Eye On College Basketball

Latest Episodes:

11/16: Michigan's stunner at Nova; UConn's great start under Dan Hurley; Big Ten is the best league to start the season Nov 16, 2018

Show notes

Friday's episode leads on arguably the most shocking result of the season so far: Michigan's 73-46 win at Villanova on Wednesday night. From there, Parrish and Norlander touch how good Tennessee's looked to star the year (16:30), get into Zion Williamson's hilariously ridiculous statistical pace so far (17:45), and move on to Ohio State (24:40), which has the best two road wins of any team in college hoops at this point. The guys also highlight the Big Ten (31:15), which has the best record of any conference 10 days into the season. Of course, there's also the matter of UConn upsetting Syracuse (38:06), which included a viral moment from Dan Hurley and an inexplicable jersey mishap regarding Buddy Boeheim. The guys wrap by discussing a 3-point oddity that happened on back-to-back nights earlier this week.

11/14: Georgetown's Mac McClung is a dunking cult hero; the Big Ten's good start; Cuse-UConn preview Nov 14, 2018

Show notes

Georgetown went in and got a road win at Illinois on Tuesday night, doing so behind the entertaining play of freshmen duo James Akinjo and Mac McClung (:50). It's been a long time since the pod talked about the Hoyas. Parrish and Norlander also get into the Big Ten's quality start (16:30) before transitioning to Thursday night's key game between Syracuse and UConn (21:48). Also at MSG on Thursday night: Oregon and freshman center Bol Bol (27:00). The pod wraps with some thoughts about Duke's nonconference schedule and its contrast with UNC being willing to play opponents on the road in November and December (34:32).

11/11: A whiparound wrapup of college hoops' first weekend of 2018-19, with a debate over who has the best resume one week into the season Nov 12, 2018

Show notes

After a weekend with a few notable upsets, Gary Parrish and Matt Norlander open with West Virginia being the only ranked team to drop a game to an unranked team. Then it's onto Auburn (8:20), which looked great Friday night in an 88-66 win over Washington. Oh, and Duke freshman Zion Williamson (13:01) got 27 points, 16 rebounds, six blocks and four assists in Sunday's 94-72 win over Army. Just an absolute monster. Who should be ranked No. 1 right now -- Duke or Kansas? (20:00), and what about North Carolina (23:12)? 2-0 with two road wins -- one at Wofford, the other at Elon. Norlander said that amounts to the best resume in the nation right now. The pod wraps with a lookahead to the best games of Tuesday and Wednesday (31:48).

11/09: No, Michigan's Fab Five wasn't definitely better—and certainly not more talented—than Duke's current freshman class Nov 09, 2018

Show notes

Gary Parrish and Matt Norlander address, for the first and likely only time this season, some of the absurd early talking points already bubbling up around Duke. They open with the reaction to the reaction of Duke's debut, then get into some unexpected trivia about starting lineups on past Final Four teams. From there, they touch on the Justice Department giving the go-ahead to the NCAA to start investigating some schools brought up during the first federal trial, which ended in October.

The podcast wraps with a preview of the games to watch this weekend. Washington at Auburn, two top 25 teams, highlights the slate.

11/07: On-site Champions Classic reactions: Did Duke just pull off the greatest season-opening win in history? Nov 07, 2018

Show notes

No. 4 Duke's 118-84 win over No. 2 Kentucky was record-setting in many ways. The Blue Devils' freshmen showed up, showed out and exceeded the hype. And now Duke should probably be No. 1 in every legitimate poll out there. For Kentucky, yikes. How concerned should John Calipari be? Gary Parrish and Matt Norlander provide immediate reaction from Indianapolis after they watched Duke go supernatural and Kansas looked flawed but still dangerously good in its win over Michigan State.

11/04: The season is HERE. Let's preview everything great about opening night (college basketball podcast) Nov 05, 2018

Show notes

College basketball has finally wised up and made the adjustment to its schedule that benefits the sport best. For the first time in the modern era, college hoops will start its season on a Tuesday night. The Champions Classic is the big event -- but there are four other really good games happening elsewhere. Gary Parrish and Matt Norlander offer up their thoughts and predictions on Duke, Kentucky, Kansas, Michigan State, North Carolina, Nevada, Florida, Washington and more. Welcome to the 2018-19 season.

11/02: Big—and potentially crazy—predictions for the 2018-19 college basketball season (College Basketball Podcast) Nov 02, 2018

Show notes

You need this episode, college hoops fans. It's the final piece of wide-ranging preseason college basketball content to hold you over the final weekend without college basketball until April. Matt Norlander and Gary Parrish get into some of the big and small predictions that they expect to see as early as next week and as far off as the national title game. The season is ALMOST HERE!

Our All-America selections and picks at which 2018 NCAA tourney teams won't make in back in 2019 (10.30) Oct 30, 2018

Show notes

Is the R.J. Barrett love overstated heading into the season? Gary Parrish and Matt Norlander open this episode by discussing the CBS Sports All-America teams and focus on Barrett's widespread recognition as a preseason national player of the year. They get into their picks, look at the POYs in years past and also try to identify the one player not on the A-A list who has the best shot at being a First Team guy come March. They also pick apart the teams that made last year's NCAA Tournament but don't seem built for a return this season. Arizona, Wichita State, Texas A&M, Creighton and Oklahoma included.

Let's talk BASKETBALL! A wide-ranging preseason predictions conversation (10.26) Oct 26, 2018

Show notes

Now it's time for hoops hoops hoops. Gary Parrish and Matt Norlander get into what we can expect for 2018-19, and they start by discussing Final Four darling Loyola-Chicago. Ramblers overrated? Not here. Norlander has them at 63 in his 1-353 ranking of every team in the sport. The guys also ask: Which preseason top 15 team is most likely to miss the NCAAs? Which team outside the top 20 is best suited to make a Final Four run? And which highly regarded player could wind up being a disappointment? And a whole lot more.

Guilty verdicts across the board make for a historic, landmark day in college sports -- and not for the better (10.24) Oct 25, 2018

Show notes

A shock wave was sent through college basketball on Wednesday when Jim Gatto, Merl Code and Christian Dawkins were all found guilty on seven total counts of conspiracy to commit wire fraud. Matt Norlander has been covering the trial from Manhattan, and he and Gary Parrish react to the verdicts and also lay out why this case was tipped in the government's favor from the get-go. Do those three men really deserve to be going to prison? Parrish and Norlander make arguments why this feels surreal and unnecessary. They also touch on what the NCAA now stands to do, and how coaches like Bill Self and programs like Kansas remain a high point of interest.

Our TOPPODCAST Picks

Follow Us

Stay Connected

Related Podcasts

Links

Stay Connected