Greetings, my peeps and welcome to the All Things Basketball Podcast with your boy GD.
In this episode, I'll be doing my week 20 and 21 recap, which will include March Madness
Guys.
I'll talk about the men's brackets as well as the women's brackets and also in the NBA,
I'll give you my players for the week for both week 20 and 21.
So just sit back, relax and enjoy the show.
Okay guys, it's your boy GD back with the All Things Basketball with GD Podcast.
And this episode guys, gonna do like a week 20 and week 21 recap.
I wanted to get to you last week, but as I usually say, life was life and a lot was going
on.
So I'm gonna try and do these couple of episodes here.
And yeah, so it'll probably be a two-parter.
So let us not delay any further.
Let's get right into it.
And we're gonna start with March Madness Guys, the men's and the women's bracket.
I will start with the men's.
Week now, we're at the sweet 16.
And guys, the way it turned out, you have all four number ones still alive.
You have all four number twos alive.
Then from there, you got a couple of threes, couple of fours.
You got a six, a five, and you got as low as a 11 seed.
And the men's side, I must admit, I didn't watch all that many.
I caught a couple.
I caught some of the North Carolina, Michigan game.
I was interested in that one.
I peaked in on Purdue, just slaying Utah State.
But all in all guys, I've really haven't been watching because I've been all enthralled
with the women's tournament.
I mean, you had some exciting games, guys.
You had some thrillers.
You had an overtime.
You had a double overtime.
So you had a few of them that was kind of down to the wire.
Actually, you had a few over times there.
But nonetheless, your top seed overall, UConn, taking care of business in both rounds.
Now they face actually a team they faced in the finals last season in that San Diego state.
So they're facing them in the sweet 16.
So that should be an intriguing match up there.
And then also within that East region, you have Iowa State going up against Illinois.
Then in the South region, your number one, see Houston.
They'll be facing the dookies in that one.
And then on the other side of that bracket, North Carolina State, the 11 C guys, they
got there by beating a number six in Texas Tech.
And then actually a 14 C because Kentucky got knocked out in the first round.
Surprisingly enough, that was one of the big upsets in that first round.
So North Carolina State, they're in the sweet 16.
And then they'll be facing Marquette, who's the two seed.
Then we look at the Midwest, Purdue, number one seed there, handily taking care of both
of their opponents leading up to the sweet 16.
And they'll face Gonzaga.
The five seed, they managed to beat McNeese State and then Kansas to make it to the sweet
16.
And then on the other side of that bracket, you have Creighton, the three seed facing
Tennessee, the two seed and what should be a good match up right there.
Creighton coming off of that double overtime win over Oregon.
And then in your West bracket, North Carolina, the number one seed there, they took care
of business in their two games, including the one I watched Michigan State.
Michigan State gave them a run, but early on, but North Carolina, they stepped on the
gas and took care of business.
They'll face Alabama, a team last year, got all the way to the final four.
So they'll face them in the sweet 16 and then on the other side of that bracket, Clemson,
the six seed taking on the two seed Arizona.
But to be honest, there were some upsets amongst the men that talked about Kentucky being one
of them and also a 12 seed Grand Canyon knocking off the five seed St. Mary.
Yale actually knocked off a four seed in Auburn.
Oh, and also James Madison knocking off Wintz-Conson.
That was a five seed.
So pretty much going according to plan.
I think I saw that there were only 57 brackets that were alive thus far, which when you look
at the grand scheme of things, that's not, that's not a lot.
And then the women's, I think you got even less, but it looks like Yukon, if they can
take care of business in their region, I see them reaching the final four.
I think it's a final four where you could possibly get all four one seeds.
That's how good those teams on the top are.
We'll see how it goes.
I love how produce plan Zach Edie is playing out of his mind and that team in general.
Houston, they've been taking care of business as well.
You got cried over there.
Also Jamal Sheed and Emmanuel Sharp.
Houston, they look good.
They look good as well.
And then North Carolina, of course, you got to start with RJ Davis and then Armando Bacot.
They're big man over there.
And for Yukon leading the way is Tristan Newton for them, the senior guard over there, as
well as Ken Spencer, also in the backcourt there for the Yukon Huskies.
So the men's side, I will start paying a little closer attention now that they're in the
sweet 16.
