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Bediako Done, Top 5 Upsets in CBB, Bison Join Mountain West! · Others Receiving Votes

0:05
[SPEAKER_00]: All right, welcome to the show.
0:07
[SPEAKER_00]: The ex-onvaldez of the podcast has a new captain.
0:09
[SPEAKER_00]: He's temporarily.
0:10
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm Brian Fisher, a sports-illist-rated joint, of course, by my SI colleagues Kevin Sweeney and a special treat.
0:17
[SPEAKER_00]: Maybe we'll just tell the story for him after Miami-Loss and National title we are putting producer Kent's live and in-living color to join us this week as well.
0:25
[SPEAKER_00]: Kent welcome and we'll be holding down the four to four swallow our fearless leader if you could call them that pat 40 is Galavanting over in Italy and the Italian Alps covering the Olympics the boys he missing a doozy of an episode and we will dive into quite a few number of topics this week of course Charles Betty Akko and ruling with Alabama and what that means for the tide
0:48
[SPEAKER_00]: channel a little bit about the hoops and some actual upsets on the court, which there were no shortage of this weekend or really going back a couple of a couple of days when we're select back on the Super Bowl and subtly atrocious attempts at entertaining us on Super Bowl Sunday as well.
1:05
[SPEAKER_00]: And a pretty seismic moving conference realignment involving the the most successful football team in the past 15 years before you go across the pond to discuss, of course,
1:16
[SPEAKER_00]: acid injections under your ski pants.
1:18
[SPEAKER_00]: Yes, we are not.
1:19
[SPEAKER_00]: We're not letting go of Pat 40's topics at the end of the show.
1:23
[SPEAKER_00]: We will continue that, of course.
1:25
[SPEAKER_00]: Let's start in Tuscany, Lucie, though, guys.
1:27
[SPEAKER_00]: We're of course on Monday night and we both both Kevin and I wrote about this on SI.com.
1:32
[SPEAKER_00]: We finally got some resolution.
1:34
[SPEAKER_00]: I guess at least temporarily in terms of the Charles Betty Acco case thanks to a local judge who denied an injunction regarding his temporary restraining order
1:45
[SPEAKER_00]: That put a halt to his brief return for the Crimson Tide a lovely three and two record over cross five games average all of 10 points a game Kevin will start with you, you're the Hoops expert was the juice worth the squeeze for the tide and everybody involved.
2:01
[SPEAKER_01]: Well, first off, I'm hopeful that Sports Illustrated gets me to Italy or there are bouts for the Vatican on opening night next year in college hoops.
2:09
[SPEAKER_01]: So maybe I can fall a pat, get a couple of airport recommendations and the like, but regardless, look, the bill of the hours one is always the lawyers.
2:19
[SPEAKER_01]: cashed in, Charles Bediaco, probably got at least some of the couple hundred thousand I believe he was expected to get if he could play out this semester, so I'd say he probably won relative to slummit it in the G league for the last month, but
2:34
[SPEAKER_01]: No one won big, I mean Alabama's swing to get a key piece that could push them over to the top, failed both on the court and off, the NCAA won in the sense that they have some time, if nothing else, to try to extend their rulemaking authority.
2:54
[SPEAKER_01]: You know, push Congress and I would Dan Wetzel wrote a column about like the idea of a skinny bill just on eligibility.
3:00
[SPEAKER_01]: I think that's a great idea, you know, I think quite frankly college sports is asking too much of a not overly effective governing body to say the least at the moment.
3:12
[SPEAKER_01]: If all this does is ensure that for the instability they have another few months to battle their way towards a resolution, I think that's a win in their eyes, but certainly for the tide they come out with a little bit of egg on their face a little bit of money spent and no real tangible impact on their basketball team.
3:33
[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, I would say I agree pretty much wholeheartedly with that.
3:36
[SPEAKER_02]: You look at Alabama, it's worth the risk because ultimately what if you bring a guy in, he ends up being a top 15, top 20 player nationally and you can get this done before anybody would stop you then take advantage of it and make it work.
3:52
[SPEAKER_02]: But in general, just based on pure outcomes, it didn't really move the needle at all and it certainly wasn't something I mean, look, they played some good teams, they had a couple nice wins.
4:02
[SPEAKER_02]: But there wasn't anything to hang your hat on long term that would make you think that, you know, this is going to go down to as like a memory that Alabama fans are going to be like, remember this five games that was awesome.
4:12
[SPEAKER_02]: I think they're going to look back and say that was kind of weird that we had a pro player playing for a few weeks and not many memories from it.
4:21
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, I mean, it was obviously somebody that suited up in January, you know, in the G league.
4:25
[SPEAKER_00]: So it's not like a week, we can claim that this is somebody who was wondering the desert in terms of Charles Betty, I'll go.
4:31
[SPEAKER_00]: But, you know, to me, I'm most disappointed just in Alabama and how they pursued this certainly with NATO's.
4:37
[SPEAKER_00]: I understand having an injury crisis, you know, in college basketball and look that the tide have gotten hit hard, you know, they've lost a number of members of their front court and I can understand why you're
4:50
[SPEAKER_00]: Um, to to go down this this path, not just grab somebody out of out of the professional ranks, but somebody who you knew played in college basketball played for your program left he he he across that rubicon of of you know going past that eligibility deadline to withdraw your name for the NFL draft or NBA draft.
5:09
[SPEAKER_00]: And everybody knew this in Alabama.
5:13
[SPEAKER_00]: This was not a case, like with Baylor and James Najee.
5:16
[SPEAKER_00]: It was not a case with some of these other G-leaders coming back into college basketball.
5:21
[SPEAKER_00]: They knew this was different.
5:22
[SPEAKER_00]: And I think that's certainly what the judge was able to understand and communicate in terms of his ruling.
5:28
[SPEAKER_00]: And why?
5:29
[SPEAKER_00]: But Yaku is not no longer playing and I think that the bigger complicating factor and kind of why I think Alabama certainly is going to wear this around moving forward is that they knew better and the fact that they kept pursuing this just for obviously five games now it definitely did not make.
5:46
[SPEAKER_00]: the Jews were the squeeze, and I think it's going to be interesting to see how the committee, which let's face it Greg Burn, the Alabama Athletic Director of somebody who I've known for decades, really respect Greg, and he is one of those guys that you tend to turn to.
6:00
[SPEAKER_00]: Whenever there's these big, you know, meetings about the future of the NCAA, Greg's typically on those, but he's actually on the selection committee this year, and what his school did this year?
6:10
[SPEAKER_00]: made it more difficult for you know the the committee itself in terms of picking teams and maybe not necessarily putting Alabama out of the bubble or whatnot, but really where are they going to be seated.
6:22
[SPEAKER_00]: This is not a case of you can we have to drop them through a couple of lines.
6:27
[SPEAKER_00]: This is not team that is going to have Charles Betty.
6:29
[SPEAKER_00]: I could it's nine of the team that's going to have that was that full strength when they got some of those nine conference wins.
6:33
[SPEAKER_00]: So this is something that the committee
6:35
[SPEAKER_00]: really does have to consider moving forward.
6:37
[SPEAKER_00]: And, kid, I'll start with you.
6:39
[SPEAKER_00]: How is the committee going to treat Alabama moving forward?
6:42
[SPEAKER_02]: I want to get to that in one second, but I do want to ask you guys of me being the most outsider.
6:46
[SPEAKER_02]: You guys being more insiders and writers.
6:49
[SPEAKER_02]: When you said Alabama new better, and this is kind of a stain on them, do you do you believe they expected this rolling
7:01
[SPEAKER_02]: he would be playing through the season though.
7:03
[SPEAKER_02]: That's where to me, I feel like this isn't like, you know, you have one week left in the season and you tried it, knowing your season's done.
7:12
[SPEAKER_02]: It's almost like, why would you roll the dice on this if you didn't expect the decision to go your way?
7:19
[SPEAKER_02]: I'm gonna, you know, that's where I would ask you guys, like do you, I have to think they thought he would play all the way through the end of the season, right?
7:32
[SPEAKER_01]: Quite frankly, like the landscape of college sports lawsuits have not been kind to the NCAA.
7:37
[SPEAKER_01]: And I think there was a feeling that, yeah, like we're gonna be gonna get away with this.
7:41
[SPEAKER_01]: And again, like the frustrating thing is that none of these cases are even getting resolved.
7:47
[SPEAKER_01]: to their completion, right?
7:49
[SPEAKER_01]: Like it's it's race to TRO and if you win you get a year and if you don't you don't and like that's not how the legal system's really supposed to work but because of the timelines of all of these things that's how you get.
