The Sooners seemed to be just about everyone’s pick to win it all this season with Heisman Trophy candidate Landry Jones at quarterback. It should help them that they had last weekend off and have had more time to prepare. But Florida State has looked stout, outscoring opponents 96-10 through the first two games. I can’t wait for this matchup on Saturday.

Florida State coach Jimbo Fisher joined Team 1270 in Tallahassee with Jeff Cameron and Matt Millar to discuss the magnitude of this game, whether he’s watched the film of last year’s loss, handling adversity in big games, how Oklahoma has built a perennial title contender and what the difference will be in the game.

You’ve got the biggest game of the weekend with Oklahoma in town, which should make for a great atmosphere. What are you expecting?:

“It’s a great game, a great opportunity. It means a lot. We understand the opportunity that is presented. That’s what life is about, opportunities — do you take advantage of them and how you approach them? That’s going to be interesting, how our team approaches this thing and make sure we prepare during the week … and then being mature enough to go out there and execute.”

Did you burn the tape of last year’s game or are you taking a look at it?:

“It is worth taking a look at. I watched it already on Sunday. … There were some good things in there. We moved the ball. We had some good ideas. There were some things in there that we liked to do and you learn from the past. You learn from their defense, what did they do. The thing last year is they got ahead so fast. … It was 28-7 and then you’re playing catchup. … They were hot and played a heckuva football game.”

On managing adversity in big games:

“You’re on the road, there’s 85,000 folks from their stadium screaming and hollering in a tough environment and that’s part of it. Hopefully the atmosphere here will benefit us this weekend. … But that’s the big part of those things, how things snowball on you. They can just take off and roll and you’ve got to manage adversity. The other team’s going to make plays; they’re on scholarships, too. Can you manage it to where it doesn’t break you?”

What does Oklahoma do better than most everybody else to consistently be in the title hunt?:

“I think, one, they recruit well. They get good players and they’ve established a winning tradition. They expect to win and they play in games. And then I think they do a good job coaching. … It’s not a secret: They recruit well, they developed a winning tradition with the habits and things you have to do and then they do a good job coaching them.”

What do you think is going to be the difference-maker in a game between two top-five teams?:

“I think it goes back to everything — turnovers and big plays. Who can take care of the football and not turn it over? Who can make big plays and change field position? And then I think the kicking game will be a big part of it, too. And then our ability to deal with the no huddle.”

Listen to Jimbo Fisher on Team 1270 in Tallahassee here

Yes, the game which features a double-digit seed that will be a part of the Elite Eight is extremely intriguing. On the one hand, you’ve got a VCU team that had to win three games last week just to get here, but did it by pushing tempo and dominating on offense. On the other you’ve got a Florida State team that got here thanks to having the best defense of any team left in the tournament.

Tonight, the two collide. Florida State coach Leonard Hamilton said he’s not particularly worried about VCU’s explosive offense, that he’s more worried about making sure his Seminoles stick to what they’ve been doing. It could be a classic battle of styles.

Leonard Hamilton joined 790 the Zone in Atlanta with Barnhart and Durham to discuss how this run compares to those he’s made with teams previously, the health of Chris Singleton, the contrasting styles between Florida State and VCU, his defensive philosophy, how Florida State has quietly become the third best team in the ACC and his biggest concerns about tonight’s game.

How does this run compare to the previous ones he’s made?:

“Overall, we’re just excited about having another opportunity to build our basketball program. I’ve been so fortunate in my coaching career that I’ve enjoyed these type of trips so many times, we’re just anxious about just making Florida State a program of significance. … We’re thankful and grateful and we’re excited, but right now we’re trying to approach this with a mature attitude.”

On how Chris Singleton is doing physically:

“Chris had very little preparation prior to the NCAA games. … He goes from the boot to being on the floor in six or seven days. I’ve been extremely cautious in my approach, trying not to be overly aggressive. … But, as of late, he seems to be feeling a little more comfortable.”

On the contrasting styles of VCU and Florida State:

“They’re in transition, they like to get out in transition, and, just like all the other teams we play in the ACC, obviously we want to get back and not give them easy baskets in transition. I’m not sure we’re really trying to control the tempo. … We’re not going into this game saying that we want to dictate our system and our style, what we want to do is try to find a way, at the end of the game, to be up by a point.”

