Latest / The Lunch Rush with Trent Condon / Matt Snyder talks MLB Hot Stove & his new book Lead Off, Matt Postins on the Big 12 & Trent's Picks presented by Circa Sports

Transcript

Matt Snyder talks MLB Hot Stove & his new book Lead Off, Matt Postins on the Big 12 & Trent's Picks presented by Circa Sports · The Lunch Rush with Trent Condon

0:08
Larry Condon, welcome back. Hour number two, it's the Iowa
0:11
Sports Radio Network. Whoever listening in the state
0:13
of Iowa. Glad that you've joined Trent
0:15
and I will keep you for another hour.
0:17
At the top of the hour off the bench, Lucas train, Sean Roberts
0:20
take you until 5:00. Matt Snyder
0:23
momentarilycbssports.com. He's also got a brand new book
0:27
out the lead off man. He's a Hall of Fame voter.
0:29
Want to pick his brain on that? Lots of ground to cover with our
0:32
buddy Trent Condon. Absolutely.
0:34
Matt Snyder joins us. CBSSports.com is where you can
0:36
find all his great work. Before we get into all the
0:39
baseball, we got a lot of topics.
0:42
We got to talk. So Matt, an Indiana grad, you
0:45
still live in Indiana, grew up, we're about the same age Bill
0:50
Mallory was a long time ago. And that was the last time they
0:53
even had a real sniff of high level success.
0:56
And even that wasn't at the highest level.
0:59
And your wildest imagination. Could you ever envision your
1:03
football program to be this? So when I was talking to my wife
1:09
Saturday night, I, I said this was before the game even.
1:12
I said if you would have said when IU hired Coach Dignetti,
1:16
what's your best case scenario in two years?
1:19
And I think I would have said like 8 and four or something
1:22
like that. No, absolutely not.
1:25
I this is just insanity. I I think you could make the
1:29
argument when they were back to five power conferences that we
1:34
were legitimately the worst power conference team in the
1:37
country program. Maybe Vanderbilt was up there,
1:41
but Kansas maybe. But I think you can make the
1:46
argument that IU was legitimately the worst college
1:48
football program among power conferences.
1:50
So I thought about a lot of times that I was one of the last
1:54
people in the student section. When I was there.
1:57
Because we were getting blown out, it had some good.
2:00
Memories major dudes so I. Went to the game with, yeah,
2:03
when we went to the Gator Bowl a few years ago, I went with one
2:05
of my best friends and we kind of thought, hey, this is like
2:10
the Apex. This is never going to get SO
2:12
and it's only a couple years later.
2:14
Yeah, we're signed for the Detroit Bowl.
2:16
What was the name of that? God forsaken.
2:18
The Motor City Bowl Motor City. Motor City Bowl, Yeah, good
2:21
stuff. A lot of ground to cover with.
2:22
You want to get to your book? Obviously the winter meetings
2:24
are going on, but I respect the hell out of the fact that you're
2:28
a Hall of Fame voter when it comes to Major League Baseball's
2:31
Hall of Fame. Something I look forward to the
2:33
announcement each and every year as a baseball junkie, this
2:36
year's ballot, you can you can vote for as many as 10.
2:40
This is in the errors. This is different.
2:42
You're not part of that. Jeff Kent is going to be going
2:44
into that. Yeah, different.
2:46
But when I look at the actual Hall of Fame ballot for 2026,
2:50
Andrew Jones got close last year.
2:52
I think he was the he was on the precipice.
2:55
He got closer than any of the left behinds, if you will, and
2:59
for that reason, maybe he gets in.
3:01
But if you're not going to vote for an A rod, and I don't think
3:03
that the voters will, this isn't the greatest of years to be to
3:08
try to decipher 2026. I think this is going to be a
3:13
fair to say, a very small class. Matt Snyder, or am I missing
3:16
some things? No, you're right on.
3:18
It's a, it's a weak class, relatively weak because every
3:22
Hall of Fame ballot, you have some names on there, but it is
3:24
relatively weak. If you went back like a decade
3:27
ago, there were like 16 or 17 or 18 worthy Hall of Fame type
3:34
players. And that includes some of the
3:36
PED guys like Barry Bonds and Roger Clement.
3:38
But right now you'd be hard pressed to get even close to
3:41
that number. If that is, if you don't want a
3:46
rod and Manny to get in, like if we took the PED discussion off
3:50
the table, a Rod and Manny at the top.
3:52
If you took the sign ceiling scandal off the table, Carlos
3:54
Steltron, that's pretty good, like 3 right there where you
3:57
could say, oh, they should be in.
3:59
But when you have those issues lingering over it, it is a
4:03
relatively weak ballot. Because then after you get past
4:06
those guys, you have Andrew Jones, who I I did vote for, I
4:09
voted for Beltran. After that you're, you're down
4:12
to Chase Utley and I am a Chase Utley voter.
4:15
But I can understand why people would say he shouldn't get in,
4:17
because while his peak was amazing, it wasn't long enough
4:20
and he didn't stick around long enough to compile that much.
4:24
So this is year 10 for Manny. Do you anticipate a bump this
4:28
year being the last year on the ballot?
4:29
What was he last year? Do you remember anybody like?
4:31
34, I want to say 34.3% he ain't getting 41 more, that's for
4:38
sure. I could see a bump, a small one.
4:42
Like there are always new voters who come on and and generally
4:46
speaking, obviously not everybody's going to be exact
4:48
because I'm not, but newer voters tend to be newer school
4:52
and be willing to overlook the Ted suspensions.
4:55
And then yeah, the last year bump is a thing.
