Latest / The Lunch Rush with Trent Condon / Cubs offseason, Big Ten & Big 12 Hoops thoughts, Matt Norlander talks College Basketball & Trent's Picks presented by Circa Sports

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Cubs offseason, Big Ten & Big 12 Hoops thoughts, Matt Norlander talks College Basketball & Trent's Picks presented by Circa Sports · The Lunch Rush with Trent Condon

0:00
I'm Mory Condon. Welcome back.
0:01
Hour number Two's the Iowa Sports Radio Network.
0:04
Wherever you're listening, we're grateful that you are.
0:08
So the audio I'm played here is actually the movie clip and one
0:13
of my favorite parts. Of the movie is it?
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Blues Brothers is this Yeah Blues?
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Brothers. Yeah.
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I don't have ever seen the picture.
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What? I don't think I have.
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Cappy will murder you. Yeah, let's not keep it, Let's
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keep it. No, no, I've got this is.
0:23
I don't think I have. You've never seen the Blues
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Brothers? I don't think this is right.
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Your real house. Yeah, maybe 1980.
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Yeah, I was probably the track. That's true.
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Yeah. No, it was true.
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But you did watch movies. No, I didn't go to.
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I don't remember going to see the Blues Brothers.
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No, I really don't. I think you'd get a kick out.
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Of it because I'm a huge John Candy fan, although he's not in
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that, is he or is. He yeah, he's he's one of the
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cops. Yeah, yeah, he's in there.
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But he's a background figure. OK, Belushi.
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Akroyd You know, I know those two dudes.
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They made some, but it's new. Just watching this and just
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everybody just puffing away, you know, just cigarettes
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everywhere. Back in the day, right?
1:01
These people smoke on airplanes for crying out.
1:03
Absolutely. They they still got a little
1:06
cigarette picture up there when they can turn it on and off.
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Remember that. Or you could only smoke at
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certain times. I do remember.
1:12
That you. Hear the digging.
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You hear the puffs. Yeah, it wasn't the seat belt
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back in the day. It was like a fire up you
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smoking section or non-smoking section.
1:20
It's all the same air. Right.
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And then you have to walk through the smoking section to
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get to the pisser in the back of the plane.
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Oh my God, I can't believe it. While times have changed, right?
1:30
And for the better in this respect.
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All right, so Cappy is speaking. He's emceeing an event.
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He warned me this morning that he's emceeing an event.
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Didn't say who for 400 people. He said going to be there.
1:41
And he said, you know, I'm, I'm going to try to be done at one.
1:44
Just keep calling me back. I want to talk to you guys.
1:46
I'll get to you guys. So we'll get to Cappy.
1:48
You know what, in advance of doing that, I'm going to tell
1:50
you about our friends at Centurion Stone of Iowa.
1:52
Because if it does run late, I want to make sure that we give
1:55
Centurion Stone of Iowa with their due.
1:58
They make CAPI possible, it possible for CAPI to join us on
2:02
a weekly basis. We're certainly grateful for
2:04
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2:07
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2:11
Obviously, next week's hours probably would change a little
2:14
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2:17
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2:20
But for those of you who work like most of us, they're open
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2:26
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2:28
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2:45
Centurion stone of Iowa. Thank you for doing that.
2:48
Centurion stone of iowa.com. All right, Shota Minaga back
2:52
with the Cubs Captain was kind of and we'll hopefully we'll get
2:57
him, but he was kind of if he comes back, he comes back,
3:00
right. He's not an ace, but they're
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going to get at some point Steele back.
3:05
What realistically, what can you hope from Justin Steele this
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year? He had the Tommy John, but it
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was early in the year. I mean, this was April.
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So he's had a pretty good It'll be a year when, you know,
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opening day rolls around for the most part.
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I would still knowing. I mean, look at what Ohtani did
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right? Ease and Kim.
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Yeah, yeah. Fair.
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I don't want to count on him in April or May.
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I'm counting him in June. June will start to He'll be so.
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After Memorial Day. Yeah.
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Get through that. Get through the first couple of
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things. Being equal, right?
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And that's the direction I'd be looking for Justin Steele,
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because if you start him in April, you're going to get 180
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innings out of the dude. No, I don't think so.
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No, coming off of that injury, the way that you're going to
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have to baby him, get it 60 games into the season, 50 games
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in the season, whatever it is, and then that's the direction
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that you could go. I'm just shocked because you
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look through the free agents, you look at this free agent
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pitching, there's not a whole lot of depth out there.
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I'm with you. Is this maybe telling us though,
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with the possibility of Labor stoppage?
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That just to factor into it. Agents know this offseason
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everybody is going to be tightening their belts, that
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most every team out there is going to be looking for ways to
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slash payroll, to cut, to save. And because of that, it makes a
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whole lot more sense for a guy like Imanaga to take the
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guarantee 22 million right here for this season.
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Then whenever the labor dispute gets figured out, teams will
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have a better idea what finances look like and everything else
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that goes into it. And that's the direction.
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Because it wasn't just him either.
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I mean, there were some other surprises, I think with the with
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the deals that were accepted. Well, Trent Grisham, he was one
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who had a pretty nice year. Woodruff took his, Torres took
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his. So those were the four guys.
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Woodruff was the one, yeah, that was back to the Brewers.
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You know what makes a whole lot more sense, Trent?
