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Speaker 2: will be good to go. I thought that by the
Speaker 2: time we got to the five o'clock hour today that
Speaker 2: there would be some level of like, maybe not confirmation,
Speaker 2: but just you know, something from a capital J that
Speaker 2: gives us.
Speaker 3: Confirmation.
Speaker 2: I suppose that this AMRII Huggins Bruce thing like is happening,
Speaker 2: meaning he's coming back to Louisville, and now it's just
Speaker 2: a matter of seeing if he'll be.
Speaker 3: Eligible to play. So I'll give you the latest.
Speaker 2: The South Carolina football program has confirmed that he has
Speaker 2: not been at practice the last couple of days. Well,
Speaker 2: I guess they haven't confirmed it meaning the program, but
Speaker 2: those who cover South Carolina have.
Speaker 3: Reported that.
Speaker 2: And then one of the coaches for South Carolina, I
Speaker 2: think it might have been their offensive coordinator, was asked
Speaker 2: after practice yesterday and declined to comment. In fact, I
Speaker 2: think he shifted the question to the head coach. So
Speaker 2: there's also some folks that I do you know, I
Speaker 2: wouldn't claim that these people are newsbreakers, but those that
Speaker 2: you know are active online in regard in U OFL
Speaker 2: sports and whatnot, that wouldn't just throw something out there
Speaker 2: to see if it sticks.
Speaker 3: That are making it up.
Speaker 2: But there's just not there's not you know, nobody's just
Speaker 2: saying it right like nobody's just coming out and saying, hey,
Speaker 2: AMURRII Huggins. Bruce has landed in Louisville, and now he's
Speaker 2: gone through the process of enrolling in school, which is
Speaker 2: the last day is tomorrow, and now you just have
Speaker 2: to wait to see if the NCAA clears him to play.
Speaker 2: I mean that is my guess as of right now
Speaker 2: as far as what's happening. And I never really thought
Speaker 2: this was real at all until you saw that he's
Speaker 2: no longer around their program, and it would make sense
Speaker 2: for him to come back to Louisville, a place he's
Speaker 2: familiar with. He's certainly he's certainly familiar with Jet Brahm
Speaker 2: and the offense. And another another component here is that
Speaker 2: by all accounts, he really really loved it at Louisville,
Speaker 2: Like he really liked Louisville, and he probably just left
Speaker 2: because you know, South Carolina is home, that's where he's from,
Speaker 2: he's been, he'd been at Louisville three years, and you
Speaker 2: know he could tell that he'd been recruited over. So
Speaker 2: I have no update. I don't think anybody has any
Speaker 2: legit jitimant like real update. And a big factor is
Speaker 2: that like nobody can like because he can't enter the portal,
Speaker 2: and it sounds like he's just you know, he's transferring,
Speaker 2: but doing it by not going through the portal because
Speaker 2: the portal's closed, like UFL wouldn't be allowed to talk
Speaker 2: about him. In fact, like this is where it just
Speaker 2: gets so confusing and unusual to where it makes me
Speaker 2: even more it makes me doubt that this actually ends
Speaker 2: up happening. Is that if he's not into the portal,
Speaker 2: then he's not been released for any school to talk
Speaker 2: to him. Like that's tampering something that you know you
Speaker 2: can't do. I'm sure it happens. In fact, I know
Speaker 2: it happens probably every day in college athletics, but you've
Speaker 2: got to be careful about it. Well, he can't into
Speaker 2: the portal because the portal's closed, So he shows back
Speaker 2: up at Louisville and en rows in class and ends up,
Speaker 2: you know, showing up to the football facility, which again
Speaker 2: I know that's not how this would ever play out,
Speaker 2: but like if he did, technically the staff wouldn't even
Speaker 2: be able to like acknowledge that he exists. I don't
Speaker 2: think maybe they could because he's a student there. But
Speaker 2: then again, he never got any kind of clearance from
Speaker 2: the NC DOUBLEA through the portal, which is why the
Speaker 2: portal process exists. So there's the smoke has been building
Speaker 2: by the day in regards to this actually happening. But
Speaker 2: there's a difference here. And you know, when I say happening,
Speaker 2: I mean, like, you know, he's left South Carolina, now
Speaker 2: he's back at Louisville. That doesn't mean he's gonna be
Speaker 2: able to play, because I just unless there's some kind
Speaker 2: of a loophole I'm unaware of, I don't see how
Speaker 2: he'd be able to play. I just don't see how
Speaker 2: he'd be cleared and be eligible to play at Louisville
Speaker 2: because clearly what he's doing here is something you're.