4:57
So maybe he gets up in the low 40s and percent, but it's it's a
5:02
lost cause. So it's happy trails to Manny.
5:05
Yeah, Beltran was. He was actually the closest
5:07
without getting in. Yeah, he was just above 70.
5:10
And Andrew Jones was 66. This, this is the the best
5:15
opportunity for Beltran, obviously because it was already
5:17
over 70%, but also because the ballot starts to get a little
5:22
bit more crowded moving forward. See Buster Posey come on next
5:25
year. In two years it's Albert Pools
5:27
and Yadier Molina. After that it's Miguel Cabrera,
5:30
Zach Grankey, Joey Votto. So it it's going to start to get
5:34
bigger names on there. And if Beltran doesn't get in
5:36
this year, then you get worried about a lot of it.
5:40
There are still a lot of people who will say I'm only going to
5:42
vote for like the best or the best two or three players and
5:46
that's it. Though the more bigger names
5:48
that get on the ballot over Beltran, the less chance he has
5:51
to get in. But I do think that he's going
5:53
to make it this year. What about a guy like Cole
5:55
Hamels? Holla very good.
5:57
I mean he won over 100 and they won 163 games, was World Series
6:01
MVP, won a bunch of All Stars. Holla very good.
6:05
He won't get there, will he, at any point.
6:07
Yeah, I wrote about this on CBSSports.com.
6:13
The this generation of pitchers, they're not going to get nearly
6:17
as much representation as previous generations in the Hall
6:20
of Fame because the innings workloads have gone way down,
6:24
dragged down win totals and stuff like that.
6:27
And I went and I found from 1950 through 1975, the top like 25
6:33
WAR pitchers were all in the Hall of Fame.
6:34
And if you went and looked at like 2000 to present or no, it
6:39
was 1990 to present, there's like 5.
6:43
So I think we need to dip a little bit low with how it feels
6:48
and on that foot that that's why I am a Cole Hamels, Mark Burley,
6:54
Felix Hernandez voter and I will be moving forward, for example,
6:58
with Jon Lester and Adam Wainwright, assuming I have room
7:00
on my ballot. First year for Hamels on the
7:03
list. Some other guys that are first
7:05
timers. There's twelve first timers.
7:06
Ryan Braun, Alex Gordon, Matt Kemp, Hunter Pence, I don't
7:12
think any of those guys are going to have a chance.
7:13
If you had to formulate though, an argument for any of those
7:17
guys, out of the 12 on the list, who would be the guy that would
7:19
be easiest for you to at least come up with?
7:22
This is a reason they should be a Hall of Famer.
7:28
I I don't think any of them passed handles really like I
7:32
Ryan Braun. That's the one for me.
7:34
Didn't have the PED case. I think you, you could I, I
7:38
think you could argue his peak there a little bit, but it was
7:41
never a consideration. And the fact that he that he
7:43
crapped all over that UPS driver, that whole story too, I
7:47
don't try to basically ruin that.
7:49
His own name. So yeah, my rule remains, if you
7:54
were never suspended by Major League Baseball, then I'm just
7:57
going to vote on whether you should be or not.
7:59
And that's so. Yes, I'm Barry Bonds.
8:01
Yes. I'm Sammy Sosa.
8:02
Yes. I'm Mark McGuire.
8:03
Yes. I'm Roger Clemens.
8:04
But if you were suspended by the league you were trying to cheat
8:06
once there was a rule system in place, then I'm a no.
8:09
So I'm a no on Manny and a Rod and Braun.
8:12
Fairpoint All right, let's get to your book and then we'll get
8:14
to the to the winter meetings in the hot stone because it's
8:17
percolating already today. Diaz is a Dodger.
8:20
Schwarberman stays with the Phillies, the lead off man.
8:24
It's available at Amazon. So why the book?
8:26
Why now and how many lead off men did you actually get pretty
8:32
in depth in knowing you? You did your homework before you
8:35
went to break. You're right.
8:36
So how long did it take? It kind of take us through the
8:38
process. About a year.
8:41
It was around this time last year, once I got done writing
8:44
all my Hall of Fame stuff that that I embarked on the journey
8:46
and I'd already had an outline. It was last year in the
8:50
playoffs, 2024 and I and I actually run through this in the
8:53
book where I was watching Luis arise lead off for the Padres
8:59
average, good batting average guy, but he never walks and
9:02
doesn't have any power. And then you flip over and you
9:04
see the Phillies leading off Kyle Schwarber, who hits a
9:06
million home runs and has a low batting average, strikes out a
9:08
lot and walks a lot. And I just thought, man, this
9:12
was such a diverse group of lead offs hitters in the playoffs in
9:15
2024 that it made me think of the evolution of the lead off
9:19
man from the early days where it had to be somebody who was small
9:23
and maybe somebody who is fast. And there were so many guys who
9:26
never should have been hitting clean off back in the old days
9:29
who were hit like 2:30 with a 280 on base percentage and they
9:33
were hitting leadoff. Why 'cause they played second
9:34
base or or shortstop or something.
9:36
And you look at like Ty Cobb, who would have been an
9:39
exceptional leadoff man and he had cleaned up his whole career.
9:41
So and I kind of ran through the evolution in the history of the
9:45
leadoff fan. And then I do have the section
9:47
where I ranked today. I ranked the top 20 all time,
9:51
but I in honorable mentions. I went through by era and there
9:55
are over 85 guys. I think it's like 87.
9:57
But I also have a chapter on the most fun stories, the biggest
10:01
moments. So I got interviewed Dexter
10:03
Fowler about his Game 7 leadoff home run, for example.