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The billionaires, the millionaires to figure this damn
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thing out. So.
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So us fans who pay the freight, we can watch baseball in 2027.
5:08
And you finally have momentum. You.
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Do the World Series was phenomenal.
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Coming on the. Fields were phenomenal.
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Of a Yankees, Dodgers, World Series the year previous.
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Baseball feels like there's it's growing back.
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Yeah, that you have now you're doing it with big market teams,
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I guess all the all the other caveats you put in there.
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But still, it feels like there is real growth and real
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opportunity for the sport. You remember how bad it got in
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93? Oh, it was brutal.
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How many people went away and never came back?
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Yeah, 94, but yeah, well, yeah, strike 94 back in 95, but it was
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brutal. So who starts Opening Day for
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the Cubs? Is it too early for Kate Horton?
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No. Is it Matthew Boyd?
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No. It's Horton Horton's your best
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pitcher. I agree.
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Start your best guy. You know he would be.
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He would be. So let's say they don't make
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any. Moves Horton, Horton Boyd,
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You're all ready for baseball. Am I ready for?
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Base I mean. I love baseball.
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I know you do. I love baseball too.
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My team's going to be awful for the next half decade.
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Though that I feel bad for the twins and their family.
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It's going to be brutal. It's it's going.
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To be, it's disgusting. No, I'm going to talk more bears
6:17
with Kathy, but I just wanted to throw that out there while we
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wait to see if we can. Get, I was surprised, though, to
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see that because didn't feel like all indications were, yeah,
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they'll give him the qualifying offer, he'll decline.
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Yeah, and they'll get a draft pick.
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I didn't, yeah. I didn't see any kind of
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speculation that he do that Cubs were going to move on.
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They were going to offer him a long contract qualifying offer.
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Here's the draft. Comp cease is at the top of the
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list, potentially. Yuck.
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Right. I don't.
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Yeah. What?
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What are you giving Dylan sees? I don't know, four years, 100?
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Depends what innings you watch him.
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Well, yeah, there's Ty. It's unbelievable.
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He's two games in one. There, it's not an arm talent
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thing. No it's not.
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Is he a dumb? Pitcher.
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I don't know, maybe he. Runs out of.
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Gas Or maybe he tries to get too cute because we know he's got
7:02
every freaking pitch. Yes, he does just throw strikes,
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for crying out loud. Obviously, we're going to talk a
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lot about your bears. Bears coming up this week.
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They have their date with the Steelers.
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I got to believe that come hell or high water, Aaron Rodgers
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wants to play in this football game, right, because he owns
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Soldier Field. Wasn't that the quote that he
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owns Soldier Field and this might be his?
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Is he in all likelihood will be his because I don't think he's
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going to play next year. I just don't this would probably
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be his last opportunity to run out onto the field at Soldier
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Field and play in front of that fan base, which I'm guessing,
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you know, they they obviously they have their fun.
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It's or he was a mass. It still is a massive rivalry.
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He's just not part of it anymore.
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But I got to believe that Aaron Rodgers is going to do his
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absolute utmost to make this happen, don't you think?
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I hope he's out there. I want to see him and I want the
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Bears to beat him because it's happened so rarely.
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That is my hope. That is going to happen.
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That was because beating Aaron Rodgers didn't happen very
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often. No, it's not going to feel the
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same. He's not in a Packer uniform,
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though. No, weren't anything.
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It's just about getting a win. Getting a win anyway possible
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you guys. Have won seven out of your last
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eight games. They're they're not good.
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And then while their wins are over, Dallas when they were
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really bad, Vegas Commanders, Saints, Bengals, Giants and JJ
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McCarthy. Now what are those?
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All those teams have one thing in common.
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Not play offs, yeah. Not even a winning record.
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Yeah, or that. Is that Cappy on line?
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11 might be. I don't know, maybe we'll we'll
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check this out and see if that's the cap man.
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Hopefully we'll get him. As I mentioned, he's he's busy
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at an event. Let's get to him.
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Maybe not. We won't get to him.
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We'll we'll try to keep going. There he is.
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Get Kathy in here and go over the Cubs and go over the Bears
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and find out what's going on and get his take on all of that.
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Steelers this week and then they play Black Friday in
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Philadelphia. And I have to believe that a lot
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of people are saving the Philadelphia Eagles for Survivor
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on that particular week because that is its own week.
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The three Thanksgiving Day games along with the Black Friday
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game. But the Bears right now in first
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place in their division, as crazy as it seems, can they keep
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it going? The schedule says we'll see
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Pittsburgh at Philly, at Green Bay, home to Cleveland.
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There's a win home to Green Bay. Let's say they split with the
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Packers. Do they split with the
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Pennsylvania teams? Maybe at San Francisco won't be
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easy. Boy pretty was unbelievable.
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He was unbelievable his first start back.
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And then obviously play the Lions.
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So you better get that hay in the barn because of the final
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seven game, final seven games, they'll be favored.
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How many times home against Cleveland?
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Yes. Will they be favored to get?
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Will the Packers when they come to Soldier Field Packers be a
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slight favorite? Probably like 1 1/2.
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So this will be the the Cleveland game would be the last
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time they take the field favored in a game.
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I would think so. I think so, too.
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I mean, unless something happens, there's more injuries
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for the Packers. That would be about the only
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one. You look at Lions at home at the
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end of the year. I mean, we don't know what this
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team's going to look like at this point, but it gets a whole
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lot deeper and it starts this week.
