Latest / The Lunch Rush with Trent Condon / Big 12 talk with Matt Postins, Nick Nelson talks Twins win streak & T-Wolves & Trent's Picks presented by Circa Sports

Transcript

Big 12 talk with Matt Postins, Nick Nelson talks Twins win streak & T-Wolves & Trent's Picks presented by Circa Sports · The Lunch Rush with Trent Condon

• 0:03
  Hour number two, Miller and Condon, welcome back, Trent and
• 0:06
  I with you until, oh, just before 2:00.
• 0:08
  At 2:00, the drive comes your way.
• 0:11
  Heather and Lucas take you until 5:00.
• 0:13
  Overtime, Iowa from 5:00 until 6.
• 0:16
  Bottom of the hour, we'll talk some Twins baseball with Nick
• 0:20
  Nelson from twinsdaily.com. Talk about the American League
• 0:23
  Central and in particular those searching Minnesota Twins.
• 0:27
  But right now, as promised, let's get our friend Matt
• 0:29
  Poston's in here. It's middle of May.
• 0:31
  We will soon be or some of the media will be making the way
• 0:35
  down to Dallas or to the Frisco area to catch Big 12 Media days.
• 0:40
  Matt Postons will be amongst them and he joins us Heartland
• 0:44
  College Sports. Matt, Trent, Ken, thanks for
• 0:45
  coming on. Good to talk to you.
• 0:47
  How are things? Oh, good.
• 0:49
  Yeah. I, I can't really get out of
• 0:50
  media days. I live 20 minutes away.
• 0:52
  Oh, you're in. I can't really.
• 0:53
  I can't really get out of that. Yep, and they'll be asking you
• 0:56
  to put some of the put some of the Heartland crew up at your
• 0:59
  place probably. Yeah, I wish I had the room.
• 1:03
  Hey Matt, So Ken and I have gone back and forth with this.
• 1:06
  We hung out with you out in Vegas last year.
• 1:07
  Had a great time hanging out at Circa.
• 1:11
  Ken thinks that this was a terrible choice by the Big 12.
• 1:13
  I have maintained that with the number of Texas media, the
• 1:17
  number of people that cover the Big 12 in the state, that
• 1:20
  attendance in fact might go up this year.
• 1:22
  What do you anticipate's going to happen?
• 1:24
  More media going to be there in Texas or what we saw a year ago
• 1:27
  in Vegas. Well, I think, you know, I think
• 1:31
  what you might lose in say, the Four Corners schools being a
• 1:36
  little bit closer to Vegas, you'll gain back in the free
• 1:41
  media that you'll get in the Dallas area and the fact that
• 1:45
  the majority of the media will be closer to the Dallas Fort
• 1:49
  Worth area. For instance, you know, none of
• 1:52
  the television stations in the Dallas Fort Worth area that I
• 1:56
  know of traveled to Vegas last year from Media day.
• 2:00
  So you lost all that potential free media in the market.
• 2:02
  They'll get some of that back by moving it into Frisco because
• 2:05
  naturally some of those folks will just go up there, at least
• 2:08
  on the day TCU was there. So I think it'll balance out to
• 2:12
  the point we'll probably, you'll probably have a little bit more
• 2:14
  media there this year than last year.
• 2:17
  But if I understand what they're doing correctly, they're going
• 2:20
  to have media Day in the Dallas area one year and then they're
• 2:23
  going to go somewhere else the next year.
• 2:25
  So maybe it goes back to Vegas in 26 if you go somewhere else
• 2:29
  like Kansas City in 26th. I'm not sure, but it sounds like
• 2:32
  they want to try and alternate this every other year and move
• 2:35
  it around a little bit. So what other what other
• 2:38
  destinations would make? Maybe a Phoenix or a Tucson?
• 2:41
  Or is that too close? I mean, yeah, Phoenix, which are
• 2:45
  really far out, but Phoenix has got a lot of really good places
• 2:49
  to do that. Kansas City would make a lot of
• 2:52
  sense. You know, there there aren't a
• 2:55
  lot of destinations. I get the sense that your mark
• 2:58
  might try and take it to a a non Big 12 market like he did with
• 3:03
  Las Vegas. That could mean New York City.
• 3:06
  I know he loves New York City a great deal and wants to have he
• 3:10
  he wants the league to have I think some kind of presence in
• 3:12
  that market. Hasn't really gotten there with
• 3:14
  expansion with basketball. But you know, that's a way to
• 3:17
  test the market from a media standpoint if you wanted to do
• 3:20
  that. I have no sense where the where
• 3:22
  they will have the media day next year.
• 3:24
  I just don't get the sense that it's going to be like ping
• 3:26
  ponging between Vegas and Dallas every year.
• 3:29
  Gotcha. All right, let's get into it as
• 3:31
  we take a look at the middle of May, glimpse at the at the Big
• 3:36
  12 and what a difference a year makes right where there was 0
• 3:40
  love for those Sun Devils. And we know what how it turned
• 3:43
  out. They're going to be a factor
• 3:45
  again. When you were from where you?
• 3:48
  Sit and we won't hold you to this.
• 3:49
  We will once we get, you know, toward the end of August, kind
• 3:53
  of your top three at this point going into it without, you know,
• 3:57
  deep dive, without getting real familiar with all the transfer
• 4:01
  additions and subtractions etcetera.
• 4:03
  Who's on? Who's on the top of your list?
• 4:06
  Maybe two or three teams at this point.
• 4:08
  Well, I think Arizona State is there just because they've got
• 4:12
  17 returning starters. I mean, in this era, having 17
• 4:17
  returning starters is pretty incredible.
• 4:19
  I think that's just the tip of the cap to what Kenny Dillingham
• 4:21
  has done there in two years. Kansas State's on my list
• 4:25
  because they've got the quarterback coming back and that
• 4:28
  makes a huge difference when you have continuity at that
• 4:30
  position. And Iowa State's on my list for
• 4:33
  the Rocco backed reason. They've got continuity at that
• 4:35
  position and you know, Matt Campbell has proven I think year
• 4:38
  over year like Chris Kleeman has.
• 4:40
  But they've got enough talent to be competitive in this
• 4:43
  conference every year. And the difference is going to
• 4:46
  be, you know, those one or two games where they're there are
• 4:49
  5050 games and whether they can win them or lose them.