10:06
That's in there that Derek Jeter, Mr. November, he was
10:10
batting leadoff in that game. That and I had to add several
10:13
this season because the Otani game where he hit three, he was
10:19
hitting lead off the Blue Jays back-to-back pitches to start
10:23
game 5I added that with David Schneider coming through as a
10:27
lead off man, hitting the home run on the first pitch.
10:29
So there was stuff that I got to add from this year as well.
10:31
So it was a really, really fun 270 pages.
10:36
It's a lot of dub heads and jumping around so you don't have
10:41
to read it chronologically. You can skip around, you can you
10:43
can just read different sections if you want.
10:46
Hopefully people pick it up and enjoy it.
10:48
Joe Mauer is the part that I'm certainly interested in.
10:51
What was it like interviewing Joe Mauer?
10:53
Not know exactly the the best guy in front of the lights in
10:56
his playing days. Very monotone, very boring.
10:59
Like Justin Herbert. Did yesterday.
11:01
Yeah, that was a little different.
11:02
God, what was Bauer like in in that kind of setting?
11:06
Interviewing and and talking. Just talking baseball.
11:09
Overly, overly nice, possibly been nicer.
11:12
It was great. He had, you know, he was.
11:17
I liked how when we talked about the evolution of the lead off
11:20
man and I mentioned, hey, you are a catcher and a lot of
11:22
people think it's the dumbest thing in the world, the lead a
11:24
catcher off. But you got on base a ton.
11:27
And he was like, yeah, you know, I liked it because I liked to
11:31
hit as much as possible. So if you hit me first or
11:34
second, I get a lot of it bats. But like, but I also understood
11:37
when we had a good lead off man, like Denard Span that I could
11:40
hit behind him and he was really, really aggressively
11:43
propping up Span, like almost trying to get me to get Span
11:46
into that honorable mention section, I think.
11:48
But yeah, he was could not have been nicer.
11:51
I was probably 15 minutes. I said, I don't want to take up
11:54
too much of your time. I apologize because it went
11:56
longer. Oh, no, no, no.
11:57
This was fun. This was great it.
11:59
Was fun. So how, how difficult was it
12:01
once you got past #1 because we're assuming Trenton I, we
12:04
talked about you before you came on.
12:06
One's easy. That's another funny thing
12:08
there. I interviewed Johnny Damon and I
12:11
told him like, hey, I'm going to end up ranking the greatest lead
12:13
up man. I think you have a chance at the
12:15
top ten. And he went well, Ricky's number
12:16
1. And I was like, well, yes, Ricky
12:18
Henderson, easy and obvious #1 it's tougher.
12:23
I, I actually, I, I had like 12 or 13 before I had to start
12:28
going back and grabbing board to fill out the top 20.
12:31
And I messed with the order a bunch.
12:32
I want to stay like 6 through 15.
12:35
I must have changed them 20 times.
12:38
Just kept moving guys up and down, up and down, up and down.
12:40
And finally I was like, man, I've got to just leave this.
12:42
It's not the biggest deal in the world if somebody disagrees with
12:45
#7 versus #8. Pete Rose, did he make your top
12:49
20? Yeah, he was.
12:51
He's 4th. Yeah, it has to be.
12:53
I guess I can give him spoilers for the top 4 now.
12:56
I might as well. I already said Ricky's one.
12:57
Oscar Charleston #2 maybe the greatest Negro Leagues player
13:03
out to Josh Gibson. And three was each row.
13:06
And I can see an each row Pete Rose argument.
13:10
I I had said going into the rankings that influence was
13:14
going to be a big thing. And I think that Itro's impact
13:17
and influence on being the first Japanese position player to come
13:20
over and have great success is ultimately what made me push him
13:23
above Peter Rose. Fascinating book I'm anxious to
13:26
get. How do we get our hands on
13:27
through Amazon right? Yeah, it's on Amazon.
13:30
Just search for the lead off man.
13:32
Or you can find on my ex or Blue Sky accounts I have a message
13:37
penned with a direct link straight to the book.
13:39
And I saw you on talk of all places.
13:41
I'm not on TikTok. Yeah, I saw you on time to get
13:44
the. Word out in any which way.
13:46
So that was my first ever TikTok and it was jarring because I
13:50
talked for a full minute and I went and you can you can view
13:53
insights and it said the average time people spent on the video
13:56
was like 1.5 seconds. So I was like, Gee.
13:59
And come on. Well, you're wearing your
14:00
Indiana Hoosiers sweatshirt, Yeah.
14:05
TikTok, that's a young kids game and I have to do that with my
14:08
Hawkeye podcast and it's a different world over there.
14:11
No doubt the lead off man but. Mike gave you a whole minute,
14:13
just so you know. Yes, there you go.
14:15
We're helping out your metrics. Matt.
14:17
Let's get into today and what's happening obviously with your
14:21
meetings and coupled with what is happening in baseball and the
14:24
big news of today, the Dodgers, they just keep doing it as Edwin
14:29
Diaz signs a three-year deal to help out that bullpen. 3 years,
14:32
$69 million money doesn't matter to the Dodgers.
14:35
It's unreal. No, it it's easy to forget if
14:40
you didn't watch the Dodgers much before the playoffs, how
14:43
much of a complete and utter mess their Bolton was down the
14:46
stretch because the Kirby Yates and Tanner Scott sightings did
14:49
not work out at all. You couldn't count on Blake
14:51
trying at all. There was there were they were
14:54
throwing Emmett Sheehan in the bullpen, but he's supposed to be
14:56
a starter. It was a total, total mess until
14:59
they solidified things with Rokie Kazaki in the postseason,
15:03
but also extending their starters much, much, much later
15:06
in the game. So they were heavily relying on
15:08
the starters. I think they probably wanted it
15:11
would like a happy medium between the two World Series
15:14
teams because they had a good bullpen in 2024 and the rotation
15:18
was kind of a mess. They were desperate to get
15:20
starters through four or five innings.