8:00
[SPEAKER_01]: I think for me when you say like Alabama new better to me what it really means is like Alabama knew the consequences of this.
8:08
[SPEAKER_01]: Not for their season, but for college basketball at large.
8:12
[SPEAKER_01]: Like that to me is what's frustrating.
8:14
[SPEAKER_01]: And it's dating back to West Virginia and Rayquan battle trying to get the year of eligibility back when he was sitting out in the portal.
8:22
[SPEAKER_01]: Like, these people never seem to understand or they do and don't care.
8:27
[SPEAKER_01]: That their actions will impact everybody.
8:29
[SPEAKER_01]: But like, Nate Oates may be thrilled to have big Charles Betty Acco,
8:33
[SPEAKER_01]: He's not going to be thrilled when LeBaron Fylon in the spot he was last year as a fringe first round, early second round pick.
8:40
[SPEAKER_01]: Instead of making a decision on May 31st, says, I'm going to stay through the draft, see where I get drafted.
8:45
[SPEAKER_01]: Maybe I'll go to Summer League, see how that goes.
8:48
[SPEAKER_01]: Then after Summer League, I'll have a decision, did I get offered a two-way or a guaranteed contract.
8:53
[SPEAKER_01]: And then once I have that decision, maybe I'll make my decision going back to Alabama in August.
8:58
[SPEAKER_01]: Like, LeBaron finally would not be at Alabama in this situation if you ran it back, right?
9:03
[SPEAKER_01]: Like, and there's dozens of these, like any semblance of structure that the college basketball offseason has and that college football and all the other sports are hoping to have would be predicated.
9:16
[SPEAKER_01]: It is predicated in some way on like the draft being the end.
9:22
[SPEAKER_01]: And if the draft's not the end, I don't think NATO is going to like that world either and so that to me is the frustrating thing like it's it's look I don't expect every college sports leader to think in all long term view, it is an inherently short term business results wins and lost skit you fired although NATO doesn't know where near close to that I just think.
9:45
[SPEAKER_01]: Like you got to look out for the enterprise a little bit and not say oh I'll just push the bounce because someone else has pushed it a little further than then that I was before I'll go I'll go tear down the wall and see what happens.
9:55
[SPEAKER_00]: And it was especially tough, you know, NATO's the former high school coach and he played that up.
10:01
[SPEAKER_00]: So often, you know, when he was asked about James Najey and, oh, this is not good for the high school kids coming in.
10:06
[SPEAKER_00]: And then you turn around and do this, you know, you go through this avenue.
10:09
[SPEAKER_00]: And they all knew what, you know, what the deadline was.
10:13
[SPEAKER_00]: They understood that that was a Rubicon you couldn't cross.
10:16
[SPEAKER_00]: And I think for Alabama, they're really going to wear, you know, they're scarlet, well, letter for this.
10:21
[SPEAKER_00]: moving forward.
10:22
[SPEAKER_00]: It might not just be the impact on this season, but you know, look, when Greg Bernie walks into that room, he's going to have to face face the pipe pipe of his peers who understand what the larger enterprise is about.
10:34
[SPEAKER_00]: And I think that is probably the most frustrating thing is there is a bigger picture, you know.
10:39
[SPEAKER_00]: at hand.
10:40
[SPEAKER_00]: And honestly, you know, I think for for Alabama fans, you know, I know they're a little bit upset about this.
10:45
[SPEAKER_00]: I think the real reason why the tide wanted to go through this in the first place is because they knew they could probably could have got a home court advantage quite literally, you know, in the court there in Tuscaloosa.
10:55
[SPEAKER_00]: I think that's the strategy that we've seen be pretty successful.
10:58
[SPEAKER_00]: Now, it's no longer filing federal lawsuits anymore against the NCAA
11:06
[SPEAKER_00]: violations around some of these rules and probing that way to get some wins over the NCA.
11:12
[SPEAKER_00]: It's going local.
11:13
[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, there was obviously the only reason that Charles Badiocca played five games as is.
11:18
[SPEAKER_00]: It was because there was needed to be a judge change because there were some ties to the Alabama program.
11:24
[SPEAKER_00]: So there's definitely schools trying to take advantages of things on the court and in the court in order to get the advantage on the court and
11:36
[SPEAKER_00]: It's, you know, there's going to be a reckoning.
11:38
[SPEAKER_00]: I think it is going to be very curious and, you know, Kevin, you and I will be at the in Indianapolis for the final four obviously there will be a lot of coaches there at NABC as well.
11:46
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm going to be very curious to see what kind of reaction is, is there going to be any kind of shaming moving forward of coaches that do this, is, are the, are the, are the, are the oats of the world, are they going to get, you know, kind of,
11:58
[SPEAKER_00]: Kind of get some review from their peers.
12:00
[SPEAKER_00]: And hopefully I would think that would would be coming.
12:02
[SPEAKER_00]: You know, we've starting to see it now in football.
12:05
[SPEAKER_00]: We saw it a couple weeks ago with Dabo.
12:07
[SPEAKER_00]: Bring in receipts against old miss and peak golden in their coaching staff.
12:11
[SPEAKER_00]: We'll see if there this maybe opens things up a little bit more for coaching staff, but.
12:15
[SPEAKER_00]: Before we talk too broadly about all of the issues off the off the court, it was a pretty good week and of whoop certainly if you were sitting down, whether you're watching the Olympics, whether you're watching everything else, it was a great weekend of college basketball and quite a few number of upsets.
12:32
[SPEAKER_00]: I mean the entire top five ended up taking a road loss in the past couple of days.
12:37
[SPEAKER_00]: We certainly had Yukon in that thriller in the garden, I can say John's, Duke with a double
12:44
[SPEAKER_00]: So nice.
12:46
[SPEAKER_00]: They had to do it twice there in the Dean dome, which there was certainly some controversy around The Carolina fans thoughts and on their home court Illinois lost in Michigan state.
12:57
[SPEAKER_00]: I was state last night as we're taping on Wednesday morning Lost to TCU and of course number one Arizona finally taking their first loss
13:05
[SPEAKER_00]: of the season at the fog with a Darren Peterson less Kansas, which are those upsets Kevin, in your mind kind of changes your opinion most of those top five teams or even the teams that ended up pulling the upset.
13:18
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, you know, I think the same John's UConn game is probably the one that that means the most to me, just on both sides of the ledger, right?
13:26
[SPEAKER_01]: This is a UConn team that has not been tested heavily since really early December.
13:31
[SPEAKER_01]: The biggest slate has been it been light and, you know, they haven't played great at a lot of points, right?
13:37
[SPEAKER_01]: They probably should have lost the Providence, they could have lost the Georgetown, they could have lost at home to Villanova like
13:42
[SPEAKER_01]: There have been games out there for for the where this you got team is not looked as sharp as they traditionally have and then, you know, the same John steam that's surging comes in and kind of awesome, right?
13:52
[SPEAKER_01]: And as a credit to St. John's they've turned the corner, obviously, there are much more physical team now that they play these these three banks together with Mitchell, ledger four and Hopkins, that's helped them immensely, Dylan Darling's been a stabilizer at the point, which I think is huge.
14:08
[SPEAKER_01]: But, you know, Yukon has been so elite offensively the last few years, under Dan Hurley.
14:13
[SPEAKER_01]: And even last year, like they were a monster offense that just didn't guard.
14:17
[SPEAKER_01]: This year's team has gotten back to defending, but offensively it's still a little touch and go.
14:21
[SPEAKER_01]: And in a game where you shoot nine for 19 from three, you make shots.
14:25
[SPEAKER_01]: you know, the sloppiness with the turnovers and all those things just catch up to you.
14:30
[SPEAKER_01]: And so because we have the limited data points with with you come, I think it makes a little more sense to overreact and not to say that there aren't really good, but if we're talking about them in the truly elite tier of college basketball, I'd like to have seen more at the Garden on Friday night.
14:46
[SPEAKER_02]: I'll go do, and the one reason, the main reason is, I think the game pressure, I mean, you keep looking back at John Shire, he's new in the his career, and I think he's clearly putting the talent there, competing was close to winning a championship last year, but they blew that game against Houston.
15:03
[SPEAKER_02]: They could not finish that game out and look the other night.
15:07
[SPEAKER_02]: That game was pretty much won, if they just made one or two more plays, and they couldn't close that game out.
15:16
[SPEAKER_02]: I'm starting to look at Duke as, you know, they're clearly more than talented enough.
15:20
[SPEAKER_02]: I got to see them last night in person being at the game against pit.
15:25
[SPEAKER_02]: But here's the issue is, his John Shire, that type of guy, that a late in a game, can close it out against a really good opponent.