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Pittsburgh's not great, no, but they're OK, right?
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And that is a step up from what they've seen for the better part
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of two months. They're finally playing a team
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that is OK. Steelers defense is not what it
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once was. Not a long shot.
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So it's Rodgers non throwing hand.
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Did he break it? Did they find a break in there?
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Not sure. I'm not sure either.
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I I think that might have been a a hairline fracture of some
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kind. We shall see.
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All right. We didn't spend a ton of time in
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our number one. Cappy obviously has gone long.
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If we don't get him today, hopefully we'll we'll get him
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tomorrow. Let's go back to what we saw
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last night at Carver. You you watched all of it.
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I watched probably 16 minutes of it.
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What's your concern about this team?
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What, what, what do you think is is not keeping McCollum up at
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night, but what what do you think worries him at this point?
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The. I think the rebounding is still
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something now. They've been better after that
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first game, and maybe that's the reason that's still kind of
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lingers in my mind. That first game, it just wasn't
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very good. You know, the other component is
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when you're so efficient offensively as they are, there's
11:23
not a whole lot of offensive rebounding.
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Opportunity shot 61%. Yeah, again, it was southwest
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Missouri State. Yes, Southeast, southeast.
11:31
Yeah, Southwest is no longer a thing.
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Now that's just Missouri State. It's a team that's not huge by
11:37
any means, but when you're playing at that level, I was
11:41
looking at the the numbers for Iowa in terms of offensive
11:45
efficiency. They've jumped all the way up to
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20th already in the country this year.
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And a couple of the components, they're at an incredibly there
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it is effective field goal rate, second in the country, second in
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the country. That shows you how efficient
11:59
this team is. But I guess if you're picking
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it's it's that it's that this team is not huge inside.
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There's going to be certain matchups.
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It's not going to change. There's nothing that you can do
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really XS and OS YS that way. It's just get the guys the will
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to go out there, get some rebounds.
12:15
But there's going to be times likely against Michigan State.
12:18
Probably can get pounded on the glass.
12:19
Were you impressed by Michigan State last year?
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I was too. Big time.
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I was too. A-Team looks really do.
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And he said how about that Fears against starts?
12:29
Yeah, not too bad of a point guard match up, is it?
12:31
And how many times do we get that this year?
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Are they a double player or single?
12:33
Do you know? Well, I know they play.
12:35
That's their first game, a Big 10 play.
12:36
The early December game is in the zone give.
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Me that twice and we get it once.
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Just once, damn it. Yep.
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So Michigan State won't come here this.
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Year Nope, won't get to see Michigan State come to town.
12:50
It's the new reality. No, I know.
12:52
There's good point guards in this league, but I think that'd
12:54
be the one thing that I point to that you say, all right, that
12:58
could be a concern. Your ex going to have to play.
13:00
How many minutes? That's where I was going to go
13:02
with you next because he played over 20 minutes last night.
13:06
He's not going to play. That in the Big 10, No.
13:08
Does he play 10? Yes, 12/8 to 12/8 to 12.
13:13
Yeah, certainly a 4 minute stretch in the first half.
13:16
Did he reclassify? No.
13:18
He did not, no. That's the Trey Thompson kid
13:20
that did that, that has yet to get off the bench.
13:22
I mean, he's still only 17, but that was a kid everybody had
13:25
targeted for Purdue and Kansas and UConn was involved.
13:29
Yeah, yeah. That he reclassified to happen
13:30
very quickly, but he still has not played this season.
13:34
But you're he does, he's Sally kid, three time state champion
13:39
and you can see the skills that he has.
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I've told you the story about him before.
13:43
So his older brother Drew was like a six three kid, really
13:46
good football player, good basketball player.
13:47
He's a guard. And Trev growing up was also a
13:50
guard And then between 8th and 9th grade just shot up and all
13:54
of a sudden he went from being a kid that handled the ball a ton
13:58
in youth basketball. Well, now you're 6-8 and then 69
14:01
and now he's 611 and you can still see those skills.
14:05
His body is still catching up, right?
14:08
He's not the most athletic guy. He's not going to wow you.
14:10
But his footwork for a guy that is limited athletically is
14:14
really good. But those passing skills, I'm
14:17
sure you saw those highlights from two games ago, the game on
14:19
Friday night against Xavier when they went with that high post
14:21
action with him at 2 high post and just the backdoor feeds that
14:24
he has. He is a tremendous passer.
14:26
He led Valley last year to SIS. Did he really?
14:28
Yeah, at 6:11. He can knock down threes.
14:31
So he's a student of the game. He's incredibly smart,
14:35
efficient, and you've seen those guys though, that are just,
14:40
well, you know what he reminds you a lot of?
14:42
I'm not going to say he's going to I.
14:43
Know you got to put that out there though.
14:46
But when? Luca Garza showed up and how
14:48
unathletic he was he was. Yet and he still.
14:51
For the most part his, but he figured it out like he figured
14:55
out how to play with those limitations.
14:57
Does he have that work ethic? I mean himself?
15:00
You do. Yes, you do.
15:02
But does he have a good work athlete?
15:03
Yeah. I mean, I, I saw him over at the
15:05
high school and he'd be running on the football field, just
15:08
running, doing like skill drills to get that athleticism and go
15:11
inside to side doing those different things.