15:22
And then last year their starters were amazing and they
15:24
didn't have much of the bullpen. So I think they would like to,
15:26
hey, maybe Taylor Scott and Kirby Yates are a little bit
15:29
better this time around. Edwin Diaz's bullet is a solid
15:32
closer. Then we don't have to extend our
15:34
starters as much. Schwarber back to the Phillies.
15:37
Made sense. Makes sense to the Stacey meanly
15:39
loved it there. They loved him in the clubhouse.
15:41
Who else was after him or were there?
15:44
I mean, I'd heard Cincinnati hometown he was.
15:47
The Reds were going to go after him in a big way.
15:48
Did they do you know? I don't know that for sure.
15:52
I'm sure that they were in conversations, but I was five
15:55
years and 1:50. I don't think that the Reds were
15:57
going to we're ever going to do that.
15:58
I mean, we heard Orioles, we heard the Pirates, but they were
16:02
never going to GO-5150 for ADH age 33 either.
16:07
And maybe it's smart, I don't know.
16:08
I it's hard for me. Schwarber's probably my all time
16:11
favorite player. He went to IU like I did.
16:14
He came up with the Cubs. He's so good right now, 56 home
16:19
runs over 130 RBI last year. But he is a 33 year old DH.
16:22
How, how well is that deal going to age?
16:24
And I'm sure that when you talk to teams like the about the
16:27
Orioles, the Pirates, the Reds, who are a lot more frugal than
16:30
the Phillies are, they were probably not comfortable with
16:34
the how those fourth and fifth years are going to look.
16:37
Selfish question. The Twins have said that they
16:40
are reportedly going to hang on to Byron Buxton and Joe Ryan and
16:43
Pablo Lopez. Two-part question A Do you
16:46
believe them? B.
16:48
If they do keep those stars, can they do enough to augment and
16:51
hang around in the American League Central?
16:54
I, I think I believe them, but I don't understand, like you
16:59
already kind of are rebuilding and you already look like you're
17:02
going to pull the plug on this, this Nucleus and I, I don't know
17:07
why you wouldn't just go all the way.
17:08
I mean, Buxton has been adamant that he's going to say he won't,
17:11
won't wave as no trade cause and he wants to be a twin for life
17:14
and all that. But like Joe Ryan and Pablo
17:16
Lopez could get you something back and you could even stock
17:19
the upper levels of the minors and say this is going to be a
17:22
quick rebuild, a quick turn around.
17:24
And that is not that good of a division in the AL Central
17:27
anyway. So I don't understand why, if
17:30
you already started the, the rebuild, why do a half measure?
17:33
Why not go all out and do a full rebuild?
17:36
But like I said, it is not that great of a division.
17:40
So if they wanted to kind of spend a little money and augment
17:44
the team, it might be possible. I mean, they still have some
17:48
good pieces there, especially those three guys, Kyle.
17:51
Tucker is going to wear what hat this year?
17:57
I I feel like there's enough smoke on the Blue Jays.
17:59
You really do. They're ready to spend money.
18:01
And yeah, yeah, I think that might be it.
18:05
You don't think he's just using them like Soto and Otani did?
18:10
They're different now, man. They they're they, they extended
18:12
flat Guerrero. They died.
18:14
Dylan sees it's a different. It's a different year.
18:18
Yeah. I I think I just don't know
18:21
where else it would be because the Cubs aren't going to pony up
18:24
for him. The Phillies just brought back
18:25
Schwarber. I don't they Phillies still have
18:27
room there. I just doesn't feel like we
18:29
haven't heard him connected to it.
18:31
The Yankees, I don't feel like they're in the mix at all.
18:35
Obviously the Mets are out. The Dodgers I suppose could
18:38
trade K Oscar Hernandez and sign Tucker, but I don't know if I
18:41
want to deal with that freak out from a mass freak out from Major
18:45
League Baseball fandom. The Rangers aren't really
18:48
looking to spend money. Like I said, not that many other
18:52
options out there. How?
18:53
About Bo Bouchette it. Feels like if they do Tucker
18:58
after they just did cease, I feel like they might be tapped
19:01
out and, and, and maybe they thought, Hey, we have enough
19:05
guys who we can shuffle around between David Schneider and
19:09
Addison Barger and Ernie Clement.
19:11
We we can reconfigure this thing without the shed and we can go
19:15
with Tucker here because you know, some of those guys they
19:18
use in the outfield sometimes. But if you have Tucker now, you
19:21
don't need them in the outfield. You can use them in the infield.
19:24
You know, where it would make a lot of sense for Bichette to me
19:28
is the Braves. If they wanted to either move
19:31
out the I'll be the shortstop or they wanted to try to shed it
19:34
short. They really need help in the
19:36
middle and field and they really need to inject a little bit of
19:39
life into that team offensively. That was lifeless last year.
19:42
That that feels like a good fit. Tatsua I may.
19:47
The cub, He's a cub. Is he a cub?
19:49
Cub. Yeah, I think so.
19:51
It's happening. I think so, yeah.
19:53
Yeah, I think that because the IT seems like the pipeline from
19:57
Japan to the Dodgers is probably stopped right now, at least in
20:01
the rotation because the rotation is full.
20:05
And it so it seems like he's willing to look elsewhere and
20:08
the Dodgers are willing to to let that one go.
20:11
And with them off the table, it it feels like the Cubs are a
20:14
good spot. Framber Valdez from the Astros.