I'll definitely be taking a glance at those games, that's for sure.
And then we'll talk about the women guys.
The women's tournament has been as good as advertised to be honest with you.
Right now you have all four number one seeds.
That's alive.
You have three number two seeds.
You have four threes still alive, a couple of fours and then a couple of five.
So nothing lower than a seven seed.
You know, you'll get some people saying, Oh, but for the women, there's not that many
upsets.
You know, I attribute that to the fact that the committee actually does its job and picks
the right seeds.
The four numbers one seeds here, you can't really argue too much against them.
All four of them won their respective conferences.
Mind you, there's one region that's a killer region, but nonetheless, overall, they get
it right on the men's side.
It seemed like they got the top seeds, right?
It was the lower seeds where there was kind of an issue in that regard.
But the women's game is popping right now.
And what I attribute it to is the fact that these women, you don't have where they can
declare early.
They played it four years.
They go to the WNBA.
So you have continuity for the most part outside of the transfer portal being kind of a flying
ointment, so to speak, but that's why the women's game is popping right now on the men's side.
You got a lot of one and done's maybe a two years and done guy.
And it's just a lot of turnover.
Then you have the transfer portal for the men, which is kind of a similar situation of not
worse than the women's.
So that kind of opens the door for your upsets when those happen in the men's game.
The fact that you have like a blue blood that, you know, it's kind of a revolving door in
terms of the kids coming in, declaring early and going to the NBA.
Whereas in the women's game, you know, they stay at the school for the most part for the
duration of their time.
Unless, you know, you have somebody that's disgruntled, maybe somebody in a kind of mid
major who wants to transfer over to a big name school.
You have those situations.
But for the most part, you have a symmetry there amongst the teams.
So if that said, let me talk about the bracket itself.
Of course, like I said, your number one seats, South Carolina, Iowa, Texas and USC.
Still alive in South Carolina.
They'll be heading to Albany.
In fact, you have the Albany one region, Albany two region.
I'll talk about the Albany two in a minute.
So they'll face Indiana, Indiana squad.
That's for the most part, they've had to beat Fairfield in the first round and then Oklahoma
in the second round.
They had the luxury of playing in Bluington, Indiana, so that certainly helps matters.
So they'll face South Carolina up there in Albany.
And on the other side of that bracket, you have the two in the three seat Notre Dame
facing off against Oregon State.
Notre Dame, we know have Hannah Hidalgo and she's the fine freshman over there.
Really going to get heavy consideration for defensive player of the year.
In fact, I see a scenario where she's on the all defensive team amongst the women.
So you have a possible collision of South Carolina taken on Notre Dame if they're able
to take care of business.
And then we know that both of those teams squared off against each other over there
in Paris.
So it will be great to see Dawn Staley going up against the highly respected Niel Ivy over
there for Notre Dame.
If form holds, that should be a pretty good matchup.
And then on the other side, Albany two, brutal region guys.
You have Iowa, they were able to take care of business guys.
They be Holy Cross and then they came and played a tough game against West Virginia,
but was able to pull it out, of course, led by their mercurial star, Caitlin Clark.
They draw number five seed Colorado, a team that they faced before.
In fact, last year in the tournament, it was Iowa who knocked out Colorado.
So Colorado can exactly revenge here if they're able to pull it off.
And then on the other side of that bracket, you have LSU at the three seed, taking on
the two C UCLA UCLA led by Lauren Betts.
They're terrific player over there.
And then LSU, you know, everything begins and ends with Angel Reese, their star there,
the double double queen.
LSU Barbie herself.
And then of course that squad is loaded.
You got a Nisa Morrow, who's an undersized player who's been playing well in the post.
Haley Van Lyft, who she's had her moments, but they're really going to need her to step
up now that they're getting into the later parts of the tournament.
Flajie Johnson has been absolutely sensational ever since the SEC tournament she's been on
a tear and she continues to do so.
And they're going to need her if they're to survive UCLA in the face.
Iowa, they're going to need Flajie to keep Caitlin Clark at bay.
Kind of looking ahead there, provided both of those teams take care of business.
It's not going to be a walk in the park for either one of them.
And then of course you have Kim Mulkey, the coach there and the firestorm that led up
to her second round game where she in a press conference made the statement about a Washington
post article that's supposed to come out soon.
