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Florida Heats Up & Our March Madness Picks · Height Differential

0:01
Give it to me. You ready?
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Yeah. We back it is the height
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differential and guess what, it is March, officially March,
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which means March Madness is here.
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That's the 66, Neil. I am the 410, Nick, before we
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get into it, make sure that if you are watching live, which we
0:26
are live or catching this later, make sure to subscribe to the
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height differential wherever you listen to podcasts.
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And if you like the show, rate it and leave it.
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It helps other people find it. And also follow us on social at
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Height differential on CBS, on CBS Sports.
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You can play that. They had it like it's an hour
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loop. You can just play it for an hour
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and I'm telling you. That's your ringtone Once.
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Once it's March. And if I call you, is that going
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to, is that song I'm going to play?
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It's not because I haven't had a ringtone in, I would say 10 to
1:01
15 years. I'm a I'm a silent vibrate all
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the time. But is are you updating your
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ringtone? No, I'm a silent, no vibrate.
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I'm just on straight silent. It's no not even vibrate.
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Not even vibrate? Nope.
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Usually I have an Apple Watch on so if somebody texts me or calls
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me it, it vibrates my watch. That's how I know.
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You know what I miss about March Madness?
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What do you miss? Gus Johnson.
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Yeah. He was from March Madness.
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I love Gus Johnson and we bring, by the way, we got to find a way
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to get Gus back in in the game. I.
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Know, but he he deserves to be a part of that on March Madness
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atmosphere. But it's Is it the greatest
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sports theme song? See the NBA on NBC rival it.
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Those are the top 2. I mean those have to be the top
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2 in my opinion. They they are the top 2.
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This one has it. This one just symbolizes that
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it's March. You get the cold show that noon.
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It's noon on a Thursday, it's noon on a Thursday.
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All productivity. It works out the window.
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You're just ready to tune into the games.
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And when that song hits, you know, it's, it's it's go time.
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Well, and really, this selection show is when it hits.
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Yeah, because they make it an hour and a half for no reason.
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March is here, hoops is firing up and for the first time we
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don't have a lot of football to talk about, We don't have
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Olympics to talk about. This is just it's pretty much
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going to be all hoops the whole way through.
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College basketball. And we talked about last week
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how Michigan, Arizona, Duke have probably separated themselves
2:48
from the rest of the pack. We talked about who are fourth
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number one would be and you said Yukon, I said Florida.
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Both of them. I think they are still the two
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that are battling it out. Florida obviously impressed with
3:01
what they did against Arkansas and we'll get into that.
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But I I guess we'll just kind of go in the order of the games
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last weekend and Friday night. Those Friday night Big 10 games
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on Fox. You're talking about Gus
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Johnson. They get Illinois and Morez
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Johnson, who played at Illinois last year, puts up 19 against
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his former team and it's Maura had 19 and Yaxel put up 16 and
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7. Michigan used like a 10 O
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Michigan's now 10 and O on the road after getting that the
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victory and they've won 23 games by 10 points or more.
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They got their first outright title since 2014.
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Michigan just kind of doing what they've done all year, putting
3:46
putting Illinois to bed really wasn't that close.
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No, it wasn't that close at all. I mean, it's Michigan's
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continues to roll. You know, we we've talked about
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how what they've done early in the season with all those 40
3:55
point wins over good teams like Gonzaga and what they did out in
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that players tournament. But even in conference play,
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man, you know, you get a road win against a really good
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Illinois team. They've won on the road already
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at Michigan State. They've won on the road at
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Purdue. You know, they are beating the
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big boys on the road in their own places.
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They're they're getting it done. They claim like, so they claim
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the the outright Big 10 title. Yeah.
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I mean, they're they're going to be there.
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They're one of the top teams for sure.
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There's no doubt. There's no doubt and.
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What else you can say about it? I mean, they, they took that
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loss to Duke and we looked at that box score and Elliot could
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oh really didn't have a great game.
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But here's the thing. He didn't have a great game on
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Friday either. And it really didn't matter.
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Keaton Waggler continues to do what he's done all year.
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He had he had 23 points. But but, but now Illinois all of
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a sudden has has lost four of their last six, including three
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in overtime. And they still got one of the
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best offenses in the country. But defensively, they're
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struggling a little bit. But the story of this game is
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just, I know Michigan, we just talked about it.
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Michigan had that set back again against against Duke.
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But that's because what they already beat NC State by 30
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tonight. And it's just two of the best
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teams going at it on the neutral court.
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One team won by 5. Pretty much pretty much all you
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can say. Yeah, maybe we hopefully we get
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a little bit of a rematch with those two teams, you know, down
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the road. I mean, it's very likely a Final
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Four slash national title match up.
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So so Duke what last week beat Noter or beat Notre Dame by 40?
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Yep. And then tonight they they beat
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NC State by 30 and in. Between there they just smashed
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a good Virginia team who was rolling by 26 so.
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And I don't even know if it was that close like.
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No, I mean, Duke's defense has just been out absolutely
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outstanding. I mean, like, they're probably
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the best in the country. Held Virginia to just 51 points
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on Saturday in that 26 point win.
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And then on the road tonight against an NC State team who
6:00
shoots the best 3 ball in the conference.
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Like the NC State can put up some points.
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They held them to 64. I mean, it's hard to score on
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them. And then the offensive firepower
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that they have with Boozer and, and the rest of them.
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So it's I, I don't know who's stopping Duke.
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Well, Isaiah Evans had 19 points in that game on Saturday.
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He was 5 and 9 from DP, had three early that really just
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built separation. They were 8 from 13 from three
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in the first half. Like, what are you going to do
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when when they're going to guard you the way that they're
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guarding Boozer now? We talked about the stat where
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he's at 14-5 and two in every game.
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That is now extended to to 30 games.
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He's done that every game this year, really.
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They like like Michigan and Arizona and Duke are just kind
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of, and I like Florida may be creeping up there a little bit,
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I think, but they're really kind of separating themselves from
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the pack and just to to another stat that kind of tells you
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about their defense. I mean, this isn't Tony
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Bennett's Virginia. Like, this is a Virginia team
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that's averaging 80 points a game.
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Yeah, they scored some points. To hell on to 51 here.
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Virginia is now 1 and 32 against number one teams O and 17
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against Duke when they're just to Arizona, who's also playing
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tonight. These big Monday games with the
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Big 12 this year have just been incredible.
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But but on Saturday they they put it on Kansas win by 2384 to
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61. Bradenbury's, one of these other
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just incredible freshmen has 20 and 12.
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They used A19-O run to build a 18 point lead.
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Kansas did fight back and got back within two and then
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immediately like Arizona's just like Nah and they go on another
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16 O run get up 6547 coal Pete did return for them after
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missing three games had 12 points.
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Damn. The story for Kansas is Darren
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Peterson continues to play 30 plus minutes. 30 minutes, put up
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24 points. Yeah, he played a good game.
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So just really those three teams, man, they're they're just
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playing great basketball. I guess kind of to lean into it
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just because Florida, what they did against against Arkansas on
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Saturday, 111 to 7070. Seven, I mean putting up 53 and
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58 points respectively in the 1st and 2nd halves, like that's
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just getting it done. Hawk had 22.
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Chinlu had his 17th double double.
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Here's a Here's you. Here's the stat for you.
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Kyle's career time for his worst loss.
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In his believe it's 34 points that's that's a lot of points.
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Do you not only used to that? So his other loss was that while
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he was at Kentucky. Do you remember or have any clue
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what it might have been? 34 point loss cow at Kentucky on
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the road at Alabama, Was that Alabama?
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It was against Duke in 2018. I think it was the little the
9:04
the season kickoff. Champions class that was with
9:07
the the Zion team. I think one.
9:09
Yeah, that's right. Yeah, that's right.
9:11
That's right, not right. So yeah, worst loss, Todd, worst
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loss in in Cal's career. Florida's unbeaten in February.
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They've won nine straight. They locked up their first SEC
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title since 2014. Boogie Flan, who obviously
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transferred from Arkansas, was one of seven Gators in double
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figures. Other than the 34 point win.
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The story of this game to me was the double technical.
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Oh, you haven't seen that. What was the double technical?
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So I think what happened is Chin like Gaylu hit somebody and they
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this is when Arkansas was going on a run and Kyle asked him to
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take a look at it. Yeah.
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And you know how that goes. It takes some time.
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They they ended up upgrading it to a flagrant 1.
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And I can't remember who made who shot the free throws, but
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they missed both of them. And I think at that point, Todd
10:07
Golden was like, you got to be, we're doing all this and your
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guy can't even make the free throw like this is, and they
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start chirping back. Oh, no, I did see it.
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Yeah. The coaches.
