Speaker 1: It's time for coffee and company, fueled by Thornton's on
Speaker 1: Sports Talk seven nine day. Now here's Nick Coffee.
Speaker 2: We've got a big night of college basketball tonight, which
Speaker 2: means I'm going to consume a lot of college basketball
Speaker 2: and wager on a lot of college basketball. I had
Speaker 2: had myself a good weekend. I guess it really ended
Speaker 2: on I might have been Friday night. I had had
Speaker 2: a two leg parlay that that was pretty juicy, meaning good.
Speaker 2: And when I do three legs or less, I'm usually
Speaker 2: really consistent. When it comes to the amount of money
Speaker 2: that I bet, it's usually not much. Twenty is like
Speaker 2: as steep as I'll usually go. But on Saturday, I
Speaker 2: had a full day where I hit, I had my
Speaker 2: son's basketball game, and then I had to get ready
Speaker 2: for the Hall of Fame event.
Speaker 3: So I just didn't. I didn't.
Speaker 2: I knew I wasn't gonna be able to watch a
Speaker 2: whole lot. Therefore, I just decided, all right, I'm gonna
Speaker 2: do a three leg parlay on the noon games, and
Speaker 2: that's going to be probably it maybe until late in
Speaker 2: the evening, so I might as well, you know, instead
Speaker 2: of betting ten here twenty there and really maybe spending
Speaker 2: I don't know, forty bucks on a Saturday when it
Speaker 2: comes to betting from top to bottom, and the hope
Speaker 2: is that if that's three wagers or so, maybe one
Speaker 2: of them hits and that way I'm making a little
Speaker 2: bit of money. But because I knew only was going
Speaker 2: to do that three leg parlay, I just decided to
Speaker 2: put fifty on it because I was feeling pretty good
Speaker 2: because of Friday night being a good one and ended
Speaker 2: up hitting and it's probably the most I've won all year,
Speaker 2: so I'm feeling confident. Didn't have a good night last night.
Speaker 2: But there's some of these and this is what happens, man.
Speaker 2: And I know, if you're somebody that wagers on college
Speaker 2: hoops or maybe wagers on anything, you have a little
Speaker 2: bit of momentum, you get a little confidence going. And
Speaker 2: it doesn't mean that you feel like you can't lose.
Speaker 2: But I feel like I've got a better ability to
Speaker 2: not overthink a spread, right, because when I get down
Speaker 2: bad and I'm losing, then I start to overthink everything.
Speaker 2: And at that point I just say, look, don't even
Speaker 2: look deep into it. Just trust your gut, because I
Speaker 2: still believe that there's nothing worse. I mean, losing always sucks,
Speaker 2: but there's nothing worse as far as I guess. The
Speaker 2: worst way to lose, in my opinion, is when you
Speaker 2: had an initial thought right your gut, and then you
Speaker 2: thought more about it, you changed your mind, and then
Speaker 2: it go Then it's wrong. Like that to me is
Speaker 2: the worst feeling ever. So like I'm looking at some
Speaker 2: of these games tonight and I don't understand why some
Speaker 2: of these teams are favored or maybe not favored by
Speaker 2: a bigger amount like tonight. And for what it's worth,
Speaker 2: Kentucky does play Tennessee tonight. Should be a good game.
Speaker 2: But Kentucky's gonna be without Jackson Robinson. So they are
Speaker 2: underdogs at home, which is a rare thing to see
Speaker 2: at Reparna. But Tennessee minus two and a half currently
Speaker 2: the total is one forty seven and a half. But
Speaker 2: Florida one of the best teams in the country. They
Speaker 2: are on the road at Mississippi State. A good team,
Speaker 2: certainly a row game, tough environment, but Mississippi State, I
Speaker 2: mean they're outside the top thirty in the Ken Palm.
Speaker 2: They've lost four out of four out of five. Their
Speaker 2: only wins in the last five games are against South Carolina,
Speaker 2: who we know stinks and they needed overtime to beat them,
Speaker 2: and then Georgia, who is one of the worst teams
Speaker 2: in the league, and they beat them by one. So
Speaker 2: I don't understand how Florida, a top five team, is
Speaker 2: underdogs in Mississippi State. I mean, I wouldn't expect him
Speaker 2: to be big time favorites on the road because again
Speaker 2: the SEC's loaded. But I don't I don't get this,
Speaker 2: And this is this is where I start to overthinking
Speaker 2: at times because I'm thinking, maybe they know something I
Speaker 2: don't know. I believe Walter Clayton, junior for Florida, was
Speaker 2: at one point dealing with some injuries. But I just
Speaker 2: checked the Yeah, I mean, I just checked the injury
Speaker 2: update for both teams and they don't have any notable injuries.
Speaker 2: Florida doesn't, So I mean I'm thinking about In fact,
Speaker 2: I'm not thinking about it. I'm gonna do it. I'm
Speaker 2: gonna ta Florida money line. I just think they're better
Speaker 2: in Mississippi State. I don't know if they've done a
Speaker 2: whole lot to like deserve the benefit of the doubt
Speaker 2: as far as being a team that has a seventeen
Speaker 2: and six record five and five in league play. Like,
Speaker 2: I'm not saying they're bad, but they don't really have
Speaker 2: anything on their resume where you can claim, Okay, well, look, yeah,
Speaker 2: the record's not great, but man, they still have it. Like,
Speaker 2: Kentucky is the best example of a team that right
Speaker 2: now doesn't have a great record in league play. They're
Speaker 2: five and five sixteen and seven overall, but man, they
Speaker 2: earned the benefit of the doubt with wins against Duke Gonzaga, Louisville, Florida,
Speaker 2: Tennessee on the road, A and M Mississippi State on
Speaker 2: the road. I don't want to gass them up because
Speaker 2: I might throw up doing it, but Kentucky has proven
Speaker 2: to where you can look at their five and five
Speaker 2: record in league play and chalk it up to hey,
Speaker 2: it's because they play in the best league in the country. Yes,
Speaker 2: Mississippi State also plays in the best league in the country,
Speaker 2: but they don't have any of those impressive wins. In fact,
Speaker 2: their wins are against the teams that aren't good in
Speaker 2: the league. And I mean right now they're five and five.
