College Basketball Coach With Most To Gain? (Hour 2)

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That's right. It is the Zach Gelb show on CBS Sports Radio. Dusty May scheduled to join us coming up in a few moments.

Looking forward to that conversation. He joined us earlier in the week and now his team is one game away from going to the Final Four as they punch their ticket to the Elite Eight last night where they will have a date with Kansas State as FAU has been a tremendous story now. 34 and three on the year and in that second half with about like 10-11 minutes remaining they just took over and ended up winning the game and last night just what a night for college basketball. When you take a glance I know UConn did blow out Arkansas, Gonzaga, UCLA was an absolute classic. Kansas State, Michigan State was a thriller as well with that game going into overtime and Marquise Noel just dominating the NCAA tournament and then you had FAU who was phenomenal in those final 10-11 minutes and they just took it to Tennessee and they ended up winning 62 to 55 and now joining us on the Zach Gelb show on CBS Sports Radio is a man that's going to be coaching tomorrow once again at Madison Square Garden as his team is in the Elite Eight. FAU up against Kansas State. Winner goes to Houston for the Final Four and now joining us is the head honcho at FAU with the Owls and that is Dusty May. Coach, congratulations on another victory in the NCAA tournament and thanks so much for doing this once again.

Thank you Zach and it's great to be on. So last night when you're in Madison Square Garden and you're the coach of FAU and you hear the building just chanting FAU, what's going through your mind? I'll be honest Zach, I didn't even hear that. I saw it on social media today and it gave me goosebumps. It was awesome but for whatever reason during the game the only thing I really hear are our players or our assistants or someone involved in the game.

It's an odd deal where I don't hear anything else outside the court. It just speaks to though this tournament too because how many people, no offense, we're talking about FAU before this tournament nationally and you have Madison Square Garden screaming let's go Owls in FAU which is awesome. Yeah actually we have there are a lot of New Yorkers, New Jersey who I think Snowbird and Boca so there is a strong east coast connection to our university and area but yeah nothing like we didn't expect anything like that. I know that you guys as coaches right you're kind of like robots it's your win and then you got to invest everything into the next game but we bring you on Dusty May and we say FAU is going to the Elite Eight and you'll have this game up against Kansas State. Just what goes through your your mind when you get to process that for a minute that FAU is playing in the Elite Eight tomorrow? You know I was laughing with coach Williams and our staff.

We got off the bus. I said are we really in the Elite Eight? It's kind of a running joke all year. We really won 15 games in a row. Are we really 15-1? So said the same thing today and he laughed and said yep we are and then we went to practice. So it's one of those things I've said it several times today after the season I'm sure I'll be sitting around and one of the games will come on ESPN Classic or CBS College Sports Network and my boys are now watching it and feel awesome but when you're in the eye of the storm you're just focused on the next thing because you don't want to let an opportunity pass because you're focused on your last game. It's such a special story but when it really hit me last night is I saw a clip of you talking to your team afterwards in the locker room and you put up the three fingers and you say guys three more wins and we're national champs that's great.

Yeah you know I think sometimes when you get to this stage this point in the season and I've been here a few times as an assistant or a support staffer and you're almost like wow we made it to the lead eight or wow we did this and so you're not nearly as hungry for the next thing just because in our sport each step is such a milestone because it's so hard and there are so many of us 360 plus teams competing for this and so I just wanted to make sure I probably got out ahead of myself a little bit but I just wanted to make sure the guys knew how close we are to the actual finish line but it was more just to try to turn their attention to what's next instead of still celebrating that game. I know you guys have confidence and I know what you said earlier like wow 15 wins wow we're playing the elite eight all that stuff. Does this success surprise you guys or did you know that you had a really good team? This level of success yes but no we would have been extremely disappointed if we didn't win 20-25 games this year. We won 19 last year and we invented new ways to lose. We laughed or didn't laugh but we talked about it several times after the season we would snatch a defeat out of the jaws of victory somehow some way we'd foul a three-point shooter he'd bank in a three or you know there's just at one point we were the second most unlucky team as far as Ken Palm's luck factor so just an odd year the randomness of winning and losing and this year the you know the tide has turned and even the games we didn't play great we still found a way to win and even had some fortunate bounces so I'm not naive to think that this is all just us but you know last year it all went the other way so I guess we were due. Dusty May here with us the head coach at FAU the owls in the elite eight at Madison Square Garden coming up tomorrow night against Kansas State.

