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: I kind of feel like during that break we just
Speaker 2: kind of kept the show going. Austin and I were rolling,
Speaker 2: and I'm very happy that what was said wasn't on
Speaker 2: public airwaves because I'd probably get in trouble. But also,
Speaker 2: you know, I feel like the overall area of said
Speaker 2: conversation was real, genuine, and I know a lot of
Speaker 2: people aren't that. In fact, I'm sure nobody is really
Speaker 2: interested much at all in like my life personally or
Speaker 2: anything like that. But I do think being transparent can
Speaker 2: only benefit you because long story short, you can find
Speaker 2: anybody yapping about what we app about, you got to
Speaker 2: find a way to keep them interested in you and
Speaker 2: that kind of So what I'm getting at is, you know,
Speaker 2: I talk a lot about my family, my children, my life.
Speaker 2: And it's not because I think it's just like you
Speaker 2: guys just have to hear about me. I'm so special,
Speaker 2: I'm so great, I've got you know, But it's just
Speaker 2: to make it more relatable to people, because a lot
Speaker 2: of you listening, you know, what, you have a wife
Speaker 2: or a husband, or children, that kind of stuff. So
Speaker 2: to not sound so self absorbed, there's a lot of
Speaker 2: experience this year, experiences this year as a Louisville fan
Speaker 2: that I hadn't felt in a long time. But there's
Speaker 2: also some first time things, right, like I could not
Speaker 2: have been more lucky, blessed, fortunate, whatever word you want
Speaker 2: to use. As far as this being the first team
Speaker 2: that my son was old enough to like really follow.
Speaker 2: He could name the team, everybody on the team. He
Speaker 2: got to go to games, he got to meet some
Speaker 2: of the players, he got to meet Pat Kelsey when
Speaker 2: I threw out the first pitch of the bat, so
Speaker 2: like that's his hero. Yeah, I mean it was. It
Speaker 2: was a blessing that like just timed out by luck,
Speaker 2: I guess, or the man upstairs. So that was great
Speaker 2: and that. But but like it just hit me now,
Speaker 2: like I've my wife, she's gonna she's the one picking
Speaker 2: up moves from daycare today. And I also kind of
Speaker 2: got on her a little bit earlier, like why would
Speaker 2: you tell him that they're playing during daycare? Like why
Speaker 2: don't we just like, you know, decide how we're gonna
Speaker 2: deal with it? And he felled out a bracket, and
Speaker 2: he got excited and then he you know, he picked
Speaker 2: the cards to win it all. So his bracket's done.
Speaker 2: But she's gonna be the one that picks him up
Speaker 2: from daycare, and he's either going to already know because
Speaker 2: maybe they had some March madness stuff going on. If
Speaker 2: there's any state, any area where daycare would be infiltrated
Speaker 2: by March madness, it would be here because we love
Speaker 2: it more than anybody else. So he may already know,
Speaker 2: or she may have to be the one to tell him,
Speaker 2: and I wish it was me one because I feel
Speaker 2: sad for for for my wife to have to do that,
Speaker 2: but also as someone who knows that pain, I want
Speaker 2: to be the one to tell him it's going to
Speaker 2: be okay, and you know, hopefully, if I'm lucky, he
Speaker 2: doesn't know or he's distracted and we can have the
Speaker 2: conversation later. Yes, it sounds super dramatic. This sounds like
Speaker 2: is this guy serious? What a lunatic? Yes? I am
Speaker 2: a certified lunatic when it comes to this stuff. I
Speaker 2: got the reminder this year, really the last month or
Speaker 2: so of one, I am a little different mentally, I think,
Speaker 2: unfortunately than I was at the time Louisville was last
Speaker 2: in a position to where they were safely in the tournament,
Speaker 2: looking like they were going to be good. But you know,
Speaker 2: that's life. Life happens. But I mean, what this does
Speaker 2: to me cannot be good for me, right, I mean,
Speaker 2: I shouldn't feel the way I shouldn't have the anxiousness
Speaker 2: before today's game that I have for a game that
Speaker 2: I'm not playing in that quite literally my overall well being.
Speaker 2: You know, this won't impact my life at all other
Speaker 2: than just being a sad fan. So again, it depends
Speaker 2: on how you want to look at it. And I
Speaker 2: know there are enough of you that relate to where
Speaker 2: I don't feel as if I'm just, you know, completely
Speaker 2: opening myself up here to be viewed as the most
Speaker 2: certifiably is insane person that ever existed. But you know,
Speaker 2: I got to find a way to balance it now
Speaker 2: and to go back to what I was telling Austin,
Speaker 2: like that's a silver lining here, is that to know
Speaker 2: that I got to be, you know, the positive one
Speaker 2: to tell my son it's going to be okay. That'll
Speaker 2: make that'll be better for me than just sitting in
Speaker 2: my own toxicity in my own sadness. So as much
Speaker 2: as I sound like a dramatic lunatic and right and
Speaker 2: I am like, I'm not telling you, I'm not the
Speaker 2: show overall, but those just not joining us today. Here
Speaker 2: Coffee and Company a rare, weird postgame show where we
Speaker 2: go on for three hours right after the game ends
Speaker 2: and Louisville's the first team out of the tournament. It's
Speaker 2: really been a postgame show. It's been a celebration of life,
Speaker 2: as I've called it. As far as this team, this
Speaker 2: group that was so special, I did not think that
Speaker 2: I would feel any differently about this team if they
Speaker 2: lost in the first round of the tournament, no matter
Speaker 2: who was against, no matter what the score was, and
Speaker 2: that played out today. So my feelings are sad. I'm
Speaker 2: just sad man because it's over. It's over. And I
Speaker 2: hate that this group was a group that we only
Speaker 2: get for one year. And that's really just the new
Speaker 2: world of college We're not victims here, that's just college basketball.
Speaker 1: Now.
