Any adjustments to the NCAA Tournament brackets, since we last looked at things?

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Let our professional parts people test your battery for free at O'Reilly Auto Parts. O, O, O, O'Reilly Auto Parts. Talk to Jerry this time of year at JP Palm CBS on Twitter. All right. Wake Forest is now the fifth ACC team in your field.

Bless you, sir. Thank you for including our of our fifth team in the league. How far down does does your at-large board go beyond the at-large teams that get it away? Because a first 14, which would be fine.

Just getting it is fine. How far further down does your at-large board go when you are looking at teams? Like legitimately about five. I've got more teams on it that I'm kind of keeping an eye on in case something happens. So they're on the radar, but I I only have like five bubble teams beyond the bottom of the bracket. All right is is Pittsburgh one of those bubble teams?

They are stiff. Okay, so we will be paying very close attention to Pitts game at Clemson tonight. Here's the funny thing for us. And I know I've made many, many jokes about the committee being very data-driven in basketball and the committee ignoring those same things in football and doing stupid things like eye test. And when Boo Corrigan, NC State's athletic director, was the chairman of the football committee saying, well, you know, what we often do is say, who wouldn't you want to play? And of course, nobody ever says that, but that's how they that's how they justified screwing Florida State out of a spot. I've watched Wake Forest so many times this year and honestly, they look not only like an NCAA tournament team. They look like somebody you don't want to play if you were a higher seed.

It just took him a while to get to this point. I beg to differ a little bit to me. They look like a team. I don't want to play at Wake Forest off Wake Forest.

No problem. I'll take my chances tournaments not being played at Wake Forest, or at least they're not playing there. So, so, I mean, there's three and nine away from home. The best win is Boston College on the road. That's the only quad to win or better away from home until they show me that they can beat competent teams away from home. You know, somebody like a tournament level team or a borderline team at least away from home. And conference tournaments fine. I can wait for that. Right.

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Sign up for your $1 a month trial at Shopify.com slash listen. I understand. I don't get I don't get too wrapped up in home court here. I understand that except is, is there something to be said for playing well and losing to good teams on the road that doesn't really help you much in the end. I understand but that's but it speaks more to what I'm saying is that when you watch them, they look good to me even there even really high in the net and Ken Palm and the mob-based metrics are right top 25 margin of victory team. Yeah, but ultimately it's a results-oriented process and the results-oriented business right and losing by one is still losing and winning by 25. As good as winning by one. How many how many NCAA tournament games are played on on somebody else's home floor? I'm just curious.

Is there a number? Okay. So maybe maybe that doesn't matter either. Well, no, I mean neutral fight game, but they don't win any of those either. That it's what will I will see because they have to confirm that the neutral is neutral site, right Carolina, right? I mean, it's it's not on someone's home floor. So the NCAA tournament is not play.

You are not eligible to play on your home floor in the NCAA tournament. One of the reasons that we love having Jerry Palm on this program is that Jerry has answers all the time. Jerry pumps CBS Sports that guarantee you're not going to like them and it's fine, but I like you.

There's just no way I can ever not like Jerry Palm. I mean it even goes beyond that and Pittsburgh does have road credentials. Do I mean serious road credentials?

So what would I mean? They don't have great non-conference credentials. Although I would point out hold up for them. Yeah, I would point out that their game at Wake Forest when they got absolutely steamrolled by the Demon Deacons a game that wake needed to have and I'm not saying pit didn't need it. Pit needs every game they could get but that really created the separation in the net wake jumped like well 15 spots in the net right the next day after that win and Pittsburgh a they fell back a little bit there inside the top 50. That's another good team. They just need they just need to keep winning some games.

Yeah. I mean their problem is they don't have a great record against better teams. I mean, they're five and seven against quad one and two. It's not horrible a couple of quad two losses, but if they're a pick out a bottom 20 non-conference strength of schedule, what does that matter? The the big 12 is proving that it doesn't matter that you don't need a non-conference schedule. It always has mattered to teams at the bottom of the bracket the teams around the cut line. It matters it higher up not as much but it does matter higher up some because you know, they judge you on your strength of schedule.

That's part of what they're judging you on. And if you if you have a just dreadful strength of schedule your overall strength of schedule isn't very good either now for pit their overall strength of schedule 84. That's not a good number and it's there in large part because the non-conference strength of schedule is 344 and that's just teams get left out almost every year near the cut line in large part because their non-conference strength of schedule was so bad and it did so much damage to their resume that they just have to get left out. What is Iowa State's what might be the team this year? What is Iowa State's pre-conference? Oh, it's like it's in the 300s too.