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Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, they start chirping back
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and forth. Todd Golden's coming off a
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championship. He's the new young coach.
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That's hot cows. Cal's still got his ego.
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I mean, he's been doing it for a long time.
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Yeah. Neither one of them get a back
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down. They're going at each other.
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They both get popped. And it was, it was good theater.
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It was good theater, especially in a game.
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That, I mean, when the game's a 34 point game, third, you know,
10:43
let's get to have some theater. If if you're Cal, if you're Todd
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Golden, you both got the right to to get after the other coach
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of. Course.
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And like, I get the frustration you're using that going to the
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monitor to try to kill their momentum.
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And then I think he kind of lasts a little bit when he
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missed both free throws. And that didn't not bode well
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with with Kyle over there. And they just start chirping a
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little bit. It's always good when you get
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the two coaches kind of getting after each other.
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Yeah, I enjoy it. Do you remember back in the day
11:15
when Cal was at UMass and him and John Cheney got into?
11:17
It he threatened to kill John Cheney or no, John Cheney
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threatened to kill Cal. Sorry, John Cheney busted into
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the press conference. Yes.
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Threatened to kick his kick his ass as he would say yeah.
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He he just, and he kept moving closer and closer to the podium.
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Yeah, I will kill you. I mean, the reporters.
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The reporters had to get involved because the dudes that
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were writing for the newspapers back then had to get out of
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their chairs and get in between them.
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I mean, Cal wasn't moving. Cal was just standing there,
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like in disbelief that John Cheney is threatening to kick
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his ass. But well.
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It's kind of unbelievable. Yeah, it's that guy.
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John Cheney at that time was still old.
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I think he was born old. Yeah, he does the I think you're
12:01
right, but I remember. Like he came to one of our
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practices when I was at PRP, the scout and one of our guys and
12:08
it, I mean, that's cool, yeah. He's a legend.
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He was, it was, it was pretty cool.
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But yeah, I think he, I think he was born old.
12:16
But they they know neither Golden nor Cal threatened to
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kill the other guy. Yeah, that's good.
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But jeez, like I thought it was going to be a fun game to watch.
12:26
And Florida Man, they're just, we've said it all year, they've
12:31
got the best front court in the country.
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And we knew that, Yeah. And would these two guards that
12:36
transferred in from Arkansas and and Princeton, would they kind
12:40
of figure it out? And they're, they're getting
12:42
more production from their bench, too.
12:43
And they're for a team that started what, 5 and 4?
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Yeah, yeah. Look, look at they're, they are
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clicking at the right time. They they've won six in a row
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against ranked teams and have scored at least 90 points in all
13:00
three in all six of those games. It's the second longest streak
13:04
in in college basketball history.
13:06
The longest mark shared by it's I think it's the longest mark is
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shared by UNLV and Loyola Marymount.
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Both of those were 88 and 90. So Florida's doing some special
13:18
things. Texas Tech loses JC Topping and
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everybody's kind of just puts them to bed and since they've
13:30
done that, they're three and O and they get a win over Iowa
13:33
State on on on the. Road on the road too.
13:38
Donovan Atwell was 6 to 10 from three had 18 points.
13:41
He ranks second in the country with 3.8 threes and 3rd with 110
13:46
threes made on the seasons. Really a a huge 3 point threat
13:52
the the Red Raiders had 6IN double figures.
13:54
But Grant McCaskill indeed, just to I think he's kind of proven
13:57
himself that he's one of the better coach in the country and
14:01
that I, I, I think a lot of teams thought without topping
14:05
this team really didn't have a chance.
14:06
And they're kind of proven that otherwise.
14:09
Yeah, I mean, since he's gone out and they they had that bad
14:11
loss against Arizona State. But that was the game where
14:15
Topping got hurt. Yeah, but then, you know, after
14:17
that, even without him, I mean, they've they've rolled AA30
14:20
point win over Kansas State to be a Cincinnati team that's been
14:25
playing better as of late by 12 and then that big win at Iowa
14:28
State on Saturday. So Nope, they're still playing
14:31
good basketball. You know, coming down to the end
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here with with conference play and with March, March Madness
14:39
right around the corner, they're still still a factor.
14:42
Christian Anderson's been one of my favorite guards all season,
14:44
but it's a cyclone's first loss at Hilton all year.
14:49
And like, look, dude, like we talked about Wisconsin, how good
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of wins that they had, but look at these wins by Texas Tech at
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they won, they beat Duke at at Madison Square Garden, they beat
15:01
Houston, they won at Arizona and they won at Iowa State.
15:05
That that ranks also ranks up with anybody in the country.
15:08
So I think they're probably going to be a three or four seed
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and just it still kind of makes you sad that they're not going
15:14
to be able to make a run with JT topping because obviously you're
15:17
you're losing the the Big 12 player of the year from a year
15:19
ago and there's no way you can be better without him.
15:22
No, no St. John's after losing by 32
15:31
against Connecticut. They they get their white game.
15:35
Rick comes out in his in his white suit and you know, you
15:39
know, it's it's it's problems when when Rick's got on the
15:41
white suit and. He he took it to his boy Kevin
15:45
Willard, former former assistant coach, beat him by 32.
15:48
And Willard, after the press conference, they asked kind of
15:50
like, you know, what it was like working for Rick Pitino back in
15:53
the day. He said, he said, what do you
15:57
say? Like you fear for your life?
15:59
Well, you basically you, you were on edge, feeling like
16:01
you're going to get fired almost at any moment.
16:03
So now they're they're boys, a bunch of respect between those
16:06
two and Rick really took it to him on Saturday.
16:10
Yeah, Villanova set a season low for points, and it's our most
16:13
lopsided defeat since 1997, when they got beat 93 to 56 at #3
16:22
Kentucky. So that would have also been
16:28
Rick Pitino as the head coach. What else we got here?
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Houston finally got right after losing 3 in a row.
16:40
They Colorado really had no chance and was just kind of in
16:45
the wrong place at the wrong time as Houston was bounded to
16:49
get off their snide. Kentucky just actually decides
16:54
that they don't want to get down by 15 points and revenge is the
16:59
loss that they took to The Commodores earlier in the year.
17:03
And Louisville loses at Clemson. What else we got?
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BYU struggles at West Virginia. They lose by they lose by 8 on
17:15
the road and Gonzaga loses to an unranked St.
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Mary, although Saint Mary's is always pretty good and they give
17:21
Gonzaga fits almost every year and Gonzaga goes on the road and
17:24
loses that 1 by 11. But also this this game holds a
17:28
little more weight because it is the last regular season game
17:33
that Gonzaga will ever play in the West Coast Conference.
17:35
That is true. The Jordan what that new form,
17:38
PAC 12. They are moving on to the PAC
17:41
12. On Friday night, we saw Miami,
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OH. Yes, we did.
17:50
Look like their undefeated season was in a lot of danger.
17:55
They were about two of their guys in the backcourt.
17:58
They were held at 26 points in the first half and Travis Steele
18:05
was not very happy with the officiating.
18:07
No, no. Going into halftime.
18:10
No, he took it out on some poor unfortunate D JS equipment.
18:14
Well, he got popped First off and he didn't really know what
18:18
he got popped for, even though it's probably pretty obvious
18:20
what he got popped for. And then walking off the court.
18:24
Not his court, not his own court.
18:27
He's on the road and just decides to take out the DJ's
18:30
speaker on his way out. Listen, that's just being an
18:35
asshole, man. Can't be doing that.
18:37
Not a good look. No.
18:39
Not a good look. He did show some sincerity
18:44
afterwards, talking about how he was wrong with a lot of stuff
18:47
that he did. Yeah, it's a lot, a lot easier
18:49
to show sincerity when you win by two.
18:52
You're on the winning end of things instead of losing
18:53
anything but. If you break the speaker, you're
18:57
picking up the cost, I would hope.
18:59
Oh yes, you got 100%. Like you 100% got to pick that
19:04
up. Was he fined?
19:07
I didn't see if he was fined but honestly just kind of a Jackass
19:12
move. Completely.
19:14
Completely. And I get it.
19:15
You, you lose your cool. You, you don't really know where
19:17
you are. I I get it, but you got to keep
19:21
your composure and be a little more emotionally intelligent to
19:23
that and just a a bad look. I mean, we all want to root for
19:27
this Miami, Ohio team to make the tournament.
19:30
Do we? Do we not?
19:33
Do we? They figure out a way to win.
19:36
They they win at the buzzer and. Multiple times this year that
19:40
they've done that. It was Trey Perry, a backup
19:43
guard who who scored with .4 seconds that propelled them to
19:47
victory. It's Miami.
19:48
OH, 7th win by 6 points or fewer this season.
19:53
Still calls his team unflappable.
