00:00All right, you know, spring turns to summer, turns to fall, and before you know it, it's time for college basketball.
00:09And, well, I'm joined by one of the foremost experts in college basketball to talk about the upcoming season.
00:18And, Jay Billis, let's go for a little walk.
00:22Let's go for a walk. I'm excited to be with you.
00:24Frank Walsh, Frank Walsh, it's time, Frank Walsh.
00:34Now, in New York, there right now is a lot of buzz about St. John's.
00:45Like, they are over the moon excited about this upcoming season.
00:51They have lost the expectations.
00:55They're talking Final Four.
00:58I mean, what do you think about that, those talk about St. John's?
01:03Well, I think they should be talking Final Four.
01:05I mean, they've had a great run.
01:09What's that?
01:11They've had a great run under Rick Pitino, and there's a lot of excitement.
01:15And players want to play for a guy like him, a coach like him.
01:20So he can attract talent.
01:21He's already done it.
01:23And with the guys they have back, and then he's going to bring in new players that are going to be even more talented than they've had.
01:30Losing R.J. Lewis to the NBA was a little bit of a surprise.
01:33I thought he would come back as Big East Player of the Year.
01:35That would have helped.
01:36But, you know, Rick Pitino, you know, he knows how to do this.
01:39He'll be fine.
01:40I mean, we are fully in the NIL.
01:43And St. John's seems to be benefiting from it a whole lot.
01:49And that program, which was nothing about five years ago, is now all of a sudden a power again.
01:57Yeah, I don't know that that's all NIL.
01:59I think that helps, certainly.
02:01And it's good for the players to be able to be compensated for what they provide.
02:04Oh, it is.
02:05It is.
02:06I agree.
02:06It was always wrong.
02:07If you could sell someone's jersey with their name on the back or a jersey with the number on the back, it's just, you're kidding yourself if you're not selling the player's name like this.
02:17But what it's done is spread talent around even more.
02:20It doesn't mean that a low major is going to be able to compete with North Carolina or Indiana or Georgetown or Duke.
02:28But what it does mean is they've got access to better players than they've ever had access to before.
02:33I mean, I've looked at this year's last March Madness, and that Cinderella story isn't happening anymore.
02:42Well, but that's a fair point.
02:43But it's just one year because the year before, and there was NIL the year before, we had Florida Atlantic and San Diego State in the final four.
02:50That's true.
02:51And everybody was saying, hey, the world is flat.
02:53The majors aren't going to dominate anymore.
02:56And so now, after one year, what I would say is one data point doesn't make a trend.
03:00And we don't have enough data yet to determine whether NIL is going to be bad for mid-majors or all that stuff.
03:07Right now, I don't think it's been bad for anyone.
03:11It's been nothing but, in my view, nothing but a good thing.
03:13The problem is the coaches don't like the transfer portal.
03:17Yeah, it looks like it's out of control a little bit.
03:19Well, it might be.
03:20But if you want the players to stay, then sign them to contracts.
03:23That's my thing.
03:23I think there's been an adjustment period, and I think in about a year or two, it's going to settle down, and it's going to be more normalized.
03:33I think that's true.
03:33I think it's going to get better, and I think now that because of the house settlement, now that schools can pay players directly,
03:39what they'll do is sign players to contracts.
03:42They'll have buyouts in those contracts, and we'll see less movement.
03:45It's not going to eliminate all movement, but we'll see less of it.
03:47I think that would really help the sport.
03:50Yes, you get someone that can go to college again two, three years, and you know what them.
03:56You're associating them to college, and I think now it's actually changed that they can get now paid in college.
04:03Some of these guys are better staying two, three years and getting paid probably better than being the 12th man on the bench in the NBA.
04:10That's right, and that's why.
04:12And I think that's good for college basketball.
04:13I think it is, too.
04:14That means players are going to stay longer, and you were seeing the second-round picks after you.
04:19We're seeing some of the second-round picks that would have gone pro years ago are staying in school for an additional year,
04:26and how can that be anything but good for the teams?
