Steve Lappas' Round of 16 Breakdown

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2:30And I'm listening as you do every day to you better you bet with the most handsome single man in the radio business. A man who if I was not married for 38 years, I might consider myself the kind of guy that can electrify a listening audience and a crowd of bystanders watching him do what he does so well. Each and every day continue to listen right here on you better you bet. This is you better you bet on Westwood One Sports. Brought to you by Ben MGM. The tremendous sports Thursday edition of you better you bet rolls on Nick Costos, our crew and you on Westwood One Sports. I'm buzzing after the first hour of the show today. I can't wait for tonight. Three days away from my love. The NCAA tournament. Way, way, way too long.

3:31Tonight it's back and tomorrow and Saturday and Sunday. What a time to be alive. Can't wait for Arizona Arkansas. Illinois Houston. I feel like this is a regional final in the sweet 16. It is going to be outstanding. We talked about the Celtics win last night over the Oklahoma City Thunder and why? Yes. I think Jalen Brown has taken the next step. And yes, Boston could push OKC if those two teams meet in the finals. I'll still take the Oklahoma City Thunder and an awesome interview to close the hour with legendary college basketball coach. The one the only Jim Bayheim on Jerry McNamara on the NCAA tournament. And he loves him. Shamshay Gilgis Alexander. We'll get more into last night in the NBA. A very newsy night in the NBA coming up later this hour. I still have to tell everybody the two teams at the NFL absolutely screwed yesterday. And we'll break down all of tonight's games at the end of the show.

4:32But joining us right now. We go from one former college basketball coach to another and I say a lot on the show that we are. I said yesterday after Brian Anderson joined us. That we are in the golden age of sports play by play broadcasters and broadcast teams in general. There are so many electric broadcast teams across all sports. And college basketball is certainly one of them. And you know this. You are listeners and viewers. I have said for years for years that Andrew Catalan and Steve like and Steve Lapis are extraordinarily underrated. Catalan's amazing. Steve Lapis is amazing. And I love them as a broadcast team calling college basketball calling the NCAA tournament. So a thrill now to welcome to the show. The great Steve Lapis who will be on the call tomorrow in Chicago of Michigan. Bama and Iowa state Tennessee in the Midwest region. Here do you better you bet on this Thursday coach.

5:33Thanks for joining us. Happy sweet 16 round my friend to you and yours. Well, thanks for having me and I'm happy to be in Chicago. One of my favorite towns. Do you can we actually start if it's okay with you before we talk about the games with you guys. Like you and it I I think you guys are tremendous and I've said this for years. I'm not just saying this because you're on the show right now. Do you ever feel like you guys might be I'm going to use this word you don't have to like a little underrated. I kind of feel that way. I know a lot of people that feel that way both in the media and otherwise. Is that a fair approximation? Do you even care? Like I think you guys are so good that why really appreciate that you know one thing about Andrew and I we've done like 350 games together you know we've been doing this for so long together and we are really good friends you know outside of work you know we play golf we go to dinner whatever so I mean and he is a tremendous as you we say he is as good a play by play guy as there is and

6:34think about what he does he does golf he does football he does basketball I mean he is tremendous and we do have a good thing going and you know I don't really worry about underrated rated you know I'm happy to CVS like that's the most important thing that could happen and and you know I think my style to a times not Andrew Andrew is tremendous I can be a little polarizing I think because you know I kind of my thing is kind of to tell it like it is and and you know I watch your game and I watch your game now like I watched it when I was coaching you know when I was trying to teach my guys what to do to be better and obviously you point out mistakes you know what I mean you've got to correct mistakes and because coaches are looking for the perfect game right I guess I still have a little bit of that some people like it some people don't you know it's just kind of who I am I'll tell you what though even if even if you didn't use this word but let's say like it's love and hate right that those are the two emotions you inspire like those are sides of the same coin but you don't want obviously and you know this being a