Speaker 3: In the in the SEC.
Speaker 2: In Mississippi State is their wins are against South Carolina twice,
Speaker 2: Vanderbilt once Georgia and then they did beat Old Miss
Speaker 2: and if you remember, that was the game where I
Speaker 2: think Old Miss completely choked it away and Ole Miss
Speaker 2: is you know, Ole Miss is an elite.
Speaker 3: But anyways, I don't.
Speaker 2: Typically when I end up looking at the line and
Speaker 2: just being dumbfounded as how this could even happen, how
Speaker 2: could they be underdogs? Usually what ends up happening is
Speaker 2: once that game ends, I'll say, yeah, they knew something
Speaker 2: we didn't. They they had it. They had it and
Speaker 2: we didn't. But again, I that's again this not to
Speaker 2: you know, have you guys basically be my therapist, psychologist whatever.
Speaker 2: I feel like, I'm laying on that long, skinny couch
Speaker 2: talking about my wagering habits and I know none of
Speaker 2: you care, but this is the mental bond that I
Speaker 2: get in at times when it comes to So if
Speaker 2: I decided not to touch it because yeah, that seems fishy,
Speaker 2: they must know something.
Speaker 3: I'm gonna stay away. Something's not adding up.
Speaker 2: Then if Florida won by ten and I didn't bet it,
Speaker 2: I'd be pissed at myself.
Speaker 3: So some other games tonight and we don't have to
Speaker 3: get into the number as far.
Speaker 2: As the spread, but just the overall lineup tonight in
Speaker 2: college basketball is elite. We mentioned Kentucky hosting Tennessee. That's
Speaker 2: two top fifteen teams. A Top twenty matchup between Purdue
Speaker 2: on the road at Michigan, Florida Mississippi State.
Speaker 3: We talked about that one. Auburn's at Vandy.
Speaker 2: Auburn's still number one in the country despite their loss,
Speaker 2: and Vandy, I don't know, they still on.
Speaker 3: The right side of the bubble. I feel like they are,
Speaker 3: but I could be wrong.
Speaker 2: But Bandy, They're not elite by any means, but they've
Speaker 2: proven at home it can get tricky there for opponents.
Speaker 2: They beat Tennessee and Kentucky when they were at home
Speaker 2: earlier this year. A good Big twelve matchup Arizona at
Speaker 2: Kansas State. Indiana is at Michigan State, Yukon at Creighton.
Speaker 2: So some big time games tonight and I am certainly
Speaker 2: going to enjoy watching. Speaking of Indiana, we'll get to
Speaker 2: this a little bit later on. I'm a nerd for
Speaker 2: college basketball overall. I definitely enjoy coaching searches in college basketball,
Speaker 2: but this Indiana one is really gonna gonna be fascinating
Speaker 2: to me as far as how it plays out. They
Speaker 2: I don't know, Maybe they are already doing a search, right,
Speaker 2: I mean, they haven't made anything official, but like it's
Speaker 2: now known Mike Woodson will not be back, and if
Speaker 2: they end up moving on from him, I mean, he's
Speaker 2: not gonna be back. I guess now they're just figuring
Speaker 2: out what he's gonna do, meaning is he going to
Speaker 2: take like a reduced buyout, is he gonna walk away
Speaker 2: and retire, or are they gonna have to like actually
Speaker 2: fire him and pay him everything. But either way, he
Speaker 2: won't be back, and Indiana is just one coach away
Speaker 2: from I think, being consistently one of the best programs
Speaker 2: in college basketball once again. And that makes it seem like, oh,
Speaker 2: what's it's simple, just we'll hire a good coach. Well,
Speaker 2: they've been one coach away I think for like ever
Speaker 2: since Bob Knight. Now it is different now because when
Speaker 2: it comes to the new world of college sports, you
Speaker 2: don't need a lot of time. Regardless of what Kenny
Speaker 2: Payne will tell you, Tom Crean he needed a lot
Speaker 2: of time because Tom Crean inherited a program that was
Speaker 2: facing NAA issues. He couldn't go build a roster from
Speaker 2: the portal. He had to use walk ons. That's what
Speaker 2: Tom Crean took a while to get going. Now you
Speaker 2: don't need that, and Indiana's got every resource that every
Speaker 2: other program has. Indiana's spent more money on nil apparently
Speaker 2: than anybody, according to those who cover college basketball. So
Speaker 2: just you got to find somebody who can utilize all
Speaker 2: the resources you have and has proven to be able
Speaker 2: to win. And I don't think that's that hard to do,
Speaker 2: but they haven't been able to do it yet. All right,
Speaker 2: So for Louisville, they're in action tomorrow against n C State.
Speaker 2: We do actually have an early line on that.
Speaker 3: For tomorrow.
Speaker 2: Louisville has opened up as seven and a half point favorite.
Speaker 2: Still no clue if Chucky Hepburn's going to play. And
Speaker 2: I feel like I am in the minority here when
Speaker 2: it comes to Louisville fans and how they view this
Speaker 2: team in the now, because I don't want to act
Speaker 2: like Louisville can't beat anybody without Chucky. They did just
Speaker 2: beat Miami by double digits, but Miami is one of
Speaker 2: the worst teams in the country, and I think at times,
Speaker 2: they look like a team coach by Kenny Payne just
Speaker 2: as far as like it's over, they know it's over.
Speaker 2: Their coaches left midseason. Like they're a team that on
Speaker 2: any given night, if they let it get away to
Speaker 2: where they're down fifty, I wouldn't be shocked. I mean,
Speaker 2: that's an exaggeration, but that's how bad things are with
Speaker 2: Miami in NC State, they've lost eight in a row.
Speaker 2: I think it is like they stink, but like I
Speaker 2: don't look at any team on this schedule in factor
Speaker 2: in potentially not having Chucky and thinking, Okay, no big deal,
Speaker 2: we'll go out there and get it done.
Speaker 3: I mean they can. I know that they can.
Speaker 2: They've I mean I just thought, I feel as much
Speaker 2: as I love this team, and I've really made it
Speaker 2: clear throughout the last few months. This has been such
Speaker 2: a fun ride for me as a Louis basket fans
Speaker 2: who watch a team that plays hard. They're fun to
Speaker 2: watch and I think they're actually pretty damn good whenever
Speaker 2: they're healthy and things are clicking.
