Pressure on Tony Bennett? (Hour 1)

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From ZQ certified Merino wool, to a bouncy midsole made from sweet foam, the world's first carbon-negative EVA material made from sugarcane. Live from the palatial yet not overly ostentatious studios of CBS Sports Radio here in beautiful New York City, sitting on top of the 10th floor of 345 Hudson Street. Welcome on into a celebratory Friday on the Zach Gelb show, coast to coast, across all the great local CBS Sports Radio affiliates, Sirius XM, channel 158, and that free Odyssey app, 855-212-4CBS, number to jump on in, 855-212-4227. And you could always get at me on Instagram, where I'm straight flexin', or via the good ol' cesspool of Twitter, at Zach Gelb.

That is Z-A-C-H-G-E-L-B. And producing the extravaganza for the next four hours, the happiest I've ever seen him, is Hot Take Hickey. His dumb producer, Hot Take Hickey. I am 1-0 as a Penn State basketball fan.

It's that simple. Last night, Hot Take Hickey needed my support, because if I didn't join the bandwagon, they would have lost. I said that yesterday to lead the show, I'll start it today to lead today's show. And I saw one tweet from Hot Take Hickey last night, that just showed you the power of Zach Gelb in the Penn State community was working, because he's never seen Penn State play a first half like that, where they not only got out to a lead, but they dominated, absolutely dominated Texas A&M, going into the half of 38-22, and then they cruised to a 76-59 victory, and it was a Penn State three-point party last night as they slay the Aggies of Texas A&M.

Penn State shot 59% from three, and from the field they did shoot 48.2%. So Hickey, out of the kindness of my heart, I dug together and created a special intro for the show today. You have not listened to this yet, you have not heard this yet, so let's go right now.

Music, por favor! We are Penn State! Go Pack Craft, go Nittany Lions, go Mike DeShrewsbury! I'm going to lead you guys to a victory tonight. It's fun seeing all the Penn Staters that showed up and were cheering for us. We are Penn State!

But like, we want to go on a run. They should build the statue of me tonight, if Penn State wins, they could use a new statue on that campus. Fires and scores, I mean that is just this in a barrel for fun.

It's like shooting layups right now from 25 feet for Andrew Funk. I think you're just in a rut, and you need a little helping hand by your friend and yours truly, and that's what I'm trying to do tonight with Penn State. Ryan Hickey prop. I think you should welcome me aboard your bandwagon to Penn State, you're a mush!

Ryan Hickey prop, Ryan Hickey prop, Ryan Hickey prop. And then maybe when they're in the second round, Pack Craft will invite me and I'll be an honorary captain. No we don't. And the Nittany Lions advance to Saturday in round two.

No we don't. I can't even now enjoy a Penn State win because now it's Zach coming in tomorrow, we're going to lead the show. Here I am, the Savior, the whisper, the winner! We are Penn State!

That's right Hickey! Let's go! I got to hear from Ryan! You got to be fired up!

You should say, thank you, but that's alright, the floor is yours. Give me your reaction, Penn State! Big, big, big, big, big, big, big victory! They take down one team from Texas and they try to take down another team from Texas coming up tomorrow night. Let's go Hickey! That was the best game I've ever seen Penn State basketball play.

I am fired up, nothing to do with you. Penn State is actually a good team, they are beating good teams, this team is peaking at the right time, they have a ton of senior experience. As everybody saw yesterday, this team is lethal from three, lethal.

Guess what folks? Experience, lethal from three, all lead to being a very dangerous tournament team. I hope Texas, I hope Texas was watching yesterday, actually I hope they weren't.

I hope they were not. Allow Andrew Funk to just get open look after open look and we'll see you in the Sweet 16. That's all I'm hoping for Texas.

Do not, do not watch any of those games yesterday. Right now, you have no idea what you're in for, but a storm is brewing right now in Des Moines, Iowa. And it is a color of blue and white, the knits are hot, the rest of the country allowed it to happen, and yesterday was a culmination. Let's go! Okay, I'm going to make you be a peacock and I'm going to let you fly on your own. I helped you out yesterday out of the kindness of my heart. I was a very benevolent person and I gave you my public support of Penn State.

