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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.

Ladies and gentlemen, welcome back to another episode, another edition of Sports prep live. I'm your host, Graydon Prescott, and today in college basketball on the men's side, conference tournaments are just about starting up. On the women's side, they are just about wrapping up. And there were a lot of fireworks over the weekend, some ranking shakeups. And additionally, LeBron James Jr is in the news because of LeBron James senior and an incident with Stephen A Smith. So we got a lot to get into today and not a lot of time. So we got to get started relatively quickly. Kb is here per usual. KB always great to have you ready to get rolling. All right, and we're going to start in women's college basketball. We got some ranking shake ups. UCLA has returned to number one in the country, with South Carolina at second. They're back there. UConn is three. USC fell to four, Texas five, and TCU, at their highest ranking in program history is number six. UCLA finally made me look good. I will start with UCLA. They finally made me look good for picking them to be showed up. Yeah, we finally got a good performance. A good performance. Battle of La round three for the Big 10 championship. Yes, in UCLA one. So I'm quite pleased, because I picked them to win twice, and they didn't. And finally, they get the job done. Juju Watkins had 29 but she was very inefficient, pedestrian. 29 Yes, nine for 28

K.B. 2:06
great. First half. Second half wasn't half

Graydon Prescott 2:11
terrible. Second half, yes. So UCLA is the Big 10 champions. They're pretty much a lock for a number one seed in the NCAA Tournament. Your thoughts?

K.B. 2:18
I expected UCLA to come out and to get this game? Lauren Betts, you know, she played relatively well the last game, first game, you know, I think it was just there was just too much Juju in that first game, yeah, good juju, like the State Farm commercial. I kind of expected this to end up the way that it did, although there are some things that I think USC is going to be able to take away from this, things that they'll be able to fix again, you know, 18 points in the first half. To me, that's a great first half. She had 11, obviously in the second half, for a total of 29 and even though, you know, the rest of her squad didn't bring their A game, they were right there. They were in the hunt, obviously, some fouling and stuff like that towards the latter portion of the game is what stretched it out a little bit. And even then, you know, not a bad score when you had a bad game. So I would imagine UCLA does not want to see USC on the other side of any bracket that they're involved in. USC is still a confident squad going up against UCLA, and UCLA is a very good basketball.

Graydon Prescott 3:23
Yeah, here's what I will say. UCLA had arguably their best defensive performance of the season. Right in the second half, USC had 45 points at halftime and ended the game was 67 so they let up nine points in third and 13 points in the fourth. USC was up by 10 points at halftime. They ended up losing by five, correct? And it was just a dominant defensive second half for UCLA. They

K.B. 3:48
were sending two, three, sometimes four bodies. Yeah. Juju Watkins, now, it's hard to play when you're when you you know, you got to face three people.

Graydon Prescott 3:56
Now, the insane statistic from the game to me, which I don't know if this is a good thing or a bad thing for UCLA. It's probably a bad thing. They shot 44 times, right? In the 40 minute game, 44 times. So that's just over a shot per minute, correct? Use USC took 70 shots. They were 24 for 70. UCLA was 23 for 40. Wow. Wow. So you know, regardless of if you shoot 34% if you get up 26 more shots, you're always going to be in the game. Yes, that's probably a concern that UCLA is going to have. I didn't shoot well. UCLA shot 52% No, I'm going to talk about Yeah. USC shot 34% they didn't shoot well, and eight for 28 on threes, UCLA was eight for 15, so just as many makes on 13 less tries, and then they had one less shot on on 26 less attempts. So they were much more efficient than USC was, but it was still a close game, and that's got to be something that you UCLA is concerned with, because, you know, they had 24 turnovers as well. I

K.B. 4:57
just don't think USC is going to be Jack. Kicking the ball. Any, any, you know, the next time that these two programs face off, it really got kind of sad looking, you know, towards the last three to four minutes of the game. Yeah, they weren't getting downhill, really, just jacking threes, not doing a very good job of controlling the ball, controlling the pace of the game. They were kind of beside themselves. So I expect, you know, they're going to be able to clean some of that up. Should they, not only, you know, should they face UCLA again, but just cleaning some of that up, you know, going forward in the March Madness tournament, yeah. And if they're, you're going to have those mistakes. I'm sure they wanted to win the Big 10 championship, of course, but they were right there in the hunt. If you're going to have that mistake, you'd rather have it now. Yeah, later, yeah. And so I think those are things that they're going to correct.

