true to the vision. Gino iriyama, I'm sure, had something to do with that, letting them know your time is coming. You are excellent basketball players. You're excellent together. Let's just stick with it. Let's stay on this path. So for this to culminate in a National Championship win is really huge for them. And you know, it's, it's, it couldn't have been happened to a better set of young women, you know, the whole team, but, but certainly, AZ and Paige, who who have had their fair share of health issues, they both seem to be very healthy right now. They're both excellent basketball players. A Z is going to be around for a while. Sarah strong, like you mentioned, so I expect probably over the next couple of years, they're going to put another one in the bag. They're going to get another national championship. I just saw a poll released recently, a way too early poll, and of course, UConn sits at the top of that list heading into next season. So I expected big things from them. This year, they outplayed even my wildest expectations. I mean, they beat everyone by 30 plus points, 20 or 30 points. It wasn't even close even coming into this game. It was almost, you know, a foregone conclusion. Paige has been playing so well. AZ has been playing well. Sarah strong has really burst onto the the burst onto the scene, and a big way. So yes, I expect some big things from them over the next couple of seasons. So we'll see if they can get another one, another two. Who knows the sky's the limit? This is a heck of a basketball one.

Graydon Prescott 9:04
For reference, they won their tournament games. Let's just go all the way back to the Big East Tournament. In tournament games, they have won games by 3128 2071 34 2314 against USC, yes. 34 against UCLA and 23 against South Carolina. So this was as dominant a run as I've seen in a long time for from any team, man or women's, the men's UConn run last or two seasons ago was pretty dominant as well, when they were for sure, and they won every game. But it's a lot different, because this team to seed, and I felt like from the beginning of the tournament, they were the team to beat, even though they were only a two seed. So that's that's the women's side of things. South Carolina, they did their best, but they were just never. But did they? But did they? They were never going to be able to match it.

K.B. 10:03
I don't know. You know? I know that Malaysia fawali only plays what? Three minutes first quarter. Look,

Graydon Prescott 10:08
South Carolina shouldn't have even been in the national championship.

K.B. 10:12
Well, they deserved it. I'm not going to say they shouldn't have been there. No, they didn't. They beat everybody that was in front of them, or else they wouldn't have been there. They

Graydon Prescott 10:18
screwed. They they they won. They didn't beat teams. They just won, especially against Maryland and well, that's

K.B. 10:26
what the game requires. It doesn't require you to beat teams. It requires you to win. They have won. Maryland lost. So I'm not going to say they didn't deserve to be there, but I was surprised by the lack of preparation for this game. They knew what was coming down the tunnel. They've played them already. They meaning, South Carolina has played UConn this season. UConn put it on them this season. I would have expected Don Staley to have this team ready to go. And once it hit the second half and, you know, post half time, it just seemed like they were just in two different leagues, instead of collegiate, and another COVID versus another collegiate team. It seemed like WNBA versus collegiate, and they just were not prepared, and UConn was just rolling. And at early in this, the the second half, or the early in the, you know, following the halftime, you just kind of knew this was not going to be a pretty sight come the end of the game, and it wasn't, you know that was a smashing win. So shout out to you kind shout out to Gino uriyama. They deserved it. They played well all season long. And look for them next year. I expect them to repeat.

Graydon Prescott 11:37
Now, the harder topic is going to be the men's tournament for a couple of reasons. Number one, the National Championship game can really go either way. That's actually happening right now. It should be about half time that game can go either way. Houston and Florida are both great teams. I think Florida will win it. I don't think they will welt under the pressure. And Walter Clayton is as good of a leader, and

K.B. 12:02
he is incredible as you can ask. Wow, this dude. His stock has risen this year. I mean, skyrocketed.

Graydon Prescott 12:10
Yeah, he's about as good of a leader as you could ask, sure. And then the Houston is a great defensive team. Yes,

K.B. 12:16
ask Duke.

Graydon Prescott 12:20
Yeah. Duke, well, first we'll talk about Florida and Auburn. Auburn had them down eight at halftime. Florida opened the half on the 13 three run to take a 5149 lead. There were a total of 15 lead changes and 10 ties in this game. Okay? Chad Baker Mazzara led Auburn with 18 points right and Walter Clayton had 34 with five threes.