Speaker 2: With that said, we were a little bit different to
Speaker 2: where every single piece was brand new, and I think
Speaker 2: you're gonna get some guys back, but we also have
Speaker 2: to realize you never know I mean, this is a
Speaker 2: new world now. I mean, you never know if anybody's
Speaker 2: going to be back. So I don't say that to
Speaker 2: put fear out there that maybe some guys won't return,
Speaker 2: but the fact that it's over is a real, real
Speaker 2: gut punch. But everything that happened was still, you know,
Speaker 2: a great experience, meaning before today. And these guys, man,
Speaker 2: they brought us back to life. They had every excuse
Speaker 2: in the book to end. Like if they would have
Speaker 2: just finished, you know, flirting with an nit bit, nobody
Speaker 2: around here would have been celebrating. Certainly there would have
Speaker 2: been some real questions about Pat Kelsey that kind of stuff,
Speaker 2: like I know how we are, but it would have
Speaker 2: also been legitimately understandable, and it also would have been
Speaker 2: a massive improvement. Now again, the massive improvement thing is
Speaker 2: not even really worth bringing up, because being better than
Speaker 2: what we had previously is I mean, that's not even
Speaker 2: like a bar like, that's just I mean, that's that
Speaker 2: should they should be throwing in prison for that, or
Speaker 2: give back all the money you were paid to coach
Speaker 2: the program. So you know, it's sad, But this group, overall,
Speaker 2: I think their ability to stay focused despite injuries despite
Speaker 2: clearly some things working against them, and never really wavering,
Speaker 2: and then I just think it was the perfect storm
Speaker 2: to where they did, in fact stay locked in think
Speaker 2: big picture, didn't worry about their wins and losses on
Speaker 2: a game by game basis. They just kept trying to
Speaker 2: get better and they kind of reformed after the injuries
Speaker 2: happened to where they became a good team and they
Speaker 2: went on a great run in January and that was
Speaker 2: a fun, fun ride. And at that time, that's whenever
Speaker 2: we really started to get hit in the fields as
Speaker 2: far as like, all right, these guys are bringing us
Speaker 2: back to life. This is awesome, and they're playing hard.
Speaker 2: I don't know, we weren't thinking about tournament seating as
Speaker 2: much as we typically would because you're just happy to
Speaker 2: be alive again. And you know what they embrace that
Speaker 2: they felt, I think an appreciation to be in, you know,
Speaker 2: to be this group that did that for us, to
Speaker 2: where it was just a perfect thing as far as
Speaker 2: just this kind of like overall not even realistic, because
Speaker 2: I'm gonna say this, what Pat Kelsey and this team
Speaker 2: did this year, and I know in March and college
Speaker 2: basketball is what it's all about. So like what do
Speaker 2: they do they lost in the first round. I'm sure
Speaker 2: there's some people out there saying that, and it's whatever,
Speaker 2: Like I get it, Like that's that's that's why, that's
Speaker 2: why college basketball can be a tricky bitch pard my language.
Speaker 2: But like you can give her a phenomenal date. We're talking, oh,
Speaker 2: shopping spree, best dinner in town. I've been out of
Speaker 2: the game a long time. What would be a really
Speaker 2: nice thing to do? They just do to like carriage
Speaker 2: rides in like a down Like I'm I'm maybe I'm
Speaker 2: realizing how how non romantic I am. But like, you
Speaker 2: can you can, yeah, you can, you can. You can
Speaker 2: go above and beyond and in an amazing way exceed expectations.
Speaker 2: But if you're not delivering at the end, that's going
Speaker 2: to be the lasting impression. Right, So that's what college
Speaker 2: basketball is. So you know, you live with it. But
Speaker 2: this is the rarity for me to where today's ending
Speaker 2: in March, as painful as it was, it does not
Speaker 2: change anything as far as how I feel about this team.
Speaker 2: And again, I'm just sad that it's over. So back
Speaker 2: to what I was saying, I know you can flip
Speaker 2: a team instantly, and there have been teams that had
Speaker 2: worst records that made deeper tournament runs. But I really
Speaker 2: if you asked me ten months ago, maybe eight months ago,
Speaker 2: once the roster was completely set, if what Louisville did
Speaker 2: this year, every way, every step of it, like you
Speaker 2: told me who they beat, who they lost to, what
Speaker 2: seed they got, who they lost to in the tournament,
Speaker 2: if you would have told me, in fact, if you
Speaker 2: would have asked me, would you take it no question?
Speaker 2: If you would have asked me if it's realistic, I
Speaker 2: would say hell no. And I know I can't rattle
Speaker 2: off like can you believe they beat this team that team?
Speaker 2: But it was a combination of a lot of things.
Speaker 2: They were always competitive, seemingly and that's why today happened.
Speaker 2: They had a run go against them that they hadn't
Speaker 2: had all year that most teams, in fact, nearly all teams,
Speaker 2: I believe, would have probably found themselves in a hole
Speaker 2: too big to climb out of against a Creighton team
Speaker 2: like that. So all in all, if I wanted to
Speaker 2: be down about like where Louisville basketball is, I don't
Speaker 2: think I could be, because it just would be me
Speaker 2: having to convince myself of something that I can't. I
Speaker 2: can't manufacture that kind of feeling. So no disappointment. I mean,
Speaker 2: I'm disappointed in a result, but I'm not disappointed in
Speaker 2: its team, this staff. I'm just sad. That's what it
Speaker 2: comes down to, all right again, Coffee and company. Feel
Speaker 2: about Thornton's here on Sports Talk seven ninety. We'll get
Speaker 2: back into you know what happened today, but just to
Speaker 2: get you updated. We've got a lot going on. Of course,
Speaker 2: these are the best two days of the year, but man,
Speaker 2: when you lose early, it sucks. And being the first
Speaker 2: team out I didn't need a reminder, but we got
Speaker 2: one today. That not a word, not much of a
Speaker 2: worse way to go out than being the first team eliminated. Right,
Speaker 2: You get on the dance floor before the party gets going, right,
Speaker 2: Like the early people are on the dance floor, are
Speaker 2: out there trying like they got they got nothing else
Speaker 2: to offer, They're just good dancers, so they're they're out.