Graydon Prescott 5:44
So do you think USC performance cost them a number one seed? Sure you don't think they can be, I don't know if they're. I think, I think, right now, there's three locks. I think UCLA, South Carolina and UConn are your guaranteed number one. I mean, they've only lost what? Three games. UCLA has lost two Now, both of them were to but they won, but they won a Power Five Championship, which, okay, so four, five, Power Five champions. It's really power four now, because PAC 12 was one of those power five conferences, but you got the Big 10, the ACC, the SEC, the PAC 12 and the big 12, so UCLA wins the Big 10 championship, correct? They were the lower seed. They were two seed in the tournament, and USC was the one. But UCLA wins the tournament, so they are the Big 10 champions, and regular season championship doesn't exactly play,

K.B. 6:33
and they've only got two losses all year, and it was to, you know, USC and USC. So I think, I think the reason I say I think had UCLA lost the game, they're a two seed. They're probably a two seed guarantee, yeah, but USC, having ended up losing this game, and now they have three losses, one of them to Iowa, yeah, who was unranked,

Graydon Prescott 6:56
and Notre Dame and UCLA, yeah.

K.B. 6:58
So obviously, two good programs. I just don't see them being able to eke out because of that Iowa loss, actually a number one seed, definitely a number two seed. I just don't know if they're going to be able to hang on to a number one seed. They're going to be dangerous no matter what, but I'm just not sure they'll be able to get to get up to that number one seed. So after after this loss. Yeah.

Graydon Prescott 7:19
So right now, the way it sits, USC on the AP rankings is number four, but those don't always dictate the top seeds. We saw a couple of years ago. Iowa had risen to number two in the country after beating Indiana on a Caitlin Clark buzzer beater, but they ended up getting a second seat number two seed. That was the year that they lost to LSU in the championship game. But that's neither here nor there. The second ranked, third ranked, the fourth ranked, and the fifth ranked teams in the country and the sixth ranked team in the country, all are sitting at three losses. So TCU is 31 and three. Texas is 31 and three. USC is 28 and three. UConn is 30 and three. South Carolina's 30 and three. And then UCLA, number one is 30 and two. So UCLA, I think it's pretty much guaranteed to get an insurance sure those other ones will be South Carolina. South Carolina is pretty much guaranteed to get a number one seed, because now they beat Texas twice, twice, in dominant fashion, and then they lost a close. Texas is a good ball club, very good team. And then there's Yukon, who's who's been dominant all year, and they just Yes, blew South Carolina out of the wazoo. It wasn't even close. So I think those three teams, UCLA, did the same thing to Villanova recently, yeah. So this past weekend, UCLA, South Carolina, UConn, guaranteed number one seeds. Now that leaves USC, Texas and TCU, essentially fighting for that fourth number one seed. I think right now it should probably go to Texas, but there is an argument to be made for those other two programs. But the way I see it now, TCU did win their conference championship, which is big, so they might get it just based off of winning the big 12 championship, right? But if we're going based off of the power of the teams,

K.B. 8:55
I think Haley van Lith is in a much better split space, and she's a lot happier than she was at LSU and even University of Louisville. For that matter, this is her third program, but she seems like she's kind of found her rhythm here. She's found her team. I think she kind of got lost in that LSU offense, yeah, and then, you know, just not enough firepower at the University of Louisville, you know, just wanted to contend for a championship. It didn't end up working out as she transferred to LSU, but it seems like she's really found her groove here with TCU. So we'll see what happens with this program. But she's she's balling this year, yep. So