Last night against Tennessee where you got the victory to punch your ticket to the elite eight. I thought Michael Forrest was big for you guys in that second half the back-to-back threes and the two-point shot took you from down four to being up four and then your guys coach never looked back from there. No question Mike is the prolific scorer one of the best players to ever wear an FAU uniform and he's he was in the midst of his biggest slump in five years and to see him come out and get the fire back in his eye and regain his confidence was a really really special moment because he's a guy that deserves to go out on a high note. As a staff what do you do for a player like eventually he just has to hit the shots and he did last night but what do you kind of do to take someone's mind off being in a slump?

Well we try a number of things and actually just encourage them I told them yesterday or two days ago I said man just try to find out what grounds you and sometimes it's spiritual sometimes it's just getting away from it we're all wired differently so do something today that's going to get your mind off of it and just get you back to I guess if you go back if you're a happy Gilmore fan go find your happy place or you're building that go find your happy your happy place and so he did a central walk in Central Park and just went by himself and just thought and probably reflected and you know he you know just got back to being him so um really unique moment for him after like I said being in the biggest slump of his career to bounce back and be the hero of that game. Talking to Dusty May you guys did not allow them to have any space in the paint last night it was almost as if you were daring them to shoot just what worked so well with that game plan in the second half defensively? Well we're small at the positions one through four but we're really big at the five position our center seven foot one and fortunately none of their centers shoot three-pointers so we were able just to clog up the paint with our center black golden and then our other guys the switchability the physicality they play with we were able to force a lot of tough shots in that eight to fourteen foot range and then because we our guys are so physical in the glass we're able to rebound those basketballs so a number of things went right it was a good matchup for us with the way we play with our system so fortunately our guys stepped up and made the plays when they needed to be made. You outscored them in the second half 40 to 28 but you went into halftime trailing 27 to 22 what was the vibe in your locker room at half? Well every every game every game at half the coaches go in one direction the players go to locker room and then we reconvene and as soon as I walk in the locker room I asked them what did you guys talk about and the first thing he said first thing one of our guys said was coach we play terrible and we're down five so I think that gave us a lot of hope and then from the staff's perspective the last part of the first half we played really good basketball excuse me and just didn't make shots you know we didn't play well the first eight or ten minutes but the last 10 or so well and the ball just didn't go in so we talked about that as long as we defend in the rebound we have a spurt in us usually we have a couple spurts in each half where we can go an 8-0 run or a 10-2 run so we did talk about if we just keep doing what we're doing we have a spurt in us we've got to stay at the course and our guys were awesome in the second half. It seems like John L Davis and then also Nicholas Boyd just much must be a joy to coach. Oh they love the game they're great teammates and you know that's another factor John L Davis was at 2000 the first half so we sat in the last eight or nine minutes typically we play him but we were hanging around and we thought we could just get him to the second half that mental barrier so he can just play aggressively without having to worry about the fouls and so that was also a big difference we had Nellie back John L back play in the second half they're awesome to coach they're big time players that really believe in themselves and each other wrap it up with Dusty May so let's get to Kansas State real quickly coach you'll play him tomorrow coming up a few minutes after six o'clock here on the east coast uh Marquis Noel has been the best player has been the star of this NCAA tournament I don't think you could stop him but how do you try to contain him tomorrow well we've played a lot of dynamic guards this year and typically they're they've been dynamic scores what makes Noel so unique is he's just as good of a passer and creator and he makes everyone around him significantly better so we've just got he's gonna score points he's gonna get assists we have to do a great job on the role players and we have to find a way to make sure he doesn't have an efficient stat line I also wonder which way the building will lean tomorrow because everyone's loving Noel but then everyone's loving your program as well yeah there was I do think Kansas State had the star power behind them yesterday behind their bench Mason some guys were there we saw so hopefully we can we can pull the common the common fan over to our side and then what stands out to you with Keontae Johnson you know I've known Keontae since he was in high school and he's just a really unique talent where he plays at an old man's pace guys that play in NBA played he doesn't get sped up he's an elite athlete he's a really good shooter driver post guy so just the fact that he can play all