She's calling it a hit piece on her.
And the reporter for that article is Kent Bab and he supposedly did a similar story
on the football coach for LSU Brian Kelly, which Kim Mulkey noted in the press conference.
She came out hot and heavy guys saying she's lining up defamation lawyers to hold the Washington
post accountable if they do this sort of hit piece on her.
So we'll see what happens.
I reserve the right to not say much because I haven't seen the article, but it doesn't
sound good.
It just doesn't sound good.
So we'll see what's in that article in the days to come.
So you have that kind of hanging over LSU, but we'll see how that situation plays out
throughout the rest of this tournament.
And then on the Portland region, that's your next region there.
You have USC as the top team over there, of course, led by their freshman, Juju Watkins,
who's looking sensational in these tournaments here.
She doesn't look like a wide-eyed freshman at all.
She's locked in.
She's loaded.
She's ready.
And they're in the final four for the first time since 1994, I'm told.
And that's when they had a player named Lisa Leslie and the coach over there was Cheryl
Miller.
So you're talking about way back when guys 30 years to be exact.
And then they'll be facing off against number five Baylor, who took care of business beating
Vytec and also in the first round, they were able to beat Vanderbilt.
So Baylor, who has two sensational guards in their back court.
So we'll see what happens.
But Juju has been getting help from players like McKenzie Forbes.
So as long as she's getting the help, that team's going to be dangerous guys.
And then on the other side of that bracket, Yukon, Page Becker's, I tell you what guys,
and me and my boy was kind of going back and forth about this.
Page Becker is balling right now.
And so much so that her coach pretty much stated so in his post game press conference,
saying that she is the best player in the game right now, the way she's playing her
efficiency, which she has been very efficient guys.
And she has been scoring the ball, rebounding, playing defense.
This is the page Becker's that we saw a couple of years ago before the injuries kind of be
set her, but now she looks like she's in a groove guys.
And they'll be facing off against Duke led by their coach, Kara Lawson, personal favorite
of mine.
And that team is locked and loaded over there as well.
They were able to knock off the two C Ohio State.
So this is not going to be a walk in the park for Gino Ariama and that squad over there.
This is one that I'll be very interested to see how this one shakes out.
And then your final region, Texas, number one, Texas quietly has had a fine tournament.
They took care of business beating Drexel, then in the next round, beating Alabama, Texas
led by their freshman, Madison Booker, who's once again, these freshmen guys, they're not
playing like freshmen.
They're playing like season vets, even over there with South Carolina.
You got Malaysia for Wally and she's taking care of business over there.
So these freshmen are really playing above their skis and good for them.
Good for them.
They're great for the game and it just gives you a look into the next three years now because
we're almost done with the season here.
So three more seasons you're going to get from these ladies and I look so forward to
it.
So they will face off against Gonzaga.
Gonzaga got there by beating UC Irvine.
And then in a game that I watched, they were able to beat Utah because I wanted to sit
down and watch Alyssa Peely.
Oh man, she is good.
She just needed help, but she herself, she went off guys.
She's going to be a major problem on the next level when she goes to the W guys.
That's how good she is.
But Gonzaga was able to take care of business and now they get the one seed in Texas.
Then on the other side of that bracket, you got the two and the three going up against
each other, Stanford, who was able to beat Norfolk State and then in a overtime game
against Iowa State and Audi Crooks.
Guys, we've been talking about the other freshmen, even Michaela Williams for LSU, but we didn't
really talk about Audi Crooks.
Guys, she had a sensational first round game.
Up and 40 points and just absolutely dominating on 90% shooting, by the way.
But I tell you what, she's a girl who I say once she trains in the off season and so forth
and especially with the crop of other freshmen that's come in with her, Iowa State is going
to be a major problem in the women's game.
Hey, listen.
Caitlyn Clark, she's heading to the W. So look like you might have a new sheriff in
town in the state of Iowa and it could be these Iowa State psychones guys.
So they went toe to toe with Stanford and they end up losing in overtime.
Stanford, of course, led by Cameron Brink and Kiki, who had a sensational game actually
against Iowa State.
She was sensational guys.
They'll face off against North Carolina State, a team that beat Chattanooga and then they
knocked off Tennessee to get to the sweet 16.
