Latest / The Lunch Rush with Trent Condon / Michigan is National Champs, Bracket expansion to 76 teams, John Bohnenkamp talks Hawkeyes & Brian Walton on the Cardinals

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Michigan is National Champs, Bracket expansion to 76 teams, John Bohnenkamp talks Hawkeyes & Brian Walton on the Cardinals · The Lunch Rush with Trent Condon

• 0:00
  All right, good afternoon. Welcome Miller and Condon on a
• 0:03
  Tuesday as we get things back rolling here on the Iowa Sports
• 0:06
  Radio Network for the next block of 6 hour programming.
• 0:09
  Starting here with two hours with Trent Condon and Ken Miller
• 0:12
  right up until 2. Off the bench from 2:00 until 5.
• 0:15
  By the way, Iowa head basketball coach Ben McCullum joins the
• 0:19
  boys this afternoon. He will be with them at the
• 0:21
  4:00. Here's what's coming up on our
• 0:23
  program. John Bowencamp is up first.
• 0:26
  I will do a number of topics with John Bowencamp from The
• 0:30
  Associated Press about 12:25 or thereabouts.
• 0:33
  We haven't dipped our toe into the Cardinal waters yet, and
• 0:36
  we'll do that here today with Brian Walton.
• 0:38
  St. Louis Cardinals.
• 0:39
  He covers them for Cardinal Nation.
• 0:44
  No, Is it? It's, I'll find out.
• 0:47
  It's been since the last offseasonthecardinalnation.com
• 0:51
  Yes for Brian Walton. I will talk cards with him at
• 0:55
  12:45. Then Matt Snyder on baseball Go
• 0:57
  round the world of baseball with our buddy Matt Snyder from
• 1:00
  CBSSports.com before Matt Norlander scheduled to join us
• 1:04
  here about 1:30. Of course CBS Sports
• 1:07
  CBSSports.com for Matt Norlander.
• 1:11
  He was one of the many media credentialed media at Lucas Oil
• 1:15
  last night to see the crowning of a champion.
• 1:17
  It is Michigan who pulls away wins by 6.
• 1:21
  Did you see the end of the game pursuant to point spread, how it
• 1:24
  played out, Lindenberg getting the rebound before he could get
• 1:28
  fouled and, you know, take a couple of free throws, perhaps
• 1:32
  he makes them and the number goes over, he throws the ball
• 1:35
  down the floor, Tick, tick, tick, tick, tick, buzzer.
• 1:38
  And I told you I was in that pool and I needed Michigan -6
• 1:41
  1/2. So yes, I was watching very
• 1:42
  intently at the end. But the good thing is in this
• 1:46
  environment, we got sports books and I was at UConn on that side.
• 1:49
  So we were able to hedge a little bit, but certainly not
• 1:51
  the profit it would have been if that would have came home.
• 1:53
  And Michigan, a champion that look, they dominated up until
• 1:59
  this final game. I know metrically you look at
• 2:02
  the numbers at the analytic sites, Ken Pomeroy, Bart
• 2:04
  Torvick, it'll point to does it strike you though?
• 2:07
  Does Michigan strike you as an Alzheimer?
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  Maybe it's the three behind their name that makes it
• 2:12
  difficult for me to get there. It just as great as they were.
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  They were great all season long. I struggle, at least right now,
• 2:22
  to put them in that kind of air and one of the greatest
• 2:25
  champions we've seen in my lifetime, you know, something
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  like that. Which is good because the latest
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  is always the greatest. Right.
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  And I can't quite get to that level.
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  You know, I'm not the right person to ask that about because
• 2:36
  that I move on from season to season and previous years really
• 2:41
  don't linger with me when it comes to college hoops.
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  Certainly they were very good team, a very good team.
• 2:47
  Beat I thought, a really good team in their own right.
• 2:49
  But at the end there was too much Michigan.
• 2:51
  No, I'm with you Trent. An all time great team.
• 2:54
  Probably not a hell of a team. Nonetheless, very well coached,
• 2:57
  clearly some incredible parts. CAD Cadu was unbelievable last
• 3:03
  night. There was no answer for Mara and
• 3:05
  his height. He played a significant factor,
• 3:07
  maybe not, you know, scoring the ball as much.
• 3:09
  What did he have? The F108 or 10 points I think
• 3:11
  was his final number on the night.
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  But it was just the other things that he did give Caravan full
• 3:18
  credit. I mean, he left everything on
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  the floor for the final time as a UConn Husky.
• 3:22
  He went out with no regrets, one would assume, for how he played
• 3:26
  last night. Mullins couldn't hit the
• 3:28
  broadside of a barn until it was too late.
• 3:30
  And then he made his last couple of threes to maybe give them a
• 3:33
  glimmer of hope inside. A minute left with what, 52
• 3:36
  seconds and? Michigan didn't cruise into
• 3:38
  that. They didn't.
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  It looked as though they were going to that, that, that the
• 3:42
  cover for Michigan was going to be, you know, a no brainer.
• 3:45
  But that wasn't the case. You're right.
• 3:48
  Obviously, you could tell Lenenberg was not himself.
• 3:50
  He was not himself in that basketball game.
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  I give solo ball a ton of credit for for sucking it up and
• 3:56
  playing as well as he did. But Demery gave them nothing.
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  Mullins struggled to shoot, although he did some other
• 4:01
  things very well. I thought ball was ball.
• 4:04
  Reed wasn't the biggest dude on the floor, and that was very
• 4:08
  apparent yesterday as he looked up to tomorrow.
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  And if Laura wasn't on him, then it was Johnson.
• 4:14
  Then it was John who played his. You know, what did he go over?
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  His toll, didn't you say, was 12 1/2?
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  Yeah, he finished with 12. Another one I was watching very
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  intently. There and he had 12 early in the
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  second. Half yeah, he had eight right 6
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  right away within like the first 4 minutes of the game.
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  I'm like, oh, we're cruising here.
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  Yeah. It felt like he had more than
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  that, though. Didn't.
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  It it did. In fact, I just looked at the
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  boxcore and I was kind of surprised 'cause I thought that
• 4:36
  that was a, that was a good one. McKinney off the bench.
• 4:38
  Hell of a player. Clearly GAIL made some plays.
• 4:41
  You brought him up on the show yesterday.
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  That put back dunk was. Huge, massive, massive.
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  The timing of it. Did he go over read I think?
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  Is that who it was? I.
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  Think it was, but regardless, I mean he got up and just perfect
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  timing. That was a huge play.
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  Will chatter. I always just root for a, He was
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  on the awful Michigan teams and stuck around, but he's also a
• 5:01
  Rochester kid. Rochester, MN, yeah.
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  And I think he went to Mayo up there.
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  But where I grew up, our news channels up there, we got the
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  Basin City channel that was CBSKIMTKAAL out of Austin and
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  then the Rochester station. So those are always teams kind
• 5:16
  of in our area. It's just for me, he's kind of a
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  local kid. He's not an Iowan, but kind of a
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  local kid for me. And I've always watched his
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  career. A guy that is the ultimate just
• 5:24
  try hard kind of guy. Guy that was a starter.
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  He's going to stick around. He's going to stick around.