over the court and then he's a threat for a lob at any moment as we saw last night they've thrown several at the lobs from half court to him and if he just put it anywhere near the basket and he doesn't have a body on him it's two points so he presents a number of challenges but we just once again just have to find a way to make sure he scores inefficiently coach dusty man I know when you joined us earlier in the week you talked about the importance of Bobby Knight and Mike White and what they've meant to to your career as a temple I remember a few of those matchups against La Tech when you when you were on the staff at the leah chorus center um what has communication been like I know you worked with Mike's brother as as he's your ad but what's communication like during this room with coach Bobby Knight and then also Mike White I don't coach coach Knight much I've spoken with pat through text throughout the run this season I've spoken with coach White just about every day until today and a couple guys on staff spoke with him so we're keeping in touch he gives us good insight on what he sees because he knows us he knows our players we watch each other's teams so it's always nice to have an outsider perspective from someone that also knows uh the the insider so he's given us some good nuggets from what he sees but um you know it's just it's been really cool because we all share these experiences to the guys we're close with so uh without without those guys I wouldn't be here so uh it's an honor for me to share it with those guys coach when you go on a run like this your name gets thrown in a hopper for a bunch of other jobs how do you just kind of deal with all that speculation I don't think about it and put my notifications on silent and focus on what's important which is our team and this job I feel like if the moment I start thinking about other things is when I'm going to get distracted and we preached our players about staying in the moment focus on what's important so what type of example would I be leading if if I wasn't doing the same last thing I'll ask you tomorrow when you speak to your team right before you guys throw that ball up in the air what's going to be the message when you go up against a very good Kansas state team go have fun and we don't have to do anything that we haven't done 30 I guess 39 games now including our scrimmage and exhibition that's going to be awesome can't wait to see it unfold really appreciate you making the time for us throughout the week and good luck tomorrow no problem I enjoyed it thank you there you go Dusty May joining us at FAU and man what an experience that is for that team and we know going into this tournament they've only lost three games on the season being at 31 and three they find a way in a thriller to beat Memphis in the first round of the tournament then they outlast FDU who was the 16 seed and last night when you look at that contest against Tennessee he hit the I thought his talk about the team in the locker room and that's something coaches should do right coaches go one way players go the other and let the players talk and then he goes up this place and what did you guys talk about well coach we're only down by five at halftime we didn't play well and we feel good about ourselves and you saw in that second half once you had the the shot start to fall and and you had uh the one player who's in a slump hit the two threes and then hit the two in in Michael Forrest and they go from down four to be an up by four it totally just opened up the floodgates for that team not just in the way that they were scoring but from a confident standpoint and once they got that lead they just didn't look back and they just went forward and you say this all the time not that there's a cinderella team but no one thought they would be in the elite eight and when you allow and when you're a team like Tennessee coming off that big win against Duke and everyone's like all right Rick Barnes you're gonna get back to another final four and is this gonna be the year right when he when he does it at Tennessee and the longer if you're a team like Tennessee you let a team like FAU who's a very good team hang around and you don't deliver the knockout punch then the team that did not get knocked out starts to get off the ropes counter punch counter punch counter punch and then they knock you out and FAU does not have a better roster than Tennessee right we know where the recruits are when you look at where FAU plays compared to Tennessee and the SEC and FAU was just a better team last night and you're all about this physicality for Tennessee FAU did not let them breathe in the paint and they said go beat us shooting from three and you look back at that contest from the Duke game where Olivier was just awesome he did nothing the game last night nothing so that's a heck of a job by Dusty May and Hickey you're welcome because I threw in that question for you towards the end how do you deal with all the speculation because this is going to be a guy we'll see if he takes the Penn State job I gotta think he's got to be at the top of the list for Penn State and a lot of jobs have already filled so maybe you wait a year from now and we've seen guys right or Roberts where their coach Paul Mills wait until he leaves and he just left for Wichita State he saw Porter Moser wanted to get back with that group out of Chicago and then leave for Oklahoma so you don't got to leave right away now like Tobin Anderson you have Fairleigh Dickinson right it's cool no resources and then you get offered Iona a school with good