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Final Four Frenzy: Analyzing Men's and Women's Basketball Championship Contenders

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March Madness reaches its climax with all number one seeds making the Final Four for both men's and women's tournaments, with Duke positioned as the favorite based on their tournament-leading 21.25 point differential.

• Duke faces Houston in a rematch from last year when LJ Cryer's injury significantly impacted the outcome
• Florida and Auburn complete the men's Final Four, both featuring experienced upperclassmen leadership
• Historical comparisons to Duke's 1999 team create both excitement and concern for Blue Devils fans
• Women's tournament features UConn vs UCLA in a showcase of top WNBA prospects Paige Beckers and Lauren Betts
• South Carolina remains the team to beat on the women's side, though Texas brings size that could create matchup problems
• Final Four games taking place Friday and Saturday for both men's and women's tournaments

Please like, subscribe, comment, tell anyone who's anyone about the show, and I hope you're watching the Final Four!


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Speaker 1:

What's up everybody. It's your favorite show's favorite show. Get a Bucket. I'm your host, trayn, as usual. I hope you're all having a wonderful, wonderful day.

Speaker 1:

Today we're going to talk about March Madness. Believe it or not, I got my Duke shirt on, or jersey on, because my boys is in the final fold. The girls did lose, though, unfortunately, but it's okay, it's all right though. It's all right. They did their thing. They made it to at least Elite Eight. It's not all I can ask for, but you realistically can't ask for too too much more. So tip of the cap to them.

Speaker 1:

But overall, march Madness has been not predictable, but predictable. All number one seeds, men and women, have made it to the Final Four. Oops, my bad. We did have one not make it USC for the women, but it's okay though, because they did lose their star in Juju Watkins, so it's not really a slander, right, they lost to UConn in the Elite Eight. They showed some heart, they showed some fight, they went down early, came back a little, saw some things, but overall, almost all number one seeds actually made the Final Four. I don't even know if that actually has happened before. I should have looked before the show and found that out. That's my bad. That's my bad, ladies and gentlemen. But again, all number ones have made it so, except for one. Again, like I said in, uconn is the number two seed.

Speaker 1:

So with that in mind, who's my favorites? Who's my favorites? I can't really talk about the Duke wishlist to the championship for the women's. I can talk about the men's side, though, and y'all know that they're my favorites, because you know I'm biased, right? Hey, that's my boys, right. But also too, let's focus on the men real quick. Then we'll go to the women's side, the men.

Speaker 1:

Out of all number one seeds. Duke has the largest point differential. Auburn is at 13.25. Florida is at 12.25. Houston is at 16. And Duke is at 12.25. Houston is at 16 and duke is at 21.25. So what I'm realizing from this is dag, the two most dominant teams about to face off in the final four in houston and duke. Damn, keep in mind too, houston has actually been doing pretty well, because they started off in the first two rounds with the point differential of 11.5 and moved it up to 16. Everybody's has actually gone up two points Auburn, florida and Houston. Duke's is the only one that has gone down 33.5 was the original two rounds to 21.5. That's at least saying finally, teams are starting to catch up a little bit, but we still dominate, and we mean in Duke.

Speaker 1:

So again, I believe we're the favorites and I'm not trying to add no negative or no bad juju to my boys right now because, keep in mind, I don't like to talk bad or overly good about my boys and I feel like we have a realistic shot at winning the championship that started since 2019, because zion and rj had me crying in the car once we lost. But again this season, 2025, cooper flagging them could realistically win it. But let's also, too, think about a couple of other boys as well. Like Houston, they're no slouch. We actually in fact get to have a rematch with Houston, like last year, duke beats Houston because LJ Cryer ended up getting injured and I'm not going to lie, he was crying on the bench and in the car, and rightfully so, because you get an injury at that point in time in your season, ladies and gentlemen, that hurt, but it also played a large reason into why we won. I ain't going to lie to you. So, from a basketball fan perspective, I genuinely would want to see that occur and y'all might think, damn, that's crazy. But no, you got to see these boys play. I want to see these boys hoop. I want to see these boys get a bucket out here. I like to have a fair game. That's just me personally. But again, I want to see that matchup.

Speaker 1:

Then we also got to talk about, well, florida, right, because I mean Florida is no slouch, ladies and gentlemen. They just beat Florida. I mean they just beat Maryland, who's a good team. I thought Derrick Queen is a lottery pick. And while Derrick Queen did well, I got to say Walter Clayton Jr. He didn't play the best game. But we've seen Buddy close out games when need be, all right, and that's what you need in a closer. Keep in mind too, he's a senior, all right, so he knows how to get things done in the college game. And Florida got a good, well-balanced team. They have bench production as well as a solid starting five. So you got to look out for Florida.