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  He knows that probably he's not going to see the same minutes
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  that he did under Tom Howard. But out there busted his butt
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  and a guy that was always easy to root for.
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  And now the streak is over for the Big 10.
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  It is. And no more. 2000 Michigan State
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  that. The Big 10 is dominating in
• 5:44
  sports trend this just in. Well.
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  I think we know the reason. Yeah, absolutely.
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  It's not a big stretch. No, it's not.
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  It is. Everybody can play above the
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  board, and these are huge universities with huge alumni
• 5:58
  bases with huge pocketbooks. And now you're seeing.
• 6:01
  Huge television contracts. Yes, when you're playing with a
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  more even playing field, what this has turned into and
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  specifically with the SEC win football, yes, absolutely.
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  We have seen that play out now the last three years, three
• 6:13
  different champions too. It's not just one program
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  dominating Ohio State, Michigan, now Indiana being able to do it.
• 6:19
  We're seeing it also on basketball.
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  What's that? Win 16?
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  In one. What more do you need for proof?
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  They are big 10 is on a roll, no doubt about that one shining
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  moment. Didn't see it last Night Live,
• 6:31
  Saw it this morning, thought it was very well done.
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  Glad they went back to the original song as they should
• 6:36
  have. So I saw Buchanan, I saw Toure,
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  I saw Sturtz, and I saw Vulgaris.
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  Did I miss anybody? That was the ones that I saw
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  too. Yes.
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  Watched it last Night Live as I was just waiting and waiting.
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  How much? Go, let's go.
• 6:50
  So that brings me to the question, because I flipped over
• 6:52
  to watch hockey as soon as it got OK.
• 6:53
  What? How long did they make you wait
• 6:56
  in the aftermath? It was a push right up until
• 6:58
  11:00 did it. So yeah, that was the the final.
• 7:01
  Probably 1058 is when they hit play on it, something like that.
• 7:04
  There was a lot of failure. Yeah.
• 7:06
  I don't need to hear from those guys.
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  No, I need to hear from those guys during the NBA playoffs.
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  That's the time that I need to hear from them.
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  Get to watch any moment, please. But we got there and it was
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  tremendous. It was good and it was great to
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  see a lot of Hawkeyes, a lot of Cyclones involved.
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  And they were stories, obviously of this tournament.
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  Not the sad stories that we've seen from both programs in the
• 7:24
  past and the devastation. Even though Stirs was being
• 7:27
  consoled in in his shot, I mean he was consoled after they lost
• 7:30
  in the elite. 8 it's the elite 8, right?
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  Yes. Which was certainly a great run.
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  No, I thought it was for the two needle movers.
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  He couldn't ask for anything more, couldn't ask for anything
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  more. Both of them get to the second
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  weekend. I mean, if you were, if you were
• 7:42
  actually being greedy, of course you'd like to see in Iowa State
• 7:44
  play on the weekend. But Tennessee had other plans.
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  I thought the tournament overall it, it lived up to the building.
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  We may or may not see the appearance of Cinderella as
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  often as we used to. I think that that's pretty safe
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  to say we won't. But I thought overall it it
• 8:01
  lived up to expectations. Again, it's just a hell of an
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  event. There's no getting around it.
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  Yes it is. Well, it's not perfect because
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  perfect was 64. Yeah.
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  And it's it's about to expand again, so.
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  And that is something that I am incredibly intrigued by how this
• 8:17
  is going. To just don't mess with
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  Thursday, Friday, get that, get those teams that are going to be
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  included. Get them.
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  I don't want to stay out of the way because that's that's not
• 8:25
  fair to them. Let them play in.
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  Can we say that? Yeah.
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  But it's going to be this is going to be called the opening
• 8:32
  round. Now.
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  They really screwed it up years ago when they first start start
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  doing the first four and they would call that the first round
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  and then the round of 64. Was the second.
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  Round. And then the round of 32 was the
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  third round. No, no, no, no, no, no, no.
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  Opening round that. That was the first term they've
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  used when they moved to 65. You remember the reason they
• 8:48
  moved to 65, by the way? No, it was when the WAC split.
• 8:54
  The WAC split what? Year.
• 8:57
  Early 2000s maybe O2, O3, something like that.
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  It was 16 teams untenable at that time and certainly for a
• 9:02
  conference of that stature. And they split up, the Mountain
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  West departed. So there was, well, we can't
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  take away the bid from the WAC. The Mountain West certainly will
• 9:10
  deserve one as as we've known throughout the years.
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  So instead of just taking away one at large, here's this idea.
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  We're going to go to 65. There'll be one play in game to
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  get there. They expanded it to the four
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  play in games that we've seen here recently and now it's going
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  to be up to 12 play in games. Tuesday, Wednesday.
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  Tuesday, Wednesday. Still six games in each location
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  each day. So it's. 33 games, six games
• 9:36
  each day, three in Dayton, 3IN wherever they determined what.
• 9:42
  Kind of state would Would Des Moines like that?
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  I don't know. Knowing that you would get that
• 9:47
  every year if they if, if they do, it's in similar fashion.
• 9:51
  Dayton get that every year, every year.
• 9:53
  Would Des Moines want that? I don't think it would work in
• 9:57
  Des Moines because one of the reasons a Dayton part of your
• 10:01
  season ticket package and we know Dayton sells out basketball
• 10:04
  incredibly well, is part of those games too.
• 10:07
  So those tickets are sold already.
• 10:09
  How many in the building do you know?
• 10:10
  What the? What the?
• 10:11
  It's about 11,000 if memory serves right.
• 10:13
  Now 11-12 something in that. Could we get 10,000 downtown Des
• 10:17
  Moines on a Tuesday night for the tournament?
• 10:19
  Could, but it's a different kind of building.
• 10:20
  It's a building that seats 15 and they probably get, you know,
• 10:24
  7-8 in there for every single game.
• 10:27
  I don't think so. I think you're looking at a West
• 10:29
  Coast place. Spokane has been talked about a
• 10:31
  lot, maybe connected with the Gonzaga ticket holders.
• 10:35
  So these tickets are at minimum already sold.
• 10:37
  Basketball hotbed out. So they would play in Gonzaga's
• 10:40
  arena. Not sure about that.
• 10:41
  Probably their new arena I would anticipate, but it would
• 10:44
  probably be something that would go hand in hand.
• 10:46
  Gonzaga would be the host of it and that would go hand in hand
• 10:49
  with the season ticket package. I I think that would be the one
• 10:51
  A1 that would make sense. Vegas has been talked about.
• 10:54
  What you're going to have though is these three games are going
• 10:56
  to somewhat overlap. Maybe you'll start the first
• 10:58
  Dayton one at 5:00 and then you'll have a late night tip off
• 11:03
  at like 9:30 central time, which they're.
• 11:04
  Clamoring for in the Pacific Time zone.
• 11:07
  Clamoring for. You get those late night games.
• 11:11
  It's for the betters. The betters are going to love
• 11:13
  that part of it too. And you go that direction.
• 11:15
  I think that's the thought process at least behind it.