7:36successful broadcast or after being a successful coach is in difference and there ain't no indifference when people watch you guys call games and I can't wait to watch it tomorrow on CBS and coach but we'll work our way backwards right I want to get your opinions on the games tonight but let's start with the games that you guys will be calling tomorrow in the Midwest region and we'll start with Michigan and Alabama the Wolverines obviously the one seed in the region a pretty sizable favorite over Nate oats and the tide and I I like Michigan in the game and I think Michigan might win this game by double digits but we've seen Alabama with NATO it's pull off these upsets in the past against we saw it against North Carolina a number of years ago with the way they can score the basketball when you sit down and analyze this game what stands out the most to you Michigan and Bama well Michigan is one of the most bound Michigan has a great chance to break the 25 year droughts or 26 year drought whatever it is of the big 10 winning a championship do you think about the year that they've had they have been I think the best team from day one to the end of the year yeah they had their little you know at the end of the year they lost

8:38they lost a duke they didn't lose to some you know they lost another great team but they are the most balanced team there is they have great inside scoring they have great outside scoring they are great offensively they are great defensively they could play half court they could run in transition so this is a team that is Scott everything it needs now the problem is you're playing that team on Alabama that throws three's up more than anybody in the country and if Alabama is able to make this game fast and I'm not and Michigan likes to play fast but I don't know if it helps Michigan in this game to play fast because Alabama is the number one team in the country in terms of amount of transition threes and making transition threes so if this game is more half court now you get a day mile or more involved now you get more is Johnson more involved these guys have tremendous power in the lane so it'll be interesting to see if Dusty may is happy to make it attract me when Alabama or is he going to look to slow it down at times to get the

9:42ball inside because that's where Alabama is weak they don't have the inside they got Sherrell's a good player but they don't have a lot of physical guys in the lane and they're playing the team that could score in the paint so that part will be interesting to see what would you do coach if you were Dusty may in this game you mentioned a couple scenarios which one would you choose I would look to go when I can but I would not hesitate especially on a made Alabama basket to come down and pound it on them so I just don't obviously you have to be able to not turn the ball over but you know Alabama doesn't force turnovers and Michigan is not a team that turns it over I would look to make a balance you got to run when you got something good because you've done it successfully all year and you got a kid like Elliott Kado who's a really good point guard and Linda Berg who's almost a point guard at six nine so yes you want to do that but I would not hesitate especially on Alabama made baskets to go down and pound it in on them

10:44because if they can get Sherrell in foul trouble they don't really have another good big guy the kid Williamson from Bucknell they don't use him that much that would be a huge key so I would do a little bit of both I would I would make sure my guys know listen don't worry we can't run it we're not going to run it we're going to pound the thing inside that's Michigan Alabama and coach Iowa State Tennessee maybe gets a little bit overshadowed by Michigan and Alabama given like the national prominence of those programs and Michigan being the one seed and one of the best teams in the country all year I I think this game is going to be so fascinating right and we don't know yet and maybe you have some insight for us if Joshua Jefferson's going to play I think the last we had seen TJ Ozzelberger said Jefferson's going to be a game time decision for Iowa State and Tennessee and and look like obviously the result of the game is the most important thing but Ozzelberger's name is getting floated out there for the North Carolina job and like maybe he's immune to that sort of thing maybe he's heard it you know Rick Barnes everyone wants to say is like

11:46this tournament choke artists this is now we've been to a number of consecutive sweet 16s with the Vols and as a fantastic freshman innate offense I think this is shaping up to be a tremendous game with Tennessee and Iowa State how do you see it playing out yeah I mean it's it's a I said it on the air the other day when we saw this was going to be the matchup I said these two teams may kill each other because they are both you know cut from the same cloth as they say you know I mean I would say I would say a little bit better offensively now as you said a lot the president Joshua Jefferson who's the first him all American and this kid has had an unbelievable year you talking about a guy at six nine who's at two triple doubles with points rebounds and a fifth so he obviously is a tremendous part of the team but these two teams are tremendous offensively they are both very physical and that's why you know they're both very good offensive rebounding teams I mean Tennessee is the best offensive rebounding team in the country but

