Ben & Shane break down the brackets, and throw in some Bleacher Report and listener texts for fun.
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Enjoy the games!
Note: In mid-January, I went to Ann Arbor, MI and Evanston, IL to report a story about Northwestern’s push to make its first NCAA tournament. This is the story. It’s feature-length, so maybe it’s best digested section by section. Thanks very much for reading.
In front of an anxious bench, Northwestern’s Bill Carmody crossed his arms and watched his team fall behind. It was happening again. The Wildcats were at home, in Evanston, playing the no. 6 Michigan State Spartans on the second Saturday in January. Down the line, the great Tom Izzo raged and shouted, willing his team to break down Northwestern’s 1-3-1 zone. The Spartans were undefeated in four Big Ten games, while Northwestern was just 1-3. Carmody looked at his assistants, found no answers in their blank expressions, and wrapped his arms tighter. Hunched in his black suit coat, he looked like he might collapse into himself.
There’s a thought that hasn’t left Carmody’s mind for a decade, ever since he accepted the head coaching position at Northwestern. Of the 74 basketball programs in the six major conferences of Division 1, 73 have made the NCAA tournament. Northwestern is the 74th.
This past Sunday, after failing to advance in the Big Ten tournament, the Wildcats gathered at Welsh-Ryan Arena to watch the selection show in a hospitality suite called the “N Closet.” None were really surprised when their name wasn’t called. Despite competing well with the best in the conference from game to game, poor play at critical moments had doomed them again.
The ‘why’ of the problem- the explanation behind the tantalizing flirtations with the NCAA tournament that inevitably fall short- can be seen in microcosm during two games in mid-January. The team’s amazing potential and its agonizing inability to capitalize were perfectly on display against Michigan and Michigan State, and the results linger as artifacts of Northwestern’s latest failure. After a 10-1 start, with quality wins over LSU, Tulsa, and Seton Hall, the Wildcats had lost four of five games, along with every bit of positive momentum. The pessimism surrounding the program had begun to rise again.
As the season hit a critical point, Carmody was faced with the unenviable task of righting the ship against the Spartans.
In this episode, Shane & Ben discuss behind-the-scenes drama from the ACC Tournament, man-crushes on Austin Rivers, the NCAA tournament field, and every thing else you can possibly think of. Time stamps below.
Don’t forget that you can subscribe to the podcast in iTunes. Just click “view in iTunes” once you reach that link, and then ‘subscribe for free.’ Voila. If you’re feeling really generous and benevolent, you could also rate the podcast and write a positive review.
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0:00 – Florida State’s Championship
2:15 – North Carolina’s NCAA bracket
4:30 – Shane’s road trip to the ACC Tournament: Favorite players, UNC locker fight, who’s fun to hang out with on press row, and self-invitations to media parties
14:45 – More of Shane’s trip: Do the players care about the ACC Tournament, how Miami took the loss, and the dumbest press conference question of the weekend
21:00 – Twitter Q&A, Part I … referee conspiracies, Lunardi doing Gottfried a solid, the dominant mascot theory, and disappearing Andre Dawkins
34:40 – Selection Sunday, the “First Four”, and mid-major match-ups
43:00 – Must watch NCAA players and teams in the 1st round, Michael Snaer love, and Harrison Barnes disappointment
55:40 – Bleacher Report trolling: “Four Reasons Why Duke Will Fail Miserably in the NCAA Tournament”
1:02:00 – Twitter Q&A, Part II
Jim and I are back, and we’re talking ’bout the Chuck Norris Bridge in Eastern Europe, the hazards of oral sex, America’s fight record since WW2, and so much more.
SYA will have its own home shortly, but for now it lives on Tobacco Road Blues. For those unfamiliar, this is the comedy podcast done by myself and my pal SlimJim, where we talk about news and life and the world of selfish young Americans.
You can subscribe to the podcast here.
Here is our RSS feed. I have no idea what that does, but people seem to love it.
If you like it, tell a friend or write a review on iTunes or send me $400. Enjoy!
In today’s episode, Ben and I wrap up Duke-UNC II, preview the ACC tournament, speculate about Kendall Marshall’s dad, and discuss the creepiness of the recruiting cults. Also, a classic lightning round, and I give out my cell phone number at the very end. Time stamps below.
