March Madness

Preview of March Madness in Men's/Women's wrestling, as well as a wrestling tournament!

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Creators and Guests

Host

Logan Brumley

What is In The Den?

"In The Den" with host Logan Brumley covers everything from the NC State Wolfpack's NCAA, intramural and club sports. "In The Den" is a podcast from WKNC 88.1 FM HD-1/HD-2 at NC State University.

00:06
Logan Brumley
I would like to open up this episode with a clarification. This was recorded Tuesday. Even as of right now, the Texas NC State game is about to tip off. You know, I'm going to be busy on Wednesday so I won't be able to have a fresh recording of that. So we when I start talking about the NCAA men's tournament for NC State and they're eliminated by the time that episode is released, then my bad. I'll leave that segment at the very end and you can't just skip it. Anyways, welcome to WKNC's official sports podcast in the Den. Today we're going to going over the chief winter sports leagues and their playoffs are going to be happening in the upcoming weeks. We got the women's this Friday where they play Tennessee and we got the men's playing, of course, Texas.

01:14
Logan Brumley
As of right now, they're about to tip off and I think that will be an interesting matchup. I will just be going over their kind of sector in the region. Like for example, actually, I will go a little bit more definite to it when I start talking about it and then I'll finish. Now I won't finish, but I will also include the wrestling tournament because while NC State does not look to be in running for team national championship, there's a lot of individual national champions who could have a strong showing. So what that out the way. Get your headphones on and let's get straight to it. All right. So women's basketball, I mentioned before, they didn't really have as strong as the season we're hoping in. They finished fifth sort of. I mean if you were to do like a final stand and sing.

02:05
Logan Brumley
They lost Notre Dame again and that was a shame. Duke one conference, I believe. But they have kind of clinched a spot in the Ann Arbor kind of like semi regional, which I think is in the South. No, why the South? It would be in the, let's see, it's Regional 3, Fort Worth, which I think is South. I want to say that's south. If I'm wrong. But yep, March 20, 8pm North Carolina State will tip off against Tennessee. They are the one and a half favorites, which is, you know, that's really great to see. So what I'm going to do is I'm going to do a brief preview of just Tennessee and Michigan. We have not seen in NCAA women's basketball history a 15th seed beaten the second seed. And I don't think we've seen it in the men's that much.

03:27
Logan Brumley
Looking it up real quick times. I think the last time that happened was. Okay Princeton beat Arizona in 2023, Saint Peters and Oral Roberts. That happened three straight years that's kind of a side tandem. Okay, Tennessee and NC State they're pretty similar. This is why I think it's one of the stronger, less talked about matchups in this first round.

04:02
Logan Brumley
See Tennessee has a really efficient offense like top 10 in the country, but they come off a regular season like end of season slump that kind of knocked them out from being like a team that could potentially be a, I guess not necessarily a home seat but have a higher bracket positioning but they fall all the way to seven and this is a team that NC State has beat before in the season opener with a buzzer beater and it's something I think could go either way. This is really the ultimate test for both of them to see who kind of belongs to more. If NC State can just walk in defensively they should be able to carry over the win. However, there is a possibility where Tennessee is more battle tested since playing in the SEC.

05:03
Logan Brumley
They have the fourth hardest schedule in the NCAA. Of course you know SEC, that yearly contest with UConn. This would not be one of the hardest opponents Tennessee has played even though they hit wide State before. Offensively they're both pretty close in points per game and their assist to turnover ratio is not crazy different. Even though Tennessee has a sub one turnover to rate assist to turnover ratio which means they turn it over more than they give up, it's slightly below while NC State slightly above at 1.16. Of course the big score to know with Tennessee is Talaysia Cooper. She's great on the outside shooting 33% from three and overall that team is shooting really well. It's something where well maybe they shooting percentage is sort of similar to NC State. They are able to create more shots.