• 4:51
  But, you know, right now I feel like those three teams are the
• 4:54
  ones that I'm gravitating to because they have the consistent
• 4:57
  quarterback play that you need to have in this conference.
• 4:59
  They've got continuity at key positions that of course, areas
• 5:02
  in the state just has continuity all over the place.
• 5:05
  Program that I'm just always intrigued by his TCU play the
• 5:08
  national championship game a couple of years ago step back as
• 5:11
  we anticipated that could happen he kind of look around they got
• 5:14
  some talent going to have a monster non conference game
• 5:16
  against North Carolina that's going to.
• 5:18
  Get a ton of. Eyeballs on that one.
• 5:21
  Where's this Warm Frogs program? We know they got money.
• 5:23
  Money's not an issue compared to a lot of their brethren in the
• 5:26
  Big 12. Where's this program?
• 5:28
  Where they going kind of looking forward?
• 5:31
  I I think you could see them be a dark horse in this league this
• 5:34
  year. They've they've got, they've got
• 5:36
  continuity at quarterback for the first time in a couple of
• 5:39
  years. That's that's going to help
• 5:40
  them. I think they did a good job in
• 5:43
  the portal just in terms of getting some impact players at
• 5:45
  key positions. I think they had depth, a wide
• 5:49
  receiver already. They're they lost a couple of
• 5:51
  really good receivers to the NFL, but they had depth at that
• 5:54
  position and they brought in some talent in the portal as
• 5:56
  well. You know, I think, you know,
• 5:59
  when you lose a Max dug in and you lose all those guys from
• 6:02
  that national finalist team, you're going to take an obvious
• 6:05
  step back. I think we probably soft pedaled
• 6:08
  how big a step back they would take.
• 6:10
  But you know, they were much better last year in in key areas
• 6:14
  than they were the year before. And I see them building on that.
• 6:17
  I don't know if they make the championship game in the
• 6:19
  conference, but I think come November I think they have the
• 6:22
  potential to be a real factor. How much, I guess, of a locker
• 6:26
  room presence was Jack Beck? I mean, we've seen with the
• 6:28
  draft, obviously the story very sad with what transpired down,
• 6:32
  down in New Orleans and losing his brother in a terrorist
• 6:34
  attack. But he was one of the big
• 6:36
  talkers at the NFL draft. I think he's going to be a good
• 6:39
  player in the league. But I have to imagine that this
• 6:43
  just just listening to the young man, he seems to be one of those
• 6:47
  guys that is going to be missed amongst the his teammates.
• 6:52
  Yeah, it's, it's so interesting. You know, from a production
• 6:55
  standpoint, he he didn't blow up until last year.
• 6:58
  I mean, he had a huge year last year for them.
• 7:00
  And before that he really was a solid receiver.
• 7:04
  But you know, he wasn't highly productive.
• 7:06
  I think he just took a huge jump in talent, in work ethic and
• 7:11
  just, you know, taking advantage of additional opportunities he
• 7:14
  was afforded last year. And now you're losing his
• 7:17
  brother. He's got obvious, you know,
• 7:19
  motivation to continue his pro career.
• 7:21
  And I think he landed in a really good spot because I see
• 7:25
  him as a guy who's going to be an inside receiver in the NFL,
• 7:28
  The guy who's got a really good route tree.
• 7:31
  He's got good hands who can do a lot of different things with the
• 7:33
  football. He doesn't mind blocking.
• 7:34
  He doesn't mind doing dirty work.
• 7:36
  You know, I I like in this profile to a Cooper Cup coming
• 7:40
  out of college, but Cooper Cup was far more productive in
• 7:43
  college than Jack Beck was. But I think he could have a very
• 7:46
  productive career. One jump to another Texas team,
• 7:50
  Baylor, the winning streak at the end of the season was a real
• 7:54
  no. They hung around for that first
• 7:55
  quarter against Iowa State. They were out of sight, out of
• 7:58
  mind even as they started to turn around in the back half of
• 8:00
  the year. Know the pressure that's still
• 8:02
  on Dave Aranda to deliver again this season.
• 8:05
  Do you see the Bears as title contenders?
• 8:07
  We know that Sawyer Robertson, that guy can sling it around.
• 8:09
  What else with the Baylors program?
• 8:12
  Yeah, You know, I, I think they're kind of in that TCU back
• 8:14
  where they're, they're kind of a dark horse team.
• 8:16
  You know, I, I think that Dave Aranda returning to calling
• 8:20
  defensive signals really helped them last year.
• 8:22
  I think it really helped him too.
• 8:24
  You know, some coaches are adept at handling two different hats
• 8:28
  when they're the head coach. Some aren't.
• 8:30
  Aranda, I think, you know, tested the idea of, you know,
• 8:34
  taking his hands out of the defense and it just didn't work
• 8:37
  for him. And I felt like after, you know,
• 8:39
  they struggled at the beginning of the year, there's no
• 8:41
  question. I think part of that was Aranda
• 8:43
  trying to figure out personnel and just getting back into the
• 8:45
  flow of being a play caller for the defensive side.
• 8:48
  That's why they were so much better in the back half of the
• 8:50
  year because he kind of figured that out.
• 8:51
  So, you know, they they slipped a lot of talent in the portal.
• 8:55
  I don't think they're afraid to do that now.
• 8:57
  I think that helps them. I think with Sawyer quarterback,
• 9:01
  you've got the continuity there. You've Got Talent all around
• 9:04
  that roster. They could be a dark horse.
• 9:07
  I think the difference is how much of AA jump their defense
• 9:11
  takes from last year. They were good last year.
• 9:14
  I think they have the potential to be much better this year that
• 9:16
  they are. I think that puts them in the
• 9:18
  category of contender. I want to talk about another
• 9:21
  Texas team and I think the best team from the state, Texas in
• 9:24
  the Big 12 release potentially and that's Texas Tech.
• 9:27
  The Red Raiders do not see Iowa State, they do not see, I don't
• 9:31
  think they see they do players on a state.
• 9:33
  My bad. But still, I think this Texas
• 9:37
  Tech team is maybe a a dark horse or maybe even better than
• 9:43
  that. Maybe we should give a little
• 9:44
  bit more credit that they're going to be a player this year.