Speaker 3: Not allowed to do. So we'll see, we shall see,
Speaker 3: all right.
Speaker 2: So I'm going to get out of here before too long,
Speaker 2: a little bit earlier than usual today because of my
Speaker 2: duties that I have at Slugger Field throughout the first pitch.
Speaker 2: So well, we'll let you guys hear a conversation we
Speaker 2: had a little bit earlier with Kendrick Haskins. He joined
Speaker 2: us in the three o'clock hour. We did talk about
Speaker 2: the Huggins Bruce situation, but we also talked about some
Speaker 2: other things, so you'll hear that coming up shortly. But
Speaker 2: something else I wanted to get into is the Candid
Speaker 2: Coaches series that we've talked about here and there over
Speaker 2: the last week or so. Yesterday we discussed the coaches
Speaker 2: sharing thoughts on which programs in college basketball have the
Speaker 2: best in Aisle situation. For example, like if you're recruiting
Speaker 2: a player and you hear that another school is involved,
Speaker 2: you know which school? When it comes to an ale,
Speaker 2: do you think, oh, man, we were in really good
Speaker 2: shape to get this kid, but damn we don't have
Speaker 2: the money they have. And Louisville ended up coming in
Speaker 2: in the top ten. And I mean that's not surprising
Speaker 2: because again, this is Louisville. But man, think about what
Speaker 2: things could be like when the winning happens. I mean,
Speaker 2: we'll see, maybe the winning won't happen, but I mean
Speaker 2: this has all happened before this guy's coached a game yet,
Speaker 2: so that's super exciting.
Speaker 3: All right.
Speaker 2: So for those who again don't know what the candid
Speaker 2: coaches is, Gary Parrish and Matt and Orlander, they use
Speaker 2: their resources, their connections, their relationships with the college basketball
Speaker 2: coaches across the country and ask them direct questions and
Speaker 2: they never share which coach says what. But I always
Speaker 2: found this to be very informative because I think, as
Speaker 2: I've mentioned throughout the week, these two guys have the
Speaker 2: ability to get real honest answers from coaches I feel
Speaker 2: like more so than anybody else that covers college basketball.
Speaker 2: So the question of who will be the best team
Speaker 2: this season it was pretty close.
Speaker 3: At the top.
Speaker 2: Kansas has the most votes thirty five point six percent,
Speaker 2: Alabama twenty seven point nine, and then there's a little
Speaker 2: bit of a drop off Houston thirteen point five, Duke
Speaker 2: nine point six, and then Yukon seven point seven. Others
Speaker 2: that received votes but didn't get above seven percent Arizona, Baylor, Gonzaga,
Speaker 2: and North Carolina. So no surprise. I mean, Bama on
Speaker 2: paper looks like the best team in the country. Kansas,
Speaker 2: you know it. I was underwhelmed with Kansas kind of
Speaker 2: fell apart last year. But you have to keep in
Speaker 2: mind injuries were a huge part of that. I mean,
Speaker 2: they weren't themselves like the last two years, Kansas mean
Speaker 2: coming since Bill self won a national championship that following
Speaker 2: you if you remember, he had health issues, like I
Speaker 2: forgot about this, he had health issue. He couldn't even
Speaker 2: coach in the tournament. You remember they shelled Bill. They
Speaker 2: shelfed Bill self for the rest of the year whenever
Speaker 2: he had some kind of heart issue. He's healthy now.