12:48one of their problems is they they get a lot offensive rebounds but they also miss a lot of putbacks you know they're like 280 in converting offensive rebounds even though they leave the nation in them and they also leave the nation and getting tracking down missed three point rebounds so they get it everywhere and the question is going to be do they get enough extra possessions to beat this Iowa state team but I think this is a very compelling game I am going over to practices now so I don't know anything about Joshua Jefferson yet I guess I'll learn something when we go over to the United Center in a few minutes but you know him not playing is they did an unbelievable job to do what they did to Kentucky I mean they just turn Kentucky over made life miserable for them and I think a big part of this game too is going to be can they wear out Jacobi Gillespie me he is a dominant player for for Tennessee they go as he goes I'm sure T. J. Austin Bergen's going to have something special for him to make him work as hard as he can in those 40 minutes because he's going to play 40 minutes or took him to play 37 to make it as hard as they

13:53as he can for them you better you bet on this Thursday the NCAA tournament back tonight and we can't wait for it that's the great Steve Lapis does an awesome job on the call of the NCAA tournament games with our friend Andrew Catalan they will be in Chicago tomorrow for Michigan Bama and Tennessee Iowa State coach would love to get your thoughts on a couple of the other games in the round of 16 and I open the show by saying and I don't mean this sincerely I don't mean it as disrespect to Nebraska or Iowa done an amazing job obviously to get to the round of 16 it feels like and I can be wrong about this right it feels to me and I'm curious actually if you agree with this Houston Illinois tonight game going to be played in Houston feels to me like this is a regional final being played in the round of 16 and both of these teams you can make the case can go to into theapolis could maybe play for the national championship I'm so excited for it small points bread in the game if like Illinois Houston tonight your thoughts on what will happen in this game

14:54though we all can't wait to watch I totally agree with you on your take of what it feels like and again I'm not taking anything away from Iowa and Nebraska you know the Iowa Iowa obviously now that was a bigger upset than high point beaten Wisconsin I think Iowa beaten Florida to be truthful because I thought Florida was on a mission here with the front court that they had that they were making it to the national championship game they didn't obviously so give Iowa credit but this Illinois Houston game is very compelling you have an Illinois team that is as good offensive as you're going to find in the country they have so many weapons they're big they're physical you know they've had their ups and downs also and they're playing a Houston team that truthfully this is not kelp and sands is best team not even close he's done an unbelievable coaching job with this thing to say the truth he's got two freshmen starting he's got a freshman the Cardi coming off the bench was playing really good lately they don't have really that great size

15:58you know a tugler is like six nine he's a he's a he's not a great score so I mean what he's done with this team I think it's been incredible and you know when you have two freshmen you starting lineup and you still play and they're not as good defensively they were leisure but they're pretty damn good you know so I think kelp and sands is done unbelievable job I think this is going to be a very difficult game for Houston I think a lot depends on how Kingston Fleming plays the great freshman that they have and how tugler plays is he going to be able to score against this Illinois frontline because I think and the other thing is Illinois we know it's great offensively but we know what kelp and sands does the great offensive team so this is a really compelling matchup I think Illinois I would give Illinois a little bit of an edge in this game only because I worry a little bit about Houston starting two freshmen and whether they're going to play well in this game tonight coach you are getting me even more excited than I already was to watch these games coming

