Jerry Palm, CBS Sports Bracketologist

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Call 562-314-4603 for details. Jerry, how you doing this busy Thursday? I'm all right. How are you?

Absolutely fine. With so much to get into, I guess the first question I'd like to pose, what has caught your attention today amongst all of the games and all the storylines that we've witnessed? It seems like the lower seeds are getting off to good starts in all these games. You know, a couple of them have won. A couple of them have made them interesting.

A couple of them faded. But the lower seeds are showing up ready to play. And the higher seeds are not coming out of the gate as quickly as the lower seeds are, even even if they do run them down and eventually win. Well, Jerry, we have a game going on right now between Kentucky and Oakland. Oakland leads at halftime 38 to 35.

That would certainly be a massive upset. You want to talk about some of the lower seeds getting off to a hot start. What the heck is going on with their Kentucky? Yeah, well, they're not really defending the three-point line. The lack of interest in defense is eventually going to get Kentucky in this tournament. Either they're going to figure out that they have to play defense if they want to win this thing, or they're going to take a day off playing defense and somebody is going to beat them.

And I don't know if that somebody's going to be Oakland, but if it's not Oakland, it'll be someone else. You have to commit to play defense. It's not like your shooting will come back. No, defense is a commitment, and Kentucky doesn't really commit to it. They're capable.

We've seen it at times, but it makes spot appearances. In this tournament, they're going to have to play defense, especially the way they go in this tournament, if they're going to stick around. Jerry, that's Kentucky.

Jerry Palm is joining us courtesy of CBS Sports, CBSSports.com Bracketologist. What team do you believe is playing that defense and can kind of shock people going on through the tournament? You mean among the teams that played today?

No, the entire field. Oh, Houston's got the best defense. That's their MO. That's a really good defensive team. That's how they win.

They're going to be hard to break down. It's why they're one of the favorites to win this thing. Sometimes their offense is spotty, like against Iowa State, but their defense is pretty reliable, and that's why they're one of the best defensive teams in the country. You talk about Iowa State right now. They're heading into halftime, 38-28 over South Dakota State.

A lot of people look at Iowa State and say, oh, they can certainly go on a run. What are your thoughts on what they've been able to do going from the conference tourney and now even the start here in this first round? That's another pretty good defensive team. Iowa State is one of the top defensive teams as well. It was an impressive run through the Big 12 tournament, beating Houston by, I don't know, what was it, 30?

Just annihilated them. That's a team that's on a hot streak. Sometimes you go out, you win your conference tournament when you weren't expected to. Not that Iowa State was way down in the standings or anything.

You run out of gas. You get into the NCAA tournament, you start kind of slow or maybe you get beat early. That's probably not going to happen to Iowa State. They're built for long-term success because their MO is defensive, just like Houston's.

Houston's has been better over the course of the year, but certainly not as good when they played each other last. College basketball expert Jerry Parham is here with us. You talk about defense. We saw an offensive explosion. Jermaine Kuznar drops 40 points for Oregon against his former team, South Carolina.

Oregon wins 87 to 73. How much juice could he potentially have in the next game? Did he shoot a shot too soon here?

I don't know. It'd probably be a lot to ask for him to come back with another 40. That's probably not realistic, but he's a good player. I don't think he's getting 40 against Creighton.

That's a different animal. South Carolina is a good team. Creighton is a very good team. I don't think anybody's getting 40 on Creighton. Another matchup that we saw earlier today, and I feel like we see this every single year, feels like for the past 25 years for the most part, is Tom Izzo and the Spartans walking away with another one.

And this is a record now. 26 straight appearances. He's 20 and 6 in the opening round.

What's the special sauce here with Tom Izzo besides experience? Yeah, good players usually. It's unusual for them to be down around an eight seed. They're usually much higher up the bracket, significantly better than their first round opponent. This time they've got an 8-9 game.

They're the 9 in this game. When they got their shorts turned around the right direction, they were able to put it on Mississippi State. Mississippi State looked like a team that hadn't been there before. I don't know if they were there recently or not.

I don't remember off the top of my head. Almost happy to be there kind of a thing. Michigan State was more business-like in their approach. It worked obviously very well for Michigan State today. This is about as well as they have played recently in that game against Mississippi State. They might have something for North Carolina if they can play like that again.

That was going to be my next question. North Carolina with a little bit of a warm-up against Wagner. North Carolina is going to be playing close to home. Do you take North Carolina against Michigan?

Yeah. I like them against Michigan State. But Michigan State playing the way they did today will be able to put up a fight. But Carolina is better. They're playing in front of a home crowd. It's going to be tough for Michigan State. Another game that went final.

This took much more of a bounce back, if you want to call it one, a 24-4 run. Dayton knocking off Nevada. They got a date with Arizona.

I'm going to assume that they have used up a lot of energy and a lot of gas. What was your observation from what Dayton just did? Yeah. We were listening to that game on the radio.