Speaker 2: But then last year they were rolling looking great and
Speaker 2: then they just had injuries that you know, who's the
Speaker 2: guy that was, Kevin mccauller who was their main guy
Speaker 2: outside of Dickinson that ended up getting hurt and missed
Speaker 2: a bunch of time, so you know, they just weren't
Speaker 2: in full string. So I kind of feel like I
Speaker 2: don't trust them as much to be the best team
Speaker 2: in the country because of the last couple of years.
Speaker 2: But as mentioned, there were circumstances in play there and
Speaker 2: then Houston. Got a lot of respect for Houston, but
Speaker 2: I feel like Houston's been humbled at times. Right they
Speaker 2: look they're going to be really good, they'll win a
Speaker 2: bunch of games, but I just don't know if I could,
Speaker 2: you know, maybe I guess considering they've made a Final
Speaker 2: Four in the last few years or so, like, maybe
Speaker 2: a breakthrough national championship for them wouldn't be the biggest surprise.
Speaker 2: But as much as I love and respect Kelvin Sampson
Speaker 2: as a coach, and look, all Houston did last year
Speaker 2: is moved from the American to what everybody tells us
Speaker 2: is the deepest league in college basketball, the Big Two.
Speaker 2: And they won that league in the regular season with
Speaker 2: some with some room to spare, Like they didn't blow
Speaker 2: everybody out, But I think they won that league by
Speaker 2: like two games in the regular season. So because they
Speaker 2: haven't been a blue blood, I still kind of hesitate.
Speaker 2: And with Alabama, they're not blue blood either, but Alabama
Speaker 2: has got all the wom in them right now. They
Speaker 2: just had that breakthrough. Natos has been building something pretty
Speaker 2: special there at Alabama since he got there from Buffalo,
Speaker 2: and then last year broke through the Final Four, and
Speaker 2: now he crushed it into the portal. They bring back
Speaker 2: some really good players, so I'm a believer in Alabama.
Speaker 2: And then with Duke, I'll just say it, Duke is
Speaker 2: based off of Cooper Flag, right, Like, yeah, they bring
Speaker 2: back some guys they did well in the portal, Like
Speaker 2: they'll be good. They're always gonna have talent. But I'm
Speaker 2: actually be honest with you, man, I think Cooper Flag
Speaker 2: has a chance to be the best player in the
Speaker 2: country this year. Like I know, the portal has gotten
Speaker 2: everybody so focused on the instant gratification of a new
Speaker 2: guy that's a veteran that you watched be domin at
Speaker 2: this school for three years and now he's here because
Speaker 2: it is I mean, it's it's you know what you're
Speaker 2: getting in the portal as far as like who they
Speaker 2: are now, will it translate? Only time will tell in
Speaker 2: most instances. But what I mean is, you know, like
Speaker 2: this isn't a guy who you got to see if
Speaker 2: he's as good as advertised coming out of high school.
Speaker 2: These are guys that you know have produced at the
Speaker 2: college level. But Cooper Flag, I kind of feel like
Speaker 2: if the portal didn't exist and it was the old
Speaker 2: days where you just you know, bring back players who
Speaker 2: don't go pro and you bring in a bunch of freshmen,
Speaker 2: I feel like Cooper Flag would be the most talked
Speaker 2: about thing in college basketball. Like what he did against
Speaker 2: Team USA before they went they took off for the
Speaker 2: for the Olympics. I mean on the floor against Team
Speaker 2: USA in practice at times he looked like the best player.
Speaker 2: Like that's not an exaggeration. Now again, was he the
Speaker 2: best player? No, but like he wasn't as holding his own.
Speaker 2: He was out there competing as if he could play
Speaker 2: in the NBA against these guys right now. So I
Speaker 2: don't know, I kind of feel like, you know, we'll
Speaker 2: have another year here that we haven't had in a
Speaker 2: long time in regards to like a friend freshman being
Speaker 2: appointment viewing for everybody that loves basketball, right, people who
Speaker 2: love the NBA but they don't care about college basketball.