15:33
[SPEAKER_02]: And he probably is, and they probably will prove that, but losing that game at Carolina, like you couldn't have more game pressure than being at your rival in the Dean dome,
15:44
[SPEAKER_02]: multiple buckets late in the game could not close it out and then last year against Houston they choked that game away playing it simple and to me this was the biggest game pressure John Shire's had since that final four loss and once again do couldn't do anything down the stretch to get it done so I would be a little bit weary of Duke in comparison to the rest of those teams right now in that it's more just
16:09
[SPEAKER_02]: John Shire kind of proving his worth in those moments.
16:12
[SPEAKER_02]: And because I think they should have won Saturday night, they didn't get it done.
16:16
[SPEAKER_02]: They should have won that Final Four game last year, they didn't get it done.
16:19
[SPEAKER_02]: And I'm interested to see if in the same moment, if you get in the late March, early April and dukes up five points with two minutes left,
16:27
[SPEAKER_02]: Are you confident they'll close that game out?
16:29
[SPEAKER_02]: I'm pretty confident Calvin Samson will close a game out.
16:32
[SPEAKER_02]: I'm pretty confident Arizona will find a way to close it out.
16:35
[SPEAKER_02]: I'm very confident Dan Hurley can clearly find a way to close games out.
16:40
[SPEAKER_02]: I'm not so sure about shy right now.
16:45
[SPEAKER_00]: Well, you know, Kudos to the ACC, at least, you know, the upsets in that league are not costing their team bids, you know, I think it's actually helping, you know, the dichotomy there in the ACC, which was a short contrast is certainly last year, and it's even this this past week in North Carolina obviously did not follow things up well with that Duke win and in terms of losing to your your canes there.
17:05
[SPEAKER_00]: Kent and you know, that helps the league though.
17:08
[SPEAKER_00]: You know, Miami is one of those bubble teams Kevin.
17:09
[SPEAKER_00]: I think you just have them as one of their last couple of teams into the bracket and you know, that's certainly a different tact for the ACC.
17:17
[SPEAKER_00]: But I will go with with with Kansas in this one.
17:20
[SPEAKER_00]: You know, I think for you know, seeing them early in the season when they're without Darren Peterson.
17:25
[SPEAKER_00]: You kind of thought, all right.
17:25
[SPEAKER_00]: This is a team.
17:26
[SPEAKER_00]: All right.
17:26
[SPEAKER_00]: Maybe if yeah, they could probably get to the second weekend, but you didn't really take them seriously.
17:32
[SPEAKER_00]: as a national title set, but the way that the additional players are stepping up and it seems to be another guy, you know, new guy every single time, you know, and then you add in Darren Peterson, you know, I think if he's healthy for March run and going back to back each weekend, now I'm starting to believe that this Kansas team can be one of those teams that can win at all.
17:53
[SPEAKER_00]: You know, like I wouldn't have said that, you know, a month or two ago, but the way that they've gotten guys to step up have additional contributions because look when it comes tournament time guys are getting going to get in foul trouble.
18:05
[SPEAKER_00]: You know, guys are going to have an off shooting night and to be able to kind of rely on some other guys to kind of pick up that slack and have, you know, proof positive that they can do that in addition to your star that you know can make plays.
18:22
[SPEAKER_00]: You know, if he can get healthy, this is a very dangerous team, and a very well tested team in a pretty deep big 12.
18:28
[SPEAKER_00]: So I think I would go with with Kansas in this one, but certainly going to be interesting to see how the polls look the next time the people comes out because
18:38
[SPEAKER_00]: because there was quite a bit of carnage, kind of throughout all of college basketball this week and it's always fun to debate who is going to be number one.
18:46
[SPEAKER_00]: I will throw up that very question for everybody in terms of obviously Michigan is sitting out there.
18:50
[SPEAKER_00]: You have Houston looking very impressive Arizona still just with one loss and obviously those circumstances, I think they will time it Lloyd will certainly speak to some of the officiating decisions if you will in that game against Kansas that led to that one loss.
19:07
[SPEAKER_00]: who would be your pick to be number one and who's your pick now to kind of win it all.
19:13
[SPEAKER_00]: I still think Arizona should be kind of deserving to be number one at this point, but I think the field is pretty wide open and it may be deeper than we've seen these last couple of years.
19:24
[SPEAKER_01]: I would say at the end of the day, Arizona's floor is so high, just because of the way they play, the way they rebound, how tough they are with buries and Bradley.
19:34
[SPEAKER_01]: I thought that was the difference really on a Monday night, it was that for the first time in one of these big games, I don't think they got a great version of Jade Bradley.
19:42
[SPEAKER_01]: And that's been the difference maker.
19:43
[SPEAKER_01]: When you have Bradley and Buries in all this size, it's a pretty potent combo.
19:48
[SPEAKER_01]: I still think Michigan is the highest ceiling though.
19:50
[SPEAKER_01]: Like the best version of Michigan, and obviously people will reference the players there or we can, and what they did there.
19:55
[SPEAKER_01]: But beyond that, just like when they fly up and down in transition, watch out.
20:00
[SPEAKER_01]: You know, like they they're they're at a different level, but I think they're also the most getable because if you get them in the half core and you grind them out, it's it's hard for them generate good shots and you know, I'm interested to see as they hit the hardest part of the big big time schedule, you know, do they get picked off again the way they did against Wisconsin?
20:18
[SPEAKER_01]: I mean, it took a special shooting night for Wisconsin and now we've seen Wisconsin be Illinois and other elite roadwind for the badgers.
20:24
[SPEAKER_01]: It's not a bad loss by any means, but Wisconsin shot the cover off the ball and second half and it took a really special performance
20:30
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm curious to see that they've been close against lesser competition.
20:35
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm curious to see if someone can get over the hump and beat them down the stretch.
20:38
[SPEAKER_01]: And maybe if that'd be a good thing for them long term to feel that.
20:41
[SPEAKER_01]: But yeah, that's certainly love their their upside and they're ceiling.
20:46
[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, I would go Arizona still.
20:47
[SPEAKER_02]: There's nobody to me that fits that bill.
20:50
[SPEAKER_02]: And you look at the last few years, it's been the favorite, while you con certainly their second year was clearly the favorite, even though they dominated everybody the year prior to, they weren't, you know, the team everybody expected to win this this early.
21:03
[SPEAKER_02]: But the best team has showed up Florida last year was the hot team, everyone picked.
21:08
[SPEAKER_02]: Obviously, I kind of went against the grain and thought, they can get upset and I figured like maybe Derek Queen and Marilyn would knock them off in a quite happened that way.
21:16
[SPEAKER_02]: But lately, it's been that like Walter Clayton, Jr. takes over.
21:19
[SPEAKER_02]: You con the stars take over.
21:21
[SPEAKER_02]: And when you look at Arizona, it's like what Kevin said.
21:24
[SPEAKER_02]: There is almost no like lore that's not going to put them in every game that against the best of the best.
21:32
[SPEAKER_02]: If they bring their a game,
21:34
[SPEAKER_02]: They're going to be more than good enough to win most games, but even if they bring their like C game, that's still going to be good enough to probably be 63 of the 68 teams in the field on that alone if they play that well.
21:46
[SPEAKER_02]: So I'm going to go with the wildcats.
21:47
[SPEAKER_02]: There's nothing that they did against Kansas that would make me be worried about their chances to win it all Michigan isn't intriguing, but
21:56
[SPEAKER_02]: I wouldn't quite go the Michigan way yet.
21:59
[SPEAKER_02]: I do think that like Kevin said, if they play Arizona and they play their best basketball, they would probably have the best chance to beat the Wildcats, but right now I love what Arizona is doing.
22:10
[SPEAKER_02]: And they would be my pick.
22:12
[SPEAKER_02]: You know, if you're going to say take the field or anybody, you obviously jump at the field, where like two years ago, I think you probably just take you caught and feel good about it.
22:20
[SPEAKER_02]: people would have maybe taken Florida last year and felt these and about it, I wouldn't feel that great about anyone but I do think Arizona right now would still be my pick to win it all at this moment and be my pick to be number one.
22:33
[SPEAKER_00]: Well let's hope we can maybe see that match up in Indianapolis between Michigan and Arizona because I think that would be a thrilling final four type of game and even if it's before that in the tournament given those two teams
22:50
[SPEAKER_00]: All right, you want to go against a team that's going to throw up a couple of seven footers out there in the lineup.
22:54
[SPEAKER_00]: All right, Arizona can match up.
22:55
[SPEAKER_00]: You want to go small, you know, that that's kind of their, you know, their secret just access this year is they can match up and even call a peat, you know, he was so good early in the season, but now it's some of those other freshmen.
