Eye On College Basketball

Gary Parrish and Matt Norlander continue their preseason package of power-conference previews with a look at the B1G. It's probably going to be the best league in America, and should have the most compelling race at the top. Michigan, Purdue, Illinois = the clear-cut top three. Ohio State = very strong No. 4. Then? Maryland, Indiana and Michigan State are forecasting as comfortable NCAA Tournament teams. Rutgers:also still pretty good! What's a reasonable expectation for Iowa after Luka Garza's departure? Is Fred Hoiberg's Nebraska team the most underrated in this league ... or is that Northwestern (?!). So much to discuss. To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

We're back into the swing of our conference previews, with the Big East getting today's spotlight. It's Villanova at the top, and then Xavier and UConn in a battle for No. 2. Will this be a four-bid league? Five? The guys go through the best players, projected order of finish and the five biggest storylines for the 11-team league that ... might be looking to expand with one more team. To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Our picks for All-America teams, player of the year, freshman of the year and coach of the year published at CBSSports.com -- and on the CBS Sports app -- this week. Today's episode reveals who won out, plus Gary Parrish and Matt Norlander reveal each of their individual ballots. Read more about the CBS Sports 2021-22 preseason A-A teams here. To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Our league previews continue with a dive into the largest conference of them all: the 15-team ACC. Norlander and GP open with a riff on Coach K’s send-off season, then get into projected league order, talk Paolo Banchero as the best freshman and likely player in the ACC, but also discuss if there’s a true national championship contender in this conference, the five biggest storylines heading in, and every player of note to know. And as mentioned in the episode, a shoutout thanks to Reddit user UMD_Terps for tracking all of Trivia Time! last season and providing these graphs to show who came out on top. We love our listeners. To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

We're again loading up our preseason podcast schedule by delivering you episodes almost every weekday from now up until the opening day of the season. The first of our league previews is on the American, which has two Final Four contenders (Houston, Memphis), three more NCAA Tournament hopefuls (Wichita State, SMU, UCF) and then a drop-off in the bottom half of the league. Norlander and Parrish spend the first half of the episode discussing the top two, then get into the need-to-knows with the other teams. A fun unexpected music discussion wraps this episode, spurred by a controversial ranking from Norlander that has nothing to do with basketball teams. To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Monday brought about the latest bit of news that has us geeked for the season to get going: the release of the preseason AP Top 25. GP and Norlander detail who made the rankings, what surprises -- if any -- and give some time to St. Bonaventure, which finds itself with an AP ranking next to its name for the first time since 1971! The guy also discuss the KenPom rankings getting released over the weekend, and at the end of the pod, make their picks for unranked team most likely to break into the top 10 and ranked teams most likely to miss the NCAA Tournament. To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

This week CBS Sports published Matt Norlander's annual ranking of every team in men's college basketball. Today's episode goes deep into those rankings, with a comparison of his top teams vs. where Gary Parrish has his Top 25 And 1. It's official. The preseason is here. Read along with the rankings as you listen to the podcast below. The guys also touch on Michigan adding none other than Juwan Howard's son for next season. Who knew!The rankings:1-6869-200201-358Be sure to leave a review on Apple Podcasts for our forthcoming latest mailbag episode as well. Thanks! To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Welcome to the the final slow news week for college basketball until the middle of April. Parrish & Norlander take you inside more of their exclusive conversations with coaches by discussing the results of their Candid Coaches series, which is wrapping this week. Links to the stories are posted below. The ep opens with coaches’ belief that Oklahoma and Texas leaving for the SEC is bad for college basketball. Then: Why is cheating clearly increasing (14:10) even though NIL is now a fabric of the sport? Topic No. 3: Will the G League Unite program and Overtime Elite (32:00) appreciably impact the viability and appeal of college hoops? Best new hire (46:15) was a blowout; Texas’ Chris Beard won big. And with Coach K leaving, who will become the most prominent face of college basketball (54:00) going forward?• Best coaching hire?• Is cheating getting worse in the age of NIL?• Will G League and Overtime meaningfully worsen college hoops?• Oklahoma and Texas leaving the Big 12: good or bad for the sport? To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

GP and Norlander open this episode on the potential for future men’s and women’s Final Fours to be played in the same city. Then the guys get to their Candid Coaches (9:30) stories from this week (links below), starting with who will be the best player in college basketball. Then: the variety of responses regarding vaccination rates and forfeits (20:00). And from Thursday: Why 71% of college basketball coaches think Duke will be better than North Carolina five years from now (45:00). The pod wraps with some reaction and analysis of Belmont’s big move from the OVC to the Missouri Valley.Here are the other Candid Coaches pieces:• Best player this season?• What are CBB's vaccination rates?• Should there be forfeits this season? To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

READ: Parrish's column on Jon Scheyer | Norlander's column on 50 things to know 50 days before the season startsJust who are the 10 most famous men’s college players of the past 20 years? We answer that question on this episode, and it’s because JJ Redick — who is certainly one of the 10 — announced his retirement from the NBA on Tuesday. But before that, other Duke news: the Blue Devils landed five-star big man Dereck Lively Jr. Monday night, a huge coup for Jon Scheyer. Parrish and Norlander lead on that, then get ranking the biggest names in the sport, and wrap with Norlander talking the season ahead. To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices