After Hours with Amy Lawrence PODCAST: Hour 3

Your fever is high and the pressure to log in at work is too. But when you finally decide to take care of you, there's Instacart. Just because that one perfect coworker of yours is attending all meetings, camera on while she's sneezing, coughing and aching, doesn't mean you have to do the same.

Take it from us, trying to stay on top of things will only get you further behind. Instead, get everything from tissues and teas to cough suppressants and comforting soups delivered through Instacart in as fast as 30 minutes. If anyone needs anything, they can just redirect their questions to that one perfect coworker of yours. Instacart shoppers know groceries.

They know that you can't make guacamole with rock hard avocados. They know how to quickly find those peanut butter pretzels you can never find. And they keep you in the know by giving you updates about your order along the way. Let Instacart shoppers help take shopping off your plate so you can get time and energy back for what really matters. Visit Instacart.com or download the app to get free delivery on your first three orders. Offer valid for a limited time, minimum order $10, additional terms apply. Instacart.

Add life to cart. Old Man Winter here. If I had it my way, it would stay winter all year long. Short days, wind chill, black ice and a good polar vortex.

Heaven. Wait, is it getting warm in here? Your cold snap is over, Old Man Winter. Spring has arrived.

Spring. Spring is here, which means it's the perfect time to get away in the Hyundai you've always wanted. Visit the Hyundai Getaway Sales Event, where you can get great deals on all of our award winning Hyundai models. Like the tech filled Tucson and Kona, as well as the spacious Palisade. Enjoy wherever you go with the peace of mind that comes with America's best warranty and three years or 36,000 miles of complimentary maintenance.

But hurry in. These deals won't last. Add more joy to your journey at the Hyundai Getaway Sales Event. Now get zero percent APR or up to fifteen hundred bonus cash on the Hyundai Tucson. Now, during the Hyundai Getaway Sales Event. Offers end soon.

Call 562-314-4603 for details. Oh, man, the plot thickens. We'll get back to some college basketball coming up soon. March Madness is one day deep. And I'm wondering which men's number one seed is the first to get eliminated from the bracket. Not your bracket, but the actual bracket.

Although I guess sometimes if you're really good, they can look similar without a ton of red X marks. I did pretty well in the first half. The first session on Thursday, I had every game right. But then I got a little cute. Well, they got a little cute.

310 seeds, three of them all eliminated. I had picked all three, two of them from the Mountain West. Man, Nevada, Nevada spit the bit. And then.

I also had the Drake Bulldogs who were crushing it until they weren't until all of a sudden they couldn't hit the broad side of the barn. So congratulations to Dayton, who rallied and Washington State. Absolutely.

These were some impressive games in which they had to come back from double figures down. So we'll get to those. But we just put a brand new poll up heading into the weekend. So happy almost weekend. If it's your Friday, well, yay.

If you're not quite there yet, you'll get there soon. We are chugging toward the weekend. But the poll, which men's number one seed is eliminated first. Well, this is going to be a tough one, except I've noticed so far early on, no votes for UConn. The defending champion. Who's looking to become the first repeat winner in March Madness since the Florida Gators in 0607. UConn seems to be an overwhelming pick in many brackets. I know in my family bracket, we have 11 participants. So the family is expanding.

We've got family and extras. The family includes 11 of us, and I think eight of us picked UConn. The hubs picked Marquette.

No idea why, but he said that's how it played out. So I told him, don't you worry if Marquette wins, you're the champion because no one else picked Marquette. Actually, I should look and see what the other selections were in the family bracket, because like I say, most of us picked UConn.

All right, here we go. I'm looking. I have UConn. One of my nieces has UConn. My brother has UConn. My other brother has UConn. Both my mom and her husband have UConn. And then we've got my brother's fiance who also has UConn.

Let's see, here are the other ones. My sister-in-law picked North Carolina. My hubs picked Marquette. Yeah, baby. Let's go. No, I got to root for Marquette.

And how about this? My older niece, who said she can't even watch Virginia play right now because it's so bad. Yeah, she said she couldn't even watch them in the first four because it's so painful. That's for sure. That's for sure.

Yeah, Tony Bennett feels the same way. Deanna went with Houston instead. So we have three different one seeds repped there.