Speaker 2: If this Cooper Flag kid is as good as advertised,
Speaker 2: he'll I don't know. I don't want to say the
Speaker 2: Zion effect because that seemed to be like something that
Speaker 2: would be hard to recreate. But I happen to think
Speaker 2: he's going to be really, really good. Speaking of that,
Speaker 2: the next candid coaches question who will be the best
Speaker 2: player in college basketball for the upcoming season. So again
Speaker 2: they asked one hundred different Division I basketball coaches and
Speaker 2: the percentage here was a blowout. You know who it was,
Speaker 2: Cooper Flag. Thirty six percent of the coaches that were
Speaker 2: asked as far as who will be the best player
Speaker 2: in college basketball? Said freshman Cooper Flag. I think again,
Speaker 2: wouldn't be a shocker to see somebody who covers the
Speaker 2: sport say that. Wouldn't be shocked to see somebody who
Speaker 2: covers the NBA say that these are coaches who are
Speaker 2: in this like this, This is not like somebody trying
Speaker 2: to have a hot take and generate hype, you know
Speaker 2: what I'm saying, Like, these are guys, these these coaches
Speaker 2: who are recruiting high school kids. Still like Cooper flag
Speaker 2: and also navigating the portal trying to bring in these
Speaker 2: grown ass guys who can milk every bit out of
Speaker 2: college basketball as they can. They think he's gonna be
Speaker 2: the majority think he's gonna be the best player. Like,
Speaker 2: doesn't that make you even more so confident, John, that
Speaker 2: this guy's gonna be the real deal.
Speaker 4: Yeah, And it's weird because we talk about it all
Speaker 4: the time. It's been such a I mean since Zion
Speaker 4: Williamson that we've had a freshman with this much hype.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and I think star power is actually going to
Speaker 2: be down this year in college basketball. What I mean
Speaker 2: by that is it's another reason why he could be
Speaker 2: up there because the other like these are all great players.
Speaker 2: But Mark Sears came in at number two with twenty
Speaker 2: two percent. Like Mark Sears was the point guard for
Speaker 2: Alabama who went to a Final four. He transferred from
Speaker 2: I believe Ohio. I think that's where he initially started
Speaker 2: his career.
Speaker 3: Good player.
Speaker 2: If you play against Alabama, you're gonna know who he is.
Speaker 2: But he's not a He's not a star like I mean,
Speaker 2: he's not somebody that like is recognized maybe to the
Speaker 2: college basketball diehards, but I know who he is. I
Speaker 2: mean when I think of Alabama being a really good
Speaker 2: team this year, he's actually the first name that comes
Speaker 2: to mind for me. But if he walked in here
Speaker 2: and he wasn't wearing his Alabama jersey, I might know
Speaker 2: who he is. And that doesn't mean he's not a
Speaker 2: star because I don't know who he is. But like
Speaker 2: Mark Sears, like that does he's not a brand name
Speaker 2: in college hoops. Hunter Dickinson came in at number three,
Speaker 2: at number sixteen, it was sixteen percent of the vote.
Speaker 2: He's a known name. You'd know it, but he's because
Speaker 2: he's been around forever and he's been dominant as a player.
Speaker 2: Like his numbers throughout his career very impressive, but he's
Speaker 2: never won. I mean, he went to Kansas last year
Speaker 2: and they were good and he was a factor in that.
Speaker 2: And I'm you know, injuries, as I mentioned, we're a
Speaker 2: big reason why Kansas kind of fell off. But like,
Speaker 2: are people bored with him again? That doesn't he's not
Speaker 2: getting worse as a player, but like they'll be more.