resources being a mid-major you got to go take that job so we've seen some coaches leave right out Shaheen Holloway you're on modern calls you got to go so you've seen some coaches that go on these runs leave right away others that stick around for a few years and we'll see how calculated Dusty May is because I got to think Penn State just for starters are going to come calling and do you take that job or do you wait a year two years from now and he has a relationship right he coached with Mike White and then Mike's brother is the AD at NFAU and Mike's other brother was the AD as the AD at Tennessee so I don't know does that buy you another year or two I don't know but he has now become and you see this each and every year in March where there's coaches you don't talk about and then all you do is talk about them and Dusty Mayhickey is going to be one of those next big names that you talk about the next few years until he takes a bigger job than FAU but FAU what he's done with that program and what he's done this year like they have a legitimate shot tomorrow to take down Kansas State to go to the Final Four they're a team that's a nine seed it's wild it's wild it's also not a fluke when you look right now since Houston is that game has just tipped off but they you know obviously if they win it'll be tied but right now in all of college basketball they have the most wins at 34 so it's not one of those things where it's uh they're 500 during the year got hot won the conference tournament now it's kind of on a hot streak this team has been dominant from start to finish no fluke I love his answer about block out the distractions and again there's no reason to doubt this team whatsoever going forward no matter who they're playing and really what they did defensively last night was was just bonkers and also you look at the scheduling too the schools that are able to go on these runs that are are the quote-unquote smaller schools they usually schedule big opponents at some point usually just with the way the schedule dictates early in the season I know Ole Miss did not have a good year but that is an SEC school they scheduled them I know they lost they beat Florida by two I think playing those bigger programs it helps your kids when you get into these bigger moments when you're going up against a team that's just bigger and better than you on paper so I do think that helps later on in the year and those matchups were the second and third games of the season so they have been a fun team to watch a really a joy to watch and that that building tomorrow Madison Square Garden I think the the neutral fan is fascinating because there's going to be a lot of neutral fans I know Kansas State's a really good program but there's going to be a lot of neutral fans with FAU Kansas State and just because people's grandmothers go to to Boca in the winter I don't think that means there's going to be a ton of heavily invested FAU fans but the neutral fans tomorrow FAU has been a wonderful story and then Kansas State they have the most entertaining play in the tourney right now and I really wonder where the neutral fan is going to lie I lean more so Kansas State just because of of Marquis Noel but if that game is close and FAU starts hitting threes maybe it goes hickey to the side of FAU I'm picking FAU I'm going with the owls outright outright to go to the final four let's be real what that's all about that's because you're trying to suck up to Dusty Man because you want him as your next coach at Penn State I'd love that as the next coach Penn State they've also been a fun team and they have beaten some legitimate teams so I'm all in let's go I'm on to you hickey it is the Zach Gelb show on CBS Sports Radio there's nothing better than feeling comfortable in your own shoes and that doesn't mean flopping down on the couch with bunny slippers maybe you're a parent raising a little rock star or a tech nomad working from anywhere and jumping from one thing to the next whoever you are all birds wants you to be comfortable in your actual shoes too their wool runners pipers and loungers are designed for a level of coziness that makes you feel like you can do anything you might even forget you're wearing them and their shoes are so stylish they go perfectly with a wear whatever I want attitude Allbirds is all about loving mother nature too because no one wants to leave a bad footprint each shoe is carefully crafted from natural materials that tread lightly on our planet from zq certified merino wool to a bouncy midsole made from sweet film the world's first carbon negative eva material made from sugar cane so get comfortable in your shoes get to know the wool runners pipers and loungers at allbirds.com that's a-l-l-b-i-r-d-s.com you're listening to the Zach Gelb show Zach Gelb show CBS Sports Radio potential upset alert in the making it's early but we're at the half and San Diego State is up 28 to 23 against Alabama and so far Brandon Miller he has two fouls but he's been a no-show in this game all three from three to a nine from the field only has four points and those two fouls and those two fouls they're adding up as you look through the first 20 minutes of basketball and it's not even as if San Diego State has played this incredible game they're it's a sloppy game that's what this is right now and San Diego State's two and nine from three they're shooting 32 from the field so so far hickey you know my analysis was kind of I think Alabama's going to win the game but I'll plus the seven and a half with San Diego State there's still 20 minutes of basketball to play