K.B. 12:43
I was I was underwhelmed with brooms, 15 points. I would have expected more Florida game plan for him clearly, 15.7 rebounds. Look, you know, for a high schooler or for your typical college player, that's a decent stat line, but for a guy who was in contention for National Player of the Year on the biggest stage that he has, you know, been a part of to this point in his life, I would have expected more, not that it was sub par, but it was relatively pedestrian, in terms of, you know, his the finished product in this game, 15 points on six of 14 shooting With seven rebounds, and he only had three points after halftime, and it's in this their second loss to Florida this season. So you would have expected him to learn some things, but it was not to be. Yeah,

Graydon Prescott 13:34
I think I had Florida in the national championship game from the beginning, I had them playing Duke. They should have been playing Duke, and they should be playing Duke right or right now. But you know, when people can't make free throws at the end of game, when teams don't know that, when teams don't know that they're they have a six point lead with 30 seconds left, when teams don't know that, when you're up by 14 in the second half, you can't let your foot off the gas, and when teams don't know that your best player is going to be double teamed, fading away at the end of the game and shoot it a foot short, rather than giving it to somebody else who can probably get a better shot off, like a con kin upper who carried you to the ACC championship. Of course, you lose the game because you know that's what that's what you do. Like, if you're picked to win the national championship, you just don't win the national

K.B. 14:23
I talked about this last week. Look Duke. Duke lost this

Graydon Prescott 14:28
game themselves, like Houston did. I mean, Houston did everything right at the end, but even if Houston does everything right in the end, there's absolutely no excuse. Duke should be playing in the national championship game right now, except that

K.B. 14:40
they're not they should be, except that they're not like there is no woulda, coulda, shoulda and one and done basketball inside women's side, it's one and done. And I mentioned this last week when everyone was on this Duke bandwagon. I did expect them to win, but I also made. Knew that life experience than a lifelong basketball connoisseur. I also thought that there could be a surprise that popped up here. There was just too much going on. The lion's share of their offense are freshmen. They haven't been here before. The moment is monumentous. You can't duplicate this pressure in games leading up to this you can't duplicate it in practice. It's, it's, it's its own animal. And then the lack of experience of you know, Duke has had what they have three losses this season prior to this game. In each of those three losses, it came down to final minutes management, time time management, game management. And they haven't done a good job on three separate occasions coming into this game, and this was the thing that that that took them out in this game, versus the experience of the seniors on the Houston team, that composure having been there before, having been in the program for three or four years, that experience matters. And I think that, more than anything else, is what led to the outcome that we saw is that there was just this wide gap in experience. Cooper flag is the most talented person on the collegiate scene right now. He's definitely going to go number one in the draft as well. He should. He's an outstanding player, but he's just 18 years old. Cooper flag should be in high school, and some of that showed during this game. I was not surprised that they lost. I thought they would win, but I was not at all surprised that they lost, especially to a team like Houston, who had the number one defense in the nation this year? Yeah,

Graydon Prescott 16:43
I guess I can see that perspective. But still, there's no reason that they should have lost that game. I agree with that. I agree with that, considering that they were up by 14 points

K.B. 16:53
with eight minutes left, nine points with two minutes left. That's just, you know, game management, six points with 34 seconds left. Now I will say, Now this, this did not lose the game for them. I will say the call the over the back call on Cooper flag was a BS call. He had every opportunity. He had every right to reach for that ball, to try to tip it up, try to tip it to himself, and that's what he did. That was a bogus call. But that is not the reason that they lost, Proctor has to step up to the free throw line and hit his free throws. If you are not confident about knocking those free throws down, like you mentioned, concanapo, get it in the hands of somebody who's going to step up and knock those down for you. Again, that's part of that game management, knowing what to do and when to do it. So again, that file shouldn't have happened. It was a bogus call, but it did not decide the game. The game was decided two and three minutes before that, when one team was drilling down, executing, playing tremendous defense, and the other team felt like they were just waiting for the game to be over. Yeah,

Graydon Prescott 17:54
a lot of that comes down to coaching. Houston's coach is a very high esteemed coach experience, yes, lot of experience. And the Duke coach is relatively new, good guy,

K.B. 18:06
smart guy, but like you said, he just doesn't have that, that wealth of experience. Yeah.