Nobody picked Purdue, but a lot of us picked UConn. And right now, the leader in the clubhouse is my younger niece with 13 points, and then there are four of us who have 12 points. How many do you have, Jay, after round number one?

70 or 80, something like that. Points? Yeah, that's how I'm doing it on a different thing. I guess you get 10 points. No, you're on CBSSports.com. Oh, on that one? Hold on. Let me see.

I'm not sure. Oh, how many brackets did you do? Just two.

Okay, so the one on CBSSports.com, I could probably find you if I search for you. But the After Hours Bracket Challenge right now, the leader has 15 points. Then there's a handful of you with 14, 13, man, I'm already three points off the pace. We're so excited. We had more than 1300 people join us in the After Hours Bracket Challenge. I don't know about the women yet because I haven't filled out my bracket, so I can't look at the stats. But thank you for playing with us. And we've got the poll up on Twitter, ALawRadio, also on our Facebook page, After Hours with Amy Lawrence, which men's number one seed is eliminated first. I made my choice.

I'm not going to tell you. But I'm just letting you know right now, nobody has selected UConn yet. I mean, it's tough to repeat, but they're better than they were a year ago. If you missed my conversation with Alex Karaban, he's a sophomore, six, seven, had the experience of being in the tournament last year and winning it. So gosh, living quite the charmed life as a basketball player.

Now they're attempting to go for two in a row. Really good stuff from him. Great sets of humor, exudes the confidence. I think you'll enjoy it. So we'll bring back part of that coming up next to get you ready for the defending champions debut on Friday.

It's After Hours with Amy Lawrence, CBS Sports Radio. Just to circle back with the Otani situation, since there were updates, after the team got blasted by the San Diego Padres, there was as much talk as possible about baseball. But honestly, the questions were going to be posed about Shohei Otani. Now he was in no way made available. He was blocked off by humans. He had a bodyguard ring around him to make sure that no media got to him. But we heard from his reps on Thursday that they forwarded this whole situation to law enforcement. Don't know which agency, massive theft with FBI, if it's wire transfers. I still say it seems so implausible that his interpreter would have access to his accounts.

That to me seems crazy. But even if he does, I mean, I'm trying to think of people I work with. I know they were best friends, but my best friend does not have access to my bank account. Why would she? Why would she want access to my bank account? But in the case of his interpreter, even if he did somehow have access and managed to send these wire transfers to the bookie for $500,000 each, who knows where the rest of the money went? It's not accounted for in wire transfers, but how does Otani not notice that this money is disappearing? Maybe somebody else balances his accounts for him.

Great. Maybe his financial advisors or his accountant doesn't notice that $4.5 million have disappeared. It's not like the money, poof, just was gone without a trace. No, there were actual wire transfers. Anyway, according to Otani's reps, he had no idea, none whatsoever, that this money had disappeared. And here's the explanation for the changing storylines.

Are you ready for this? You might want to suspend practical, logical thinking at this point. As Otani's handlers tried to determine what happened, they initially relied solely on Mitsuhara, who continued to translate for Otani. So in other words, Otani's handlers, his reps, his attorneys, all those people, they were only speaking to Mitsuhara. And Mitsuhara was translating for Otani. So what they're saying is Mitsuhara was making sure the truth was lost in translation.

But here's the problem with that. Otani speaks English. He does. Not only have we heard him speak English, but he understands English. You can see him communicate with his teammates. I'm quite sure they're not talking in Japanese. But he's delivered speeches in English before. We've heard him answer questions in English before. Even if he doesn't get the entire gist of what Mitsuhara is saying to his reps, he caught none of it.

Gambling, debts, he covered me, I asked him, oh wait a minute, I stole money, I mean none of that? Come on, again, that's not even plausible. And also, if you are Shohei Otani's reps, don't you want to hear from him directly? He doesn't only ever communicate in Japanese. He does that in the media to be sure. But again, we've seen him speak English. He understands enough that he can speak in himself.

That again is ridiculous. That somehow Mitsuhara was the only one who figured out what was being translated. Mitsuhara is the only one they talked to. But his reps want us to believe that Otani had no clue what was happening, what was actually happening until after he announced to the team that this negative story was coming out, that he had a gambling addiction, it was then this member of Otani's camp told ESPN he finally understood and began asking questions. When asked on Wednesday if he had interpreted anything incorrectly on purpose, Mitsuhara told ESPN, no, I've never done that. So once again, you've got contradictory accounts. Now, if Mitsuhara is the thief that they're accusing him of being, if he's the thief that they want us to believe stole from his best friend to cover his gambling debts, and Otani had no knowledge of it, well then, of course, Mitsuhara would be lying. But I still say that doesn't explain how Otani's camp sent him to do the story with ESPN. Somehow not knowing what he would say.