15:13
So he works hard. I I've seen it myself.
15:16
He's going to have to help him this year.
15:17
And there might be a game where he comes in and knocks down to
15:20
3, has a couple assists, comes in there, gives a big body and
15:23
is able to throw some defense against a 611 guy.
15:26
They're going to need him this season, I think their tournament
15:30
team. Yes, I think.
15:32
But if we're still just, we got to wait and see till next week.
15:35
Right. I want to because I haven't seen
15:37
all the Big 10 teams, but I mean, I I hadn't seen Michigan
15:41
State until last night and I had a completely different opinion
15:43
about how it came away after that.
15:46
I mean, they just dominated that game last night.
15:48
It was never in doubt. And we've seen what Purdue did.
15:52
What is Alabama's keep scheduling Purdue, by the way,
15:55
it's just year after year after year they get beat by the
15:58
Boilermakers. Well, Braden Smith, they're
16:00
going to be in really good shape.
16:01
Kaufman Ren, that team we know is going to be good and towards
16:04
the top. Illinois is intriguing one.
16:06
We'll get another good look at them after Texas Tech last week
16:09
tonight against Alabama. Under what squad you were bigger
16:12
in the offseason than? I was because all the EUR and I
16:15
bet him at 90 to 1, so that's why.
16:17
Did you put a final four bet in there too?
16:20
I wish I would have at this point, but I don't think it was
16:23
available at the time. And what we were talking about
16:25
Illinois after the Tech game, Wade looking Bill actually
16:27
texted me where? What about Stojakovic and why he
16:30
was coming off the bench? He's been banged up and that's
16:32
why you put a healthy dude like that with the rest of this.
16:36
Crew, it reminds me it's almost Wade we're looking.
16:38
We'll see probably is we'll do that.
16:40
Not next week because it's abbreviated, yeah, by the way
16:43
where everybody's off of course on Thanksgiving and Black Friday
16:46
next week. So the network will not have any
16:49
of the Iowa based programming that emanates from Des Moines
16:51
sports station One O 6.3 KX&O. The the problem with the Big 10,
16:58
as I think it's going to be another year where there's going
17:00
to be a dozen teams between 8:00 and 12:00 and 12:00 and 8:00 and
17:06
it's stealing the game here, holding on to homecourt when you
17:10
don't play well, going out there and beating a Rutgers or a
17:14
Minnesota or a Penn State on the road, not losing those games,
17:17
that's going to be the difference.
17:18
And that's going to be the difference between maybe, hey,
17:21
we're the six seed in the Big 10 tournament as opposed to, Oh my
17:24
God, we're the 13th seed. And now we got to, you know,
17:26
play five games in five days to get there or to get ourselves
17:30
off the bubble and just how more difficult the path is going to
17:32
be. Where's Iowa State seating wise?
17:34
When we get to Kansas City, They.
17:36
Are. Cause talk about the top of that
17:41
conference. It's nuts.
17:42
I mean, it's completely different than the Big 10, the
17:44
Big 10. The middle is huge, right?
17:47
I don't know. About Michigan State at the top
17:49
I I'm I'm shoehoring them. Maybe not Purdue level, but
17:54
Michigan. Michigan State's going to be
17:55
fun. Now back to the Big 12% 'cause
17:57
Arizona's, Arizona's really good.
17:59
Obviously we know Houston is really good.
18:02
I think BYU's got a chance to be really good.
18:06
I I still worry about those young teams, kind of the The
18:09
flash teams bring in a freshman. Maybe it's what we saw last year
18:13
at Rutgers, and just how disastrous.
18:15
That went it was brutal, wasn't. It that lingers in the back of
18:17
your mind, Yeah, two top five picks that look as bad as they
18:20
did. Texas Tech is going to be good.
18:22
Kansas is Kansas. At the end of the day.
18:26
How many teams? Conceivably, because Purdue is
18:29
an overwhelming favorite. Say what you want, they are, and
18:31
I don't, I'm not necessarily believe that they should be.
18:33
They're the favorite to win the Big 10.
18:35
Houston's the favorite to win the Big 12.
18:37
Is the gap between Houston and #2 as big as it is between
18:41
Purdue and #2? Not the way Houston's played to
18:44
this point. They have not played well.
18:46
I think they'll get there, and that's maybe even scary that
18:50
Houston's not playing well because, you know, they'll
18:52
figure it out because they always do.
18:55
I would say the gap. Oh boy.
18:58
It's just it's a different conversation because I think
19:00
Houston can win a national championship.
19:01
I don't think Purdue's going to win a national championship.
19:03
I don't either, yet they're favored to do so.
19:05
And and absolutely befuddling like to have a no in the back
19:08
pocket of that one. Here's the thing about the Big
19:10
12. And for the first time in the
19:13
last 15 years, we saw that year after year after year, the Big
19:17
12 was the best conference in basketball.
19:19
And maybe there'll be a couple years you could have an
19:20
argument. That one or two.
19:22
But that's it, right? Year after year.
19:24
And last year that wasn't the case.
19:26
Last year it was the SEC and IT. Was yeah, the SEC was really
19:31
good the. Bottom of this league now it's
19:33
bad. And that hadn't been the case.
19:36
The Utah's, the Colorados, the Arizona states, the UCF, those
19:41
programs now as a whole, pull things down a little bit more.
