Eye On College Basketball

Every summer, Parrish and Norlander poll 100-plus coaches to get insight into a number of topics inside and outside college basketball. Today's podcast starts with some thoughts on foreign tours that some teams are taking, but then exclusively gets into the results of five questions they've asked so far in their Candid Coaches series: Would you visit Donald Trump's White House if you won the natio...

Gary Parrish and Matt Norlander get going on today's episode by revealing how a man who does not play tennis winds up with tennis elbow -- in both arms. You already know which of the two this happened to. Then, they get to the curious story involving famed attorney Michael Avenatti, who is facing multiple serious charges in multiple cases, but nonetheless has become the figure at the center of all...

On Tuesday, news leaked that the NCAA made major alterations to its rules regarding which agents could represent players in the pre-draft process. The rule modifications have been widely panned, most notably by LeBron James, who dubbed it #TheRichPaulRule, though the guys explain why that's not true at all. The podcast opens with a 25-minute conversation on this, then gets to Evan Mobley (26:45),...

Hello from Colorado Springs! Parrish and Norlander have another from-the-hotel-room pod to share, this time with a recap of July's recruiting calendar, with commentary on many of the top prospects. They start with thoughts on USA Basketball, then get to stories, quotes and anecdotes on what the NCAA hath wrought with July (6:50). After a long conversation there -- including Norlander's story from...

Straight from Norlander's hotel room, it's another face-to-face episode of the pod. Parrish and Norlander open with some unanticipated thoughts on things tangentially related to the Nike Peach Jam -- including a fun blind item about a coach -- then get into why coaches are still not satisfied with the current recruiting calendar (16:00) and what won't be done about it. From there, Norlander gets i...

On Tuesday, the NCAA's Committee on Infractions levied a three-year show-cause against former UConn coach Kevin Ollie. The university was spared any meaningful/significant penalties. Norlander and Parrish open the ep by discussing that, the fallout, Dan Hurley's contract and more. After that, the duo gets on to UConn leaving the American to join the Big East (16:45) and debate that team's standing...

Gary Parrish and Matt Norlander go face-to-face for an in-person, late-night podcast to discuss the most interesting things to come out of Thursday night. This is going to be a memorable draft for a lot of reasons, many of them having to do with guys picked after first, second and third.

CBS Sports' Dennis Dodd reported a major story on Wednesday: an NCAA official told Dodd that six men's basketball programs would receive notices of allegations this summer, including two high-profile schools that would be notified by early July. The timing is surprising. So who will the schools be, and should any punishment be expected for the 2019-20 season? Gary Parrish and Matt Norlander spend...

On Thursday, Book Richardson was sentenced to three months in federal prison. It was a history-making decision by U.S. District Judge Edgardo Ramos. Matt Norlander was in the courtroom, as he has been throughout both trials, and brings perspective and details from Thursday and beyond. He and Gary Parrish spend the first 40 minutes of the podcast discussing Richardson's sentence, Arizona's next ste...

Nearly 90 underclassmen opted to stay in the 2019 NBA draft pool. And nearly 90 decided to come back. Which schools benefitted most or were hurt significantly? This pod opens on that, then gets to a discussion (12:00) on the growing trend in college basketball to have more and more guys leaving early, even when they're not expected to be drafted. The guys zero in on Kansas (28:00) and R.J. Hampton...

On Wednesday, Michigan officially hired alumnus Juwan Howard to coach its men's basketball program. The first 20 minutes of this podcast are dedicated to that decision, with Parrish and Norlander bringing some deeper context into why this decision was made and why it's different from the Penny Hardaway hiring at Memphis. Then the guys get to notable five-star commitments within the past week (20:0...

The basketball world woke up to surprising news Monday morning: John Beilein was walking on Michigan to take a job with the shaky Cleveland Cavaliers organization. This episodes goes heavy on that, including why Beilein doing this should -- or maybe shouldn't -- be that surprising, in addition to evaluating Michigan's program in the greater hierarchy of college basketball (20:00) and trying to est...

Our final podcast dedicated to the second college basketball federal trial opens on what the government set out to do, and failed. Then Gary Parrish and Matt Norlander take a tour of the schools that were hurt the most in all of this, and what might come next. Plus, Christian Dawkins, who again was found guilty by a federal jury, provided some helpful-yet-damning quotes once more in relation to Ar...