All of that's just, again, it requires you suspending both disbelief and logic and practicality. The IRS is now investigating because these would be illegal gambling debts. We know federal authorities are investigating this larger gambling ring. And right now, Mitsuhara is nowhere to be found. I don't know.

If I'm Mitsuhara and they're not investigating me yet, but they might, well, I might become hard to find. It's after hours with Amy Lawrence here on CBS Sports Radio. Paul is in Westfield. Where's Westfield, Paul?

Massachusetts, home of the Little League world champions and 104th fighter squadron. Hey, Amy, Amy, this is so funny. Okay. Look, Mitsuhara would not long to interpretate, but he would do nine transfers, think half a million at a time to avoid suspicion, and then the big question is over how many days?

That's the first thing I would ask. He's the fall guy. And then remember now how things have changed. Pete Rose can't talk, gets kicked out of the world. Now you can't talk to the Otani and Mitsuhara is missing in action because this is called a looming matter, an entitlement entanglement. I will explain this away with plausible deniability. I mean, this is laughable.

Imagine he comes in and tells everyone a story's about to break. So somehow the press got a hold of a half a million transfers. Now the, so the authorities at the foundation are telling the police, this is awful.

Look into it. You know, nobody has to tell the police or the FBI. They know how to do their job.

And of course the best part is it's lost in translation. Okay. One word. Domo.

How? Nentigra. Wait. Taiji.

It is good. Domo. Taiji. Domo. Taiji.

I don't speak English. This is classic. Classic. I can't wait. He unravels. This is like a box of chocolates.

My mouth is watery. I do think it's, it's a fascinating story and I, right now I would imagine the American public wants more details, but I'm not sure we're going to get them. I don't know how we would get them. What we're getting now is the account of Otani's reps. We're not getting Mitsu Hara's story anymore and we're certainly not going to get the gambling, the bookie, the gambling side of things because the bookie I believe has been arrested. So I don't think that we're going to get the story unless someone else breaks it, right? Unless ESPN, this reporter, Tisha Thompson, who's, who's been great on the story or someone else leaks it, we aren't likely to know exactly what happened unless it comes out in this federal investigation.

Right. But listen, the FBI has a very common tactic called forced compliance and they'll say this, look, we've got nine transfers. You're the bookie.

I can charge you with interstate compact fraud, large uni, um, impeding with an investigation, obstruction of justice, or you can tell me what we probably already know and you're up now a compliant witness key to this investigation. How would he know? How would he know? He wouldn't necessarily know whether or not Otani was part of the gambling. He would only know that the money came from Otani's account. Right.

And then you have to pull it down one tier at a time. So you go from the bookie to Michihara and then you find the communication between Michihara and Otani. There's gotta be a record of it's all digital. They use aliases, nicknames, and coded talk. And this time it's Japanese.

You need a Japanese federal agent. No, actually the wire transfers have Otani's name on them. So that's not a big secret.

Um, yeah, they do. They have Otani's name on them. But what, what the camp is saying is that Michihara was posing as Otani and built the money, use the money to pay the bookie, but just used Otani's name. Did he forge a digital print or did Otani actually sign? Cause how does Otani not know, uh, 500,000 nine times.

That's a heck of a glycolini though. Right. That's what I was saying. And even if he doesn't handle his own money, so maybe he didn't notice one or two of them right away cause he doesn't check his account all the time. Maybe he's got accountants who handle it, but this goes back to last fall. This did, this happened as you point out over a series of transfers, somebody would have noticed and, and still I come back to how many of us give our best friend access to our bank account. I don't. That's great.

Nine transfers over months and nobody red flags it. Yeah, right. And Otani had no idea. Exactly. I don't know nothing.

I don't speak English. Oh, well, okay. That's not true.

I don't think he's ever said that. But yeah, Paul, it's pretty, it's pretty crazy that they want us to believe that he's a victim in all of this. It's politics.