19:55
Said they have an unflappable mentality.
19:58
They remain the only undefeated team in D1 basketball.
20:02
But Bruce Pearl on, I don't know if it was TNC or CBS.
20:08
He's on both. Yeah.
20:11
Not really not really a fan of saying that Miami Ohio deserves
20:15
to get an at large if they don't figure out a way to win the
20:18
tournament, he says. Are we going to select the 68
20:21
most deserving teams or are we going to select the 68 best
20:25
teams? If we're selecting the 68 best
20:27
teams, Miami Ohio is going to have to win their conference
20:30
tournament to qualify as a champion as an at large.
20:34
They are not one of the best teams in the country.
20:38
Your thoughts? He's not wrong.
20:40
I mean, I understand his motivation behind saying it
20:43
because he wants Auburn and his son Steven Pearl to get in.
20:47
And right now I think Leonardi has them as an 11 seed and one
20:50
of the last couple teams in the tournament.
20:52
So of course he's going to say that because he, you know, if
20:55
Miami gets in, that takes away a bubble spot.
20:57
So I understand his motivation behind it.
20:59
But his words, what he's saying is not wrong.
21:01
They have not played anybody. The teams you said they just won
21:05
several games by 6 points or fewer and it's all against, I
21:09
mean, they just this Western Michigan team has ten wins on
21:12
the season. Like they're not good and
21:13
they're struggling against teams that aren't good.
21:16
Are they winning? Sure, they're winning.
21:18
But yeah, if you put that Miami team against some of these teams
21:24
that that are on the bubble in the last four, like an Auburn
21:26
or, you know, like it, maybe I don't like SMU or or whoever's,
21:30
you know, around that cut line, Miami loses by double digits.
21:37
They lose by double digits. They they are also the only
21:40
undefeated team I Auburn do you think part First off, do you
21:45
think Pearl's comments are strictly because of Auburn?
21:49
Yes, Auburn's 15 and 14 like get like this is what we don't need
21:55
in the. Time, you know, he's he's trying
21:56
to get his kid in like first, he like he doesn't want to look
22:01
like him positioning his son to be the head coach is, is going
22:04
to be a failure. Like he, we all know what he
22:07
did. He he left at the time that he
22:08
did because his son was going to get that job.
22:11
So he wants his son to succeed and be successful and and not
22:14
suck and by getting to the tournament, that takes a little
22:18
bit of heat off of him. So yes, I think there's a that's
22:21
the main motivation behind what Pearl said.
22:24
I agree with him. There's a lot of people that
22:25
don't, such as yourself, that don't agree with him, but I
22:28
think his main motivation was because of Oliver.
22:30
Well, Auburn is is 2 and seven in quad one it, which obviously
22:35
is it's a lot better than. A lot better than Miami.
22:38
They've at least played nine more Quad 1.
22:40
Games than Miami have the SEC so you're automatically going to
22:43
play some quad one games. I I have no want to see a six
22:47
and 10 Auburn team. They are 6 and 10.
22:50
But you want see Miami of Ohio, you want to see the team that
22:54
has a buzzer beater against the 10 win Western Michigan team in
22:57
the tournament. Let's give them, give them a
22:59
chance. Like Auburn?
23:00
Times, he thinks they're one of the best 64 teams.
23:05
One of the real. Let's be real.
23:09
No. Do I think they deserved?
23:11
I don't even want them to date. I think they they're in the turn
23:13
like put them in the tournament. Put them.
23:16
In the conference tournament, then you're then, then we got no
23:18
problems. Win your conference tournament
23:21
then you should not they they don't deserve to be in.
23:23
You're really telling me? Frauds.
23:24
Frauds. Like 6 and 10 in league play you
23:28
shouldn't be able to get in the tournament.
23:29
What do you think? Miami of Ohio would be in SEC
23:33
League play. Nick, you.
23:34
Think you're going? To be 6 and 10.
23:36
That's not what this is. This is what this is.
23:40
No, it's not. It is.
23:42
Why do you? Want to see a team that is like
23:45
not just under 504 games, under 500 when you're.
23:49
Trying when you're talking about at large teams in the committee,
23:53
selecting an at large team, you're selecting the best of the
23:56
non conference winners. So it's all based on judgement
23:59
of who you think the best teams are that did not win their
24:01
conference tournaments. And there's no way that you're
24:04
going to put Miami of Ohio in that conversation.
24:06
There's no way, no chance. How many teams are on the field?
24:11
You how many? It seems to be undefeated.
24:13
If they played Miami schedule 5050, I'd say 50 but.
24:18
They're not, but they're not like.
24:21
Because they have. They've actually played people,
24:23
they actually played good teams, they played competition.
24:26
We just talked about it last week, how rare it is for anybody
24:29
to 28. No, you were.
24:31
You're going 7 teams since 1985. Dude, you're.
24:35
Going since 1985. You're going against the same
24:38
logic of when we talked about this for the College Football
24:41
Playoff of them. You didn't want to see the two
24:43
lanes and James Madison's in and now you're the same argument.
24:46
You're going completely against that and saying put Miami in as
24:49
an at large team. I think it's a good, I think
24:51
it's a good point by you and I'm proud that you actually have a
24:53
good point. That's 12 teams.
24:55
This is 68. They're not one of the best 68.
24:58
And also, neither one of those teams, neither one of those
25:01
teams were undefeated. They both had terrible losses.
25:06
Miami, I know they don't have any great wins, but they don't
25:09
have any. Terrible losses.
25:12
James Madison had one loss and it was to an 8 and it was to a
25:15
nine win Louisville team. Remember Tulane's losses?
25:18
No, don't. Care, they were terrible.
25:20
They also won their conference. They also both won their
25:23
conferences, and if Miami doesn't win their conference,
25:25
they don't get in. They have to win, they have to
25:29
finish the regular season undefeated and if they win their
25:32
first round game in the Mac they they should get in.
25:34
And you're putting them straight in as an at large team straight.
25:37
That's ridiculous. That's ridiculous.
25:39
I don't want to see these 6 and 10, seven and nine Power Four
25:44
teams. They've they've had so many
25:46
opportunities to beat good teams and they've proved with losing
25:49
10 times that they can't do it. Give these guys a chance.
25:53
They're undefeated. It's.
25:55
They have a chance. Win your conference tournament,
25:57
That's your chance. That's your chance.
25:59
Teams play bad schedules every year.
26:01
We did. We don't always see undefeated.
26:02
Teams, they don't play this bad a schedule.
26:04
I mean, there's a lot of Mac teams that will go and play ACC
26:07
opponents, SEC opponents, Big 10 opponents.
26:09
Miami had a chance to do that when they started scheduling
26:12
these teams and they did it. They scheduled a quad 4, non
26:15
conference, quad four games, non conference quad three games, not
26:18
even quad schedule a quad 2, schedule a quad one, play a
26:21
middle of the road SEC team like an Auburn and see how you do in
26:24
the non conference. That's how you earn your way in.
26:26
And they didn't do it. They loaded up on cupcakes.
26:29
They have a fraudulent undefeated record.
26:32
Get them out. What their their best one is
26:34
Akron, who's right around when they are in the rankings.
26:39
Their schedule, like you said, is 316 out of 365 and I'm
26:44
arguing I know I'm arguing against myself.
26:48
I just think like what being undefeated is hard and it
26:54
deserves being rewarded. I, I hope that they remain
26:58
undefeated and they go into the dance undefeated, but I think
27:00
it'll be a great story. I think if they get to where
27:04
they're in the semis and if they do get tripped up, I'd like to
27:07
still see them in the tournament.
27:09
Yeah, I'd like to see them in the tournament.
27:11
It's called the NIT. And guess what?
27:15
They're they can play Oliver in the NIT and.
27:18
They're guaranteed to get in the NIT because they're going to win
27:21
their regular season championship.
27:23
That's true. I mean their their schedule is
27:29
it's, it's pretty bad. It's historically bad.
27:34
Reward them. They're undefeated.
27:36
Like rewarding you for not you just for not challenging
27:39
yourself. You'll get rewarded for not
27:40
being challenged. Get out of here.
27:44
So like I'm looking at at quad one wins right now and and
27:50
Michigan is 6 and 1, Duke 7 and 2, Arizona 6:00 and 2:00.
27:54
Last week you said you would take Connecticut.
27:57
They're five and two. And the fact that Florida's only
28:00
three and three, that could be a reason why you would be right
28:06
that maybe Connecticut will get selected over top of Florida
28:09
because they just Florida struggled early and lost some
28:13
opportunities. Some some of these records that
28:16
Arkansas is 1 and seven and quad one wins, which really kind of
28:20
surprises me. Felt like it it might be a
28:24
little better than that. Vanderbilt's only two and four
28:26
in Quad 1. Vandy's only two and two and
28:29
four. Two and four in Quad 1.