20:18
What staff is he going to join and is he the?
20:20
Is he? That one's difficult.
20:21
There's been no smoke on him at all.
20:23
Is he the biggest name pitcher out there?
20:25
Suarez and him maybe? Who am I missing?
20:27
Yeah, the the only thing about Frauber is that's interesting is
20:31
he was awful in the second-half last year.
20:34
His ERA was over 5. Now most teams will say we'll
20:37
take the largest sample body of work frontline starter, but he's
20:40
had a lot of innings. And and it wasn't just how bad
20:43
he was in the second-half. He also crossed up his catcher
20:46
on purpose, like he was trying to hurt him.
20:48
And I don't know how many teams are going to want to deal with
20:50
that. So he's, like I said, I've heard
20:54
no smoke at all on him at all. So I there might be an opening.
20:58
The Orioles, for example, Mike Elias yesterday said they have
21:01
enough money to add a frontline starting pitcher and a big bat.
21:04
And they were supposedly on the bidding for Schwarber.
21:06
So, you know, they're ready to throw money around maybe
21:09
eventually Framber and the Orioles.
21:11
I remember Michael is came from that Houston front office back
21:14
around the time that Bramber was a really, really young and just
21:18
getting his deep wet and the Miners.
21:20
Good stuff. Matt Snyder's got a book out the
21:23
lead off, man. It's available at Amazon.
21:25
Amazon. You can go to Matt's Twitter
21:27
page. You can follow him on Twitter.
21:29
Matt Snyder, CBS at Matt Snyder CBS.
21:33
You can find it there. Best of luck with this book,
21:35
man. I really hope you do well.
21:37
I really do. We'll run you down much.
21:40
For promoting it. Speaker Look, we owe you,
21:42
brother. We owe you for what you do for
21:44
us. We'll have you on what's the
21:45
Hall of Fame is official, What's the announcement?
21:48
What's late late December, early January, early January for the
21:51
announcement, right? It's usually like around January
21:54
20th, 21st, 20 it'll be a Monday where I don't have the calendar
21:59
in front of me. So around then on a Monday is
22:01
usually when it is ballots of due December 31st.
22:04
So I mailed mine last Thursday. Good stuff, buddy.
22:06
Thanks. Matt Snyder.
22:07
Best of luck with the book. OK.
22:09
Thank you. Thank you.
22:10
Take care. Good to.
22:10
Talk to you Matt Snyder our baseball guy joins the show
22:14
every single Monday till football gets here then Tuesday
22:17
from the time middle about the middle of spring training all
22:20
the way through the World Series.
22:21
Follow him on Twitter at Matt Snyder CBS at Matt Snyder CBS.
22:26
Find the book the lead off man at Amazon.
22:29
We will talk Big 12 when we come back.
22:30
Matt Postings is going to join us.
22:32
Heartland College sports For Matt, Mr. No Miss not Mr. Monday
22:36
night a nice win for him last. Night Mr. Tuesday night.
22:38
Oh, you've got some games you like some games tonight.
22:41
College hoops. Oh yeah, when's that God
22:43
forsaken NBA? Is it on now?
22:45
Tonight is it start tonight I got a free bet for that thing on
22:50
DraftKings so I just. Well, you got to use it.
22:53
Right, right. And it was 10 bucks.
22:55
I put it on the magic, got them a + 1750.
22:58
I have no. Idea if they're they're in it,
23:00
are they there's only 8 teams? Left.
23:03
Really. So are the T wolves still alive?
23:06
Are the T Wolves still alive? It's a question I do not know
23:08
the answer to. They are not OK.
23:10
You're quarter finalists tonight, the Heat and the Magic,
23:13
the Knicks and the Raptors. Tomorrow, Suns, Thunder, Spurs,
23:17
Lakers. They're just the Thunder going
23:19
to run through this thing. I guess.
23:20
I mean, if yes, it sure seems like it.
23:23
Boy, they, they're, they're just, they're better than
23:26
everybody, right? Is it a free square?
23:28
They're 23 and 1. Are they a free square to win
23:32
the NBA championship? Well, you know what, we like to
23:35
do those changes. We adds.
23:37
We stack to them. Yeah, stack them up.
23:38
And I put them, I think I did four or five of them last night,
23:42
just 10 hours in and threw them in.
23:44
Every single one of them. Yeah, I had Georgia and Ohio
23:47
State each individually sure to win a national championship with
23:49
OKC, with the Yukon women is one of them that I did.
23:53
What else did I throw in? Did.
23:54
You throw the Minnesota Lynx in I.
23:56
Didn't do that. I have started to do that.
23:59
Did you throw the Colorado Avalanche in?
24:00
No, no hockey. Boy, they look good.
24:02
So good. Look at their neighbors.
24:03
Like OK C. Do you want to be good in
24:06
December? Well, if if I'm speaking as a
24:10
fan of The Jets, yes, because they're so.
24:12
Bad. You'd rather be.
24:13
Oh my God, they're bad. Millory Condon, back with Matt
24:16
Poston, covers the Big 12. It's the I was.
24:20
I'm Miller Cotton. Welcome back, Iowa Sports Radio
24:22
Network. Let's get into the Big 12.
24:23
Our good friend Matt Postons, Heartland College Sports joins
24:27
us. We'll get into basketball in a
24:29
couple of minutes. What we've seen so far in that
24:31
conference, what we've seen so far is a whole bunch of good
24:34
teams in that conference. No doubt about that.
24:36
Matt joins us. Matt Trenton, Ken, thank you as
24:38
always for giving us some time here.
24:41
I guess we have to start with the news that reverberated here
24:44
in central Iowa. Matt Campbell leaving, Jimmy
24:48
Rogers on his way or he's here now.