I'm on my way to Indianapolis for the games tomorrow. We were stunned. It was like Nevada had this thing in the book. It was 17-point lead and about five and a half to go. Dayton puts up a 17-0 run to tie the game. It was defense. They put a press on and Nevada just could not handle it. They kept turning the ball over and giving Dayton easy points. It's a great comeback. But it starts with you have to make a shot so that you can put the full-court press on.

Then it was a very effective press. Dayton, a tremendous comeback. They were fortunate to win. But now you get Arizona. You're probably not going to be able to do that against Arizona. Arizona is big and strong.

They're physical in every position. It's going to be tough for Dayton to beat Arizona. Jerry Palmacy with us, bracketologist for CBS Sports. When you think about the tournament as an overall and as we march towards Phoenix, who do you have seen in Phoenix? Who's hitting that Final Four? I took the three teams that dominated college basketball this season, UConn, Houston, and Purdue.

I also picked Arizona. I got to see them in Indianapolis earlier this year when they played Purdue. That's a good team. They played well in non-conference play, kind of swept walk a little bit through the Pac-12. They're so much better talent-wise than everybody else.

I think they just laid a few eggs. But the talent is there for Arizona to make a deep run. And I think Arizona is going to go and get the home crowd and play in Phoenix.

Okay. Now, Jerry, we've had a lot of controversy. I know a few minutes ago we talked about Tom Izzo. We know the teams that got in over the past four days. We know the teams that didn't get in on Sunday that pitched a fit out of the Big East. We heard Tom Izzo's explanation. Everybody has an idea about how you can make the tournament a little bit more equitable.

What say you? What do you think about the standing of the tournament and how teams get in and not get in and how they're rated and whatnot? I think the committee just had a rough year.

I mean, usually they're pretty good. I mean, the Big East teams that didn't make it all had perfectly good reasons to leave them out. Everybody who got left out gave the committee a reason to leave them out. The only team that got in that I just thought didn't make sense to me was Virginia. It wouldn't have opened the door for a Big East team. Oklahoma with their first team out. The Big East needs to play better, especially outside the league.

That's how you get in. You schedule good games outside the league and you win those games. Three teams did that this year. UConn and Marquette and Creighton are all great teams. Everybody else just kind of muddled along and muddling along is not necessarily going to get you in the NCAA tournament. Jerry Palm here with us, CBS Sports bracketologist.

When we get to Phoenix, the confetti is falling, the tears are falling, the nets are falling. Who's holding that big trophy? Purdue. Wow.

I'm finally getting over the hump. Tell me. Has anybody ever been more due than Purdue? They've got the best player. Connecticut's the best, probably the hottest team, best team going in. There's probably a dozen teams actually capable of winning it, but Purdue's going to repeat what Virginia did.

That's my pick. Now I have to say up front, I'm a Purdue guy, so take that for what it's worth. Of course, most Purdue fans are probably thinking, you know, waiting for something stupid to happen. Okay, honestly, I'm waiting for something stupid to happen because something stupid tends to happen to Purdue. So maybe this is the year that finally nothing stupid happens.

Yeah, I mean, at some point you finally got to get over the hump. Does this mean that Zach is going to improve his draft standing, right? Until NBA guys figure out how to use guys like him again?

I mean, if he was, you know, more, he's the same height as Wambiyama, but if he had more of a game as him, he wouldn't be at Purdue this year. You know, that they just, you know, guys like Shaq, you know, Zach needed to play in Shaq's era. Shaq wouldn't be in the NBA right now.

You can imagine that. They don't use guys like him. Young Shaq, Jerry? Young Shaq out of LSU? But they don't play guys like him anymore. He can play on the perimeter any better than Zach Eady can. He was never out on the perimeter. If you can't play on the perimeter, if you can't defend on the perimeter, they don't have use for you anymore. And, you know, Shaq was one of those guys. But, you know, and there were other guys, you know, and Zach is one of those guys, at least for now he is. You know, the painter says, Coach Painter says he can shoot threes and shoot them in practice all the time, but that's not how they use him. Because why would they? But, you know, we'll see.

I hope somebody gives them a shot. I just think if you can't figure out how to use a guy who's that good, you're the idiot, not him. Yeah, well, we see a lot of the NBA. We got a lot of idiots because all these idiots are doing is shooting threes, Jerry. You got a good point, man. So we'll see.

Not most definitely. Well, Jerry, thank you for the time. Let's see how things continue to roll out here in the tournament and on the brackets. Where can people follow you and all of your work with CBS Sports?

Yeah, on CBS Sports and then also Twitter, J.P. Palm, CBS. Hey, Jerry, thank you so much. Safe travels and good luck with everything. OK, catch you soon. All right.

Thanks. 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 thirty six thousand miles of complementary 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. 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. Bless you. Hey, have you tried Instacart for spring allergy relief? You can order decongestants, antihistamines and more through Instacart from stores like CVS, Walgreens and Costco delivered in as fast as one hour. Because those red watery eyes need relief now.

And that sneeze means you do not want to venture out into all that pollen. And that's your cue to download the Instacart app and get free delivery on your first three orders. Offer valid for a limited time. Ten dollar minimum per order. Additional terms apply.