23:06
[SPEAKER_00]: I have stepped up and had those big games, I think Arizona might ideally impressive and really a lot of pressure.
23:13
[SPEAKER_00]: I don't think that gets talked about with Tommy Lloyd this season because things have gone so well, but a lot of pressure on him going into March, especially given some of the early exits that he's had there in Tucson.
23:23
[SPEAKER_00]: He has the team to have a deep tournament run and make it to Indianapolis.
23:28
[SPEAKER_00]: We'll see if that ends up getting, getting discussed a little bit more amongst those wildcat faithful that are certainly going to be interested in how they close the
23:36
[SPEAKER_02]: But that's a lot of things I'm going to do this because I'm also producing the show we might as well just cut this clip and send it right the Calvin Sampton because we didn't mention Houston at all.
23:46
[SPEAKER_02]: At the end of the day, I feel like Houston, I, I mean, granted, they weren't my pick, but Houston will probably be there right at the end.
23:52
[SPEAKER_02]: They're probably being in the inapolis and they didn't come out of any of our mouths for that five minutes and Houston, they've been there done that, you know, they were not going to the door last year, but it's just that's the type of team that Calvin Samson's like, hey guys, you don't need to talk about us, but.
24:06
[SPEAKER_02]: will be there like and that's a I mean it's a rock fight every time so Houston's one of those like they'll bring you to their level when they need to said I just I thought that was funny in the moment to be like you know what nobody mentioned Houston and that's exactly the way they want it.
24:21
[SPEAKER_00]: a lot of grit from that Houston team as well.
24:23
[SPEAKER_00]: A lot of gritty teams, Michigan states out there.
24:25
[SPEAKER_00]: You got UConn as well.
24:26
[SPEAKER_00]: I think there are a lot of those type of teams that if you get into a heavyweight fight and that's coming down to the end, it will certainly be interesting.
24:34
[SPEAKER_00]: But that's a lot of basketball talk.
24:36
[SPEAKER_00]: I think for a college sports podcast, even this time of year before we truly get into the month of March.
24:43
[SPEAKER_00]: But
24:43
[SPEAKER_00]: You know, we, we can turn our attention a little bit back towards Super Bowl Sunday.
24:48
[SPEAKER_00]: You know, certainly congrats to all the Seahawks fans, commiserations to all the Patriots fans, but can I'll go back to you?
24:54
[SPEAKER_00]: What was your big takeaway from the, the big game on Sunday?
24:57
[SPEAKER_02]: If you can't stop a foreman rush, you're not going to win.
25:01
[SPEAKER_02]: And the sea huts were so good.
25:03
[SPEAKER_02]: They got home on, you know, foreman rush is all game.
25:07
[SPEAKER_02]: They were able to, you know, make things work on the back end.
25:10
[SPEAKER_02]: And look, Drake may have a great ear.
25:12
[SPEAKER_02]: Nearly won the MVP.
25:14
[SPEAKER_02]: I do think he's probably banged up to some extent.
25:17
[SPEAKER_02]: But when you're getting pressure with four and your offensive line, you know, Will Campbell and two rookie starting on your O line,
25:25
[SPEAKER_02]: They, they were outmatched and you're not going to be able to win that caliber game.
25:29
[SPEAKER_02]: So my biggest takeaway was just, see, I don't know, at the early stay must have felt pretty good that we were going to be able to win that battle up front and because of that, it was, I mean, you saw it.
25:40
[SPEAKER_02]: It was a nightmare for the Patriots offense to try to get anything to work.
25:43
[SPEAKER_02]: So that's what stood out to me the most.
25:46
[SPEAKER_02]: And then also kind of blockers patients him waiting for holes to form, you know, I thought that he played about as well as you can expect him to play in that scenario, because the Patriots defense is very good.
25:56
[SPEAKER_02]: So that battle up front the seahawks won overwhelmingly and, you know, as much as you can say Drake may have an off game and he did.
26:03
[SPEAKER_02]: There's not a lot of NFL quarterbacks or quarterbacks on any level that are going to be exceptional if you're offensive line can't protect every time you're getting hit every time you drop back.
26:13
[SPEAKER_02]: So to me, the seahots were way deserving to win the game dominated up front and it was a pretty easy 60 minutes for them is what it looked like.
26:22
[SPEAKER_01]: It's funny because I think the narrative throughout the season was how much parity there was in the NFL and, you know, even more so than normal and, you know, lots of teams could win it.
26:33
[SPEAKER_01]: And that you take a look back and you're like, man, I'd like to see how clearly separated themselves.
26:38
[SPEAKER_01]: And maybe people didn't buy it because it was Sam Darnold, then it wasn't Josh Allen or Patrick Mahomes or, you know, Lamar Jackson or another superstar quarterback, although I think Darnold played like a superstar quarterback and every sense of the word throughout this run.
26:54
[SPEAKER_01]: You know, I just think that the completeness of their team, defensively obviously, you know, tent broke it down extremely well like if you can rest the passer and hit the quarterback
27:08
[SPEAKER_01]: They were a elite outfit in all of the areas that coaches want to build a elite team's width and you add in the quarter-art turnovers.
27:16
[SPEAKER_02]: They didn't have one turnover, the entire post-season.
27:18
[SPEAKER_02]: I mean, that's winning football no matter what level you're on.
27:21
[SPEAKER_01]: A thousand percent.
27:22
[SPEAKER_01]: So yeah, unbelievably impressive, certainly not the end for Drake May.
27:26
[SPEAKER_01]: He's got a long runway ahead of them.
27:27
[SPEAKER_01]: And I think this will probably be a good learning moment for both him and the Patriots of like,
27:32
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, we got here, but we got a lot of work to do in terms of how we build our roster to get to the truly elite tier in the National Football League.
27:41
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, it was interesting.
27:42
[SPEAKER_00]: And in the lead-up to the game itself, you know, it seemed like everybody that was kind of trying to make this more of a closer game or at least picking the Patriots.
27:49
[SPEAKER_00]: You know, they kind of just said, well, you know, it's the Patriots.
27:52
[SPEAKER_00]: There's some sort of kind of like magical formula that they have in these big games and
27:56
[SPEAKER_00]: Mike Freibald is is a great coach, but when you get down to the the Jimmy's and the Joe's, you know, you look at the offensive line and the mismatch.
28:04
[SPEAKER_00]: That was certainly a big one and a big reason why Seattle had so much success, you know, I mean, poor Royal Campbell, I mean, they picked on the kid, constantly, you know, and I think that's the difference in the NFL, you know, you can identify guys, you know, that you can just go after.
28:19
[SPEAKER_00]: Seattle was phenomenal on that, where the spin was great, you look at E.M. E.M. and Laurie, just the chess piece that he is, and the ability to keep him on the field, and just allows you to do so much defensively, and I think Mike McDonald certainly took advantage of that, and shut down the Patriots' offense, and it was not a great game.
28:41
[SPEAKER_00]: Let's be up front about that.
28:44
[SPEAKER_00]: good football games.
28:45
[SPEAKER_00]: We've all seen great Super Bowl.
28:46
[SPEAKER_00]: We've all seen classics.
28:48
[SPEAKER_00]: That was not anywhere near the top of the list in terms of the actual game itself.
28:52
[SPEAKER_00]: Unfortunately, you couldn't really go anywhere either in terms of the commercials.
28:57
[SPEAKER_00]: If you're looking for some of the entertainment factor, whether you're at a Super Bowl party or not, it was not a great year for commercials.
29:04
[SPEAKER_00]: Either gentleman, I will open it up to you.
29:07
[SPEAKER_00]: There was an incredible amount.
29:08
[SPEAKER_00]: of AI slot.
29:09
[SPEAKER_00]: There was some some pretty big misses in terms of some of the creative going on, but I, I will ask you, did you have a good Super Bowl or at least a favorite Super Bowl ad, at least this year?
29:21
[SPEAKER_01]: I agree that it was relatively underwhelming.
29:24
[SPEAKER_01]: You know, I'm a true, sign-filled guy and can quote way too many episodes.
29:29
[SPEAKER_01]: And so Jason Alexander, appearing in a Duncan commercial, definitely got my attention, at least.
29:36
[SPEAKER_01]: It was an entertaining ad at the very least.
29:38
[SPEAKER_01]: But yeah, I was not, I was not wowed to get sort of in the trend.
29:43
[SPEAKER_01]: It is that the commercials are not what they used to be.
29:47
[SPEAKER_01]: I sound like a really old man here,
29:51
[SPEAKER_01]: You know, it just wasn't, I didn't think it was great.
29:53
[SPEAKER_01]: I didn't think any part of the, uh, super-well experience was like, you know, elite.