24:51
He'll fill out his staff. But a change in Ames.
24:55
Your thoughts? What did Heartland College
24:57
Sports say about Campbell leaving and then the Jimmy
25:00
Rogers hiring that post? And it's good to talk to you.
25:03
Yeah, it's good to talk to you guys, too.
25:04
And I mean, I think, you know, if if Matt Campbell's going to
25:07
go to a job, it should be a job that clearly is, you know, in
25:11
the upper echelon of the game. I think that he's proven that he
25:13
can build a program, that he can build success in a program that
25:16
hasn't had a whole lot of success in the past as he has
25:20
with Iowa State. I know there were some other
25:22
behind the scenes machinations that went into that move as
25:25
well. But I think overall, you know,
25:28
Penn States are really good job for him if he's moving on
25:32
somewhere else because the the culture there, the environment
25:36
there is kind of Iowa State ish in that it's kind of, you know,
25:40
isolated from the rest of the state.
25:42
I think you can go in there, you know, build his own culture,
25:45
build his own program. He's got good tools to work with
25:48
already. I think, you know, with James
25:50
Franklin being fired and all the things that have gone on up
25:53
there, I think he's going to have all the support he needs,
25:56
build the kind of program that he wants.
25:58
I think it's a good landing spot for him, honestly, if he's
26:00
interested in meeting Iowa State.
26:01
So I thought it was a good hire for Penn State.
26:05
The Jimmy Rogers hire is interesting because he hasn't
26:07
been a head coach very long, but he's had a lot of success at the
26:11
at South Dakota State, had good success in Washington state this
26:14
year. Matt Campbell had only been a
26:16
head coach for three plus years when he was hired by Iowa State.
26:20
So it's sort of the same kind of template in that regard.
26:25
I thought he had. I think he did a really great
26:27
job at South Dakota State just in terms of how he handled
26:30
things on on the field. They won a national
26:33
championship. He should be a good fit there.
26:36
He's he's from that area of the country, so he knows the lay of
26:38
the land. I think it's a really solid hire
26:42
for him, for them, even though, you know, I think nationally
26:46
people would look at that job and say or look at that hire and
26:49
say maybe they could have done better.
26:51
But you know, Jamie Pollard so far has a pretty good track
26:55
record in hiring head coaches. No doubt the rebuild.
26:59
We don't know how many guys are going to enter the portal.
27:02
It seems pretty substantial though, if they're not going to
27:04
play in the bowl game as we know that or not.
27:06
The rebuild and and coming on the heels of your most
27:09
successful coach and Matt Campbell in program history,
27:12
what do you look at it from more of that outsider perspective?
27:15
What's the timeline here? When you look at doing it as an
27:18
independent wazoo, that's one thing.
27:20
Doing it in this Big 12 is going to be different.
27:23
What kind of runway do you think that Rodgers is going to get?
27:27
Well, I think he's going to get a little grace here 1 And like
27:31
you said, I mean, the players have 30 days to decide if they
27:34
want to hit the portal or not because of the coaching change.
27:36
So they get it. They get a head start up pretty
27:38
much everybody else from the actual portal calendar.
27:41
So I would imagine some guys will follow Matt Campbell at
27:45
Penn State. I would imagine some other guys
27:47
will, you know, look at their options.
27:50
Obviously, there's some key players there that Jimmy Rogers
27:52
would like to keep. Rocco Beck, for one.
27:56
Yeah, I think you got to give them a little grace in year 1.
27:58
But we've seen, you know, coaches go in and turn things
28:01
around in year one, Year 2. Look what Brennan did in
28:05
Arizona. I mean, he had a had a rough
28:07
year in year 1, flipped it around in Year 2.
28:09
They're going to the Holiday Bowl.
28:11
They finished in the top five and top 25 in the final playoff
28:15
bowl. You know, I think if Jimmy
28:17
Rogers is the kind of coach that Jimmy Pollard thinks he is, I
28:20
think they could take a step back year one, but then take a
28:24
step back forward year 2. And The thing is, he's not going
28:27
to get the kind of he's not going to get as much runway as
28:30
Matt Campbell would have gotten money to go for the job because
28:33
of the success that Matt Campbell has had there.
28:35
So if you're in the Year 3 and they're struggling to get to a
28:38
bowl game, that hire might be looked upon as a mistake more
28:42
than a prescient one by Pollard. Let's ready to move on TC and
28:47
let's get to the Texas Tech who will represent the Big 12 in the
28:50
College Football Playoff. BYU on the outside looking in
28:54
Texas Tech, they're the four seed.
28:56
Obviously they'll get the five, which in all likelihood that's
28:59
going to happen. I don't anticipate Tulane or
29:01
James Madison would fill would pull the upset.
29:04
But just your thoughts on Texas Tech's path and are they a
29:07
legitimate threat? I mean we've seen the 2 heavy
29:10
heads from the Big 10, Ohio State and Indiana and Georgia is
29:13
not going to be easy. What about Texas Tech?
29:15
Do they belong in the conversation amongst teams who
29:18
could legitimately win this year's national championship?
29:21
Matt. I firmly believe they do.
29:24
Their defense is absolutely. I think it's the best defense
29:28
that Texas Tech has ever had in my lifetime.
29:31
I've been following college football here in Texas since the
29:34
80s when I was a kid, and obviously I don't have the
29:38
memory going back to the 70s, but in my time covering the Big
29:42
12, this is by far the best defense Texas Tech has ever had.
29:44
It's not a good defense, it's not a great defense.
29:47
It's an elite defense. They are.