• 9:46
  Mortons back through a lot of touchdowns last year.
• 9:49
  Where are you on the Red Raiders, who seemingly, and
• 9:52
  admittedly, I've been, you know, kind of on their bandwagon the
• 9:54
  last couple of years and they've fallen a little bit short.
• 9:57
  Might this be the year Matt Postons?
• 9:59
  I think they're a dark horse. Plus, you know, when you think
• 10:02
  about all the talent they've brought in, all the money they
• 10:05
  have spent in the portal. No, there is there may be no
• 10:08
  program in the country more afraid to spend or less afraid
• 10:11
  to spend money in the portal. The Texas Tech, you know,
• 10:14
  they've Got Talent everywhere. They've won one more game each
• 10:18
  year under Joey McGuire than the year before.
• 10:21
  I think they won nine last year. So to me, they have everything,
• 10:26
  you know, that they they need to win double digit games and if
• 10:29
  you can win double digit games that put you in contention for
• 10:31
  the Big 12 championship game. The question I have is whether
• 10:34
  they can put it all together. It seems like every time a Texas
• 10:37
  Tech team has all the pieces, and this isn't a Joey Maguire
• 10:39
  thing, this is a last 25 years kind of thing, every time they
• 10:43
  have the pieces to put it together, they just fall short.
• 10:47
  Yeah, this is a program that you got to remember, this is a
• 10:49
  program that has not had a lot of significant success winning
• 10:53
  conference championships. I think our last conference
• 10:55
  championship was way back in the 90s.
• 10:58
  It was like a quad championship in the Southwest Conference
• 11:01
  because everybody was averaged that year and they got the
• 11:03
  Cotton Bowl bid because they they were the program in the
• 11:06
  conference that had gone the longest without a Cotton Bowl
• 11:08
  bid. That's how they broke the tie.
• 11:10
  So it's, you know, I, I love the talent there.
• 11:13
  I love Joey McGuire as a coach. I think he's got a great staff.
• 11:17
  This is the year they've got everything they need.
• 11:20
  I wish they had Taj Brooks, but you know, they've got everything
• 11:23
  else they need. The question is whether they can
• 11:25
  put it together because they just, they haven't been in this
• 11:28
  position before. And every time they get close to
• 11:30
  this position, they just, they lose that one game they have to
• 11:34
  win. And and that's my big question
• 11:36
  with them right now. Play this game with me.
• 11:38
  We've been talking a lot about the potential and what looks to
• 11:40
  be a reality. A 16 team playoff.
• 11:42
  Starting next season, Big 12 will get 2 automatic bids.
• 11:46
  You have a Big 12 championship game with two teams in it.
• 11:50
  What do you do? Because I mean, you look at the
• 11:53
  Big 10 and the SEC perspective. It's one thing when you got
• 11:56
  those teams facing off, maybe for a #1 or #2 seed for the Big
• 11:59
  12 with both teams being in. Do you have your top team get a
• 12:03
  buy into the College Football Playoff and two versus.
• 12:06
  Three. Yes, Trent, that's it.
• 12:08
  That's a great idea. What do you think of?
• 12:10
  That I think that is, I don't know exactly what the Big 12
• 12:14
  thinking is, but I've heard people smarter than me bandy
• 12:18
  that about as a potential solution that say the regular
• 12:20
  season conference champion would get a first round bye and that
• 12:24
  the number 2 and #3 teams in the conference would play for the
• 12:27
  second berth. But then it wouldn't necessarily
• 12:30
  be a conference championship game.
• 12:32
  It did more of a play in game because you can give the
• 12:34
  championship to the regular student champion.
• 12:37
  And it sounds like the Big 10 and the SEC are talking about
• 12:41
  this sort of play in game situation where maybe if they do
• 12:44
  get 4 automatic beds, maybe the first two teams get in and maybe
• 12:47
  teams 3 through 6 play sort of a four team tournament for the
• 12:52
  other two beds. I think part of this is these
• 12:55
  conferences want to generate more revenue for themselves and
• 12:59
  for their TV partners by creating more games.
• 13:01
  And I think part of it is, you know, if you're going to have
• 13:03
  more than one automatic bid, you need to reward the team that
• 13:06
  ended up finishing at the top of the conference with an automatic
• 13:09
  bid. I love that idea.
• 13:12
  I'd not heard that. Now what if three teams go 8:00
• 13:14
  and 1:00? Well, there's that.
• 13:16
  Well, well, let's check the Big 12 tiebreaker rules, yeah?
• 13:20
  Those are pictures. We did that.
• 13:23
  Utah and Oklahoma State, the two most disappointing teams.
• 13:26
  If you go back to the, you know, to the media days, etcetera,
• 13:29
  everybody loved either Utah or Oklahoma State and Oklahoma
• 13:33
  State was winless. Utah won two games.
• 13:35
  Who bounces back out of those two schools this year, Matt?
• 13:40
  I I, I don't see Oklahoma State having another bad, bad year.
• 13:45
  You know, they've had a lot of turnover.
• 13:46
  I like the talent they brought in on the portal.
• 13:49
  The question is whether or not, yeah, they can put it all
• 13:52
  together. I think, I think Mike Gundy made
• 13:55
  some significant errors on the offensive side.
• 13:57
  I don't think they got Holly Gordon the football nearly
• 13:59
  enough. I was there at the Kansas State
• 14:01
  game where they just, they ran away from him even even when it
• 14:04
  was clear he was healthy in the second-half of that game.
• 14:07
  But, you know, they've they've turned over several coaches.
• 14:10
  I think they're going to go back to the drawing board.
• 14:13
  I just, I trust, I trust Mike Gundy's ability to turn things
• 14:18
  around quicker than I do Kyle Weddingham's.
• 14:20
  Part of that is my inexperience with Kyle Whittingham and that
• 14:23
  program having been so good for so long.
• 14:25
  Last year's huge step back was just a big, big surprise, I
• 14:30
  think to everybody. So if I'm going to bank on
• 14:32
  anybody, it's going to be Oklahoma State.
• 14:35
  Speaking of banking on somebody, Brett Yourmark, the Big 12
• 14:37
  banked on him an extension through 2030.
• 14:41
  TV rights, The changing landscape of college athletics.
• 14:44
  What? What do you want to see out of
• 14:46
  Brett Yourmark here over the next five years?