Graydon Prescott 18:11
So that national championship game is today. Both teams are 35 and four. Florida is the favorite, but only a 5149 favorite. I'm gonna take Florida, just because I don't think Walter Clayton and his crew are gonna Welter under pressure, right, like the Duke team did. Walter Clayton is a lot more experienced, and he is very, very effective in tight situation. He

K.B. 18:40
is so tough. He is so, like I said, his stock has skyrocketed during this tournament. He is poised. He is aggressive. He's got high basketball IQ, he executes. I mean, he's just, he's got the full package. It would be interesting to see where this young man goes in the NBA Draft, because he is flat out phenomenal. He has been phenomenal this entire tournament season. He's carried them through some games when they needed him to. He's made all the right decisions when they've needed him to. He's plays both sides of the ball really well. I am really high on this young man, and I expect he has really helped himself in terms of his prospects for getting into the NBA, yeah,

Graydon Prescott 19:20
as it stands right now, the mock draft actually does not have Walter Clayton as a top 10 pick. Not yet. It's probably due to his age being 22 Yes, the top 10 right now is from 10 to one, Derek queen, Jace Richardson, Ace and Newell. Come on, Mal, you got, I don't know how to say his name. He goes to do the center, yes. Jeremiah fears out of Oklahoma, Trey Johnson from Texas, Vijay edge comb from Baylor. And then the top three are ACE, Bailey, Dylan, Harper and Cooper. Flags shout

K.B. 19:58
out to Jace Richardson, my. Goodness. Who would have expected that he deserves it? He has balled out all season long out there in Michigan State, balling like his daddy, who was also a player at Michigan State, won a championship there, just incredible, and who would have thought we've seen him in person so we knew he could ball. But he has really exploded just over the last couple of years, not only being down there in Florida playing with the Bucha twins. I mean, his game has really come a long way just in a couple of years, so to play himself into the top 10 is absolutely phenomenal. Shout out to him. He is well deserved. He is an excellent basketball player, high basketball IQ. And wherever he goes, he's going to help the roster. This guy really knows his basketball.

Graydon Prescott 20:47
Yep. And then Walter Clayton is actually 26th right now in the current mock drafts, and Johnny or janai broom is 27th in the mock draft. Both of those players would actually be going to Brooklyn based off of the standings as of right now. Okay, so the picks are actually via New York and Houston respectively, but through trades, Brooklyn would end up with both of those picks. Now, moving on from the NCAA Tournament, here

K.B. 21:17
locally, I wanted to let our folks know something, our listeners know, something we have lost recently. In the last few days, three UNLV lady rebels to the transport portal. There we go again. You know, this thing has really caused a lot of havoc within college sports. So I think Amara Kai kimson, who was the leading scorer for the lady rebels, she has entered the transfer portal. Their leading rebounder, McKenna Brackens, she has entered the transfer portal. And then sophomore Macy Spencer has also entered the transfer portal. So we're going to be losing those young ladies I do know on the men's side, Coach passner has managed to keep some people in the fold that expressed an interest in leaving. So that's really good news. And he also brought in someone from a place I think was his alma mater, Arizona, a young man coming in from Arizona. I believe his name is Emmanuel Spencer. No Emmanuel Stephen, Arizona, Wildcat. He's a center there. He entered the transport portal and already and Coach Pastner, one of the things that ad Harper liked about him is that he has been a prolific recruiter, and he's really showing it here. Mason abaton, I believe it was who went to Coronado. When coach Krueger was initially fired, Mason withdrew his commitment, but again showing the recruiter that he is. Coach passenger sat down with him, and now Mason has recommitted to UNLV, which is good news for the Rebels. Tyron Jones, who is a native of Las Vegas, but ended up playing at, I believe it was Layton Christians. Layton Christian Academy in Utah. He's coming back to Vegas and going to be joining the rebels as well. And then James Evans Jr, and Jacob benarby, yeah, Jacob and Arby. He both of those young, young men entered the transfer portal. They were on the team last year, but again, Coach Pastner has done his thing, and they are going to be coming back to the fold. So that is good news. And then he's filling out, you know, his coaching roster brought on Scott, Scott Garson, who was seven years with Santa Clara bonacos, they're familiar with one another. And Anthony Wilkins, he coached under passner At Georgia Tech, so he's brought him on into the fold. And then Justin Hawkins is going to do player development. And he actually played for UNLV from, I believe it was 2009 to 2013 and he still ranks in the top 10 in steals all time for UNLV, and he was with the Nevada wolf pack, so he's going to be coming into the coaching ranks here under Coach bassner. So some things are moving. They're moving in the right direction. So hopefully they keep this going. So I believe right now they've got like five that they have decided these are going to be five guaranteed spots on the roster, so they still have some work to do, but they're definitely heading in the right direction. Yeah,