College basketball has maybe never been as newsy and buzzy on the first day of May as it is this. That's because the second of three scheduled federal trials is providing a lot of allegations, evidence and more against prominent names and schools. But nothing's hit as hard as the stuff attached to Arizona. Gary Parrish and Matt Norlander open this episode by discussing what the trial is really get...

Sean Miller's name is in headlines again thanks to the second college basketball corruption trial, which on Wednesday turned its attention the Arizona program due to video wiretaps that were played in court. Gary Parrish and Matt Norlander spend the first 40 minutes of this episode catching you up on the case, the implications for Miller, why Dawkins is to be believed and what else has happened th...

Minutes before the season premiere of the final season of Game of Thrones started Sunday night, LSU announced Will Wade had been reinstated to his post. So Gary Parrish and Matt Norlander start there, then lay out how this could still go wrong -- or, in a long shot, right -- for LSU and Wade. From there, the guys talk the shocking transfer decisions from Sam and Joey Hauser (23:00), who are leavin...

Norlander was right: Virginia won the national title. It did so in a great game, probably one of the 10 best in NCAA Tournament title game history. Texas Tech had it! Until it didn't. So it went for every team UVA played in the NCAAs. Gary Parrish and Matt Norlander give a lot of time to the title game, to Tony Bennett, to the Cavaliers' biggest plays from the NCAA Tournament, to all you want to h...

For the first time in 40 years, a national championship game will feature two schools that have never before made it this far. But first, GP and Norlander pick apart and set the scene for Virginia's inexplicable escape over Auburn in the Final Four. That was one of the wilder endings imaginable on the biggest stage in college hoops. From there, they get into Texas Tech's 61-51 win over Michigan St...

Who will play for the national championship on Monday night? It should be a pretty interesting Saturday on the way to finding out. Gary Parrish and Matt Norlander open this episode -- in the same room, recording face to face; a podcast rarity! -- by discussing why Minneapolis is such a solid Final Four city. First impression, funny stories, all of it. Then, it's on to discussing Virginia vs. Aubur...

Don't worry, we've got some Final Four chatter for you on this pod, but the episode starts with the biggest college hoops news of the past 24 hours: Kentucky and John Calipari have agreed to a lifetime deal for the coach, meaning he'll be there for essentially as long as he wants as coach -- and then will be an advisor/emeritus whenever he decides to retire. This is all in the wake of UCLA pursuin...

Here's a Final Four almost no one had: Virginia, Michigan State, Auburn and Texas Tech. Gary Parrish and Matt Norlander open with their initial thoughts on the national semifinalists, then gush and give their reactions to arguably the best Elite Eight in history. They start with where Norlander was at -- Louisville -- with Virginia's comeback/OT win over Purdue (10:00), then move on to Auburn beat...

To start, Parrish and Norlander open with Duke barely escaping -- again -- thanks to a bunny missed at the buzzer. Virginia Tech almost had it. But you know who's to thank for Duke moving on? Tre Jones. From there, the guys preview Duke-Michigan State (8:45), then talk the West/Gonzaga vs. Texas Tech (13:20), the South/Virginia-Purdue (21:00) and the Midwest/Kentucky vs. Auburn (33:40).

Tuesday got the college hoops coaching carousel whizzing, so before Gary Parrish and Matt Norlander resume their NCAA tourney convo, they open by talking the biggest jobs that are available and the ones that have closed or will close in the coming days. They touch on Nebraska, BYU, Arkansas, Iowa State, UCLA, Alabama and more. Then it's onto the predictions and previews for every regional semifina...

A chalky run of results in the first two rounds of the NCAAs have Parrish and Norlander recapping and reflecting on the best, and most overlooked, moments of the first weekend. The guys start with their thoughts on the first two rounds, then move along region by region. They start with the East (11:00), which of course leads on Duke's escape from UCF. From there, it's to the West (22:00), then the...

OK, we had a fun but not insane first couple of days of the Big Dance. So will the weekend make up for it? It's quite possible. Gary Parrish and Matt Norlander go region by region and recap the biggest games, stories and moments for Thursday and Friday. They open with the West, because that's where Norlander saw Murray State's Ja Morant in person in Hartford on Thursday. After that, it's onto refl...