• 14:49
  I, I think he's got to look continue to squeeze every bit of
• 14:52
  revenue he can. I think he's been trying to sell
• 14:55
  his athletic directors and presidents on either naming
• 14:58
  rights for the league or private equity investment for the past
• 15:02
  year and just haven't gotten anywhere with it.
• 15:04
  You've got to remember the SEC and the Big 10 television
• 15:07
  contracts are going to create a significant disparity with
• 15:10
  everybody else and the Big 12, in order to be competitive in
• 15:13
  the revenue sharing era, they've got to find ways to to make up
• 15:17
  that ground. I'd like to see the conference,
• 15:21
  if there's any way for them to get more involved with NIL,
• 15:25
  whether that's facilitating partnerships with particular
• 15:27
  schools or even finding ways to facilitate NIL themselves.
• 15:32
  I think that's a that's a value add that the Big 12 could bring.
• 15:35
  I don't know if that's possible in the new revenue sharing
• 15:37
  agreement, but that I think that's something for them to
• 15:39
  think about. And I think your mark has to
• 15:41
  look for any way that he possibly can to get more of his
• 15:45
  games, you know, specifically the ones that will end up in
• 15:48
  ESPN Plus on as much linear as he can.
• 15:51
  He's done that with the CBS sub license that they've expanded
• 15:54
  Foxes and get 50 basketball games this year. 12 football
• 15:57
  games are going to Turner. But when you look at the
• 15:59
  softball tournament they just ended, every SEC game was on the
• 16:03
  SEC Network, every ACC game was on the ACC Network.
• 16:06
  And those are linear channels. Same with the Big 10, Big 12,
• 16:10
  all their games but the championship game were on ESPN
• 16:13
  Plus. That's got to change and and the
• 16:16
  framework of the TV deal they have isn't going to change, but
• 16:19
  he's got to find a way to change it as subtly and as, you know,
• 16:24
  as much as he can until they can move to the table and get a new
• 16:28
  TV deal. I don't think they're going to
• 16:30
  get a Big 12 network, but any way that he can to get more
• 16:33
  exposure for these teams from ATV standpoint, that's something
• 16:36
  he's got to work on. Last thing for me when it comes
• 16:40
  to revenue, because I I thought that they that your mark in the
• 16:43
  Big 12, but switching to basketball mandated those
• 16:47
  courtside seats in in every building.
• 16:49
  Do you remember that from last year?
• 16:51
  Yeah, they're they're allowed to do NBA seating if they want.
• 16:54
  To So it's an if they want, it's not, it's not a requirement
• 16:57
  because I know I don't think Iowa State did.
• 17:00
  It no, I don't think I, I, I think roughly just watching from
• 17:04
  television, I think roughly half the team did it.
• 17:07
  Now the so the NBA configuration is scores table, seating in
• 17:11
  between the scores table and the players benches and then a
• 17:14
  little more seating outside of that.
• 17:15
  So they were given the option to do that, but I don't think they
• 17:18
  were required to do so. Good stuff.
• 17:20
  Good stuff. Matt Poston's Heartland College
• 17:22
  Sports. Matt, love talking to you.
• 17:23
  Thank you. As always, we'll talk to you in
• 17:25
  the weeks ahead. Appreciate it, Matt.
• 17:27
  Thank you. Hey, thanks guys.
• 17:29
  Yep, good to talk to you, Matt Poston's Heartland College
• 17:31
  Sports as we check in on the Big 12.
• 17:34
  Do you remember that from last? Year I do.
• 17:37
  I I thought it was, I thought it was league wide but apparently
• 17:39
  wasn't because I know that not all of them did it anyways.
• 17:42
  Got to squeeze that revenue wherever you can.
• 17:45
  What about the media days moving around to different cities?
• 17:48
  Good idea, bad idea. Phoenix would make sense.
• 17:50
  Yeah, New York wouldn't though, I don't think.
• 17:52
  I don't think so. I mean expensive.
• 17:55
  So much to do. It's expensive.
• 17:57
  Yeah, really expensive. In today's environment where
• 18:00
  you're trying to get, it's not like we're Radio 10 newspapers,
• 18:04
  a ton of extra cash flow hanging around all the different
• 18:07
  websites. What we're seeing there, that
• 18:09
  doesn't make sense, Denver. You know, we went through that
• 18:14
  whole thing. We never robbed Dion Sanders,
• 18:15
  which is good. Denver.
• 18:17
  Yeah. Kansas City, they got the
• 18:21
  basketball. They do driveable for a lot of.
• 18:25
  Schools. Yeah, for a lot of schools,
• 18:29
  Denver makes sense. Denver hub, Phoenix hub, Yep,
• 18:34
  they're just, they're, they're just in the desert too in Vegas.
• 18:36
  So they can do that. Yep.
• 18:39
  Moving around Orlando, I don't know if you want to go east.
• 18:44
  Well, it's UCF. Yeah.
• 18:46
  Right. Making a vacation for people
• 18:48
  with kids. Yeah, Cincinnati.
• 18:52
  Yuck. If you check you've eaten chili,
• 18:55
  there the sky. I have not had the Skyline
• 18:56
  chili. I did.
• 18:59
  Good. Bad.
• 19:01
  Nope. In the middle.
• 19:03
  Yeah, there's cinnamon in it, right?
• 19:05
  I don't remember. I just remember thinking, this
• 19:07
  is going to be really good. Spaghetti.
• 19:10
  Spaghetti Chili, chili. And then I, for whatever reason,
• 19:13
  cinnamon people say there's cinnamon.
• 19:15
  Hall, but there could be. I like both individually
• 19:19
  together. Anyways, time for our Suntan
• 19:25
  City bonus Bucks promotion. Suntan City locations throughout
• 19:31
  central Iowa. Head to kxno.com.
• 19:34
  This nationwide contest gives you an opportunity to win $1000
• 19:39
  at kxno.com. You'll see the pop up
• 19:41
  boxtypethekeywordgreen.green@kxno.com. Your chance to win $1000
• 19:48
  green@kxno.com. Suntan City sponsors the bonus
• 19:53
  bucks. We'll talk baseball with Nick
• 19:56
  Nelson, who covers the twins for twinsdaily.com.