• 11:17
  But it's happening. I mean, when you have Charlie
• 11:19
  Baker, the head of the NCAA saying it, Brent, your mark, he
• 11:22
  has been outright. The ACC has been big, a big
• 11:25
  proponent of this as well. In fact, the ACC and the Big 12
• 11:27
  kind of been pushing the hardest to get to this expansion out of
• 11:30
  the conferences. It's going to happen over the
• 11:33
  last five years, I think the teams that have been just out of
• 11:36
  the tournament, the first four out 15 of the 20 of those teams
• 11:39
  come from power conferences. So it's going to be more power
• 11:42
  conference teams and we'll get to see Albert, Yes, Albert will
• 11:45
  be in there. We'll get so.
• 11:46
  What does this do to the NIT I mean?
• 11:50
  It just brings it down more, but it's already watered down, yeah.
• 11:57
  3 Thurs Tuesday, three Wednesday.
• 11:59
  Huh. Different times zones, lots of
• 12:02
  lots obviously and starting next year.
• 12:05
  Starting next year, yes, yeah, this is going to be pushed
• 12:07
  through. Russ Ellinger has a report at
• 12:09
  Yahoo. So have they looked at, I mean,
• 12:12
  if is there a investigative journalist out there that's
• 12:16
  trying to find bait building availability maybe out in
• 12:19
  Spokane, Have they, you know, kind of blocked this period of
• 12:22
  time off? Spokane is my own speculation.
• 12:25
  That's one that it just made sense in my mind along with
• 12:27
  Vegas, who has been bandied about, about the potential of
• 12:30
  doing that there and even that now getting Spokane stuff.
• 12:34
  And you know, they had the women Sweet 16 Elite 8 there a couple
• 12:36
  years ago. It's a nice airport.
• 12:38
  I've flown in there, it's really nice.
• 12:39
  Vegas is easy. Oh God, yeah.
• 12:41
  And if you're looking to get and multiple facilities right And I
• 12:44
  don't know what size building would make sense in Vegas.
• 12:48
  Thomas and Mac. How big is that probably I know
• 12:52
  they've they have adjusted that thing so much.
• 12:54
  Rough. I would say 151415.
• 12:57
  I could be wrong, but there's The MGM.
• 12:59
  What's the big ballroom that seats like four or five?
• 13:02
  That's what I was thinking about.
• 13:03
  I I think that would just be such a cool environment.
• 13:05
  Is that Orleans, The Orleans, yes.
• 13:07
  Is it seat that many or am I even?
• 13:09
  Overseas, I think you're probably right.
• 13:10
  What the Mandalay Bay, where the Aces play, That seat's like
• 13:14
  4000. There's another one.
• 13:15
  Yeah, I think that would be cool, but it's the NCAA.
• 13:19
  They're greedy. Well, just don't go to the
• 13:20
  Legion if that's what you're going.
• 13:22
  To do right. Could you imagine that?
• 13:24
  I couldn't for that. No, I I couldn't.
• 13:29
  Well, we'll see where it goes. You can anticipate we're going
• 13:31
  to hear something. If they plan on doing this as
• 13:33
  soon as next year, the wheels will be set in motion for this
• 13:37
  very quickly, one would assume. So we'll certainly follow that
• 13:41
  as we get closer to it. Our mourning the tournament
• 13:43
  coming up. Let's get a call in here.
• 13:44
  Jeff's been patient. What do you think, Jeff?
• 13:48
  You know, we've talked about this before and again, before I
• 13:51
  start, you know my take, I want to take the money out of it
• 13:54
  because I understand it's about the money I under I got that
• 13:57
  part of it. But adding, you know, we're
• 14:00
  talking 12 teams. There's no more bubble like the
• 14:06
  bubble the last couple years has already been solved.
• 14:09
  So now we're going to be adding, we're going to be adding you
• 14:13
  guys mentioned Auburn or other schools that have a six and 12
• 14:18
  conference record. Those teams deserve to be in the
• 14:22
  tournament. We're going to be talking about
• 14:24
  coaches pissed off about not making if you can't make the
• 14:28
  tournament now or want to expand, like you don't deserve
• 14:32
  to get in the tournament. We're talking about I I I hate
• 14:36
  this, you know, the newer generation about, you know,
• 14:39
  getting, you know, medals and getting rings and getting, you
• 14:42
  know, the participation awards. If you can't make the tournament
• 14:47
  out of 1618, you don't deserve to get in and move on.
• 14:50
  Get better, win close games, make adjustments, right.
• 14:55
  Yes. Is is the trends and the Kens of
• 14:58
  the world going to watch these games?
• 14:59
  Absolutely. Am I going to watch these games?
• 15:02
  Probably so, but there has to be a point where it's just like
• 15:06
  this is just bad basketball. If I will can't make the
• 15:09
  tournament when they go, I don't know, 8 and 10 in the conference
• 15:12
  and at the week conference. So you can say the same thing
• 15:14
  about I would say whatever the case may be, you know what, you
• 15:16
  just don't make the tournament. That's OK.
• 15:20
  But the ad, you know the AD these you know, those schools
• 15:23
  and let's let's be, you know, honest.
• 15:25
  We I've heard coaches talk about they want to expand to 96 teams.
• 15:30
  96 Like what? They'll have to.
• 15:32
  Be a point where. Who wanted to expend to 96?
• 15:34
  Who did you say? Coaches.
• 15:36
  They. They have been on this on this
• 15:39
  hill for years about making it the 96.
• 15:42
  Because a coach gets a bonus if they get into the tournament.
• 15:45
  Right now and and and all those bonuses different most different
• 15:49
  little set offs for most things. But it's just like, I just don't
• 15:53
  understand where it's bad basketball now on the flip side,
• 15:57
  and I can see it coming now. Well, Texas was the last four
• 16:00
  and they made the Sweet 16 and there's been other schools when
• 16:03
  it first started, DC made in the lead 8 of final four.
• 16:05
  Shocker. Smart.
• 16:06
  Made a final four, yeah. I got all that, but there has to
• 16:10
  be to a point where we're just letting in bad basketball teams.
• 16:17
  And I know and I know money talks and that's great and all,
• 16:22
  but I just, I feel like it's just getting just it's a perfect
• 16:26
  system. Now you can talk about the Super
• 16:28
  Bowl that's and that is a great atmosphere, but when it's 64,
• 16:32
  it's a bracket, it looks good, it sounds good.
• 16:36
  You really earned your way to get in.
• 16:38
  And now it's just like, well, you know, 6:00 and 11:00 in the
• 16:41
  conference, you're just going to get in.
• 16:42
  I mean, I mean, that just sounds terrible to me.
• 16:46
  Am I am I missing something? I it's more basketball, I'm not
• 16:50
  going to be upset about it personally thinking about seeing
• 16:53
  instead of just two stand alone games each of those nights.
• 16:56
  Hey, we're going to have six games each of those nights and
• 16:58
  they're, you know, overlap and this one sucks.
• 16:59
  I'm going to jump over the other one.
• 17:01
  I, I don't have a problem with it.
• 17:02
  I I really. Don't just DraftKings circa.
• 17:05
  Right, 1985 when the bracket expanded to 64 teams, that was
• 17:09
  in 1985 when the expansion happened to 64, there was
• 17:13
  something like 280 teams. There are now 365 teams at the
• 17:16
  Division One level. So you're also talking about
• 17:18
  more opportunities and a lot more teams that are vying to get
• 17:21
  in there. And if you look at this season,
• 17:24
  and I hope that this is something that continues, we
• 17:26
  would have saw Auburn, we would have saw San Diego State,
• 17:29
  Oklahoma, New Mexico, Indiana, Stanford, Belmont, potentially
• 17:33
  could have been in Seton Hall, Dayton.
