A new story from CBS Sports Eye On College Basketball Podcast

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The story is the game and Jim wanted it to be the game, but I want to acknowledge the guy. He was in our cold open on the first episode of March and he was, he was just unbelievable to sit down, take a walk down memory lane, try and keep it about the teams with understanding that, you know, I had, I had to write the story on him. He was gracious enough to give me his time. And I was able to share a quick word with him before the game tonight as he settled in. So that was wonderful. I actually recorded the game because when I go back, I always watch rewatch the title game, but this one in particular, I want to hear the call. I want to hear grant, I want to hear rap Tracy and then hear how Jim calls it. So thank you, Jim, for everything and allowing allowing me in and a hell of a basketball career. By the way, we'll see you in two days at the masters. You wouldn't have heard this because you were in the building, but the final 90 seconds of this game took a while and it was a blowout. So as an announcer, you've got a lot you got time to feel. And people are just talking. And at some point, Jim, you know, it is brought up that it is his last game and grant and raff start really trying to turn the conversation. It's all rooted in the best place, right? They just wanted to honor their friend and colleague and grant and raff started trying to take it to they were just talking about Jim nantz and how much he Jim you've met this and you've done this and you've done this and he very quickly just took it and turned it the other direction. But this is about the Yukon. This is about Danny Hurley. He didn't want to feel that final minute with a bunch of Jim Nance talk. And instead turn the focus back on to Yukon. And that's just a perfect reflection of who that guy is. Jim has always been, couldn't be nicer to me. And complimentary and just, you know, when you meet an alleged, he's we mean a lot of people in this business. He's a legend. He's an actual legend. And you don't ever know how those people are going to be, or if they know who you are, or if they care who you are. And boy, you know, I'm just me, but man, he always made me feel like I mattered. And I get the sense that he does that with everybody. He makes everybody feel like they matter. He's all time great broadcaster. But certainly in my experience, just a really great man as well. So I thought he handled the moment beautifully and I'm glad that so many people are able to say so many good things about him and you were able to spend time with him and write that column because he deserves everything he gets. Back to Yukon and then we'll move on. The huskies finished 31 and 8. And just their season as we've sort of touched on is just a weird season. They start 14 and O with 13 double digit wins. Their last 13 games of the season, they go 12 and one. When their last 6 by at least 13, and in the middle of that, there's a 5 and 7 record over a 12 game stretch. They finished number one at Kimball. I wish Jared berson was here. He could help me with this. They finished number one at kenpom. And won the national title, but did not win their league or their league tournament. Do you think that's ever happened? Well, first of all, it's easily researchable. So you keep talking and I'll see if I can give it to you right now. Hold on, you want one at Ken pom and didn't do this. You got to finish one at Kim pom. You got to win the national title, but you could not have won your league title or your league tournament title. I know, by the way, three minutes. By the way, UConn is now 5 and zero in national championship games, which is, I believe, I know, is the best record on far. By far, they already held the record when they were four now. Yeah, they already held the record when they were four zero. In this tournament, they beat iona by 24 saint Mary's by 15 Arkansas by 23 Gonzaga by 28. Miami by 13 San Diego state by 17. It's a nice round number. You've already said it one 20 divided by 6. You know what that gets you? Absolutely dominant performance. Just went through this bracket with really no issues. And whether I know you were ranking modern history teams is it better than this one better than this one. I think we can agree on this. Yukon is the no four seed, no four seed has ever run through the tournament like this four seed ran through the tournament. And one last point I want to make is that they do this as a biggie's program. But just three years ago, they were not a biggie's program. They were an American athletic conference program. And I think the people at that school recognized if we want to be UConn basketball again, what we know, what we know it to be, what we know it can be. We've got to go back to the big east. And if that means sacrificing our conference affiliation with our football program, then that's what we're going to have to do. And though it certainly looks like a brilliant decision now, in that moment, it wasn't crystal clear that that's the smart, long-term, big picture thing to do, to basically tell your football program. We don't care where you're playing because we need our basketball program. Both men's and women's in the big east. And I know Danny wanted to make that move. I know Gino wanted to make that move. And I think you can reasonably say, I'd like to get your opinion on this. If you kind of administration doesn't make the decision to leave the American for the big east and not completely sacrifice football, but certainly diminish football. Just say we're prioritizing basketball in the biggies over anything else. In a time where most universities even pass so called basketball schools, prioritize football because that's the big money maker, that's the thing that gets you where you want to go in terms of conference realignment. You kind of administration decided we're putting our basketball programs back to the big east for better or worse when it comes to football and I think you can reasonably argue that without that decision being made, this night might not have ever happened. I completely agree with you on that. The thought actually flashed across my mind as I was writing the column, but I didn't want to just take a duck down an alleyway into that. I think that's a major part of this without a doubt, worth further examination. We can even get some more Yukon on the other side. The answer to your question never happened. Yukon is the only team to win a title. Be one at Ken palm and fail to both win its league and win its league tournament, had never been done before in this era, Yukon, another barrier broken. All right, so that's 35 minutes of looking back. Next we'll look ahead. Well, you can't be the favorite to also win the 2024 NCAA tournament. We're going to discuss that next. But first, a word from our partners. So here's the question. Is you kind of also going to

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