Speaker 3: It's been awesome.
Speaker 2: So I feel like I'm a hater and I don't
Speaker 2: want to be because I have real concern with anybody
Speaker 2: on their schedule without Chucky. And it's not because I'm
Speaker 2: not a believer in this team. I think they've got
Speaker 2: really good pieces, and they've got a when healthy meaning
Speaker 2: the new version of them healthy meaning basically the team
Speaker 2: they've been the last six weeks with Scott healthy and
Speaker 2: Chucky healthy. I mean, I think they've got a good rotation,
Speaker 2: a good core. But Chucky is so important to where
Speaker 2: I just think everything about Louisville is different when he's
Speaker 2: not out there. I mean, Terrence Elvers has done a
Speaker 2: good job defending this year, in fact, I think he's
Speaker 2: been a pretty good defender. But where Louisville can be
Speaker 2: a really good defensive team, it all starts with Chucky
Speaker 2: being basically a pest to the opposing team's lead guard,
Speaker 2: and that makes sure the rest of your defense a
Speaker 2: little bit more vulnerable when he's not doing that.
Speaker 3: So maybe he plays tomorrow. I'm not sure, none of
Speaker 3: us know, but.
Speaker 2: I hope he plays because one I just I would
Speaker 2: hate to have to see what Louisville's resume ends up
Speaker 2: looking like with a real stain like losing to one
Speaker 2: of these terrible teams left on the schedule, but also
Speaker 2: just know, like maybe Chucky comes back tomorrow and they.
Speaker 3: Lose, that would still be really bad.
Speaker 2: But like, if Chucky comes back, that at least lets
Speaker 2: you know that this thing isn't super serious. And the
Speaker 2: only person that said it's not believed to be serious
Speaker 2: is Jeff Goodman, And I guess if it was serious,
Speaker 2: and I guess there's all different levels of what is
Speaker 2: serious and what's not, because I mean, a serious injury
Speaker 2: would mean he's hurt for the rest of the year,
Speaker 2: he's out, he's gonna have surgery, something like that.
Speaker 3: We're not dealing with that.
Speaker 2: But I just never have felt such desperation as a
Speaker 2: fan to know is our most important player, like gonna
Speaker 2: be able to go.
Speaker 3: I mean, even if you told me he's.
Speaker 2: Out n C State, Notre Dame, but we're targeting next week,
Speaker 2: that would at least give me something. And I thought
Speaker 2: to myself earlier, should I go look at stuff on
Speaker 2: social media and see if they're giving any kind of hints,
Speaker 2: any kind of indication if he's getting close to being
Speaker 2: ready to play, But like, that's not This team doesn't
Speaker 2: do that. And you know that I don't say that
Speaker 2: to complain. They're just that's they're mature. They're grown men,
Speaker 2: most of them. So again Louisville favored by seven and
Speaker 2: a half. Somebody asked earlier on the text line how
Speaker 2: both Brandon Honey Hatfield and Mike James were doing for
Speaker 2: NC State this year, and Mike James, I don't think
Speaker 2: he's played this year for them. He's got some kind
Speaker 2: of an injury. I don't know exactly what it is.
Speaker 2: Maybe he has, maybe he has recently come back and
Speaker 2: started playing for them. But last I checked, actually I
Speaker 2: was wrong. I was looking at numbers earlier this year
Speaker 2: and I thought he was I thought those were numbers
Speaker 2: from his current season at NC State with Kevin Keats.
Speaker 2: In fact, it was his numbers from for Louisville last
Speaker 2: year because he hadn't played at the time. So Huntley
Speaker 2: Hatfield's averaging nineteen minutes and yet I'm sorry, twenty one
Speaker 2: minutes per game, eight eight points, and five boards. So
Speaker 2: he's having a solid season as far as stats. But again,
Speaker 2: NC State is not good, and you know, we talked
Speaker 2: about it yesterday. I can't imagine that that NC State
Speaker 2: fans feel like the final four last year was long
Speaker 2: term worth it. I mean, maybe it was because final
Speaker 2: fours are really special and you don't you don't have
Speaker 2: them very often unless you're you know, one of the elite.
Speaker 2: I mean, look, even the elite of the elite, I
Speaker 2: feel like is not I mean, I think final four
Speaker 2: is in college basketball.
Speaker 3: Regardless of who you are.
Speaker 2: It's it's a milestone and accomplishment that nobody turns their
Speaker 2: nose up at. You know what I mean, Like, you
Speaker 2: don't look at a final four is like, oh, who cares?
Speaker 2: We only met a final four? Now, you could have
Speaker 2: certain seasons that make it to where you feel underwhelmed, right,
Speaker 2: like k Kentucky was thirty five and oh and then
Speaker 2: lost to Wisconsin.
Speaker 3: That had to hurt. But still you made a final four.
Speaker 2: I mean, like you had a good year, you just
Speaker 2: all short and probably we're in line to be the
Speaker 2: not only national champions, but to be the first team
Speaker 2: since you know, Indiana in the seventies that won a
Speaker 2: championship and didn't lose a game the entire year. I mean,
Speaker 2: you hate to see it, right, So how if that
Speaker 2: happened for those guys?
Speaker 3: But yeah, n C.
Speaker 2: State I'm just looking at their overall stats right here,
Speaker 2: and I mean they're they're bad. They're really bad. And yeah,
Speaker 2: Mike James is not even listed, so I don't did
Speaker 2: he get hurt? I mean, I'm sure not necessary. We
Speaker 2: don't care about Mike James. He seemed like a good
Speaker 2: dude when he was here. But like I feel like
Speaker 2: if he would have had like a season ending injury,
Speaker 2: I kind of feel like it would have been a
Speaker 2: known thing.
Speaker 3: But I haven't.
Speaker 2: Yeah said this is uh, this is from Inside Pack Sports.
Speaker 2: They put up a little write up yesterday following Kevin
Speaker 2: Keats's press conference, and it sounds like, yeah, it says
Speaker 2: here that h this is from Kevin Keats says they're
Speaker 2: going to try to get with Mike this morning and
Speaker 2: get with our doctors and you know, see where he is.