19:45
And after you get through, save the seven teams that feel like
19:48
pretty good shape. They're going to be a tournament
19:49
team. Is K state one of them?
19:51
No, God, no. Houston, Iowa State, Arizona,
19:55
Texas Tech, BYU, Kansas and Baylor feel good about those
19:59
seven teams out of that next group, Oklahoma State, West
20:03
Virginia, Cincinnati, K State, UCST.
20:07
Like I have no clue about all those teams.
20:10
I don't have any feel at all for any of that group of teams.
20:14
And that's what's so different now about this new look, Big 12
20:19
as we're used to. Well, there's only 10 teams in
20:20
it. All 10 think they have a shot
20:23
going into the year. 9 will have a shot in the middle of
20:25
February. Still, that's not even close to
20:27
the case anymore. Was it more fun back then?
20:29
Oh, yeah. Doesn't it?
20:31
Played everybody home and away. Don't have that anymore.
20:34
But, and it's not coming back. We'll take a time out.
20:36
We'll come back. Matt Norlander, when we come
20:38
back, more college basketball conversation.
20:40
He's a national writer for CBSSports.com.
20:43
We'll get Norlander's take on what he's seen so far in college
20:47
hoops. There's all these certain boy
20:49
next week in Las Vegas is going to be phenomenal, isn't it?
20:52
My God. And it starts early and it goes
20:54
all throughout Monday, Tuesday. Where are you on the Johnnies?
20:59
Didn't love them coming into the year just.
21:02
Final 14? No, you don't think so.
21:04
No, they haven't been there since Chris Mullen was there.
21:07
I know they spent a lot of money.
21:09
A lot of teams spend a lot of. Money, but not but Mike
21:12
Repolli's got a lot of money. Sure, a lot of people have a lot
21:14
of money though just cuz you know the guy.
21:16
No, no, no, I don't know. I'm just going to spend all his
21:18
money on basketball. But how many people do we not
21:21
know who their name is and they're investing heavily in
21:23
their programs? Well, they got a coach and they
21:26
spent. They spend heavily.
21:27
I think the Johnnies are going to fool some people.
21:29
We shall see, No. Preseason top ten?
21:31
That's not really. Fooling people already.
21:32
They're fooling you. I don't believe it.
21:35
You're going to give me a yes, no even money right now to do?
21:37
What Final four? Not even money.
21:39
What do I got to lay at the Miller Casino?
21:43
Final four, yeah. -350. Yeah, I'm just going to say 3.
21:50
All right, whoa. Good prices over at the Miller
21:52
Casino. That's wide open for business
21:54
125, Miller and condom back with Matt Norlander.
21:58
He joins us next. It's the Iowa Sports Radio
22:00
Network. I'm Miller Condon.
22:02
Welcome back just past 130 on the Iowa Sports Radio Network.
22:06
We're ever listening in the state of Iowa.
22:08
Grateful that you are. Let's get Matt Norlander in
22:11
here. He covers college basketball for
22:13
CBSSports.com and he gives us a few minutes.
22:16
Matt Trenton, Ken, thank you for coming on.
22:18
Matt Norlander, how are you? Good.
22:22
I'm I'm ready for another game. I'm leaving my house here in
22:24
about 30 minutes to head up the stores to see Arizona Yukon
22:27
tonight. Nice on the heels of what you
22:29
witnessed last night at Madison Square Garden.
22:32
So of the four teams that you watched last night, which team
22:35
surprised you the most, either from a positive or a negative
22:39
perspective? Which team did you maybe your
22:41
biggest take away that you watched last night?
22:44
Yeah, Kentucky is the biggest take away for sure.
22:46
It's the biggest story from last night and and as a result of
22:49
what we saw last night, one of the biggest stories in the sport
22:52
in the 1st 2 1/2 weeks of the season.
22:55
Now, part of my answer that is informed by the fact that I was
22:58
with Kentucky kind of embedded with them earlier in the day
23:02
behind the scenes. And I got to see them prep a
23:04
little bit. And I, I think I was just as
23:08
surprised as maybe the coaches were in most facets as to how
23:12
and why they didn't perform. But I do know they have the
23:18
talents to respond and rebound. But this is the honeymoon is
23:22
over for Mark Pope and Lexington.
23:24
This is his first real crisis as the coach of Kentucky.
23:28
And how he handles it in the weeks to come is really going to
23:32
inform how he's going to handle the job.
23:35
Kentucky fans, ever since John Calipari left for Arkansas, had
23:38
been mostly in a in a pretty, pretty nice afterglow.
23:41
And now with two losses to high major teams, this is this is.
23:46
Yeah, it's a little bit of an inflection point, way earlier
23:49
than Pope expected. How about Michigan State as we
23:52
look at the Spartans, you know they're going to be solid coming
23:54
into the season, but with what they have a fear and what he's
23:57
doing not just this game, but throughout the first what, at
24:00
least nine assists in all four games already this season.
24:02
Carr is outstanding. Feels like Jackson Kohler's
24:05
finally filled into his body. He looked really good.
24:08
Fort who can shoot it. And then I I was talking
24:11
earlier, I love Cam Ward and his upside coming off the bench for
24:14
them. This Michigan State team is a
24:15
back to you know what? Maybe there's a path that Izzo
24:19
can bring his team back to a final.
24:23
I'm not going to go there yet, but they are good now.
