Welcome to the latest edition of Talking Hoops With Ted Sarandis. The NCAA Tournament is off and running, with the first round complete and the field down to 32.
We spend a great deal of time talking about the history that was made on Friday evening. For the first time in NCAA Tournament history, a No. 16 seed beat a No. 1 seed when UMBC beat the No. 1 overall seed Virginia in Charlotte. It’s a game we will be talking about for a long time, and as noted in the Morning Dish, a shocker on a lot of levels.
But aside from that, we talk about some questions this raises. Will Tony Bennett change his system and/or who he recruits to Virginia? Will there be more talk about this from the UMBC or Virginia standpoint?
After extensive talk about the game, we then talk about another big story: teams from the Pac-12 did not win a single game this year, marking the first time since the Big 12 was formed that a no representative from a Power 5 or Big East advanced to the round of 32. It caps off a down year in the conference, which does have five teams still alive in the NIT, and we also explore inside the conference a fascinating story to watch, which is what will happen to Sean Miller at Arizona. Our friend and colleague Pete Thamel looked at this in an excellent column, and given the bad basketball year and some other issues, this was a fascinating column to read on the day as well.
Last, but certainly not least, we touch on the story at Pittsburgh, where eight players now have their release so as to explore transfer options even before the next head coach is hired. To be clear, this does not mean all eight will transfer, but the possibility is there.
From all of this, we then look at a larger question: is college basketball at a real crossroads? We wonder if there is enough talent for 351 Division I programs, but there is an added factor: coaching.
We hope you enjoy the podcast and share it with your fellow fans. Be sure to come back in just a couple of days for College Basketball Tonight, which we will record this time on Monday evening and post on the site after that.
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