Speaker 1:

And then I mean, hey, auburn, auburn's been number one for a large part of the season. Ladies and gentlemen, I'm talking about ranked number one for men's college basketball for a large part of the season. You cannot sleep on them. And when they're the overall number one seed, even though we meaning Duke was the number one ranked team by the end of the season. I think that does speak volumes. We were the number one ranked team by the end of the season. I think that does speak volumes. We were the number one ranked team. We both the number one ranked draft pick. We had the largest point differential in the season and for the first two rounds will really still have the largest point differential. But auburn is the number one overall seed. They're also boasting a potential player of the year and johnny broom.

Speaker 1:

So again, ladies and gentlemen, he's the upperclassman as well. So they have a quality team led by upperclassmen, and they've been here before. They have the experience. So these final four teams, they, they look in the eye and I ain't gonna lie to you, it's not. I understand duke is the perceived favorite and I get why we are. I really do. But, ladies and gentlemen, too, I will say there are other teams out there that that very well could win. So it is an uphill battle. We got a lot of things to cover and hopefully we get the job done, but I'm not going to be surprised if we end up losing.

Speaker 1:

Hell to Houston Again. Houston has a redemption game on their mind. Cryer does not want to be crying at the end of the game. He wants to see Duke crying at the end. Oh my God, I can imagine just how those narratives go. But overall, I think you're going to expect a lot of entertainment out of the men's side of the Final Four. So with that, ladies and gentlemen, and keep in mind too, this has been going pretty well with my Duke wishlist, because overall, all I can say was in the Elite Eight we didn't play BYU. I wanted to see BYU go up against us because if we win and, let's say, cooper Flagg stays, now we got BYU versus Duke as a somewhat rival for next season, which those could be the number one and number two pick Again. If Cooper Flagg stayed and you still had players like Cameron Boozer and Igor Domingue, it would have been a wonderful storyline to follow. But that was it, though. That was the main thing. Outside of that, everyone else has been following in place.

Speaker 1:

Houston made my final four. My earlier ones were cool. I wanted to play Auburn ultimately because of the rematch, but Florida they got some interesting dynamics too. Remember they were the team that took away our back-to-back title run initially, so it would be nice for us to start our back-to-back title journey by beating Florida. I think that'd be a nice storyline and keep in mind too, ladies and gentlemen, also another reason why I think Duke could very well lose this season.

Speaker 1:

This season kind of gave me 1999 vibes. We did go to the championship, we lost the Yukon, which they boasted of Richard Hamilton. So I don't know if Richard Hamilton is on either Florida or Auburn's team. But again, I spoke about how they have Walter Clayton Jr and Johnny Broomny broom. Both those players are good. Walter clayton could potentially although I don't think so be a rip hamilton-esque, right like like sort of player. So maybe he could cause us a little call, so he could, he could give us a little call for pause to winning it all. But this kind of reminds me of the 1999 season where again we did lose, we meaning duke. So I hope I'm wrong, but I'm getting that vibe right now, bro, I really am, and it sucks because we've been doing all right. We've been doing all right and that 1999 team that consisted of a few players Trajan Langdon, elton Brand, shane Battier we had a good team. We had a good team.

Speaker 1:

But, ladies and gentlemen, like I said, for the men's side. Those are the final four matchups. Those are the teams I'm talking about. Hopefully my boys can pull it off. History could be a little interesting against us, but we'll see what happens. We'll see what shakes. But let's go ahead and move on down, because we've talked about the men's side enough. Let's talk about the women's side because again, ladies and gentlemen, the women's pretty interesting. Like I said, all four number one seeds made it outside of USC. So UConn did replace USC.

Speaker 1:

Keep in mind, even before Juju's injury, I did favor UConn, I genuinely did. Before the season even started, I put UConn winning it all, also UCLA winning it all. I thought those two teams could actually win out. Yeah, we could say South Carolina as well too. We could think, though, especially during recency, right, those two teams kind of stood out because I saw what UCLA did last year. Not to mention, too, they also got Lauren Betts, who's not a bad player.

Speaker 1:

You also got to remember too she's about what? 6'4"? You can't teach height. So in the college game, specifically, when you got that dynamic of a player who can also score a little bit, the heights going to help her defend. So having a team like, like ucla, backing you and you're considered a generational talent by some. You can do pretty well.

Speaker 1:

Keeping mind, though, I also went with uconn because they got page beckers, who's supposed to be the number one pick in this upcoming draft. So we got a lot of things to worry about and focus on. Not to mention, you got players like AZ Fudd into the mix right, and she did her thing during the tournament. She had a slow start one of the last games, but she came on strong in the fourth quarter, and that's what matters, having the ability to be able to have options on your team, especially in March Madness, because everyone's trying to take away one thing that works for you. If you're a one-trick pony, it's not going to work. So right now we have UCLA versus UConn and then South Carolina versus Texas.