It sounds like a political story. All right, Paul. Good to talk to you. Thanks so much for listening.

Thank you. I still say that there is a chance that Otani was trying to help him out. And so of course knew about the transfers. In fact, that's why his name is on them because he was trying to pay off his friend's gambling debt.

Again, I don't think that's crazy. But to now turn around and point the finger at him and say, no, he stole the money. Furthermore, I didn't know about it until Wednesday when he apologized to the team.

These two were together all the time. He had no idea that Mitsuhara sat down and did an interview, had no idea any of this was breaking with the federal authorities. There's no way. His reps would have gone to Otani immediately right away to find out what do you know about this? What happened?

How is your name on these transfers? There's no way Otani was blindsided by it. That part is even more unbelievable than the fact that his interpreter would have access to his personal bank accounts. So anyway, there's something fishy and smelly about the whole thing. And there are a lot of gray blank areas where we don't have info and you're trying to connect the dots. But I don't know.

So I'll wrap up with this. A friend of mine in LA who works in LA media has said what he thinks might happen is that Mitsuhara disappears for a time. They wait until this whole thing blows over. Baseball is not currently investigating Otani though. That might change. That might change with more information that comes out from this federal investigation.

But right now he's not under scrutiny. They let the whole thing blow over. The two of them stay in contact. But on the DL, if in fact they were gambling together or Otani knew about what was happening, they stay in touch.

And then eventually Mitsuhara resurfaces, even if he can't work again in baseball, maybe he resurfaces with Otani after a few years of this kind of blowing over. People forget. I don't think we'll forget until we have the information.

It's a supply and demand. If we don't know, the story will remain hot. I need to know. I don't think this is ever going away. Curiosity. I need some kind of a podcast expose on this whole thing.

There's going to be a Netflix special or something at some point. On Twitter, a law radio or after our CBS, take our poll, which number one seed on the men's side is the first to be eliminated. Oh, Yukon has a couple of votes now. I like you, brave souls. Also on our Facebook page, glad to have you with us.

Happy Friday. Your fever is high and the pressure to log in at work is too. But when you finally decide to take care of you, there's Instacart. Just because that one perfect coworker of yours is attending all meetings, camera on while she's sneezing, coughing and aching doesn't mean you have to do the same. Take it from us. Trying to stay on top of things will only get you further behind. Instead, get everything from tissues and teas to cough suppressants and comforting soups delivered through Instacart in as fast as 30 minutes.

If anyone needs anything, they can just redirect their questions to that one perfect coworker of yours. Old Man Winter here. If I had it my way, it would stay winter all year long. Short days, wind chill, black ice and a good polar vortex.

Heaven. Wait, is it getting warm in here? Your cold snap is over, Old Man Winter. Spring has arrived.

Spring. Spring is here, which means it's the perfect time to get away in the Hyundai you've always wanted. Visit the Hyundai Getaway Sales Event, where you can get great deals on all of our award winning Hyundai models. Like the tech filled Tucson and Kona, as well as the spacious Palisade. Enjoy wherever you go with the peace of mind that comes with America's best warranty and three years or 36,000 miles of complimentary maintenance.

But hurry in. These deals won't last. Add more joy to your journey at the Hyundai Getaway Sales Event. Now get 0% APR or up to 1500 bonus cash on the Hyundai Tucson. Now during the Hyundai Getaway Sales Event. Offers end soon.

Call 562-314-4603 for details. After Hours with Amy Lawrence, CBS Sports Radio. You are listening to the After Hours podcast. That'll do it. And the Huskies storm the center of the court.

High fives and chest bumps and shoulder bumps. And the Big East tournament is theirs. The eighth title for the Huskies in their history, tying Georgetown for the most all time. We've been the best team in college basketball, obviously March Madness next week, who knows what goes on there, but we've clearly been the best program in the country this year.

This is After Hours with Amy Lawrence. The voice of one Dan Hurley as he leads the Huskies fearlessly into battle. They tip off their quest for a second consecutive NCAA championship coming up on Friday as the number one overall seed and the top team in the eastern region.

Back to back seasons of 31 wins. And we'll take on number 16 Stetson, who has an incredible head coach with a ton of experience. We talked to Donny Jones earlier in the week on the show, and we also had a chance to talk to Alex Karabhan.