• 17:35
  Like I get it, it's not high level basketball, but we've seen
• 17:39
  teams get hot. You mentioned Texas.
• 17:42
  I got one. I got one thing for you then.
• 17:44
  Does at this point does the regular season mean anything
• 17:48
  now? I know it does.
• 17:50
  It hasn't for decades. It hasn't for.
• 17:52
  Decades, though? Well, in the Valley it hasn't.
• 17:55
  You just got to win three games in Saint Louis.
• 17:57
  But let's start off the regular season really means nothing.
• 18:00
  Yeah, OK. The conference tournaments
• 18:04
  really don't mean anything if this comes.
• 18:07
  Unless they're. Yeah, unless you're a team like
• 18:09
  like Drake are in the Valley, then that's all.
• 18:11
  I mean you, you, you look. At Iowa, up and down season, you
• 18:15
  lose to Penn State, you lose to Maryland, but you'll win three
• 18:18
  games in the tournament. Yes.
• 18:19
  When it mattered, Boom, are we 8?
• 18:22
  And and that's all. And that's all you're going to
• 18:23
  remember. So again, that regular season,
• 18:26
  who really cares? We do.
• 18:29
  Thanks for the call, Jeff, in this business.
• 18:31
  Appreciate it and we're going to miss it.
• 18:33
  Yes, yes we are. Yes, we are significantly look,
• 18:37
  I I'm torn. It's it's, it's kind of like on
• 18:40
  one hand, if I was to poo poo this idea, well, wait a second.
• 18:43
  Aren't you the guy that wants football on Thanksgiving night
• 18:46
  and another game on Christmas and to to take college football
• 18:50
  as deep into January as you possibly can?
• 18:52
  Because after all, more football is good for business, so why
• 18:56
  wouldn't be as best more basketball be good for business?
• 18:59
  I love it. These are games they're going to
• 19:00
  watch. College sports moves the needle
• 19:03
  and I were like none other. And if it gives another
• 19:05
  opportunity for a Belmont that won the regular season, it got
• 19:08
  knocked out early. We've seen that happen to you
• 19:10
  and I before. Absolutely.
• 19:12
  I am hopeful that that is there. I'm not overly optimistic.
• 19:15
  When do you think we'll know? What do you mean?
• 19:18
  They ultimately the decision, when will it come across that
• 19:20
  the NCAA tournament is expanding?
• 19:23
  They're going to, you know what, I have to get off the pot now,
• 19:25
  right? Because you got to get
• 19:26
  buildings. Yes, yeah, I, I think they're
• 19:29
  very far down right now, according to Dellinger's piece
• 19:32
  at Yahoo. It is now just finding the
• 19:34
  finances from the TV partners. It's that far down the line it's
• 19:38
  happening. Just making sure that.
• 19:40
  Turner would have to renegotiate because their contract is based
• 19:44
  on Dayton alone. This is from the piece those
• 19:47
  involved in the negotiations. You know where this is going,
• 19:49
  right? Netflix.
• 19:51
  Hulu. Plenty of this could change,
• 19:53
  though, through the course of continuing talks with TV
• 19:55
  partners Warner Brothers, Discovery and CPS Find the
• 20:00
  Money. Find the money.
• 20:01
  And if they're not going to find the money from those partners,
• 20:04
  then yes, streaming. No, it's coming.
• 20:09
  It's probably coming. John Bowen cap next, He's coming
• 20:11
  up. We'll talk to John.
• 20:12
  We're going to do some Saint Louis Cardinal baseball for you
• 20:15
  Cardinal fans out there wondering when we're going to
• 20:17
  get your get to your team. They're 500 out of the chute and
• 20:22
  they're right above the Chicago Cubs, mired in last place.
• 20:27
  Did you say any of the game from Tropicana?
• 20:30
  I did not. I know.
• 20:32
  They're back playing there. I didn't even know they were.
• 20:34
  Oh, yeah, I guess. Obviously they played last year
• 20:38
  in the AAA home of the Yankees in Tampa.
• 20:41
  But they, they, they renovated the whole place, put new
• 20:45
  Astroturf or whatever, calling it now down and Cubs went in and
• 20:50
  they're a very accommodating visitor on Opening Day for Tampa
• 20:53
  Bay. Is the pitching again?
• 20:56
  I end the hitting. There's a lot of problems with
• 20:58
  this with this franchise right now, including Kate Horton,
• 21:03
  who's getting a second opinion today.
• 21:05
  And this is the same Doctor Who ultimately operated on Justin
• 21:11
  Steele after he went to see him for, quote, a second opinion.
• 21:15
  Doesn't sound promising, Tom, real quick.
• 21:17
  And then we'll get to a break. Tom, how are you?
• 21:20
  I'm good fellas, thanks for taking my call.
• 21:23
  Hey I'm I'm on the fence about the whole expansion of the
• 21:27
  tournament. However, I would be more for it
• 21:30
  if, if you want to make the regular season count for
• 21:33
  something, if you win the regular season conference,
• 21:36
  you're in automatically and then so does the tournament winner.
• 21:40
  And then if the conference winner doesn't win the
• 21:43
  tournament, then that bubble gets a little bit bigger.
• 21:46
  Otherwise they start shrinking. I wouldn't have a problem with
• 21:49
  that. But again, I'm sort of on the
• 21:50
  fence because I think it'd be bad basketball, but college
• 21:54
  basketball in March, I don't think there is such a thing.
• 21:58
  And maybe there has to be some kind of cut off too, Tom.
• 22:00
  I mean, you can't just you can't put the MIAC regular season
• 22:03
  champion in there. You can't put the SWAC, yeah,
• 22:06
  regular season champion, Patriot League.
• 22:09
  Maybe if your conference some kind of benchmark and however
• 22:12
  you want to determine it. But Ken Palm, yeah, the top 12,
• 22:15
  I mean, that would be, that would include the West Coast.
• 22:18
  Kind of like they do in college football, yeah.
• 22:20
  The 8:10 seventh this year, the West Coast Missouri Valley, the
• 22:23
  American, the WAC, Who falls below that Conference USA, the
• 22:28
  Ivy League, Big Sky, Colonial, and then another.
• 22:30
  There you go. A dozen.
• 22:31
  Yeah, a dozen that are after that.
• 22:33
  So yeah, some kind of cut off top ten.
• 22:36
  If you're a top 10 conference, your regular season champion
• 22:39
  gets it determined by this drop dead date and whatever it is.
• 22:42
  Because right now, and Jeff's right and people are right that
• 22:45
  I mean the Missouri Valley Conference, as long as you play
• 22:47
  well for three or four days in Saint Louis, it's all you got to
• 22:50
  do, right? Easier said than done.
• 22:52
  It's true. Anyways, Bone Cap next Miller
• 22:55
  and Condon on the Iowa Sports Radio Network.
• 22:58
  I'm Mory Conk and welcome back Iowa Sports Radio.
• 23:00
  Now we're coming up on 12:30. We'll take you until 2.
