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00:00The opening night of the 2025 Men's NCAA Tournament, the first four in Dayton, Ohio.
00:07The madness now officially underway.
00:09We had two games last night on a Tuesday.
00:12The first one, a thriller, a near buzzer beater to try to be the true number 16 seed in the
00:18South region and take on the number one overall seed in this tournament, that being the Auburn
00:24Tigers.
00:25The second game, not exactly nearly as close, but a lot of storyline entering.
00:30Of course, it was North Carolina in San Diego State.
00:33The Tar Heels inclusion into the 2025 Men's NCAA Tournament, rather controversial.
00:39They were the last team into the field of 68.
00:43Many thought with a 1-12-1 record on the resume, the Heels were not deserving.
00:48A small caveat, anything that happens in the tournament is not a proof or an indication
00:54that the committee made the right choice.
00:56It is based on your body of work and your resume before the NCAA Tournament.
01:02But of course, for Hubert Davids and Carolina, it can certainly add that motivation.
01:07It can certainly add that bulletin board material to try to prove any doubters or naysayers
01:13wrong.
01:14And North Carolina might've used that last night in standing in their wake, San Diego
01:19State, 95-68, the victory DRS for UNC.
01:23The Heels easily cover as a four-and-a-half point favorite.
01:26A total of 142-and-a-half does sky over.
01:30North Carolina was up by 24 points at the break.
01:33Midway through the second half, the Heels led by 40 points.
01:37This game was never really close last night in Dayton.
01:40No, it certainly wasn't.
01:41How about early in the game, I remember the announcer saying as I was still up watching
01:45the first half of that, like, boy, look at that, UNC has seven turnovers the first five
01:48minutes.
01:49They better settle down.
01:50They better never settle down to a 47-to-23 lead at the break.
01:54The calling card, as we talked about yesterday, and rightfully so, San Diego State usually
01:57plays great defense.
01:58They get in the passing lanes, they force turnovers, and they were doing that early.
02:01But it was apparent that no matter what San Diego State did, North Carolina had an answer.
02:05Like, R.J.
02:06Davis is a really good player.
02:08He's not all that efficient most of the time, 8-of-12 from the floor, 6-of-6 from three-point
02:12range.
02:13You can get Seth Trimble with 27 points off the bench, with 16 points going 5-of-10, including
02:17a perfect free throw margin of 6-and-6.
02:21So, and I look at this game and say, how does this set up?
02:22Is it okay that Carolina should have been in the tournament?
02:25Not necessarily.
02:26But, boy, if you wanted to use that motivation as a chip that we joked about, like, watch
02:29them get to the sweet 16 of the Elite Eight because they felt like they deserved they
02:33would be there, and it's us against the world, that was a great starting point and a calling
02:37card.
02:38I'll tell you right now, for Ole Miss, they're watching that basketball game saying, is this
02:41really an 11 seed that we're getting now?
02:43What did we just turn into at this point?
02:4595 points on the road in a neutral site against a great defensive team.
02:49That was the most impressive performance this season overall for the Tar Heels in the time
02:53they needed it the most.
02:54DRS, the 12th game this year that North Carolina has scored 90-plus.
02:59We talked a lot about UNC breaking down this game yesterday.
03:02Final 10 games of this season, including the ACC Tournament.
03:06Two of those games against Duke, a loss against the Blue Devils.
03:10The other eight games, a victory, and seven covers in that eight-game span.
03:15UNC did not have the quad one wins on its resume.
03:19Against the best of the best, that is where Carolina faltered.
03:23But to the Heels' credit, they understood the task at hand down the homestretch of this
03:28college basketball campaign.
03:30Little to no margin for error against the teams they were expected to beat, and Carolina
03:35did exactly that, looking impressive in doing so, much like they did last night, covering
03:40as a four-and-a-half-point favorite.
03:43And you mentioned R.J. Davis.
03:45If your best player, who has been at Chapel Hill forever, who has played the most games
03:50in program history, and is one of your leading scorers in program history, is going to be
03:55perfect from three-point land, six of six, it is going to be difficult to beat North
04:01Carolina.
04:02Meanwhile, for San Diego State, an unfortunate representation for a team that has been really
04:07good under Brian Dutcher.
04:08Of course, they played in the national title game just two seasons ago.
04:13Last year, they were ousted by Connecticut in the Sweet 16, losing by 30.
04:19That was the largest margin of defeat for SDSU under Brian Dutcher.
04:23Well, last night, that almost got there once again.