29:50
They've completely flipped the script and where they were
29:53
defensively a year ago. And because of that, they can
29:57
play with anybody in this field because they're able to stop
30:00
people. They're able to get people off
30:02
the field, rush the passer, slow teams down the red zone.
30:06
Those were three areas that Joey McGuire told me last, you know,
30:09
in summer that they had to get better at.
30:12
I think they're in the top 20 in all three of those categories.
30:14
And that's part of the reason why their defense overall the
30:16
top 10 unit, because they're doing better in those three key
30:19
areas. They've got more weapons than
30:23
just the quarterback. They can run the ball down your
30:25
throat. They've got a lot of different
30:27
ways they can beat you. I I could see them beating
30:30
Oregon. I could see them getting to the
30:31
championship game. I really do think they have a
30:33
legit shot to get there. You know who's I?
30:36
I love Rodriguez, but every time I watch this, Ben Roberts,
30:39
number 13, he just jumps off the page at me.
30:41
He's really good. Yeah, he is.
30:44
He's he's a really good pass defending linebacker, as
30:47
evidenced by what he did against BYU, but he's an example of to
30:52
me that there is still a traditional path in college
30:55
football. We talk so much about the portal
30:57
and transfers and NIL and stuff like that.
31:00
This is his fourth year in that program.
31:02
He was a red shirt his first year and then he became a
31:05
starter the second year. So he's a three-year starter in
31:07
that program. He totally bought into what Joey
31:10
McGuire did before Joey McGuire even got there.
31:12
In fact, McGuire said at the game Saturday that, you know,
31:15
Ben Roberts had already committed to Tech before McGuire
31:18
took the job at at Tech. And I guess I think McGuire was
31:22
still trying to recruit into Baylor.
31:24
And this is sort of in that Gray area where there was no ways
31:26
about McGuire taking the job. And Ben Roberts told him, hey,
31:30
I'm going to Tech whether you're the head coach there or not.
31:32
So he was, he was a Tech guy through and through.
31:35
And, and, you know, it's just an example of that.
31:38
There's still room for guys who commit to a program, be there
31:41
for five years, develop as players and become one of the
31:43
best defensive players in the conference.
31:45
BYU Did they get a fair look to be a team over Alabama?
31:50
Over a Miami? Did they get a fair look at it?
31:52
Their only losses came to a team that got to buy a top four seed
31:55
in Texas Tech. I don't think they got a fair
31:59
look. I, I think that they got lost in
32:02
the shuffle in the conversation about the Miami Notre Dame head
32:05
to head. And really if you look at the
32:07
unveiling on Sunday, it was just the dumpster fire.
32:10
I mean, the explanation between Notre Dame and Miami in terms of
32:14
the head to head and the fact that BYU losing dropped them a
32:17
spot which made, which put Miami and Notre Dame next to each
32:21
other. And then they said they could
32:22
assess the head to head. I'm like, are you kidding me?
32:24
You couldn't have assessed that six weeks ago.
32:25
That's ridiculous. And then every other conference
32:29
championship team loser that was ranked in the top 25 dropped at
32:31
least one spot, except for Alabama, which got a shoulder
32:35
rolled by Georgia in the SEC title game, as BYU did by Texas
32:39
Tech. So no, I don't think BYU got a
32:41
fair look at this. I think they got, I think they
32:44
got somewhat screwed. I can't think of a another 11
32:47
win team. Obviously there's no other 11
32:49
win team in the 12 team playoff era that didn't make the
32:53
playoffs. They had more power conference
32:57
wins than anybody except for I believe, Ohio State.
33:02
They had a great resume. I just think that this committee
33:05
was not prepared to give a birth to a program that they don't
33:08
consider to be a blue blood program, period.
33:13
Matt Poston's Heartland College sports Matt, let's switch to
33:15
basketball. As we anticipated, as we've
33:18
witnessed over the last few years, just the the the depth at
33:21
the top of this conference. It's it's unbelievable in
33:24
Arizona State and obviously the freshmen were going to be a big
33:27
story and it's turned out to be in this conference.
33:30
But as I look at it, and obviously, you know, it's sadly
33:33
got overshadowed here in central Iowa on Saturday because
33:36
everyone was paying attention to Matt Campbell and.
33:39
I was paying attention, believe me.
33:40
Yeah, as as were we. I mean, walking into Mackey and,
33:43
and, and just pounding the crap out of Purdue, the number one
33:47
team in the country, it was as good a win as there's been in
33:50
college basketball so far this year.
33:52
Arizona's really good. Houston is really good.
33:55
BYU is really good. Texas Tech is good.
33:57
Arizona to mention them, Iowa State this conference, I didn't
34:01
mention Kansas. They probably deserve to be in
34:05
the conversation. But the depth that we
34:08
anticipated of this conference and how good it's going to be at
34:12
the top, I think that's starting to bear itself out even before
34:15
we get to conference play. Yeah, I think it might even be a
34:18
little bit better than we thought.
34:19
Yeah, you could be right. If the the conference has eight
34:23
wins against top 25 teams, Arizona has four of those wins.
34:28
That is incredible. They've they've played four
34:31
ranked teams and they've beaten all four of them.
34:32
They've played them at home, they've played them on the road,
34:35
they've played them in a neutral site.
34:37
They've beaten all comers so far.
34:39
And when you think about the fact that they've integrated
34:41
like two or three freshmen into their starting lineup in their
34:43
top 8 to go along with Jaden Bradley, and they got the few
34:46
guys they had coming back last year, it's a really masterful
34:49
job by Tommy Lloyd so far this season.
34:52
I expected Iowa State to be good.