Speaker 1:

To be honest with you, I wholeheartedly expect South Carolina to win. I do believe Texas had an easier matchup. No South, not too much lander to TCU, but it's a little bit different than Duke. I ain't going to lie to you. I do believe Duke would have given Texas a better run for their money than TCU did, and I do think TCU would have got dog walked by South Carolina. Personally, she's been doing a great job. I hate to discredit Texas too much, to be honest with you, but when I think of South Carolina, I think of pure dominance, excellent coaching, and then they do have a couple of deficiencies on the team which maybe Texas can take advantage of, but overall I think Texas lose that one. Ucla versus UConn could end up being the championship game in some people's eyes because of Lauren Betts versus Paige Becker's matchup. I think it's poetic if UConn can advance because Paige could win a championship over South Carolina. That's the team that's been a thorn in her side for quite some time.

Speaker 1:

If you are Lauren Betts, you beat the number one draft pick and then you went against a team like South Carolina. I think you make a name and case for yourself being going number one. And now when we're talking about you in the WNBA okay, where can we project you ranking? Because are you just another Cardoza? Are you less than? Could you be better than a Ezi Magbogor? Like there's a lot of bigs in there that we've got to start comparing you to lauren betts. And when we say and I read, when I read generational talent, that's why I got to think, okay, well, could she be better than asia wilson? Like that's what I'm thinking about. So this is what I'm looking forward to in the ucla versus yukon game, not just because I put both of them on my fan duel ticket, although I wish I wish we got to see them in the finals instead but this one's going to be very entertaining because, in fact, based on people's perception mine personally you can throw lauren betts in the in the discussion for top three. You can top three, top five. Page definitely, without question, should go number one, but we have a case that could be made for number one if she beats out lauren, meaning beats out page beckers, and then south carolina, coached by don staley. So again, ladies and gentlemen, there are a lot of storylines and narratives that are taking place in march.

Speaker 1:

Madness, and keep in mind too, when we're talking about tex. I mean they've beaten decent teams too. I don't want to give too much crap to Texas. Right, like they've done. All right, they got some girls on their squad who can hoop, but again, ultimately, like Madison Brooks, taylor Jones, those are good players, ladies and gentlemen. All right, they really are Both forwards. Like you can get there's a world where they can beat South Carolina because, again, south Carolina is guard heavy, but South Carolina also has bigs, and that's where I think the bigs are going to take advantage of Texas too. I genuinely do believe that. Keep in mind, texas has a little bit of height to them. They do, you got to give them that. But overall, I'm expecting South Carolina's execution to withstand Texas. So again, even with the team that I expect to lose, there should be some level of entertainment to pay attention to in this game. When I say some, I mean a good amount. I'm still going to watch South Carolina versus Texas. I just wholeheartedly expect South Carolina to win versus Texas, possibly even double digits.

Speaker 1:

Uconn versus UCLA I can't call it. I'm going to try to enjoy the moment. I think UConn wins this matchup, but if they can't stop Lauren, that's going to be an interesting matchup, and I'll say this here too. I'll say this here too Sarah Strong she pretty good. Paige Beckers is going to be the problem. If you can't stop Paige, it's a problem. And then, if you let AZ get hot too, it's over, because keep in mind, when they beat USC, ladies and gentlemen, the bench didn't really do that much. It was all the starters from UConn. So UCLA just has to make sure that their bench gets some production and that they're able to withstand UConn's starters. But if UConn's bench doesn't help out, uconn is definitely beatable. I do expect the bench, though, to help out a little bit more than what it's done, because that was terrible. But again, though, like I said, on the women's side, a lot of entertainment. So again, ladies and gentlemen, march madness it's almost ending and keep in.

Speaker 1:

I didn't do a bracket this year because my boys and girls I thought could have actually won it. So I didn't want to have no negative juju, I didn't want to jinx us and our chances of winning right. I'm a team player, but if you participated in the bracket right, the bracket challenge, well, you did have a one out of 19.2 quintillion chance at winning. So it's no, it's no, it's always getting a perfect bracket. So it's no upset if you don't be upset if you got wrong. But I hope you've been doing well thus far. At least I hope so. I know I have actually decently. I ain't gonna talk too much about it, but again, my boys are doing pretty well. So I'm on, I'm on cloud nine right now, and my girls, they did well also. So I want to give a shout out to the Duke girls.

Speaker 1:

But, ladies and gentlemen, that does conclude the end of this episode. So again, ladies and gentlemen, thank you all for listening. Please like, subscribe, comment, tell anyone who's anyone about the show, and I hope you're watching the final four because they will be taking place both Friday and Saturday for men and women. So again, my name is Trey. Ladies and gentlemen, I'm the host to get a bucket. Hope you all are having a good one. Take care.