The Varsity Podcast Network
500 episodes listed below
College sports talk from inside the calendar.
College Sports Now moves through college athletics with the rhythm of people who are already inside the beat. It mixes Final Four scene-setting, baseball player conversations, women’s basketball reaction, golf-pool nonsense, and enough stats to keep the jokes from floating away.
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College Sports Now is a college athletics conversation with a lived-in, press-row feel. It moves quickly, but it rarely feels rushed. The show’s recent run spans college baseball interviews, Final Four coverage from Indianapolis, a UCLA women’s title reaction, and a Masters pool episode that turns golf picks into group history and teasing. Basketball sits near the center of gravity. The show talks through title games, team arcs, broadcast assignments, coaching news, and the weird emotional weather around the end of March. It also keeps a real appetite for baseball. The Dugouts, Dumbbells, and Dingers episodes spend time with players such as Maddox Haley and Kaden Smith, asking about team chemistry, injuries, coaching styles, confidence, and the fun of a lineup that keeps hitting. Those interviews are personable, but they are not fluffy. They start with specific context and let the guest explain how a season actually feels from inside the uniform. The Final Four episodes widen the room. Nick Bahe talks Westwood One coverage, Brian Jeffries talks Arizona and Tommy Lloyd, John Fanta talks broadcast passion and the fan crush of a big weekend, and Matt Norlander gets pulled into the day-after-title-game exhaustion. The panel episodes can be messy in the way live sports talk is messy. Someone botches an intro, someone takes a run at Scott Van Pelt discourse, and the conversation still finds its way back to picks, brackets, teams, and stakes. That is the show’s texture. It cares about results and context, but it also cares about the airport, the arena name, the weather, the shirt, the running route, and the stray bit that everyone remembers later. College Sports Now works best for fans who already know the landscape and want company while staying current. It is not a slow explainer. It is a warm, brisk, sometimes rowdy map of college sports as they are being talked about by people close enough to notice the details.
Made for: Built for college sports fans who follow more than the final score and enjoy the personalities, travel, broadcasts, coaches, and side stories around the games. It especially suits listeners who already speak March, Omaha, seed lines, and conference stakes.
What sets it apart: The show blends informed analysis with the loose texture of people talking between games, flights, media hits, and sponsor breaks. It treats college sports as a full ecosystem, not just a scoreboard.
A podcast for college sports fans by college sports fans. Stephen Hartzell hosts along with the rotating cast of Roddy Jones, Wayne Cook, and Michael Felder as they provide analysis of all the latest news and developments in the world of college athletics. Follow College Sports Now on Twitter @CSNowTweets!
Based on 6 episodes we listened to · June 2026
College Sports Now turns tournament chaos into sharp, conversational college hoops judgment for listeners already invested in the bracket.
College Sports Now works best as a college basketball room with the tournament still buzzing in the background. In this sample, the show moves from bracket preview and reveal into Final Four buildup, women's Final Four talk, and title-game aftermath, with the pace of people…
You want bracket arguments with actual homework and just enough snowed-in chaos.
Press play if you want
Short reviews from the PlayNext desk, based on the episodes we processed.
A lively Gonzaga interview built around team chemistry and one appendix-surgery aside.
Dugouts, Dumbbells, and Dingers gives Maddox Haley a clean, easy stop in Gonzaga country by leaning on the part that feels most believable: he sounds loose, the group sounds close, and that energy comes through without much effort.
A loose, lively Duke baseball chat that keeps finding the good stuff between the jokes.
College baseball is the frame here, but the pull comes from the personality around it: Caden Smith talking through a spring season with some lift to it, with an easy back-and-forth that gives the discussion room to breathe.
A comeback story grounded in real numbers, with just enough looseness to keep it human.
Dugout's Dumbbells and Dingers keeps its focus on Max Yale, West Virginia's Saturday starter, and treats his return from Tommy John surgery as the center of the piece.
A clear Final Four preview that stays on effort, defense, and how the favorites pulled away.
With a repeat Final Four of UConn, South Carolina, UCLA, and Texas set for Friday night in Phoenix, the show keeps its eye on what the bracket actually means. Rob Joyce and Megan Gauer call the weekend underwhelming overall, but they do not flatten it into one note.
Final Four week chatter that mixes bracket talk, East Region fallout, and road-trip loose ends.
College Sports Now opens Final Four week with a long Swish and Win reminder before it gets to the college hoops. Hartzell and Norlander move through the Final Four field, from Duke and UConn to Illinois, Arizona, and Michigan, then circle back to the East Region and the St.
A bracket preview that treats geography and seed placement like real leverage.