04:27Not a great representation for San Diego State.
04:30And Donnie, we said, don't let you shoot the three if you want it.
04:33UNC making 14 triples as a team last night.
04:36That was really one of the main differences.
04:38Again, against a good defensive team, North Carolina goes in neutral site with all that
04:42pressure.
04:4353% as a team from the floor, 58% from three-point range, and 88% from the free-throw line.
04:48You look at San Diego State's numbers on that, too.
04:50They weren't terrible.
04:51They shot 40% as a team from the floor, 30% from free, which isn't great, and 61% from
04:56the free-throw line.
04:57But you might have looked at that and said, oh, it's probably an ugly rock flight game.
04:59And maybe Carolina does win.
05:01You just didn't expect Carolina to put up 95 points in that spot.
05:04It was amazing, because even early on, you saw the open three-point shots going down.
05:08Like, ooh, will this continue?
05:09And yes, it continued all the way through the night.
05:12A laugher in this game was one of the last things I expected.
05:15And understand this.
05:16If you were just looking at those betting metrics and analyzing and saying, hey, man,
05:19Old World's on Carolina.
05:20That line seems too high.
05:22Boy, that was one for the public last night, and the get-back was big.
05:25The tax was there on the Tar Heels, and it didn't even matter.
05:28Yeah, it certainly was, BRS.
05:30The second time in as many games for North Carolina, where the betting public has loved
05:35the Tar Heels.
05:36Both you and I have been astonished by these numbers in terms of the spread betting, money,
05:42and bets.
05:43And it still really has come out in favor of UNC, keeping it close against Duke, despite
05:48being down by more than 20 against the Blue Devils in the ACC Tournament semifinal, and
05:53of course, all the love last night.
05:55So North Carolina advances.
05:58Now as the true 11th seed in the South region, opening round of 64 game for UNC, Friday afternoon
06:05against the sixth seed in Ole Miss.
06:08The odds are out as of right now.
06:10You said, what is Chris Beard and Ole Miss hoping for?
06:14That North Carolina got all of their good offense out last night, but you see it right
06:18there, DRS.
06:19North Carolina is the lower seed, and yet booked as an ever-so-slight Moneyline favorite.
06:24Yeah, look, they're going to get the momentum.
06:26That's what you have.
06:28Sometimes you start your tournament earlier than the other teams.
06:30You've been there, done that in a high-leverage situation, and you have to travel, go to
06:33another city, when obviously Ole Miss isn't going to have that.
06:35They just have to travel one time.
06:36But when you feel you're already in quote-unquote playoff mode, that could be big.
06:41And again, we talked about it before the tournament started.
06:43We've seen this before.
06:44UCLA made a run like, ah, they get in.
06:46Yeah, they got in and said, okay, we're going to show you how much we deserve to win this
06:49tournament and start rucking shop against teams in the higher seeds.
06:53And also understand this, is it a true 11th seed the way Carolina played it?
06:56No.
06:57If they played like that all season long, they would have been on the two-line at this
06:59point.
07:00Maybe catching fire at the right time.
07:01They just needed a little bit more motivation, and maybe they have it now.
07:052011, the first year of the first four.
07:08Every NCAA tournament since, with the exception of 2019, a team that was victorious in Dayton
07:15wins at least one game in a round of 64.
07:18We'll talk about the first game of the night, a thriller, next.
07:21So if the second game in Dayton, between the at-large teams battling for the 11th spot
07:26in the South region, was kind of a stinker, or a clunker, or a blowout, the first game
07:32of the 2025 men's NCAA tournament, the first matchup in the first four, was the exact opposite.
07:39It came down to the final few seconds between Alabama State, the champions of the SWAC,
07:45into the big dance for the first time since 2011, and St. Francis, PA, the champions of
07:51the NEC, dancing for the first time since 1991.
07:56DRS tied at 68-all, with less than four seconds remaining.
08:02Alabama State inbounding the ball on their own end of the floor.
08:05They throw a Hail Mary pass down to the opposite end near the basket.
08:09Ball gets tipped around, ends up in the welcoming arms of Alabama State's Amar Knox, who is
08:15right there to make the layup for the win, with less than a second left.
08:21A near-buzzer beater in our first game in a tournament known for its madness.
08:28There is nothing quite like the month of March.
08:30The Hornets victorious for the first time in program history in the NCAA tournament
08:36in their fifth ever trip, 70-68 over the red flash of St. Francis.