• 23:04
  Brian Walton coming up covers the Saint Louis Cardinals.
• 23:06
  thecardinalnation.com over Walton in about 15 minutes.
• 23:10
  John Bowen camp right now. John Trenton.
• 23:12
  Ken, thank you for coming on. As you look back on the NCAA
• 23:15
  men's basketball tournament, a thumbs up from you.
• 23:19
  Did you enjoy it, John? Was there something lacking?
• 23:22
  How did you enjoy the last couple of weeks?
• 23:24
  No, I enjoyed it. I thought it was a great
• 23:25
  tournament. I mean, you always kind of want
• 23:28
  to see a mid major, you know, kind of go, but that those days
• 23:31
  I think are long gone. But I but I I enjoyed it.
• 23:35
  I thought there was a lot of great games.
• 23:37
  I thought a great championship game that, you know, that
• 23:40
  Michigan team was pretty loaded, that UConn team was pretty
• 23:43
  loaded. And so I it was very
• 23:45
  entertaining and I enjoyed it and I always hate to see it.
• 23:48
  In right there with you and a long, long way before we get
• 23:51
  back to college basketball season. 150 days, I think to the
• 23:54
  home opener, Kinnock Stadium and a little bit longer before we
• 23:58
  get obviously. No countdowns for college
• 24:00
  football? I don't want to hear it.
• 24:01
  No, no. OK, OK, we'll we'll shut that
• 24:03
  down. Well, the narrative is dead for
• 24:05
  the Big 10. No national championship since
• 24:07
  the year 2000. Big 10 perspective.
• 24:10
  You got Michigan there. We've seen a bunch of teams that
• 24:12
  have got to the doorstep and got to the national championship
• 24:15
  game. Finally being able to
• 24:16
  breakthrough here. What does it say to you as we
• 24:19
  have now champions in football, women's basketball, men's
• 24:21
  basketball, three straight in football.
• 24:23
  Now what the Big 10 has morphed into here recently at the
• 24:27
  highest of levels. Everybody's got money.
• 24:30
  And I mean that's, I mean, that's, I mean that's the
• 24:31
  difference. I mean, you do think back to the
• 24:34
  days when I'm sure there were probably a lot of a lot of
• 24:36
  things under the table down South.
• 24:39
  Now everybody can do it. And and you're seeing this with
• 24:42
  the big 10 with all these schools.
• 24:44
  They all have money. They can all go get parts and
• 24:47
  you've got really good coaches they've brought in.
• 24:49
  And I think sometimes that gets overlooked.
• 24:51
  You look at football, Kurt Signeti, what he's done and what
• 24:54
  a really good coach is. Look at what Dusty May has done.
• 24:57
  You know, and you and then you brought in the West Coast
• 25:00
  schools and now you've got all this money coming into all
• 25:03
  these. So it's just this perfect storm
• 25:05
  of everything coming together at the right time.
• 25:08
  And I think that's that's the difference right now.
• 25:10
  And there's people, you know, athletes want to go to these
• 25:14
  schools and play. They want to, you know, there
• 25:16
  are ones that they look at Indiana.
• 25:18
  Hey I. Want you know I want to.
• 25:19
  Play there for football, you know, you're starting to see
• 25:22
  people, you know, gravitate towards these schools.
• 25:24
  And I think, I think what what's happening right now is going to
• 25:27
  continue for a. While no, I agree with you, you
• 25:30
  know, Trent brought this up and he and he wasn't buying this
• 25:34
  argument about Michigan, one of the best teams of all time,
• 25:36
  maybe if not the best. I'm wondering if they're
• 25:39
  anointing the the wrong college basketball championship is one
• 25:42
  of the best because when I see this UCLA team, the way that
• 25:45
  they're just kicking the everliving, you know what out of
• 25:48
  teams, right? And I know Pat Summit had some
• 25:50
  absolute juggernauts down there and Gino's had team after team
• 25:53
  after team. But this group of UCLA Bruins,
• 25:56
  they they could play a whole lot of basketball, John.
• 25:58
  They're really. Good.
• 25:59
  You look at what they did to the second place team in the Big 10
• 26:03
  twice, you know, And I mean, so the distance between 1st and 2nd
• 26:08
  in that league was a Canyon, you know, when you think about it.
• 26:12
  And and then you look at what they did when they got in the
• 26:16
  tournament, you look at what they did and they got the Final
• 26:18
  four against teams that were comparable to them and talent
• 26:22
  and coaching and that sort of thing.
• 26:23
  And I mean that that was that that was a loaded team that that
• 26:28
  really. And the other thing is, too,
• 26:30
  they had really good chemistry, which I think sometimes people
• 26:32
  overlook, you know, and you could kind of tell that in their
• 26:35
  social media presence and all that.
• 26:37
  When you have talent and you've got chemistry and you've got
• 26:40
  really good coach, that's a dangerous combination.
• 26:42
  And they showed that over the weekend.
• 26:44
  From an Iowa perspective, a run to the elite 8th for the first
• 26:48
  time since you're in college or just done with college.
• 26:51
  John back in 19. 80 college I was a.
• 26:53
  Junior, you're a junior then, so it was just a little bit back.
• 26:57
  And as they fall to UNLV in Seattle and the Elite Eight with
• 27:00
  a 16 point halftime lead, but they get back their expectations
• 27:04
  now are changing for this basketball program and I think
• 27:07
  you're seeing the growth and obviously the potential of what
• 27:09
  this program can be. Ben McCollum saying no thanks to
• 27:12
  an opportunity to interview for the North Carolina job.
• 27:15
  When you look forward and getting to know Ben McCollum
• 27:17
  this season, ABS as you have John, the excitement level
• 27:21
  certainly feels like it's through the roof, but there's
• 27:22
  work to be done in the portal now.
• 27:24
  Sure. I mean, you've got to, you've
• 27:25
  got to go find a point guard, you've got to go find a big and
• 27:27
  everybody's been looking for a point guard to big.
• 27:30
  So you got to come up with some money this run, I think says to
• 27:33
  donors he knows what he's doing, so let's forgive his mouth.
• 27:38
  And so I do think that that is going to be the key is I mean,
• 27:42
  they might have a couple of spots though, but you know that
• 27:45
  those are the two spots. OK, Now who are they going to
• 27:47
  get it and what kind of resources are going to they
• 27:49
  going to have to get these players?
• 27:51
  That to me is the biggest thing. But I also think to the guys
• 27:54
  coming back, you're going to steal a lot of young guys that
• 27:56
  are going to take a big step. And I mean, you're going to see
• 27:58
  take Sage take a big step. Cooper Koch had a great season.
• 28:02
  What kind of season can he have next year?
• 28:04
  You know, what kind of see them from Trevor Durack have now
• 28:07
  after a year of, of, of, of being in the program and, and,
• 28:11
  and now knowing what he has to do as a big man in the league.
• 28:14
  So there's going to be a lot of addition, but it's not going to
• 28:17
  come necessarily from, from new players.
• 28:20
  It's going to be the addition of, of, of how, how much better
• 28:23
  these guys get from, from this year to next year.
• 28:25
  And I think that's that's going to be something to really watch
• 28:28
  this summer when we get a chance to see him practice a few times
• 28:31
  is what kind of steps these guys are going to take.