and we know how quickly Alabama could put it together but we've discussed this so far Alabama has not been tested and they also have not played a great opponent San Diego State I know no one talks about them they're not a great opponent and Alabama's struggling with them in this first half and I know you could look at it and say when will Alabama get tested in this tournament is it Creighton assuming Creighton beats Princeton is it the winner of FAU Kansas State they're gonna get tested tonight and they're being tested right now but if they don't win this game that's a brutal look and I mean it would be embarrassing with how this road is shaping up for you and how people thought it was even easy yours truly with just being the number one overall seat and looking at the way that this south region was constructed and then all the upsets that have occurred and then looking at nothing against FAU and Kansas State but if you were bam but before the start of this tourney you said you get to the final four you're playing one of those teams you would sign up for that in a second but right now early on this bamit team they better wake up at half time and they better come out to start the second half with a little intensity and try to take over this game because the longer you allow and we talk about this all the time in the tourney the longer you allow I know there are five seats so it's weird calling them an underdog but they are an underdog in this game that San Diego State team to stick around when they didn't even play a good first half and they're still up on you that is that's going to be troublesome for bama so we'll get a feel of what bama's made out of in the first five minutes I would say coming out of half because this first half they're lucky San Diego State has not played well because this first half they're shooting 27 from the field they're one of 11 that's 9.1 from three they're one of 11 from three and to go into half only trailing 28 to 23 hickey it's weird to say that's a win but it feels like a win for Alabama so these first five minutes we'll see if either of these teams are able to get hot but it's so important for Alabama because you need to make a statement here no one's going to say ooh and ah if you beat San Diego State but if you kind of just survive and advance and it's really ugly and you win this game by a point or two and you're lethargic in the second half and you just beat San Diego State if assuming Creighton beats Princeton it would not surprise you if a lot of people then start to pick Creighton to maybe upset Alabama but let's see if Creighton gets there and let's see if Alabama does get there first and we talked about in the first hour again with the way the path is for Alabama they have by far the most pressure of any team on them to get i mean to the national title game bare minimum just because again of all the upsets and even just where their region was to begin with so to not even make it to the elite if you lose this game it's a colossal failure for NATO it's in this Alabama team and you know what this kind of reminds me of Bama heading into this tourney was like the eagles in the NFC and you look at the way that this is kind of played on out it's Bama it feels like it's Bama and everyone else on the left side of the bracket on the right side of the bracket this is the AFC folks you have Houston you have Miami you have Xavier you have Texas and after last night you have Yukon and Gonzaga the right side of the bracket it's not even close are much better teams than the entirety of the left side of the bracket and you look at Bama if you don't get to that championship game now i know it's a championship or bust season when you're number one overall season of tourney but they don't get just to the championship game and that's not me crushing these other programs like Creighton before the year we're supposed to win the Big East they're getting hot right now FAU they were phenomenal the final 10 minutes against Tennessee Kansas State i love them with Keontae Johnson and Marquis Doyle and Jerome Tang has been a great story but i'll even you if they don't get to that championship game hickey with that road that we talked about you're right it would be embarrassing for Alabama like you get to the championship game and you'll lose by three to Yukon or Houston or Miami or Texas or Gonzaga whoever it is that's one thing but you got to get there and through the first 20 minutes this team has showed zero fight they have not been able to to hit a shot and they have been a team that they are lucky right now to just be down by five points because it feels like it should be a lot worse but San Diego State let's not also just let them off the hook yeah you're up by five you're going to take that but they have not played well as you know in addition to that and i'm interested to see in the second half for alabama is to how they respond because we've seen in the tournament so many times so many years where you are that high see you are that deemed you know big time favorite and now when you let a lesser team hang around the building starts to root for the underdog you see kind of you know teams that end up losing tighten up really start to feel the pressure get out of the rhythm of how they play offense and defense and really try to play hero ball which only leads to more uh likelihood of getting upset really just see how Alabama does respond to like i said just because of how bad the first half was and teams that you know great teams are able to put that past them and have a great team pass them and have a great second