It did pain me to do that and I will not continue to do that. So now we're going to really see how much of a mush you are because you just guaranteed a victory. And you said your team is going to be in the Sweet 16. You are not going to have my support coming up tomorrow.

And then on Monday when we get back here at 6 p.m. Eastern, 3 p.m. Pacific to kick off another kick-ass week of the Zach Gelb show. That's going to be very big because there's been many days where we have hosted shows and you have made these ridiculous claims about teams that you've rooted for. And then we have basically had to hold your wake and then bury you and have your funeral as well with just some awful takes and the belief that you have in your teams.

I helped you last night. I thought for sure when you guaranteed Arizona was going to win the NCAA tournament and then they're out in the first round, you needed my helping hand. That hand is no longer extended and now we'll see if you can get the job done up against Texas.

So you're pretty confident. I didn't know what type of hickey we were going to get today to be honest. I thought you were just going to be very excited. I did not know how you were going to process the next game.

I thought maybe you'd want like another 24 hours to really just bathe in this victory and marinate in this victory and just be so happy about this victory. But I do respect this about you is that no matter win or lose, you always go to the next game or the next way to try to spin one of your teams. And now you actually genuinely believe hickey that Penn State as a 10 seed and I know yesterday we had a 15 beat a two Mitch Henderson is going to join us coming up in 10 minutes from now for the Princeton Tigers, their head coach. I also did see number 13 Furman yesterday take down number four Virginia. You believe the upset party is going to continue in a 10 beating a seven like you would say no big deal, no big deal. But if a 10 beats a two, that's a whole different ballgame when you look at how legit the Penn State program is. You genuinely believe it's not just fandom. You actually believe the Nittany Lions are winning tomorrow.

I'm nervous for tomorrow. Don't get me wrong. The length of Texas is concerning the lack of rebounding for Penn State is concerning. But all I heard all week not having my support is the last four days was how under seeded Texas A&M was. It was criminal, criminal that they were seven. It was an absolute joke by the committee. They're so much better than that.

And Penn State took him to the woodshed, took him to the woodshed. Are they going to shoot like 85 percent from three tomorrow? Absolutely not. They're going to have to, though, shoot well from three.

And I don't see why not if they do, why they can't beat Texas. I think you are allowing like three or four people on Twitter to really ruin your day and alter your view of this game. And I know our boss Spike Eskin just sent out an email and he was basically saying we people in the company pay too much attention to Twitter. And most of the listeners are not on Twitter.

But with that being said, I think that email may or may not have been directed right to you. Because I don't actually believe a lot of people were doubting Penn State heading into that game. I felt very confident that they were going to win. And I don't think a lot of people were like, they were surprised it was a blowout. I thought people thought it would be a close game, but I don't think it was stunning that Penn State won the game like you're trying to make it out to be.

I guess we're looking at two different things. All I heard was Texas A&M under seeded. It's a disgrace that it's been a seven. Everyone is looking ahead to Texas, Texas A&M in a rematch, although it's not football. It's still Texas, Texas A&M.

A lot of that I saw as well. So again, I love kind of being the underdog, the snake in the grass. Everyone look at Texas. Look full disclosure, I have them in my final four. So I hope everyone is looking at the Longhorns, getting ready, looking at Houston now being damaged and injured and maybe looking at an opening for Texas to run to the final four. Sleep on them, sleep on them.

But you are then even sleeping on your own school. You didn't pick them in a bracket that means nothing to upset Texas. And then today you're going to basically say Penn State is going to the sweet 16.

What changed? I wasn't sure how they're going to respond. So you didn't have confidence in your team. I had no idea what to expect.

I've never seen him in the tournament. Penn State, they're a team that makes everything close. Now they've gotten some good breaks lately. Am I supposed to think that if a game comes close together, I'm going to get good breaks?

I don't know. I picked them to win yesterday, but I was also trying to be realistic. And now they will see the way I see them play. But you don't have to be realistic in my bracket.

Like for example, why not? I wouldn't win. I'm the reigning champ. I'm not trying to embarrass yourself here having Penn State go to the final four. I'm not saying that you already embarrassed yourself after you had Arizona winning the championship and they lose in the first round to Princeton. Yeah, go Tigers, baby.