• 28:33
  Yep, no doubt roster will be replenished etcetera.
• 28:36
  We'll see where it goes. We'll see if Volgaris who
• 28:38
  apparently if some of the stuff you read he's he's getting some
• 28:41
  some significant offers from biggie schools and
• 28:45
  understandably so. We look good in one shining
• 28:48
  moment last night and the ball went in again and Florida got
• 28:50
  sent home one more time when it did go through the bottom of the
• 28:54
  net. I want to go to a football.
• 28:56
  Obviously Ference, I met the media last week.
• 28:59
  I know it's a almost a week old now, but just a take away or two
• 29:02
  from listening to Kirk Ference who pushed back his media
• 29:06
  availability due to the run of the Iowa men in the in the
• 29:08
  tournament. It was really interesting.
• 29:11
  I, I, I, I did a radio show with somebody in Nebraska, actually,
• 29:15
  and they were talking about spring football.
• 29:17
  And I'm like everybody, nobody's talking about spring football
• 29:19
  right now. Everybody's talking about
• 29:20
  basketball. You know, everybody was talking
• 29:21
  about, you know, what happened to the women's team and, and how
• 29:24
  far the men's team is going to go and that sort of thing.
• 29:26
  And everybody's kind of forgotten about spring football.
• 29:28
  But I think it was a Big Spring for them.
• 29:30
  And I mean, in terms of, you know, finding a quarterback and
• 29:33
  I, I, you know, I know that's probably a competition that goes
• 29:36
  into August, but I think he wants to have kind of an idea on
• 29:40
  where they're at at the end of the spring.
• 29:42
  You know, and then you've got other positions, you got the
• 29:44
  offensive line, you got the defensive line.
• 29:46
  And so this is a really important spring and it's just
• 29:48
  everything's kind of been under the radar right now.
• 29:50
  And it's going to be that way even this week.
• 29:52
  I mean, I know, you know, we'll get another availability with
• 29:55
  him and, and, you know, eventually we'll get to the talk
• 29:57
  to the quarterbacks and coordinators, but everybody's
• 29:59
  looking at the transfer, what's the men, what's men's
• 30:02
  basketball, what's women's basketball going to do?
• 30:04
  So right now it's just kind of under the radar, but it is a, it
• 30:08
  is a very crucial spring for them in terms of of getting set
• 30:12
  up for where they want to be in August.
• 30:14
  This is a team that has been built for the better part of the
• 30:17
  last 27 years on the defense. We've seen moments of good
• 30:21
  offense, but for the most part it is about that defense.
• 30:24
  And when you lose all your starters up front on a defensive
• 30:27
  line, a guy that was an anticipated starter and Brian
• 30:29
  Allen who departs for Vanderbilt, it's going to be a
• 30:32
  lot of new faces out there. And this is something that's
• 30:35
  been a rarity on that defensive line at minimum.
• 30:37
  Now these guys have had a few reps and there's a couple of
• 30:40
  guys that got reps, but it's going to be different up front.
• 30:42
  And Calvin Bell, he's got a lot of work in front of him because
• 30:45
  without a good defensive line, but we haven't seen that for
• 30:48
  Iowa going back probably 20 years.
• 30:49
  I think that O five line that had two freshmen out there that
• 30:52
  turned into good players with Mitch King and Matt Kroll.
• 30:54
  They struggled in that first season, but we're going back
• 30:56
  over 20 years, the last time they've had to kind of this many
• 30:59
  question marks, I think, AD line.
• 31:01
  And that's why I think this spring is so important because I
• 31:03
  think you want to, you want to have a pretty good idea when
• 31:05
  you're out because, because I know they've always had, they've
• 31:07
  always liked to have a defensive line, but they've always liked
• 31:10
  to have depth there and keep rotating guys in and out.
• 31:14
  That's going to be the biggest key in my mind is, is can you do
• 31:17
  that? You know, are you going to have
• 31:19
  enough guys to, to rotate in and out and, and how are you going
• 31:22
  to develop them? And so I think that's what
• 31:24
  spring is so important is, is getting to know these guys and
• 31:27
  getting to know what they could do.
• 31:29
  So when you get into August, you're still not scrambling to
• 31:32
  find that rotation and you kind of like in quarterback's a big
• 31:36
  thing, defensive line's a big thing, offensive line's a big
• 31:39
  thing. No doubt about it.
• 31:40
  John Bowencamp joining us. John, the obligatory question
• 31:43
  when it comes to baseball, what have you seen so far 10 games
• 31:46
  into the season? I'm really disappointed they've
• 31:49
  lost twice. I got I figured they'd be 10 and
• 31:52
  O, but again, we talked about college basketball.
• 31:55
  Want to get talked over. I want to get talked over for a
• 31:58
  lot of instead of no. They've played well so far and
• 32:01
  it's been fun to watch, so it's a long way to go.
• 32:04
  Long way to go. Yes they'll be fine.
• 32:06
  They'll coast it do without. You know they've lost twice
• 32:09
  already they've lost. Twice it's scary for the
• 32:10
  Dodgers. Yeah, so.
• 32:12
  Jada, they'll be fine. Yes.
• 32:15
  I did have a question on the women's front and want to get
• 32:18
  your perspective because you are very measured, very thoughtful
• 32:22
  about everything, certainly as it pertains to basketball
• 32:24
  writing. And I knew there was going to be
• 32:26
  some blowback when Addie Deal announced her departure from the
• 32:29
  program. He got 4 departing seniors.
• 32:32
  But a lot of these players in the portal, they weren't
• 32:34
  playing. They weren't going to play.
• 32:35
  But the amount of inks that is out there, the amount of anger,
• 32:39
  the amount of negative comments that I see on social media and
• 32:42
  and on my podcast from people just going after Jan Jensen.
• 32:46
  I understand that lost to Virginia stunk and end game
• 32:49
  situation was not good. This team overachieved I think
• 32:52
  for the second consecutive year. If there's Iowa women's
• 32:55
  basketball fans out there that want to run Jan Jensen out on a
• 32:58
  line, I just, I struggled to wrap my mind around it.
• 33:01
  It, it's, it's, it's been tough because I, I, she's had the kind
• 33:05
  of bridge that, you know, built, you know, trying to mix the past
• 33:09
  with, you know, with what they did, you know, in the Caitlyn
• 33:11
  years and you still had some of those players left.
• 33:14
  And then you're mixing in new players.
• 33:15
  And I think, you know, there, there's been kind of a, a
• 33:18
  contrast there and it's just been kind of a hasn't quite
• 33:21
  figured out. Now this is her team.
• 33:24
  You know, when you think about it, whoever's coming in in the
• 33:26
  portal and whoever's left, these are the players that came in
• 33:29
  when she started. And so now it's going to now
• 33:33
  we're going to kind of, I think see where this program is going
• 33:36
  to go. I do think that the biggest
• 33:38
  thing was the fact that they lost at home in that second
• 33:41
  round game and darn near lost that first round game.
• 33:44
  And I mean, that was that was really close.
• 33:46
  And so I think those two games and you combine that with what
• 33:49
  happened in the Big 10 tournament, championship game, I
• 33:51
  think really upset this a lot of people in this fan base.