• 20:00
  That's next. Trent's got some plays to make
• 20:02
  before we. Get Dattle on out of here at 2.
• 20:05
  It's Miller and Condon on the Iowa Sports Radio Network,
• 20:16
  Right? Miller and Condon welcome back
• 20:19
  just past 130 on a Tuesday drive.
• 20:22
  Coming up top of the hour, Heather Lucas, 2 until 5,
• 20:25
  overtime, Iowa, 5 until 6:00. Well, what a difference a couple
• 20:28
  of weeks makes. The Twins, my partner down in
• 20:33
  the dumps. Can't beat these guardians, got
• 20:35
  a Cleveland. They just can't beat this team.
• 20:38
  What is it about this walk off 1 after another, after another?
• 20:42
  Well, the worm is turned. They'll still have to face
• 20:46
  Cleveland coming up. And it's like that.
• 20:48
  But Nick Nelson, twinsdaily.com, joins us.
• 20:52
  Good to talk to you. Let's start right there, I
• 20:54
  guess. You know, seemingly every team,
• 20:57
  every team's got one of those teams, regardless of sport, that
• 21:00
  for whatever reason, they just struggle against them.
• 21:03
  And it's clearly the Guardians and the Twins at this point.
• 21:07
  But things have certainly changed since then, right Since
• 21:10
  they left Cleveland, Nick. Yeah.
• 21:12
  Well, I mean, I think the, the, the big difference you see
• 21:15
  between the Twins and the and the Guardians, I think it can be
• 21:17
  summed up in in one statistic which I've mentioned on Twins
• 21:20
  Daily, which is that dating back to last year, the Twins had lost
• 21:24
  32 straight games in which they scored less than four runs,
• 21:28
  which is to say less than an average number of runs, whereas
• 21:31
  the Guardians won five of those games in April alone.
• 21:34
  They've just been a team that's been able to win close games,
• 21:36
  win low scoring games, and the Twins have not.
• 21:39
  Although it seems like maybe we just saw the tides start to turn
• 21:41
  on that a little bit because they won two in a row last week.
• 21:43
  So. So maybe it'll be different this
• 21:45
  time around. Can only hope so this turn
• 21:47
  around from the team, they're getting a little healthier, but
• 21:49
  is there one specific thing that you can pull point add with?
• 21:52
  Was just a fledgling first month of the season.
• 21:55
  What has turned here in the month of May?
• 21:58
  I think it's just that they're hitting enough and that the
• 22:00
  bullpen has started to step up a little bit in in timely moments.
• 22:04
  I think the bullpen stats overall were solid, but they
• 22:08
  were just lapsing in those close spots and they really been
• 22:10
  shutting it down. They were absolutely incredible
• 22:12
  on this last home stand and the bats, you know, this pitching
• 22:15
  staff is so good. All you got to do, like I said,
• 22:17
  is score like an average number of runs on a regular basis and
• 22:20
  you're going to win a lot of games, as we've seen.
• 22:22
  What did what else did you learn about the series sweep against a
• 22:26
  pretty good team at the Giants? It started off really well,
• 22:29
  exceeding expectations obviously, in that tough NL W.
• 22:32
  What did they show you this past weekend that maybe gets your
• 22:36
  attention as they head out on the road to Baltimore,
• 22:38
  Milwaukee? Yeah, gritting it out against a
• 22:41
  good team. You know, I think there's been
• 22:43
  so many parallels between the season and last already.
• 22:46
  You know, the slow start, the really bad hitting in April and
• 22:49
  then kind of going on a win streak to get back above 500.
• 22:52
  The, the big difference that I want to see with last year's
• 22:54
  team is that, you know, the tools were just always beating
• 22:56
  up on really bad competition last year, struggling against
• 22:59
  good teams. The Giants are a genuinely very
• 23:02
  good team. They came to town 10 games above
• 23:03
  500 and I think that's huge. You know, now the teams are
• 23:06
  going to go to Baltimore and and get another chance to get some
• 23:09
  licks against some poor competition.
• 23:10
  But a big week coming up with more guardians on on deck, as
• 23:13
  you mentioned. So playing well against good
• 23:15
  teams. That's that's what I want to see
• 23:16
  and that's what they were able to do.
• 23:18
  Royce Lewis has come back. It's been a slow start for him
• 23:20
  since he's come off the IL after yet another injury, sitting a
• 23:24
  hit real best 111 just a couple of games into this one.
• 23:28
  Royce Lewis though, what you see from him in this slow start, any
• 23:31
  concern with him coming off the injury?
• 23:34
  Yeah, yeah, a lot of concern. I mean, I it's just, maybe we've
• 23:38
  been spoiled to some extent by Royce Lewis and, you know, the
• 23:40
  way he always comes off the Illinois, no matter how long
• 23:43
  he's been out and seems to just set the world on fire right
• 23:45
  away. But, you know, you look at just
• 23:48
  the way he looks in the batter's box, he looks very uncomfortable
• 23:51
  to me. It looks like his top and lower
• 23:53
  half are kind of out of sync. He doesn't look comfortable
• 23:56
  reading pitches. It's kind of what people were
• 23:58
  saying he looks like on the AAA rehab stint.
• 24:00
  And then you combine that with the way he played for the last
• 24:02
  six weeks of last season, I don't know how you could not be
• 24:04
  concerned. The guy has hit one home run and
• 24:06
  like his last 200 plate appearances.
• 24:08
  That's not good. Harrison Bader, on the other
• 24:11
  hand, has been. This is a guy to he doesn't
• 24:14
  usually hit for average here he is flirting with 300 at this
• 24:18
  point in the year. Obviously I would say exceeding
• 24:21
  expectations. When Harrison Bader signs with
• 24:23
  the twit signed with the twins. Did you think he had this in
• 24:26
  him? No, I mean, you know, I think we
• 24:29
  all expected the great defense and the speed, and those were
• 24:31
  going to be welcome things on this team.
• 24:33
  And the Twins seem to have a lot of confidence that they could
• 24:35
  get something more out of him offensively, too.
• 24:37
  That's why they, you know, in an offseason where they were so
• 24:40
  passive and unaggressive in general, they really did go
• 24:42
  after him pretty aggressively and gave him that $6 million
• 24:45
  contract. And it's paying off big time.