28:31
With six quad ones for Vandy total.
28:34
One quad 1A they're 7:00 and 6:00, but quad 1 they're they're
28:37
two and four. Quad 1A and quad 1 isn't ontago
28:41
isn't just quad 1. Quad 1A is is even higher tier.
28:48
What? What qualifies?
28:49
I don't know what the break off is there like.
28:53
Like if you go to the official NET rankings on the NCAA, it
28:56
just has quad 1, quad 2, quad 3, quad 4.
28:59
That doesn't break it out even further.
29:01
I'm looking at Torvic. Torvic takes it to another
29:04
level. Clemson's 01/3 and quad one, but
29:06
they're six and five and Quad 1A.
29:09
We don't want to talk about what Louisville is in Quad 1A and
29:13
what they are in Quad 1. So just before example,
29:17
Louisville's 018 quad one and then six and nine and Quad 1A.
29:21
No, you got that backwards my guy. 6:00 and 9:00 in.
29:23
Quad right the. Other way, yeah.
29:25
Yeah, yeah, the other way, yes. I don't know.
29:31
We're we're getting it's just get Miami in the thing.
29:39
Get out of here. Like that's like so you're,
29:42
you're saying reward them for being undefeated.
29:45
That's like giving like, a college kid, like a reading
29:50
award for reading, like Doctor Seuss.
29:53
No, you don't get credit. So you're a proficient reader
29:57
when you're in college by reading a kindergartner's book
30:00
like Not Happening, No. Doctor Seuss is classic.
30:06
It's hard to read like it's. You got to read it fast like a
30:08
like a rapper. Fine, the little engine that
30:11
could you not like, like an MIT student reading the little
30:14
engine that could and saying he's a he's a great reader.
30:18
Not not a bad, not a bad comparison.
30:24
Well, I guess we talked about doing a little draft with
30:28
championship contenders. We're going to go 5 deep on each
30:33
side. You can go first and then we'll
30:36
go and then we'll go snake. But we're trying to see what
30:43
team, and we'll just see who at what team has teams advance the
30:48
farthest in the NCAA Tournament. OK.
30:51
I mean, if I'm my first pick, you said you.
30:53
Got first pick all. Right.
30:55
We're going with the team that's just dominating.
30:58
They're on a roll. They just beat Michigan on their
31:00
neutral court. We're going to go Duke.
31:02
I mean, I think that's the obvious choice.
31:05
Yeah, I think they're playing as well as anybody.
31:08
I'll go. I'm going to go Michigan and
31:13
then I'm going to go. I'm not going to get them if I
31:16
don't wait. It's hard not to pick Arizona
31:19
here, but I think I'm going Florida.
31:21
That that was a good pick. I was going to take Florida.
31:23
If you weren't good pick, good pick.
31:27
I'm going to go, I get back-to-back, I'm going to go
31:32
UConn and then Arizona with my third pick.
31:38
So UConn my second pick, Arizona's my third pick.
31:41
I think there's a clear top five, so you have in the first
31:45
pick I think was a real advantage.
31:49
Yeah. But I'm got a clear answer here.
31:54
I'm going Houston. I still I know look, I think
32:00
it's more of a product of their schedule right now.
32:03
Them struggling. They got right on Saturday.
32:06
Give me Kelvin Sampson in in the tournament every single year and
32:13
this is where it gets a little tougher.
32:17
Yeah, you see, you have another pick, right?
32:19
Yeah. Yeah, it gets tough now.
32:25
I just, I can't trust Purdue. I I think I'm going to have to
32:30
go Illinois. Yeah, I don't know what's going
32:33
on with Purdue. So you got to.
32:37
So you went Illinois, huh? I like this team, but I mean,
32:43
they just don't have any success in the tournament.
32:45
Like like I I want to pick Nebraska, but I don't know.
32:49
I don't know. I mean, I could see them just
32:51
choking though. Give me the Michigan State
32:55
Spartans with my next one all. Right.
32:59
And then your last pick. How many of you picked?
33:01
I got one more OK and I know how I'm taking so.
33:05
Are you taking the Huskies? I'm not telling you.
33:09
Give me the zags. I definitely would not have
33:13
taken his eggs. Taken his eggs.
33:16
Give me the, give me the cyclones.
33:19
Oh, I don't know about that one, dude.
33:24
Author Burgers prove he can do it.
33:26
I love that one. I would take Nebraska over Iowa
33:29
State. I don't think I'll yeah, we can
33:32
keep going. Like if I was going one more, I
33:38
would I would probably go Texas Tech and then let you have and
33:43
then let you have Nebraska. All right, I'll take Nebraska.
33:45
All right, we'll go 60. Then outside of that, it's just
33:51
a bunch of OK teams. But if I look at it now, like if
33:55
I'm thinking teams that can win it all.
33:58
Yeah, there's only 5. Duke, Michigan, Arizona,
34:02
Florida, Connecticut is a clear tier.
34:07
I think Houston's right there. Right.
34:10
No, I'm including Houston and my. 6 We can do that, OK.
34:12
I'm including Houston and my 6. Those are so, you know, I think
34:15
those are the clear six, yeah. And then like the next tier
34:20
would be would be Illinois, Iowa State, Michigan State, Nebraska,
34:26
Texas Tech, and then you get in some teams that maybe could make
34:33
a run to do lead 8. I just don't see mate
34:36
potentially the final Four, but I just don't see anybody else
34:39
that can really win at all. No, I would agree with that.
34:45
And we are It is the beginning of conference tournaments this
34:50
week. OVC men's tournament starts this
34:53
week. A bunch of the the Power Four
34:55
women's tournaments start this week, but one tournament that I
35:01
think we need to talk about. Yeah.
35:04
Is the sunbelt and the way that it is designed.
35:11
I mean, it's designed to get your top team into basically the
35:14
end of the NCAA tournament. And look, the OVC does this too,
35:19
where they only take the top eight teams and basically 5
35:25
through 8 play the first night. The winners of those games play
35:29
3 and four. And then the winners of those
35:31
games play one and two, which I I think is a, that's a good
35:36
bracket. It helps your one and two teams
35:38
get it, get a chance to get in. But this Sunbelt tournament?
35:43
I mean, they stretch it all the way out to a.
35:45
Whole another level. Yeah, you've got 12 or 11
35:50
through 14 playing on tomorrow, 11 through 14 play tomorrow.
35:58
The winners of those games play the what?
36:03
The nine and the 10 scene on Wednesday.
36:07
The winner of those games play the seven and the 8.
36:11
The winners of those games play the the five and the six.
36:15
The winner of those games play the three and the four, and the
36:18
winner of those guys play the one and the two.
36:20
This is just dumb. It's just dumb.
36:22
Like to me, the OVC tournament, the only the top eight teams get
36:27
in, you give your ones and twos a double by your threes and
36:31
fours get a single by that tournament.
36:33
Makes a lot of sense. Like you're like, what's the
36:36
point of this? Like you're just if you're going
36:38
to do this, you might as well just chop your field in half and
36:41
just play the top four and like in a semi final.
36:44
And then just, you know, just go that route.
36:47
Because if you're playing on day one, if you're the 11th through
36:51
12, see the I'm sorry, the 11th through 14 seed, you have to win
36:55
seven games and seven days. You start on March 3rd and you
37:01
play every single day through March 9th if you want to try to
37:05
get to the dates. I mean, that's just impossible.
37:07
It's impossible. So what's the point?
37:10
Like why, why, why are we doing these doing this to these kids?
37:13
Like it's not fair. Well.
37:15
That's a good point too, because we talk about how, Oh, and we
37:18
don't talk about as much now in this era, but used to be schools
37:21
first. Yeah, right.
37:24
Yeah, You're calling for seven days.
37:26
You're forcing the team to play seven games in seven days and
37:29
win all of them. And it's not.
37:30
It's not. It's not.
37:30
Going to happen. No, we've.
37:34
Just we've seen, we've seen like NC State two years ago, win five
37:38
and five days, Yeah. So we've seen that.
37:41
Can you expand it to where you're winning seven and seven?
37:45
No, but even in this situation where NC State won five and five
37:48
days, they were going against other teams that were also
37:52
playing. Like even the championship game
37:55
Duke had played for three or four straight days.
37:58
By the time you get to the semi finals, you've already played
38:01
five games and you're playing a team that's been sitting and
38:03
resting for five days. They're fresh, they're ready to
38:06
come, you know, beat the hell out of you and you're probably
38:09
dead tired. Like it's just nice.