• 33:55
  She can rebuild. She can change that by having a
• 33:59
  good offseason and having a good portal run.
• 34:02
  And I'll be interested to see who she gets.
• 34:04
  She needs to get some productive players.
• 34:07
  You know, you need to get you need to get, you know, so you've
• 34:10
  got a really good foundation coming back.
• 34:12
  You know what you've got, you've got that, you know, all American
• 34:15
  and Ava Hayden and all that. Now go get some players that
• 34:18
  maybe aren't five star recruits, but you know what, they're
• 34:21
  really good basketball players and get some older players too
• 34:24
  and have a lot of experience. When you go back out on the
• 34:27
  court next October. And and I think we'll see, we're
• 34:31
  going to know more about Jan Jensen.
• 34:32
  I think even more next year when she's got an entire team that is
• 34:37
  Birds, that is when she has put together.
• 34:39
  John Bowencamp, Associated Press, Iowa College hoops.com.
• 34:42
  John, thanks for jumping on. Appreciate it.
• 34:44
  Talk to you in the weekend. See you buddy.
• 34:46
  Appreciate it. Yep, Yep.
• 34:47
  Good to talk to you, John Bowencamp as we check in on
• 34:50
  Iowa. Check in on the Saint Louis
• 34:52
  Cardinals for the first time this year. 5:00 and 5:00 to
• 34:55
  start their season. Brian Walton is next.
• 34:57
  Miller and Condon, Iowa Sports Radio Network I'm Hillary Con
• 35:01
  and welcome back 1245 Matt Snyder, CBSSports.com.
• 35:05
  He kicks off our second hour of the program.
• 35:09
  Matt norlandercbssports.com. Before he leaves Indianapolis,
• 35:13
  I'm guessing let's got an early flight out of there.
• 35:15
  We'll get the Matt Norlander put a bow on what we saw last night
• 35:19
  throughout the tournament. For the first time let's this
• 35:21
  season, let's talk about those Redbirds off to a decent start.
• 35:24
  Brian Walton, thecardinalnation.com.
• 35:26
  He joins us. How are you, Brian Walton?
• 35:30
  I'm doing fine, thank you. Trying to get back to being at
• 35:33
  home after three months in sunny Florida.
• 35:35
  Nice. Not a lot of sympathy for what
• 35:39
  you know, the Midwest here, but glad you're glad you jumped on
• 35:42
  the grenade and spent three months covering baseball in
• 35:45
  Florida. What a life.
• 35:46
  What a gig. Jealous, Brian.
• 35:47
  So let's talk about this team. Off to a nice start.
• 35:50
  Bullpen issues to get to the back of the bullpen, right?
• 35:53
  The Romero's been good, O'Brien's been good, but it's
• 35:56
  those, you know, the guys that to follow the starter in to get
• 36:00
  them to the back of the bullpen that have kindly struggled.
• 36:03
  How big of a concern for you and is there something that can be
• 36:07
  done about it? Yes, it's definitely a concern.
• 36:11
  And you know, one of the other contributing factors is that
• 36:14
  while three of the five members of the rotation have pitched
• 36:17
  well, nobody's going more than 5 innings.
• 36:21
  And so when you have to get 4 innings out of a bullpen that
• 36:23
  only has probably 3 reliable arm, that's going to put you in
• 36:28
  a situation where you're going to have guys exposed who aren't
• 36:32
  able to get the job done. And that's what we see I would
• 36:34
  have seen with Cardinals. And, you know, it's not just the
• 36:37
  bullpen, it's also the rotation. Kyle Leahy was the reliever.
• 36:40
  They made starter and really the jury's out on him as made two
• 36:43
  starts already and hasn't really been that good.
• 36:46
  And Dustin May, of course, the former Dodgers star who who was
• 36:49
  with the Red Sox, had a lot of injuries, has just been
• 36:52
  absolutely awful in his first two starts.
• 36:55
  And he's going to get his third start against his old team,
• 36:57
  Boston, on Friday, which should be very interesting.
• 37:01
  We know this is a rebuild. I this maybe you could keep your
• 37:04
  head above water and, and get excited for a while, but it's a
• 37:07
  rebuilding process that is happening now for the Cardinals.
• 37:09
  When you look forward and you know the minor leagues as well
• 37:12
  as anybody, 'cause I see your tweets all the time talking
• 37:14
  about those minor leaguers. So it's not just the Cardinals
• 37:16
  for you, it's the whole organization.
• 37:19
  How long of a rebuild does it look like?
• 37:20
  I mean, is it realistic that things can start to turn and
• 37:23
  we're talking about back to a division contender here in a
• 37:26
  couple of years? When you look at it big picture,
• 37:28
  what do you see out of the organization?
• 37:31
  I think it's two to three years, Trent, They, the Cardinals got
• 37:35
  behind in player development and they've done a lot of things to
• 37:38
  try to catch up. They've made a significant
• 37:40
  investments in people and resources.
• 37:42
  Of course, they traded away a bunch of Major League veterans
• 37:45
  yet young players, primarily young pitching, but not
• 37:49
  completely. But a lot of these guys are
• 37:51
  still down in the high a AA area.
• 37:54
  And you know, it takes a couple of years to progress through AA
• 37:57
  to AAA to the majors. And a lot of the guys at the
• 38:00
  Cardinals had previously that had great promise.
• 38:03
  Guys like Tikkola, Roby, Cooper, Durfee have been injured and so
• 38:07
  they haven't been able to fill that gap.
• 38:09
  So, you know, right now the big talent in Cardinals pitching is
• 38:13
  either at AA or below or is injured, so it's going to take a
• 38:17
  little bit of time. When you see Bloom sham Bloom is
• 38:21
  I think is how you say his first name came over been at Boston,
• 38:24
  been at Tampa Bay, now the head of player development or player
• 38:29
  operations, essentially the GM at with Saint Louis.
• 38:34
  Do you, what difference do you notice what, what is he brought
• 38:38
  and tried to inject into this Cardinals organization that
• 38:41
  maybe wasn't there before, if anything, Brian?
• 38:45
  Hein Bloom, of course, came over.
• 38:47
  He was a former head of baseball operations for the Red Sox, and
• 38:50
  he took over for John Mosaic. And Bloom is in a little bit of
• 38:54
  a challenge in that he's constrained financially by what
• 38:57
  the Cardinals want to do. It's been well documented what's
• 39:00
  happened with the regional sports networks.
• 39:02
  And that provided a huge negative impact on Saint Louis,
• 39:05
  as has, frankly, the downturn in quality.
• 39:08
  And amazingly, club has hurt their attendance, which
• 39:11
  traditionally was above 3,000,000, is now down, you
• 39:14
  know, was down in the low 2 million.
• 39:15
  So that put a whammy on the Cardinals ability to spend
• 39:18
  money. So they've got to develop from
• 39:20
  within. And Bloom did that very, very
• 39:23
  well in his first stop at Tampa Bay and also improved the Red
• 39:27
  Sox system. He he took a lot of heat with
• 39:29
  Boston because he traded away some of the stars like Mookie
• 39:32
  Betts and didn't get a lot in return.
• 39:34
  But the Boston farm system was in pretty good shape when he
• 39:37
  left. And he's actually, you know,
• 39:38
  plundered that Boston system for a couple of the starters that
• 39:41
  are close to contributing in a Hunter Dobbins and Richard Fitz.