Don’t forget that you can subscribe to the podcast in iTunes. Just click “view in iTunes” once you reach that link, and then ‘subscribe for free.’ Voila. If you’re feeling really generous and benevolent, you could also rate the podcast and write a positive review.
You can also access our podcast RSS feed.
It’s time for another edition of:
The Walk-Ons.
Before we get down to business, don’t forget that you can subscribe to the podcast in iTunes. Just click “view in iTunes” once you reach that link, and then ‘subscribe for free.’ Voila. If you’re feeling really generous and benevolent, you could also rate the podcast and write a positive review.
You can also access our podcast RSS feed.
In today’s special Duke-UNC preview edition, Ben and I talk about the big game, investigate the ins and outs of Duke’s credentialing process, get to the bottom of referee bias, untangle the Duke-UNC hype conspiracy, fret about the looming ACC basketball boycott bathe in the wisdom of Bleacher Report, do something called a “lightning round,” and field questions from our listeners and twitter followers. It is an exciting day, my friends. Enjoy the game.
(Time stamps below the media player if you’d like to skip around.)
This week’s show runs over an hour because of the depth of the topics covered; chapters and time markers are added for listener convenience:
0:00 – Introduction
3:00 – Discussion of Grantland credential controversy
13:00 – Discussion of Duke/UNC backlash; ACC bias towards Duke and North Carolina
17:30 – Twitter Q&A #1
23:50 – Duke/UNC referee bias
36:40 – ‘Bleacher Report time’, Duke/UNC preview
42:35 – Our Duke/UNC breakdown
51:00 – Twitter Q&A #2
Here it is, gang, Episode 3 of Selfish Young Americans. This week, Jim and I talk Vladimir Putin getting hip, YouTube for tweens, Stephen Hawking’s sex life, the email habits of middle-aged women, and masturbating in the Neil Diamond room. WHAT COULD IT ALL MEAN?
You can subscribe to the podcast on iTunes here (click “view in iTunes” and then “subscribe), and our RSS feed is here.
Enjoy! And if you’re feeling super generous, go nuts and write a positive review on iTunes. Or tell a friend. Or print up a bunch of flyers with the show info, hire a plan, and drop them all over Germany.
Ladies and gents, thanks for checking in to our newly named Podcast:
The Walk-Ons.
As of RIGHT NOW, you can subscribe to the podcast in iTunes. Just click “view in iTunes” once you reach that link, and then ‘subscribe for free.’ Voila. If you’re feeling really generous and benevolent, you could also rate the podcast and write a positive review. That kind of thing warms our hearts.
You can also access our podcast RSS feed. I’m not sure exactly what an RSS feed does, but some people seem to use it. So there you go.
In today’s episode. Ben and I discuss Duke’s upcoming game against Florida State, revisit Carolina’s win at N.C. State, reflect on which American states have betrayed us by not listening to previous episodes, turn to Bleacher Report for wisdom and solace, and challenge Debbie Yow to a debate.
Thanks very much for listening, and enjoy.
Hey Sports friends,
I know you didn’t sign up for this, but I think you might enjoy it anyway. The second episode of our little comedy podcast, Selfish Young Americans, is now here for your listening pleasure. Today, I’m joined by my friend Jim to chat about ‘revenge shitting,’ giant prehistoric mushrooms, old-time baseball, sex change, the white underclass, evicting old people, and of course our mutual idol Rick Santorum.
Other items:
1. You can subscribe to Selfish Young Americans by looking it up at the iTunes store. That will automatically download new episodes to your comp. If you like it and want to take a moment to write a positive review, that would be appreciated.
2. The basketball podcast has a name: The Walk-Ons! Ben and I will be taping a new episode tomorrow, on Tuesday, to talk about the weekend action and preview Duke-FSU. You can’t find that podcast on iTunes yet, but you will be able to shortly. We’ll keep you updated.
Thanks for listening, pals. Happy President’s Day, and don’t forget to take time to recognize obscure presidents like Franklin Pierce, Zachary Taylor, and Alexander Graham Bell.
In this installment, recorded on Valentine’s Day, we discuss Duke-State, the weekend win over Maryland, Miles Plumlee’s possible transformation into Brian Zoubek II, and the diverging paths of Seth Curry and Andre Dawkins. We also analyze the UNC-Miami game, even though this was recorded on Tuesday.