38:12
It just doesn't seem fair. Just like if you're going to go
38:14
this route, just cut your tournament in half and play
38:17
normal tournament. Yeah, I, I don't it's all
38:20
they're they're in Pensacola. So at least it's a it's a nice
38:23
place to be. But, and look, I think they're
38:29
doing this because they want it to catch attention.
38:33
And would we be talking about? They want to get their one and
38:36
two seeds into the check. They want that one seed to get
38:38
in the tournament. But you can do that without this
38:40
gimmicky bracket. I just told you how the OVC does
38:43
it. I agree makes a lot of sense.
38:46
You cut the field like you only allow eight teams in the
38:48
tournament and you let your ones and twos get double buys.
38:53
They only got to win two games to get into the tournament.
38:56
And I mean this is just gimmicky.
38:59
It's, it's trying to get people like this to talk about it,
39:04
trying to get it, you know, that's what this is all about.
39:08
I mean, they're getting us to talk about it, but they're
39:09
getting us to talk about how stupid it is.
39:11
Not that. Oh this is great.
39:13
Like. I would Preston Friedland's the
39:17
head coaches, James Madison, they are the the nine seed.
39:19
We obviously worked together when we were at Morehead State.
39:23
I would like to get his thoughts on this bracket after after the
39:28
season. Shooting the text, get them on
39:31
the show. 6:00 But they they have to win because they're
39:34
playing on 2nd day. It's in six days they're.
39:36
Going to have to win six in six days.
39:38
We talk about how hard it is to win six in a row just to win the
39:42
national championship and now you to win the Sunbelt title you
39:45
got to do it six times in six days.
39:48
It's just dumb, impossible. How many of these games will you
39:54
watch from the Sunbelt Conference tournament?
39:56
You going to tune in to? What is it tomorrow?
39:59
Watch Georgia State, Louisiana, or Louisiana Monroe versus Old
40:02
Dominion. I will try to tune in on
40:07
Wednesday if possible to watch James Madison play the winner of
40:10
Louisiana Georgia State. That'll probably be the first
40:12
game in the. IPO.
40:15
In the Sunbelt tournament, I will watch in the OVC we got so
40:23
Johnny Maddox, Morehead State and Nolan Smith, Tennessee State
40:28
Tigers share the OVC title. They'll both are the the one and
40:31
two seeds in the OVC tournament. Yep, they they will play in
40:35
Evansville on on Friday night. Morehead State will tip off at
40:39
10:30 Eastern Time in Evansville.
40:42
It's always, I don't understand why it's all, it's always
40:45
because it's on ESPN 2. It's made for TV.
40:47
But they're the one seed I'm making a play that late as the
40:49
one. Tennessee states the one in.
40:50
There too. But Congrats to Nolan Smith and
40:54
Congrats to to Johnny Maddox on sharing that title.
40:57
Yeah, yeah. And then on the women's side, U
41:02
of L will be the two seed in in the ACC tournament this year in
41:05
Duluth, GA, for the first time. Yeah.
41:09
It's kind of a it's, I think it's a wide open tournament.
41:11
Obviously Louisville's not going into this play in their best
41:13
basketball, but I think you kind of hope that, you know, you
41:18
regroup a little bit, get a win on Friday and then just kind of
41:21
try to get things rolling downhill a little bit and and
41:23
see what can happen. Yeah, looking forward to it.
41:25
We'll be there. You finally got the courage to,
41:29
you know, ask for a ride and you'll be driving down there on
41:33
Thursday. So we'll see you down there.
41:34
But yeah, I know the ACC tournament's going to be great.
41:37
Louisville had a chance yesterday to, to beat Notre Dame
41:40
on their homecourt and share the conference championship, the
41:43
regular season conference championship and just
41:45
unfortunately couldn't get it done.
41:46
But Duke losing 2 out of their last three shows that they are
41:51
beatable now. They, they hadn't lost all year
41:54
until that Clemson game and they've now lost two or three.
41:56
So it is wide open. Notre Dame, it looks like
41:58
they're playing their best basketball this season.
42:00
And with Hana Hidalgo running the point, you know, they can
42:03
probably beat anybody. So they're, they're going to be
42:06
something a team to reckon with. And North Carolina's playing
42:09
good ball. So wide open, wide open.
42:12
Yeah, it's it's not like it's been in the past where there's a
42:14
clear favorite. And unfortunately, Louisville's
42:18
also going in a tournament losing two or three.
42:21
But like, like I said, did you get that first win on Friday and
42:26
kind of shake off the cobwebs a little bit?
42:28
And you never know what's going to happen in this tournament.
42:30
And anybody can win it. But I I don't know if anybody
42:34
can win. I think the top five teams, all
42:36
all can win it and. Yeah, I think that's, I think
42:39
it's 5 deep. I think it's 5 deep as well and
42:42
just just glad to be out of Greensboro and onto a new
42:44
location to Duluth, GA. Yeah, I'm excited, Excited to go
42:49
down and hopefully see the Cards win three games and get the
42:53
first ACC title since 2018. Yeah, I think, I think
42:57
Louisville have a good contingency of fans.
42:58
I mean, we've sold about 150 a 160 tickets in our allotment and
43:02
several others that wanted to buy, but they were a little too
43:05
late. I think we'll have a decent,
43:07
decent showing down there. Looking forward to it.
43:10
Bunch of former Cardinals in the crowd last night.
43:13
Saw that, Saw Asia Derbis back, Yeah.
43:15
Asia, Derbis, Robinson, Jada Curry all in the house got to
43:20
got to see Asia and the family in the little bar area down
43:24
underneath yesterday at halftime was good to see them and.
43:27
Oh nice. Think they might be, obviously
43:30
with being from the Atlanta area, I think they might be
43:33
there. What's she doing now?
43:34
I know she COVID kind of derailed her career and that
43:37
really was unfortunate because she was a great, great ball
43:39
player. She's still trying to play
43:41
somewhere. Is she trying to get into
43:42
coaching? What's what's, what's her story?
43:44
You talked to her at all? She just got back, she played in
43:46
China, OK, and it's kind of trying to figure out her next
43:49
steps. She she coached briefly at
43:51
Charlotte. So, but I she's, she's focused
43:55
on playing and, and, but it was, it was great to see her in the
43:59
fam and dude to talk about the next one, to have their, their
44:04
jersey up in the rafters on the women's side.
44:06
I I think that's who it is. Yeah, I would say so.
44:08
I would say so. We'll talk a little quick,
44:13
Bengals. All right, go ahead.
44:16
Throw some NFL news in there. Yeah.
44:18
Well, they did the easy thing. They did, do they?
44:21
They didn't. They didn't screw up the easy,
44:23
which is important, that is. Obviously after the season made
44:28
it very obvious that he would like to remain a Bengal and
44:33
sometimes you you just don't know what this front office if
44:35
they're going to be able to pull off the easy today they signed
44:38
him to a one year deal for the first time and Joe Burrows
44:42
tenure he will have his entire offensive line returning and the
44:47
second-half of the season. This actually was one of the
44:50
better offensive lines in the league.
44:52
So a good thing. Yeah, I I guess I'm just glad
44:57
that the front office didn't screw up the easy thing.
45:00
Reisner made it known that he wanted to come back.
45:02
The coaches wanted him back. But more more importantly, Joe
45:04
Burrow wanted him back. And Joe Reisner talked about Joe
45:07
texting him throughout this whole process.
45:09
Want to know if the deal has been done yet, deals been done
45:11
yet and send him a congratulatory text today.
45:14
And, you know, they're focused now on on winning football.
45:17
So good to have him back. He played well.
45:21
Like like to have the continuity on the on the offensive line
45:24
some something that Joe Burrow hasn't had.
45:26
And hopefully they that helps with the some of the slow starts
45:29
that we've had in in the past couple years and maybe we get
45:31
out of the gate a little bit hotter.
45:33
I would hope because the offensive line has played a big
45:36
role in why they've had slow starts.
45:38
Yes, and it's like every year it's not just protecting the
45:41
quarterback. The running game is always slow
45:43
at the beginning of the year. And then for some reason halfway
45:45
through the season they become one of the better running teams
45:47
in the league. But like, we give the Bengals
45:50
organization a lot of crap. We're not giving them credit for
45:53
doing the easy thing and. Rightfully so.
45:55
Not giving them credit for doing the easy thing.
45:57
What? No.
45:58
Well, the Rise Reisner's quote. They deserve some props for
46:01
that. Did you see we got to talk?
46:03
All right, We're going to do this.
46:04
We also need to talk about the players grading the report card
46:07
of the. We haven't got into that yet, so
46:09
we will get into that. But like Reisner basically said,
46:14
I've never felt this way about an organization, and that's a
46:19
positive. What does that mean though?
46:21
What does that mean? What is?