Speaker 2: So maybe Mike James makes his debut against Louisville, maybe
Speaker 2: season debut. Do you have any nerves about this game, Austin,
Speaker 2: I know you probably haven't watched a lot of NC
Speaker 2: State this year.
Speaker 3: You know why would you?
Speaker 1: No?
Speaker 3: Not really, just because they've kind of been quiet, But
Speaker 3: I mean they've been bad.
Speaker 2: I mean, in fact, they're lucky it's been quiet because
Speaker 2: you know, they're a final fourteen last year. But again
Speaker 2: it's weird because they weren't good last year. They just
Speaker 2: had a crazy run that nobody would have seen coming.
Speaker 3: If anything, I'm feeling going to be feeding off your nerves,
Speaker 3: right yeah, I mean you're you're the real ball. No,
Speaker 3: we're here, So I mean if you start to get
Speaker 3: a little jittery about it, then that's what I'll question
Speaker 3: my LIAF.
Speaker 2: So my nerves are not necessarily and I tried to
Speaker 2: explain this yesterday. My nerves aren't necessarily because like I'm
Speaker 2: scared of NC State, or that I think Louisville without
Speaker 2: Chucky isn't good enough to beat some of these bad teams.
Speaker 3: It's really not that at all.
Speaker 2: My nerves are that you have so much to lose
Speaker 2: because of just the situation you're in, with your schedule,
Speaker 2: in with your conference. It's just a rare feeling because
Speaker 2: Louisville right now, I mean, maybe I'm wrong again, Only
Speaker 2: we'll never know. Only the selection committee would be able to,
Speaker 2: you know, to tell us this, and it'd be worthless
Speaker 2: to tell us now because there's still a lot of
Speaker 2: ball to be played.
Speaker 3: But I just fear that Louisville right.
Speaker 2: Now, the resume and the numbers being what they are,
Speaker 2: they're in the top thirty in both the net and
Speaker 2: the kin Palm. They are currently eighteen and six overall,
Speaker 2: eleven and two in the league. Their best win is
Speaker 2: s I'm sorry is Clemson, and that win got more
Speaker 2: valuable with Clemson now knocking off Duke and they beat
Speaker 2: the hell out of North Carolina last night, So that
Speaker 2: may so because you beat Clemson at home. What that
Speaker 2: does now is that Clemson has to be in the
Speaker 2: top thirty for that to be a quad one. Clemson
Speaker 2: was not in the top thirty until they beat Dukes,
Speaker 2: so that helped you there, and then the rest of
Speaker 2: the way when it comes to like other like Florida
Speaker 2: State has falling out of the top seventy five, so
Speaker 2: that's not a quad one. West Virginia is still in
Speaker 2: the top fifty, so that's a quad one. Indiana is
Speaker 2: fifty five, so that's right outside quad one.
Speaker 3: So I just.
Speaker 2: Any given night, you could have West Virginia lose to
Speaker 2: a bad team, they fall out of the top fifty,
Speaker 2: Clemson gets upset, they're out of the top thirty. Those
Speaker 2: are things that remove quad one wins from your resume, right,
Speaker 2: So if you slip up and lose to an NC
Speaker 2: State who's not in the top one hundred. I mean
Speaker 2: what that could I mean it could. It could make
Speaker 2: it to where the number maybe substantially drops, right, like
Speaker 2: maybe you fall far from being twenty eight, twenty ninth
Speaker 2: where they are now, maybe you fall like to you know,
Speaker 2: thirty eight or something. And that sounds crazy to have
Speaker 2: that happen in one game. But again, when you have
Speaker 2: teams lose in league play, let me give an example,
Speaker 2: like Florida, Florida plays Mississipi State. We talked about that
Speaker 2: game because I just don't understand how Florida is underdogs here.
Speaker 2: But Florida, if they lost tonight a close game to
Speaker 2: Mississippi State, that would be them losing a quad one
Speaker 2: game and they would be losing to a team that
Speaker 2: is in the top thirty. Therefore, it would hit them,
Speaker 2: but not much because that's not a bad loss.
Speaker 3: Louisville, if they lose.
Speaker 2: To n C State tomorrow, they're losing to a team
Speaker 2: that's not in the top one hundred, like in league
Speaker 2: play typically, and really thinking back from Big East one
Speaker 2: year in the American and really all of their time
Speaker 2: in the ACC when you would lose to anybody in
Speaker 2: the league, more other than maybe when Boston College is
Speaker 2: really bad, and then there were years where Virginia Tech,
Speaker 2: if you remember, they were really bad. But other than that,
Speaker 2: teams that weren't tournament teams from the ACC that you
Speaker 2: could slip up and lose to, they'd still be like
Speaker 2: top fifty in the net or the RPI that they
Speaker 2: used to use, or the ken like whatever it is.
Speaker 2: But the numbers are so bad for the ACC that
Speaker 2: any loss the rest of the way could be devastating.
Speaker 2: So again, my nerves aren't because I don't think Louisville
Speaker 2: is going to be able to win without Chucky if
Speaker 2: he can't go. It's just knowing that it could be
Speaker 2: such a devastating result that really changes sort of how
Speaker 2: you view Louisvill's tournament chances. But with all that said,
Speaker 2: if Pittsburgh and Carolina can keep losing and yet people
Speaker 2: won't bury them, and people keep acting like they've got
Speaker 2: a chance to somehow make the tournament, then you know,
Speaker 2: maybe Louisville could slip up and lose. I just don't
Speaker 2: want to risk it because Louisvill's in a position now
Speaker 2: where if they do finish strong, and yeah, they could
Speaker 2: beat teams the rest of the way, and it won't
Speaker 2: do a whole lot for the resume because of who's there,
Speaker 2: but you could still end up with a real Like
Speaker 2: right now, Louisville's projected record in the ACC is twenty
Speaker 2: I'm sorry, their projected record is twenty four and seven
Speaker 2: seventeen and three. They're actually projected to win every game,
Speaker 2: but the formula does allow for at least you know,
Speaker 2: they don't. They realize they're going to have some close
Speaker 2: games as far as the projected score, but you know
Speaker 2: they could be off by a couple points and that
Speaker 2: actually means you to lose. But let's just say louisvill
Speaker 2: beats n C State, Notre Dame, Florida State, Virginia Tech, Pittsburgh, California,
Speaker 2: and stand for the rest of the way. That sounds like, wow,
Speaker 2: you could win the winning that mini games consecutively easier
Speaker 2: said than done.