06:12
Logan Brumley
I'll go a little bit more into that in a bit when I talk about the defense but just know Tawaysha Cooper and then in the frontcourt Janiyah Barker and Zee Spearman also take a lot of shots and are successful scorers in their own right. Of course, with Trigger and Pierre they are the defensive rebound in dominant players, especially Pierre. Barker and Spearman have less defense rebounds combined than Pierre alone which should be able to create a bunch of shot opportunities and plays for NC State offensively. But where Tennessee has the edge in the defense is being able to force turnovers more regularly. So like if they shoot the same amount and like if they shoot the same percentage And Tennessee gets more shots there is an opportunity where it could kind of bounce itself out where NC State get more rebounds.

07:22
Logan Brumley
That means that they could have more chances to shoot and that would increase their chances of winning. However, they really do need to play a clean game defensively. While Tennessee is not a strong defensive team, they're definitely much stronger than NC State. They have for instance like double digits deal per game which is a large part thanks to Talaysia Cooper and would give her the competitive edge over Zoe Brooks or Qadence Samuels if it ever came to a one one matchup which is something you should definitely worry about. I mean Talaysia Cooper is a WNBA prospect maybe not this year but for the future. Let me look at we got Tankathon right now. Yeah Janiyah Barker is a projected second round pick and Talaysia Cooper is listed as a 2027 prospect although they have not really ordered itself yet. She could be a lottery pick.

08:41
Logan Brumley
So essentially it's just going to kind of come down to who shows up more who puts in a stronger defensive performance. If you kind of look at their last matchups, see Tennessee got double digit losses in the last three games even though to be fair No. 6 LSU and No. 5 Vanderbilt there was the like 12 point loss Alabama and it's just it has been ugly for Tennessee women so late in the season and that's why I think NC State could have the advantage. But we'll see they both got blown out in the conference tournament. It's just this is a really great matchup and this is a much must watch even if you're not a fan of either of these two teams.

09:57
Logan Brumley
But it does feel like it's going to be kind of moot which I think is what's going to kill some of the hype for this game is that they were most likely going to have to play Michigan. Michigan is one of the most dominant teams in the nation. They've been consistently highly ranked. I'm trying to check where their rankings are right now they're ranked at ninth and they opened the season I think is 13th. So very strong, very dominant team. This is a team actually that Tennessee and NC State were ranked above of before but now that is no longer the case. They have multiple double digit scores. Olivia Olson with 19, Syla swords with 15 and Mia Holloway with 12. However the big problem that a lot of people notice with this team is that they are very guard heavy.

11:14
Logan Brumley
Their center I guess would be Ashley Sophilkinich She is 6 foot 3 which I'm trying to compare to NC State center which would probably be. Yeah they don't have an official Mallory Collier, Lorena Awou - Trygger at six there's definitely I think that size matchup that goes to Tennessee State's favor if they were to win. However, the real question, I mean can they stop Michigan's three point shots? It okay, they're not really great at the three either. Most likely going to come down to just the fact that despite their small size they're great rebounder team. They have a rebound differential at 9 and they don't really give up many turnovers. It's like they just have like great athletic defensive players who are able to create plays for them.

12:51
Logan Brumley
They just have that precedence of like having no real major loss on their schedule either I think. Yeah they're 25-6 and let's see they lost to Uconn, Vanderbilt, UCLA, Iowa twice which is interesting. It's. I didn't do as much research on Michigan as I maybe should have but just know that they play lights out shooting and it's going to take a strong again another strong defensive performance from NC State to be able to stop. They're scoring on the outside as much as you can, try to force them inside and just abuse in the size advantage that they have. Alright, so I think that just about sums it up. I'm going to be going into the men's wrestling matchup. Well, well. The wrestling program has had a pretty strong year.

14:04
Logan Brumley
However as I mentioned in the beginning of the episode they're not really going to be able to qualify for team national championship. There are about eight teams that have at least. Okay, so this is how it works. It's the maximum amount of points that you can get is 16 times the number of rest source that you have that win the national championship and obviously their position is like one less point so if they're third they get 14. And NC State only has seven players that made it into tournaments. There are at least eight teams above who have eight or more with some of them like Penn State having 10. So that's why we're going to kind of focus on the individual natties and there are a lot of strong contenders I believe.