34:54
I think they're better, better than good the way they're
34:58
playing right now. I think that just the way that
35:01
roster works together, especially when you have the
35:03
experience inside and outside with Lipsy and Jefferson, I
35:07
think it's going to make them really hard to beat.
35:09
Houston is Houston. I don't care that they have, you
35:12
know, 10 guys in their team that have only played one or two
35:15
years of college basketball. Kelvin Sampson finds a way.
35:18
And you know, Texas Tech, I know they're kind of on the second
35:21
tier of my power rankings right now, but they could they're
35:24
they're easily a team that could get to the second weekend of the
35:26
tournament and get back to the elite.
35:27
Christian Anderson, by the end of the season, I think is going
35:30
to be one of the most talked about players in the country
35:32
who's not talked about enough right now.
35:34
I never mentioned BYU and they're really.
35:36
Good, yes. Yeah, it's it's stacked.
35:40
It is absolutely stacked. When Brett, your remark says
35:42
there's the second best league in the country behind the NBA, I
35:46
don't think he's kidding. And he may not actually be
35:48
exaggerating. Hey, Matt, great stuff, brother.
35:51
We appreciate what you do for us.
35:52
Look forward to talking to you bunch.
35:53
You're in college basketball season going to be a phenomenal,
35:56
phenomenal watch. Big 12 hoops all winter long.
35:58
Thank you, buddy. If we don't talk to you before
36:00
Christmas, happy holidays to you.
36:02
Best to you and yours, and we'll talk to you in early 2026.
36:06
Thank you, Matt Poston's. You bet, and tell Audie Kirks to
36:09
save some for conference play. Yeah, we'll see her tomorrow
36:12
night against Iowa and Psyhawk. She's something.
36:14
Good stuff. Thank you, buddy.
36:15
Take care. Alright Matt Poston's glad he
36:17
brought her up. She is off to a phenomenal
36:19
start. Is the.
36:20
Number out for that game yet? I haven't seen it yet.
36:23
I looked. Earlier this morning, it was
36:24
not. Now I'll tell you what the
36:26
projected number is. OK, and I'm going to look for
36:28
the actual to see if it has been posted anywhere while you do
36:32
that. It is not.
36:35
Out. So this is from Bart Torvik.
36:38
Well, those analytical sites, much like Ken Pomeroy.
36:40
Ken Pom does not have a women's site, but Bart Torvik does.
36:43
He has the projected point spread Iowa buy one.
36:49
Iowa Buy one. That's not going to be the case.
36:52
I don't think it is either. I don't think it was going to be
36:55
close to double digits by any means.
36:57
I'm going to take a guess it's going to be Iowa State -4 1/2.
37:01
I was going 6. You're gonna go six?
37:04
Well, won't grade our work tomorrow.
37:05
We will it'll be out tomorrow, although the there's a game
37:08
tonight pretty good one Arizona State, Penn State and there's no
37:11
line posted on that that I can see a wager talk yet.
37:13
So anyways, Trent's plays of the day their next circus sports
37:16
sponsors Miller and Condon on the Iowa sports radio network.
37:20
Sports radio network. Hi, Miller and Condon, welcome
37:22
back. Final couple of minutes here on
37:24
a Tuesday. College hoops tonight, couple of
37:27
big games or a couple of Big 10 games.
37:31
Uconn's got a a good game as well.
37:34
Florida. Yeah, the defending champions
37:36
will be facing off against the Huskies.
37:38
That is on my list for this one, and I think I might be doing
37:43
something that I incredibly rarely do take a huge no.
37:48
You're on the roll right now. I know you're actually you're
37:51
seeing it well. We're warming up.
37:53
There you go. I'm going to lay a huge number
37:56
tonight. I'm going to lay 16 1/2 with
37:58
Michigan against Villanova. The Wolverines are just they're
38:01
really good blistering people. I had Rutgers over the weekend
38:04
getting 25. Not even close.
38:05
Really. One by like 40.
38:08
Oh my God. Michigan -16 1/2, BYU, Clemson.
38:12
That is going to be the opener in MSG.
38:15
Yeah, that's 530, I think 5:30. I like that.
38:18
And I'm going to grab the Cougs. Give me the Cougs minus the five
38:20
and a half. You kind of mentioned laying the
38:22
3 1/2 in that one. I'm going to grab Ohio State
38:26
against Illinois at home. Road trip for the Illini.
38:29
They're better, but we've seen already conference play going on
38:33
the road to grab the points there with the Buckeye.
38:35
So a rarity. 3 favorites and a dog tonight.
38:39
We'll see if we get some favorites home in this one this
38:42
evening. All right, good stuff.
38:44
That will do it, Cyhawk. Tomorrow, Tommy Birch is going
38:47
to join us, help us out with the women's game.
38:50
Look forward to talking to Birch about that and other stuff as
38:52
well. Cappy will be here.
38:53
Holtis will be here. Pretty good Wednesday.
38:56
It'll shaping up. And the Chiefs?
38:57
Are not dead. No, they're not.
39:00
They're on life support. Yes.
39:02
But there's still that beep. What do they call those things?
39:04
The meter that goes? There's a name for them anyways.
39:08
Heart monitor. I guess, yeah, probably that'll
39:11
do it for us. And then not a hideout.
39:13
Yes, we did, didn't we? Both days?
39:16
What? We appreciate you being here for
39:18
as much as you were. We'll give way to off the bench.
39:23
Sean Roberts, Lucas Strain until 5:00 morning.
39:26
Gets off every morning at 6:00 AM with the first quarter.
39:29
Heather Burnside, Alec Bussey, Trent and I talk sports with you
39:32
every Monday through Friday from noon until 2 on the Iowa Sports
39:37
Radio Network.