Guys, men and women alive for their respective schools.
You have Duke, Yukon, Gonzaga, and there was a fourth team.
Oh, North Carolina State.
I'm sorry.
So those are your four teams that still have men's and women's teams alive in these tournaments.
So kudos to those schools.
But guys, we have some exciting basketball ahead as far as the college game and I so
look forward to checking that out and giving that a watch.
So on that note, guys, that is my report on the college basketball.
Let's talk pros guys and as always, we'll do our players of the week.
I have them for both week 20 and week 21 for week 20 guys.
Jalen Green for the Houston Rockets, one of the hottest teams in the NBA right now.
And Jalen, he has been on a tear since has been announced that he's got a baby on the
way.
He has been playing out of his mind since then, guys.
His team went three and 0 for the week.
They beat the San Antonio Spurs in San Antonio.
They beat Washington at home and Cleveland at home.
He averaged 26.3 points per game, 8.7 rebounds and 3.7 assists shooting it just over 49%
from the field, nearly 46% from three.
And then of his 13 free throws for the week, he's sunk 10.
So pretty good stuff from Jalen Green, a team that I kind of thought you could have buried
them for dead after opera and sing on went down with that injury.
But Jalen Green has really carried this ball club.
And like I said, they're one of the hotter teams in the NBA right now.
And they're actually on the outside looking in and actually not that far off from being
in the play.
I don't know how well they're playing guys.
We'll see if this team can make a push and they will have to leave frog golden state
to do it.
Is it possible?
Perhaps, but we'll see what happens.
And then for the East, my guy Jalen Brunson, who had a fantastic week guys, the team went
three and 0 beating Philadelphia and then going on their West road trip.
They beat Portland and then came back Saturday night and beat the Sacramento Kings and what
was a really competitive game guys.
But Jalen Brunson averaging 35.7 points per game, five assists, three rebounds and two
steals.
And oh, by the way, on those road wins, he would score 45 and then again, Sacramento
42 being the fourth Nick to score over 40 points on back to back games.
He joins Patrick Ewan, Bernard King, Carmelo Anthony.
Now that's the kind of company he's keeping guys.
And then for the week, he shot 54.3% from the field, 39.3 from three point range.
And then of his 24 free throws, he sunk 20 guys.
So Jalen Brunson continuing to carry these nicks.
They're trying to get to the third seed half game from Cleveland as of this recording.
And they're not too far off from Milwaukee, even for the two seed.
So everything is bunched together guys.
You even have the Orlando magic behind them kind of nipping at their heels.
These last few games guys, it's put up or shut up guys.
But Jalen Brunson, player of the week for the East in week 20.
Week 21, let's start with Anthony Davis, who has been an absolute terror lately.
His team went three and 0 for the week.
They beat Atlanta, Philadelphia and then Indiana.
And again, that was a thriller, 150 to 145.
A lot of points dropped in that one.
Anthony Davis for the week, 27 point C average, 16.7 rebounds, 4.3 assists and two blocks.
Shooting it from the field, a blistering 68.6% guys.
From the free throw line, he only went 11 times for the week and he made eight of them.
Anthony Davis coming up big for the LA Lakers and they need every single bit of it right
now.
And then for the East, Derek White of the Boston Celtics, who had a pretty good week.
His team went 4 and 0.
He averaged 20.3 points per game, nearly nine assists and six and a half rebounds.
And he actually recorded a triple double for the week that he did against the Detroit
Pistons.
He shot it only 41.5% from the field, over 34% from three.
And then he only missed two free throws out of 15.
But Derek White, the ultimate team player guys, right now he is about third or fourth
in the pecking order over there.
But the guy is getting it done, man.
So Derek White for the Boston Celtics, the league leading Boston Celtics, getting the
job done.
All right, guys.
So you know what I'm going to do?
I think I'm going to cut it off right here.
All right, so that is it for this episode.
I'm going to continue the rest.
So I'll give you a part two because we still have injury news, a lot of it.
Also guys, I have, of course, fines and suspensions, milestones being reached, extensions being
given and a lot more.
So I'll talk about that on the other side.
All right, guys.
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All right, guys.
So that is it.
And we will talk soon.
Take care.
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