• 24:47
  Having him in Boston, both in your outfield, is an
• 24:50
  unbelievable advantage from a defensive standpoint.
• 24:52
  And they're also, yeah, both providing a lot of good spark
• 24:54
  from the right side and a lot of speed on the base pass.
• 24:56
  Nick, we look at this in this race in the American League
• 24:58
  Central a year ago, I think it was aided by just the awfulness
• 25:01
  of the White Sox and everybody really got fat happy against
• 25:04
  that squad a season ago. But we're trending the same way.
• 25:08
  If you had to power rank it right now, how would you put
• 25:10
  these top four teams, Tigers, Guardians, Royals and the Twins
• 25:13
  in the race and handicap it, if you will, to win that crown?
• 25:18
  Now that's tough. I mean, the Twins are working
• 25:19
  from sort of a deficit. I do think they're a better team
• 25:22
  probably than Kansas City and honestly probably than
• 25:25
  Cleveland, Detroit, it's hard to knock them.
• 25:28
  They've been they've been the best team in the league.
• 25:30
  You know, obviously they had that great run in the
• 25:32
  second-half last year. I'm not sure I'm a total
• 25:35
  believer in them yet, but I think you'd have to rank them
• 25:37
  ahead of the Twins as we stand here.
• 25:39
  The Royals I'm not too high on. I think they're going to finish
• 25:41
  4th probably. But I really see, I think it's
• 25:44
  going to be the Twins, Guardians and and Tigers here slugging it
• 25:47
  out in this division. Was there any thought, you know,
• 25:50
  with the slow start before they turn things around here, that
• 25:53
  Baldelli was on thin ice? We're starting to see managers
• 25:55
  lose their gigs in a couple cities.
• 25:58
  Was was it close for Bald Alley do you think at any point?
• 26:02
  I do think that it, you know, the way things were going there,
• 26:04
  if they would have continued to slide and haven't had a couple
• 26:06
  more weeks like like those ones in April, I, I do think that it
• 26:10
  probably would have been time for a change.
• 26:11
  Just when you consider what happened in the second-half of
• 26:15
  last year, you consider sort of the lack of real overall success
• 26:18
  in the last four or five years. And that's not to say Baldelli
• 26:22
  is a bad manager. I think he's a pretty good
• 26:23
  manager. And I like Rocco Bell daily a
• 26:25
  lot. But sometimes you just need to
• 26:27
  change, change in voice. You know, we saw that with the
• 26:29
  Guardians going from Terry Francona, a Hall of Famer, to
• 26:32
  Stephen Vote. But but it looks like Rocco's
• 26:34
  kind of got these guys back on track.
• 26:36
  They're playing hard again. So it does seem like any
• 26:38
  imminent danger that might have been in front of him has has
• 26:41
  dissipated. Something that has caught the
• 26:43
  attention of both Ken and myself has been the lack of people in
• 26:46
  the stand at Target Field. Mother's Day on Sunday 23,000
• 26:51
  beautiful weekend game on Saturday 23,000 Fan base checked
• 26:57
  out in maybe a 2 step with it Nick.
• 26:59
  Any hope of getting them back, at least for this season in big
• 27:02
  numbers, it's. A great question.
• 27:05
  I mean, so much of it stems from the ownership situation and sort
• 27:08
  of frustration and and malaise with with that whole situation
• 27:12
  which seems to be going nowhere with the franchise sale.
• 27:15
  You know, I do think if if something happened there, some
• 27:17
  sort of exciting new ownership announcement could really kind
• 27:20
  of bring people back. But outside of that, all they
• 27:23
  can do is just just keep winning and playing good, exciting
• 27:25
  baseball. I think the Twins have the
• 27:27
  second most wins in their Home Park of any team in the league,
• 27:30
  which is pretty impressive after the way they started there.
• 27:33
  So, you know, you keep winning games at home.
• 27:34
  I think people will will want to come out and that's that's
• 27:36
  really all they can do. Speaking of that ownership part,
• 27:39
  any new names, anybody that we can to look to what is the
• 27:43
  latest on the selling of the team?
• 27:46
  Yeah, I've heard, I've heard nothing.
• 27:48
  It seems like it's really, it seems like it's really gone
• 27:50
  pretty cold. I mean, there's been hints that
• 27:51
  it's not dead, but there's been no names out there.
• 27:55
  And that's maybe that's to be expected.
• 27:56
  You know, when a name does get out there, like Justin Ishbias
• 27:58
  did so prominently, there's often a reason for it.
• 28:01
  You know, And it's looks increasingly, in retrospect,
• 28:04
  like that was more of kind of a leverage play than necessarily
• 28:07
  being entirely legitimate. Got played and well, the poll
• 28:11
  that's they got a set of issues. There is no doubt.
• 28:14
  Wrap it up with you Nick. And of course you cover
• 28:16
  everything and follow everything up there in the Twin Cities.
• 28:19
  Well, people are not investing in the Minnesota Twins, they're
• 28:22
  investing in the Timberwolves. This team now a game away from
• 28:24
  back-to-back Western Conference finals appearances.
• 28:27
  What is it like up there with this team?
• 28:29
  And it's been such a morbid franchise.
• 28:31
  Just one playoff series win before a year ago that came back
• 28:35
  on nearly 25 years ago. What has it been like seeing the
• 28:38
  growth of this team and and the Minnesota fans in general just
• 28:41
  jumping on board the bandwagon? It's awesome.
• 28:44
  I mean, it reminds you of something that we've rarely been
• 28:47
  able to see. I mean, since, you know, I was
• 28:49
  in high school 20 years ago was the last time really, we've had
• 28:52
  this kind of excitement, this kind of team that captivates
• 28:54
  people and this is a basketball town.
• 28:56
  When they have a good team, when they have something exciting and
• 28:59
  legitimate to cheer for, they're coming out.
• 29:01
  And I really love the Wolves fan base.
• 29:03
  It's fun to see them all coming out.
• 29:04
  And yeah, it seems like we kind of got gifted this series in a
• 29:07
  way with the Curry injury. You know, I don't know if the
• 29:09
  Warriors really had a chance after that, but the Wolves have
• 29:12
  been winning. They've been taking care of
• 29:13
  business. They really haven't even played
• 29:14
  their best ball. And they're up three one on
• 29:16
  their way to the Western Conference finals, hopefully.