half teams that are prone to upsets and then do go down are the ones that really kind of struggle put pressure on themselves and let the moment consume them too much and in the other game that's going on right now Miami and Houston we are in a track meet right now uh coming up on about 10 minutes left in the first half it's 19 to 17 Miami is up on Houston i think that is going to be just a phenomenal game and you look at it and maybe i'll end up being wrong here but Miami Houston and Xavier Texas those are the two games that i think will be the best games of this Friday slate but if you have San Diego State upset Alabama if you have Princeton upset Creighton you know just how that does operate i do think Bama will win but i am worried about them and i just think Creighton is just going to be too too good of a team what they have one through five uh to lose to Prince and even though Princeton has been a wonderful story and as good as their win was up against Arizona is even more impressive with how they just took it and dominated Missouri in that game last weekend in that south regional part of the bracket there's nothing better than feeling comfortable in your own shoes and that doesn't mean flopping down on the couch with bunny slippers maybe you're a parent raising a little rock star or a tech nomad working from anywhere and jumping from one thing to the next whoever you are Allbirds wants you to be comfortable in your actual shoes too their wool runners pipers and loungers are designed for a level of coziness that makes you feel like you can do anything you might even forget you're wearing them and their shoes are so stylish they go perfectly with a wear whatever i want attitude Allbirds is all about loving mother nature too because no one wants to leave a bad footprint each shoe is carefully crafted from natural materials that tread lightly on our planet from zq certified merino wool to a bouncy midsole made from sweet foam the world's first carbon negative eva material made from sugar cane so get comfortable in your shoes get to know the wool runners pipers and loungers at allbirds.com that's a-l-l-b-i-r-d-s dot com you're listening to the Zach Gelb show Zach Gelb show cbs sports radio with the coaches that are remaining in the NCAA tournament from the winners last night that move on into the elite eight and then the coaches that are currently participating right now to punch the final four tickets to the elite eight that we will see coming up tomorrow um when you get through these coaches hickey let's go through coaches with the most to gain out of all the coaches that are still participating in the NCAA tournament let's start with Dusty May who just joined us a few moments ago I don't think there's really much more to gain from the run that he's already gone on like the legend just continues to grow clearly and it does get better but if he loses tomorrow and let's say they get even smacked by Kansas state which I think it will be a close game but even if they get blown out I think he's already put himself in that conversation of that next young coach that a lot of schools are going to want to hire and we've been through this song and dance before whether it's someone like a Porter Moser Shaheen Holloway Paul Mills right like guys that just go on these great runs and you know I don't want to like you look at what what Dusty May is doing like they are a nine seed it's not it's not like a 15 a 16 a 14 whatever it is but to take it this far no one could have seen this coming that's why it gets associated kind of with that Cinderella tag but at this rate I think he's already in that conversation of you know that a lot of schools are going to be interested it's just the matter of when you're going to leave Boca Raton Florida to go take that big job and how calculated you want to be I don't want to say immortalize the word I use if you win tomorrow but it's like you then put yourself in rarefied air again I know they're not like George Mason VCU in the sense of of seeding and even caliber of team of again they have 34 wins this year and shock away a little bit before he left right but it's like you remember those teams no matter what you remember George Mason I think it was oh six and I'm mistaken you remember VCU they come right to your mind right away Loyola Chicago because they all made to the final four I think that's really only in game where I think Dusty May and FAU would kind of go into that category not that they'd be forgotten but you do tend to forget teams like Saint Peter's eventually 10 years from now will not be top of mind when you see it oh yeah that's right great run but I think though like if you are FAU you win tomorrow I think you enter the VCU George Mason Loyola Chicago category of not forgotten whatsoever because you immortalize that with a final four appearance you know what they they could be similar to and I don't remember where they were seed wise in the NCAA tournament so if I'm jumping the gun on this excuse me and I know that this program is in a much bigger conference but you remember a few years ago when Frank Martin was out South Carolina I think it was like 2017 or 2018 and they went to to the final four like that was a team that no one expected them to get there before the start of the NCAA tournament when you go through that run it's like oh okay it's South Carolina blah blah blah like no I'm not comparing directly South Carolina to FAU because it's two totally different amount of resources but kind of like one of those fields where it's not like oh my goodness gracious this is the craziest