So we want to bring back part of that conversation. But before we do, we're asking you which men's number one seed is eliminated first. Of course, it's a guessing game, but it fits perfectly into a Twitter poll.

A-LOL radio also on our Facebook page After Hours with Amy Lawrence. This is March Madness. Let's pick it up with Alex because I wanted to know how it felt different from a year ago as defending champions, whether it's through approach or the knowledge. But how does it feel compared to last March? I think it's a mix between we're definitely excited and like the experience that the returners have is going to be super important for us. Just knowing what we've been through last year and what you know what we did last year and just really trying to lay it down on what we want to do this year and just follow our experiences. But I really think the target that we have has been on our back since the season started. And really, since really when coach started to take over and really bring UConn back up just from the standard that this program had on both the men's and women's side. And then just how successful and prestigious this program has been throughout the years. Alex Karabhan is with us from the UConn Huskies, number one overall seed and defending champs, of course. It's after hours here on CBS Sports Radio. Do you wish you had a dollar for every time someone asked you about defending your national championship?

Yes, I'd be a millionaire. Right. And all the times that people have pointed to Florida in 06 and 07, I can imagine. But you mentioned it's not like last year where you were maybe sneaking up on people a little bit. You weren't a favorite going in.

This is completely different where you can't hide from anyone. Yeah, we're getting a lot of hype and definitely a lot of people are talking about back to back for us since really the beginning of the year. I think it's cool just to see what the expectations are and what the standard is for us. But we know that we got to take it day by day and stay with the process. And really, like I said earlier, the target's been on our back for a while now and we're UConn. So that should be what's expected of us to go back to back and always compete for national championships.

So we just got to be ready for it. So I think we've done a great job this entire season of really being ready for every team's best shot against us. You guys finished on a high note, but it wasn't that long ago that I remember your coach talking about the fact against Creighton had lost in a way that you didn't expect wasn't something that you were used to. Going back to a couple of these losses that you've had, because there's only been, what, three of them, when are you all vulnerable?

We're vulnerable when we don't stick to our identity. It's when we don't play defense and we don't rebound. If we don't do those two things, then we'll get blown out like we did at Creighton or really just not play our game like we did at Seton Hall in December. So really, if we don't defend, we don't rebound, we don't stick to the game plan and what Coach Hurley's instilled with us as an identity standpoint, then things could really go sideways for us.

Alex Karabhan of UConn is with us here after hours on CBS Sports Radio. How much does it matter that you have played against a bunch of other really good teams? Not just in your own conference, but even going back to North Carolina and a good game against them. Gonzaga is back in the tournament again. Yeah, it means a lot for us just knowing that we have confidence and that we've gotten big-time wins against some other big-time programs and really just looking back to what we were able to do in the non-conference standpoint. That's playing all non-conference teams now in the March Madness. Really just excited about that and just excited that we were able to execute against some of the big-time teams and just carry that momentum and carry that experience into big-time opponents coming up. So your first season, I know you redshirted when you first got there, but your first season results in a national championship. Then you guys win the regular season this year, haven't in what, since the turn of the century, the tournament as well. You're going in as defending champions. I don't know, Alex, I'm not sure too many people have had a better experience in college hoops to start in their first two years. No, I mean, I'm still processing it just because we're just, yesterday was the Big East Championship, so I'm really still processing all the team accolades that I've been able to be a part of and it's really just all such a blessing just being able to win a conference regular season in tournament, then of course the national championship, which we all want.

So it's really a true blessing and it's something that's always going to stay with me and always just stick with me and I can't believe it, to be honest. Your teammate Donovan has really kind of taken this season and put his stamp on it. What stands out to you about how he's grown as a player?

Yeah, a lot. I think he's become way more physical and he's really just learned how to use his size against other dudes. I mean, there's not many people in college basketball that are 7'2 and can move as well as him and just really impact a game as much as he does and what he does for us offensively and defensively, it's so valuable for us and we really wouldn't be in the position we are without him. So really he's just understanding the game so much better, he's defending at such a high level but really just the way he moves on offense and defense, I think that's just what makes him so unique. Yeah, not many people that you can sit next to and feel kind of short, huh?

No, not at all, but he's one of them for sure. That's awesome. I'm in awe of people that tall. Basketball seems so much easier for people like that.