Speaker 2: They're out there early before the vibes are been there
Speaker 2: because that's all they got in their bag. Like, Hey,
Speaker 2: I'm not social, maybe you know, maybe I'm maybe I'm
Speaker 2: you know, not good in any way, but I can move.
Speaker 2: I got rhythm. So you're out there trying to force it. Well,
Speaker 2: then you know, once the party gets going, you got
Speaker 2: to leave the dance floor because you you know you're done.
Speaker 2: That's what happened today and it sucks, it really does.
Speaker 2: But anyways, today currently Auburn just wrapped up there their victory,
Speaker 2: but they didn't cover and at times they they were
Speaker 2: never in jeopardy of losing. But eighty three sixty three
Speaker 2: they beat Alabama State. There wasn't ever going to be
Speaker 2: a sixteen one upset there, but they did trail by
Speaker 2: I'm sorry, they only led by single digits for some
Speaker 2: time in the second half, which again, make of that
Speaker 2: what you will. They may still win the national championship,
Speaker 2: I don't know, but Alabama State did have them at
Speaker 2: least a little bit uncomfortable early on and then an
Speaker 2: ass whooping is going on right now, although Clemson is
Speaker 2: at least battling back, but it's a little too late,
Speaker 2: I would imagine, although they aren't only down let's see seventeen.
Speaker 2: Now it's thirty four to fifty one. Clemson's trailing McNee State,
Speaker 2: which I said this earlier, that doesn't prove anything about Louisville,
Speaker 2: but it also kind of confirms what I believe that
Speaker 2: if the committee was going to again the committee puting
Speaker 2: Louisville as an eight in Clemson as a five, that's
Speaker 2: the overall issue with the whole thing. But I watched
Speaker 2: Clemson and they won. Didn't have the resume deserving of
Speaker 2: a five if Louisville had an eight, But they also
Speaker 2: never passed the eye test, and they're you know, Louisville.
Speaker 2: Even when they were beaten bad teams, you could understand
Speaker 2: what people thought, like, damn, this team's really Like there
Speaker 2: were national objective people that like would see Louisville win
Speaker 2: by thirty against SMU or whatever, or be up forty
Speaker 2: against wake Forest and know that the teams they're playing
Speaker 2: aren't great, but damn, this team's dangerous. Like I had,
Speaker 2: I think I had a wherewithal to kind of understand
Speaker 2: that a clear factor in that is also who they're playing.
Speaker 2: And you know that's the the ACC was bad this year.
Speaker 2: Doesn't mean Louisville was bad. But again I can't we
Speaker 2: can't prove that we were much better than the teams
Speaker 2: that are, you know, clearly not having success here in
Speaker 2: the tournament, and Louisville was one of them, and now
Speaker 2: Clemson is h b CU and BYU were at the half,
Speaker 2: BYU's up thirty nine to twenty eight. I would imagine
Speaker 2: that thirty nine first half points is probably the most
Speaker 2: that that DCU is given up to a team in
Speaker 2: the first half, maybe maybe all year. There were I
Speaker 2: mean they want to send back, Yeah I do. I
Speaker 2: do too, and BYU at times can be the most
Speaker 2: explode offense you'll see in college basketball. That's why they
Speaker 2: went on a run to close up Big twelve play
Speaker 2: to even get in at the seed they got in
Speaker 2: at exciting.
Speaker 3: Whites Isle.
Speaker 2: Very well said Houston won seventy eight to forty against
Speaker 2: SIU Edwardsville.
Speaker 3: That's good.
Speaker 2: And then Purdue they won. But I did not see
Speaker 2: the actual final of that one.
Speaker 3: Are they covered they think it was? It may have
Speaker 3: been like sixty nine to fifty eight.
Speaker 2: I had them covering just because I felt like the
Speaker 2: spread in that game only made sense because you know, Purdue,
Speaker 2: other than last year, has sucked in the turnament, right,
Speaker 2: because other than that, it didn't make any sense, Like
Speaker 2: you're only viewing and that also reminds me why you know,
Speaker 2: the trend stats are so often shared, and maybe people
Speaker 2: have made a lot more money than I ever will
Speaker 2: when it comes to betting on games. But I don't
Speaker 2: know why you look at what a seed has done
Speaker 2: historically in the previous ten to fifteen years whenever it's
Speaker 2: a every year it's a different team, right, and every
Speaker 2: year there's a like every year the five Seeds may
Speaker 2: not be as good or bad as the five seeds
Speaker 2: in previous years. Like I again, the numbers are what
Speaker 2: they are. Clearly there's a trend there, and if you
Speaker 2: just follow that, you've made money. But the rationale behind
Speaker 2: why that was what you would what you would bet,
Speaker 2: That's never made any sense to me. But you know what,
Speaker 2: it's all luck. That's what sports gambling is. And hopefully
Speaker 2: I can be lucky the rest of the way because
Speaker 2: I won't, you know, I won't have a team to
Speaker 2: really pull for. I guess now it's just about who
Speaker 2: who can beat Kentucky, and I don't think it's gonna
Speaker 2: be Troy. But also, you know, yeah, like who does
Speaker 2: who does Illinois have to play?
Speaker 1: Now?
Speaker 3: Is it?
Speaker 2: Is it Xavier?
Speaker 3: Yes? Yeah?
Speaker 2: So would you agree we need Illinois to bet Xavier
Speaker 2: to take out Kentucky. I think so, yeah, Like, I mean,
Speaker 2: maybe Xavier could do it, clearly, you know, well they're.
Speaker 3: Very well coached too.