15:00
Logan Brumley
So firstly I'm just going to kind of talk about everyone who made it in. I'm just going to go from lightest to heaviest in terms of weight class. Vincent Robinson, first freshman national champion for NC State since the 1980s. However he did lose the ACC championship to V-Tech's Ventresca. He will be the 12th seed and he will play Conrad Hendrickson who did not play against NC State but has a 1512 record in the 133 pounds. You have Zach Redding. He must have automatically qualified because he did not contend his backup quotation marks. Kai Oiren made the finals, however and. And he will be. And Zach Redding will be playing Tyler Ferreira who has a 23 and 7 record with Cornell, which I thought that. Sorry, it got a little loud there. Which I thought that NCAA played, but they did not. 141 pounds.

16:13
Logan Brumley
Ryan Jack at the 16th seed. He also did not play. He must have automatically qualified as well. However, he is going to be having a matchup set up for him with Caden Ricciardi of Navy with an 188 record. 149 lb. Koy Buesgens, who lost in the first round of the ACC tournament but will still qualify and. And he will have a good matchup set for him. He's fifth in the nation this weight class and he'll be playing number 22 Cade Brown, who he beat earlier in a regular season in which he won by decision 4 to 1. 165 pounds. The freshman Will Denny. Derek Fields played in lieu. If Denny got fourth place, which you know, pretty good for a backup. I kind of put in the footnotes that he might be a transfer candidate.

17:16
Logan Brumley
Derrick Fields, especially since he had a strong ACC performance and it looks like Will Denny is here to stay. That could be a name that could go to a Penn State. We'll see right now, his 10th seed. He'll be playing Chris Earnst who has a 16, 8, 18-6 record. He's 23rd in the country. And where is he from? Looks like he's from Campbell. No. Okay, he's from Kent State, so do with that which you will. And now these last two are ones who are very strong candidates for winning their national championship. Matty Singleton, 174 pounds. He is the sixth in the country. He is a two time ACC champion in the 174 pounds. He finished in seventh in the country last year and he will play Colin Kerrigan who's 27th. He's with UNC at a 1310 record.

18:25
Logan Brumley
However, he has not played against Kerrigan yet. So that would be kind of a first. Look from what I can tell looking back at their previous matchups. Now, last but certainly not least, that may be the most. 285 pounds. Isaac Trimble at the number two seed. Another guy who did not play the ACC tournament. He must automatically qualify. He finished fourth place last year in the country and he'll be playing Brennan Morgan, who's 31st, who has a record of 13 and 10 and already beat Morgan with a win by fall. So I mean NC State has a good chance of winning at least one or two individual national championships. I think this Thursday, Friday is when it kicks off. I'll definitely be making sure to keep an eye out on that and you know, go pack and wrestling.

19:30
Logan Brumley
All right, so now we are going to finish up with the hypothetical men's basketball March Madness. All right, just not to kind of waste time with this last section. I'll briefly go over Teddy Hoffman, wide receiver. He was a really solid freshman for NC State. As a, you know, freshman receiver I don't think he had any big accolades. But what I do know is he just got suspended for PED usage which, you know, it's a shame. I mean it sort of explains how good he was starting out. But he will be suspended for the entire 2026 season and will be serving a one year suspension. Let's see. To quote Dave Doeren '[is] an unfortunate reminder about the importance of always checking with the sports medicine staff overtaken any type of medication or supplement to make sure it's permitted.'.

20:34
Logan Brumley
I know he will learn and grow from the experience and that doesn't mention what exactly he took. I don't think that has been publicly released as of recording, but we'll see with time. So that's something to note. That would be an interesting kind of battle to see who would take over his spot because he, I think he was one who I was sure was a sure fire starter. Next year we could be looking at Josh Shasider from Miami, Jer'Rel Boulder, the freshman, retro freshman. He could potentially sneak in there, but we'll see. We could be looking at entirely wide receiver based starting receiver crew. All right, with that out of the way, let me kind of briefly go over to men's basketball and I'll be out of your hair. They'll be playing Texas. As of recording they are playing Texas.

