It’s Championship Week and ESPN’s Joe Lunardi joined Mike Golic Jr. and Mike Golic Sr. to discuss what to expect as we prepare to descend into the Madness of March!
In his latest Bracketology posted on Tuesday, Lunardi has Auburn listed as the No. 1 overall seed in the tournament as we begin Championship Week. The Tigers also have the second-best odds on DraftKings Sportsbook to win the national title at +380, trailing only Duke (+340).
However, the Tigers have hit a rough patch of late, losing their last two games heading into the SEC tournament. So GoJo wants to know: Is there anything Duke can do at the ACC Tournament to supplant Auburn, or are the Tigers still a lock as the No. 1 overall seed? Joe says that Auburn is as close of a No. 1 lock as a team can be coming off two straight losses. He points to the Selection Committee saying that November basketball counts just as much as end-of-season play and decisions will come down to teams’ overall body of work. If that is really true, then Lunardi says Auburn simply piled up too many high-end wins and he would be honestly surprised if the Tigers don’t hear their name first on Selection Sunday.
Senior wants to know how deep the list goes for the top line. How many teams could realistically have a shot at a No. 1 seed? Joe says he believes it goes six or seven teams deep, with Auburn, Duke and Houston as all but locks in his mind for the top line. He says we’re looking at three SEC teams — Florida, Alabama and Tennessee — in whatever order you want playing for that last No. 1 seed, although Joe supposes there could be a scenario where all three of those teams lose in their SEC tournament quarterfinals and Michigan State rises up to grab that final spot on the top line. And that would lead to a bit of symmetry if that happens, as that scenario would see the outright regular-season champion of the Power 4 conferences end up with a No. 1 seed, which sounds a little bit like the College Football Playoff system.
On the other end of the spectrum, GoJo asks which teams are under the most pressure to win their conference tournaments in an effort to go dancing. He highlights the bottom teams in the SEC, with Oklahoma just in the field right now and Texas being just out of the field. But as for most pressure, he thinks it’s North Carolina. The Tar Heels have long been perhaps the truest blue blood in the sport, but Joe points out that this team has played 12 Quad 1 games and only won one of those, which is just not good enough. At some point, they’re probably going to have to figure out how to beat Duke if they want to punch their dance card.
“No matter how many times they trot Bill Belichick out there to center court, he’s never made a basket,” Joe says. “I’m pretty sure that he and I have scored the same number of points in the ACC tournament.”
Watch or listen to the full show below and tune into GoJo and Golic weekday mornings from 8-10 a.m. ET on DraftKings Network! See more about how to watch DraftKings Network here.
SHOW BREAKDOWN
Hour 1: Sam Darnold to Seattle, Justin Fields traded to the Jets, NFL Draft Implications + Day 1 Free Agency Round Up
Hour 2: Geno takes Vegas, CBB Men’s Championship Week Preview + Joe Lunardi and Jason Fitz join the show
VIDEO
Watch GoJo and Golic every weekday on Samsung TV Plus, Roku, Xumo Play, Google TV and DraftKingsNetwork.com from 8 to 10 a.m. ET. The show is also available via audio on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts. You can also follow Mike Golic Sr. on X at @golic and Mike Golic Jr. on X at @mikegolicjr.