Speaker 3: I get it.
Speaker 2: But again, look at who they're playing like, they're going
Speaker 2: to be expected to win all these games. So if
Speaker 2: they do, and they finish twenty five and six eighteen
Speaker 2: and two in the league in any other year, that
Speaker 2: would be a great seed line for an ACC team.
Speaker 2: Not the case this year, but it could still be
Speaker 2: like a five seed for Louisville, which would be awesome.
Speaker 2: So that I think that's still on the table. I
Speaker 2: just don't want to, you know, but I think any
Speaker 2: loss the rest of the way to one of these
Speaker 2: teams would change that, maybe not to put you outside
Speaker 2: of the tournament, but it definitely I think lowers the
Speaker 2: ceiling of what.
Speaker 3: Your seed could be. All right, quick break.
Speaker 2: What I want to get to on the other side
Speaker 2: is something that fascinated me, and it is a look
Speaker 2: at which college basketball coaches in the last five six
Speaker 2: years have the most technicals. I think some of these
Speaker 2: names might surprise you. Some won't surprise you. But we'll
Speaker 2: get to that in a lot more as we finish
Speaker 2: up here. It's Coffee and Company fuel about Thornton's on
Speaker 2: Sports Talk seven ninety.
Speaker 1: Now back to coffee and Company fueled by Thornton's on
Speaker 1: Sports Talk seven nine day.
Speaker 2: You know, Louisville basketball this year has obviously had injury issues.
Speaker 2: They're going through it right now, gonna get James Scott back,
Speaker 2: hopefully tomorrow, and we wait to see what happens with
Speaker 2: Chucky and early on, I mean within the first what
Speaker 2: six seven games, you knew that you were going to
Speaker 2: be without Corn Johnson in case in prior to the
Speaker 2: rest of the way. So Louisville's had injury issues. It's
Speaker 2: just I think in a way, it's beneficial to know early.
Speaker 2: You were able to kind of reinvent yourself relatively early
Speaker 2: in the season, and so far louis has done a
Speaker 2: good enough job to put themselves as of now is
Speaker 2: a team that looks like they're gonna be in the tournament.
Speaker 2: Kentucky didn't have any injury issues until a little later
Speaker 2: on in the year, and now it's starting. I mean,
Speaker 2: timing is not on their side. I don't really know
Speaker 2: if there's a good time to have an injury, but
Speaker 2: I think timing can certainly be worse in certain situations.
Speaker 2: And right now, the fact that Jackson Robinson who's dealing
Speaker 2: with an injury to his wrist and played against South
Speaker 2: Carolina but now is not available to play tonight against Tennessee.
Speaker 2: I mean, I don't follow it as close as others,
Speaker 2: I'm sure, but I mean, if it's kind of a
Speaker 2: game by game thing, can he go, doesn't it make
Speaker 2: you worry if he's ever going to be at any
Speaker 2: point like fully healthy the rest of the season. I mean,
Speaker 2: you'd like to be able to set him and get
Speaker 2: him healthy to where maybe he misses a few but
Speaker 2: then he's as close as he's going to get to
Speaker 2: one hundred percent by the time you.
Speaker 3: Get to late February. And maybe that's what they're doing right.
Speaker 2: Maybe he reinjured it against South Carolina when he played
Speaker 2: a little bit late in the game, which I did
Speaker 2: hear some critics in regards to you were already up big,
Speaker 2: why was he still out there? And maybe he did
Speaker 2: reinjury it. I'm not sure, but they do have Lamont
Speaker 2: Butler back, and that's certainly a good sign. He played
Speaker 2: against he played against South Carolina, but Jackson Robinson, who
Speaker 2: was questionable game time decision, did.
Speaker 3: Play and now he's out.
Speaker 2: Kerkkriesa also out and I don't know if he's gonna
Speaker 2: come back at all. But then again, it sounded like
Speaker 2: Andrew Carr was somebody that was going to be maybe
Speaker 2: missing some significant time for them, and then he ends
Speaker 2: up being able to go. So I mean, Mark Pope,
Speaker 2: I mean, all you can do is play who's available.
Speaker 2: And they have at times been able to win games
Speaker 2: without key players. I mean, beating Gonzaga at Gonzaga even
Speaker 2: though they're not what they typically are.
Speaker 3: Still that's a good win.
Speaker 2: And they mean you were down eighteen or something like that,
Speaker 2: came back and won it at their place, and they
Speaker 2: did it without Lamont Butler. I mean, that's a big
Speaker 2: win that has a lot of value. Same thing, Lamont
Speaker 2: Butler did not play against Tennessee and I don't even
Speaker 2: think Andrew Carr played a whole lot in that game.
Speaker 2: I could be wrong, and they were able to win
Speaker 2: in Knoxville. So it's nice to know that you have
Speaker 2: proven that you've been able to get wins against really
Speaker 2: good teams even when you are missing players that you
Speaker 2: rely a lot on. However, you got to worry if
Speaker 2: that's I mean, how how how sustainable is that?
Speaker 1: Like?
Speaker 2: How often are you going to be able to play
Speaker 2: really good teams and find ways to win? And don't
Speaker 2: mean I mean they they've shown that they can do it,
Speaker 2: but the timing of their injuries just doesn't mean. Again,
Speaker 2: there's no good time to be injured. But I think
Speaker 2: whenever you know you have a little bit of time
Speaker 2: in January, maybe even December to kind of, you know,
Speaker 2: figure out what you're gonna do and who you're going
Speaker 2: to be without certain guys that that's that that at
Speaker 2: least gives.
Speaker 3: You the option.
Speaker 2: With Kentucky, I mean, they're they've been kind of you
Speaker 2: just never know who's gonna be available. So injuries both
Speaker 2: playing playing a factor here in both in first in
Speaker 2: the first season for both Mark Pope and and and
Speaker 2: Pat Kelsey and.
Speaker 3: With with with louisvill situation.