Speaker 2: Cooper Flag's the new fresh potential NBA superstar that's gonna
Speaker 2: do a pit stop at Duke for a year, Like
Speaker 2: people will be more inclined to talk about that than
Speaker 2: Hunter Dickinson, who's only in college still because he'll never
Speaker 2: play in the NBA. And then right after him as R. J.
Speaker 2: Davis at Carolina, which I will admit, if you asked
Speaker 2: me before the show started today, is R J. Davis
Speaker 2: still at Carolina? I would have had to think about
Speaker 2: it and I probably would have leaned no, way, He's
Speaker 2: still there. Well, he is, and Caleb Love is as well,
Speaker 2: Kayleb Love is not at Carolina. But those two guys,
Speaker 2: if you remember, they were the backcourt in that championship,
Speaker 2: in that final four team that made it all the
Speaker 2: way to the championship game and lost to Kansas, and
Speaker 2: yet they're still in college three four years later, Like
Speaker 2: it's crazy.
Speaker 3: Was that three years later?
Speaker 2: I think it is three years ago now, and I
Speaker 2: thought those guys were like juniors then. And then the
Speaker 2: next guys that received votes but you know, didn't get many,
Speaker 2: John I. Broome at Auburn former Morehead State Eagle, and
Speaker 2: then Ryan Kalchbrenner at Creighton, who was a big surprise
Speaker 2: that it was a surprise that he actually came back
Speaker 2: to school and is a good player. So again, the
Speaker 2: other names that are being thrown out there by coaches
Speaker 2: make me even more confident that Cooper Fly is going
Speaker 2: to be the face of college hoops this season. Now
Speaker 2: Duke stinks, that's a different story. But if they're good,
Speaker 2: you know, top tenish all year, which they could be,
Speaker 2: and that wouldn't be a shocker. I think it's going
Speaker 2: to be the season of Cooper Flag, which will annoy
Speaker 2: a lot of people because, you know what, he's a
Speaker 2: white guy that plays at Duke, and that is just
Speaker 2: something that people instantly hate.
Speaker 3: But I like this guy.
Speaker 2: I think he I mean, for some reason, I think
Speaker 2: it's really cool that he's from Maine. Did you know
Speaker 2: that he's from Oh yeah, he is from Newport, Maine.
Speaker 2: And he actually, instead of you know, going and joining
Speaker 2: one of the big time AAU teams out there on
Speaker 2: the eyb L circuit, he just said he you know,
Speaker 2: he you know, because he's that big of a star,
Speaker 2: he actually had Nike create a Maine like his His
Speaker 2: AAU guys like just became an eybl team with with
Speaker 2: a Nike circuit. So he did end up leaving Maine
Speaker 2: to go play at mon verd academy. But he's he's
Speaker 2: he's a main kid.
Speaker 4: Hopefully he breaks the spell of you know, the white,
Speaker 4: the white, not white trash, but you know, the typical
Speaker 4: duke white player. I had to sit there and think
Speaker 4: about that for a secon. I'm like, hold on, don't
Speaker 4: say that.
Speaker 2: I wouldn't label any of them as like what I
Speaker 2: think is stereotypical white trash other than like, you know,
Speaker 2: it's the typical duke white prince maybe Cherokee parks back
Speaker 2: in the day. But yeah, other than that, like you know,
Speaker 2: the white, like the dukie, Like when you when I
Speaker 2: say somebody is a dukie talking about duke basketball, I'm
Speaker 2: talking about the annoying, arrogant white dudes who you just
Speaker 2: assume are privileged jerks.
Speaker 3: The opposite of one. Yeah, he's he's the opposite of that.
Speaker 3: All right.
Speaker 2: One more from the coaches the Candid Coaches series here,
Speaker 2: and they'll have more, I believe. I think they usually
Speaker 2: do about ten different features here. But this was college
Speaker 2: basketball coaches being asked the best high major coaching hire
Speaker 2: of twenty twenty four, and a blowaway winner here forty
Speaker 2: three point four percent of the votes. Second place only
Speaker 2: got twenty one point seven percent. It was John Caliperiot Arkansas,
Speaker 2: and I I mean, you can't really, I mean, I
Speaker 2: could understand why somebody wouldn't say that that's the best hire,
Speaker 2: but I also can't at all tell anybody who claims
Speaker 2: it's the best hire that it's wrong, because again, you
Speaker 2: just hired a coach who won a national championship. There's
Speaker 2: not many of those guys active right now in the sport.