Graydon Prescott 24:23
I think the thing with UNLV having hired a new coach is that there's going to be a lot of roster overturned, sure, but with that being said, passner is a prolific recruiter. He's a good coach, he's a seasoned coach, so players are going to kind of be drawn to that coach, you know, an ACC tournament or ACC Coach of the Year, yes, multiple NCAA Tournament appearances. He's a little bit, he's, he has a little bit higher stature than a Kruger did. And I think that was the goal in firing Kruger, to get someone who has a little bit more stature. Sure, a little bit bigger name in college athletics than somebody who is a legacy hire at UNLV, no

K.B. 25:07
disrespect, but it is what it is. Yeah, so is what it is. I expect

Graydon Prescott 25:11
them to be better and soon might not be in

K.B. 25:14
one season. Sure it's not going to be immediate. Gotta have a little bit of runway, but

Graydon Prescott 25:18
they will be better. And I think that passenger is a good guy to get them on the right track as a program, because this basketball program has been kind of in purgatory for the past few years, with their best run being in 2023 where they made it to the or the invitational tournament, but still no NCAA Tournament appearances. I think they're taking a step in the right direction with signing these new recruits, making sure that Mason was able to recommit to UNLV. Yes, yes, because that's a that's a really good player. Yes, he can hoop. So for UNLV, this has been a good week, good couple weeks of recruiting and basketball for them. The biggest loss, of course, is DJ Thomas, who was headed to LSU, right? But you know, you can't win them all. He was always going to be on, he was going to be out the door with Kruger being fired. Kruger was kind of his guy brought him in. DJ was immediately the focal point in the offense. And with passenger coming in, as good as DJ is, he probably wasn't going to be as focused on making sure that DJ was the the option the go to guy at all times Pastner probably wanted the rest of his team to develop for more team success. And you know, that's always been the coach that he is. He's never really been a coach who puts the ball in the hands of one, one superstar. Yeah, he's always been a team balance coach, which is actually why Georgia Tech was able to have the success that they had under him, because even though they had talented players, they just played better as a team than pretty much everybody else in the country. So they played up rather than playing down to the levels of of other teams. They actually played up above their level. And that's always been the coach that passenger is. So it makes sense that he would be the higher to try to see if UNLV can exceed expectations as soon as next season and in the coming three to four years, and

K.B. 27:20
Houston just showed us You do not need a superstar. Yeah, no,

Graydon Prescott 27:25
absolutely. I mean, you need a collection of LJ crier is kind of a borderline. He's, I

K.B. 27:30
don't think he's a superstar. He is certainly a baller. He

Graydon Prescott 27:33
is a baller 16 points and six assists per game. He is

K.B. 27:36
a ball I would imagine most casual fans that name for two for most casual fans, that's not a name that is broken through. They know the Cooper flags. They know the brooms. Maybe Cooper flag has sucked up a lot of oxygen in the collegiate basketball arena or in the collegiate basketball room. So I think there's a lot of players out there who will surprise folks, and if you find out about what they've been able to do with and for their teams, you know over this season, it would be surprising to a lot of a lot of casual fans. So no, I don't think crier is well known beyond those ardent basketball, collegiate basketball fans, but outside of that, or maybe even outside of Houston, not well known, but they're going to know him soon. They're going to know him soon,

Graydon Prescott 28:26
if he manages to stop correct for Clayton, correct one

K.B. 28:29
of the two, and Clayton is another, right? We're just not a lot out there about him, but that's that's for my money. These guys are not superstars, but they are, I think, no, Walter, Clayton is a super they are incredible basketball players, and I think their turn, their turn is coming. They're going to get their just due, and it's well deserved, but I don't think these guys are our superstar

Graydon Prescott 28:51
players. In the last what, 10 games, Walter Clayton has said, 20 220-318-2220, 220-323-1330, 34 he's an incredible basketball player, but not a superstar. That's superstar numbers. Yes, they are against Auburn to 34 points again,

K.B. 29:06
that name is not a name that would break through if you ask the casual collegiate basketball fan. All right, the numbers are there. Thank

Graydon Prescott 29:13
you everybody for tuning into this episode of sports prep live, obviously, with the game going on right now, we will have to recap Florida versus Houston next week, and we're probably going to have the final NBA standings, as well as some more WNBA previews for next season. So thank you everybody for listening. We'll see you all next week right back here on Sports prep live. Have a good one. Thank you for tuning in to this episode of sports prep live. I'm Graydon 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 live. Thank you.