• 39:46
  So I don't want to say that the cover is completely bare, but
• 39:49
  certainly it's going to take a little bit of time for some of
• 39:51
  these young players to get through the system.
• 39:53
  And and that's still some of the spots right now that frankly are
• 39:56
  being filled by guys who may not be.
• 40:03
  Hello. Did we lose Brian?
• 40:04
  No. I'm here.
• 40:06
  OK, OK. Hey, Brian, I want to ask you
• 40:08
  about a couple of those young guys, 223 year olds, W in the
• 40:11
  last name, JJ Weatherholt, who comes in.
• 40:14
  Absolutely. He's been good, Walker's been
• 40:16
  good, both these guys 23. What do you look down the line?
• 40:19
  Are they building block All Star type players?
• 40:22
  Are they guys that are going to be good major leaguers When you
• 40:25
  what's the upside maybe to both of those guys is kind of where
• 40:28
  I'm going? Well, JJ Weatherholt, of course,
• 40:31
  has only been in the Major League for 10 games and he shot
• 40:34
  through the farm system. He wasn't drafted that long ago,
• 40:37
  basically a year and a half ago, less than two years.
• 40:39
  But he has the he has the ability to be a glue guy in the
• 40:42
  middle of the line up, a guy that can hit and get on base and
• 40:45
  score a run. Jordan Walker, of course, on the
• 40:48
  other hand, has now been in the major leagues for three years
• 40:51
  and has tempted everyone with that tremendous power, but also
• 40:55
  the strikeouts and the the poor play discipline.
• 40:58
  Jordan Walker's off to a tremendous start this year.
• 41:01
  I saw the game last night, for example, against Washington, he
• 41:05
  took 2 balls and took them the opposite way.
• 41:08
  So he didn't try to over swing and, you know, pull the ball and
• 41:12
  probably strike out hit and one of them went over the fence.
• 41:15
  So if Jordan Walker can mature as the hitter, that will be a
• 41:19
  huge, huge benefit for the cause because they haven't had a good
• 41:22
  middle of the order bat probably since Paul Goldschmidt left.
• 41:25
  Or no one already started. Watch some Sunday night on on
• 41:29
  Peacock Sunday night baseball Walker.
• 41:32
  I remember he did something in that game Saturday at a really
• 41:35
  big game I saw. But I want to get your take on
• 41:38
  Peacock. Brian.
• 41:38
  You watch a lot of baseball. Benetti obviously the play by
• 41:42
  play guy. We think he's terrific.
• 41:44
  What did you think of Peacock Slash soon to be NBC hopefully
• 41:49
  presentation Major League Sunday.
• 41:52
  I actually like that. I thought the idea of having one
• 41:55
  commentator who's very knowledgeable about each team
• 41:59
  really added to the broadcast. And I think the two of them
• 42:01
  played off one another well. And I learned some things
• 42:04
  listening to that telecast. And so I thought it was a good
• 42:07
  deal. Now, of course, you know,
• 42:08
  accessibility for fans is an issue.
• 42:10
  There are a lot of fans who don't want to pay for all these
• 42:12
  extra networks to get these games.
• 42:14
  But I think they also folks don't like it, but they
• 42:17
  understand that Major League Baseball is after driving more
• 42:20
  revenue and a Peacock isn't going to pay them for money
• 42:23
  money for these games unless they get.
• 42:26
  Brianwaltonthecardinalnation.com Brian, thanks for jumping on
• 42:29
  giving us a few minutes. We'll talk to you throughout the
• 42:32
  season. Thank you, Brian Walton.
• 42:34
  I know. Yep, good to talk to you.
• 42:36
  Brian Walton is Trent and I take a look at the Saint Louis
• 42:39
  Cardinals 5:00 and 5:00 as they head into play tonight, all
• 42:42
  looking up at Milwaukee. 8 and two.
• 42:45
  Best record in baseball. Here they go again.
• 42:47
  It's unbelievable. Trent, say it every year.
• 42:49
  Yep. Why don't this team get more
• 42:50
  respect and we leave them out and there they are.
• 42:54
  The Reds Nice start, nice start. The Cubs on the other hand have
• 42:57
  major problems. PCA looks like post All Star
• 43:00
  break PCA last year has no idea what he's doing in the batter's.
• 43:03
  Box. Nope.
• 43:04
  Still fun as hell to watch track down baseballs in center field.
• 43:08
  That's worth the price of admission.
• 43:10
  Alec Bregman has been awful. Michael Bush not good.
• 43:14
  They got two guys that are hitting two guys, Nico off to a
• 43:18
  terrific. Stop who provides no pop.
• 43:20
  True. No, he's going to.
• 43:22
  And he's fine if he gets. Ten home runs.
• 43:23
  That'd be a great year for. Him.
• 43:25
  Oh yeah, I'd take the under on that.
• 43:27
  Yeah, I had seven last year, Yeah.
• 43:29
  I Nico Horner, I don't want to say you overrate him and Cubs
• 43:35
  fans overrate. I love the way plays second
• 43:37
  base. I I understand that it's also
• 43:39
  second base. It's a non premium position.
• 43:41
  You can put a guy out there with a brick and he's going to be
• 43:43
  fine for the most part in second base.
• 43:46
  Nico Horner's fine, But to give that kind of contract to a guy
• 43:50
  that doesn't provide pop in today's environment when you
• 43:52
  don't have a powerful line up Now, we'll see.
• 43:54
  They're going to get Saya back here pretty soon.
• 43:56
  That's definitely going to help. But what do you buy 30?
• 43:58
  Last. Year, Danny.
• 43:59
  That was a couple of hot stretches that led to that and
• 44:01
  you'd like to see that smooth out a little bit more.
• 44:04
  But with no power in the line up, you look up and down and
• 44:07
  there's just, there's not a whole lot.
• 44:08
  There. Where's the power?
• 44:09
  Right. Where's?
• 44:10
  It coming from Bush. We've seen it, yeah.
• 44:14
  We haven't seen it this year. Ian Happ.
• 44:16
  He's not getting you 20-30. Yeah, he'll get you 25.
• 44:18
  Maybe Bregman should Carson Kelly.
• 44:21
  No. He had a career year last year.
• 44:23
  He was. You could see regression coming.
• 44:25
  Dansby Swanson. Hell of a glove, man.
• 44:29
  He'd buy stereos to start. To swing up.
• 44:31
  You know what I still love? I think the jury's out on him.
• 44:34
  I know everybody loves him. I I'm not a fan.
• 44:37
  I'm not a fan. And now if Kate Horton goes
• 44:39
  down, Matthew Boyd goes down and the dog has got nothing left.
• 44:44
  All that depth we talked about in the rotation.
• 44:46
  Jameson Tayon's getting hit all over the yard.
• 44:49
  Bring back the Iowan Colin Ray. He's.
• 44:51
  There, I know he is. He's pitched well.
• 44:54
  Does Palencia have a save? Did he get a save opening?
• 44:58
  If he does, he's got one. Hour 2 Coming up next, more
• 45:01
  baseball conversation. Matt Snyder, CBS.
• 45:04
  He has one save. CBSSports.com back with that
• 45:07
  coming up next.