Selection Sunday has come and gone, and March Madness finally starts this week. Now that we’ve got the bracket, Tate Frazier and Mark Titus examine the West and the limited collective tournament experience of the coaches in that region. Listen to the full podcast here. This transcript has been edited and condensed.
A “Murderers’ Row of Nerds” in the West
Mark Titus: The first thing that jumped out to me, when they were unveiling the West [region of the NCAA Tournament bracket], was this murderers’ row of nerds in the West.
Tate Frazier: Yes.
Titus: Where Northwestern’s playing Vanderbilt, and the next two teams unveiled [are] Notre Dame and Princeton.
Frazier: Yes.
Titus: And then they kept it going with West Virginia and Bucknell.
Frazier: I think if we go to overtime, [the games will] come down to SAT scores.
Titus: Yeah, right. So, one thing that’s kind of interesting … the only coach in the West that’s been to a Final Four is Bob Huggins. This has a lot of potential to unlock the coach-that’s-never-done-it-before-type thing. Mark Few and Sean Miller are the top two seeds. … Are those the two best guys who’ve never been to a Final Four?
Frazier: Leonard Hamilton [of Florida State], who’s a 3-seed.
Titus: Leonard Hamilton’s a 3-seed.
Frazier: Mike Brey!
Titus: Mike Brey [of Notre Dame] is the 5-seed.
Frazier: Hey, what about Mark Turgeon [of Maryland], 6-seed?
Titus: Mark Turgeon, 6-seed. Should we keep going? Let’s keep going until we don’t know who the coach is …
Frazier: Will Wade [of VCU], 10-seed!
Titus: Randy Bennett is the coach at St. Mary’s. I knew that. [Laughing] Northwestern, Chris Collins. Bryce Drew is [the coach at] Vanderbilt — he’s the 9-seed. Will Wade is the 10-seed. Could we keep going? Chris Mack [at] Xavier [is the] 11-seed.
Frazier: Chris Mack, should’ve always been there.
Titus: Princeton, OK.
Frazier: Yeah, we don’t know. [Laughing] No idea.