24:27
It's obviously conceivable Izzo could do that.
24:30
And a part of me is I kind of believe this.
24:32
For the past few years, I almost feel like Izzo is not going to
24:36
retire until he gets one more Final Four.
24:38
I feel like he he just got one more in him.
24:41
Maybe it will be the season, I don't know, But I had a chance
24:43
to spend some time with him last night after the game.
24:45
One-on-one and he I think he is so appreciative of the fact that
24:54
he has what he calls OK GS, our kind of guys on this roster up
25:01
and down now. We spoke about this last year
25:04
number of times and they have a good core returning.
25:07
But he told me a year ago or not even a year ago, he told me when
25:11
I went and sat down with him in February that the last season's
25:14
team, from a camaraderie standpoint, from a just
25:18
day-to-day committed to the cause.
25:21
Dudes just hanging out like in that basketball offices at odd
25:26
hours. You know, some of his best teams
25:28
in the 2000s exhibited that kind of behavior.
25:31
And then, you know, no right, no wrong.
25:33
But, you know, most of his teams over the previous, you know,
25:36
decade or so, they just didn't seem to have that.
25:38
And he had some really good teams, but the last season's
25:42
team really had something that he hadn't felt in a while.
25:46
And I asked him again last night.
25:48
I was like, OK, you know, I don't know if you can have the
25:50
same kind of group you over here.
25:51
He's like pretty close actually. We've got you know, and that's
25:54
because you have Jeremy fear still there.
25:56
He's a very vocal, like a natural born leader type.
25:59
He was really good. Cohen cars the best dunker in
26:02
college basketball. And I say this like in a
26:03
complimentary way. He still has not put together
26:07
like a true, true game. And by game, I don't mean like a
26:11
40 minute performance. I mean like Cohen Carr's overall
26:16
skill set profile has not been fulfilled.
26:20
And if and when he can do that this season, then that is when
26:24
Michigan State is going to potentially really crack wide
26:27
open and and have a ton of potential there.
26:29
But they were they were definitely underrated coming in
26:31
the season. They were considered a top 20
26:33
team. They're obviously performing
26:34
like that now and Tom is at the ripe age of 70, still has it.
26:38
I do not expect to retire at the end of this upcoming season.
26:41
One of the stories I think that in the Big 12 this year is just
26:44
the the freshman class, Houston and Arizona and Kansas and
26:49
obviously BYU Dimension Arizona with Pete.
26:53
Some of the freshmen who's in your mind, what from what you've
26:56
seen so far, what you thought going into it?
26:58
Maybe the top two or three freshmen that have your eye.
27:01
Matt Norlander. Well, there's so many of them.
27:06
I'm going to see one of them tonight in stores with Co of
27:09
Peace, who had the best debut statistically, I think of any
27:13
freshman, specifically freshman is not the best, one of the best
27:17
ever in history, college basketball when he did what he
27:18
did, what, 16 nights ago against Florida.
27:24
But I'd say this wasn't your exact question, but I think the
27:28
my top three performing freshman right now in the country.
27:31
I think Boozer has been the best freshman at Duke.
27:35
AJ Debansa at BYU is probably #2 right now.
27:41
Darren Peterson, I can't put in the top three because he's been
27:43
injured. Been playing the game last night
27:46
even even he's been terrific in what we've seen, but we haven't
27:50
really gotten there just yet. This probably in that
27:54
conversation. I think Kingston Fleming's at
27:56
Houston's been good, but I'd say Caleb Wilson in North Carolina
28:00
is probably 3 right behind the bandsta.
28:04
This is a loaded freshman class and could be the the best one
28:07
we've ever seen in college basketball.
28:09
Tonight another one that you will not be at unless you got a
28:12
private planes going to get you there very quickly.
28:14
Illinois against Alabama, this one in Chicago at the United
28:18
Center. Alabama great win against Saint
28:20
John's, then Purdue opportunities and that one they
28:24
just can't figure out. The Boilermakers we think we're
28:26
going to see tonight and we've talked a quite a bit about this
28:28
Illinois squad. The Illini, is it still kind of
28:32
wait and see? That's where I am.
28:33
I need to see more out of this group before I say you know
28:36
what, with the right path they can be a final 14.
28:40
There 'cause they get Alabama tonight now they did they did
28:43
show themselves relatively well in the win over Texas Tech a
28:45
week ago and Illinois is going to have more high profile
28:49
opportunities in the next month. They've got let me think they've
28:53
got you. I know they've got UConn the day
28:54
after Thanksgiving because that's in New York City and I
28:56
can't get to that game. I know they have Tennessee as
29:00
well and they might even they might have one more even beyond
29:03
that in the non con Underwood scheduled really well in the non
29:06
con. So I think, I think Trent,
29:09
you're stance there is is validated.
29:11
I am just in on Illinois generally speaking.
29:14
I had them preseason top ten. The offense is for real.
29:17
They have really good young talent, good sized.
29:20
I I think they will wind up being a really, really quality
29:24
shooting team as well. And we'll see if they can have
29:29
the defensive fortitude to be that upper echelon top ten team
29:35
for most of the season. But this is a great matchup.
29:38
My guest, my guess is the first one to 90 wins in this game.
29:43
It's it's, it's possible that, you know, Alabama wins, say 8480
29:47
or something like that. But if both teams really uncork
29:50
it, we could have a very fun one Wednesday.