Yeah, right around 300. So so what they've done really well in their league. But to get back to the point to get back to my my general argument about this big 12 garbage and I'm not saying it's not a good League. It's a very good League. They all built great power rankings and then every single game against each other looks better than it actually is and there's a definite argument for that.

I'll fight this all day long. It is it's 331. They're 331 a non-conference strength of schedule, but overall is 35 and that's because because they keep playing they're playing in League the League. I believe it's somewhat games the system. I don't know if they did it intentionally or if it just works out that way, but the League is definitely well, the problem is and it's it's smart to do it in the RPI in the RPI era. This is totally gaming the system in the net era. You have to win by if you're going to play these games. You got to kill them, right? You'd be right margin of victory matters so much now. It did do you some matter not at all now.

It's almost everything. So if you could play these games and you don't kill them, you're going to really suffer for it. So so that's you know, but Zach you have a if you have a resume where you've played, you know, nine quad four games outside the league and then you get a bunch of quad threes inside your week to then you've got a problem. Well, that's kind of an ACC problem, but it's not really a big 12 problem and it's and it's because these teams all want a lot of games against crappy competition outside the leg and murder. I want to say six played at least seven six of the house ready.

They have no help. I played at least seven quad for non-conference teams. I've done all that research.

It's it's nauseating. But as I said, I've said this before about especially about football schedules. It's good business. It's smart game the system if you can do it because then they don't have time to dig into everything. They're there. They're not inclined to do that. And the the notion that they will punish teams for having poor non-conference schedules does not exist because they don't do it. They don't do it bottom of the bracket. They don't do it at the top. They use it as an excuse. I don't whether they do it, but they I think they use it as an excuse because we've seen several instances of teams with bad records or great records, but bad non-conference schedules still get put in the bracket. Jerry Palm CBS Sports.com chief bracketologist.

These are always fun conversations. All right, so I'm going to ask you for some ceilings in your opinion of seeds, right? Okay, North Carolina can still get a one, correct? Yes, they can. I don't know that they control their own fate in that regard because Tennessee has got a really good schedule, right? And if they win all these games, I think, you know, I mean, it's not an easy schedule, but if they do win all these games, I think it's Tennessee. But Carolina definitely is in play for that spot, right? And I am not a head-to-head has to be the difference. But Carolina's win over Tennessee would not matter in that regard, right?

It could it depends on how close together the committee views. Okay, it's got to be like a legit tiebreaker kind of thing. It wasn't that game. That was a at North Carolina, right?

It was a home court game. Yeah, so that takes a little bit of a twinge off of it, you know, I'm with you, but it's I'm just saying it's not nothing but it's not as much as fans usually would like it to be Duke ceiling is what Probably the way they're going. It's probably a free but I don't know if they can I don't have confidence in them getting to three.

I think they're probably more than four or five situation. They're a game out of the ACC champion, you know, lead if they beat North. They went out beat North Carolina on the final day and they get the one seed then win the ACC tournament. They're still ceiling is a three.

Well, I don't know. So you don't win all the way out. I mean if they do I guess it could be a to it. Okay, what other teams do the problem is the problem is it's hard to resume building the ACC. So they have to be they'd have to be Carolina twice like between now and then and then they're in play for it to probably it's why non-conference schedule should matter but it doesn't now. They also walked the pit at home Arkansas Georgia Tech. I mean, they are the Arkansas thing is very weird to me because at the time I thought Arkansas was good. I think everybody thought Arkansas was good.

Yeah, maybe for doing an exhibition game right before the season started. I watched the game. I'm like man, Arkansas is really good. Everybody's complaining about this loss. I'm not Arkansas not to mention super inspired to to win that game Clemson highest highest seed you think they can get.

Okay, realistically. I mean, they don't have much of a schedule left. No, I don't know probably for if they win the ACC tournament. They win the ACC tournament. Yeah, I don't think they're going to win the ACC tournament, but that's what other teams everything is always dependent on one other team to do with the farther you go down the bracket the more you're dependent on what other teams do so it's hard for me to see Clemson much higher than a four.

All right. So what we're I'm confident we're going to have six teams in the field because I have confident that pits going to close the season out very well and slide not only schedule but let them do it. Yeah, nice slide not only in your bracket, but also the the people wherever they are in their breath. It's got to be Clemson. Yeah, you know if they don't be cleansing they win those other three.

They're not doing much for themselves. You know, they've got a big got they need to get the few good wind possibilities that they have in this league and Clemson one of them. So I really think they've got to be Clemson. We've got we've got two more weeks of these conversations Jerry Palm. So I'm going to call you again. I always appreciate your time and I can't wait to see you soon. All right.

Thanks. Talk to you later. I love debating with Jerry. I love causing and problems. Yeah, the things I like to do. I mean, it's it's okay. Yeah happens fun.