Wide Left: Previewing NCAA National Title Game & MLB Opening Day

It's preview Monday on the show! Nick Tarnowski and I first preview the NCAA national championship game between Kentucky and Kansas, a matchup of two of the great programs in college basketball history.

Does Kansas stand a chance against this vaunted Kentucky lineup? Has Kentucky proven that having "depth without depth" is enough to win a national title? In other words, if you only play six players but they are all great, do you need actual depth on your roster?

Do the guys who never play still get to cut down the nets? (I'm kidding, they obviously work just as hard in practice even if they never get on the court. Ever.) 

We also discuss what the title game means for the coaches. First, we talk about John Calipari and how many national media members seem to be lashing back against the Calipari backlash. Is he now a sympathetic figure in college basketball? Is there a difference between Kentucky's pipeline to the NBA and, say, Duke's? 

In a word, yes.

Calipari has two vacated Final Four appearances in his career. At almost every stop he has been accused of and charged with running unclean programs. The Calipari backlash isn't about kids going to Kentucky for a year or two and jumping to the NBA. That happens at Duke and North Carolina and anywhere coaches focus on recruiting top-flight talent.

The issue with Calipari is how he does it.

Will this recent run of Kentucky's success result in eventual sanctions? We hope not, as fans of college basketball. We don't want to of the great teams in recent history to be tarnished by another scandal under Calipari's watch. But that doesn't mean we shouldn't be skeptical about his methods. This is not the same as Coach K losing a players after one year. It will never be the same, no matter how many Final Fours Calipari gets to with a fresh crop of youngsters.

As for Bill Self, we talk about his legacy should Kansas win the title. People have been writing that a second title puts Self into the "legend" category. Do you agree? 

Sure, Self is already a great coach and a second title will put him above a potential Hall of Fame threshold, but is that the same as "legend?" Aren't some writers throwing that word around a little loosely?

There are very few legends in sports. Should Kansas win, let's have cooler heads before we start handing out legend monikers. 

BASEBALL SEASON BEGINS HELL YEAH

We briefly talk about the start of baseball season and discuss the top stories coming out of spring training. Is 49-year-old Jamie Moyer making the Rockies' rotation–as the No. 2 starter–the best story in baseball or does it just make the Rockies look totally desperate?

And speaking of the Rockies pitching staff, how about former Colorado ace Ubaldo Jimenez plunking Troy Tulowitzki on the wrist, clearing the benches and sending Tulo to the hospital. This is, injury aside, the most hilarious story of the spring. Get these guys up north already!

We close with a chat about TV deals and how networks and carriers hold us hostage and use sports as leverage. In the end, the consumer always loses. 

And on a more fun note, as we taped on Sunday night just before the season premiere of HBO's Game of Thrones, we talk about how HBO has been marketing the show heavily to sports fans. First, Thrones ads appeared during the NCAA tournament, both online and on TV. Next, Thrones clips were included in mash-ups with baseball highlights in advertising deals with Major League Baseball.

Is Game of Thrones too niche to capture the average sports fan? HBO clearly doesn't think so, and obviously wants the average sports fan to tune in. So…will they?

Thanks for listening. Feel free to leave your thoughts in the comments.