Graydon Prescott 9:29
I had mentioned that Texas has now lost twice to South Carolina, and that game I'm referencing is took place on Saturday, and the reigning national champions, the South Carolina game Cox, they got a number one seed in the SEC tournament by a coin flip, by way of a coin flip over Texas, they were both 15 and one in the conference. Yes, so Texas was the number one ranked team in the country, but South Carolina was the number one seed in the SEC tournament. They, as many expected, met in the championship game for the SEC. C tournament, and it did not go how a lot of people thought it would go. I'm sure most people thought it would be a close game, a drag out, knock down brawl. Yeah, 6445 I believe it was. Yeah, it was not the case. That's about South Carolina. Put the clamps down. Sure it was one of the most impressive defensive performances we've seen all year. Oklahoma was able to score 75 points on this team, the Vanderbilt, 63 Kentucky, 66 these are teams of lesser caliber than a Texas. Yeah. The last time South Carolina, Madison Booker right on their roster, right? The last time South Carolina held a team to lower than 50 points was against Georgia, who's one of the worst teams in the country right now. So a very, very impressive defensive for sure, by the by the South Carolina Gamecocks Madison, Bucha only 10 points in 36 minutes. So, and that is also uncharacteristic so very So South Carolina did a great job. They had, they had four players in double figures, and those four players alone combined for a greater amount of points than the entire Texas team. So I, for me, that performance gives South Carolina number one seat in the tournament. Yeah, going forward, and they're going to be a force to be reckoned with. Recognized Absolutely. So I was very impressed by what I saw.

K.B. 11:25
John Staley has them clicking at the right time, finding their defense, the offense is there, yeah, you know, full Wiley, you know, leading the charge. I mean, they've got a really good squad.

Graydon Prescott 11:35
Chloe kits is just absolutely, absolutely a monster. She gave him 15, nine and three in the in the SEC championship game, and for a low scoring game, is a really impressive stat line. So 65 or six. Excuse me, 64 to 45 Yes, South Carolina was able to knock off Texas. I think that is one of the best performances of the year

K.B. 11:56
here. You know, there is a team I'm concerned about, because they look good. South Carolina looks good. Texas, I don't really have a lot of concerns about yeah, great team. UCLA is looking good. USC, even after defeat. I know, I know where you're going with this, man, Notre Dame, Anna, Hidalgo, let's talk. And Notre Dame have fallen off here. Let's talk. Let's talk. And they were a lot of folks, you know, mid season, pre season, favorite they came out. I mean, just hitting on all cylinders, yeah? And I just do not know what has happened with this squad in the last month or so. And it seemed like it all started with that gut punch from NC State.

Graydon Prescott 12:37
Yeah, I don't, I don't really have a lot to say. Notre Dame looks like they were the clear favorites during the national championship. I mean, this is a team, Notre Dame, that has beaten USC, Texas and UConn earlier in the season, incredible prior to incredible, prior to the turn of the year, they beat Texas, USC, Yukon. TCU actually beat them, but TCU is the number six team in the country, so that's not a crazy thing, but they beat Texas, they beat USC, they beat you. Big time. That's big time. So these are three loss programs, and they're one of them on three of these top and

K.B. 13:10
I think that's going to five teams that's going to shake their confidence. So I'm just not expecting a lot from them. I think teams feel like they have their number.

Graydon Prescott 13:19
I think Notre Dame will get to the Elite Eight or the Sweet 16, if they're playing well, maybe they can crack into a Final Four, because they still have the talent. There's no doubt about Sure, sure, but they've they've hit a slump, similar to Iowa State in the men's side. They hit a slump. They peaked at number one, and now they just looked discombobulated. They lost in the semifinals in the ACC tournament, which was a shock to basically everybody watching, right? They came in as the two seed in that tournament, and they lost to Duke in the semifinals, who was the third ranked team in the in the tournament. Their number they were number 11 in the country. They've jumped to number seven because they beat NC State by 14 points, right in the ACC championship game. So Duke, the ACC champions, there are going to be a two seed, most likely, in the NCAA tournament. And the scary thing for Notre Dame is they could very well be looking at a three seed here in this which, which is a shock to everybody, because you got to think, okay, so we got South Carolina, we got UCLA, UConn, USC, Texas, TCU. Those are all going to be ones or two, sure, for sure, NC State, I don't see a reason that they are not a higher seed than Notre Dame. They beat Notre Dame, and they made it farther in the ACC tournament. So that's another team that's probably going to be ranked higher than Notre Dame. Rivers and Brooks are tough out of NC State. Yeah, that leaves one team, and you got Duke. You got Notre Dame, you got LSU. Duke's the only team that won a conference championship, and they were in the conference at Notre Dame, correct? So I think Duke and NC State might be the two teams to fill out those. Yeah, notre Dave is going to have a tough. That last two, two seeds, along with, you know, your top six. So Notre Dame has got a tough path ahead of them. I had picked them to win the national championship when they