How does he get everyone on the team to buy into a defensive philosophy that allows them to be one of the best defensive teams in the country?:

“What happens is this, we don’t go in saying we want to be a defensive team. But when you take over a program, you don’t always have those skilled offensive players. What we try to do is just try to get the most out of what we have and who we are. Defense is something everyone can participate in. So we just try to hold them accountable for the things they can do.”

On Florida State being the third-most winningest ACC program in the last six years behind Duke and North Carolina:

“Carolina and Duke are two of the five most winningest programs in the history of college basketball. … We’ve kind of quietly moved up the ladder but without very much attention because those two teams have been so dominant. … We’ve got to continue chopping wood.”

What are the top few things that concerns him about VCU?:

“I’m concerned about Florida State and what we do. VCU’s a good basketball team. They execute well, do a great job, play hard, shoot 3s, rebound, defend, they press, they play zone defense. … I’m more concerned about what we’re going to do. … We understand who they are, they’re a good basketball team, but I just want to make sure that we can continue to keep doing what we’ve done to this point and let’s just go out and see what happens.”

Listen to Leonard Hamilton on 790 The Zone in Atlanta here

With that said, it’s really time to start thinking about which teams might have a chance, including those that are getting a whole lot of pub. In the following interview, Louisville coach Rick Pitino picks his former player Billy Donovan and the Florida Gators, the top team in the SEC.

He probably could’ve have tossed his own team in that mix. He’s already guided the Cardinals to the Final Four once before, did the same in the past with Providence and won with Kentucky. This year, the publicity has gone to other Big East teams in Pitt, Notre Dame, St. John’s and Syracuse, but Louisville finished tied for third in the league and would have had a chance to win five straight games to end the regular season if not for a boneheaded final few seconds against West Virginia this weekend.

Who’s your darkhorse candidate for national champ?

Rick Pitino joined ESPN Radio with Colin Cowherd to discuss the current rules in place mandating that a player can’t go straight to the NBA, darkhorse candidates to win the national championship, the possibility of 11 Big East teams in the Big Dance and watching LeBron James play in high school.

Is there a good solution for the current rule where players can’t go directly from high school to the NBA?:

“There’s no substitute for disciplined organization, learning obviously the skills to become a college student and a college athlete. I agree with baseball and football. There’s nothing wrong with going right out of high school as far as I’m concerned, but if you do go to college, I think you should stay three years.”

Wouldn’t any kid that was close then automatically go to the NBA?:

“It’s better than what we have now. If you allow people to come in one year … you’re basically going to school for one semester. Second semester you end up dropping out, you don’t go to class, so basically we’re a farm team for the NBA. And we don’t really want that. … As an NBA coach, the last person I wanted to draft was a high school athlete unless it was a LeBron or a Kobe.”

Is there a team out there that nobody is talking about that he believes thinks could win the NCAA tournament?:

“Well, I’m a little biased, but everybody overlooks Florida. Obviously Billy Donovan played for me, but I think Florida’s the type of team with three seniors in the front court with a very quick backcourt. … They’re a team that could beat anyone on a given night. I look at Florida. Although they are ranked 14th in the nation, nobody talks about them as a potential national champion. But they have the experience in their head coach, they have the experience in the frontcourt, the returning backcourt. … Outside of [Ohio State] you could flip a coin.”

Is it a good thing that 11 Big East teams could make the tournament?:

“Well, we have 18 teams and we’re about to become 19. We’re really not a league anymore, we’re a corporation. … Having 11 and all of the teams were ranked at one time in the top 25 and probably eight were ranked in the top 15, you can see it in a given year.”

His impression of LeBron James when he saw him in high school:

“Up close, I couldn’t believe the size of him as a high-school basketball player. When you stand next to LeBron today, you see him on television and think he’s 6-5, but you’re talking about someone 6-foot-8, 6-8’5 and 250 pounds. He’s great at getting other people shots. But what happens to a lot of these great players and the same thing was true with Michael [Jordan] early on, these guys aren’t great shooters.”

Listen to Rick Pitino on ESPN Radio here

After getting throttled by Oklahoma in week two, it looked like the Florida State was once again just a middle of the road team. However, they have now rattled off four straight wins, including opening up a can on one of their rivals this past weekend. The ‘Noles smoked the U and knocked them out of the top 25. In the process they sent a message to the entire nation that football is alive again in Tallahassee.