All I'm saying is this. If my school ever finds a way to get back into the NCAA tournament, I would put them in the sweet 16 and probably no further than that. I think bare minimum, you put your own school and I don't think anyone's picking Penn State to win a national championship and the next time Temple's in the tournament, no one's going to pick them to win a national championship. But I think a rule of thumb when it's your school and let's be real, none of us are basketball, college basketball geniuses or anything like that.

Brackets are made to have fun. No one's having a perfect bracket. I think it's pretty weak that you didn't put your own school in the sweet 16. I'm not saying the lead eight. I'm not saying final four. I'm not saying championship game.

I'm not saying you put them cutting down the nets and on the podium with the one shining moment. But bare minimum, you got to have a little confidence with your own school get into the sweet 16 when what, two days later, now all of a sudden you're leading that charge of Penn State to the sweet 16. I have no regrets.

I have no regrets. I root against my bracket all the time. This is old hat now and I'm excited that now rooting against my bracket means actually rooting for my own team instead of just an upset to happen, which is 99% of the case. Now a few takeaways from yesterday and then a few that did bleed over into today with some of the games to eventually close out later tonight, the first round of the tournament. We talked all about the Virginia, the embarrassing loss yesterday to Furman, another double digit seed taking care of Tony Bennett's squad at Virginia. I know they had a national championship a few years ago, but one thing we didn't highlight yesterday was the Kihei Clark play.

We highlighted that. But Tony Bennett had a timeout in his pocket there. Now you're under 10 seconds. When your player gets trapped, he could have easily called that timeout there and then you reset and maybe we never have the situation where Kihei Clark, who is a longtime Virginia player, was there on the national championship team when he was a freshman, where he just so uncharacteristically throws the ball away. Hickey, after you really have had that game, just settle in and you go back and review it. How much do you crush Tony Bennett for not taking a timeout yesterday when his player was trapped and you saw him panic in a big spot like that? I'll be honest, I'm not sure the rule is even allowed to call timeout.

Does it have to come from the player? Either way, it should have came from Kihei Clark, whether Tony Bennett could call timeout or not. You are that experienced in that situation. The referee is right there next to you. You have to know to call timeout. The last thing you can do is just blindly throw the ball up to half court and hope things work out your way. When you are that, you're not a freshman, like I said, you won a national title so you know what it takes to win the big game late in the moment.

You just have to know in that situation, time ticking down. I got nowhere else to go. I picked up the ball. I got to call timeout and let's reset. He definitely could have called timeout, but I saw afterwards and he gave an explanation on why he did not call a timeout in his post-game interview. He said, I don't know if Kihei thought no one was there and the clock was running out. When asked about desperation, Heave, I'm not sure, but we should have called a timeout or we could have gone. I got in a tie-up.

We had it and unfolded. I think had he gotten tied up, he would have called a timeout in there. He did concede that he would have to see how it played out on tape. Still his main focus appeared to be Clark's decision not to go for a tie-up as opposed to the team's collect decision not to call a timeout. So I guess that's then talking about afterwards as well after they did go down by one in that scenario as well.

So that's the Tony Bennett side of the thing. I'm still stunned about, and we'll talk to Mitch Henderson a little bit, but I'm still stunned about Arizona basically not being able to score in the last five minutes of the game and only be able to put up five points in the last eight minutes and change. Mitch Henderson is going to join us in a few minutes from now.

He joined us earlier in the week and Hickey in that scenario going into that game. Mitch Henderson even said to us on the air, he's like, yeah, you give us some advice and some help on how we can try to stop these bigs for Arizona when a team is just so much more talent than you. We've seen upsets before like this happen, but to not even be able to practically score for what felt like the last eight minutes when you look at only five points in the final eight minutes and then no points in the final five minutes, that to me is still stunning a day later.

You are telling me for sure how stunning it is, but you're right. It's also just so funny when you hear Mitch Henderson, it wasn't like, it didn't sound like he was doubting, but it was almost just like a credit to Arizona when he was on before playing the game was just like, like their size is something that's going to be a massive problem for us. Like we're going to have to do something, but it's going to be really tough. And then like I said, to kind of believe in your team, but you know how tough a matchup is right to be at that spot when it was what, two days ago, right?