K.B. 15:11
were hot. Now I'm not going to bet against Coach Ivy. Yeah, no, she knows what she's doing. This is a well coached team. It is. It is very well coached team. She knows what she's doing. They've hit a coach, a rough patch. I think they can kind of coach their way out of this. Confidence is probably shaking a little bit. I'm not going to discount them, but

Graydon Prescott 15:29
this is they've got a tough road to hoe. This is the worst time to hit us a rough patch. Yes, it is. Yes it is. You know, UConn, they kind of hit their rough patch earlier in the season. They were what, maybe four and three are rolling right now. UConn is for me. They're looking like the team to beat Dave. They are rolling for me. UConn looks like the team to beat I don't even need, I don't even need to talk about the Big East Tournament. Granted, there's not a lot of great teams in the biggie. UConn won every game by 30 points. I mean, it was just nothing. There was nothing that anybody could do. So yeah, UConn, they're the Big East champions. It's pretty much on lockdown that they're a number one seed. And yeah, I really think UConn is the team to beat right now, sure, and then go all the way and then big 12 tournament, TCU, they got it done for the first time in a long time, and just two years after being one in 17 in conference play and dead last TCU her own one of the best turnarounds in history, they're now looking at a possible two seed in the NCAA Tournament and a conference champion. So that's huge, you know, congratulations to Haley van lift in the program. And she needed, yeah, she

K.B. 16:47
had a great, it's great. Stock had dropped considerably,

Graydon Prescott 16:51
yeah, and she's put herself in prime position to be a first round pick in the WNBA. She was,

K.B. 16:55
she was, at one time, you know, a few years ago, viewed as a better basketball player than Caitlin Clark. It

Graydon Prescott 17:00
was, it was her and Paige. That was the discussion. Yes. Now nobody expected, other than me, what was to come from Caitlin.

K.B. 17:08
Yeah. Saw the secret sauce a long time ago. Oh yeah, a long time ago. Oh

Graydon Prescott 17:12
yeah. Sophomore year at Darling Catholic, we knew. But you know, it's a great turnaround for Haley and the whole program. You just love to see. Yeah, she's got to be proud. Yeah, she looks happier. She's playing with more joy. And I think they're primed to make a good killing it. Yeah, they're doing great. So I'm excited to see what they what, what comes next for TCU, and it's great impressed. Got here on Sports prep live, and we're chopping it up on March in college basketball. It's the best time of the year for college basketball, and at least, in my opinion, all of college athletics. And we got a little bit of controversy in the NBA that we got to discuss. But before we get there, I want to talk a little bit about the men's side in college basketball, a lot of heat going into conference play this week. So we're going to start with big weekend. My pick to win the national championship, Duke is now the number one team in the country in the AP rankings, they have dethroned. I think

K.B. 18:10
a lot of people's Auburn to you to win the national champion. They

Graydon Prescott 18:15
dethrone Auburn, who lost in a thriller by two points, to Alabama this week at home, eight game, one of the best games of the year, rate game. And Auburn has lost. They've lost three games now. But the good thing for them, they're saving grace is the teams that they've lost to are ranked number one, number four and number five. So it's really not that bad, sure. Now, two of those still a dangerous team, yeah, yeah. Two of those losses were at home to Florida and to Alabama, and then they lost to Duke at Cameron Indoor Stadium, which is the home of the Blue Devils. But Auburn, still, I'm not concerned about them. I think they're an easy candidate to make it to the finals. Now the men's tournament, you never know. There's always somebody getting upset. There's going to be a Cinderella, yeah, but I don't think Auburn is going to be one of the I think

K.B. 19:03
they will be fine. I do believe on the individual side, I think Broome has probably lost his opportunity for that wooden award.