46:23
He feeling he's he's obviously just really happy to to be there
46:26
to be a Cincinnati Bengal. I think he enjoys playing with
46:29
for Zach Taylor I I think he enjoys playing with Ted Karas.
46:33
I think he enjoys playing with Joe Burrow but.
46:37
Well, he must not have a family because.
46:40
Well he does because his wife was trying to break the news and
46:43
beat these be Adam Schefter on social media so.
46:47
I didn't see that, but yeah, you look at the, we talked about the
46:51
grading of the Bengals from the NFL Players Association
46:55
treatment of families minus, like not just an ethnic, an F
46:59
minus is how the the players view the Bengals treatment of
47:04
their families. That's problem.
47:06
I don't think it could get much worse than that F minus, unless
47:10
you just want to keep adding minuses.
47:14
But look, you see all these, How many Bengals wives have we seen
47:19
that try to get popular on social media?
47:21
You don't ever see them and complain about anything about
47:24
the way they're treated. You ever see Jake Browning's
47:28
wife when she's all over social with her fit check every single
47:31
game complaining about the couch in the lobby?
47:35
She probably does behind closed doors.
47:37
I don't know. I don't.
47:38
Know all right, keep going what else what else we.
47:39
Got we have treatment of families F minus.
47:42
Not good food. The food and dining area F
47:46
minus. What?
47:48
Are they making these guys eat like in a closet?
47:51
They in the janitor's closet sitting on a bucket eating a
47:54
Bologna sandwich for lunch. Is that what we've like?
47:57
What? How are you getting an F minus
47:59
in food slash dining area? Then your nutrition slash
48:03
dietitian also gets an F. So if you come home from school,
48:08
yeah. And you bring your parents a
48:09
report card? Yeah, with that one F -, 2 F
48:14
minuses and an F How? How are they going to handle
48:19
that? Oh, I'd be grounded for life
48:23
like. So can we ground Mike Brown?
48:27
Yes, we I mean, I wish yes, like we, we've been saying all along
48:31
how we wish you would sub team an F minus.
48:34
Like that's what I was like, what are like, what are they
48:35
feeding these guys, these guys and where are they making them
48:38
eat? So where you're getting an F
48:40
minus for your dining area, food and nutritionist, dietitian like
48:45
what is this? This is what I'm envisioning.
48:48
Yeah. I'm.
48:49
I envision Chris Farley. It is hat singing the sloppy Joe
48:53
song, just slamming sloppy joes on everybody's plate.
48:58
And they probably spill over into the family area and there's
49:03
just sloppy Joe stains everywhere.
49:06
And, and that was also a tribute to the nutrition dietitian
49:10
because I can't imagine that sloppy joes are probably the
49:13
healthiest. So that's probably the main
49:16
reason for that. But your boy Mike Brown got AD
49:18
Plus for ownership, so. That's not good either.
49:22
No, I'm saying he ain't going to do anything about it.
49:24
No, we got AD minus on a home game field.
49:27
I don't know what that means. Does the field.
49:29
It means the field sucks and I get on the field all the time
49:32
because the end zones always look like crap.
49:34
Even when they got a new field, it just gets.
49:36
A new field? Just get a new field like last
49:38
year. They did and it it still doesn't
49:41
look great. I mean, they probably, it was
49:44
probably used by some D3 football team and we got a deal
49:48
on it and we just had to repaint.
49:49
It like team travel team travel C minus below average C minus
49:55
like these are like the things like the treatment of families,
49:57
the food like the the travel. No, you froze up, you're back.
50:02
The, the, the treatment of families, the food, like the
50:04
travel, like these are things that free agents will look at.
50:08
If you're trying to lure some free agents in and it's between
50:10
you and two other teams and you have this reputation of not
50:14
taking care of their families and feeding them sloppy joes in
50:17
a closet and you're flying, you're flying commercial.
50:21
Like you're flying commercial to all of your stops or whatever.
50:25
Like, I mean, I know they're not flying commercial, but you got
50:27
crappy airplanes. Like, no, like I'm going to go
50:29
somewhere else. Like you got to get better at
50:32
the it's, it's not just this year.
50:33
Like they've gotten FS and F minuses almost every year and
50:36
they don't do anything to fix it.
50:37
They don't care. They don't do anything to fix
50:39
it. It's yeah, there's just so
50:42
cheap. Drives me crazy.
50:45
The the only positives were the locker room and the training
50:48
room and the training staff and then some of the some of the
50:51
staff like the coaches got some good grades.
50:54
Your boy Zach Taylor was an A minus.
50:56
This is Buddy Buddy's back 'cause he's he's basically their
50:59
age that goes drinks with him after the game.
51:02
Pitcher was a minus so. Yeah.
51:05
Their St. coaches got an A SO. Training staff was an A, so
51:09
yeah, I mean, there's, there's some A's, but.
51:12
But it's all the people. The people are what got A's.
51:15
Yeah. And the facilities?
51:18
Facilities all got. The way you treat, yeah, people
51:21
other than going into the training group is it's not good,
51:28
not good. But look, they're not going to
51:31
get free agents normally. But the fact that they have Joe
51:36
Burrow and they could actually be competitive is the reason why
51:39
they will get free agents. And the problem is you don't
51:44
figure out a way to win this year.
51:45
You lose that luxury and then you don't get anybody.
51:49
Then we suck. So that's why this is the
51:51
biggest offseason in the history of this franchise and they sure
51:54
as hell better figure out a way to fix that defence and put a
51:58
winning product on the field. Or or you got problems.
52:02
Yep, Yep. Because then fixing all this
52:06
stuff ain't even going to matter.
52:07
Because now that I'm sad, but I'm excited.
52:12
As a as a fan, as a fan, what would you give the Bengals a
52:17
grade for fan experience? When they did not, They did not
52:22
shovel your seat and screen in in.
52:24
That day, how many? Mind, keep in mind what they've
52:27
done to you this year. We'll see what your grade is.
52:29
Overall fan experience for Nick Evans.
52:31
Dude, that moment where I'm it was, I don't, I might put 20
52:35
minuses behind the death. Just absolute garbage.
52:39
Just just unbelievable. I I will say overall the fan
52:44
experience has improved over the last couple of years.
52:46
OK, but it ain't, it ain't great yet.
52:52
And you just can't, you can't show the fact that you care more
52:58
about money than you care about your fans on a day like that.
53:00
And just getting out there and cleaning that stadium would have
53:03
just shown they cared and they chose otherwise.
53:06
And that's it's bullshit. Yeah, but I will give an A, I'll
53:10
give an A+ to the beer vendor. That's that.
53:12
Hawks beers outside of section 312, The dude from Louisville
53:15
that knows you from from whatever A.
53:18
Pluses. Yeah.
53:19
Where? Where?
53:20
Where's he from? Where do you know?
53:21
From the bats games or Louisville?
53:22
He's. Always up in He's up in the PNC.
53:24
PNC, the PNC guy. Yeah, yeah, always.
53:26
Up in the PNC club. We'll give, we'll give beer
53:28
vendors A plus for the Cincinnati Bengals.
53:31
Well, and I'm sure in turn they will also give us an A+, so.
53:37
Fact. The the cognizant was at Palm
53:42
Springs. We won't get into it too much
53:44
because it was a really limited field, but Shane Lowry's three
53:47
up with three to go looks like he's going to cruise to victory
53:51
and he does what probably me or you would do in that situation.
53:55
Water on 16, water on 17, you back-to-back double S, you turn
54:01
a three shot lead and a two shot deficit and you end up losing to
54:05
Niko Echeverria. That's that's kind of a brutal
54:08
way to lose a tournament. Well, and dude, you know how
54:10
they do the spray charts. Yeah.
54:13
So 16 is, is par three over water.
54:16
They did the spray chart and they're like this white dot of
54:20
Shane Lowery's. It was 50 yards short of
54:23
everybody else's shot. Like I don't even.
54:26
He shanked it. Yeah, just completely shanked it
54:29
and couldn't figure out a way to win.
54:32
But I'm wearing this hat because we are at we got the Arnold
54:36
Palmer Invitational this weekend.
54:38
Boy, a palm club. OK, your boy Ricky going to be
54:42
in that one. Yeah, of course he's a, he's a,
54:46
he's a Arnold Palmer ambassador. He'll he'll be he'll be wearing
54:49
some good Puma Puma gear this weekend.
54:51
All right. We've talked a lot of hockey
54:56
because of the Olympics. We got a new hockey story.
54:58
Oh yeah. You imagine you before.
55:01
We get it before we get into that, yeah, since we did talk
55:04
about hockey, how are your Tampa Bay Lightning doing since the
55:07
terrible play? You get up with them.
55:09
You said you shouldn't be a big fan and.
