971, nice to have you with us on a Tuesday. We have got a number of things to get to as yesterday

was kind of a throwback show, a little bit of a bloodbath for everybody. Well, today should be

calmer, I think. Who knows? So Rico, we're going to get to the Tigers at 3 o'clock. My concern

meter's growing. I want to throw out some numbers and

want to see where people are at because later this week, you're going to shepherd people through

opening day and the West Coast swing and the whole bit. I'd like to have a little baseball

conversation, but I want to start with something we didn't get to yesterday. And I'm not going to

be hyperbolic about it. And I think I'm going to be able to find a middle ground with you and maybe listeners.

I am struggling to square the circle on these two things.

March Madness has lacked a magic.

And the conversation in the sports media world the last 48 hours has been, well,

Cinderella's dead, NIL killed it, it's never to return again, etc.

This is the first Sweet 16 in at least a decade where no mid-major has made it,

where we've had that story.

I don't want to speak in absolutes.

I think it's okay to have a tournament where there's more chaos or less.

I'm not sure it's totally indicative that we're never going to see a run again.

But here's the issue.

On one hand, I said to you, this tournament sucked.

It is not good.

The average margin of victory is over 17 points a game.

There was a smattering of even remotely dramatic games.

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