It really does. So you mentioned being a little fatigued in the Big East tournament and the way these conference tournaments are set up and I'm sure you've seen how many top seeds got ousted and definitely conditioning becomes a part of that. As you go into the NCAA tournament, what's the feel with your team, whether it's physically mentally? I think the feel will be great for us. The coaches, our coaches, they always do a great job of making sure we're physically ready, physically and mentally ready for the opponent, we'll definitely be physically ready through our practices, but mentally we'll definitely be there too with just how much film we watch, starting with Stetson and then mentally getting the reps on the court with what they like to do and just actions and breaking down what they do.

So really, I think we'll be ready to go and I think we're blessed to have five days off right now before Friday, so we'll definitely take some time off and then during practices our coaches will manage properly and then I think we'll be anxious to get out there and play another game soon. Before I let you go, what's different about your team you didn't have or you didn't feel a year ago? Oh, that's tough, I'm not going to lie, but I think this year's team, as hungry as we were last year to compete for a championship, I think this year's team is hungrier just from the returners coming back, what we experienced last year and that feeling that we felt after winning the national championship. We all want to feel that again and we want the new guys to experience that as well and just really winning back to back is the feeling that we want so desperately. So I think how hungry we are, a lot of the new guys on the team, they're freshmen so they saw what we did last year and they want to experience what we experienced and they want to make their first year of college basketball strong and really just start on the right foot. They can build on their careers from national championship and just continue to add more accolades.

And of course, there's that healthy fear, nobody wants to be a one that gets upset by a 16, though it's happened now twice in the last, what, five years? Yeah, I mean, yeah, we saw last year with Purdue and then a couple years later, you know, I know our coaches will be ready, will get us ready, we'll definitely be ready just from, you know, every team that gets their name, everything that got their name called today on Sunday is a really, really good team. So we know how good Stetson is and we're not going to take them lightly. Alex Karabhan, yeah, pretty sweet to start his college career, couldn't ask for much more, but they do have a target on their backs. No one is going to be surprised by UConn, in fact, judging by not just our polls, but by the analysts, the experts, they are the team to beat, which means you can have a letdown of your UConn. Now, Dan Hurley has got them moving and gunning and defending and rebounding. They've got size, they've got power, they've got speed, they've got experience. They're also in a really tough region in the east, one step at a time, right?

That's the benefit of knowing what it takes. Looking forward to it and we'll see how many, this is a quality of the tournament, how many double digit seeds can pull upsets, which then obviously can change what happens when you get to the final four. Will we have a final four that, like last year, included San Diego State, Florida Atlantic?

Will it be a final four that's got just one Blue Blood, in which case it maybe opens it up a little more, but you got to get there first. So take out the poll, take out the poll. It's like take out the trash. Take the poll, don't take it out, unless you want to take it out and show your friends on your phone. Take it out for dinner. Show it around your Friday date night and see who else wants to vote. You can be an advocate for After Hours.

So it's on Twitter, After Hours, CBS or on our Facebook page and our phone number 855-212-4227. The women's tournament is also tipping off on Friday, Dawn Staley and her South Carolina Gamecocks are going for an undefeated championship season. They were denied that last year, right, by Kaitlin Clark and by the incredible rise of Iowa. So it was Iowa and LSU in the championship and South Carolina was denied. So how much extra motivation is that for Dawn Staley? And while we're talking about one seeds, North Carolina advanced on Thursday.

We had a bunch of double-figure seeds, but we also had some dominant performances at the top. Celebrate and save at Ashley's anniversary sale with hot buys. Your choice of colors starting at just $399.

Ashley sleep mattresses starting at $250 plus receive a free adjustable base with select mattress purchases and shop top mattress brands like Stearns and Foster, Tempur-Pedic, Purple and Beautyrest Black with 60 months special financing only at Ashley subject to credit approval. No minimum purchase required minimum monthly payment down payment tax and delivery may be required. See store for details. Oh, should we start this show?

Yeah, I'm down. Just buying a car and Carvana first. Oh, for real? Yeah, it's super convenient. I already got pre-qualified in two minutes. All I had to do is answer a few questions. Ooh, that's helpful. And now just customizing my down and monthly payments. Oh, that's a very fair deal. Yep. Boom. Just bought a car and you get to take me to the Carvana vending machine in a couple days to pick it up. I'm kind of busy.