Graydon Prescott 19:12
I don't know now, I would personally think Cooper this weekend. I would pick Cooper flag to win it 100% right? But broom had 34 points. He's been balling in the in the game they lost that we're talking about here at Alabama, Broome had 34 and eight. He did so, like, it's not like he's the reason they lost, he's

K.B. 19:33
not the reason they lost. But I think having that number one seed for or that number one ranking for so long, Auburn is still going to be the number one. Number one. Yeah, there'll be a number one seed. I meant the number one ranking for so long. I think that was the thing that had him maybe a cut above Cooper, in terms of that, that collegiate player of the year, and he's right there. But I think losing that, and Cooper moving into that, that spot with the success. This team has had on his back the numbers that he's put up as a freshman. Yeah, it's going to be hard to dislodge him from that inside track, that favorite position now, which I believe he's going to end up being college boy of the year. Yeah,

Graydon Prescott 20:12
and as of two hours ago, the ACC awards were announced. Cooper flag managed to take home. Get ready. ACC, rookie of the year. Yes. ACC, Defensive Player of the Year. First Team All ACC, first team all defensive ACC, first team all rookie ACC, and ACC, Player of the Year. Yeah,

K.B. 20:33
any doubts that the player of the year is locked up so he's got the wouldn't

Graydon Prescott 20:37
be my picture? May Smith, he wouldn't be my pick to win it for sure. AP,

K.B. 20:41
um, but Johnny run the table. But here's the

Graydon Prescott 20:45
thing, I want to make it very clear, Cooper flag is not winning this because Johnny Broome played himself out of it true. There's no doubt. There's no doubt he just Cooper flag is doing stuff we've never seen before statistically, and Duke's the number one team in the country. Now, Johnny Broome, in the game that they lost was clearly the best player on the court on both sides. It didn't matter that Alabama it doesn't matter that Alabama won the game. It doesn't matter that, you know, over time at home, I don't care. Dude had 34.8 rebounds, and he's going to be a strong number two in on all of these lists for AP Player of the Year and all that sort of win war. And I think Dave Smith, and if he does, he will be number two, yeah. And if he doesn't win these awards, he's gonna be playing with a chip on his shoulder in the NCAA Tournament. So I'm not concerned about Auburn whatsoever. Houston jumped to number two or the top seed in the big 12. Not really much to speak on there. They just took the number two spot because Auburn

K.B. 21:40
fell. He say this. I mean, there's a lot of teams that we can talk about, but Jace Richardson, oh yeah, Michigan State, Michigan State, my God, oh, my goodness, my God. This dude is balling. Yeah, true freshman, hoping, yep, he came in not starting. And that may have lasted all of a game and a half. This dude is fearless. He is afraid of no one. He can hoop. He's got hops like his daddy, two time winner of the Okay,

Graydon Prescott 22:11
I know these guys. Jace doesn't have hops like that. He doesn't have he doesn't have

K.B. 22:15
hop like, like his younger brother's little brother got Jackson's on another level, former guest of the show, but he has hops, but he is fierce. There is not a shot that he is afraid of. There's not a player that he's afraid of. He plays Mr. Defense. He's got high basketball. IQ, Chase, Richard Chase. Richardson is the truth. This dude, Michigan State, I think one of the number five now in the country, somewhere, seven. Okay, number seven in the country. I mean,

Graydon Prescott 22:42
their leader, true freshman, not an inch over six to just, just, just hoping, pit bull, hoping. Shout out to James Richardson. My good I, I, personally, I watched their game against it was Wisconsin a couple about a week ago. We could go Sunday, so eight days ago, yes, and I was watching the game, and a sequence really stood out to me, Jace Richardson. So they were up by six points. Jace Richardson took a three, missed it pretty bad, and then Izzo subbed him out of the game. He stayed out for about two minutes. Wisconsin chopped the lead to one in the time that he was out. So it went from six to one. He came back in. It was 57 to 56 Michigan State. And then in the next two minutes of play, he scored, he made a layup, he had three assists, two steals, two rebounds, and Michigan State was up by 10 and two minutes he is and the color commentators of the game, they just could not stop singing this dude's praise. They're talking about, you know, true freshman, face of Michigan State basketball, future of the Big 10, like on national television, about this dude, Jace Richardson, is the real deal, and Michigan State is going to be serious problems. Yes, they are coming this. NCAA, you do not want to see them. No, you don't. I don't care who you are. You do not want to see that, that that army green lined up against you. It's a bad site here, here. And final thing we have to talk about today. Stephen A Smith, wow and LeBron, James Wow, had a little bit of an altercation, yes, a few days ago, and we did it go viral. We don't have too much time left 10s of millions of views. Here's essentially what happened. And I'm going to paraphrase lip