This episode is a March bracket walkthrough that treats geography as more than a footnote. It opens with a clear push for the free Varsity Network app, then gets into the bracket itself: how the NCAA field comes together, how seed placement can shape later rounds, and how a team…
A late-night bracket update that feels immediate because it is.
A late-night college basketball check-in from 12:19 a.m. Central Time, with Hartzell in Nashville and Norlander in Kansas City, keeps the energy sharp and immediate.
A road series win turns into a useful look at how High Point builds an older, dangerous lineup.
High Point's series win at Florida is the clean hook, but the real value sits in Joey Hammett's explanation of how the roster came together. The conversation shifts from a light joke about a shirt-off celebration to a convincing read on veteran experience, contagious offense,…
Steelers draft logic, in real time.
Daily Blackhawks scrutiny with Chicago pulse.
Daily Habs nerves, numbers, and belief.
The Masters pool gets weird fast.
Basketball is over for now.
Michigan gets a sharper crowd read after the fake-out.
Maddox Haley says Gonzaga's 2026 run started with a simple change: treating pregame batting practice like his real game, especially after appendicitis and an expected bench role.
Basketball is out of the way.
The hosts preview the Masters golf tournament, discuss past competition winners, and share personal anecdotes about the event.
A sports podcast episode discussing the aftermath of the national championship game in college basketball, featuring an interview with journalist Matt Norlander about his experiences in Indianapolis and upcoming NIL symposium at Bradley University.
This episode discusses UCLA's historic NCAA women's basketball championship win in Phoenix, covering the game, host city experiences, and arena observations.
An interview with Brian Jeffries discussing Arizona's long-term contract extension with head coach Tommy Lloyd and his impact on the Wildcats' success, including their recent Final Four appearance.
Hosts discuss the Final Four with Michigan basketball's play-by-play announcer Brian Bush.
Host Stephen Hartzell interviews statistician Evan Miyakawa about the Final Four teams and data-driven basketball analysis.
An interview with Illinois broadcaster Brian Barnhart about the team's Final Four run and tournament performance.
Hosts discuss NCAA tournament coverage and preview the championship game with a guest broadcaster.
Host Stephen Hartzell interviews NBC Sports' John Fanta about his experience covering the Final Four in Indianapolis.
Max is back, and West Virginia can feel it.
It was always headed here.
Final Four week is finally here.
Hosts discuss the opening weekend of the college basketball tournament, including upsets and the performance of mid-major teams.
Hosts discuss the NCAA tournament's Sweet 16 matchups, regional analysis, and potential storylines with guest Matt Norlander.
Hosts discuss college baseball with a guest from Louisiana Tech, covering recent games and the busy sports season.
Hosts discuss the NCAA tournament selection show, preview the field of 68, and plan to break down each region.
After a quick Varsity Network read, Matt Norlander and the host get straight into the NCAA Tournament bracket: region placement, geography complaints, and March logistics people can actually use.
1219 a.m.
Hosts discuss college basketball bracketology, tournament selection, and recent conference championship results.
March Madness is here, but baseball grabs the mic.
Host Stephen Hartzell and guest Matt Norlander discuss NCAA tournament brackets and conference tournaments ahead of Selection Sunday.
Hosts discuss conference tournaments and their impact on NCAA tournament bubble teams.
Hosts discuss upcoming postseason college basketball, including JMU's tournament hopes and a preview of an interview with ESPN's Jeff Borzello about coaching changes.
This episode features an interview with Nick Koop, the play-by-play voice of UCLA Bruins baseball, discussing the team's rise to the top national ranking and their recent turnaround.
This episode kicks off March college basketball coverage with CBS Sports analyst Matt Norlander discussing the start of conference tournaments and previewing upcoming games.
The hosts discuss the final week of the college basketball regular season, preview upcoming conference tournaments, and analyze the LSU-Tennessee game while criticizing the trend of home teams wearing alternate colors.
The hosts discuss the upcoming NCAA men's basketball tournament, expressing excitement about the first weekend action and reminiscing about past tournament highlights.
A college baseball podcast episode featuring an interview with Kansas State shortstop D.
College Sports Now centers on Kansas’s 69-56 win over Houston, which snapped Houston’s three-game losing streak and kept the Cougars in the “buy low” conversation.
Hosts discuss recent college basketball games, including Tennessee's loss to Texas A&M and implications for March Madness.
Hosts recap Indiana's national championship win over Miami and discuss the game's key moments.
Hosts discuss college basketball with guest Matt Norlander, touching on MLK day and personal anecdotes.
Hosts preview the National Championship Game with banter about college football and personal anecdotes.
Hosts discuss college basketball and football, previewing the upcoming national championship game and recapping a Bears playoff win.
Hosts preview the CFP semifinals and discuss the transfer portal, including the DeMond Williams situation.