Three days ago. And then now a day or two later, 48 hours later to hold them scoreless last five minutes and really play some really good defense and fluster Arizona and get them out of their rhythm. It just goes to show you what a great job Mitch Henderson was doing and the adjustments you're able to make.

It was impressive. Also Duke and UCLA dominant wins. We were wondering how UCLA was going to fare with Jalen Clark out and they did an unbelievable job there. And for Duke, Hey, Duke sent a big statement. People thought that was going to be a game, including myself up against Oral Roberts. And they just took it to them through the first five minutes of the game.

And that game never did get close. So good stuff by Duke and UCLA. And now when we talk about injuries, Alabama and Houston, you know, Alabama, they're going to have Maryland tomorrow. I think they should be fine, but we don't know how healthy Brandon Miller is going to be. No points yesterday, only played in 19 minutes, has a groin injury going back to their game before yesterday in that SEC tournament that Nate Oates revealed to Tracy Wilson. And then for Houston, they had two injuries. We know Marcus Sasser was hurt going into the game. He played, re-aggravated the groin, did not play in the second half.

And Jamal Sheed has a hyperextended knee. Now both players said they're going to play tomorrow, but for Houston, who did not look good up against Northern Kentucky, I just wonder what you're going to see out of them tomorrow and how healthy their players are going to be. And oh yeah, by the way, you don't have, even though the Final Four is going to be in Houston, right now you don't have the home court advantage. I know it's a neutral site, but you get Auburn who did a nice job yesterday up against Iowa. And we know Auburn down the stretch was 4-9 to close out the year.

So good job by Bruce Pearl and the Tigers. But now Auburn is playing in Birmingham up against Houston and Houston's not 100% healthy. That could be an upset alert tomorrow in our first one seed going down. I think they are going to go down. Auburn's winning tomorrow. Friend of the show, Bruce Pearl, I like the way they're playing, but more importantly, I am nervous. Very nervous about Houston and their injuries. They're going to play tomorrow. They're going to start tomorrow.

But how effective and how long can they last? You're talking about your best player having a groin injury that the next time he tried to play after suffering the groin injury on Saturday could not make it past the first half. I don't see how one day of rest is going to now all of a sudden going from 14 minutes in the first half yesterday to now playing 30 minutes tomorrow and being effective.

I don't think that's going to happen. Hyper extended knee again. I'm no doctor.

I don't know if 24 hours is enough to make sure you're healthy and ready to go. It's just awful timing for Houston, especially with the Final Four there and you can kind of have it in your own backyard. And you never want to see a team get derailed by injuries. We're not like Andrew Perloff who roots for Edwin Diaz to get hurt.

That's right. We are classy here at the Zach Gallop show. We are not classless. Class C. And we hate injuries for teams even if it does go in our benefit. I did have my bracket, Houston going down in round two.

But I don't like the injuries. It's sad and I think it's going to catch up to them tomorrow. And then good job by Pitt. They crush Iowa State today. That was an upset. And then Xavier almost lost to Kennesaw State. They had to come all the way back.

I didn't have any problems with the officiating at the end. But Xavier was Sean Miller. He had to sweat once again. But this time he's advancing to the round of 32. Mitch Henderson will join us next at the Zach Gelb show on CBS Sports Radio. A chance to secure an upset win. Hello Larson the rebound.

The horn is going to sound. The Princeton Magic is alive and well. The Princeton Tigers upset Arizona. You're listening to the Zach Gelb show.

How about that? That was Ryan Rakey on the Westwood One NCAA Radio Network. The Princeton Tigers are dancing to the second round of the NCAA tournament as a 15 seed yesterday.

They did take down number two Arizona by a final score of 59 to 55. And now joining us is the head men's basketball coach of the Princeton Tigers. And that is our pal Mitch Henderson. Coach, congratulations. Really excited for your program. Thanks so much for doing this again this week. This is a pleasure.