Visit Carvana.com to finance your next car. After the end of a good fight, you deserve an ice cold reward. Medela is the mark of a fighter. You've earned this rich golden lager with a crisp, refreshing taste because you know the bigger the fight, the better the reward. You put in the hours, the energy, the tough labor, you are a fighter and Medela is your reward. Medela. The mark of a fighter.

Prick responsibly. Beer imported by Crown & Port Chicago, Illinois. Glad to have you with us. Happy Friday. It's After Hours with Amy Lawrence.

You are listening to the After Hours Podcast. I always felt good to be, I mean, to be the number one overall seed and to be undefeated. I mean, I'm excited because we get a chance to know what our path is to win a national championship.

We're all great teams, a lot of familiar faces that's in our region, but we have to take it one game at a time and that's what we'll do on Friday. Dawn Staley, the head coach of South Carolina. We're talking about UConn on the men's side, well on the women's side, even though her Gamecocks are not the defending champions, fact is they are the team to beat because they rattled off yet another undefeated regular season and out of the SEC are hoping that they can translate that into a championship. Looking forward to seeing what happens with the Gamecocks, but they're not the only great story. Obviously, you know about Kaitlyn Clark and the Iowa Hawkeyes in the championship game a year ago and how they turned into America's darlings and now no matter what the Hawkeyes do, there are people paying through the nose to be there in person and also record ratings and viewership on TV for their games.

Well, and then you've got other teams that are absolutely in position to either dash the Gamecocks dreams again or unseat LSU as the defending national champs. It's after hours with Amy Lawrence on CBS Sports Radio. We've got the first games of the women's tournament coming up in mere hours. If you haven't yet filled out, tried it, dipped your toe in the water, any of those things, if you haven't yet joined us in the after hours bracket challenge on the women's side, it's our first time ever, so we're doing the same thing as you are. We're looking forward to seeing how this plays out because there are a lot of different teams that can win. USC head coach Lindsey Gottlieb of the top seeded Trojans was on the show earlier last hour.

If you missed it, great stuff. She's got an all American freshman guard, a superstar guard who was second in the country to Kaitlyn Clark when it comes to scoring. Even only to Kaitlyn Clark when it comes to scoring and she is just as dynamic and 18 years old.

So Kaitlyn has the benefit of being a few years older. She's played now for, well she's a senior, not a senior, but she's played for four years. She's leaving after this season to go to the WNBA. We know that for the Gamecocks, for the Trojans, for the Hawkeyes, for the LSU Tigers, there will be some upstart teams that want to grab the glory. So it's not, I wouldn't say it's quite as wide open as the men's tournament, but it's definitely getting more and more to be a tournament where there is a bunch of madness.

It was neat to talk about that with coach Gottlieb from USC. Now one of the things about the Gamecocks is they will not have their senior center Camila Cardoso. She's the one that has been, well she's been suspended for shoving a player from LSU and so she won't be able to participate unless they would get to the second round. And yeah, I mean Dawn Staley's got a deep team. Will they miss her and her size? Absolutely. But she actually believes that there could be a little divine intervention here.

I don't know. She said that she believes they have God's favor. I mean, I definitely pray about all kinds of things, including sports. But for Dawn Staley, she said because of the way they practice, because of how much they put into it, maybe they have divine intervention is what she said.

All right, well if that's the case, it's worked in the first round because they're 12-0 in their opening round games. Just the depth of our program, the ability to have that kind of streak is probably only I don't know how many other Division I programs that has that, but we're proud to be one of them. Sometimes the basketball gods favor our preparation. Sometimes the basketball gods look kindly on us because of the way that we get ready, because of how tough it is. And boy, she is tough.

Basketball gods reward us for playing hard. If you don't know Dawn Staley, you've never seen her face during games, oh man. It's a scowl.

It's a little bit like what Pat Summitt used to have. I mean, she looks like she's about to eat you alive. And when you mess up, she stamps her foot, she yells, I mean, she's right. She's just as animated as who am I thinking of? I can see her, her name, oh my God, Kim Oakey of LSU, you can see her face in my head and see her stamping her foot and throwing temper tantrums on the sidelines. They're so animated and it's so much fun to watch, just like it is for the men.