21:41
Logan Brumley
It looks like it's kind of competitive so far. Let's see, I'm just going to kind of go over the strength and weaknesses of everyone that's coming up. I'm not going to go over King and Soft State just for simplicity, but they're in a pretty provo bracket with byu, Gonzaga and Kennesaw State in the Western Region. Texas, they have really good shot making. They have four players above 33 three point percentage and a 49% overall shooting, 35% three point shot. They have a lot of ISO shooting playmakers. I mean look at day one Swain, Jordan Pope, Simeon Welcher. They're good at Creighton fouls and free throws and have solid offensive rebound and not elite but I think that's something I'll kind of go into a little bit with the weaknesses about their defensive inconsistency. You know, they don't really create defensive place. It's more about.

22:52
Logan Brumley
It feels like their defensive strategy is less trying to force plays but rather just try to make the ball miss and hope that you get the rebound from it. They have that 7 foot center Vokietaitis has 6.8 rebounds which at 7 foot in college I feel like 6.8. Doesn't that feel a little low? I think Ven Allen-Lubin, let me see his rebounds. I don't have them because that's a matchup. I would love to see Ven Allen-Lubin. He has 7.2 and he's 6 9. Okay, maybe it's not as crazy as I think it is, but I don't know man. I would have expected more from him but you know that's neither here there. We'll just kind of have to wait and see. And both of these teams are coming off in the season slumps.

24:05
Logan Brumley
Texas has lost four of their last five matchups and that includes the SEC tournament where they lost to the kind of bracket busting Ole Miss. Who dang. Did it even make? I would have thought was that kind of run that they would have made? Did they even make nit Ole Miss? Interesting. All right. I'm worried about them because I think even if NC State does win, which let me look at the odds, I think it's slightly favored for State. Okay. Texas has a one and a half favorite so this video could, I mean this section could definitely be moot. But if they win, they'll have to play AJ Dybansta and BYU which is almost impossible to stop because they have like literally the one of the best players in college basketball and you know, a potential number one overall pick.

25:19
Logan Brumley
I think he could in my opinion but we will have to see. See on that. Yeah. Okay. Cameron Boozer one player of the year. I thought the bana had it running but you know, NC State does kind of have a bit of a struggle. I mean they do have good defensive stretches but if NC State's at their peak offensively they could eventually breakthrough. There's a lot of questions with BYU's depth that they could Definitely take a look at. I know that they have like Robert Wright who's a good playmaker for them but I just if I'm by if I'm NC State I would kind of have to ask like how reliable is our def And I think it's maybe not as reliable as you hope it is but come on I mean Holloman coming off the bench I think he is Holloman able breed.

26:37
Logan Brumley
They have a lot of good depth guards and BYU's depth guards are questionable. They have a lot of depth forwards so that would be an interesting thing to look at and they do have a little question ball security with 11 turnovers a game compared to NC State's 2 so this could be another game where Copeland or Able are able to just kind of like eat things up. We can see a lot from Lubin as well. That could be another potential kind of bracket buster but we will just kind of have to wait and see. I think the episodes kind of running a little long so let me just kind of go over Gonzaga real quick. They are really great scoring. They excel in a glass they are great at creating rebounds. Let me look at there have that my notes.

27:46
Logan Brumley
Let me double check their roster. I mean Gonzaga is always going to be good. It seems like their guy of this season is Graham Ike who's been playing pretty well for them especially on the front court with him and Braden Huff, Grant Foster and big question is going to be their guards with of course Foster and St. Supri because I mean if you're going to have a great interior defense which I think NC State can have at times that could put pressure onto Gonzaga to have to rely on their outside shooting which they are not the best at. While super has a 43% 3 shot Foster has a 25% so a little fishy there. Questions about Gonzaga on the transition. That could be a spot where NC State has a bit of a strength.

29:02
Logan Brumley
I know that State pretty sure they play a pretty transition heavy basketball that could be an upset to watch but we'll see. They gotta go through Texas first but that's kind of where I weave you off. Hope you had a good day. Go pack.