Thank you. We're absolutely thrilled out here. It's so fun and I'm so proud of our group and look forward to chatting with you. When you hear that the Princeton Tigers defeated Arizona and you guys are now playing tomorrow night in the second round of the NCAA tournament against Missouri. Just what goes through your mind? Well, you know, we prepare your team to win and we did that. And we were down the whole game. And when you get to the end of the game, you're like, OK, that was incredible. You take a couple of hours and all of a sudden you realize something really big happened.

Then you start looking at Missouri and you've got to dive right back in. So, you know, I know it looks like an upset and it's 15 versus 2. But I have a really gritty group and they've always believed they could do it. We're playing the best basketball we've played all season right now, which is what you need to be able to do if you want to keep winning. What did you guys do so well down the stretch? Because you look at Arizona in the last eight minutes, they only had four points in the last four minutes and 45 seconds.

You held them off the scoreboard. We struggled to score. We didn't shoot the ball very well, 4 for 25 from 3. We had 11 turnovers. I thought we'd have to have single digit turnovers to be successful. But I thought what we did best was we limited their transition opportunities to the show. Coach, it's unbelievable how they're like 35-foot passes right to the front of the rim. But we did a great job getting back in transition and fighting with their bigger guys.

We've given up a lot of size, too. But I just thought those last four minutes was a real example of what we've been able to do this season. Guys played with such grit and toughness. We really got all the loose falls, those things that I think matter when you're playing in a big environment. The crowd helped.

The incredible sports town out here in Sacramento, we really benefited from the energy from our crowd. Mitch Henderson, the head coach of the Princeton Tigers, are dancing on to the second round of the NCAA tournament here with us on CBS Sports Radio. We know you bleed Princeton and the iconic moment where you were celebrated and jumping for joy when you were a player in 1996 when your squad did take down UCLA in a 4-13 matchup and then all these years later to be a part of a 15-beat and a 2 and you being the coach of it. Just what is those two moments, the two of the biggest moments in Princeton program history, you playing a part and a big part in both of them, just mean to you all these years later and then what you guys were able to accomplish, too, yesterday? I appreciate it. There's these pictures of me around our gym and I'm glad we're going to take them down now because we can put some new photos up. When you're the coach here, Coach Carrillo, we're honoring him this season, but there's a long history of winning.

It's a lot. You want to do the best and you feel it just in a particularly different way when it's your alma mater. I can't talk about my time as a player, at least I don't. I'm so proud of this. This is, for me, miles more enjoyable than that win because it's really hard to get here and you just understand. I know from time how unusual that win was way back then and this is really special. You live one kind of special life in the tournament and you've got a really good group. We do. We are a very tough group. These things can happen. I'm just so happy for them.

We were at dinner last night and I was like, do you have any idea what you just did? They were all kind of to a person shaking their head no. We want to keep this thing going, not content with just one. Coach, I'll tell you this. Just being around your program a few years ago, you guys are a close group.

I'm talking about guys that came before the group that you're coaching now and I know that a lot of alumni are thrilled last night. Last time I saw you guys in the NCAA tournament, I remember being there in Buffalo in 2017. You had a shot to win the game up against Notre Dame and it just did not fall. Did you learn anything about yourself in that game and were you at all able to implement it a few years later when you guys are now back in the NCAA tournament?

I did. I know exactly that moment. We were down big early in that game. I think what I've learned is just to soak in the enjoyable parts of it. They're doing the very best that they can.

I just kept saying to them, hey, smile. Let's enjoy this. Throughout the course of the game, it is a very different feel than any other game that you play. Neutral court, you've got several different fan bases there. It's a real luxury to be back here. We're just so happy to be representing our school. As you know, Princeton, some people may not look at us in Arizona in the same breath, but we do. There's a lot of pride from our alums on us having a really good basketball team.

Where does that confidence come from? The last three years, we've seen a 15-seed beat of two. I've talked to Paul Mills after the game.

I've talked to Shaheen Holloway. Now we're talking to you. All of you guys share that thing in common where this may be a surprise to everyone else, but it's not a surprise to you guys because you guys expected to win. Where does that confidence come from, coach?