Speaker 2: Yeah, but bett, I felt like last night was a
Speaker 2: sign of Sean Miller being a really good coach more
Speaker 2: so than them being like a team. Like I think
Speaker 2: clearly the best player on the floor was the freshman
Speaker 2: for Texas. But other than that, like I I you know,
Speaker 2: but then again, like Mark Pope at times has lost
Speaker 2: to teams that I would be like, how'd you lose
Speaker 2: to them? Like you got you're not even loaded, but
Speaker 2: you got better players than them, and then they beat
Speaker 2: teams where I'm thinking, how the hell that happen? So,
Speaker 2: you know, them them not surviving the second weekend would
Speaker 2: would really would really make this not hurt as bad, right,
Speaker 2: Like people can act like that, Oh you're you're you're
Speaker 2: a loser, you're team longer than ain't. Yes, that's how
Speaker 2: this works. Welcome to rivalries, Welcome to you know what,
Speaker 2: nearly every other I mean I shouldn't say every because
Speaker 2: clearly there's not. But like, I don't know, that's always
Speaker 2: been my biggest question when it comes to the rivalry stuff.
Speaker 2: Because we all know and it's really undoubted. It's undoubtable
Speaker 2: that you pay attention to your rival, which again kind
Speaker 2: of means their your rival. You care about them more
Speaker 2: than others, and that's why they're your rival, of course,
Speaker 2: So like this notion of like, well, I don't even
Speaker 2: know why we play them, I don't care, Like with
Speaker 2: all due respect, no offense. Isn't that what you say
Speaker 2: when you're about to insult somebody with all due respect,
Speaker 2: with all due respect, no offense, you're a loser? Like
Speaker 2: what are you talking about? Like that's a I mean again,
Speaker 2: some people clearly don't have that feeling, and that's just
Speaker 2: you know, that's how they're wired. But those that are
Speaker 2: like lunatics about it and then actually do obsess over
Speaker 2: it but have a really bad ability of hiding that
Speaker 2: they are paying attention, Like those are the people that
Speaker 2: don't understand, Like we can rivel about anything, we've done
Speaker 2: it around here, but why we choose to live why
Speaker 2: some choose to live in a world of delusion that
Speaker 2: you don't care about the other team and that it's
Speaker 2: just rent free over there, Like what are you talking about?
Speaker 2: And if we didn't have enough fans on both sides
Speaker 2: that are constantly consuming what's going on with the other
Speaker 2: team and praying on their downfall. Then we wouldn't have
Speaker 2: one of the most passionate rivalries in sports. And let's
Speaker 2: be honest, they pop shape pain bottles to start the
Speaker 2: tournament because we lost, like even that, even like the
Speaker 2: even even the fans that I do believe are genuine
Speaker 2: because I think, honestly, this was probably with everything that
Speaker 2: played out, how everything played out, this might have been
Speaker 2: the hardest Louisville team for Kentucky to hate. You don't
Speaker 2: have to like them, right, you have to cheer for him.
Speaker 2: You're not going to and if you did, I would
Speaker 2: tell you to stop because it's not allowed. It's not
Speaker 2: it's not you know, it's not. It's not it's not
Speaker 2: what we should do. So you know, I'm not saying
Speaker 2: anybody like liked him, but there they were hard groups
Speaker 2: to dislike because they're you know, just how they carried themselves.
Speaker 2: And you know, Pat Kelsey's a hard guy to dislike.
Speaker 2: I mean, you guys may think differently now because maybe
Speaker 2: now you have a technical foul to like use uh
Speaker 2: to you know, claim that he's you know this or that,
Speaker 2: but I mean, it was understandable. But despite all that,
Speaker 2: even those that were genuinely saying that they did in
Speaker 2: fact have a soft spot for this Louisville group, they
Speaker 2: still like, we're celebrating and got a joy in today's loss.
Speaker 2: And I'm not saying every fan, but like, if you know,
Speaker 2: you know, like some people may be listening and feel like,
Speaker 2: I'm gonna change the station. He's talking about me. He
Speaker 2: may be right, I may be obsessed with the rival.
Speaker 2: Don't change the station. Don't panic. It's okay. That's how
Speaker 2: it's supposed to be now, you know, being an awful
Speaker 2: human being to somebody because of the other side of it.
Speaker 2: That's different. But it's normal. And the next I mean,
Speaker 2: the best feeling I'm gonna have the rest of this
Speaker 2: tournament is not winning any bet. I may hit big,
Speaker 2: kind of hit big last night. Maybe I'm insecure enough
Speaker 2: with the loss to Lord. I'm talking about winning bets
Speaker 2: because I'm so insecure about my team losing today. But
Speaker 2: I'm just saying, like, there's no feeling that's gonna give
Speaker 2: me the joy that I'll have when Kentucky loses, if
Speaker 2: they lose whenever that may be I mean not winning
Speaker 2: the national championship, right, I mean, surely that wouldn't hap, right,
Speaker 2: were we also like were we also kind of lucky
Speaker 2: when it comes to the last few years because Louisville
Speaker 2: was awful the last couple of seasons, right, eight wins,
Speaker 2: four wins, and then the year before that when it
Speaker 2: fell apart with mac they were also terrible, but just
Speaker 2: not even a level of terrible as they were the
Speaker 2: next two seasons. But in those years, Kentucky lost to
Speaker 2: the two seedy, to to Saint Saint Something St. Peter's,
Speaker 2: and then they also lost to Kansas State in a
Speaker 2: game that like was kind of a reminder you aren't
Speaker 2: what you were anymore. And then last year is a
Speaker 2: three seed they lost to Oakland. So with how insane
Speaker 2: we are about March, right or wrong, good or bad,
Speaker 2: it's just how it is.
Speaker 3: That's helped alleviate a lot of it.