K.B. 24:27
readers video everything. I'm

Graydon Prescott 24:30
not I'm not gonna say exactly what was said, because this is a family friendly show, yes. So LeBron, you don't want to get beat because there would be a lot of beeping. So LeBron, he confronts Stephen A Smith about Stephen A A lot of times mentioning LeBron James Jr, on first take on his Stephen A Smith show, yes, Brownie so LeBron says, Keep your son's name out of your. Blank mouth, yes. Stop blank, talking about my son. Yada yada yada. Approach to.

K.B. 24:59
While he was at the Lakers, at the Lakers game with guests, with Stephen, Dave Yeah, and walked right up to him, yeah,

Graydon Prescott 25:08
unprovoked, unprovoked. And LeBron had some things to say, defending his soon to be an october 21 year old son, a grown man, a grown man, yes,

K.B. 25:21
okay, there is all sorts of things that are wrong with this story, the optics behind it. Yeah,

Graydon Prescott 25:27
I see why the dad instinct of LeBron would kick in, uh, hearing his son kind of get berated on national television.

K.B. 25:37
Let's cut through the crap. LeBron was 100% wrong in the wrong Yeah, this was egregious. Now, you put him out there saying that he's better than a lot of people in the NBA. I know he went, you know, to the McDonald's all American there are a lot of people that said he probably shouldn't have been in that game. He scored 15. He did score 15 points, but grant rice left him in the game for a long time, still scored 15. He did, but And look, we are all happy that he has recovered. I don't know if it's fully, but he has recovered from his heart attack at USC, so if that's the stuff that Stephen A was talking about, I get it, but he wasn't. He was talking about performance. He was talking about a guy who decided, between himself, his dad and maybe his agent, rich Paul, that he doesn't need to go to away games, that he's only going to play home games. He's talking about a dad who said, Well, if you want to have me on your team, then you know you need to draft my son. And no one else is going to draft him. They better not draft him before we have our pick at what number 55 or 5655 55 the Lakers had the pick because the warriors were interested. There were a couple of other teams interested, but rich Paul essentially told him, don't draft him, because he's not going to show up. He'll go play in Europe. And so he ends up with the Lakers and gets on the floor. Doesn't play well. Couple of games, people see it. Hey, you are not ready for this. Yeah, summer league goes out to the G League, gets a slow start, starts to find his C legs, and he's been doing okay in the G league. But that's not the problem. Stephen, A is upset because he was being called on the carpet about his performance as an NBA player, letting him know that, hey, he's not ready for this. And all this heat that has been on Bronnie came from his daddy, and now his daddy is upset that that heat is here and it's in the media and everybody's talking about it, so we don't have a long opportunity to get, you know into the story. Maybe we can come back to it next week, but LeBron James is at fault for a lot of the heat that bronny has been taking. It is not bronnie's fault, but bronny James is a grown man. He doesn't need to be looked out for like that. He's not a high school kid anymore. Yeah, I

Graydon Prescott 27:50
think, I think you pretty much said what needed to be said on that issue. So I'm gonna go ahead and wrap things up. I will say I'm on Stephen A side. I understand LeBron from the point of a father wanting to defend his son, but I think he probably only made it worse. Sure, bringing unnecessary attention to brownie unintentionally. Could have handled this a lot differently, but that's neither here nor there. Stephen A is in the right in this situation, and as big as of LeBron van I am, yeah, as big as of as big of a LeBron James fan I am. I'm on Stephen A side on this one. So thank you everybody for tuning into this episode of sports prep live. It was a lot not enough time, but I can't wait to talk to you all next week. As always. Everybody have a great day. 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 podcast, and be sure to follow us on Instagram or Twitter at sports prep live. Thank you.