It's two parts. In our league, we were fighting for our life on Sunday to make the tournament. The only one team goes from our league. We had a really rough loss four weeks ago against Yale. We blew an 18-point lead. It really opened us up.

You sometimes need to have a real low moment to say, we can hang our head here or we can grow and really become something special together. That's the first part of the confidence. That's who you were all season. Don't forget that part now as you're in the tournament. The other part is, look, all these guys, they're playing AAU, shoe company, Adidas, Nike, Under Armour, on the same team as these other guys and against them. There's really no lines. When I was growing up, all those guys were in the magazines. You were on the same level just because they were separated, but that's not the case.

I think the world's a little smaller for them. Again, those schools in front of us before us, those St. Peterses of the world, they paved the way for something special like this to happen, so you just believe you could do it. I know you're honoring the legendary coach Pete Carril, who unfortunately did pass away in August, and this season is for him.

Just share with me a little bit about your thoughts last night. I'm sure Coach definitely was right in the front of your brain walking off the court and then when you were celebrating the win last night. Yeah, when we beat UCLA, that was one of his first tournament wins. Coach would always say to us, I'm preparing you to win the game. Against UCLA, the ball was thrown up, and he told us, just run back because you're not going to get it.

So all five guys just ran back on defense. I think that Coach was just so happy, and the best piece of advice he gave to me was be yourself. He loved Princeton basketball, and I know he'd be so thrilled for this group. When you go through a moment like that, Mitch Henderson, and I know after the game it's just a blur and it's euphoric, when you got in bed last night and you just put that head on the pillow and you look up at the ceiling and you could really take a deep breath and process what you guys accomplished, what was going through your head last night?

Just had a huge smile and had a shake in my head, and you think about all the little moments. To be a part of something with a group, you know, there's 16 guys and a trainer and coaching staff and a strength and conditioning coach. It's sort of a really tight-knit group for a long part, and everybody to a person is just, you know, it's like the best moment you've had in your life, and so you're just really thankful to be a part of it.

We love our parents and trust their kids with us here at the university for a world-class, life-changing experience, and that's what we do here at Princeton, and we take great pride in that. Mitch Henderson, I love the NCAA Tour, and my favorite part about it is you get to hear stories and you get to really chronicle the stories of your players. Toson, how you guys got him, Brett McConnell going over to England. He didn't play organized basketball until he was 15. How have you been able to see him grow the last three years, not only as a player but a person, because what he did yesterday was very special and a great moment for him.

Yeah, we follow up on all those emails, and Brett went over there, you know, it's almost always a little bit of a shot in the dark, but sometimes you get lucky, and for us, you know, we've just been so fortunate. The same thing I would say about Toson is his humility, he allows you to coach him. He's accepting of all of that, and he comes from a place of wanting to learn. He's actually still improving right now. His best basketball is in front of him, and we just, even during the game, I'm like, okay, you know, start to figure it out. This is what you need to do, and he's nodding his head, and there's never any moment where Toson's not learning and processing the game, but he really is a special player. You guys made four three-pointers yesterday, three came from Blake Peters, just how about what he was able to contribute in his really important 15 minutes on the court yesterday?

Oh, my gosh. I mean, we couldn't find the red, and Blake was, you know, so typical. It was just like not down. I mean, his minutes were so huge for us, and you got to pick one to cut it to three.

Yeah, he was just terrific. How about the scene in the locker room after the game? I saw the video that Princeton put out, Mitch Henderson, of you just getting drenched in a water bottle celebration, but that just had to be such a thrill.

Yeah, water fights. Come on, there's nothing better. I mean, it's so cool, and the tournament does, as you guys know, it's just like the way they do it. You know, you slap your name up on the bracket advancing. I mean, it's just so special, and there's a large media presence here, so we're really feeling great. What's the first thought of Missouri as you guys try to go punch a ticket to the Sweet 16? They're tough. I mean, really, they give you a lot of different looks defensively. We're going to have to take care of the ball.

Dennis Gates does such a good job. So we know, you know, you catch your breath. You know, we play back-to-backs in the Ivy League, so this extra day of preparation feels like an eternity for us.