Speaker 2: Yes, it's like this year, it's like a it's like
Speaker 2: a tax refund, is it not? So you go through
Speaker 2: a bull crap year of hating your job, hating your wage,
Speaker 2: but you know, you know, at least you know, maybe
Speaker 2: not anymore because the economy sucks. But like Uncle Sam
Speaker 2: may get you know that tax breaks, Like, all right,
Speaker 2: life isn't so bad. He's that a little song? Yeah,
Speaker 2: here does it make you feel good for a week? Yeah?
Speaker 2: And that's and that's what Now we'll say their losses
Speaker 2: in those instances didn't feel as good because we sucked,
Speaker 2: but it still felt good, right, you know what I'm saying,
Speaker 2: Like had we been good and they had those losses,
Speaker 2: I mean we're talking erotic, but the fact that we
Speaker 2: were so bad and then they were actually good, really good,
Speaker 2: and then had that happen.
Speaker 3: They were just at the center of public shame when
Speaker 3: we're talking about these exciting two days in the first half.
Speaker 2: So like, if they end up going to like the
Speaker 2: Elite eight in losing, that'll be a great season for
Speaker 2: Mark Pope to start it off. I really do believe that.
Speaker 2: But also like that won't hurt like that won't that
Speaker 2: won't be as big of a thing that you're like
Speaker 2: bothered by because you know, we weren't awful this year.
Speaker 2: Although you know it's go whoever, like go Troy, go
Speaker 2: Illinoiser's avior, go Tennessee. Who would be there? One?
Speaker 3: Is it?
Speaker 2: Houston thinks? So I think so so Anyways, let's take
Speaker 2: a break, welcome back. Continue. Whatever you want to call this,
Speaker 2: I mean it is it is Coffee and Company. Feel
Speaker 2: about Thornton's, but you know, we've been a little bit
Speaker 2: different today, as you could expect. Best one of the
Speaker 2: best two days of the year in sports. However, what
Speaker 2: makes it awesome, ye know, what makes it awesome is
Speaker 2: how much you care and how special it is. And
Speaker 2: whenever it's over for you, it's it's pain. It's pain,
Speaker 2: all right, stick around right here on 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: One thing you guys can't do is accuse me of
Speaker 2: hiding what this this does to me? And I just
Speaker 2: with this song playing, what would you call this like
Speaker 2: nineties like grunge rock? Is that like I.
Speaker 3: Would call it like post grunge rock?
Speaker 2: Yeah?
Speaker 3: Start I blind?
Speaker 2: Yeah, Yeah. So songs like that that aren't like I mean,
Speaker 2: they're they're they're kind of sad, but not right like
Speaker 2: they're just kind of like, I don't know how to
Speaker 2: describe it. I'm terrible when it comes to music.
Speaker 3: Stuff's uplifting sad songs.
Speaker 2: Yeah, that actually puts me in my feels more than
Speaker 2: a song that's quite literally like believed to be a
Speaker 2: tear jerker, if that makes sense. Sure, I mean, I
Speaker 2: guess more than anything, I guess it just seems a
Speaker 2: little bit more relatable.
Speaker 3: It's like a deep reflection type of thing.
Speaker 2: Yeah, exactly well said, And uh, today's a sad day.
Speaker 2: But I can take satisfaction as a fan knowing that
Speaker 2: I got as a fan a really not only a
Speaker 2: fun year and a year that was way better than
Speaker 2: anything we've had in a long time. But I think
Speaker 2: I learned this year that guys, you know, you want
Speaker 2: to win, you want to be successful. If these guys
Speaker 2: were the same exactly all year but they didn't win,
Speaker 2: I think we wouldn't be a holes to them, but
Speaker 2: like we wouldn't have had the joy. Winning is ultimately
Speaker 2: what matters, and I would never try to act like
Speaker 2: that's not the case. But when you have a that
Speaker 2: is winning at a much higher rate than you've won
Speaker 2: in a long time, and you can sense that they
Speaker 2: do have an appreciation for where they are and really
Speaker 2: what they're doing for this fan base, I mean that
Speaker 2: that's I don't really know if because because now next year,
Speaker 2: if we're in the same position. I mean, I don't
Speaker 2: think people are going to be losing their minds, but
Speaker 2: that won't be the same level in any way as
Speaker 2: far as what you get from it, right because we're
Speaker 2: now backed And I'm not like ramping up pressure for
Speaker 2: Pat Kelsey. Hey, nice year, but you know now you
Speaker 2: got to do way better. I mean, we'd like for
Speaker 2: that to happen. But they went eighteen and two in
Speaker 2: the ACC, and if they go eighteen and two in
Speaker 2: the ACC next year, they could be a lot better.
Speaker 2: But I would say if they're eighteen and two in
Speaker 2: the ACC next year, it's just another sign that your
Speaker 2: league sucks. And that's something I don't You can't control it,
Speaker 2: but man, like, that's a that's a weird That's one
Speaker 2: of the first time feelings that I had this year.
Speaker 2: You're safely in the tournament at least we thought, and
Speaker 2: you're rolling through your league and you have no opportunity
Speaker 2: to build up your resume and lead play and only
Speaker 2: i'll oportunities to fall. And even if you win, if
Speaker 2: you didn't win by as much as you know, maybe
Speaker 2: you're expected to win. When it comes to the spread
Speaker 2: or the kin pomp projection. Then you fall like that's
Speaker 2: just that I hate that, Like that's not something I've
Speaker 2: ever dealt with as a LOISLL fan, when Louis of
Speaker 2: when Lowiell has ever been decent. We never have to
Speaker 2: worry about who we play in conference play being good
Speaker 2: enough to you know, mean something. I guess technically in
Speaker 2: Conference usay it was the case, but in that you know,
Speaker 2: in my lifetime as a fan early on, Denny played
Speaker 2: a loaded non conference schedule. Also, there were some really
Speaker 2: good teams at times in Conference USA, like Marquette and
Speaker 2: Cincinnati and even Memphis at times. So you know, this
Speaker 2: was just an unusual year when it comes to that.