Speaker 2: You know, maybe maybe that's what Pat Kelsey and his
Speaker 2: staff are doing. Maybe they have been told Chucky can play,
Speaker 2: but yet he's he's going to be dealing with some
Speaker 2: pain and maybe after he plays, you know, let's say
Speaker 2: he played thirty minutes tomorrow night. That'd be good because
Speaker 2: you you know, you're a better team with him, but
Speaker 2: maybe that'll lead to him having you know, a really
Speaker 2: rough few days to where he's going to take some
Speaker 2: time to recover. So if you can get by without him,
Speaker 2: I mean, it makes sense to let him rest. If
Speaker 2: I mean, we don't know the specifics of the injury.
Speaker 2: It's it's a groin injury, it was non contact. I
Speaker 2: feel like if it was severe enough to where he
Speaker 2: needed something done, we would know. But then again, we
Speaker 2: had Noah Waterman have his hand situated. I think it
Speaker 2: was it a it was his hand or as his
Speaker 2: finger that he had rods put in because he broke it,
Speaker 2: he had surgery, and yet he played through it the
Speaker 2: whole time. So again, we're not entitled to, you know,
Speaker 2: a ton of transparency when it comes to injuries really
Speaker 2: at all.
Speaker 3: But as I've said many times, when it comes to.
Speaker 2: Chucky, it's just he's so important that I'm dying to
Speaker 2: know if he's going to be if he's gonna be
Speaker 2: able to go or not. Let me see if I
Speaker 2: can pull up this. I can't seem to find it here.
Speaker 2: For those who may be interested at all in how
Speaker 2: I gather things I want to reference on the show
Speaker 2: and things I want to talk about, I always favorite,
Speaker 2: or I guess they call it like tweets, that little
Speaker 2: heart symbol on a tweet and that way.
Speaker 3: I just go.
Speaker 2: I go to my likes on my Twitter account and
Speaker 2: I just scroll through and I end up seeing a
Speaker 2: lot of things that I've saved that I can reference
Speaker 2: whenever we get to talking about him on the show.
Speaker 2: And there's one that had a breakdown of the coaches
Speaker 2: in college basketball that have the most technicals, and I
Speaker 2: can't seem to place it.
Speaker 3: Maybe it's been deleted.
Speaker 2: I'm not sure. Maybe I don't know. I don't know
Speaker 2: where it is, but which is not good timing. But
Speaker 2: no surprise that the Hurly brothers both were in first
Speaker 2: and second place when it comes to the most tech
Speaker 2: Nichols in the last five years, and the most ejections
Speaker 2: and technicals of course, has been Danny Hurley at Yukon,
Speaker 2: which probably doesn't surprise anybody. Even before he started collecting
Speaker 2: national championships, he's won.
Speaker 3: The back the last two.
Speaker 2: He was already a guy that was fiery with the refs,
Speaker 2: and this year just kind of played out where he
Speaker 2: was a little more arrogant and a little more in
Speaker 2: their face, maybe thinking he could get away with it
Speaker 2: more so than he previously could because now he's the
Speaker 2: top dog in college basketball, or maybe there's just people
Speaker 2: paying more attention to his behavior because you know, he's
Speaker 2: the top coach in the sport right now, but his
Speaker 2: brother just behind him and not nearly as successful at
Speaker 2: Arizona State. That's Bobby Hurley, And I mean the let
Speaker 2: me see if I've got it pulled up here. Yes,
Speaker 2: So Creighton. If you remember last year, the last team
Speaker 2: that beat Creighton before they went on to win a
Speaker 2: national championship was I'm sorry, the last team to beat
Speaker 2: Yukon was Creighton before Yukon went on to win their
Speaker 2: second consecutive national championship, and they got beat pretty bad
Speaker 2: in that game, meaning Yukon. So makes no it's no
Speaker 2: surprise at all to see that Creighton is going to
Speaker 2: really try to to have an insane atmosphere for this
Speaker 2: Creighton Yukon game that's coming up, because they're going to
Speaker 2: have one dollar Beer night as Dan Hurley makes his
Speaker 2: return to ol Maha, and that place is going to
Speaker 2: be absolutely jewice Creighton and and really I guess Creighton
Speaker 2: more than anything but Creighton Wichita State for a long time,
Speaker 2: and I'm sure Creighton is still there. I'm not sure
Speaker 2: about which Toss State because they had a great run
Speaker 2: obviously with Greg Marshall, and they've kind of fallen off
Speaker 2: substantially ever since then.
Speaker 3: But when you think of.
Speaker 2: The college basketball programs that average the most attendance per
Speaker 2: you know, per season, I mean, Creighton's been in like
Speaker 2: the top ten for a long time, and I would
Speaker 2: never think of it because you know, they're they're not
Speaker 2: like a random, never heard of type program. They just
Speaker 2: they're not. They're certainly not a blue blood by any means.
Speaker 2: But I would imagine Creighton will have that place juiced.
Speaker 2: And I wouldn't be shocked if Dan Hurley decides to,
Speaker 2: you know, call it a night and get himself thrown out.
Speaker 2: But yeah, last year when these two teams played to
Speaker 2: you know, to close out the well, actually it wasn't
Speaker 2: in the regular it wasn't in the regular season, but
Speaker 2: it was.
Speaker 3: A late game because the last time Yukon lost.
Speaker 2: Before they end up winning the national championship and ended
Speaker 2: up being a thirty point beat down. I'm fact, twenty
Speaker 2: nine point beat down. And that's what makes you know
Speaker 2: that's college basketball right now. Like I just as somebody
Speaker 2: who loves the sports so much, and I know that
Speaker 2: there's no more football to watch because the season's over,
Speaker 2: the Super Bowl, Super Bowl Sunday has come and gone.