08:41Now, St. Francis, PA, does cover as a three-and-a-half-point dog, but Amar Knox will be a legend for Alabama
08:48State for eternity.
08:50That guy on your screen.
08:52Fantastic stuff.
08:53Loved the game.
08:54Enjoyed it all the way through.
08:55One of those games I figured I'd probably tune in for a couple minutes, then tune out
08:58and maybe hopefully be able to stay up for the North Carolina game, watch it all the
09:00way through the second half.
09:02Back and forth they met, monster shot after monster shot under two minutes, was so much
09:06fun to watch.
09:07When we talk about fun to watch and where the NCAA gets it right, and not even just
09:12talking about the tournament then, you know what we don't get in the NBA?
09:16Unbelievable plays like we saw to end that game.
09:18Two seconds left, throw it up, maybe something good happens, a layup in the buzzer.
09:22Unbelievable theater.
09:23Maybe we could have just called a timeout and advanced it to the front court and, you
09:26know, somebody would have got a shot off.
09:27Like the NBA misses out on so many golden opportunities with that horrendous timeout
09:32rule that we always get, and it always shines the brightest with all the eyes on March Madness
09:37and it filtered yesterday.
09:38We weren't talking about Carolinas.
09:39Hey, what a great victory by them.
09:41This was the game everybody talked about when it was supposed to be the game that everybody
09:45forgot about.
09:46Loved what I saw, but understand this, if you did take St. Francis, you covered that
09:49spread.
09:50But if you would have gave me, Ben, the old crystal ball before this game, hey, Donnie,
09:52got a hot tip for you.
09:54St. Francis is going to shoot 50% from the floor, 46% from three-point range, and 71%
09:59from the free throw line.
10:00St. Francis moves on easily, but when you mix in the turnovers and extra rebounds, you
10:05see one team shot the ball 48 times, the other team shot it 70 times.
10:09Extra chance opportunities, which included the biggest extra chance opportunity at the
10:14end of the game.
10:15Right place, right time, and by the way, Coach, great play calling that.
10:19How many players would have just thrown it in around the top of the key and shot a 75
10:24footer and, okay, we're going to extras?
10:27Fantastic move to say, hey, you know, what do we have to lose?
10:29Throw it down the other end.
10:30If it gets tipped around and it's the end of the game, no big deal, but we might get
10:33a bonus break and they got the biggest bonus break in a victory at moving forward.
10:38Loved the final couple minutes.
10:39These kids were competing at the highest level and I thought it was great.
10:43A Hornets Hail Mary that will live on forever in Alabama State athletics history.
10:48There is no doubt about it.
10:50Tony Madlock, the head coach for Alabama State, has only been there for a few years.
10:55Got the Hornets to the NCAA tournament for the first time in 14 years since 2011.
11:01Their heart does break for Rob Krimmel and St. Francis P.A. because they played out of
11:06their minds.
11:0724 of 48, 10 of 22 from deep, Juan Cranford Jr., 5 of 7 from deep for the Red Flash last
11:14night, the Dayton, Ohio native in his hometown.
11:18Chris Moncrief hit the game tying three to equalize at 68 with less than a half minute
11:24remaining in regulation.
11:26And Donnie, it was that turnover battle that we highlighted.
11:30Alabama State takes care of the basketball.
11:31St. Francis P.A., not nearly as much.
11:35In the closing minutes tied at 68, in those closing seconds, T.J.
11:39Madlock, Tony's, the head coach's son, walks in the line for a one and one, misses the
11:44first.
11:45There's a battle for the ball.
11:47They come away with it, that being St. Francis, but then they turn the ball over so they never
11:51get a shot even though they were in possession in the final 15 seconds of regulation.
11:58That we thought could be the difference.
11:59A few extra possessions for Alabama State, many more than a few last night.
12:05So the Hornets, with their first ever win in NCAA tournament history, move on to be
12:11the 16th seed in the South region where they will take on the number one overall seed in
12:15Auburn.
12:16And sure, it's more than a 30 point spread, but the opportunity will be one Alabama State
12:21relishes.
12:23And by the way, also, I still see tweets going around like, oh man, I can't believe Alabama
12:26State and St. Francis, not even really in the tournament.
12:28That's a shame.
12:29Those guys deserve to be like, that is the moment they absolutely loved.
12:32Do you think Alabama State wanted to get into the regular tournament and get housed in game
12:35number one?
12:36You got a victory?
12:37Memories for a lifetime.
12:38Come on, people.
12:39And money for a long time as well.
12:40We'll talk more about that next.