It's kind of nice to have one day here, and we'll be ready to go tomorrow. Last thing I'll ask you, Coach Mitch Henderson, I really do appreciate you doing this. You talked a little bit about what you told the guys at dinner, but when you were able to get the team together and just express your message to them after the game, what was that message? I just said, you know, I'm so proud of what they did for one another, and, you know, what they are for one another is very clear. I mean, the group has a really great will to win, and our alums appreciate that. They like seeing that, and they relate to it.

You know, a toughness, a stick-to-itiveness, so to speak. So we're imperfect, too, and we celebrate that. But I just reminded them how happy they made their alums and their university. Did the win hit you in the moment? Oh, yeah, gosh. We were down the whole game.

Yeah. And then, you know, to kind of get the win right there at the very end, I didn't feel it until really the buzzer went off. All of a sudden I was like, oh, my God, we just won. But, Coach, I'm so happy for your program and your assistance and the players and your family as well. Good luck coming up tomorrow, and hopefully we see you in the Sweet 16. Really appreciate you doing this, Mitch. That would be great. Thank you so much, guys.

Appreciate it. You're listening to the Zach Gelb Show. So just real quickly, going back to this Virginia game yesterday where Furman stuns Virginia, and now this is the third double-digit seed that does take down Virginia in recent memory in the NCAA tournament.

You go back to UMBC. You've had also Ohio take them down, and then yesterday you did see Furman take down Virginia. So when you go through this through the last few years and they've also won a national championship at NIT, a lot of people are crushing Tony Bennett for not taking a timeout.

We were earlier, then had some questions about it. I found another quote, Hickey, afterwards, and I read you the quotes where him talking about, like, Kihei didn't call a timeout himself. And then one of the reporters, I guess, followed up, but like, Coach, why didn't you call the timeout to bail out Clark? And this was Tony Bennett's response. I don't know if the refs were near me. That's what he said after the game. So, like, pardon me. You're the coach, right?

And you're responsible for everything. And like you were saying, and this rule has changed, like, years ago, coaches couldn't call timeouts, like, during play and have to be on the player. But now they all did that a few years ago. You could do so the final two minutes.

You said they have clear possession, which he did. So Tony Bennett could have called a timeout. And when you just go afterwards, like, yeah, I just don't know if the refs were near me, when has that ever prevented a coach from calling a timeout? If you're thinking about it, you could scream, timeout!

I want a bleeping timeout! So, like, yes, part of me does not expect Tony Bennett to think that his player, who is so experienced and has been in this national title game, is going to throw the ball all the way down the court with only one man there and, like, two or three Furman players around him. So I could understand if that was, like, his reasoning. I just didn't think he was going to call it.

And he's trapped eventually. We think we're going to foul. We're going to wait, like, maybe another second so we don't get a violation and then all that. Like, if that was your explanation, fine.

But if you're just saying, yeah, I don't know if the refs were near me, Hickey, that's a bad look on Tony Bennett. He was basically then admitting, in indirect words, that he was basically doing what you were doing and I was doing. Watching.

Yeah. He just got caught up in the moment, sitting there, standing like, oh, crap, what are we going to do here? Instead of, you know, again, we're sitting there thinking the same thing. But you're the coach. You have a chance to bail your own player out again. You would think a guy who's been there as long as Clark would be able to just have the wherewithal to call timeout.

I'm sure he wasn't expecting what actually happened to happen. But still, you have a chance to control the situation. He's already standing, so I can't say get off your butt. But do something.

Be active. And now, to be clear, they did call a timeout afterwards. Like, after that play did happen, they did call a timeout to reset, try to calm down the emotions, and then things did not go their way in, like, the two seconds that were left after it. But once again, to give you the initial response, it was, I don't know if Kihei thought no one was there and the clock was running out. I'm not sure, but we should have called a timeout or we could have gotten a tie-up.

We had it, and it unfolded. I think had he gotten the tie-up, he would have called timeout in there. And then he eventually said he has to see how it played out. And he then also did go on to say, but the main focus still, according to a reporter, appeared to be Clark's decision to not go for the tie-up as opposed to Team's collective decision not to call timeout. And then it was, but then he was asked why didn't he call timeout to bail out Clark himself because he's allowed to do that.