• 29:19
  So I'm a believer. I think, you know, if they get
• 29:21
  there, then the final round is going to be a real slugfest here
• 29:24
  in the West. But there's no team that they
• 29:26
  can't beat. Good stuff.
• 29:27
  Nick Nelson, twinsdaily.com. Nick, thanks for jumping on
• 29:30
  giving us a few minutes. Appreciate it.
• 29:33
  Of course, thanks for having me. Guys, good to talk to you to do
• 29:34
  so again soon as we catch up with the with the Twins.
• 29:38
  Have you looked Yesterday we brought up the Cardinals Cubs at
• 29:42
  the end of the season. You see what the Twins finish
• 29:44
  with. They better have the hay in the
• 29:45
  barn. Oh, really?
• 29:46
  Here's their last 15 games, 03 with Arizona at home.
• 29:50
  Not easy. Three with the Yankees at home.
• 29:52
  No, that's over. And three.
• 29:53
  Three with the Cleveland Guardians at home.
• 29:55
  That's over and three with two walk off losses.
• 29:57
  Go to Texas for three. They might win a game.
• 30:00
  Go to Philly for three to end it.
• 30:02
  All right, so one in good. God, that's daunting.
• 30:07
  Oh. At that point, it'll be football
• 30:09
  season. It will be Trent.
• 30:11
  Yes, it will be because. Now the American League's wide
• 30:15
  open fair. Yes.
• 30:17
  Because neither of us are that enamoured with the Yankees.
• 30:20
  No, we are not because of their pitching concerns.
• 30:23
  Obviously, what the Tigers have at the top of their rotation.
• 30:25
  See, I can't get there and I and I should because everything says
• 30:29
  that they're legit. Yes.
• 30:30
  What? You have an ace.
• 30:32
  You have the best pitcher in the American League.
• 30:34
  You do. You start right there in playoff
• 30:36
  series. That's a good start, you know.
• 30:38
  I'll say. They won a playoff Series A year
• 30:40
  ago. Now they keep growing.
• 30:42
  Flaherty is your two mice. You're not a flirty guy.
• 30:46
  You've never been. A never been a flirty.
• 30:48
  Guy, what did Jack do to you So. The kid they called their phenom
• 30:52
  job. Yes, like him.
• 30:54
  Yeah, Torkelson's come alive. I.
• 30:58
  Like that bullpen Javi Baez renaissance.
• 31:02
  Yeah, he's been great managers, won a World Series.
• 31:04
  Now they cheated. But.
• 31:06
  Oh well. Well, there's that guy, Bartow
• 31:08
  Torres. Got to be ripping on islands
• 31:10
  over there. Didn't realize he was.
• 31:13
  Yes, yeah, he grew up in Nashua. And there you go.
• 31:16
  Yes, I can't. I just can't wrap my arms around
• 31:21
  this team. Where I'm going though, back to
• 31:23
  the Twins part of it, it's wide open, yes, When you look at the
• 31:26
  top and talent, Royce Lewis has struggled out of the gate.
• 31:29
  He's talented, though. Is this maybe?
• 31:31
  Good, because normally when he comes off an injury he sets the
• 31:33
  league on fire and he's gone again.
• 31:35
  He's gone again. Craig's been terrible in outside
• 31:37
  of the last week. Defensively hasn't been.
• 31:39
  Doing Oh no, he's yeah, he is good as an unbelievable but he's
• 31:43
  finally starting to swing it a little bit and he's looked
• 31:45
  comfortable. Just he's had plenty of hits at
• 31:47
  him falling and they're falling now.
• 31:49
  Top and talent. You got a very good number one
• 31:52
  in Lopez, a bullpen that is elite.
• 31:55
  It was as good as any in baseball.
• 31:57
  And a wide open American League. But.
• 31:59
  You got to get there. Get in.
• 32:01
  You got to get there, but they have a chance.
• 32:04
  Everybody has a chance. It's not crazy.
• 32:08
  We got four teams. How many?
• 32:09
  Teams in the East. That can get to the playoffs,
• 32:12
  yeah. Three you think the Jays can?
• 32:16
  I do because we're still talking about 6 teams.
• 32:18
  Get in and out of that next tier team.
• 32:22
  Yeah, I think the Blue Jays are part of it.
• 32:24
  OK, Tigers win. Yes, and then?
• 32:27
  Guardians Royals wins are all with a chance, so that's seven
• 32:30
  teams realistically that can get we.
• 32:32
  Haven't got to the West yet. Mariners, absolutely.
• 32:35
  Rangers, absolutely. Astros, absolutely.
• 32:37
  I don't think the A's have sustainable.
• 32:38
  I don't think they do either. Great.
• 32:40
  Story teams for six spots, right?
• 32:42
  And that's not even counting the A's or the Rays.
• 32:45
  That's probably the end of the conversation.
• 32:49
  How the Orioles dig this hole. You sniff that one out, and
• 32:52
  credit to you. You had that one.
• 32:54
  I should have listened. Pitching staff rotate.
• 32:56
  It was just they're. Yeah, they're starters.
• 32:58
  All right, we'll take your time out.
• 32:59
  Come back, finish the program. Trends, plays of the day.
• 33:02
  Circus Sports sponsor those. That's coming up next.
• 33:05
  Miller and Condon are on the Iowa Sports Radio Network.
• 33:10
  Miller and Condon welcome back Iowa Sports Radio Network, Trans
• 33:14
  plays of the day, circus sports sponsor.
• 33:16
  Those those coming up in in a minute or two.
• 33:18
  See, Hunter Deckers is going to get a chance in the NFL with the
• 33:22
  Saints, with the New Orleans Saints.
• 33:23
  Have you looked at the quarterback room that Hunter
• 33:26
  Deckers is going to walk into? And not exactly who's who of
• 33:29
  great NFL quarterbacks. Spencer Rattler, toddler Shuck
• 33:31
  Jake Haner and Hunter Deckers. Who you scared of?
• 33:34
  I'm scared of not being quite as bad that we won't get the number
• 33:38
  one overall pick and he will follow his grandfather in the
• 33:42
  city of New Orleans. Are they the early favorite to
• 33:45
  have the number one pick next year?
• 33:47
  What's their total? Do you have one totals?
• 33:49
  I saw it was 5 1/2 some and I don't remember which book.