upset that I've ever seen but it is still viewed by at large a team that no one was picking to get to this point right and you make it to the final four use really again put yourself in a stratosphere that I think would be greater than just South Carolina was a seven elite eight they were a seven that year so like that's why I kind of I knew that they weren't a top five seed so they ended up being being a seven okay let's continue to move through this list so you go through Dusty Jerome Tang at this point this guy's been an assistant since 2000 at three just Baylor and many other years before that Kansas State is a good job it's a really good job I think it's an underappreciated job and they've had a lot of success I saw some tweet today like oh is Kansas State in future years going to be able to to keep Jerome Tang I'm not saying that everyone just gets appreciative oh this is a school that gave him his first break as head coach if I'm him why are you leaving right now you're in the Big 12 which is a phenomenal basketball conference even with the changes that are happening and I look at the job that Jerome Tang has done in year one he seems happy you know where NIL and the transfer portal if you're just able to navigate that you maybe don't need a bigger brand name job like if clearly one of those blue bloods ever come calling and they open up that's a different story but if I'm Jerome Tang I don't really think there's much more to to to gain here outside of okay get the job done tomorrow you're in the final four and then it's really just all gravy from there because this team they were picked dead last dead last in the Big 12 but if you do continue that run with the star that you have in Marquis Noel like you're talking about you just go down in the annals of NCAA tournament history of one of those runs we always remember especially you take it all the way right oh yeah they go all the way a hundred percent but even like I said getting to the final four it just it changes the way everyone remembers you for sure like I said if you're Jerome Tang like there's a lot of really good history with Kansas State basketball you're in arguably the best conference right now in college basketball um but there's no reason to leave this is the end goal if you want to stay there for a while and so far off to a hot start Danny Hurley ever since Calhoun uh walked away from UConn it's like okay who's that next guy I know Kevin Ollie it's weird to say that but he won a championship that just ended so horribly you look at Danny Hurley we all know the basketball family that he comes from and what his dad has done in the New Jersey area if he gets them to the final four right like you lose tomorrow like that would be disappointing because a lot of people I think are going to pick UConn to beat Gonzaga but if you get to the final four this is just once again putting the stamp on you know you try to claim programs are back now I'm not putting this the level of Texas and Miami and football because that's just silly and UConn has won a championship since Calhoun has left but this would be like okay guys UConn is back if they punch their ticket tomorrow to the final four. I mean look you go through the first three games of the tournament I think that you could argue there's no team playing better than UConn right now.

Yeah which scares me for tomorrow. They have been blowing everyone out they have been clicking on all cylinders Danny Hurley's done a great job a great job so far. Marked few he is the most again out of any coach in the NCAA tournament.

100 percent. Because you know what he is he's Andy Reid where we all know how great of a coach he is but you're reluctant to call him great and you just say he's very very very very very very very very good and it's crazy what he's done so far at Gonzaga it was crazy what Reid did in Philadelphia but you keep on getting there and coming up short just naturally we say yeah really good coach but you can't get the big one and this year there's not a lot of pressure on Gonzaga because there are three entering the tourney they survived that crazy game last night which one of the most wild things I've ever seen on a basketball court with they were down and out then they are in control with 90 seconds ago they almost lost the game then they win the game. Whenever Mark Feud is now in the NCAA tournament until he gets that one it's championship or bus whether we feel the pressure or not with Gonzaga like in a year like this. And you're hard to say right of the what now eight and then there's still games going on it's about like 12 or whatever it is 20 schools left uh playing with these games included no one has more to gain than Mark Feud you win a national title you cement kind of your legacy at Andy Reid there's no other coach that would win a national title this year left that I think would gain more than Mark Feud would. Nate Oates I think there is a lot to gain for Nate Oates I think we all acknowledge he's a good coach but if you don't get to the championship and right now they they were down by five at half they're already up by two with 17 minutes left in this game but with I hate to say how easy this road is shaping out to be if you don't get to a championship game then you start to have the way that people view you just solely based off coaching basketball change where it's like wow you have Brandon Miller and you had in front of you San Diego State, Creighton, Princeton, FAU and Kansas State you couldn't get to the championship it would be a very negative and a very bad look for Nate Oates this offseason.