29:52
I really have the potential to be just an awesome, awesome
29:54
night for college hoops. And last night was phenomenal as
29:57
well. I want to ask about the players
29:58
Era Tour tournament gets underway next week in in Las
30:01
Vegas. Is, is this going to have a
30:04
bigger impact in college basketball than any of the other
30:07
tournaments? I mean, it's a who's who that's
30:10
going went out to Vegas next week.
30:11
Where did where's this one going to rate if it or is it already
30:14
#1? Number one now 18 teams this
30:18
season and you've got Tennessee, Alabama, Gonzaga, Kansas, Iowa
30:26
State, Michigan, Auburn, Baylor, Creighton.
30:32
I'm trying to remember all the teams that are going.
30:33
St. John's. 18 yeah, exactly.
30:36
St. John's, That's going to be a
30:37
critical trip for St. John's, so it is the biggest
30:41
one. I went to Maui a year ago, so
30:44
Iowa State there and the lowest loaded Maui field ever.
30:48
Had a great time. Maui this season isn't as good.
30:51
Next season, the fields actually a little bit better, but the the
30:56
format of Maui might have to change in depth in the years
30:59
ahead, and the players era has passed it by.
31:02
Now. So long as the players era can
31:03
still remain financially viable with the massive amounts of
31:08
money that has been injected into it, it is poised to be the
31:11
most prominent regular season event in college basketball.
31:16
So what I struggle with is he got the two game because since
31:20
there's eighteen teams, he have a bracket for it and then it's
31:23
going to come down to point differential who gets to play in
31:25
the title for all the extra money.
31:27
Feels like this could lead to some complaints and maybe, well,
31:30
it's in Vegas and people are going to be firing away.
31:32
Kid mentioned this the other day.
31:34
People betting some overs here because they're going to be
31:35
trying to score a lot late. Yeah, I think that is very
31:39
possible. As I understand it, yes, because
31:42
you have 18 teams, two games, you're going to have a group of
31:45
two and O teams, the teams that have the biggest margin of
31:49
victory. In addition, there might be
31:52
guys. I'm trying to think off the top
31:53
my head if there's something else that plays into that.
31:54
I can't remember. Those two teams will be decided
31:58
to play for the championship, but I'm actually going to reach
32:03
out in advance of landing in Vegas in a few days here and and
32:08
see if there is potentially like it.
32:11
What if what if the difference between, you know, the top three
32:15
teams is practically negligible and the the third best team,
32:20
quote UN quote, playing the 4th best team?
32:22
Like is there going to be a similar financial, you know,
32:27
package on the table for them? I don't know.
32:28
I'm, I'm specifically going to ask this question because of the
32:31
imbalance there. But regardless, partless of
32:35
that, it should be a pretty noisy Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday
32:40
in Vegas with just so many good teams, good games, good players,
32:44
ranked teams. And it's going to get bigger
32:46
next year. Guys plan is to get to 32 teams
32:50
with 418 pods. So you'd play in Pool play and
32:57
then the the winners from pool play would then go on to bracket
33:00
play to get a true champion. So it's going to be an even
33:02
bigger format next year. And, and I think of, you know, a
33:05
team that what if Alabama beats Gonzaga, but they beat him by a
33:08
point. You know, they beat UNLV in
33:10
their second game by 10 or something like that.
33:12
They got two wins, the best probably win to that point.
33:15
Sorry, you got to play in the 3rd place game.
33:16
Oh, there's going to be some people yelling.
33:19
If Kansas plays Syracuse and Notre Dame, so to that exact
33:23
point, and Notre Dame might find it to be tournament teams.
33:26
Now, Kansas doesn't have Darren Peterson.
33:28
They might play in one game in Vegas.
33:31
So you your points bang on. And it's it's it's potentially
33:34
setting itself up for some criticism just in terms of when
33:37
it comes to who gets the money. Will fans ultimately care
33:41
whether their team gets the money or not?
33:42
I don't know, but they'll care once we get to April, but I
33:46
don't. Know how?
33:47
Yeah, no doubt it's gonna be fun.
33:48
I was thinking at St. John's and Creighton.
33:51
Last thing for you. For me, Florida's not getting a
33:54
lot of chatter. At least here, the defending
33:57
national champs are. Can they get back Matt
33:59
Norlander? Yeah, they can.
34:02
I was a little down in Florida relative to the rest of the
34:04
group. Now, Florida lost the opening
34:05
night to Arizona and then had a close shave win against FSU and
34:08
then it had kind of a nondescript win over Miami in
34:11
the midst of football Sunday. So they'll have that.
34:14
We're going to hear play more from Florida.
34:15
It's got Duke and UConn and back-to-back games in December.
34:20
There's more opportunities, high profile for the Gators that
34:23
we're still early. Had Florida won against Arizona
34:26
and it was 4 and over, three and one.
34:28
You'd see the Gators ranked, you know #3 or #4 in the country
34:31
right now, maybe getting a little bit more buzz, but they
34:33
haven't. They, they've received some
34:35
attention. But yes, they have.
34:37
They have enough seemingly to do it.
34:38
I'm just, I need to see a little bit more from their guards,
34:41
Boogie Flan, who transferred from Arkansas, Davian Lee, who
34:43
transferred from Princeton, how they gel, how they adapt.