29:58
[SPEAKER_01]: But I, as, as, as someone who has quoted George many times, so it was so it was fun to see him on the screen.
30:05
[SPEAKER_02]: and maybe like the bad street boys like just karaoke version that went into like, I don't even know, Coinbase or whatever it was, that at least like there were people singing the song because they knew it and there wasn't much entertainment happening in the game.
30:17
[SPEAKER_02]: I was excited to see that teaser trailer for the Cliff Booth movie came out with Brad Pitt and Tarantino wrote and Fincher will direct.
30:25
[SPEAKER_02]: So that's kind of cool, that's something I'm looking forward to.
30:27
[SPEAKER_02]: But in general, yeah, the Duncan commercial, some people loved it, some people hated it.
30:33
[SPEAKER_02]: move the needle for me one way or another, but in general, I thought as you said, when the game is not insanely exciting, especially if you don't have a dog in the fight, you're looking for something elsewhere, and there wasn't a lot that you're like, oh, man, I want to go check that out again, or did you see these five commercials?
30:50
[SPEAKER_02]: It's
30:51
[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, and it's one of those things where sometimes I think there's probably too many cooks in the kitchen for all these companies when it comes to these ads and you probably better off like letting one creative person say let's do this for them sure back in the day that's how it always was and now there's probably 35 people giving notes and 45 people trying to let's add this to it and a lot of them just don't work.
31:13
[SPEAKER_02]: I mean, and also.
31:14
[SPEAKER_02]: We are, I mean, we're clearly die-hards of sports.
31:17
[SPEAKER_02]: We're doing this show right now.
31:19
[SPEAKER_02]: We work in this field.
31:20
[SPEAKER_02]: I'm still going to be the type that what half the commercials, you know, I'm trying to get some food.
31:24
[SPEAKER_02]: I'm trying to talk about the game.
31:26
[SPEAKER_02]: Like, to me, the commercials have always been like an afterthought comparatively, even if a team I'm cheering for is not in the game.
31:33
[SPEAKER_02]: So, you know, at the end of the day, I'm not overly caring as much about them anyways.
31:37
[SPEAKER_02]: What about you Bryan?
31:39
[SPEAKER_00]: Well, you know, it was funny, you know, after the game.
31:41
[SPEAKER_00]: And, you know, I was obviously focused, you know, probably a little bit overly heavily on the actual game itself, but like I kind of sat there, you know, as they're handing out the trophy.
31:50
[SPEAKER_00]: And I'm like, well, what were the good commercials?
31:53
[SPEAKER_00]: You know, I just struggle to even remember three or four of them.
31:56
[SPEAKER_00]: You know, I mean, it just kind of was one out, you know, in one air and out the other, you know, it was just not a very good year in terms of the creative, which
32:03
[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, these are the most expensive Super Bowl ads ever, just in terms of the amount of the companies are paying for it, over $8 million per 30 second spot, then you've got to, you know, layer on top of that, you're in your spend and upwards of $10 million just to produce the ads a lot at the times, unless they were completely created by,
32:20
[SPEAKER_00]: AI as it looked like a couple of them were, I just, I struggled to remember a lot of them.
32:26
[SPEAKER_00]: I think some of the, the sappier, if you will, you know, playing up on the hurt strings or the emotions, you know, the lace potato add, I think, you know, resonated with a lot of people, you know, the mechanic had, had a few lines in the, in the Uber add that I, I did, I
32:39
[SPEAKER_00]: did chuckle at least and that was a pretty good one.
32:43
[SPEAKER_00]: But yeah, it was just a big mess this year.
32:46
[SPEAKER_00]: And unfortunately, we're probably going to be seeing plenty more commercials, especially as we move into March, Madness with the typical March Madness themes that we're going to get during the Tournament time.
32:56
[SPEAKER_00]: So hopefully they can turn the notch up in terms of creative and at least the interesting level because that was certainly missing on Super Bowl Sunday, but
33:08
[SPEAKER_00]: That was not the biggest news.
33:09
[SPEAKER_00]: I don't think at least for Scott sports podcast over the weekend as the mountain west on Monday, at least officially announced that North Dakota State would be moving up and joining the league, starting this season.
33:22
[SPEAKER_00]: Of course, a big shock in terms of the bison having won the last 10 of the last 15 FCS national titles, big brings truck that they're backing up there in Fargo.
33:33
[SPEAKER_00]: How big of a deal is this,
33:36
[SPEAKER_00]: How big of a deal is it for the Mountain West?
33:40
[SPEAKER_00]: I think it's pretty seismic, what do you think?
33:43
[SPEAKER_02]: Oh, I think it's huge.
33:44
[SPEAKER_02]: And I think you look at the landscape and college football right now.
33:48
[SPEAKER_02]: It's about, you know, the college football playoff, the prestige, I mean, the James Madison this year, the two lane, teams like that.
33:55
[SPEAKER_02]: Boise State obviously has now been there.
33:57
[SPEAKER_02]: They've clearly been that, they're kind of the North Dakota state of FBS for all intents and purposes, but they're gone to the packed 12 now.
34:05
[SPEAKER_02]: So there's an opening.
34:07
[SPEAKER_02]: for North Dakota State to come right in and be that Premier program.
34:11
[SPEAKER_02]: When you look at the mountain west at this point, and you have like a regional team, the northern Illinois that's coming over that will be in the Midwest with them.
34:20
[SPEAKER_02]: But I'll tell you that.
34:21
[SPEAKER_02]: You now throw in as UNLV, kind of your like quote unquote flagship.
34:26
[SPEAKER_02]: type of program you'd hand your hat on.
34:28
[SPEAKER_02]: If that's the case, North Dakota State is probably going to be a lot better than UNLV in the next 10 to 15 years.
34:34
[SPEAKER_02]: And as long as there's a path in this G6, now it's back to G6 with the packed well formulating a rural conference.
34:42
[SPEAKER_02]: It wouldn't surprise me if, you know, maybe there's some American athletic teams as a whole that's still your best G6 conference, but North Dakota State knows what it's doing.
34:51
[SPEAKER_02]: They're in a region where there's not a lot else, especially on the FBS level now.
34:57
[SPEAKER_02]: There's no one else in that region.
34:58
[SPEAKER_02]: If you can sell kids from Minnesota and Iowa and maybe parts of out of Chicago in the like the, you know, the Midwest.
35:06
[SPEAKER_02]: before it's probably going to be harder and I always, especially because they would go to the Mac or they would go to an American athletic team.
35:15
[SPEAKER_02]: Now that you're in FBS and the NIL is going to rise, you can sell some of these kids and say we have the culture, we have the winning, and now we get to play with the big boys, we'll be in this playoff, you'll make more money, I would be shocked if North Dakota State
35:31
[SPEAKER_02]: isn't if this is in a home run.
35:32
[SPEAKER_02]: It's a real win for the mountain west.
35:34
[SPEAKER_02]: I almost surprised the pack well wasn't the thumb one that somehow found a way to get them in because it seems like the pack 12 is stolen pretty much everyone else from the mountain west that was worth it.
35:45
[SPEAKER_02]: But I think it's a huge home run all around and I'm excited to see it and I had this debate with friends for the last 10 years of like if North Dakota State was eligible where would they have fallen in the pecking order?
35:57
[SPEAKER_02]: college football.
35:58
[SPEAKER_02]: I think there were plenty of years they would have been a borderline top 20 top 30 type of team anyways and now you're going to be able to go into what I consider to be a fairly wide open easy mountain west.
36:09
[SPEAKER_02]: I think they're going to be very good.
36:11
[SPEAKER_01]: I think you can see when you look at the way that teams across the country have recruited North Dakota states players in the portal as like an indicator of like their level of talent and buy and in player development that they've built there.
36:27
[SPEAKER_01]: Obviously, the wind speak for themselves, but you know, I don't think this is the drastic jump, especially in the state where the mountain West is in.
36:35
[SPEAKER_01]: that maybe it will be perceived.
36:38
[SPEAKER_01]: I think, again, run back what North Dakota State has been ignoring any recruiting bump, ignoring any, you know, additional NIL commitment, like they're elite in the trenches.
36:48
[SPEAKER_01]: They do an incredible job defensively.
36:51
[SPEAKER_01]: Like studs come through these top tier FCS programs and not to go to state so it shouldn't be cheap among them so in my eyes like I think it's a great move for them because they don't have to rip up the playbook and I think it would be a mistake to right I think this is a long term play I think this is.
37:08
[SPEAKER_01]: You know, seeing the writing on the wall that in future TV deals potentially that there will be some sort of readjustment in terms of who's competing for the trophy and North Dakota state seeing an opportunity to not just walk into FBS, but walk into FBS in the situation where they can win quickly.
