Welcome to the latest edition of Talking Hoops With Ted Sarandis. The game action is picking up once again, with Wednesday night being a night of particular interest given what happened.
We begin with one of the blueblood programs that is falling on hard times. North Carolina went up to Gonzaga and gamely battled, giving a very good Gonzaga team all they could handle for a time. Without their best player, the Tar Heels gave it all they could, but simply didn’t have enough. Meanwhile, Gonzaga is again the clear favorite in the West Coast Conference (even as Saint Mary’s continues to impress).
It was a tough night for the SEC with four teams going down, three of them at the time of the podcast and a fourth just after it was recorded. In all, the SEC looks a lot more wide open than it was thought to be before the season. Kentucky and Florida have not looked like frontrunners – Auburn has looked like the best team instead, and not by a wide margin. This conference will have a great battle for the top spots, all in all.
We then get to the news with Mark Emmert keeping busy trying to keep some control for the NCAA as compensation comes into play. He met with a pair of U.S. Senators recently, as the NCAA stares down legislation affecting this that won’t be favorable for it, especially since there would be a lot of different state laws instead of one unified national law. Of note, he said he was concerned about the lack of public trust in the NCAA, which is a great example of being late to the game since that has been the case for years. He has a lot of work to do on that end from a variety of angles.
We hope you enjoy the podcast and share it with your fellow college basketball fans. Tune in again after Christmas as conference play gets going in earnest all around the country and we give our thoughts on what’s happening there.
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