1. Last night’s Houston-Florida game was the perfect example of what I’ve been saying for weeks on SI Media With Jimmy Traina, especially during my interview with ESPN’s Jay Bilas.
The NCAA tournament is a ton of fun because you have close games and exciting finishes and everyone is gambling on it in some fashion, but the quality of play is beyond horrific.
That was a championship game last night and there were about a million shots that didn’t even hit the rim, especially in the first half. I've never seen a backboard get worn out so much. Florida shot 40% from the field (21 for 53), while Houston was a pathetic 24 for 69 from the field for 35%. The shooting from three was an even bigger disaster with Florida going just 6 for 24 while Houston went just 6 for 25.
The game was basically the Philip Seymour Hoffman scene from Along Came Polly.
In addition, Houston’s final set to try and win the game was just embarrassing.
HOUSTON DIDN'T GET A SHOT OFF 😵💫
— FanDuel (@FanDuel) April 8, 2025
FLORIDA WINS THE NATTY 🏆#GoGators | #MarchMadnesspic.twitter.com/b6764MJr79
Now, I would never be foolish enough to say the sport is in trouble. I actually think the sport is as healthy as ever thanks to legalized gambling. And the tournament will always be gold thanks to the proliferation of bracket pools.
Last night's natty game was the most bet CBB game of all-time @DKSportsbook 🔥 pic.twitter.com/4xS6JTEUKI
— br_betting (@br_betting) April 8, 2025
In addition, the ratings for the Final Four were outstanding, and the ratings for Florida’s win against Houston will be outstanding.
Update: Per Nielsen final national data, Saturday’s Final Four viewership increases to 15.5 Million Viewers (+21%) with a peak of 20.7 Million Viewers
— March Madness Men’s Basketball TV (@MM_MBB_TV) April 8, 2025
Florida-Auburn: 14.8 Million Viewers (+29%), now the best early game since 2015
Houston-Duke: 16.3 Million Viewers (+15%) https://t.co/IO4UVe7Pwk
But watching that Florida-Houston game was ROUGH.
2. Because he’s probably the only person in sports media with no rules, TNT’s Charles Barkley decided to reignite his feud with the women of San Antonio on Monday since he was in town for the Final Four. Years ago, TNT told Barkley to end the jokes about the size of the women in San Antonio, but Barkley wasn’t on the air when he made his comments Monday, so technically he’s still listening to his bosses.
Charles Barkley doubles down on his stance about the size of women from San Antonio and tells a crowd at the Capital One JamFest in San Antonio, “Y’all got some big b*tches here.” pic.twitter.com/mDxR3sFitH
— The Art Of Dialogue (@ArtOfDialogue_) April 8, 2025
3. It never ceases to amaze to see how much teams despise their fans.
The Islanders are making people who attended Sunday’s game at the UBS Arena, which featured Alex Ovechkin’s historic goal, pay to print out their ticket from the event.
@JimmyTraina I know you don’t follow hockey so sending this your way. In the category of squeezing every dollar out of fans, charging $45 for a printed ticket of a game you attended is out there. https://t.co/M5MAyEIb4m
— Rich F (@fuernj) April 8, 2025
In addition, I received this email from a reader named Matt over the weekend:
"Hey, Jimmy. To add to the insult of the $10 coupon at the MLB store that you and Sal riffed on, they almost always have a free shipping offer on their website (when you spend over $x). Their 3-7 day shipping is $8.99! However, you can’t use two coupon codes at once. So this new coupon code is really not worth anything since your basically swapping it for the 'free' shipping."
4. ESPN’s Brian Windhorst is great TV. Here he is breaking down the Western Conference playoff seeding in hilarious fashion.
5. I don’t know this guy, but I feel for him after reading his story about getting shafted out of Masters tickets after he won them through the official lottery because the Masters thought he was trying to sell his tickets through some bizarre tangled web, so I wanted to share his story. Hopefully it works out for him.
I was supposed to be at the Masters today. Instead, due to a baffling mix of fraud and/or misunderstanding, I had my tickets cancelled and am currently banned from attending again. Here's my story - and a plea for help🧵 pic.twitter.com/L3ovy2tRYB
— Josh Knauer (@jknauer42) April 7, 2025
6. The latest episode of SI Media With Jimmy Traina features an interview with CBS’s Ian Eagle and Bill Raftery.
The duo discuss their longtime partnership, going back to working New Jersey Nets game together in the early 1990s, Eagle shares his impression of Raftery and the pair reminisce about funny stories over the years.
Raftery also shares a shocking admission about his famous catchphrases, talks about a viral line from this year’s NCAA tournament and discusses whether he has ever thought about retirement.
Eagle talks about the prep work for doing the tournament, what it’s like to do four games in a day during the first round and the amount of broadcast partners he has had over the years.
In addition, Eagle shares his thoughts on getting a new NFL partner this season in J.J. Watt.
You can listen to the SI Media With Jimmy Traina podcast below or on Apple and Spotify.
You can also watch SI Media With Jimmy Traina on Sports Illustrated‘s YouTube channel.
7. RANDOM VIDEO OF THE DAY: Happy 44th birthday to one of the best running backs of all time, Tim Riggins, aka Taylor Kitsch.
Be sure to catch up on past editions of Traina Thoughts and check out the Sports Illustrated Media Podcast hosted by Jimmy Traina on Apple, Spotify or Google. You can also follow Jimmy on X and Instagram.
This article was originally published on www.si.com as National Title Game Was a Perfect Example of Why College Basketball Is Both Awful and Healthy.