34:47
They are not shooting well collectively from three-point
34:49
range whatsoever. I think combined those guys are
34:52
shooting at like a 14% clip from three-point range this season.
34:56
It's not good. It's it's, it's, it's alarming.
34:58
So we'll see if they can fix that and if they can get on the
35:00
right track, then Florida, Florida should be a top three
35:03
team in the SEC. Matt Norlander CBS Sports
35:05
CBSSports.com for Matt Norlander covers college basketball.
35:09
Enjoy tonight. Enjoy.
35:10
Not Las Vegas. And we sure enjoy talking to
35:12
you. Thank you, Matt Norlander.
35:13
Appreciate you. Give us a few.
35:14
Minutes. Yep, see you.
35:15
Bye, bye. Good to talk to you, Matt
35:17
Norland, as we check in on college hoops.
35:19
Good hit there with the Lander. We'll take a time out.
35:22
Come back. Trent's plays of the day coming
35:24
up next. Guessing they'll have a
35:26
predominantly college basketball field.
35:29
We'll find out next. Miller and Condon talking sports
35:32
with you on the Iowa Sports Radio Network.
35:34
Hi, Miller and Condon, final couple of minutes on a
35:38
Wednesday. Try and run Cappy down tomorrow
35:40
if his schedule allows. Kick off our our second hour of
35:44
the show. A good hit by Matt Noorlander,
35:46
CBS Sports. So he was in Madison Square
35:48
Garden last night. Tonight he's in stores next week
35:51
is in Las Vegas. That's a lot of travel, man.
35:54
That's a lot of hoops, but he loves.
35:57
It I would love to do. That he loves it.
35:58
Yeah, he's. It's his obviously where he
36:01
makes his bread and butter and he's very good at what he does,
36:04
whether it's podcasts or live on CBS Sports wants the tournament
36:07
gets around. He's a good one to know when to
36:09
listen to and. He's always got that laptop with
36:12
all those band stickers. Yeah, you see the final four,
36:14
so. I forgot about that.
36:16
So I got 3 plays tonight, all in Cal.
36:18
Man, you're coming off for a really good night.
36:19
Let's put that off well, because there haven't been a lot of
36:21
them. There's been it's been a rarity,
36:23
right? Not seeing it well, saw it well
36:25
last night. Can we make it two in a row?
36:28
It's been a stretch. All right, 3 plays.
36:31
I'm playing Illinois. OK.
36:33
I'm believing in you. I'm putting this one on you if
36:36
it doesn't come to fruition and there's slight favorite 2 1/2,
36:39
two and a half, 2 1/2 like ever painted across the board.
36:42
OK. So gonna lay the 2 1/2 with the
36:44
Illini. I want to see Stoyakovich again,
36:49
hopefully more healthy because he's a stud.
36:51
He is such a good scorer. And then just the rest of that
36:54
crew. I like this Alabama team.
36:56
And Alabama, I mean, if they lose this one, they lose to
36:58
Gonzaga next week in the first games that they have, you know,
37:00
they're gonna already have 3 losses.
37:02
That might be the time though, because I think there's a lot of
37:04
upside also. Do you like final four upside,
37:06
right? Because you're probably going to
37:08
get about as good a price as you're going to get throughout
37:10
the course of the. Year.
37:10
Now's the time to do it. I mean, if they do.
37:12
Yes, put that in the back of your mind for Monday afternoon
37:15
after that one. Or actually, it's the Monday
37:17
night game, but after that wraps up, put that.
37:18
There, that tournament trench is unbelievable, so deep and it's
37:21
32 next, so there's a bracket. That, yes.
37:23
And then you just cut it into 318 brackets.
37:27
Isn't that a better way to do it?
37:29
No. 4/4 yeah, 4418 brackets. That makes a whole lot more
37:33
sense in this structure of it. 200 dogs tonight.
37:36
Penn State is bad. Are they bad?
37:38
Like real bad? They as I would get them twice
37:40
hopefully. Harvard comes to town.
37:42
I'm gonna grab the points. Gonna be Harvard plus 12 1/2.
37:46
And this one's befuddling. So Arkansas State and Sunbelt or
37:49
the favorites, good team, think they have a chance to maybe be
37:52
that automatic qualifier out of the belt.
37:54
They go to Saint Mary's, who's undefeated right now.
37:56
But a lot of people thought they were going to take a step back
37:59
from what they've been kind of down a little bit.
38:01
It's difficult to bet against Randy Bennett.
38:03
That dude is one of the best coaches in college basketball.
38:05
But I'm going to do it 20 1/2. So my numbers that I kind of put
38:10
together had this at 13 1/2. This is a huge range.
38:15
Is not normally like that. That's 7.
38:17
Yes, not even close to. Or did you miss?
38:20
Or did they miss? I guess we'll find out.
38:22
We're going. To find out tonight, yeah, I
38:24
wanted to see what what the number that Ken Pomeroy had and
38:27
see if were the ones that I put together.
38:30
He's got a 18. Really close. close, yeah.
38:33
Leans your way. Arkansas State Red wolves Howlin
38:36
tonight. Maxion.
38:38
Gross. That'll do it for us.
38:41
Coming up next off the bench with Sean and Lucas tomorrow
38:44
morning, First quarter. Heather and Alec get underway at
38:46
six for Miller and Condon weekdays from noon to two.
38:49
Thanks for being with us on the Iowa Sports Radio Network.