Jimbo Fisher joined The Team 1270 in Tallahassee with Jeff Cameron to talk about the big win this past weekend against Miami, how this win can fuel them for the remainder, whether or not he felt the Hurricanes quit, and what he thinks of Christian Ponder so far this season.

On the big win this past weekend:

“It was. It’s a rivalry game and we all know what Miami can do. With the way they have played all year and for our kids to go down there and play the way they did, it was a huge victory for us.”

On whether or not this can fuel them for the rest of the season:

“I think it can. I think they understand the caliber of opponent that we had. But they understand now that by what they’re doing on a day by day basis it allows them to have a chance for success. Now you still have to carry it to the game and you still have to have it come through and they did that. I’m happy for them because they’ve worked hard. I’m happy for our players that they can experience the joy of winning a big rivalry game because of the way they have played in practice.”

On the idea that Miami might’ve quit:

“I don’t think they quit. That game was very competitive in the fourth quarter. It was 31-17 and they had the momentum, but we were physical and we knew we had to be physical. When you play Miami, if you’re not physical, they will embarrass you. They’ll jump all over you, but our kids were physical in all aspects and in all positions. We were physical all across the board.”

On the way Christian Ponder played:

“He did. I keep telling folks that he’s playing very well. We had a couple down the field throws and one we missed and the other two we just didn’t have quite the time to hold them. We gotta run a little faster and we gotta get just another half a second in the offensive line position. We had a chance to make a couple big throws in the passing game. Then he scrambled on both and made yardage. He’s playing great football people and don’t understand that. He’s getting us in and out of the right run checks, going to the right guy, not throwing into coverage and he’s playing winning, championship football. We don’t have to have him throw for over 300 yards. I was pleased with the way he played also.”

Listen to the Team 1270 in Tallahassee here

From 1987 to 2000, Florida State had double figure wins each and every year.  Since then, they’ve had one.  They’ve become an afterthought on the national scene and the boosters aren’t happy.   I’m sure Bowden’s age has something to do with this.  He’s one of the greatest coaches of all time, a fabulous interview, and he’s former players are loyal to a fault when discussing Bowden.  But it’s time to move on into the Jimbo Fisher era.  The main problem is there’s no easy way to do this.  To quote the brilliant Doug Coughlin from the award winning movie “Cocktail”:  “Everything ends badly or else it wouldn’t end.”

This past week boosters called for Bobby Bowden’s ousting and wanted to strengthen the position of coach-in-waiting Jimbo Fisher.  FSU President T.K. Wetherell said Bowden’s job is safe for now.  Bowden hasn’t spoken much on the controversy this week, but did do an interview with 790 the Zone in Atlanta and discussed the distractions of the week, the pressure for him to step aside, if he wants to coach next year, and tells the story of how Joe Paterno’s wife called his wife yesterday.

On what has been going on lately:

“Nothing (laughter) You wouldn’t remember the days but years ago you used to coach football you know it. All you do is worry about the football plays, but boy now you got all kinds of distractions.”

On how distracting this can be for preparing for a game:

“Well the thing about it is that that assistant coaches don’t have to get involved thank goodness and then the players don’t have to get involved. So I will be honest with you that our players haven’t even thought a bit of it. Our coaches like I say I am the one that has to handle all of that junk so I don’t think it affects our preparation whatsoever.”

On how he has been treated by the FSU administration:

“Well I think they have treated me real well. They have treated me real well. If I was winning 10 games11 games a year it would be expected. But under the circumstances we hadn’t… We built a dadgum monster down here… Let me say this: If you ever win a National Championship they expect you to do it every year.”

On Jim Smith going public with the story about looking to ouster Bobby and whether it was a bad play on Jim’s part:

“Well I am not going to get into that.”

On whether he can understand why people think it is time for him to step aside:

“Well you can imagine how many years that I have heard that. Once you get 65 that is the answer. You lose a ball game the head coach is too old… You know you can be 80 years young or you can be 50 years old. I feel good. I can tell you from experience when you get my age if you got good health then it really don’t make no difference. I probably don’t do it any different then any other head coach: delegate responsibility, I got good people, and I got sense enough to leave them alone.”