55:12
Carl, who is also trying to become a Lightning fan, already
55:15
wants me out. Because they've been terrible.
55:19
I don't think they've won a game.
55:20
But I got to stick to it. I got to stick to it all right.
55:23
I have not watched a game. I have kept up with them.
55:26
I came, I came home one night after I think I had dinner with
55:30
the parents house and I was going to turn it on and I turned
55:32
it on. It was already over.
55:33
So I made an effort but did not actually watch any hockey but
55:40
UMass and UConn and their season is very similar to college
55:45
basketball season. So they are amping up for their
55:48
64 team tournament and in this game's in overtime and it's
55:55
UConn and U Mass at UMass and they do three on three and
56:02
UMass, it's at UMass, right? That's what I said.
56:04
That is correct. They're getting right, looking
56:06
like they're challenging to score, but really they don't get
56:10
that close. But the marketing people at
56:13
UMass think they scored. The lights start going off and
56:17
then UConn gets a break of their own.
56:19
They get close to the goal and the lights just go out
56:22
completely. So they're getting ready to
56:26
score to maybe win the game. And this is a team that needed
56:30
this wind of because they're kind of on the bubble.
56:33
Yeah, they're on the on the incidentally, tournament bubble
56:35
for hockey, yes. So they're all on a break,
56:38
lights are flashing, then the lights go out completely.
56:41
They clearly cannot score in the dark and then it goes to a
56:45
shootout. They end up losing in the
56:47
shootout. I don't know if this I I think I
56:51
would put this game under protest if if I'm UConn.
56:54
I mean, I would if that's a thing.
56:55
I mean, I don't know what that does, but I mean.
56:58
People do it in baseball. That never does.
56:59
Anything. So yeah, what's it say?
57:02
But like, we accept your protest, you still lose.
57:04
Like, I don't know, like I'm not going to go back and replay the
57:07
game, But I mean just like complete homecourt, like just
57:11
like a like the marketing team, they knew what they were doing.
57:14
They knew what they were doing. I mean, they screwed up to begin
57:16
with, but once they realized they screwed up and that UConn
57:20
was on a breakaway, they just shut the whole thing down.
57:23
Just shut it all off Stop it. There was only a minute left in
57:26
overtime too. Like it was coming down to the
57:28
end. And dude, they like 3 on three.
57:31
Any break is a chance to score because there's just not that
57:34
many defenders. And like, do you think that you
57:38
asked? Like, do you think the lights go
57:39
out automatically? Like when they start doing that
57:41
the the light show when they score?
57:43
But dude, it was pitch dark. Like, well, like the lights
57:46
started, I guess they hit the goal horns a little.
57:49
The sign, the the Zamboni horn or whatever that thing is was
57:52
going off. And then the strobe, like the,
57:54
the, the, the lights were flashing for a second, then they
57:56
kind of went red and then dark right as Yukon was going in for
58:00
a shot. Just lights out.
58:05
It's kind of brilliant, kind of a genius move.
58:07
But I you just wonder if somebody's up there.
58:10
Nope, not today. Boom, start the lights out it it
58:16
clearly worked. It works.
58:18
I mean, they won the game because, I mean, maybe not
58:20
because of it, because we don't know if UConn would have scored,
58:22
but they had a great chance to. So they very well could have
58:25
been the reason that that UMass wins that game.
58:27
I don't know if UMass is on the bubble.
58:29
When I looked at the rankings, they were 18th and UConn was
58:31
13th at the time. So I don't know, I guess UMass
58:36
is behind UConn. But if they're both bubble
58:38
teams, this was an important game for both of them.
58:40
And you know your marketing team came through for you.
58:44
Will you watch any of the hockey tournament?
58:48
No, maybe the frozen. Maybe the frozen four.
58:51
I've seen the frozen 4 before. Like you'll turn it on if it's
58:53
close? Closely, yeah.
58:54
Yeah. I mean, usually it's the same
58:56
teams. You see Denver and Boston
58:58
College and Boston and Minnesota, Michigan.
59:03
I think usually that's a pretty good team.
59:04
Notre Dame, I don't know, those northern, northern states, maybe
59:08
North Dakota or something like that.
59:10
Yeah, pick it up, pick it up if it's close late and we'll see
59:12
what happens. Yeah, we're we're hockey guys
59:15
now, so. I hope Yukon gets in.
59:19
Yeah, and I hope they turn the lights on somebody else if if
59:23
they need to figure out a way to get in.
59:24
They got the strategy. Now, Fernando Mendoza is going
59:29
to be the number one pick in the draft to the Raiders.
59:31
But there's one team when he's in an interview that says, hey,
59:35
dude, why don't you just go get arrested?
59:39
Go get arrested. So then maybe you'll slide down
59:42
the draft and we can get you. I think if all the people that
59:48
might get arrested, I think he might be close to last on the
59:51
list. So I would probably we were
59:53
drafting if we were drafting athletes most likely to get
59:56
arrested. He would be the last bit taken
59:59
probably. But what a genius move by the
1:00:02
the team that whoever said that. I mean, first of all, why?
1:00:05
I don't know why you're interviewing the kid, because
1:00:06
you don't really. Waste of.
1:00:08
Time, unless you are thinking about trading up to get them,
1:00:12
which I don't know who the which team it is, if they need a
1:00:14
quarterback or not, but you're just wasting your time.
1:00:17
But, you know, throw a little comedy into the interview and,
1:00:20
you know, pretty, pretty smart play.
1:00:24
Yeah, and like he's like what is he's doing a little interview
1:00:28
and telling that story and it's just I I guess I guess that's
1:00:33
one way to try to get Fred. Ain't no been Mendoza to your
1:00:35
squad just. You think he'll be good for the
1:00:39
Raiders? I I want to say yes, he's just.
1:00:45
He's a smart kid. He is and I think that'll help
1:00:49
him figure it out. It's just, I don't know, like I,
1:00:52
I don't think that he's a no brainer like some of these other
1:00:55
#1 picks. And we've seen a lot of #1 picks
1:00:58
fail as well. I don't.
1:01:02
What you're saying is he's no Joe Burrow.
1:01:04
That is, I think that's pretty obvious.
1:01:07
We've we've compared their numbers as as Heisman Trophy
1:01:10
winners and look, you're going into a tough situation too.
1:01:15
Yeah. Which?
1:01:18
Would they hire? You don't put me on a spot like
1:01:22
that. I don't honestly don't even
1:01:23
remember. Oakland Raiders head coach Who
1:01:26
did that? I love Google and Clint Kubiak.
1:01:31
Oh well. I guess we'll close with this
1:01:33
one. Cameron Brink play for Stanford,
1:01:38
now plays for the Fever. Yeah.
1:01:41
She's she's, she's attractive. Yeah.
1:01:43
She's, she's born in your warehouse.
1:01:45
She's she's, she's pretty tall. Yeah.
1:01:50
Revealed on social media this week how her now fiance Ben
1:01:56
Felter. It's a good last name for.
1:02:02
Cameron Felter, is that where we're going?
1:02:04
To go, Yeah, Ben Felter, how he first put in work on her and we
1:02:12
hear all this stuff about people hitting up the DMS and and stuff
1:02:15
like that. Yeah.
1:02:17
He went a different route. He went the old fashioned, huh?
1:02:21
It's a little unconventional. He went the old fashioned e-mail
1:02:27
and his, I think his subject line.
1:02:30
How did he find her e-mail? Sure, you look it up, people.
1:02:34
You can find. If you need to find somebody's
1:02:36
e-mail, you can find it. I can find Joe Burrows e-mail.
1:02:38
No, not Joe Burrows all. Right, Who can I can I find?
1:02:42
Can I find Caitlin Clark's e-mail?
1:02:45
Probably not, but they did go how?
1:02:47
How? Did you find Cameron brakes
1:02:48
They. Did go to Stanford together so
1:02:50
maybe that is. Is they already knew each other?
1:02:52
I don't think they knew each other, but they did go to
1:02:54
Stanford. They both are Stanford guys.
1:02:56
OK. But his e-mail is subject line
1:03:00
attempting to mingle. I love it.
1:03:07
I mean, it should have been shooting my shot is what I would
1:03:09
have said. I mean, I that could work too,
1:03:11
but I just like the non aggressiveness of it.
1:03:14
Like you're still, you're putting it out there.
1:03:16
If she responds, she responds. If she doesn't, she doesn't.
1:03:19
Well, she's a basketball player, you got to say.
1:03:21
Shooting my shot. And the and.
1:03:23
Oh yeah, it is, dude. But it still worked.
1:03:26
It still worked. Clearly it worked.
1:03:28
An e-mail says, hey, Cameron wanted to chat you up, but I
1:03:32
think DMS are a little bit creepy.