37:27
[SPEAKER_01]: make a statement and prove why they belong in the upper echelon of college football in the, you know, 20, 30, 40 year window.
37:37
[SPEAKER_01]: That's how I view it.
37:38
[SPEAKER_02]: It's like a better version of jam you, right?
37:40
[SPEAKER_02]: I mean, I mean, I think jam used already shown that blueprint and now they're just like, well, they did it like we're going to do it.
37:48
[SPEAKER_00]: One, and you know, to be fair, they will not be eligible, at least unless they get it some sort of waiver to be, you know, in the running for the man who has title game and certainly the CFP is well, they're first two years as they make that transition.
37:59
[SPEAKER_00]: But, you know, I mean, this is, I'm most curious about, you know, kind of the fan base itself.
38:04
[SPEAKER_00]: You know, so accustomed to winning.
38:06
[SPEAKER_00]: And you know, the once or twice a year if that that they would end up losing a game, you know, it definitely felt like, you know, there was some some existential crisis is across the state there in terms of right how did we lose this game, you know, like that that's going to take an adjustment, I think for for the fan base itself.
38:25
[SPEAKER_00]: I understand that they were kind of hired, they definitely have maxed out what they could do at the FCS level.
38:31
[SPEAKER_00]: I get that, but this is significant investment, it's not just moving up to FBS, it's not just good joining them out in West, I don't think there's on the field too much of a difference in terms of that upper crust of FCS teams versus really your middle tier group of five teams, but in terms of the investment, we're talking about tens of millions of dollars on
38:55
[SPEAKER_00]: You know, how do they come up with that money?
38:57
[SPEAKER_00]: It does seem like there has been some significant donor support involved in this move, which is nice to hear, but you know, what happens when those losses start piling up?
39:08
[SPEAKER_00]: You know, I think it is a testament to the program itself.
39:10
[SPEAKER_00]: They've been able to change coaches.
39:12
[SPEAKER_00]: So have success.
39:13
[SPEAKER_00]: They they have an identity.
39:14
[SPEAKER_00]: They know what they want to look for in terms of recruiting, but you know, we've seen some some hits or misses, you know, at times in terms of got teams transitioning up.
39:24
[SPEAKER_00]: I think they've probably are well positioned in terms of making this jump at this point in time.
39:29
[SPEAKER_00]: And then some of the others, but it's going to be fascinating to kind of follow over these next couple of years and you know, truthfully, you know, it is nice for North Dakota state knowing you are committed in the sport of football.
39:39
[SPEAKER_00]: Um, you know, going on with some mountain west pears that let's face it.
39:43
[SPEAKER_00]: I don't think you could say the same.
39:45
[SPEAKER_00]: You know, in terms of that commitment, you know, what we'll see.
39:47
[SPEAKER_00]: It's only you know, the kind of has the, um, you know, You know, in terms of the resources, in terms of their location in terms of what they built so far.
39:54
[SPEAKER_02]: Or they could even afford Denmark and salary last year.
39:58
[SPEAKER_02]: Like that was a real story.
40:00
[SPEAKER_00]: So, you know, what we'll see, you know, you don't really seem to be like the team to beat right now.
40:04
[SPEAKER_00]: Certainly new Mexico will see what happens if Jason Ecken's up leaving in the near future.
40:08
[SPEAKER_00]: What happens with the logos, but like this is a very winnable league.
40:12
[SPEAKER_00]: You know, there's a lot of teams that are kind of, you know, clumped in terms of the the same number of resources.
40:17
[SPEAKER_00]: to typical recruiting profile, number of head coaches and what their philosophy is are so should make for a pretty competitive league.
40:25
[SPEAKER_00]: You know, and then some one that North Dakota State could end up winning and maybe making a run kind of like we saw at a James Madison this past year in terms of the college football playoff.
40:34
[SPEAKER_00]: And we've seen those those success stories of teams coming up from the FCS ranks, certainly Missouri State and Delaware, both made a bowl game this past year and in 2025.
40:42
[SPEAKER_00]: I was asking Kevin what should those expectations be though for the bison?
40:48
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.
40:49
[SPEAKER_01]: I mean, I think they should be in the top half of the mountain west right away.
40:52
[SPEAKER_01]: And I think, again, assuming that they're stuck in this sort of timeline where, you know, they have to wait a couple years to be eligible.
40:59
[SPEAKER_01]: I think there is enough time ahead of 2028 to position yourself to be as good as anyone in the mountain west.
41:07
[SPEAKER_01]: You know, they're clearly showing some level of financial commitment, you know, the buy-in to the league is not nothing.
41:13
[SPEAKER_01]: You know, this is, yeah, this is a, you know,
41:18
[SPEAKER_01]: moving forward every year, more and more.
41:21
[SPEAKER_01]: So I think if North Dakota State is not competing for championships early in the mountain west, that they will be looking to make wholesale changes organizationally, because I think that will be the standard pretty quickly.
41:36
[SPEAKER_02]: And I think Kevin brought up a really good point earlier about they recruit the trenches well.
41:40
[SPEAKER_02]: And we've seen in the NIL era, the most loyal players are generally offensive linemen that I mean, granted, you can't keep everybody.
41:49
[SPEAKER_02]: But if you can recruit on that level, especially in the Midwest, there's a lot of alignment, you know, I was proven this over the years as well as anybody, you know, Wisconsin for a long time was just putting your own linemen in.
42:01
[SPEAKER_02]: And that's the same area that they're in.
42:04
[SPEAKER_02]: If you can get that loyalty and you can show the numbers and say, look at the NFL.
42:10
[SPEAKER_02]: There's a lot of guys that we've produced that are there.
42:13
[SPEAKER_02]: College, a lot of success.
42:14
[SPEAKER_02]: Line men are more likely to be the most loyal.
42:17
[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, you might lose a skill position player.
42:19
[SPEAKER_02]: You're probably less inclined to now lose it than you would have been in the FCS.
42:23
[SPEAKER_02]: But overall, you build that foundation of having the best line play in your conference.
42:28
[SPEAKER_02]: put the NIL resources into that with some solid quarterback play, you're going to be way ahead of the game and a G6 conference if you're doing it that way and that's where I do think with NIL right now you're seeing that that you know the best teams that can kind of put resources into you know like.
42:45
[SPEAKER_02]: My alma mater, Miami, you go out and kind of rebuild your quarterbacks every year, but alignment that Miami are having out there pretty much outside of a couple of circumstances are all the kids they brought in recruiting wise in North Dakota State.
42:57
[SPEAKER_02]: On their level did that as well as anybody and I would think in the mountain west are going to do it as well as anybody as well.
43:04
[SPEAKER_00]: definitely gives them a pretty big leg up and I mean, you look at the NFL draft.
43:08
[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, this is a program that certainly would have led the mountain west in terms of the number draft picks produced pretty much every year.
43:14
[SPEAKER_00]: These last couple of years.
43:15
[SPEAKER_00]: And truthfully, it makes the mountain less more interesting.
43:17
[SPEAKER_00]: I think if especially with the newly looked in in Reformed Pack 12 with a lot of those programs, you probably would have said, all right, that's maybe the more interesting lead.
43:26
[SPEAKER_00]: But, you know, what's with what, you know,
43:29
[SPEAKER_00]: New Mexico now, I think San Jose State still hanging out there.
43:33
[SPEAKER_00]: Obviously, you add in North Dakota State, we'll see what Northern Illinois does down the road and whether they can get back on to where they historically want to be.
43:44
[SPEAKER_00]: It actually looks like a little bit more of an interesting league, and I think it does make a lot of sense.
43:48
[SPEAKER_00]: For things quite interesting for the committee, you know, down the road in terms of determining who is that top ranked group of 16.
43:54
[SPEAKER_00]: So at least some interesting games out there and certainly some interesting TV games for a lot of folks who might might be tuning in late at night for a lot of these leaks as well.
44:05
[SPEAKER_00]: Definitely will be fascinating to see that first FBS game there in the Fargo dome like I think more than anything that's that's going to be the thing that
44:12
[SPEAKER_00]: opens everybody's eyes for the mountain west is going to the far-go-dome tough environment.
44:17
[SPEAKER_00]: It's probably going to be made even tougher with the interest level these next couple of years, but I'm also pretty kind of curious in terms of what this move means for FCS and itself.
44:27
[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, this was the Thousand-Pound gorilla of the sport in FCS, and we kind of saw
44:32
[SPEAKER_00]: You know, when they went out this past tournament, you know, the interest level, it didn't drop off in terms of the TV ratings in terms of the interest level.