On whether he misses the days where he coached more hands-on:

“If the culture was the same I would like it that much. But the way the culture is nowadays with the internet, the talk shows, and this and that there is so much misinformation that comes out and you have to put out the fires, put out the fires, put out the fires. Now it wasn’t like that 30 years ago but now it is so that makes it a little different. I still love it though!”

On whether he has thought about walking away before the end of the season and whether the pressure was that overbearing:

“That is a very fair question too… I coach because I love it and you know I am not going to coach a lot longer but I wanted to name it and not somebody else. You know you would like to go out having a great year. I kind of follow Joe Paterno’s pattern. Joe and I. He is a little bit older than I am but the same thing that is happening to me as happened to him… He has told me the story. In fact, his wife called my wife yesterday and they talked for about 30 minutes because it affects them too. But Joe said: Ya’ll just sit back and through it and see what happens. Of course since that time he has had some big wins and of course naturally I hope I can do the same thing. Looking at us right now you would think not but like I told him the year is not over yet.”

On whether he wants to coach next year to get another crack at the National Championship title:

“Well right now that is what I am thinking of. My contract is a one-year contract and after the year I let them know do I want to come back. That is the way it has been.”

Listen to Bobby Bowden on 790 the Zone in Atlanta with Morning Mayhem

On why he thinks he was able to make the transition from the collegiate to the professional game so easily last year:

“I think a lot of it had to do with the great coaching I got in college. I felt like I had four great years with Tom O’Brien and his staff and then Jeff Jagodzinski came in my last year and I felt like I learned a lot from him as well. So, I think I was very well prepared for the pro game coming from B.C.”

On if fizzling out early in last year’s playoffs will serve as extra motivation for himself and his team:

“Yeah there’s no question about it. The loss we had in the playoffs to the Cardinals serves as great motivation for everybody heading in to this year. I know it certainly does for me. So, we want to get back there and we want to improve on what we did last year.”

On the excitement about adding perennial Pro Bowl tight end, Tony Gonzalez:

“Yeah, no question about it. That was a big pickup for us. We added a first ballot Hall of Famer, one of the best tight ends to ever play the game – if not the best. So it’s a huge pickup for our team and our offense and I think he’ll really help us out.”

Listen here to Ryan on KLAC in Los Angeles

This should be a good one. Odds to win the region can be found after the interviews, compliments of Bodog, www.BodogLife.com.

Reason why #1 seed doesn’t make it to the Final Four:   If Levance Fields still isn’t recovered from his groin problems or DeJuan Blair is in foul trouble, Pitt can be beat.

Best bet in the first round:   Over 157 1/2 in the Oklahoma State/Tennessee game

Player I’m most looking forward to playing in the NBA:  Tie between Sam Young of Pitt and Eric Maynor of VCU.  In terms of Young, I can’t wait to see if that ridiculously exaggerated pump fake actually works in the NBA.  I remember watching Maynor two years ago when they upset Duke.  Ice in his veins and should become a nice pro.

Prediction for this bracket: Pittsburgh.  I know they haven’t had great success in the tourney in the past, but I love Blair and Young.  Sleeper pick would be Florida State

Listen to Pittsburgh (#1) head coach Jamie Dixon with Mike & Mike on ESPN Radio (19 minutes into podcast)

Listen to Duke (#2) guard Jon Scheyer and assistant coach Chris Collins on WGN Radio in Chicago with Dave Kaplan

Listen to Villanova (#3) head coach Jay Wright with Cuz and Prof on WIP in Philadelphia

Listen to Xavier (#4) Head Coach Sean Miller on WQXI in Atlanta with the Two Live Stews

Listen to Florida State (#5) leading scorer Toney Douglas and his brother Falcons wide receiver Harry Douglas on WQXI in Atlanta with Morning Mayhem

Listen to Oklahoma State (#8) Head Coach Travis Ford on The Sports Animal in Oklahoma City with Jim Traber, Al Eschbach, and Dean Blevins

Listen to Tennessee (#9) Head Coach Bruce Pearl on WQXI in Atlanta on Morning Mayhem

Listen to Minnesota (#10) head coach Tubby Smith on KFAN in Minneapolis with Dan Barreiro

Listen here to VCU (#11) head coach Anthony Grant with Jeff Aaron on KRKO in Seattle

Listen to Portland State (#13) head coach Ken Bone on KKFX in Portland 

Listen to ETSU (#16) Head Coach Murray Bartow on KGOW in Houston with John and Lance