Is Chris’ bracket blown up, too?

Chris Patola, Sirius XM and ESPN is joining us now on The Adam Gold Show. Are your brackets completely messed up after Arizona got Princeton? Yeah, I definitely had them in the Final Four, so I mean the fortunate part about this is of my right mind.

I don't put any zero dollars, Adam, zero money on any of this. So I'm okay. At least I'm financially stable still. Yeah, I'm the same way. And actually, I wasn't even rooting for Arizona as that game got tighter. I'm not wrapped up in my own brackets. I'm not good at it anyway, so it didn't bother me.

I want to ask you this. You've been close to the Duke program in the past as a former assistant coach there. How has your opinion of Duke as a March team changed in the last, let's say, six weeks?

Yeah, like drastically. It goes to show you, Adam, how long these seasons are because obviously for Duke to have the time to get to the point that they are now is pretty incredible, especially with freshmen. I mean, that's been the most impressive thing about John this year. Adam is, first of all, how hard their team plays. It's not easy, especially with young players who have never been asked to play hard in their lives. You know what I mean?

Like, are you kidding? Derek Lively could go half speed and he's still going to dominate a high school game. So I think that's first and foremost. I said from day one when I saw them in the fall that if they could get Lively and Filipowski to play together, there just aren't that many teams that look like that up front. And I think you're starting to see the fruits of that. And then to have a little, even when you're young, to have a little bit of tournament DNA is obviously incredibly helpful. And I think the fact that Roach, I mean, I, I am of the belief that as good as Ben Carroll was, he was number one, picking a draft. I thought it was largely on the backs of Jeremy Roach that they did what they did last season in the run of the final four. And so he looked like he had been playing in this event for, for 10 years last night.

I mean, it just looks so comfortable. So yeah, I think he hit right on the head. I am, I am really surprised. My opinion has drastically changed on Duke in the last, not even the last six Adam, I'd say even the last three weeks. I ran into Chris Carroll. Well, our, our kids played a middle school basketball game against each other earlier this year. And I ran into Chris and it was at a time where Tyrese Proctor was still not playing well. And I said, tell, tell me about him. What's, what can we expect? You know, maybe this year, but really more next year.

He says he's this close to getting it. And this was during a time where Jeremy Roach was out with the toe injury. And I don't know that that injury to Roach didn't change the entire complexion of Duke's team because Tyrese had no other option, but to get it. And from that point on, he's just, he's leaned into his defense. He hasn't been reliant on the three-point shot.

He's making a greater percentage of them. He, I thought he hit the biggest shot in the second half last night after oral Roberts cuts into 14. And it's Proctor from the wing with like eight on the shot clock that knocks it down to total game changer.

It got Roach off the ball and I think it improved their defense. Well, first of all, I also heard you ran into my brother-in-law, which he's going to be very disappointed that Carowell got to mention before him. Well, he gave me no information, your brother-in-law. Well, we keep it tight to the best, Adam. A son-in-law of you-know-who, we keep it tight to the best, but my brother-in-law, Steve Frazier, not going to be happy. Second of all, I don't know how big a shot could be when a team cuts the lead to 14 in the second half of a game. Okay.

So let's not overstate what Proctor did last week. Okay. You got it.

You're fine. That's fair. I think there are two things. When you have talent, Adam, I think there are two things that young players have to figure out. First of all, you need time. Like you have to figure out the scene.

You got to acclimate to what this whole scene is and what is required of you. And then the other is physicality. I go back to when Duke lost in Winston-Salem earlier this season, and there was no more lost player in that game than Tyrese Proctor. And a lot of it had to do with physicality. The game was just too much for him.

You know, he just couldn't... And understandably so. He's obviously really, really young, and he's there a year early, and all these things we've heard a hundred times this year. But when you have talent, eventually you're going to have an opportunity to turn the corner, and I think that's where I agree with you. I think the timeout for Roach has been helpful. I think other players around Tyrese has helped him. Like other good players starting to play good has been good for Tyrese. But, you know, he's a talented player, and he comes with a huge reputation. And I don't know, I hope he stays there another year. I think he's got a chance to have an even better year next year. But when you have a point guard, and you know it, and you have the opportunity to move Roach a little bit off the ball, and then you start putting lob catchers and other guys who are getting healthy and a Dureek Whitehead who can make shots, I mean, the whole thing has really come together, and I think Proctor's kind of been the maestro there as time and understanding the physicality of this level as he's done that.

Chris Patola, ESPN, and Sirius XM is joining us here. What do you think about State and Creighton today? You know, NC State reminds me, I don't know, well, you're certainly old enough.

You and I would remember, right? Do you remember that the old Arizona team back in 1994? It's ironic that Damon Stoudemire was just hired right before Tech. Remember that team, Damon Stoudemire, Khalid Reeves, was the backcourt, and it was really, they had good play up front, but it was really those two guards who were on a mission. That's who NC State reminds me of.

I like DJ Burns, I don't know, and I think he can give you nice stretches in a game, but you're not winning in the NCAA tournament by steady diet of DJ Burns. Taquavian and Jarkel have to play well, and I think they could give Creighton some problems today because I think Creighton defensively is good, but I don't think, maybe outside of Marquette, I don't think they've seen quite a tandem like NC State has, and I think the thing about NC State is they're not going to be, they haven't played in this event, but I don't think they're going to be overwhelmed by the moment, and I certainly don't think they'll be overwhelmed looking down there and lay up lines and seeing Creighton, so I like them today. I think when they, their good is really good. Now, their bad or their mediocre can be pretty mediocre, but I think when they're playing well, I think they have a chance to win games. Yeah, they probably have the biggest range, right?