17:02up over the next two days and certainly the weekend it's going to be magnificent and you know typically we would say a game like Illinois Houston are like are the games that you're going to be calling like maybe in the sweet 16 round we don't get tons of incredible games just the east region is ridiculous and those games will be tomorrow right Duke against Rick Patino and St. John's and obviously you and Andrew did the Yukon games last week and like Alex Carapans awesome game against UCLA to send the Huskies to the sweet 16 Danny Hurley and Yukon against Tom isso and Michigan State I I would just kind of love for you just to talk to us about the east region and how you see these games playing out over this weekend and who you think ultimately emerges from the east to go to Indianapolis in the final form well I'm thoroughly annoyed that number one they're playing the same night we're doing our games because right there was something if there was something I want to see or obviously even better call it would be this region I mean from the day that the bracket came out you saw this was the toughest region and here it is exactly kind of what we

18:09thought it was going to be you know you could argue St. John's or Kansas but the chalk is there for everybody else this is an unbelievable region I mean you think about St. John's they haven't been to a sweet 16 since 1999 they got Rick Patino there were they hired and you know I'd be honest with you when they hired him I knew I said St. John's back and you know they hadn't been there for a while but this guy that's all he does is win that's it and now he's going against Duke now I think obviously Duke has a tremendous advantage the one thing I saw about Duke that was impressive during the year was what they did to Michigan at the end of the year and that they were able more than anything else to destroy them in the paint not allow Michigan to score and they themselves score in the paint and I think that's going to be where St. John's is going to get her it's going to be hard for edge or four I think to get a lot done in this game now is gumbo back you know he played 13 minutes last week I'm going to take one of weeks more weeks rest he's hopefully going to be able to play I think St. John has a lot of trouble scoring inside

19:11against Duke and I don't think they have an answer for boozer or Isaiah Evans but you know hey the guy coaching St. John's he's pretty good so you know we can't count him out coach I love this this got me so excited so jacked I can't wait to watch you and listen to you and Andrew tomorrow night on the games in the Midwest region Michigan and Alabama Tennessee and Iowa state you are awesome I really enjoyed this thank you very much have a great call and we hope to do this again down the line thank you so much for being a proud to me on the coach Steve Lapis joining us here on the show that is someone that adores college basketball and knows everything about every team you notice right like he he's not calling Illinois Houston that didn't stop him from knowing everything about both teams with his answer and like tuggler maybe being a little undersized man just just from a selfish perspective all of us right I know Kenny likes Illinois

20:18Tyler you we all have Illinois right this is like a big like show thing here tonight like we all kind of yeah Tyler yeah we've all got him what could possibly go wrong we all have Illinois tonight against the Houston Cougars at the end of the show we'll give you all our bets that will be Illinois Houston that'll be Iowa Nebraska Arizona Arkansas Texas and Purdue John Ewing from Ben MGM will join us at the end of the hour he'll tell us how people are betting the round of 16 if there are any nuggets for you are listener and viewer to take away as you look to play some wagers coming up for the tournament um we have so sometimes I find myself in this spot just always really honest with the audience where there's so much good stuff to talk about I'm not really sure what we should do next it's it's either going to be the two teams that the NFL screwed and we'll talk about Daniel Jeremiah's quotes yesterday on the show about Fernando Mendoza and Ty Simpson or we've got like nine NBA topics to to go over I'll confer with with the crew here

21:21on you better you better you better we'll figure it out so one of those two things will be coming up next 3 108 40 49 10 YouTube dot com backslash at the costos thank you for joining us on a Thursday on Westwood one sports attention is at an all time high and we've got your front row seat stream all of March madness on the Westwood one app from your home of the NCA tournament Westwood one sports I love a day on the water with friends but my moderate to severe plaques rises sometimes hold me back now I'm all in with clear skin thanks to skyrizy risen kism at riza a prescription only 150 milligram injection for adults who are candidates for systemic or photo therapy teaching music is my passion but my active psoriatic arthritis can limit me at times now I'm treating my joint symptoms with skyrizy with skyrizy most people with plaques rises saw 90 percent clear skin at four months or if you are an adult with active psoriatic arthritis skyrizy helps you move with less joint pain stiffness

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