I don't know the rest, I don't know if the rest were near me. And then eventually did go on to say how much he loved coaching him here and he would not be in this spot without him. You look at Tony Bennett, I'll just ask the question, is this a guy who we all consider a great coach because he won the national championship, but then we've seen in other sports, right? Like a guy like Jon Gruden win a championship and then really not do much positive after that. Is that going to be Tony Bennett where you lose to UMBC, then you win the national title, I get that. You have the COVID season, then you lose to Ohio, you have the NIT last year, and then this year you lose to Furman. Like is this just going to be a guy now that we forget the national title a little bit and just has that stench of this is now a guy in what, the last five, six years that has lost to three double-digit seeds because that's what it's starting to feel like. I feel like Virginia next year, and I went into the tourney yesterday picking Furman, I'm not going to throw a parade for myself, I get that, but I feel like now you're going to need to adapt a little bit because that Virginia offense is very slow to begin with and I know they won a national title not that long ago, but I feel like it doesn't cancel out the national championship because you'd rather have the national championship than don't, obviously, and people are always going to remember that run. But I wouldn't be surprised if we start talking about some of these bad performances where it's like, yeah, you lost to UMBC, then you win a national title, but then after that, you lost to Ohio, and then you lost to Furman, Hickey. It's such a conundrum because, like I said, he has the national title, so the person I'm trying to compare him to in a different sport, it doesn't make sense because we're always ragging this guy for no postseason success.

Who's that? It's almost like Kirk Cousins in a way because Virginia and Tony Bennett, they're always good in the regular season. They were a four seed this year. Obviously, they were one seed when they won the national title. They were one seed when they were upset by UMBC. So it's not like it's a program that got lucky one year, got hot at the right time, won a national title, but it's always been out of the national relevance ever since, either before and after.

They're always in the mix. They're always in the ACC top of the rankings. They're always a four, five, two, three, one seed. So it's not like this is a guy who can't coach or got lucky.

They are consistently really good, but it's like come tournament time, like I said, outside of the one time they won a national title in 2019, Which big deal? It's been early losses, and it's been disappointing more than not. So it's like the Kirk Cousins thing in one sense works because it's a lot of playoff disappointment, in another sense it doesn't because he actually has a championship and Kirk doesn't. But it's like the regular season they are both really consistently good, where it's like you're not going to get many better coaches, but he does leave you wanting more when you're constantly up at the top and more times than not losing way earlier than you should. And let me be clear, I'm not sitting here saying, fire Tony Bennett.

Like I would be the biggest dope in America if I got on the radio and said that today. But the next two to three years, Hickey, I think will really navigate and control that conversation. Not that he has to go win another national championship, but if he doesn't see in the next three years, let's say the second weekend of the NCAA tournament, like he doesn't get to another Sweet 16 and he has like next year a team that's a four, five or a three, and they lose to one of these double digit seeds, then it starts to be okay, you have UMBC but UMBC kind of got washed away because of the national title. But then since that national title, it's been two appearances in the tourney and you lose yesterday to a 13 seed in Furman and then you lost to a 13 seed in Ohio. So like the next two or three years, if they only win one game and they never see another second weekend in the tourney, I do think the conversation about Tony Bennett is like, yeah, he's won a national championship, but then also there's a lot of ugliness in there where they get into the dance, but then some of these losses are just inexcusable. Like yesterday, don't get me wrong, Furman, their story, SOCOM, what they did last year, they came up short, the buzzer beater, it was awesome to see them do that, but how many times had a chance to win that game yesterday? It seems like there's a mental block right there in that program where they couldn't have free throws. You just have an experience by Kihei Clark, just panic and throw the ball and there was no control and no timeout called.

Maybe the better cop is Aaron Rodgers. You win one, you're a really good coach. Tony Bennett's a really good coach.

That's a good one. But it's like underachieving. He always leaves you wanting more and it's disappointing when you look back. It's like, oh, one championship and one deep run in the postseason, it's got to be better. Zach Gelb shows CBS Sports Radio. When we come on back, what are the Panthers going to do with the number one pick? A little change of the conversation from Shefty, Adam Shefter.