04:30And then it's also good, you know, people say, and I know they mean it, but they say they believe in education.
04:35Well, if you believe in education, having players stay longer in college is a positive, not a negative.
04:39Yeah. Now, we mentioned St. John's. What other schools do you see being a big factor this season?
04:47I think you're going to see Purdue have a great year.
04:50Matt Painter's done a spectacular job with that program, and talk about a guy who's handled the new landscape really well.
04:57It's Matt Painter.
04:58They don't have a lot of transfers.
04:59They don't take a lot of transfers, but they'll take strategically one or two, but they keep their players,
05:05and that, I think, speaks to their culture.
05:07I think Florida's going to be really good again.
05:09All the SEC is going to be really good again, and I think Duke is going to reload.
05:14They've got a great recruiting class, so they'll be right there.
05:20But you know what?
05:20It's funny, last year, if we were to talk this time last year, Florida wouldn't have come out of my mouth
05:27as a national championship favorite right away, but they were, and they proved it.
05:33I mean, I was actually shocked that Duke lost in the semifinals.
05:36I was shocked at that loss.
05:38Yeah, I wasn't shocked.
05:41It certainly wasn't a pleasant way for any team to lose, to be up and then kind of, from their perspective, let it slip.
05:48But Houston took it away from them.
05:49Oh, just outstanding defenses.
05:52But Houston's an older team.
05:54They'd been through that kind of thing before, and Duke had not.
05:58They hadn't played in a lot of close games all year, and that's important.
06:02You know, they didn't have that muscle that a lot of older teams have, and it might have cost them in that one.
06:08They had a spectacular year.
06:10John Shire's done an amazing job.
06:12I mean, you were there at the start for Coach K.
06:15I was, yeah.
06:16And you saw that program build on him.
06:20You went to the first Final Four.
06:22I mean, and now it looks like the tradition's continuing.
06:28Yeah.
06:28John Shire is brilliant.
06:30Like, he's a brilliant coach.
06:32And he's, what is he, 35 years old?
06:34I see a lot of the best qualities of Coach K in him.
06:38And then he has some qualities that maybe are different from Coach K.
06:42Like, he's got an unbelievable demeanor on the sidelines.
06:45He's great with the players, and Coach K was too, but he does it a little bit differently.
06:53And, but, you know, playing for Coach K, I couldn't have asked for a better mentor, better friend.
06:57And, you know, the way I look at it, I had him when he was, I played for Coach K when he was 35 years old.
07:04And, and, you know, I've had him in my life for 40 plus years as a mentor and friend.
07:10You know, how lucky am I?
07:11I mean, he, that's why he's the all-time when he was coached and has the legacy that he has.
07:18Of course, Dick Vitale, someone you're close to, another Jersey guy.
07:23I have to give him a shout-out.
07:26I'm thinking about him.
07:28Yeah.
07:28But I'm glad to see he's doing better.
07:31Yeah, Dick is doing great.
07:33And, look, he's been the soundtrack of the game.
07:35Oh, yeah.
07:36For my entire lifetime.
07:37Mine too.
07:38And I can't imagine basketball without Dick Vitale's voice.
07:42And, luckily, I don't have to imagine it because he's not going anywhere.
07:44And I just hope that this year Seton Hall is able to find a little spot there.
07:49Yeah, well, what they ought to do is put up a statue of Vitale at Seton Hall.
07:53He deserves it.
07:54I read Seton Hall.
07:56You know, my cousin, my grandfather's cousin, so that's twice removed, I guess, was once president of Seton Hall.
08:04How about that?
08:05Edward Fleming.
08:06Monsignor Edward Fleming.
08:07That's great.
08:08He's my cousin.
08:09Boy, you're in line of succession.
08:11That's fantastic.
08:12Well, thanks for joining us.
08:13Thank you, and congratulations on everything.
08:14I think it's going to be a great season.
08:17You're a big inspiration.
08:18Thanks.