44:39
[SPEAKER_00]: I think in in journal from football fans in FCS football, certainly good news for if you're one of the Montana schools at this point, not having North Dakota state to kind of be thinking out, I'm sure the other Dakota schools out there are probably a little upset, you know, in terms of losing one of their rivals that they're going to play pretty regularly.
44:56
[SPEAKER_00]: And I think the in-state dynamics and even the dynamic inside the Dakota is definitely going to change, but you know, definitely opens up pretty much more of a path.
45:06
[SPEAKER_00]: How do you guys think that this is going to impact FCS football in general?
45:10
[SPEAKER_01]: I think the thing to me that's probably most fascinating is that North Dakota state has kind of set the market of what it costs for any of these others to try to get in, right?
45:19
[SPEAKER_01]: I don't think of the only one that's aspirational in a lot of regards, and I think you see throughout FCS, dating back, you know, a couple of years, but, you know, Matt N. Sleff North Dakota State to be a coordinator.
45:28
[SPEAKER_01]: And I'm not even a coordinator.
45:29
[SPEAKER_01]: I think it was a line backwards coach and associate head coach of USC, and then obviously it's the Fresno job.
45:34
[SPEAKER_01]: We just saw South Dakota's head coach leave for a defensive coordinator job at Rutgers, like
45:39
[SPEAKER_01]: I get the feeling that even though interest in the FCS playoff seems to be pretty strong that interest in being an FCS long term at least from a coaching standpoint is pretty limited and I wouldn't be surprised if maybe administratively some of those feelings are to follow the question is really who has the level of investment right like it seems like North Dakota State may be able to kind of drill baby drill their way to a some success financially.
46:03
[SPEAKER_01]: You know, I don't know what the situation will be first out the code of state for one of the Montana's.
46:08
[SPEAKER_01]: But obviously, those are schools that want to compete.
46:12
[SPEAKER_01]: And especially if they see North Dakota State win early.
46:17
[SPEAKER_01]: I think there will be 80s and presidents walking to booster's houses and saying, hey guys, we need to make this investment now if we want to have a chance to be a part of the future of college football at its top tier and maybe that will be a misguided investment long-term because again, I don't know how financially, I don't know how financially lucrative it will be for TV networks to be in the Dakota's business, but
46:44
[SPEAKER_01]: I think it's, it's a gold rush at this point and I think everybody is is kind of gearing up for this kind of future and in realignment that you know you want to put yourself in the best position for and I think North Dakota State taking this step not only will impact two wins the FCS every year but I think will impact who wants to be in the FCS.
47:03
[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, and you look, I remember there were some talks about Sacramento State, maybe trying to go all in, knowing the pack 12 was a bit vulnerable.
47:10
[SPEAKER_02]: But then you even look at Sacramento State, this past off season, Brennan Marion, who, you know, local Pittsburgh guy actually graduated, high school same year, I graduated out here, not far from where I grew up.
47:21
[SPEAKER_02]: He was there had coach.
47:22
[SPEAKER_02]: He now just left to be the OC for Deon at Colorado.
47:25
[SPEAKER_02]: So it's like you said, these are like the top tier schools that have these aspirations, but it's hard to keep a staff.
47:33
[SPEAKER_02]: It's hard to keep coaches that know that
47:37
[SPEAKER_02]: At the end of the day, there's so much more at the FBS level that even with Rutgers or Colorado programs that we just discussed, you know, Fresno State, these are not, you know, you're not going to Texas or Miami or Alabama, but
47:52
[SPEAKER_02]: These coaches, there is a ceiling on them if they want to probably get a major FPS job at some point, you know, not everybody just gets called up the way a signal he did through the system and so you look at like programs who else is the North Dakota state.
48:08
[SPEAKER_02]: It's really hard to know that.
48:09
[SPEAKER_02]: There's been programs like Sam Houston obviously moved on and they won that title in like the COVID year and they've had some success.
48:18
[SPEAKER_02]: But for the most part, it is an uphill battle and you do up the way those options.
48:22
[SPEAKER_02]: And obviously like Idaho a few years ago dropped out and decided they couldn't make it work.
48:27
[SPEAKER_02]: It's not always gonna be sunshine and roses on the other end and some programs know who they are.
48:33
[SPEAKER_02]: But the fact that
48:34
[SPEAKER_02]: NIL era has changed everything in this game, you know, as somebody I remember like when Jared verse was over at Albany, he was a superstar, but they knew they were going to lose it.
48:44
[SPEAKER_02]: And I actually had a couple of friends on that Albany staff that were like, they're happy to see him do well, but that is a guy they produced, they recruited, they put their resources into, but you cannot hell that kid.
48:54
[SPEAKER_02]: you can't go to Florida State.
48:56
[SPEAKER_02]: That's what's going to happen.
48:58
[SPEAKER_02]: And now North Dakota State at least can potentially sell their top players on.
49:03
[SPEAKER_02]: Don't leave to go elsewhere.
49:05
[SPEAKER_02]: It's going to probably be hard to tell them not to go to Texas or go to Georgia or go to USC if they're going to just cut the
49:15
[SPEAKER_02]: American school or a path 12 school because we are the team you should play for, but yet it's interesting that on the FCS level, I know who really has what it takes to go all in and put tens of millions of dollars into this.
49:30
[SPEAKER_02]: I don't know, probably not many programs are going to be willing to try it.
49:34
[SPEAKER_00]: Well, Sacramento State is certainly trying, you know, they are trying to take the same route in shell, he's pony up enough.
49:41
[SPEAKER_00]: I don't know if the interest level is certainly there on the conference side to deal with all the Sacramento State problems that would come with adding them to the league.
49:49
[SPEAKER_02]: But to get it.
49:50
[SPEAKER_02]: It's funny how every school they brought in, they're all state schools and then randomly Gonzaga is the loan for basketball, but Sacramento State would fit that bill.
49:59
[SPEAKER_00]: Well, they would love to join the PAC 12, but I definitely think there's zero interest in the PAC 12 going down that road, at least at this point.
50:06
[SPEAKER_00]: We'll see if that ends up changing, but the noise that Sacramento State is at least made in terms of trying to make this jump.
50:14
[SPEAKER_00]: Even with some money behind it, it's definitely ruffled to some feathers, the wrong way.
50:19
[SPEAKER_00]: If they got about things, you know, just as North Dakota State had done.
50:22
[SPEAKER_00]: slightly in the background, but making all the preparations and making sure all those these are crossed and those eyes are dotted.
50:28
[SPEAKER_00]: Well, you know, I think Sacramento State might might end up joining them in the FPS ranks, but that has not been the case.
50:34
[SPEAKER_00]: They've been pretty vocal, and we'll see certainly a lot of questions there locally through the stadium and some concerns there.
50:40
[SPEAKER_00]: So I think that would definitely be one to keep an eye on because they've been pretty insistent.
50:44
[SPEAKER_00]: on making this move for 2026, which let's face it, you know, we're running out of room in terms of actually making that jump before it's time to get into meaty days and all that, even though it's a couple months away.
50:55
[SPEAKER_00]: But, uh, well, fun times, they're at the FCS level.
50:58
[SPEAKER_00]: Now, I will say, even though Pat 40 has left the pod temporarily for those Italian Alps and all the gelato and
51:05
[SPEAKER_00]: Express though that he wants, you know, he has ran smack dab into maybe the story of the sports world these last couple of days and certainly one that is perfectly up his alley and I'm sure he has been discussing there with a few of his media peers there in Italy of course we're we're talking about injecting acid.
51:23
[SPEAKER_00]: into your junk for the purposes of aerodynamic purposes, at least in ski jumping there in the Olympics.
51:31
[SPEAKER_00]: And gentlemen, I will just give you the open floor in terms of the aptly named.
51:37
[SPEAKER_00]: And if you're in the car maybe you want to skip this scap head 10 second.
51:40
[SPEAKER_00]: What they're labeling penis gates, they're in Italy.
51:44
[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, there was only so much I was comfortable searching on my work computer.
51:47
[SPEAKER_02]: So I did the bulk of this on my iPhone that's not work related.
51:51
[SPEAKER_02]: Just because there's searches and stuff that you click the wrong link.
51:55
[SPEAKER_02]: And I don't even want to know where it leads to.
51:57
[SPEAKER_02]: But look, the one thing we have to give credit to Olympic athletes and really all athletes at high levels, but especially Olympians, because it's more about the glory of the metal and what you earn because it's not always the monetary value for this, they're mindset.
52:12
[SPEAKER_02]: is anything I can do to get ahead.
52:16
[SPEAKER_02]: I'm going to try it for the most part.