Speaker 2: But I I I'm sad it's over. That's just what
Speaker 2: I what I want to you know, not that I
Speaker 2: haven't said it a billion times today, but for those
Speaker 2: of you that did not get a chance to uh
Speaker 2: to hear this earlier. This is Terrence Edwards after the game,
Speaker 2: and he was asked sort of about this team this season,
Speaker 2: and that is that's the downfall of this is that
Speaker 2: we only got it one year. Right, A lot of
Speaker 2: these guys, we're really taking advantage of an extra year
Speaker 2: of eligibility due to a pandemic that happens once, you know,
Speaker 2: global pandemic, which happens once every one hundred years. So
Speaker 2: it kind of was the perfect storm. But as corny
Speaker 2: as this is going to sound, I feel better about
Speaker 2: everything knowing that this is the way Terrence Edwards views
Speaker 2: his experience at Louisville, even though it came to an
Speaker 2: end today and I wish they were still playing like
Speaker 2: it confirms what I hoped would happen, meaning that when
Speaker 2: we got here and it was all over, that I
Speaker 2: would still be able to appreciate and and you know,
Speaker 2: value what this experience was with this team. And I
Speaker 2: think Terrence what he says about, you know, the whole
Speaker 2: group as far as how they came together and really
Speaker 2: handled the entire season like this just confirms that, you know,
Speaker 2: despite it coming to an end today, and clearly there's
Speaker 2: some criticism that's worthy because of what happened today and
Speaker 2: nobody's perfect, but I'll always love this group.
Speaker 4: I can say this season is remembered for all the
Speaker 4: games combined, from from the beginning, the adversity we faced
Speaker 4: early in the year with the losses and some of
Speaker 4: my key players go down and in the year, and
Speaker 4: and this team just rallied together and never had an
Speaker 4: excuse of anything. We went to practice, it was no
Speaker 4: excuse and it was the next man up mentality. I've
Speaker 4: never been a part of nothing like that. And and
Speaker 4: I'm walking away from this with a good attitude and
Speaker 4: the things that Coach p K brought to me in
Speaker 4: my life, and I think it's gonna help me be
Speaker 4: a better father and and moving forward, I know I'm
Speaker 4: fine going into this pro thing because all the adversity
Speaker 4: I faced this year and and my life just gonna
Speaker 4: make me better.
Speaker 2: So what what got me to think to play that
Speaker 2: again for our new audience in the five o'clock hour
Speaker 2: was somebody who texted in that said seeing the group
Speaker 2: around Rain Smith as well as Coach Kelsey on the
Speaker 2: floor with him, I mean, like it just like win
Speaker 2: or lose, Like this team was just a very easy
Speaker 2: group to kind of just really fall for as a
Speaker 2: fan and and and be able to kind of, you know,
Speaker 2: deal with some shortfalls here and there and clearly deal
Speaker 2: with some losses like we had today. And uh, it
Speaker 2: was tough to see Rain be helped off the floor.
Speaker 2: What really got me was he was telling his teammates
Speaker 2: that were helping him get off the floor to cover
Speaker 2: his face with a towel because he didn't want there
Speaker 2: to be He did not want the visual. And I
Speaker 2: had never really thought about it that way, but as
Speaker 2: as an emotional human being and a competitor, if I
Speaker 2: had the mind, if I if I thought of it,
Speaker 2: I would have done the same thing, because I don't
Speaker 2: want to be a March Madness meme gif visual overall
Speaker 2: for decades to come, because of what I felt in
Speaker 2: that moment, like in a way like it is, it
Speaker 2: is what it is like, you know, I'm sure it's
Speaker 2: not like a traumatic experience, but I bet when Rain
Speaker 2: was being helped up the floor, it all came crashing down.
Speaker 2: He knew he couldn't play again, he knew they weren't
Speaker 2: going to win, and it was probably an emotional thing.
Speaker 2: So he's probably visually, you know, meaning his face in
Speaker 2: a moment of you know, I wouldn't say tragedy, but
Speaker 2: just clearly like that's a heavy thing and it's gonna
Speaker 2: lead you to be emotional. And had he been the
Speaker 2: crying guy, right like, had he been just weeping and
Speaker 2: you know, clearly not being able to control his emotions.
Speaker 2: I think a lot of humans, because you know, it's
Speaker 2: the human instinct, they would have sympathy for him, but
Speaker 2: he doesn't want back to be like part of like, oh,
Speaker 2: you're the guy that they played for forty years on
Speaker 2: the March Madness n CAA tournament promo montages, because you
Speaker 2: cried like, you don't want that right, like, even if
Speaker 2: it would be a sympathetic thing, even if it did
Speaker 2: give you like some you know, some you know, five
Speaker 2: seconds of fame or whatever. And that kind of hit
Speaker 2: me because I knew that moment they probably weren't going
Speaker 2: to win, and to see those guys out there with him,
Speaker 2: it was it was tough, and I felt like yesterday
Speaker 2: I was convincing myself with what I saw that he
Speaker 2: was he's perfectly fine. But I think what it came
Speaker 2: down to is I think there was a a level
Speaker 2: of not like intent from him to you know, to uh,
Speaker 2: to like disguise his injury. But he really was. I
Speaker 2: mean he was he was bouncing around but not really
Speaker 2: doing anything full speed out to be fair, they didn't
Speaker 2: really do anything full speed at the open practice, but
Speaker 2: they did practice and have a real intense competitive practice
Speaker 2: apparently electioning and Catholic. Yesterday there wasn't open, of course
Speaker 2: to the public, and this morning I found out he
Speaker 2: didn't sounds like he didn't participate in that, and that
Speaker 2: that that, you know, we didn't know that for good reason.
Speaker 2: They're not going to tell people that, but that that
Speaker 2: kind of tells you that he gave it a go today.