Speaker 2: And even though he's had some tournament failures, he still
Speaker 2: recruits at a really high level, and his teams during
Speaker 2: the regular season are usually still very, very good. So
Speaker 2: it's just a situation where again, as everybody knows that
Speaker 2: run it that had run its course, and it just
Speaker 2: they needed something new and Cali Perry could sense that,
Speaker 2: so he took advantage of Arkansas opening up because Musselman left,
Speaker 2: so not a surprise. Now with that, there's so much more,
Speaker 2: there's so much higher expectation for cal right away than
Speaker 2: any of these other guys. But Dusty May came in
Speaker 2: at number two. We'll see how that works out.
Speaker 3: I mean, I'm ready for Dusty May to fail me too.
Speaker 2: And it's and it's mean he seems like a nice guy, yes,
Speaker 2: but like to me, he became the ultimate example of
Speaker 2: like what are you all talking about? Like he went
Speaker 2: to a Final four, and yes, Final Force can be random,
Speaker 2: but what else about him would make you think he's
Speaker 2: gonna be this superstar. He comes from a terrible coaching tree.
Speaker 2: He wasn't good at FAU, and that's when people would
Speaker 2: make you believe that. You know, before Dusty may Fau,
Speaker 2: you know they only let they actually let Fau play
Speaker 2: with seven guys on the court going up against the
Speaker 2: team with five, because that's how bad they sucked. Like
Speaker 2: pre Dusty may Fau, they can only recruit guys that
Speaker 2: never have ever picked up a basketball. Like it was
Speaker 2: just such an exagger and I guess it pissed me
Speaker 2: off because it was Louisville fans acting as if we're
Speaker 2: about to go get John Wooden and I'm like, look,
Speaker 2: he might work out. I'm gonna support whoever it is,
Speaker 2: but like, spare me, this guy is not even close
Speaker 2: to being the best guy you could get. Number three,
Speaker 2: Mark Pope at Kentucky, number four, Pat Kelsey at Louisville,
Speaker 2: number five, Kevin Young at BYU, and then Kyle Smith
Speaker 2: at Stanford got some boats as well, So you know
Speaker 2: who I'm surprised didn't get mentioned that was gonna be
Speaker 2: our coach who I forgot his name.
Speaker 3: That's how forgetable we thought, Dusty May.
Speaker 4: It was supposed to be your coats.
Speaker 2: If you remember, there was another guy too that had
Speaker 2: already taken another job.
Speaker 4: Wasn't Jerome Tang right now?
Speaker 3: No shirts? Shirts? Oh yeah, Josh shirt yeah, forgettable to see, right?
Speaker 2: I mean, so yeah, he uh, I mean maybe he
Speaker 2: does great at Saint Louis and people really love that guy.
Speaker 2: But you know that was the next man up from
Speaker 2: an I understand, and I'm happy as hell it didn't
Speaker 2: work out, because you know, I'm as guilty as anybody
Speaker 2: as being underwhelmed when you heard that it was gonna
Speaker 2: be Pat Kelsey just because it's not a name anybody
Speaker 2: really thought was a serious guy to get the job,
Speaker 2: because you know, it's Louisville. But I was on record
Speaker 2: many times saying, if it comes down to Josh Shirts
Speaker 2: or Dusty May, give me Pat Kelsey. So I'm happy
Speaker 2: it worked out that way. All right, quick break, We'll
Speaker 2: come back on the other side and uh take you
Speaker 2: up till six o'clock Wish me luck at the at
Speaker 2: the Bats game for the first pitch, fingers crossed