They're intense. And she says actually her team plays a lot freer than what I would like them to sometimes. It's After Hours with Amy Lawrence on CBS Sports Radio. Which of the men's number one seeds is the most vulnerable to an upset? Which one is the first to get eliminated?

That's the poll up on Twitter, After Hours, CBS, or on our Facebook page. Right now we've got one team that is definitely a front runner. I suppose you're taking into account their history last year.

Is that the thing? Well, don't forget they had key players injured for each of the last two years, but definitely last season while they had no business losing in the first round, Purdue didn't have Robbie Hummel at the time. Again, he had gotten injured and now they're motivated too by the memory of what happened last March. So Purdue will get into action coming up on Friday against Grambling State, who just won in Dayton an overtime game for their first ever victory on the NCAA tournament stage. So that's a one versus a 16 last year for Zach Eadie for Purdue. So all kinds of extra motivation and let's see if they can find some redemption too. Maybe the way that Virginia did a few years back.

So that's the poll up again, Twitter or Facebook, you can find it. UNC may have something to say about it though. The Tar Heels, they blow out Wagner, also a team that came through the first four and Hubert Davis says, hey, it only gets tougher from here. Being a part of the NCAA tournament for four years as a player and as an assistant for nine years and been a head coach for three years with two years in NCAA tournament, the second round has always been real. So I can't remember a time, my junior year we played Villanova, that's two heavyweights.

The year in 2017 we won the championship, it was us against Arkansas, two heavyweights. And so when it gets down to the round of 32, there's only 32 teams left. So that round is normally going to be two extremely good programs. It's a great feeling, but I've enjoyed this whole year just being able to be back with so many great teammates and a great coaching staff and we've had a lot of fun and we don't plan on going home soon.

So that's really it. North Carolina beating Wagner with a 90 point performance and that sets up a date with Tom Izzo and the Michigan State Spartans. Now they're an at-large team, not a lot of expectation around Coach Izzo, but man, any time that he is on this stage, it becomes a big deal because of his experience too. And when you think about the way that they're moving forward now with guys like Jaden Atkins and Tyson Walker, I mean, they can be formidable because of experience. So Michigan State and North Carolina will face off next and yeah, it's Blue Bloods, though the two Blue Bloods are not coming from the same direction, right? The same trajectory. North Carolina's number eight in the net, whereas the strength of schedule is not as tough as Michigan State's coming out of the Big Ten.

They were only 10 and 10 in the Big Ten, I do like the synergy there, and have only won half of their last 10 games, so maybe faltering a bit down the stretch where North Carolina has actually been flexing its muscles and picking up steam. Which number one goes out first? Take the poll. It's After Hours with Amy Lawrence on CBS Sports Radio. Call from mom, answer it, call silenced. Instacart knows nothing gets between you and the game. That's why they make ordering from your couch easy. Stock up today and get all your groceries for the week delivered in as fast as 30 minutes without missing a minute of the game. You have 47 new voicemails.

Download the app to get free delivery on your first three orders while supplies last, minimum $10 per order, additional term supply. Old Man Winter here. If I had it my way, it would stay winter all year long. Short days, wind chill, black ice, and a good polar vortex?

Heaven. Wait, is it getting warm in here? Your cold snap is over, Old Man Winter. Spring has arrived.

Spring. Spring is here, which means it's the perfect time to get away in the Hyundai you've always wanted. Visit the Hyundai Getaway Sales Event, where you can get great deals on all of our award-winning Hyundai models, like the tech-filled Tucson and Kona, as well as the spacious Palisade. Enjoy wherever you go with the peace of mind that comes with America's best warranty and three years or 36,000 miles of complimentary maintenance.

But hurry in. These deals won't last. Add more joy to your journey at the Hyundai Getaway Sales Event. Now get 0% APR or up to 1,500 bonus cash on the Hyundai Tucson, now during the Hyundai Getaway Sales Event. Offers end soon.

Call 562-314-4603 for details. Celebrate and save at Ashley's Anniversary Sale. With hot buys, your choice of colors starting at just $399. Ashley's sleep mattresses starting at $250. Plus receive a free adjustable base with select mattress purchases and shop top mattress brands like Stearns and Foster, Tempur-Pedic, Purple, and Beautyrest Black with 60-month special financing only at Ashley. Subject to credit approval, no minimum purchase required. Minimum monthly payment, down payment, tax and delivery may be required. Re-store for details.