52:18
[SPEAKER_02]: And that's why a lot of them end up doping and scandals like that is these Olympic athletes, it's like, you know, a fraction of a second means the difference between glory and nothing.
52:29
[SPEAKER_02]: And I'm not surprised.
52:32
[SPEAKER_02]: If this truly, if there's some study out or their science, it says that this would work, I'm completely not surprised that somebody would try something like this.
52:40
[SPEAKER_02]: Now you start reading into the article and, you know, gang green and the loss of
52:45
[SPEAKER_02]: your junk as you said, like there's a lot of stuff there that like if that's not worth it in my opinion.
52:51
[SPEAKER_02]: But if you think it will help you go from seventh place to a gold medal, I can't say I'm not surprised that someone's trying it.
52:59
[SPEAKER_02]: So in general, the Olympics always bring us a lot of interesting stories.
53:03
[SPEAKER_02]: There's always a lot of people that this is their time for two three weeks.
53:07
[SPEAKER_02]: And then you never hear of them again.
53:09
[SPEAKER_02]: But in general, there's certainly raised an
53:14
[SPEAKER_02]: The more you read about it, the more you realize it's just kind of what a lot of the Olympic athletes do is anything to get an advantage.
53:21
[SPEAKER_02]: Sadly, I guess in this sport, this is what your advantage is.
53:24
[SPEAKER_02]: But yeah, I'm never surprised by thinking that somebody's gonna try to get slightly better in their sport to win a medal.
53:31
[SPEAKER_01]: The real winner here are former ski jumpers that can now blame their results or lack thereof on others using junk injections
53:44
[SPEAKER_01]: Again, don't need any proof, just say, oh, you know, like this is this is what happens in the sport.
53:49
[SPEAKER_01]: I was the one that tried to do it the right way.
53:52
[SPEAKER_01]: I, I needed no injection.
53:54
[SPEAKER_01]: I came and forth.
53:56
[SPEAKER_01]: I'd have a medal right now.
53:57
[SPEAKER_01]: I mean, the war stories, those guys will get to tell cousins and uncles grandchildren.
54:05
[SPEAKER_01]: I took my cap to them that that is that is all time conversation fuel at a family get together.
54:11
[SPEAKER_00]: And we'll say, you know, when you, as soon as you see headline, and it's an acid injection, you know, you do kind of go a different way, maybe it's just kind of the cartoonist, you know, bubbles of acid, like eating away things, the acid that they are actually injecting is definitely not that.
54:27
[SPEAKER_00]: So at least, you know, doing a little bit of cursory research, you know, into this topic, at least I, I understood that that was not the case, but, you know, the,
54:35
[SPEAKER_00]: New York Times, I think it was had a pretty interesting illustration, you know, if you can get your suits, you know, obviously these are pretty tight body suits.
54:42
[SPEAKER_00]: You know, just I had those three or four centimeters, you know, you can like jump, you know, over a car, if you will, inch of the additional distance gained in this and I think that does speak to how unique ski jumping is.
54:53
[SPEAKER_00]: I will say that like, of all the Olympic sports out there, I think if I had to give it a go at one of them to actually like, could, could you,
55:02
[SPEAKER_00]: place in the top 10 or what not this might be that the closest I would come to do with this not not within necessarily the injection stuff but like just Yeah, you put the two skis on you know that you just slide down the ramp and you jump in the land and you're there like yes, I know there's much more complicated things that involved but
55:19
[SPEAKER_00]: In terms of things like I couldn't just skating, maybe you could push the bobs lead.
55:24
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm definitely not to try any of the loose events, although the drone footage is pretty incredible.
55:30
[SPEAKER_00]: Incredible.
55:30
[SPEAKER_00]: I am pretty good skier, but there's no way I could do any of those downhill events that some of those skiers are doing.
55:35
[SPEAKER_00]: So, I might give it a go at the ski jumping, even though if you have ever gone to some of these Olympic events or some of these Olympic venues, you look at that hill.
55:45
[SPEAKER_00]: Um, if you have any fear of heights, I definitely would recommend, uh, you know, avoiding it.
55:51
[SPEAKER_00]: Well, what, what would there be any event in the winter Olympics that you guys would give it to go at?
55:56
[SPEAKER_02]: I'm in a hockey goalie, you know, I played a little bit back in my childhood.
56:00
[SPEAKER_02]: I could save a shot or two.
56:02
[SPEAKER_02]: I certainly would probably end up giving up the most goals in Olympic history, but nonetheless, yeah, I feel like, you know, especially like a soft wrist shot, then I can just sort of turn my pad to and not want to weigh, I would feel comfortable and at least be able to like.
56:17
[SPEAKER_02]: make a couple saves in a game.
56:20
[SPEAKER_02]: I would need to be pulled pretty immediately, but nonetheless, that's the only thing right now I can think of, and I would feel remotely.
56:27
[SPEAKER_02]: I guess the lose you kind of get thrown down, I probably would at least make it to a certain point, and then I don't even know what would happen.
56:34
[SPEAKER_02]: But that's your Jerry Seinfeld joke about there's the Bob sled, and then there's the lose, which is means it's just Bob just going down.
56:47
[SPEAKER_02]: background on how you go about making your body turn the way you need to.
56:51
[SPEAKER_02]: But yeah, hockey would be the thing just on the simple fact of, I at least understand being in a net blocking a puck and being able to do that.
57:00
[SPEAKER_02]: But nothing else.
57:01
[SPEAKER_02]: I mean, the people that always think they can do some of this stuff, they get proven very quickly when somebody asks them, you know, hey, prove yourself.
57:09
[SPEAKER_02]: Kind of the way Mac, if he does on game day with kicking, it's never easy for almost any real person to do any of this stuff.
57:15
[SPEAKER_01]: I was buying Brian's theory that ski jump would not be impossible.
57:19
[SPEAKER_01]: And then I remembered that as a nine year old, I jumped over a sled, face planted into a driveway and broke it tooth and half.
57:27
[SPEAKER_01]: I got nowhere near the airtime that a ski jumper would.
57:31
[SPEAKER_01]: And so I fear the dental work that might need.
57:33
[SPEAKER_01]: to be done if I go down that road.
57:36
[SPEAKER_01]: So I'll save the winter Olympics for you guys.
57:38
[SPEAKER_01]: Maybe I'll get out there in the summer and do something.
57:41
[SPEAKER_01]: I don't know what, but I'm going to leave the winter sports to the rest of the crew on the bottom.
57:46
[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, I've never skied in my life.
57:47
[SPEAKER_02]: I wouldn't feel remotely comfortable, even attempting to do.
57:52
[SPEAKER_02]: Even, I always thought, sled riding as you said was pretty dangerous.
57:57
[SPEAKER_02]: Let alone try and ski, but yeah, if you have a background in it, I suppose it's possible to
58:02
[SPEAKER_02]: maybe land or not land so badly that you don't tear up every legament in your knees, but, you know, fortunately Lindsey Vaughn, you know, tried to make it work and, you know, work out, but nonetheless, it's, you know, winter Olympics are interesting.
58:16
[SPEAKER_02]: There's a lot of stuff there that just most of us have never even attempted in our lives, but a lot of them thought about.
58:21
[SPEAKER_00]: I will say the speed skating, whether it's the short track or the long track, that always looks fun to me, although I'm not, not much of a skater at all, I definitely prefer the ski events, but that definitely gets of interest in it, and I think it's great to see.
58:37
[SPEAKER_00]: All the coverage there, you can follow it along for pat to and everybody else on on s i.com as well.
58:43
[SPEAKER_00]: There's also the daily Olympic rings that our buddies are doing as well that day if you want a more of a daily feature you can get that wherever your podcast or where you find them including this one.
58:54
[SPEAKER_00]: hopefully you give us five stars for the effort this week.
58:57
[SPEAKER_00]: We will be back next week.
58:58
[SPEAKER_00]: Of course discussing everything that ends up happening on the hard courts, the crazy stories off the court, whatever might impact us in terms of the football calendar.
59:09
[SPEAKER_00]: As we kind of transition, it's fully into the off season.
59:12
[SPEAKER_00]: We got the NFL combine, which I'm sure will have a few things to discuss and coming up as well.
59:17
[SPEAKER_00]: So a lot happening in the sports world, even though it might be say the off season.
59:21
[SPEAKER_00]: It doesn't typically be the case for a lot of us.
59:23
[SPEAKER_00]: as we will keep this thing going here on others receiving most.
59:28
[SPEAKER_00]: I am Brian Fisher.
59:29
[SPEAKER_00]: Thanks so much for joining us.
59:30
[SPEAKER_00]: Be sure to give us five stars wherever you can give us a chance to do that and we will catch you again next week.