1:03:34
Not that an e-mail is much better.
1:03:36
So here's my number. Then that's it.
1:03:41
That's that's that's it. That's the whole e-mail.
1:03:43
So you're just putting it out there.
1:03:45
If she responds, great, and if she doesn't, I guess this just
1:03:50
ain't no big deal. So.
1:03:52
Make good for him. I mean she probably does get a
1:03:55
lot of creepy DMS and all that so good for him though somehow
1:03:58
he stalks her and gets the e-mail and just does a little
1:04:02
the unconventional route. Sometimes unconventional gets
1:04:05
gets the attention that you want and she she took him up on it.
1:04:09
So I've I've got an idea. Yeah.
1:04:12
I'm just going to do a mass e-mail.
1:04:15
Mila Kunis. Yeah, just.
1:04:17
Who else we go? Let's go to see this.
1:04:19
Like she's married, but I've done plenty of I've done plenty
1:04:24
of mass emails in my, in my day for, for all the different jobs
1:04:28
that I've had. Just copy and paste it, change
1:04:32
the e-mail, change the first name and boop, boop, boop.
1:04:34
Just have two windows up and just do it until it works.
1:04:40
Do it until it works. Who's at the top of that?
1:04:44
List what I'm doing now. Who's at the top of that list?
1:04:49
Like we're talking, I don't famous people.
1:04:51
I don't know whoever you want to send an e-mail to bro.
1:04:54
It'd be I. Guess you could be your old high
1:04:56
school crush for all I know. I don't know.
1:04:57
Who? I tried to hit up Jesse Murr.
1:04:59
I'm probably a little too old for her.
1:05:00
Who? Jesse Murphy, she's just like
1:05:02
2122. I'm probably a little old, so a
1:05:07
little over her, but I do think it's better than what the
1:05:10
strategy I'm doing now. Which is nothing, Yeah.
1:05:20
You got to come up with a different strategy.
1:05:21
Because nothing, Yeah, nothing ain't going to work.
1:05:23
You got to come up with something.
1:05:24
Honestly, my strategy right now is go to karaoke, do Gangster's
1:05:28
Paradise with you, and then hope somebody comes up and says hi.
1:05:33
Well, we attempted that strategy on Saturday.
1:05:36
Wasn't mad, I enjoyed it. I like the change up, it was a
1:05:38
good spot. That was good.
1:05:39
What's it called now? The old Patrick's?
1:05:41
What's it? Called night.
1:05:42
Caps Night. Caps, Yeah.
1:05:44
Night caps, Yeah, good spot on Frankfurt Ave.
1:05:46
Go check it out for anybody that hasn't been well.
1:05:49
Nice little couch area just. A relaxing.
1:05:52
Vibe. Yeah, we did.
1:05:54
We did. We did A little Gangster's
1:05:56
Paradise, Yeah. Then we switched it up.
1:05:59
We did the. Little Zach Bryan Something in
1:06:01
the orange. We sure did.
1:06:04
I don't know if the something in the orange was received as well
1:06:06
as the gangster's paradise. Usually, it's not.
1:06:09
Gangster's Paradise is a crowd favorite.
1:06:10
It's just, yeah, it's just. Odd kids.
1:06:14
Kids these days, man. If they're in their early 20s,
1:06:16
they might not know what Gangster's Paradise is, and it's
1:06:18
kind of sad. Which is sad, right?
1:06:20
Yeah, it is sad. It's a classic.
1:06:22
Which is sad. How many times in our lives have
1:06:25
we karaoke Gangster's Paradise together?
1:06:27
It's been quite a few. I would say I think it's
1:06:31
approaching 20. Yeah, it's been quite a few.
1:06:34
Maybe even 2530, yeah, I think the first time we did it was at
1:06:40
the Athletics Christmas party in the was it was at the Angels
1:06:44
Envy or was at the PNC that. Was the angels envy?
1:06:49
Yeah, we did it there and ever since then it's just kind of
1:06:52
been our go to. We've done it in Mexico, we've
1:06:56
done it in the one in Tampa Bay was was the tightest 1.
1:07:01
Ever. Yeah.
1:07:02
That that got the crowd going, yeah.
1:07:04
And you're up on a stage, you're elevated, you kind of actually
1:07:07
feel like you're like actually a star a little bit.
1:07:11
Everybody's going crazy singing the words like that.
1:07:14
We got video that one too. That was that was the that was
1:07:16
the tightest 1. Yeah, that was a good one.
1:07:18
Felt like felt like actual legends on that.
1:07:22
You actually got a girl's number that night too, I believe,
1:07:24
didn't you? No, I need to bring that back.
1:07:27
That one worked. Bring those kids.
1:07:29
Like, yeah, we just do. I think we just need to go
1:07:31
karaoke and all the time. We'll go on tour the High
1:07:35
Differential karaoke tour. Yeah, that.
1:07:38
I mean other than that my only strategy is just start emailing
1:07:41
chicks and I will change the the e-mail to shooting your shot.
1:07:47
I like that. OK.
1:07:48
Or maybe I'll do half and half, do a little AB testing, see what
1:07:52
see what works better. Yeah, see what the open rate is.
1:07:57
Yes, and see what what the responses are, but I am
1:08:02
appreciative to Ben Felter for giving me New Hope.
1:08:06
And giving me. New strategy?
1:08:09
You leaving anything else out? No.
1:08:13
No. So I guess next week at this
1:08:17
time we'll be getting ready for conference tournaments.
1:08:20
Yeah. So we can kind of predict the
1:08:22
winners of all the the the Power for tournaments.
1:08:26
Then the next week we've got to do a show on Sunday night after
1:08:31
Selection Sunday. I know we've kind of moved to
1:08:34
where we're doing Mondays, but I think we need to do a live
1:08:37
reaction on on Sunday night to the Selection Sunday.
1:08:41
Maybe it's going to be tough. Why, why?
1:08:43
Why are we? Why is it going to be tough?
1:08:45
Well, Nick, because that's also the women's selection show and
1:08:48
I'll be preparing to host the first second round.
1:08:50
And I got some work to do that day.
1:08:53
I got some links, I got some tickets, some links to put out
1:08:56
live so fans can buy tickets. To our You missed the good old
1:08:58
days when that was on Monday night.
1:09:01
Yeah, well, until ESPN screwed it up and revealed the bracket
1:09:04
early. Well, how wild was that?
1:09:06
Just ruined our entire selection show.
1:09:09
The whole thing just comes out early.
1:09:12
We, we had, we were like, remember we had like all the,
1:09:14
the fans and stuff at the, at the auditorium for the selection
1:09:18
show. We already knew we were A1 seat.
1:09:20
Was that when it that the volleyball was nine?
1:09:23
We was 18, right? And that was 19.
1:09:25
Yeah, like that. Yeah, it was around that same
1:09:27
time. Yeah, we we already knew we were
1:09:29
going to be a one seat. Like we and you don't even know
1:09:31
if you trusted at the beginning when it first got leaked.
1:09:34
I think that wasn't that the UConn year.
1:09:36
Yeah. So we were A1 seat and we were
1:09:38
still mad because we had to go to Albany to play UConn, who was
1:09:41
the two? Ridiculous, but.
1:09:43
You beat them at home and then your reward is, hey, you're a
1:09:46
one. But guess what?
1:09:47
You still got to play UConn in Albany.
1:09:49
In their backyard. Yeah.
1:09:51
So we were. We knew what was happening.
1:09:53
We were. So the entire selection,
1:09:54
everybody's already mad. What a time.
1:09:58
What a time. But the good news is March is
1:10:01
here. It's going to be warm all week.
1:10:03
Unfortunately, it's going to rain, but it looks like it's
1:10:05
going to be nice in Atlanta or Duluth, so.
1:10:07
Pack of shorts. I will.
1:10:11
Maybe we'll do some karaoke while we're down there.
1:10:15
And then we can do this. You want to karaoke that one?
1:10:21
So just we're just sticking to the gangster's paradise.
1:10:24
And if I meet some chicks down there, get their e-mail and work
1:10:28
my magic. There you go.
1:10:31
For the six six nail, I am the 410.
1:10:34
Nick, before we get out of here, make sure you subscribe to the
1:10:39
height differential. However you listen to podcast.
1:10:41
Follow us on social media at height differential.
1:10:45
We will talk to you next week as we break down the conference
1:10:48
tournaments. It's exciting that is here, but
1:10:52
great time for his fans. We'll talk to you next week.
1:10:59
Stop it really. It's an hour long.
1:11:09
You just listen to it and look. I don't want to.
1:11:12
I'll just listen to it one time. That's all I need.
1:11:15
Oh, I just let it roll, baby.