Speaker 2: Like I just I want people to tune into those
Speaker 2: kind of games. Tune in tonight when you see Tennessee
Speaker 2: at Rupp Arena, because the atmosphere is going to be insane,
Speaker 2: and you just don't get that. I mean, certainly don't
Speaker 2: get that in the NBA, And I don't know the
Speaker 2: more I think about it, if college basketball was ever
Speaker 2: going to really explode and be not as popular as
Speaker 2: the NFL or even college football, Like I feel like
Speaker 2: if they were ever going to have a real big growth,
Speaker 2: then it would happen. But look, the product's better than
Speaker 2: it's ever been because the new world that has the
Speaker 2: portal and NIL you essentially have. I mean, guys are
Speaker 2: getting paid. That's I mean, we call it in IL,
Speaker 2: but really it's pay for play, and you have free
Speaker 2: agency to where you can go wherever you want and
Speaker 2: not have to sit out really as many times as
Speaker 2: you want. As it stands right now, I mean, that's
Speaker 2: led to so many guys in college basketball that are
Speaker 2: sticking around and playing for a lot longer than they
Speaker 2: typically would. You know, guys in the previous world, if
Speaker 2: they knew that their best college days are behind them,
Speaker 2: and yet they still have like two years of eligibility
Speaker 2: and they know realistically speaking, they're not going to ever
Speaker 2: be drafted, it would make sense at twenty or twenty
Speaker 2: one to bypass your last two years of eligibility to
Speaker 2: go make money because you only have a certain amount
Speaker 2: of time. You've got a window in your life where
Speaker 2: you can make I guess depends upon how good you are,
Speaker 2: but you can make a lot of money playing the game,
Speaker 2: even if it's not in the NBA. And if you
Speaker 2: stick around in college for two years extra and look,
Speaker 2: there's a value. There's value in getting your degree, there's
Speaker 2: value in the experience that you get right life experience
Speaker 2: and just you know, playing in front of college crowds
Speaker 2: like that, that's something you'll never get back. But you also,
Speaker 2: before NIL, you weren't getting paid at least not like
Speaker 2: you are now. So I mean, if you just look
Speaker 2: at like, let's look at the college basketball pre season
Speaker 2: All American teams, because.
Speaker 3: I would happen to think that a lot of these
Speaker 3: guys that, yeah.
Speaker 2: The twenty twenty four to twenty five preseason All American Team,
Speaker 2: I mean, it's got guys that would have never been
Speaker 2: in college this late in their life if they weren't
Speaker 2: getting paid.
Speaker 1: R J.
Speaker 2: Davis, Mark Sears, Ryan Kalchbrenner, Hawkbrenner. I just met her
Speaker 2: Hunter Dickinson, Kansas. He's a Grandpa, Caleb Love, Wade Taylor,
Speaker 2: Jani Broome, Cam Jones at Marquette. It's a Kai Ziggler
Speaker 2: at Tennessee. By the way, looking at this list, I
Speaker 2: don't I think preseason I would have had no issue
Speaker 2: with with this preseason All American list. But it's also
Speaker 2: a reminder that some of these guys are still playing
Speaker 2: at a high level, but man, they're not. Like r J.
Speaker 2: Davis is having a good year statistically, but his team
Speaker 2: isn't good. Hunter Dickinson in Kansas. They're good, they're gonna
Speaker 2: make the tournament, but like they're not. They're not anywhere
Speaker 2: close to being one of Bill's self's better teams. In fact,
Speaker 2: now you get now as I look at these preseason
Speaker 2: All Americans, there are there's really no way to know
Speaker 2: like what you're getting out of the portal. And I'll
Speaker 2: tie this into the addition that that Pat Kelsey's made
Speaker 2: for his team next year, which we talked about earlier.
Speaker 2: They've added a big man from from Germany. But before
Speaker 2: we get get into the specifics of that, just this
Speaker 2: is a this is an updated look at Actually no,
Speaker 2: this isn't updated. This was Let me see if I
Speaker 2: can pull it up here. I just had it in
Speaker 2: front of me. Where the hell is it? The college
Speaker 2: the College Basketball Transfer Portal Top one hundred player list.
Speaker 2: This came out right before the season started. And some
Speaker 2: of these guys have ended up being really good, and
Speaker 2: some of these guys have ended up being like, Hey,
Speaker 2: what the hell happened? They were averaging seventeen a game
Speaker 2: at their previous stop. Why are they now you know,
Speaker 2: nowhere near that? And it's just a reminder that, like,
Speaker 2: if you're a coach in the portal, these last few
Speaker 2: years have to I'm sure it was a learning experience.
Speaker 2: You've brought in players that you wish you could have
Speaker 2: had for four years, because man, they really fit what
Speaker 2: you want to do. They buy into your culture and
Speaker 2: you've enjoyed coaching them and you've had success. But then
Speaker 2: there's probably guys that you went out, you know, you
Speaker 2: used a lot of your INNI OWL money to go
Speaker 2: get a certain player, and man, it just wasn't worth
Speaker 2: the investment. That's going to continue to happen regardless. But
Speaker 2: I think guys like Pat Kelce like they had to
Speaker 2: do this in a different way before they were at Loutiver, Right,
Speaker 2: Pat Kelsey kept losing good players when he was at Charleston,
Speaker 2: because you know that's what happens to programs at that level.
Speaker 2: So moving forward, like Chucky, Hepburn, he wasn't even it
Speaker 2: was a big get for Louisville. We were really excited,
Speaker 2: but he wasn't even a top one hundred player in
Speaker 2: the portal rankings by twenty four seven Sports. Now, again
Speaker 2: that's more so than anything, them just being way wrong.
Speaker 2: But either way, Chucky is the perfect fit for Pat
Speaker 2: Kelce right, Like he's hungry, he wants to prove that
Speaker 2: he can play at a high level. He was good
Speaker 2: at Wisconsin, now he's at a better program at Louisville.
Speaker 2: And I don't mean like recently, I mean just overall.
Speaker 2: Louisll' is a bigger basketball brand than Wisconsin. And the
Speaker 2: challenge was there, right, can he put Louisville?
Speaker 3: Can he be the.
Speaker 2: Guy that helps really lead Louisville back to being a
Speaker 2: respectable program.
Speaker 3: And he's done exactly that.
Speaker 2: So you got to find guys that not only have
Speaker 2: a good stat line, but you know they're going to
Speaker 2: come in with a real hunger to to prove something
Speaker 2: to somebody. Or maybe he just prove it to themselves.
Speaker 2: Like this day and age where you can go get
Speaker 2: guys that you know, for example, Nord Shadowmere, the Miami
Speaker 2: guy who transferred to Baylor. Like he's fine, but like,
Speaker 2: how hungry was he? I mean, he's a guy who's
Speaker 2: already kind of you already went to a final four,
Speaker 2: Miami came back.