Speaker 2: And it really came down to pain tolerance and the
Speaker 2: vulnerability of injuring it again. And that's not something that
Speaker 2: I believe you can just you know automatically, no, like
Speaker 2: it's just a risk, and he took the risk, and
Speaker 2: today he wasn't himself. And then I couldn't mean when
Speaker 2: he got hurt again, like I don't mean, it was
Speaker 2: probably to where he was. He was probably and this
Speaker 2: is what I hope, And it didn't seem too serious
Speaker 2: after the game, like he you know, he came back
Speaker 2: on the bench. But at times, when you have that
Speaker 2: kind of an injury, you can really put way too
Speaker 2: much strain on other parts of your lower body because
Speaker 2: you're just you become so used to try having to
Speaker 2: account for the ankle. But yeah, rain rain, Losing today
Speaker 2: made me rain kind of losing it today at the end.
Speaker 2: That was actually honestly, early on it didn't feel good.
Speaker 2: But the rain injury, even the Louisville in fact, I
Speaker 2: think did actually get it down to like thirteen or
Speaker 2: something at that time or right around there. But that
Speaker 2: kind of felt like the moment. But here is Terrence
Speaker 2: Edwards talking about Rain and him putting it all on
Speaker 2: the line for this team.
Speaker 3: Our hearts goes out to Rain.
Speaker 4: We already knew he wasn't one hundred percent, but what
Speaker 4: he did today is something I remember forever. He put
Speaker 4: his he sacrificed his body, put his body on the
Speaker 4: line tonight for us so we can come to try
Speaker 4: to come out with the wind. And you know how
Speaker 4: much we needed him. On his roommate in the hotel,
Speaker 4: I see how much he's grinding and treatment and trying
Speaker 4: to get one hundred percent. He never not once told
Speaker 4: me that he wasn't okay. I always asked him, like,
Speaker 4: you good, You sure you're good, And he just always
Speaker 4: responded to above the line and always told me even
Speaker 4: though I knew he was hurting. But yeah, I'm just
Speaker 4: so proud of him, and and he'll get back right
Speaker 4: for sure, And yeah, what he did for us today
Speaker 4: is something that will go a long way outside of basketball.
Speaker 3: Our hearts goes out.
Speaker 2: How can you not love this group?
Speaker 3: Man? I mean.
Speaker 2: Talk about different experiences. That's sadder than any sad music
Speaker 2: that I know. I mean, I I mean, I don't
Speaker 2: remember a team that was so damn near impossible to
Speaker 2: like be genuine because I just again, if you wanted
Speaker 2: to make the claim that hey it was it was
Speaker 2: kind of fool's goal, they really weren't that good whatever,
Speaker 2: Like if you believe that we'll never know for sure,
Speaker 2: you can believe that, I can disagree, and we can
Speaker 2: just live in our own worlds when it comes to
Speaker 2: that that that conversation, however, I mean, I don't know
Speaker 2: how anybody could argue that, Like we didn't get nearly
Speaker 2: every ounce that we could get out of everything this
Speaker 2: team had when it comes to the guys that were
Speaker 2: healthy and able to play, but we didn't really you know,
Speaker 2: the injuries were clearly an issue, but I kind of
Speaker 2: feel like, you know Pat Kelsey's overall way of going
Speaker 2: about it, it was infectious for the team clearly to
Speaker 2: where they never like they were never gonna play victim,
Speaker 2: never gonna use an excuse, and you need a leader
Speaker 2: like that to to to be consistent in all aspects
Speaker 2: of making that never like it would have been so easy,
Speaker 2: it would have actually been really natural to let it
Speaker 2: creep in that Man, we're kind of we're kind of
Speaker 2: snake bitten, like we just we can't catch a break.
Speaker 2: But they never did that. And I think that's way
Speaker 2: harder than people realize. And it is one of the
Speaker 2: many reasons why I still think old basketball is is
Speaker 2: is gonna be just fine. Now, well we get back
Speaker 2: to final fours in championships, who knows. I mean, that's
Speaker 2: not easy to do. And speaking of this tricky, tricky
Speaker 2: thing that is college basketball, you know, often the best
Speaker 2: team does win. Like I don't believe those who say, well, oh,
Speaker 2: the tournaments were random, No, not really. National champions aren't random.
Speaker 2: The most random national champion in my lifetime is easily
Speaker 2: that Yukon team. But you know what, they're also Yukon
Speaker 2: and they have more championships than any team in my lifetime.
Speaker 2: So yeah, there's random runs in the tournament, but like
Speaker 2: winning at all is not random. But overall, the sixty
Speaker 2: eight team field makes it to where when it gets competitive.
Speaker 2: With this many teams still alive, you can get beat
Speaker 2: and it is not a big surprise. And again, I
Speaker 2: believe that's one of the many things that makes college
Speaker 2: basketball special and different to where you do have like
Speaker 2: the you know, when you have like those who love
Speaker 2: but the most I would imagine have had the heartbreak
Speaker 2: of knowing we shouldn't have lost that game what happened
Speaker 2: and knowing that you know, we were the best team.
Speaker 2: We proved it, but when it mattered, we fell short
Speaker 2: like that. That's a pain that sucks. But then whenever
Speaker 2: you do go on that ride and you realize even
Speaker 2: if you were the best team and you were able
Speaker 2: to get like in twenty thirteen, Loiville was the best
Speaker 2: team in one and all, in twenty twelve, Kentucky was
Speaker 2: the best team in one and all, that's actually harder
Speaker 2: to do than people realize. It's weird because you're like,
Speaker 2: congratulations for being the team that won it where the
Speaker 2: committee claimed that you were the best team in the field.
Speaker 2: Again the tournament, you know, it makes it. It makes
Speaker 2: it to where the opportunity for you to slip up
Speaker 2: and not pull through is is there. I mean, think
Speaker 2: about this, if college basketball operated with the same level
Speaker 2: of like you know, like they if they had in
Speaker 2: college basketball is so different because the's there's three hundred
Speaker 2: and something Division one team, So that's what makes it.