• 33:53
  It was 5 1/2 before the car thing happened.
• 33:56
  It dropped to 4 1/2 at that particular book after the news.
• 33:59
  They're going to be awful. Really bad.
• 34:01
  Really bad. Remember those two games
• 34:04
  September last year? Which 2?
• 34:06
  Well, they scored like 50 points in the first two games of the
• 34:08
  season. Oh.
• 34:09
  Remember that you don't. Yeah, no.
• 34:11
  Yeah, it happened. It was a real thing that
• 34:14
  happened and then it didn't and it fell apart very, very quickly
• 34:18
  for them. I'm trying to see if they have.
• 34:20
  I'm sure it's up somewhere. It's got to be the future to
• 34:24
  have the number one pick. Arch Manning follows Archie
• 34:27
  Manning. Well, that follows.
• 34:28
  But you know, eventually we'd get there.
• 34:31
  Wouldn't that be something if it did?
• 34:33
  Team Special. Grew up in New Orleans.
• 34:36
  They're they're just too at times when you're trying to find
• 34:39
  things. There's too many, right?
• 34:40
  Too much. Yeah, I know it.
• 34:41
  I'm the same way. Team props, team total points
• 34:44
  for the Cowboys and the opener against the Eagles.
• 34:47
  No, I don't need. That don't want that no looking
• 34:49
  for wins. Looking for wins?
• 34:50
  Yeah, I'm not finding it. So we'll go with four and a.
• 34:53
  Half 4 1/2 seems high. That does seem high to me.
• 34:56
  And if you're a Saints fan, you're you're hoping that the
• 34:58
  number's high. There's the winds.
• 35:01
  All right, I found it here. Let's go.
• 35:03
  It's alphabetical order. Let's get to the ends for New
• 35:07
  Orleans. Here it is.
• 35:10
  It sits currently. I bet his mom is betting on
• 35:13
  under deck. It's 5 1/2, but there's juice
• 35:15
  all over the place. You want to go under 4 1/2 +
• 35:18
  180. Yes, give me some of that.
• 35:21
  How about under 2 1/2 + 650? The New Orleans Saints.
• 35:27
  Who win 15? They go look at their schedule.
• 35:31
  Oh, that's last year's OK, and you're right.
• 35:34
  Well, then of course, they they scored 47 and 44, beat Carolina,
• 35:38
  and in Week 2, they beat the Cowboys 44 to 19 with Derek
• 35:43
  Carr. What happened?
• 35:44
  Why do you just walk away from 30 million?
• 35:47
  He's hurt. He's made enough.
• 35:49
  He's made now. If he's made, he's made a lot of
• 35:51
  money. That's a good point.
• 35:52
  Somebody on TV is going to give him a contract, get him with
• 35:54
  some money too, yeah. Maybe that's part of it.
• 35:56
  All right. What are you betting on tonight?
• 35:58
  We are back to the well, 5 picks yesterday.
• 36:00
  Let's go back with. The five How did you do?
• 36:01
  Yesterday we want four and one. How?
• 36:04
  Did you? Oh, there's oh, you're betting
• 36:06
  big favors. Right, I had the Rangers -244
• 36:09
  the Cubs -250 so not exactly a great one because we only made
• 36:14
  1.8 units. OK, we're not going to have a
• 36:16
  winning day. A winning day.
• 36:18
  We're going to play another big favorite tonight.
• 36:20
  Give me the Reds against the God forsaken White Sox as it is my
• 36:23
  boy Abbott on the mound. The lefty 2.25 ERA will allay
• 36:27
  the heavy price in that one. I'm going to fade your team
• 36:30
  tonight. You've talked me into it just
• 36:32
  because of you're complaining about hella buck on the.
• 36:34
  Awful, and he's awful in the playoffs.
• 36:36
  Give you the stars -149 that is the best price out there at
• 36:40
  Circa. I think that should be your best
• 36:41
  bet. -149 I am going to play one more baseball game.
• 36:45
  Going to take the Royals plus 120 in Houston tonight.
• 36:49
  It's a Framber Valdez against Bubic who's been outstanding for
• 36:52
  the. Royals.
• 36:53
  Yeah, it. Should be a good pitching match
• 36:56
  up in that one this evening and then two in basketball going to
• 36:59
  play both games. Give me the Pacers plus the
• 37:00
  eight against Cleveland and I will lay it OK.
• 37:04
  C minus the 9 1/2 tonight against Denver.
• 37:07
  All right, we shall see. We're getting closer to those
• 37:10
  finals, down to four teams. Good God, it's going so fast.
• 37:14
  Knicks, Timberwolves, opposite of the Stars and the Hurricane.
• 37:20
  No, not. Clay Carolina, Give me one
• 37:23
  Canadian team. You know what the Oilers are
• 37:24
  going to represent the West. They're the Oilers are getting
• 37:27
  past the. Stars, even with that terrible
• 37:28
  goaltending, it's Skinner back now.
• 37:30
  Got a shout shout out yesterday. Shout out the Golden Knights.
• 37:35
  Knows one off. Well, might have been, but they
• 37:38
  were. He was really good last night.
• 37:39
  Look, that series should be over.
• 37:40
  He scored with .3 seconds left. Edmonton looks good.
• 37:45
  Mcdavid's on AI, hate to say it. Yeah, I mean he he looks like
• 37:49
  Connor McDavid and Dry Sidle and Evander Kane and they got some
• 37:53
  dudes. Stars are going to be tough,
• 37:54
  but. How you feeling for tonight for
• 37:56
  your team? I think they're going to get
• 37:57
  crushed. Well, I think that I, I, you
• 38:01
  just can't trust Connor Hallibuck.
• 38:03
  They're the stars aren't better than them.
• 38:05
  They're they're two evenly matched teams with one
• 38:07
  exception. The mental side of.
• 38:10
  The best goalie in regular season, he's going to win the
• 38:12
  Vesna Trophy for the third time in four years since the regular
• 38:16
  season's best goalie, and he just turns into complete
• 38:18
  garbage. Anyways, we're out of here.
• 38:21
  We will talk to you tomorrow. Right eye to bushy tailed.
• 38:25
  The drive is next for Miller and Connie.
• 38:27
  Weekdays, noon to two on the Iowa Sports Radio Network.