Speaker 3: They were a lousy last year.
Speaker 2: Yeah, he's a nice piece at Baylor, but like, is
Speaker 2: he gonna be a guy that really takes Baylor to
Speaker 2: a different level than they were prior to him getting there?
Speaker 2: And you know, so far that's not happening. The portal
Speaker 2: fascinates me because sometimes, man, when you look at teams
Speaker 2: that really, man, they really benefited from being able to
Speaker 2: go out and get guys in the portal. It hasn't
Speaker 2: usually been teams that you would have said that before
Speaker 2: the season started, right because guys can bring stats, they
Speaker 2: can bring production, but you already had that at times
Speaker 2: like sometimes you need somebody that's gonna gonna bring something
Speaker 2: that really isn't necessarily as noticeable from a stat line. Right,
Speaker 2: real quick, we'll get out of here and take our
Speaker 2: last break. We'll finish up by telling you about the
Speaker 2: new player for Louisville basketball for next season. I mean
Speaker 2: he'll be a freshman, but he's going to be twenty
Speaker 2: two years old, which is certainly not the norm. But
Speaker 2: we'll get to that in a lot more as we
Speaker 2: wrap it up on the other side right here on
Speaker 2: Sports Talk seven ninety.
Speaker 1: Now back to coffee and company, fueled by Thornton's on
Speaker 1: Sports Talk seven nine.
Speaker 2: Day final segment here on a Tuesday afternoon, a wet
Speaker 2: and nasty Tuesday, probably gonna stay that way into the evening,
Speaker 2: but good news is it won't be freezing, meaning like
Speaker 2: literally below freezing temperatures, so still need to be safe.
Speaker 3: But I mean if it was in the teens, that'd
Speaker 3: be a real disaster.
Speaker 2: In fact, I probably would be at home doing the show,
Speaker 2: if I'm being honest with you. So stay safe out there,
Speaker 2: and as we wrap it up, I do want our
Speaker 2: mind you once again about my friends over at the
Speaker 2: Louisville Men's Clinic. It's not just testosterone treatment that they
Speaker 2: can provide. They do a lot of things. I mean,
Speaker 2: for me, I heard a lot about them because you know,
Speaker 2: when you do good things and you help a lot
Speaker 2: of folks in the Kentuckian area, and you've been doing
Speaker 2: it for over ten years, you're gonna get a lot
Speaker 2: of buzz just from word of mouth. So I started
Speaker 2: to think, Okay, maybe I would benefit from getting my
Speaker 2: levels checked when it comes to testosterone, And sure enough,
Speaker 2: it's been a game changer. It's not an exaggeration to
Speaker 2: say that the last year of my life has been
Speaker 2: much better now that my levels are where they need
Speaker 2: to be. So that's where they've helped me. But it's
Speaker 2: not just that it could be a rectiltis function. It
Speaker 2: could be prone's disease, weight loss, therapy, hair restoration. They've
Speaker 2: got a lot of services they can help you out with.
Speaker 2: And I know when it comes to rectultus function, that's
Speaker 2: not something that you want to address. Maybe you don't
Speaker 2: want to, maybe you're in denial, but if you know,
Speaker 2: you know, and I mean, what kind of fool would
Speaker 2: you be if you don't do something about it. I mean,
Speaker 2: I'm not into name calling, but there's people that can
Speaker 2: help you with that. And there's nobody better that could
Speaker 2: help you than the louisvill Men's Clinic. They've got a
Speaker 2: variety of different options when it comes to treating ed
Speaker 2: they've got oral medications pin palle therapy pulsed. So go
Speaker 2: check them out louis Men's Clinic dot com. Give them
Speaker 2: a call BABO two four four four four thousand, and
Speaker 2: they'll they'll be happy to help you now real quick.
Speaker 2: The latest addition to Louisville's twenty twenty five recruiting class
Speaker 2: is a young man by the name of Senanda Threw,
Speaker 2: a six eleven, tw hundred and forty five pounds big
Speaker 2: man from Germany. He'll be a twenty two year old
Speaker 2: freshman next year. He's a guy who didn't start playing
Speaker 2: basketball until I guess around the time he was seventeen
Speaker 2: or eighteen years old, and now he has been developing
Speaker 2: over in Germany in one of their top professional leagues,
Speaker 2: and he has signed with Lowell. I don't know if
Speaker 2: he signed. I don't think you've Ella has announced it.
Speaker 2: But he's raw and a guy that will be very
Speaker 2: old compared to other freshmen next year at twenty two
Speaker 2: years old. But twelve points, five boards, a block and
Speaker 2: a half per game, shooting seventy five percent from the field.
Speaker 2: And I'm sorry, it looks like he's gonna have two
Speaker 2: seasons eligibility once he arrives. That's where I had it wrong.
Speaker 2: So you've got Mickel Brown Junior and Big Freu. That's
Speaker 2: what I'm that's what I'm calling him, Big Fru what
Speaker 2: I'm calling him, at least until somebody tells me not to.
Speaker 2: Six eleven, two forty five. And his last name is
Speaker 2: Frew Fru.
Speaker 3: So make sure to get your Frew shot.
Speaker 2: And then other guys that could be back. Obviously, you're
Speaker 2: gonna have a Lee Khalifa, who will be a big
Speaker 2: I mean, no pun intended. He'll be a big, a
Speaker 2: big weapon for you, a guy who can really pass it,
Speaker 2: shoot it, traditional big, but a talented player. Case In
Speaker 2: Pryor can be back if he wants to, can IRUs
Speaker 2: James Scott So looks like in the front court.
Speaker 3: Really, if you get.
Speaker 2: Guys back that you want back, I mean, Javon Hadley's
Speaker 2: going to have a yr availability if he wants so,
Speaker 2: I think your front court could be rather set. And
Speaker 2: then of course you just go out in the portal
Speaker 2: and feel as you need. All Right, we're out of here,
Speaker 2: enjoy a great night of college hoops. Back at it
Speaker 2: tomorrow right here at three o'clock, and I hope you'll
Speaker 2: join us on sports Talk seven ninety