The biggest span between what they're capable of and what they're capable of. We saw that against Clemson, the second to last game of the regular season where they were just completely disinterested, it appeared, and we saw that against when they played Duke in, what, in January at PNC Arena when they were 100% dialed in. If they guard in the half court, I think that's always the barometer for this team. If they guard well in the half court, I think they win the game. And if they're not so good on that end of the court, I think they're going to get beat. They're a little bit, they're not quite as efficient as I'd like to see on offense.

Most of that is Terquavian can go, you know, six for 20. He'll get his points, but it's a high volume, you know, style at times, but if they defend, I think they'll be fine. They'll win, and I think the winner of this game is going to win again because I think Baylor is kind of broken at this point.

They did not play well down the stretch, but I don't know anything. I think I've proven that. I picked Arizona to win it all.

All right, real quick. You have thoughts on the hot topic of the tournament so far that Virginia and Tony Bennett are not made for this month? Yeah, I pushed back on that and it's funny. I wrote an article in the athletic when I was doing columns for them right after they lost to UMBC and it was sort of a pushback on guys like Pat 40. It's not personal. It's not personal to Pat 40.

I disagree with could not disagree with him more on the premise. I mean, first of all, winning a national championship. I don't care if you won it in 2019 or if you won it 15 years ago.

It's no fluke. I mean, to win six games in that tournament is incredibly hard and it is low hanging fruit to pick on Virginia for its style of play and to say that they are not built to win in March because it doesn't stand to reason that you're built to win every other time of the year. I mean, they won another ACC regular season championship, which I mean, again, we can debate what the regular season ACC championship means now.

It means far less than it did. And the league isn't strong. But the reality is that that program has been good enough to win ACC championships to have. You know, they've won thirty one the year they lost to UMBC.

They won thirty one games. And, you know, you're talking about a bad 40 minutes. And I do think we can drive referendums off of tournament performance. God knows I have about the big 10 the last couple of years, but it's also a 40 minute sample size. So I push back on it.

And, you know, we I came on my radio show on Sirius this morning, Adam, just sort of trying to give a context of Kihei Clark. I wish that his his highlight moment had been reversed with this low light. I wish he had had this mistake when he was a freshman and then five years later had won a national championship. But he's too good of a character. He's too good of a guy. He obviously he was a good player. He was not a great player.

I don't think, you know, ACC history. He's going down as one of the all time. But he's a very good college player who is a better person. If my son grew up to be like Kihei Clark, I'd be damn proud. So I think it's a little bit unfair the way that we cherry pick their style of play.

It's that style of play that has given them the success that they've had. But. The Venture X card from Capital One gives you premium travel benefits. Perfect for seeing Taylor Swift, the era's tour presented by Capital One.

Oh, I do love her. Earn five times miles on flights and 10 times miles on hotels through Capital One Travel. Enjoy your stay in suite 13. Well, 13.

That's Taylor's lucky number. The Venture X card from Capital One. What's in your wallet? Terms apply.

See Capital One dot com for details. The Jeep Grand Cherokee four by E. Electrified. So you can boogie, woogie, woogie into the forest. Boogie, woogie, woogie through the mud or boogie, woogie, woogie to work where you boogie, woogie, woogie down the hall to your boss's office to tell him you quit.

Then you boogie, woogie, woogie to the elevator as he boogie, woogie, woogies after you begging, please take me with you. The electrified Jeep Grand Cherokee four by E. Learn more at jeep.com. Jeep is a registered trademark of FCA US LLC. Such is life. Yeah. Also the if we if we're going to attack their style of play and I don't like it. Right. It doesn't make a difference.

I don't like it. But it also it defies logic to say that that style of play and we're talking about pace. Right. So 2010, you're familiar with the Duke Blue Devils in 2010. They were two hundred and twenty ninth in a nation offensive tempo.

According to Ken Palm, Connecticut won the title the next year to twenty one. Like the there's the only champion in the last 14 years to have a tempo under one hundredth in the country was Kansas last year. Slower tempos can be successful. It's about players. One hundred percent about players. It's not about the pace. I just don't like the pace. That's my difference.

That's the only thing I'd say to it. Well, and let's real quick. I mean, to your point, I think with Tony took the job and look, this goes back to Dick. And I'm not saying he changed who he was to be able to compete at Virginia in the ACC. But that year in twenty nineteen, the league, as you know, the league got nine teams in and again, they still won the league by four games that year and won thirty one games. And the thing about Virginia, Adam, is they live in this space of of last possession, one possession games, because they feel like they have lived in more of those one possession games than anybody else and that you're going to blink first.

You're going to make a mistake first. And so, again, guys like Pat 40 to use as an argument that they won a lot of, quote, fluke games. They got lucky in that run to a national championship to a guy like me who understands what Tony's doing.

That's by design, because again, they believe that with their complement of roster, that they're going to succeed in those games. The problem is, when you live in that space, there's a lot of pressure on you to not make mistakes. And yesterday was a game in which the least likely to make mistakes in that moment was the guy who made several. It wasn't just one mistake. He made about five different mistakes in that one play.

But that's where Virginia lives and they live there by design. Chris Patola, you're the best, my friend. I appreciate your time. I'll see you soon. Yeah, my pleasure.

Adam, any time. The Venture X card from Capital One gives you premium travel benefits. Perfect for seeing Taylor Swift, the era's tour presented by Capital One.

Oh, I do love her. Earn five times miles on flights and 10 times miles on hotels through Capital One travel. Enjoy your stay in suite 13. Well, 13. That's Taylor's lucky number. The Venture X card from Capital One. What's in your wallet? Terms apply. See Capital One dot com for details.