Speaker 2: It's really there's not a comparison. And I'm just saying,
Speaker 2: like a lot of teams who beat good teams or
Speaker 2: teams that become Cinderella, and really any other level of sports,
Speaker 2: in any other any other sport, no matter the level,
Speaker 2: they wouldn't even be there to do it. But there's
Speaker 2: so many that get to dance. I do love the
Speaker 2: fact that we've got people calling in that like think
Speaker 2: that they would be able to get on the air
Speaker 2: today kind of gee, I mean, like on what planet
Speaker 2: would I do that? Anyways, we got to get to
Speaker 2: a quick break. I'm also distracted. Sorry Clemson has clawed back.
Speaker 2: They what Clemson was just down three with ten seconds left.
Speaker 2: They fouled McNeese State. McNeese State just made one free throw,
Speaker 2: so they still have a very very long shot of winning.
Speaker 2: But I must have missed a complete meltdown from McNeice
Speaker 2: because again it's now seven, it's now sixty nine to
Speaker 2: sixty five with ten seconds left. Wow, And I'm seeing
Speaker 2: let's see what happens in this play. Do they get
Speaker 2: the three? Now they missed it. It's over, I mean
Speaker 2: not technically, but it will be all right, quick break.
Speaker 2: We'll come back on the other side right here in
Speaker 2: Sports Talk seven.
Speaker 1: Ninety now back to coffee and Company, fueled by Thornton's
Speaker 1: on Sports Talk seven nine day.
Speaker 2: So we've got two games currently underway, VCU BYU as
Speaker 2: BYU sixty four to fifty two is the lead, so
Speaker 2: VCU making it a little more competitive, but obviously BYU
Speaker 2: hit a run there that that I feel like this
Speaker 2: this VCU team offensively just doesn't They don't play in
Speaker 2: a way and they don't have the ability to really
Speaker 2: climb out of a big hole. They want to ugly
Speaker 2: it up, slow it down, and they did it early,
Speaker 2: and then of course BYU got hot, and that's how
Speaker 2: she wrote Gonzaga still kicking the crap out of Georgia
Speaker 2: at half forty eight twenty seven as the score. But
Speaker 2: it was early that game. I mean, was it twenty
Speaker 2: seven to three or thirty one to three twenty yeah,
Speaker 2: I mean it was absolute, I mean it was bad.
Speaker 2: So Gonzaga off to a good start the next game
Speaker 2: that'll tip will be Wafford in Tennessee six point fifty
Speaker 2: and then Arkansas Kansas at seven to ten, Yale in Texas,
Speaker 2: A and m at seven twenty five, Drake and Missouri
Speaker 2: shortly after that, and then the late night games Utahs State,
Speaker 2: UCLA and Omaha and Saint John's will play at nine
Speaker 2: to forty five. The last two games of the night
Speaker 2: will start right at ten, one at ten ten, one
Speaker 2: at ten o'clock, UC San Diego in Michigan at ten PM,
Speaker 2: and then at ten ten it'll be Texas Tech and Wilmington.
Speaker 2: So a lot a lot more basketball to consume here
Speaker 2: before it's all over meeting the NAA Tournament. And another
Speaker 2: thing that I will say, I guess I'm thankful for
Speaker 2: is that I have at least had the ability to
Speaker 2: enjoy the tournament without a team, and unfortunately I had
Speaker 2: to experience that in the last few years, and that's
Speaker 2: made it, you know, at least now I now can
Speaker 2: can get into it and enjoy it and not think
Speaker 2: about my team. And honestly, today, the way it played out,
Speaker 2: I don't really feel like I'm gonna have those moments
Speaker 2: where I'm like, man, if only we got this seed
Speaker 2: and played that team. I mean, certainly you could say,
Speaker 2: I mean, you could certainly make the case that having
Speaker 2: to play Creighton as a nine seed when you're an
Speaker 2: eight seed is not what I mean. And by the way,
Speaker 2: clearly it wasn't what anybody predicted other than mean, the
Speaker 2: committee just did it and nobody else would have saw
Speaker 2: it coming. So nonetheless, I just think knowing that this
Speaker 2: team really just ran out of gas and it was
Speaker 2: probably to be expected, and I think at times it
Speaker 2: might have been a little more visible than people realized.
Speaker 2: They were still winning, but they just I think they
Speaker 2: hit a wall. I mean, they were always thin. They
Speaker 2: got guys playing thirty five plus minutes, and you know today,
Speaker 2: I think that was somewhat of a factor because it
Speaker 2: was a lingering factor throughout.
Speaker 3: The end of the year.
Speaker 2: But postgame shows for and this really is I mean
Speaker 2: this is but it's not a postgame show, right, You
Speaker 2: usually don't spend a ton of time necessarily discussing what
Speaker 2: led to the result because it's over. You talk about
Speaker 2: the future. But with today, I mean, I just think
Speaker 2: Creighton was able to not step on their own you know,
Speaker 2: not get in their own way. They ended up not
Speaker 2: making mistakes and putting themselves in a spot to where
Speaker 2: they're vulnerable, and Louisville didn't take advantage of their vulnerabilities,
Speaker 2: and they were just better. I mean, that's what it
Speaker 2: comes down to. And they made some shots late that
Speaker 2: were really tough that you just don't see often. But
Speaker 2: before that, they were making shots at a rate that
Speaker 2: you don't often see. But they were also good looks.
Speaker 2: And Louisville just dug himself a hole. That nineteen to
Speaker 2: four run or nineteen to two run, whatever it was,
Speaker 2: that was something that Louisville had never experienced this year,
Speaker 2: and under any circumstance, really any team, it'd be hard
Speaker 2: to counter that. All Right, we're out of town. We're
Speaker 2: back at it tomorrow right here on Sports Talk seven
Speaker 2: ninety