Couldn't agree more. Brian Dutcher at San Diego State it seems like no one talks about San Diego State if we're being honest. No one. What do you win tonight?

Different. I think you change your trajectory obviously but so far if they get bounced I mean so again a solid run for San Diego State you lose to the one seed okay but you're there in the sweet 16 they've just been the model of consistency recently. Jim Larronega we always will remember him for what he did at George Mason now for me it's just can you top what you did at George Mason we talked about that with him when he joined us right before the start of the NCAA tournament and they have a team right now they're up by three 34-31 against Houston they have a team this year based off I know there's been some change in the roster but based off what they did last year going to the elite eight they have a team that cannot just get to the final four but they could win it all this year and it's can you get to another final four if you're if you're Jim Larronega. That Isaiah Wong said and look they played really well against Indiana that they did they have the confidence no doubt about being a final four apostle championship team. Now quickly just rolling through these teams before we got to take a break at the top of the hour Kelvin Sampson it already seems like he's had the redemption story Hickey but now it's with especially with the final four being in Houston it's not only getting there again but it's winning it all this year because if they could stay healthy it's tough to find a better team than Houston like you look at UCLA if they could stay healthy it's tough to find a better team than UCLA they weren't able to stay healthy so for Kelvin Sampson it's just how much further you're going to take just this victory lap in this victory tour before you you move over to the Big 12. It's also delivering like it's cool in one sense you could play in your backyard to a national championship and in another sense it's insane how hard that is to do with all the eyes looking down yeah that gets a lot more pressure than is anything else. Greg McDermott I think it's just more national respect I think a lot of us know how good of a coach he is but if he gets to the final four then it's his moment in the spotlight. Sean Miller it's kind of weird because what he was doing now I guess you're allowed to do it I know people went to jail but for him at Xavier to be in this spot he's been into a bunch of of elite eights before we'll see how much further he could take it if he gets to the elite eight coming up with a win up against Texas tonight. Rodney Terry I think he should have the Texas job just because I don't know who else you're bringing in like there's like if you want to tell me Pat Kelce if you want to tell me Dusty May okay but outside of that like who else is the name that Texas is going to get like Jay Wright's not taking that job Jay Wright's staying on TV so that would be different so it's almost as if like for Rodney Terry the further you go even though it shouldn't really be an argument right now you just further and further solidify your case and the final name Mitch Henderson I don't know how much better you could do than this I don't know if he actually wants to leave Princeton because remember he played at Princeton with when Pete Carril was his coach the late great Pete Carril and he had that great moment against UCLA but now it's just continuing where no one thinks you're going to really get much further than what you already did no one thought you would be here now it's just how far can you really take this thing so that's how you kind of look at all these coaches and what they have to gain here in these great runs and you'll always remember a team like Princeton already because back to back to back years we've seen a 15 seed win and you saw last year St. Peter's took it all the way to lead eight so maybe Princeton could do that take a time out Zach Gelb shows CBS Sports Radio we'll do a news brief next nothing's better than feeling comfortable in your own shoes maybe you're a parent raising a little rock star or a tech nomad working from anywhere Allbirds wants you to be comfortable in your actual shoes too their wool runners pipers and loungers are so cozy you might forget you're wearing them and they're crafted from natural materials that tread lightly on our planet so get comfortable in your shoes get to know the wool runners pipers and loungers at Allbirds.com that's A-L-L-B-I-R-D-S dot com